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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2106 ..
MS CARNELL: Well, there you go, you see. This is why I am arguing with Mr Berry about protecting the community. I am sure those opposite would like to protect the community from Mr Moore. You can just imagine Mr Moore out there being a psychologist, and Mr Wood as well. Mr Speaker, I think it shows the importance of this legislation and getting it through. Currently we have a situation where the legal right that Mr Berry talks about really is not an appropriate right. It is not appropriate for Mr Moore to have the right to apply to be a psychologist. He simply does not have the qualifications to do that, although he does have many years as a teacher working as, amongst other things, a school counsellor. Therefore, he could apply and could, potentially, under these sorts of situations, be registered.
Mr Speaker, I do not think you could say that this is a true civil liberties issue at all. The Minister and his staff, I understand, have worked cooperatively with Bill Wood on this. The information that Mr Berry has brought forward today was spelt out in full in the explanatory memorandum that went to all the members.
Mr Speaker, I just come back to the important issues here. The six people involved are school counsellors. They will continue to be able to be school counsellors. That is their job. So no-one is taking away any right that they have. What we are suggesting is that they should not have another right, a right to be a psychologist, that was never intended in this place or in policy. So this Bill does not take away a right that should exist, and it protects the community. It protects the community from Mr Moore registering as a psychologist, or Mr Wood registering as a psychologist, people who obviously do not have the qualifications that we believe they should have in the interests of the community. Again I come back to this. This does need to be passed. This is about playing politics with anything that it seems that those opposite want to oppose. This is important for the community. We should pass it.
Motion (by Mr Corbell ) proposed:
That the debate be adjourned.
The Assembly voted -
AYES, 5 NOES, 8 Mr Berry Ms Carnell Mr Hargreaves Mr Cornwell Mr Quinlan Mr Humphries Mr Stanhope Mr Kaine Ms Tucker Mr Osborne Mr Rugendyke Mr Smyth Mr StefaniakQuestion so resolved in the negative.
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