Little AndrewPart 4 Trustees' powers and indemnitiesHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): I appreciate the solid contributions that have been racked up in this debate so far on this impressive legislation and I just want to perhaps take a moment of the committee's time just to add my five cents' worth on this important part which covers the very essential part of trustees' powers and indemnities. There are general powers of the trustee foremost amongst which is the power of trustees or a trustee to invest the trust property. That is important. That's what a lot of people have a trust for as a protection for property but also as a means to invest in property to generate income to generate a return which is for the benefit of the beneficiaries.Clause 55 lays out the matters which a trustee can consider in exercising that power to invest. They are as you would expect to look at the objectives of the trust the nature of existing trust investments and the desirability of making the particular investments. All along trustees are expected to exercise the duty of prudence. That is one of the principal constraints if you like on a trustee. Trustees must act prudently in relation to trust property and that also is laid out in the legislation as well. There are specific provisions for trustees in relation to trusts that have as beneficiaries child beneficiaries not only for how income is applied in respect of that child beneficiary but whether or not to apply capital in relation to that child beneficiary and if applying capital whether or not conditions could be imposed in relation to the use of that capital for the benefit of that child beneficiary. So again all of these are very important powers laid out in the bill. There is also provision for trustees to appoint others to exercise particular powers or functions and you would expect that. There is a growing expectation or in fact not just an expectation but a requirement that when professionals are acting as trustees they conduct themselves in accordance with their professional standards and the expectations around their professional standards and that also is laid out in the bill as well. It is possible for trustees to delegate their powers by way of power of attorney if they are for example prone to moving in and out of the country or are otherwise not being well disposed to exercise their powers and there is a process for notifying other trustees in relation to any power of attorney that allows that delegation and when any power of attorney is indeed in place or enforced. Again all those things are laid out along with the ability to appoint special trust advisers because you want trusts and trustees to be able to take good advice and to take specialist advice when that is needed depending on the nature of the trust and often that entails remuneration as well which again is applied for. Then there is provision for indemnities for trustees. There are some things that trustees cannot be indemnified for—gross negligence wilful negligence and dishonest conduct—but trustees acting in good faith and properly attempting to discharge their responsibilities can be the benefit of appropriate indemnities and that again is also laid out in Part 4 of the bill.