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The log · five rules, read one at a time

CPD online: the professional development rules, profession by profession

Continuing professional development is set profession by profession, and each rule answers three questions its own way: how much, over what period, and what counts. A solicitor under the Uniform Rules must complete 10 CPD units in a CPD year that begins on 1 April; a tax agent with standard registration is expected to complete at least 120 hours over 3 years; a NSW teacher at Proficient, Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher must complete 100 hours in each maintenance period.

This guide, published by Dotto, reads five of those rules from the laws and regulators’ pages listed at the foot of each page, keeping every figure beside its own rule.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. The official places to check are the NSW Legislation website, the Tax Practitioners Board, NESA, the Queensland College of Teachers, the NSW Architects Registration Board and ASIC.

Professions
5, in 5 guides
Places
NSW, Qld, WA, national
Kinds of rule
Law, board, regulator
Checked
9 October 2026
An open notebook with blank ruled pages and a pen lying in the fold, beside a cup of black coffee on a dark wooden desk.
A blank log, waiting for the year’s entries. Photo by StockSnap on Pixabay
Entry 1 · Side by side

The five rules side by side

The figures sit in different kinds of rule: one written into law, three set by a board, authority or college under an Act, two stated as an expectation. The last column says which.

The minimum each source states, read on 9 October 2026. Each guide gives the conditions and exceptions.
ProfessionMinimumOverWhere the number comes from
Solicitors10 CPD units, at least 1 in each of 4 fieldsEach CPD year, 1 April to 31 MarchThe Uniform CPD (Solicitors) Rules 2015, r 6.1: law
Tax agents, standard registration120 hours, at least 20 each yearA 3-year CPE periodThe Tax Practitioners Board, made a condition of renewal by the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, s 20-5(1)(d)(ii)
BAS agents, standard registration90 hours, at least 20 each yearA 3-year CPE periodThe same Board requirements and the same section
NSW teachers: Proficient, Highly Accomplished, Lead100 hours of PDEach maintenance period; for a Proficient Teacher, 5 years full-time or 7 years casual or part-timeNESA, under the Teacher Accreditation Act 2004 (NSW)
Queensland teachers, full registrationAt least 20 hours a year, for those teaching 20 days or more in the yearEvery year; registration renews for 5-year periodsThe Queensland College of Teachers’ CPD framework, tied to renewal by the Act, s 29(2)(d)
NSW architectsAt least 20 hours a year, at least 10 of them formal, as the Board’s expectationEach yearThe NSW Architects Registration Board; the Regulation itself asks for “all reasonable steps” and sets no hours
Credit representatives giving third-party home loan credit assistanceAt least 20 hours of CPD a yearEach yearASIC’s Regulatory Guide 206: ASIC’s expectation, not a figure in the Act
Entry 2 · Online

What each rule says about learning online

Online, recorded and self-directed learning, in each rule’s own words or a close paraphrase:

Solicitors
A “multimedia or web-based program” is one of the listed kinds of CPD activity (r 8.1.1). Private study counts only if it is study of audio or visual material made specifically to update a solicitor’s knowledge or skills relevant to their practice needs, and at most 5 units of it count in a CPD year (rr 8.2, 9.2.4).
Tax and BAS agents
The Board’s examples include webinars, discussion groups held by telephone or video conference, distance learning, and podcasts, webcasts and blogs from an appropriate organisation. Technical or professional reading, which may include visual and audio resources, should be no more than 25 per cent of CPE over the period.
NSW teachers
NESA defines professional development as “any activity where you learn new skills or practices that are related to the Standards”, and does not count duties that are part of a teacher’s role.
Queensland teachers
The College lists online courses among its examples of CPD, beside workshops, training an employer makes mandatory, and professional reading.
NSW architects
The Board’s free online webinars each give 1 hour of Formal CPD, it says, once a structured assessment task is done.
Credit representatives
ASIC counts online tutorials or quizzes on developments from the last year, and videos of professional seminars or conferences from the last year up to 10 hours a year. It does not generally treat private study as enough unless it uses audio or visual material made for the purpose (RG 206.97).
Entry 3 · Scope

Professions this site does not read

Engineers have a rule of their own: a registered professional engineer in NSW must successfully complete continuing professional development each year under Schedule 3, clause 5 of the Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021. That scheme is not covered here.

This site also does not read the CPD rules for health practitioners, financial advisers, real estate and buyer’s agents, strata managers, WA settlement agents, or teachers in Victoria and the other states and territories.

Entry 4 · The guides

Five guides, one rule each

  1. CPD for solicitors

    Ten units, four fields, a year from 1 April.

  2. CPE for tax and BAS agents

    The Board’s full tables and the 3-year period.

  3. Professional learning for teachers in NSW and Queensland

    A cycle in NSW, a yearly minimum in Queensland.

  4. CPD for architects in NSW

    The Code’s duty and the Board’s hours.

  5. Training for mortgage brokers and credit representatives

    ASIC’s RG 206, qualifications and yearly CPD.