Clause 4 of 5Victoria
Victoria’s Patient Review Panel
The Patient Review Panel’s own page calls it “an independent statutory body established under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008”, set up by section 82. The panel’s page says it is independent of the Department of Health, which regulates providers, and of ART providers. It considers applications on matters the Act sends to it, among them refused treatment, the posthumous use of gametes and embryos, longer storage periods, and sex selection.
General information, not legal advice. The Patient Review Panel’s page on vic.gov.au is the official place to read about the panel and its applications.
Applications
What the panel considers
The panel’s page lists the kinds of application it considers. Five of them are below in its own words; this is a selection, and the panel’s page has the full list.
“The role of the panel is to consider applications relating to:”
The Patient Review Panel’s page (a selection)
- “posthumous use of gametes and embryos (ss46-48)”
- “where a registered ART provider or doctor reasonably believes that a child that may be born would be at risk of abuse or neglect (s15(1)(c))”
- “where an applicant does not meet the criteria for treatment (s10(2)(a) and s15(1)(b))”
- “requests for an extensions of storage period of gametes or embryos or the removal of embryos from storage (ss31-34A)”
- “the use of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for the purpose of sex selection (s28(2)(b)).”
The panel’s page adds that the Act lets the Minister for Health give the panel other functions as well (s 85(1)(g)).
Membership
Who sits on the panel
Members, including the chairperson and deputy chairpersons, are appointed by the Governor in Council (s 83) for no longer than 3 years (s 86 and s 87A). The panel’s page says applications are considered by a full division of the panel, “consisting of the chairperson, a deputy chairperson and 3 other members, at least one of whom has expertise in child protection”. It adds that applications about storage periods may be decided by the chairperson or a single member, though in practice a full division more often considers them (s 85(2)(b)).
As the panel’s page gave it on 9 October 2026, “The panel currently consists of 13 members, including the chairperson and 3 deputy chairpersons.”
In the Act, section 85(2) sets how the panel is constituted when it exercises its functions under section 85(1)(a) to (f). One of its arrangements, in paragraph (b), is that for a function under section 85(1)(f) the panel may act as the chairperson or a single member the chairperson chooses.
Terms of office
How long members serve, and how they leave
The chairperson and deputy chairpersons hold office for the period set in their instrument of appointment, which may not be more than 3 years (s 86(1)). The Governor in Council may remove the chairperson or a deputy chairperson from office at any time (s 86(3)).
For the panel’s other members, section 87A says a member may resign by written notice to the Minister, and the Governor in Council may remove a member from office at any time (s 87A(2) and (3)).
Section 88 says a member is entitled to the fees the Minister fixes for them from time to time, unless the member is a public service employee within the meaning of the Public Administration Act 2004.
Refused treatment
When a provider has refused treatment
One ground for applying, under section 15(1)(c) of the Act, is that a registered ART provider or a doctor has declined to treat a woman, reasonably believing that a child who may be born would be at risk of abuse or neglect. Section 15(1) lists other grounds too, among them not meeting the criteria for treatment, as the panel’s page notes.
Having considered an application under section 15, the panel may find “no barrier” to the person having treatment procedures, either generally or of a specified kind (s 15(2)). The membership rule above matters here: a division hearing such an application includes at least one member with child protection expertise.
Considerations
What the panel must weigh
In deciding an application for review under section 15, the panel must have regard to these (s 15(3)):
- the guiding principles in section 5, which clause 1 quotes in full
- whether carrying out a treatment procedure on the person, generally or of a specified kind:
- is for a therapeutic goal; and
- is consistent with the best interests of any child born as a result of it.
The panel’s page adds:
“The panel is further guided by any other relevant legislation and the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Ethical guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research (2017).”
The Patient Review Panel’s page