ADVOCATING FOR THE PROFESSION

The ASA is the trusted voice for the sonography profession across Australasia. Through highlighting the issues affecting sonographers, as well as promoting the advancement of the profession, we are able to advocate on behalf of sonographers to governments on issues such as workforce and regulation.

Through a submission for regulation in Australia

In 2020–21, the ASA worked tirelessly on a submission to the government for the profession to be added to the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme in Australia for the safety and protection of the public. An industry consultation of the draft submission was held in October and sent to 111 industry representatives (a total of 42 organisations). We currently hold 36 industry letters of support for sonographer regulation. The submission was given to the federal health department in April 2021 and the ASA is continuing to work with this department for it to progress to the next stage.

Meetings

In a year where health departments and many health organisations had high COVID-19 priorities, the ASA participated in 26 industry meetings and 12 political/ government meetings, all of which were held online to discuss workforce challenges, the safety of sonographers, and regulation.