In the lead-up to the election, our Policy and Government Relations team has been working tirelessly to build awareness and support across political parties, independents and key departments—including Health and Aged Care, Veterans’ Affairs and Social Services—to highlight the value of physiotherapy. 

A key outcome of our advocacy efforts has been an increase in requests from policymakers seeking the APA’s advice. 

This shift reflects growing recognition of the pressures on the healthcare system and physiotherapy’s potential to address these challenges. 

In these first few months of 2025, amid the federal election, the conversation around genuine primary healthcare reform in Australia has gained critical momentum. 

One of the most significant and necessary shifts that the APA continues to advocate for is the broad implementation of multidisciplinary teams in primary care. 

In Queensland, addressing the overwhelming demand for specialist musculoskeletal services in public healthcare settings has long been a challenge. 

This was especially true in orthopaedics, where significant wait times have historically affected patient access to care. 

Until 2018, if Norwegians wanted to see a physiotherapist, they had to first obtain a referral from a GP.

Legislative change did away with this step and now this population can access physiotherapy services directly.

Knowing the depth and breadth of your skills and capabilities as a physiotherapist is one thing. Convincing others can be
an entirely different matter. 

From the moment he set foot in the entrance of Mount Isa Hospital in north-west Queensland, Stuart McCaskill had a feeling
of familiarity. 

The release of the draft outline of the National Allied Health Workforce Strategy in June has thrust the future of allied health professions into the policy limelight.

A decade ago, the former CEO of Mental Health Australia, John Mendoza, produced a massive three-volume reflection on 30 years of mental health reform in Australia and visions for the future.

He titled this landmark collection of essays and articles Obsessive Hope Disorder.

The heading reflected an obsessive optimism that, any day now, reforms will be delivered to improve healthcare.

I can assure you that here at the APA, we won’t slow down in 2024, especially in our advocacy and in the political arena. 

We will continue to follow our strategic blueprint, working towards our vision of a future in which all Australians have access to quality physiotherapy.