Guardianship and Care of Adults in the Northern Territory: Two New Bills

On 20 April 2016, in the NT Legislative Assembly, Mr Elferink introduced two new bills to govern guardianship and care of adults in the Northern Territory.

Guardianship of Adults Bill 2016

According to the Explanatory Statement, the Guardianship of Adults Bill 2016 will replace the Adult Guardianship Act 1988 (NT) with new legislation that retains the primary purpose of ensuring that there is a legal mechanism for decisions to be made on behalf of adults whose capacity to make decisions for themselves is impaired.

The Bill seeks to recognise the overall wellbeing, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with impaired decision-making capacity and align with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Person with Disabilities.

The following items are covered in the Parts of the Bill:

• Part 1 - Preliminary Matters;
• Part 2 - outlines guardianship applications and matters relating to the appointment and authority of guardians, specific powers and duties of guardians and the terms of guardianship orders;
• Part 3 - relates to the registration of interstate guardianship orders. Registration of an interstate order removes the need to apply for guardianship in the Northern Territory when an interstate order is already in place;
• Part 4 -  creates an independent statutory officer as the Public Guardian and this position gives rise to the creation of the independent Office of the Public Guardian;
• Part 5 - provides that the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal will have jurisdiction to deal with guardianship matters under the Bill;
• Part 6 - covers enforcement matters and includes the creation of certain offences against the Bill and the consequences of a person being found guilty of an offence;
• Part 7 - outlines miscellaneous matters including the power of the Administrator to make regulations;
• Part 8 - notes the repeal of the Adult Guardianship Act when the Bill commences and transitional matters for guardianship orders made under the Adult Guardianship Act or applications or reviews pending under the Adult Guardianship Act; and
• Part 9 - notes consequential and related amendments to other legislation including the Advance Personal Planning Act.

Advance Personal Planning Amendment Bill 2016

According to the Explanatory Statement, the Advance Personal Planning Amendment Bill 2016 makes the following amendments to the Advance Personal Planning Act (NT):

• transfers jurisdiction from the Local Court to the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal;
• provides transitional provisions to preserve rights for appeals lodged under the Advance Personal Planning Act prior to the transfer of jurisdiction to the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal;
• makes minor amendments to the offence and penalty provisions to provide for consistency with the Advance Personal Planning Act and the Guardianship of Adults Act 2016; and
• repeals the Aged and Infirm Persons’ Property Act and inserts transitional provisions to deal with protection orders made prior to the repeal of the Act.

Both Bills await second reading debate in the Legislative Assembly.

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Guardianship of Adults Bill 2016 (NT) and secondary materials as reproduced on TimeBase LawOne

Advance Personal Planning Amendment Bill 2016 (NT) and secondary materials as reproduced on TimeBase LawOne