Queensland Bills Queensland Bills[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]
This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Health Practitioner Regulation
National Law Bill 2009
Queensland
Health Practitioner Regulation National
Law Bill 2009
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Part 2 Adoption of Health Practitioner Regulation National Law
4 Application of Health Practitioner Regulation National Law . . . . . 21
5 Meaning of generic terms in Health Practitioner Regulation
National Law for purposes of this jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6 Responsible tribunal for Health Practitioner Regulation
National Law (Queensland) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7 Exclusion of legislation of this jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Part 3 Provisions specific to this jurisdiction
8 Police commissioner may give criminal history information . . . . . 22
9 Review of decision by QCAT as responsible tribunal . . . . . . . . . . 23
10 Repeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Part 4 Amendment of Health Practitioner Regulation
(Administrative Arrangements) National Law Act 2008
11 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
12 Amendment of schedule (Health Practitioner Regulation
(Administrative Arrangements) National Law) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Schedule Health Practitioner Regulation National Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3 Objectives and guiding principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4 How functions to be exercised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
6 Interpretation generally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7 Single national entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8 Extraterritorial operation of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
9 Trans-Tasman mutual recognition principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
10 Law binds the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Part 2 Ministerial Council
11 Policy directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
12 Approval of registration standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
13 Approvals in relation to specialist registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
14 Approval of endorsement in relation to scheduled medicines . . . 44
15 Approval of areas of practice for purposes of endorsement. . . . . 45
16 How Ministerial Council exercises functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
17 Notification and publication of directions and approvals. . . . . . . . 46
Part 3 Australian Health Workforce Advisory Council
18 Establishment of Advisory Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
19 Function of Advisory Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
20 Publication of advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
21 Powers of Advisory Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
22 Membership of Advisory Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
Division 1 National Agency
23 National Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
24 General powers of National Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
25 Functions of National Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
26 Health profession agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
27 Co-operation with participating jurisdictions and Commonwealth 51
28 Office of National Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Division 2 Agency Management Committee
29 Agency Management Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
30 Functions of Agency Management Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Part 5 National Boards
Division 1 National Boards
31 Establishment of National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
32 Powers of National Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
33 Membership of National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
34 Eligibility for appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Page 2
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
Division 2 Functions of National Boards
35 Functions of National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
36 State and Territory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
37 Delegation of functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Division 3 Registration standards and codes and guidelines
38 National board must develop registration standards . . . . . . . . . . 62
39 Codes and guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
40 Consultation about registration standards, codes and guidelines 64
41 Use of registration standards, codes or guidelines in
disciplinary proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Part 6 Accreditation
Division 1 Preliminary
42 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Division 2 Accreditation authorities
43 Accreditation authority to be decided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
44 National Agency may enter into contracts with external
accreditation entities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
45 Accreditation processes to be published . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Division 3 Accreditation functions
46 Development of accreditation standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
47 Approval of accreditation standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
48 Accreditation of programs of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
49 Approval of accredited programs of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
50 Accreditation authority to monitor approved programs of study . . 70
51 Changes to approval of program of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
Division 1 General registration
52 Eligibility for general registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
53 Qualifications for general registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
54 Examination or assessment for general registration . . . . . . . . . . 73
55 Unsuitability to hold general registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
56 Period of general registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Division 2 Specialist registration
57 Eligibility for specialist registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
58 Qualifications for specialist registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
59 Examination or assessment for specialist registration . . . . . . . . . 77
Page 3
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
60 Unsuitability to hold specialist registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
61 Period of specialist registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Division 3 Provisional registration
62 Eligibility for provisional registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
63 Unsuitability to hold provisional registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
64 Period of provisional registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Division 4 Limited registration
65 Eligibility for limited registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
66 Limited registration for postgraduate training or supervised
practice ........................................ 80
67 Limited registration for area of need. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
68 Limited registration in public interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
69 Limited registration for teaching or research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
70 Unsuitability to hold limited registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
71 Limited registration not to be held for more than one purpose . . . 83
72 Period of limited registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Division 5 Non-practising registration
73 Eligibility for non-practising registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
74 Unsuitability to hold non-practising registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
75 Registered health practitioner who holds non-practising
registration must not practise the profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
76 Period of non-practising registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Division 6 Application for registration
77 Application for registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
78 Power to check applicant's proof of identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
79 Power to check applicant's criminal history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
80 Boards' other powers before deciding application for registration 87
81 Applicant may make submissions about proposed refusal of
application or imposition of condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
82 Decision about application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
83 Conditions of registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
84 Notice to be given to applicant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
85 Failure to decide application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Division 7 Student registration
Subdivision 1 Persons undertaking approved programs of study
86 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Page 4
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
87 National Board must register persons undertaking approved
program of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
88 National Board may ask education provider for list of persons
undertaking approved program of study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
89 Registration of students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
90 Period of student registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Subdivision 2 Other persons to be registered as students
91 Education provider to provide lists of persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Subdivision 3 General provisions applicable to students
92 Notice to be given if student registration suspended or
condition imposed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
93 Report to National Board of cessation of status as student . . . . . 97
Division 8 Endorsement of registration
Subdivision 1 Endorsement in relation to scheduled medicines
94 Endorsement for scheduled medicines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Subdivision 2 Endorsement in relation to nurse practitioners
95 Endorsement as nurse practitioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Subdivision 3 Endorsement in relation to midwife practitioners
96 Endorsement as midwife practitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Subdivision 4 Endorsement in relation to acupuncture
97 Endorsement for acupuncture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Subdivision 5 Endorsements in relation to approved areas of practice
98 Endorsement for approved area of practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Subdivision 6 Application for endorsement
99 Application for endorsement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
100 Boards' other powers before deciding application for
endorsement .................................. 102
101 Applicant may make submissions about proposed refusal of
application or imposition of condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
102 Decision about application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
103 Conditions of endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
104 Notice of decision to be given to applicant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
105 Period of endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
106 Failure to decide application for endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Division 9 Renewal of registration
107 Application for renewal of registration or endorsement . . . . . . . . 106
108 Registration taken to continue in force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Page 5
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
109 Annual statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
110 National Board's powers before making decision. . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
111 Applicant may make submissions about proposed refusal of
application for renewal or imposition of condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
112 Decision about application for renewal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Division 10 Title and practice protections
Subdivision 1 Title protections
113 Restriction on use of protected titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
114 Use of title "acupuncturist" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
115 Restriction on use of specialist titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
116 Claims by persons as to registration as health practitioner . . . . . 114
117 Claims by persons as to registration in particular profession or
division .......................................... 116
118 Claims by persons as to specialist registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
119 Claims about type of registration or registration in recognised
specialty ......................................... 119
120 Registered health practitioner registered on conditions . . . . . . . . 120
Subdivision 2 Practice protections
121 Restricted dental acts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
122 Restriction on prescription of optical appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
123 Restriction on spinal manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Division 11 Miscellaneous
Subdivision 1 Certificates of registration
124 Issue of certificate of registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Subdivision 2 Review of conditions and undertakings
125 Changing or removing conditions or undertaking on
application by registered health practitioner or student . . . . . . . . 125
126 Changing conditions on Board's initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
127 Removal of condition or revocation of undertaking . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Subdivision 3 Obligations of registered health practitioners and students
128 Continuing professional development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
129 Professional indemnity insurance arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
130 Registered health practitioner or student to give National Board
notice of certain events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
131 Change in principal place of practice, address or name . . . . . . . 131
132 National Board may ask registered health practitioner for
employer's details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Page 6
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
Subdivision 4 Advertising
133 Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Subdivision 5 Board's powers to check identity and criminal history
134 Evidence of identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
135 Criminal history check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Subdivision 6 General
136 Directing or inciting unprofessional conduct or professional
misconduct ....................................... 135
137 Surrender of registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
Division 1 Preliminary
138 Part applicable to persons formerly registered under this Law. . . 136
139 Part applicable to persons formerly registered under
corresponding prior Act in certain circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Division 2 Mandatory notifications
140 Definition of notifiable conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
141 Mandatory notifications by health practitioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
142 Mandatory notifications by employers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
143 Mandatory notifications by education providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Division 3 Voluntary notifications
144 Grounds for voluntary notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
145 Who may make voluntary notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Division 4 Making a notification
146 How notification is made . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
147 National Agency to provide reasonable assistance to notifier . . . 143
Division 5 Preliminary assessment
148 Referral of notification to National Board or co-regulatory
authority ..................................... 143
149 Preliminary assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
150 Relationship with health complaints entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
151 When National Board may decide to take no further action . . . . . 147
152 National Board to give notice of receipt of notification . . . . . . . . . 148
Division 6 Other matters
153 National Board may deal with notifications about same person
together ......................................... 148
154 National Boards may deal with notifications collaboratively . . . . . 148
Page 7
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
Division 7 Immediate action
155 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
156 Power to take immediate action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
157 Show cause process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
158 Notice to be given to registered health practitioner or student
about immediate action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
159 Period of immediate action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Division 8 Investigations
Subdivision 1 Preliminary
160 When investigation may be conducted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
161 Registered health practitioner or student to be given notice of
investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
162 Investigation to be conducted in timely way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Subdivision 2 Investigators
163 Appointment of investigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
164 Identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
165 Display of identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Subdivision 3 Procedure after investigation
166 Investigator's report about investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
167 Decision by National Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Division 9 Health and performance assessments
168 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
169 Requirement for health assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
170 Requirement for performance assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
171 Appointment of assessor to carry out assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . 157
172 Notice to be given to registered health practitioner or student
about assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
173 Assessor may require information or attendance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
174 Inspection of documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
175 Report from assessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
176 Copy of report to be given to health practitioner or student . . . . . 159
177 Decision by National Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Division 10 Action by National Board
178 National Board may take action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
179 Show cause process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
180 Notice to be given to health practitioner or student and notifier . . 163
Page 8
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
Division 11 Panels
181 Establishment of health panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
182 Establishment of performance and professional standards panel 165
183 List of approved persons for appointment to panels. . . . . . . . . . . 165
184 Notice to be given to registered health practitioner or student . . . 166
185 Procedure of panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
186 Legal representation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
187 Submission by notifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
188 Panel may proceed in absence of registered health practitioner
or student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
189 Hearing not open to the public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
190 Referral to responsible tribunal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
191 Decision of panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
192 Notice to be given about panel's decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Division 12 Referring matter to responsible tribunals
193 Matters to be referred to responsible tribunal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
194 Parties to the proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
195 Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
196 Decision by responsible tribunal about registered health
practitioner ...................................... 172
197 Decision by responsible tribunal about student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
198 Relationship with Act establishing responsible tribunal . . . . . . . . 174
Division 13 Appeals
199 Appellable decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
200 Parties to the proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
201 Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
202 Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
203 Relationship with Act establishing responsible tribunal . . . . . . . . 177
Division 14 Miscellaneous
204 Notice from adjudication body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
205 Implementation of decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
206 National Board to give notice to registered health practitioner's
employer ....................................... 178
207 Effect of suspension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Part 9 Finance
208 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Fund. . . . . . . . 179
209 Payments into Agency Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Page 9
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
210 Payments out of Agency Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
211 Investment of money in Agency Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
212 Financial management duties of National Agency and National
Boards ......................................... 182
Part 10 Information and privacy
Division 1 Privacy
213 Application of Commonwealth Privacy Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Division 2 Disclosure of information and confidentiality
214 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
215 Application of Commonwealth FOI Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
216 Duty of confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
217 Disclosure of information for workforce planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
218 Disclosure of information for information management and
communication purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
219 Disclosure of information to other Commonwealth, State and
Territory entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
220 Disclosure to protect health or safety of patients or other persons 188
221 Disclosure to registration authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Division 3 Registers in relation to registered health practitioner
222 National Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
223 Specialists Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
224 Way registers are to be kept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
225 Information to be recorded in National Register. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
226 National Board may decide not to include or to remove certain
information in register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
227 Register about former registered health practitioners . . . . . . . . . 193
228 Inspection of registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Division 4 Student registers
229 Student registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
230 Information to be recorded in student register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Division 5 Other records
231 Other records to be kept by National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
232 Record of adjudication decisions to be kept and made publicly
available ....................................... 196
Division 6 Unique identifier
233 Unique identifier to be given to each registered health practitioner 197
Page 10
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
Part 11 Miscellaneous
Division 1 Provisions relating to persons exercising functions under
Law
234 General duties of persons exercising functions under this Law . . 197
235 Application of Commonwealth Ombudsman Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
236 Protection from personal liability for persons exercising functions 199
237 Protection from liability for persons making notification or
otherwise providing information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Division 2 Inspectors
238 Functions and powers of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
239 Appointment of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
240 Identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
241 Display of identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Division 3 Legal proceedings
242 Proceedings for offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
243 Conduct may constitute offence and be subject of disciplinary
proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
244 Evidentiary certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Division 4 Regulations
245 National regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
246 Parliamentary scrutiny of national regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
247 Effect of disallowance of national regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Division 5 Miscellaneous
248 Combined notice may be given . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
249 Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Part 12 Transitional provisions
Division 1 Preliminary
250 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
251 References to registered health practitioners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Division 2 Ministerial Council
252 Directions given by Ministerial council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
253 Accreditation functions exercised by existing accreditation entities 208
254 Health profession standards approved by Ministerial Council . . . 209
255 Accreditation standards approved by National Board . . . . . . . . . 209
Division 3 Advisory Council
256 Members of Advisory Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Page 11
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
Division 4 National Agency
257 Health profession agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
258 Service agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Division 5 Agency Management Committee
259 Members of Agency Management Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Division 6 Staff, consultants and contractors of National Agency
260 Chief executive officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
261 Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
262 Consultants and contractors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Division 7 Reports
263 Annual report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Division 8 National Boards
264 Members of National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
265 Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
266 Delegation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Division 9 Agency Fund
267 Agency Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Division 10 Offences
268 Offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Division 11 Registration
269 General registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
270 Specialist registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
271 Provisional registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
272 Limited registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
273 Limited registration (public interest-occasional practice) . . . . . . . 216
274 Non-practising registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
275 Registration for existing registered students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
276 Registration for new students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
277 Other registrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
278 Endorsements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
279 Conditions imposed on registration or endorsement . . . . . . . . . . 220
280 Expiry of registration and endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
281 Protected titles for certain specialist health practitioners . . . . . . . 221
282 First renewal of registration or endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
283 Programs of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Page 12
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
284 Exemption from requirement for professional indemnity insurance
arrangements for midwives practising private midwifery . . . . . . . 222
Division 12 Applications for registration and endorsement
285 Applications for registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
286 Applications for endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
287 Disqualifications and conditions relevant to applications for
registration ...................................... 225
Division 13 Complaints, notifications and disciplinary proceedings
288 Complaints and notifications made but not being dealt with on
participation day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
289 Complaints and notifications being dealt with on participation day 226
290 Effect of suspension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
291 Undertakings and other agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
292 Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
293 List of approved persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Division 14 Local registration authority
294 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
295 Assets and liabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
296 Records relating to registration and accreditation . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
297 Financial and administrative records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
298 Pharmacy businesses and premises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
299 Members of local registration authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Division 15 Staged commencement for certain health professions
300 Application of Law to relevant health profession between
commencement and 1 July 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
301 Ministerial Council may appoint external accreditation entity . . . 232
302 Application of Law to appointment of first National Board for
relevant professions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
303 Qualifications for general registration in relevant profession . . . . 233
304 Relationship with other provisions of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Division 16 Savings and transitional regulations
305 Savings and transitional regulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Schedule 1 Constitution and procedure of Advisory Council . . . . . . . . . 235
Part 1 General
1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Part 2 Constitution
2 Terms of office of members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Page 13
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
3 Remuneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
4 Vacancy in office of member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
5 Extension of term of office during vacancy in membership . . . . . 236
6 Disclosure of conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Part 3 Procedure
7 General procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
8 Quorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
9 Presiding member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
10 Transaction of business outside meetings or by
telecommunication .............................. 238
11 First meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Schedule 2 Agency Management Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Part 1 General
1 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Part 2 Constitution
2 Terms of office of members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
3 Remuneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
4 Vacancy in office of member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
5 Vacancies to be advertised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
6 Extension of term of office during vacancy in membership . . . . . 242
7 Members to act in public interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
8 Disclosure of conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Part 3 Procedure
9 General procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
10 Quorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
11 Chief executive officer may attend meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
12 Presiding member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
13 Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
14 Transaction of business outside meetings or by
telecommunication .............................. 244
15 First meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
16 Defects in appointment of members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Schedule 3 National Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Part 1 Chief executive officer
1 Chief executive officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
2 Functions of chief executive officer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Page 14
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
3 Delegation and subdelegation by chief executive officer . . . . . . . 246
4 Vacancy in office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Part 2 Staff, consultants and contractors
5 Staff of National Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
6 Staff seconded to National Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
7 Consultants and contractors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Part 3 Reporting obligations
8 Annual report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9 Reporting by National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Schedule 4 National Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Part 1 General
1 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Part 2 Constitution
2 Terms of office of members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
3 Remuneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
4 Vacancy in office of member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
5 Vacancies to be advertised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
6 Extension of term of office during vacancy in membership . . . . . 252
7 Members to act in public interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
8 Disclosure of conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Part 3 Functions and powers
9 Requirement to consult other National Boards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
10 Boards may obtain assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
11 Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Part 4 Procedure
12 General procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
