GCS [2020] QCAT 206
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Title
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GCS [2020] QCAT 206
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Date
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May 6, 2020
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Summary
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The Tribunal considered whether there was a need to appoint a guardian and administrator for GCS, an 89 year-old woman with impaired capacity. The Tribunal had regard to the interpretation provisions of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) (s 48), GCS’s property rights (s 24), freedom of movement (s 19), and right to privacy (s 45) when making its decision to appoint the Public Guardian to manage GCS’s affairs.
This case concerned GCS, an 89 year-old woman who had been hospitalised and subsequently transferred to an interim care facility at the time of the hearing. On 17 July 2018, GCS appointed her son, RFA, as her Enduring Power of Attorney for personal, health and financial matters. She also named her friend, JFH, as successive attorney, should RFA be unwilling or unable to act.
On 17 April 2020, the Tribunal received an application from LS, a social worker at the hospital, seeking the appointment of a guardian and administrator for GCS, and an order about an Enduring Power of Attorney. The applicant sought RFA to be ‘appointed “jointly with another trusted party rather than solely”, or the appointment of the Public Guardian and Public Trustee of Queensland as guardian and administrator’: at [4].
In accordance with s 12 of the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 (Qld), the Tribunal was satisfied that GCS had impaired capacity to make complex personal and financial decisions. The Tribunal went on to determine what decisions were required for GCS and whether the current decision-making regime was meeting her needs and protecting her interests.
After reviewing the evidence before it, the Tribunal held that RFA would not discharge effective decision-making as an Enduring Power of Attorney for GCS: at [55]. As JFH supported the appointment of the Public Guardian and Public Trustee of Queensland as guardian and administrator, the Tribunal was unable to empower JFH as successive attorney. Accordingly, the Tribunal appointed the Public Guardian as guardian for GCS for the matters of accommodation and health care: at [58]. The Public Trustee of Queensland was also appointed as administrator for GCS for all financial matters: at [60].
The Tribunal noted its obligation under s 48 of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) to interpret statutory provisions, to the extent possible that is consistent with their purpose, in a way that is compatible with human rights. It also acknowledged that GCS’s ‘rights to property, freedom of movement, privacy and protection from being subject to medical treatment without her full, free and informed consent are engaged and limited by the guardianship and administration appointments’: at [64]. The Tribunal, however, was satisfied that the limits imposed by its decision were reasonable and justified pursuant to s 13 of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld).
