CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHILD ADVOCACY
Examining accountability in Children’s Services in Western Australia.
The Joint Standing Committee on the Commissioner for Children and Young People (the Committee) is a Western Australian Parliamentary oversight committee charged with monitoring, reviewing and reporting on the exercise of the functions of an
Lisa Baker, MLA is a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly representing Maylands since the 2008 state election. She is the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the Commissioner for Children and Young People. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Graduate Diploma of Development Studies and before entering parliament was the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australia Council of Social Services.
independent statutory authority, namely Western Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People. Parliamentary oversight committees for a children’s commissioner or similar position are rare, with New South Wales being the only other Australian jurisdiction to have such a Committee.1
The foundations for the establishment of the Committee can be traced to the final report tabled in 2004 by the Legislative Council Select Committee on Advocacy for Children on its Inquiry into the Appointment of a Commissioner for Children. The report investigated the need for children’s advocacy in Western Australia, reviewed national and international models of child advocacy and made recommendations for establishing advocacy for children and young people in this state. Among the Select Committee’s recommendations were those for a Commissioner
94 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Two
for Children and Young People to be appointed for Western Australia, and for consideration to be given to a joint parliamentary committee of oversight. Pre-empting the Select Committee’s report, the then Minister for Community Development, Hon Sheila McHale MLA announced in May 2004 that the government intended to establish a new independent Children’s Commission, to be headed by a Commissioner. Legislation establishing the Commissioner for Children and Young People duly came into effect in 2006. Western Australia’s inaugural Commissioner, Ms Michelle Scott, was appointed to the position in November 2007 and took up the role in December 2007. Ms Scott retired from her position in December 2013; and the post was taken up in an acting capacity by Ms Jenni Perkins.2
In keeping with the Select Committee’s recommendations and a desire reflected during parliamentary debate for the Commissioner to be independent of executive government, the Commissioner for Children and Young People Act 2006 (the Act) provided for the establishment of a Joint Standing Committee on
the Commissioner for Children and Young People - which was to provide Parliamentary oversight. The debate surrounding the establishment of the Committee highlighted the importance of the Parliament having this oversight
responsibility of reviewing and monitoring the activities of the Commissioner for the purposes of greater accountability and transparency.3
Greater
accountability to be achieved through monitoring and review is, on a broader level, one of the basic principles underpinning parliamentary committees of oversight.4
The defining feature
of the relationship between an independent body and its corresponding Parliamentary oversight committee is that of accountability:
They are accountable to a parliamentary committee, the committee to the Parliament and the Parliament to the people.5 With this ideal of accountability underpinning the Committee’s work, each Committee6
has
developed its own monitoring and review processes at the beginning of each parliament - informed by its functions and powers determined by agreement between the Houses. Among the Committee’s
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