Vikas Thakur / / 12 min readAHPRA's before-and-after guideline for higher risk cosmetic procedures, effective 2 September 2025, does not ban the format outright. It sets six conditions, and breaching them carries a penalty of up to $120,000 per image. Here is exactly what is banned, what is conditionally allowed, and what consent a clinic needs before publishing one.
Vikas Thakur / / 11 min readAHPRA's advertising guidelines bind all 16 regulated health professions, not only cosmetic injectors. GPs, skin cancer clinics, cosmetic dermatologists and laser clinics carry the same testimonial ban, before/after restrictions and $60,000-$120,000 penalty exposure as any injectables clinic.
Vikas Thakur / / 11 min readThe Australian Dental Association has warned that payroll tax reclassification of contracted dentists as employees threatens backdated tax bills for dental practices, the same legal mechanism that already hit GP clinics. Dentists got a time-limited amnesty in two states. Not the ongoing exemption GPs received.
Vikas Thakur / / 13 min readA Melbourne medical group faced a $2 million to $5 million backdated payroll tax bill after contractor doctors were reclassified as employees. Cosmetic and injectable clinics get none of the GP-specific relief now available in Queensland, Victoria, NSW and South Australia.
Vikas Thakur / / 8 min readA single AHPRA advertising breach carries a maximum penalty of $60,000 for an individual practitioner and $120,000 for a body corporate, under section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. Here's how the penalty is calculated, and why it multiplies fast.
Vikas Thakur / / 8 min readAHPRA's Cosmetic Surgery Hotline received 514 calls in the 2023-24 financial year, on top of 315 in its first partial year. Here is what the hotline has closed, who it has caught, and what it means for clinic advertising.