An audit of the extent to which the ACT Public Service (ACTPS) meets its human rights obligations has resulted in a recommendation that the Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS) do more to build a stronger culture across the Service.
In his report Recognition and Implementation of Obligations under the Human Rights Act 2004, Auditor-General, Michael Harris said JACS and the Community Services Directorate had taken steps to build a human rights culture through whole-of-Directorate strategic policies and documents, but there was room to do more.
Mr Harris said various policies and documents in each Directorate implicitly, and in some instances explicitly, recognised and articulated the importance of human rights to the activities of the Directorate.
“The quality and comprehensiveness of annual reporting on human rights by ACT Government Agencies are varied,” Mr Harris said.
“This results in difficulty in assessing what progress, if any, is being achieved by ACT Government Agencies in meeting their human rights obligations.
“The audit found that there is an opportunity for the Human Rights Unit, with the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, to improve its support for ACT Government Agencies.”
He said information and guidance material made available to Agencies through the JACS website was old and outdated.
“The audit found that the Justice and Community Safety Directorate and Community Services Directorate had implemented practices to support staff to comply with their obligations as public authorities under the Human Rights Act 2004, but these vary in their quality and comprehensiveness,” The Auditor-General said.
He made five recommendations, including that the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate, in consultation with JACS, amend the Annual Report Directions to specify minimum standards and formats for human rights activities and that it identify additional, meaningful information required to be reported.
The Auditor-General’s 87-page report can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Brett Stanton, Elizabeth Cusack, John Guilfoyle and Ajay Sharma.
