March 2025

Issue 34 - March 2025

From the Chair
Priority news
Board news
What’s new?
Keep in touch with the Board

From the Chair

Photo of Simon Shanahan Welcome to the Board’s first newsletter for 2025. This edition heralds some big changes at Ahpra, with the imminent arrival of their new CEO, Justin Untersteiner, and a new operating system designed to enhance security and streamline practitioner registration and renewal. Ahpra is also calling for greater community representation in the regulatory decision-making process, and applications are open for their Community Advisory Council.

What hasn’t changed, however, is our commitment to eliminating discrimination and racism in the dental profession. The Dental Board was a proud sponsor of the 2024 Indigenous Dental Association Australia conference and recently signed a joint statement from Ahpra and the National Boards taking a stance against racism.

New research identifies factors influencing health workforce retention and the importance of practitioner wellbeing. We also highlight the updated English language skills registration standards, which simplify requirements for practitioners from a broader range of English-speaking countries.

Dr Simon Shanahan
Chair, Dental Board of Australia

Priority news

Ahpra appoints new CEO

Ahpra has appointed Justin Untersteiner as Chief Executive Officer.

Justin, who will join Ahpra in April, brings over 20 years’ experience in regulation and compliance, most recently as Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

Ahpra Board Chair Gill Callister PSM said that Justin was an impressive leader who stood out in a field of domestic and international candidates.

‘Justin’s experience in leading change and bringing new approaches, combined with his knowledge of regulation and compliance, made him a standout candidate,’ she said.

‘Justin’s appointment marks an exciting new chapter for Ahpra, and the Board is looking forward to working with him to build the next phase of Australia’s health regulation system.’

Justin succeeds Martin Fletcher who completed his final term as CEO in December 2024.

Learn more about Ahpra’s incoming CEO.

New Ahpra operating system coming online

Ahpra is introducing a new operating system.

The system will deliver a new Ahpra portal for practitioners and digital smart forms for all new applicants and registration renewals, making it easier, faster and more secure to apply for registration.

The new system includes an online biometric identity verification service that will replace the current intensive, manual process for easier, faster registration for international applicants. Other features include a new two-step verification for enhanced security, improved and easier-to-use ‘Raise a concern’ forms for notifications, and a new data model that will better identify trends.

Ahpra’s current operating system has been in place since the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme began in 2010.

The new system allows Ahpra to better meet its operational requirements and the performance outcomes expected of a modern regulator.

Read the announcement.

More flexible English language pathways for practitioners registering in Australia

Ahpra and the National Boards (except for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board) have published advance copies of the updated English language skills (ELS) registration standards, which see several changes to simplify English language requirements while maintaining public safety. The updated common standard applies to 13 of the 16 registered professions, including dental practice. The Nursing and Midwifery Board has its own version.

Previously, practitioners who had trained or lived extensively in seven recognised English-speaking countries – including the UK, USA and New Zealand – did not automatically have to sit an English language test to be registered in Australia. Under the revised standard the list of recognised English-speaking countries has been expanded to 30 nations and territories, cutting red tape for qualified practitioners.

After careful consideration in the most recent review, South Africa will no longer be a recognised country, bringing it into line with the Department of Home Affairs. The review found that qualifications across the professions are offered in South Africa at various institutions with different entry requirements, many of these substantially below the equivalent Australian entry level ELS requirements. It was also found that some have no English minimum requirements for entry. To ensure a reasonable transition for applicants, there will be a 12-month transition period for this change to come into effect.

The updated ELS standards also have changes to the current English language test pathway including:

reducing the writing component score for the approved English language tests from IELTS 7 to 6.5 (or equivalent) in all professions
adding the Cambridge English Language Skills test
extending timeframes for accepting a combined result from two tests from six months to 12 months, and
widening the grounds for extending the validity of English language test results to include continuously working in appropriate roles in recognised countries.

Board news

Biennial Indigenous dental conference: paving the way for Indigenous equity in dentistry

The Board was a proud sponsor of the second biennial Indigenous Dental Association Australia (IDAA) conference, held on Kaurna country (Adelaide) in December 2024. The theme of the conference was ‘Kardla on Kaurna: Spirit Enduring, Fire Alive.’

Sponsoring the conference was part of the Board’s commitment to eliminating racism from the profession, supporting the IDAA to create unique spaces for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners to share experiences, ideas and a vision for the future of the profession.

The next IDAA conference will be in 2026.

