Gordon Inquiry

Background

Putting the picture together, Inquiry into Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities ( the Gordon Report ) made 197 recommendations.

In response to this report the State Government prepared Putting People First: The Western Australian State Government Action Plan for Addressing Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities ( the Action Plan ). The Action Plan outlined agency responses to the recommendations made in the Gordon Report. It found that many of the findings in the Gordon Report endorsed current directions and initiatives being pursued by agencies.

The State Government established the Senior Officers Gordon Implementation Group (SOGIG) to oversee and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan.

Gordon Secretariat

The Gordon Secretariat, under direction of the SOGIG, was tasked with establishing a set of initiatives resulting from the Action Plan. These actions were to be reported against by government agencies and monitored by the Gordon Secretariat.

SOGIG refined the 197 findings and recommendations of the Gordon Report and the agency responses provided in the Action Plan into 125 initiatives to be undertaken by agencies. This refinement from 197 recommendations to 125 initiatives resulted from a number of factors, including:

In some cases a single agency initiative responded to a number of Gordon Report recommendations (e.g. Initiative 5 “Expansion of Strong Families” responded to Gordon Report recommendations 32, 47, 127, 128 and 139);
The Action Plan response encompassed more than one recommendation (Report recommendation 144 and 145, Children’s Commissioner); and
Some Gordon Report recommendations had already been addressed and required no further action (e.g. Recommendation 85 regarding the Mission Statement of Juvenile Justice Services).

Status Report

The Secretariat monitors the progress of the 125 initiatives and has categorised them as integrated, completed, superseded or in progress.

As of May 2007, 71 initiatives (57%) have been completed or delivered and integrated into operations. A further 17 (14%) have been superseded by other initiatives or actions, and 37 initiatives (29%) are still in progress. Substantial achievements have occurred, including for those initiatives that are still in progress.

Some key initiatives include:

Child Protection

Twenty-eight additional Child Protection Workers have been created for employment across the State increasing the capacity to protect the interest of children and young people, respond to reports of child abuse, and undertake child protection assessments.

The Child Protection Unit services at Princess Margaret Hospital have been expanded, increasing the Unit’s capacity to provide medical, clinical and counselling services to children who are victims of child abuse.

A Child Interview Unit has been fully established strengthening the joint approach to child abuse investigations between the Western Australia Police Service (WAPOL) and the Department for Child Protection (DCP). Legislative amendments have also been enacted to enable courts to accept video interviews.

The Child Death Review Committee (CDRC) was established in December 2002 to consider individual cases and the Advisory Council on the Prevention of Deaths of Children and Young People was established to examine trends in child deaths and specific issues across the entire spectrum of child deaths in WA.

The protection of children has been significantly improved through the development of protocols to enable DCP, Department of Health (DOH) Communicable Diseases Control Directorate and WAPOL to share information on children with a sexually acquired sexually transmitted infection.

Policing

Multi-functional remote police facilities (MFPFs) are now fully operational at Warburton, Balgo, Kalumburu, Warakurna, Bidyadanga and Dampier Peninsula.
A multi-jurisdictional police facility is operational at Kintore in the Northern Territory on the Western Australian border.
Jigalong and Warmun are scheduled for completion in 2007.
The Commonwealth and State Governments have recently announced funding of a further three MFPFs to be built at Wingellina, Looma and Burringurrah.

Community Support

Fifteen skilled Aboriginal Support Workers have been employed to provide practical counselling and assistance to vulnerable Aboriginal children and youth.
The Strong Families Program has been expanded to 14 new locations statewide.
The Indigenous Family Program has been strengthened enabling closer links with the Strong Families Program.
Eight specialist Domestic Violence Police Officers (now called Family Protection Coordinators) have been placed in country police districts providing coordinated responses to family violence across the State.
Community based programs and community supervision agreements have been expanded to enhance the management of violent offenders.
Victim support services for adults and children have been extended to visiting outlying and remote communities.
Ninety-one grants of up to $15,000 each have been funded through the Indigenous Community Partnership Fund to facilitate the development of community solutions to issues identified in the Gordon Report.

Other key initiatives in progress

Sexual assault services have been expanded in five regional locations providing specific services to respond to the local needs of Aboriginal communities in the region.
Participating Aboriginal communities have been funded to develop and manage locally specific safety strategies including the identification and support of safe places and persons for Aboriginal children.
Place Management workers and strategies to promote and mediate safety and violence prevention strategies in Aboriginal communities are in place in several communities across the State.
The Commissioner for Children and Young People Act 2006 was assented to in October 2006. Action is now underway to progress the establishment of the Office of Commissioner for Children and Young People.

Gordon Evaluation

A three-phase program of evaluation of the outcomes of the initiatives is currently underway to examine the impact of the Gordon response.

The first phase is scheduled to be completed in August 2008. It will provide an assessment of the immediate impact of key initiatives in addressing family violence and child abuse. It will also establish the evaluation framework (key benchmarks and indicators) for Phases 2 and 3 of the evaluation.

The information collected in Phase 1 will help to ensure that the policy, program and service delivery requirements of the Action Plan remain appropriate and effective in the medium and longer terms.

The second phase, taking into account the recommendations of Phase 1, will continue to evaluate the implementation of the Action Plan to 30 June 2008.

The third phase will assess the success of the implementation of the Action Plan to 2012.

Gordon Inquiry Response Website