The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) has today launched its Strategic Plan 2026–2030, setting out an ambitious reform agenda to strengthen psychiatry and help transform how mental illness is understood, experienced and treated across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Launched as the College enters its 80th year, the Strategy builds on RANZCP’s longstanding role in education, standards, advocacy and professional leadership, while setting a clear reform agenda for the future. It is guided by the College’s vision: to help transform how mental illness is understood, experienced and treated.

The Strategy marks a decisive step forward for the College, with major reforms focused on modernising training, strengthening governance, expanding the psychiatry workforce, and deepening partnerships with communities.

Psychiatrists play a central role across the full spectrum of mental illness, from early intervention through to severe and complex conditions, providing specialist clinical expertise, leadership, research, innovation and clinical governance across public, private, metropolitan, regional and rural settings.

RANZCP President Dr Astha Tomar said the Plan responds directly to the scale and urgency of current mental health challenges.

“Psychiatrists are working in increasingly complex environments, with rising demand, workforce shortages and fragmented systems of care,” Dr Tomar said.

“The Australian Government’s Psychiatry Supply and Demand Study, released in 2025, confirmed what our members experience every day: a significant and growing gap between the need for mental health care and the availability of psychiatrists.

“That gap is being felt across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with serious consequences for access, equity and the sustainability of care.

“This Strategy is not about incremental change. It sets out a deliberate program of reform, modernising how we train and support psychiatrists, strengthening our governance, and positioning the College as a stronger voice in shaping mental health systems.”

The Strategic Plan outlines four priority areas that will guide the College’s work to 2030:

• A future-ready and sustainable College – strengthening governance, modernising systems and ensuring long-term financial sustainability.
• A thriving psychiatric profession – expanding the workforce pipeline, modernising training and supporting psychiatrists across all career stages.
• Collaborative system leadership – shaping models of care, influencing policy and working across professions and sectors.
• Trusted partnership with communities – embedding cultural safety, lived and living experience leadership, and public understanding of mental illness.

A centrepiece of the Strategy is a whole-of-program redesign of the Fellowship Program, the first comprehensive review in 15 years, aimed at preparing psychiatrists for contemporary practice and improving access to high-quality care.

The Strategy also commits the College to strengthening governance and organisational effectiveness, expanding and sustaining the psychiatry workforce, and deepening engagement with people with lived and living experience, families, whānau, carers and communities.

Dr Tomar said the College was committed to playing a stronger leadership role in addressing inequities, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Māori.

“We are determined to be a College that is inclusive, culturally safe and accountable,” Dr Tomar said.

“A College that not only supports psychiatrists, but helps transform how mental illness is understood, experienced and treated.”

The RANZCP Strategic Plan 2026–2030 is now available on the College’s website.

RANZCP Strategic Plan 2026–2030

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists is a membership organisation that prepares medical specialists in the field of psychiatry, supports and enhances clinical practice, advocates for people affected by mental illness and advises governments and other groups on mental health care. For information about our work, our members or our history, visit www.ranzcp.org.

In Australia: If you or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au or the Suicide Callback Service on 1300 659 467 or www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or via web chat on www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support. 

In New Zealand: If you or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline NZ on 0800 543 354 or www.lifeline.org.nz or the Suicide Crisis Helpline on 0508 828 865 or www.lifeline.org.nz/suicide-prevention.