PIA Membership

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International Members

The Planning Institute of Australia has established Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with equivalent professional associations in several other countries. These agreements provide for mutual recognition of membership status, allowing PIA members to seek membership of overseas Institutes, and members of those Institutes to seek membership within PIA.

Currently, PIA has reciprocal membership agreements with the following countries:

Negotiations are currently being progressed with several other international professional associations. Please check again soon.

For information about joining PIA under the provisions of an MoU, please contact the PIA National Membership Officer.

Individuals from countries other than those listed are welcome and encouraged to apply to join the Institute. All applications are considered on merit.

For information about the requirements for PIA members wishing to join an overseas association through MoU provisions, please contact the relevant association directly.

Additional requirements for membership

While PIA is pleased to consider applications for membership made by planners from overseas, in order to ensure consistency in the delivery of professional services offered by Full Members the PIA Board has set additional requirements for applicants who have been trained outside of Australia. In essence, overseas-trained professionals applying for Full Membership must demonstrate:

  • Firstly that their qualifications are equivalent in educational standards to planning qualifications offered in Australia; and
  • Secondly that they have a sound working knowledge of Australian planning law and planning systems.

Please note that these requirements are only relevant to applications for Full Membership. Applicants for Non-Corporate grades of membership, such as Students, Graduates or Associates, need not comply with these additional requirements.

To accomplish the first requirement, showing the equivalence of qualifications to Australian standards, applicants will generally be asked to obtain an assessment from VETASSESS (http://www.vetassess.com.au/), which is the body identified by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship as best placed to judge the equivalence of Planning qualifications. The exception to this rule is where a planner has qualifications formally recognised by a planning industry body with which PIA has a Memorandum of Understanding. Currently this only covers qualifications recognised by the New Zealand Planning Institute and the Canadian Institute of Planners, but prospective applicants from other countries are encouraged to contact the National Membership Officer to confirm if their qualifications can be considered without further assessment.

To accomplish the second requirement, that of showing a working knowledge of Australian planning law and systems, applicants have two options:

  • If an applicant has at least two years work experience in Australia, and has worked closely during this time with a current Full Member of PIA, then that member can act as a referee for them. The applicant will need to provide a letter of reference from this member in support of their application.
  • Alternatively an applicant may undertake a unit of study in Australian Planning Law, and provide a transcript or certificate of completion for this unit. It is recommended that this unit of study be a obtained either from the one of the courses recognised by PIA (a list of these courses can be seen on the Accredited Courses page in the Become a Planner section of the PIA website), or alternatively may consider the Legislation & Governance unit of the Planning Practice Course, an initiative of PIA, administered by our partners at Chifley Business School (more details of this course can be seen on the Planning Practice Course page in the Certification & PD section of the PIA website). Other relevant studies may be considered, and applicants are encouraged to consult with the National Membership Officer if they have another qualification they feel would meet this need. Please note that applicants are not required to complete a full course of study, only the relevant unit.