Guardianship Authorities
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I ask the Minister for Community Services. As a consequence of the Parliament passing the Guardianship Amendment (Enduring Guardians) Bill, have the Protective Commissioner and the Public Guardian been removed as an arm of the Supreme Court with accountability protection given by the court? Will the Government conduct a complete investigation into the three guardianship authorities, including the Guardianship Tribunal, and will the Government exclude any member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal who has ever held any working association with any of the three guardianship authorities from sitting on such a guardianship appeals tribunal?
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: Point of order: The subject matter of the honourable member’s question is the subject of a bill that is before the House which relates specifically to a matter of the removal, for instance, of the link with the Supreme Court to avoid a potential conflict of interest and to implement the report of the Public Bodies Review Committee. All the other details of the legislation contained in the honourable member’s question are indeed contained in the bill.
The PRESIDENT: Order! I ask the Minister not to anticipate debate on the bill referred to when responding to the question.
The Hon. CARMEL TEBBUTT: The recent legislation that passed through the House with regard to enduring guardians does not address appeals from the Guardianship Tribunal nor the other bodies that the honourable member referred to. It was principally about making some changes to streamline the appointment of enduring guardians and to make the operation of enduring guardians more effective. Having said that, I believe the second part of the honourable member’s question anticipates debate on a bill which has been introduced by the Attorney General and, therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on that other than to say that a bill that addresses those issues will be debated in the fullness of time. The other aspects of the honourable member’s question I will refer to the Attorney General because the Protective Commissioner comes under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General. I have responsibility only for the Guardianship Tribunal.
