CONSENT TO MEDICAL TREATMENT AND PALLIATIVE CARE (PARENTAL CONSENT) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (17:44): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act 1995. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (17:45): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The premise of this bill is simple: to reinstate parental rights. We have an inconsistent situation in the state where we, in this parliament, have indicated that we are against minors having tattoos without parental consent, and we are against having body piercings and scarification without parental consent, but when it comes to any other medical procedure the parents do not have to know about them. We have even heard calls that minors should be excluded from solariums unless they have parental consent, after a tragic and much publicised case of a young woman who died from skin cancer after using a solarium.

However, with other medical procedures, some of which can be quite invasive, parents are not entitled to know anything about that procedure. This bill rearranges the priorities so that families are put first. In non-emergency situations—and I repeat that: non-emergency situations—once reasonable efforts have been made to locate parents, treatment can proceed. There will be only a few remote scenarios outside of emergencies where parents will not be capable of being located in a reasonable time before an intended procedure is performed.

Therefore, parental rights and the integrity of the family are restored by this bill. There is no change to the emergency provisions of the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act. I do not believe this is a complicated bill. It is simple in its import and merely harmonises what this parliament has said about other procedures upon children. I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.