News

The NSW Ombudsman today tabled a special report to Parliament on his inquiry into the abuse and neglect of adults with disability in community settings (such as their family home). The Ombudsman’s office has responded to 206 reports of alleged abuse and neglect of adults with disability, involving their family members, partners, or other members of the community.

The report demonstrates the need for a comprehensive safeguarding approach in NSW for vulnerable adults living in the community – including an effective response to the abuse and neglect of both vulnerable adults with disability and older people. The Ombudsman has called on the NSW Government to implement the recommendations of the NSW Law Reform Commission to establish an independent statutory position of a Public Advocate with investigative functions.

The NSW Ombudsman and Convenor of the NSW Child Death Review Team (CDRT), Michael Barnes, tabled the CDRT’s annual report 2017-18 in Parliament.

The CDRT is comprised of key government agencies and independent experts in child health, research and injury prevention, and aims to prevent and reduce the deaths of children in NSW.

The NSW Ombudsman, Mr Michael Barnes, today tabled the Annual Report 2017-18 in Parliament.

The report details the work done across the broad range of areas within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. The Ombudsman watches over NSW public sector agencies and thousands of private sector agencies that care for children and provide community services.

The NSW Ombudsman tabled a report in Parliament today on his inquiry into the operation of the Joint Investigation Response Team (JIRT), a tri-agency program delivered by the Department of Family and Community Services, the NSW Police Force and NSW Health, which provides a coordinated response to children who are alleged to have suffered sexual abuse, serious physical abuse, or extreme neglect. The program has been operating for just over 20 years.

On 12 September 2018, representatives from around 20 faith groups came together with prominent survivor advocates to form a joint standing committee to focus on what needs to be done to protect children from abuse within faith based settings.

It is intended that this initial multi-faith and survivor committee will provide a strong platform to identify what is required to meet the Royal Commission’s child-safe recommendations.

The Honourable Pru Goward MP, Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, opened the event, which has been jointly conceived and delivered by the NSW Ombudsman and the Children’s Guardian.

The NSW Ombudsman, Mr Michael Barnes, tabled a report in Parliament on the implementation of the Whole of Government Commitments to Effective Complaint Handling (the Commitments), which form part of the Complaint Handling Improvement Program (CHIP).

Read the report.
Read the media release.