New Queensland optometry school under consideration despite opposition

A new optometry school – which would be Australia’s eighth – is being proposed in North Queensland, as debate about whether the country has enough optometrists for future demand enters a new chapter.

James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville confirmed it had received a request to establish the course that would become the state’s second such program alongside Queensland University of Technology.

“The university takes industry requests and community input seriously. We are committed to ensuring that any new educational initiatives align with local demand and are underpinned by robust planning and consultation processes,” a JCU spokesperson told Insight, with this comment current as of 8 July 2025.

“At this stage the proposal is still under consideration.”

The idea – opposed by Optometry Australia (OA) – spawned from a 2022 forum organised by the North Queensland Eye Foundation that heard from local primary eyecare providers that it was difficult to find optometrists and locums to fill gaps.

Noting there are around eight full-time equivalent (FTE) optometrists per 100,000 people in remote areas compared to 20 in major cities, the meeting concluded there was an “urgent need to identify sensible strategies to address the current and future workforce shortages in Northern Queensland”.

A new optometry school would align with the philosophy that those who are from and train in rural areas are more likely than their urban counterparts to return to rural areas as practitioners – referred to a “grow-your-own approach”.

Board chair and Townsville ophthalmologist Dr Todd Goodwin said the NQ Eye Foundation was focused on promoting equity of access to eye healthcare for North Queenslanders.

“We see the holistic implications, on all forms of health outcomes, that result from inadequate access to eye healthcare as a key determinant of health and one worthy of focus,” he said. “Optometrists are an integral part of that healthcare service delivery. We will continue to support any and all evidence-based initiatives that promote alignment with this equity of access, especially in North Queensland.”

But OA said there were “clear indicators that Australia already has more than enough optometrists to meet current service demand”.

“A recent workforce study commissioned by Optometry Australia supports this understanding. We also have a healthy pipeline of new entrants to the profession through established optometry programs. In this context, the establishment of a new optometry program is unnecessary and inappropriate,” the peak body said.

“However, there are areas where localised workforce shortages persist due to maldistribution. The solution is not more graduates, but targeted strategies that support optometrists to build rewarding careers in underserved regions. Optometry Australia is actively investigating potential solutions to address these imbalances.”

What projections say

Whether Australia needs more graduate optometrists has been a focus in separate and recent workforce studies commissioned by Specsavers and OA.

There are currently seven optometry schools graduating 400-450 new optometrists into the workforce each year. The most recent started at the University of Western Australia in 2021, with 100% of the first graduating cohort (40 optometrists) securing jobs in 2024. Ninety per cent stayed to work in WA.

The Specsavers-backed workforce report – by Deloitte Access Economics and released in 2023 – forecasts a shortage of 1,102 FTE optometrists nationwide in 2042.

This is despite projections the supply of optometrists will increase from 5,266 FTE in 2022 to 8,261 FTEs by 2042, a 57% increase.

It noted Queensland “is the largest driver of the national undersupply by 2042” with a 741 FTE optometrist deficit.

“Queensland is forecast to have the largest growth in demand for optometry services over the period (89% growth) while it is the second slowest growing region for supply of optometrists (28% growth),” the report said.

“The growth in demand is attributed to a large population growth (53% increase), particularly amongst the population aged 65+ years. The slow growth in supply of optometrists in Queensland is a function of limited growth in the number of additional graduate enrolments available at Queensland University of Technology, as well as only a small proportion of graduates from other states/territories moving to Queensland.”

Meanwhile, the OA-commissioned workforce report, undertaken by the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH) at The University of Queensland and released in early 2025, did find optometry is in oversupply nationally when compared to current demand for eyecare services.

But it’s more nuanced than that. In fact, it found a stark gap exists between the number of optometrists currently practising and the number required if everyone accessed the services they actually needed (true population needs) towards 2040.

Noting the latter (population needs) should be the preferred method in workforce calculations, it found the current workforce wouldn’t be able to meet demand (9,010 optometrists to meet population need for 2025, increasing to 11,479 in 2040).

OA said it would “continue to oppose approaches that would increase workforce supply in the short term, including new optometry programs, and at the same time recognises that future planning must begin early and strategically”.

CBEH said if optometrists left the profession at a 2% rate (lower threshold), a shortfall is predicted in 2025, 2030 and 2035, but reaches equilibrium by 2040 with population needs modelling. But with a 5.1% exit rate (most likely scenario), the modelling shows an undersupply of 1,776 in 2025 extending to 3,056 by 2040. At 10% (upper threshold), the shortfall is 6,124 by 2040.

“A review of optometry education and training programs is recommended in the short-term to maximise workforce supply,” the CBEH authors noted.

“At a 5.1% exit rate, the supply of new graduates and overseas trained practitioners replaces those who have left the profession but does not address the gap between supply and projected population need. While optometry programs have expanded over the last two decades, the annual number of graduates is small and any changes to a training program (including the development of a new program) is likely to take several years.”

While increased optometry graduate numbers should improve workforce maldistribution, the CBEH said research suggests most graduates establish practices in metro locations.

“This distribution pattern has proven resistant to change, despite a range of rural placement initiatives and financial incentive programs,” they said.

Tags: