Rose, Alan --- "Comment" [1998] ALRCRefJl 17; (1998) 73 Australian Law Reform Commission Reform Journal 1

---

Reform Issue 73 Spring 1998

This article appeared on page 1 of the original journal.

Comment

It is now almost a year since Seen and heard: priority for children in the legal process, a joint report by the ALRC and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, was tabled in federal parliament.

Implementation of the report’s recommendations requires co-operative federal and state political action, as responsibility for children’s services is divided between both levels of governments. Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams has indicated that Seen and heard will be given “high priority” and relevant portfolio ministers and Attorneys-General of the States and Territories are also giving it their consideration.

Significantly, Seen and heard reflects the very high degree of commitment that those professionals dealing with children now have to the notion of young people having a right to be heard.

Australian society has come a long way from the position of just a few years ago, when the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC) was derided as the threat to family life and as attributing an inappropriate range of rights and responsibilities to children.

The change in the discourse was very evident in the recent report of federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. In the Executive Summary to its 17th report, the Committee acknowledges the continuing confusion and concern about some aspects of the CROC. But the majority, with only three of the 16 members disagreeing, considered that to denounce the Convention would do significant harm. The Committee made a series of welcome recommendations, many of which reflect those in Seen and heard. The ALRC particularly supports the Committee’s recommendations to establish an Office for Children in the Prime Minister’s portfolio.

The outcome of the work of this multi-party Committee represents a new consensus on children’s rights. While one cannot be entirely confident that the many significant, amply documented problems facing young people will be addressed and resolved in the immediate future, the ALRC is optimistic and takes heart from the emerging working consensus that the starting point is children indeed ought to be seen and heard.