Australia’s College of Nursing says the country must proactively recruit nurses from overseas to deliver federal election commitments to minimum aged care staffing levels, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian College of Nursing chief executive adjunct professor Kylie Ward said, “We should have no shame in wanting qualified people from other countries that bring a wealth of experience.” The college is offering to spearhead an overseas recruitment drive and calling for federal funding for the project, which would enable Australia to compete with countries such as Canada for nurses from around the world. Health Department modelling shows an extra 14,000 nurses are needed just to deliver the federal government’s commitment to require aged care homes to have a registered nurse on-site for 16 hours a day by October 2023. 

Ward said Australian nurses were being recruited to work overseas and that countries such as Canada were snapping up registered nurses from around the world. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation has warned any migration program must be “conducted ethically”, raising concerns that it could rob other countries’ health systems of nurses.