Rebecca White (Lyons, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The National Joint Replacement Registry is currently administered by the Australian Orthopaedic Association.

The registry collects information from all relevant hospitals in Australia to define, improve and maintain the quality of care of individuals receiving joint replacement surgery.

The Australian Orthopaedic Association receives funding to operate the registry through a Commonwealth grant agreement. The cost of the grant is efficiently recovered through the imposition of a levy on sponsors of joint replacement devices under the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Act 2009.

The purpose of the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025 is to provide that the person responsible for payment of the levy under the act is the person specified in the rules made under section 8 of the act.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has always charged the levy consistent with the policy intent. That is, the person who is responsible for a medical device listed on the prescribed list of medical devices and human tissue products on the levy imposition day is responsible for paying the levy.

Currently, the act only recognises the person responsible at the time of the listing of a device, and not any subsequent person who is responsible for that listing over time due to business or other changes.

Specifying the responsible person in the rules will allow limitations in the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to be addressed.

Provisions have been included to validate past levy collections.

I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.

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