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CLAUSE NOTES
Community, Health, Human Services and Related Legislation
(Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018
Clause 1 Short Title
Provides for the Act to be cited as the Community, Health, Human
Services and Related Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act
2018.
Clause 2 Commencement
Provides for the Act to commence on Royal Assent.
Clause 3 Consequential Amendments
Provides for miscellaneous amendments to legislation as specified
in Schedule 1.
Clause 4 Repeal of Act
Provides for automatic repeal of the Amendment Act one year
after commencement, as the amendments are incorporated into
the relevant amended legislation.
Schedule 1 Consequential amendments
Ambulance Service Act 1982
1. Substitutes “Commissioner for Ambulance Services” for
“Director of Ambulance Services in the Long Title of the
Act. This corrects terminology that should have been
updated when the Ambulance Service Act was previously
amended to change the title from Director to
Commissioner.
2. Amends section 19 to permit the Secretary as well as the
Commissioner to authorise officers. This is so the Secretary
can appoint authorised officers in relation to non-emergency
patient transport service provisions in the Act, as these
services are licensed by the Secretary rather than the
Commissioner.
3. Consistent with the second amendment, makes a change to
section 41B(1) to remove the requirement that authorised
officers are officers of the Ambulance Service. This is so that
officers, such as Departmental officers, authorised by the
Secretary may issue infringements when enforcing the non-
emergency patient transport provisions.
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Disability Services Act 2011
1. Amends definitions in the Disability Services Act. The
current definition of ‘funded provider’ is effectively limited to
providers receiving funding under the Tasmanian Act. This
means that the powers in the Act (such as inspection of
premises for quality reasons) do not currently apply to
providers not in receipt of state funding, such as National
Disability Insurance Scheme funded services. The
amendment gives capacity for the Secretary to determine
such services are also ‘funded providers.’
The amendment also inserts a definition of ‘therapeutic
services’ to clarify the scope of that term. This term is
currently undefined in the Act, and used in respect of
restrictive interventions approved under the Act by the
Guardianship and Administration Board or Secretary. A
restrictive intervention is any action that restricts the rights
or freedom of movement of a person with disability for the
primary purpose of behaviour control of the person. It does
not include certain actions, including those taken for
therapeutic purposes.
‘Therapeutic purposes’ are intended to relate to the
treatment of health conditions. For example, a person with
disability with a broken leg may have a leg cast fitted which
restricts their movement, which would not require an
approval as it serves a treatment purpose.
The operation of these provisions has identified that the
definition of ‘therapeutic purposes’ could be interpreted as
having a broader scope than intended. For example, it could
in fact be taken to include things done for preventing an
injury to the disability client in the future. That is a necessary
restriction in some cases, but it is also the kind of restriction
that is intended to be approved by the Secretary or Board.
The new definition therefore clarifies the intended scope,
based on national best practice, of when an action can be
considered taken for therapeutic purposes.
2. Amends the provision for the period for which a restrictive
intervention may be approved by the Guardianship and
Administration Board after a hearing. Currently, the period is
for 6 months or a shorter period. The amendment retains
the default period as 6 months, but allows for a shorter or
longer period (up to 2 years), where agreed to by the
Senior Practitioner. The Senior Practitioner is a statutory
officer with specific statutory functions relating to best
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practice in restrictive interventions. Some disability clients
will require restrictive interventions for significant periods of
time. The amendment allows for shorter period of approval
to continue to be granted, as well as longer periods to
reduce the frequency of review where appropriate to do so.
Health Act 1997
1. Amends definitions in the Health Act to remove outdated
references to the Commonwealth Act and to remove
references to the Hospitals and Ambulance Service
Advisory Board which has not operated since 2002.
Currently, the Tasmanian Health Service Act 2018 now
provides for advisory functions to the Secretary, and the
Ambulance Services Act 1982 provides for the Tasmanian
Ambulance Clinical Council.
2. Section 5 is amended to update a reference to the
‘Commonwealth Act’. The Tasmanian Act refers to this Act
in several places, and defines it in section 3 as the Health
Insurance Act 1973 of the Commonwealth. While that Act
remains relevant in other provisions of the Tasmanian Act,
the requirements on States in relation to the Medicare
Principles and Commitments are now given effect under
the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 of the
Commonwealth.
3. As noted above, the Hospitals and Ambulance Service
Advisory Board no longer exists operationally, so the
section relating to its establishment is repealed.
4. As noted above, the Hospitals and Ambulance Service
Advisory Board no longer exists operationally, so the
Schedule relating to its functions is repealed.
