POWERS OF ATTORNEY ACT 1998 - SCHEDULE 2
POWERS OF ATTORNEY ACT 1998 - SCHEDULE 2
SCHEDULE 2 – Types of matters
Part 1 - Financial matter
1 Financial matter
A
"financial matter" , for a principal, is a matter relating to the
principal’s financial or property matters, including, for example, a matter
relating to 1 or more of the following—
(a) paying maintenance and accommodation expenses for the principal and the principal’s dependants, including, for example, purchasing an interest in, or making another contribution to, an establishment that will maintain or accommodate the principal or a dependant of the principal;
(b) paying the principal’s debts, including any fees and expenses to which an administrator is entitled under a document made by the principal or under a law;
(c) receiving and recovering money payable to the principal;
(d) carrying on a trade or business of the principal;
(e) performing contracts entered into by the principal;
(f) discharging a mortgage over the principal’s property;
(g) paying rates, taxes, insurance premiums or other outgoings for the principal’s property;
(h) insuring the principal or the principal’s property;
(i) otherwise preserving or improving the principal’s estate;
(j) investing for the principal in authorised investments;
(k) continuing investments of the principal, including taking up rights to issues of new shares, or options for new shares, to which the principal becomes entitled by the principal’s existing shareholding;
(l) undertaking a real estate transaction for the principal;
(m) dealing with land for the principal under the Land Act 1994 or Land Title Act 1994 ;
(n) undertaking a transaction for the principal involving the use of the principal’s property as security (for example, for a loan or by way of a guarantee) for an obligation the performance of which is beneficial to the principal;
(o) a legal matter relating to the principal’s financial or property matters;
(p) withdrawing money from, or depositing money into, the principal’s account with a financial institution.
Part 2 - Personal matter
2 Personal matter
A
"personal matter" , for a principal, is a matter, other than a special
personal matter or special health matter, relating to the principal’s care,
including the principal’s health care, or welfare, including, for example, a
matter relating to 1 or more of the following—
(a) where the principal lives;
(b) with whom the principal lives;
(ba) services provided to the principal;
(c) whether the principal works and, if so, the kind and place of work and the employer;
(d) what education or training the principal undertakes;
(e) whether the principal applies for a licence or permit;
(f) day-to-day issues, including, for example, diet and dress;
(g) whether to consent to a forensic examination of the principal;Note—See also section 104 (Protection for person carrying out forensic examination with consent).
(h) health care of the principal;
(i) a legal matter not relating to the principal’s financial or property matters;
(j) who may have access visits to, or other contact with, the principal;
(k) advocacy relating to the care and welfare of the principal.
3 Special personal matter
A
"special personal matter" , for a principal, is a matter relating to 1 or more
of the following—
(a) making or revoking the principal’s will;
(b) making or revoking a power of attorney, enduring power of attorney or advance health directive of the principal;
(c) exercising the principal’s right to vote in a Commonwealth, State or local government election or referendum;
(d) consenting to adoption of a child of the principal under 18 years;
(e) consenting to marriage of the principal;
(f) consenting to the principal entering into a civil partnership;
(g) consenting to the principal terminating a civil partnership;
(h) entering into, or agreeing to enter into, a surrogacy arrangement under the Surrogacy Act 2010 ;
(i) consenting to the making or discharge of a parentage order under the Surrogacy Act 2010 ;
(j) entering a plea on a criminal charge for the principal;
(k) applying, or consenting to an application, for a cultural recognition order or applying for a discharge order under the Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa (Torres Strait Islander Traditional Child Rearing Practice) Act 2020 .
4 Health matter
A
"health matter" , for a principal, is a matter relating to health care, other
than special health care, of the principal.
5 Health care
(1)
"Health care" , of a principal, is care or treatment of, or a service or a procedure for, the principal—(a) to diagnose, maintain, or treat the principal’s physical or mental condition; and(b) carried out by, or under the direction or supervision of, a health provider.
(2)
"Health care" , of a principal, includes withholding or withdrawal of a life-sustaining measure for the principal if the commencement or continuation of the measure for the principal would be inconsistent with good medical practice.
(3)
"Health care" , of a principal, does not include—(a) first aid treatment; or(b) a non-intrusive examination made for diagnostic purposes; or(c) the administration of a pharmaceutical drug if—(i) a prescription is not needed to obtain the drug; and(ii) the drug is normally self-administered; and(iii) the administration is for a recommended purpose and at a recommended dosage level; or(d) psychosurgery for the principal.Example of paragraph (b)—a visual examination of a principal’s mouth, throat, nasal cavity, eyes or ears
5A Life-sustaining measure
(1) A
"life-sustaining measure" is health care intended to sustain or prolong life and that supplants or maintains the operation of vital bodily functions that are temporarily or permanently incapable of independent operation.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1) , each of the following is a
"life-sustaining measure" —(a) cardiopulmonary resuscitation;(b) assisted ventilation;(c) artificial nutrition and hydration.
(3) A blood transfusion is not a
"life-sustaining measure" .
