Physiotherapy is an increasingly integral part of the healthcare system, playing a vital and broad role across many areas. 

When Dr Ruth Hardman MACP talks about her career it is with a kind of humility that belies her impact. 

I am excited to be developing the APA’s next strategic plan so early in my tenure. In my view, strategic development is as much about the process as it is about the outcome. 

The pathway to our 2025 strategic plan has relied on diverse voices both within and beyond our organisation, encompassing feedback from our staff, board members, membership base and key stakeholders. 

In the feature article for May InMotion, Strategy and Policy Specialist Bronwyn Darmanin of the APA Policy and Government Relations team unpacked the APA’s 2025 federal election statement.

When physiotherapist Piers Truter APAM had a chance encounter in 2020 with a mother waiting in the emergency department (ED) at Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital to get a cam boot for her son’s injured ankle, an idea began to form in his mind. 

‘There has to be a more efficient way to manage this sort of thing,’ he mused.

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.