Media release

11 Sep 2013

The Board has announced a new competent authority pathway.

New pathway for overseas osteopaths

The Osteopathy Board of Australia today announced that overseas osteopaths who qualified from certain UK courses will be able to apply for registration to work in Australia via a new competent authority pathway.

The new competent authority pathway will sit alongside the existing current standard pathway for overseas practitioners. It will allow some practitioners who qualified in the United Kingdom after 2000 to be considered as having the clinical skills and knowledge for practice in Australia. Overseas osteopaths who apply for registration through the competent authority pathway will be required to sit an assessment on the practice of Osteopathy in Australia. This assessment will be based on Information on the Practice of Osteopathy in Australia: A guide for graduates trained overseas, which is published by the Australian and New Zealand Osteopathic Council (ANZOC).

Overseas osteopaths applying via the new pathway will also be required to undertake six months’ supervised practice in Australia before being eligible for general registration.

In developing the new pathway, the Board undertook extensive consultation from late 2012 to August 2013, including two rounds of public consultation. The Board also sought advice from its accreditation body, ANZOC, and will be working closely with them to finalise the details of the new pathway.

Board Chair Dr Robert Fendall (osteopath) said that osteopathy is a fast growing profession in Australia and there is strong demand for services from adequately trained and qualified practitioners.

‘While facilitating workforce mobility is an important objective of the National Board, maintaining public safety is its main priority. That is why applicants via the new pathway must sit an assessment testing their readiness for practice in the Australian context, as well as requiring them to undertake six months’ supervised practice in Australia – even though they qualified under similar courses and regulatory framework as here in Australia’, said Dr Fendall.

‘It’s not until they have successfully met these requirements that the Board will consider their application for general registration.’

The new pathway will be available from late 2013.

For more information:

• Go to the Osteopathy Board website 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

Download a PDF of this Media release - 11 September 2013 (72.7 KB,PDF)