The National Scheme is governed by a nationally consistent law passed by each state and territory parliament - the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
Legislative change helps keep practitioner regulation up to date. Two recent reforms are to mandatory reporting and statutory offences through the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (the Act), which was passed by the Queensland Parliament in February 2019.
The amendments include revisions to the National Law mandatory reporting requirements for treating health practitioners, which are intended to support registered practitioners to seek help for any health or wellbeing issue they may have. Penalties for offences under the National Law have also been increased (including the introduction of custodial sentences of up to three years’ imprisonment).