HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMPLAINTS (MISCELLANEOUS) AMENDMENT BILL

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendment indicated by the following schedule, to which amendment the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. New clause, page 3, after line 9—

After clause 5 insert:

5A—Amendment of section 16—Annual report

Section 16—after subsection (1) insert:

(1a) Without limiting matters that may be included in a report of the Commissioner under subsection (1), each report—

(a) must include the following information relating to the relevant financial year:

(i) the number, type and sources of complaints made;

(ii) a summary of all assessments and determinations made under section 29 in relation to a complaint;

(iii) a summary of all determinations under section 33 to take no further action in relation to a complaint;

(iv) if a complaint was referred for conciliation—the outcome of the conciliation;

(v) if a complaint was dealt with under Part 7—the outcome of any action taken by a registration authority;

(vi) a summary of all investigations conducted by the Commissioner under Part 6, including the outcomes of those investigations;

(vii) a summary of the time taken for complaints to be dealt with under the Act;

(viii) a summary of all complaints not finally dealt with by the Commissioner; and

(b) may include the following information relating to the relevant financial year:

(i) such information relating to complaints (other than that required to be included under paragraph (a)) as the Commissioner thinks fit;

(ii) any report made to the Minister under section 54;

(iii) if a complaint was dealt with under Part 7—a summary of any advice, notification or information provided to the Commissioner in relation to the complaint by a registration authority.

(1b) Matters included in a report under subsection (1)—

(a) are to be reported, as far as practicable, according to professional groupings (as determined by the Commissioner); and

(b) must not identify a person who has made a complaint, a person in relation to whom a complaint has been made or a person who has been subject to an investigation under this Act, unless the identity of the person has already been lawfully made public.

Consideration in committee.

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

That the Legislative Council's amendment be agreed to.

I indicate to the house that the government will accept the amendment moved in the other place. I will speak generally to the provision and then particularly about those measures.

This piece of legislation follows a review of the Health and Community Services Complaints Act, particularly by Ernst & Young in 2008. It makes some administrative changes to make the operations work in a better way. The other amendments arise from the Social Development Committee's inquiry into bogus, unregistered and deregistered health practitioners. We, as a parliament, have agreed on those changes. That is a good thing and it will be a significant reform that comes through this legislation.

The third part of the legislation, which is the amendment before us now, is the result of amendments which were accepted in the other place which require a more burdensome reporting duty being placed on the commissioner. The government asked the commissioner for her advice on this amendment. She expressed concerns, primarily that there would be a resource implication of having to do the extra data collection that is required.

The government has not had an opportunity to fully assess whether or not this is overly burdensome. We opposed it in the upper house; however, we do not oppose it to the extent that we would see the legislation fail. So, we will accept this amendment with reluctance, I guess, and look forward to the passage of the legislation today.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Madam Acting Chair, I draw your attention to the state of the committee.

A quorum having been formed:

Dr McFETRIDGE: I thank the government for agreeing to the amendments from the other place and I look forward to the improvement in the delivery of services from the Health and Community Services Complaints Commission.

Motion carried.