NURSING AND MIDWIFERY PRACTICE BILL

Final Stages

Consideration in committee of the Legislative Council’s amendment.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendment be agreed to.

Ms CHAPMAN: I indicate that the opposition supports the amendment of the Hon. Sandra Kanck in another place; and, small as it is, I noticed one other amendment that was negatived in another place, and I think for good reason. I just want to say in the ultimate passage of this bill that I acknowledge and thank the minister for the correspondence which was forwarded to me subsequent to the debate in this chamber on what I think I can briefly describe as the 10-year rule. This was an issue which I raised during the debate as a matter of quite considerable concern: the expectation of members of the nursing profession, who had been absent from employment for a period of more than 10 years, to undertake a further degree course to qualify for registration to enable them to practise.

The law on obligations in relation to insisting on re-entry courses for the purposes of the act has involved obligations that apply in that limited capacity after a period of five years of absence. This notional rule of having to retrain after 10 years was a matter about which the minister inquired of the Nurses Board and provided to me documentation and an indication of what its position was. In short, its position was that there was no such rule; that is, that there was not an expectation automatically after this period of time. I am very pleased to hear that, because it is not consistent with the complaints I have received and it is not consistent with the inquiry I made of the Nurses Board over a year ago, at which it confirmed its expectation that this would be a requisite in relation to safe standards.

I am pleased to have the minister's confirmation based on the information that he received from the Nurses Board that it does not expect that. To paraphrase what is quite a long briefing paper on this, in fact, the likely expectation after being out of the workforce for over 10 years would be two semesters of retraining and then some practical assessment. I thank the minister for obtaining that information. I have put that information on the record in this chamber, and it has already been attended to in another place. With those few words, I support the passage of the bill with the Hon. Sandra Kanck's amendment.

Mr VENNING: I want to support the shadow minister in relation to this matter. It is important that, at long last, we put in place proper registration and regulation for nurses, midwives and students.

The CHAIR: I gave the deputy leader extraordinarily broad liberty. Can I ask you to confine your remarks to the subject of the amendment?

Mr VENNING: Absolutely. I will just say that I support my shadow minister.

Motion carried.

Mr VENNING: Madam Deputy Speaker, I draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed: