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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 746 asked in the Legislative Council on 12 August 2020 by Hon Alison Xamon

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

PSYCHOTHERAPISTS — REGULATION

746. Hon ALISON XAMON to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Health:

I refer to the ABC news article of 24 July 2020, ''Fake psychologist scam victim urges new code of conduct to regulate counselling services''.

(1) Why are Western Australian still not protected from harm caused by unregulated and untrained counsellors and psychotherapists?

(2) Will the minister act to address this gap?

(3) If yes to (2), when and by what mechanism?

(4) If no to (2), why not?

Hon ALANNA CLOHESY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.

(1) Western Australians have a range of protections, including those under the health and Disability Services Complaints Act 1995, consumer protection law and criminal law. The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (WA) Act 2010 also contains provisions to protect the public from individuals who are ''holding themselves out'' as registered health practitioners through using a protected title—for example, ''psychologists''.

(2)–(3) Yes. The mechanism will be the introduction of a national code of conduct for healthcare workers by the Health and Disability Services (Complaints) Amendment Bill.

(4) Not applicable.