Page 4290 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 29 November 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
four years out of 10 in the years preceding the passage of this Bill. However, applications to the board need to be lodged within six months of the commencement of this Act. The passage of this Bill will necessitate an education and awareness campaign, I believe, to draw to the attention of interested persons the need to apply for registration to practise as a psychologist within the next six months, assuming that the Act is gazetted promptly.
Madam Speaker, as I stated initially, this Bill is about the provision of registration for psychologists and the control of the practice of psychology to better inform the community as to who is entitled to be referred to as a psychologist in the field and who is not. There are many professionals and non-professionals who provide psychological and counselling services in the community, some as their primary occupation and others as an adjunct to their main profession - for example, a medical practitioner or a teacher - who also consider that they are qualified and trained to provide counselling services. The difference, Madam Speaker, is that only people who register with the board and are accepted can practise and advertise and promote themselves as psychologists. It remains to be seen whether people who provide counselling services promote themselves as psychologists without being registered by the board.
The provisions of the Bill currently prohibit a person who is not a registered psychologist from providing a psychology service for fee or reward, but obviously they would not be able to prohibit a person who is not a registered psychologist from providing a psychology service without fee or reward. Such people, if identified by members of the community, will obviously need to seek redress elsewhere. Similarly, although the provisions of the Bill prohibit a person from using a title or a name which implies that the person is qualified to practise psychology, or holding himself or herself out in any manner to be qualified or authorised to practise psychology, careful scrutiny will be required to detect people who do, the object being to protect the community from unscrupulous behaviour.
In summary, Madam Speaker, I am happy to support the passage of this Bill at this time. However, I have some reservations about how the provisions will work in practice, both for people seeking registration as psychologists and for members of the community seeking certainty about the qualifications of people providing psychological services. I certainly recommend, Madam Speaker, that the operation of the Bill be reviewed in six to 12 months' time, to assess whether any difficulties have arisen with the Bill's operation.
MR MOORE (11.25): Madam Speaker, this Bill has been a long time coming and it is very welcome. Mrs Carnell touched very lightly on the need for this Bill, and in particular touched on the issue of malpractice of psychologists. I have been approached by a number of people over a specific psychologist who is practising in Canberra. That is one of the reasons why I have been awaiting this Bill, and looking forward to this Bill, so that there is an appropriate body to which complaints of malpractice can be taken and be dealt with in an appropriate manner, and so that the psychologist can be held accountable to his peers, or her peers, for such conduct. I think this Bill provides for that opportunity.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .