Administrative location of Community Visitors Program

Eligibility - Queensland citizens
Principal Petitioner:
Loretta Woolston
9/3-5 Brett Avenue
Labrador QLD 4215
Total Signatures - 12
Sponsoring Member: Verity Barton MP
Posting Date: 19/6/2013
Closing Date: 18/11/2013
Tabled Date: 19/11/2013
Responded By: Hon Jarrod Bleijie MP on 18/12/2013
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland

The Community Visitor Program functions ‘safeguard and protect' consumers of Queensland's Restrictive Practice regime.  They report to [the] Director-General of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General who administers the Guardianship and Administration Act 2002.  In March 2008 [the] Director-General announced the re-alignment of the department's reporting framework.  The manager of the Community Visitor Program now reports to the Director-General though the Adult Guardian, a major decision maker for the Restrictive Practice consumers.  The Queensland Law Reform Commission's review of Guardianship Laws, (1996 and 2010), evidence and acknowledge the lack of ‘public confidence' and the potential for ‘conflict of interest'.  The report's recommendations supporting current practices assumed the subsumption of the Public Advocate into the Office of the Adult Guardian, (driven by the Weller Report), bringing all three guardianship agents under the stewardship of the guardian.  Labor abandoned the policy prior to the election and the LNP government honoured their election commitments, keeping the Advocate independent and increasing their powers.  The Community Visitors Reporting of the Adult Guardian practices in the guardian's Annual Reports and QCAT Tribunal hearings lacks transparency and accountability, conflicting with trends reported to the Advocate's office, public responses at review forums and appeals upheld by the Supreme Court.

 

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to ensure the integrity of Queensland's Restrictive Practices regime ‘safeguards and protections', by removing conflicting authorities and practices of the Office of the Adult Guardian over the Community Visitors Program.