Community Engagement

Community engagement is an important part of the Tasmanian NPM and Custodial Inspector’s work. It includes educating people about torture prevention and human rights, sharing ourcomes and learnings arising from Office activities, and receiving feedback and information from people that may help with future work.

The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture recommends that NPM bodies develop processes that will help them to proactively engage with the community. Accordingly, many NPM bodies around the world have adopted models that embed civil society participation as part of their governance structure.

In Tasmania, the Tasmanian NPM and Custodial Inspector has established a Civil Society Advisory Council, with the aim of enabling community engagement in office strategic decision-making, and to obtain direct feedback in relation to its activities and reporting. This recognises the importance of proactive, continuous civil society engagement in the delivery of its functions.

Advisory Council Structure

The Advisory Council consists of seven members, who serve for a term of two years. Members are sourced from a public expression interest process, and priority is given to those with expertise in areas that are essential to our work:

Children and young people;

People with disability;

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

Health and social services;

Lived experience of deprivation of liberty;

Custodial settings; and

Human rights law.

Advisory Council members are appointed as individuals, they do not represent a particular organisation.

Current Advisory Council members are: Maggie Blanden, Anthony Bull, Monique Hurley, Heidi La Paglia Reid, Jacob Smith, Tash Smyth and Peter Williams.

Governance and Communiques

The Advisory Council is established under a Council Charter and meet three times per year. The Tasmanian NPM and Custodial Inspector prepares a communiqué after each Advisory Council Meeting, summarising matters discussed.

Civil Society Advisory Council Charter

Advisory Council Communiqué – 21 June 2024

Expressions of Interest

Vacancies for the Civil Society Advisory Council will be widely advertised and interested people will be invited to apply and participate in the selection process.

Expressions of Interest for the next two-year Advisory Council term will open in the first half of 2026.

Enquiries and feedback

If you have an enquiry or wish to give feedback to the Tasmanian NPM and Custodial Inspector, please use the form below or email enquiries@npm.tas.gov.au.

You may also like to visit the following pages:

Frequently Asked Questions