Page 5242 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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but if it happens to a health professional he or she is discriminated against. If health professionals or any other professionals misbehave or have some sort of mental incapacity, their appointment can be terminated by the Minister. Similarly, their appointment can be terminated if they become bankrupt, and so on. Their appointment can also be terminated if they are absent, except on leave, or if convicted in Australia or elsewhere of an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer. But the only people who can be dumped off the health board if they lose membership of their professional association or they become unable to practise under a law of the Territory are health professionals.
It strikes me that this sort of discrimination ought not have passed unnoticed in 1990. It seems to me that the Government is supporting a piece of legislation that has been ill thought through as far as this matter is concerned. We know, in respect of some other matters which have been debated already, that it has not been thought through and we know that there has been some knee-jerk agreement between some Government members and the Residents Rally members about changes that were necessary to the legislation, but in this respect it just seems that the Government ignored the existence of reasonable standards of treatment for people.
It escapes me why this has passed notice. A nurse who may well be a quite competent person and who is participating on the board will get the dump if she is not a member of her professional association. If an electrician was on the board and for some reason he was refused a licence to practise under a law of the Territory, then he could stay on the board. I do not think that we can let this pass without notice and I would hope that the Government would support this amendment.
Perhaps this is the amendment they are going to support. We have not worked that one out yet. It seems to be a most reasonable one, though I have to say, Mr Deputy Speaker, that our other attempts to amend the legislation were quite reasonable and proper too. We are testing the water, as we work through the legislation, to find out which one will be agreed to. It is with eager anticipation that we work through these amendments in the hope of finding the one which the Government will agree to.
Will they agree to this one? I think they ought to. I think it would have the support of the medical profession, and the Government has shown that it is prepared to be influenced by the medical profession in relation to other amendments which it proposes to make to remove the requirement for medical people to participate in quality assurance programs. I cannot see why they would not support this sort of amendment. I suggest that it would have the support of the medical profession and I think it would be supported by other health professionals.
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