Audiology Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS)

Phase two

Background and context

At the 13 December 2023 Health Ministers’ Meeting (HMM), state and territory Health Ministers commissioned a Decision Regulatory Impact Statement (Decision RIS) to assess the viability of regulating the audiology profession under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS).

The Decision RIS was prepared in accordance with the Regulatory Impact Analysis Guide for Ministers’ Meetings and National Standard Setting Bodies June 2023, administered by the Office of Impact Analysis (OIA).

Phase one of the Audiology Decision RIS employed a targeted consultation strategy and a public submission process.

The Decision RIS was finalised in July 2024 and assessed by OIA as compliant. State and territory Health Ministers considered the Decision RIS at the 16 August 2024 HMM.

HMM decision and next steps

At the 16 August 2024 HMM, Ministers agreed in-principle to inclusion of the audiology profession in the NRAS, however requested further work to inform a final decision. The further work included targeted consultation with stakeholders to consider issues including costs, implementation, risks, and impacts on First Nations communities.

At the 5 September 2024 Health Workforce Taskforce (HWT) meeting, members discussed steps for progressing the requested work. It was agreed that Queensland Health would progress the next phase of work (phase two) on behalf of the HWT, with a planned update to the Ministerial Council in early 2025.

Phase two consultation

As part of phase two consultation and analysis, the project team released a consultation paper in December 2024 to guide input from interested stakeholders. The written submission process opened on 10 December 2024 and closed on 7 February 2025. Targeted stakeholder interviews were conducted over the same period with approximately 40 organisations.

Next steps

Information generated from the phase two consultation and written submission processes has been analysed and updates made to the Audiology Decision RIS. This is currently being finalised and will be provided to HWT in April 2025.

The Audiology Decision RIS will then be submitted to the OIA to ensure it remains compliant, prior to submitting for Health Chief Executives Forum (HCEF) consideration and HMM endorsement.

Updates on the progress of the Audiology Decision RIS will be provided on this site.

If you have any queries regarding this process, please contact: Workforcestrategyunit@health.qld.gov.au