Wilkinson Kate: Veterinarians Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Wilkinson Kate: Veterinarians Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:934] 
KATE WILKINSON (National) 
: 
 I thank my learned colleague Mr Borrows for the lesson on battery hens and what to do and what not to do with them. I rise to speak to new Part 3A and to bring some relevance to the debate despite the assertions of non-relevance or irrelevance from my not-so-learned colleague from the Greens. I rise to put some relevance back into this debate and to talk about the conditions of practice. I know that it might come as a surprise to members that I might actually address the question but so be it. 
I wonder whether sometimes it is the chicken before the egg or the egg before the chicken because we are talking about the Veterinary Council having somewhat impressive albeit discretionary powers. Whenever any body has discretionary and impressive powers one has to look at the body itself—in other words the council. If we look at the composition of the council—and I know that this is in the next part of the bill but it is relevant in terms of who has the authority to impose those conditions—it can be seen that the council includes two laypersons one veterinarian appointed by the Minister and an academic. I wonder whether that is entirely appropriate when we are setting the standards in advance for a profession that is obviously concerned about protecting its brand and its reputation and maintaining the consistency of those standards. 
I wonder whether the Minister has brought that to mind as to the composition of the council when imposing these conditions of practice because these powers are impressive and they are subjective. There is always a danger with discretionary subjective powers that there is a lack of certainty. When laws are uncertain they can lead to misunderstandings and they can lead to their being regarded as bad law. The subjectivity I think is a concern. The conditions imposed must be only those that in the council’s opinion are necessary. There is no objectivity in that test there is no requirement whatsoever as to what is reasonable or what is not reasonable and I do wonder as to the appropriateness of the total subjectivity of the test. 
My having said that some of the conditions that have been listed—and again they are discretionary and not mandatory—seem to reek somewhat of common sense I must confess. It is not unusual for many professions for example to require continuing education as a condition and in fact many professions require continuing education in any event as a prerequisite to having a practising certificate and I speak on that in relation to chartered accountants. They have an extensive continuing education programme that ensures that their profession does indeed protect its brand its reputation and does maintain as far as possible consistency of standards. There are conditions that I think are sensible and for those veterinarians who have been censured it is entirely appropriate that a condition of supervision may be applied. Obviously there are also conditions that a specified person may not perform any work of a stated kind and this gives some flexibility if for example there is a certain field of expertise with which that vet is not familiar. I think again there is some common sense there. 
My major objection to new Part 3A is in relation to the notice. A condition in new clause 55B prescribes that the council must notify the person of any conditions of practice it has imposed. There is absolutely no notice requirement in this provision. It is almost like having the verdict before the trial and I am concerned that the sense of fairness—the sense of natural justice that pervades some of the rest of the bill the sense of a right to be heard—seems to be omitted from new clause 55B. In effect there is no notice requirement whatsoever in relation to any conditions that the council may subjectively and unilaterally impose. I am concerned that could lead to serious injustices.