PSR Panel Newsletter - October 2024

Welcome to the Spring 2024 edition of the PSR newsletter!

Director’s message

This year has been a big one for PSR with many changes, including some innovative process changes and significant staff changes. I would like to start this newsletter by thanking Andrew Shelley for his extraordinary effort and commitment to PSR over the years. Andrew finished up with PSR in August and his presence and expertise will be missed. 

Practically this means PSR has reverted to having one Special Counsel (Margaret Parker). For anything you would have normally contacted Andrew for, please speak to Margaret instead. 

Appointments to PSR 

I have been appointed as Director of PSR until July 2027. I look forward to working with you all in this new capacity 

We have also welcomed Dr David Brand as PSR’s first ever Associate Director. Associate Directors can exercise the same powers as the Director for particular cases as necessary. This includes key aspects of the PSR Scheme, including the threshold question of whether to undertake a review, and if a review is undertaken, whether to negotiate a written agreement with the person, to refer them to a Committee of peers, or to take no further action. Practically, this means that you may receive referrals from either myself or Dr Brand now. 

We have also welcomed over 20 new panel members this calendar year, and have more in progress!

Panel training

This year’s panel training was a huge success. We appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend this training.

For those of you who couldn’t make it this year, we had a full and engaging agenda, which included the usual presentations on litigation, public interest disclosure, privacy, and fraud and corruption. This year we also ran presentations regarding the new panel training framework, dealing with unbelievable evidence and the PSR Scheme on its 30^th birthday. We also had guest speakers attend to speak about artificial intelligence and its potential application in the medical space, and a number of our Deputy Directors host a Q&A session, where panel members had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the processes and considerations from an experienced Committee Chair. 

Copies of the slides from the presentations are available on the PSR Panel members GovTEAMS Official Community (read more about this below).

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend remotely or in person. 

Antonio 

GovTEAMS communities

All Panel members should have received an invitation to the PSR Panel members GovTEAMS Official Community. This community includes general resources, including publications, guides, reimbursement forms and copies of the remuneration determinations. This community will form an important part of PSR’s new Panel Member Training Framework so please sign up to GovTeams and ensure you can access the resources and stay tuned as we roll out further training opportunities. 

The DA have their own GovTEAMS Community which all members should also have access to. 

You will all also receive periodic reminders to verify your email address. Please action these to ensure your access to GovTEAMS remains current and you can access the PSR material.

If you have any issues accessing or logging into your existing account, please contact PanelAndDA@psr.gov.au. Our staff will review and resolve where possible or refer you to the GovTEAMS Helpdesk where appropriate. 

Agency activity

PSR operations this financial year continue to keep us busy with 35 new referrals and 44 cases finalised by 15 October 2024.

There are currently 28 matters at the Committee stage and we have Committee hearings scheduled for almost every week until Christmas. Thank you to all Committee members who are travelling, reviewing records, reading reports and undergoing all the other work that goes along with these hearings. Preparation for these hearings takes a village and we are grateful for your commitment to PSR. 

There are 105 (and counting) matters currently at the Director’s stage. A record amount of s92 agreements have been sent to the DA in recent months. This also takes a lot of work in the background from PSR staff in between Committee hearings. 

GP24 Conference

We are continuing to discuss, improve, and document our approach to external engagement requests through a stakeholder engagement framework.

Several PSR staff members are attending the GP24 Conference from 21-23 November 2024 in Perth hosted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. PSR will share an exhibition booth with the Department of Health and Aged Care and will be presenting a session about PSR and Debunking Myths and Promoting Good Practice. Stay tuned for more information on this!

Outcomes

PSR continues to post monthly summaries on the website regarding all finalised matters. This is available on the Case Outcomes page of the PSR website. 

In addition to the regular case work included in these summaries, PSR has also had a number of federal court judgments delivered. These can be viewed using the following links: 

Dik v Director of Professional Services Review [2024] FCA 370

Tonakie v Director of PSR [2024] FCAFC 60

Raiz v Director of Professional Services Review (No 2) [2024] FCAFC 91

Want more information? 

PSR posts regularly on LinkedIn about a range of topics, including agency events, recruitment, publications and significant appointments. 

To stay informed, follow PSR on Linkedin!