5B Good medical practice
"Good medical practice" is good medical practice for the medical profession in
Australia having regard to—
(a) the recognised medical standards, practices and procedures of the medical profession in Australia; and
(b) the recognised ethical standards of the medical profession in Australia.
6 Special health matter
A
"special health matter" , for a principal, is a matter relating to special
health care of the principal.
Note—An attorney or guardian may not be given power for a special health matter.
However, a principal may give a direction about a special health matter in an advance health directive. Alternatively, in particular circumstances the tribunal may consent to special health care. See the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 , section 68 (Special health care).
7 Special health care
"Special health care" , of a principal, is health care of the following
types—
(a) removal of tissue from the principal while alive for donation to someone else;Note—For the situation after the principal has died, see the Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1979 , particularly section 22 .
(b) sterilisation of the principal;
(c) termination of a pregnancy of the principal;
(d) participation by the principal in special medical research or experimental health care;
(e) electroconvulsive therapy or a non-ablative neurosurgical procedure for the principal;
(f) prescribed special health care of the principal.
8 Removal of tissue for donation
(1) For an adult,
"removal of tissue for donation" to someone else includes removal of tissue from the principal so laboratory reagents, or reference and control materials, derived completely or partly from pooled human plasma may be given to the other person.
(2)
"Tissue" is—(a) an organ, blood or part of a human body; or(b) a substance that may be extracted from an organ, blood or part of a human body.
9 Sterilisation
(1)
"Sterilisation" is health care of a principal who is, or is reasonably likely to be, fertile that is intended, or reasonably likely, to make the principal, or ensure the principal is, permanently infertile.Examples of sterilisation—endometrial ablation, hysterectomy, tubal ligation and vasectomy
(2) Sterilisation does not include health care primarily to treat organic malfunction or disease of the principal.
10 Termination
"Termination" , of a pregnancy of a principal, does not include health care
primarily to treat organic malfunction or disease of the principal.
11 Primary reason for treatment
"Health care primarily to treat organic malfunction or disease" , of a
principal, is health care without which an organic malfunction or disease of
the principal is likely to cause serious or irreversible damage to the
principal’s physical health.
Examples—1 Health care involving sterilisation may be primarily to treat organic malfunction or disease if the principal has cancer affecting the reproductive system or cryptorchidism.2 A procedure involving termination of a pregnancy may be primarily to treat organic malfunction if the principal is a pregnant woman requiring abdominal surgery for injuries sustained in an accident.
12 Special medical research or experimental health care
(1)
"Special medical research or experimental health care" , for a principal, means—(a) medical research or experimental health care relating to a condition the principal has or to which the principal has a significant risk of being exposed; or(b) medical research or experimental health care intended to gain knowledge that can be used in the diagnosis, maintenance or treatment of a condition the principal has or has had.
(2)
"Special medical research or experimental health care" does not include—(a) psychological research; or(b) an approved clinical research.
13 Approved clinical research
(1)
"Clinical research" is—(a) medical research intended to diagnose, maintain or treat a condition affecting the participants in the research; or(b) a trial of drugs, devices, biologicals or techniques involving the carrying out of health care that may include the giving of placebos to some of the participants in the trial.
(1A) However, a comparative assessment of health care already proven to be beneficial is not medical research.Examples—• a comparative assessment of the effects of different forms of administration of a drug proven to be beneficial in the treatment of a condition, for example, a continuous infusion, as opposed to a once-a-day administration, of the drug• a comparative assessment of the angle at which to set a tilt-bed to best assist a principal’s breathing.
(2)
"Approved clinical research" is clinical research approved by the tribunal under the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 , section 74C .
14 Electroconvulsive therapy
"Electroconvulsive therapy" is the application of electric current to specific
areas of the head to produce a generalised seizure that is modified by general
anaesthesia and the administration of a muscle relaxing agent.
15 Psychosurgery
"Psychosurgery" is a procedure on the brain, that involves deliberate damage
to or removal of brain tissue, for the treatment of a mental illness.
15A Non-ablative neurosurgical procedure
A
"non-ablative neurosurgical procedure" is a procedure on the brain, that does
not involve deliberate damage to or removal of brain tissue, for the treatment
of a mental illness.
17 Prescribed special health care
"Prescribed special health care" means health care prescribed under the
Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 .
Part 3 - Legal matter
18 Legal matter
A
"legal matter" , for a principal, includes a matter relating to—
(a) use of legal services to obtain information about the principal’s legal rights; and
(b) use of legal services to undertake a transaction; and
(c) use of legal services to bring or defend a proceeding before a court, tribunal or other entity, including an application under the Succession Act 1981 , part 4 or an application for compensation arising from a compulsory acquisition; andNote—This enables the Supreme Court to make provision for a dependant of a deceased person from the deceased person’s estate if adequate provision is not made from the estate for the dependant’s proper maintenance and support.
(d) bringing or defending a proceeding, including settling a claim, whether before or after the start of a proceeding.