Each line below is reviewed by Jenn Yang, Director, DotVA. Follow through to the full page for the tasks a VA owns in that field.
Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are registered professions under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, regulated by AHPRA and the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia, and advertising is tightly constrained: the Board restricts therapeutic claims and treats traditional-use evidence as insufficient for public advertising, so a VA never writes condition or cure claims, never quotes outcomes, and never offers clinical advice. The VA handles booking, reminders, claim processing and reception only; diagnosis, point selection and herbal prescription stay with the registered practitioner, and private-health-fund provider and HICAPS rebate rules are followed, not interpreted, by the VA.
What a VA does for acupuncture chinese medicine → Air conditioning and refrigeration work is licensed in Australia. Handling refrigerant requires a Refrigerant Handling Licence from the Australian Refrigeration Council under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations, the business needs a Refrigerant Trading Authorisation to buy and sell refrigerant, and the associated electrical and wiring work is governed by state electrical licensing and certificates of compliance such as the NSW CCEW. A VA never quotes, scopes, or signs off licensed refrigeration or electrical work, and never makes a compliance declaration. They prepare and chase the paperwork; your licensed tech holds the pen.
What a VA does for air conditioning hvac → Audiology in Australia runs on Audiology Australia accreditation, and clinical providers operate under the Australian Government Hearing Services Program (HSP), administered by the Hearing Services Program within the Department of Health and Aged Care. The HSP governs client vouchers, the device schedule and claiming, and only an accredited audiologist or qualified audiometrist may perform the assessment and fitting. A VA does admin only: checking voucher status, preparing orders and claims, and keeping records. The VA never performs a hearing assessment, never recommends or fits a device, and routes any clinical question straight to the practitioner.
What a VA does for audiologists → Motor vehicle repair is regulated at state and territory level, in NSW and the ACT through a motor vehicle repairer licence administered by Fair Trading, in Victoria through specialist approvals such as VicRoads Licensed Vehicle Tester sign-off for roadworthy work, and everywhere under the Australian Consumer Law repair and guarantee obligations. A VA does booking, parts and invoicing admin only. They never authorise a repair, sign off a roadworthy or pink slip, or give the customer a diagnosis; all of that stays with your licensed mechanics.
What a VA does for auto mechanics → Providing BAS services for a fee, preparing, lodging or advising on a Business Activity Statement, is reserved under the Tax Agent Services Act for agents registered with the Tax Practitioners Board; an ordinary bookkeeper is not a BAS agent. A VA does bookkeeping support, data coding, reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable, payroll processing, but does not provide BAS services in their own right, does not lodge, and does not give tax advice. The registered BAS agent reviews, signs off and lodges; the VA does the processing underneath.
What a VA does for bookkeeping firms → Buyers agents hold a real estate licence or registration under state law (for example the Property and Stock Agents Act in NSW, the Estate Agents Act in Victoria). A VA does the unlicensed work around it and never the licensed acts: they do not give property or price advice, do not negotiate, and do not bid at auction, and they never touch trust money. A buyers agency also acts only for the buyer, so a VA is briefed to keep that single-agency line clean and route any conflict question to you.
What a VA does for buyers agents → Early childhood education and care in Australia operates under the National Quality Framework, administered by ACECQA and enforced by the state or territory regulatory authority that issues your service approval under the Education and Care Services National Law and National Regulations. Child Care Subsidy enrolments and session reporting run through the CCS System and are administered by the Department of Education with Services Australia. A VA does the administration inside these systems: data entry, on-time submission, document filing and family communication. The compliance judgements, ratio and supervision decisions, and any role reserved for the approved provider, nominated supervisor or persons with management or control stay with your qualified staff.
What a VA does for childcare early learning → Chiropractors are registered health practitioners under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, overseen by AHPRA and the Chiropractic Board of Australia. Advertising of a regulated health service is governed by section 133 of the National Law and the Board's advertising guidelines, which prohibit testimonials, misleading claims and any use of the title 'specialist'. A VA does admin only: confirmations, recalls, claiming and reconciliation. The VA never gives clinical or treatment advice, never drafts outcome or benefit claims for advertising, and routes anything touching AHPRA advertising compliance or a patient's clinical question straight back to the practitioner for sign-off.
