Page 5268 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990

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MR BERRY: I am happy with that. Mr Speaker, I seek leave to replace the words "be reinstated" with "take effect".

Leave granted.

MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (8.46): Mr Speaker, I am afraid I cannot support this amendment. The fact is, Mr Speaker, that it does exactly what the ALP was previously putting forward, or would have done if it had got its way. It does, as Mrs Nolan points out, what the previous clauses would have done anyway. The point I am trying to make to those opposite is that there has been an offer of cooperation from the medical profession and we should take that up. Putting this in place reinstates the stick which I have said is going to be a barrier to getting any agreement with those people.

I will repeat what I have said before. If the negotiations with the AMA are not productive of a suitable quality assurance program, then I will be the first person to return to this place and say, "They have not succeeded; please support the amendments".

MR MOORE (8.47): Mr Speaker, I was just preparing an amendment to Mr Berry's amendment, because he has left out what was clause 43 and I think that that strengthens it. I move:

Add at end of proposed new section the following new section:

"Failure to comply with directions

43.(1) If the Board considers that a health services consultant has failed to comply with a direction under section 41 or 42, the Board may serve on the consultant notice in writing to show cause why the Board should not -

(a) vary the terms and conditions of;

(b) suspend for such period as is specified in the notice; or

the consultant's engagement on the ground of that failure.

(2) A notice under subsection (1) shall -

(a) contain full particulars of the facts or circumstances on which the Board has formed its opinion that the ground specified in the notice exists; and

(b) specify a time not less than 14 days or more than 28 days after the date of the service of the notice within which the consultant may show cause to the Board why his or her engagement should not be varied, suspended or terminated.

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