Media 

Media coverage helps build our public profile and develops trust and confidence in the National Scheme. 

We published 392 news items, including 39 media releases. There was an 18% increase in views of Ahpra news items compared with the previous year. We also responded to 546 media enquiries. 

There was significant media coverage of the proactive and data-informed approach to risk identification and harm prevention being led by our Rapid Regulatory Response Unit. For example, in June we announced new guidelines for performing and advertising non-surgical cosmetic procedures. These guidelines were widely broadcast on national news services across television and radio, as well as online news publications. 

In June, we also issued our first ever public statement naming a suspended practitioner in the interests of public safety. 

Ahpra was mentioned more than 5,000 times in Australian media this year and more than 1,000 times in international media. 

We also published 51 National Board newsletters, with an average open rate of 67.2%. 

Our social media strategy 

Social media allows us to engage with practitioners and the general public directly, on the platforms they use, in a format they are accustomed to. 

Through social media, we can deliver timely messaging for practitioners and empower the public by providing accessible, credible information to help support safer healthcare choices. 

Our posts were seen 3.14 million times and received 234,000 interactions (likes, shares and comments); an increase of 172% from last year. Traffic from our social accounts to our website doubled from the previous year. 

Overall, we grew our social media following by 15.7%. We have: 

• 189,730 LinkedIn followers 
• 42,500 Facebook followers 
• 12,025 Twitter/X followers 
• 7,175 Instagram followers. 

Customer service 

Our national team handled an average of 761 telephone calls and 500 web enquiries each business day. Compared with last year, call volumes increased by 35.7% and web enquiries by 78.1%. These increases were driven by the introduction of a new operating system which includes an additional step for multifactor authentication. Our capacity to handle customer enquiries was also increased in response to the added demand. 

In March, Ahpra launched a new case management operating system for faster, more secure online applications. 

Our former operating system had been in place since the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme began in 2010. Since then, the number of registered health practitioners in Australia has nearly doubled and will soon surpass one million. 

The new system provides greater capacity for our regulatory work and serves practitioners, applicants, students and notifiers better through a range of improvements. 

Easier registration 

The new platform includes a digital portal for practitioners and applicants to manage their registration. It provides a one-stop shop where applicants and practitioners can track their application, communicate directly and securely with their case officer, and make requests, such as asking for a certificate of registration.

Improved ‘Raise a concern’ form 

An improved ‘Raise a concern’ form means the process of making a notification is now easier. Better information capture also helps us identify high-risk situations faster and support vulnerable people sooner. 

Stronger security 

To protect sensitive information, the Ahpra portal includes an extra layer of security in the form of multi-factor authentication, or two-step verification, using an authenticator app. 

Applicants and practitioners who need to verify their identity as part of an application process do so through an online biometric identification service. This has replaced the manual verification that was previously in place and makes the registration process faster, particularly for international applicants. 

Ongoing improvements 

We will continue to refine and improve the operating system based on user feedback. This includes adding new features and supporting new registration pathways as they are developed.

Ahpra Board 

Ahpra’s governing body met 11 times. The board publishes a communiqué of meetings that summarises issues discussed and decisions made. It has four committees, which each met quarterly: 

• The Accreditation Committee provides advice on accreditation governance, reform, accountability and transparency issues, and a whole-of-scheme perspective on accreditation performance. 
• The Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee oversees risk and advises on the effectiveness of the corporate assurance framework, risk management, financial strategy, sustainability and internal audits. It also oversees the external audit process. 
• The Regulatory Performance Committee provides advice, oversight and scrutiny of regulatory performance measures and data. 
• The People and Remuneration Committee provides governance oversight of strategy and performance in relation to people, capability and culture. 

National Executive 

Ahpra’s national leadership group: 

• Mr Justin Untersteiner – Chief Executive Officer (from 14 Apr) 
• Mr Martin Fletcher – Chief Executive Officer (to 20 Dec) 
• Ms Kym Ayscough – Executive Director, Regulatory Operations (and acting Chief Executive Officer) 
• Ms Liz Davenport – Executive Director, Finance and Risk 
• Mr Mark Edwards – Executive Director, People and Culture (and acting Chief Executive Officer) 
• Mr Chris Robertson – Executive Director, Strategy, Policy and Health Workforce 
• Mr Mike Rillstone – Chief Technology Officer 

State and territory managers 

Our senior leaders in each jurisdiction, based at each of our offices: 

• Australian Capital Territory: Mr Krister Partel 
• New South Wales: Ms Carol Nader 
• Northern Territory: Ms Claudia Manu-Preston 
• Queensland: Ms Heather Edwards 
• South Australia: Mr Patrick Maher 
• Tasmania: Mr David Clements 
• Victoria: Mx Joe Goddard-Williams 
• Western Australia: Ms Jodie Holbrook 

Project highlights for our state and territory managers included issuing our first joint position statement on family violence with co-regulators in New South Wales and Queensland; delivering webinars to consumers, employers, recruiters and practitioners across Australia; and supporting Ahpra’s response to the Dawson review. They also coordinated the production of Ahpra’s quarterly community newsletter, which is distributed to more than 1,500 peak bodies and health and social service providers, and played a leading role in strengthening our relationships with LGBTIQA+ and multicultural communities. 

