Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure, anticipation and some excitement that I stand to speak on the Health Practitioner Regulation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2010 today. I have this pleasure, anticipation and excitement because today follows the day when the federal budget was brought down in this parliament and we have seen the greatest commitment made to health in this country and the greatest reforms included in this budget that have taken place since the introduction of Medicare.

I might say it was a Labor government that introduced Medicare and, once again, a Labor government that has introduced the monumental reforms that were included in the budget and in the historic health reforms that were reached at COAG earlier this year—less than a month ago, I might add. These reforms will see 1,300 new subacute hospital beds, over 6,000 new doctors, an additional 2,500 aged-care beds, emergency department waiting times capped at four hours, elective surgery delivered on time to 95 per cent of Australians, an historic agreement to reshape mental health services and help 20,000 extra young people get access to mental health services, more coordinated care for patients with diabetes in general practice, a Commonwealth takeover of primary care and a Commonwealth takeover of aged care. They are very exciting reforms that were agreed to in the COAG agreement, and I will talk a little later about some of the wonderful announcements that were made in last night’s budget, announcements that will benefit not only those people living in Shortland electorate but all Australians.

The legislation that we have before us today will change the way registration and accreditation of health practitioners throughout Australia is conducted. Currently, all states and territories have their own separate legislations containing different rules which govern the registration. Under the Australian Constitution, states and territories are empowered to legislate to register and regulate health professionals. The requirements and conditions of registration for professionals have therefore varied across jurisdictions.

In the past some attempts have been made to simplify registration and regulation but they got bogged down and did not come to fruition. I believe this is vitally important legislation because it will bring about a number of administrative reforms. There will be a reduction in the red tape that we have heard about from previous speakers—red tape that makes it cumbersome, that impacts on professionals’ ability to practise throughout Australia and ultimately impacts on the service delivery to all Australians. That red tape is due to the need for multiple registrations that impact on people’s ability to work across jurisdictions.

I also believe there is a safety and quality consideration because there is no uniformity, there are different registrations in different jurisdictions and there have been cases in the past where a person has been denied registration in one jurisdiction and granted it in another. The introduction and the passing of this legislation will do a lot to address that problem.

There has been enormous community consultation on the current legislation and, at the COAG meeting on 14 July 2006, it was determined that there should be a single national registration and accreditation scheme for health professionals. COAG signed off on it on 26 March 2008 and the scheme will come into force on 1 July, provided it passes the parliament. I have no doubt that that will be the case. In addition to the disciplines of medicine, nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, physiotherapy, psychology, osteopathy, chiropractic, optometry, dental hygiene, dental prosthetics, dental therapy and podiatry, it is going to partially regulate Aboriginal and Torres Islander practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners and occupational therapists.

This is excellent legislation. I see that the Minister for Health and Ageing has entered the chamber. I have to congratulate her on the outstanding work that she has done in bringing about the historic health reforms and in giving health such a high profile in the budget that was brought down last night. I heard Malcolm Farr say on Sky News last night that it will be very, very hard for her to do anything that will exceed the work that she has done in health to date. It really has been outstanding. Each and every Australian will benefit from the reforms and from the health items that are included in the budget. I would like to formally congratulate the minister for the outstanding work that she has done, and I commend the legislation to the House.

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