The advertising compliance audit for regulated Australian practices and clinics.
Paste your website. The audit flags the likely advertising breaches on it, against the rulebooks that actually apply to your practice, and shows you the fix for each one.
- National Law s133
- ADA Policy 6.9 (dental)
- Cosmetic guidelines, 2 Sep 2025
- TGA prescription medicines
Other registered professions: s133 plus your National Board advertising guidelines.
Made in Sydney. Independent. Not affiliated with ADA or AHPRA.
of audited Australian dental practice websites breach at least one AHPRA advertising rule.
Jensen 2023, Australian Dental Journal (192 audited practice websites). The same National Law advertising rules apply to all AHPRA-registered professions; cosmetic and aesthetic clinics carry additional obligations.
$120k
Maximum AHPRA penalty per advertising breach for a body corporate under National Law s133. Individuals: $60,000 per breach.
800+
Advertising complaints processed by AHPRA in 2023. Educate-then-enforce with a 30-day correction window for most first-time issues.
52%
Of audited dental sites carry false or misleading information, the single biggest breach category (Jensen 2023).
2 Sep 2025
The AHPRA guidelines for advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures took effect. Cosmetic clinics also sit under the TGA ban on advertising prescription medicines by name or price.
Multiple rulebooks. One audit that checks them all.
Section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law is the baseline for every AHPRA-registered profession. Depending on your practice type, additional rule packs apply. SwayBlu classifies your business server-side and applies the correct set automatically.
False, misleading or deceptive
Claims a reasonable person would read as untrue, exaggerated, or likely to mislead. Includes 'best dentist', 'pain-free', 'guaranteed', specialist-implying titles without registration, and before/after photos used without context.
Biggest category in Jensen 2023 (dental). The same limb applies to all AHPRA-registered professions, including cosmetic and aesthetic clinics.
Inducements without terms
Gifts, discounts, prizes, or rewards offered to induce someone to use a regulated health service, without the full terms and conditions stated in the same advertisement. Includes 'free consult', '$X off whitening', referral rewards, 'first treatment complimentary'.
The offer can be lawful, but the same ad must carry the conditions, expiry, exclusions, and any clinical limits in legible text.
Patient testimonials
Using patient testimonials about a regulated health service in advertising is prohibited. Includes Google or Facebook review screenshots reposted on a practice or clinic site, quoted reviews in service-page captions, and 'patient stories' used as social proof.
Most common trigger in cold-outreach audits. Even reviews you did not solicit, if reposted, are caught. The cosmetic guidelines additionally flag reposted patient content on social media.
Unreasonable expectation of benefit
Advertising that creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment. Includes 'amazing results', 'transform your appearance', 'life-changing', and cure or guarantee language applied to elective procedures.
The line is set by what a reasonable person would expect. Outcomes language that implies a typical result you cannot guarantee crosses it.
Dental practices also fall under ADA Policy Statement 6.9, Advertising in Dentistry, which captures patterns the ADA has identified as likely to breach s133 in the dental context: specialist-implying titles without specialist registration, before/after photos without adequate context, and guaranteed-outcome language.
Cosmetic and aesthetic clinics carry all four limbs of s133, plus the Guidelines for advertising regulated health services: cosmetic procedures (AHPRA and National Boards, in effect 2 September 2025), and the prescription-medicine advertising prohibitions in the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 ss 42DLB and 42DLC.
Named registered practitioner
Advertising for higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures must name a registered practitioner with their registration details. Generic clinic branding that does not identify who will perform the procedure is non-compliant.
Applies to treatment pages, landing pages, and social content that promotes specific procedures.
Results-may-vary disclosure on outcome imagery
Any use of outcome imagery (before/after photos, transformation results) must carry a 'results may vary' disclosure. Idealising language or risk-minimising framing alongside imagery is non-compliant.
Applies even where the imagery is not labelled as a before/after. The test is whether the image creates an expectation of a typical outcome.
Testimonials including reposted patient content
Patient testimonials about cosmetic procedures are prohibited under s133(1)(c). The guidelines further specify that reposted patient content on clinic social media accounts is caught, including tagged posts.
A clinic that reposts a patient's Instagram story promoting a treatment result breaches this rule, regardless of whether the patient was paid.
Under-18 restrictions
Advertising for higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures must not target or be likely to reach people under 18. Platform-level audience controls are relevant but do not guarantee compliance.
This includes Meta Ads audience settings, influencer content with broad reach, and any copy that depicts or is directed at younger audiences.
Prescription medicine advertising to consumers
The Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 prohibits advertising prescription-only medicines to the general public by product name or by class terms that describe the medicine's effect. Price lists that name prescription treatments are non-compliant.
Penalty: up to 5,000 penalty units for an individual / 50,000 for a body corporate (up to approximately $1.82 million / $18.2 million at the $364 penalty unit value current from 1 July 2026).
Physiotherapy, optometry, psychology, chiropractic, pharmacy, nursing, midwifery, occupational therapy, Chinese medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practice. All carry s133 obligations. The National Board for each profession also publishes profession-specific advertising guidelines. SwayBlu applies s133 and the relevant National Board guidelines for the detected profession.
$120k / $60k
s133 per breach
$120,000 per offence for a body corporate, $60,000 for an individual practitioner: the maximum civil penalty per advertising breach under National Law s133. For cosmetic and aesthetic clinics, TGA civil penalties for prescription-medicine advertising breaches are substantially higher: up to 5,000 penalty units per individual / 50,000 body corporate (approximately $1.82 million / $18.2 million at the $364 penalty unit value current from 1 July 2026, TG Act s42DLB, s42DLC).
