About AVBC

Australasian Veterinary Boards Council Inc
Level 8
470 Collins St
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
phone: +61 (03) 9620 7844
fax: +61 (03) 9620 7828

Office Hours: 9 to 4:30 by appointment only

email: admin@avbc.asn.au

Background

The Australasian Veterinary Boards Council Incorporated (AVBC Inc.) was incorporated in Victoria in December 1999. It is an incorporated association by agreement of the state and territory Veterinary Boards of Australia and the Veterinary Council of New Zealand to provide for a legal entity which has the authority to speak and act on behalf of all registering authorities and to facilitate the devolution from the then National Office for Overseas Skills Assessment (now AEI-NOOSR).

The AVBC Inc. assumed the functions and finances of the former Australian Veterinary Boards Conference from 20 December 1999. The Conference was set up in 1985 to provide the various state and territory Veterinary Boards the opportunity to discuss mutual problems / issues and to assist in the standardisation of acceptable veterinary practice and other issues affecting the practice of veterinary science in Australia. As veterinarians are a fairly mobile profession and are required to register separately in each state/ territory in which they wish to practise, (and adhere to the particular legislation in force in that jurisdiction), such a meeting was held on an annual basis to assist in introducing nationally acceptable standards by agreement. In 1988 the then New Zealand Veterinary Surgeons Board made an application to become a participant and commenced attending meetings in 1990.

The AVBC Inc. has no legislative power to impose any decisions made at meetings on any participating Boards. The annual conferences have in the past provided a venue for general reporting and have addressed specific issues, for which over time there has been Australia-wide agreement, for example the recognition of overseas qualifications.

Functions of AVBC Inc.

The purposes of the Council are:

(1) to advise and make recommendations to the veterinary boards in Australia and New Zealand in relation to:

(a) the accreditation of veterinary schools and of courses leading to a degree in veterinary science or medicine;
(b) assessment of the suitability for practice in Australia and New Zealand of persons with foreign
veterinary qualifications; and
(c) uniform criteria for recognition of qualifications for registration;

(2) to provide advice on matters concerning the occupational regulation of veterinarians, including general and
specialist registration; and

(3) to encourage standardisation and quality assurance of veterinary services to the community in all jurisdictions.

Structure of AVBC Inc.

The state and territory Veterinary Boards of Australia, the Veterinary Council of New Zealand and the Australian Veterinary Association Ltd (AVA) and the New Zealand Veterinary Association Ltd (NZVA) are members of AVBC Inc. Each member sends a delegate /representative (usually the President of each Veterinary Board in Australia and the Veterinary Council of New Zealand). These delegates have a specific role to put the point of view that their organisation has instructed them to present and must vote appropriately. The AVA and the NZVA are not contributors to the financial support of the AVBC Inc. and are not entitled to vote.

The AVBC Inc. has an Executive Committee, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation's operations. The Executive Committee comprises the Chairperson of the Council, Deputy Chairperson, and the Immediate Past Chairperson of the Council and two ordinary members elected at the Annual General Meeting.

Other Standing Committees established by the Rules of Association are the Veterinary Schools Accreditation Advisory Committee (VSAAC) and the Advisory Committee on the Registration of Veterinary Specialists (ACRVS). The National Veterinary Examination (NVE) is under the auspices of two Standing committees- NVE Panel in Veterinary Science and NVE Board of Examiners.

The following chart shows the structure of the AVBC Inc.