1. In light of the recommendations adopted in the Declaration and Plan of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights, has the Government considered studying the possibility of reviewing its reservation to the Convention with a view to its withdrawal?

2. What is the status of the Convention vis-à-vis constitutional or other national law? With regard to information provided in paras. 6-7 of the report and 169 and 175 of the Core Document, please further explain if national law has been reviewed in the light of the principles and provisions of the Convention. Has it been necessary to amend legislation for the implementation of the Convention and, if so, in what areas? Finally, please provide information on any new legal codes (or amendments to previous laws) which have been adopted in the spirit of the Convention.

3. With regard to information provided in paras. 84-87 of the report, please further indicate the specific national mechanism in place to coordinate all existing policies and programmes for the implementation of the Convention at the Federal, State and Territory levels.

4. In view of the apparent absence of a national and integrated strategy to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, please indicate the effectiveness of present institutional arrangements to promote the rights of the child and monitor implementation of the Convention. Does any plan exist to establish at Federal level an independent institution, such as an ombudsperson for children?

5. With regard to statistical data and other indicators on the status of children referred to in the State party report, please provide, when available, up-dated information.

6. Please provide more details about the process of preparing the report, in particular the extent to which the non-governmental organizations were involved. With regard to information provided in para. 10 of the report, please provide recent information on the work undertaken by the Forum for non-governmental organizations.

7. Please provide further details of the policy in place in relation to the implementation of article 4 of the Convention with regard to the allocation "to the maximum extent of (...) available resources" for the rights of the child. In this connection, please provide clarification as to the mechanisms which exist to ensure that Federal, States and Territories Governments are guided by this principle in their policy decision making.

8. Please indicate the measures adopted to publicize the Convention, its principles and provisions among the adult population, including professional groups, and among children, and the active appropriate means used to do so. Please also specify the concrete measures taken or foreseen to make the report widely available to the public at large in the light of article 44 para. 6 of the Convention.

9. With regard to information provided in paras. 150 and 1393 of the report and in the light of art. 40, para. 3 (a) of the Convention, please indicate whether the Federal, States and Territories Governments are envisaging to raise the age for criminal responsibility.

10. Have any procedures been established to monitor tendencies of discrimination against children on the basis of ethnic origin or any other grounds?

11. With regard to information provided in paras. 178-9 of the report, please give up-dated information on the work of the Age Discrimination Task Force.

12. Please provide further specification on the measures taken by the authorities to make reality of the principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child and the respect for the views of the child (arts. 2, 3 and 12). How have these principles affected the legislation, the judicial process, the situation at schools and institutions for children as well as in the home? In particular, please indicate whether there has been at Federal or at State and Territory level an evaluation of the manner in which the principle of the best interests of the child.

13. What concrete measures have been taken by the authorities, both at Federal and State and Territory levels, to further sensitize public opinion to the need to encourage children's participatory rights?

14. With regard to information provided in paras. 287-9 of the report, please explain the compatibility between the principles and the provisions of the Convention, especially its articles 3 and 8, and the possibility for a child to loose his/her citizenship if the parents loose theirs.

15. Please provide further information on the measures being taken to ascertain that stateless refugee children are granted their right to a nationality.

16. In the light of the recognition of the right to privacy (article 16 of the Convention), please explain how the legislative protection of this right is ensured, in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

17. Have any cases been reported of children who have been victims of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment? If so, please provide information on such cases.

18. With regard to information provided in para. 407 of the report, please give clarification concerning the compatibility between the principles and provisions of the Convention, especially its article 19, and the fact that legislation apparently permits children to be physically disciplined in independent schools in all States. Please also specify which States or Territories permit corporal punishment in Government schools.

19. Has any recent evaluation been undertaken of the impact of parental guidance and counseling programmes? Do these programmes reach the parents most in need of such advice?

20. With regard to information provided in para. 470 of the report, please give further explanation on the reason why "the majority of women employed in the private sector do not have access to paid maternity leave".

21. With reference to information provided in para. 600 of the report, please indicate what measures the Federal authorities have taken to supervise intercountry adoption which is primarily a State and Territory responsibility. In its report (para. 598), the Government expressed its willingness to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. Please indicate whether a specific timeframe has been envisaged for this purpose.

22. Please specify the existing mechanisms and procedures in place to monitor the situation of children placed in alternative care. Can children lodge complaints of abuse and neglect? Please also further provide information on the guarantees in place to ensure the periodic review of placement of children placed in alternative care.

