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The Medical Board of Australia is responsible for regulating medical practitioners practising in Australia.
Australian medical students and doctors seeking to practise medicine in Australia must be registered with the Medical Board.
There is a range of different types of registration to match different levels of training and experience. There are specific types of registration for Australian medical students, Australian or New Zealand medical graduates and international medical graduates.
For details on how to apply for registration see:
Medical practitioners previously registered in Australia or seeking to change registration type should decide which type of registration applies to them for their situation.
All applicants for medical registration (Australian and New Zealand medical graduates and international medical graduates) must meet a range of requirements to become eligible for registration. Registration standards define the requirements that applicants for registration or renewal of registration need to meet to be registered.
All applicants for registration (excludes student registration) must meet the requirements of the following mandatory registration standards:
For more information see the Board’s registration standards.
Under the National Law, registered medical practitioners are required to meet a range of requirements to ensure they are eligible and suitable to continue to hold registration. These requirements include:
All registered medical practitioners (excludes doctors with non-practising registration) are required to participate regularly in continuing professional development (CPD) that is relevant to their scope of practice.
CPD must include a range of activities to meet your individual learning needs, including practice-based reflective elements, such as clinical audit, peer-review or performance appraisal, as well as participation in activities to enhance knowledge such as courses, conferences and online learning.
Registered medical practitioners will be required to make a declaration that they have met the Board’s registration standard for continuing professional development when they apply for renewal of registration.
The Board may audit a practitioner’s renewal declarations to ensure that they are complying with the Board’s registration standards and their obligations under the National Law.
Medical practitioners must have recent practice in the field in which they intend to work during the period of registration for which they are applying.
The specific requirements for recency depend on the field of practice, the practitioner’s level of experience and the length of absence from the field. If a practitioner proposes to change their field of practice, the Board will consider whether their peers would view the change as a normal extension or variation in a field of practice, or a change that would require specific training and demonstration of competence.
Practitioners who are unable to meet the Board’s registration standard for recency of practice may be required to complete professional development activities, submit a plan for re-entry to practice or other training or assessments.
All registered medical practitioners (excludes doctors with non-practising registration) who provide health care or medical opinion in respect of the physical or mental health of any person, must ensure all aspects of their medical practice are covered by professional indemnity insurance (PII), or some alternative form of indemnity cover that complies with the Board’s registration standard for professional indemnity insurance.
Applicants applying for registration must disclose their complete criminal history to the Board, irrespective of the time that has lapsed since the charge was laid or the finding of guilt was made.
As of 4 February 2015, a new process applies for checking criminal history outside of Australia. This new approach requires certain applicants and registered practitioners to apply for an international criminal history check from an approved supplier. For more information, please refer to the international criminal history page on the AHPRA website.
Criminal history includes the following, whether in Australia or overseas, any time:
The Board will decide whether a medical practitioner’s criminal history is relevant to the practice of the profession in accordance with the Board’s registration standard for criminal history.
All registered medical practitioners, including registered medical students, are required to notify the Board during the registration period of any charges to their criminal history for offences punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more, and any convictions or findings of guilt for offences punishable by imprisonment.
The Board can check the criminal history of a medical practitioner at the time of application for registration or at any time during the practitioner’s registration period.
For more information on the Board’s requirements for continuing professional development, recency of practice, professional indemnity insurance and criminal history see the Board’s registration standards.
The title ‘acupuncturist’ is a protected title in Australia. Medical practitioners who wish to use the title ‘acupuncturist’ or to hold themselves out as a practitioner who is qualified to practise acupuncture, are required to have their registration endorsed for acupuncture by the Medical Board or be registered with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia.
For more information see the Board’s Registration Standard - Endorsement of registration for acupuncture for registered medical practitioners.