One profession, one national registration, eight scopes of practice.

A pharmacist is registered by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency under the national law that applies identically everywhere. What they may actually do is set by state and territory medicines and poisons regulation, and the divergence is now substantial:

• Queensland — pharmacists meeting the Extended Practice Authority requirements provide clinical advice and treatment, including prescribing, for a range of acute common conditions from 1 July 2025, when the scope and hormonal contraception pilots became business as usual.
• New South Wales — expanded scope for uncomplicated urinary tract infections, hormonal contraception continuation including certain oral contraceptives, the vaginal ring and DMPA, and minor skin conditions, with initiation of oral contraceptives now permitted.
• Victoria — statewide pilot from August 2024 covering UTIs, shingles, mild plaque psoriasis and vaccines across more than 760 pharmacies, with initiation of oral contraceptives for women over 18 following.
• Western Australia and others expanding on their own timetables.

So the same pharmacist, with the same training and the same registration, may treat a urinary tract infection on one side of a border and not the other. A patient's access depends on their postcode rather than on anybody's competence.

This is the eighth instance of the partial-national pattern in this database and the purest: the profession is regulated nationally, and what it may do is not.

The Commonwealth has now stepped over the top. A national women's health pharmacist prescribing trial was announced on 13 March 2026, under which from 1 January 2027 women will be able to access assessment and treatment for uncomplicated UTIs and initiation and resupply of selected hormonal contraceptives at participating community pharmacies. See One profession, one national registration, eight scopes of practice.