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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 3915 ..

Mr Kaine: Have they been counselled that they are in trouble?

MR MOORE: They have been counselled, Mr Kaine; they are counselling themselves. There has been a five - year -

Mr Kaine: No, the law has been in place for five years.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Hird): Minister, address your remarks to the chair. Mr Kaine, stop interjecting, if you would, sir.

Mr Kaine: I take a point of order, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. If the minister cannot satisfy my problems, I will support Mr Stanhope's amendment; it is as simple as that. He can spend the rest of the night talking; but if he does not convince me of the things that I am concerned about, he will not have my support. You can stop me interjecting if you want, but I am seeking information.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The minister has the call.

MR MOORE: Through you, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is very important to understand that nobody's job will be affected by this legislation.

Mr Berry: Not yet.

MR MOORE: Mr Berry interjects from outside the chamber, and that is correct. I say to Mr Kaine, through you, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, that there are a number of counsellors who believe that they ought to be recognised as psychologists and who do not have the qualifications to be psychologists. A letter from the Australian Education Union pointed out that currently there are 63 school counsellors and approximately 40 of those counsellors registered by choice with the board and were recognised as being able to provide psychological services. The remainder chose not to go down that path and went through a process with the AAT where they challenged the original piece of legislation, the clear intention of which was to ensure that those people who were providing psychological services had to meet certain criteria set by the board.

Even Mr Stanhope realises that that should be the final outcome. What he has said is that we should put in a transition period. What I have said is that they have already had a transition period and this bill will allow some people who are not qualified as psychologists to be recognised as psychologists. It means that there is a choice between giving these people effectively an extra recognition or making sure that parents taking their children to somebody who is providing services as a psychologist know whether that person is a qualified and recognised psychologist. That is why we established the registration board in the first place.

It is similar to recognising as a solicitor a law clerk who can manage quite a number of things in terms of the law. There is a different qualification, there is a different need and there is a different recognition rate as to what is required and we would not dream of putting in a transition period to allow a law clerk to be recognised as a solicitor, nor should we in this case.

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