A Queensland nurse has been banned from practising after the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) found she unlawfully administered a formulation of botulinum toxin to a patient without consulting a doctor or obtaining a prescription.
In a public statement published on 7 January 2026, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) said its investigations, conducted on behalf of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, identified that the nurse, Thia Sullivan, also created false records in relation to cosmetic treatments and provided false and or misleading information and documents to Ahpra investigators on three occasions in September 2019 and March 2020.
Ahpra said interim conditions were placed on Ms Sullivan’s registration on 5 September 2019 and her nursing registration was later suspended on 13 February 2020 due to suspected non-compliance with those conditions.
QCAT heard that in August 2020, November 2020 and March 2021, Ms Sullivan continued to practise as a nurse while suspended and administered cosmetic injectables to a patient when not authorised to do so. Ahpra also alleged that in late August and or early September 2021, Ms Sullivan tried to discourage two patients from co-operating with Queensland Police investigations into her conduct.
Ms Sullivan pleaded guilty in 2022 in the Brisbane Magistrates’ Court to one charge of not being endorsed to possess a restricted drug and three counts of administering a restricted drug to another.
Following the hearing, QCAT found all six allegations proven and found Ms Sullivan guilty of professional misconduct. The tribunal said deterrence was important and noted it had been provided with cases supporting the proposition that conduct done to evade investigation by regulators amounts to professional misconduct.
Ms Sullivan was reprimanded, her registration cancelled and she is banned from reapplying for registration as a nurse until 29 September 2027. She is prohibited from providing any health service, including cosmetic injectables, until she is re-registered.
Ahpra CEO Justin Untersteiner described the decision as significant and linked it to the introduction of enforceable cosmetic procedure guidelines that came into effect in September 2025.
‘We have been concerned about the cosmetic injectables industry for some time, and that is why we introduced sweeping changes to their enforceable guidelines in September this year to ensure patients have additional protections and that practitioners do not undertake procedures inappropriately,’ he said.
‘Safety of the public is paramount, and this Tribunal decision shows we will leave no stone unturned to investigate and take action against practitioners who do the wrong thing.’
