The Rockliff Government’s decision to not appropriately resource the Office of the Tasmanian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) is alarming and should be immediately addressed.
Most Tasmanians won’t know what the NPM is, but this is a critically important agency. It’s been set up to uphold the human rights of Tasmanians in institutional settings, and to ensure the state complies with international law.
The NPM’s job is supposed to be to visit hospitals, mental health facilities, youth detention, prisons, and many other facilities to make sure people are being treated properly. But the Liberals have decided they won’t provide the funding that is needed to do this essential job.
We know there have been many examples of human rights abuses in Tasmanian institutions, including very recently. We should be doing everything we can to stamp out these situations, but instead the Liberals are neglecting this critical oversight body before it even really gets to work.
The Liberals have had it clearly explained to them why the NPM needs proper funding, but still they’ve decided to refuse this funding request. That decision tells Tasmanians all they need to know about the Rockliff Government’s real priorities.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff must immediately intervene in this matter and make sure the NPM gets the funding it needs to undertake its crucial work.
