How specialty training works in Australia

The ladder

1. Medical school → provisional registrationMD/MBBS (4–6 years). Final-year students apply for internship through state allocation rounds (roughly May–August).
2. Internship (PGY1)Mandatory rotations (medicine, surgery, ED) under the national framework → general AHPRA registration. Some specialty clocks (AGPT applications!) already start here.
3. Prevocational years (PGY2±3)RMO/SRMO years to build experience, referees, exams and CV. Most colleges require PGY2 completion minimum; competitive fields expect more.
4. Selection → accredited trainingEach college/program selects its own way (see every specialty page). You become a registrar on a 3–7 year accredited program with exams and assessments.
5. Fellowship → consultantCollege fellowship = specialist AHPRA registration = Medicare specialist billing. Many add subspecialty fellowship years before a consultant post.

Accredited vs unaccredited jobs

An accredited registrar job counts toward a college training program; an unaccredited (service) registrar job carries the same daily work with no formal training credit. Unaccredited years are the standard audition for surgery, ophthalmology, dermatology and radiology, valuable for skills and referees, dangerous when they multiply without a plan. Two disciplined unaccredited years is strategy; five drifting ones is a warning sign the plan needs revisiting.

Who runs what

• AHPRA / Medical Board: registration at every step, and the final specialist register.
• AMC: accredits colleges and assesses IMGs.
• The 16 colleges: own curricula, exams and fellowship standards; some also run selection (RANZCO, RANZCOG, ACD, RACGP), others delegate it to hospitals/networks (ANZCA, ACEM, RACP, CICM, RANZCP largely).
• States/health services: employ you throughout, and run the recruitment machinery below.
• The Commonwealth: funds training expansion (AGPT's 1,500→2,000+ places, the STP. Specialist Training Program, which funds rural/private registrar posts across colleges).

State recruitment systems

The annual rhythm (for a start the following February)

• Jan–Mar: college-run applications open/close (RACS SET registration + application; RANZCO closes late March; AGPT applications for the year after next close ~April).
• Apr–Jun: QLD RMO campaign (June), WA MedJobsWA, referee report windows, GSSE/primary exam sittings.
• Jun–Aug: NSW JMO campaign (late July–mid August), Vic PMCV match rounds, most hospital interviews.
• Aug–Oct: interviews and offers cascade; college national offers (SET ~July–Sept).
• Nov–Dec: contracts, relocation, next year's registrations open. Miss a window and you usually wait a full year; diarise everything.

The colleges

Money & obligation programs worth knowing

• Bonded Medical Program: bonded students owe 3 years of eligible rural/regional service; plan it into training (rural terms count) rather than around it.
• STP posts: Commonwealth-funded registrar positions (often rural/private) across most colleges, sometimes less contested than health-service posts.
• HELP debt wipe-outs: rural GPs/RGs can have university debt fully or partially cancelled; various states add rural incentives ($10,000s).
• Single-employer models: five state trials let GP/RG registrars keep public-employment conditions (leave, parental pay) across practice placements (until at least 2028).