1:30min
I am honoured to have been elected by the Board as the first Chair and President of the new Optometry Australia. I take on the role with gratitude and a strong sense of responsibility to our members and to the profession we serve.
I want to thank the Presidents of each Division and respective Boards for their tireless work and humility in putting Members and the profession first throughout the unification process.
Together with the Project Working Group, they took on the monumental task of reshaping an organisation with more than 100 years of history.
The result is not simply a new organisational structure.
It is an opportunity to enhance how we speak for optometry, broaden engagement and support for members, and shape the profession’s next chapter together.
The new unified Optometry Australia will be bolder and more direct: engaging directly with members, being clear on what we are advocating for, and being candid about both our advocacy wins, and when progress has been more challenging.
In the months ahead, you will hear more about how we are fighting for optometrists, expanding opportunity and strengthening our voice at a time when the unity of our profession matters more than ever.
That unity is built through participation. Every member adds weight to our advocacy and helps strengthen the profession’s collective voice.
There is no shortage of concern about the pressures facing optometry, and they are valid. But we should not let present challenges define the narrative of our profession and its future. Optometry has always been a profession of service, adaptation and possibility. That remains true today.
As a profession, we are seen as one by the public, even though we may practise in different settings, with varied clinical interests and business models.
We do not need to be the same to support one another; we need to recognise that when one part of the profession is strengthened, the whole profession is better placed to serve patients, communities and each other.
How far we have come
To understand why this moment matters, it is worth recognising how far optometry has already travelled – and why that history should fill us with confidence rather than complacency.
I love this profession.
Optometry has given me the opportunity to build a fulfilling career and personal life. I opened my first clinic aged 23 in a medical centre, largely to learn how to run a business – a skill I later honed through an MBA.
Since then, through the inevitable ups and downs, I have been fortunate to grow into four franchises and one private practice. Has it always been easy? No. But it has been deeply rewarding, and I still love what I do.
Looking back, I can see how much has changed since I graduated, and how easy it can be to view the past through a romantic lens. But reflection should not lead us to nostalgia alone; it should help us better understand the opportunities we have today.
The opportunities available to new graduates then were different from those available now.
While there are more optometrists employed now than ever before, there is greater competition for jobs, especially in metropolitan areas, and securing the professional setting you prefer is not always straightforward.
As was the case when I graduated, some of the richest opportunities for professional growth were often found in regional and rural communities, where optometrists could quickly broaden and deepen their clinical judgement through meaningful patient care.
Our scope of practice was also far more limited. We could not move as easily across state borders due to state-based registration and could not charge above Medicare rebates.
We did not have therapeutics, OCT, advanced myopia control, contemporary dry eye therapy, glaucoma management, artificial intelligence tools, or the prospect of oral therapeutics.
In my early years, having access to a field analyser and retinal camera felt like a luxury.
Today, many of these advances have simply become part of modern optometry. That did not happen by accident. Those advances took sustained advocacy, persistence and belief in the profession’s potential.
What has to change
Patient expectations, health systems, and the economics of practice have changed.
Our business models must change with them. Optometry cannot rely only on the dispensing revenues of the past. We need to be properly recognised and remunerated for the clinical care we provide.
Optometry Australia has fought for private billing so that clinical care can be valued more appropriately. Despite this, bulk billing remains high across the profession, and rebates have not kept pace with the costs of providing services, making bulk billing unsustainable.
This is not only a financial issue; it is a question of how we value our expertise, our time and our contribution to public health.
For decades, Optometry Australia has advocated to increase opportunity through scope expansion.
That work is about more than professional advancement. It is about improving public accessibility, supporting better health outcomes and ensuring optometrists can practise to the full extent of their training and capability.
Expanded scope also gives us the tools to develop new models of care, new ways of serving patients and new pathways for sustainable practice.
We cannot return to the past, nor should we try to.
The world continues to change, and faster each year. I am reminded of a lecturer at university who once showed us historical photographs of optometry rooms and remarked that optometry was a profession that changed slowly, with little difference across 50 years.
That may have been true once, but it is certainly not today. Our profession is changing quickly, and our response must be thoughtful, confident and forward looking.
That does not mean ignoring what is difficult.
We should be frank about what is not working, and equally clear about what we can change.
The future of optometry will not be secured by resisting change; it will be strengthened confronting the pressures in front of us and shaping what comes next.
What comes next
Optometry has changed significantly over the past 25 years.
Some things are harder than they once were; others are better. We work in an economy and health ecosystem that continues to evolve, bringing real pressure as well as opportunity.
Our task is to be clear about our value, ambitious about our contribution and united in our purpose.
Being a member of Optometry Australia matters because advocacy is stronger when the profession stands together. The united Optometry Australia will advocate more powerfully, respond more effectively and pursue changes that individual practitioners cannot achieve alone.
We must take control of our future and focus on delivering excellent patient care.
We must embrace new opportunities available through expanded scope, new technologies, changing models of care and stronger advocacy.
We must resist the temptation to wither in a fixed mindset, looking back at a romanticised past, and instead step forward with energy, professionalism and confidence.
As health professionals, we make a commitment to lifelong learning, and that means continuing to adapt, broaden our skills and respond to how our profession and the needs of our patients evolve.
Your new, united Optometry Australia is a stronger voice for the profession, with renewed enthusiasm to listen to members, fight for your interests and create more opportunities today and tomorrow.
I am optimistic about what lies ahead – not because the road will be without challenge, but because I believe in optometrists, in our capacity to adapt, and in the future we can build together.