What a VA does for chiropractors → Consumer credit assistance is regulated under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, requiring an Australian Credit Licence or authorisation as a credit representative, and since 2021 a Best Interests Duty for mortgage broking; much commercial and asset finance for genuine business purposes sits outside the NCCP. Either way, the credit recommendation, the lender selection and the broker accreditations are the licensed broker's, and a VA never provides credit assistance, never recommends a product or lender, and never gives credit advice. The VA packages and coordinates; the broker decides and advises.
What a VA does for commercial asset finance brokers → Commercial cleaning is not a licensed trade, so a VA can own most of the back office. The lines that matter are employment and safety, not a licence: cleaning staff are usually employees under the Cleaning Services Award, so a VA prepares rosters and collates timesheets but does not set classifications, pay rates or make termination decisions; engaging cleaners as contractors carries sham-contracting risk under the Fair Work Act; and work health and safety duties (manual handling, chemicals, lone-worker) sit with the employer. The VA coordinates; the owner makes the employment, pay and WHS calls.
What a VA does for commercial cleaning → Pharmacists are registered with AHPRA under the Pharmacy Board of Australia, dispensing sits under state and territory poisons law, PBS claiming runs through Services Australia, and the professional-services programs are funded through the Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA and its successor) and paid by the Pharmacy Programs Administrator. A VA does administration only. They never dispense, never give clinical or medication advice, and never make Schedule 8 controlled-drug register entries; they assemble paperwork and chase claims while every clinical and dispensing decision stays with your registered staff.
What a VA does for community pharmacy → Counselling is the self-regulated counselling profession in Australia: it sits outside AHPRA, regulated instead through PACFA (the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia) and the ACA (Australian Counselling Association), whose members appear on the shared ARCAP register. Counsellors are NOT AHPRA-registered the way psychologists are, and they have only limited Medicare access plus some EAP and NDIS funding rather than the full Better Access pathway. A VA does administration only, never clinical advice, and the supervision, ethics and continuing-development obligations stay the practitioner's under their PACFA or ACA membership.
What a VA does for counsellors psychotherapists → Dental prosthetists are registered health practitioners under AHPRA and the Dental Board of Australia, and work within a defined scope of practice covering removable prostheses. A VA does administration only and never clinical work: it lodges Child Dental Benefits Schedule claims (which a prosthetist can only provide on behalf of a dentist) and DVA claims through Services Australia, prepares quotes and consent paperwork, and routes any clinical, scope, eligibility or fee-determination question straight back to the registered prosthetist, who owns every claim lodged in their name.
What a VA does for dental prosthetists → Diabetes education in Australia is a credentialled, not registered, field. The Credentialled Diabetes Educator (CDE) credential is awarded and renewed by the ADEA (Australian Diabetes Educators Association), and only a CDE can provide accredited diabetes education and sign NDSS registration and continuous-glucose-monitoring forms. A VA does administration only: it prepares NDSS and CGM paperwork for the educator to review and sign, checks that a GP's Chronic Disease Management (CDM) referral is valid before a Medicare allied-health claim is lodged, and supports NDIS plan-managed invoicing. It never gives clinical advice, never adjusts insulin or medication, and never signs a clinical form. Claiming follows current Services Australia MBS rules; eligibility and clinical judgement remain the educator's.
What a VA does for diabetes educators → Dietetics is a self-regulated profession in Australia: there is no AHPRA register for dietitians, and the Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) credential is administered by Dietitians Australia as the national standard recognised by Medicare, DVA and most private-health funds. That credential gates Medicare chronic-disease (CDM/EPC) claiming via Services Australia, plus NDIS and private-health (HICAPS) rebates, and it stays attached to you, the registered provider. A VA does admin only: bookings, referral tracking, rebate lodgement and follow-up. They never give clinical or dietary advice, never make an eligibility ruling, and never alter a nutrition plan.
