OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC
ADVOCATE — OMBUDSMAN'S REPORT
508. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to the investigation into
delays by the Office of the Public Advocate in notifying families about the
death of loved ones and the Ombudsman's final report tabled on 8 July
2021.
(1) On what date
did the Office of the Public Advocate receive the preliminary report referred
to in section 4.4 of the final report?
(2) Did the OPA respond to the
preliminary report?
(3) If yes to (2), on what date?
(4) Is the
government considering enshrining a statutory duty on the OPA to inform
families after a death?
Hon
MATTHEW SWINBOURN replied:
I
thank the member for some notice of the question. I provide the following
response on behalf of the Attorney General.
(1) On 17 June 202l.
(2) Yes.
(3) On 22 and 23 June 2021.
(4) Recommendation
2 of the report was that the Office of the Public Advocate should see it as part
of its role to contact family following the death of a represented person. The
OPA has accepted all of the Ombudsman's recommendations and, in
response to the report, introduced a new practice standard from 11 March 2021,
which outlines the actions on-call delegated guardians and delegated guardians
must take to notify family of the death of a represented person. As such, the
government is not presently considering legislating this duty.