Page 5937 - Week 18 - Wednesday, 11 December 1991
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MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Collaery, we can put only the one amendment.
MR COLLAERY: Yes, that is it. You can put this one at this stage, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, and I will bring you the definition in a few moments.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health and Minister for Sport) (4.42): Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in principle I have no difficulty with what has been proposed by Mr Collaery in his amendment; but in Mr Collaery's own argument on the issue he raised the very problem that we will have to deal with in the ACT. It is a fact that there are no laws in the ACT to prevent anybody from practising as a psychologist and it is right then, in turn, to limit that in some way by way of legislation. That is something that the Government will consider in due course. But, as Mr Collaery might know, the issue of national accreditation is something which is being looked at in the context of the Premiers Conference and that might in itself resolve the issue of what a psychologist is as far as the ACT is concerned.
It is difficult, then, to go to an interpretation of what a psychologist is and to classify them only under a particular college of psychologists, because there might be another group of people who consider themselves to be clinical psychologists and who might be more than sore about the issue and cut out of the action, so to speak, when it comes to the provision of services to workers who might need the services of a psychologist. My senses tell me that the best approach on this issue is for the Government to oppose this amendment.
Mr Collaery: You are joking.
MR BERRY: Just let me finish. I am not joking. They tell me that because I think we again are in the position of addressing an issue on the floor of the house.
Mr Collaery: They have been corresponding with the Government for years.
MR BERRY: They have not corresponded with the Government on the issue of the workers' compensation provisions.
Mr Collaery: They sure have. They have been complaining for years.
MR BERRY: They have not, I tell you. That is the point I make. As I said to you, Mr Collaery, I have no difficulty with the position that you have taken in relation to your amendment which calls for the insertion of the words "treatment by a psychologist"; but I have some difficulty about adopting the interpretation of what a psychologist is, or means, without having more time to reflect on the matter.
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