Directorates 

Regulatory Operations: Carries out Ahpra’s core functions of registration, notifications and compliance. The directorate applies risk-based approaches to regulatory matters so we can focus our efforts on matters of high risk and high complexity and, wherever possible, resolve other matters more quickly. 

Strategy and Policy: Produces effective and responsive strategy and policy to deliver on National Scheme objectives in partnership with the National Boards and in collaboration with key partners. 

Technology: Delivers secure, innovative digital solutions that support health practitioner regulation in Australia. In partnership with stakeholders, it enables proactive, insight-driven, service-focused regulation aligned with Ahpra’s vision for enhanced performance and improved access. 

People and Culture: Leads and delivers whole-of-organisation strategies that foster a positive, high-performing, and inclusive workplace aligned with Ahpra’s vision and values. This includes shaping and sustaining organisational culture, building workforce capability, and supporting employee wellbeing to enable our people to thrive and contribute meaningfully to Ahpra’s purpose of protecting the public. 

Finance and Risk: Responsible for efficient and effective financial strategy and management, procurement, risk management and assurance, and audit programs. 

Our National Legal Practice was part of the Regulatory Operations directorate until 1 October. It was moved outside of this directorate for reasons of professional independence, and now reports to the Office of the CEO.

Gender, diversity and inclusion 

The gender composition of Ahpra’s staff is 72.9% female, 26.8% male and 0.3% non-binary. Female representation in manager and people leader roles across the organisation is 67.5%, while the Ahpra Board is 60% female. 

Having a diverse workforce brings many benefits including new skills, different ways of thinking, and lived experiences. This helps to ensure that, as a regulator, we can respond better to the diverse needs of the communities in which we operate and serve. 

We are developing a diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan in partnership with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. In addition, we have partnered with the Australian Disability Network to develop a disability access and inclusion plan for Ahpra. This will identify current barriers for people with a disability within our workplaces, and will create opportunities to improve access and participation. Finally, a working group of LGBTQIA+ employees and Board members are working on the development of an LGBTQIA+ equity and inclusion strategy for the National Scheme. 

These strategies and plans will be finalised in 2025/26.

During the year, Ahpra received: 

• 377 valid applications for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) 
• 20 applications for internal review of an FOI decision. 

The National Health Practitioner Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner (NHPO) notified Ahpra that: 

• 11 applications for external review of an Ahpra FOI decision had been undertaken 
• 11 external review applications had been closed. The NHPO provided notice that Ahpra’s FOI decision had been affirmed in three matters, seven matters were discontinued by the NHPO, and one was withdrawn by the applicant. 

During the year, 385 FOI applications were finalised. At 30 June, there were 61 open FOI matters. 

Evidentiary certificates 

Ahpra issued 101 evidentiary certificates, most in response to requests from our co-regulatory partners, health complaints organisations and police, to help them perform their functions in the community. 

Production of documents 

We responded to 175 subpoenas and orders to produce documents issued by courts, tribunals and law enforcement bodies about proceedings in which neither Ahpra nor a National Board was a party.

Improving access to information 

Since we redesigned our website’s homepage in February 2023, we have continued to work on making information easier to access. As a result, we have seen a 57% increase in traffic (78 million views) and a consistently high level of engagement across Ahpra and the National Boards’ websites. The Register of practitioners continues to be the most popular webpage, with almost 8 million unique visits. 

Most users are on desktop or laptop (66%), with 34% on mobile. Continued search engine optimisation work has meant that 70% of our website traffic now comes from search.\

When people raise concerns about Ahpra and the National Boards, we aim to listen, to respond promptly, empathetically and fairly, and to learn from the issues raised. 

Administrative complaints relate to concerns about the service delivery, policies, procedures and decisions of Ahpra, the National Boards and committees, and the Ahpra Board. They are divided into three types: 

• Stage 1 (straightforward) complaints are handled by the Ahpra area that receives them. 
• Stage 2 (complex) complaints are managed by a National Complaints team. 
• Stage 3 complaints are investigated or reviewed externally by the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (NHPO). 

This year, the number of complaints we received (1,544) was substantially higher than last year (660). 

This increase is largely due to complaints received from health practitioners about their application for, or renewal of, registration (1,053 compared to 276). Shortly after we launched our new operating system in March, the registration renewal period for nurses and midwives opened. As with any large-scale system change, some practitioners experienced challenges in setting up their portal and required additional support. We expanded our customer service team and hotline hours to handle the increased demand, and more than 510,000 nurses and midwives managed to successfully renew their registration during the renewal period. Some nurses and midwives still had difficulty contacting us, however, and we received 723 complaints from this cohort of health practitioners.

Issues raised 

A complaint may include more than one issue. The 1,544 complaints we received were about 2,203 issues. 

As outlined above, challenges experienced by health practitioners transitioning to our new operating system heavily affected the nature of the complaints we received this year. We responded to 403 complainants requiring technical assistance and 307 complainants who expressed concern about the new system.

