In ‘welcome’ news, Victoria Police has listened to the RACGP and taken back responsibility for assessing recruits’ suitability for service.
The RACGP has successfully lobbied the Victoria Police to take the onus of assessing the police recruits’ suitability for service back from GPs.
In July 2025 VicPol made changes to its recruitment process which meant GPs were expected to decide on recruits’ physical and mental suitability for the work. Those changes were made without any consultation with the RACGP.
A major point of contention was that the health assessments had medicolegal ramifications, with the checkups not meeting Medicare rebate eligibility criteria. Medicare currently cannot provide rebates for a service using a pre-employment screening device.
After lobbying from the college, including meetings with VicPol officials, yesterday Victoria Police confirmed it was returning the onus of assessment to the force, relieving GPs of the responsibility.
“This includes providing GPs with documentation making it clear Victoria Police carries the onus in ultimately deciding whether an applicant is suitable for the job,” VicPol said in a statement.
“We are also providing more comprehensive educative material to guide GPs on the scope of assessments while applicants will be required to formally attest their medical history has been fully and accurately disclosed.”
RACGP Victoria chair Dr Anita Muñoz said it was “welcome news”.
“Victoria Police conceded that the role of the GP is not to replace VicPol’s own recruitment processes, which include a thorough assessment of medical and psychological health,’ she told the RACGP’s news outlet newsGP.
“They’ve been able to clarify that they’re seeking GPs to help potential candidates assess themselves for suitability.
“We also want to make clear to our members that they are not obliged to undertake an assessment if they feel that they’re not able to answer in good faith, that a person is or isn’t suitable,” Dr Muñoz was quoted as saying.
“There may be a number of our members who will prefer to wait until they’ve participated in the education that we’re planning and feel they’ve got the confidence to do that properly.
“We also know that there are other GPs in the community who are experts in occupational medicine and would already feel like they’re able to answer the questions.”
