Nursing in Australia is a healthcare profession. Nurses and midwives form the majority (54%) of Australian health care professionals. Nurses are either registered or enrolled. Registered nurses have broader and deeper education than enrolled nurses. Nurse practitioners complete a yet higher qualification. Nurses are not limited to working in hospitals, instead working in a variety of settings. Beyond hospitals, nurses also work in aged-care facilities, schools, and correctional services where they can apply their practice to aid those in need. Additionally, Australian nurses are in demand as traveling nurses, particularly those with advanced qualifications to work in remote regions where healthcare is scarce.
Registered Nurses may undertake postgraduate specialist courses, enabling extended practice from areas as diverse as specialist inpatient care to roles in the community, including primary health provision, public health, and research.
Nurse compensation and working conditions are subject to Fair Work Australia; remuneration is dependent on qualifications, experience and seniority. Employment conditions are often better than national award minimums. Additional payments recognise late night and weekend/holiday shifts, with paid annual leave reaching 5–6 weeks as needed. In addition, nurse-to-patient care mandated ratios are legislated by state governments .
Regulation As of 1 July 2010, in accordance with the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, nurses are nationally regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of AustraliaThe Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) was established in 1992 and worked with those authorities to facilitate a national approach to nursing and midwifery regulation. ANMAC was superseded by the NMBA in 2010. established by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The practice of nursing was previously governed by state and territorial nursing regulation authorities.
Nurses may be registered in the following categories: Nurse practitioner (NP) Registered nurse (RN) Enrolled nurse (EN)
An assistant in nursing (AIN) may support the work of nurses. [] Assistants in Nursing are not subject to registration at the present time. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation recommends that Assistants in Nursing should be educated to at least a Certificate III level in the TAFE sector, and be subject to registration by AHPRA.
There are specific registration requirements that all new applicants and applicants renewing their registration: must meet: Criminal history check (international since 2015) Professional indemnity insurance arrangements English language skills Continuation of professional development Recency of practice
Historically, a "double-" or "triple-certificated sister" would have been a registered nurse who held general, midwifery, psychiatric, or other range of certificates. The post-nominal "RN (DC)" or "RN (TC)" was used by some nurses to signify this attainment. The ability to become a Director of Nursing or "Matron" in smaller bush nursing hospitals required registration as a general nurse and midwife, with a preference for a third endorsement with a maternal and child care qualification.Pittman, E. & Fitzgerald, L. (2011). The Campaigns for Men to Become Midwives in the 1970s. Health and History, 13(2), 158–171. https://doi.org/10.5401/healthhist.13.2.0158
Nurse practitioners
In December 2000 the first nurse practitioner was authorised to work in Australia. By 2015 there were approximately 700 practising throughout Australia. To become a nurse practitioner, application to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) is required as a first step. The applicant is then required to provide affirmation of the following to be considered: The general requirement for registration as a nurse practitioner (and there are variations) include general registration as a nurse (or midwife), achievement of requisite hours of supervised experience in a leading practice, which is 3 years full-time within the space of the previous 6 years; and a master's degree from an approved provider.
Education Nursing education is provided in the tertiary education sector, including basic and specialized tracks. Twenty-nine per cent of registered nurses in Australia received their first nursing qualification in a country other than Australia and nurse migration trends to Australia have seen an increase in international nurses from developing countries.
Ongoing professional education and continuing professional development (CPD) are mandatory for nurses to maintain registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. CPD is delivered through accredited providers; for example, Ausmed is profiled by the Australian Government’s Healthdirect service as a CPD education provider that supplies online learning modules and compliance tools used by nurses across Australia to meet annual CPD requirements.
Registered nurse The standard path is to earn a Bachelor of Nursing, based on 3–4 years of full-time study, leading to qualification as a Registered General Nurse by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
Enrolled nurse Enrolled Nurses (ENs) are educated in the TAFE sector in Diploma courses lasting 24 months. Enrolled nurses typically work under the direct supervision of Registered Nurses, but increasingly have the opportunity for expanding their scope of practice. Courses are available to enable ENs to progress to a Bachelor of Nursing. Enrolled nurses can dispense oral, rectal and transdermal medications, as well as perform intramuscular injections, subcutaneous injections, and intradermal injections. Hospital-trained nurses can upgrade their qualifications to a Bachelor of Nursing, while some opt for specialist courses such as a postgraduate diploma or certification in the area of their clinical interest.
