Bills

Criminal Law (High Risk Offenders) (Psychologists) Amendment Bill

Final Stages

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

No. 1. Clause 3, page 2, line 20 [clause 3(2), definition of prescribed health professional, (a)]—

Before 'psychologist' insert 'qualifying'

No. 2. Clause 3, page 2, after line 26 [clause 3(3)]—After the definition of psychologist insert:

qualifying psychologist means a psychologist who—

(a) has at least 5 years experience as a psychologist; and

(b) either—

(i) has an endorsement from the Psychology Board of Australia as a forensic psychologist; or

(ii) has, in the opinion of the prescribed authority, sufficient experience in the forensic mental health field to properly carry out functions as a prescribed health professional;

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments be agreed to.

I indicate that the government consents to the schedule of amendments made by the Legislative Council, in particular in reference to the change of definition of a prescribed health professional, namely, a qualifying psychologist, and, further, the circumstances in which a qualifying psychologist will be defined—in particular, that the psychologist has at least five years' experience as a psychologist and either has the endorsement of the Psychology Board of Australia as a forensic psychologist or has, in the opinion of the prescribed authority, sufficient experience in the forensic mental health field to properly carry out functions as a prescribed health professional. Members may recall that in this proposed legislation—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Mr Chair, regrettably I draw your attention to the state of the committee.

A quorum having been formed:

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I confirm that, as members may recall, the prescribing authority under the bill in consideration is, in fact, Dr Nambiar, the head of the forensic unit covered by SA Health. With his advice, the recommendation put by the Hon. Connie Bonaros in the form of these two amendments is able to be accommodated for particular application, recalling, I suppose, that if there were any concern raised about this matter it was the question of who was going to select the relevant psychologists for the purpose of doing this work, which had previously been done exclusively by psychiatrists, and what their qualifications would be. He has given us that assurance, and on that basis we have received the same.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the Legislative Council in the consideration of this matter and their approval of the importance of this new regime being introduced to ensure we have both protection of the community via the gateway of professional medical practitioners and, secondly, accessible, experienced practitioners being expanded for the purposes of accommodating the level of work required. I commend the amendments to the house.

Motion carried.

At 17:44 the house adjourned until Thursday 4 April 2019 at 11:00.