mental health, and provides measures to minimise compulsory or coercive treatment.94 New legislation is yet to be introduced. 75. The Inquiry also recommended establishment of a Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission to provide independent oversight of the sector.95 The Mental Health and Commission Wellbeing Bill has subsequently been introduced to Parliament and an interim Commission has been established. The new Commission will have wide-ranging powers to review and report on practices, policies and outcomes. It will be required to consult with community stakeholders, including children and young people.96 Intersex children 76. An Intersex Clinical Reference Group was formed to address the Committee’s 2016 recommendations regarding intersex children.97 The Group is funded by the Ministry of Health, through the Paediatric Society, and has 12 members, two of whom are intersex. The Group’s tenure was set for two years, and its final meeting is scheduled to take place on 24 February 2020. 77. The Group has achieved a number of new initiatives. These include updating the Starship Hospital neonatal guideline about babies born with variations of sex characteristics; undertaking a stocktake of educational resources for the health workforce, intersex children and young people, and their whānau; recommending tools to establish a national data set of clinical outcomes for intersex children and youth; and developing a referral pathway. 78. However, the issue of children’s consent for surgery remains an unaddressed matter of ongoing human rights concern. Climate change 79. In 2019 the Carbon Change (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act was passed into law. The Act is designed to enable New Zealand to develop climate change policies and targets in support of the Paris Agreement, and to meet Kyoto Protocol commitments. The Act establishes an independent Climate Change Commission to oversee progress and requires the setting of an emissions budget and national adaptation plans by the Minister for Climate Change. 80. The Act does not provide for any specific responsibilities in respect of outcomes for children. However, it requires the Minister to take into account the distribution of the effects of climate change across society, particularly the effect on vulnerable groups; the economic, social, health, environmental, ecological, and cultural effects of climate change, including effects on iwi and Māori; and New Zealand’s relevant obligations under international agreements.98 94 He Ara Oranga, Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, Recommendation 35, https://mentalhealth.inquiry.govt.nz/inquiry-report/he-ara-oranga/ 95 He Ara Oranga, Recommendation 36 96 Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, clause 13(1)(g) 97 We note that the Group’s terms of reference were limited to intersex children and young people aged 0-18 and did not enable consideration of issues for older intersex people, including medical procedures they were subject to as a child. 98 Climate Change Response Act 2002, Section 5ZS(4)(a)-(c) 19