President’s update: Help shape the future of College governance

There are few opportunities to step back and consider not just how the College works today, but how it needs to work for the future.

Our governance reform gives us that opportunity.

This is among the most significant pieces of institutional reform the RANZCP has undertaken in many years. Done well, it will shape how our College makes decisions, represents its members, manages risk and accountability, and draws on the extraordinary expertise within our membership for decades to come.

Our ambition is not simply to redesign committees or processes. It is to build a contemporary, transparent, accountable and future-focused governance system that enables the College to deliver its strategy, meet increasingly complex regulatory and community expectations, and remain a strong and trusted professional home for psychiatrists across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

In June, I wrote to you about why this reform is needed and the opportunity it presents. Since then, the Governance Reform Taskforce has continued the substantial work of developing the proposed governance framework, committee structure and definitions model.

The first half of this year was about establishing the foundations. The Governance Reform Taskforce was convened, our new Strategic Plan was launched, and Associate Professor Alex Cockram presented the Taskforce’s vision at the President’s Symposium at Congress as well as to College's Member Advisory Council. Alex provided important leadership as the inaugural Chair of the Taskforce, and I want to acknowledge and thank her for helping establish this ambitious program of work.

Professor Andrew Way has since taken on the role of Chair and will lead the Taskforce through this important next phase. Professor Megan Galbally, as Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee, will also play a major role as this work progresses and as we consider the governance and constitutional implications of reform. I am enormously grateful to Alex, Andrew, Megan, the members of the Taskforce and College staff for the expertise, thought and commitment they are bringing to what is a substantial undertaking. 

We now need to hear from you

We are entering perhaps the most important stage so far: consultation with members (member login required) on the governance framework, higher-level structures and definitions of committees.

The draft governance framework describes what good governance should mean at the College and how it should operate in practice. It establishes a common approach to purpose, roles, decision-making, accountability, risk, member and community voice, cultural safety, information, performance and continuous improvement.

Alongside this, the Taskforce has developed a proposed committee structure and definitions model intended to clarify the different types of work undertaken across the College, where decisions should be made, and how information, advice and accountability should flow between groups.

These proposals do not themselves change existing member structures. They provide a foundation for discussion and testing. Any future structural changes will require further engagement, appropriate governance processes and formal approval.

This consultation therefore asks some fundamental but practical questions. Are roles and responsibilities sufficiently clear? Are decisions being made at the right level? Can members understand how their expertise contributes to decisions? Are we duplicating effort? Are there gaps in accountability? And, importantly, can members see what happens to their advice and how it has influenced the decisions ultimately made?

You do not need to answer every question. Every contribution will help us test the framework against the lived reality of College work and inform the targeted discussions with committees and groups planned for September and November.

Why your voice matters

The College belongs to its members, and its governance must enable their expertise and contribution rather than create unnecessary barriers around them.

Members working within our committees, working groups, Branches, Faculties, Sections and Networks often know better than anyone where our current arrangements work well, where responsibilities have become unclear, where effort is duplicated and where well-intended changes could have unintended consequences.

We particularly want to ensure that the future College can draw upon the breadth of our profession. That means hearing from trainees and specialist international medical graduates; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori members and groups; colleagues across different specialties, career stages and geographic settings; people with lived and living experience; and members working throughout Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

A future-ready College must have governance that allows these voices to be heard meaningfully while remaining capable of making timely, transparent and accountable decisions.

What happens next?

Consultation will sit alongside the practical work required to turn reform into reality. Key governance policies and templates are being identified for review and update, and the College is developing a new risk management and audit system to strengthen how we identify and manage risk, provide assurance and track progress against our strategic priorities.

Congress 2027 will be an important milestone, marking the end of phase two and providing an opportunity to present the new governance framework to members.

From mid-2027, attention will turn to any constitutional changes that may be required, alongside work on the member value proposition, organisational culture and the new ways of working needed to make the framework effective in practice.

This will take time. Reform of this scale should not be rushed, nor should it be undertaken without healthy debate. The challenge is to preserve what is valuable about our College while having the courage to change what will no longer serve the organisation we need to become.

I am acutely conscious that College members contribute enormous amounts of time, expertise and professional judgement alongside already demanding clinical and professional responsibilities. We therefore owe it to members to make that contribution count. I am committed to ensuring you hear not only that consultation has occurred, but what we heard, what we learned, what changed as a result and why decisions were ultimately made.

There will be different views about the future shape of our College. That is both inevitable and welcome. The measure of good governance is not the absence of disagreement; it is whether an organisation can hear different perspectives, deliberate well, make sound decisions and remain accountable for them.

We are custodians of an institution built over generations by psychiatrists who gave their time, expertise and judgement to something larger than themselves.

We now have a rare opportunity, perhaps a once-in-a-generation opportunity, to do the same.

The governance arrangements we establish through this work may endure long after those of us leading and contributing to the reform have completed our own College roles. That is why getting this right matters.

This is our opportunity to build a College that is fit not only for today, but for the generations of psychiatrists who will follow us. I encourage every member to help shape it.

Dr Astha Tomar 
President