Part 12 Professional Standards Committees
Division 1 Constitution of Committees
167 Professional Standards Committees
(1) There are to be Professional Standards Committees for the purposes of this Act. A Committee is to be constituted in accordance with this Act to deal with a matter referred to it under this Act.(2) A Committee has and may exercise the jurisdiction and functions conferred or imposed on it by or under this Act.
168 Board to constitute Committee when required
(1) The Board is to constitute a Committee when a complaint is referred to a Committee or an application for registration that is required to be dealt with by a Committee is made.(2) The Board constitutes a Committee by appointing 4 persons to sit as the Committee for the purpose of conducting an inquiry into the complaint or considering and determining the application.
(1) A Committee is to consist of:(a) 2 registered medical practitioners having such qualifications as may be prescribed, and(b) one person who is legally qualified and not a registered medical practitioner and who is to be appointed by the Board as chairperson of the Committee, and(c) one lay person (that is, a person who is not a registered medical practitioner) appointed from among a panel of lay persons for the time being nominated by the Minister.(2) (Repealed)(3) A person who is a member of the Board may not be appointed to sit on a Committee.(4) A member of a Committee, while sitting on the Committee, is entitled to be paid by the Board at a rate determined by the Board.(5) The rate is to be determined by the Board having regard to the rate paid to witnesses who give expert evidence in the Supreme Court.
Division 2 Proceedings of Committees
One or more Committees may conduct more than one inquiry at the same time.
A decision supported by at least 3 members of a Committee on any question arising during an inquiry is the decision of the Committee.
172 Time when orders take effect
An order of the Committee under this Act takes effect on the day on which the order is made or on such later day as is specified in the order.
173 Committee to inform Registrar of its actions under disciplinary provisions
A Committee is to inform the Registrar of the exercise of any power by the Committee under Division 4 (Disciplinary powers of Committees and Tribunal) of Part 4.
174 Chairperson may exercise certain powers of Committee
(1) The chairperson of a Committee may exercise the following powers of the Committee:(a) power to terminate an inquiry,(b) power to hand down a decision of the Committee on an inquiry.(2) A power of the Committee exercised by the chairperson of the Committee under this Act is taken to have been exercised by the Committee.
Division 3 Inquiries before Committees
175 Committee to hold inquiry into complaint
(1) A Committee is to hold an inquiry into any complaint referred to it. No inquiry need be conducted into a complaint if the registered medical practitioner who is the subject of the complaint admits the subject-matter of the complaint in writing to the Committee.(2) On appointment, the chairperson of a Committee must fix a time and place for the holding of an inquiry by the Committee into the complaint and must give not less than 14 days’ notice of the inquiry to:(a) the practitioner concerned, and(b) the complainant, if any, and(c) the Director-General and the Board, and(d) the Commission.
(1) A Committee is to conduct proceedings on an inquiry as it thinks fit. Proceedings of a Committee are to be open to the public except when the Committee otherwise directs.(2) A Committee is not to direct that proceedings are to be closed to the public unless satisfied that it is desirable to do so in the public interest for reasons connected with the subject-matter of the inquiry or the nature of the evidence to be given.(3) A Committee may be assisted by a legally qualified officer of the Board appointed by the Registrar for that purpose on the request of the Committee.(4) Schedule 2 has effect with respect to the conduct of any inquiry by a Committee.
(1) At an inquiry conducted by a Committee, the practitioner concerned and any complainant are entitled to attend and to be represented by an Australian legal practitioner or another adviser.(2) To remove any doubt, the Committee is not prevented from addressing questions directly to the practitioner if the practitioner is represented by an Australian legal practitioner or another adviser.(2A) (Repealed)(3) A Committee may grant leave for any other person to appear at an inquiry if the Committee is satisfied that it is appropriate for that person to appear.(4) This section does not prevent a Committee from proceeding in the absence of the practitioner concerned or the complainant, as long as they have been given notice of the inquiry.
178 Adjournments and interlocutory orders
(1) A Committee may adjourn proceedings for any reason it thinks fit.(2) A Committee may, during any proceedings, exercise any power or combination of powers conferred on a Committee by section 61 (General powers to caution, reprimand, counsel etc.), except the power to caution or reprimand.
179 Committee must refer certain matters to the Tribunal
(1) A Committee must immediately terminate an inquiry if before or during the inquiry the Committee:(a) forms the opinion that the complaint, if substantiated, may provide grounds for the suspension or deregistration of a registered medical practitioner, or(b) becomes aware that the Board or the Commission has referred the complaint or another complaint about the practitioner concerned to the Tribunal.(2) Subsection (1) (a) does not apply to a complaint that the Board decided not to refer to the Tribunal because the allegations on which it and any other pending complaint against the practitioner was founded related solely or principally to the practitioner’s physical or mental capacity to practise medicine.(3) When the Committee terminates an inquiry, it must refer the complaint to the Tribunal unless it has already been referred to the Tribunal.(4) The Tribunal to which the complaint is referred may be the Tribunal as already constituted to deal with another complaint or the Tribunal as constituted to deal with the referred complaint.(5) A Committee is to inform the Board when it takes any action under this section.
180 Committee to provide details of its decision
(1) A Committee must provide a written statement of a decision on an inquiry to the complainant, to the practitioner concerned and to the Board, and must do so within one month after the decision is made.(2) The statement of a decision must:(a) set out any findings on material questions of fact, and(b) refer to any evidence or other material on which the findings were based, and(c) give the reasons for the decision.(3) A Committee may also provide the statement of a decision to such other persons as the Committee thinks fit.(4) The Board:(a) must make publicly available a statement of a decision provided to it under this section if the decision is in respect of a complaint that has been proved or admitted in whole or in part, and(b) may disseminate any other statement of a decision as the Board thinks fit,unless the Committee that provided the statement has ordered otherwise.
181 Statement need not contain confidential information
(1) A Committee is not required to include confidential information in the statement of a decision. If a statement would be false or misleading if it did not include the confidential information, the Committee is not required to provide the statement.(2) When confidential information is not included in the statement of a decision provided to a person or the statement is not provided to a person because of subsection (1), the Committee must give a confidential information notice to the person.(3) A confidential information notice is a notice that indicates that confidential information is not included or that the statement will not be provided (as appropriate) and gives the reasons for this. The notice must be in writing and must be given within one month after the decision is made.(4) This section does not affect the power of a court to make an order for the discovery of documents or to require the giving of evidence or the production of documents to a court, subject to the provisions of this Act relating to protected reports.