Social Workers Registration (Commencement) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (12:20): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Social Workers Registration Act 2021.

Second Reading

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (12:21): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today, I introduce the Social Workers Registration (Commencement) Amendment Bill 2023. This bill amends the Social Workers Registration Act 2021. The Social Workers Registration Act 2021 was assented to on 9 December 2021, and it is due to commence on its two-year anniversary, as required under section 27(6) of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, on 9 December 2023.

As members would be aware, the introduction of a social worker registration scheme was supported by both major political parties in South Australia and the Greens on the basis that the registration of social workers will have a range of benefits, including improved public safety, higher standards of conduct and accountability through the provision of accessible mechanisms for complaints and review, and improved professional development opportunities for people within the profession.

The Social Workers Registration (Commencement) Amendment Bill 2023 seeks to amend two sections of the Social Workers Registration Act 2021: firstly, to replace section 2 to defer commencement of the act in favour of a date to be fixed by proclamation, and, secondly, to make a consequential amendment to section 68 to ensure that the opportunity to create transitional provisions by regulation remains under the act as amended.

Professor Sarah Wendt, a social work expert with a strong national and international reputation, commenced in the role of director for the social worker registration scheme on 18 September this year. Professor Wendt will be responsible for the development and implementation of the scheme, including recruiting staff, engaging a registrar and facilitating the appointment of a board.

As director, she will build on the stakeholder engagement work, including at a national level with the Australian Association of Social Workers and other jurisdictions, that has been undertaken by the Department for Child Protection over the past 12 to 18 months. She will also draw on the implementation plan, which was finalised and funded as part of the 2022-23 Mid-Year Budget Review.

I am pleased to confirm that funding has been committed to the scheme and, aside from some timing changes across the out years, the delayed commencement of the act will not have a budget impact. Any timing changes will be managed by the Department for Child Protection in discussions with the Department of Treasury and Finance as part of the budget process.

To ensure that the foundations have been properly laid for the scheme prior to the commencement of the act, the amendment bill is being introduced seeking to defer the legislation's commencement date to a time set by proclamation. This will ensure an operational registration scheme is in place at the time the act commences.

The amendment bill will also make a consequential amendment to section 68 of the act to ensure that the transitional regulation-making power of the principal act is maintained in the act as amended. The transitional provisions are important as they enable the registration scheme to be introduced using a staged approach, which was always intended under the scheme's implementation plan.

Additionally, the staged implementation approach will prioritise systems and structures consistent with a future national approach. The preferred long-term approach in South Australia was and remains a national registration scheme, which is also the preference of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).

While insufficient jurisdictional support exists at present for a national scheme, it will be important that the South Australian scheme is implemented in a way that positions it for transition to a national approach at a later stage should one subsequently be adopted. I commend the bill to the chamber and seek leave to insert the explanation of clauses in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

This clause is formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Social Workers Registration Act 2021

2—Substitution of section 2

This clause amends section 2 of the principal Act to disapply section 27(6) of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 in relation to the commencement of the Act, the operation of which would have seen the Act automatically commencing on the second anniversary of its assent. The proposed amendment will instead allow the Act to be brought into operation by proclamation after that second anniversary.

3—Amendment of section 68—Regulations and fee notices

This clause makes a consequential amendment to the transitional regulation making power in section 68 of the principal Act to reflect the amendment made by this measure.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. H.M. Girolamo.