Response by QAI to Draft Guidelines for Australian Tribunals
QAI’s response to the Draft Guidelines
QAI congratulates NCAT and AGAC on the development of a comprehensive, informative, contemporary set of guidelines that we consider will be of significant value to Australian tribunals hearing and determining guardianship and administration matters. We are particularly pleased to see that the Guidelines reflect the human rights obligations Australia has committed to implement domestically as party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD). We also support the progress made through the development of these Guidelines towards implementation of Recommendation 10-2 of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report Elder Abuse – A National Legal Response (2017).
As a disability advocacy organisation, our focus in reviewing the guidelines is on the impact that these guidelines will have for people with disability and mental illness.
Below, we provide comment on particular aspects of the Guidelines. Overall, however, we strongly approve of the Guidelines.
Points of particular support
QAI particularly approves of the following aspects of the Guidelines:
- The reference to, and consistency with key Articles of, the CRPD;
- The acknowledgement that a best practice model, which reflects the principle of maximum participation, should require the tribunal, where possible, to speak with the represented person before the tribunal appoints a guardian or administrator, and the adoption of this approach in the Guidelines;
- The focus on developing the understanding of Tribunal members of the impact disability may have on a person’s support needs and communication.
