Liam's story

Liam complained about the Medical Board of Australia’s expedited specialist pathway to registration for internationally qualified specialists and its list of approved specialist qualifications. He felt the list was limited to a small number of countries and that this was discriminatory. 

Liam believed that a qualification from another country should be considered comparable to the qualifications included in the approved list because graduates had undertaken substantially similar training and met the same requirements as those undertaking an approved specialist medical training program in Australia.

Our office initially sought to resolve Liam’s concerns through our early resolution transfer process. With Liam’s consent, we transferred his complaint to Ahpra. In response, Ahpra provided Liam with more information about how qualifications are assessed. 

Ahpra explained that the list of approved qualifications was developed in consultation with the AMC and the relevant specialist medical colleges. It also noted that the list had undergone public consultation and would be reviewed again in the future. Ahpra forwarded Liam’s feedback to the Medical Board for consideration as part of that process. 

Ahpra also explained why the qualification Liam thought should be recognised was not included in the list of approved qualifications. This included, for example, that the program was specifically tailored to another country’s health system and did not directly align with Australian training.

We were satisfied that Ahpra’s response adequately addressed the concerns Liam had raised. Based on the information provided, we did not consider that an investigation of the complaint was warranted.