On 23 October 2024, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia and the Burnet Institute released the Midwifery Futures Report, a document which outlines the major problems faced by the current midwifery workforce. The Report found that nearly one in three midwives are considering leaving the profession. 

Midwives have been reporting the workforce crisis in Australia for years, and the ANMF has advocated on behalf of over 20000 midwife members to address these life-threatening workforce concerns. The ANMF has participated in the Midwifery Futures Project on the Working Advisory Group and the Expert Advisory Group throughout 2024. Many of the recommendations included within the report are reflective of the ongoing advocacy of the ANMF for midwives in Australia.

The ANMF understands that midwives in Australia need better working conditions. Improved wages, workplace flexibility, clinical supervision, career pathways, and strengthened midwifery leadership are necessary for the midwifery workforce to continue. This report suggests that the current situation of midwifery in Australia is untenable. The ANMF continues to advocate for immediate solutions to the workforce crisis, including safe midwifery-specific staffing ratios, flexible rostering, subsidised education, culturally appropriate trauma-informed care training, paid clinical supervision, and competitive renumeration which reflects the complexity and value of midwifery work.

The Midwifery Futures Report outlined a number of recommendations to help increase workforce participation:

Visibility, governance and leadership

The ANMF agrees with the recommendations in the Midwifery Futures Report on visibility, governance and leadership. Midwives must be led by midwives at all levels – including political strategic leadership, operational, regulatory, education, research and clinical leadership. These leaders must have a midwifery qualification. The QNMU led the recent successful campaign to establish a Chief Midwifery Officer in Queensland. ANMF members in each state and territory in Australia continue to campaign for adequate midwifery representation in jurisdictional industrial agreements. The ANMF commends the recent Commonwealth Prac Payment decision and encourages the ongoing promotion of midwifery as a rewarding, valued career pathway.

Midwifery Models of Care

The ANMF firmly agrees that bundled funding for maternity care is an effective way to promote primary healthcare and reduce the financial burden of a risk-based model on our public health system. While continuity of midwifery carer models should be available to all women, the ANMF has listened to midwives and understands that many of our midwife members are not prepared to work on call. The ANMF promotes flexible working arrangements and styles to reflect the diverse needs of the midwifery workforce, including part-time and job share opportunities. We understand that unsustainable workloads are a key driver of the workforce crisis, and are working hard to make sure that midwifery remains a long-term career option.

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander midwifery leadership is required to attract, educate, and retain the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander midwifery workforce and maintain ongoing initiatives such as Birthing on Country programs. Evidence-based frameworks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander birthing people must be developed with long-term funding and appropriate reach to urban, regional, rural and remote maternity services.

Midwives are independent, valued practitioners who can work in regional, rural and remote areas without a nursing qualification, and this must be reflected in regional, rural, and remote recruitment. The ANMF supports the development of multidisciplinary models of care to provide a wide range of health services in rural settings.

Grow the Midwifery Workforce

The ANMF commends the Commonwealth on the recent introduction of Commonwealth Prac Payments for midwifery students. Midwifery students have increased costs associated with their education due to continuity-of-care requirements, and paid clinical placements will begin to reduce the impact of these costs. The ANMF supports increasing the midwifery student population. Currently in Tasmania, there are no direct entry midwifery programs. This drastically limits the population of local midwives in Tasmania, and leaves their struggling maternity system to rely on dual-registered nurse/midwives, and interstate/international applicants. The ANMF encourages midwifery education programs to reflect the hospitals they are intended to service, including direct entry midwifery pathways, and increased pathways for students from diverse backgrounds including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, migrant, and refugee backgrounds, and rural and remote Australians.

Prioritise the midwifery workforce

The ANMF supports a comprehensive national review to evaluate the value of midwifery to contemporary Australian society, and a salary scale which reflects this. The ANMF is currently engaged in industrial negotiations in a number of states and territories, and continues to advocate for better pay reflective of the value of midwifery work. Midwifery is the most feminised profession in Australia and midwives’ pay should be reflective of the ongoing gender pay gap. The ANMF is engaged in a work value case with the Fair Work Commission, seeking to change the minimum rates for employees and establish greater recognition for midwives.

The ANMF convenes a quarterly meeting of national nursing and midwifery organisations on Early Career Nurses and Midwives, and through this group understands that early career midwives are leaving the profession due to dissatisfaction, bullying, and a lack of cohesion between midwifery philosphy and modern midwifery practice. A national mentoring program, with trained clinical supervisers, to support early career midwives navigate the transition into their chosen profession will strengthen midwifery in Australia.

Workforce planning

The ANMF supports ongoing organised data collection on the movements of midwives in and out of the workforce, including through the annual NMBA survey. This is particularly important for early career midwives.

The ANMF convenes a monthly meeting with midwifery professional officers representing each state and territory. Please reach out to your local branch to have midwives’ voices heard on the issues that matter to you.