About

Meet the Implementation Monitor

The Child Safety Reform Implementation Monitor acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land and pays respects to Elders past and present.

Robert Benjamin AM KC is the inaugural Implementation Monitor (the Monitor). He is fiercely independent and has been appointed to the role for a period of five years.

In this statutory role, Robert will monitor, review, evaluate and report on the implementation and effectiveness of recommendations made by the:

• Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017)  (*accepted recommendations not yet implemented)
• Independent Inquiry into the Department of Education’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2021)
• Child Safe Governance review of the Launceston General Hospital and Human Resources (2022)
• Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings (2023)
• Weiss Independent Review into Paul Reynolds (2024)
• other recommendations that are referred to the Monitor that relate to child safety and wellbeing in institutions operated by or on behalf of the State.

Robert provides leadership and oversight to ensure the protection of all children from the scourge of sexual abuse. For those children who have suffered abuse, Robert wants to make sure they are cared for and protected from ongoing risks of abuse. He also wants to ensure their stories are genuinely heard and that lessons are learnt from their experiences.

'Through my reports I will raise awareness, champion education and public engagement by Government, to deliver improved children’s safety outcomes.' - Robert Benjamin AM SC

Robert has a long history of taking care of children through the law, and draws on experience from a number of positions including:

• Commissioner for the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's Reponses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings.
• Justice of the Family Court of Australia
• Presidential Member of the AAT
• President of the NSW Law Society
• Chair of the College of Law.

In 2015, Robert was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for Significant service to the judiciary and to the law, to legal education, mediation and arbitration, and to professional standards.

What is the role of the Implementation Monitor?

The Child Safety Reform Implementation Monitor (the Monitor) is a new independent statutory role. It was established under Section 5 of the Child Safety Reform Implementation Monitor Act 2024.

The Monitor is responsible for monitoring and reviewing how the Tasmanian Government and its agencies deliver child safety reforms. The Monitor will be supported by a small team to independently monitor, oversee, evaluate and report on the Government's implementation recommendations.

The Monitor will report to Parliament each year on the progress of the child safety reform recommendations. This report will include independent evaluation of how effective the measures and actions taken have been, especially around safety of children and young people in government and government-funded institutions.

To track the implementation of the Government’s Child Safety Reform Agenda, the Monitor will engage with:

• government agencies and parliamentarians, including Ministers
• community sector organisations
• children and young people
• advocates for child safety
• people with lived experience of child sexual abuse (victim-survivors)
• Aboriginal organisations and service providers
• other oversight bodies related to child safety

Statutory Information