Ms BADGER – Thank you, Chair. Minister, the commission of inquiry’s scope did not cover Tasmania Police, which is one of the reasons why the Weiss review was needed.
Mr ELLIS – Sorry, Ms Badger, but that is not actually true. The commission of inquiry made eight recommendations for Tasmania Police.
Ms BADGER – Yes, sorry, it did not delve far enough into part of the Paul Reynolds case. Obviously, we have had the separate Weiss review which has covered –
Mr ELLIS – It was actually a case study in the commission of inquiry, Ms Badger.
Ms BADGER – So we have had a separate review in full. Can you please confirm then that the Weiss review recommendations will be covered, all their work will be covered, all the funding will also definitely be covered for the Wiess review, even though, as you have just pointed out, it was going to be put in the Budget or it is put in the Budget through the commission of inquiry recommendations. Can you confirm that the money that you say is then going towards the Weiss review will not take away from any of the commission of inquiry funding and what is the timeline for the full implementation of the recommendations of the Weiss review?
Mr ELLIS – Thanks, Ms Badger. Can I just clarify for the committee, because there were a few erroneous statements in there and it’s important that we get these things right. Police were part of the work of the commission of inquiry. Indeed they made recommendations for police to do better and rebuild trust and we take those very seriously. We’re committed to all of those. Paul Reynolds was looked at as part of the commission of inquiry. Indeed he was a case study in the commission of inquiry. For those members who haven’t read the commission of inquiry document, it’s an important one for us all to get an understanding of.
We went further in terms of Tasmania Police and again I support the work of Commissioner Adams in commissioning the Weiss review. We’ve made it really clear that ensuring that children are safe is the number one priority of our government and we put significant investment in this Budget and in future budgets as well. We’ve made that commitment and we’ll leave no stone unturned when it comes to ensuring that children are kept safe. We’ll continue to work in terms of the Weiss review recommendations as they relate to police and we’ll also be working across the whole of government, the policy work, for example the redress scheme and the changes to the scope of the Integrity Commission are also being examined currently. Our absolute commitment is to accept and deliver on the recommendations from the Weiss review as well the recommendations of the commission of inquiry.
Ms BADGER – Can you guarantee that, both – all the commission of inquiry recommendations and all the Weiss review recommendations – will be fully funded? Can you please give us more clarity on the timeline for the Weiss review recommendations.
Mr ELLIS – Matters for future budgets obviously will work through in future budgets, but we’ve made it really clear in this Budget that there’s significant new investments in child safety, hundreds of millions of dollars, the largest uplift that we’ve ever seen in our state’s history for child safety. We know that there’s even more that needs to be done and as we’re working through the policy development there, some of the commission of inquiry recommendations are recommended to be done by 2029 for example, so this will be really a long-term work of many parliaments to ensure we get this right and that we continue to fund these important services. We embrace that important challenge and our absolute commitment is on delivering all of the recommendations from the commission of inquiry and the Weiss review.
Ms BADGER – So you cannot guarantee that both will be fully funded, or give any further clarity on a timeframe?
Mr ELLIS – I don’t think it’s helpful to put words in people’s mouths. I’ve made it really clear, Ms Badger –
Ms BADGER – It’s a question. Feel free to answer.
Mr ELLIS – that we’ve delivered significant funding and as more is required, more will be delivered. That’s how we’ve operated with the commission of inquiry. Our intent is really clear. This is the largest uplift in –
Ms BADGER – Sorry, I guess this just might be a bit of concern that as you said in the previous question that some of the funding for the Weiss review recommendations would come from that outlined for the commission of inquiry in the Budget. We just want clarity on that. Maybe you could provide us with a breakdown on notice for what funding is for which recommendations?
Mr ELLIS – I’m sure that there’s plenty of publicly available documents in terms of the breakdown for different funding as relates to commission of inquiry across government –
Ms BADGER – There’s not for the Weiss review, hence the question, sorry.
Mr ELLIS – Ms Badger, I’m not trying to frustrate you, I’m trying to be helpful here. We will continue to make investments in this space. The policy work’s not finalised in terms of some of the Weiss recommendations. Some of it involves legislative change for example, and until that legislative change is done, there’s nothing funded. So we’ll continue to work through those investments and future budgets. This is largely a matter for future budgets –
Ms BADGER – So there is not any in this Budget for the Weiss review?
Mr ELLIS – Well, as I mentioned, there’s already work that we’ve got underway in terms of police. So we’re continuing to make that uplift. We’ve appointed new leadership, we continue to grow our capability in terms of community engagement. The commissioners are being involved in restorative justice frameworks. Our commitment to delivering these recommendations is really clear. Now we need to work through the policy work there, redress schemes, we need to get the design right. We need to make sure the Integrity Commission has the powers and functions and funding that they need, and that’ll require legislative change so we’re continuing to work through that process.
Part of Ms Weiss’ reviews also related to the way that we do complaints handling and things like that where we already make significant investments and it’s a process change. But perhaps I might just look to the Commissioner. Is there anything further that you want to add?
Ms BADGER – Specifically around the timeline, I guess that’s the one bit that still remains very unclear what that timeline is.
Ms ADAMS – The work that we’re doing at the moment is to make sure that there’s a real consistency around how the commission of inquiry recommendations are being managed, also in the context of the Weiss recommendations. As I mentioned earlier, the development of a strategy to engage with priority communities – we need to make sure that it there is no overlap, that it actually works together with the recommendations that have come from the Weiss Review in terms of our engagement with the sporting communities, as an example.
As the minister has said, the policy and research work is really important for us to get right so that we’re directing our efforts and we understand the funds that we need to support the Weiss recommendations. It’s appropriate that we have a whole‑of‑government position in terms of redress and restorative justice. We’re not having a program within our department that’s different to the whole‑of‑government approach to such an important issue.