13 Quorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
14 Presiding member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
15 Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
16 Transaction of business outside meetings or by
telecommunication .............................. 256
17 First meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
18 Defects in appointment of members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Schedule 5 Investigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Part 1 Power to obtain information
1 Powers of investigators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Page 15
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
2 Offence for failing to produce information or attend before
investigator ...................................... 257
3 Inspection of documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Part 2 Power to enter places
4 Entering places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
5 Application for warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
6 Issue of warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
7 Application by electronic communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
8 Procedure before entry under warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
9 Powers after entering places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
10 Offences for failing to comply with requirement under clause 9 . . 263
11 Seizure of evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
12 Securing seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
13 Receipt for seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
14 Forfeiture of seized thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
15 Dealing with forfeited things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
16 Return of seized things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
17 Access to seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Part 3 General matters
18 Damage to property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
19 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
20 False or misleading information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
21 False or misleading documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
22 Obstructing investigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
23 Impersonation of investigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Schedule 6 Inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Part 1 Power to obtain information
1 Powers of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
2 Offence for failing to produce information or attend before
inspector ....................................... 269
3 Inspection of documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Part 2 Power to enter places
4 Entering places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
5 Application for warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
6 Issue of warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
7 Application by electronic communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Page 16
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
8 Procedure before entry under warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
9 Powers after entering places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
10 Offences for failing to comply with requirement under clause 9 . . 275
11 Seizure of evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
12 Securing seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
13 Receipt for seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
14 Forfeiture of seized thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
15 Dealing with forfeited things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
16 Return of seized things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
17 Access to seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Part 3 General matters
18 Damage to property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
19 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
20 False or misleading information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
21 False or misleading documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
22 Obstructing inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
23 Impersonation of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Schedule 7 Miscellaneous provisions relating to interpretation . . . . . . . 281
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Displacement of Schedule by contrary intention . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Part 2 General
2 Law to be construed not to exceed legislative power of
Legislature .................................... 281
3 Every section to be a substantive enactment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
4 Material that is, and is not, part of this Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
5 References to particular Acts and to enactments. . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
6 References taken to be included in Act or Law citation etc . . . . . 283
7 Interpretation best achieving Law's purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
8 Use of extrinsic material in interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
9 Effect of change of drafting practice and use of examples . . . . . . 285
10 Use of examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
11 Compliance with forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Part 3 Terms and references
12 Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
13 Provisions relating to defined terms and gender and number . . . 291
14 Meaning of "may" and "must" etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Page 17
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Contents
15 Words and expressions used in statutory instruments . . . . . . . . . 292
16 Effect of express references to bodies corporate and individuals 292
17 Production of records kept in computers etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
18 References to this jurisdiction to be implied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
19 References to officers and holders of offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
20 Reference to certain provisions of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
21 Reference to provisions of this Law or an Act is inclusive . . . . . . 295
Part 4 Functions and powers
22 Performance of statutory functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
23 Power to make instrument or decision includes power to amend
or repeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
24 Matters for which statutory instruments may make provision. . . . 296
25 Presumption of validity and power to make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
26 Appointments may be made by name or office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
27 Acting appointments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
28 Powers of appointment imply certain incidental powers. . . . . . . . 300
29 Delegation of functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
30 Exercise of powers between enactment and commencement . . . 303
Part 5 Distance, time and age
31 Matters relating to distance, time and age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Part 6 Effect of repeal, amendment or expiration
32 Time of Law ceasing to have effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
33 Repealed Law provisions not revived . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
34 Saving of operation of repealed Law provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
35 Continuance of repealed provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
36 Law and amending Acts to be read as one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Part 7 Instruments under Law
37 Schedule applies to statutory instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Part 8 Application to coastal sea
38 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Page 18
2009
A Bill
for
An Act providing for the adoption of a national law to establish
a national registration and accreditation scheme for health
practitioners
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 1]
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Part 1 Preliminary 2
1 Short title 3
This Act may be cited as the Health Practitioner Regulation 4
National Law Act 2009. 5
2 Commencement 6
This Act, other than part 4, commences on 1 July 2010. 7
3 Definitions 8
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the local application provisions 9
of this Act are the provisions of this Act other than the Health 10
Practitioner Regulation National Law set out in the schedule. 11
(2) In the local application provisions of this Act-- 12
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Queensland) 13
means the provisions applying in this jurisdiction because of 14
section 4. 15
(3) Terms used in the local application provisions of this Act and 16
also in the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law set 17
out in the schedule have the same meanings in those 18
provisions as they have in that Law. 19
Page 20
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 2 Adoption of Health Practitioner Regulation National Law
[s 4]
Part 2 Adoption of Health Practitioner 1
Regulation National Law 2
4 Application of Health Practitioner Regulation National 3
Law 4
The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law set out in 5
the schedule-- 6
(a) applies as a law of this jurisdiction; and 7
(b) as so applying, may be referred to as the Health 8
Practitioner Regulation National Law (Queensland); and 9
(c) as so applying, is a part of this Act. 10
5 Meaning of generic terms in Health Practitioner 11
Regulation National Law for purposes of this jurisdiction 12
In the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law 13
(Queensland)-- 14
magistrate means a magistrate appointed under the 15
Magistrates Act 1991. 16
Magistrates Court means a Magistrates Court established 17
under the Justices Act 1886. 18
this jurisdiction means Queensland. 19
6 Responsible tribunal for Health Practitioner Regulation 20
National Law (Queensland) 21
QCAT is declared to be the responsible tribunal for this 22
jurisdiction for the purposes of the Health Practitioner 23
Regulation National Law (Queensland). 24
7 Exclusion of legislation of this jurisdiction 25
The following Acts of this jurisdiction do not apply to the 26
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Queensland) or 27
to the instruments made under that law-- 28
Page 21
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 3 Provisions specific to this jurisdiction
[s 8]
(a) the Acts Interpretation Act 1954; 1
(b) the Auditor-General Act 2009; 2
(c) the Financial Accountability Act 2009; 3
(d) the Information Privacy Act 2009; 4
(e) the Ombudsman Act 2001; 5
(f) the Public Service Act 2008; 6
(g) the Right to Information Act 2009; 7
(h) the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982; 8
(i) the Statutory Instruments Act 1992. 9
Part 3 Provisions specific to this 10
jurisdiction 11
8 Police commissioner may give criminal history 12
information 13
(1) The police commissioner may give criminal history 14
information to-- 15
(a) a National Board; or 16
(b) CrimTrac, or a police force or service of the 17
Commonwealth or another State, for the purpose of 18
CrimTrac or the police force or service giving the 19
criminal history information to a National Board. 20
(2) In this section-- 21
criminal history information means information about a 22
person's criminal history that may be included in a written 23
report under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law 24
(Queensland), section 79 or 135. 25
Page 22
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Amendment of Health Practitioner Regulation (Administrative Arrangements)
National Law Act 2008
[s 9]
9 Review of decision by QCAT as responsible tribunal 1
A reference in the Health Practitioner Regulation National 2
Law (Queensland) to an appeal against a decision is, for an 3
appeal to QCAT as the responsible tribunal, a reference to a 4
review of the decision as provided under the QCAT Act. 5
10 Repeal 6
The Health Practitioner Regulation (Administrative 7
Arrangements) National Law Act 2008, No. 62 is repealed. 8
Part 4 Amendment of Health 9
Practitioner Regulation 10
(Administrative Arrangements) 11
National Law Act 2008 12
11 Act amended 13
This part amends the Health Practitioner Regulation 14
(Administrative Arrangements) National Law Act 2008. 15
12 Amendment of schedule (Health Practitioner Regulation 16
(Administrative Arrangements) National Law) 17
(1) Schedule, section 4(3), after `staff of'-- 18
insert-- 19
`, or consultant or contractor engaged by,'. 20
(2) Schedule, section 7-- 21
omit, insert-- 22
`7 Policy directions 23
`(1) The Ministerial Council may give directions to the National 24
Agency about the policies to be applied by the National 25
Agency in exercising its functions under this Law. 26
Page 23
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Amendment of Health Practitioner Regulation (Administrative Arrangements)
National Law Act 2008
[s 12]
`(2) The Ministerial Council may give directions to a National 1
Board about the policies to be applied by the National Board 2
in exercising its functions under this Law. 3
`(3) Without limiting subsections (1) and (2), a direction under this 4
section may relate to-- 5
(a) a matter relevant to the policies of the National Agency 6
or a National Board; or 7
(b) an administrative process of the National Agency or a 8
National Board; or 9
(c) a procedure of the National Agency or a National Board; 10
or 11
(d) a particular proposed accreditation standard, or a 12
particular proposed amendment of an accreditation 13
standard, for a health profession. 14
`(4) However, the Ministerial Council may give a National Board a 15
direction under subsection (3)(d) only if-- 16
(a) in the Council's opinion, the proposed accreditation 17
standard or amendment will have a substantive and 18
negative impact on the recruitment or supply of health 19
practitioners; and 20
(b) the Council has first given consideration to the potential 21
impact of the Council's direction on the quality and 22
safety of health care. 23
`(5) A direction under this section can not be about-- 24
(a) a particular person; or 25
(b) a particular qualification; or 26
(c) a particular application, notification or proceeding. 27
`(6) The National Agency or a National Board must comply with a 28
direction given to it by the Ministerial Council under this 29
section.'. 30
(3) Schedule, section 8(2), `, accreditation'-- 31
omit. 32
Page 24
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Amendment of Health Practitioner Regulation (Administrative Arrangements)
National Law Act 2008
[s 12]
(4) Schedule, section 9(3), `consideration'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`approval'. 3
(5) Schedule, sections 29(3) and 46(2), after `staff of'-- 4
insert-- 5
`, or contractor engaged by,'. 6
(6) Schedule, section 33(1) and (2), after `consultants'-- 7
insert-- 8
`or contractors'. 9
(7) Schedule, section 45(1)-- 10
insert-- 11
`(ab) to develop standards relating to accreditation 12
(accreditation standards) with respect to a particular 13
health profession;'. 14
(8) Schedule, section 45-- 15
insert-- 16
`(2A) An accreditation standard that is developed by a committee of 17
a National Board is to be submitted to the National Board for 18
its approval.'. 19
(9) Schedule, section 54(3), definition protected person-- 20
insert-- 21
`(d) a consultant or contractor engaged by the National 22
Agency.'. 23
Page 25
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 1]
Schedule Health Practitioner Regulation 1
National Law 2
section 4 3
Part 1 Preliminary 4
1 Short title 5
This Law may be cited as the Health Practitioner Regulation 6
National Law. 7
2 Commencement 8
This Law commences in a participating jurisdiction as 9
provided by the Act of that jurisdiction that applies this Law 10
as a law of that jurisdiction. 11
3 Objectives and guiding principles 12
(1) The object of this Law is to establish a national registration 13
and accreditation scheme for-- 14
(a) the regulation of health practitioners; and 15
(b) the registration of students undertaking-- 16
(i) programs of study that provide a qualification for 17
registration in a health profession; or 18
(ii) clinical training in a health profession. 19
(2) The objectives of the national registration and accreditation 20
scheme are-- 21
(a) to provide for the protection of the public by ensuring 22
that only health practitioners who are suitably trained 23
and qualified to practise in a competent and ethical 24
manner are registered; and 25
Page 26
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 4]
(b) to facilitate workforce mobility across Australia by 1
reducing the administrative burden for health 2
practitioners wishing to move between participating 3
jurisdictions or to practise in more than one 4
participating jurisdiction; and 5
(c) to facilitate the provision of high quality education and 6
training of health practitioners; and 7
(d) to facilitate the rigorous and responsive assessment of 8
overseas-trained health practitioners; and 9
(e) to facilitate access to services provided by health 10
practitioners in accordance with the public interest; and 11
(f) to enable the continuous development of a flexible, 12
responsive and sustainable Australian health workforce 13
and to enable innovation in the education of, and service 14
delivery by, health practitioners. 15
(3) The guiding principles of the national registration and 16
accreditation scheme are as follows-- 17
(a) the scheme is to operate in a transparent, accountable, 18
efficient, effective and fair way; 19
(b) fees required to be paid under the scheme are to be 20
reasonable having regard to the efficient and effective 21
operation of the scheme; 22
(c) restrictions on the practice of a health profession are to 23
be imposed under the scheme only if it is necessary to 24
ensure health services are provided safely and are of an 25
appropriate quality. 26
4 How functions to be exercised 27
An entity that has functions under this Law is to exercise its 28
functions having regard to the objectives and guiding 29
principles of the national registration and accreditation 30
scheme set out in section 3. 31
Page 27
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
5 Definitions 1
In this Law-- 2
accreditation authority means-- 3
(a) an external accreditation entity; or 4
(b) an accreditation committee. 5
accreditation committee means a committee established by a 6
National Board to exercise an accreditation function for the 7
health profession for which the Board is established. 8
accreditation standard, for a health profession, means a 9
standard used to assess whether a program of study, and the 10
education provider that provides the program of study, 11
provide persons who complete the program with the 12
knowledge, skills and professional attributes necessary to 13
practise the profession in Australia. 14
accredited program of study means a program of study 15
accredited under section 48 by an accreditation authority. 16
adjudication body means-- 17
(a) a panel; or 18
(b) a responsible tribunal; or 19
(c) a Court; or 20
(d) an entity of a co-regulatory jurisdiction that is declared 21
in the Act applying this Law to be an adjudication body 22
for the purposes of this Law. 23
Advisory Council means the Australian Health Workforce 24
Advisory Council established by section 18. 25
Agency Fund means the Australian Health Practitioner 26
Regulation Agency Fund established by section 208. 27
Agency Management Committee means the Australian 28
Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Management 29
Committee established by section 29. 30
appropriate professional indemnity insurance 31
arrangements, in relation to a registered health practitioner, 32
Page 28
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
means professional indemnity insurance arrangements that 1
comply with an approved registration standard for the health 2
profession in which the practitioner is registered. 3
approved accreditation standard means an accreditation 4
standard-- 5
(a) approved by a National Board under section 47(3); and 6
(b) published on the Board's website under section 47(6). 7
approved area of practice, for a health profession, means an 8
area of practice approved under section 15 for the profession. 9
approved program of study, for a health profession or for 10
endorsement of registration in a health profession, means an 11
accredited program of study-- 12
(a) approved under section 49(1) by the National Board 13
established for the health profession; and 14
(b) included in the list published by the National Agency 15
under section 49(5). 16
approved qualification-- 17
(a) for a health profession, means a qualification obtained 18
by completing an approved program of study for the 19
profession; and 20
(b) for endorsement of registration in a health profession, 21
means a qualification obtained by completing an 22
approved program of study relevant to the endorsement. 23
approved registration standard means a registration 24
standard-- 25
(a) approved by the Ministerial Council under section 12; 26
and 27
(b) published on the website of the National Board that 28
developed the standard. 29
Australian legal practitioner means a person who-- 30
(a) is admitted to the legal profession under the law of a 31
State or Territory; and 32
Page 29
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
(b) holds a current practising certificate under a law of a 1
State or Territory authorising the person to practise the 2
legal profession. 3
COAG Agreement means the agreement for a national 4
registration and accreditation scheme for health professions, 5
made on 26 March 2008 between the Commonwealth, the 6
States, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern 7
Territory. 8
Note. A copy of the COAG Agreement is available on the Council of 9
Australian Governments' website. 10
co-regulatory authority, for a co-regulatory jurisdiction, 11
means an entity that is declared by the Act applying this Law 12
in the co-regulatory jurisdiction to be a co-regulatory 13
authority for the purposes of this Law. 14
co-regulatory jurisdiction means a participating jurisdiction 15
in which the Act applying this Law declares that the 16
jurisdiction is not participating in the health, performance and 17
conduct process provided by Divisions 3 to 12 of Part 8. 18
corresponding prior Act means a law of a participating 19
jurisdiction that-- 20
(a) was in force before the day on which the jurisdiction 21
became a participating jurisdiction; and 22
(b) established an entity having functions that included-- 23
(i) the registration of persons as health practitioners; 24
or 25
(ii) health, conduct or performance action. 26
criminal history, of a person, means the following-- 27
(a) every conviction of the person for an offence, in a 28
participating jurisdiction or elsewhere, and whether 29
before or after the commencement of this Law; 30
(b) every plea of guilty or finding of guilt by a court of the 31
person for an offence, in a participating jurisdiction or 32
elsewhere, and whether before or after the 33
commencement of this Law and whether or not a 34
conviction is recorded for the offence; 35
Page 30
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
(c) every charge made against the person for an offence, in 1
a participating jurisdiction or elsewhere, and whether 2
before or after the commencement of this Law. 3
criminal history law means a law of a participating 4
jurisdiction that provides that spent or other convictions do 5
not form part of a person's criminal history and prevents or 6
does not require the disclosure of those convictions. 7
CrimTrac means the CrimTrac agency established under 8
section 65 of the Public Service Act 1999 of the 9
Commonwealth. 10
division, of a health profession, means a part of a health 11
profession for which a Division is included in the National 12
Register kept for the profession. 13
education provider means-- 14
(a) a university; or 15
(b) a tertiary education institution, or another institution or 16
organisation, that provides vocational training; or 17
(c) a specialist medical college or other health profession 18
college. 19
entity includes a person and an unincorporated body. 20
exercise a function includes perform a duty. 21
external accreditation entity means an entity, other than a 22
committee established by a National Board, that exercises an 23
accreditation function. 24
health assessment means an assessment of a person to 25
determine whether the person has an impairment and includes 26
a medical, physical, psychiatric or psychological examination 27
or test of the person. 28
health complaints entity means an entity-- 29
(a) that is established by or under an Act of a participating 30
jurisdiction; and 31
Page 31
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
(b) whose functions include conciliating, investigating and 1
resolving complaints made against health service 2
providers and investigating failures in the health system. 3
health, conduct or performance action means action that-- 4
(a) a National Board or an adjudication body may take in 5
relation to a registered health practitioner or student at 6
the end of a proceeding under Part 8; or 7
(b) a co-regulatory authority or an adjudication body may 8
take in relation to a registered health practitioner or 9
student at the end of a proceeding that, under the law of 10
a co-regulatory jurisdiction, substantially corresponds to 11
a proceeding under Part 8. 12
health panel means a panel established under section 181. 13
health practitioner means an individual who practises a 14
health profession. 15
health profession means the following professions, and 16
includes a recognised specialty in any of the following 17
professions-- 18
(a) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practice; 19
(b) Chinese medicine; 20
(c) chiropractic; 21
(d) dental (including the profession of a dentist, dental 22
therapist, dental hygienist, dental prosthetist and oral 23
health therapist); 24
(e) medical; 25
(f) medical radiation practice; 26
(g) nursing and midwifery; 27
(h) occupational therapy; 28
(i) optometry; 29
(j) osteopathy; 30
(k) pharmacy; 31
Page 32
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
(l) physiotherapy; 1
(m) podiatry; 2
(n) psychology. 3
Note. See Division 15 of Part 12 which provides for a staged 4
commencement of the application of this Law to the Aboriginal and Torres 5
Strait Islander health practice, Chinese medicine, medical radiation 6
practice and occupational therapy professions. 7
health profession agreement has the meaning given by 8
section 26. 9
health program means a program providing education, 10
prevention, early intervention, treatment or rehabilitation 11
services relating to physical or mental impairments, 12
disabilities, conditions or disorders, including substance abuse 13
or dependence. 14
health service includes the following services, whether 15
provided as public or private services-- 16
(a) services provided by registered health practitioners; 17
(b) hospital services; 18
(c) mental health services; 19
(d) pharmaceutical services; 20
(e) ambulance services; 21
(f) community health services; 22
(g) health education services; 23
(h) welfare services necessary to implement any services 24
referred to in paragraphs (a) to (g); 25
(i) services provided by dietitians, masseurs, naturopaths, 26
social workers, speech pathologists, audiologists or 27
audiometrists; 28
(j) pathology services. 29
health service provider means a person who provides a health 30
service. 31
Page 33
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
impairment, in relation to a person, means the person has a 1
physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or 2
disorder (including substance abuse or dependence) that 3
detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect-- 4
(a) for a registered health practitioner or an applicant for 5
registration in a health profession, the person's capacity 6
to practise the profession; or 7
(b) for a student, the student's capacity to undertake clinical 8
training-- 9
(i) as part of the approved program of study in which 10
the student is enrolled; or 11
(ii) arranged by an education provider. 12
local registration authority means an entity having functions 13
under a law of a State or Territory that include the registration 14
of persons as health practitioners. 15
mandatory notification means a notification an entity is 16
required to make to the National Agency under Division 2 of 17
Part 8. 18
medical practitioner means a person who is registered under 19
this Law in the medical profession. 20
Ministerial Council means the Australian Health Workforce 21
Ministerial Council comprising Ministers of the governments 22
of the participating jurisdictions and the Commonwealth with 23
portfolio responsibility for health. 24
National Agency means the Australian Health Practitioner 25
Regulation Agency established by section 23. 26
National Board means a National Health Practitioner Board 27
established by section 31. 28
National Register means the Register kept by a National 29
Board under section 222. 30
national registration and accreditation scheme means the 31
scheme-- 32
(a) referred to in the COAG Agreement; and 33
Page 34
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
(b) established by this Law. 1
notification means-- 2
(a) a mandatory notification; or 3
(b) a voluntary notification. 4
notifier means a person who makes a notification. 5
panel means-- 6
(a) a health panel; or 7
(b) a performance and professional standards panel. 8
participating jurisdiction means a State or Territory-- 9
(a) that is a party to the COAG Agreement; and 10
(b) in which-- 11
(i) this Law applies as a law of the State or Territory; 12
or 13
(ii) a law that substantially corresponds to the 14
provisions of this Law has been enacted. 15
performance and professional standards panel means a 16
panel established under section 182. 17
performance assessment means an assessment of the 18
knowledge, skill or judgment possessed, or care exercised by, 19
a registered health practitioner in the practice of the health 20
profession in which the practitioner is registered. 21
police commissioner means the commissioner of the police 22
force or police service of a participating jurisdiction or the 23
Commonwealth. 24
principal place of practice, for a registered health 25
practitioner, means the address declared by the practitioner to 26
be the address-- 27
(a) at which the practitioner is predominantly practising the 28
profession; or 29
(b) if the practitioner is not practising the profession or is 30
not practising the profession predominantly at one 31
Page 35
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
address, that is the practitioner's principal place of 1
residence. 2
professional misconduct, of a registered health practitioner, 3
includes-- 4
(a) unprofessional conduct by the practitioner that amounts 5
to conduct that is substantially below the standard 6
reasonably expected of a registered health practitioner 7
of an equivalent level of training or experience; and 8
(b) more than one instance of unprofessional conduct that, 9
when considered together, amounts to conduct that is 10
substantially below the standard reasonably expected of 11
a registered health practitioner of an equivalent level of 12
training or experience; and 13
(c) conduct of the practitioner, whether occurring in 14
connection with the practice of the health practitioner's 15
profession or not, that is inconsistent with the 16
practitioner being a fit and proper person to hold 17
registration in the profession. 18
program of study means a program of study provided by an 19
education provider. 20
psychologist means a person registered under this Law in the 21
psychology profession. 22
public health facility includes-- 23
(a) a public hospital; and 24
(b) a public health, teaching or research facility. 25
recognised specialty means a specialty in a health profession 26
that has been approved by the Ministerial Council under 27
section 13(2). 28
registered health practitioner means an individual who-- 29
(a) is registered under this Law to practise a health 30
profession, other than as a student; or 31
(b) holds non-practising registration under this Law in a 32
health profession. 33
Page 36
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
registration authority means-- 1
(a) a local registration authority; or 2
(b) an entity of a jurisdiction outside Australia that has 3
responsibility for registering health practitioners in that 4
jurisdiction. 5
registration standard means a registration standard developed 6
by a National Board under section 38. 7
registration status, in relation to an applicant for registration, 8
includes-- 9
(a) any undertakings given by the applicant to a registration 10
authority, whether before or after the commencement of 11
this Law; and 12
(b) any conditions previously imposed on the applicant's 13
registration by a registration authority, whether before or 14
after the commencement of this Law; and 15
(c) any decisions made by a registration authority, a 16
tribunal, a court or another entity having functions 17
relating to the regulation of health practitioners about 18
the applicant's practice of the profession, whether 19
before or after the commencement of this Law; and 20
(d) any investigation commenced by a registration authority 21
or a health complaints entity into the applicant's 22
conduct, performance or possible impairment but not 23
finalised at the time of the application. 24
relevant action, for Division 10 of Part 8, see section 178. 25
relevant fee, for a service provided by a National Board, 26
means the fee-- 27
(a) set under a health profession agreement between the 28
Board and the National Agency for the service; and 29
(b) published on the Board's website under section 26(3). 30
responsible Minister means a Minister responsible for the 31
administration of this Law in a participating jurisdiction. 32
responsible tribunal means a tribunal or court that-- 33
Page 37
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
(a) is declared, by the Act applying this Law in a 1
participating jurisdiction, to be the responsible tribunal 2
for that jurisdiction for the purposes of this Law as 3
applied in that jurisdiction, or 4
(b) is declared, by a law that substantially corresponds to 5
this Law enacted in a participating jurisdiction, to be the 6
responsible tribunal for that jurisdiction for the purposes 7
of the law of that jurisdiction. 8
review period, for a condition or undertaking, means the 9
period during which the condition may not be changed or 10
removed, or the undertaking may not be changed or revoked, 11
under section 125, 126 or 127. 12
scheduled medicine means a substance included in a 13
Schedule to the current Poisons Standard within the meaning 14
of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 of the Commonwealth. 15
specialist health practitioner means a person registered under 16
this Law in a recognised specialty. 17
Specialists Register means a register kept by a National Board 18
under section 223. 19
specialist title, in relation to a recognised specialty, means a 20
title that is approved by the Ministerial Council under section 21
13 as being a specialist title for that recognised specialty. 22
State or Territory Board has the meaning given by section 36. 23
student means a person whose name is entered in a student 24
register as being currently registered under this Law. 25
student register, for a health profession, means a register kept 26
under section 229 by the National Board established for the 27
