Implementing a COAG Reform Using the National Law Model: Australia's National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Practitioners

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is undertaking a program of reform part of which requires moving from diverse state and territory based legislated systems to a nationally consistent system. A method which is being increasingly used for this purpose is the national law model. On 1 July 2010 a new national registration and accreditation scheme (NRAS) for health practitioners commenced using this model. The challenges faced in implementing NRAS may be faced by other initiatives using the same approach. The challenges of reaching agreement on a national system, avoiding variations within a national system at local level and delays in legislation across multiple parliaments are considered in the light of NRAS experience and lessons for similar projects are drawn out.     

Three Separation Theses

Legal positivism's ``separationthesis' is usually taken in one of two ways: asan analytic claim about the nature of law –roughly, as some version of the SocialThesis; or as a substantive claim about themoral value of law – roughly, as some versionof the Value Thesis. In this paper Iargue that we should recognize a third kind ofpositivist separation thesis, one whichcomplements, but is distinct from, positivism'sanalytic and moral claims. The NeutralityThesis says that the correct analytic claimabout the nature of law does not by itself entail anysubstantive claims about the moral value oflaw. I give careful formulations of these threeseparation theses; explain the relationshipsbetween them; and sketch the role that eachplays in the positivist approach to law.