I am deeply honoured to be named President Elect of the APA.

This is a recently created position, to be appointed by the APA Board in the final year of the current National President’s term.

The role enables a smooth transition of leadership and continuity of the vision and key responsibilities of the APA National President.

As co-Vice President of the APA, I have had the privilege of witnessing National President Scott Willis advocate tirelessly for the profession.

Each APA president has brought a selfless professionalism to the role and Scott has continued this legacy.

He has worked with the APA Policy and Government Relations team and the APA National Advisory Council to expand the scope of physiotherapy practice across a number of clinical settings—including private practice, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the public sector.

I look forward to continuing our work together for another year, with Scott serving as Past President on the APA Board in 2025.

I have always appreciated the way our profession allows physiotherapists to develop diverse skills as clinicians, leaders and researchers.

I began my career in 1993, working in paediatrics in the public hospital system before moving into aged care.

In 1997, the Aged Care Act came into effect and provided funding for physiotherapy in aged care.

My wife, who is also a physiotherapist, and I saw an opportunity to open an aged care business.

Sadly, during our time as owners, these opportunities were reversed when the new aged care funding instrument was introduced in 2022.

Despite numerous APA submissions to the federal government, meetings with health ministers from various political parties and presentations to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, physiotherapy services in aged care were cut due to a lack of funding and support.

Now older Australians experience reduced access to physiotherapy—a service essential to preventing functional decline, reducing falls and maintaining quality of life.

Active advocacy by the APA and all its members across all areas of our practice is essential to our ongoing ability to support our clients.

In 2021, I enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Sydney.

I greatly value the mentoring I received there and the support to expand my skill set.

My work at the University of Sydney gave me the opportunity to contribute to the growing evidence base of physiotherapy in aged care and to support the value proposition of physiotherapy.

Pursuing a PhD fostered my critical and innovative thinking as well as my problem-solving, communication and data analysis skills, all of which I plan to bring to my new leadership role at the APA.

Recently, I have begun attending key meetings with Scott to build new relationships with key stakeholders and to prepare for 2025.

As a clinician and researcher, I value the importance of collaboration.

I believe that meaningful health reform will require continued partnership with various health professionals and consumer groups.

This would allow us to advocate for an expanded scope of physiotherapy practice and associated funding.

Additionally, the APA needs to collaborate with every member to understand how to better support you to be an advocate for our profession—an already challenging task given our growing membership.

I look forward to working with our new CEO Rob LoPresti and his team, the APA Board and the APA National Advisory Council.

I anticipate many more conversations to identify the collaborations we need to pursue to create further opportunities for our members.

Rik Dawson MACP

President elect