Read about the conference and keynote speakers.

New infographic explains who does what in the dental profession

The world of dental education, accreditation, regulation, professional development and safety is complex. The Board has developed an interactive infographic to summarise the different organisations and their roles in maintaining patient safety and the high standard of care and expertise in the dental profession.

Explore the infographic.

Latest workforce data released

Quarterly registration data to 31 December 2024 shows that at this date, there were 28,677 registered dental practitioners in Australia:

25,454 had general registration
1,882 had general and specialist registration
74 had specialist registration
59 had limited registration (postgraduate training, supervised practice, teaching or research), and
1,205 had non-practising registration.

Three practitioners had both general and non-practising registration.

There are 159 dental practitioners who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or 0.6 per cent of the profession.

Visit our Statistics page for more data, including registrant numbers by division of dental practice, age, gender and principal place of practice.

What’s new?

Research provides clues to boost health workforce retention

Most Australian health practitioners surveyed say they want to stay in their profession, however more than one in 10 are unsure about their future or have plans to leave within a year, with mental burnout a key reason why.

New research from Ahpra, published in the Australian Health Review, identifies the factors driving practitioners’ choices to stay or leave the health workforce, across nine regulated health professions.

Despite a regulated workforce of 920,535 health practitioners in 2024, forecasts predict that the sector will struggle to meet the demands of Australia’s growing and ageing population in coming years.

Ahpra’s Workforce Retention and Attrition Project (WRAP) found the top five reasons influencing practitioners to leave their profession included mental burnout, retirement, feeling undervalued/unrecognised, lack of professional satisfaction, and work no longer being fulfilling.

Chair of the Psychology Board of Australia and Co-convener of the Forum of National Registration and Accreditation Scheme Chairs, Rachel Phillips said improvements in these areas could have a major impact on increasing retention in the health workforce and, importantly, improving the health and wellbeing of practitioners.

‘A resilient health workforce is essential to keeping our communities safe, healthy and growing, and the wellbeing of our practitioners goes hand-in-hand with that,’ she said.

‘These findings highlight the importance of a working environment that is both professionally fulfilling and supportive of practitioner wellbeing – not only for the welfare of our valued practitioners themselves, but also the health needs of the patients they care for.’

Read the media release.

Call for applications – Ahpra Community Advisory Council

Consumer representatives – help shape how health regulation works in Australia!

Are you an active and engaged health consumer with lived experience who can represent the interests of the community?

Join a well-respected and effective advisory council that provides Ahpra and the National Boards with advice and connection with communities and health consumers.
Help shape important standards regulating health practitioners, how Ahpra engages with consumers, and provide consumer perspectives and advice on relevant issues.

To view the vacancy and submit an application, please visit Ahpra’s Committee member recruitment page.

For general enquiries please contact statutoryappointments@ahpra.gov.au.

Applications close Sunday 30 March 2025 at 11:55pm, Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Discrimination and racism will not be tolerated – Joint statement from Ahpra and the National Boards

More than 900,000 registered health practitioners provide much needed safe healthcare every day in Australia.

Safe healthcare relies on trust between patients and practitioners. Discrimination and racism erode that trust and put lives at risk.

There is no place for discrimination, racism or intolerance in healthcare.

Ahpra and the National Boards remind registered health practitioners of their obligations under their codes of conduct and ethics to provide care that is free of discrimination and racism. The codes of conduct and ethics set out the legal requirements, professional behaviour and conduct expectations for registered health practitioners in Australia. The codes underpin the requirements for the delivery of safe and respectful practice.

The Code of conduct for nurses, for example, states that nurses must:

respect diverse cultures, beliefs, gender identities, sexualities and experiences of people, including among team members
adopt practices that respect diversity, avoid bias, discrimination and racism, and challenge belief based upon assumption.

The codes for all professions include similar requirements.

Practitioners must also comply with the standards of their workplace and adopt practices that foster a respectful, inclusive and safe healthcare environment.

Read the full statement.

Keep in touch with the Board

As always, we encourage you to regularly check the Dental Board website for information and updates relating to the dental profession.

Visit our website for information on the National Scheme and the mandatory registration standards, codes, guidelines, policies and fact sheets. Board consultation papers are published on the site under News.
Lodge an online enquiry form.
For registration enquiries call 1300 419 495 (from within Australia) or +61 3 9285 3010 (for overseas callers).
Address mail correspondence to: Executive Officer, Dental Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne VIC 3001.