If you’re a patient, clinician, or simply someone who cares about fair and accessible healthcare, here’s something you may not know:
Every other major MBS‑recognised allied health profession is GST‑free.
That includes:
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Psychology
- Dietetics
- Podiatry
- Speech Pathology
- Social Work
- Chiropractic
- Osteopathy
- Audiology
- Optometry
These professions all share two things:
- They are recognised under the Medicare Benefits Schedule, and
- Their services are GST‑exempt, making them more affordable for the Australians who rely on them.
Except one. Exercise Physiology.
Despite being fully recognised under the MBS, despite delivering evidence‑based care for chronic disease, despite being essential in prevention, rehabilitation, and behaviour‑change interventions…
👉 Exercise Physiologists are the only MBS‑listed allied health profession still required to charge GST.
Why Removing GST Matters — For Health, For Equity, For Australia
Australia is in the middle of a chronic disease crisis. Lifestyle‑related conditions now account for 64% of the nation’s total disease burden, and more than one‑third of this is preventable through modifying lifestyle and behavioural risk factors. Exercise Physiologists are specifically trained to address these upstream drivers — physical inactivity, poor metabolic health, chronic pain, obesity, mental health conditions, and multimorbidity. Yet GST adds an unnecessary financial barrier to the very service designed to reduce the burden on our hospitals, GPs, and health system.
GST is not just a tax — it’s a socioeconomic disadvantage.
- Chronic disease disproportionately affects low‑income, rural, and marginalised communities.
- These same groups already face reduced access to preventive care.
- Adding GST to EP services makes them even less accessible to the people who need them most.
- Meanwhile, wealthier Australians can absorb the cost difference — widening the health equity gap.
In a universal healthcare system, this is the opposite of what fairness looks like.
Why This Matters for Clinicians Too
Clinicians across disciplines are overwhelmed by rising multimorbidity, complex psychosocial drivers, and behaviour‑driven chronic disease. Exercise Physiologists help shoulder this load — but GST makes it harder for patients to access them, harder for GPs to refer, and harder for EPs to sustain practice.
It’s a tax and health system reform that:
- Improves affordability
- Increases access
- Reduces inequity
- Supports prevention
- Eases pressure on primary care
- Strengthens chronic disease management
This is exactly the kind of upstream, cost‑effective reform Australia needs.
Add Your Name. Support Fairness. Support Prevention. Support Exercise Physiology.
ESSA is calling on the Federal Government to axe the GST on Exercise Physiology and bring EP in line with every other MBS‑recognised allied health profession.
👉 Sign the petition now and help remove an unfair barrier to essential healthcare.
Your signature helps make care more affordable, more equitable, and more aligned with Australia’s health needs.
🔗 Sign here: https://gst.good.do/axethetax/axe-the-tax-on-essential-healthcare/