2023 wrap up – Veterinary Policy and Advocacy

The Veterinary Policy and Advocacy (VPA) team have taken a moment to reflect on the activities of 2023 before we dive into 2024. The activities of the VPA team can be divided into policy development and renewal, proactive advocacy and responsive advocacy.

Policy

In 2023, 17 policies were ratified by the AVA Board, there were 4 new policies and 13 updates. New policies were in the areas of:

• Workforce sustainability
• Drug safety
• Animal health and welfare
• One Health

A further 20 working groups were formed and have been working on updating older policies to present at the 2024 Policy Council meeting.

The current policy compendium can be found here.

Advocacy

As in previous years, the number of issues that arose in the area of responsive advocacy was large, and it was important for the AVA to respond and reiterate the essential nature of veterinary input into animal health and welfare, One Health and public health; prevent erosion of the roles and responsibilities of veterinarians in animal health and welfare; and advocate that sustainability of the profession requires a viable veterinary business model. Combined with this is the importance of engaging with external stakeholders who impact and influence the veterinary profession.

Key responsive advocacy the VPA team responded to in 2023 were in the fields of:

• Regulation (including veterinary acts and regulations, poisons and medicines, compounding scheduling, regulation of the veterinary team).
• Animal health and welfare submissions (including live export, pounds, poultry, greyhounds, kangaroos, duck hunting, inspector general animal welfare).
• National standards setting (including pet food, abattoir, emergency disease, compounding and microchip standards).
• Work force sustainability (including immigration, disaster funding, work force shortages).
• Veterinary education (including Higher Education Accord).
• Biosecurity and antimicrobial stewardship.

Progress was made against the proactive advocacy projects including:

• Educational fee forgiveness.
• Data collection around the Australian veterinary workforce.
• Project investigating the contribution the profession makes to public good.
• Desk top analysis on existing literature around veterinary involvement in animal production systems, defining the problem and the risks to the agricultural sector.
• Project to engage other stakeholders that are involved in the veterinary profession to discuss and progress issues of importance.
• Public awareness of veterinary sustainability and mental ill-health concerns through targeted mainstream media and public presentation.
• Graduate transition.
• Antimicrobial Prescribing Guidelines for livestock and horses.

Evidence of the work undertaken in 2023 by the VPA team to advocate for our profession includes:

The work of the VPA team is not possible without the expertise, experience and generous contribution that AVA volunteer groups make through their involvement in Divisional and Special Interest Group committees and subcommittees, national working groups, forums and advisory groups. We are very appreciative of their contribution and look forward to their continued involvement in 2024.

For more information on the work of the VPA team, go to Member Updates  or to Policy and Advocacy on the AVA website. We encourage you to “get involved” in AVA policy and advocacy and AVA committees.