GUARDIANSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION ACT 1993 - SECT 32

GUARDIANSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION ACT 1993 - SECT 32

32—Special powers to place and detain etc protected persons

        (a1)         This section applies to the following persons:

            (a)         a protected person;

            (b)         a person who has given an advance care directive under which at least 1 substitute decision-maker has been appointed.

        (1)         The Tribunal, on application made by an appropriate authority in respect of a person to whom this section applies—

            (a)         may, by order, direct that the person reside—

                  (i)         with a specified person or in a specified place; or

                  (ii)         with such person or in such place as the appropriate authority from time to time thinks fit,

(whether or not the person or place is a person with whom, or the place in which, the person usually resides) according to the terms of the Tribunal's order; and

            (b)         may, by order, authorise the detention of the person in the place in which he or she will so reside; and

            (c)         may, by order, authorise the persons from time to time involved in the care of the person to use such force as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose of ensuring the proper medical or dental treatment, day-to-day care and well-being of the person.

        (1a)         An application made by a person under this section may be heard at the same time as his or her application for appointment as guardian.

        (2)         The Tribunal cannot make an order under subsection (1) unless it is satisfied that, if such an order were not to be made and carried out, the health or safety of the person or the safety of others would be seriously at risk.

        (3)         Nothing in this section empowers the placement or detention of a person in—

            (a)         a correctional institution or any other place in which persons charged with or convicted of offences may be detained; or

            (b)         any part of an approved treatment centre under the Mental Health Act 1993 that is set aside for the treatment of persons with a mental illness.

        (3a)         For the purposes of subsection (3)(b), a ward (however described) of a hospital or other facility that is an approved treatment centre under the Mental Health Act 2009 will not be taken to be a part of an approved treatment centre unless the whole of the ward is set aside for the treatment of persons with a mental illness.

        (4)         While an order for the placement or detention of a person is in force under this section—

            (a)         the appropriate authority or a member of the police force may enter any premises and take the person, or cause him or her to be taken, using only such force as is reasonably necessary for the purpose, to the place in which he or she is to be placed or detained, and any person who assists the appropriate authority or member of the police force in the matter incurs no liability for doing so; and

            (b)         the person in charge of the premises in which a person is being detained pursuant to the order may take, or cause to be taken, such action as is reasonably necessary for the purpose of preventing the person from leaving the premises or for bringing the person back should he or she leave without lawful authority or excuse; and

            (c)         any person who takes any such action under paragraph (b) in good faith and with the authority of the person in charge of the premises incurs no liability for doing so.

        (5)         The Tribunal may, on an application under this Division, vary or revoke an order under this section.

        (6)         Where a member of the police force has reasonable cause to believe that a person who is being detained in any place pursuant to powers conferred under this section is unlawfully at large, the member may, without warrant, enter any place in which he or she believes on reasonable grounds that the protected person may be and apprehend the person, using only such force as is reasonably necessary for the purpose, and may return the person to the place in which he or she is being so detained.

        (7)         A person who, without lawful authority or excuse, removes a person who is being detained in any place pursuant to powers conferred under this Act from that place, or aids or abets the person unlawfully to leave that place, is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: $10 000.

        (7a)         For the purposes of this section, a reference to residing in a specified place includes a reference to residing in the place on a temporary basis.

Note—

For example, a person may temporarily reside in a hospital or rehabilitation facility.

        (8)         In this section—

"appropriate authority", in respect of a person, means—

            (a)         if the person is a protected person—the guardian of the person; or

            (b)         if the person is a person who has given an advance care directive under which a substitute decision-maker has been appointed—each substitute decision-maker appointed under the advance care directive.