HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-08 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Resolutions

OMBUDSMAN

Consideration of the Legislative Council’s resolution:

That a recommendation be made to His Excellency the Governor to appoint Mr Richard Bingham to the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (16:35): I move:

That the resolution be agreed to.

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen) (16:35): I would like to second the motion, and if I may be so bold, I would like to add a few words of comment on the motion in seconding it. The process is that both houses of parliament have to approve this. We received the message yesterday about the appointment of Mr Bingham, who is coming to us from Tasmania. Indeed, he was the person recommended by a committee, and we met as the Statutory Officers Committee yesterday with Mr Bingham.

I think it would be fair to say that we were quite impressed with him, and certainly, when one reads his CV, it would also be fair to say that I wonder that a person of about my age could have achieved so much. I suspect that he has not slept in his lifetime. I will take you through a little of it. Mr Bingham, as I said, comes to us from Tasmania and he will come up to his 54th birthday fairly shortly. Having been educated at Hutchins School, he then attended the University of Tasmania, where he graduated with his law degree in 1976.

I will not take the time of the house to go through his very extensive CV, suffice to say that he is currently the chair of the Tasmanian Electoral Commission and, in terms of his previous work, for instance, for 10 years he was the secretary of the Department of Justice in Tasmania. He was a consultant on a range of issues. He was the acting ombudsman and acting health complaints commissioner and, indeed, he explained to us yesterday that as ombudsman he had responsibility (I think) for an industrial area, plus the police complaints, plus the health area, plus the normal ombudsman's duties. So, four jurisdictions within one in that capacity. He held that position from November 2005 to July 2006.

In terms of the other things that he currently has that he has to give up, as well as being the chair of the Electoral Commission in Tasmania, he is the independent assessor appointed by that state for the abuse of children in state care assessment process. That is, they have had a similar finding to us that children in state care have been abused and he is the person to oversee the third phase of their reparation scheme for people who have been shown to be abused.

He is the chair of the Standards Panel for the Local Government Association of Tasmania. He is the chair of the Heavy Truck Safety Advisory Council; the chair of the Board of Directors of the Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies; the chair of the Professional Review Tribunal of the Nursing Board of Tasmania; a director of General Practice Limited in Tasmania, which administers commonwealth government programs and health services and seeks to enhance the role of general practice; and a director of the Eskleigh Foundation, which is a not-for-profit body which runs a residential home, several group homes and attendant care services for people with disabilities.

It will be obvious from those few words that this is a man of exceptional ability and enterprise, who will come to this state with a set of fresh eyes but with, we believe, a fundamental, sound background which will equip him appropriately. I might say that it was an exceptional field of candidates from which this person has been chosen. In doing so, I endorse the Statutory Officers Committee (of which I have just recently become a member) and welcome the appointment of Mr Richard Bingham as the new Ombudsman for this state.

Motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT