Family Responsibilities Commission

The Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC) began operation on 1 July 2008 as a key component of the Cape York Welfare Reform (CYWR) objective of restoring social norms in Indigenous communities. The FRC will cease operations on 1 January 2013. The 4 Cape York communities within the FRC's jurisdiction are:

  • Aurukun
  • Coen
  • Hope Vale
  • Mossman Gorge

The FRC is an initiative of the partnership between:

  • the 4 Cape York Indigenous communities
  • Queensland Government
  • Australian Government and
  • Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership

The FRC applies to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members who are welfare recipients who reside or have lived in one of the 4 CYWR trial communities for 3 months since 1 July 2008.

The FRC will be notified if:

  • a person's child is absent from school 3 times in a school term, without reasonable excuse
  • a person has a child of school age who is not enrolled in school without lawful excuse
  • a person is the subject of a child safety report
  • a person is convicted of an offence in the Magistrates Court or
  • a person breaches his or her tenancy agreement - for example, by using the premises for an illegal purpose, causing a nuisance or failing to remedy rent arrears

The FRC has appointed local commissioners who are respected community Elders, thereby rebuilding local authority. There are 24 Local Commissioners across the 4 CYWR communities.

When the FRC holds a conference in the community 3 representatives sit on the panel - the Commissioner and 2 Local Commissioners. Under amendments to the Family Responsibilities Ccommission Act passed in October 2010, 3 Local Commissioners can hold a conference in certain circumstances. Since November 2008 conferences have been chaired by 1 of the Local Commissioners.

Local Commissioners help assess each case individually and conduct proceedings with people in both English and local languages - Wik at Aurukun, Ampithamu at Coen, Kuku Yimithirr at Hope Vale and Kuku Yalanji at Mossman Gorge.

Quarterly reports

Quarterly Report No. 13. 2011 (PDF, 1.3 MB) Quarterly Report No. 13. 2011 (RTF, 1.3 MB)

In October 2011, the Honourable Curtis Pitt, Minister for Disabilities, Mental Health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, tabled the FRC 12th Quarterly Report in Parliament. The report covers the period from April - June 2011. 

For the quarter the FRC received a total of 925 agency notifications of which 599, or 65%, were within the FRC’s jurisdiction. Of the 677 notifications that were within jurisdiction, there were:

  • 347 School Attendance notifications
  • 185 Magistrates Courts notifications
  • 61 Child Safety notifications
  • 6 Housing Tenancy notifications 

The report states that work has progressed on the FRC’s intensive case management system and services are working intensively with FRC clients with multiple notifications and complex issues, including families with persistent non-attendance of students at school. This quarter, 16 clients were referred to Queensland Corrective Services’ Ending Family Violence Program, 37 to the wellbeing centres and 23 to parenting support programs.

One of the most exciting outcomes of this third year is that the Commission has begun to hold conferences led by the Local Commissioners. This is a great achievement and shows great progress towards the goals of welfare reform. Increases in school attendance continue to be evident across the 4 communities. This continues a significant increase since welfare reform began in 2008.  

Previous quarterly reports

Family Responsibilities Commission Annual Report 2010-11

In November 2011 the Honourable Curtis Pitt, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Local Government, tabled in Parliament the Family Responsibilities Commission Annual Report 2010-2011. The Annual Report provides details on the operations of the Commission over the past financial year, including statistics, financial details and case studies.

The financial statement section of the report is currently only available as a PDF document. If you need an accessible version of this document please email us at askatsip@communities.qld.gov.au. 

Previous annual report

Implementation Review of the Family Responsibilities Commission

This report focuses solely on the findings from the Implementation Review of the Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC) (review). This review has considered the implementation and operation of the FRC in the first 18 months of its 3.5-year term. The report highlights the progress made and recommends changes where these could help to improve the effectiveness of the FRC for the remainder of its term. It also documents what is happening in the communities of Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge and considers this in light of what was expected for the Cape York Welfare Reform overall.