Disappointed with NT Manditory Reporting Legislation

CRANAplus Pres­i­dent, Christo­pher Cliffe today said, ​“I’m gob­s­macked on hear­ing about this change to manda­to­ry report­ing in the NT. Of course we all want chil­dren pro­tect­ed and manda­to­ry report­ing has a role, but I can’t see how this is in the best inter­est of young peo­ple who are con­sen­su­al­ly sex­u­al­ly active”.

Remote Health is pro­vid­ed by pro­fes­sion­al, high­ly skilled, intu­itive and cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive Doc­tors, Mid­wives, Nurs­es and Indige­nous & Allied Health Work­ers who are more than capa­ble of bal­anc­ing the report­ing of sus­pect­ed abuse with the best inter­ests and well­be­ing of their clients.

“I think this could make the job of many health pro­fes­sion­als, who work with young peo­ple, even more dif­fi­cult. There is real poten­tial to jeop­ar­dise trust­ing rela­tion­ships and pre­vent the deliv­ery of harm min­imi­sa­tion strate­gies. It just feels like a reduc­tion in young people’s rights by a con­ser­v­a­tive, inflex­i­ble law that will have con­se­quences in Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ties.” said Mr Cliffe.

CRANAplus asks the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Gov­ern­ment to con­sult with its work­force and remote com­mu­ni­ties, then revis­it this recent change, and devel­op laws that are sen­si­tive to the unique needs and chal­lenges of remote health in the inter­ests of clos­ing the Gap.

Con­tact:

Christo­pher Cliffe Pres­i­dent CRANAplus 0427 826 409
Car­ole Tay­lor CEO CRANAplus 0429 649 226