Registration and insurance

Deemed registration

A veterinary surgeon who is registered in another State or Territory of Australia is deemed to be registered in South Australia providing that their principal place of residence remains in the interstate jurisdiction in which they are registered.

Section 38(2) of the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 (VP Act) confirms that “principal place of residence includes any jurisdiction which was, in the last 3 months, the person’s principal place of residence”.

A veterinary surgeon who is practising in South Australia under the deemed registration provisions of the VP Act is required to hold professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the VSBSA’s requirements (see below).

Categories of registration

Registration under the VP Act is available in the following categories:

General Registration
Registration on the general register

Specialist Registration
Registration on the specialist register in a particular specialty

A person cannot be on the specialist register unless the person is also on the general register.

Eligibility for registration

A person is eligible for registration as a veterinary surgeon/specialist in South Australia if:

  • Their principal place of residence is in South Australia, or they propose to have their principal place of residence in South Australia
  • They have been awarded a qualification recognised by the VSBSA for registration on the general/specialist register
  • They are medically fit to provide veterinary treatment as a veterinary surgeon/specialist
  • They are a fit and proper person to be registered on the register(s)

Professional indemnity insurance

Section 44(1) of the VP Act provides:

A veterinary surgeon must not, unless exempted by the Board, provide veterinary treatment for fee or reward unless insured in a manner and to an extent approved by the Board against civil liabilities that might be incurred by him or her while providing veterinary treatment.

Maximum penalty: $10,000

All veterinary surgeons providing veterinary treatment for fee or reward in South Australia (including those practising under the deemed registration provisions of the VP Act) must ensure that they are covered by a policy which meets the VSBSA’s professional indemnity insurance requirements unless they have been granted an exemption from this requirement by the VSBSA.

Renewal of registration

The VP Act requires that every veterinary surgeon must, by 31 December each calendar year, pay to the VSBSA the prescribed annual practice fee for the following year and lodge an annual return in respect of the preceding calendar year. The VSBSA may remove from the register(s) a person who fails to comply with these requirements.

Change of contact details for registration purposes

Veterinary surgeons must inform the VSBSA in writing of any change to their name, business address or residential address within 3 months of the change.

Veterinary surgeons should also advise the VSBSA of any change to their email address.

Please advise the VSBSA of any changes by email to admin@vsb.sa.gov.au.

Certifying documents

For information on certifying your documents, download the information PDF from the Forms page.

Registration fees

Fees for the 2023/2024 financial year

Renewal of registration

Each registered veterinary surgeon will be provided with a username and password to renew their registration for 2023 and lodge an annual return for 2022. Please refer to the email sent to all registered veterinary surgeons on 1 December 2022.

You must complete the online process personally by no later than 30 December 2022. Completion of an annual return is a personal professional obligation under the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 and you should not delegate this task to another person. You must declare that you have personally completed the annual return prior to lodgement.

Please take care when answering all questions. It is an offence under section 68 of the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 to provide information in an annual return that is false or misleading.

The 2022 annual practice fee for general registration has been fixed under the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 in the sum of $XXX. The fee must be paid by no later than 30 December 2022

Please note: A late fee of $240 has been fixed under the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 to apply to all late renewals of registration. To avoid incurring the late renewal of registration fee, you must renew your registration by completing the online process by no later than 30 December 2022.

If you do not want to renew your registration for the 2023 calendar year, you must still lodge an annual return for the 2021 calendar year. Please do so by clicking ‘Lodge’ at the bottom of this screen. You will be prompted to answer questions relating to the 2022 calendar year.

If you experience technical difficulty with the online system, please contact us to request assistance as soon as possible.

Working to ensure those in the profession achieve and maintain high professional standards of competence and conduct in their provision of veterinary treatment.

Correspondence Policy

We recommend using our postal address if your correspondence is sensitive and/or includes hard copy or confidential attachments (such as photos or documents). Please ensure you include a return postal address.

Our approach
When we perform our work, we aim to be fair, impartial, consistent, respectful, courteous.

How you can help us
To allow us to perform our work effectively and efficiently, we expect that you will familiarise yourself with our correspondence policy, give us accurate and complete information, treat us with respect and courtesy.

We aim to respond to correspondence, where required, within 20 working days of receipt.

Sometimes the matters raised in correspondence are complex and require detailed investigation in which case our response time will be longer.

There may be occasions where the issues you raise are outside our responsibilities. In this case we will refer you to the appropriate organisation or government department/agency. We encourage you to check to see if your issue is within our jurisdiction before you correspond with us. For example, if your enquiry relates to the ability of a veterinary surgeon to obtain, possess, prescribe or dispense Schedule 4 drugs, please direct your enquiry to the Office of the Chief Pharmacist: SAPharmacy@health.sa.gov.au. If your enquiry relates to the ability of a veterinary surgeon to obtain, possess, prescribe or dispense Schedule 8 drugs, please direct your enquiry to SA Health: HealthDrugsofDependenceUnit@sa.gov.au

We do not provide legal advice or personal advisory services to members of the community, veterinary services providers or veterinary surgeons.

We will only respond to items where we are the primary recipient. We will not respond to correspondence where we have been included as a carbon copy.

We will delete unsolicited advertisements without response.

We will not respond to correspondence containing offensive language or content.

We will forward any correspondence containing threatening content or advocating illegal activities to South Australia Police.

Your correspondence, once received, will become an official record of the Veterinary Surgeons Board of South Australia.