Penelope Smith
People who migrate to work in health – whether in frontline delivery, program design, or research – are a vital part of the health workforce in Australia and globally.
International health workers bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that, if thoughtfully leveraged, could be powerful.
Today, being International Migrants Day, presents an important opportunity to recognise the contributions of international health workers in Australia – who provide care to our nation’s most vulnerable.
Migrant health workers
Almost half of Australians have a parent born overseas.
I am the daughter of an Overseas Filipino Worker, who left his home to work as an educator in another land. He was a part of the large overseas workforce that contributes significantly to the economy of the Philippines. Such a story is not uncommon across low- and middle-income countries globally.
The 2023 Kruk report found that over 20% of registered health practitioners in Australia were trained overseas. It’s likely these numbers are higher in regional, rural, and remote areas – impacted upon by our migration legislation and visa system which pushes skilled migrants outside of metropolitan areas.
I’m currently researching the experiences of newly arrived international health workers, coming to Australia to work in regional northeast Victoria. “Newly arrived” in my project refers to their visa and citizenship status.
The project allows for the intersection of many things that matter to me, personally and professionally – particularly the role that international health workers play in our multidisciplinary health care teams.
Since the beginning of the 47th Parliament in 2022, several reviews and inquiries have been released that impact the recruitment and retention of international health workers.
These include the Migration Strategy, Multicultural Framework Review, Kruk’s Independent Review of Overseas Health Practitioner Regulatory Settings, Draft National Nursing Workforce Strategy (which explicitly mentions internationally trained nurses and midwives), and Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review.
Last month, the Australian Human Rights Commission released Australia’s first National Anti-racism Framework, which includes workplaces and health as two of the seven priority areas to address.
The Federal Government relies upon the recruitment of international health workers as a key policy lever to address workforce challenges, particularly in regional, rural, and remote areas.
From a systems-thinking view, there are unintended (or arguably intended) consequences of recruiting international health workers to address workforce challenges.
Throughout this year and into 2025, the Health Workforce Taskforce is implementing the recommendations of the Independent review of health practitioner regulatory settings review. This involves working with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the National Boards, to invest in the applicant experience, skills assessment, and registration.
It also demonstrates Australia’s ongoing commitment to the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.
But there is still more to be done to support the international health workforce. My experiences, gained through my PhD project, leave me pondering what a coordinated effort to retain these workers, and leverage their unique experience and skills, could look like.
Strengthening and sustaining the workforce
The current system tends to (importantly) focus on quality of skills and cohesion of the individual worker to the organisation and place.
Throughout my field work, I’ve listened to international health workers and to those who advocate for them, and it is clear to me that their international experiences hold unique value.
Whether it is their initial education and additional learning requirements, their experience working within different health systems, or the way they manage personal situations – we have much to learn from our international health workers.
The perspectives and knowledges they bring may be part of what our health system needs to better support Australia’s ever-diversifying population.
While my PhD is focused on the newly arrived who don’t have permanent residency or citizenship, and those outside of metropolitan areas, the broader conversation around strengthening and sustaining the whole internationally trained health workforce is important.
As groups like the World Health Organization develop crucial roadmaps for building the public health workforce, the experiences and perspectives of international health workers should be thoughtfully considered.
On this day, I encourage everyone to celebrate Australia’s, and the world’s, international health workers – the individuals who provide essential care to the citizens of their new home long before they are citizens themselves.
Penelope Smith is a University of Tasmania PhD Candidate, based on Bpangerang land in Northeast Victoria. This article was edited by Sreepurna Datta, PhD Candidate, UTAS, and the PHAA Communications Team.
The title was inspired by an interview of Hon Mr Andrew Giles MP, then minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs on ABC RN Breakfast, where in response to questions regarding a new strategy to resolve aged care workforce needs, he said:
“We are very concerned about ensuring that two things happen: one, that we attract workforce, high quality workforce, to ensure that our most vulnerable Australians get the care they need; but also to ensure that so many of the issues that we’ve seen in terms of the exploitation of migrant workers don’t occur.”
Image: taken by Penelope Smith on Bpangerang land in Northeast Victoria.
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