O'Connor Damien: Veterinarians Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Veterinarians Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:623;Page:18760] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Agriculture) 
: 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Primary Production Committee for consideration and that the committee present its final report on or before 14 June 2005. 
There are currently 2597 registered veterinarians in New Zealand working in a broad range of roles in rural and urban practices Government service universities research institutes and key industries such as food processing and pharmaceuticals. Veterinarians are responsible for maintaining animal health and welfare and in doing so they make an important contribution to our society. 
Veterinarians also make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s economic performance. Livestock-based industries in which they are involved both on-farm and off-farm earned about 44 percent of New Zealand’s export earnings last year. As well veterinarians play a vital role in providing assurance to domestic and international consumers that our livestock-based food products are safe to consume and free of biosecurity risks. 
The current legislative framework for veterinary practice in New Zealand is governed by the Veterinarians Act of 1994. The Act established the Veterinary Council of New Zealand as the principal body responsible for protecting the public interest by regulating the veterinary profession and by encouraging high standards of professional practice. In particular the council is responsible for maintaining the registration of veterinarians establishing the standards for veterinary practice and hearing and determining complaints and exercising disciplinary powers. 
The Veterinarians Bill will repeal and replace the 1994 Act. The impetus behind the change is the need to provide the veterinary profession with a more modern and flexible governance structure comparable to other professions such as the medical profession. 
The bill will also enable a larger pool of overseas-trained veterinarians to seek registration in New Zealand. That is because the bill repeals the previous requirement that only persons holding a 5-year veterinary science degree from certain recognised institutions are eligible for registration in New Zealand. Overseas veterinarians with 4-year veterinary science degrees from non-recognised institutions will be able to apply for registration subject to successfully completing any examinations or training courses prescribed or approved by the council. 
These changes reflect international trends—in particular the increasing practice of overseas veterinary schools to offer 4½-year veterinary science degrees. The examinations and training courses are designed to help maintain the standard of veterinarians registered in New Zealand and to continue to give consumers including our trading partners confidence in New Zealand’s veterinary services. 
The bill also clarifies and improves provisions relating to the Veterinary Council’s disciplinary powers. In particular it will provide the council with wider options for dealing with complaints than are currently available under the 1994 Act. That will better align the council’s disciplinary powers to the seriousness of offences. It also means that the council can impose penalties comparable to those contained in the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act. That will ensure that incentives are there for veterinarians to carry out their professional responsibilities to required standards. 
These changes to the disciplinary powers and processes are important for the maintenance of confidence in the complaints process. It is important that veterinarians and members of the public have confidence in the system. 
A further constraint in the Veterinarians Act is that it provides for the implementation of a number of its provisions through regulations. The council considers that to be time consuming and inflexible. It also ties up a lot of the Government’s time and resources. For instance the Act requires that fees paid by veterinarians to the Veterinary Council be established by regulations. Fees are the council’s principal source of income but the current process for the setting of fees is too inflexible and means the council cannot respond quickly to changes in its financial circumstances. 
The bill empowers the Veterinary Council to prescribe its own fees in accordance with the principles contained in the Act after consultation with those paying the fees which will ensure that the fee-setting process is indeed transparent. The Regulations Review Committee will also be able to scrutinise the fees set by the council. 
All other provisions of the Veterinarians Act remain substantially the same. The Veterinary Council and the New Zealand Veterinary Association which is the professional body that represents all veterinarians support the bill’s objectives as the Veterinary Council will be assisted in discharging its statutory obligations. The Government would like to see the bill enacted this year to enable the Veterinary Council of New Zealand to continue under the amended regulatory framework from 1 January 2006 the starting date of its new financial year. 
I commend the bill to the House and want to move that it be referred to the Primary Production Committee for consideration and that the committee present its final report on or before 14 June 2005. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The Minister will move that motion after the bill has been read a first time.