The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Act: Changes to the National Law

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 is the legislative framework of the National Scheme for the regulation of health practitioners. It is safe to say that the Scheme has its detractors. Over the years, several reviews of the National Scheme have been undertaken, including an independent review in 2014, a governance review in 2017, an accreditation systems review in 2018, as well as the Senate Inquiry of 2022. The recommendations arising from those reviews have been the basis of reforms to the National Law, which sets out the legal framework for the National Scheme.

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2022 (the Act), which was passed by the Queensland Parliament on 13 October 2022, contains the latest stage of reforms to the National Law.

The Act makes changes to the National Law which are designed to strengthen public protection and increase public confidence in health services provided by registered practitioners. The changes also implement reforms designed to improve the governance, and promote the efficient and effective operation of the National Scheme. Some of these changes will likely be welcomed by practitioners, others will not.

Testimonials remain prohibited

There has been considerable coverage about the possible removal of the ban on using testimonials. Although the ban was originally slated to be removed, this change was withdrawn during debate of the Act in Queensland Parliament. This was to ensure consistency with the recommendations of the independent review into the cosmetic surgery industry, which were to enforce the ban on testimonials in cosmetic surgery advertising.

Summary of Amendments

More than 30 areas of the National Law are affected by the amendments. This article provides a summary of the relevant changes.

New paramount principle

The Act introduces a new ‘main guiding principle’ that makes ‘protection of the public’, and ‘public confidence in the safety of services provided by registered health practitioners and students’, ‘paramount’.[1] It effectively moves public safety from one of several objectives to the first principle of the Act. While this is of course an admirable and appropriate principle for the Act, this change will likely have significant sequelae, as the Board will be compelled by the Act to place less emphasis on the other objectives, such as the efficient and fair operation of the scheme and the minimal use of restrictions on the practice of health professionals.

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