The Victorian Government is proposing legislative reforms to improve the regulatory tools available under health portfolio legislation, and to change how assisted reproductive treatment (ART) is regulated in Victoria.
On 20 April 2024, the department released a consultation paper to seek stakeholder views, build understanding of the reforms and support their implementation. Consultation closed on 31 May 2024.
The consultation paper is divided into 2 parts:
- Part 1 – proposed reforms to improve the compliance and enforcement tools available under health portfolio legislation.
- Part 2 – proposed reforms to the regulation of ART (under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008).
Part 1 includes proposed reforms to improve the compliance and enforcement tools available to regulate:
- Cooling tower and water delivery systems under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.
- Drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003.
- First aid services under the Non-Emergency Patient Transport and First Aid Services Act 2003.
- Medicines and poisons under the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981.
- Non-emergency patient transport under the Non-Emergency Patient Transport and First Aid Services Act 2003.
- Pest control operators under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.
- Private hospitals, day procedure centres and mobile services (or health service establishments) under the Health Services Act 1988.
- Radiation use under the Radiation Act 2005.
Part 2 includes proposed reforms to the regulation of ART including:
- Transferring the regulatory functions of registering ART providers and monitoring and enforcing compliance to the department's Secretary.
- Transferring responsibility for maintaining and managing the Central Register and Voluntary Register (the registers) to a new Donor Conception Registrar within the department.
- Replacing the requirement for the regulator’s preapproval to bring donor gametes or embryos formed from them into, or out of, Victoria with a certification requirement.
- Removing the requirements that counselling be offered or undertaken before disclosure of information from the registers or lodgement of a contact preference. This is proposed to be replaced with a requirement that the Donor Conception Registrar provide prescribed information to the person which will cover matters currently required to be covered during mandated counselling.
- Removing the functions relating to education, consultation and research promotion from the ART Act.
- Improving regulatory tools in line with reforms being proposed to other health regulatory schemes.
Next steps
Thank you to everyone who participated in the consultation process.
Feedback on the consultation paper will be used by the department to design the proposed reforms and plan for their implementation. The department may have further targeted discussions with stakeholders in relation to any feedback received.
Further detail on the reforms and a timeframe for implementation will be available later in 2024
Contact
For more information or to sign up for news and updates on the proposed reforms, please email the department's Legislative and Regulatory Reform Team legandregreform@health.vic.gov.au.
Reviewed 03 June 2024