Déjà vu and the regulation of nursing in Victoria

The issue of the regulation of nursing is a perennial one. In the current climate of review of regulatory practices in the State of Victoria, Australia it is perhaps surprising to note the consistency of issues and positions in this debate over the past seventy-five years. This paper examines the emergence of the first Nurses' Board of Victoria and the political struggles that its implementation entailed. It is argued that the mobilisation of civic discourse by nurses was the means used to extend nursing autonomy and control over regulatory practices. However, this civic discourse did not realise nursing's own interests but widened the role of nurses in the governance of the profession and health services more generally. The current debate over the role of non-nurses in nursing roles and issues of regulation is also discussed.