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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4714 ..

[COGNATE BILLS:

Debate resumed from 2 December 1997, on motion by Mrs Carnell:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MR SPEAKER: Is it the wish of the Assembly to debate this order of the day concurrently with the Health Professions Boards (Procedures) (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1997 and the Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1997? There being no objection, that course will be followed. I remind members that in debating order of the day No. 4 they may also address their remarks to orders of the day Nos 5 and 6.

MS REILLY (11.53): Previously I made some remarks about payments; but, I suppose, the biggest issue in relation to the Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill is the number of medical practitioners to be elected and the addition of an elected legal practitioner and a community representative to the board. Obviously, this change was necessary because, previously, members of the boards had to be registered under the relevant boards so that they could be members of the board. This failed to give a breadth of expertise to the boards at times. There may have been difficulties in getting legal advice from within the government system, and the Government may be one of the parties against which a complaint is made.

The addition of a legal practitioner and a community representative will add considerable expertise to the Medical Board. I think at times this will ensure that the medical practitioners can take a much broader view of issues than only a medical response to a matter. I think the medical profession should be commended for its interest in extending its board in this way, to ensure that they can get a much broader range of experience in their deliberations. I think it is important that the medical practitioners are so willing to do this. Labor is not objecting to the amendments that are before us. I am sure we will all support them.

MR MOORE (11.55): Mr Speaker, I will be supporting the legislation, but I must say that I have some doubts when I look at these pieces of legislation. I think the most significant doubt that I would like to draw attention to is that it really identifies for us that it is time we got an appropriate review mechanism right across the whole range of health issues. When I had a briefing on this matter - and I thank the Chief Minister for making members of her bureaucracy available to brief us - it became clear to me that there was some urgency about this legislation because of matters that are likely to come before the boards in the next little while. It seems to me, however, that what we should do is review the whole way these boards operate and get a single board that reviews such matters, rather than have a series of boards in the way these ones are set up.

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