Home - Communities and Justice - NSW Government Logo
Communities and Justice

Guidelines

Caregivers

The NSW Government has introduced a statutory declaration for informal relative caregivers (caregivers) to declare that they have primary responsibility for the regular care of a child or children. The Declaration can assist such caregivers to give consent for the child to participate in activities, such as school excursions.

The Declaration does not:

  • give new legal rights or affect existing legal rights of caregivers, and
  • affect the legal rights of parents or legal guardians of the children.

The Declaration must be made by a relative caregiver who is over 18 and who lives with the child. The Declaration is valid for six months but will become invalid if the child stops living with the relative caregiver. For further information about how the Declaration may be used, and its limitations, please read the Frequently Asked Questions ( Frequently Asked Questions - NSW Statutory Declaration for Informal Relative Caregivers [PDF, 44kb] (PDF, 43.5 KB) or Frequently Asked Questions - NSW Statutory Declaration for Informal Relative Caregivers [Word doc, 1939kb] (DOC, 1.9 MB)).

Caution Guidelines and Internal Review Guidelines under the Fines Act 1996

These guidelines have been issued by the Attorney General and are effective from 31 March 2010. The Caution Guidelines assist officers in exercising their discretion when deciding whether to issue a caution or penalty notice. The Internal Review Guidelines assist agencies to conduct internal reviews of penalty notices fairly, impartially and consistently across Government. In 2008, the Fines Act 1996 ('Act') was amended as part of reforms to the NSW fines system. In particular, amendments to the Act included: New standard procedures for internal review of penalty notices, and an express power giving all law enforcement officers the discretion to give a caution instead of a penalty notice.

Under the Act, law enforcement officers (other than Police) must have regard to guidelines issued by the Attorney General when determining whether or not to issue a caution. In approving the amendments, Cabinet also requested that uniform guidelines be developed in relation to internal review of penalty notices.

Both the 'Caution Guidelines' and the 'Internal Review Guidelines' were developed by a working party chaired by the Department of Attorney General and Justice, comprising government and non-government agencies.

The guidelines were approved by the Attorney General and are effective from 31 March 2010. In the event of any inconsistency between the guidelines and the Act, the Act prevails.

Caution Guidelines

Internal Review Guidelines


Access to State Records

Attorney General's Guidelines on making access directions under Part 6 of the State Records Act [PDF, 259kb] (PDF, 254.5 KB)


Policy Documents and Tabled Documents

From 1 July 2010, the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA Act) requires the Department's Business Centres to publish 'open access information' on their websites unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosing this information.

Open access information includes policy documents and documents created by the Business Centre that are tabled in Parliament



Policy Documents

The current policy documents from 1 July 2010 are available below.

NSW Churches Legislation Policy

The NSW Government has developed the Churches Legislation Policy to explain the matters that it considers when requests are received by religious bodies for new or amending church property trust legislation: NSW Churches Legislation Policy (Word doc, 229kb) (DOC, 229.5 KB)


Caregivers

The NSW Government has introduced a statutory declaration for informal relative caregivers (caregivers) to declare that they have primary responsibility for the regular care of a child or children. The Declaration can assist such caregivers to give consent for the child to participate in activities, such as school excursions.

The Declaration does not:

  • give new legal rights or affect existing legal rights of caregivers, and

  • affect the legal rights of parents or legal guardians of the children.

The Declaration must be made by a relative caregiver who is over 18 and who lives with the child. The Declaration is valid for six months but will become invalid if the child stops living with the relative caregiver. For further information about how the Declaration may be used, and its limitations, please read the Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQs) ( Frequently asked questions - NSW Statutory Declaration for Informal Relative Caregivers [PDF, 44kb] (PDF, 43.5 KB) or Frequently asked questions - NSW Statutory Declaration for Informal Relative Caregivers [Word doc, 1939kb] (DOC, 1.9 MB)).


Caution Guidelines and Internal Review Guidelines under the Fines Act 1996

These guidelines have been approved and issued by the Attorney General and are effective from 31 March 2010. The Caution Guidelines assist officers in exercising their discretion when deciding whether to issue a caution or penalty notice. The Internal Review Guidelines assist agencies to conduct internal reviews of penalty notices fairly, impartially and consistently across Government.

In 2008, the Fines Act 1996 ('Act') was amended as part of reforms to the NSW fines system. In particular, amendments to the Act included new standard procedures for internal review of penalty notices; and an express power giving all law enforcement officers the discretion to give a caution instead of a penalty notice.

Under the Act, law enforcement officers (other than Police) must have regard to guidelines issued by the Attorney General when determining whether or not to issue a caution. In approving the amendments, Cabinet also requested that uniform guidelines be developed in relation to internal review of penalty notices.

Both the 'Caution Guidelines' and the 'Internal Review Guidelines' were developed by a working party chaired by the Department of Justice and Attorney General, comprising government and non-government agencies. In the event of any inconsistency between the guidelines and the Act, the Act prevails.

Caution Guidelines

Internal Review Guidelines


Tabled Documents

Documents tabled after 1 July 2010 will be listed on this page after they have been tabled.

    Last updated:

    31 Aug 2023