I am writing to express my concern with the recent announcement of a new entry-level course for optometry from the University of Western Australia. Whilst it is vitally important to ensure that university optometry courses are admitting and graduating sufficient numbers of students to meet population demand for important optometric care, it is not in the interests of students undertaking such courses, the public, Government or the existing optometric profession, to support growth in the optometry workforce beyond growth in service demand. In recent years there has been a doubling of the number of university schools offering entry-level optometry courses, coupled with sustained growth in student numbers from established schools and with an expected additional school to be opened in the short term. While I acknowledge some regions in Western Australia and in other rural and remote parts of Australia do not have sufficient access to optometrists, this is an issue of maldistribution rather than supply and I’d encourage the Australian Government to support recent initiatives proposed by the National Rural Health Commissioner to address this issue across the health sector. I’d also like to see the Australian Government reconsidering funding systems for university places for optometry and considering approaches that require consideration of community need for services, such as that employed for medicine places. You can help us maintain an effective eye care system, accessible to all Australians, and ensure a sustainable future for eye care and community eye health. Thank you for your consideration. If you need any more information, please visit the Optometry Australia website at www.optometry.org.au or contact the team at policy@optometry.org.au.

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to write to you as I recently discovered that that the University of Western Australia has announced a new entry-level course for optometry. While Australian university optometry courses are the source of the vast majority of well-trained new entrants to the optometry workforce in Australia, I am concerned that this decision has been made without regard for community need for an increased workforce. In recent years there has been a doubling of the number of university schools offering entry-level optometry courses, coupled with sustained growth in student numbers from established schools and with an additional school now to be opened in the short term; I am worried that we will see negative impacts on employment conditions and increased competition for workforce places leading to the profession becoming less attractive to high-calibre students. The decision to open yet another new optometry course also flies in the face of the evidence. Workforce projections modelling undertaken by the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University in 2014 predicted that Australia was fast tracking toward an oversupply of optometrists in the short term. Many of my optometry colleagues and I are calling on the Australian Government to reconsider funding systems for university places for optometry and to consider approaches that require consideration of community need for services, such as that employed for medicine places. You can help us maintain an effective eye care system, accessible to all Australians, and ensure a sustainable future for eye care and community eye health. Thank you for your consideration. If you need any more information, please visit the Optometry Australia website at www.optometry.org.au or contact the team at policy@optometry.org.au.