Page 247 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 February 2023
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The bill will amend the GMP act to require that before making a guardianship or management order, the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal must consider whether a person is able to make their own decisions with available supports. Though supported decision-making is already often considered by the ACAT under existing legislation, consultation with a supported decision-making steering group claimed the lack of explicit requirements in the law can impact outcomes in guardianship and management applications. The codification of these legal rights is in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and also in line with the Australian Law Reform Commission’s set of national decision-making principles released in 2014 in ALRC Report 124: Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws.
I want to thank the Attorney-General’s office for a briefing with officials on 27 October last year. The Canberra Liberals will be supporting this bill.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Families and Community Services and Minister for Health) (4.53): The government presented the Guardianship and Management of Property Amendment Bill to the Assembly on 21 September 2022. I can obviously confirm that ACT Labor will be supporting the bill. I would like to flag that, on behalf of the Attorney-General, at the conclusion of this debate in the detail stage I will be moving a minor and technical amendment to the bill to amend the commencement date. The bill as currently drafted has a commencement date of 1 January 2023. This was originally intended to allow for a somewhat delayed implementation when it was introduced. However, as debate was delayed, this date has now been superseded. This minor government amendment is simply introduced to avoid a retrospective commencement date.
In 2019, as the then Minister for Disability, I had the pleasure of launching the Disability Justice Strategy 2019-2029. This remains something that I count as one of my proudest achievements from my first term in this place. The strategy aims to address issues of systemic ableism and to ensure that our justice system is equitable, inclusive and supportive of people with disability.
A key goal set out in the Disability Justice Strategy is for people with disability to feel safe and have their rights respected when interacting with the justice system. This includes ensuring that people with disability are able to participate in decision-making and that their wishes and preferences are considered and respected. Action item 4.8 of the strategy specifically called for the government to examine the guardianship system with a view to promoting supported decision-making, thereby improving the autonomy of people with disability. That is exactly what this bill does. The bill amends the Guardianship and Management of Property Act 1991 and seeks to achieve two important objectives. Firstly, to promote the human rights of people with disabilities and older people who require support with decision-making. Secondly, to expressly recognise and promote awareness of supported decision-making principles in the ACT guardianship and management framework.
So what is supported decision-making? We all make decisions every day.
Big decisions about our values and identities; what we do for work; how we serve our community; choices we make for our families, our friends and our loved ones.
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