NCJ Number
216909
Date Published
July 2006
Length
40 pages
Annotation
Written as part of the Queensland Law Reform Commission's review of Queensland's guardianship laws (laws that specify procedures for decisionmaking on behalf of impaired adults), this paper discusses confidentiality requirements associated with guardianship laws.
Abstract
The purpose of Queensland's guardianship system as defined by law is to safeguard the rights and interests of adults with impaired capacity, which may be caused by dementia, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, or mental illness. This includes protecting their privacy in the course of guardianship proceedings. During a tribunal hearing and in the guardianship system generally, private information about individuals involved in proceedings is disclosed. The guardianship system aims to keep information confidential if disclosing it would harm an adult's rights or interest. Queensland's guardianship laws impose a duty of confidentiality on individuals who gain access to personal information on individuals and families who are parties in a guardianship proceeding. Information is only protected as "confidential," however, if it could reasonably be expected to identify the person involved. Guardianship laws also prohibit people from publishing information about what happens in a guardianship hearing. The law prohibits publishing information on who was at a hearing, what was said, what documents were given to the tribunal, what decision was made, and the reasons for the decision. Guardianship laws also allow the tribunal to make "confidentiality orders" for some proceedings. Some issues of confidentiality the Law Reform Commission will be considering are under what circumstances, if any, the tribunal should be able to keep a person out of a hearing; should be able to prohibit a person involved in a proceeding from seeing documents being considered by the tribunal; and should be able to refuse giving its decision or reasons for it to a person involved in a proceeding.