Policy and Advocacy Library
The library is the culmination of the collaborative work of RACP members and comprises a comprehensive range of evidence-based, published RACP position statements, policies and submissions.
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Description
This RACP submission notes our strong support of the Australian Government’s Thriving Kids initiative as a timely and strategic reform to advance the health, development, and wellbeing of all Australian children. Whilst also providing advice for principles to guide the development of the initiative, noting the role the RACP can play, and highlighting existing RACP work, the submission discusses important and key considerations related to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.
Topic
Occupational and environmental health
Description
This RACP feedback, led by AFOEM, together with the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine (ANZSOM) provides comments on the 12-month review of the National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry (NORDR). The NORDR was established in May 2024 and collects data on silicosis (mandatory reporting for occupational and environmental medicine physicians and respiratory medicine physicians). The feedback highlights how the NORDR could play a larger role in the prevention of occupational respiratory diseases, describing the solutions, and ways physicians can be further engaged.
Description
The RACP submitted to the Education and Workforce Select Committee’s Inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders encounter online, and the roles the Government, business, and society should play in addressing those harms. Our submission advocates for a public health approach to regulating children/tamariki and young people/rangatahi’s online activity and calls for the Government to ensure that social media platforms are accountable for creating safer online environments for children and young people, as well as enabling safer online environments into adulthood.
Description
The RACP and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH) have published their shared priorities to advance Australia’s digital health transformation. These include upskilling the health workforce, funding mechanisms that incentivise the use of digital tools, and implementing the AI in Healthcare National Policy Roadmap. Together, these priorities strengthen national digital health strategies and position Australia as a global leader in digital innovation and better care for all Australians.
Description
Our feedback to Ahpra on its draft - Guidance: Sexual Misconduct and the National Law emphasises the need for clearer definitions, proportionality, strong evidentiary standards, and safeguards to ensure fair, transparent, and trauma-informed regulation in the interests of physicians, trainees and patients. It calls on Ahpra to clearly differentiate serious criminal or predatory behaviours from lower-level or inadvertent conduct to avoid conflating conduct issues and undermining regulatory credibility. The feedback stresses that legitimate human interactions, empathy and appropriate clinical care must not be over-regulated and that the Guidance must be subjected to routine evaluation and consultation.
