Wed 26 November 2025

Policy and Advocacy Summary – November 2025

Policy and Advocacy Summary – November 2025

As we approach the end of year, the policy and advocacy team have been hearing from members on policy and advocacy priorities from around the country. We thank all members who filled out our survey to inform our policy priorities going forward. These, along with recent publications Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2025 and the forthcoming The State of Pharmacy: Workforce Insights 2025 provide a clear direction on where our members and our sector is heading, and what it needs from policymakers to maximise their impact on the healthcare system and patients.

After participating in the Pharmacy Board’s consultation forum on prescribing, AdPha followed this up with attendance at the Australian Pharmacy Council’s public consultation forum to develop the Pharmacist Capability Framework, which will be critical to current scope of practice developments.

AdPha was again in Canberra for the Parliamentary sitting period, meeting with government stakeholders on pharmacists prescribing, medicines shortages and medicines access in hospitals, as National Health Reform Agreement negotiations are continuing. AdPha’s team also met with Minister Nicholl’s (QLD) office alongside the Chief Allied Health Officer once again to discuss pharmacy workforce, as well as the recent health workforce gap analysis report undertaken by Queensland Health, showing they projected a need to lift current FTE by over 600 positions to meet demand.

In other wins from our member-led advocacy:

• The TGA’s decision on pyridoxine upscheduling has broadly supported our Women’s and Newborn Health Leadership Committee’s view that pyridoxine in dosages used in nausea and vomiting in pregnancy should remain accessible from community pharmacies
• The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has committed to raising clozapine PBS restrictions at a future PBAC meeting, off the back of our Mental Health Leadership Committee’s letter to revise clozapine PBS restrictions to reflect contemporary, patient centred care and support community-based clozapine access, which also received support from  the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP)
• Following joint advocacy led by AdPha, in partnership with the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA), the Gastroenterological Nurses College of Australia (GENCA) and Crohn’s & Colitis Australia (CCA), Services Australia has confirmed that Crohn’s disease PBS Authority applications will transition to the Online PBS Authorities (OPA) system from 1 December 2025. This change directly responds to our call to replace the existing manual, paper-based process, which carries significant administrative burden and has resulted in delays of up to three weeks for people with Crohn's disease.