The Senate Inquiry into Ahpra and its handling of notifications and complaints is now complete, and the final report has been published.  

In AAPi’s submission to the Inquiry, our main concerns were regarding endorsement, the two tier system and the way complaints to Ahpra are handled and investigated. The notifications system puts a huge burden on psychologists, taking up excessive amounts of time and causing tremendous emotional distress. 

AAPi attended the Senate hearing to again advocate for members and we are pleased to share that our concerns were echoed by the Senate committee.  

The recommendations of note to AAPi members are: 

• The Ministerial Council considers reforms to the National Law to enable health practices and services to be referred to as low risk notifications, to be dealt with in the first instance, and that Ahpra and the national boards have discretion to refuse these matters on that ground.
• That notifications accepted by Ahpra should be limited to clinical issues relating to patient safety.
• That Ahpra and the national boards develop and fund a comprehensive strategy for providing tailored support for the notifications process to practitioners in all regulated professions.
• Regarding Areas of Practice Endorsement, our strong request for greater clarity and education around titles such as “clinical”, was echoed in the recommendations to Ahpra. 

We will continue to work towards a fairer system and will monitor the progress of Ahpra in adopting the Senate’s recommendations.