profession. 28
unprofessional conduct, of a registered health practitioner, 29
means professional conduct that is of a lesser standard than 30
that which might reasonably be expected of the health 31
practitioner by the public or the practitioner's professional 32
peers, and includes-- 33
(a) a contravention by the practitioner of this Law, whether 34
or not the practitioner has been prosecuted for, or 35
Page 38
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 5]
convicted of, an offence in relation to the contravention; 1
and 2
(b) a contravention by the practitioner of-- 3
(i) a condition to which the practitioner's registration 4
was subject; or 5
(ii) an undertaking given by the practitioner to the 6
National Board that registers the practitioner; and 7
(c) the conviction of the practitioner for an offence under 8
another Act, the nature of which may affect the 9
practitioner's suitability to continue to practise the 10
profession; and 11
(d) providing a person with health services of a kind that are 12
excessive, unnecessary or otherwise not reasonably 13
required for the person's well-being; and 14
(e) influencing, or attempting to influence, the conduct of 15
another registered health practitioner in a way that may 16
compromise patient care; and 17
(f) accepting a benefit as inducement, consideration or 18
reward for referring another person to a health service 19
provider or recommending another person use or consult 20
with a health service provider; and 21
(g) offering or giving a person a benefit, consideration or 22
reward in return for the person referring another person 23
to the practitioner or recommending to another person 24
that the person use a health service provided by the 25
practitioner; and 26
(h) referring a person to, or recommending that a person use 27
or consult, another health service provider, health 28
service or health product if the practitioner has a 29
pecuniary interest in giving that referral or 30
recommendation, unless the practitioner discloses the 31
nature of that interest to the person before or at the time 32
of giving the referral or recommendation. 33
unsatisfactory professional performance, of a registered 34
health practitioner, means the knowledge, skill or judgment 35
Page 39
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 6]
possessed, or care exercised by, the practitioner in the practice 1
of the health profession in which the practitioner is registered 2
is below the standard reasonably expected of a health 3
practitioner of an equivalent level of training or experience. 4
voluntary notification means a notification made under 5
Division 3 of Part 8. 6
6 Interpretation generally 7
Schedule 7 applies in relation to this Law. 8
7 Single national entity 9
(1) It is the intention of the Parliament of this jurisdiction that this 10
Law as applied by an Act of this jurisdiction, together with 11
this Law as applied by Acts of the other participating 12
jurisdictions, has the effect that an entity established by this 13
Law is one single national entity, with functions conferred by 14
this Law as so applied. 15
(2) An entity established by this Law has power to do acts in or in 16
relation to this jurisdiction in the exercise of a function 17
expressed to be conferred on it by this Law as applied by Acts 18
of each participating jurisdiction. 19
(3) An entity established by this Law may exercise its functions in 20
relation to-- 21
(a) one participating jurisdiction; or 22
(b) 2 or more or all participating jurisdictions collectively. 23
(4) In this section, a reference to this Law as applied by an Act of 24
a jurisdiction includes a reference to a law that substantially 25
corresponds to this Law enacted in a jurisdiction. 26
8 Extraterritorial operation of Law 27
It is the intention of the Parliament of this jurisdiction that the 28
operation of this Law is to, as far as possible, include 29
operation in relation to the following-- 30
Page 40
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 9]
(a) things situated in or outside the territorial limits of this 1
jurisdiction; 2
(b) acts, transactions and matters done, entered into or 3
occurring in or outside the territorial limits of this 4
jurisdiction; 5
(c) things, acts, transactions and matters (wherever situated, 6
done, entered into or occurring) that would, apart from 7
this Law, be governed or otherwise affected by the law 8
of another jurisdiction. 9
9 Trans-Tasman mutual recognition principle 10
This Law does not affect the operation of an Act of a 11
participating jurisdiction providing for the application of the 12
Trans-Tasman mutual recognition principle to occupations. 13
10 Law binds the State 14
(1) This Law binds the State. 15
(2) In this section-- 16
State means the Crown in right of this jurisdiction, and 17
includes-- 18
(a) the Government of this jurisdiction; and 19
(b) a Minister of the Crown in right of this jurisdiction; and 20
(c) a statutory corporation, or other entity, representing the 21
Crown in right of this jurisdiction. 22
Page 41
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 2 Ministerial Council
[s 11]
Part 2 Ministerial Council 1
11 Policy directions 2
(1) The Ministerial Council may give directions to the National 3
Agency about the policies to be applied by the National 4
Agency in exercising its functions under this Law. 5
(2) The Ministerial Council may give directions to a National 6
Board about the policies to be applied by the National Board 7
in exercising its functions under this Law. 8
(3) Without limiting subsections (1) and (2), a direction under this 9
section may relate to-- 10
(a) a matter relevant to the policies of the National Agency 11
or a National Board; or 12
(b) an administrative process of the National Agency or a 13
National Board; or 14
(c) a procedure of the National Agency or a National Board; 15
or 16
(d) a particular proposed accreditation standard, or a 17
particular proposed amendment of an accreditation 18
standard, for a health profession. 19
(4) However, the Ministerial Council may give a National Board a 20
direction under subsection (3)(d) only if-- 21
(a) in the Council's opinion, the proposed accreditation 22
standard or amendment will have a substantive and 23
negative impact on the recruitment or supply of health 24
practitioners; and 25
(b) the Council has first given consideration to the potential 26
impact of the Council's direction on the quality and 27
safety of health care. 28
(5) A direction under this section cannot be about-- 29
(a) a particular person; or 30
(b) a particular qualification; or 31
Page 42
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 2 Ministerial Council
[s 12]
(c) a particular application, notification or proceeding. 1
(6) The National Agency or a National Board must comply with a 2
direction given to it by the Ministerial Council under this 3
section. 4
12 Approval of registration standards 5
(1) The Ministerial Council may approve a registration standard 6
about-- 7
(a) the registration, or renewal of registration, of persons in 8
a health profession; or 9
(b) the endorsement, or renewal of the endorsement, of the 10
registration of registered health practitioners. 11
(2) The Ministerial Council may approve a registration standard 12
for a health profession only if-- 13
(a) its approval is recommended by the National Board 14
established for the health profession; and 15
(b) it does not provide for a matter about which an 16
accreditation standard may provide. 17
Note. An accreditation standard for a health profession is a standard 18
used to assess whether a program of study, and the education 19
provider that provides the program, provide persons who complete 20
the program with the knowledge, skills and professional attributes 21
to practise the profession in Australia. Accreditation standards are 22
developed and approved under Division 3 of Part 6. 23
(3) The Ministerial Council may, at any time, ask a National 24
Board to review an approved or proposed registration standard 25
for the health profession for which the National Board is 26
established. 27
13 Approvals in relation to specialist registration 28
(1) The following health professions, or divisions of health 29
professions, are health professions for which specialist 30
recognition operates under this Law-- 31
(a) the medical profession; 32
Page 43
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 2 Ministerial Council
[s 14]
(b) the dentists division of the dental profession; 1
(c) any other health profession approved by the Ministerial 2
Council, on the recommendation of the National Board 3
established for the profession. 4
(2) If a health profession is a profession for which specialist 5
recognition operates, the Ministerial Council may, on the 6
recommendation of the National Board established for the 7
profession-- 8
(a) approve a list of specialties for the profession; and 9
(b) approve one or more specialist titles for each specialty 10
in the list. 11
(3) In making a recommendation to the Ministerial Council for 12
the purposes of subsection (1)(c) or (2), a National Board 13
established for a health profession may have regard to any 14
relevant advice provided by-- 15
(a) an accreditation authority for the profession; or 16
(b) a specialist college for the profession. 17
(4) The Ministerial Council may provide guidance to a National 18
Board established for a health profession for which specialist 19
recognition will operate in relation to the criteria for the 20
approval of specialties for the profession by the Council. 21
14 Approval of endorsement in relation to scheduled 22
medicines 23
(1) The Ministerial Council may, on the recommendation of a 24
National Board, decide that the Board may endorse the 25
registration of health practitioners practising the profession 26
for which the Board is established as being qualified to 27
administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, supply or use a 28
scheduled medicine or class of scheduled medicines. 29
Note. See section 94 which provides for the endorsement of health 30
practitioners' registration in relation to scheduled medicines. 31
(2) An approval under subsection (1) is to specify-- 32
Page 44
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 2 Ministerial Council
[s 15]
(a) the class of health practitioners registered by the Board 1
to which the approval relates; and 2
(b) whether the National Board may endorse the registration 3
of the class of health practitioners as being qualified in 4
relation to a particular scheduled medicine or a class of 5
scheduled medicines; and 6
(c) whether the National Board may endorse the registration 7
of the class of health practitioners in relation to 8
administering, obtaining, possessing, prescribing, 9
selling, supplying or using the scheduled medicine or 10
class of scheduled medicines. 11
15 Approval of areas of practice for purposes of 12
endorsement 13
The Ministerial Council may, on the recommendation of a 14
National Board, approve an area of practice in the health 15
profession for which the Board is established as being an area 16
of practice for which the registration of a health practitioner 17
registered in the profession may be endorsed. 18
Note. See section 98 which provides for the endorsement of health 19
practitioners' registration in relation to approved areas of practice. 20
16 How Ministerial Council exercises functions 21
(1) The Ministerial Council is to give a direction or approval, or 22
make a recommendation, request or appointment, for the 23
purposes of a provision of this Law by resolution of the 24
Council passed in accordance with procedures determined by 25
the Council. 26
(2) An act or thing done by the Ministerial Council (whether by 27
resolution, instrument or otherwise) does not cease to have 28
effect merely because of a change in the Council's 29
membership. 30
Page 45
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 3 Australian Health Workforce Advisory Council
[s 17]
17 Notification and publication of directions and approvals 1
(1) A copy of any direction given by the Ministerial Council to 2
the National Agency-- 3
(a) is to be given to the Chairperson of the Agency 4
Management Committee; and 5
(b) must be published by the National Agency on its 6
website as soon as practicable after being received by 7
the Chairperson. 8
(2) A copy of a direction or approval given by the Ministerial 9
Council to a National Board-- 10
(a) is to be given to the Chairperson of the National Board; 11
and 12
(b) if the direction is given under section 11(3)(d), is to 13
include reasons for the direction; and 14
(c) must be published by the National Board on its website 15
as soon as practicable after being received by the 16
Chairperson. 17
(3) A copy of a direction or approval given by the Ministerial 18
Council to the National Agency or to a National Board is to be 19
published in the annual report of the National Agency. 20
Part 3 Australian Health Workforce 21
Advisory Council 22
18 Establishment of Advisory Council 23
The Australian Health Workforce Advisory Council is 24
established. 25
Page 46
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 3 Australian Health Workforce Advisory Council
[s 19]
19 Function of Advisory Council 1
(1) The function of the Advisory Council is to provide 2
independent advice to the Ministerial Council about the 3
following-- 4
(a) any matter relating to the national registration and 5
accreditation scheme that is referred to it by the 6
Ministerial Council; 7
(b) if asked by the Ministerial Council, any matter relating 8
to the national registration and accreditation scheme on 9
which the Ministerial Council has been unable to reach 10
a decision; 11
(c) any other matter relating to the national registration and 12
accreditation scheme that it considers appropriate. 13
(2) Advice under this section cannot be about-- 14
(a) a particular person; or 15
(b) a particular qualification; or 16
(c) a particular application, notification or proceeding. 17
20 Publication of advice 18
(1) The Ministerial Council is to make arrangements for the 19
publication of advice given to it by the Advisory Council as 20
soon as practicable after the Ministerial Council has had the 21
opportunity to consider the advice, in accordance with the 22
COAG Agreement. 23
(2) However, the Ministerial Council may decide not to publish 24
an advice or part of an advice if the Advisory Council 25
recommends that the Council not publish it in the interests of 26
protecting the privacy of any person. 27
21 Powers of Advisory Council 28
The Advisory Council has the powers necessary to enable it to 29
exercise its function. 30
Page 47
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
[s 22]
22 Membership of Advisory Council 1
(1) The Advisory Council is to consist of 7 members. 2
(2) Members of the Advisory Council are to be appointed by the 3
Ministerial Council. 4
(3) One of the members of the Advisory Council is to be 5
appointed as Chairperson, being a person who-- 6
(a) is not a registered health practitioner; and 7
(b) has not been registered as a health practitioner under this 8
Law or a corresponding prior Act within the last 5 years. 9
(4) At least 3 of the other members of the Advisory Council are to 10
be persons who have expertise in health, or education and 11
training, or both. 12
(5) Schedule 1 sets out provisions relating to the Advisory 13
Council. 14
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner 15
Regulation Agency 16
Division 1 National Agency 17
23 National Agency 18
(1) The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is 19
established. 20
(2) The National Agency-- 21
(a) is a body corporate with perpetual succession; and 22
(b) has a common seal; and 23
(c) may sue and be sued in its corporate name. 24
(3) The National Agency represents the State. 25
Page 48
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
[s 24]
(4) Schedule 3 sets out provisions relating to the National 1
Agency. 2
24 General powers of National Agency 3
The National Agency has all the powers of an individual and, 4
in particular, may-- 5
(a) enter into contracts; and 6
(b) acquire, hold, dispose of, and deal with, real and 7
personal property; and 8
(c) do anything necessary or convenient to be done in the 9
exercise of its functions. 10
25 Functions of National Agency 11
The functions of the National Agency are as follows-- 12
(a) to provide administrative assistance and support to the 13
National Boards, and the Boards' committees, in 14
exercising their functions; 15
(b) in consultation with the National Boards, to develop and 16
administer procedures for the purpose of ensuring the 17
efficient and effective operation of the National Boards; 18
(c) to establish procedures for the development of 19
accreditation standards, registration standards and codes 20
and guidelines approved by National Boards, for the 21
purpose of ensuring the national registration and 22
accreditation scheme operates in accordance with good 23
regulatory practice; 24
(d) to negotiate in good faith with, and attempt to come to 25
an agreement with, each National Board on the terms of 26
a health profession agreement; 27
(e) to establish and administer an efficient procedure for 28
receiving and dealing with applications for registration 29
as a health practitioner and other matters relating to the 30
registration of registered health practitioners; 31
Page 49
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
[s 26]
(f) in conjunction with the National Boards, to keep 1
up-to-date and publicly accessible national registers of 2
registered health practitioners for each health 3
profession; 4
(g) in conjunction with the National Boards, to keep 5
up-to-date national registers of students for each health 6
profession; 7
(h) to keep an up-to-date and publicly accessible list of 8
approved programs of study for each health profession; 9
(i) to establish an efficient procedure for receiving and 10
dealing with notifications against persons who are or 11
were registered health practitioners and persons who are 12
students, including by establishing a national process for 13
receiving notifications about registered health 14
practitioners in all professions; 15
(j) to provide advice to the Ministerial Council in 16
connection with the administration of the national 17
registration and accreditation scheme; 18
(k) if asked by the Ministerial Council, to give to the 19
Ministerial Council the assistance or information 20
reasonably required by the Ministerial Council in 21
connection with the administration of the national 22
registration and accreditation scheme; 23
(l) any other function given to the National Agency by or 24
under this Law. 25
26 Health profession agreements 26
(1) The National Agency must enter into an agreement (a health 27
profession agreement) with a National Board that makes 28
provision for the following-- 29
(a) the fees that will be payable under this Law by health 30
practitioners and others in respect of the health 31
profession for which the Board is established (including 32
arrangements relating to refunds of fees, waivers of fees 33
and additional fees for late payment); 34
Page 50
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
[s 27]
(b) the annual budget of the National Board (including the 1
funding arrangements for its committees and 2
accreditation authorities); 3
(c) the services to be provided to the National Board by the 4
National Agency to enable the National Board to carry 5
out its functions under this Law. 6
(2) If the National Agency and a National Board are unable to 7
agree on a matter relating to a health profession agreement or 8
a proposed health profession agreement, the Ministerial 9
Council may give directions to the National Agency and 10
National Board about how the dispute is to be resolved. 11
(3) Each National Board must publish on its website the fees for 12
which provision has been made in a health profession 13
agreement between the Board and the National Agency. 14
27 Co-operation with participating jurisdictions and 15
Commonwealth 16
(1) The National Agency may exercise any of its functions in 17
co-operation with or with the assistance of a participating 18
jurisdiction or the Commonwealth, including in co-operation 19
with or with the assistance of any of the following-- 20
(a) a government agency of a participating jurisdiction or of 21
the Commonwealth; 22
(b) a local registration authority; 23
(c) a co-regulatory authority; 24
(d) a health complaints entity; 25
(e) an educational body or other body established by or 26
under a law of a participating jurisdiction or the 27
Commonwealth. 28
(2) In particular, the National Agency may-- 29
(a) ask an entity referred to in subsection (1) for 30
information that the Agency requires to exercise its 31
functions under this Law; and 32
Page 51
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 4 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
[s 28]
(b) use the information to exercise its functions under this 1
Law. 2
(3) An entity referred to in subsection (1) that receives a request 3
for information from the National Agency is authorised to 4
give the information to the National Agency. 5
28 Office of National Agency 6
(1) The National Agency is to establish a national office. 7
(2) The National Agency is also to establish at least one local 8
office in each participating jurisdiction. 9
Division 2 Agency Management Committee 10
29 Agency Management Committee 11
(1) The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency 12
Management Committee is established. 13
(2) The Agency Management Committee is to consist of at least 5 14
members appointed by the Ministerial Council. 15
(3) Of the members-- 16
(a) one is to be a person appointed by the Ministerial 17
Council as Chairperson, being a person who-- 18
(i) is not a registered health practitioner; and 19
(ii) has not been registered as a health practitioner 20
under this Law or a corresponding prior Act within 21
the last 5 years; and 22
(b) at least 2 others are to be persons who have expertise in 23
health, or education and training, or both; and 24
(c) at least 2 others are to be persons who are not current or 25
former registered health practitioners and who have 26
business or administrative expertise. 27
(4) Schedule 2 sets out provisions relating to the Agency 28
Management Committee. 29
Page 52
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 30]
30 Functions of Agency Management Committee 1
(1) The functions of the Agency Management Committee are as 2
follows-- 3
(a) subject to any directions of the Ministerial Council, to 4
decide the policies of the National Agency; 5
(b) to ensure that the National Agency performs its 6
functions in a proper, effective and efficient way; 7
(c) any other function given to the Committee by or under 8
this Law. 9
(2) The affairs of the National Agency are to be controlled by the 10
Agency Management Committee and all acts and things done 11
in the name of, or on behalf of, the National Agency by or 12
with the authority of the Agency Management Committee are 13
taken to have been done by the National Agency. 14
Part 5 National Boards 15
Division 1 National Boards 16
31 Establishment of National Boards 17
(1) Each of the following National Health Practitioner Boards is 18
established for the health profession listed beside that Board 19
in the following Table-- 20
Table-- National Boards 21
Name of Board Health profession
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Health Practice Board of Australia health practice
Chinese Medicine Board of Chinese medicine
Australia
Chiropractic Board of Australia chiropractic
Page 53
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 32]
Name of Board Health profession
Dental Board of Australia dental (including the profession of a
dentist, dental therapist, dental
hygienist, dental prosthetist or oral
health therapist)
Medical Board of Australia medical
Medical Radiation Practice Board of medical radiation practice
Australia
Nursing and Midwifery Board of nursing and midwifery
Australia
Occupational Therapy Board of occupational therapy
Australia
Optometry Board of Australia optometry
Osteopathy Board of Australia osteopathy
Pharmacy Board of Australia pharmacy
Physiotherapy Board of Australia physiotherapy
Podiatry Board of Australia podiatry
Psychology Board of Australia psychology
(2) A National Board-- 1
(a) is a body corporate with perpetual succession; and 2
(b) has a common seal; and 3
(c) may sue and be sued in its corporate name. 4
(3) A National Board represents the State. 5
32 Powers of National Board 6
(1) Subject to subsection (2), a National Board has the powers 7
necessary to enable it to exercise its functions. 8
(2) A National Board does not have power to-- 9
(a) enter into contracts; or 10
(b) employ staff; or 11
(c) acquire, hold, dispose of, and deal with, real property. 12
Page 54
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 33]
(3) The National Board may exercise any of its functions in 1
co-operation with or with the assistance of a participating 2
jurisdiction or the Commonwealth, including in co-operation 3
with or with the assistance of any of the following-- 4
(a) a government agency of a participating jurisdiction or of 5
the Commonwealth; 6
(b) a local registration authority; 7
(c) a co-regulatory authority; 8
(d) a health complaints entity; 9
(e) an educational body or other body established by or 10
under a law of a participating jurisdiction or the 11
Commonwealth. 12
(4) In particular, the National Board may-- 13
(a) ask an entity referred to in subsection (3) for 14
information that the Board requires to exercise its 15
functions under this Law; and 16
(b) use the information to exercise its functions under this 17
Law. 18
(5) An entity referred to in subsection (3) that receives a request 19
for information from the National Board is authorised to give 20
the information to the National Board. 21
33 Membership of National Boards 22
(1) A National Board is to consist of members appointed in 23
writing by the Ministerial Council. 24
(2) Members of a National Board are to be appointed as 25
practitioner members or community members. 26
(3) Subject to this section, the Ministerial Council may decide the 27
size and composition of a National Board. 28
(4) At least half, but not more than two-thirds, of the members of 29
a National Board must be persons appointed as practitioner 30
members. 31
Page 55
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 33]
(5) The practitioner members of a National Board must consist 1
of-- 2
(a) at least one member from each large participating 3
jurisdiction; and 4
(b) at least one member from a small participating 5
jurisdiction. 6
(6) At least 2 of the members of a National Board must be 7
persons appointed as community members. 8
(7) At least one of the members of a National Board must live in a 9
regional or rural area. 10
(8) A person cannot be appointed as a member of a National 11
Board if the person is a member of the Agency Management 12
Committee. 13
(9) One of the practitioner members of the National Board is to be 14
appointed as Chairperson of the Board by the Ministerial 15
Council. 16
(10) Schedule 4 sets out provisions relating to a National Board. 17
(11) In this section-- 18
large participating jurisdiction means any of the following 19
States that is a participating jurisdiction-- 20
(a) New South Wales; 21
(b) Queensland; 22
(c) South Australia; 23
(d) Victoria; 24
(e) Western Australia. 25
small participating jurisdiction means any of the following 26
States or Territories that is a participating jurisdiction-- 27
(a) the Australian Capital Territory; 28
(b) the Northern Territory; 29
(c) Tasmania. 30
Page 56
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 34]
34 Eligibility for appointment 1
(1) In deciding whether to appoint a person as a member of a 2
National Board, the Ministerial Council is to have regard to 3
the skills and experience of the person that are relevant to the 4
Board's functions. 5
(2) A person is eligible to be appointed as a practitioner member 6
only if the person is a registered health practitioner in the 7
health profession for which the Board is established. 8
(3) A person is eligible to be appointed as a community member 9
of a National Board only if the person-- 10
(a) is not a registered health practitioner in the health 11
profession for which the Board is established; and 12
(b) has not at any time been registered as a health 13
practitioner in the health profession under this Law or a 14
corresponding prior Act. 15
(4) A person is not eligible to be appointed as a member of a 16
National Board if-- 17
(a) in the case of appointment as a practitioner member, the 18
person has ceased to be registered as a health 19
practitioner in the health profession for which the Board 20
is established, whether before or after the 21
commencement of this Law, as a result of the person's 22
misconduct, impairment or incompetence; or 23
(b) in any case, the person has, at any time, been found 24
guilty of an offence (whether in a participating 25
jurisdiction or elsewhere) that, in the opinion of the 26
Ministerial Council, renders the person unfit to hold the 27
office of member. 28
Division 2 Functions of National Boards 29
35 Functions of National Boards 30
(1) The functions of a National Board established for a health 31
profession are as follows-- 32
Page 57
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 35]
(a) to register suitably qualified and competent persons in 1
the health profession and, if necessary, to impose 2
conditions on the registration of persons in the 3
profession; 4
(b) to decide the requirements for registration or 5
endorsement of registration in the health profession, 6
including the arrangements for supervised practice in 7
the profession; 8
(c) to develop or approve standards, codes and guidelines 9
for the health profession, including-- 10
(i) the approval of accreditation standards developed 11
and submitted to it by an accreditation authority; 12
and 13
(ii) the development of registration standards for 14
approval by the Ministerial Council; and 15
(iii) the development and approval of codes and 16
guidelines that provide guidance to health 17
practitioners registered in the profession; 18
(d) to approve accredited programs of study as providing 19
qualifications for registration or endorsement in the 20
health profession; 21
(e) to oversee the assessment of the knowledge and clinical 22
skills of overseas trained applicants for registration in 23
the health profession whose qualifications are not 24
approved qualifications for the profession, and to 25
determine the suitability of the applicants for 26
registration in Australia; 27
(f) to negotiate in good faith with, and attempt to come to 28
an agreement with, the National Agency on the terms of 29
a health profession agreement; 30
(g) to oversee the receipt, assessment and investigation of 31
notifications about persons who-- 32
(i) are or were registered as health practitioners in the 33
health profession under this Law or a 34
corresponding prior Act; or 35
Page 58
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 35]
(ii) are students in the health profession; 1
(h) to establish panels to conduct hearings about-- 2
(i) health and performance and professional standards 3
matters in relation to persons who are or were 4
registered in the health profession under this Law 5
or a corresponding prior Act; and 6
(ii) health matters in relation to students registered by 7
the Board; 8
(i) to refer matters about health practitioners who are or 9
were registered under this Law or a corresponding prior 10
Act to responsible tribunals for participating 11
jurisdictions; 12
(j) to oversee the management of health practitioners and 13
students registered in the health profession, including 14
monitoring conditions, undertaking and suspensions 15
imposed on the registration of the practitioners or 16
students; 17
(k) to make recommendations to the Ministerial Council 18
about the operation of specialist recognition in the 19
health profession and the approval of specialties for the 20
profession; 21
(l) in conjunction with the National Agency, to keep 22
up-to-date and publicly accessible national registers of 23
registered health practitioners for the health profession; 24
(m) in conjunction with the National Agency, to keep an 25
up-to-date national register of students for the health 26
profession; 27
(n) at the Board's discretion, to provide financial or other 28
support for health programs for registered health 29
practitioners and students; 30
(o) to give advice to the Ministerial Council on issues 31
relating to the national registration and accreditation 32
scheme for the health profession; 33
(p) if asked by the Ministerial Council, to give to the 34
Ministerial Council the assistance or information 35
Page 59
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 36]
reasonably required by the Ministerial Council in 1
connection with the national registration and 2
accreditation scheme; 3
(q) to do anything else necessary or convenient for the 4
effective and efficient operation of the national 5
registration and accreditation scheme; 6
(r) any other function given to the Board by or under this 7
Law. 8
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(g)-(j), the Board's 9
functions do not include receiving notifications and taking 10
action referred to in those paragraphs in relation to behaviour 11
by a registered health practitioner or student that occurred, or 12
is reasonably believed to have occurred, in a co-regulatory 13
jurisdiction. 14
36 State and Territory Boards 15
(1) A National Board may establish a committee (a State or 16
Territory Board) for a participating jurisdiction to enable the 17
Board to exercise its functions in the jurisdiction in a way that 18
provides an effective and timely local response to health 19
practitioners and other persons in the jurisdiction. 20
(2) A State or Territory Board is to be known as the "[Name of 21
participating jurisdiction for which it is established] Board" of 22
the National Board. 23
(3) The members of a State or Territory Board are to be appointed 24
by the responsible Minister for the participating jurisdiction. 25
Example. 26
(a) The Pharmacy Board of Australia decides to establish a State or 27
Territory Board for New South Wales. The State or Territory Board will 28
be known as the New South Wales Board of the Pharmacy Board of 29
Australia. The members of the State or Territory Board will be appointed 30
by the responsible Minister for New South Wales. 31
(b) The Podiatry Board of Australia decides to establish a State or 32
Territory Board for Queensland and the Northern Territory. The State or 33
Territory Board will be known as the Queensland and Northern Territory 34
Board of the Podiatry Board of Australia. The members of the State or 35
Page 60
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 37]
Territory Board will be appointed jointly by the responsible Ministers for 1
Queensland and the Northern Territory. 2
(4) In deciding whether to appoint a person as a member of a 3
State or Territory Board, the responsible Minister is to have 4
regard to the skills and experience of the person that are 5
relevant to the Board's functions. 6
(5) At least half, but not more than two-thirds, of the members of 7
a State or Territory Board must be persons appointed as 8
practitioner members. 9
(6) At least 2 of the members of a State or Territory Board must 10
be persons appointed as community members. 11
Note. See section 299 which provides that subsections (5) and (6) do not 12
apply to a State or Territory Board for a jurisdiction for the first 12 months 13
after the jurisdiction becomes a participating jurisdiction. 14
(7) Before a responsible Minister appoints a member of a State or 15
Territory Board the vacancy to be filled is to be publicly 16
advertised. 17
(8) The National Agency may assist a responsible Minister in the 18
