Public Advocate
Broadly, the role of the Public Advocate is systemic advocacy which promotes and protects the rights and interests of adults with impaired decision-making capacity.
The functions include:
- promoting and protecting the rights of adults with impaired decision-making capacity
- promoting the protection of the adults from neglect, exploitation or abuse
- encouraging the development of programs that foster and maximise the adult's autonomy
- promoting service and facility provision for the adults
- monitoring and reviewing service and facility delivery to the adults.
An adult has capacity for a matter when they are capable of:
- understanding the nature and effect of decisions about the matter, and
- freely and voluntarily making decisions about the matter; and
- communicating the decisions in some way.
Adults with impaired capacity may include adults with a mental illness, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury or dementia.
The work of the Public Advocate is aimed at protecting rights and interests of groups of adults with impaired decision-making capacity through systemic advocacy, not through taking action for individual adults.
The Public Advocate seeks to identify issues in the systems that impact on adults, and works towards influencing appropriate change. Those systems include policy, service and legislative systems across the government and non-government sectors. Systemic advocacy may be conducted through a variety of advocacy strategies including discussions, correspondence, committee representation, submissions, discussion and issues papers, forums and conferences.
The Public Advocate may do all things necessary and convenient for the performance of her functions and may, with leave, intervene in a proceeding involving the protection of the rights or interests of the adults in a court, tribunal, or official inquiry.
An annual report is prepared by the Public Advocate for each financial year and the report is tabled in the Queensland Parliament.
The Public Advocate is an independent statutory officer whose position was established under the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000. This means that the position is independent of government.
The current Public Advocate, Michelle Howard, was appointed on 1 February 2006.
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