Page 4210 - Week 13 - Thursday, 19 November 2015
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Consolidating the complaints handling function under one commissioner will allow for better case management and will remove confusion and the experience of “red tape” that clients have experienced. While there may be a single intake process for complaints determined by the commissioner, there will not necessarily be a specific single entry point for all inquiries or approaches to the commission generally. This is because of the need to provide appropriate pathways for clients of the Public Advocate separate from victims of crime and separate from children and young people. This might involve separate entrances for different services, or direct phone numbers for specific clients. This will be a matter for the president and commissioners, depending on how they allocate staff between the specific areas of the commission.
The bill establishes a new consolidated Office of the Public Trustee and Guardian, headed by a Public Trustee and Guardian who will be a public servant. In addition to the Public Trustee’s existing functions, the new Public Trustee and Guardian will have the guardianship functions in the Public Advocate Act, including acting in the capacity of a guardian or manager of last resort for a person with impaired decision-making capacity.
That office will be responsible for representing people with a disability at hearings before the ACAT in relation to guardianship applications, representing forensic patients before the ACAT or a court, and promoting community discussion and providing community education and information about the functions of the ACAT under the Guardianship and Management of Property Act 1991. The bill will also make provision for the appointment of a Deputy Public Trustee and Guardian. A Deputy Public Trustee and Guardian could be appointed to make decisions where the Public Trustee and Guardian identifies a real or perceived conflict of interest.
The legislation also contains the safeguard that the function of acting as a guardian or manager for a person under appointment by the ACAT or applying to the ACAT for the appointment of a suitable guardian or manager can only be delegated to a Deputy Public Trustee and Guardian. This restriction replicates the existing provisions in the Public Advocate Act, and recognises the sensitive nature of a guardian’s or manager’s role and the high level of authority and responsibility this gives a guardian or manager over the life of a person under a guardianship or management order. It also recognises that the person under the guardianship or management order is likely to be vulnerable and reliant on the best interest decision-making of the guardian or manager.
Establishing a new Office of the Public Trustee and Guardian will signal that financial imperatives will not take precedence in the operations of the new office. The new agency will be required to give equal consideration to both personal and financial management.
Some concerns have been raised that bringing guardianship and financial management functions into the same office will result in a conflict of interest. The government does not agree with this view. Both guardians and trustees operate in similar circumstances and for similar purposes. They both make decisions for people with impaired decision-making in accordance with the decision-making principles in section 4 of the Guardianship and Management of Property Act 1991.
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