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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 3916 ..

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (9.19): I am concerned at the confusion that has been created in relation to this bill and I will just speak again shortly. I concede that my notes were prepared by the AEU, but I endorse them absolutely. There are a number of questions that need answers. I will provide them just for clarification.

Does the current Psychologists Act require public sector psychologists to be registered? The government's legal advice is that the current act does exclude psychologists employed in the public sector. Whether or not this was an inadvertent omission from the original legislation is completely irrelevant.

Mr Moore: That is what we are trying to correct.

MR STANHOPE: No, you are not. You are not going back to where it was. That is the break in your logic. You are trying to return to a 1994 situation where everybody had to be registered, but in 1994 you provided a transition period which you are now seeking to deny for public sector employees. You are not going back to 1994 and saying that you want to correct the inadvertent omission that you now recognise occurred in 1994. If you were doing that, there would not be a problem, but you are not. You are transporting to the year 2000 a requirement that all people practising as psychologists be registered, but you have removed the possibility of seeking registration in a transition period. That is the big difference and it is unsustainable and unsupportable.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will come to order and address his remarks to the chair.

MR STANHOPE: I am.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I understand that to be the case, but I just remind you.

MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. It is true that many public sector psychologists have chosen to be registered in the ACT. It is also true that many have chosen to register in other jurisdictions - the minister has not addressed this point - and some not to register at all, as is their existing legal right. They have not been required to register up till now. Some of them might be able to be registered but they have chosen, as is their legal, right not to register. However, from the date that the government's bill is gazetted that legal right changes and they must all register and cease to provide a psychological service until they are registered, which is appropriate and we support that.

Why should public sector psychologists be given an opportunity to register under transitional provisions similar to the one given to private sector psychologists in the original act? Public sector employers providing a psychology service have had until now the choice to register or not. The government's bill removes that choice and mandates their registration.

When the original act was created and private sector psychologists were required to register, it was deemed appropriate to recognise previous experience in lieu of qualifications, so here we have another difference. Back in 1994 previous experience

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