Public consultation report for psychology code of conduct published

18 Nov 2024

The Psychology Board of Australia (the Board) has released a report on the public consultation it conducted last year regarding the development of a Board-authored code of conduct for psychologists.

The wide-ranging consultation was open from 19 June to 14 August 2023. It was supported by an extensive communications campaign including a media release, newsletter item, emails to stakeholders and a series of webinars in which Rachel Phillips, Board Chair, provided background and context to the proposed changes.

The Board received feedback from 131 external stakeholders during the consultation. We received detailed submissions from 66 of these stakeholders through a submission form template and freeform feedback via email. Brief feedback via an online consultation survey was provided by the other 65 stakeholders.

The Board’s decision to implement its own code of conduct was received positively by stakeholders, with 70% supporting this option. Of the 23% that did not support this option, most report that they would support the draft code’s implementation subject to some amendments.

Most stakeholders (61%) also supported the draft code being based on the shared Code of conduct. This feedback reinforced the proposal for alignment with other professions in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme).

The full public consultation report and submissions can be found on our past consultations webpage.

Code of conduct set to be released next week

Advance copies of the Board’s Code of conduct for psychologists are expected to be published on the Board website next week, twelve months ahead of its implementation on 1 December 2025.

This is the first regulatory code of conduct developed by the Board, since it adopted the Australian Psychological Society’s Code of ethics (the APS code) as the code of conduct and ethics for the profession when the National Scheme started in 2010.

Some key aspects of the Board-authored code include:

• embedding cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in line with changes to the National Law
• applicability across the diversity of psychological practice settings
• complementing the changes to the general registration competencies for psychologists, and
• greater consistency within the National Scheme through alignment with the shared Code of conduct.

The APS code will continue to be used during this transition period until the Board-authored code of conduct is implemented.

For more information

• Visit the Code of conduct page on the Board’s website
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia)
• To make an online enquiry complete our web enquiry form
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200