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The status of clinical psychology in Australia, and the health services and regulatory environment in which it operates, has been characterised by significant change in past years. The profession first became recognised in the 1940s, with training and practice heavily influenced by the scientist practitioner model. The training model now consists of an undergraduate degree that focuses on building knowledge in the discipline of psychology, followed by 2–3 years postgraduate professional training, plus a 1- to 2-year registrar program, leading to an "endorsed area of practice" in clinical psychology. However many psychologists in Australia received, and continue to receive, their professional practice training through an internship overseen by the Psychology Board of Australia, and do not gain an endorsed area of practice. Significant catalysts for change in the past 10–15 years include the introduction of government insurance rebates for psychologists in 2006, and the introduction of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009, which saw the registration, regulation, and training accreditation of different health professions subsumed under the same legislation. This National Law also took registration and regulation from a State-based system, into a National Scheme. The "two tiered" system of Government insurance rebate has led to ongoing tensions and divisions between those psychologists with and those without clinical psychology specialisation. There is certainly still work to be done to strengthen the recognition, particularly by the larger psychology profession, that specialist training is critical for clinical practice. Further challenges for the profession include a mental health workforce located mainly on the urban fringe, with a lack of clinical psychologists serving rural and remote areas. There is a lack of psychologists with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background, possibly contributing to the poor servicing of the mental health needs of Australia's indigenous population. Finally a decreasing capacity for clinical placements presents a further challenge to the workforce, and new and innovative models of clinical science training may be required to make certain clinical psychology does not become side-lined in a constantly changing health-care environment.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-56194-3_9

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