Annual report 2009-2010, NT Child Deaths Review and Prevention Committee
NT Child Deaths Review and Prevention Committee annual report 2009-2010
Office of the Children's Commissioner Northern Territory
E-Publications; PublicationNT; E-Books; The Children's Commissioner Northern Territory annual report; Annual reports
2010
Date:2010; Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
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Children, Aboriginal Australian; Northern Territory; Periodicals; Death; Causes; Statistics; Periodicals; Children and death; Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
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The Children's Commissioner Northern Territory annual report; Annual reports
2009-2010
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Northern Territory Government
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/236802
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/640686
Page 16 resulting report must also be presented to the Minister. The Minister is required to table the Committees Annual Report and research report/s in the Legislative Assembly. Structure and Membership of the Committee The secretariat functions of the Committee are provided by the Office of the Childrens Commissioner. When the Childrens Commissioner, Dr Howard Bath, was appointed in late June 2008, the Minister for Child Protection, the Honourable Malarndirri McCarthy MLA, determined that he also would be appointed as Convenor of the Committee. In accordance with the requirements of the Act, membership of the Committee reflects a multi-disciplinary approach to promoting the well-being of children in the NT, and comprised as at 30 June 2010, 13 senior representatives from government and independent agencies with expertise in the areas of health care (hospital and community based care, including representation from the urban and remote centres of the NT), child development and child protection, education, police, epidemiology and research. The Act requires that at least two members of the Committee be Aboriginal persons, that a Deputy Coroner is to be a member of the Committee and it provides for the appointment of both a Convenor and a Deputy Convenor. The Committee meets these legislative requirements. The appointment of a new Deputy Convenor has taken place this reporting year with Ms Kathryn Ganley assuming that role. Membership of the Committee is by Ministerial appointment, for a period of up to two years. The appointment of the original Committee members commenced as of 2 February 2009. Subsequent members have all been appointed for two year terms. In the Committees inaugural year there was only one resignation from the Committee. However, this reporting year the Committee has experienced a greater membership turnover. In total six appointees are no longer members of the Committee mainly due to taking on other commitments interstate. This, however unfortunate, was unavoidable and is known to occur in the Northern Territory because of the transient nature of the population. Vacated memberships have been either filled by new members or are in the process of being filled. Activities of the Committee Statutory Requirements The Committee is required by the Act to conduct at least three meetings a year. The Committee held its first meeting for this reporting year on 18 August 2009 however, it was only informal in nature. A teleconference meeting was held on 4 September 2009. A further two in-person meetings were held on 30 March 2010 and 8 June 2010. By conducting three formal meetings this reporting year, the Committee has fulfilled its statutory requirements under the Act. Continued Development of the Child Deaths Register One of the main statutory functions of the Committee is the development of a Child Deaths Register, which is a database that will contain information relating to child deaths. This may include information relating to children who have died, as well as the immediate causes and background factors that may have contributed to their deaths. The Committee has been undertaking continual work and made progress in relation to the structure that the Child Deaths Register should take. The Committee has engaged the services of an IT consultant to draft the specifications for the database that is going to be used as the Child Deaths Register. Chapter 2 of this Report outlines in detail some of the