Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, , 3:20:00 to 3:25:55
Officials discuss targeted stakeholder engagement regarding the design of the escalation pathway and the development of draft rules.
Topics: Social services, Law reform
Speakers: Mr Robert Day, Senator The Hon Anne Ruston, Senator The Hon Jenny McAllister, Mr Blair Comley, Unknown Speaker
As people iterated through different approaches to how you could do a human override.
So who's when you say people, people within the department?
Well, I think we've already given evidence there were people in the department, there were people in the Minister and Minister's offices and there were external stakeholders who take views.
So can I go to that then? Recommendation four says any amendments to the act should be preceded by meaningful public consultation. Was there any public consultation in on the escalation pathway amendments before they were tabled?
Senator, um there was a I would just probably describe it as targeted consultation, uh, which informed both the rapid review as well as the design of the escalation pathway.
Who was that? And don't worry about the rapid review, I'm just asking about the escalation pathway. Um so that targeted consultation was with whom?
Um I don't know if Miss Levitus has got that list in front of her.
I do thanks, Mr. Day. Uh Naomi Levithas for uh strategy quality and safety division. Um the list for of the targeted stakeholders for the rapid review.
No, no, no, no. Oh, yeah. The um the escalation pathway, please. And only the escalation pathway.
So I've got it if I've got it.
Sorry, Rob.
Um so we had workshops, and as I say, I know I know you're interested in the escalation pathway. Often these workshops to both purposes.
Only the escalation pathway. Please do not confuse the two.
So I guess to be to be clear in my evidence, Senator, we had these workshops. At the start of the workshops, we explained to the stakeholders that the government had commissioned a rapid review in the priority algorithm, but had also announced an intention to develop an escalation pathway and that we would use the conversation to inform both of those pieces of work. Um in that series of conversations, uh, we met with the council on the ageing and the older person's advocacy network. Uh we met with staff from the uh age care quality and safety commission.
That's one of yours, though, isn't it?
Um it's a government.
Yeah, yeah. I it the the thing, my question was specifically around the umbudsman's recommendation about meaningful public consultation about changes to the act or the rules.
So uh continuing that list, um, we met with members of the age care advisory council, um, representatives of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, um, representatives of the single assessment improvement working groups, that's assessment organisations, both state and territory government and non-government organisations. Uh we had a separate conversation with Aboriginal and Triestrade Islander assessment organisations. Um we met with the Council of Elders and with Aging Australia.
Okay, and were all of these people provided um copies of the rules that related to the escalation pathway?
Um at the point at time we were doing these targeted consultations we didn't have draft rules.
Did you provide did you do any targeted public consultations in relation to changes to the rules that would facilitate this change?
Um The Department didn't directly. Um I did have conversations with some stakeholder organisations who had seen drafts of the rules and had questions about them.
So how did they see them?
Um I understand that they've been shared through the Minister's Office.
And were they told that they were not to share them with anybody else?
I wasn't paid for those conversations.
Senator, it's not unusual for ministers to consult with stakeholders.
No, I don't think I said that it was. I'm just asking whether the rules that were apparently provided to you do we know who the rules were provided to?
Um I I wouldn't want to speak for the Minister or the Minister's Office in terms of who they spoke to. Um that probably would be going too far.
Okay. So in your response you talk about supported by targeted stakeholder engagement and balancing the need for consultation with legislative time frames. Um we appear to not really know who they were. So do you believe on that basis the department has met the standard of recommendation for for the escalation pathway in providing meaningful public consultation?
So I think we undertook genuine consultation in the period between the minister's announcement and providing the legislation being tabled in Parliament. Um as you noted, Senator, there was also a Senate inquiry into that legislation and government made it clear that it would consider that that report as part of its consultation as well.
Also in the FOI documents that were received in relation to this matter.