What a VA does for dietitians → Electrical work is licensed under state electrical-safety law, the Electricity Safety Act and Energy Safe Victoria in Victoria, the certification regime overseen by NSW Fair Trading in New South Wales, and equivalents in each state. Only the licensed electrician performs and certifies the work and signs the certificate of electrical safety or compliance, and in most states it is submitted under the licensed person's own credentials. A VA never performs or certifies electrical work and never gives electrical advice; they handle the certificate admin around it (preparing the paperwork and, where your state's process allows, helping submit under your authorisation the certificates you have signed), book the jobs, order the parts, and run the office.
What a VA does for electricians & electrical contractors → An Accredited Exercise Physiologist is accredited through ESSA (Exercise and Sports Science Australia), and that accreditation, plus registration with Services Australia, is what lets the practice claim through Medicare Chronic Disease Management, DVA and the NDIS. The VA does administration only: preparing and lodging claims through HPOS, DVA Webclaim or the practice software, tracking referral and plan dates, and formatting reports. The VA never gives clinical, exercise-prescription or program advice, never writes the clinical content of a report, and never makes a funding-eligibility decision; the AEP signs off everything that touches a client's care or a claim.
What a VA does for exercise physiologists → Funeral work in Australia sits under state-based funeral, cemeteries and health regulation administered by each jurisdiction's consumer protection or fair trading authority and health department, with cremation and interment authorisations governed by state cemeteries and crematoria law, prepaid funerals protected by state codes and the Australian Consumer Law enforced by the ACCC, and death registration handled through each state's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages within the statutory lodgement window. A VA does the administration only, handled with sensitivity, and never arranges, advises on or prices a service without your direction.
What a VA does for funeral directors → MSPs handle client personal information, so the Privacy Act 1988 and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme administered by the OAIC sit over the work. A VA does ticket triage, dispatch and billing admin only: it does not perform engineering, security configuration, incident response or breach assessment, never touches privileged client credentials or production systems, and routes any suspected data breach straight to your engineers and the client under your incident plan. The technical and notification decisions stay with you.
What a VA does for it msps → Hard landscaping that is structural is licensed work, and the rules differ by state. In Queensland the QBCC licenses structural landscaping and retaining walls (a trade licence generally covers walls under one metre that carry no extra load), in Victoria the VBA requires builder registration for domestic building work above the threshold, and in NSW you need a SafeWork-recognised contractor licence from NSW Fair Trading for structural landscaping over the labour-and-materials limit. A General Construction Induction (white card) is required for anyone on a construction site. A VA never holds a licence and never does licensed work; the VA prepares paperwork and routes any licensing or permit question to you.
What a VA does for landscapers → Providing immigration assistance for a fee is reserved under the Migration Act for agents registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA), legal practitioners and exempt persons. A VA does the administration that surrounds it, document collection, checklists, data entry, client updates, file preparation, but does not provide immigration assistance, does not advise on visa options or eligibility, does not represent the client to the Department, and does not make the lodgement decision. The registered agent assesses, advises and lodges; the VA prepares the file underneath, under the agent's supervision.
What a VA does for migration agents → NDIS plan managers are registered providers under the NDIS Act, bound by the NDIA Pricing Arrangements and the conduct and conflict-of-interest rules of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, including supporting participant choice and not steering to related providers. A VA processes invoices and prepares claims within policy but does not approve payments outside the plan, does not make funding-eligibility or reasonable-and-necessary judgements, and does not give financial advice. Anything outside the rules is escalated to the registered manager.
What a VA does for ndis plan managers → Optometrists are registered health practitioners regulated by AHPRA and the Optometry Board of Australia, so the clinical work stays firmly with the optometrist. A VA handles administration only: it works the recall list, chases lab orders, and processes claims, but it never gives clinical or dispensing advice, never decides a prescription or lens, and never recommends an appliance. Medicare optical item claiming and private-health (HICAPS) processing carry strict fund-specific rules, including delivering the appliance before claiming on most funds, so the VA lodges claims to your instruction and routes any eligibility or compliance question straight to your practice.
What a VA does for optometrists → Orthodontics is a registered dental specialty: an orthodontist must hold specialist registration with the Dental Board of Australia, which is administered by AHPRA under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. The VA does administrative work only and never anything clinical. Advertising must comply with the National Law's rules enforced by AHPRA and the Board, so the VA never uses patient testimonials about treatment or claims that create an unreasonable expectation of benefit, and works only from wording the practice has approved. Claiming admin spans private health funds (extras cover for orthodontics), the DVA dental fee schedule, and CDBS eligibility checks. Note that CDBS does not fund braces, so the VA verifies eligibility rather than assuming it. Patient records are health information under the Privacy Act, so the Australian Privacy Principles apply.
What a VA does for orthodontists → Osteopaths are registered health practitioners regulated by AHPRA and the Osteopathy Board of Australia, so a VA works strictly within the National Law: it does admin only and never gives clinical, triage or treatment advice, never tells a patient what their problem is or whether they should be seen, and routes any clinical question to the osteopath. Advertising any osteopathy service must meet the Board's advertising guidelines, so a VA does not write or publish patient testimonials about treatment, and any Medicare chronic-disease (CDM/EPC) claiming is processed against a valid GP referral and the rules set by Services Australia, never invented or stretched by the VA.
What a VA does for osteopaths → Painting is a licensed trade in most of Australia and the thresholds differ by state: Queensland requires a QBCC painting and decorating licence for work over $3,300, NSW requires a Fair Trading tradesperson licence for residential work over $5,000, and Victoria requires VBA registration for domestic work over $10,000, with a Certificate III and a construction induction (white) card behind all of them. A VA never performs licensed work, signs a contract, or sets the scope; it does admin only and leaves licensing, pricing and the binding quote with the licence holder.
What a VA does for painters → Pest management is a licensed trade in Australia and the line a VA must never cross is the licensed work. Chemicals are regulated by the APVMA up to the point of sale; once applied for a fee, the technician must hold the relevant state or territory pest-management technician or ground-applicator licence (for example a NSW EPA ground applicator licence, a SA full pest management technician's licence, or an ACT environmental authorisation), administered by state health, environment or agriculture departments. A VA handles booking, reminders, certificate chasing and record-keeping only; it never selects a chemical, decides a treatment, signs a technician's name, or gives advice that requires a licence.
What a VA does for pest control → Plumbing and gasfitting are licensed and registered trades governed by state plumbing law and its regulators: the Victorian Building Authority under the Building Act and Plumbing Regulations in Victoria, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in Queensland, NSW Fair Trading in New South Wales, and their equivalents in every other state and territory. Only a licensed plumber may carry out, certify and sign a certificate of compliance, and gasfitting carries its own licensing. A VA never carries out, quotes, scopes or certifies licensed plumbing or gas work and never gives plumbing advice; the VA prepares and files the certificate paperwork behind the certificate you have signed, books the work, orders the parts and runs the office.
What a VA does for plumbers → Podiatrists are registered health practitioners under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, regulated by AHPRA and the Podiatry Board of Australia, which sets the Code of conduct and the section 133 advertising rules. A VA does podiatry-clinic administration only: it never assesses a foot, never grades neurovascular or ulcer risk, never sets a review interval and never gives footwear or treatment advice, all of which are clinical acts reserved to the registered podiatrist. On billing, the VA prepares and lodges Medicare CDM, DVA and health-fund claims through Services Australia and HICAPS to the item numbers and referrals the podiatrist confirms, but it does not decide eligibility or item selection. It also never writes, edits or solicits patient testimonials, which section 133 prohibits for regulated health services.
What a VA does for podiatrists → Property styling itself is not a licensed activity in Australia, unlike the agent's work, so a VA can own far more of the workflow. The boundaries here are commercial rather than regulatory: a VA prepares hire agreements and invoices but does not vary or sign contract terms, does not give the styling or price-positioning advice that is your craft, and routes any damage, insurance or public-liability question straight to you. The hire-agreement terms, and any consumer-law obligations that attach to them, stay your call.
