1. The Background to the current Campaign for Registration of Social Work Trudi Marchant Taskforce for Registration of Social Work July 2012

2. Wider Policy Environment Federal government policies in the 1990’s of market reform, competition policy and deregulation resulted in self regulation for professions not already registered at state level such as medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, teachers, psychologists. Eg SW registered in the NT and dropped to pursue self regulation. The AASW self regulated - practice standards, continuing professional development and an ethics and complaints service; continued to accredit qualifying social work programs and update the education and accreditation standards. 1999 resumed international qualifications assessment.

3. Failure of Self Regulation By 2001 failure of self registration –sixty per cent of the workforce chose not to be members of the AASW and be accountable for practice eg standards, ethics. –Unable to prevent sanctioned members from continuing to practice –Board decided to again pursue statutory registration. –In 2004 ‘A Duty of Care: A case for the Statutory Regulation of Social Work’ a submission made to the Council of Australian Governments COAG’s Australian Health Ministers Conference (AHMC) making the case for social work registration.

4. National Policy for registering health professions At the national level the issues of managing a national health workforce and the risk to the public of poor practice resulted in AHMC agreeing –in 1995 to principles to determine the registration of unregistered health professions and –in 2006 to establish a national registration and accreditation scheme for professions currently registered in states and territories.

5. Registration of Unregistered Health Professions The guidelines established for the registration of unregistered health professions were according to two principles and six criteria. Throughout AHMC was concerned that: –The sole purpose of occupational regulation is to protect the public interest. –The purpose of regulation is not to protect the interests of health occupations. The two principles for registration were: –It was supported in a majority of jurisdictions –It could be demonstrated that the occupation’s practice presents a serious risk to public health and safety.

6. The six criteria for registering a health profession 1.Is it appropriate for Health ministers to exercise responsibility for regulating the occupation? 2.Do the activities of the occupation pose a significant risk of harm to the health and safety of the public? 3.Do existing regulatory or other mechanisms fail to address health and safety issues? 4.Is regulation possible for the occupation in question? 5.Is regulation practical for the occupation in question? 6.Do the benefits to the public of regulation clearly outweigh the potential negative impact of such regulation?

7. The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Practitioners 2008 AHMC agreed on a single national registration and accreditation scheme for health professions to ‘facilitate workforce mobility, improve safety and quality and reduce red tape.’ July 2010 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency commenced with: –Boards for each of the professions –A national office and one in each state. –Ten professions then registered in all states including medicine, dental care (including dentists, dental hygienists, dental prosthetics and dental therapists), nursing and midwifery, pharmacy, chiropractic care, podiatry, optometry, osteopathy, physiotherapy and psychology.

8. New Entrants to NRAS Intergovernmental Agreement for NRAS: a Regulatory Impact Statement required prior to the entry of any new profession. In 2010 four new entrants then registered in one or more jurisdictions were agreed Start date of July 1 2012 Occupational therapy, radiology, aboriginal health workers and Chinese medicine. February 2010 agreed to a RIS for the inclusion of paramedics. Currently not complete. Large numbers of complaints about paramedics including in WA. No new entrants until 2014/2015 - registration fatigue around cost and complexity. Review of NRAS required in next few years. If social work not approved in principle for entry by then, AASW should push for social work to be included as part of the review.

9. AASW’s Response to NRAS The AASW’s response to the 2006 COAG announcement was to actively pursue inclusion in NRAS. Staff, the National Registration Committee (NRC) and a political lobbyist actively lobbied AHMC based on the 2004 paper outlining our case for registration. by 2009 feedback was we would not be considered for inclusion in NRAS as we weren’t registered in any jurisdiction and were perceived as not representing a threat to the physical safety of the community.

10. Registration through Community Sector The Board then decided to pursue registration through the Community and Disability Services Ministerial Conference (CDSMC) and the community sector (whilst keeping an eye on NRAS) and the NRC began working towards this goal. March 2011 feedback from AHMC that there maybe a third tranche of entrants to NRAS with Paramedics. NRC and Board decided to again pursue entry to NRAS as representing the best option for social work. October 2011 Submission to AHMC ‘Protecting the Health and Well Being of Australians’ with lobbying campaign. Lack of staff resulted in delay until Kandie and Taskforce appointed for three months to undertake current lobbying campaign.

11. Options for unregistered health professions. Government concern with serious malpractice arising from unregistered health practitioners from a wide range of smaller and less well defined professions. Of most concern to us are unregistered counsellors eg AIWCW, PACFA and ACA. 2011 AHMC undertook national consultation with unregistered health professions proposing three options for strengthening regulation. –Option 1: No change – rely on existing regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms. –Option 2: Strengthen self-regulation – a voluntary code of practice. –Option 3: Strengthen health complaint mechanisms – a statutory code of conduct.eg NSW Health Complaints Commission. –AASW and many other professions made submissions strongly rejecting proposals as failing to address inadequacy of self regulation and calling for inclusion in NRAS. –Allied Health Professions Australia made a submission calling for ‘authorised self regulation’ of unregistered health professions ie government legislate for well regulated professions to undertake registration of title and practice. Audiology, Diabetes educators, Perfusionists, Orthotics and Prosthetists, Sonographers, Dietitians, Exercise and Sports Scientists, Speech Pathology.