How to Become a Midwife

A midwife is a registered healthcare professional who specialises in pre and post-natal care, and the delivery of babies. The focus of their profession is to ensure that expectant mothers stay healthy during pregnancy and assist in caring for the child in the vital weeks that follow the birth. To become a midwife in Australia, you will need to obtain a relevant qualification from a verified educational institution. 

Responsibilities when you become a midwife

When you become a midwife, you will be responsible for the health and wellbeing of expectant mothers and their children. As a midwife, you may work in environments such as:

• Postnatal, neonatal units, or parental units in a hospital
• Community health
• Within a patient’s home
• Health clinics 

Typical duties and responsibilities you will be in charge of when you become a midwife include:

• Antenatal care – assessing the health of pregnant people and their babies before delivery
• Conducting screening for high-risk pregnancies
• Providing care during labour and assisting with delivery, which includes monitoring vital signs, performing physical exams, and administering medications
• Postnatal care – looking after mothers and babies after birth, giving mothers advice and support where needed
• Patient education – educating expectant parents, those who are looking to become parents, and those receiving post-natal care on how to prepare for parenthood 

Pathways to become a midwife

To become a midwife in Australia, there are two main options available: 

1. Study a Bachelor of Midwifery 

This is an undergraduate degree, usually offered on a full-time basis lasting three years. Prerequisites from high school will be needed to be accepted into the course. Midwifery topics that will be covered include: 

• Preparing for practice
• Public health strategy
• Leadership
• Anatomy and physiology
• Complex pregnancies
• Caring for newborns
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

You can transition straight to this course out of school and do not need to have completed other relevant undergraduate degrees.  

Graduate programs are available upon completion, such as GradStart, offering supportive placements for newly graduated midwives as they embark on a lifelong career in midwifery.  

2. Complete a postgraduate qualification in midwifery

If you have already qualified and registered as a registered nurse after acquiring a Bachelor of Nursing, you can upskill and become a midwife. Often called a Postgraduate Midwifery Program or Graduate Diploma of Midwifery, this course is 12 months and allows registered nurses to specialise in midwifery, earning two registrations with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Core subjects in this course include:

• Midwifery practice
• Translating research into midwifery practice
• Complex care
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

Some ministerial health departments in Australia, such as NSW Health, have programs to transition to midwifery for registered nurses. For New South Wales this is MidStart, which offers scholarships and incentives to support your midwifery career, with options to work and study simultaneously. 

Register with AHPRA

As previously mentioned, every midwife is a healthcare professional and will therefore need an AHPRA registration to practice. A registered nurse will have an AHPRA number, and if you complete postgraduate study and become a midwife, you can apply for dual registration.  

To maintain your AHPRA, you must complete 20 hours of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses a year for nursing, and 20 hours for midwifery, as well as maintaining professional indemnity insurance.  

An AHPRA registration needs to be renewed every year, at the cost of $185. 

What skills do you need to become a midwife?

When considering a career in midwifery, you may want to improve and develop skills that will help you become a midwife and excel in the industry. Examples of these skills are:

• Communication – you will be speaking to women from all backgrounds and communicating important information in heightened situations. Being able to converse with people easily will make your job more enjoyable and easier to carry out
• Empathy – often you will see a patient multiple times, and it is less transactional than some of the other areas of nursing. Building relationships and getting to know your patients is part of the reason why midwives love doing what they do
• Working under pressure – it will not be unusual for you to work in high-pressure situations where you must think on your feet and deliver results quickly in a calm manner

Why you would become a midwife in Australia

Working as a midwife is an incredibly rewarding career path, and one that allows you to take your skillset and knowledge with you around the world. The Midwifery Futures Project (2023 – 2024) reviewed the status of Australia’s midwifery workforce and concluded that there are not enough midwives or current midwifery students in the pipeline to meet future needs. The discourse around increasing the midwifery and registered nurse workforce can be seen in the Federal Budget 2025-26, with $10.5 million being put towards graduate and master’s’ scholarships for nurses and midwives. 

Midwives in Australia are paid under the Nurses Award, which has seen pay increases in recent years. Read a breakdown of nurse salaries in Australia and midwife pay rates in Australia and see what you could earn after study and work experience.