Can the magic words “responsibilities, best interests and welfare” be inserted after “rights”?
Mr Stewart: We must look carefully at that. The word “responsibilities” would not fit terribly neatly into that construction. Mr K Robinson: Can you investigate the possibility of inserting the other words? Mr Stewart: We will certainly investigate that. I could suggest inserting the words “best interests”, but the legislative counsel might argue that almost anything could be argued to be a potential infringement of a child’s best interests. Rights are much easier to interpret and the test is much easier to satisfy. We will consider the point about language, which has been raised on this clause and several others. However, we will want detailed advice from legislative counsel on that. Mr K Robinson: “Welfare” would, presumably, fall into the second definition. Mr Stewart: We said earlier that we saw welfare as being a component of best interests. Therefore, if the term “best interests” was included, it would follow that welfare was included. However, the inclusion of “best interests” m
