On 18 March 2021, the Senate referred an inquiry into the administration of registration and notifications by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and related entities under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 24 November 2021. On 23 November 2021, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until Friday of the first sitting week in March 2022.

Further detail about the scope of the inquiry is provided in the terms of reference.

Making a submission

Submissions were sought by 30 April 2021.

Submissions must directly address the terms of reference. Documents sent to the committee that do not address any of the terms of reference may be accepted as unpublished correspondence.

If you would like to make a submission, you may find it helpful to look at the guide for preparing a submission.

Submissions relating to individual cases

To protect the privacy of submitters and other parties involved in the notifications process, the committee has resolved not to publish any submissions outlining individual cases or which contain extensive personal or private information. Such submissions may be accepted by the committee on a confidential basis.

Please note that the committee will not accept certain attachments to submissions, including legal documents, medical records, letters of support, proof of qualification(s) or other highly personal or private materials, that do not have direct relevance to the terms of reference.

The committee emphasises that is has no power to investigate, advocate for, assist with, or resolve individual cases.

If you have a concern about the handling of a case under the National Law and are seeking a resolution, you should contact AHPRA's national complaints team (www.ahpra.gov.au/about-ahpra/complaints.aspx) or the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (www.nhpo.gov.au/) in the first instance.