The College is embarking on a period of significant review and reform. As I have outlined previously, this moment is both timely and necessary. The Board is committed to driving meaningful reform, and we know it can only succeed with the active engagement and support of our membership.  

Over the coming months, we'll be setting a clear and bold course for the future – one that reflects our collective ambition, values and responsibilities as the professional home of psychiatry across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. With the next decade approaching fast, and with new leadership and energy across the College, now is the moment to think and plan strategically for lasting change. 

Our agenda is ambitious but achievable with a new five-year strategic plan, a governance review that tackles long-standing challenges, and an ambitious redesign of our Fellowship program. Above all, it is about bringing our members along in shaping a College that is fit-for-purpose, influential, and is firmly grounded in the realities of contemporary psychiatry. 

A strong, five-year strategic plan

Rather than tinkering at the edges, it is time for us to plan with purpose. That is why we are developing a five-year Strategic Plan 2026–30 which is longer than the usual two-year cycle. This is to ensure we embed real, sustained progress on the things that matter most to our members and the communities that we serve. 

Over the next few months, your input will be central. 

We will engage with key stakeholders including consumers, those with lived and living experience, healthcare bodies, and governments. 

Our consultation will be comprehensive to incorporate key stakeholder perspectives on our environment, our priorities, and how best to address them. This level of consultation – with the Board, committees, members, staff, consumers, living and lived experience, governments and community – will be important when it comes to implementation. 

Together, we will refine our vision, purpose, values, and priorities as we strive to ensure our College is contemporary, fit-for-purpose and relevant to our members, consumers and communities. 

Governance review

Alongside the strategy, we must confront our governance challenges. Our members have told us the College can feel overly bureaucratic and difficult to navigate. Reviews including the Faculty, Section and Network Review, the 2023 Australian Medical Council Accreditation Report and an external Board evaluation, have confirmed that our current structures are fragmented with duplicative functions which risk creating inefficiencies and unclear accountabilities. 

These governance challenges are longstanding and structural where decision-making roles are not always clear, and the relationship between Board priorities and committee work is, at times, inconsistent with limited performance oversight. 

We are now exploring deeper reform pathways that will deliver clarity, efficiency, and stronger alignment with our strategic priorities. This means developing principles for governance that ensure transparency, sharper decision-making, and more meaningful engagement with members, trainees, and communities. 

While adjustments to committee structures may yield improvements, the consultation has highlighted that a comprehensive solution requires a deeper reform pathway. 

Change will take time, but it is essential. Your feedback and input will be crucial. 

New Fellowship Program Taskforce

Education is our core purpose, and I know members feel passionately about reform.  

I had recently announced the establishment of our New Fellowship Program Taskforce, and it stands alongside our wider agenda of strategic planning and governance reform, as a clear signal of the direction we are taking together. 

The Taskforce – a dedicated, time-limited body, responsible for designing a future-ready curriculum and assessment pathway – has now met twice to consider a strategic shift from incremental updates to a full, whole-of-program redesign. 

While the RANZCP Fellowship Regulations 2012 have served us well, psychiatry and the broader health system have moved on. We have been told clearly by trainees, supervisors and members that tweaking with the 13-year-old regulations will not be enough to bring them up to date and fit for modern psychiatric practice. 

We need a program that equips future psychiatrists with the skills, flexibility, and confidence to thrive in modern practice and generates confidence in the care being delivered by psychiatrists. 

With the assistance of the College’s Education team, the Taskforce is scoping risks, opportunities and principles that need to be considered as it formulates a vision for the future of the Fellowship Program. 

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do a whole of training and assessment program review and design a future-ready curriculum and assessment pathway. Your involvement will be crucial. 

The Taskforce is preparing to update the Board on its progress in September, and I look forward to sharing more with you about its work in coming months. 

A generous gift  

Finally, I wanted to recognise an extraordinary act of generosity by one of our very own members. 

A pioneering psychiatrist has gifted the RANZCP Foundation with $1 million to fund new PhD scholarships. 

This gift will make a meaningful and lasting contribution to the advancement of psychiatric research and practice, build capacity, foster innovation, and support research that delivers real-world impact. It is a timely reminder of the power of philanthropy and leadership within our profession. 

Members can read more about the extraordinary leadership gift here and learn more about the Foundation here. 

Looking ahead

The next few months will require focus, commitment, and above all collaboration. Reform is never easy, but with clear priorities, strong governance, and the engagement of our members, I am confident we will build a College that is contemporary, relevant, and influential in shaping mental health care across our nations. 

I look forward to continuing this journey with you. 

Dr Astha Tomar 

President