Page 1723 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020
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was circulated to members when the Assembly was not sitting. I commend the report to the Assembly.
Health, Ageing and Community Services—Standing Committee
Report 11
MS CODY (Murrumbidgee) (11.35): I present the following report:
Health, Ageing and Community Services—Standing Committee—Report 11—Report on Child and Youth Protection Services (Part 2), dated July 2020, together with a copy of the extracts of the relevant minutes of proceedings.
MS CODY: I move:
That the report be noted.
I am pleased to speak to the Standing Committee on Health, Ageing and Community Services report on the committee’s inquiry into child and youth protection services, part 2. The ACT Legislative Assembly asked the Standing Committee on Health, Ageing and Community Services to inquire into the ability to share information in the care and protection system, in accordance with the Children and Young People Act 2008, with a view to providing the maximum transparency and accountability so as to maintain community confidence in the ACT’s care and protection.
If the committee was to scale back this inquiry to first principles, it would be about trust. Trust in the ACT care and protection system has been in decline for many years, despite numerous reviews and inquiries into various aspects of the system, stretching back over a decade or more. Trust in the system by the people whom the system seeks to serve and the community of which the system is a part, continues to remain at low levels. Trust is essential for any kind of relationship and gives legitimacy to decision-making and the actions that follow.
Trust is built, maintained or eroded in the array of interactions an individual has with representatives of a system or service and/or with the service or system itself. The integrity or quality of these interactions is premised on some form of information sharing. The effectiveness of information sharing in each of these interactions, coupled with appropriate accountability for these exchanges, can build, maintain or erode trust. Trust in a system and/or service has benefits for those who work within the system to provide services, the recipients of services provided by the system and the community of which the system is a part.
The committee acknowledges the efforts, to date, by the government, in conjunction with other stakeholders, to bring about change to the ACT care and protection system—a system in need of change. Notwithstanding these efforts, evidence to the inquiry made it clear that more needs to be done but also that any improvements need to be underpinned by legislative change. The committee received submissions to its inquiry from key stakeholder groups, including individuals, advocacy and support
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