process of appointing members of a State or Territory Board, 19
including in the advertising of vacancies. 20
(9) It is not necessary to advertise a vacancy in the membership of 21
a State or Territory Board before appointing a person to act in 22
the office of a member. 23
Note. The general interpretation provisions applicable to this Law under 24
section 6 confer power to appoint acting members of a State or Territory 25
Board. 26
(10) This section does not limit clause 11 of Schedule 4. 27
Note. Clause 11 of Schedule 4 confers power for the establishment of 28
other committees. 29
37 Delegation of functions 30
(1) A National Board may delegate any of its functions, other 31
than this power of delegation, to-- 32
(a) a committee; or 33
(b) the National Agency; or 34
Page 61
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 38]
(c) a member of the staff of the National Agency; or 1
(d) a person engaged as a contractor by the National 2
Agency. 3
(2) The National Agency may subdelegate any function delegated 4
to the National Agency by a National Board to a member of 5
the staff of the National Agency. 6
Division 3 Registration standards and codes 7
and guidelines 8
38 National board must develop registration standards 9
(1) A National Board must develop and recommend to the 10
Ministerial Council one or more registration standards about 11
the following matters for the health profession for which the 12
Board is established-- 13
(a) requirements for professional indemnity insurance 14
arrangements for registered health practitioners 15
registered in the profession; 16
(b) matters about the criminal history of applicants for 17
registration in the profession, and registered health 18
practitioners and students registered by the Board, 19
including, the matters to be considered in deciding 20
whether an individual's criminal history is relevant to 21
the practice of the profession; 22
(c) requirements for continuing professional development 23
for registered health practitioners registered in the 24
profession; 25
(d) requirements about the English language skills 26
necessary for an applicant for registration in the 27
profession to be suitable for registration in the 28
profession; 29
(e) requirements in relation to the nature, extent, period and 30
recency of any previous practice of the profession by 31
applicants for registration in the profession. 32
Page 62
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 39]
(2) Subject to subsection (3), a National Board may also develop, 1
and recommend to the Ministerial Council, one or more 2
registration standards about the following-- 3
(a) the physical and mental health of-- 4
(i) applicants for registration in the profession; and 5
(ii) registered health practitioners and students; 6
(b) the scope of practice of health practitioners registered in 7
the profession; 8
(c) any other issue relevant to the eligibility of individuals 9
for registration in the profession or the suitability of 10
individuals to competently and safely practise the 11
profession. 12
(3) A registration standard may not be about a matter for which 13
an accreditation standard may provide. 14
Note. An accreditation standard for a health profession is used to assess 15
whether a program of study, and the education provider that provides the 16
program of study, provide persons who complete the program with the 17
knowledge, skills and professional attributes to practise the profession. 18
Accreditation standards are developed and approved under Division 3 of 19
Part 6. 20
39 Codes and guidelines 21
A National Board may develop and approve codes and 22
guidelines-- 23
(a) to provide guidance to the health practitioners it 24
registers; and 25
(b) about other matters relevant to the exercise of its 26
functions. 27
Example. A National Board may develop guidelines about the advertising 28
of regulated health services by health practitioners registered by the Board 29
or other persons for the purposes of section 133. 30
Page 63
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 5 National Boards
[s 40]
40 Consultation about registration standards, codes and 1
guidelines 2
(1) If a National Board develops a registration standard or a code 3
or guideline, it must ensure there is wide-ranging consultation 4
about its content. 5
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) does not invalidate a 6
registration standard, code or guideline. 7
(3) The following must be published on a National Board's 8
website-- 9
(a) a registration standard developed by the Board and 10
approved by the Ministerial Council; 11
(b) a code or guideline approved by the National Board. 12
(4) An approved registration standard or a code or guideline takes 13
effect-- 14
(a) on the day it is published on the National Board's 15
website; or 16
(b) if a later day is stated in the registration standard, code 17
or guideline, on that day. 18
41 Use of registration standards, codes or guidelines in 19
disciplinary proceedings 20
An approved registration standard for a health profession, or a 21
code or guideline approved by a National Board, is admissible 22
in proceedings under this Law or a law of a co-regulatory 23
jurisdiction against a health practitioner registered by the 24
Board as evidence of what constitutes appropriate 25
professional conduct or practice for the health profession. 26
Page 64
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 42]
Part 6 Accreditation 1
Division 1 Preliminary 2
42 Definition 3
In this Part-- 4
accreditation function means-- 5
(a) developing accreditation standards for approval by a 6
National Board; or 7
(b) assessing programs of study, and the education 8
providers that provide the programs of study, to 9
determine whether the programs meet approved 10
accreditation standards; or 11
(c) assessing authorities in other countries who conduct 12
examinations for registration in a health profession, or 13
accredit programs of study relevant to registration in a 14
health profession, to decide whether persons who 15
successfully complete the examinations or programs of 16
study conducted or accredited by the authorities have 17
the knowledge, clinical skills and professional attributes 18
necessary to practise the profession in Australia; or 19
(d) overseeing the assessment of the knowledge, clinical 20
skills and professional attributes of overseas qualified 21
health practitioners who are seeking registration in a 22
health profession under this Law and whose 23
qualifications are not approved qualifications for the 24
health profession; or 25
(e) making recommendations and giving advice to a 26
National Board about a matter referred to in paragraph 27
(a), (b), (c) or (d). 28
Page 65
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 43]
Division 2 Accreditation authorities 1
43 Accreditation authority to be decided 2
(1) The National Board established for a health profession must 3
decide whether an accreditation function for the health 4
profession for which the Board is established is to be 5
exercised by-- 6
(a) an external accreditation entity; or 7
(b) a committee established by the Board. 8
Note. See sections 253 and 301 which provide for the performance of 9
accreditation functions for a health profession by external accreditation 10
authorities appointed by the Ministerial Council for a period after the 11
commencement of this Law. 12
(2) The National Agency may charge an entity the relevant fee for 13
the exercise of an accreditation function by an accreditation 14
committee. 15
44 National Agency may enter into contracts with external 16
accreditation entities 17
The National Agency may enter into a contract with an 18
external accreditation entity for the performance by the entity 19
of an accreditation function for a health profession only if the 20
terms of the contract are in accordance with the health 21
profession agreement between the National Agency and the 22
National Board established for that profession. 23
45 Accreditation processes to be published 24
Each accreditation authority must publish on its website or, if 25
the authority is an accreditation committee, the website of the 26
National Board that established the committee, how it will 27
exercise its accreditation function. 28
Page 66
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 46]
Division 3 Accreditation functions 1
46 Development of accreditation standards 2
(1) An accreditation standard for a health profession may be 3
developed by-- 4
(a) an external accreditation entity for the health profession; 5
or 6
(b) an accreditation committee established by the National 7
Board established for the health profession. 8
(2) In developing an accreditation standard for a health 9
profession, an accreditation authority must undertake 10
wide-ranging consultation about the content of the standard. 11
47 Approval of accreditation standards 12
(1) An accreditation authority must, as soon as practicable after 13
developing an accreditation standard for a health profession, 14
submit it to the National Board established for the health 15
profession. 16
(2) As soon as practicable after a National Board receives an 17
accreditation standard under subsection (1), the Board must 18
decide to-- 19
(a) approve the accreditation standard; or 20
(b) refuse to approve the accreditation standard; or 21
(c) ask the accreditation authority to review the standard. 22
(3) If the National Board decides to approve the accreditation 23
standard it must give written notice of the approval to-- 24
(a) the National Agency; and 25
(b) the accreditation authority that submitted the standard to 26
the Board. 27
(4) If the National Board decides to refuse to approve the 28
accreditation standard-- 29
Page 67
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 48]
(a) it must give written notice of the refusal, including the 1
reasons for the refusal, to the accreditation authority that 2
submitted the standard; and 3
(b) the accreditation authority is entitled to publish any 4
information or advice it gave the Board about the 5
standard. 6
(5) If the National Board decides to ask the accreditation 7
authority to review the standard it must give the authority a 8
written notice that-- 9
(a) states that the authority is being asked to review the 10
standard; and 11
(b) identifies the matters the authority is to address before 12
again submitting the standard to the Board. 13
(6) An accreditation standard approved by a National Board must 14
be published on its website. 15
(7) An accreditation standard takes effect-- 16
(a) on the day it is published on the National Board's 17
website; or 18
(b) if a later day is stated in the standard, on that day. 19
48 Accreditation of programs of study 20
(1) An accreditation authority for a health profession may 21
accredit a program of study if, after assessing the program, the 22
authority is reasonably satisfied-- 23
(a) the program of study, and the education provider that 24
provides the program of study, meet an approved 25
accreditation standard for the profession; or 26
(b) the program of study, and the education provider that 27
provides the program of study, substantially meet an 28
approved accreditation standard for the profession and 29
the imposition of conditions on the approval will ensure 30
the program meets the standard within a reasonable 31
time. 32
Page 68
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 49]
(2) If the accreditation authority decides to accredit a program of 1
study, with or without conditions, it must give to the National 2
Board established for the health profession a report about the 3
authority's accreditation of the program. 4
(3) If the accreditation authority decides to refuse to accredit a 5
program of study it must give written notice of the decision to 6
the education provider that provides the program of study. 7
(4) The notice must state-- 8
(a) the reasons for the decision; and 9
(b) that, within 30 days after receiving the notice, the 10
education provider may apply to the accreditation 11
authority for an internal review of the decision; and 12
(c) how the education provider may apply for the review. 13
(5) An education provider given a notice under subsection (3) 14
may apply, as stated in the notice, for an internal review of the 15
accreditation authority's decision to refuse to accredit the 16
program of study. 17
(6) The internal review must not be carried out by a person who 18
assessed the program of study for the accreditation authority. 19
49 Approval of accredited programs of study 20
(1) If a National Board is given a report by an accreditation 21
authority about the authority's accreditation of a program of 22
study, the Board may approve, or refuse to approve, the 23
accredited program of study as providing a qualification for 24
the purposes of registration in the health profession for which 25
the Board is established. 26
(2) An approval under subsection (1) may be granted subject to 27
the conditions the National Board considers necessary or 28
desirable in the circumstances. 29
(3) If the National Board decides to approve the accredited 30
program of study it must give written notice of the approval 31
to-- 32
Page 69
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 50]
(a) the National Agency for inclusion of the program of 1
study in the list under subsection (5); and 2
(b) the accreditation authority that submitted the program to 3
the Board. 4
(4) If the National Board decides to refuse to approve the 5
accredited program of study-- 6
(a) it must give written notice of the refusal, including the 7
reasons for the refusal, to the accreditation authority that 8
submitted the program; and 9
(b) the accreditation authority is entitled to publish any 10
information or advice it gave the Board about the 11
program. 12
(5) A list of the programs of study approved by a National Board 13
as providing a qualification for registration in the health 14
profession for which the Board is established must be 15
published on the National Agency's website. 16
(6) The list of approved programs of study published under 17
subsection (5) must include, for each program of study, the 18
name of the university, specialist medical or other college or 19
other education provider that provides the approved program 20
of study. 21
(7) An approval under subsection (1) does not take effect until the 22
program of study is included in the list published under 23
subsection (5). 24
50 Accreditation authority to monitor approved programs of 25
study 26
(1) The accreditation authority that accredited an approved 27
program of study must monitor the program and the education 28
provider that provides the program to ensure the authority 29
continues to be satisfied the program and provider meet an 30
approved accreditation standard for the health profession. 31
(2) If the accreditation authority reasonably believes the program 32
of study and education provider no longer meet an approved 33
Page 70
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 6 Accreditation
[s 51]
accreditation standard for the health profession, the 1
accreditation authority must-- 2
(a) decide to-- 3
(i) impose the conditions on the accreditation that the 4
accreditation authority considers necessary to 5
ensure the program of study will meet the standard 6
within a reasonable time; or 7
(ii) revoke the accreditation of the program of study; 8
and 9
(b) give the National Board that approved the accredited 10
program of study written notice of the accreditation 11
authority's decision. 12
51 Changes to approval of program of study 13
(1) If a National Board is given notice under section 50(2)(b) that 14
an accreditation authority has revoked the accreditation of a 15
program of study approved by the Board, the Board's approval 16
of the program is taken to have been cancelled at the same 17
time the accreditation was revoked. 18
(2) If a National Board reasonably believes, because of a notice 19
given to the Board under section 50(2)(b) or for any other 20
reason, that an accredited program of study approved by the 21
Board no longer provides a qualification for the purposes of 22
registration in the health profession for which the Board is 23
established, the Board may decide to-- 24
(a) impose the conditions the Board considers necessary or 25
desirable on the approval of the accredited program of 26
study to ensure the program provides a qualification for 27
the purposes of registration; or 28
(b) cancel its approval of the accredited program of study. 29
(3) If a National Board makes a decision under subsection (2), it 30
must give written notice of the decision, including the reasons 31
for the decision, to the accreditation authority that accredited 32
the program. 33
Page 71
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 52]
Part 7 Registration of health 1
practitioners 2
Division 1 General registration 3
52 Eligibility for general registration 4
(1) An individual is eligible for general registration in a health 5
profession if-- 6
(a) the individual is qualified for general registration in the 7
health profession; and 8
(b) the individual has successfully completed-- 9
(i) any period of supervised practice in the health 10
profession required by an approved registration 11
standard for the health profession; or 12
(ii) any examination or assessment required by an 13
approved registration standard for the health 14
profession to assess the individual's ability to 15
competently and safely practise the profession; and 16
(c) the individual is a suitable person to hold general 17
registration in the health profession; and 18
(d) the individual is not disqualified under this Law or a law 19
of a co-regulatory jurisdiction from applying for 20
registration, or being registered, in the health profession; 21
and 22
(e) the individual meets any other requirements for 23
registration stated in an approved registration standard 24
for the health profession. 25
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the National Board 26
established for the health profession may decide the 27
individual is eligible for general registration in the profession 28
by imposing conditions on the registration under section 83. 29
Page 72
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 53]
53 Qualifications for general registration 1
An individual is qualified for general registration in a health 2
profession if-- 3
(a) the individual holds an approved qualification for the 4
health profession; or 5
(b) the individual holds a qualification the National Board 6
established for the health profession considers to be 7
substantially equivalent, or based on similar 8
competencies, to an approved qualification; or 9
(c) the individual holds a qualification, not referred to in 10
paragraph (a) or (b), relevant to the health profession 11
and has successfully completed an examination or other 12
assessment required by the National Board for the 13
purpose of general registration in the health profession; 14
or 15
(d) the individual-- 16
(i) holds a qualification, not referred to in paragraph 17
(a) or (b), that under this Law or a corresponding 18
prior Act qualified the individual for general 19
registration (however described) in the health 20
profession; and 21
(ii) was previously registered under this Law or the 22
corresponding prior Act on the basis of holding 23
that qualification. 24
54 Examination or assessment for general registration 25
For the purposes of section 52(1)(b)(ii), if a National Board 26
requires an individual to undertake an examination or 27
assessment, the examination or assessment must be conducted 28
by an accreditation authority for the health profession, unless 29
the Board decides otherwise. 30
Page 73
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 55]
55 Unsuitability to hold general registration 1
(1) A National Board may decide an individual is not a suitable 2
person to hold general registration in a health profession if-- 3
(a) in the Board's opinion, the individual has an impairment 4
that would detrimentally affect the individual's capacity 5
to practise the profession to such an extent that it would 6
or may place the safety of the public at risk; or 7
(b) having regard to the individual's criminal history to the 8
extent that is relevant to the individual's practice of the 9
profession, the individual is not, in the Board's opinion, 10
an appropriate person to practise the profession or it is 11
not in the public interest for the individual to practise the 12
profession; or 13
(c) the individual has previously been registered under a 14
relevant law and during the period of that registration 15
proceedings under Part 8, or proceedings that 16
substantially correspond to proceedings under Part 8, 17
were started against the individual but not finalised; or 18
(d) in the Board's opinion, the individual's competency in 19
speaking or otherwise communicating in English is not 20
sufficient for the individual to practise the profession; or 21
(e) the individual's registration (however described) in the 22
health profession in a jurisdiction that is not a 23
participating jurisdiction, whether in Australia or 24
elsewhere, is currently suspended or cancelled on a 25
ground for which an adjudication body could suspend or 26
cancel a health practitioner's registration in Australia; or 27
(f) the nature, extent, period and recency of any previous 28
practice of the profession is not sufficient to meet the 29
requirements specified in an approved registration 30
standard relevant to general registration in the 31
profession; or 32
(g) the individual fails to meet any other requirement in an 33
approved registration standard for the profession about 34
the suitability of individuals to be registered in the 35
Page 74
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 56]
profession or to competently and safely practise the 1
profession; or 2
(h) in the Board's opinion, the individual is for any other 3
reason-- 4
(i) not a fit and proper person for general registration 5
in the profession; or 6
(ii) unable to practise the profession competently and 7
safely. 8
(2) In this section-- 9
relevant law means-- 10
(a) this Law or a corresponding prior Act; or 11
(b) the law of another jurisdiction, whether in Australia or 12
elsewhere. 13
56 Period of general registration 14
(1) The period of registration that is to apply to a health 15
practitioner granted general registration in a health profession 16
is the period (the registration period), not more than 12 17
months, decided by the National Board established for the 18
profession and published on the Board's website. 19
(2) If the National Board decides to register a health practitioner 20
in the health profession during a registration period, the 21
registration-- 22
(a) starts when the Board makes the decision; and 23
(b) expires at the end of the last day of the registration 24
period. 25
Division 2 Specialist registration 26
57 Eligibility for specialist registration 27
(1) An individual is eligible for specialist registration in a 28
recognised specialty in a health profession if-- 29
Page 75
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 58]
(a) the individual is qualified for registration in the 1
specialty; and 2
(b) the individual has successfully completed-- 3
(i) any period of supervised practice in the specialty 4
required by an approved registration standard for 5
the health profession; or 6
(ii) any examination or assessment required by an 7
approved registration standard for the health 8
profession to assess the individual's ability to 9
competently and safely practise the specialty; and 10
(c) the individual is a suitable person to hold registration in 11
the health profession; and 12
(d) the individual is not disqualified under this Law or a law 13
of a co-regulatory jurisdiction from applying for 14
registration, or being registered, in the specialty; and 15
(e) the individual meets any other requirements for 16
registration stated in an approved registration standard 17
for the specialty. 18
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the National Board may 19
decide the individual is eligible for registration in the 20
recognised specialty by imposing conditions on the 21
registration under section 83. 22
58 Qualifications for specialist registration 23
An individual is qualified for specialist registration in a 24
recognised specialty in a health profession if the individual-- 25
(a) holds an approved qualification for the specialty; or 26
(b) holds another qualification the National Board 27
established for the health profession considers to be 28
substantially equivalent, or based on similar 29
competencies, to an approved qualification for the 30
specialty; or 31
(c) holds a qualification, not referred to in paragraph (a) or 32
(b), relevant to the specialty and has successfully 33
Page 76
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 59]
completed an examination or other assessment required 1
by the National Board for the purpose of registration in 2
the specialty; or 3
(d) the individual-- 4
(i) holds a qualification, not referred to in paragraph 5
(a) or (b), that under this Law or a corresponding 6
prior Act qualified the individual for specialist 7
registration (however described) in the specialty; 8
and 9
(ii) was previously registered under this Law or the 10
corresponding prior Act on the basis of holding 11
that qualification for the specialty. 12
59 Examination or assessment for specialist registration 13
For the purposes of section 57(1)(b)(ii), if the National Board 14
requires an individual to undertake an examination or 15
assessment, the examination or assessment must be conducted 16
by an accreditation authority for the health profession, unless 17
the Board decides otherwise. 18
60 Unsuitability to hold specialist registration 19
(1) Section 55 applies to the making of a decision by a National 20
Board that an individual is not a suitable person to hold 21
specialist registration in a recognised specialty. 22
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a reference in section 55 23
to-- 24
(a) general registration in the health profession is taken to 25
be a reference to specialist registration in a recognised 26
specialty; and 27
(b) the health profession is taken to be a reference to the 28
recognised specialty. 29
Page 77
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 61]
61 Period of specialist registration 1
(1) The period of registration that is to apply to a health 2
practitioner granted specialist registration in a recognised 3
specialty in a health profession is the period (the registration 4
period), not more than 12 months, decided by the National 5
Board established for the profession and published on the 6
Board's website. 7
(2) If the National Board decides to register a health practitioner 8
in a recognised specialty for the health profession during a 9
registration period, the specialist registration-- 10
(a) starts when the Board makes the decision; and 11
(b) expires at the end of the last day of the registration 12
period. 13
Division 3 Provisional registration 14
62 Eligibility for provisional registration 15
(1) An individual is eligible for provisional registration in a health 16
profession, to enable the individual to complete a period of 17
supervised practice that the individual requires to be eligible 18
for general registration in the health profession, if-- 19
(a) the individual is qualified for general registration in the 20
profession; and 21
(b) the individual is a suitable person to hold provisional 22
registration in the profession; and 23
(c) the individual is not disqualified under this Law or a law 24
of a co-regulatory jurisdiction from applying for, or 25
being registered in, the profession; and 26
(d) the individual meets any other requirements for 27
registration stated in an approved registration standard 28
for the health profession. 29
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the National Board 30
established for the health profession may decide the 31
Page 78
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 63]
individual is eligible for provisional registration in the health 1
profession by imposing conditions on the registration under 2
section 83. 3
63 Unsuitability to hold provisional registration 4
(1) Section 55 applies to a decision by a National Board that an 5
individual is not a suitable person to hold provisional 6
registration in a health profession. 7
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a reference in section 55 to 8
general registration in the health profession is taken to be a 9
reference to provisional registration in the health profession. 10
64 Period of provisional registration 11
(1) The period of registration (the registration period) that is to 12
apply to a health practitioner granted provisional registration 13
in a health profession is-- 14
(a) the period decided by the National Board established for 15
the profession, but not more than 12 months, and 16
published on the Board's website; or 17
(b) the longer period prescribed by a regulation. 18
(2) If the National Board decides to register a health practitioner 19
in the health profession during a registration period, the 20
registration-- 21
(a) starts when the Board makes the decision; and 22
(b) expires at the end of the last day of the registration 23
period. 24
(3) Provisional registration may not be renewed more than twice. 25
Note. If an individual were not able to complete the supervised practice 26
the individual requires for general registration in a health profession 27
during the period consisting of the individual's initial period of registration 28
and 2 renewals of that registration, the individual would need to make a 29
new application for provisional registration in the profession. 30
Page 79
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 65]
Division 4 Limited registration 1
65 Eligibility for limited registration 2
(1) An individual is eligible for limited registration in a health 3
profession if-- 4
(a) the individual is not qualified for general registration in 5
the profession or specialist registration in a recognised 6
speciality in the profession; and 7
(b) the individual is qualified under this Division for limited 8
registration; and 9
(c) the individual is a suitable person to hold limited 10
registration in the profession; and 11
(d) the individual is not disqualified under this Law or a law 12
of a co-regulatory jurisdiction from applying for 13
registration, or being registered, in the health profession; 14
and 15
(e) the individual meets any other requirements for 16
registration stated in an approved registration standard 17
for the health profession. 18
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the National Board 19
established for the health profession may decide the 20
individual is eligible for registration in the profession by 21
imposing conditions on the registration under section 83. 22
66 Limited registration for postgraduate training or 23
supervised practice 24
(1) An individual may apply for limited registration to enable the 25
individual to undertake a period of postgraduate training or 26
supervised practice in a health profession, or to undertake 27
assessment or sit an examination, approved by the National 28
Board established for the profession. 29
(2) The individual is qualified for the limited registration applied 30
for if the National Board is satisfied the individual has 31
completed a qualification that is relevant to, and suitable for, 32
Page 80
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 67]
the postgraduate training, supervised practice, assessment or 1
examination. 2
67 Limited registration for area of need 3
(1) An individual may apply for limited registration to enable the 4
individual to practise a health profession in an area of need 5
decided by the responsible Minister under subsection (5). 6
(2) The individual is qualified for the limited registration applied 7
for if the National Board is satisfied the individual's 8
qualifications and experience are relevant to, and suitable for, 9
the practice of the profession in the area of need. 10
(3) The National Board must consider the application but is not 11
required to register the individual merely because there is an 12
area of need. 13
(4) If the National Board grants the individual limited registration 14
to enable the individual to practise the profession in the area 15
of need, the individual must not practise the profession other 16
than in the area of need specified in the individual's certificate 17
of registration. 18
(5) A responsible Minister for a participating jurisdiction may 19
decide there is an area of need for health services in the 20
jurisdiction, or part of the jurisdiction, if the Minister 21
considers there are insufficient health practitioners practising 22
in a particular health profession in the jurisdiction or the part 23
of the jurisdiction to provide services that meet the needs of 24
people living in the jurisdiction or the part of the jurisdiction. 25
(6) If a responsible Minister decides there is an area of need under 26
subsection (5), the responsible Minister must give the 27
National Board established for the health profession written 28
notice of the decision. 29
(7) A responsible Minister may delegate the Minister's power 30
under this section to an appropriately qualified person. 31
(8) In this section-- 32
Page 81
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 68]
appropriately qualified means having the qualifications, 1
experience or standing appropriate to the exercise of the 2
power. 3
health services means the provision of services by health 4
practitioners in a particular health profession. 5
68 Limited registration in public interest 6
(1) An individual may apply for limited registration to enable the 7
individual to practise a health profession for a limited time, or 8
for a limited scope, in the public interest. 9
(2) The individual is qualified for the limited registration applied 10
for if the National Board established for the health profession 11
is satisfied it is in the public interest for an individual with the 12
individual's qualifications and experience to practise the 13
profession for that time or scope. 14
69 Limited registration for teaching or research 15
(1) An individual may apply for limited registration in a health 16
profession to enable the individual to fill a teaching or 17
research position. 18
(2) The individual is qualified for the limited registration applied 19
for if the National Board established for the health profession 20
is satisfied the individual's qualifications are relevant to, and 21
suitable for, the position. 22
70 Unsuitability to hold limited registration 23
(1) Section 55 applies to a decision by a National Board that an 24
individual is not a suitable person to hold limited registration 25
in a health profession. 26
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a reference in section 55 to 27
general registration in the health profession is taken to be a 28
reference to limited registration in the health profession. 29
Page 82
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 71]
71 Limited registration not to be held for more than one 1
purpose 2
An individual may not hold limited registration in the same 3
health profession for more than one purpose under this 4
Division at the same time. 5
72 Period of limited registration 6
(1) The period of registration that is to apply to a health 7
practitioner granted limited registration in a health profession 8
is the period (the registration period), not more than 12 9
months, decided by the National Board established for the 10
profession and published on the Board's website. 11
(2) If the National Board decides to register a health practitioner 12
in the health profession during a registration period, the 13
registration-- 14
(a) starts when the Board makes the decision; and 15
(b) expires at the end of the last day of the registration 16
period. 17
(3) Limited registration may not be renewed more than 3 times. 18
