Page 4293 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 29 November 1994
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Detail Stage
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General and Minister for Health) (11.33): I move:
Page 2, lines 12 to 16, clause 3, subclause (1), omit the definition of "medical practitioner".
I present a very short supplementary explanatory memorandum.
Amendment agreed to.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (11.34), by leave: I move:
Page 18, lines 13 and 14, clause 45, paragraph (1)(b), omit the paragraph.
Page 18, lines 18 and 19, clause 45, subsection (2), omit "or, if such an account has been so served, before the elapsing of the period of 6 months since the service of the account,".
Page 18, line 24 to page 19, line 17, clause 46, omit the clause.
Page 20, lines 27 and 28, clause 48, paragraph (s), omit the paragraph.
Page 21, lines 25 and 26, clause 49, paragraph (k), omit the paragraph.
Madam Speaker, the issues that Mr Connolly raised with regard to price are interesting. I would accept his point of view if we were not going down the track of registering a profession - psychology. Remember that everyone who supposedly will be registered now will have appropriate qualifications and will be operating normally within the law and within professional conduct areas. We do have a Health Complaints Unit which is set up, specifically, to handle issues like problems with fees and so on. Interestingly, psychology is now a schedule benefit for a number of the private health funds. I understand that under certain circumstances it is a schedule benefit generally. It is going to be very interesting, Mr Connolly, if the health professional board, the Psychologists Board, gets into the business of fee setting when we already have a number of other fee setting mechanisms, from health funds through to the Government and, potentially, the Health Complaints Unit as well.
The Bill indicates that a period of six months must have elapsed since the service before any action can be taken by somebody or by a business on an unpaid account. That is an enormously long time. Any business - a psychology practice is like any other business - would have a very large amount of trouble in waiting for six months before they could take any legal action whatsoever. Mr Connolly makes the comment that the people that
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