Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs I present the report of the committee entitled Older people and the law, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—On 2 August 2006 the Attorney-General, the Hon. Philip Ruddock MP, asked the committee to investigate and report on the adequacy of current legislative regimes in addressing the legal needs of older Australians. In particular, the committee was asked to focus on fraud, financial abuse, general and enduring power of attorney provisions, family agreements, barriers to older Australians accessing legal services, and discrimination. The committee used the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare definition of ‘older people’ as those aged 65 years and over.

Older people have made an enormous contribution to Australian society in many ways and continue to do so. However, as ageing takes its toll, poor health leaves older people vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and neglect.

Australia faces an inescapable demographic destiny with regard to our ageing population. By 2046 it is estimated that over one-quarter of Australia’s population will be aged 65 years and over. The issue of how well Australia’s legal regimes address the needs of this older segment of the Australian population is, therefore, very important indeed. Evidence to the inquiry highlighted that many older people are unable to access legal services for a variety of reasons.

In response to this demographic challenge, the committee has made 48 recommendations in a range of areas including dispute resolution services, consumer protection measures, substitute decision making instruments, access to legal services, and family agreements. In particular, the committee recommends that the Australian government: work with the banking sector to develop national, industry-wide protocols for reporting alleged financial abuse, work with states and territories towards the implementation of uniform legislation on powers of attorney and develop a national registration system for the instrument, and investigate ways to improve the access of older Australians to legal services through the use of a rebate scheme.

I would like to express my appreciation to the numerous service delivery and advocacy organisations that contributed to the inquiry. The committee was impressed to receive 157 submissions, 42 supplementary submissions and 168 exhibits. Public hearings were held in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Buderim, Perth and Adelaide. These hearings also provided the opportunity for the committee to hear first hand the views of older Australians at a number of public forums. The committee was impressed by the sincerity and thoughtfulness of the evidence it received.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the committee, both government and opposition, for their cooperative approach to this inquiry and to all of the inquiries we have had during the current parliament. All of our reports have been unanimous. On one report there was a slight expression of concern, but there was no dissent from the findings of the committee in that report.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the secretariat—in particular, Ms Joanne Towner, Dr Nicholas Horne, Mr Michael Crawford, Dr Mark Rodrigues and other secretariat staff—for the way in which they were able to assist the committee in its deliberations and, given the time frame and the possibility of an election, for how they were able to expedite the tabling of the report, which has been presented to the parliament today.

If implemented, the initiatives recommended in the report will assist not only older people but also their families and carers and the rest of the community, who benefit from the wealth of experience and wisdom that older people have to offer. I am very pleased to commend the report to the House.

John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I would like to congratulate my friend and colleague the Hon. Peter Slipper, member for Fisher and Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, on his management and leadership of this committee during this parliament. It was an unalloyed pleasure working with you, and on behalf of my Labor colleagues I particularly thank you for your bipartisan approach to the work of the committee over the past three years, which stands in stark contrast to your predecessor’s conduct during the 40th Parliament.

I also congratulate the committee secretary, Ms Joanne Towner; the inquiry secretary, Dr Nicholas Horne; the principal research officer, Dr Mark Rodrigues; and the staff of the legal and constitutional affairs committee secretariat for their tireless and cheerful service to the committee and the outstanding quality of their work. No parliamentary committee could wish for a better secretariat than the one that we have enjoyed during this parliament.

This inquiry, as the chairman mentioned, went for more than a year, and our report is very, very timely in our history with the challenges facing our nation in relation to the ageing population. It is sobering that within the next 40 years approximately a quarter of Australia’s population will be aged 65 years or more. This places a great demand on all of us in this place to make sure that we get the law right in a bipartisan way to ensure that we look after the frail and some of the most vulnerable members of our community, the elderly.

As the chairman said, our committee received submissions from a broad cross-section of interested groups and individuals and the committee travelled right around Australia, taking a wide and diverse range of evidence from some very good witnesses. The exhaustive work of the committee is a monument indeed to both the chairman’s and the secretariat’s level of endurance. I was not able to go right around Australia but I did manage to get to Perth, and that was certainly a great experience. Well done to the committee.

I support what the chairman has said in relation to those 48 amendments. I would particularly like to highlight something from my experience of hearing evidence in Perth in relation to retirement villages. I would like to draw the attention of those interested in this report to chapter 7 and to highlight the issues that came out of retirement villages, namely the complex nature of contracts, fees and charges, misleading advertising and the lack of low-cost and speedy dispute resolution mechanisms. I would also like to highlight the recommendation that the ‘simplification and standardisation of retirement village contracts could assist older people to make better informed decisions about their accommodation options’. I will not go into detail but I draw attention to one witness, Mr Robert Boyne, who appeared before us. His comments at paragraph 7.17 on page 208 of the report really highlight just how complex those contracts can be and how difficult it is for some of the residents to understand them.

But, in concluding, it was a great inquiry. Thanks once again to you, Peter, for the very great bipartisan way you conducted yourself on this inquiry, as you have over the last three years with this committee. It has been a pleasure to work with you.

Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.