Health Practitioner registration

To be eligible to apply for registration as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner a person must provide evidence that they are:

an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person; and
identify as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person; and
be accepted as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person in the community in which they live or did live.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner means a person registered by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board. The practitioner may use the titles:

Aboriginal Health Practitioner
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner, or
Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner.

Clinical practice means direct clinical care of patients, using the current knowledge, skills and attitudes of the profession, whether remunerated or not, and regardless of job title.

Approved programs of study (as of January 2017) and campuses are:

Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Aboriginal Health College, Little Bay, New South Wales (NSW)
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia – Adelaide campus
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia (WA) – Highgate, WA
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education – Batchelor, Northern Territory (NT)
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Health Industry Training – Hervey Bay, Queensland (Qld)
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Marr Mooditj Training Incorporated (previously known as Marr Mooditj Foundation Inc) – Perth, WA
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – TAFE NSW – Port Macquarie Campus, Port Macquarie, NSW
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – TAFE NSW Riverina Institute – Albury, Griffith and Wagga Wagga, NSW
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – TAFE NSW Western Institute, Broken Hill, Dubbo and Orange, NSW
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute, Kingswood Campus
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – TAFE Queensland (Qld) North – Manunda, Townsville, Mount Isa, Thursday Island, Qld
Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice – Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Collingwood, Victoria.

This standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council in December 2011, pursuant to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law), as in force in each state or territory, with approval taking effect from 1 July 2012. It will be reviewed at least every three years.

As of 31 December 2016 there were 630 registered Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners in Australia with 2 having no Principal place of practice (PPP) 1 in the Northern Territory, 1 in Western Australia and 1 in New South Wales.

The table below represents registration type by principal place of practice.