South Australian Numbered Acts South Australian Numbered Acts29—Amendment of section 34—Registrar may conduct investigation
(1) Section 34—after subsection (1) insert:
(1a) A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a requirement under subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $10 000 or imprisonment for 1 year.
(1b) Without limiting subsection (1) or any other provision of this Act, the Registrar, or a person authorised by the Registrar, may, if the Registrar has reasonable grounds to suspect that a teacher's capacity to teach is seriously impaired by an illness or disability affecting the teacher's behaviour or competence as a teacher, require the teacher to—
(a) submit to a medical examination by a medical practitioner selected by the teacher from a panel of medical practitioners nominated by the Teachers Registration Board; and
(b) provide, or authorise the medical practitioner to provide, a report on the results of the medical examination to the Registrar.
(2) Section 34—delete subsection (3) and substitute:
(3) The Teachers Registration Board may, if a teacher refuses or fails to comply with a requirement under this section, suspend (without any requirement for a hearing or other process) the registration of the teacher.
(3a) A suspension under this section has effect—
(a) until the fulfilment of specified conditions or until further order of the Teachers Registration Board; or
(b) if the teacher's registration is cancelled under section 35(2)—until that cancellation has effect,
whichever occurs first.
(3b) To avoid doubt, a suspension of a teacher's registration under this section has effect whether or not an appeal has, or is to be, instituted against the decision to suspend the registration of the teacher.