Page 833 - Week 03 - Thursday, 30 March 2006
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MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (11.07): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I am introducing to the Assembly the Radiation Protection Bill 2006. This legislation has had a long gestation process, with its origins in the national competition policy review of radiation protection legislation in all Australian jurisdictions carried out by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, or ARPANSA. In 2001 that review concluded that there should be a national standard for radiation protection to achieve uniformity in radiation protection practices and legislation between all Australian jurisdictions. The radiation health committee of ARPANSA, with representatives from states and territories, set about developing the standard and in August 2004 the National directory for radiation protection was published. The bill I am presenting today is the ACT’s implementation of the principles set out in the dictionary.
In describing the features of the bill I should first say that it is maintaining a number of aspects of radiation protection legislation that have served us well over the 20 years that we have had this kind of legislation. The bill re-establishes the radiation council with the functions of making a range of decisions concerning licensing and registration and advising me as health minister on matters of radiation safety. Arrangements for the council include the flexibility to add members with expertise in areas that may later be regulated under this legislation. Further, the bill makes provision for more flexible procedures for the council to allow it to spend more time on issues of most importance.
The bill also maintains the overall registration and licensing arrangements for the ownership and use of radiation sources in the territory. Those who own radiation sources will still be required to register them and those who deal with radiation sources will still be required to be licensed. The bill allows greater flexibility of licensing arrangements than previously but still maintains a high level of accountability for registered owners and licensees. The bill includes references to national standards for a range of matters relevant to licensing the use of radiation sources, including competency standards and safe levels of radiation exposure.
In this way the bill provides for a more outcomes-based approach to radiation regulatory control. An activity will be licensed if the applicant can meet the national standards in relation to it. A radiation source will be registered if it is set up and stored in a way that meets the national standards. As it stands, the bill regulates ionising radiation, such as radiation emitted from X-ray machines and radioactive materials.
The bill also provides for a range of matters regulated to be expanded by regulation. The national competition policy review of radiation protection legislation recommended that non-ionising radiation, such as ultraviolet radiation, microwave radiation and radio frequency radiation be added. The provisions in the dictionary for regulating non-ionising radiation have not yet been finalised. When they have been finalised, certain non-ionising radiation sources will be added into the scheme by way of regulation. Overall, this bill represents a sensible working scheme for regulating use of radiation in the territory in accordance with national standards. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
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