The Australian Nursing Federation is the union for registered nurses, enrolled nurses, midwives, and assistants in nursing doing nursing work throughout Australia. In 1953 the Australian Nursing Federation/Employees Section was formed from the amalgamation of the Australian United Nurses' Assocation and the Royal Victorian College of Nurses Employees' Association. Around 1971 the organisation began to go by the name of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation and by the name of the Australian Nursing Federation from 1988. Nurses join the ANF branch in the state or territory where they work: ANF Australian Capital Territory Branch; NSW Nurses' Association (ANF NSW Branch); ANF Northern Territory Branch; Queensland Nurses' Union (ANF QLD Branch); ANMF South Australian Branch; ANF Tasmanian Branch; ANF Victorian Branch; ANF Western Australian Branch.

The New South Wales Nurses’ Association (NSWNA) was formed in 1931 and was registered as a trade union in New South Wales on 20 November 1945. By this time it had amalgamated with the Trained Mental Nurses' Association (May, 1945). It was the registered union for all nurses in New South Wales in both public and private sectors. The membership of the Association comprised all those who perform nursing work, including Assistants in Nursing, Enrolled Nurses and Registered Nurses at all levels, including management and education. With the exception of Assistants in Nursing, the members of the NSWNA were also members of the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF), a federally registered industrial organisation, and formed the NSW Branch of the ANF. At the Association's 2012 Annual Conference the name of the organisation was changed to the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association.