Ways to improve the development and retention of the physiotherapist workforce in the Northern Territory (NT) was one of many topics raised by local physiotherapists at the first Member Breakfast meeting of the newly re-formed APA NT Branch Council in Darwin on 28 March 2025. 

APA National President Dr Rik Dawson was in attendance and more than 30 physiotherapists from the Top End relished the opportunity to ask questions and discuss topics relevant to them in a professional and social environment.

Elected to the role of NT Branch Council president in January 2025, APA Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist Heather Malcolm MACP is also the NT representative on the APA’s National Advisory Council.

****Heather says that facilitating the flow into the NT physiotherapy workforce pipeline for students graduating from the new Bachelor of Health Science/Master of Physiotherapy combined degree program at Charles Darwin University (CDU) was a priority for the NT Branch Council. The CDU program started in March 2024 and two third-year undergraduate students attended the
NT member breakfast event, highlighting the need for a career pathway for new graduates into public health and private practice across the NT.

‘We’re going to have local graduates by he end of 2026 so I started thinking it would be good if we had an APA branch here for them to feel supported and connected. We also have more private practices in NT taking new graduates and the hospitals have some new graduate positions now,’ Heather says.

‘There were a few of us who decided that we wanted more of a say in the direction of professional development offered.
Consistent social connection and networking were other things we were missing out on without a branch council in the Territory.’

The drive to reinstate the branch council began at the APA Scientific Conference in Brisbane in 2023, when a group of NT
physiotherapists approached the then APA national president Scott Willis and APA senior staff. Encouraged to form a working party and show commitment through events in 2024, the group organised an Olympic- themed member breakfast showcasing NT health professionals who worked at Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. The strong turnout at that event, Heather says, was a sign that the local physiotherapy community was ready to re-engage.

‘We had 35 people come and that’s probably the biggest event that the Territory has had for years.’

Since its official formation in January 2025, the NT Branch Council—led by Heather and Vice President Lauren
Kaethner MACP—has focused on planning professional development better tailored to the Territory’s unique needs and its growing physiotherapist workforce. The council
is advocating for hybrid courses with live streaming, which will benefit members in remote areas, such as Alice Springs and Katherine, who may feel disconnected from the Territory-wide initiatives, as well as supporting locally delivered courses by experienced NT physiotherapists
presenting, in order to build local capacity and knowledge sharing.

Advocacy is another priority for the branch council, Heather says. With support from key Territory physiotherapists and elected representatives such as the chair of the APA Rural Advisory Committee and APA Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist Nick Jones MACP, the branch council is engaging
key stakeholders with issues such as workforce shortages, aged care access and the potential of physiotherapists working to full scope.

‘We’ve got physiotherapists working in emergency departments up here and it’s been reasonably successful,’ Heather says. ‘The funded first contact physiotherapy model would work well too, especially given the GP shortages we find in rural and remote locations in Northern Australia.’ Heather met with Federal MP Luke Gosling to discuss Department of Veterans’ Affairs funding and the role of physiotherapists in veterans’ healthcare.

The NT branch is also heavily invested in fostering the next generation of homegrown physiotherapists. Building strong ties with student members is essential, Heather says. ‘We’ve got a small cohort of CDU students now in their third year—our “advance party”—and we’re looking
to support them as they move into the profession,’ she says.

For Heather, it all comes back to one thing: community. ‘We’re trying to give Territory physiotherapists a stronger voice, better access to the right education and a real sense of belonging and connection,’ she says.

‘That’s what the Northern Territory Branch Council is all about.’

To find out more about joining the Northern Territory Branch Council, call 1300 306 622