Veterinary Practice (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill
29/10/2013
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (17:15): I will speak very briefly this afternoon in favour of the Veterinary Practice (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2013, which will improve the current operation of the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 and introduce national recognition of veterinary registration (NRVR). I would like to thank the Hon. Gail Gago as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries for her offer of a briefing on the bill, but since Dignity for Disability already supports the bill and has received a clear enough indication on the bill from the minister’s second reading speech, it was not necessary.
I would also like to acknowledge the submission I received from the South Australian/Northern Territory Division of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) indicating their support for the bill and outlining the benefit that this will bring to this particular industry. AVA represents 8,000 members who work within all fields of the sector: from clinical practitioners in private practice to students of veterinary science and government public health and quarantine positions. They seem well placed to represent the industry on this matter.
As with any other occupations, vets are moving to a national registration system to recognise modern work conditions where we see people often working across state and territory borders. It is also important that the relevant industry qualifications are accepted across the nation. For those reasons and others already outlined by other members we support the bill.
