CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
terms of reference is a requirement to monitor, review and report to Parliament on the exercise of the functions of the Commissioner for Children and Young People; to examine annual and other reports of the Commissioner; and to consult regularly with the Commissioner. As such, the Committee’s earliest tasks comprised of regular hearings with the Commissioner and the close examination of the Commissioner’s Annual Reports - primarily focusing on the Commissioner’s strategic planning, key performance measures of the Commissioner’s Office and maintaining a watching brief on the Commissioner’s progress in several public policy priority areas identified by the Commissioners (such as early childhood, the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and the promotion of a child focus in the delivery of mainstream services). Historically, the Committee also monitored effectiveness of initiatives developed by the Commissioner as the role was developed over time and additional functions under the Act were explored.7
Various other functions of the Committee are defined throughout the Act; including the ability to make recommendations to the Treasurer in relation to the budget for the Commissioner for a financial year;8
the ability for
the Committee to request that the Commissioner advise the Minister on ‘any matter relating to the wellbeing of children and young people’;9
xxxxxx a needs be basis.11 Although
the Committee has historically considered such functions an important plank to the Committee’s accountability role, the overuse of such functions could overly influence the direction of the Commissioner’s work away from the self- determined strategic priorities of the Commissioner’s office. A review of the operation and effectiveness of the Commissioner for Children and Young People Act 2006 was required to be conducted five years after it came into operation12 and was subsequently scheduled for early 2013.
and the ability to
refer to the Commissioner ‘any written laws, draft laws, reports, policies, practices, procedures or other matters relating to the wellbeing of children and young people’ for the Commissioner to make recommendations upon.10 The Committee has only enacted these functions on
To inform the legislative review, the Committee of the 38th
Parliament tabled its final report in November 2012 reviewing the functions of the Commissioner and made a number of recommendations for amendments to the Act. Parliament was prorogued before the statutory review took place; however the subsequent review of the Act had ‘significant regard’
to the Committee’s report.13 Other matters were to impact on the statutory review that would influence the way in which the Commissioner’s role would be considered going forward and subsequently impact on the method of oversight the Committee would employ. In November 2011, the Hon. Peter Blaxell was appointed to conduct a Special Inquiry into the response of public officials to allegations of sexual abuse at the St Andrew’s Hostel in Katanning (a regional town in Western Australia).14
The report (known
as the Blaxell Inquiry) made a number of recommendations; notably, in this context, that there “exists an opportunity for a whole of government approach to developing a ‘child-friendly’ system for handling complaints in relation to child abuse...[the development of which] would aim for a ‘one stop shop’…as an avenue for any complaint.”15 When tabling the Report, the Premier, showing clear support for the Blaxell Inquiry’s
recommendations, advised Parliament that the government “has selected the Commissioner for Children and Young People as the preferred body to perform the one-stop shop complaints role.”16
“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.”
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