What a VA does for property staging companies → Recruitment operates under the Fair Work Act, and any agency supplying on-hired temp or contract workers may need a state labour-hire licence: Victoria, Queensland, the ACT, and South Australia, where the scheme broadened to all labour-hire providers from 29 January 2026. Candidate data is regulated personal information under the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles. A VA does the sourcing, screening admin and compliance-document collection, but does not make the final placement decision, give workplace-relations advice, or own the licensing and consent obligations, which stay with the agency.
What a VA does for recruitment agencies → Remedial massage in Australia is self-regulated rather than registered under AHPRA. Therapists work to the standards of their professional association, most commonly Massage & Myotherapy Australia or the Australian Association of Massage Therapists (AAMT), and rebate eligibility runs through private health fund provider rules: a current association membership, public liability insurance, Senior First Aid and ongoing CPE points all have to stay in force, and a provider number is issued by each fund for each clinic address. A VA keeps all of that paperwork current and processes the claims; it never assesses an injury, writes clinical notes or gives treatment advice, which stay entirely with the qualified therapist.
What a VA does for remedial massage therapists → Removals is governed by a layered framework: the voluntary Australian Furniture Removers Association (AFRA) code of conduct that customers look for, heavy-vehicle obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law administered by the NHVR (fatigue, mass and load restraint, Chain of Responsibility), and the Australian Consumer Law on quotes, deposits and consumer guarantees that the ACCC and state Fair Trading bodies enforce. A VA does the booking and dispatch admin around this, preparing quotes, recording inductions and keeping the paperwork current, but does not sign off load restraint, vary insurance cover, or make the compliance calls that sit with the operator and the licensed crew.
What a VA does for removalists → Building work is licensed and registered under state law, by the Victorian Building Authority (now the Building and Plumbing Commission) in Victoria, the QBCC in Queensland and NSW Fair Trading in New South Wales, with domestic building contracts and mandatory home warranty insurance (HBCF in NSW, QBCC home warranty in Queensland, domestic building insurance in Victoria) sitting on top. A VA prepares and lodges this paperwork but never performs licensed building work, never signs or varies a contract, and never makes a registration or insurance claim on the builder's behalf; the registered builder does.
What a VA does for residential builders → Short-term rental accommodation is regulated at state and council level, for example the NSW STRA register and Code of Conduct with day caps in some areas, Victoria's framework, and council planning and registration rules elsewhere. A VA handles the operational coordination, guest messaging, scheduling, listings, but does not make the registration, day-cap or planning-compliance decisions, and does not decide pricing strategy or vary owner agreements. Those calls, and the manager's obligations under the relevant state scheme and any owners corporation by-laws, stay with the manager.
What a VA does for short stay managers → Strata managers operate under state strata law, the Strata Schemes Management Act in NSW, the Body Corporate and Community Management Act in Queensland, the Owners Corporations Act in Victoria, and in several states hold a strata managing agent licence and handle owners corporation trust money. A VA does the administrative cycle around that, drafting notices, agendas and minutes, chasing arrears and work orders, but does not disburse trust funds, does not issue by-law rulings or legal interpretations, and does not make decisions that belong to the committee or the licensed manager.
What a VA does for strata & body corporate managers → Veterinary practice in Australia is a registered profession, regulated by the state and territory Veterinary Practitioners Boards under each jurisdiction's veterinary practice Act, with the Australian Veterinary Association as the peak professional body. Only a registered veterinarian or veterinary nurse working under one may give clinical, triage, dosing or prescribing advice or handle scheduled drug records. A VA does the non-clinical admin only: bookings, reminders, records, billing and insurance paperwork. They never assess an animal, never advise an owner over the phone on whether to come in, and route any clinical question straight to a vet or nurse.
What a VA does for veterinary clinics → Event planning is not a licensed trade in Australia, so a VA can own most of the back office, but the commercial lines are real. Under the Australian Consumer Law, deposit and cancellation terms must be a genuine pre-estimate of loss rather than a penalty, and contract terms must be fair and clearly stated, which the ACCC enforces. A VA prepares contracts, tracks deposits and drafts supplier agreements but does not vary or sign terms, give legal or refund advice, or touch supplier insurance, public-liability cover or venue compliance. Those calls stay the planner's.
What a VA does for wedding event planners →