Nursing and midwifery regulation in Australia
In 2005, the Commonwealth Government commenced
a process in consultation with the States and Territories
that led to an agreement for a national registration
of health professionals (National Health Workforce Taskforce
and Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council,
2008). By 2010, all the States and Territories in
Australia had legislation regulating health practitioners.
The new laws created protected titles, whichmeant the titles
could only be used by those persons registered in that
profession. In nursing and midwifery, the titles “nurse,”
“registered nurse,” “nurse practitioner,” “enrolled nurse,”
“midwife,” and “midwife practitioner” are protected titles.
The laws specifically refer to “nurse practitioners”
and “midwife practitioners” as having qualifications approved
of by the NMBA. There is no reference to “advanced
nursing practice” or “advanced practice” in the
national law under which nurses and midwives now
practice (Queensland Government, 2009).