SECTION THREE: The roles and responsibilities of NHRI leaders Section three: The roles and responsibilities of NHRI leaders • NHRIs’ founding laws set out the statutory roles and responsibilities of NHRI leaders. • NHRI leaders across all NHRIs have generic roles and responsibilities, generally arising from the statutory roles and responsibilities. • Governance is the responsibility of the highest-level leaders in NHRIs. • Strategic planning and direction are shared by all NHRI leaders, who should engage all NHRI staff in developing the NHRI’s vision, mission, strategies and priorities. • Policy making is a shared function among NHRI leaders, with responsibility allocated in accordance with the significance of the policy area. • Ultimate management responsibility lies with the NHRI’s highest-level leaders. They set the directions and provide the management framework. Day-to-day management is the responsibility of the SEO and other senior staff in the staff leadership team. • NHRI leaders also have specific roles set out in each institution’s founding law. • All NHRI leaders share responsibility for gender mainstreaming throughout the NHRI’s work. 1. Statutory and generic roles and responsibilities The NHRI’s founding law sets out the principal functions and powers of the NHRI. The law is generally the source of the specific roles and responsibilities of the NHRI’s leaders. These are the leaders’ statutory roles and responsibilities. Because the contents of the founding law vary from one NHRI to another, there can be differences in the specific functions and powers and responsibilities. However, the roles and responsibilities fall within a number of general areas that are found in all the laws. These are generic roles and responsibilities of NHRI leaders. They generally arise from the statutory roles and responsibilities. This section of the guide focuses on the generic roles and responsibilities. 2. Governance Governance encompasses the framework of rules, relationships, systems and processes within and by which authority is exercised and an institution is controlled and operates, and the mechanisms by which the institution and its people are held to account. Ethics, risk management, compliance and administration are all elements of governance.12 Governance obligations will be found in each NHRI’s own founding law and in other laws that apply generally to state institutions, such as those dealing with financial audit, public employment and evaluation and reporting. Governance is the responsibility of highest-level NHRI leaders – the members of the commission collectively in a commission-model NHRI or the ombudsperson individually in an ombuds-model institution. These leaders cannot delegate their ultimate responsibility for governance. They must ensure that their NHRI operates within the law, that it discharges its responsibilities and that it meets 12 See Governance Institute of Australia at https://www.governanceinstitute.com.au/resources/what-is-governance/. 15