Child Safe Governance Review

On 3 July 2022, the Tasmanian Government announced the Child Safe Governance Review. 

The Review started in August 2022 and was about safeguarding children with a priority focus on how we were handling serious misconduct such as institutional child sexual abuse. 

The Governance Advisory Panel (GAP) was established and looked at resetting the organisational structure of the LGH and Human Resources and making important necessary changes. In December 2022, the GAP had completed the review and submitted a report to the Secretary, Department of Health.

View or download the Terms of Reference for the Governance Advisory Panel

Implementation status

We are committed to keeping the public up to date on how we are implementing the child safeguarding initiatives. This includes the recommendations from the Independent Child Safe Governance Review of the LGH and HR, and the recommendations from the LGH Community Recovery Initiative.

This checklist is updated by the Department to include other related initiatives and as recommendations are completed.

View or download the Implementation status – Recommendations checklist

Previous updates on implementing Child Safe Governance Review recommendations:

• Update 3 - Secretary, Department of Health
• Update 2 - Secretary, Department of Health
• Update 1 - Premier of Tasmania

Independent Report from the Co-Chairs for the Child Safe Governance Review into the Launceston General Hospital and Human Resources

On 9 December 2022, the Co-Chairs of the Governance Advisory Panel submitted their report into the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) and Human Resources to the Secretary of the Department of Health.

The Child Safe Governance Review - Governance Advisory Panel undertook an extensive review of child safety and governance in the Launceston General Hospital and Human Resources.

The Report from the Co-Chairs contains 92 recommendations (including the 7 Interim Recommendations that were accepted by the Tasmanian Government in September 2022).

View the Independent Report from the Co-Chairs for the Child Safe Governance Review of the Launceston General Hospital and Human Resources

In September 2022, the Panel delivered to the Secretary a series of interim recommendations on the executive leadership of the Launceston General Hospital and other matters relating to child safety.

View the Interim Recommendations of the Child Safe Governance Review – Governance Advisory Panel to the Secretary, Department of Health

Governance Advisory Panel membership

Read the announcement from the Premier and the Secretary

The Governance Advisory Panel included independent experts with qualifications in governance, child safety, hospital administration and human resources management. 

The Expert Panel Members have provided a short biography of their skills and experience as they relate to their role on the Governance Advisory Panel.

Read the Expert Panel Member’s Biographies

Union Representatives and representatives from the Department of Health also participated on the Governance Advisory Panel.

The Premier announced the full membership of the Governance Advisory Panel in a Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 16 August 2022.

Read the Ministerial Statement from the Premier

Lived Experience: Expert Reference Group

It was also vitally important that victim-survivors were provided with an opportunity to participate in the Review.

Victim-survivors were invited to contribute to the work of the Governance Advisory Panel and review the recommendations before they were finalised.

Governance Advisory Panel Meetings

The Child Safe Governance Review Governance Advisory Panel (the Panel) met for the last time on Tuesday, 29 November 2022.

The Co-Chairs of the Governance Advisory Panel have released an update summarising the discussions and outcomes of the meeting.

• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 29 November 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 15 November 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 8 November 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 1 November 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 18 October 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 4 October 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 20 September 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 6 September 2022
• Read the Communique from the Co-Chairs - 23 August 2022

The meeting held on Tuesday, 29 November 2022 was the last meeting of the Panel. The observations, findings and recommendations of the Panel were then collated into a report which was submitted to the Secretary of the Department of Health on Friday, 9 December 2022 for consideration.

On Wednesday, 14 December 2022, the Tasmanian Government announced that the Report and all 92 recommendations had been accepted and will be implemented in full.