Page 3961 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 October 1991
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I move:
Page 14, line 30, subclause 32(6), omit the subclause, substitute the following subclause:
"(6) If the notice indicates that the Community Advocate or a person specified by the Community Advocate has consented to act as manager, the notice shall be taken to be an application for the appointment of the Advocate or that person, as the case may be, as the manager.".
Amendments agreed to.
Clause, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 33 agreed to.
Clause 34
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (4.28): This was one of the more contentious issues from the community groups. It relates to where the tribunal may sit. The Government made it very clear in the introduction speech that it was our intention that the tribunal operate separately and apart from the court.
We had, in fact, amended this legislation from an earlier form which allowed it to operate as part of the Magistrates Court, indeed as a division of the Magistrates Court, to a separate stand-alone tribunal that would, wherever possible, sit in premises separate from the court.
The community groups were still somewhat wary of the position and wanted an express provision to prevent the tribunal from sitting in a court of law. There is a similar provision in the Western Australian legislation, the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990, which states that the board shall not sit in a law court unless the chairman is satisfied that no other suitable accommodation is available.
While I would expect that, in any event, the tribunal would have sat away from the courts, I am guided by the strong views of the community groups and am moving amendment No. 5 circulated in my name, which does provide that clear statutory provision that the tribunal shall not sit in a court unless there are extraordinary circumstances.
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