Primary sources: AHPRA, Advertising and the law · Jensen 2023 (Australian Dental Journal).
Not legal advice. This page summarises publicly available information about National Law s133, ADA Policy Statement 6.9, the AHPRA and National Boards guidelines for advertising cosmetic procedures (in effect 2 September 2025), and Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 ss 42DLB and 42DLC, to help practice managers, clinic owners and operators understand what SwayBlu's audit looks for. SwayBlu is not a law firm. For specific advice about your practice or clinic, please consult an Australian health-law solicitor.
Specific pages. Specific wording. Specific citations.
The audit returns the exact wording found on your site, the page it appears on, and the rule it likely breaches. These are sample flags from dental and cosmetic clinic audits.
Sample flagged items
- Dental
/smile-makeover
“Transform your smile - our patients love their results! ★★★★★ - Sarah M.”
- s133(1)(c): patient testimonial
- s133(1)(d): unreasonable expectation of benefit
- Dental
/offers
“Free consultation this month only”
- s133(1)(b): inducement without terms and conditions
- Cosmetic
/injectables
“Anti-wrinkle injections from $9 per unit”
- TG Act ss 42DLB, 42DLC: prescription medicine price promotion
- Cosmetic
/treatments
“(No named registered practitioner found on treatment pages)”
- Cosmetic guidelines, 2 Sep 2025: named registered practitioner with registration details required
Sample only. Illustrative of the rule categories the audit checks. Not legal advice. See disclaimer below.
Not an audit service. Not a caption tool. Your rule-checked content engine.
The compliance audit is the first thing your SwayBlu content engine does. It is how the product shows you what it sees. After that, the same engine plans, writes, and queues your content every week, checked against the rules that apply to your practice or clinic.
Reads your practice or clinic
SwayBlu extracts your services, voice and tone from your existing website. Your compliance-aware content engine auto-builds your brand kit.
Plans your content
A weekly content arc: education, behind the practice, community, service spotlight. Tuned to your suburb and patient mix.
Writes rule-checked posts
Every draft is checked against the applicable rule packs before it lands in your queue. You stay in control, and the publisher, of every post.
Priced on what a breach costs, not on what software costs.
Advertising penalties run to $60,000 for a practitioner and $120,000 for a practice under the National Law, and far higher again under the Therapeutic Goods Act. SwayBlu checks what you have already published, and checks what you are about to.
SwayBlu Founding Pilot
$99one-off, 30 days
30 days. Then $149 or $299 a month, your choice, cancel anytime.
A standalone compliance audit from a consultancy runs $2,400 to $8,200. This is $99 because it starts a relationship, not because it is worth less.
- A compliance check of your website and social profiles, reviewed by a person, not just scored by a machine
- The exact wording we flagged, why it is a risk, and what to change it to
- Your brand set up in SwayBlu: colours, fonts, voice, services
- Posts and captions generated in your brand, checked as they are written
- Unlimited caption checks: paste anything before you publish
- Ask SwayBlu: your rules and your business, on tap
- A review call at day 30, whatever you decide
We use anonymised findings from your check to help other clinics. Nothing identifying, ever, and we ask before we use your name.
Monitoring
$149AUD / month
For a single practice or clinic.
The check, repeated. Because your website changes, and so do the rules.
- Everything in the pilot, continuing
- We re-check your site each month and tell you what changed and what is new
- Unlimited caption checks before you publish
- Posts generated in your brand each month, compliance-checked as they are written
- Content plans: a week of posts in one go
- Scheduling and reminders
- Ask SwayBlu
The nearest comparable tool starts at $149 a month and sells content generation on top as extra credits. Ours is included.
Clinic Pro
$299AUD / month
For clinics advertising under both the National Law and the TGA, where the exposure is largest.
- Everything in Monitoring
- A written monthly compliance report, reviewed by a person: every site scored, what changed, what is still open, and what needs a decision from you
- Your own photo library used in your posts
- Newsletters written in your brand
- Priority support, straight to us
Groups and partners
From$99per location, per month
Three or more locations, or agencies managing regulated clients.
Existing quoted pricing is honoured.
- Every location checked
- One group report showing which site carries the risk
- One login across all of them
- Volume pricing
Customers who joined before August 2026 keep the price they signed up on.
Not a regulated business? SwayBlu Starter is $29/mo: content that sounds like you, without the marketing degree. No compliance rules attached, because you do not need them. Posts in your brand, brand kit, Ask SwayBlu, scheduling, caption checks for general advertising claims.
Start free
Free is not a teaser. You see the entire audit result and your first pack.
No paywall on the audit results. No paywall on your first rule-checked content pack. The paid plans are for the monthly re-check and the content that follows it.
Specific likely breaches
Page URLs, the exact wording on your site, and the advertising rule each likely breach maps to.
Safer rewrites for each
Copy-and-paste replacements your team can ship today, no compliance lawyer required.
Your brand kit, auto-built
Services, suburb, voice and tone pulled from your existing site. No questionnaire, no setup tax.
Your first rule-checked content pack
Three posts drafted in your voice, guarded by your audit findings. Edit, approve, or skip.
Run your audit. See your first pack. Talk if it fits.
Free audit for any AHPRA-registered practice or clinic. SwayBlu classifies your business, applies the right rule packs, surfaces every likely breach with a specific citation, and drafts your first 3 rule-checked posts in your voice.
SwayBlu's compliance-aware checks flag likely issues against the advertising rules that apply to your business, including National Law s133, ADA Policy 6.9 for dental practices, the AHPRA guidelines for advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 prescription-medicine rules. They are not legal advice and are not a substitute for advice from a qualified Australian health-law solicitor. You are the publisher of record: final compliance of any content you publish is your responsibility.