Page 3713 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 October 1991
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I want to make reference to the general tenor of the legislation and the importance it represents for people with intellectual or other disabilities in the ACT who may benefit from its provisions. Let me say, first of all, that the legislation provides for a less expensive, a less formal and therefore a more accessible environment in which people with particular disabilities might be able to have their problems addressed by a semi-judicial process, or a judicial process which results in their affairs, whether they be their health or their welfare, being adequately dealt with and treated in the absence of their own good judgment.
I do not believe that this legislation needs to be seen as a major departure from the civil liberties of people in those circumstances. This clearly is a package of legislation that provides for the protection not only of those individuals but also of those around them, particularly either those who are dependent upon them or those on whom they may themselves be dependent.
The essential core of the legislation lies, I think, in clause 7, which provides that the tribunal, if it is satisfied by certain circumstances, may make an order to appoint a guardian for a person, "with such powers as are necessary to ensure that the person's health or welfare are adequately protected". There are similar powers to appoint managers also elsewhere in the legislation.
It is interesting to note the provisions of subclause (1) of that clause, dealing with the grounds on which such an application might be made. They refer to the situation where, because of a physical, mental, psychological or intellectual condition, a person is unable to make reasonable judgments about matters relating to his or her health or welfare, or do anything necessary for his or her health or welfare, and, as a result of that, the person is substantially at risk with respect to their health or their welfare.
Those words, "mental, psychological or intellectual", are quite broad. They go beyond merely a person with a permanent intellectual disability or a person who, under the old legislation, the legislation which has been superseded by this Bill, might have been termed insane. They go beyond people who are suffering a potentially temporary problem to people who are suffering conditions that are not fully classifiable as a permanent intellectual condition that may warrant long-term treatment.
It is therefore necessary to note that this legislation does have potentially very wide application and will require considerable care by those who employ its provisions, to ensure that the rights of people who are affected by it are not infringed. I am confident that,
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