One of the most important roles I have as APA National President is being a storyteller. 

In September, Katherine Utry, our General Manager of Policy and Government Relations, and I spent three days in Canberra meeting with parliamentarians, advisers and senior government officials. 

Our discussions covered Medicare, primary care, women’s health, veterans’ care, the NDIS and aged care. We took evidence and policy proposals but we also took stories. 

Stories about people with osteoarthritis who could remain active with earlier access to physiotherapy.

Older Australians who could stay independent if they received strength and balance training before their first serious fall. 

Veterans who need timely access to rehabilitation. 

Women who should be able to access pelvic health physiotherapy based on clinical need rather than their postcode or capacity to pay. 

Our message was consistent: investing in physiotherapy can improve access, keep people healthier and independent, and reduce pressure on the most expensive parts of our health system. 

Our storytelling was rewarded. Days after our Canberra visit, the government removed the proposed $5000 allied health threshold for veterans. 

We had emphasised to Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Matt Keogh the importance of timely physiotherapy for veterans with complex needs, without unnecessary delays or administrative burden. 

The APA will continue working with the minister and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs on the new approach, a reminder that evidence, advocacy and patient stories can make a difference. 

In fact, every physiotherapist needs to become a storyteller for physiotherapy. 

That starts with understanding the value of what you do in your own setting. 

What changes because you are there? 

Do patients recover faster? 

Tell people about it – patients, colleagues, managers, funders and decision-makers. 

Tell anyone who will listen. 

Because evidence becomes much more powerful when we can explain what it means for a person. 

That was reinforced for me at FOCUS26 in Cairns. 

We heard extraordinary stories about where our profession has come from and where it is heading. 

We also explored the rapidly growing impact of artificial intelligence, which will undoubtedly change future chapters of physiotherapy practice. 

Our challenge is to ensure that technology strengthens rather than diminishes the human relationships at the centre of healthcare. 

This issue of InMotion explores another important part of our future: advanced practice. 

Across Australia, physiotherapists are developing extraordinary expertise and creating innovative models of care. 

The APA needs to help ensure that these clinicians are appropriately recognised and remunerated and that successful innovations are evaluated, shared and adopted rather than remaining isolated pockets of excellence. 

The same principle applies to prevention. 

At the NSW Preventive Health Summit in October, I was struck by the tension facing our health system. Healthcare expenditure continues to grow, yet preventive and community programs are often vulnerable when budgets tighten. 

NSW Health itself has identified prevention, healthy aging and chronic disease as central to creating a more sustainable health system. 

We cannot simply keep building more hospitals. 

We need to shift more evidence-based care into primary and community settings, intervene earlier and make better use of the entire health workforce. 

Physiotherapy has an enormous role to play in that transition. 

But governments, funders and the community need to understand its value. 

So, know the value of your practice. Tell the stories. 

Share your copy of InMotion with another physiotherapist who is not an APA member so they can read the stories we write each month because a membership association like the APA tells a better story when our membership grows. 

Rik Dawson APAM MACP 

APA Titled Gerontological Physiotherapist 

APA National President