Unions & associations
See who represents your profession and what membership includes.
See what each union and association for doctors, nurses and midwives, paramedics, allied health, pharmacists and dentists includes, and what it means for your indemnity and tax. We keep your membership, renewal and receipt with your other documents.
- By profession and state
- What membership includes
- Fees on your 1 July pack
Who covers you
Pick your profession and state to see who represents you and what membership includes, as each body publishes it.
Fill in your details above to see your result.
As each body publishes it, September 2026. You decide which to join, if any.
What it is
A union is registered to represent employees. It bargains your enterprise agreement and can take up a pay or workplace dispute for you. A professional association sets standards, runs CPD and speaks for the profession, usually without an industrial role. Some healthcare bodies include professional indemnity cover with membership.
What to know
What we do
- Keep your membership, its renewal date and its receipt, and add the fee to your 1 July pack
- Show which bodies cover your profession and what membership includes, as each publishes it
- Introduce a union or association if you ask, and tell you first if we are paid
What we don’t
- Tell you which to join
- Represent you in a dispute. Your union does that
Indemnity through membership
Some memberships include indemnity cover.
Every registered nurse and midwife must have professional indemnity cover to practise. Employer cover only reaches the work you do for that employer, so many nurses’ union memberships include their own.
What the standard requires
Nurses and midwives
- Employer cover applies only to work done as part of your duties there.
- Self-employed nurses and midwives need cover of their own. Some unions, professional bodies and defence organisations include it with membership or offer it for a fee.
- Every role must be covered: paid, casual or volunteer. Cover must reach back to earlier practice, and one claim must not use it all up.
- If an area of your practice is excluded, you must not practise in it. If your cover lapses, tell the Board within 7 days.
- From 1 January 2027, privately practising midwives need insurance for all their practice, homebirth included.
Source: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, professional indemnity standard and fact sheet, March 2026.
What union cover includes
As the branches publish it
- Queensland: up to $10m a claim; students on placement are covered.
- Victoria: $10m a claim plus legal costs; the certificate is issued each 1 June.
- NSW: $5m a claim, as a backup to your employer’s cover. It includes volunteering and secondary nursing work earning less than your main job. It excludes contracting as your main income.
- Exclusions include privately practising midwives’ intrapartum care, and in Victoria cosmetic injectables.
Source: QNMU, ANMF Victorian Branch and NSWNMA membership pages, September 2026.
What to know
Union cover, as published
What each union’s indemnity covers.
Most union cover is claims made. It pays for a claim made while you are a member. When your membership ends, past work is no longer covered unless the policy has run-off. Listed alphabetically, as each body publishes it. “Members only” means the detail sits behind a member login.
| Body | A claim | A year | Basis | After you leave | Beyond your main job | Not covered, for example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANF, WA | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not self-employed practice | Incidents before you joined |
| ANMF, ACT branch | Up to $10m | Not published | Not published | Run-off listed | Independent practice, if confirmed with the branch | Some midwifery services; cosmetic injectables; work through your own business |
| ANMF, NT branch | $10m | $50m | Not published | Not published | Contractors and sole traders, after approval | Privately practising midwives’ intrapartum care; cosmetic injectables |
| ANMF, SA branch | $10m | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| ANMF, Tasmanian branch | $10m | $50m | Not published | Unlimited, for acts while a member (2015 sheet) | Paid and voluntary nursing; interstate up to 3 months | Practising while unregistered; North America |
| ANMF, Victorian branch | $10m, plus inquiry and defence costs | Not published | Not published | Unlimited, after permanent retirement | Interstate under 3 months; independent practice case by case | Privately practising midwives’ intrapartum care; cosmetic injectables; laser |
| Ambulance Employees Association SA | $20m, plus legal fees | $60m | Claims made | Not published | Off-duty first aid only; on-duty work is SA Ambulance Service’s | Paid work for others; the USA and Canada |
| Australian Paramedics Association NSW | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only |
| Australian Paramedics Association Qld | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only | Registered Paramedic membership | Members only |
| Australian Physiotherapy Association (insured membership) | $20m, costs included | $40m | Claims made | Arranged on retirement; ends with membership | Private practice | The USA; family members |
| HSU, NSW/ACT/QLD branch | $20m | $80m | Claims made, unlimited retroactive cover | Not published | A backup to your employer; part-time private practice under $80,000 a year | Doctors and dentists; known circumstances |
| HSU, Victoria No. 4 branch | $20m, no excess | Not published | Claims made | 84 months after retirement | Self-employed work up to $125,000 a year | The USA |
| NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association | $5m, plus $100,000 for inquiries | $25m in 2024–25 | Claims made and notified | No run-off clause published | Secondary nursing work earning less than your main job; volunteering | Contracting as your main income; homebirths; US courts |
| Professionals Australia, pharmacy | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only | Members only |
| Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union | $10m, costs inside | $70m | Claims made | Defined; period not published | Employees; contractors conditional; volunteering | Childbirth in private practice; practice through a company or trust; North America |
| Victorian Ambulance Union | $20m, no excess | $80m | Retroactive to 1 November 2018 | Covers past members | Any membership category, in the right classification | Not published |
From each body’s own pages and policy documents, read 14 September 2026. The policy wording decides what’s covered. You decide which union to join. If we introduce you to one, we tell you first if we are paid.
What to know