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Human Rights Commission Act 2005
18President’s functions
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18 President’s functions
(1) The president has the following functions:
(a) managing the administration of the commission;
(b) the efficient and effective financial management of the
commission’s resources;
(c) ensuring the commission’s functions are exercised in an orderly
and prompt way;
(d) developing a governance and corporate support protocol in
accordance with section 18A;
(e) developing a client service charter in accordance with
section 18B;
(f) developing an operations protocol in accordance with
section 18C;
(g) ensuring, as far as practicable, the commission’s functions are
exercised in a way that takes into account, and is consistent with,
the governance and corporate support protocol, the client service
charter and the operations protocol;
(h) reporting, or coordinating reporting, on behalf of the
commission in accordance with subsection (2);
(i) promoting community discussion, and providing community
education and information, about—
(i) this Act and related Acts; and
(ii) the operation of the commission; and
(iii) the procedures for making complaints;
(j) advising the Minister about any matter in relation to this Act or
a related Act;
(k) collecting information about the operation of this Act and
related Acts, and publishing the information;
(l) dealing with complaints about the operation of the commission
(but not a complaint about a decision of a commissioner in
relation to a complaint made under division 4.1);
(m) if the president considers that a commissioner has a real or
perceived conflict of interest in relation to a complaint—
considering the complaint or allocating responsibility for
consideration of the complaint to another commissioner;
(n) any other function given to the president under this Act or
another territory law.
(2) The president—
(a) must for each inquiry and review mentioned in section 14 (1)
(d)—
(i) report, in writing, to the Minister and other appropriate
entities about the inquiry or review; and
(ii) advise the Minister and other appropriate entities about
those matters; and
(b) is responsible for giving reports (other than a health practitioner
report) under the following sections on behalf of the
commission:
(i) section 17 (Minister’s directions);
(ii) section 83 (Third-party reports);
(iii) section 84 (Commission-initiated reports);
(iv) section 87 (Reporting to Minister); and
(c) may report, in writing, to the Minister on the following systemic
matters:
(i) a matter of public importance relating to the commission,
including how the commission handles complaints under
the Act;
(ii) a matter affecting the system—
(A) for the protection of the rights of users of prescribed
services (or a class of user) as a whole, rather than a
matter affecting an individual alone; and
(B) for the provision of prescribed services (or a class of
prescribed services) as a whole, rather than a matter
affecting an individual alone.
(3) The president may exercise any function given to any other
commissioner under this Act or another territory law.
(4) To remove any doubt, the Minister may, but need not, present advice
mentioned in subsection (2) (a) to the Legislative Assembly.
Note A report under s 87 must be presented to the Legislative Assembly.
health practitioner report means—
(a) a notification under the Health Practitioner Regulation National
Law (ACT), section 150 (2); or
(b) a report under that Law, section 150 (5A).