Mental Health Act 2013
1. Amends terminology in section 200 to use the correct
titles of orders under the Act. These changes replace the
incorrect term of “continuing care order” with the correct
term of “treatment order”.
2. Amends terminology in section 204 to use the correct
titles of orders under the Act. This replaces the incorrect
term of “continuing care order” with the correct term of
“treatment order”.
Pharmacy Control Act 2001
1. Amends section 61C(1) to ensure that both the legal
interest and the beneficial interest in each share in an
applicant company is held by a pharmacist or a close
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relative of a pharmacist. Recent changes to the Act did not
address the situation where a (pharmacist) shareholder of a
company is holding those shares as a trustee of a family
trust, unit trust or other body corporate. Such a person is
then exempt from needing to hold an ‘eligibility certificate’,
as the certificate is held by the body corporate and the
requirement for a trust to comply with the limitations
relating to beneficiaries does not apply. The amendment
addresses this situation so that in all cases both the legal
interest and the beneficial interest in each share in an
applicant company is held by a pharmacist or a close
relative of a pharmacist.
2. Inserts a new power to make regulations in relation to
Pharmacy Depots. Pharmacy depots are places, such as a
general retail shop in geographic areas without a pharmacy,
where prescriptions (other than for narcotic substances)
can be deposited and sent to a pharmacist who dispenses
and return the medications to be collected. Pharmacy
depots were previously regulated in Tasmania’s legislation
through the Pharmacy Code made under the
Act. Amendments were made to the Pharmacy Control Act
2001 in 2010 in the context of national pharmacist
registration at a time when the requirement for a Pharmacy
Code was considered unnecessary and the provision was
repealed. The Tasmanian Pharmacy Authority
recommended that the power to regulate pharmacy
depots be reintroduced, so that any growth in pharmacy
depots can be regulated in future if necessary. Any
regulations made under this power will be subject to the
usual regulatory impact assessment process. This would be
to ensure that any future growth in pharmacy depot
arrangements is done in an appropriately safe manner for
consumers. For example, there may be powers prescribed
to inspect depots to ensure the storage and supply of
dispensed medicines is done properly, securely and safely.
Poisons Act 1971
1. Amends section 47(10)(a) of the Act to include references
to new provisions 25C, 25D, and 25E. This cross-
referencing was unintentionally not included when these
subsections were introduced into the Act in previous
amendments. This means it will be lawful for a person to
possess a raw narcotic, narcotic substance, prohibited plant
or prohibited substance where the person is authorised
under sections 25A, 25B, 25C, 25D or 25E of the Act.
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2. Amends section 54E to require a poppy grower to have a
notice from the Board specifying the location and area that
can be planted for the relevant growing period so that
adequate annual compliance activity can be undertaken
under new 5-year licensing regime. This reflects and
reinforces the current administrative requirements on
poppy growers.
Right to Information Act 2009
1. Amends section 6(1) of the Act to include the
Commissioner for Children and Young People in the list of
persons or bodies excluded from the Right to Information
Act 2009. This amendment was requested by the
Commissioner for Children and Young People.
The amendment brings the Commissioner for Children and
Young People in line with other offices in the same section,
including the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Custodial
Inspector and the Health Complaints Commissioner.
These offices all hold confidential and sensitive information,
much of which is sourced from other public authorities
which are subject to right to information. It is appropriate
that the source public authority respond to any right to
information request given their operational responsibility
for it.
Like all such offices, this amendment does not prevent a
person seek information relating to the administration of
the office under right to information.
Youth Justice Act 1997
1. Amends the definition of detention centre manager to
refer to the new provision 124A. The Youth Justice Act
defines “detention centre manager” to mean the person in
charge of a detention centre. It does not however contain
any specific appointment provisions. The person in practice
is a senior State Service officer. The detention centre
manager’s powers and functions are significant. The
inclusion of standalone appointment provisions for the
State Service officer to be formally appointed under the
Act as detention centre manager reinforces the statutory
powers and responsibilities of the role.
2. For the reasons noted above, inserts a new section 124A
to provide for the appointment of a detention centre
manager. No additional remuneration for the manager
arises from this change.
3. Amends section 146B to remove unnecessary
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administrative restrictions on who the detention centre
manager may delegate powers and functions to. These
restrictions originally envisaged powers would only be
delegated to officers in the adult prison. However, it is
equally necessary to delegate appropriate powers to youth
justice officers, such as when the manager is unavailable to
exercise them.
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