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
The RACP has written to the Queensland Youth Justice Reform Select Committee’s Inquiry, providing evidence and resources to support better health outcomes for children and young people. The College highlighted its position statements on child health, Indigenous child health, early childhood and inequities in health, with a focus on recommendations to improve care for those in or at risk of entering out-of-home care. The RACP has also offered the expertise of its members to assist the Committee throughout the Inquiry.
Topic
Access to healthcare
Description
The RACP submitted to the Health Select Committee on the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill. The RACP supported certain aspects of the Bill, such as including a new purpose of ensuring patients get timely access to quality health services, a focus on infrastructure provision and planning. The RACP also expressed deep concerns regarding other aspects of the Bill including the diminished role of Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards, the removal of the health sector principles, and the removal of the requirement for the Expert Advisory Committee on Public Health to have expertise in population health, health equity, te Tiriti, epidemiology, health intelligence, health surveillance, health promotion, health protection and preventative health.
Description
This feedback to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) Credentialing and Defining Scope of Clinical Practice – Guide for Managers and Clinicians emphasises the need for transparent, conflict-free credentialing processes, strong safeguards against bias and misuse, and accessible appeal pathways in health services. It stresses that credentialing frameworks must be workable across diverse physician worksites. The importance of supporting workforce flexibility, portable credentialing, balancing credentialing for quality and safety with efficiency and physician wellbeing is centred.
Description
Our submission to Ahpra’s review of the Supervised Practice Framework advocates for flexible, supportive, and practical approaches to supervision that promote wellbeing and psychological safety for both supervisors and supervisees. We call for clearer guidance, better resources, and greater flexibility in supervisory arrangements for clinical complexity, supervisee circumstance, remote practice, and workforce pressures, particularly in rural and pressured clinical work settings. The submission recommends targeted reforms to make the Framework fairer, more accessible, and aligned with the realities of physician practice.
Description
The RACP and its Tasmanian Committee are committed to advocating for the development of policies that are based on evidence, informed by the knowledge and expertise of physicians, and that benefit the health of Tasmanians and the Tasmanian healthcare system.
Description
The RACP submitted feedback to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee on the Regulatory Standards Bill. The RACP opposes the Regulatory Standards Bill, highlighting the potential for adverse impacts on public health, health outcomes for Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi presented by the provisions of the Bill.
Description
Our submission to the Productivity Commission urges it to recommend implementation of key reforms needed to modernise My Health Record, strengthen medicine access, support physician wellbeing, ensure safe AI integration, and expand efforts to reduce low-value care. It also encourages better collaborative funding and commissioning of health care services for physician care integration and more investment in primary and secondary prevention to reduce pressure on our hospitals.
Description
Our response to the Ahpra National Prescribing Competencies Framework review commends overall framework alignment with quality use of medicines principles, while urging better support for doctors and patients by more clearly addressing real-world prescribing complexities. This includes in areas like off-label prescribing, shared decision-making, and clinical judgment in uncertain or emerging evidence settings. We recommend more detailed guidance that reflects the ethical and practical responsibilities of advanced prescribing in physician care. Further engagement with the RACP is urged to ensure the framework stays relevant to evolving clinical scenarios. Strengthening these aspects would enhance its utility and better equip doctors to make informed, safe prescribing decisions in busy practice environments.
Description
The RACP submission in response to Tasmania’s 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy Discussion Paper welcomes this important investment in creating a healthier and more equitable future for all Tasmanians. The submission recommends that the Strategy focus on system-wide change through a Health in All Policies approach, apply a strong health equity lens, address the social determinants of health, reflect Tasmania’s specific jurisdictional and workforce context, dedicate at least 5% of the health budget to prevention, and encompass the full continuum of preventive health.
Description
The RACP submitted feedback to the Health Select Committee on the Medicines Amendment Bill. The RACP supports a number of measures outlined in the Medicines Amendment Bill, including the new medicines verification pathway, but has a number of concerns about proposed expansion of prescribing unapproved medicines. Initiatives to improve access to medicines need to be part of a broader range of activities to ensure necessary access to specialist care.
