I am pleased to announce that Mr Richard Connock has been appointed to the position of the Tasmanian National Preventive Mechanism pursuant to the OPCAT Implementation Act 2021.
The legislation follows Australia’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), which required each state to nominate a body or bodies to fulfil the role of a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).
The Tasmanian NPM will monitor Tasmanian custodial facilities and other places of detention, and has been established under standalone legislation.
This important step, along with the passage of this legislation last year, means we are the first state or territory to pass a comprehensive OPCAT statutory framework and demonstrates our Government’s strong stance on ensuring thorough oversight of places of detention in Tasmania.
Mr Connock has a Bachelor of Laws degree from Monash University. He worked as a solicitor, and later barrister, between 1982 and 2000. He was Director of the Office of the Ombudsman from 2007 until his appointment as Ombudsman in 2015.
He is currently appointed as the Tasmanian Ombudsman, Health Complaints Commissioner, Custodial Inspector, Principal Official Visitor and Coordinator of the Official Visitors Scheme.
It is commonplace in other jurisdictions for Ombudsman-type institutions to be nominated as National Preventive Mechanism.
Mr Connock’s appointment is for a period of two years to coincide with his current appointment as Ombudsman.