New reforms enable patients to make more informed choices when choosing a health practitioner
On 9 April 2025, the Queensland Parliament passed the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024, which has been enacted as the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (Act).
The Act introduces significant reforms to improve patient safety and transparency in Australia’s healthcare system. It calls for increased transparency around disciplinary actions taken against health practitioners who have been found to have engaged in sexual misconduct as well as regulates the contents of settlement agreements.
Why these reforms matter
The Act was originally proposed in response to a sharp increase in reports of sexual misconduct. In 2022-23, regulators received 841 allegations of sexual misconduct against 278 registered health practitioners – a 223% increase over the previous three years.
The Act, among many things, requires that disciplinary records of health practitioners found by a tribunal to have engaged in sexual misconduct be permanently published and available for patients and the public on the public register. However, this information will not be published if a court or tribunal issues a non-publication order. It must also be removed if the tribunal’s professional misconduct decision is overturned or stayed on appeal.
Previously, if a health practitioner had a sanction or suspension, it would appear on their registration on the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) website only while it was active and would be removed from public view once it ended. Under these reforms, sexual misconduct findings will be permanently listed on the individual practitioner’s record, even after the sections expire. This will apply retrospectively.
These changes will apply to all AHPRA registered practitioners, including doctors, nurses, midwives, optometrists, physiotherapists, podiatrist and psychologists. The aim is to give patients greater insight into a practitioner’s history and help them make more informed decisions about who they seek care from.
Before these changes, patients had no way of knowing whether a practitioner had been subject to any past prior sanctions or complaints, including the nature, degree, or severity of the complaint.
These reforms aim to strengthen a patient’s right to receive care from a safe, competent health practitioner who is fit for practice and improve access to the information that supports informed health choices.
Increased protection for notifiers
The amendments also provide increased protections for notifiers – people who make complaints about health practitioners. It is now an offence for practitioners to enter into non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with notifiers that prevent them from making complaints to AHPRA and other health regulators.
NDAs can still be used, but only if the agreement clearly states in writing that it does not stop the person from making a notification or assisting regulators and others performing functions under the National Law.
The amendments go further, by also making it an offence to threaten, intimate, dismiss, refuse to employ, or subject a person to other detriment or reprisal because they intend to or have made a notification, or helped someone else to do so.
Currently, notifiers who raise concerns in good faith are only protected from civil, criminal, or administrative liability. They do not have safeguards against reprisals, harm, intimidation, harassment, or coercion – these reforms close that gap.
Violation of any of these amendments can result in maximum penalties of up to $60,000 for individuals and up to $120,000 for corporations.
Nationally consistent process for regaining registration
The amendments introduce a nationally consistent process for health practitioners who have had their registration cancelled or who have been disqualified from applying for registration by a tribunal. To apply for re-registration, these practitioners will be required to obtain a reinstatement order from a responsible tribunal before applying to the National Board for re-registration –adopting the current New South Wales process nationwide.
The National Board will still decide whether to grant registration and what conditions must be met.
These changes will boost public safety by ensuring a consistent national process for practitioners to regain registration which has previously been cancelled or disqualified.
When will these amendments take effect?
These changes directly amend the Health Ombudsman Act 2013 (Qld) and the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (Qld) (National Law). They will be rolled out progressively throughout Australia over the coming year, starting in Queensland – giving stake holders time to prepare and allowing state and territory tribunals to set up the necessary processes.
Key takeaways
- Findings of sexual misconduct made by a tribunal will be permanently published on a practitioner’s registration and will be available for public access
- NDAs that prevent notifiers from making complaints to AHPRA and other health regulators are now an offence, unless the agreement clearly allows for notifications, assisting another person making a notification or assisting a regulator
- It is now an offence to threaten, intimate, dismiss, refuse to employ, or subject a person to other detriment or reprisal because they intend to or have made a notification including assisting others to do so
- There is now a nationally consistent process for practitioners to regain registration which has been previously cancelled or disqualified
- Healthcare providers, practitioners, employers and MDO must review their internal policies, procedures and agreements to ensure that they comply with the new legal requirements
How does this affect you?
Whether you are a healthcare provider, practitioner, employer or an MDO, these amendments may impact you as protections for notifiers are strengthened, consumer protections clarified, and transparency increased.
With these changes there must be a greater awareness of the internal processes in place in relation to the use of NDAs within your organisation, to ensure compliance with new legislative changes.
Internal policies and procedures should be reviewed and varied to ensure consumer protections are considered and upheld particularly around current notification and complaints processes.
How we can help
We can help with reviewing existing policies, procedures and current agreements to ensure they align with the Act’s goals of greater transparency and increased consumer protections.
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