Untitled document

Health Professions Registration Amendment Act 2008

No. 64 of 2008

table of provisions

Section  Page

1Purpose

2Commencement

3Principal Act

4Qualifications for general registration

5Provisional registration

6Renewal of registration

7Endorsements generally

8Approved methods of communication for responsible board

9What if no proceedings started before commencement of this Act?

10Cap of growth of pharmacy ownership for friendly society type companies

11Repeal of amending Act

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Endnotes

Health Professions Registration Amendment Act 2008

No. 64 of 2008

[Assented to 14 November 2008]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

1Purpose

The main purpose of this Act is to amend the Health Professions Registration Act 2005—

(a)to provide for the fixing of certain fees by responsible boards;

(b)to allow nurses with specific registration as midwives to apply for renewal of such registration;

(c)to increase the period of provisional registration;

(d)to enable responsible boards to suspend the registration of a health practitioner at a meeting held by means of an approved method, or combination of methods, of communication;

(e)to provide that investigations, inquiries, hearings or proceedings in relation to certain activities that occurred before section 163 of the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 came into operation may be commenced or undertaken under that Act;

(f)to specify caps on the growth of pharmacy ownership for friendly society type companies.

2Commencement

This Act comes into operation on the day after the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

3Principal Act

In this Act, the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 is called the Principal Act.

4Qualifications for general registration

(1)In section 5(1)(c) of the Principal Act, after "practitioner" insert "and has paid the fee fixed by the board in relation to the examination (if any)".

(2)After section 5(1A) of the Principal Act insert—

"(1B)The responsible board may fix a fee to be paid by the provider of a course of study or part of a course of study that must accompany an application by the provider to the board for—

(a)approval of the course of study for the purposes of subsection (1)(a); or

(b)approval of part of a course of study for the purposes of subsection (1)(ab).".

5Provisional registration

In section 9(4) of the Principal Act, for "12" substitute "24".

6Renewal of registration

In section 18(5)(b) of the Principal Act, after "section 7(1)(f)" insert "or 7(2)".

7Endorsements generally

(1)In section 29(4)(c) of the Principal Act, after "registration" insert "and has paid the fee fixed by the board in relation to the examination (if any)".

(2)After section 29(4) of the Principal Act insert—

"(4A)The responsible board may fix a fee to be paid by the provider of a course of study that must accompany an application by the provider to the board for approval of the course of study for the purposes of subsection (4)(a).".

8Approved methods of communication for responsible board

In section 130(3)(b) of the Principal Act, after "Part 3" insert "(other than section 40)".

9What if no proceedings started before commencement of this Act?

For section 169(1) of the Principal Act substitute—

"(1)In the case of activities of a person which occurred before the commencement of section 163 and in respect of which—

(a)no investigation, inquiry or hearing has been commenced under the repealed provision; or

(b)no proceeding has been taken under the repealed provision—

this Act applies to the extent that there was power in relation to those activities to conduct an investigation, inquiry or hearing or to take a proceeding under the repealed provision.".

10Cap of growth of pharmacy ownership for friendly society type companies

(1)For section 174(2)(a) of the Principal Act substitute—

"(a)on and from 1 July 2007; and".

(2)In section 174(3) of the Principal Act omit "during the applicable period".

(3)At the foot of section 174(3) of the Principal Act insert—

"Penalty:1200 penalty units.".

(4)In section 174(4) of the Principal Act—

(a)in paragraph (a) omit "in the applicable period";

(b)in paragraph (b)—

(i)for "after 16 November 2004" substitute "on or after 17 November 2008";

(ii)omit "in the applicable period";

(iii)for "before 16 November 2004" (where secondly occurring) substitute "before 17 November 2008".

(5)In section 174(5) of the Principal Act—

(a)after "16 November 2004" insert "and before 17 November 2008";

(b)omit "during the applicable period".

(6)After section 174(5) of the Principal Act insert—

"(5A)Subsection (3) does not apply to a company referred to in section 101(1)(e) that was formed by amalgamation on or after 17 November 2008 if the number of pharmacy businesses the amalgamated company owns at any one time does not exceed—

(a)in the case of the amalgamated company being formed only by companies that, immediately before 16 November 2004, did not own a pharmacy business or owned less than 6 pharmacy businesses, 6 pharmacy businesses; or

(b)in the case of the amalgamated company being formed by at least one company that, immediately before 16 November 2004, owned 6 or more pharmacy businesses, 30% more than the number of pharmacy businesses that the largest amalgamating company owned immediately before 17 November 2008.".

(7)In section 174(7) of the Principal Act for "or (5)" substitute ", (5) or (5A)".

(8)After section 174(7) of the Principal Act insert—

"(8)In this section largest amalgamating company means a company that—

(a)was amalgamated with other companies to form a company; and

(b)owned more pharmacy businesses than any other company that was amalgamated to form the company.".

11Repeal of amending Act

This Act is repealed on the first anniversary of its commencement.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 12 September 2008

Legislative Council: 30 October 2008

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 and for other purposes."