Items of interest for the Complaints, Accountability, Integrity Network
Indigenous
Social Justice and Native Title Report 2016
The report covers a broad range of issues including • anniversaries of the Wave Hill walk-off, the NT Aboriginal Land Rights Act, the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the launch of the Close the Gap campaign • the continued impact of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) • the Redfern Statement • recognition of Australia's first peoples in the Constitution and the place of broader treaty discussions • progress of the Close the Gap campaign • justice issues including paperless arrest laws, fine default laws and justice reinvestment • reform proposals regarding remote communities in Western Australia • complaints of discrimination received from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples • Indigenous peoples' participation at international fora including the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP). The Report also examines the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to participate in the economy through greater choice, participation and control over their own income. In addition, it provides an overview of the significant issues that have arisen in relation to the exercise and enjoyment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' native title rights and interests under the Native Title Act and a brief overview of native title determinations and agreements that have occurred during the reporting period.
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC_SJNTR_2016.pdf
Australian Human Rights Commission, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, December 2016
Complaint management
Guidelines on Complaint Handling
Detailed guidelines on complaint handling in the public sector.
http://www.ombudsman.wa.gov.au/Publications/Documents/guidelines/Binder-Complaint-Handling.pdf
Ombudsman WA, March 2016
Investigations
Investigations guide: Conducting internal investigations into misconduct
"This publication is a practical guide for people conducting an internal investigation into misconduct. It is not intended to be a comprehensive instruction manual. It may be necessary to seek your own legal advice or consult with your supervisor or internal audit section. This guide is adapted from the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption's 2012 publication Fact finder - a guide to conducting internal investigations, and has been revised to meet the jurisdictional requirements of IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman."
http://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/docs/default-source/guidelines/investigations-guide---conducting-internal-investigations-into-misconduct.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Ombudsman Victoria/Independent broad-based anti-corruption Commission, June 2016
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing processes & procedures – An Australian & New Zealand snapshot: Preliminary Results: Whistling While They Work 2 - Survey of Organisational Processes & Procedures
"This report presents a snapshot of the whistleblowing processes and procedures of 702 public sector, business and not-for-profit organisations from Australia and New Zealand, collected between April and August 2016 via the online Survey of Organisational Processes and Procedures – the first stage of the research project Whistling While They Work 2: Improving managerial responses to whistleblowing in public and private sector organisations. The snapshot is the largest cross-section of organisations to participate in a single survey to date, worldwide, and the first survey to systematically compare self-reported evidence from organisations on whistleblowing processes across the public, business and not-for-profit sectors alike. The results assist evaluation of whistleblowing processes by organisations; and highlight key areas for policy and law reform."
http://www.whistlingwhiletheywork.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Whistleblowing-Processes-Procedures-Snapshot-Prelim-Results-Griffith-University-8-Nov-2016-FINAL2.pdf
A J Brown, N Dozo, P Roberts, November 2016
Contract management
Procurement and contract management - Corruption Prevention Advisory
An 8 page advisory on preventing fraud and corruption in procurement and contract management.
http://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/research-and-publications/publications/ccc/prevention-advisories/procurement-and-contract-management-prevention-advisory.pdf
Qld Crime and Corruption Commission, September 2016
Evidence based evaluation
National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme Final Synthesis Report
The analysis covers the first phase of the Troubled Families Programme, which was launched in April 2012 with the objective of "turning around" the lives of 120,000 of the most "troubled families" in England, with a budget of £448 million. At the core was the desire to achieve an overall shift in public expenditure from reactive service provision, based around responding to accumulated acute needs, towards earlier intervention via targeted interventions, where problems can be addressed before they escalate. "The key finding is that across a wide range of outcomes, covering the key objectives of the Troubled Families Programme - employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare - we were unable to find consistent evidence that the programme had any significant or systematic impact. The vast majority of impact estimates were statistically insignificant, with a very small number of positive or negative results. These results are consistent with those found by the separate and independent impact analysis using survey data, which also found no significant or systemic impact on outcomes related to employment, job seeking, school attendance, or anti-social behaviour."
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil...
National Institute of Economic and Social Research, United Kingdom, October 2016
Administrative Law - Reasons for decision
Reasons, Reasonableness and Intelligible Justification in Judicial Review
"Australian courts have not recognised a general obligation to give reasons for administrative decisions. This article considers two contexts in which the inadequacy of reasons may nonetheless give rise to legal consequences: first, where there is a breach of a statutory obligation to give reasons and, second, where deficiencies in justification are relevant to the application of the unreasonableness ground of review. The aim is to contribute to a clearer understanding of the ways in which the inadequacy of reasons may reveal or constitute reviewable errors."
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/cgi-bin/download.cgi/download/au/journals/SydLawRw/2015/22.pdf
McDonald, L (2015) 37(4) Sydney Law Review 467
Recent annual report
NT Children's Commissioner 2015/16
http://www.childrenscommissioner.nt.gov.au/publications/OCCNT%20Annual%20Report%202015-16%20web.pdf
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