“A peak body’s strength comes from unity and the ability to leverage the skills, strengths, and perspectives of its membership.”
That’s one of CEO Mark Nevin’s key pitches in a statement to Optometry Australia’s (OA) members about the proposal to unify the organisation.
Under the plan, OA will be governed by a single national board of up to nine directors, including six state and territory representatives elected by members.
New state advisory bodies would be aligned to the same state and territory groupings as the elected board directors – NSW & ACT, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia & Northern Territory, and Tasmania.
OA’s national board and its state divisions have agreed to the plan and now members are expected to vote in special general meetings around Australia in May 2026.
In a statement to members, titled Our federation is no long fit for purpose, Nevin said OA’s current federation structure had created “significant overlaps”.
“That creates ongoing debate around who should do what, and who pays for what, all coming from the same member dollar,” he said.
“It slows decision-making and we spend valuable time on internal deliberations.”
He said that, currently, the national body needed to seek permission of its state divisions to engage members on content.
“The considerable time spent on dialogue between our six organisations could be better spent consulting with frontline members on policy content or clinical guidelines that enhance on how you practise optometry.”
That overlap came at considerable expense, he said.
“Our current structures are costly to maintain. We have six organisations to run, with all associated governance, financial, and compliance requirements.
“Those structures have become unsustainable.”
Under the proposal, Nevin said the services members valued would continue to be delivered in a new national entity.
Those services would be retained alongside lower fees for members, with Nevin saying the boards were keen to pass on the savings realised by unification.
Also, the changes would result in a “structure that aligns incentives, fosters consensus and streamlines decision-making”.
That would tighten the focus on good advocacy at both federal and state levels.
“Most of the policy, regulatory and funding levers and external relationships to advance optometry are national,” Nevin said.
“The Australian Government has the deepest pockets and regulates workforce, oversees Medicare and digital health.
“Where state or territory governments play a role, for example in running hospitals, engagement with them needs to be coordinated effectively.
“A national entity can also deploy additional resourcing whenever needed at state level, for example to influence health policy during an election, or to respond to a threat from a regulatory proposal or funding cut.”
Members would be involved in that advocacy, he said.
“They are the lifeblood of our organisation and their voice needs to be heard.
“The new entity has several avenues for expert members to get involved, through the new national board, state advisory bodies, committees and communities of practice.
“The current federated structure served us well in the past, but it is now time to modernise it.”
