This Act binds the Crown.
(1) A person is not entitled:(a) to undertake a course of medical study at a Medical School in the State accredited by the Australian Medical Council, or(b) to undertake a clinical placement in a public hospital in the State under the auspices of an educational institution accredited by the Australian Medical Council,unless the person is registered with the Board as a medical student.(2) A person is entitled to be registered with the Board as a medical student if the Board is satisfied that the person genuinely requires that registration for the purposes of enabling the person to undertake such a course of study or clinical placement.(3) No fee is payable for registration as a medical student.
(1) If a corporation commits an offence against this Act or the regulations under this Act, each person who is a director of the corporation, or who is concerned in the management of the corporation, is taken to have committed the same offence unless he or she proves that:(a) the offence was committed without his or her knowledge, and(b) he or she exercised all such due diligence to prevent the commission of that offence as he or she ought to have exercised, having regard to the nature of his or her functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.(2) A person may be proceeded against and convicted under a provision pursuant to this section whether or not the corporation has been proceeded against or convicted.(3) This section does not affect any liability imposed on a corporation for an offence committed by the corporation against this Act or the regulations.(4) Without limiting any other law or practice regarding the admissibility of evidence, evidence that an officer, employee or agent of a corporation (while acting in his or her capacity as such) had, at any particular time, a particular intention, is evidence that the corporation had that intention at that time.
188 Penalties for false statements etc
A person must not:(a) make or cause to be made any falsification in the Register or in any matter relating to the Register, or(b) make any statement upon any examination before the Board, a Committee, a Performance Review Panel or the Tribunal or in any document to be used in evidence before or to be submitted to the Board, a Committee, a Performance Review Panel or the Tribunal knowing the statement to be false or misleading in a material particular, or(c) utter or put forward or attempt to utter or put forward, as true before the Board any false, forged or counterfeit degree, diploma, licence, certificate, or other document or writing, or(d) procure or attempt to procure himself or herself or any other person to be registered by making or producing or causing to be made or produced, any false or fraudulent statement, declaration, or representation, either verbal or in writing, or(e) impersonate or represent himself or herself as being the person referred to in any degree, diploma, licence, certificate, document, or writing presented to the Board, or in any certificate issued under this Act, or(f) fraudulently or by false representation procure himself or herself or any other person to be registered, or obtain any certificate under this Act, or(g) forge, alter, or counterfeit any such certificate, or(h) utter or use or attempt to utter or use any such forged certificate knowing it to have been forged, or(i) falsely advertise or publish himself or herself as having obtained any such certificate, or as being registered, or permit any such advertisement or publication, or(j) aid or assist in the commission of any such offence.Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years, or both.
No matter or thing done or omitted to be done by a person as:(a) the Registrar, or(b) the Board, or(c) an Impaired Registrants Panel, or(c1) a Performance Review Panel, or(c2) an assessor, or(c3) an authorised person, or(d) a Committee, or(e) the Tribunal, or(f) any member of the Board, an Impaired Registrants Panel, a Performance Review Panel, a Committee or the Tribunal or a person acting under the direction of the Board, an Impaired Registrants Panel, a Performance Review Panel, a Committee or the Tribunal, or(g) nominal complainant for the purposes of clause 8 of Schedule 2,if the matter or thing was done or omitted to be done in good faith for the purposes of executing this or any other Act, subjects the person personally to any action, liability, claim or demand.
A person must not disclose any information obtained in connection with the administration or execution of this Act unless the disclosure is made:(a) in the case of information relating to a patient of a registered medical practitioner—with the consent of the patient, or(b) in any other case—with the consent of the person to whom the information relates or from whom the information was obtained, or(c) in connection with the administration or execution of this Act, or(d) for the purposes of any legal proceedings arising out of this Act or of any report of any such proceedings, or(e) with other lawful excuse, or(f) in such other circumstances as may be prescribed.Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.
190A Reports of medical or health practitioners
(1) This section applies to a report made in connection with an examination of a person by a registered medical practitioner or a registered health practitioner (a health or medical report), being a report that is obtained for the Board pursuant to:(a) a requirement made by the Board under section 54 or 78A, or clause 17 of Schedule 1, or(b) a condition of registration or an order imposed by a person or body exercising functions under this Act, or(c) a request made by the person to his or her treating practitioner in connection with a matter being dealt with by an Impaired Registrants Panel.(2) Such a health or medical report may not be admitted or used in any civil proceedings before a court except with the consent of:(a) the person giving the report, and(b) the person who is the subject of the report.(3) A person may not be compelled to produce such a health or medical report or to give evidence in relation to the report or its contents in any such civil proceedings.(4) Such a health or medical report is a protected report for the purposes of this Act.(5) In this section:court includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions, but does not include the Tribunal, a Committee or a Performance Review Panel or the Supreme Court (in respect of appeal proceedings under this Act).
report includes a copy, reproduction and duplicate of the report or any part of the report, copy, reproduction or duplicate.
