A physiotherapist is highly reputable medical professional within the healthcare sector in Australia. Australia’s very high standards in healthcare ensures that the nation chooses the best medical professional to treat patients and assist citizens to live a healthy life.

Medfuture ensures highly qualified and skilled physiotherapists get high-paying physiotherapists jobs in the country. Medfuture provides local and international physiotherapists searching for jobs, an opportunity to grow in their career.

All physiotherapists working in Australia must be registered with the AHPRA, so here is what you need to know to register as a physiotherapist.

Who is the AHPRA?

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) works in collaboration with the national boards and authorities to ensure that registered health practitioners in Australia are adequately qualified, trained, and safe to practice. The AHPRA puts the safety of citizens first before anything else. Therefore, the regulatory board and authorities ensure that the nation’s health system stands firm to its ground ensuring quality healthcare access to every citizen.  The AHPRA supports the 15 national boards in the role of protecting the public by implementing policies and setting standards.

The AHPRAs functions are governed and reviewed by the National Law of Health Practitioner Regulation, which applies to each state and territory in Australia. All health practitioners working in Australia are included on the National Register of Practitioners, which is a database that is managed by AHPRA.

The national board and authorities are also committed to the safety of the indigenous community in Australia, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Why do you need to register as a physiotherapist?

All physiotherapists practicing in Australia must be registered with the AHPRA. It is the same for overseas physiotherapists who wish to practice in Australia. They must pass specific criteria to prove that they meet the physiotherapy practice standards in Australia. The country plays utmost importance towards healthcare services provided to its citizens, which is why all these standard procedures and registrations are put in place.

How to register as a physiotherapist in Australia?

Every graduate who wants to start practicing as a physiotherapist in Australia must first be registered with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia via AHPRA. The title physiotherapist is protected in all states and territories in Australia, and it’s AHPRA’s role to maintain public safety by ensuring only aptly trained and qualified professionals practice physiotherapy.

Once you are registered with the AHPRA you can work as a physiotherapist in any state or territory in Australia. For graduates, the board starts assessing their applications while they await results.

What is the role of the Physiotherapy Board?

The role of the Physiotherapy Board includes the following:

• Registering physiotherapists and students
• Managing complaints and other notifications about physiotherapists practice, and handling investigations and disciplinary hearings
• Implementing policies, procedures, guidelines, standards, and codes for physiotherapy profession
• Reviewing and monitoring international physiotherapists who wish to practice in Australia
  

AHPRA Registration process

Having an idea about the AHPRA registration process is vital if you wish to practice as a physiotherapist in Australia. Failure to obtain registration will result in your unable to practice as a physiotherapist in any state or territory.

Here is some of the essential information that you need to know with regard to the AHPRA registration process.

AHPRA Fees

Here are the fees schedule effective 20 September 2023.

• Application fee for general registration:  AU$400
• Application fee for limited registration:  AU$400
• Application fee for non-practicing registration: AU$400
• Application fee for fast-track application: AU$60
• Registration fee for general registration: AU$194
• Registration fee for limited registration: AU$194
• Registration fee for non-practicing registration: AU$34
• Late renewal fee for general registration: AU$30
• Late renewal fee for limited registration: AU$30
• Late renewal fee for non-practicing registration: AU$5
• Replacement registration certificate: AU$20
• Verification of registration status (Certificate of Registration Status): AU$50

It is important to note that both the registration and annual renews of registration fees apply on the initial registration. No fees are applied for student registrations and for changing the registration type to “non-practicing”.

Online registration and applications

Here is a list for whom online applications for registration as a physiotherapist are available to:

 Final-year students of an Australian-approved course of study and who are scheduled to complete within the next twelve weeks.

Graduates of an Australia-approved course of study.

Overseas-qualified physiotherapists with an Australian Physiotherapy Council Final Certificate and applying for general registration.

Overseas-qualified physiotherapists with an Australian Physiotherapy Council Certificate of Substantial Equivalence and applying for general registration.

Applicants who had already held registration before July 2010, and are now reapplying for general registration.

Applicants with previous or current physiotherapist registration in Australia, and are now applying for non-practicing registration, or applicants with current physiotherapy registration with the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand and are now applying for Australia physiotherapist registration under the provisions of the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act.

Registration renewal

Renewal of registration online applications generally opens six to eight weeks prior to expiry of registration. AHPRA typically sends you a reminder on registration and when it is due. It serves as a confirmation that online renewal of registration is open to the applicants.

Failure to renew the current general, specialist, or non-practicing registration by the 30^th of November every year, or within the late one month period following that, will make your registration lapse in accordance with the National Law. Further, your name will be taken off from the list of National Register of Practitioners.

Student registration and graduates

AHPRA has a wide selection of resources for students, new graduates, knowledge providers, and those who assist others in understanding what it is being a physiotherapist in Australia.

Students who are enrolled in an Australian-approved are not required to apply for registration. Their details will automatically be passed on to the Physiotherapy Board for registration purposes. Students will be registered with the board for the entire duration of their course study or physiotherapy clinical training, or until they are not enrolled anymore.

Overseas practitioner registration

All international physiotherapy graduates practicing in Australia must apply for and be registered with the AHPRA. They may also be required to apply for a visa issues by the Australian Immigration Department.  These two application processes are separate from each other, so success in one doesn’t guarantee success in the other.

The website of the  Australian Government Department of Home Affairs has more information on the visa application procedure and related skills assessments.

International physiotherapists must reach out to The Australian Physiotherapy Council and get their qualifications assessed if they are not mentioned in the list provided in the website.

Assessment pathways

There are several pathways that make overseas physiotherapists eligible to apply for visa to work as a physiotherapist in Australia. It’s best to go through each of these pathways and decide on which one suits you the most.

The Standard Assessment pathway is what most internationally-qualified physiotherapists, who are to be assessed by the council, undertake. It consists of written and clinical assessments that lead to a final certificate.

To be eligible for the Express FLYR Pathway and the FLYR Pathways, you should check the current list of countries approved for them, respectively. To be eligible for the Equivalence of Qualification Pathway, you should check if your qualification is stated on the approved programs list. Finally, there is the Assessment for Skilled Migration Visas, for which you can check your eligibility as well.

How to become a physiotherapist in Australia?

Australia’s high standards in healthcare is guaranteed by recruiting only qualified and skilled medical professionals. You must have an approved tertiary qualification to apply for physiotherapy jobs in Australia. Here is a list of requirements to work as a physiotherapist in Australia:

• Complete a Bachelor of Physiotherapy. ( Those who have completed a science-based tertiary qualification can apply after completing a two-year master’s degree in physiotherapy) 
• Be registered with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia via AHPRA.
• Complete 20 hours of Continues Professional Development (CPD) activities, annually. These activities include reviewing journals, attending conferences or lectures, or presenting education sessions at the workplace.

Job scope and salary of physiotherapists in Australia

Physiotherapists are in high demand in Australia, so there is high job scope as well as high salary scales. There are over 5000 physiotherapy job opportunities in Australia with a projected job growth of 28.7% in the next 5 years. The average annual salary of a physiotherapist in Australia is $88,000.

As a reputed healthcare recruitment agency, Medfuture continues to recruit higher highly-qualified and experienced medical professionals to the Australian healthcare industry. Medfuture has a continuously updating list of physiotherapy job opportunities across all states and suburbs in Australia. Visit the Medfuture job board to view a list of the latest medical jobs in Australia.