Note. If an individual had been granted limited registration in a health 19
profession for a purpose under this Division, had subsequently renewed 20
the registration in the profession for that purpose 3 times and at the end of 21
the period wished to continue holding limited registration in the profession 22
for that purpose, the individual would need to make a new application for 23
limited registration in the profession for that purpose. 24
Division 5 Non-practising registration 25
73 Eligibility for non-practising registration 26
An individual is eligible for non-practising registration in a 27
health profession if-- 28
(a) the individual-- 29
(i) holds or has held general registration in the health 30
profession under this Law; or 31
Page 83
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 74]
(ii) holds or has held specialist registration in a 1
recognised speciality in the health profession under 2
this Law; or 3
(iii) held registration in the health profession under a 4
corresponding prior Act that was equivalent to 5
general registration or specialist registration in the 6
health profession under this Law; 7
(b) the individual is a suitable person to hold non-practising 8
registration in the profession. 9
74 Unsuitability to hold non-practising registration 10
A National Board may decide an individual is not a suitable 11
person to hold non-practising registration in a health 12
profession if-- 13
(a) having regard to the individual's criminal history to the 14
extent that is relevant to the individual's practise of the 15
profession, the individual is not, in the Board's opinion, 16
an appropriate person to hold registration in the 17
profession or it is not in the public interest for the 18
individual to hold registration in the profession; or 19
(b) in the Board's opinion, the individual is for any other 20
reason not a fit and proper person to hold non-practising 21
registration in the profession. 22
75 Registered health practitioner who holds non-practising 23
registration must not practise the profession 24
(1) A registered health practitioner who holds non-practising 25
registration in a health profession must not practise the 26
profession. 27
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 28
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 29
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 30
may be taken. 31
Page 84
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 76]
76 Period of non-practising registration 1
(1) The period of registration that is to apply to a health 2
practitioner granted non-practising registration in a health 3
profession is the period (the registration period), not more 4
than 12 months, decided by the National Board established for 5
the profession and published on the Board's website. 6
(2) If the National Board decides to register a health practitioner 7
in the health profession during a registration period, the 8
registration-- 9
(a) starts when the Board makes the decision; and 10
(b) expires at the end of the last day of the registration 11
period. 12
Division 6 Application for registration 13
77 Application for registration 14
(1) An individual may apply to a National Board for registration 15
in the health profession for which the Board is established. 16
(2) An application must-- 17
(a) be in the form approved by the National Board; and 18
(b) be accompanied by the relevant fee; and 19
(c) be accompanied by proof of the applicant's identity; and 20
(d) be accompanied by any other information reasonably 21
required by the Board. 22
(3) Without limiting subsection (2)(a), a form approved by a 23
National Board for the purposes of that subsection must 24
require an applicant-- 25
(a) to provide a declaration about-- 26
(i) the address at which the applicant will 27
predominantly practise the profession; or 28
(ii) if the applicant will not be practising the profession 29
or will not predominantly practise the profession at 30
Page 85
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 78]
one address, the address that is the applicant's 1
principal place of residence; and 2
(b) to provide an address to be used by the Board in 3
corresponding with the applicant; and 4
(c) to disclose the applicant's criminal history; and 5
(d) to authorise the Board to obtain the applicant's criminal 6
history. 7
Note. See the definition of criminal history which applies to 8
offences in participating jurisdictions and elsewhere, including 9
outside Australia. 10
(4) A criminal history law does not apply to the requirement 11
under subsection (3)(c) for the applicant to disclose the 12
applicant's criminal history. 13
(5) Information in the application must, if the approved form 14
requires, be verified by a statutory declaration. 15
78 Power to check applicant's proof of identity 16
(1) If an applicant for registration gives a National Board a 17
document as evidence of the applicant's identity under this 18
section, the Board may, by written notice, ask the entity that 19
issued the document-- 20
(a) to confirm the validity of the document; or 21
(b) to give the Board other information relevant to the 22
applicant's identity. 23
(2) An entity given a notice under subsection (1) is authorised to 24
give the National Board the information requested in the 25
notice. 26
79 Power to check applicant's criminal history 27
(1) Before deciding an application for registration, a National 28
Board must check the applicant's criminal history. 29
Page 86
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 80]
(2) For the purposes of checking an applicant's criminal history, a 1
National Board may obtain a written report about the criminal 2
history of the applicant from any of the following-- 3
(a) CrimTrac; 4
(b) a police commissioner; 5
(c) an entity in a jurisdiction outside Australia that has 6
access to records about the criminal history of persons 7
in that jurisdiction. 8
(3) A criminal history law does not apply to a report about an 9
applicant's criminal history under subsection (2). 10
80 Boards' other powers before deciding application for 11
registration 12
(1) Before deciding an application for registration, a National 13
Board may-- 14
(a) investigate the applicant, including, for example, by 15
asking an entity-- 16
(i) to give the Board information about the applicant; 17
or 18
(ii) to verify information or a document that relates to 19
the applicant; 20
Examples. If the applicant is or has been registered by 21
another registration authority, the National Board may ask 22
the registration authority for information about the 23
applicant's registration status. 24
The National Board may ask an entity that issued 25
qualifications that the applicant believes qualifies the 26
applicant for registration for confirmation that the 27
qualification was issued to the applicant. 28
(b) by written notice given to the applicant, require the 29
applicant to give the Board, within a reasonable time 30
stated in the notice, further information or a document 31
the Board reasonably requires to decide the application; 32
and 33
Page 87
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 80]
(c) by written notice given to the applicant, require the 1
applicant to attend before the Board, within a reasonable 2
time stated in the notice and at a reasonable place, to 3
answer any questions of the Board relating to the 4
application; and 5
(d) by written notice given to the applicant, require the 6
applicant to undergo an examination or assessment, 7
within a reasonable time stated in the notice and at a 8
reasonable place, to assess the applicant's ability to 9
practise the health profession in which registration is 10
sought; and 11
(e) by written notice given to the applicant, require the 12
applicant to undergo a health assessment, within a 13
reasonable time stated in the notice and at a reasonable 14
place. 15
(2) The National Board may require the information or document 16
referred to in subsection (1)(b) to be verified by a statutory 17
declaration. 18
(3) If the National Board requires an applicant to undertake an 19
examination or assessment under subsection (1)(d) to assess 20
the applicant's ability to practise the health profession-- 21
(a) the examination or assessment must be conducted by an 22
accreditation authority for the health profession, unless 23
the Board decides otherwise; and 24
(b) the National Agency may require the applicant to pay 25
the relevant fee. 26
(4) A notice under subsection (1)(d) or (e) must state-- 27
(a) the reason for the examination or assessment; and 28
(b) the name and qualifications of the person appointed by 29
the National Board to conduct the examination or 30
assessment; and 31
(c) the place where, and the day and time at which, the 32
examination or assessment is to be conducted. 33
Page 88
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 81]
(5) The applicant is taken to have withdrawn the application if, 1
within the stated time, the applicant does not comply with a 2
requirement under subsection (1). 3
81 Applicant may make submissions about proposed 4
refusal of application or imposition of condition 5
(1) If, after considering an application for registration, a National 6
Board is proposing to refuse to register the applicant or to 7
register the applicant subject to a condition, the Board must 8
give the applicant written notice of the proposal. 9
(2) The notice must-- 10
(a) state the reasons for the proposal; and 11
(b) invite the applicant to make a written or verbal 12
submission to the Board by the date stated in the notice, 13
being not less than 30 days after the day the notice is 14
given to the applicant, about the proposal. 15
82 Decision about application 16
(1) After considering an application for registration and any 17
submissions made in accordance with a notice under section 18
81, a National Board established for a health profession 19
must-- 20
(a) decide to grant the applicant the type of registration in 21
the health profession applied for if the applicant is 22
eligible for that type of registration under a relevant 23
section; or 24
(b) decide to grant the applicant a type of registration in the 25
health profession, other than the type of registration 26
applied for, for which the applicant is eligible under a 27
relevant section; or 28
(c) decide to refuse to grant the applicant registration in the 29
health profession if-- 30
Page 89
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 83]
(i) the applicant is ineligible for registration in the 1
profession under a relevant section because the 2
applicant-- 3
(A) is not qualified for registration; or 4
(B) has not completed a period of supervised 5
practice in the health profession, or an 6
examination or assessment required by the 7
Board to assess the individual's ability to 8
practise the profession; or 9
(C) is not a suitable person to hold registration; 10
or 11
(D) is disqualified under this Law from applying 12
for registration, or being registered, in the 13
health profession; or 14
(E) does not meet a requirement for registration 15
stated in an approved registration standard 16
for the profession; or 17
(ii) it would be improper to register the applicant 18
because the applicant or someone else gave the 19
National Board information or a document in 20
relation to the application that was false or 21
misleading in a material particular. 22
(2) In this section-- 23
relevant section means section 52, 57, 62, 65 or 73. 24
83 Conditions of registration 25
(1) If a National Board decides to register a person in the health 26
profession for which the Board is established, the registration 27
is subject to any condition the Board considers necessary or 28
desirable in the circumstances. 29
Note. A failure by a registered health practitioner to comply with a 30
condition of the practitioner's registration does not constitute an offence 31
but may constitute behaviour for which health, conduct or performance 32
action may be taken. 33
Page 90
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 84]
(2) If the National Board decides to register the person subject to 1
a condition referred to in subsection (1), the Board must 2
decide a review period for the condition. 3
84 Notice to be given to applicant 4
(1) Within 30 days after making the decision under section 82, the 5
National Board must-- 6
(a) give the applicant written notice of the Board's decision; 7
and 8
(b) if the Board decides to register the applicant, give the 9
applicant a certificate of registration. 10
(2) If the Board decides not to register the applicant, or decides to 11
register the applicant in a type of registration other than the 12
registration applied for or subject to a condition, the notice 13
under subsection (1)(a) must state-- 14
(a) the reasons for the decision; and 15
(b) that the applicant may appeal against the decision; and 16
(c) how an application for appeal may be made and the 17
period within which the application must be made. 18
85 Failure to decide application 19
If a National Board fails to decide an application for 20
registration within 90 days after its receipt, or the longer 21
period agreed between the Board and the applicant, the failure 22
by the Board to make a decision is taken to be a decision to 23
refuse to register the applicant. 24
Page 91
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 86]
Division 7 Student registration 1
Subdivision 1 Persons undertaking approved 2
programs of study 3
86 Definitions 4
In this Subdivision-- 5
approved program of study, for a health profession, does not 6
include an approved program of study that provides a 7
qualification for endorsement of registration in the profession 8
but does not qualify a person for registration in the profession. 9
particulars means particulars required to be included in the 10
student register. 11
87 National Board must register persons undertaking 12
approved program of study 13
(1) The National Board established for a health profession must 14
decide whether persons who are undertaking an approved 15
program of study for the health profession must be 16
registered-- 17
(a) for the entire period during which the persons are 18
enrolled in the approved program of study; or 19
(b) for the period starting when the persons begin a 20
particular part of the approved program of study and 21
ending when the persons complete, or otherwise cease 22
to be enrolled in, the program. 23
(2) In deciding whether to register persons undertaking an 24
approved program of study for the entire period of the 25
program of study or only part of the period, the National 26
Board must have regard to-- 27
(a) the likelihood that persons undertaking the approved 28
program of study will, in the course of undertaking the 29
program, have contact with members of the public; and 30
Page 92
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 88]
(b) if it is likely that the persons undertaking the approved 1
program of study will have contact with members of the 2
public-- 3
(i) when in the approved program of study it is likely 4
the persons will have contact with members of the 5
public; and 6
(ii) the potential risk that contact may pose to members 7
of the public. 8
88 National Board may ask education provider for list of 9
persons undertaking approved program of study 10
(1) For the purposes of registering persons as required by section 11
87, a National Board may, at any time by written notice given 12
to an education provider, ask the provider for the following-- 13
(a) the particulars of all persons who are undertaking an 14
approved program of study for the health profession for 15
which the Board is established; 16
(b) the particulars of all persons who will be undertaking 17
the part of the approved program of study specified in 18
the notice. 19
(2) An education provider given a notice under subsection (1) 20
must not fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with the 21
notice. 22
(3) A contravention of subsection (2) does not constitute an 23
offence. 24
(4) However, if an education provider does not comply with a 25
notice under subsection (1)-- 26
(a) the National Board that gave the education provider the 27
notice must publish details of the failure to comply with 28
the notice on the Board's website; and 29
(b) the National Agency may, on the recommendation of the 30
National Board, include a statement about the failure to 31
comply with the notice in the Agency's annual report. 32
Page 93
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 89]
89 Registration of students 1
(1) On receipt of the particulars of persons undertaking an 2
approved program of study, or part of an approved program of 3
study, under section 88-- 4
(a) the National Board may register the persons as students 5
in the health profession by entering the persons' 6
particulars in the student register kept by the Board; or 7
(b) the National Board may-- 8
(i) by written notice given to each person, require the 9
person to complete an application for registration 10
as a student in the form approved by the National 11
Board; and 12
(ii) on receipt of the person's application form, register 13
the person as a student in the health profession by 14
entering the person's particulars in the student 15
register kept by the Board. 16
(2) The National Board must not register a person as a student if 17
the person is undertaking an approved program of study for a 18
health profession in which the person already holds 19
registration under Division 6. 20
(3) The National Board must not require a person to pay a fee for 21
registration as a student. 22
(4) As soon as practicable after registering a person as a student, a 23
National Board must give written notice of the registration 24
to-- 25
(a) the education provider that provided the student's 26
particulars to the Board; and 27
(b) if the Board required the person to complete an 28
application form for registration, the student. 29
(5) As soon as practicable after receiving notice that a student has 30
been registered under subsection (1)(a), the education 31
provider must give written notice of the registration to the 32
student. 33
Page 94
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 90]
90 Period of student registration 1
The period of registration for a student-- 2
(a) starts when the student is registered under section 89; 3
and 4
(b) expires at the end of the day on which the student 5
completes, or otherwise ceases to be enrolled in, the 6
approved program of study. 7
Subdivision 2 Other persons to be registered as 8
students 9
91 Education provider to provide lists of persons 10
(1) If an education provider arranges clinical training in a health 11
profession for a person who is not enrolled in an approved 12
program of study for the profession, the education provider 13
must give the National Board established for the profession 14
written notice about the arrangement. 15
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the person is a registered 16
health practitioner who is registered in the health profession in 17
which the clinical training is being undertaken. 18
(3) A notice under subsection (1) must include-- 19
(a) the particulars of the person undertaking the clinical 20
training, and 21
(b) particulars of the arrangement for the person to 22
undertake the clinical training. 23
(4) On receipt of a notice under subsection (1)-- 24
(a) the National Board may register the persons as students 25
in the health profession by entering the persons' 26
particulars in the student register kept by the Board; or 27
(b) the National Board may-- 28
(i) by written notice given to each person, require the 29
person to complete an application for registration 30
Page 95
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 92]
as a student in the form approved by the National 1
Board; and 2
(ii) on receipt of the person's application form, register 3
the person as a student in the health profession by 4
entering the person's particulars in the student 5
register kept by the Board. 6
(5) As soon as practicable after registering a person as a student 7
under subsection (4), a National Board must give written 8
notice of the registration to the education provider that 9
provided the student's particulars to the Board. 10
(6) The National Board must not require a person to pay a fee for 11
registration as a student. 12
(7) A student's period of registration under this section-- 13
(a) starts when the student is registered under subsection 14
(4); and 15
(b) expires at the end of the day on which the person 16
completes, or otherwise ceases to undertake, the period 17
of clinical training. 18
Subdivision 3 General provisions applicable to 19
students 20
92 Notice to be given if student registration suspended or 21
condition imposed 22
(1) This section applies if, at any time, any of the following 23
events occurs-- 24
(a) a person's registration as a student under this Law is 25
suspended; 26
(b) a condition is imposed on a person's registration as a 27
student under this Law or a condition to which a 28
person's registration is subject is changed or removed; 29
(c) a National Board accepts an undertaking from a person 30
who is a student. 31
Page 96
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 93]
(2) The National Board that registered the person must, as soon as 1
practicable after the event occurs, give written notice of the 2
event to the education provider with which the person is 3
undertaking the approved program of study. 4
(3) If an education provider is given a notice under subsection (2) 5
about a person, the education provider must, as soon as 6
practicable after receiving the notice, give notice of the event 7
to any entity with whom the person is undertaking training as 8
part of the approved program of study. 9
93 Report to National Board of cessation of status as 10
student 11
(1) This section applies if-- 12
(a) a student completes, or otherwise ceases to be enrolled 13
in, an approved program of study for a health profession 14
provided by an education provider; or 15
(b) a student completes, or otherwise ceases to undertake, 16
clinical training in a health profession arranged by an 17
education provider. 18
(2) The education provider must give written notice of the student 19
ceasing to be enrolled in the program of study, or to undertake 20
the clinical training, to the National Board established for the 21
health profession within 60 days of it occurring. 22
(3) A contravention of subsection (2) does not constitute an 23
offence. 24
(4) However, if an education provider contravenes subsection 25
(2)-- 26
(a) the National Board must publish details of the 27
contravention on the Board's website; and 28
(b) the National Agency may, on the recommendation of the 29
National Board, include a statement about the 30
contravention in the Agency's annual report. 31
Page 97
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 94]
Division 8 Endorsement of registration 1
Subdivision 1 Endorsement in relation to 2
scheduled medicines 3
94 Endorsement for scheduled medicines 4
(1) A National Board may, in accordance with an approval given 5
by the Ministerial Council under section 14, endorse the 6
registration of a registered health practitioner registered by the 7
Board as being qualified to administer, obtain, possess, 8
prescribe, sell, supply or use a scheduled medicine or class of 9
scheduled medicines if the practitioner-- 10
(a) holds either of the following qualifications relevant to 11
the endorsement-- 12
(i) an approved qualification; 13
(ii) another qualification that, in the Board's opinion, 14
is substantially equivalent to, or based on similar 15
competencies to, an approved qualification; and 16
(b) complies with any approved registration standard 17
relevant to the endorsement. 18
Note. The endorsement of a health practitioner's registration under 19
this section indicates the practitioner is qualified to administer, 20
obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, supply or use the scheduled 21
medicine or class of medicines specified in the endorsement but 22
does not authorise the practitioner to do so. The authorisation of a 23
health practitioner to administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, 24
supply or use scheduled medicines in a participating jurisdiction 25
will be provided for by or under another Act of that jurisdiction. 26
Health practitioners registered in certain health professions will be 27
authorised to administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, supply or 28
use scheduled medicines by or under an Act of a participating 29
jurisdiction without the need for the health practitioners to hold an 30
endorsement under this Law. 31
(2) An endorsement under subsection (1) must state-- 32
(a) the scheduled medicine or class of scheduled medicines 33
to which the endorsement relates; and 34
Page 98
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 95]
(b) whether the registered health practitioner is qualified to 1
administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, supply or use 2
the scheduled medicine or class of scheduled medicines; 3
and 4
(c) if the endorsement is for a limited period, the date the 5
endorsement expires. 6
Subdivision 2 Endorsement in relation to nurse 7
practitioners 8
95 Endorsement as nurse practitioner 9
(1) The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia may endorse 10
the registration of a registered health practitioner whose name 11
is included in the Register of Nurses as being qualified to 12
practise as a nurse practitioner if the practitioner-- 13
(a) holds either of the following qualifications relevant to 14
the endorsement-- 15
(i) an approved qualification; 16
(ii) another qualification that, in the Board's opinion, 17
is substantially equivalent to, or based on similar 18
competencies to, an approved qualification; and 19
(b) complies with any approved registration standard 20
relevant to the endorsement. 21
(2) An endorsement under subsection (1) must state-- 22
(a) that the registered health practitioner is entitled to use 23
the title "nurse practitioner"; and 24
(b) any conditions applicable to the practice by the 25
registered health practitioner as a nurse practitioner. 26
Page 99
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 96]
Subdivision 3 Endorsement in relation to midwife 1
practitioners 2
96 Endorsement as midwife practitioner 3
(1) The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia may endorse 4
the registration of a registered health practitioner whose name 5
is included in the Register of Midwives as being qualified to 6
practise as a midwife practitioner if the practitioner-- 7
(a) holds either of the following qualifications relevant to 8
the endorsement-- 9
(i) an approved qualification; 10
(ii) another qualification that, in the Board's opinion, 11
is substantially equivalent to, or based on similar 12
competencies to, an approved qualification; and 13
(b) complies with any approved registration standard 14
relevant to the endorsement. 15
(2) An endorsement under subsection (1) must state-- 16
(a) that the registered health practitioner is entitled to use 17
the title "midwife practitioner"; and 18
(b) any conditions applicable to the practice by the 19
registered health practitioner as a midwife practitioner. 20
Subdivision 4 Endorsement in relation to 21
acupuncture 22
97 Endorsement for acupuncture 23
(1) A National Board may endorse the registration of a registered 24
health practitioner registered by the Board as being qualified 25
to practise as an acupuncturist if the practitioner-- 26
(a) holds either of the following qualifications relevant to 27
the endorsement-- 28
(i) an approved qualification; 29
Page 100
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 98]
(ii) another qualification that, in the Board's opinion, 1
is substantially equivalent to, or based on similar 2
competencies to, an approved qualification; and 3
(b) complies with an approved registration standard relevant 4
to the endorsement. 5
(2) An endorsement under subsection (1) must state-- 6
(a) that the registered health practitioner is entitled to use 7
the title "acupuncturist"; and 8
(b) any conditions applicable to the practice of acupuncture 9
by the registered health practitioner. 10
Subdivision 5 Endorsements in relation to 11
approved areas of practice 12
98 Endorsement for approved area of practice 13
(1) A National Board established for a health profession may, in 14
accordance with an approval given by the Ministerial Council 15
under section 15, endorse the registration of a registered 16
health practitioner registered by the Board as being qualified 17
to practise in an approved area of practice for the health 18
profession if the practitioner-- 19
(a) holds either of the following qualifications relevant to 20
the endorsement-- 21
(i) an approved qualification; 22
(ii) another qualification that, in the Board's opinion, 23
is substantially equivalent to, or based on similar 24
competencies to, an approved qualification; and 25
(b) complies with an approved registration standard relevant 26
to the endorsement. 27
(2) An endorsement under subsection (1) must state-- 28
(a) the approved area of practice to which the endorsement 29
relates; and 30
Page 101
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 99]
(b) any conditions applicable to the practice by the 1
registered health practitioner in the approved area of 2
practice. 3
Subdivision 6 Application for endorsement 4
99 Application for endorsement 5
(1) An individual may apply to a National Board for endorsement 6
of the individual's registration. 7
(2) The application must-- 8
(a) be in the form approved by the National Board; and 9
(b) be accompanied by the relevant fee; and 10
(c) be accompanied by any other information reasonably 11
required by the Board. 12
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(c), the information a 13
National Board may require an applicant to provide 14
includes-- 15
(a) evidence of the qualifications in the health profession 16
the applicant believes qualifies the applicant for 17
endorsement; and 18
(b) evidence of successful completion of any period of 19
supervised practice required by an approved registration 20
standard; and 21
(c) if the applicant is required to complete an examination 22
or assessment set by or on behalf of the Board, evidence 23
of the successful completion of the examination or 24
assessment. 25
100 Boards' other powers before deciding application for 26
endorsement 27
(1) Before deciding an application for endorsement, a National 28
Board may-- 29
Page 102
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 101]
(a) investigate the applicant, including, for example, by 1
asking an entity-- 2
(i) to give the Board information about the applicant; 3
or 4
(ii) to verify information or a document that relates to 5
the applicant; or 6
(b) by written notice to the applicant, require the applicant 7
to give the Board, within a reasonable time stated in the 8
notice, further information or a document the Board 9
reasonably requires to decide the application; or 10
(c) by written notice to the applicant, require the applicant 11
to attend before the Board, within a reasonable time 12
stated in the notice and at a reasonable place, to answer 13
any questions of the Board relating to the application; or 14
(d) by written notice to the applicant, require the applicant 15
to undergo a written, oral or practical examination, 16
within a reasonable time stated in the notice and at a 17
reasonable place. 18
(2) The purpose of an examination under subsection (1)(d) must 19
be to assess the applicant's ability to practise the health 20
profession in accordance with the endorsement sought. 21
(3) The applicant is taken to have withdrawn the application if, 22
within the stated time, the applicant does not comply with a 23
requirement under subsection (1). 24
101 Applicant may make submissions about proposed 25
refusal of application or imposition of condition 26
(1) If, after considering an application for endorsement of a 27
registration, a National Board is proposing to refuse to 28
endorse the applicant's registration or to endorse the 29
applicant's registration subject to a condition, the Board must 30
give the applicant written notice of the proposal. 31
(2) The notice must-- 32
(a) state the reasons for the proposal; and 33
Page 103
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 102]
(b) invite the applicant to make a written or verbal 1
submission to the Board by the date stated in the notice, 2
being not less than 30 days after the day the notice is 3
given to the applicant, about the proposal. 4
102 Decision about application 5
(1) After considering an application for endorsement and any 6
submissions made in accordance with a notice under section 7
101, a National Board must decide to endorse, or refuse to 8
endorse, the applicant's registration as sought. 9
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a National Board may refuse 10
to endorse an applicant's registration if-- 11
(a) the applicant is not qualified for the endorsement under 12
a relevant section; or 13
(b) the Board considers the applicant is not competent to 14
practise the health profession in accordance with the 15
endorsement sought. 16
(3) In this section-- 17
relevant section means section 94, 95, 96, 97 or 98. 18
103 Conditions of endorsement 19
(1) If a National Board decides to endorse the applicant's 20
registration under section 102, the Board may decide to 21
impose on the endorsement the conditions the Board 22
considers necessary or desirable in the circumstances. 23
Note. A failure by a registered health practitioner to comply with a 24
condition of the practitioner's registration does not constitute an offence 25
but may constitute behaviour for which health, conduct or performance 26
action may be taken. 27
(2) If the National Board decides to impose a condition on the 28
endorsement, the Board must also decide a review period for 29
the condition. 30
Page 104
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 104]
104 Notice of decision to be given to applicant 1
(1) As soon as practicable after making the decision under section 2
102, the National Board must-- 3
(a) give the applicant written notice of the Board's decision; 4
and 5
(b) if the Board decides to endorse the applicant's 6
registration, give the applicant a new certificate of 7
registration. 8
(2) If the Board decides not to endorse the applicant's registration 9
or decides to endorse the applicant's registration subject to a 10
condition, the notice under subsection (1)(a) must state-- 11
(a) the reasons for the decision; and 12
(b) that the applicant may appeal against the decision; and 13
(c) how an application for appeal may be made and the 14
period within which the application must be made. 15
105 Period of endorsement 16
If a National Board decides to endorse a registered health 17
practitioner's registration, the endorsement-- 18
(a) starts when the Board makes the decision; and 19
(b) expires when the practitioner's registration ends. 20
106 Failure to decide application for endorsement 21
If a National Board fails to decide an application for 22
endorsement within 90 days after its receipt, or the longer 23
period agreed between the Board and the applicant, the failure 24
by the Board to make a decision is taken to be a decision to 25
refuse to endorse the applicant's registration. 26
Page 105
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 107]
Division 9 Renewal of registration 1
107 Application for renewal of registration or endorsement 2
(1) A registered health practitioner may apply to the National 3
Board that registered the practitioner for renewal of the health 4
practitioner's registration. 5
(2) An application for renewal of a registered health practitioner's 6
registration must be made not later than one month after the 7
practitioner's period of registration ends. 8
(3) If the registered health practitioner's registration has been 9
endorsed by the National Board, the application for renewal of 10