190B Confidentiality of protected reports
(1) A person must not directly or indirectly make a record of or disclose to any person any information contained in a protected report which has come to the person’s notice in the exercise of the person’s functions under this Act, except for the purposes of exercising functions under this Act.Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.
(2) This section does not prevent the disclosure of a protected report to the Commission.Note. Protected reports are health or medical reports (as referred to in section 190A), reports by an Impaired Registrants Panel to the Board and reports by assessors.
191 Notification of certain matters to other States
The Board must give medical registration authorities such notice and details of the following matters as the Board thinks necessary or desirable in the particular case:(a) any complaint made against a registered medical practitioner under this Act, unless it is determined that no further action should be taken in respect of the complaint,(b) any order made under this Act in respect of such a complaint,(b1) any order made under this Act by a Performance Review Panel, or any report made by such a Panel to the Board in respect of a performance review,(c) any report made to the Board by an Impaired Registrants Panel in respect of a registered medical practitioner,(d) the removal of the name of a person from the Register and the reasons for that removal,(e) the placing of conditions on a person’s registration.
191A Board is to consult with affected third parties
(1) If an order or direction of the Tribunal, a Committee or a Performance Review Panel with respect to a registered medical practitioner requires the Board to approve any matter and the terms of the approval will, in the opinion of the Board, impose an appreciable burden on an identifiable third party in connection with the practitioner’s practice, the Board:(a) is to give the third party an opportunity to make submissions to the Board with respect to the matter, and(b) is to take any such submission into account before giving any approval, and(c) is to give notice of the terms of the approval to the third party affected.(2) An example of an approval that may impose an appreciable burden on an identifiable third party in connection with a registered medical practitioner’s practice is an approval of an arrangement under which an identified third party is required to supervise the practitioner’s practice.(3) In this section:third party means a person other than the registered medical practitioner to whom an order or direction relates, but does not include a person or body exercising functions conferred by this Act or the Health Care Complaints Act 1993.
191B Notification of orders to practitioner’s employer and others
(1) The Board is required to give notice of any order made in respect of a registered medical practitioner under this Act, or the imposition of conditions on the registration of a registered medical practitioner, to the following persons:(a) the employer (if any) of the practitioner concerned,(b) the chief executive officer (however described) of any public health organisation in respect of which the practitioner concerned is a visiting practitioner or is otherwise accredited,(c) the chief executive officer (however described) of any private health facility in respect of which the practitioner concerned is accredited,(d) the chief executive officer (however described) of any nursing home (within the meaning of the Public Health Act 1991) in respect of which the practitioner concerned is accredited.(1A) Without limiting subsection (1), the Board may give notice of any action taken under Division 5 of Part 4 to any person or body the Board reasonably considers it appropriate to notify.(2) A notice under subsection (1) is to be given within 7 days after:(a) in the case of an order made or conditions imposed by the Board—the date the order is made or the conditions are imposed, or(b) in any other case—the date the Board is given a copy of the decision of the body that made the order or imposed the conditions.(3) A notice under this section is to include such information as the Board considers appropriate.(4) A reference in this section to the employer of a practitioner:(a) is a reference to the employer at the time of the relevant conduct of the practitioner concerned that gave rise to the order made or conditions imposed by the Board, and(b) includes a reference to any subsequent employer of the practitioner that the Board considers appropriate.(5) A reference in this section to a body in respect of which a practitioner is accredited:(a) is a reference to the body in respect of which the practitioner concerned was accredited at the time of the relevant conduct of the practitioner that gave rise to the order made or conditions imposed by the Board, and(b) includes a reference to any body in respect of which the practitioner is subsequently accredited that the Board considers appropriate.(6) The Board may, in a particular case, dispense with the giving of notice under this section if the Board considers that the exceptional circumstances of the case warrant that decision.(7) In this section, employer of a practitioner includes any person who engages the practitioner to perform work (whether or not under a contract of employment).
