SOCIAL WORKERS —
REGISTRATION
217. Hon ALISON XAMON to the parliamentary secretary representing the
Minister for Mental Health:
(1) Does the
McGowan government support the introduction of a registration scheme for social
workers?
(2) If yes to
(1), has the government undertaken, or does it intend to undertake, any work to
progress such a scheme?
(3) If yes to (2), please advise
what work is planned or has already been undertaken.
(4) If no to (1), why not?
Hon
ALANNA CLOHESY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) No. The WA
government does not support the extension of the national registration and
accreditation scheme to include any additional health professional groups at
this time.
(2)–(3) Not applicable.
(4) The national
registration and accreditation scheme is primarily to protect the public
through a risk-based approach to professional regulation for health
practitioners. Social work is one of a number of allied health professions that
work in many community services sectors outside of health care. Social workers
and a number of other allied health professionals, such as speech pathologists,
currently operate under self-regulation arrangements through peak
representative organisations.