AEDPA's Response to the PsyBA Psychology Training Redesign

AEDPA has lodged its formal submission to the Psychology Board of Australia on the proposed psychology training redesign, ahead of the 10 June 2026 consultation deadline. Our response sets out where we stand across twelve discrete proposals spanning degree restructuring, AQF classification, provisional registration, and workforce design.

Read AEDPA's full submission

The arguments at the centre of our response include:

• We support a single five-year pathway, but argue the qualification must stay at AQF9 rather than drop to AQF8. Our preferred model is a vertical double degree, a bachelor's progressing into a guaranteed master's place, delivering AQF9 within the same five-year sequence. The TEQSA framework already accommodates this, as current Master of Professional Psychology graduates demonstrate.

• A move to AQF8 carries serious pay and gender-equity consequences. AQF level anchors every pay instrument covering psychologists, including awards, enterprise agreements, Medicare rebates, and NDIS pricing. For a workforce that is over 80% women, many working part-time, a downgrade risks cascading wage reductions with lifetime income and superannuation effects. We ask that the Fair Work Commission and relevant industrial bodies be engaged before any change takes effect.

• The scientific and research foundation of the profession must be structurally protected. The depth of research capability is what distinguishes AQF9 from lower levels. If the level moves to AQF8, accreditation standards must explicitly mandate research capability above the AQF8 floor so it cannot be eroded through curriculum drift.

• Public protection during training must not weaken. Provisional registration places trainees on the public register under independent AHPRA oversight, with mandatory reporting and autonomous practice including restricted testing. We advocate retaining it, and if student registration replaces it, equivalent protections must be explicitly preserved.

• A lower qualification level risks Australian psychology losing mutual recognition in comparable international jurisdictions, narrowing where locally trained psychologists can practise.

• Non-clinical Areas of Practice Endorsement risk being squeezed out by market forces driven by the Medicare rebate differential. Educational and Developmental psychology in particular risks being narrowed to a school psychology role, erasing its broader lifespan work across infant and early childhood, disability, and care for older Australians. We ask that the upcoming AoPE review and cross-agency Medicare work address this directly.

• The reform's workforce goals depend on complementary Medicare reform. Without it, the structural drivers of the public sector shortage remain, and AQF8 wage reductions could push graduates toward private practice rather than the public and community settings the reform aims to grow.

• AEDPA does not support the creation of a Psychology Assistant tier, in either a standalone or exit-only form.

Our positions are guided by a single, non-negotiable principle: any reform to psychology training must protect the integrity of the scientist-practitioner model, uphold the professional standing of the psychology workforce, and place the long-term interests of the public at its centre.

Preparation and member consultation

In the lead-up to our submission, AEDPA developed two supporting resources to inform our position and consult with members. Both remain available for anyone who wants to see the detail behind our response.

Extended position summary

Consultation response generator

For further information and support, please reach out to admin@aedpa.org or advocacy@aedpa.org