TGA and AHPRA enforcement in Australia: what the data tells health marketers (2024–25)

Regulatory enforcement in Australian health marketing used to feel distant. A notice from the TGA or AHPRA was something that happened to large companies after sustained non-compliance — not to supplement brands or individual practitioners posting on Instagram. That perception no longer reflects reality.

Both the TGA and AHPRA have materially increased their enforcement capability and activity over the past three years. The TGA has published multi-year compliance education strategies, deployed digital monitoring tools, and increased infringement notice activity. AHPRA has seen advertising complaint volumes more than double, introduced a dedicated advertising compliance team, and confirmed that it uses automated scanning to monitor practitioner digital content. The volume of enforcement action in the 2023–24 and 2024–25 reporting periods is not an anomaly — it is the new baseline.

The TGA Performance Report 2023–24 provides the most comprehensive publicly available data on TGA advertising enforcement activity.

Reports received: 3,370 advertising reports were received by the TGA in 2023–24. These come from members of the public, competitors, healthcare professionals, and the TGA's own monitoring systems.

Removal requests: 4,806 removal requests were issued, requiring businesses to take down or amend non-compliant advertising content. A removal request is the TGA's preferred first response — it gives businesses the opportunity to rectify the issue without incurring a financial penalty.

Warning letters: 168 warning letters were issued to businesses where removal requests were not actioned, where the breach was more serious, or where the business had a prior compliance history.

Infringement notices: 147 infringement notices were issued, totalling $2.20 million. An infringement notice is a financial penalty that does not require a court proceeding — it is issued directly by the TGA and is payable within 28 days. The penalty per notice for an individual is $10,350. For a body corporate, $51,750.

The enforcement cascade matters. Most businesses that receive infringement notices have already received a removal request or warning letter for the same or similar content. The TGA's enforcement approach is to escalate when businesses do not respond to earlier action. A removal request that is ignored becomes a warning letter. A warning letter that is ignored becomes an infringement notice. A pattern of infringement notices can lead to prosecution.

What is triggering TGA action: Based on TGA compliance education materials and enforcement patterns, the most common triggers are: health claims that exceed permitted indications for Listed Medicines; testimonials that imply cure, treatment, or prevention of disease; advertising for unregistered therapeutic goods; missing mandatory statements (AUST number, sponsor name, "always read the label"); and restricted representations (claims touching Schedule 3 conditions) made without prior approval.

AHPRA's advertising compliance data for 2024–25 reflects the steepest increase in complaint volumes on record.

Complaints assessed: 775 advertising complaints were assessed by AHPRA in 2024–25 — an increase of 104% over two years. AHPRA receives complaints from patients, members of the public, other practitioners, and generates compliance referrals through its own monitoring activities.

Penalties: Penalties for advertising breaches under s.133 reach $60,000 for an individual and $120,000 for a body corporate, per offence. Each non-compliant advertisement can constitute a separate offence.

What is triggering AHPRA action: The most common complaint triggers for AHPRA are: patient testimonials on websites and social media; before-and-after images implying a specific treatment outcome; claims of superiority over other practitioners or treatment modalities; unsubstantiated claims about treatment efficacy; and promotional discounts framed as inducements to seek unnecessary treatment.

AHPRA has confirmed it uses automated tools to scan practitioner websites and social media. A 2019 campaign post that is still live in 2026 is visible to these tools and subject to complaint today.

Two conclusions follow from this data that are directly relevant to how health brands and practitioners should approach their marketing compliance.

First: pre-publication review has become the minimum standard. With enforcement volumes at these levels and automated monitoring in place, the question is not whether your content will be seen by a regulator — it is whether it will pass review when it is. A marketing programme without a pre-publication compliance check is operating without a seatbelt in a jurisdiction where enforcement frequency is increasing year on year.

Second: the audit trail is your first line of defence. When AHPRA or the TGA contacts a business or practitioner about advertising content, the initial response sets the tone for everything that follows. A brand that can produce a timestamped record showing the content was reviewed against the relevant frameworks before publication is in a materially different position to one that cannot. The record does not guarantee a favourable outcome — but its absence is consistently cited as an aggravating factor in enforcement decisions.

A single TGA infringement notice costs $10,350 for an individual or $51,750 for a body corporate. A series of notices — which AHPRA and TGA issue where non-compliance is systematic — can total hundreds of thousands of dollars before any legal costs are added.

CompliGUARD's Practitioner tier begins at $59 per month. Professional Brand tier begins at $599 per month. The cost of a full year of compliance infrastructure across either tier is less than the cost of a single infringement notice. This is not a marketing claim — it is arithmetic.

Statistics cited in this article are drawn from publicly available TGA and AHPRA annual reports. All figures should be verified against current reports before use in external communications. This content does not constitute legal advice.

• Publishing without checking the complete advertisement’s overall impression.
• Treating one regulator’s checklist as coverage for every applicable framework.
• Failing to retain evidence showing what was reviewed and approved before publication.

CompliGUARD reviews the complete advertisement against TGA · AHPRA · FSANZ · ACCC requirements, identifies clause-level risks, proposes compliant wording, and retains the result in an audit trail before publication.