The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Veterinarians Act (”the Act”) in the following ways:

·	introduce a two tiered scheme of primary and secondary registration for veterinarians

·	make minor adjustments to the penalties in the Act following a review and the conversion from monetary to penalty units

·	repeal of power to make regulations to control advertising by veterinarians. 

At present in the Territory there is a single form of registration for all veterinarians (and veterinarian specialists). No distinction is made in registration between an applicant intending to conduct the majority of his or her professional practice in the Northern Territory or those who are a resident elsewhere, holding registration in another jurisdiction where they principally operate. 

At present all applicants are subject to the same application process and annual registration fee.

In 2002, all jurisdictions endorsed the Australian Veterinary Boards Council proposal that veterinary legislation Australia-wide be amended to allow for the introduction of secondary registration for veterinarians. Secondary registration will be available to veterinarians who wish to operate outside their “home” jurisdiction, where their principal registration is held. 

The mutual recognition of trade and professional qualifications is now a well accepted practice in Australia. The amendments will advance this trend in mutual recognition a step further by offering a streamlined application process and cheaper annual fee for secondary registration. 

The Veterinarian Regulations will be amended to allow for the introduction of a new fee structure to accommodate the differential two tiered registration scheme. No fees will be increased.

The amendments will introduce into the Act a two tiered scheme of registration. Primary registration is intended for all locally based veterinarians where the majority of the person’s practice is conducted in the Territory. Secondary registration is for interstate applicants, where they already hold registration in their home jurisdiction and the majority of the veterinary practice is conducted outside of the Territory. 

Secondary registration will be distinguished by streamlined administrative process and a lower annual registration fee (half the fee of Primary registration). These changes will act as an incentive to attract greater numbers of interstate veterinarians to register and visit the Territory for professional purposes. In turn, locally primary registered veterinarians will also be able to enjoy similar benefits of mutual recognition interstate.

The penalty regime in the legislation has not been reviewed for over ten years. The penalties continue to be expressed in terms of a monetary value rather than penalty units. The opportunity has been taken to review the penalties levels to ensure they are consistent with similar penalties across all Northern Territory legislation. 

Minor adjustments have been made to some penalties and all have been converted to penalty units. The conversion of the penalties to penalty units is outlined in the Schedule attached to the Bill.   

Finally section 53 is amended by repealing the power to make regulations to control the advertising of veterinarians. The specific advertising regulations that previously were in force were repealed several years ago. Repeal is essentially done for the sake of legislative tidiness. The repeal is consistent with the National Competition Principles and was a recommendation of the National Competition Council. 

NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1.	Short Title

	This is a formal clause which provides for the citation of the Bill.  The Bill when passed may be cited as the Veterinarians Amendments (Fees and Charges) Bill 2005.

Clause 2.	Commencement

	Once the amendments are passed they will only start once the Administrator has agreed to a date that is to be published in the NT Government Gazette.

Clause 3.	Principal Act Amended

	Veterinarians Act.

Clause 4.	Amendment of Section 3 (Interpretation)

	Define new terms that are to be used with the introduction of these amendments. The terms are Prescribes, Primary and Secondary registration.
Omit the term Provisional and substitute with interim.

	Several other terms are deleted that are no longer to be used.

Clause 5.		Amendment of section 11 (Application for registration)

		Deletes current section 11(1) and inserts in its place new wording that details what an applicant must provide to the Veterinarians Board when seeking registration.

		It also deletes certain wording from Section 11 (2) and Section 11(2) (a).

Clause 6.		Amendment of section 12 (Direction for registration, etc.)

		Deletes section 12(3) so that the Veterinarians Board is no longer required to refund the application fee to an unsuccessful applicant (or where as application is withdrawn). The application fee and annual registration fee have been combined. A separate application fee is to be introduced. The application fee is to be set at $50.

Clause 7.		Amendment of section 15 (Registration as veterinary specialist).

A series of minor drafting changes have been made to clarify the provision. Section 15(4) (a) and (b), omit the present wording and inserts new substitute wording that refers to the revised application process for registration and the need to use a prescribed application.

Includes a minor drafting correction by deleting to the term “Territory and the Commonwealth” and substitute with “another Territory”.   

Clause 8.		Amendment of section 16 (Limited registration)

				Inserts the word “application”.

Clause 9.		Amendment of section 19 (Annual registration fee)

	Includes a minor drafting alteration involving the inserting of “annual” after the word “prescribed”, several times re-occurring.

	Omits 19(1A) and substitutes by inserting new 19(3). In the event of an application for registration being received during the last quarter of the calendar year, and registration is approved, the Veterinarians Board may waive payment of the annual fee for the following year.

Essentially this option is available to the Board and to be exercised as an incentive for new graduates who seek primary registration in the Territory soon after completing their studies and gain immediate employment late in the calendar year.  

Clause 10.	Repeal and substitution of section 20 

	Substitutes section 20 with newly drafted section that outlines the process and methods to be used to record the registration of a Veterinarian. It allows for the use of a two tiered system of registration – Primary and Secondary registration.

	New section 20A deals with the method to be used by the Veterinarians Board in determining whether primary or secondary registration is to be granted to a successful applicant. 

Clause 11	Amendment of section 21 (Certificate of registration)

	Inserts new 11(1)(aa) to allow for a certificate of registration to be issued as either primary or secondary registration.

		Includes minor drafting changes and inserting of the word “and”. 

Clause 12	Amendment of section 34 (Disciplinary action) 

	Includes minor drafting changes and conversion of a monetary penalty to a penalty unit.

Clause 13	Amendment of section 53 (Regulations)

	Repeals the power to make regulations to control advertising by veterinarians. This is achieved by deleting the present section 53(2) and substituting it with a newly drafted section that makes no reference to advertising.

It also includes the conversion from monetary to penalty units. 

Clause 14	Further Information 

	Details the conversion of monetary penalties to penalty units for each affected provision in the Act. These are outlined in the attached schedule.