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The Law Reform Commission has been asked by the Attorney-General to review Queensland’s guardianship legislation and make recommendations as to how it could be improved.
In Queensland, the guardianship legislation is contained in the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 (Qld) and the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 (Qld).
The guardianship legislation regulates the making of decisions by, and on
behalf of, adults with impaired capacity. It deals with issues such as:
- When is an adult unable to make their own decisions?
- If an adult can’t make their own decisions, who should make them on his or her behalf?
- How should those decisions for an adult be made?
The Commission, pursuant to the terms of reference is to conduct the review in two stages.
The first stage focuses on the legislation’s confidentiality provisions. A Discussion Paper on the confidentiality provisions was released in August 2006, together with a suite of associated consultation papers with differing levels of accessibility. The Commission also released an interactive CD-ROM to present these issues in a user-friendly format.
The closing date for submissions for stage one was 31 October 2006. In addition to the views received during its community forums and focus groups, the Commission received 260 submissions - the largest ever response to a single round of consultation.
The Commission has now completed its final report on the confidentially provisions, which includes draft legislation to give effect to the Commission's recommendations. This report has been tabled in Parliament, and is now available to the public.
The second stage of the review involves a review of the General Principles contained in the legislation, and of Queensland’s guardianship laws more generally, although particular regard will be had to the matters specified in the Commission’s terms of reference. The Commission will present its final report to the Attorney-General at the end of 2008.
If you want to know more about guardianship generally, the Department of Justice and Attorney-General provides information about:
- The Guardianship and Administration Tribunal
- The Adult Guardian
- The Public Trustee Office
- The Public Advocate
- The Community Visitor Program
- Powers of Attorney including Enduring Powers of Attorney, Statutory Health Attorneys and Advance Health Directives.
Guardianship complaints. The Queensland Law Reform Commission does not offer legal advice or handle complaints. It cannot intervene in individual cases. However, specific complaint handling mechanisms have been established by the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal, the Adult Guardian and the Public Trustee (these links will take you to other websites).
Updated 13 November 2006
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