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You are here: Home / Government Sites Plans & Activities / Human Services Plans / HSMAC NGO Report Back - 16th August 2007 / Redfern Legal Centre Memorandum on Ministerial powers on MAC appointments

Redfern Legal Centre Memorandum on Ministerial powers on MAC appointments

This Memorandum was circulated by Helen Campbell on 16th August 2007 to a meeting of community services. The memorandum deals with the Minister's powers to appoint to the RWA Ministerial Advisory Committees.

MEMORANDUM

To: Helen Campbell From: Jessica Borg Date: 3 August 2007

My task was to attempt to find a method of forcing the Minister to explain his reasons for changing the advisory committee members and making him publicly accountable for his conduct.

Unfortunately, under section 12 of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority Act 2004, there is no obligation on the Minister to provide reasons for the appointment or termination of committee members. In fact, the only obligation imposed on the Minister in relation to committee members is to ensure that at least 2 representatives of the Aboriginal community of the Redfern-Waterloo area are appointed as committee members.

An extensive examination of case law (including, in particular, case law related to comparable legislation relating to the creation of advisory committees) failed to find any method of forcing the Minister to provide reasons for his decision.

One possible alternative is to rely on section 49 of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997, which stipulates that an administrator who makes a reviewable decision must give reasons for the decision upon written request by an interested person. However, it is unclear whether section 49 applies to the Minister's conduct regarding committee appointments and terminations.

Aside from the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997, there does not appear to be any other legislation which would of use in this matter.