Churches of Christ Care welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) discussion paper on elder abuse. We are committed to achieving a future where all people are safe, respected, and free from violence and abuse, and preventing and responding to elder abuse is a key part of this. Churches of Christ Care supports a number of the proposals made by the ALRC and believe they will improve safeguards for older people at risk of abuse. We also note that in some instances, the proposed changes could unintentionally act as a deterrent for family members to take on enduring powers, diverting this responsibility back to the state. For these changes to be successful, it is vital they are accompanied by appropriate resourcing for state and territory authorities so they can respond to community demand and prevent abuse. National plan Churches of Christ Care supports the ALRC’s proposal to develop a national plan to address elder abuse. Given the range of state and territory laws and funding arrangements for delivering health and aged care, this will contribute to a coordinated, strategic approach to addressing elder abuse. Enduring powers of attorney and enduring guardianship Churches of Christ Care generally supports the ALRC’s proposals relating to powers of attorney and enduring guardianship, particularly relating to developing a national online register of enduring documents. The following provides comment on selected proposals and responds to key questions. Question 5-1: Who should access the online register Churches of Christ Care recommends approved aged care providers be given access to the national register of enduring documents. In practice, people and their family members often have difficulties locating these documents, which can delay the start of service delivery. Also, people often believe they have certain decision-making powers, but when documents are sighted their delegated powers vary in scope. Having access to this register would allow approved providers to confirm who has delegated decision-making powers and involve the right people at appropriate points of assessment, planning and care. This would give greater efficiency during intake and assessment phases, improving people’s timely access to services. Proposal 5-7: Eligibility for being an enduring attorney or guardian Churches of Christ Care recommends being a respondent to an active or recent protection order related to domestic and family violence is considered as an additional criteria for excluding someone from being an enduring attorney or guardian.
Proposal 5-11: Introducing the term ‘representatives’ Churches of Christ Care recommends guidance is given to ensure people understand the difference between a formal representative with an underpinning legal agreement and an informal representative, who is acting as an advocate and supporting people through discussions and processes. In practice, people using our care services often refer to friends or neighbours as their representatives, however there is no formal legal framework underpinning this role or relationship. Most often, people use the term “representative” to refer to the role of someone participating in conversations with them and playing a supportive or advocacy role. Care needs to be taken to limit confusion between the role and powers of formal and informal representatives as work is done to change language and culture in this space. Guardianship and financial administration orders Question 6-1: Providing information to newly-appointed guardians and financial administrators Churches of Christ Care recommends information and training on the role of guardians and administrators be incorporated into tribunal processes, including requiring confirmation a person understands the scope of the role and their obligations. Our organisation considers compulsory face-to-face training as potentially too onerous for family members, which could have the unintended consequence of diverting guardianship and administration to the state. We support optional training for new appointees, which should be available alongside and culturally sensitive online training packages to support people during the tribunal process. If concerns are raised regarding a guardian or administrator, the tribunal should be able to direct them to undertake face-to-face training. Although it should be noted that while training may address inadvertent abuse, it is unlikely to prevent those seeking out to deliberately abuse and exploit older people. Social security Churches of Christ Care supports the proposed measures to strengthen protections for people receiving social security benefits. Aged care Proposal 11-2: Defining reportable incidents Churches of Christ Care recommends reviewing the range of reportable incidents and providing clear policy guidance to avoid setting reporting thresholds too low. Churches of Christ Care supports the redefinition of reportable assault to reportable incidents, and the inclusion of incidents relating to sexual offences, fraud and financial abuse. We also support extending this framework to community care, which does have the same level of oversight as residential aged care. However, we are concerned that current descriptions of ‘ill-treatment’ and ‘unexplained serious injury’ are too broad and may set the threshold for reportable incidents too low. Reportable assaults are currently subject to a high level of monitoring through