Issues about registration 

In the 502 complaints received about registration, communication was raised 204 times, perceived delay in our management of applications was raised 170 times, dissatisfaction with a regulatory outcome was raised 69 times and process and policies were raised 64 times. 

Of the complaints received from practitioners about how we managed their application for registration, there was an increase in concerns raised about communication during the application process (mentioned 182 times, up from 82 last year) and the time taken to assess an application (mentioned 151 times, up from 68 last year). 

Issues about notifications 

We received 275 complaints about notifications, down from 338 last year. Of these complaints, dissatisfaction with the outcome of a notification was raised 199 times, policies or processes were raised 58 times, communication 56 times, and the time taken to finalise a notification 42 times. 

For complaints received from practitioners regarding our management of a notification made about them, there was a decrease in concerns raised about the notifications process (mentioned 12 times, down from 36 last year). There was also a decrease in complaints about communication during the notifications process and time to finalise a notification; mentioned 18 times (down from 25) and 11 times (down from 15), respectively. 

Resolving complaints 

We responded to 1,279 complaints. When we receive a complaint, we look carefully at the information provided and how people would like their complaint resolved. We then conduct a review of the information we hold and endeavour to respond in a way that meaningfully addresses the concerns. 

We may take more than one action to address a complaint.

Case study: Resolving a complaint about our new operating system 

A practitioner submitted a complaint to Ahpra about their issues trying to renew their registration as a nurse through the new operating system. The practitioner said they had tried to call Ahpra but didn’t have the time to wait to speak with someone. They expressed frustration, stating that there was no help or instructions available for nurses having trouble navigating the new system. 

We contacted the complainant quickly, apologised for the difficulties they had encountered, and thanked them for their feedback. We provided them with a link to online resources, including a step-by-step guide to setting up their account through the digital portal. We invited the practitioner to let us know if they continued to have issues renewing their registration, and that we would request that our customer service team assist them further. 

The practitioner responded to us the following day to thank us for providing information about setting up their account. They advised that they had forgotten their password and were having difficulty resetting this because their email address had changed. With this new information, we identified that they needed individual technical assistance from our customer service team to resolve their issue. Our customer service team called the practitioner, reset their password over the phone, and guided the practitioner through the steps to successfully set up their account and renew their registration.

Engaging with the NHPO 

The NHPO receives complaints and helps people who think they may have been treated unfairly in administrative processes by the national agencies in the National Scheme. We engage collaboratively with the NHPO to resolve complaints and value its contribution. 

Under our early resolution transfer process with the NHPO, 108 complaints were handed to us to resolve directly. 

We responded to 71 enquiries received from the NHPO seeking preliminary information about a complaint. We also provided documents and other information in response to eight notices of investigation from the NHPO. 

A complaint can be reported more than once if a person complains to both Ahpra and the NHPO. 

Our performance 

We aim to respond to complaints within 20 business days. Despite the increase in administrative complaints, our average time to respond was still faster than this expected timeframe.

Risk management 

Risk exposure is managed in accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS ISO 31000:2018). Ahpra’s Risk management framework aims to provide sufficient, continuous and reliable assurance on the management of major risks to continuously improve regulatory services. During 2024/25, the scheme managed its risks, both strategically and operationally, within the following themes: 

• regulatory effectiveness and partnerships 
• business transformation outcomes 
• financial sustainability 
• actions to eliminate racism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples within healthcare 
• public confidence and trust 
• digital capability and cybersecurity 
• people, culture and experience 
• health practitioner workforce sustainability. 

Insurable risk is managed through the ongoing maintenance of Ahpra’s insurance portfolio, which includes policies to adequately mitigate the risk of financial losses arising from an (insured) event.

Corporate assurance 

Ahpra operates an Integrated Assurance Model, whereby assurance is provided through both the internal audit and quality assurance functions. The internal audit program provides independent, objective assurance and advice regarding risk management to the Finance Audit and Risk Management Committee and the Ahpra Board. The quality assurance program provides assurance to stakeholders of the efficacy of Ahpra’s operational processes. Assurance activities help identify and mitigate risks, and determine whether processes assist Ahpra to achieve its objectives, produce required outputs and outcomes, and identify good practices and opportunities for improvement. 

Corporate compliance management 

In 2024/25, Ahpra completed the first phase of a major uplift to the compliance program based on AS ISO 37301:2023 Compliance management systems – Requirements with guidance for use. As part of this approach, internal and external compliance obligations are identified and assigned to various business units for ongoing assessment and management, including the response to legislative or regulatory change. This work has improved oversight and strengthened Ahpra’s ability to monitor, assess and manage compliance risks. 

Ahpra’s compliance environment is monitored year-round, and an annual assessment program tests both the applicability of, and compliance with, relevant obligations. Insights from the compliance program support continuous improvement and inform strategic decision making. 

Modern slavery 

Ahpra remains committed to upholding human rights and addressing modern slavery risks within its operations and supply chains. We enhanced our governance framework through strengthened procurement procedures, supplier due diligence, and integration of modern slavery risk screening tools. We reinforced ethical recruitment practices and fair work standards. Ongoing staff training and continuous monitoring support our commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement. These measures reflect Ahpra’s dedication to ethical conduct and compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth).