Mandatory reporting covers two duties. Under state and territory child protection law, registered psychologists are named mandated reporters everywhere except Queensland, though thresholds and reportable abuse types differ. Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, you must also notify Ahpra when you form a reasonable belief that another practitioner has engaged in notifiable conduct.
What does mandatory reporting mean for a psychologist?
Practitioners usually use the phrase to mean child protection reporting, but two legal obligations sit under it and they work differently.
The first is child protection reporting, created by each state and territory's own child protection Act. It is triggered by a belief or suspicion about a child, formed in the course of your work, and the report goes to the child protection authority or police in that jurisdiction.
The second is mandatory notification under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, which applies across the National Scheme. It is triggered by a reasonable belief about another registered health practitioner or student, and the notification goes to Ahpra.
The two never substitute for each other. A report to child protection does not discharge an Ahpra obligation, and a notification to Ahpra does nothing for a child at risk.
Are psychologists mandated reporters in every state and territory?
Almost. Here is where registered psychologists sit in each jurisdiction, and what has to be reported:
- New South Wales: yes. The Department of Communities and Justice lists psychologists as mandatory reporters in both health care and welfare, and from 1 March 2020 the groups expanded to include registered psychologists providing a professional service to adults. The trigger is a suspicion on reasonable grounds that a child is at risk of significant harm.
- Victoria: yes. Registered psychologists are named in the Victorian mandatory reporter list under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005. The duty is narrower than the NSW one: you report a belief on reasonable grounds that a child is in need of protection from physical injury or sexual abuse. A penalty applies for failing to do so.
- Queensland: no. Section 13E of the Child Protection Act 1999 names doctors, registered nurses, teachers, particular police officers, child advocates and early childhood education and care professionals. Psychologists are not in that list. Other duties still apply, as below.
- South Australia: yes. Psychologists are mandated notifiers under section 30(3) of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, per the SA Law Handbook. Notify if you suspect on reasonable grounds that a child or young person is, or may be, at risk.
- Western Australia: yes, for child sexual abuse only. Registered psychologists now appear on the WA mandatory reporter list, added through the staged expansion under the Children and Community Services Amendment Act 2021 implementing Royal Commission recommendations 7.3 and 7.4. The duty is to report a reasonable belief of child sexual abuse.
- Tasmania: yes. A person registered in the psychology profession is a prescribed person under section 14 of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1997.
- Australian Capital Territory: yes. Psychologists are mandated reporters under the ACT reporting laws, which cover sexual abuse and non-accidental physical injury.
- Northern Territory: yes, but through a universal duty. Section 26 of the Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 makes it an offence for any person to fail to report a reasonable belief that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer harm or exploitation, with a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units. Health practitioners carry an extra obligation for a child aged at least 14 and under 16 believed to be a victim of a sexual offence where the age gap is more than two years.
For telehealth and interstate work, the obligation follows the child's jurisdiction, not your usual one. Confirm the local threshold before the first session rather than mid-crisis, and note the applicable jurisdiction in your intake assessment.
What if you practise in Queensland?
Not being named in section 13E does not leave a Queensland psychologist without a reporting duty. Section 229BC of the Criminal Code applies to every adult in the state. If you gain information that causes you to believe on reasonable grounds, or that ought reasonably to cause you to believe, that a child sexual offence is being or has been committed against a child under 16 or a person with an impairment of the mind by another adult, failing to disclose it to police as soon as reasonably practicable without reasonable excuse is a misdemeanour carrying a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
Read together, the Queensland position is narrower in scope but sharper in consequence: no general child protection reporting duty, and a criminal offence attached to non-disclosure of child sexual offences. The ethical obligation to act on risk applies either way.
Does mandatory reporting apply if you only see adults?
Yes, in several jurisdictions, and this is the most commonly missed obligation in adult private practice.
New South Wales made it explicit in 2020 by extending mandatory reporter status to psychologists providing a professional service to adults. An adult client disclosing current abuse of their own child, a stepchild or a child in the household can trigger your duty even though no child is your client. The Northern Territory reaches the same result through its universal duty, and the South Australian threshold turns on the suspicion, not on who is in the room.
Adult-only caseloads are not an exemption. They simply mean the trigger arrives second hand, which is exactly when practitioners hesitate.
When must you notify Ahpra about another practitioner?
Mandatory notification is the second duty, and it concerns practitioners rather than clients. Section 140 of the National Law defines notifiable conduct as: practising while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs; engaging in sexual misconduct in connection with practice; placing the public at risk of substantial harm because of an impairment; or placing the public at risk of harm through practice that is a significant departure from accepted professional standards.
