Complementary Health

Complementary Health has grown significantly in popularity in Australia both in terms of complementary medicines and visits to complementary health practitioners. It is estimated that close to 60% of Australians access some form of complementary health care.

The Commonwealth has regulated the provision of complementary medicines through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and its Office of Complementary Medicine. However, the regulation of complementary health practitioners is a State/Territory issue.

The governments of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland provided funding for a national research project on the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, in response to the proliferation of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, training courses, professional associations and increase in the use of Chinese herbal medicines. In November 1996, the project report Towards a Safer Choice: The Practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Australia was issued by the Victorian Department of Human Services, the Southern Cross University and the University of Western Sydney.

In September 2002, the NSW Department of Health released a further Discussion Paper On The Regulation of Complementary Health Practitioners, to canvas opinion regarding the need to regulate those parts of the complementary health sector that pose actual risk to the public. Responses to the Discussion Paper are being analysed, and it is anticipated that a further report will be issued in 2004.

A Commonwealth expert committee was established in May 2003, to make recommendations concerning the regulatory, and health system and industry structures necessary in relation to complementary medicines. The committee issued the report Complementary Medicines in the Australian Health System in September 2003.