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The following information is to assist persons issuing or serving a subpoena, warrant or other court order (Process) on Ahpra or a National Board. We ask that you read it before you engage in a Process. This will help us to process the return of documents in a timely way. Where the applicable rules have not been complied with, we will let you know, and this may affect the time taken to process requests.
Responses for all non-party Processes served on Ahpra and the National Boards are coordinated by the National Information Release Unit (NIRU).
Each Process should be addressed to the Proper Officer, National Legal Services, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
Please consider contacting the NIRU to generally discuss your request before issuing a Process. We may be able to assist you to identify and describe the type of information that we hold before a Process is issued.
You may contact us by email at: [email protected]
A Process can be served by:
[email protected]
Ahpra’s preferred method of service is by email. If you serve a Process by email, you must also send the original documents to Ahpra by post, with a cheque for conduct money attached (refer to ‘Conduct money’ below) with the exception of warrants.
The Proper Officer National Legal Services Ahpra GPO Box 9958 Capital city
Please note, if you serve a Process by post, we ask that you also send a copy of the documents to Ahpra by email to [email protected].
You may also choose to serve the Process and the conduct money in person at any of Ahpra’s registered offices during business hours.
Melbourne The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 8 111 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000
Sydney The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 51 680 George Street Sydney NSW 2000
Brisbane The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 4 192 Ann Street Brisbane QLD 4000
Adelaide The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 11 80 Grenfell Street Adelaide SA 5000
Perth The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 2 225 St Georges Terrace Perth WA 6000
Canberra The Proper Officer National Legal Services Ground Floor 50 Blackall Street Barton ACT 2600
Hobart The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 5 99 Bathurst Street Hobart TAS 7000
Darwin The Proper Officer National Legal Services Level 5 22 Harry Chan Avenue Darwin NT 0800
Where a Process requires the payment of conduct money, Ahpra requests that conduct money of $90.00 by way of cheque made payable to ‘Ahpra’ is provided at the time of service of a Process. This requirement does not apply to warrants.
The payment is to cover our initial costs and expenses incurred for accessing, collating and producing documents. Ahpra reserves the right to seek additional reimbursement of our costs where significant work is required to identify, retrieve and produce documents. We will notify and provide you with an estimate of costs (which may vary from the final cost) or apply to the court or tribunal for you to pay any reasonable additional costs incurred in complying with the Process.
We may contact you to confirm receipt of the Process and to obtain further information about the forensic purpose of your request.
Ahpra requires a reasonable timeframe to comply with a Process. In most cases this is at least 2 (two) weeks. However, we may seek an extension of the period for compliance if:
A Process must clearly identify the scope of the documents to be produced to the court or tribunal. Where possible the Process should specify a date period for documents and identify the individual’s full name, aliases, date of birth and registration number if relevant.
We will conduct searches on our readily available records and databases. If materials are to be recalled from electronic or hard copy archives, we will prepare an estimate of the likely time and cost necessary to complete the search.
Please note that Ahpra and the National Boards do not ordinarily hold details of registered health practitioners’ professional indemnity insurer.
Ahpra may apply to the court or tribunal to set aside a Process in whole or in part where, for example, the Process is oppressive or unduly burdensome, lacks a legitimate forensic purpose or where the public interest weighs against disclosure of documents.
We will only object to a Process as a last resort and will, where practicable, first seek to work with the issuing party to address our concerns. For example, we may suggest narrowing the scope of documents sought to avoid the need to raise an objection.