the practitioner's registration is taken to also be an application 11
for a renewal of the endorsement. 12
(4) The application for renewal of registration must-- 13
(a) be in the form approved by the National Board; and 14
(b) be accompanied by the relevant fee; and 15
(c) if the application for renewal is made after the registered 16
health practitioner's period of registration ends, be 17
accompanied by the relevant fee for a late application; 18
and 19
(d) be accompanied by the annual statement required under 20
section 109; and 21
(e) be accompanied by any other information reasonably 22
required by the Board. 23
108 Registration taken to continue in force 24
(1) If a registered health practitioner applies under section 107 to 25
renew the practitioner's registration, the applicant's 26
registration, including any endorsement of the registration, is 27
taken to continue in force from the day it would, apart from 28
this section, have ended until-- 29
Page 106
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 109]
(a) if the National Board decides to renew the applicant's 1
registration, the day a new certificate of registration is 2
issued to the applicant; or 3
(b) if the National Board decides to refuse to renew the 4
applicant's registration, the day the applicant is given 5
notice of the decision. 6
(2) If a health practitioner does not apply to renew the 7
practitioner's registration before the practitioner's period of 8
registration ends, the registration, including any endorsement 9
of the registration, is taken to continue in force until-- 10
(a) the end of the day that is one month after the day the 11
period of registration would, apart from this subsection, 12
have ended; or 13
(b) if the health practitioner applies for renewal of the 14
registration not later than one month after the 15
practitioner's period of registration ends, the day 16
referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b). 17
(3) Subsection (1) or (2) does not apply if the registration is 18
earlier cancelled under this Law. 19
109 Annual statement 20
(1) An application for renewal of registration must include or be 21
accompanied by a statement that includes the following-- 22
(a) a declaration by the applicant that-- 23
(i) the applicant does not have an impairment; and 24
(ii) the applicant has met any recency of practice 25
requirements stated in an approved registration 26
standard for the health profession; and 27
(iii) the applicant has completed the continuing 28
professional development the applicant was 29
required by an approved registration standard to 30
undertake during the applicant's preceding period 31
of registration; and 32
Page 107
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 109]
(iv) the applicant has not practised the health 1
profession during the preceding period of 2
registration without appropriate professional 3
indemnity insurance arrangements being in place 4
in relation to the applicant; and 5
(v) if the applicant's registration is renewed the 6
applicant will not practise the health profession 7
unless appropriate professional indemnity 8
insurance arrangements are in place in relation to 9
the applicant; 10
(b) details of any change in the applicant's criminal history 11
that occurred during the applicant's preceding period of 12
registration; 13
Note. See the definition of criminal history which applies to 14
offences in participating jurisdictions and elsewhere, including 15
outside Australia. 16
(c) if the applicant's right to practise at a hospital or another 17
facility at which health services are provided was 18
withdrawn or restricted during the applicant's preceding 19
period of registration because of the applicant's conduct, 20
professional performance or health, details of the 21
withdrawal or restriction of the right to practise; 22
(d) if the applicant's billing privileges were withdrawn or 23
restricted under the Medicare Australia Act 1973 of the 24
Commonwealth during the applicant's preceding period 25
of registration because of the applicant's conduct, 26
professional performance or health, details of the 27
withdrawal or restriction of the privileges; 28
(e) details of any complaint made about the applicant to a 29
registration authority or another entity having functions 30
relating to professional services provided by health 31
practitioners or the regulation of health practitioners; 32
(f) any other information required by an approved 33
registration standard. 34
(2) Subsection (1)(a)(ii), (iii) and (iv), (c) and (d) does not apply 35
to an applicant who is applying for the renewal of 36
non-practising registration. 37
Page 108
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 110]
110 National Board's powers before making decision 1
Before deciding an application for renewal of registration, a 2
National Board may exercise a power under section 80 as if 3
the application were an application for registration made 4
under section 77. 5
111 Applicant may make submissions about proposed 6
refusal of application for renewal or imposition of 7
condition 8
(1) If, after considering an application for renewal of registration, 9
a National Board is proposing to refuse to renew the 10
applicant's registration or to renew the applicant's registration 11
subject to a new condition, the Board must give the applicant 12
written notice of the proposal. 13
(2) The notice must-- 14
(a) state the reasons for the proposal; and 15
(b) invite the applicant to make a written or verbal 16
submission to the Board by the date stated in the notice, 17
being not less than 30 days after the day the notice is 18
given to the applicant, about the proposal. 19
112 Decision about application for renewal 20
(1) After considering an application for renewal of registration 21
and any submissions made in accordance with a notice under 22
section 111, a National Board may decide to renew, or refuse 23
to renew, the applicant's registration or the endorsement. 24
(2) The National Board may refuse to renew the applicant's 25
registration or any endorsement on the applicant's 26
registration-- 27
(a) on any ground on which the Board could refuse to grant 28
the registration or endorsement under section 82 or 102 29
if the application were for a grant of registration or 30
endorsement; or 31
Page 109
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 112]
(b) if the applicant contravened any condition to which the 1
applicant's previous registration or endorsement was 2
subject; or 3
(c) if, during the applicant's previous period of registration, 4
the applicant failed to have appropriate professional 5
indemnity insurance arrangements or failed to complete 6
the continuing professional development required by an 7
approved registration standard for the profession; or 8
(d) if a statement made by the applicant in the applicant's 9
annual statement was false or misleading in a material 10
particular; or 11
(e) if the application is for the renewal of provisional 12
registration and the applicant's provisional registration 13
has previously been renewed twice; or 14
(f) if the application is for the renewal of limited 15
application and the applicant's limited registration has 16
previously been renewed 3 times. 17
(3) If the National Board renews a registration, including any 18
endorsement on the registration, the registration or 19
endorsement is subject to-- 20
(a) any condition to which the registration was subject 21
immediately before the renewal; and 22
(b) any condition the Board considers necessary or 23
desirable in the circumstances 24
Note. A failure by a registered health practitioner to comply with a 25
condition of the practitioner's registration does not constitute an 26
offence but may constitute behaviour for which health, conduct or 27
performance action may be taken. 28
(4) If the National Board decides to renew a registered health 29
practitioner's registration or an endorsement of the 30
registration subject to a condition under subsection (3)(b), the 31
Board must decide a review period for the condition. 32
(5) If a National Board decides to refuse to renew an applicant's 33
registration or the endorsement of the applicant's registration, 34
or to renew the registration or the endorsement subject to a 35
Page 110
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 113]
condition under subsection (3)(b), the Board must give the 1
applicant a notice that states-- 2
(a) the decision made by the Board; and 3
(b) the reasons for the decision; and 4
(c) that the applicant may appeal against the decision; and 5
(d) how an application for appeal may be made and the 6
period within which the application must be made. 7
(6) A registration, including any endorsement of the registration, 8
renewed under this Division-- 9
(a) starts on the day immediately after the applicant's 10
previous period of registration ends or ended; and 11
(b) expires at the end of the day that is 12 months after the 12
day it starts. 13
Division 10 Title and practice protections 14
Subdivision 1 Title protections 15
113 Restriction on use of protected titles 16
(1) A person must not knowingly or recklessly-- 17
(a) take or use a title in the Table to this section, in a way 18
that could be reasonably expected to induce a belief the 19
person is registered under this Law in the health 20
profession listed beside the title in the Table, unless the 21
person is registered in the profession, or 22
(b) take or use a prescribed title for a health profession, in a 23
way that could be reasonably expected to induce a belief 24
the person is registered under this Law in the profession, 25
unless the person is registered in the profession. 26
Maximum penalty-- 27
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 28
Page 111
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 113]
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 1
(2) A person must not knowingly or recklessly-- 2
(a) take or use a title in the Table in relation to another 3
person (the second person), in a way that could be 4
reasonably expected to induce a belief the second person 5
is registered under this Law in the health profession 6
listed beside the title in the Table, unless the second 7
person is registered in the profession; or 8
(b) take or use a prescribed title for a health profession in 9
relation to another person (the second person), in a way 10
that could be reasonably expected to induce a belief the 11
second person is registered under this Law in the 12
profession, unless the second person is registered in the 13
profession. 14
Maximum penalty-- 15
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 16
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 17
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply whether or not the title is taken 18
or used with or without any other words and whether in 19
English or any other language. 20
Table-- Protected Titles 21
Profession Title
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Islander Health Practice health practitioner, Aboriginal health
practitioner, Torres Strait Islander health
practitioner
Chinese Medicine Chinese medicine practitioner, Chinese
herbal dispenser, Chinese herbal medicine
practitioner, Oriental medicine
practitioner, acupuncturist
Chiropractic chiropractor
Dental dentist, dental therapist, dental hygienist,
dental prosthetist, oral health therapist
Medical medical practitioner
Page 112
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 114]
Profession Title
Medical Radiation Practice medical radiation practitioner, diagnostic
radiographer, medical imaging
technologist, radiographer, nuclear
medicine scientist, nuclear medicine
technologist, radiation therapist
Nursing and Midwifery nurse, registered nurse, nurse practitioner,
enrolled nurse, midwife, midwife
practitioner
Occupational Therapy occupational therapist
Optometry optometrist, optician
Osteopathy osteopath
Pharmacy pharmacist, pharmaceutical chemist
Physiotherapy physiotherapist, physical therapist
Podiatry podiatrist, chiropodist
Psychology psychologist
114 Use of title "acupuncturist" 1
(1) A registered health practitioner whose registration is endorsed 2
under section 97 by a National Board as being qualified to 3
practise as an acupuncturist does not commit an offence 4
against section 113(1)(a) merely because the individual takes 5
or uses the title "acupuncturist". 6
(2) A person does not commit an offence against section 7
113(2)(a) merely because the person takes or uses the title 8
"acupuncturist" in relation to another person who is a 9
registered health practitioner whose registration is endorsed 10
under section 97 by a National Board as being qualified to 11
practise as an acupuncturist. 12
115 Restriction on use of specialist titles 13
(1) A person must not knowingly or recklessly take or use-- 14
Page 113
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 116]
(a) the title "dental specialist" unless the person is 1
registered under this Law in a recognised specialty in 2
the dentists division of the dental profession; or 3
(b) the title "medical specialist" unless the person is 4
registered in a recognised specialty in the medical 5
profession; or 6
(c) a specialist title for a recognised specialty unless the 7
person is registered under this Law in the specialty. 8
Maximum penalty-- 9
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 10
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 11
(2) A person must not knowingly or recklessly take or use-- 12
(a) the title "dental specialist" in relation to another person 13
unless the other person is registered under this Law in a 14
recognised specialty in the dentists division of the dental 15
profession; or 16
(b) the title "medical specialist" in relation to another 17
person unless the person is registered in a recognised 18
specialty in the medical profession; or 19
(c) a specialist title for a recognised specialty in relation to 20
another person unless the person is registered under this 21
Law in the specialty. 22
Maximum penalty-- 23
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 24
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 25
(3) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the title is taken or used 26
with or without any other words and whether in English or 27
any other language. 28
116 Claims by persons as to registration as health 29
practitioner 30
(1) A person who is not a registered health practitioner must not 31
knowingly or recklessly-- 32
Page 114
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 116]
(a) take or use the title of "registered health practitioner", 1
whether with or without any other words; or 2
(b) take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or 3
description that, having regard to the circumstances in 4
which it is taken or used, indicates or could be 5
reasonably understood to indicate-- 6
(i) the person is a health practitioner; or 7
(ii) the person is authorised or qualified to practise in a 8
health profession; or 9
(c) claim to be registered under this Law or hold himself or 10
herself out as being registered under this Law; or 11
(d) claim to be qualified to practise as a health practitioner. 12
Maximum penalty-- 13
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 14
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 15
(2) A person must not knowingly or recklessly-- 16
(a) take or use the title of "registered health practitioner", 17
whether with or without any other words, in relation to 18
another person who is not a registered health 19
practitioner; or 20
(b) take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or 21
description that, having regard to the circumstances in 22
which it is taken or used, indicates or could be 23
reasonably understood to indicate-- 24
(i) another person is a health practitioner if the other 25
person is not a health practitioner; or 26
(ii) another person is authorised or qualified to practise 27
in a health profession if the other person is not a 28
registered health practitioner in that health 29
profession; or 30
(c) claim another person is registered under this Law, or 31
hold the other person out as being registered under this 32
Page 115
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 117]
Law, if the other person is not registered under this Law; 1
or 2
(d) claim another person is qualified to practise as a health 3
practitioner if the other person is not a registered health 4
practitioner. 5
Maximum penalty-- 6
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 7
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 8
117 Claims by persons as to registration in particular 9
profession or division 10
(1) A registered health practitioner must not knowingly or 11
recklessly-- 12
(a) claim to be registered under this Law in a health 13
profession or a division of a health profession in which 14
the practitioner is not registered, or hold himself or 15
herself out as being registered in a health profession or a 16
division of a health profession if the person is not 17
registered in that health profession or division; or 18
(b) claim to be qualified to practise as a practitioner in a 19
health profession or a division of a health profession in 20
which the practitioner is not registered; or 21
(c) take or use any title that could be reasonably understood 22
to induce a belief the practitioner is registered under this 23
Law in a health profession or a division of a health 24
profession in which the practitioner is not registered. 25
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 26
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 27
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 28
may be taken. 29
(3) A person must not knowingly or recklessly-- 30
(a) claim another person is registered under this Law in a 31
health profession or a division of a health profession in 32
which the other person is not registered, or hold the 33
Page 116
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 118]
other person out as being registered in a health 1
profession or a division of a health profession if the 2
other person is not registered in that health profession or 3
division; or 4
(b) claim another person is qualified to practise as a health 5
practitioner in a health profession or division of a health 6
profession in which the other person is not registered; or 7
(c) take or use any title in relation to another person that 8
could be reasonably understood to induce a belief the 9
other person is registered under this Law in a health 10
profession or a division of a health profession in which 11
the person is not registered. 12
Maximum penalty-- 13
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 14
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 15
Note. A contravention of this subsection by a registered health 16
practitioner may also constitute unprofessional conduct for which 17
health, conduct or performance action may be taken. 18
118 Claims by persons as to specialist registration 19
(1) A person who is not a specialist health practitioner must not 20
knowingly or recklessly-- 21
(a) take or use the title of "specialist health practitioner", 22
whether with or without any other words; or 23
(b) take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or 24
description that, having regard to the circumstances in 25
which it is taken or used, indicates or could be 26
reasonably understood to indicate-- 27
(i) the person is a specialist health practitioner; or 28
(ii) the person is authorised or qualified to practise in a 29
recognised specialty; or 30
(c) claim to be registered under this Law in a recognised 31
specialty or hold himself or herself out as being 32
registered under this Law in a recognised specialty; or 33
Page 117
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 118]
(d) claim to be qualified to practise as a specialist health 1
practitioner. 2
Maximum penalty-- 3
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 4
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 5
(2) A person must not knowingly or recklessly-- 6
(a) take or use the title of "specialist health practitioner", 7
whether with or without any other words, in relation to 8
another person who is not a specialist health 9
practitioner; or 10
(b) take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or 11
description in relation to another person that, having 12
regard to the circumstances in which it is taken or used, 13
indicates or could be reasonably understood to 14
indicate-- 15
(i) the other person is a specialist health practitioner; 16
or 17
(ii) the other person is authorised or qualified to 18
practise in a recognised specialty; or 19
(c) claim another person is registered under this Law in a 20
recognised specialty or hold the other person out as 21
being registered under this Law in a recognised 22
specialty if the other person is not registered in that 23
recognised specialty; or 24
(d) claim another person is qualified to practise as a 25
specialist health practitioner if the person is not a 26
specialist health practitioner. 27
Maximum penalty-- 28
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 29
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 30
Note. A contravention of this section by a registered health 31
practitioner may also constitute unprofessional conduct for which 32
health, conduct or performance action may be taken. 33
Page 118
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 119]
119 Claims about type of registration or registration in 1
recognised specialty 2
(1) A registered health practitioner must not knowingly or 3
recklessly-- 4
(a) claim to hold a type of registration or endorsement 5
under this Law that the practitioner does not hold or 6
hold himself or herself out as holding a type of 7
registration or endorsement if the practitioner does not 8
hold that type of registration; or 9
(b) claim to be qualified to hold a type of registration or 10
endorsement the practitioner does not hold; or 11
(c) claim to hold specialist registration under this Law in a 12
recognised specialty in which the practitioner does not 13
hold specialist registration or hold himself or herself out 14
as holding specialist registration in a recognised 15
specialty if the person does not hold specialist 16
registration in that specialty; or 17
(d) claim to be qualified to practise as a specialist health 18
practitioner in a recognised specialty in which the 19
practitioner is not registered. 20
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 21
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 22
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 23
may be taken. 24
(3) A person must not knowingly or recklessly-- 25
(a) claim another person holds a type of registration or 26
endorsement under this Law that the other person does 27
not hold or hold the other person out as holding a type of 28
registration or endorsement if the practitioner does not 29
hold that type of registration or endorsement; or 30
(b) claim another person is qualified to hold a type of 31
registration or endorsement that the other person does 32
not hold; or 33
(c) claim another person holds specialist registration under 34
this Law in a recognised specialty which the other 35
Page 119
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 120]
person does not hold or hold the other person out as 1
holding specialist registration in a recognised specialty 2
if the other person does not hold specialist registration in 3
that specialty; or 4
(d) claim another person is qualified to practise in a 5
recognised specialty in which the other person is not 6
registered. 7
Maximum penalty-- 8
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 9
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 10
Note. A contravention of this subsection by a registered health 11
practitioner may also constitute unprofessional conduct for which 12
health, conduct or performance action may be taken. 13
120 Registered health practitioner registered on conditions 14
(1) A registered health practitioner who is registered on 15
conditions must not knowingly or recklessly claim, or hold 16
himself or herself out, to be registered without the conditions 17
or any conditions. 18
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 19
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 20
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 21
may be taken. 22
Subdivision 2 Practice protections 23
121 Restricted dental acts 24
(1) A person must not carry out a restricted dental act unless the 25
person-- 26
(a) is registered in the dental profession or medical 27
profession and carries out the restricted dental act in 28
accordance with any requirements specified in an 29
approved registration standard; or 30
Page 120
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 121]
(b) is a student who carries out the restricted dental act in 1
the course of activities undertaken as part of-- 2
(i) an approved program of study for the dental 3
profession or medical profession; or 4
(ii) clinical training in the dental profession or medical 5
profession; or 6
(c) carries out the restricted dental act in the course of 7
carrying out technical work on the written order of a 8
person registered in the dentists or dental prosthetists 9
division of the dental profession; or 10
(d) is a person, or a member of a class of persons, 11
prescribed under a regulation as being authorised to 12
carry out the restricted dental act or restricted dental acts 13
generally. 14
Maximum penalty-- $30,000. 15
(2) In this section-- 16
restricted dental act means any of the following acts-- 17
(a) performing any irreversible procedure on the human 18
teeth or jaw or associated structures; 19
(b) correcting malpositions of the human teeth or jaw or 20
associated structures; 21
(c) fitting or intra-orally adjusting artificial teeth or 22
corrective or restorative dental appliances for a person; 23
(d) performing any irreversible procedure on, or the giving 24
of any treatment or advice to, a person that is 25
preparatory to or for the purpose of fitting, inserting, 26
adjusting, fixing, constructing, repairing or renewing 27
artificial dentures or a restorative dental appliance. 28
technical work means the mechanical construction or the 29
renewal or repair of artificial dentures or restorative dental 30
appliances. 31
Page 121
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 122]
122 Restriction on prescription of optical appliances 1
(1) A person must not prescribe an optical appliance unless-- 2
(a) the person is an optometrist or medical practitioner; or 3
(b) the appliance is spectacles and the person is an 4
orthoptist who-- 5
(i) prescribes the spectacles in the course of carrying 6
out duties at a public health facility; or 7
(ii) prescribes the spectacles under the supervision of 8
an optometrist or medical practitioner; or 9
(iii) prescribes the spectacles, on the written referral of 10
an optometrist or medical practitioner, to a person 11
who has had, within the 12 months before the 12
referral, an ocular health examination conducted 13
by an optometrist or medical practitioner; or 14
(c) the person is a person, or a member of a class of 15
persons, prescribed under a regulation as being 16
authorised to prescribe an optical appliance of that type 17
or to prescribe optical appliances generally. 18
Maximum penalty-- $30,000. 19
(2) In this section-- 20
optical appliance means-- 21
(a) any appliance designed to correct, remedy or relieve any 22
refractive abnormality or defect of sight, including, for 23
example, spectacle lenses; or 24
(b) contact lenses, whether or not designed to correct, 25
remedy or relieve any refractive abnormality or defect of 26
sight. 27
optometrist means a person registered in the optometry 28
profession. 29
orthoptist means a person whose name is recorded in the 30
Register of Orthoptists kept by the Australian Orthoptists 31
Registration Body Pty Ltd (ACN 095 11 7 678). 32
Page 122
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 123]
123 Restriction on spinal manipulation 1
(1) A person must not perform manipulation of the cervical spine 2
unless the person-- 3
(a) is registered in an appropriate health profession; or 4
(b) is a student who performs manipulation of the cervical 5
spine in the course of activities undertaken as part of-- 6
(i) an approved program of study in an appropriate 7
health profession; or 8
(ii) clinical training in an appropriate health 9
profession; or 10
(c) is a person, or a member of a class of persons, 11
prescribed under a regulation as being authorised to 12
perform manipulation of the cervical spine. 13
Maximum penalty-- $30,000. 14
(2) In this section-- 15
appropriate health profession means any of the following 16
health professions-- 17
(a) chiropractic; 18
(b) osteopathy; 19
(c) medical; 20
(d) physiotherapy. 21
manipulation of the cervical spine means moving the joints 22
of the cervical spine beyond a person's usual physiological 23
range of motion using a high velocity, low amplitude thrust. 24
Page 123
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 124]
Division 11 Miscellaneous 1
Subdivision 1 Certificates of registration 2
124 Issue of certificate of registration 3
(1) This section applies if-- 4
(a) a National Board decides to register an individual in the 5
health profession for which the Board is established; or 6
(b) a National Board decides to renew an individual's 7
registration in the health profession for which the Board 8
is established; or 9
(c) a National Board or an adjudication body decides to 10
impose, change or remove a condition on a registered 11
health practitioner's registration or otherwise change the 12
practitioner's registration in a material way; or 13
(d) a National Board or an adjudication body decides to 14
accept an undertaking from a registered health 15
practitioner or to change or revoke an undertaking given 16
by the practitioner; or 17
(e) a National Board decides to endorse a health 18
practitioner's registration. 19
(2) The National Board must, as soon as practicable after the 20
decision is made, give the registered health practitioner a 21
certificate of registration in the form decided by the Board. 22
(3) A certificate of registration must include the following-- 23
(a) the name of the registered health practitioner; 24
(b) the type of registration granted and, if the registration is 25
endorsed, the type of endorsement granted; 26
(c) the date the registration or endorsement was granted; 27
(d) the division of the register, if any, in which the 28
practitioner is registered; 29
Page 124
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 125]
(e) any condition to which the registration or endorsement 1
is subject; 2
(f) any undertaking given by the practitioner to the National 3
Board; 4
(g) the date the registration expires; 5
(h) any other information the Board considers appropriate. 6
Subdivision 2 Review of conditions and 7
undertakings 8
125 Changing or removing conditions or undertaking on 9
application by registered health practitioner or student 10
(1) A registered health practitioner or student may apply to a 11
National Board that registered the practitioner or student-- 12
(a) for a registered health practitioner-- 13
(i) to change or remove a condition imposed on the 14
practitioner's registration or endorsement; or 15
(ii) to change or revoke an undertaking given by the 16
practitioner; or 17
(b) for a student-- 18
(i) to change or remove a condition imposed on the 19
student's registration; or 20
(ii) to change or revoke an undertaking given by the 21
student to the Board. 22
(2) However, the registered health practitioner or student may not 23
make an application-- 24
(a) during a review period applying to the condition or 25
undertaking, unless the practitioner or student 26
reasonably believes there has been a material change in 27
the practitioner's or student's circumstances; or 28
(b) for a condition imposed by an adjudication body for a 29
co-regulatory jurisdiction, unless the adjudication body 30
Page 125
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 126]
decided, when imposing the condition, that this 1
Subdivision applied to the condition. 2
(3) An application under subsection (1) must-- 3
(a) be in the form approved by the National Board; and 4
(b) be accompanied by any other information reasonably 5
required by the Board. 6
(4) For the purposes of deciding the application, the National 7
Board may exercise a power under section 80 as if the 8
application were an application for registration as a registered 9
health practitioner. 10
(5) The National Board must decide to grant the application or 11
refuse to grant the application. 12
(6) As soon as practicable after making the decision under 13
subsection (5), the National Board must give the registered 14
health practitioner or student written notice of the Board's 15
decision. 16
(7) If the National Board decides to refuse to grant the 17
application, the notice must state-- 18
(a) the decision made by the Board; and 19
(b) that the registered health practitioner or student may 20
appeal against the decision; and 21
(c) how an application for appeal may be made and the 22
period within which the application must be made. 23
126 Changing conditions on Board's initiative 24
(1) This section applies if a National Board reasonably believes it 25
is necessary to change a condition imposed on the registration 26
of a registered health practitioner or student registered by the 27
Board. 28
(2) The National Board must give the registered health 29
practitioner or student a written notice stating-- 30
(a) that the Board proposes to change the condition; and 31
(b) how the Board proposes to change the condition; and 32
Page 126
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 127]
(c) the reason for the proposed change; and 1
(d) that the practitioner or student may, within 30 days after 2
receipt of the notice, make written or verbal submissions 3
to the Board about why the condition should not be 4
changed. 5
(3) However, the condition may not be changed-- 6
(a) during a review period applying to the condition, unless 7
the National Board reasonably believes there has been a 8
material change in the registered health practitioner's or 9
student's circumstances; or 10
(b) if the condition was imposed by an adjudication body 11
for a co-regulatory jurisdiction, unless the adjudication 12
body decided, when imposing the condition, that this 13
Subdivision applied to the condition. 14
(4) The registered health practitioner or student may make written 15
or verbal submissions about the proposed change to the 16
condition as stated in the notice. 17
(5) The National Board must consider any submissions made 18
under subsection (4) and decide whether or not to change the 19
condition. 20
(6) As soon as practicable after making its decision the National 21
Board must give written notice of the decision to the 22
registered health practitioner or student. 23
(7) If the National Board decides to change the condition, the 24
notice must state-- 25
(a) the decision made by the Board; and 26
(b) that the registered health practitioner or student may 27
appeal against the decision; and 28
(c) how an application for appeal may be made and the 29
period within which the application must be made. 30
127 Removal of condition or revocation of undertaking 31
(1) This section applies if a National Board reasonably believes-- 32
Page 127
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 128]
(a) that a condition imposed on the registration of a 1
registered health practitioner or student registered by the 2
Board is no longer necessary; or 3
(b) that an undertaking given to the Board by a health 4
practitioner or student registered by the Board is no 5
longer necessary. 6
(2) The National Board may decide to remove the condition or 7
revoke the undertaking. 8
(3) However, the condition or undertaking may not be removed or 9
revoked-- 10
(a) during a review period applying to the condition or 11
