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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (6 November) . . Page.. 3868 ..

2

Mister Speaker

This Bill aims to amend the Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration Act 1988 through the removal of provisions which discriminate against persons based on their age.

The Act provides for the registration of persons engaged in the performance of dental work or the provision of dental prosthetic services and related purposes.

The Act is a stand alone piece of health professions legislation, as opposed to the Health Professions Boards Procedures and Elections Acts.

Subsection 7(2) of the Act limits a person from seeking appointment to the Board if that person has attained the age of 65 years, or if they are likely to attain that age during the period of their appointment.

This is inconsistent with the Discrimination Act and Government policy.

In addition, discrimination based solely on the age of a nominee does not make sense.

The Government accepts that persons aged over 65 years may have the capacity, knowledge, experience and time to serve as a member of the Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration Board.

The Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration (Amendment) Bill 1997 proposes that Subsection 7(2) of the Act be omitted from the Act. This will remove the age requirement for Board nominees.

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