If you are not treating that practitioner and you form a reasonable belief in the course of your own practice that one of those four applies, section 141 requires you to notify Ahpra as soon as practicable. The same section covers a student with an impairment that may place the public at substantial risk of harm during clinical training. Ahpra notes that psychology is the exception on student registration, because psychology students are registered as provisional psychologists, so the guidelines for registered practitioners apply to them.
Supervisors should note how easily this arises: a reasonable belief formed while reviewing a supervisee's risk documentation is still formed in the course of your practice.
Is the threshold different when the practitioner is your client?
Yes, deliberately so, because the alternative is that unwell practitioners avoid treatment.
Section 141A requires a treating practitioner to notify Ahpra about sexual misconduct in connection with the other practitioner's practice, including where the practitioner is at risk of engaging in it. Section 141B applies to impairment, intoxication and departures from professional standards, and only where the treating practitioner forms a reasonable belief that the practitioner-patient is placing the public at substantial risk of harm. Ahpra states that this threshold is higher for treating practitioners, to give practitioners confidence to seek help if they need it.
One jurisdiction goes further. Ahpra confirms that treating practitioners in Western Australia providing a health service to a practitioner-patient or student are exempt from the requirement to make a mandatory notification, though they may still make a voluntary notification, and may still be obliged to notify as a non-treating practitioner. Exemptions also exist for beliefs formed in medico-legal contexts and in approved quality assurance committees, and where you know Ahpra has already been notified.
Are you protected if you report in good faith?
Yes. Section 237 of the National Law protects people who notify in good faith from civil, criminal and administrative liability, and provides that making a notification does not constitute a breach of professional etiquette or ethics, a departure from accepted standards of professional conduct, or grounds for defamation liability. Child protection statutes carry equivalents: section 27 of the Northern Territory Act protects a person acting in good faith from civil and criminal liability and from breach of any professional code of conduct.
Good faith is the operative test, which is why the contemporaneous record matters more than the outcome of the report.
What should you document when you make a report?
Report first, then write it up the same day. The record should show what you knew and when, not a retrospective justification:
- The disclosure or observation in the client's or informant's own words, with the date and time you formed the belief.
- The reasoning that took you from information to belief, referenced to the statutory threshold in your jurisdiction.
- Who you consulted: supervisor, indemnity insurer, or the Ahpra Health Service Liaison Team.
- The report itself: recipient, channel, time, reference number, and what you were told to do next.
- What you told the client, plus your safety planning and follow-up.
PractaLuma is AI-native practice management software for Australian mental-health practices, so this record lives in the client file alongside consent, risk and session notes rather than in a separate compliance folder. Whichever system you use, the note must be findable years later: it answers a complaint, a subpoena or a coronial request, and it sits under the same record retention rules as the rest of the file. Practices comparing systems can review what PractaLuma includes and the current plans.
How does this sit with client confidentiality?
Mandatory reporting is a legal exception to confidentiality, not a breach of it. Name the exception before it is needed, in your consent process, so the client hears the limits at the start rather than at the point of disclosure. Your informed consent form should list mandatory reporting alongside the other limits, and the wider confidentiality exceptions are worth revisiting annually.
Disclose only what the statute requires. A mandatory report is not an invitation to release the file, and a later request for records is a separate question governed by its own rules, as it is when notes are subpoenaed.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the client's consent to make a mandatory report?
No. The duty is statutory and operates regardless of consent. Telling the client you are reporting is usually good practice, but not where doing so would increase risk to the child or compromise an investigation.
What if I am not certain the abuse occurred?
Certainty is not the test anywhere. Every jurisdiction turns on a belief or suspicion on reasonable grounds, and the investigating agency decides what happened. Document your reasoning against the threshold, then report.
Does my supervisor's advice discharge my duty?
No. The duty attaches to the practitioner who forms the belief. Supervision is valuable evidence of good faith, and it should be recorded, but it does not transfer the obligation.
Am I insured for a mandatory report going wrong?
Good faith reporting is protected by statute, and your professional indemnity cover responds to claims arising from your practice. Contact your insurer early, since most offer a medico-legal advice line before you report.
Where do I start if I am unsure about an Ahpra notification?
Ahpra encourages practitioners who are unsure to contact the Health Service Liaison Team on 1300 361 041 to discuss their obligations confidentially, or to speak with their indemnity insurer, a trusted colleague or a legal adviser.