23. Please indicate whether information and awareness-raising campaigns have been developed to prevent situations of ill-treatment, abuse and neglect, and domestic violence within the family. Has the Government undertaken any evaluation of the effectiveness of measures taken to protect the child from ill-treatment, abuse and neglect, and domestic violence?

24. Please provide available data on the occurrence of ill-treatment of children, including in the family. Are there complaints procedures which can be used by children themselves against such abuses? Have any cases of ill-treatment of children been submitted to the national courts? What recent results has the National Child Protection Council reached?

25. In the light of article 39 of the Convention, please give further information of the measures taken to ensure the rehabilitation of children who have been victims of ill-treatment, abuse and neglect, and domestic violence.

26. With regard to information provided in paras. 719, 826 and 849-862 of the report, please explain if any study has been undertaken or is envisaged by the authorities to evaluate the success of existing health programmes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

27. With regard to information provided in para. 769 of the report, please give additional information on the Child Disability Allowance. Which families are entitled to this allowance? How many families receive this type of assistance each year? Does this assistance cover all different types of disabilities? What are the minimum and maximum amounts a family may receive per year? What is the success of this allowance which seeks to encourage family rather than institutional care?

28. In the light of information provided in paras. 880 and 884 of the report, please provide additional and recent information on the measures taken or envisaged to reduce the suicide rate among young people. Has the research announced in para. 800 been finalized ? If not, when is it expected to be so?

29. With regard to information provided in para. 848 of the report, please provide additional information on the mobile health services. How does it precisely function? How many children are covered per year through this system? What type of services does it offer? Do the mobile health services cover all the States and Territories of the country?

30. In the light of information provided in para. 879 of the report, please specify how the Federal Government is encouraging States and Territories that have not yet enacted specific legislation to ban female genital mutilation. With reference to the education programme designed to prevent female genital mutilation (para. 878), please specify how it is being implemented by the States and Territories authorities and what the first results are.

31. Please provide further statistical figures on the Federal State expenditure related to the budget education and specify the major items in this budget. Please also specify the percentage of the expenditure related to education in the overall national budget. Have there been any budget cuts since the beginning of the 1990s in the area of education and, if so, what safety nets have been designed to protect the most vulnerable children?

32. Please indicate to what extent school curricula have been adjusted in States and Territories to give room for education about the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

33. Is access to secondary schools always made possible for children, especially the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ones, living in remote areas?

34. Please indicate if primary and secondary school teachers receive at State and Territory level, education on human rights and children's rights.

35. To what extent is the Government policy towards refugee children consistent with the principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development and respect for the views of the child?

36. With regard to information provided in para. 1362 of the report, please explain what measures have been taken to avoid asylum-seeking children from being kept in custody while they await deportation. In this connection, what rules, regulations or guidelines exist to ensure that detention is used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, as provided for in article 37 (b) of the Convention? What mechanisms exist to monitor such detention, if it exists? What alternative solutions have been developed to avoid the use of detention in such circumstances?

37. With regard to information provided in paras. 1396-7 of the report, please specify if the measures announced by the Government in May 1995 regarding legal assistance to children have been implemented, and if so, please specify what their impact is.

38. With regard to information provided in para. 1504 of the report, please specify the outcome and the reply of the Government regarding the inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

39. Please provide information on whether staff in detention establishments receive training on the principles and provisions of the Convention and other international legal instruments adopted by the United Nations concerning the treatment of children in conflict with the law.

40. With regard to information provided in paras. 1653-4 of the report regarding life imprisonment, please explain the compatibility between the principles and provisions of the Convention, especially its articles 3, 6 and 37 (a), and the Federal criminal law, especially when implemented in States or Territories where the local legislation is not more innovative.

41. Please provide further information on the existing system of supervision and inspection and the procedures for applying appropriate sanctions concerning child labour at federal and local levels.

42. With regard to information provided in para. 1736 of the report, please give detailed information about the prosecution of paedophiles for crimes committed abroad under the recent Crimes Amendment Act of 1994. How many criminals have been arrested since the enactment of the new law? How many have been condemned and to what penalty? Finally, please provide information on the prosecution of paedophiles at domestic level.

43. In the light of article 39 of the Convention, please provide further information on the measures taken to establish trauma centers to assist the physical and psychological recovery of victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.

44. With regard to information provided in paras. 1061-3 of the report, please give further information on the successes as well as the limits and obstacles encountered for the implementation of the Youth Social Justice Strategy. What new strategies and measures are envisaged to address the problem of homeless young people?

45. Please provide recent information on the final outcome of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission inquiry on the issue of compulsory separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families(para. 1787 of the report).