Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (18:19): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech and explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010 sets out the legislative provisions for the operation of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme. This National Scheme provides for the registration of practitioners across 14 health professions across Australia and the regulation of these practitioners under nationally consistent registration standards and codes for their professions. As at 30 June, 2016 53,119 health practitioners in South Australia were registered under the National Scheme.

The Act also covers the regulation of other related matters in South Australia that are not part of the National Scheme. These matters include the registration of pharmacy premises and pharmacy depots, and provisions to ensure that optical appliances are prescribed by qualified persons only.

The Amendment Bill before the House today makes changes to the Act to give effect to:

simplifying the regulatory requirements for manufacturers and retailers of ready-made spectacles; and

the merger of the CrimTrac Agency with the Australian Crime Commission.

I will now outline these changes in detail for the benefit of Members.

Simplifying the regulatory requirements for manufacturers and retailers of ready-made spectacles

Part 5 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010 includes provisions for the regulation of optical appliances in South Australia. This includes spectacle lenses and contact lenses. Any optical appliance cannot be sold in South Australia unless it is prescribed by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. This is to ensure that the optical appliance is to the right strength to correct the eye defect and fitted properly. If this does not occur there is the potential for damage to the eye that may lead to blindness.

However, if glasses are purely for magnifying, commonly called ready-made spectacles, they can be sold without a prescription provided that a warning label is attached to the glasses stating that they are not prescription glasses, and recommending that the purchaser should consider an eye examination by an optometrist for an assessment. There may be underlying medical reasons such as glaucoma and macular degeneration that may be causing difficulty in reading, which if left untreated, may lead to blindness. The purpose of the warning label is to alert the purchaser to consider an examination to determine whether there is an underlying eye problem which is contributing to their vision difficulties.

The Act currently requires the warning label to be affixed to the glasses in a prescribed manner. Previous regulations have prescribed the warning label to be affixed by cotton twine. In drafting a new regulation to prescribe the warning label it was considered that prescribing the attachment of the warning label by cotton twine may be an unnecessary impost on businesses, particularly if they have come up with an alternate method that is more cost-effective such as adhesive sticker on the lenses or plastic tie attached to the frames.

The intent of the regulation is only to ensure that the purchaser is aware that the ready-made glasses are not prescription glasses, and that they are only a temporary fix to their vision problems. As long as this warning label is attached to the glasses at the point of sale, and in such a manner that the purchaser needs to physically remove the label, then the objective of the legislation is met. The amendment before Parliament removes the requirement about the manner in which the warning label is to be affixed to the ready-made spectacles.

Optometry South Australia has been consulted on this revised provision and supports the proposed amendment.

The merger of the CrimTrac Agency with the Australian Crime Commission

This amendment is a minor and technical amendment to give effect to the merger of the CrimTrac Agency with the Australian Crime Commission.

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law used the CrimTrac Agency to receive criminal history information to determine whether a person is 'fit and proper' to practise as a health practitioner in Australia. The National Law also provides that a health profession regulatory board may at any time request the criminal history of an individual practitioner. Section 79 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010 authorises the South Australian Commissioner of Police to provide a criminal history report when requested to a health profession regulatory board, the CrimTrac Agency or another police force or service of the Commonwealth or another State.

The proposed amendment changes all references from the CrimTrac Agency to the Australian Crime Commission as the authority to provide the criminal history reports. While references to the CrimTrac Agency in the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law will be amended later this year the Minister for Health has decided to progress the corresponding amendments in the National Law as it applies in South Australia to remove any doubt that the Australian Crime Commission is the authority to provide criminal history information now that the CrimTrac Agency no longer exists. This is an appropriate course of action to ensure that the South Australian public is protected from persons that are not of good character to practice.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010

4—Amendment of section 74—Unauthorised dispensing of optical appliances

This clause amends section 74(2)(d) to remove the requirement that a prescribed warning is attached to the glasses in the prescribed manner. The requirement on amendment will be that a prescribed warning is attached to the glasses at the time of sale.

5—Amendment of section 79—Commissioner of Police may give criminal history information

This clause amends section 79 to update the reference to CrimTrac to the Australian Crime Commission established under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 of the Commonwealth.

6—Amendment of Schedule 2—Health Practitioner Regulation National Law

This clause amends the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law to update references to CrimTrac to the Australian Crime Commission established under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 of the Commonwealth and to delete the definition of CrimTrac.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.