Australia’s National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Practitioners: A National Approach to Polycentric Regulation?

Abstract

This article analyses the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (‘NRAS’) for Australian health practitioners that commenced in July 2010. The article argues that the Scheme represents not only an interesting case study in the development of a national approach to regulation within a federal legal system, but also an example of polycentric regulation given the complex and multilayered nature of health practitioner regulation in Australia. The article analyses the NRAS within the broader regulatory context for health practitioner regulation and the administration of public regulation more generally, and explores the challenges posed by polycentric regulation within a federal system.