Reimers v Medical Board of Australia

The applicant, Dr Reimers, formerly a specialist anaesthetist, sought specialist registration in that field after having been deregistered due to misconduct and subsequently reregistered as a medical practitioner. The Medical Board of Australia refused his application for specialist registration, a decision upheld by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). The matter proceeded to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether NCAT had made a material error of law in dismissing Dr Reimers' appeal against the Medical Board's refusal. This required the court to consider the provisions of the *Health Practitioner Regulation National Law* (the National Law) and the relevant criteria for specialist registration, particularly concerning the applicant's fitness and propriety to practise and his ability to do so competently and safely.

The Court of Appeal found no material error of law in NCAT's decision. It reasoned that NCAT had correctly applied the National Law by considering whether Dr Reimers was a fit and proper person to be registered as a specialist anaesthetist and whether he could practise competently and safely in that specialty. NCAT's findings that he was not a fit and proper person and was unable to practise competently and safely were based on the evidence before it, and the Court of Appeal was not persuaded that these findings involved an error of law.

The appeal was dismissed, and Dr Reimers was ordered to pay the costs of the Medical Board of Australia.