Counselling and psychotherapy: a regulatory model under review
Counsellors and psychotherapists remain self-regulated with unprotected titles. National standards were published in 2025 and a consultancy is recommending a model.
Country
Australia
Two national psychology reforms are under way: the Psychology Board will recommend a shorter, redesigned route to registration, and the decision rests with the federal government. The federal "top of scope" agenda now offers states $60m to remove scope barriers.
Reforms
Dawson review of the national registration scheme
An independent review found the scheme had "become too inward-looking, too fragmented, and too slow to respond to emerging risks and opportunities". Health Ministers accepted governance changes in May 2026 but deferred an integrated, risk-based framework for regulating all health professions.
Nurse practitioners and midwives: doctor collaboration requirement removed
Since November 2024, nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives can bill Medicare and prescribe PBS medicines without a formal collaborative arrangement with a doctor.
Pharmacist prescribing: UTIs and state pharmacy schemes
Pharmacists can now treat urinary tract infections in every state, and Queensland and Victoria have made wider prescribing schemes permanent. NSW and Queensland made schemes permanent before their evaluations were published, and Victoria announced its decision days before publishing its evaluation summary.
Updated 5+1 internship guidelines
The first major update to the psychology internship guidelines in over a decade took effect in December 2025, removing the case study requirement.
Psychology training redesign: a single five-year degree
The Psychology Board of Australia consulted on replacing the six-year route to registration with one five-year degree, removing the internship year and the national exam for domestic graduates, and will recommend the change to the federal government.
Scope of Practice Review (the Cormack review)
An independent review made 18 recommendations to let primary-care professions work to their full scope. The federal government is now offering states $60m to remove barriers.
No Australia reforms for this profession yet.
Explainers & analysis
Four countries, one direction: the layered psychology workforce
In Australia and Ontario, the route to the protected psychologist title is set to get shorter. New Zealand has created a registered assistant tier, and the UK assures a wider psychological workforce through voluntary registers. We have found no outcome evidence for any of it yet.
Permanent before evaluated
In Australia, pharmacy scope reforms have been made permanent before any independent evaluation was published. In the UK, physician associates were scaled up with no study of safety incidents. We think that is the strongest, evidence-based criticism of these reforms.
The case for top-of-scope reform
The strongest version of the argument for letting nurses, pharmacists and others do more, written from the reformers' own sources.
What is right-touch regulation?
Where the idea came from, what it actually says, how governments use it, and the strongest criticisms. A primer in plain English.
Nothing written for this profession yet.
Library
Major proposed changes to psychology education and training
AAPi's summary of the Psychology Board's proposal: a single five-year degree to registration, no internship or national exam for domestic graduates, and a possible assistant exit. AAPi sees access benefits but is concerned about the drop to AQF Level 8.
Why it matters: A plain-English summary of the model the Board consulted on in April 2026. AAPi later said it does not support a five-year AQF Level 8 degree, and in September 2026 the Board said it will drop the assistant exit from the reform.
Pharmacy prescribing made permanent without adequate evidence
AMA Queensland criticises the state government for making its pharmacy scope pilot permanent before an independent evaluation, calling the decision 'disappointing and dangerous'.
Why it matters: The evaluation-gap point is documented and fair. The 'dangerous' characterisation is an assertion.
APS response to the Psychology Board's higher education pathway redesign
The APS says it does 'not support the proposed five-year model proceeding in its current form', citing safety, the drop in qualification level, placements, and an undefined assistant role.
Why it matters: The APS's formal, Board-endorsed position on what the Psychology Board calls a once-in-a-generation reform of psychology training.
Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce: Scope of Practice Review
Professor Mark Cormack's review found almost all primary-care professions face barriers to full scope that are unrelated to their education and competence, and made 18 recommendations to remove them.
Why it matters: A central document in Australia's 'top of scope' agenda, now backed by a $60m incentive for states.
No library items for this profession yet.