undertaking, unless the National Board reasonably 12
believes there has been a material change in the 13
registered health practitioner's or student's 14
circumstances; or 15
(b) for a condition imposed by an adjudication body for a 16
co-regulatory jurisdiction, unless the adjudication body 17
decided, when imposing the condition, that this 18
Subdivision applied to the condition. 19
(4) As soon as practicable after making the decision the National 20
Board must give notice of the decision to the registered health 21
practitioner or student. 22
(5) The decision takes effect on the date stated in the notice. 23
Subdivision 3 Obligations of registered health 24
practitioners and students 25
128 Continuing professional development 26
(1) A registered health practitioner must undertake the continuing 27
professional development required by an approved 28
registration standard for the health profession in which the 29
practitioner is registered. 30
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 31
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 32
Page 128
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 129]
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 1
may be taken. 2
(3) In this section-- 3
registered health practitioner does not include a registered 4
health practitioner who holds non-practising registration in 5
the profession. 6
129 Professional indemnity insurance arrangements 7
(1) A registered health practitioner must not practise the health 8
profession in which the practitioner is registered unless 9
appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements 10
are in force in relation to the practitioner's practice of the 11
profession. 12
(2) A National Board may, at any time by written notice, require a 13
registered health practitioner registered by the Board to give 14
the Board evidence of the appropriate professional indemnity 15
insurance arrangements that are in force in relation to the 16
practitioner's practice of the profession. 17
(3) A registered health practitioner must not, without reasonable 18
excuse, fail to comply with a written notice given to the 19
practitioner under subsection (2). 20
(4) A contravention of subsection (1) or (3) by a registered health 21
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 22
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 23
may be taken. 24
(5) In this section-- 25
registered health practitioner does not include a registered 26
health practitioner who holds non-practising registration in 27
the profession. 28
130 Registered health practitioner or student to give National 29
Board notice of certain events 30
(1) A registered health practitioner or student must, within 7 days 31
after becoming aware that a relevant event has occurred in 32
Page 129
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 130]
relation to the practitioner or student, give the National Board 1
that registered the practitioner or student written notice of the 2
event. 3
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 4
practitioner or student does not constitute an offence but may 5
constitute behaviour for which health, conduct or performance 6
action may be taken. 7
(3) In this section-- 8
relevant event means-- 9
(a) in relation to a registered health practitioner-- 10
(i) the practitioner is charged, whether in a 11
participating jurisdiction or elsewhere, with an 12
offence punishable by 12 months imprisonment or 13
more; or 14
(ii) the practitioner is convicted of or the subject of a 15
finding of guilt for an offence, whether in a 16
participating jurisdiction or elsewhere, punishable 17
by imprisonment; or 18
(iii) appropriate professional indemnity insurance 19
arrangements are no longer in place in relation to 20
the practitioner's practice of the profession; or 21
(iv) the practitioner's right to practise at a hospital or 22
another facility at which health services are 23
provided is withdrawn or restricted because of the 24
practitioner's conduct, professional performance or 25
health; or 26
(v) the practitioner's billing privileges are withdrawn 27
or restricted under the Medicare Australia Act 28
1973 of the Commonwealth because of the 29
practitioner's conduct, professional performance or 30
health; or 31
(vi) the practitioner's authority under a law of a State or 32
Territory to administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, 33
sell, supply or use a scheduled medicine or class of 34
scheduled medicines is cancelled or restricted; or 35
Page 130
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 131]
(vii) a complaint is made about the practitioner to an 1
entity referred to in section 219(1)(a) to (e); or 2
(viii) the practitioner's registration under the law of 3
another country that provides for the registration of 4
health practitioners is suspended or cancelled or 5
made subject to a condition or another restriction; 6
or 7
(b) in relation to a student-- 8
(i) the student is charged with an offence punishable 9
by 12 months imprisonment or more; or 10
(ii) the student is convicted of or the subject of a 11
finding of guilt for an offence punishable by 12
imprisonment; or 13
(iii) the student's registration under the law of another 14
country that provides for the registration of 15
students has been suspended or cancelled. 16
131 Change in principal place of practice, address or name 17
(1) A registered health practitioner must, within 30 days of any of 18
the following changes happening, give the National Board 19
that registered the practitioner written notice of the change 20
and any evidence providing proof of the change required by 21
the Board-- 22
(a) a change in the practitioner's principal place of practice; 23
(b) a change in the address provided by the registered health 24
practitioner as the address the Board should use in 25
corresponding with the practitioner; 26
(c) a change in the practitioner's name. 27
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) by a registered health 28
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 29
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 30
may be taken. 31
Page 131
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 132]
132 National Board may ask registered health practitioner for 1
employer's details 2
(1) A National Board may, at any time by written notice given to a 3
health practitioner registered by the Board, ask the 4
practitioner to give the Board the following information-- 5
(a) information about whether the practitioner is employed 6
by another entity; 7
(b) if the practitioner is employed by another entity-- 8
(i) the name of the practitioner's employer; and 9
(ii) the address and other contact details of the 10
practitioner's employer. 11
(2) The registered health practitioner must not, without 12
reasonable excuse, fail to comply with the notice. 13
(3) A contravention of subsection (2) by a registered health 14
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 15
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 16
may be taken. 17
Subdivision 4 Advertising 18
133 Advertising 19
(1) A person must not advertise a regulated health service, or a 20
business that provides a regulated health service, in a way 21
that-- 22
(a) is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to be 23
misleading or deceptive; or 24
(b) offers a gift, discount or other inducement to attract a 25
person to use the service or the business, unless the 26
advertisement also states the terms and conditions of the 27
offer; or 28
(c) uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the 29
service or business; or 30
Page 132
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 134]
(d) creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial 1
treatment; or 2
(e) directly or indirectly encourages the indiscriminate or 3
unnecessary use of regulated health services. 4
Maximum penalty-- 5
(a) in the case of an individual--$5,000; or 6
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$10,000. 7
(2) A person does not commit an offence against subsection (1) 8
merely because the person, as part of the person's business, 9
prints or publishes an advertisement for another person. 10
(3) In proceedings for an offence against this section, a court may 11
have regard to a guideline approved by a National Board about 12
the advertising of regulated health services. 13
(4) In this section-- 14
regulated health service means a service provided by, or 15
usually provided by, a health practitioner. 16
Subdivision 5 Board's powers to check identity 17
and criminal history 18
134 Evidence of identity 19
(1) A National Board may, at any time, require a registered health 20
practitioner to provide evidence of the practitioner's identity. 21
(2) A requirement under subsection (1) must be made by written 22
notice given to the registered health practitioner. 23
(3) The registered health practitioner must not, without 24
reasonable excuse, fail to comply with the notice. 25
(4) A contravention of subsection (3) by a registered health 26
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 27
behaviour for which health, conduct or performance action 28
may be taken. 29
Page 133
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 135]
(5) If a registered health practitioner gives a National Board a 1
document as evidence of the practitioner's identity under this 2
section, the Board may, by written notice, ask the entity that 3
issued the document-- 4
(a) to confirm the validity of the document; or 5
(b) to give the Board other information relevant to the 6
practitioner's identity. 7
(6) An entity given a notice under subsection (5) is authorised to 8
provide the information requested. 9
135 Criminal history check 10
(1) A National Board may, at any time, obtain a written report 11
about a registered health practitioner's criminal history from 12
any of the following-- 13
(a) CrimTrac; 14
(b) a police commissioner; 15
(c) an entity in a jurisdiction outside Australia that has 16
access to records about the criminal history of persons 17
in that jurisdiction. 18
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a report may be obtained 19
under that subsection-- 20
(a) to check a statement made by a registered health 21
practitioner in the practitioner's application for renewal 22
of registration; or 23
(b) as part of an audit carried out by a National Board, to 24
check statements made by registered health 25
practitioners. 26
(3) A criminal history law does not apply to a report under 27
subsection (1). 28
Page 134
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 7 Registration of health practitioners
[s 136]
Subdivision 6 General 1
136 Directing or inciting unprofessional conduct or 2
professional misconduct 3
(1) A person must not direct or incite a registered health 4
practitioner to do anything, in the course of the practitioner's 5
practice of the health profession, that amounts to 6
unprofessional conduct or professional misconduct. 7
Maximum penalty-- 8
(a) in the case of an individual--$30,000; or 9
(b) in the case of a body corporate--$60,000. 10
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who is the owner or 11
operator of a public health facility. 12
137 Surrender of registration 13
(1) A registered health practitioner may, by written notice given 14
to the National Board that registered the practitioner, 15
surrender the practitioner's registration. 16
(2) The surrender of the registration takes effect on-- 17
(a) the day the National Board receives the notice under 18
subsection (1); or 19
(b) the later day stated in the notice. 20
Page 135
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 138]
Part 8 Health, performance and 1
conduct 2
Division 1 Preliminary 3
138 Part applicable to persons formerly registered under this 4
Law 5
(1) This section applies if a person was, but is no longer, 6
registered in a health profession under this Law. 7
(2) A notification may be made, and proceedings may be taken, 8
under this Part in relation to the person's behaviour while 9
registered as if the person were still registered under this Law 10
by the National Board established for the health profession. 11
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), this Part (other than 12
Divisions 2 and 6) applies, with any necessary changes, to the 13
person as if a reference to a registered health practitioner 14
included that person. 15
139 Part applicable to persons formerly registered under 16
corresponding prior Act in certain circumstances 17
(1) This section applies if a person-- 18
(a) was registered in a health profession under a 19
corresponding prior Act; and 20
(b) is not, and has not been, registered in the health 21
profession under this Law. 22
(2) A notification may be made, and proceedings may be taken, 23
under this Part in relation to the person's behaviour while 24
registered under the corresponding prior Act as if the person 25
were registered under this Law by the National Board 26
established for the health profession. 27
(3) However, subsection (2) applies only to the extent-- 28
(a) a notification about the person's behaviour could have 29
been made under the corresponding prior Act; and 30
Page 136
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 140]
(b) proceedings of that type could have been taken under 1
the corresponding prior Act. 2
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2), this Part (other than 3
Divisions 2 and 7) applies, with any necessary changes, to the 4
person as if a reference to a registered health practitioner 5
included that person. 6
Division 2 Mandatory notifications 7
140 Definition of notifiable conduct 8
In this Division-- 9
notifiable conduct, in relation to a registered health 10
practitioner, means the practitioner has-- 11
(a) practised the practitioner's profession while intoxicated 12
by alcohol or drugs; or 13
(b) engaged in sexual misconduct in connection with the 14
practice of the practitioner's profession; or 15
(c) placed the public at risk of substantial harm in the 16
practitioner's practice of the profession because the 17
practitioner has an impairment; or 18
(d) placed the public at risk of harm because the practitioner 19
has practised the profession in a way that constitutes a 20
significant departure from accepted professional 21
standards. 22
141 Mandatory notifications by health practitioners 23
(1) This section applies to a registered health practitioner (the 24
first health practitioner) who, in the course of practising the 25
first health practitioner's profession, forms a reasonable belief 26
that-- 27
(a) another registered health practitioner (the second health 28
practitioner) has behaved in a way that constitutes 29
notifiable conduct; or 30
Page 137
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 141]
(b) a student has an impairment that, in the course of the 1
student undertaking clinical training, may place the 2
public at substantial risk of harm. 3
(2) The first health practitioner must, as soon as practicable after 4
forming the reasonable belief, notify the National Agency of 5
the second health practitioner's notifiable conduct or the 6
student's impairment. 7
Note. See section 237 which provides protection from civil, criminal and 8
administrative liability for persons who, in good faith, make a notification 9
under this Law. Section 237(3) provides that the making of a notification 10
does not constitute a breach of professional etiquette or ethics or a 11
departure from accepted standards of professional conduct and nor is any 12
liability for defamation incurred. 13
(3) A contravention of subsection (2) by a registered health 14
practitioner does not constitute an offence but may constitute 15
behaviour for which action may be taken under this Part. 16
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), the first health practitioner 17
does not form the reasonable belief in the course of practising 18
the profession if-- 19
(a) the first health practitioner-- 20
(i) is employed or otherwise engaged by an insurer 21
that provides professional indemnity insurance that 22
relates to the second health practitioner or student; 23
and 24
(ii) forms the reasonable belief the second health 25
practitioner has behaved in a way that constitutes 26
notifiable conduct, or the student has an 27
impairment, as a result of a disclosure made by a 28
person to the first health practitioner in the course 29
of a legal proceeding or the provision of legal 30
advice arising from the insurance policy; or 31
(b) the first health practitioner forms the reasonable belief 32
in the course of providing advice in relation to the 33
notifiable conduct or impairment for the purposes of a 34
legal proceeding or the preparation of legal advice; or 35
(c) the first health practitioner is a legal practitioner and 36
forms the reasonable belief in the course of providing 37
Page 138
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 142]
legal services to the second health practitioner or student 1
in relation to a legal proceeding or the preparation of 2
legal advice in which the notifiable conduct or 3
impairment is an issue; or 4
(d) the first health practitioner-- 5
(i) forms the reasonable belief in the course of 6
exercising functions as a member of a quality 7
assurance committee, council or other body 8
approved or authorised under an Act of a 9
participating jurisdiction; and 10
(ii) is unable to disclose the information that forms the 11
basis of the reasonable belief because a provision 12
of that Act prohibits the disclosure of the 13
information; or 14
(e) the first health practitioner knows, or reasonably 15
believes, the National Agency has been notified of the 16
notifiable conduct or impairment that forms the basis of 17
the reasonable belief. 18
142 Mandatory notifications by employers 19
(1) If an employer of a registered health practitioner reasonably 20
believes the health practitioner has behaved in a way that 21
constitutes notifiable conduct, the employer must notify the 22
National Agency of the notifiable conduct. 23
Note. See section 237 which provides protection from civil, criminal and 24
administrative liability for persons who, in good faith, make a notification 25
under this Law. Section 237(3) provides that the making of a notification 26
does not constitute a breach of professional etiquette or ethics or a 27
departure from accepted standards of professional conduct and nor is any 28
liability for defamation incurred. 29
(2) If the National Agency becomes aware that an employer of a 30
registered health practitioner has failed to notify the Agency 31
of notifiable conduct as required by subsection (1), the 32
Agency must give a written report about the failure to the 33
responsible Minister for the participating jurisdiction in which 34
the notifiable conduct occurred. 35
Page 139
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 143]
(3) As soon as practicable after receiving a report under 1
subsection (2), the responsible Minister must report the 2
employer's failure to notify the Agency of the notifiable 3
conduct to a health complaints entity, the employer's licensing 4
authority or another appropriate entity in that participating 5
jurisdiction. 6
(4) In this section-- 7
employer, of a registered health practitioner, means an entity 8
that employs the health practitioner under a contract of 9
employment or a contract for services. 10
licensing authority, of an employer, means an entity that 11
under a law of a participating jurisdiction is responsible for 12
licensing, registering or authorising the employer to conduct 13
the employer's business. 14
143 Mandatory notifications by education providers 15
(1) An education provider must notify the National Agency if the 16
provider reasonably believes-- 17
(a) a student enrolled in a program of study provided by the 18
provider has an impairment that, in the course of the 19
student undertaking clinical training as part of the 20
program of study, may place the public at substantial 21
risk of harm; or 22
(b) a student for whom the education provider has arranged 23
clinical training has an impairment that, in the course of 24
the student undertaking the clinical training, may place 25
the public at substantial risk of harm; 26
Note. See section 237 which provides protection from civil, 27
criminal and administrative liability for persons who make a 28
notification under this Law. Section 237(3) provides that the 29
making of a notification does not constitute a breach of 30
professional etiquette or ethics or a departure from accepted 31
standards of professional conduct and nor is any liability for 32
defamation incurred. 33
(2) A contravention of subsection (1) does not constitute an 34
offence. 35
Page 140
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 144]
(3) However, if an education provider does not comply with 1
subsection (1)-- 2
(a) the National Board that registered the student must 3
publish details of the failure on the Board's website; and 4
(b) the National Agency may, on the recommendation of the 5
National Board, include a statement about the failure in 6
the Agency's annual report. 7
Division 3 Voluntary notifications 8
144 Grounds for voluntary notification 9
(1) A voluntary notification about a registered health practitioner 10
may be made to the National Agency on any of the following 11
grounds-- 12
(a) that the practitioner's professional conduct is, or may 13
be, of a lesser standard than that which might reasonably 14
be expected of the practitioner by the public or the 15
practitioner's professional peers; 16
(b) that the knowledge, skill or judgment possessed, or care 17
exercised by, the practitioner in the practice of the 18
practitioner's health profession is, or may be, below the 19
standard reasonably expected; 20
(c) that the practitioner is not, or may not be, a suitable 21
person to hold registration in the health profession, 22
including, for example, that the practitioner is not a fit 23
and proper person to be registered in the profession; 24
(d) that the practitioner has, or may have, an impairment; 25
(e) that the practitioner has, or may have, contravened this 26
Law; 27
(f) that the practitioner has, or may have, contravened a 28
condition of the practitioner's registration or an 29
undertaking given by the practitioner to a National 30
Board; 31
Page 141
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 145]
(g) that the practitioner's registration was, or may have 1
been, improperly obtained because the practitioner or 2
someone else gave the National Board information or a 3
document that was false or misleading in a material 4
particular. 5
(2) A voluntary notification about a student may be made to the 6
National Agency on the grounds that-- 7
(a) the student has been charged with an offence, or has 8
been convicted or found guilty of an offence, that is 9
punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more; or 10
(b) the student has, or may have, an impairment; or 11
(c) that the student has, or may have, contravened a 12
condition of the student's registration or an undertaking 13
given by the student to a National Board. 14
145 Who may make voluntary notification 15
Any entity that believes that a ground on which a voluntary 16
notification may be made exists in relation to a registered 17
health practitioner or a student may notify the National 18
Agency. 19
Note. See section 237 which provides protection from civil, criminal and 20
administrative liability for persons who, in good faith, make a notification 21
under this Law. 22
Division 4 Making a notification 23
146 How notification is made 24
(1) A notification may be made to the National Agency-- 25
(a) verbally, including by telephone; or 26
(b) in writing, including by email or other electronic means. 27
(2) A notification must include particulars of the basis on which it 28
is made. 29
Page 142
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 147]
(3) If a notification is made verbally, the National Agency must 1
make a record of the notification. 2
147 National Agency to provide reasonable assistance to 3
notifier 4
(1) The National Agency must, if asked by an entity, give the 5
entity reasonable assistance to make a notification about a 6
registered health practitioner or student. 7
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the National Agency may 8
assist an entity to make a notification if-- 9
(a) the entity is not able to put the entity's notification in 10
writing without assistance; or 11
(b) the entity needs assistance to clarify the nature of the 12
individual's notification. 13
Division 5 Preliminary assessment 14
148 Referral of notification to National Board or co-regulatory 15
authority 16
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the National Agency must, 17
as soon as practicable after receiving a notification about a 18
registered health practitioner or a student, refer the 19
notification to the National Board that registered the health 20
practitioner or student. 21
(2) If the behaviour that is the basis for the ground for the 22
notification occurred, or is reasonably believed to have 23
occurred, in a co-regulatory jurisdiction, the National 24
Agency-- 25
(a) must not deal with the notification; and 26
(b) must, as soon as practicable after receiving the 27
notification, refer the notification to the co-regulatory 28
authority for the co-regulatory jurisdiction. 29
Page 143
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 149]
(3) If the behaviour that is the basis for the ground for the 1
notification occurred, or is reasonably believed to have 2
occurred, in more than one jurisdiction and one of the 3
jurisdictions is a co-regulatory jurisdiction, the National 4
Agency must-- 5
(a) if the registered health practitioner's principal place of 6
practice is in the co-regulatory jurisdiction, refer the 7
notification under subsection (2); or 8
(b) otherwise, refer the notification under subsection (1). 9
149 Preliminary assessment 10
(1) A National Board must, within 60 days after receipt of a 11
notification, conduct a preliminary assessment of the 12
notification and decide-- 13
(a) whether or not the notification relates to a person who is 14
a health practitioner or a student registered by the 15
Board; and 16
(b) whether or not the notification relates to a matter that is 17
a ground for notification; and 18
(c) if the notification is a notification referred to in 19
paragraphs (a) and (b), whether or not it is a notification 20
that could also be made to a health complaints entity. 21
(2) Without limiting subsection (1)(b), the National Board may 22
decide the notification relates to a matter that is a ground for 23
notification under section 144 on the basis of-- 24
(a) a single notification about a person; or 25
(b) a number of notifications about a person including-- 26
(i) a number of notifications that suggest a pattern of 27
conduct; and 28
(ii) notifications made to a health complaints entity. 29
(3) If the National Board decides the notification relates to a 30
person who is not registered by the Board but the Board 31
reasonably suspects the person is registered by another 32
Page 144
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 150]
National Board, the Board must refer the notification to that 1
other Board. 2
150 Relationship with health complaints entity 3
(1) If the subject matter of a notification would also provide a 4
ground for a complaint to a health complaints entity under a 5
law of a participating jurisdiction, the National Board that 6
received the notification must, as soon as practicable after its 7
receipt-- 8
(a) notify the health complaints entity that the Board has 9
received the notification; and 10
(b) give to the health complaints entity-- 11
(i) a copy of the notification or, if the notification was 12
not made in writing, a copy of the National 13
Agency's record of the details of the notification; 14
and 15
(ii) any other information the Board has that is relevant 16
to the notification. 17
(2) If a health complaints entity receives a complaint about a 18
health practitioner, the health complaints entity must, as soon 19
as practicable after its receipt-- 20
(a) notify the National Board established for the 21
practitioner's health profession that the health 22
complaints entity has received the complaint; and 23
(b) give to the National Board-- 24
(i) a copy of the complaint or, if the complaint was not 25
made in writing, a copy of the health complaints 26
entity's record of the details of the complaint; and 27
(ii) any other information the health complaints entity 28
has that is relevant to the complaint. 29
(3) The National Board and the health complaints entity must 30
attempt to reach agreement about how the notification or 31
complaint is to be dealt with, including-- 32
Page 145
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 150]
(a) whether the Board is to deal with the notification or 1
complaint, or part of the notification or complaint, or to 2
decide to take no further action in relation to it; and 3
(b) if the Board is to deal with the notification or complaint 4
or part of the notification or complaint, the action the 5
Board is to take. 6
(4) If the National Board and the health complaints entity are not 7
able to reach agreement on how the notification or complaint, 8
or part of the notification or complaint, is to be dealt with, the 9
most serious action proposed by either must be taken. 10
(5) If an investigation, conciliation or other action taken by a 11
health complaints entity raises issues about the health, 12
conduct or performance of a registered health practitioner, the 13
health complaints entity must give the National Board that 14
registered the practitioner written notice of the issues. 15
(6) If a notification, or part of a notification, received by a 16
National Board is referred to a health complaints entity, the 17
Board may decide to take no further action in relation to the 18
notification or the part of the notification until the entity gives 19
the Board written notice that the entity has finished dealing 20
with it. 21
(7) If a National Board or an adjudication body takes health, 22
conduct or performance action in relation to a registered 23
health practitioner, the Board that registered the practitioner 24
must give written notice of the action to the health complaints 25
entity for the participating jurisdiction in which the behaviour 26
that provided the basis for the action occurred. 27
(8) A written notice under subsection (5) or (7) must include-- 28
(a) sufficient particulars to identify the registered health 29
practitioner; and 30
(b) details of-- 31
(i) the issues raised about the health, conduct or 32
performance of the registered health practitioner; 33
or 34
Page 146
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 151]
(ii) the health, conduct or performance action taken in 1
relation to the registered health practitioner. 2
151 When National Board may decide to take no further 3
action 4
(1) A National Board may decide to take no further action in 5
relation to a notification if-- 6
(a) the Board reasonably believes the notification is 7
frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in 8
substance; or 9
(b) given the amount of time that has elapsed since the 10
matter the subject of the notification occurred, it is not 11
practicable for the Board to investigate or otherwise deal 12
with the notification; or 13
(c) the person to whom the notification relates has not been, 14
or is no longer, registered by the Board and it is not in 15
the public interest for the Board to investigate or 16
otherwise deal with the notification; or 17
(d) the subject matter of the notification has already been 18
dealt with adequately by the Board; or 19
(e) the subject matter of the notification is being dealt with, 20
or has already been dealt with, adequately by another 21
entity. 22
(2) A decision by a National Board to decide to take no further 23
action in relation to a notification does not prevent a National 24
Board or adjudication body taking the notification into 25
consideration at a later time as part of a pattern of conduct or 26
practice by the health practitioner. 27
(3) If a National Board decides to take no further action in 28
relation to a notification it must give written notice of the 29
decision to the notifier. 30
(4) A notice under subsection (3) must state-- 31
(a) that the National Board has decided to take no further 32
action in relation to the notification; and 33
Page 147
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 152]
(b) the reason the Board has decided to take no further 1
action. 2
152 National Board to give notice of receipt of notification 3
(1) A National Board must, as soon as practicable after receiving 4
a notification about a registered health practitioner or student, 5
give written notice of the notification to the practitioner or 6
student. 7
(2) The notice must advise the registered health practitioner or 8
student of the nature of the notification. 9
(3) Despite subsection (1), the National Board is not required to 10
give the registered health practitioner or student notice of the 11
notification if the Board reasonably believes doing so 12
would-- 13
(a) prejudice an investigation of the notification; or 14
(b) place at risk a person's health or safety or place a person 15
at risk of intimidation or harassment. 16
Division 6 Other matters 17
153 National Board may deal with notifications about same 18
person together 19
If the National Agency receives more than one notification 20
about a registered health practitioner or student, the National 21
Board established for the health profession in which the 22
practitioner or student is registered may deal with the 23
notifications together. 24
154 National Boards may deal with notifications 25
collaboratively 26
(1) This section applies if a notification received by a National 27
Board relates to-- 28
Page 148
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 155]
(a) a registered health practitioner who is registered in more 1
than one health profession; or 2
(b) more than one registered health practitioner and the 3
practitioners are registered in 2 or more different health 4
professions; or 5
(c) a person who is registered as a student in more than one 6
health profession; or 7
(d) more than one student and the students are registered in 8
2 or more different health professions. 9
(2) The National Board may deal with the notification in 10
conjunction with one or more other National Boards with 11
whom the registered health practitioner or practitioners, or 12
student or students, are registered. 13
Division 7 Immediate action 14
155 Definition 15
In this Division-- 16
immediate action, in relation to a registered health 17
practitioner or student, means-- 18
(a) the suspension, or imposition of a condition on, the 19
health practitioner's or student's registration; or 20
(b) accepting an undertaking from the health practitioner or 21
student; or 22
(c) accepting the surrender of the health practitioner's or 23
student's registration. 24
156 Power to take immediate action 25
(1) A National Board may take immediate action in relation to a 26
registered health practitioner or student registered by the 27
Board if-- 28
(a) the National Board reasonably believes that-- 29
Page 149
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 156]
(i) because of the registered health practitioner's 1
conduct, performance or health, the practitioner 2
poses a serious risk to persons; and 3
(ii) it is necessary to take immediate action to protect 4
public health or safety; or 5
(b) the National Board reasonably believes that-- 6
(i) the student poses a serious risk to persons because 7
the student-- 8
(A) has been charged with an offence, or has 9
been convicted or found guilty of an offence, 10
that is punishable by 12 months 11
imprisonment or more; or 12
(B) has, or may have, an impairment; or 13
(C) has, or may have, contravened a condition of 14
the student's registration or an undertaking 15
