Commissioner over-reaches (again)

I don’t know what it is about the title “Commissioner”, but it’s not only the Police Commissioner causing headaches for the Government by running his own agenda in the media.

Enter Michelle Scott, the Commissioner for Children and Young People (CCYP).

The QBF has some history with Ms Scott, who when I was Chief of Staff (CoS) to the new Minister for Mental Health, decided to ‘inform’ the Minister that she was about to embark on a witch hunt, oops, inquiry called “Inquiry into the inadequacies of Western Australia’s mental health facilities for Children and Young People.”
Now, the role of CoS isn’t defined anywhere, but I always considered it my job to protect the reputation and capacity of Government and the Minister by whom I was employed.

Needless to say, Ms Scott and I had a number of robust discussion about the nuances in the title of her inquiry and while the final report was called something a little less emotive, the Commissioner was fiercely protective of her “Independent” status and made no bones about the fact that my vigorous encouragement for her to think about the fact that the Government at that time hadn’t event been able to find an office for its nation-leading Mental Health Commission was neither appropriate or effective.


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