Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm taking this call on behalf of ACT to say that we are supporting the Social Workers Registration Amendment Bill in its first reading. As other contributors have said before this is actually a bill that is making minor changes but these changes are important. So there are six minor policy adjustments and 10 technical amendments. These are based on the review that has been done as per the previous legislation that a review needs to be done in five years' time. The technical amendments are basically to clear the inconsistencies which are there in the 2019 amendment. It's really important that we have a really good oversight of social workers because we have given a very special status to social workers with the requirement of registration and we want to see that people have confidence when they reach out to a social worker for anything that they need so social workers need to maintain that integrity that credibility within their profession. They can do that by providing that right kind of support that is needed when people reach out to them. That is why it was really important that we have registered social workers. Now in this legislation the six minor policy adjustments are to actually strengthen the role of the board to ensure that there is proper regulatory oversight of social workers. As we have heard from the Minister in charge one of the minor policy changes is to broaden the scope of grounds of the interim suspension of social workers where an investigation is being considered because without this provision this might put the board in a very awkward position because if they know something is happening and they continue to let that social worker operate in the field interacting with people then they might be putting these people in more danger because later on if it is found out that actually there was an issue with the social worker that can put everybody in a very awkward position. So it's really important that we look into this and that's why we are supportive of this change this minor policy adjustment in this legislation so that if there is any investigation being considered that individual can be put on interim suspension.The second issue is about the time that the board takes to investigate any complaint. The board needs a reasonable time that needs to be taken to properly investigate any complaint and so this bill is to change the extension period for the interim suspension because there is no point giving multiple notices. So it's important that that individual gets the proper notice so that they know that the board needs that kind of reasonable time but that of course is the time that is really necessary to do that kind of investigation that the board wants to do on any complaint.We know that we are short of social workers. This is a field which is in high demand. We don't want anybody who wants to operate as a social worker to just wait in the queue for their registration to go through the Social Workers Registration Board. So the other change that this bill makes is to delegate that function to one of its staff so that way that backlog if there is any can be easily cleared and the board can actually invest more time in the governance role that they should be doing. In my view this is actually making the whole process efficient. It is about making sure that those who want to register as social workers don't feel discouraged because of the time it takes for them to register. We want to see that anybody who is waiting to be registered as a social worker gets that opportunity as soon as possible and is out there serving the community through their role.In the time that I have left I'll very quickly touch on another function that is currently sitting with the Ministry of Social Development but through this legislation it is going to be transferred to the board if this legislation goes through and this is the overall monitoring and compliance function under the Act. So if somebody is operating as a social worker without authorisation at the moment the Ministry of Social Development can investigate that but as per this legislation that power will be transferred to the board. It's really important to see that because we have the standard set for social workers. People sometimes loosely use this term as a social worker—that they are not getting really serious in this while using the social worker term and not misleading anybody who might think that they are registered social workers so it's important to have that kind of monitoring. It is important to see that the requirement in the legislation is complied with. There are 10 amendments as we have heard before so the ACT Party is supporting this bill. Thank you.