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Australian pharmacy healthcare workforce

Australia's independent, not-for-profit voice for the pharmacy workforce. Advocating on long-outstanding issues.

Educating decision-makers, the community and the profession.

02/11/2026

25 years.

From the Wilkinson review in 2000 to the Grattan Institute in 2026, independent reviews, including the Productivity Commission, the Harper review and Treasury’s competition review, have reached the same conclusion about the pharmacy location rules. None has led to them being removed.

Between 1989-90 and 2021-22, pharmacy numbers grew just 5.4 per cent while the population grew 54 per cent. That means no pharmacy in new suburbs, longer queues in old ones, and young pharmacists who can’t open the pharmacies their communities need.

Why hasn’t anything changed? The location rules have been renewed in every Community Pharmacy Agreement since the third, negotiated between government and the owners’ organisation, with no other party at the table for the final decisions. We can only say what’s documented. But in a healthy democracy, that should concern everyone.

Pharmacists are brilliant. The problem is the rules. Our ask: commission the ACCC market study, move to independent pricing, and give pharmacists and patients a seat at the table.

What do you think?

Share this with your MP.

Anthony Albanese Mark Butler MP Jim Chalmers MP Katy Gallagher Rebecca White Emma McBride MP ACCC Australian Government

21/10/2026

Review after review said the same thing.

Reform pharmacy.

The Pharmacy Peak bodies pushed back. Governments gave way.

And it has happened four times since 1989.

Why so?

You can guess it by looking at the pharmacy lobby’s political muscle.

$2.5 million in political donations.
$16.3 million on public campaigns.

Money isn’t the whole story. But it’s hard to believe it counts for nothing.

Meanwhile, taxpayers fund a $25.8 billion agreement. Only the Government and the pharmacy lobby negotiate it.

Patients aren’t at the table. Neither is the pharmacy workforce doing the work.

We want three things:
1. Change the pharmacy rules.
2. Run an ACCC market study.
3. Set pharmacy pay independently, in public.

Share this. Tell your MP.

MPs, put patients, workforce and taxpayers first.

Anthony Albanese Mark Butler MP Jim Chalmers MP Katy Gallagher Emma McBride MP Rebecca White ACCC Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing Grattan Institute Australian Productivity Commission

14/10/2026

Costs may rise every year. Outdated rules shouldn’t cost Australians.

For 25 years, review after review has told governments to change them. Meanwhile, patients get less competition, and young pharmacists are locked out of ownership.

Pharmacy location rules have been in place since 1990. Since then our population has grown 54 per cent, while pharmacy numbers have grown just 5.4 per cent (1989-90 to 2021-22). That means less competition, fewer choices and less access to care close to home.

Reform means fairer prices, better access to care, and more career options for the pharmacists who look after us.

Ask your MP to reform the pharmacy rules NOW.

Anthony Albanese Mark Butler MP Jim Chalmers MP Katy Gallagher Emma McBride MP Rebecca White ACCC Australian Government Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing Australian Productivity Commission

07/10/2026

🥁 Since 1990, Australia's population has grown by 54%. The number of pharmacies has grown by just 5.4%.

In that time, pharmacists have been handed more and more to do: vaccinations, UTI and contraceptive prescribing, opioid treatment, dose packs, aged care.

Governments keep adding work to the same counters without expanding the network.

That means longer queues for patients, and more burnout and more risk of error for the pharmacists carrying the load.

The rules that decide where a pharmacy can open were written in 1990. They don't consider where people live, what they need, or the record 43,331 registered pharmacists ready to work.

Pharmacists who can't own a pharmacy have no seat when funding is decided.

Nine major reviews over 26 years have said the same thing: reform the rules.

The fix isn't complicated:
✔ Pharmacies where people actually need them
✔ Rural supports kept and strengthened
✔ Prices set independently, on published evidence
✔ Pharmacists empowered to work across the health system

Step one is an ACCC market study.

The evidence is settled. What's missing is the political will, and that's where you come in.

👉 Please share this post to help it reach your local MP.

Are you a pharmacist, intern, or student? Please tell us in the comments or email us how reforms in new pharmacy approvals or fairer pay would impact your career or the people you serve.

Anthony Albanese Mark Butler MP Jim Chalmers MP Rebecca White Katy Gallagher Emma McBride MP

24/09/2026

25 September is World Pharmacists Day — and in Australia, “empowering pharmacists” must mean changing the rules that hold them back.

Australian pharmacists have the training.
They have the willingness.
They have the trust of the Australian public.

What they don’t have is a fair system.

For decades, federal rules have restricted where a pharmacy can open, who gets paid for the clinical work pharmacists actually do, and who sits at the table when decisions about pharmacy practice are made.

These outdated settings limit access for patients, block innovation, and hold back an entire workforce that is ready to deliver more for communities.

If we truly want “healthier futures”, we must empower pharmacists by fixing the rules that keep them from doing their best work.

Australia deserves modern pharmacy policy — not barriers built decades ago.

It’s time to empower pharmacists.

It’s time for reform.

Anthony Albanese Mark Butler MP Jim Chalmers MP Katy Gallagher Emma McBride MP Rebecca White Andrew Leigh MP

07/09/2026

The enormous power of the Pharmacy Guild is on full display - pulling every lever it can to protect a status quo that no longer serves patients, taxpayers, or the workforce.

When independent voices publish evidence‑based reports about the future of pharmacy, they shouldn’t face pressure or funding threats.

Australia deserves better.

It’s time for politicians from every side of politics to stand up, put patients first, support the workforce, and deliver the long‑overdue reforms our healthcare system needs.

Change the Rules.

Anthony Albanese Mark Butler MP Jim Chalmers MP Katy Gallagher Rebecca White Grattan Institute

12/08/2026

Enough is enough.

The government must finally listen to taxpayers and the workforce.

Outdated pharmacy rules are costing more, delivering less, and ignoring the very people who keep Australia’s healthcare system running.

It’s time to act.

Australian Productivity Commission ACCC Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing Australian Treasury Grattan Institute

02/08/2026

Australia is paying the price for outdated pharmacy rules.

Taxpayers lose. Patients lose. Communities lose.

And an entire generation of young pharmacists is being locked out of the opportunities that should be shaping our future workforce.

These rules are decades old - and they’re holding the country back.

It’s time for modern, fair, patient‑centred reform.

Anthony Albanese Jim Chalmers MPMark Butler MP Australian Productivity Commission ACCC Australian Labor Party

01/08/2026

🗣️Australia’s pharmacy access is falling behind global benchmarks: AND the evidence is CLEAR.

Monash Rural Health’s national mapping (Leach & Griffin, Australian Journal of Rural Health, 2026) shows Australia had 6,032 community pharmacies in 2024, equating to 2.22 pharmacies per 10,000 people.

That’s below the global average of 2.75, meaning Australians now rely on ≈4,505 residents per pharmacy.

For a modern healthcare system, this gap isn’t sustainable.

Outdated pharmacy location rules are restricting growth.
Outdated policy settings are limiting access.
Outdated assumptions are shaping decisions that no longer reflect community need.

Australia deserves contemporary pharmacy policy — aligned with international benchmarks, responsive to population growth, and designed for equitable access across metro, regional, and rural communities.

The data is clear.
The need is urgent.
Reform is overdue.

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