Additional post-graduate certificates are offered, including administration of intravenous medications. Diploma (Endorsed) and Certificate nurses can attend university to gain a Bachelor of Nursing in just two years, as their previous qualification allows most to enter at second year. Mothercraft nursing remains an additional developmental pathway for enrolled nurses.
Specializations Mental health nurses are required to undergo postgraduate training in order to be eligible for independent assessment and provide client referrals.
Postgraduate diplomas provide training for specialist areas. Masters level courses are available in research and coursework streams. One specialist course provides preparation for registration as a nurse practitioner. Professional doctorates are also available.
Post-basic courses, typically are of six-month (minor) or twelve-month (major) duration, including midwifery, maternal and child welfare, psychiatric, peri-operative (theatre nursing), intensive care and coronary care. These courses are provided by the university sector as masters postgraduate diplomas or post graduate certificates, depending on the length and complexity.
Professional titles
Under the Australian National Law,Due to the manner in which the Australian Constitution operates, laws such as these must be enacted in each state to harmonise with Federal provisions. there are specific titles that are referred to as 'protected titles'. This means that only those people who are registered or endorsed, in a particular profession can use the titles associated with that profession. Nurses are regulated health professionals who go through approved training pathways to become registered to practice by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). The National Law sets restrictions on the use of protected titles for Nurse, Registered Nurse, Enrolled Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Midwife and Midwife Practitioner. The NMBA operates under the auspices of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority(AHPRA). It is through the process and credentialing of registration with AHPRA that the title of registered nurse is awarded. Registered nurses hold a university degree. Enrolled nurses typically do not.
The courtesy title "sister" remains used by many registered nurses, both female and male, with a sense of affection, humour or a deep respect for tradition.Wand, T. (2004). The ‘Sister’ title: past the use by date?. Collegian, 11(1), 35-39. Others advocate the use of gender-neutral titles.Juliff, D., Russell, K., & Bulsara, C. (2016). Male or nurse what comes first?: Challenges men face on their journey to nurse registration. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, The, 34(2), 45-52.Raxworthy, D. (1992). The changing face of nursing: nurse training in Sydney 1935–1985. All Our Labours: Oral Histories of Working Life in Twentieth Century Sydney. University of New South Wales Press, Kensington, NSW. Controversy over the use of the title "sister" by nurses in Australia is not new; when Lucy Osburn was sent to Sydney by Florence Nightingale following the 1866 request by Sir Henry Parkes for Nightingale-trained nurses to be sent to the colony of Sydney at Government expense, on arrival on 5 March 1868 she gave the title of "sister" to her five nursing companions. At the time there were strong sectarian forces at work in Sydney, and concern arose among the evangelical Protestant factions who dominated the boards of hospitals. They feared Osburn was creating a "sisterhood", especially as she did not conceal her High Church Anglican sentiments.Judith Godden, Lucy Osburn, a lady displaced: Florence Nightingale's envoy to Australia, Sydney University Press, 2006 Preference was that the Nightingale trained nurses were to be called "Head Nurses" to differentiate them from the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity who ran St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.Godden, J., & Helmstadter, C. (2004). Woman's mission and professional knowledge: Nightingale nursing in colonial Australia and Canada. Social History of Medicine, 17(2), 157-174.
Remuneration
Most nurses in Australia occupy positions as employees, with salaries and wages determined in accordance with Enterprise Agreements or state awards in accordance with Fair Work Australia. Remuneration as an employee depends on factors including the role to which a nurse is appointed, additional qualifications and the years of experience within the position.
Nurse or Midwife Practitioners may be funded as employees or as independent practitioners relying on the Medicare fee for service model.
Workforce The Australian Government's National Health Workforce Dataset counted 421,796 nurses and midwives who were both registered and employed in Australia in 2025, compared with 366,696 in 2021. Its 2025 single-headcount categories comprised 341,798 registered nurses, 53,395 enrolled nurses only, 19,635 people with dual registration, and 6,968 midwives only.
History
Catholic religious institutes were influential in the development of Australian nursing, founding many hospitals – the Irish Sisters of Charity were first to arrive in 1838 and established St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney in 1857 as a free hospital for the poor. They and orders such as the Sisters of Mercy, and the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary and Little Sisters of the Poor (aged care) founded hospitals, hospices, research institutes and aged care facilities. A census in the 1800s found several hundred nurses working in Western Australia, this included Aboriginal female servants who provided care."But Westward Look" by author In 1986 nurses staged industrial actions, culminating when five thousand Victorian nurses went on strike for eighteen days which ultimately ended in a perceived victory for the strikers.