Page 1586 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
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or she must act, so far as possible, as the donor of the power would have acted if the donor were not incapacitated. The attorney must also avoid conflicts of interest, keep his or her money and property separate from the donor's unless they own property and money jointly, and keep proper accounts of transactions entered into on behalf of the donor. An enduring power of attorney confers considerable power on the attorney. Safeguards to protect the maker of such a power are essential.
The protective measures that have been included in these amendments are as follows. Firstly, each part of the form that grants the attorney power must be signed by the donor of the power and witnessed by two persons, neither of whom are relatives of the maker of the power or the attorney. Secondly, the amendments grant the magistrates and supreme courts a supervisory role of the attorney's activities. If the attorney breaches his or her duties under the power of attorney, the Public Trustee or a person who has permission from the court may ask the court to exercise its supervisory functions. The court may direct that the attorney pay compensation to the donor, it may require the attorney to do or stop doing something, or it may even terminate the enduring power.
These protective measures go beyond those in the equivalent New South Wales and Victorian legislation. These amendments have received strong community support from the ACT Council on the Ageing, the ACT Branch of the Returned Services League, the Welfare Rights and Legal Centre as well as the Law Society, the Public Trustee and trustee companies. I now present the explanatory memorandum to the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Collaery) adjourned.
PAYROLL TAX (AMENDMENT) BILL 1989
MS FOLLETT (Treasurer) (10.35): I present the Payroll Tax (Amendment) Bill 1989. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
This Bill amends the Payroll Tax Act 1987. ACT payroll tax is levied on wages and certain other allowances paid directly to employees for services provided in the ACT. The tax base is being eroded, partly through a movement away from traditional forms of salary and wage payments and partly through the growth of tax minimisation and avoidance schemes which either operate to cloud employer-employee relationships or deliberately set out to put payments to employees outside the current narrow definition of "wages" found in the Act.
Payroll tax is a significant revenue earner for the ACT, and the aim of this Bill is to counteract these schemes and
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