Attorneys-General from every Australian jurisdiction have agreed to push for reforms to the arrangements relating to ‘enduring documents’ which they say would reduce the financial abuse of older people.
The Australian Attorney General’s Department has called for community feedback on a proposed national register.
According the Attorney’s an Enduring Power of Attorney is a legal document allowing a person to appoint one or more individuals to manage his or her financial and legal decisions on their behalf, which continues even if they lose the ability to make decisions for themselves.
The Department said a mandatory national registration scheme for Enduring Powers of Attorney relating to financial matters was proposed by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) in its 2017 report, Elder Abuse: A National Legal Response.
“The ALRC recognised that while enduring documents are important tools that allow older people to choose a person to make decisions on their behalf if they lose decision-making capacity in the future, enduring documents can also be misused to facilitate abuse,” the Department said.
“To help counter this, the ALRC recommended reform of enduring document arrangements, including the establishment of a national online registration scheme,” it said.
“Attorneys-General from each Australian jurisdiction have agreed to consult on possible arrangements for a National Register.”
The Department said its consultation paper, National Register of Enduring Powers of Attorney, sought feedback on the policy design of the National Register; access arrangements for the Register; the interaction between existing land titles registers and the new Register; and possible safeguards for users of the Register.
It said the Consultation Paper was open to submissions until 30 June and the Attorneys-General would use them to develop and inform a final proposal for the National Register.
The Department’s 12-page Consultation Paper, including information on how to have a say, can be downloaded at this PS News link.
