Your voices delivered: petition presented to Simon Kennedy MP, Senator Ruston and Senator Liddle

Petition delivered today to Simon Kennedy MP, along with Senator Ruston and Senator Liddle

On Monday, 40 past, current and future leaders of the psychology profession came together at Parliament House for Protecting the Future of Psychology in Australia. Your signatures came with us. They gave our voices weight in every conversation.

Through the day we briefed Senators and MPs on what the proposed training changes would mean for the people we treat. Two senior Department of Health staff joined us to listen and learn, in a true spirit of collaboration. It was an incredible day.

Today I was back at Parliament House to deliver our petition.

When we printed it on Monday, we had 10,566 signatures. By the time we handed it over, we had to update the numbers. 11,785 signatures!

Thank you to Simon Kennedy MP, Senator Ruston and Senator Liddle for receiving it and for taking our concerns seriously. And thank you to every MP and Senator who joined us on Monday. You came, you listened, and your questions showed how much you care about your communities.

The message is clear. Australians want highly trained psychologists. Cutting the standard of training is not the answer to workforce shortages in underserviced regional, rural and remote communities.

Thank you to every single person who signed and shared. This is your petition. Please keep sharing. 

We are not done yet. Consultation will continue, and the Board’s final model will no longer go to the Minister in December. That is real progress. But this proposal is still on the table.

We call upon Minister Butler to stop this proposal and allow genuine consultation on a smarter reform.

Please keep signing. Keep sharing. Keep talking to your local MP.

#ProtectPsychology