given by the student to a National Board; and 16
(ii) it is necessary to take immediate action to protect 17
public health or safety; or 18
(c) the registered health practitioner's registration was 19
improperly obtained because the practitioner or 20
someone else gave the National Board information or a 21
document that was false or misleading in a material 22
particular; or 23
(d) the registered health practitioner's or student's 24
registration has been cancelled or suspended under the 25
law of a jurisdiction, whether in Australia or elsewhere, 26
that is not a participating jurisdiction. 27
(2) However, the National Board may take immediate action that 28
consists of suspending, or imposing a condition on, the health 29
practitioner's or student's registration only if the Board has 30
complied with section 157. 31
Page 150
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 157]
157 Show cause process 1
(1) If a National Board is proposing to take immediate action that 2
consists of suspending, or imposing a condition on, a 3
registered health practitioner's or student's registration under 4
section 156, the Board must-- 5
(a) give the practitioner or student notice of the proposed 6
immediate action; and 7
(b) invite the practitioner or student to make a submission to 8
the Board, within the time stated in the notice about the 9
proposed immediate action. 10
(2) A notice given to a registered health practitioner or student 11
under subsection (1), and any submissions made by the 12
practitioner or student in accordance with the notice, may be 13
written or verbal. 14
(3) The National Board must have regard to any submissions 15
made by the registered health practitioner or student in 16
accordance with this section in deciding whether to take 17
immediate action in relation to the practitioner or student. 18
158 Notice to be given to registered health practitioner or 19
student about immediate action 20
(1) Immediately after deciding to take immediate action in 21
relation to a registered health practitioner or student, the 22
National Board must-- 23
(a) give written notice of the Board's decision to the health 24
practitioner or student; and 25
(b) take the further action under this Part the Board 26
considers appropriate, including, for example, 27
investigating the practitioner or student or requiring the 28
practitioner or student to undergo a health or 29
performance assessment. 30
(2) The notice must state-- 31
(a) the immediate action the National Board has decided to 32
take; and 33
Page 151
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 159]
(b) the reasons for the decision to take the immediate 1
action; and 2
(c) the further action the National Board proposes to take 3
under this Part in relation to the health practitioner or 4
student; and 5
(d) that the registered health practitioner or student may 6
appeal against the decision to take the immediate action 7
if the action is to suspend, or impose a condition on, the 8
practitioner's or student's registration; and 9
(e) how an application for appeal may be made and the 10
period within which the application must be made. 11
159 Period of immediate action 12
(1) The decision by the National Board to take immediate action 13
in relation to the registered health practitioner or student takes 14
effect on-- 15
(a) the day the notice is given to the practitioner or student; 16
or 17
(b) the later day stated in the notice. 18
(2) The decision continues to have effect until the earlier of the 19
following occurs-- 20
(a) the decision is set aside on appeal; 21
(b) for the suspension of, or imposition of conditions on, the 22
registered health practitioner's or student's registration, 23
the suspension is revoked, or the conditions are 24
removed, by the National Board; or 25
(c) for an undertaking, the National Board and the 26
registered health practitioner or student agree to end the 27
undertaking. 28
Page 152
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 160]
Division 8 Investigations 1
Subdivision 1 Preliminary 2
160 When investigation may be conducted 3
(1) A National Board may investigate a registered health 4
practitioner or student registered by the Board if it decides it is 5
necessary or appropriate-- 6
(a) because the Board has received a notification about the 7
practitioner or student; or 8
(b) because the Board for any other reason believes-- 9
(i) the practitioner or student has or may have an 10
impairment; or 11
(ii) for a practitioner-- 12
(A) the way the practitioner practises the 13
profession is or may be unsatisfactory; or 14
(B) the practitioner's conduct is or may be 15
unsatisfactory; or 16
(c) to ensure the practitioner or student-- 17
(i) is complying with conditions imposed on the 18
practitioner's or student's registration; or 19
(ii) an undertaking given by the practitioner or student 20
to the Board. 21
(2) If a National Board decides to investigate a registered health 22
practitioner or student it must direct an appropriate 23
investigator to conduct the investigation. 24
161 Registered health practitioner or student to be given 25
notice of investigation 26
(1) A National Board that decides to investigate a registered 27
health practitioner or student must, within as soon as 28
Page 153
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 162]
practicable after making the decision, give the practitioner or 1
student written notice about the investigation. 2
(2) The notice must advise the registered health practitioner or 3
student of the nature of the matter being investigated. 4
(3) Also, the National Board must, at not less than 3 monthly 5
intervals, give the written notice of the progress of the 6
investigation to-- 7
(a) the registered health practitioner or student; and 8
(b) if the investigation relates to a notification made about 9
the registered health practitioner or student, the notifier. 10
(4) However, the National Board need not give the registered 11
health practitioner or student a notice under subsection (1) or 12
(3) if the Board reasonably believes giving the notice may-- 13
(a) seriously prejudice the investigation; or 14
(b) place at risk a person's health or safety; or 15
(c) place a person at risk of harassment or intimidation. 16
162 Investigation to be conducted in timely way 17
The National Board must ensure an investigator it directs to 18
conduct an investigation conducts the investigation as quickly 19
as practicable, having regard to the nature of the matter to be 20
investigated. 21
Subdivision 2 Investigators 22
163 Appointment of investigators 23
(1) A National Board may appoint the following persons as 24
investigators-- 25
(a) members of the National Agency's staff; 26
(b) contractors engaged by the National Agency. 27
Page 154
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 164]
(2) An investigator holds office on the conditions stated in the 1
instrument of appointment. 2
(3) If an investigator's appointment provides for a term of 3
appointment, the investigator ceases holding office at the end 4
of the term. 5
(4) An investigator may resign by signed notice of resignation 6
given to the National Board which appointed the investigator. 7
(5) Schedule 5 sets out provisions relating to the powers of an 8
investigator. 9
164 Identity card 10
(1) A National Board must give an identity card to each 11
investigator it appoints. 12
(2) The identity card must-- 13
(a) contain a recent photograph of the investigator; and 14
(b) be signed by the investigator; and 15
(c) identify the person as an investigator appointed by the 16
National Board; and 17
(d) include an expiry date. 18
(3) This section does not prevent the issue of a single identity 19
card to a person-- 20
(a) if the person is appointed as an investigator for this Law 21
by more than one National Board; or 22
(b) for this Law and other Acts. 23
(4) A person who ceases to be an investigator must give the 24
person's identity card to the National Board that appointed the 25
person within 7 days after the person ceases to be an 26
investigator, unless the person has a reasonable excuse. 27
165 Display of identity card 28
(1) An investigator may exercise a power in relation to someone 29
else (the other person) only if the investigator-- 30
Page 155
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 166]
(a) first produces the investigator's identity card for the 1
other person's inspection; or 2
(b) has the identity card displayed so it is clearly visible to 3
the other person. 4
(2) However, if for any reason it is not practicable to comply with 5
subsection (1) before exercising the power, the investigator 6
must produce the identity card for the other person's 7
inspection at the first reasonable opportunity. 8
Subdivision 3 Procedure after investigation 9
166 Investigator's report about investigation 10
(1) As soon as practicable after completing an investigation under 11
this Division, an investigator must give a written report about 12
the investigation to the National Board that directed the 13
investigator to carry out the investigation. 14
(2) The report must include-- 15
(a) the investigator's findings about the investigation; and 16
(b) the investigator's recommendations about any action to 17
be taken in relation to the health practitioner or student 18
the subject of the investigation. 19
167 Decision by National Board 20
After considering the investigator's report, the National Board 21
must decide-- 22
(a) to take no further action in relation to the matter; or 23
(b) to do either or both of the following-- 24
(i) take the action the Board considers necessary or 25
appropriate under another Division; 26
(ii) refer the matter to another entity, including, for 27
example, a health complaints entity, for 28
investigation or other action. 29
Page 156
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 168]
Division 9 Health and performance 1
assessments 2
168 Definition 3
In this Division-- 4
assessment means-- 5
(a) a health assessment; or 6
(b) a performance assessment. 7
169 Requirement for health assessment 8
A National Board may require a registered health practitioner 9
or student to undergo a health assessment if the Board 10
reasonably believes, because of a notification or for any other 11
reason, that the practitioner or student has, or may have, an 12
impairment. 13
170 Requirement for performance assessment 14
A National Board may require a registered health practitioner 15
to undergo a performance assessment if the Board reasonably 16
believes, because of a notification or for any other reason, that 17
the way the practitioner practises the profession is or may be 18
unsatisfactory. 19
171 Appointment of assessor to carry out assessment 20
(1) If the National Board requires a registered health practitioner 21
or student to undergo an assessment, the National Agency 22
must appoint an assessor chosen by the Board to carry out the 23
assessment. 24
(2) The assessor must be-- 25
(a) for a health assessment, a medical practitioner or 26
psychologist who is not a member of the National 27
Board; or 28
Page 157
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 172]
(b) for a performance assessment, a registered health 1
practitioner who is a member of the health profession 2
for which the National Board is established but is not a 3
member of the Board. 4
(3) The assessor may ask another health practitioner to assist the 5
assessor in carrying out the assessment of the registered health 6
practitioner or student. 7
(4) The assessor's fee for carrying out the assessment is to be paid 8
out of the National Board's budget. 9
172 Notice to be given to registered health practitioner or 10
student about assessment 11
(1) A requirement by a National Board for a registered health 12
practitioner or student to undergo an assessment must be 13
made by written notice given to the practitioner or student. 14
(2) The written notice must state-- 15
(a) that the registered health practitioner or student is 16
required to undergo a health assessment or performance 17
assessment; and 18
(b) the nature of the assessment to be carried out; and 19
(c) the name and qualifications of the registered health 20
practitioner who is to carry out the assessment; and 21
(d) that if the registered health practitioner or student does 22
not undergo the assessment the National Board may 23
continue to take proceedings in relation to the 24
practitioner or student under this Part. 25
173 Assessor may require information or attendance 26
For the purposes of conducting an assessment of a registered 27
health practitioner or student, an assessor may, by written 28
notice given to the practitioner or student, require the 29
practitioner or student to-- 30
(a) give stated information to the assessor within a stated 31
reasonable time and in a stated reasonable way; or 32
Page 158
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 174]
(b) attend before the assessor at a stated time and a stated 1
place to undergo the assessment. 2
Example of stated place. 3
the registered health practitioner's principal place of practice 4
174 Inspection of documents 5
(1) If a document is produced to an assessor, the assessor may-- 6
(a) inspect the document; and 7
(b) make a copy of, or take an extract from, the document; 8
and 9
(c) keep the document while it is necessary for the 10
assessment. 11
(2) If the assessor keeps the document, the assessor must permit a 12
person otherwise entitled to possession of the document to 13
inspect, make a copy of, or take an extract from, the document 14
at the reasonable time and place decided by the assessor. 15
175 Report from assessor 16
The assessor must, as soon as practicable after carrying out 17
the assessment, give to the National Board a report about the 18
assessment. 19
176 Copy of report to be given to health practitioner or 20
student 21
(1) The National Board must, as soon as practicable after 22
receiving the assessor's report, give a copy of the report to-- 23
(a) the registered health practitioner or student to whom it 24
relates; or 25
(b) if the report contains information the Board considers 26
may, if disclosed to the practitioner or student, be 27
prejudicial to the practitioner's or student's physical or 28
mental health or wellbeing, to a medical practitioner or 29
psychologist nominated by the practitioner or student. 30
Page 159
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 177]
(2) If a medical practitioner or psychologist is given a copy of a 1
report about a registered health practitioner or student under 2
subsection (1)(b), the medical practitioner or psychologist 3
must give a copy of the report to the practitioner or student as 4
soon as it will no longer be prejudicial to the practitioner's or 5
student's health or wellbeing. 6
(3) After the registered health practitioner or student has been 7
given a copy of the report under subsection (1)(a) or (2), a 8
person nominated by the Board must-- 9
(a) discuss the report with the practitioner or student; and 10
(b) if the report makes an adverse finding about the 11
practitioner's practice of the profession or states that the 12
assessor finds the practitioner has an impairment, 13
discuss with the practitioner ways of dealing with the 14
finding, including, for a practitioner, whether the 15
practitioner is prepared to alter the way the practitioner 16
practises the health profession. 17
177 Decision by National Board 18
After considering the assessor's report and the discussions 19
held with the registered health practitioner or student under 20
section 176(3), the National Board may decide to-- 21
(a) take the action the Board considers necessary or 22
appropriate under another Division; or 23
(b) refer the matter to another entity, including, for 24
example, a health complaints entity, for investigation or 25
other action; or 26
(c) take no further action in relation to the matter. 27
Division 10 Action by National Board 28
178 National Board may take action 29
(1) This section applies if-- 30
Page 160
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 178]
(a) a National Board reasonably believes, because of a 1
notification or for any other reason-- 2
(i) the way a registered health practitioner registered 3
by the Board practises the health profession, or the 4
practitioner's professional conduct, is or may be 5
unsatisfactory; or 6
(ii) a registered health practitioner or student 7
registered by the Board has or may have an 8
impairment; or 9
(iii) a student has been charged with an offence, or has 10
been convicted or found guilty of an offence, that 11
is punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more; 12
or 13
(iv) a student has or may have contravened a condition 14
of the student's registration or an undertaking 15
given by the student to a National Board; and 16
(b) the matter is not required to be referred to a responsible 17
tribunal under section 193; and 18
(c) the Board decides it is not necessary or appropriate to 19
refer the matter to a panel. 20
(2) The National Board may decide to take one or more of the 21
following actions (relevant action) in relation to the registered 22
health practitioner or student-- 23
(a) caution the registered health practitioner or student; 24
(b) accept an undertaking from the registered health 25
practitioner or student; 26
(c) impose conditions on the practitioner's or student's 27
registration, including, for example, in relation to a 28
practitioner-- 29
(i) a condition requiring the practitioner to complete 30
specified further education or training within a 31
specified period; or 32
(ii) a condition requiring the practitioner to undertake 33
a specified period of supervised practice; or 34
Page 161
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 179]
(iii) a condition requiring the practitioner to do, or 1
refrain from doing, something in connection with 2
the practitioner's practice; or 3
(iv) a condition requiring the practitioner to manage the 4
practitioner's practice in a specified way; or 5
(v) a condition requiring the practitioner to report to a 6
specified person at specified times about the 7
practitioner's practice; or 8
(vi) a condition requiring the practitioner not to 9
employ, engage or recommend a specified person, 10
or class of persons; 11
(d) refer the matter to another entity, including, for 12
example, a health complaints entity, for investigation or 13
other action. 14
(3) If the National Board decides to impose a condition on the 15
registered health practitioner's or student's registration, the 16
Board must also decide a review period for the condition. 17
179 Show cause process 18
(1) If a National Board is proposing to take relevant action in 19
relation to a registered health practitioner or student, the 20
Board must-- 21
(a) give the practitioner or student written notice of the 22
proposed relevant action; and 23
(b) invite the practitioner or student to make a written or 24
verbal submission to the Board, within the reasonable 25
time stated in the notice, about the proposed relevant 26
action. 27
(2) After considering any submissions made by the registered 28
health practitioner or student in accordance with this section, 29
the National Board must decide to-- 30
(a) take no action in relation to the matter; or 31
(b) do either or both of the following-- 32
Page 162
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 180]
(i) take the proposed relevant action or other relevant 1
action; 2
(ii) refer the matter to another entity, including, for 3
example, a health complaints entity, for 4
investigation or other action. 5
(3) This section does not apply if-- 6
(a) a National Board is proposing to take relevant action in 7
relation to a registered health practitioner or student; and 8
(b) the National Board has, in relation to the matter that 9
forms the basis for the relevant action-- 10
(i) investigated the registered health practitioner or 11
student under Division 8; or 12
(ii) conducted a health assessment or performance 13
assessment of the registered health practitioner or 14
student under Division 9. 15
180 Notice to be given to health practitioner or student and 16
notifier 17
(1) As soon as practicable after making a decision under section 18
179(2), the National Board must give written notice of the 19
decision to-- 20
(a) the registered health practitioner or student; and 21
(b) if the decision was the result of a notification, the 22
notifier. 23
(2) The notice given to the notifier must include information 24
about the decision made by the Board only to the extent the 25
information is available on the National Board's register. 26
Division 11 Panels 27
181 Establishment of health panel 28
(1) A National Board may establish a health panel if-- 29
Page 163
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 181]
(a) the Board reasonably believes, because of a notification 1
or for any other reason, that a registered health 2
practitioner or student has or may have an impairment; 3
and 4
(b) the Board decides it is necessary or appropriate for the 5
matter to be referred to a panel. 6
(2) A health panel must consist of the following members chosen 7
from a list referred to in section 183-- 8
(a) at least one member who is a registered health 9
practitioner in the health profession for which the Board 10
is established; 11
(b) at least one member who is a medical practitioner with 12
expertise relevant to the matter the subject of the 13
hearing; 14
(c) at least one member who is not, and has not been, a 15
registered health practitioner in the health profession for 16
which the Board has been established. 17
(3) In choosing members of the panel, the National Board must, if 18
possible, choose a member from the jurisdiction in which the 19
matter the subject of the hearing occurred. 20
(4) No more than half of the members of the panel may be 21
registered health practitioners in the health profession for 22
which the Board is established. 23
(5) However, if the registered health practitioner the subject of the 24
hearing is a medical practitioner, a member of the panel 25
referred to in subsection (2)(b) is not to be considered to be 26
registered in the health profession for which the Board is 27
established for the purposes of subsection (4). 28
(6) A person cannot be appointed to the panel if the person has 29
been involved in any proceedings relating to the matter the 30
subject of the hearing by the panel. 31
Page 164
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 182]
182 Establishment of performance and professional 1
standards panel 2
(1) A National Board may establish a performance and 3
professional standards panel if-- 4
(a) the Board reasonably believes, because of a notification 5
or for any other reason, that-- 6
(i) the way a registered health practitioner practises 7
the health profession is or may be unsatisfactory; 8
or 9
(ii) the registered health practitioner's professional 10
conduct is or may be unsatisfactory; and 11
(b) the Board decides it is necessary or appropriate for the 12
matter to be referred to a panel. 13
(2) A performance and professional standards panel must consist 14
of at least 3 members. 15
(3) In choosing members of the panel, the National Board must, if 16
possible, choose a member from the jurisdiction in which the 17
matter the subject of the hearing occurred. 18
(4) At least half, but no more than two-thirds, of the members of 19
the panel must be persons who are registered health 20
practitioners in the health profession for which the Board is 21
established, and chosen from a list approved under section 22
183. 23
(5) At least one member must be a person who represents the 24
community and chosen from a list approved under section 25
183. 26
(6) A person may not be appointed to the panel if the person has 27
been involved in any proceedings relating to the matter the 28
subject of the hearing by the panel. 29
183 List of approved persons for appointment to panels 30
(1) A National Board may appoint individuals to a list of persons 31
approved to be appointed as members of panels. 32
Page 165
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 184]
(2) To the extent practicable, individuals appointed under 1
subsection (1) should not-- 2
(a) for registered health practitioners, be individuals whose 3
principal place of practice is in a co-regulatory 4
jurisdiction; or 5
(b) otherwise, be individuals who live in a co-regulatory 6
jurisdiction. 7
184 Notice to be given to registered health practitioner or 8
student 9
(1) A panel must give notice of its hearing of a matter to the 10
registered health practitioner or student the subject of the 11
hearing. 12
(2) The notice must state-- 13
(a) the day, time and place at which the hearing is to be 14
held; and 15
(b) the nature of the hearing and the matters to be 16
considered at the hearing; and 17
(c) that the registered health practitioner or student is 18
required to attend the hearing; and 19
(d) that the registered health practitioner may be 20
accompanied at the hearing by an Australian legal 21
practitioner or other person; and 22
(e) that if the registered health practitioner or student fails 23
to attend the hearing the hearing may continue, and the 24
panel may make a decision, in the practitioner's or 25
student's absence; and 26
(f) the types of decision the panel may make at the end of 27
the hearing. 28
185 Procedure of panel 29
(1) Subject to this Division, a panel may decide its own 30
procedures. 31
Page 166
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 186]
(2) A panel is required to observe the principles of natural justice 1
but is not bound by the rules of evidence. 2
(3) A panel may have regard to-- 3
(a) a report prepared by an assessor about the registered 4
health practitioner or student; and 5
(b) any other information the panel considers relevant to the 6
hearing of the matter. 7
186 Legal representation 8
(1) At a hearing of a panel, the registered health practitioner or 9
student the subject of the hearing may be accompanied by an 10
Australian legal practitioner or another person. 11
(2) An Australian legal practitioner or other person 12
accompanying the registered health practitioner or student 13
may appear on behalf of the practitioner or student only with 14
the leave of the panel. 15
(3) The panel may grant leave for an Australian legal practitioner 16
or other person to appear on behalf of the registered health 17
practitioner or student only if the panel considers it 18
appropriate in the particular circumstances of the hearing. 19
187 Submission by notifier 20
If a matter the subject of a hearing before a panel relates to a 21
notification, the notifier may, with the leave of the panel, 22
make a submission to the panel about the matter. 23
188 Panel may proceed in absence of registered health 24
practitioner or student 25
At a hearing, a panel may proceed in the absence of the 26
registered health practitioner or student the subject of the 27
proceedings if the panel reasonably believes the practitioner 28
or student has been given notice of the hearing. 29
Page 167
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 189]
189 Hearing not open to the public 1
A hearing before a panel is not open to the public. 2
190 Referral to responsible tribunal 3
A panel must stop hearing a matter and require the National 4
Board that established the panel to refer the matter to a 5
responsible tribunal under section 193 if, at any time-- 6
(a) the practitioner or student the subject of the hearing asks 7
the panel for the matter to be referred to a responsible 8
tribunal under section 193; or 9
(b) if the subject of the hearing is a registered health 10
practitioner-- 11
(i) the panel reasonably believes the evidence 12
demonstrates the practitioner may have behaved in 13
a way that constitutes professional misconduct; or 14
(ii) the panel reasonably believes the evidence 15
demonstrates the practitioner's registration may 16
have been improperly obtained because the 17
practitioner or someone else gave the Board 18
information or a document that was false or 19
misleading in a material particular. 20
191 Decision of panel 21
(1) After hearing a matter about a registered health practitioner, a 22
panel may decide-- 23
(a) the practitioner has no case to answer and no further 24
action is to be taken in relation to the matter; or 25
(b) one or more of the following-- 26
(i) the practitioner has behaved in a way that 27
constitutes unsatisfactory professional 28
performance; 29
(ii) the practitioner has behaved in a way that 30
constitutes unprofessional conduct; 31
Page 168
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 191]
(iii) the practitioner has an impairment; 1
(iv) the matter must be referred to a responsible 2
tribunal under section 193; 3
(v) the matter must be referred to another entity, 4
including, for example, a health complaints entity, 5
for investigation or other action. 6
(2) After hearing a matter about a student, a health panel may 7
decide-- 8
(a) the student has an impairment; or 9
(b) the matter must be referred to another entity, including, 10
for example, a health complaints entity, for investigation 11
or other action; or 12
(c) the student has no case to answer and no further action 13
is to be taken in relation to the matter. 14
(3) If a panel decides a registered health practitioner or student 15
has an impairment, or that a practitioner has behaved in a way 16
that constitutes unsatisfactory professional performance or 17
unprofessional conduct, the panel may decide to do one or 18
more of the following-- 19
(a) impose conditions on the practitioner's or student's 20
registration, including, for example, in relation to a 21
practitioner-- 22
(i) a condition requiring the practitioner to complete 23
specified further education or training within a 24
specified period; or 25
(ii) a condition requiring the practitioner to undertake 26
a specified period of supervised practice; or 27
(iii) a condition requiring the practitioner to do, or 28
refrain from doing, something in connection with 29
the practitioner's practice; or 30
(iv) a condition requiring the practitioner to manage the 31
practitioner's practice in a specified way; or 32
Page 169
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 192]
(v) a condition requiring the practitioner to report to a 1
specified person at specified times about the 2
practitioner's practice; or 3
(vi) a condition requiring the practitioner not to 4
employ, engage or recommend a specified person, 5
or class of persons; 6
(b) for a health panel, suspend the practitioner's or student's 7
registration; 8
(c) for a performance and professional standards panel, 9
caution or reprimand the practitioner. 10
(4) If a panel decides to impose a condition on a registered health 11
practitioner's or student's registration, the panel must also 12
decide a review period for the condition. 13
(5) A decision by a panel that a registered health practitioner has 14
no case to answer in relation to a matter does not prevent a 15
National Board or adjudication body taking the matter into 16
consideration at a later time as part of a pattern of conduct or 17
practice by the health practitioner. 18
192 Notice to be given about panel's decision 19
(1) As soon as practicable after making a decision under section 20
191, a panel must give notice of its decision to the National 21
Board that established it. 22
(2) The National Board must, within 30 days after the panel 23
makes its decision, give written notice of the decision to-- 24
(a) the registered health practitioner or student the subject 25
of the hearing; and 26
(b) if the hearing related to a notification, the notifier. 27
(3) The notice given to the registered health practitioner or 28
student must state-- 29
(a) the decision made by the panel; and 30
(b) the reasons for the decision; and 31
Page 170
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 193]
(c) that the registered health practitioner or student may 1
appeal against the decision; and 2
(d) how an application for appeal may be made and the 3
period within which the application must be made. 4
(4) The notice to the notifier must include information about the 5
decision made by the panel but only to the extent the 6
information is available on the National Board's register. 7
Division 12 Referring matter to responsible 8
tribunals 9
193 Matters to be referred to responsible tribunal 10
(1) A National Board must refer a matter about a registered health 11
practitioner or student to a responsible tribunal if-- 12
(a) for a registered health practitioner, the Board reasonably 13
believes, based on a notification or for any other 14
reason-- 15
(i) the practitioner has behaved in a way that 16
constitutes professional misconduct; or 17
(ii) the practitioner's registration was improperly 18
obtained because the practitioner or someone else 19
gave the Board information or a document that was 20
false or misleading in a material particular; or 21
(b) for a registered health practitioner or student, a panel 22
established by the Board requires the Board to refer the 23
matter to a responsible tribunal. 24
(2) The National Board must-- 25
(a) refer the matter to-- 26
(i) the responsible tribunal for the participating 27
jurisdiction in which the behaviour the subject of 28
the matter occurred; or 29
(ii) if the behaviour occurred in more than one 30
jurisdiction, the responsible tribunal for the 31
Page 171
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 194]
participating jurisdiction in which the 1
practitioner's principal place of practice is located; 2
and 3
(b) give written notice of the referral to the registered health 4
practitioner or student to whom the matter relates. 5
194 Parties to the proceedings 6
The parties to proceedings relating to a matter being heard by 7
a responsible tribunal are-- 8
(a) the registered health practitioner or student who is the 9
subject of the proceedings; and 10
(b) the National Board that referred the matter to the 11
tribunal. 12
195 Costs 13
The responsible tribunal may make any order about costs it 14
considers appropriate for the proceedings. 15
196 Decision by responsible tribunal about registered health 16
practitioner 17
(1) After hearing a matter about a registered health practitioner, a 18
responsible tribunal may decide-- 19
(a) the practitioner has no case to answer and no further 20
action is to be taken in relation to the matter; or 21
(b) one or more of the following-- 22
(i) the practitioner has behaved in a way that 23
constitutes unsatisfactory professional 24
performance; 25
(ii) the practitioner has behaved in a way that 26
constitutes unprofessional conduct; 27
(iii) the practitioner has behaved in a way that 28
constitutes professional misconduct; 29
Page 172
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Bill 2009
Part 8 Health, performance and conduct
[s 196]
(iv) the practitioner has an impairment; 1
(v) the practitioner's registration was improperly 2
obtained because the practitioner or someone else 3
gave the National Board that registered the 4
practitioner information or a document that was 5
false or misleading in a material particular; or 6
(2) If a responsible tribunal makes a decision referred to in 7
subsection (1)(b), the tribunal may decide to do one or more 8
of the following-- 9
(a) caution or reprimand the practitioner; 10
(b) impose a condition on the practitioner's registration, 11
including, for example-- 12
(i) a condition requiring the practitioner to complete 13
specified further education or training, or to 14
undergo counselling, within a specified period; or 15
(ii) a condition requiring the practitioner to undertake 16
a specified period of supervised practice; or 17
(iii) a condition requiring the practitioner to do, or 18
refrain from doing, something in connection with 19
the practitioner's practice; or 20
(iv) a condition requiring the practitioner to manage the 21
practitioner's practice in a specified way; or 22
(v) a condition requiring the practitioner to report to a 23
specified person at specified times about the