Carers recognition in the Northern Territory 

This article states the law of the Northern Territory. The Carers Recognition Act 2006 (NT) is closely modelled on the Western Australian statute of two years earlier, and reading them side by side is the most efficient way to learn both¹. The prior question is the same in each: does the person cared for fall within a ground the Act borrows from elsewhere?

A note on currency. The text relied on here is the Act as made. No consolidated version was located, so later amendments have not been checked and currency should be confirmed against the Territory register before a provision is relied on.

Objects, and what the Act actually does

Section 3 states two objects: to recognise the role of carers in the community, and to provide for reporting by organisations of the action taken to reflect the principles of the Carers Charter in providing relevant services.

The second object describes the Act's real mechanism. This is a recognition-and-reporting statute rather than a rights-conferring one, and the obligations it creates run to organisations, not to carers.

The definition, borrowed as in Western Australia

Section 5(1) provides that a person is a carer if they are an individual providing ongoing care or assistance to a person who has a disability *as defined in the Disability Services Act (NT); a person with a chronic illness, including a mental illness as defined in the Mental Health and Related Services Act (NT); a person who, because of frailty*, requires assistance with carrying out everyday tasks; or a person of a prescribed class.

That is the Western Australian structure exactly — two grounds cross-referenced to other statutes, a functional frailty limb, and a regulation-making power. The cross-references point to Territory Acts, so the definitions must be taken from those.

Section 5(2) excludes care provided under a contract for services or a contract of service, or in the course of doing community work organised by a community organisation. Western Australia reaches the same two exclusions but defines community work by reference to a named Act and carves out agreements under s 25 of its disability statute; the Northern Territory does neither.

Section 5(3) is the familiar clarification: a person is not a carer only because they are a spouse, de facto partner, parent or guardian, or because they provide care to a child placed in their care under the Community Welfare Act (NT).

Two categories of organisation

The Act distinguishes two overlapping classes, and the distinction decides which duty applies.

A reporting organisation is an Agency that provides relevant services, or another entity declared by regulation.

An applicable organisation is a reporting organisation; an entity providing relevant services under a contract with a reporting organisation, other than a contract of employment; or another entity declared by regulation.

So applicable organisations are the wider class, extending down the contracting chain. The Charter obligations attach to that wider class; the reporting obligation attaches only to reporting organisations.

The Charter obligation and the consultation duty

Section 6(1) requires an applicable organisation to take all practicable measures to ensure the organisation and its officers, employees or agents have an awareness and understanding of the Carers Charter, and take action to reflect its principles in providing relevant services.

That is a two-limb duty — awareness, and action reflecting the principles. It sits between the New South Wales formulation, which requires awareness and understanding alone in s 7(1), and the Western Australian formulation, which requires compliance with the Charter in s 6(1).

Section 6(2) then requires an applicable organisation that is an Agency to consult carers, or entities representing carers, in policy or program development, or strategic or operational planning, relevant to carers and the persons they care for.

Compare Western Australia's s 6(2), which requires public sector bodies to involve carers in anything that might affect carers. The Northern Territory requires consultation on matters relevant to carers. Involvement is a stronger verb than consultation, and "might affect" a lower threshold than "relevant to", so the Western Australian duty is the more demanding of the two despite their common structure.

Reporting, and public inspection

Section 7(1) requires a reporting organisation to prepare an annual report covering its performance of its obligations under the Act; its compliance or non-compliance with the Act; its compliance or non-compliance with the Carers Charter; the compliance or non-compliance with the Charter of any entity providing a service under contract with the organisation; and other prescribed information.

The fourth item is the one to notice. A reporting organisation must report on its contractors' Charter compliance, not merely its own — which is how the Act reaches the wider class of applicable organisations through the narrower reporting class.

Section 7(2) allows the report to be combined with another annual report. Section 7(3) requires the organisation to give a copy to the Minister within three months after the end of the financial year, and to ensure a copy is available for inspection by the public at the organisation's office during business hours.

The public inspection requirement is distinctive. Other jurisdictions require reporting to a Minister, a Council or in an annual report; the Northern Territory adds a direct public access obligation.

Applying this in a problem question

1. Identify the ground of care and cite the cross-referenced Territory Act where disability or mental illness is relied on.
2. Apply the s 5(2) exclusions to the basis on which care is given, and the s 5(3) clarification separately.
3. Classify the organisation: reporting organisation, applicable organisation, or neither.
4. Apply both limbs of s 6(1) — awareness, and action reflecting the principles.
5. Where the body is an Agency, apply the s 6(2) consultation duty to policy, programs and planning.
6. For reporting, include contractors' Charter compliance and address the three-month and public inspection requirements.

Self-check

• Have I taken the disability and mental illness definitions from the cross-referenced Acts?
• Have I classified the organisation before selecting the duty?
• Have I applied both limbs of the s 6(1) obligation?
• Have I addressed the contractor-compliance and public inspection elements of reporting?