What we do
Under various pieces of legislation, and operating independently of government, the Public Advocate has three main functions:
Advocate for Individuals Who Need Support
The Public Advocate will step in and advocate on behalf of individuals whose rights are at risk and who may not have others to advocate for them. This might include people with a disability or mental illness; or children and young people whose situation or condition makes them vulnerable to a breach or rights and/or to abuse, exploitation, or neglect.
Situations where we most commonly provide individual advocacy include:
- At Court or the ACAT (ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal), where decisions are made that significantly affect someone’s life or wellbeing (such as actions by Child and Youth Protection Services (CYPS), involuntary mental health treatment, etc.), and where they may need support to have their views and wishes heard, or to understand the decision.
- At a place of mandatory treatment or detention, such as a forensic mental healthcare facility (like Dhulwa), the Adult Mental Health Unit, or Bimberi Youth Detention Centre
We will listen to and investigate concerns from children and young people, people with disability, or those under mental health treatment orders, about services they are receiving for their protection or wellbeing. Where needed, we can then represent their views and wishes by advocating for changes in the way they are being treated and/or in the way decisions are being made for them.
We are not a legal service and cannot provide legal advice. If you need legal advice, you should contact your lawyer or Legal Aid ACT: www.legalaidact.org.au
Monitoring ACT Government and Other Services
Staff from the Public Advocate regularly visit residential mental healthcare facilities, including Dhulwa and mental health units at Canberra and Calvary Hospitals, to observe patient treatment and identify and respond to concerns that consumers or staff may have about the rights of consumers.
We also visit young people in Bimberi to check-in with them, observe their wellbeing and assist with any issues they may have about their treatment.
In addition to this, the law requires the ACT Government to send us documents relating to mental health orders, child and youth protection orders, and other matters. We review these documents to identify issues where a person’s rights might be at risk. Essentially, we monitor these organisations to ensure that their services and systems are doing what they are supposed to.
Making Changes for the Better
If we see a service or system consistently not supporting the rights of people, we will step in to recommend changes to that system or service. It might be because of a gap or fault in the law, an organisation’s practice, or gaps where multiple organisations might not be supporting individuals in the best way they can.
In this case, we will work with those organisations to make changes, increase our oversight of government institutions, recommend changes to government or to laws, or whatever action we think will work best.
Whatever role we play – for an individual or group or population – our objective is always the same: to ensure their human rights are respected, they receive the best possible support available, they are not neglected, and their views are heard and considered.
Each year, Public Advocate provides direct advocacy to hundreds of Canberrans, reviews over ten thousand compliance documents and visits mental health facilities and Bimberi Youth Justice Centre on a weekly or fortnightly basis. The Public Advocate also attends ACAT or Court multiple times each week to monitor proceedings or advocate on behalf of individuals.
For detailed information on our work and key statistics, please see the Public Advocate section in the latest Human Rights Commission Annual Report. This can be found here: Corporate documents - ACT Human Rights Commission