Tanczos Nandor: Protection of Personal and Property Rights  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Tanczos Nandor: Protection of Personal and Property Rights  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:636;Page:7043] 
NANDOR TANCZOS (Green) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the Green Party to give a fairly short speech on the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Amendment Bill. It will be a short speech for two reasons. One is that the matters addressed in the bill are not ones that I have an enormous amount of familiarity with and in that regard the Green Party members can do no better than to base our decision on the fact that the bill is based on recommendations of the Law Commission in its report  
Misuse of Enduring Powers of Attorney 
. I think that is a very good basis on which to make a decision to at least support the bill going to a select committee where the technical matters of working through the bill and making sure that it all works as intended can actually be thoroughly investigated based on public submissions. Of course members of the House have already spoken on many of the issues and I thank members for very informative contributions around the current law and some of the problems and the facts in relation to abuse of elderly people around the matter of enduring powers of attorney. 
 I would also like to say just before getting into the bill itself that it is good to see another example of the recommendations of the Law Commission being picked up by the Government turned into legislation and put before this House. Just today at the Justice and Electoral Committee where we were doing the financial review of the Law Commission the matter arose once again as it has numerous times at that committee that the important law reform work the Law Commission does is often not picked up. It can be allowed to languish for many years sometimes to the extent that significant work has to be done to bring it up to date because by the time we get around to considering it many years have passed and matters have moved on. 
That is particularly true in relation to bills of this nature that are not political bills. There is no politics in this bill; there is nothing to be gained by creating public outrage or disgust or by trying to generate politics around it. This bill is simply about our responsibility as parliamentarians to ensure that the law works properly. Of course it is exactly that matter that the Law Commission has been set up to address. It is exactly what it addresses for the most part in its reports—simple black-letter law reform issues. So it is good to see that these matters are being picked up and made into legislation because that kind of work is for the betterment of the country and everyone and has no political spin-offs for us in here. So I am pleased that we are doing this work. It is important work that has enormous implications for many many people. 
I turn now to the bill itself. It introduces a number of positive amendments. One of the things that seems the most straightforward in some ways is simply the adding of a purpose clause to ensure that the purposes of granting an enduring power of attorney to another person are laid out clearly. That is useful because it simply states what that provision is about and gives us a bit of a yardstick against which to measure the performance of people who have been given that power. As members have indicated it is an extensive power that leaves people who are often in a vulnerable situation entirely at the mercy of the good will of the people who have those powers. I am sure that by and large those people do a very good job but there is no doubt at all from the evidence that has already been presented in the House that significant problems can arise. So it is a useful provision. 
New section 93B in clause 6 talks about the presumption of competence. I think that is a positive thing because it states: “For the purposes of this Part every person is presumed until the contrary is shown to have the capacity—(a) to understand the nature and to foresee the consequences of decisions …” and “(b) to communicate decisions …”. That is important because it is in recognition of the inherent dignity of people that we make that assumption but nevertheless if the contrary is proved then of course the provisions of the bill come into play. 
Another matter I want to turn to is new section 99A in clause 14 because it talks about an attorney’s duty to consult. It states: “(1) When acting under an enduring power of attorney the attorney must as far as is practicable consult—(a) the donor; and (b) any other person specified in the enduring power of attorney to be consulted whether in respect of a particular matter or generally.” It also states that the attorney may follow any advice given and is not liable for anything done or admitted in following that advice. Of course if people feel that that advice conflicts with their duty the law or it exposes them to liability or is objectionable or conflicting then they can seek direction from a court. That is good as well. It is simply ensuring once again that the donor is at least in a position to give his or her views and that can then be tested against those matters I have outlined. Again I think this is about the inherent dignity of people and the right of people to have autonomy as far as possible in dealing with their affairs. 
I also want to touch on new section 99B “Attorney must provide information on the exercise of powers”. It states: “An attorney must promptly comply with any request for information relating to the exercise of the attorney’s powers under the enduring power of attorney if—(a) the person requesting the information is specified … as a person to be provided with such information …” and “(b) the information requested is the kind of information specified …”. 
I raise that matter about information because I was recently speaking with someone whom I know and I will be very careful not to make any statements that might identify the people involved in this case. It arose around some real concerns about the use of an enduring power of attorney that has been bestowed on a person in respect of that person’s mother. It seems that the person with the enduring power of attorney has been using the bank account and the assets of the mother to go out and spend up large. Banking records show that that person has been making payments at the post shop which seem to have been to pay the power bill. They do not live together so there seems to be no justification for that. There are records from diamond shops and all kinds of gift shops. There is a pretty strong argument to be made or at least one can make the presumption that these things need to be looked at and some information needs to be provided. It looks like there is very possibly a serious misuse of those assets. 
The other thing is that the mother’s bill in relation to her rest home is not being paid. I thought that was extraordinary. I would have thought the person would pay the mother’s bills so that at least he or she would not get found out. But then I was told that apparently everyone thought the mother was not going to live long that she was going to go into a rest home and would be dead within a couple of weeks so no one would notice the spending. That has not been the case. She seems to have recovered. She is a sprightly woman. She is talking and she is engaged in life because she has moved closer to her family and that has brought new life back to her. So now suddenly the whole thing is starting to unravel. 
It brought home to me on a personal level the very real need for some increased protections around these matters for increased transparency to ensure that information can be demanded and will be provided around the decisions that the attorney is making for clarification of what the purpose of the exercise of those powers are and to avoid those liberties that are being taken at least in regard to some of the elderly members of our community who certainly deserve our protection as well as our respect. I am very pleased to see this bill before Parliament. The Green Party is pleased to support it. I am looking forward to working through it in more detail at the select committee. Again I am particularly pleased the Government is picking up this law reform work done by the Law Commission. There is no politics involved and no personal interest for us it is simply about ensuring that we fulfil our responsibilities as good parliamentarians. 
Bill read a first time. 
Bill referred to the Social Services Committee.referred to Social Services Committee