191C Cancelled registrations to be publicly available
(1) The Board is to make publicly available:(a) the name of each person who is subject to an order of the Tribunal or the Supreme Court that the person’s name be removed from the Register or that the person not be re-registered, and(b) such other information about the person as may be prescribed by the regulations.(2) The Board is to ensure that the information required to be made publicly available under subsection (1) is provided to the Commission.(3) The Board is not required to make publicly available information about a person:(a) who is deceased, or(b) who belongs to a class of persons prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section.
191D Protection from liability for certain publications
(1) A publication in good faith under section 165 or 191C does not subject a protected person to any liability (including liability in defamation).(2) In this section:protected person means:
(a) the Board or Tribunal or a member of the Board or Tribunal, or(b) the proprietor, editor or publisher of a newspaper, or(c) the proprietor or broadcaster of a radio or television station or the producer of a radio or television show, or(d) an internet service provider or internet content host, or(e) a member of staff of or a person acting at the direction of any person or entity referred to in this definition, or(f) any person, or person belonging to a class of persons, prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section.
192 How notice is to be given under this Act
(1) A requirement of this Act that a person be given notice is a requirement that the person be given notice in writing either personally or by post or by such other means as may be prescribed by the regulations.(2) For the purposes of section 76 of the Interpretation Act 1987, a notice served by post on a person for the purposes of this Act is to be treated as being properly addressed if it is addressed to the last address of the person known to the Registrar.
192A Evidentiary certificates and evidence of entry in Register
(1) A certificate purporting to have been signed by the Registrar to the effect that:(a) a person specified in the certificate was or was not a registered medical practitioner at a time or during a period so specified, or(b) the name of a person specified in the certificate was removed from the Register at a time so specified, or(c) a person specified in the certificate was suspended from practising medicine from a time so specified and for a period so specified, or(d) a condition, particulars of which are set out in the certificate, was, at a time or during a period so specified:is, without proof of the signature of the person by whom the certificate purports to have been signed, admissible in any proceedings and is prima facie evidence of the matter certified in it.(i) imposed on the registration of a person so specified, or(ii) revoked or not in force,(2) An entry in the Register is admissible in any proceedings and is prima facie evidence of the matter stated in it.(3) A document purporting to be a copy of an entry in the Register, purportedly signed by the Registrar, is admissible in any proceedings and is prima facie evidence of the matter stated in it.
192B Application of Criminal Records Act
For the purposes of the application of this Act in respect of a criminal finding, the Criminal Records Act 1991 applies in respect of a criminal finding as if section 8 (2) and (4) of that Act were omitted.Note. Section 8 (2) and (4) of the Criminal Records Act 1991 make special provision for when criminal findings become “spent” under that Act. The omission of those subsections will mean that in determining when a criminal finding becomes spent for the purposes of this Act, criminal findings will be treated as ordinary convictions and the relevant crime-free period will be as provided by section 9 of that Act.
(1) Proceedings for an offence against this Act or the regulations are to be disposed of in a summary manner before:(a) the Local Court, or(b) the Supreme Court in its summary jurisdiction.(2) The maximum pecuniary penalty that may be imposed by the Local Court in proceedings for an offence under this Act or the regulations is 100 penalty units.
(1) The Governor may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, for or with respect to any matter that by this Act is required or permitted to be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.(2) In particular, the Governor may make regulations for or with respect to the matters set out in Schedule 4.(3) On the recommendation of the Board, the Governor may make regulations for or with respect to regulating the practice of medicine or surgery in any of its branches, or the giving or performance of any medical or surgical advice, service, attendance or operation, by any registered medical practitioner, including:(a) the provision of adequate staff and equipment, and(b) administration of anaesthetic, and(c) the precautions to be taken for the safety and welfare of the patient.(4) A provision of a regulation may create an offence punishable by a penalty not exceeding 10 penalty units.(5) A regulation may apply, adopt or incorporate any publication as in force from time to time.
The following Acts are repealed:• Medical Practitioners Act 1938 No 37• Medical Practitioners (Amendment) 1981 No 55• Medical Practitioners (Amendment) 1982 No 51• Medical Practitioners (Amendment) 1987 No 127
198 Savings and transitional provisions
Schedule 5 has effect.
(1) The Minister is to review this Act to determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing those objectives.(2) The review is to be undertaken as soon as possible after the period of 5 years from the date of assent to this Act.(3) A report of the outcome of the review is to be tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months after the end of the period of 5 years.