Believe me - sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword and for once this industry needs to show that it won't take this sort of action lying down.  We do want to see non licensed people prosecuted, of course we do, but those who judge others (the PGDB) must act scrupulously in their dealings, honestly and legally.  If they do not act properly - how can they sit in judgement on others and pass sentence on them?  If we do wrong we accept responsibility (or have that responsibility forced on us in the form of fines, loss of licence, costs, directives to work under supervision or course requirements) but what has happened to the PGDB in view of their continued wrong doings as evidence by the list of things in the OAG Report and now more recently the two large errors they have made that are highlighted in the Regulation Review committee report. 
We, as practitioners, were counting on our MP's to stand up for what is right, to serve the PGDB with a slap and tell them that they can't break the law and continue to break it.  But what have they done?  Seemingly backed away from the fight.  I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but somewhere, someone with a fair bit of clout is pulling some very delicate strings - and the ones who suffer are us, the common, ordinary working person, trying to do their best and earn a crust.  Shame on the politicans that are party to this - I say flush (pardon the pun) them out and name them on this forum.  Email your local MP and ask them where they stand on this matter - and then let the rest of us know.  I've emailed my local MP and also Tim Macindoe asking them to explain where they sit.

Update - Tim Macindo has withdrawn the original motion to disallow and a new motion has been put by Charles Chauvel who is the Chair of the RRC, it moves for disallowance of the points system which would take effect 21 days after it was tabled (if no debate or action takes place) - however the sections relating to the disciplinary level have now got a date attached to them for the disallowance to take place - and that date is 31 March 2012, which means that the PGDB can gazette a notice taking effect 1 April 2012 for new fees which are likely to be a reduced disciplinary levy (as they cannot legally charge practitioners for disciplinary action against non practitioners under this levy), and increase either the licence fee, or introduce another levy to cover action against  non practitioners.  So essentially what we are seeing is MP's working with the PGDB to fleece tradespeople, probably with the DBH in the mix "advising" everyone.  This is a slap in the face for the two tradesmen that spent many hours preparing this case.  It wouldn't hurt to email Charles Chauvel asking him why the RRC have amended the motion to assist the PGDB to continue to rip tradespeople off until 31 March 2012.  But be polite if you do send it otherwise it doesn't paint us in a good light, and they tend to ignore it.
 

My understanding is that's what it means.  You needs points for gas for 1 April, but after the disallowance date I don't see how getting points can be deemed a condition of licence.  The PGDB are going to have to come out with some communication very fast - a lot of business has been done around teh points system.  I have suspended all upskilling (formal courses that cost $$) until we have a communication from the PGDB.  In the meantime we will continue to upskill as we always have - but outside the system set up by the PGDB.  The next few weeks will be most interesting.  I encourage you all to read the RRC motion etc which can be found on the Parliamentary website - and see what you think.  I don't think anyone should base decisions on others opinions - find out for yourself so you are sure in your own decision making.  I'm no expert on this, but I make a lot of phone calls and keep up to date with what is going on - by reading and writing letters to the appropriate agencies and politicians and getting information via the Official Information Act.  We ALL need to start doing this.

Chances of reimbursement in my opinion zero, unless a group of tradespeople could get together and bring a class action against the Board.  You'd need to find a lawyer who wanted to do it on a contingency basis.  I know that some investigations have been made around legal action and one figure bandied about by a barrister was that he would want $50k but it could get to $100k if it went to the High Court.  Unless everyone got together to start a legal fund then I don't know too many plumbers, gasfitters or drainlayers who could come up with that individually.  Mind you I have toyed with the idea of opening a bank account and suggesting we look at $20 per head to kick the ball off.

Yes, I think the gas points will also disappear too, they were not consulted on properly.  The PGDB will need to come up with something else, a new scheme and then consult on it, get feedback and consult on the recommendations.  That is my understanding.  However, I think as practitioners we should still be championing upskilling - it is important to keep learning, however it is the scheme currently running that is rotten.  As at 1 April all gazette notices stand i.e. you have to pay your fees and you have to have the gas points, as at mid June this year then I believe the points will no longer be able to be a condition to licence - and the govt are currently sitting on the motion around the disciplinary levy which is not meant to take affect until 31 March 2012, and by then the PGDB will have butt coverered and have a new notice in place to grab a similar, if not larger amount of cash off you.

Keep reading the Federation newsletters, they keep everyone up to date with current movements, and the movements are very swift at the moment!

That came up when CPD was introduced for gas and it didn't worry them at all.