The Australian Group for Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) has played a unique role in surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in Australia. It has a broad laboratory membership representing the major teaching hospitals in all Australian capitals and more recently major private pathology laboratories in most states. The use of an active surveillance strategy with standard methodology for collection and examination of clinically significant isolates has produced data accurately reflecting the changing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in major hospitals as well as the community. AGAR has documented the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Australian hospitals in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Surveys of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci have monitored the emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci as an important nosocomial pathogen in Australia. AGAR has also conducted major national surveys of resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae, community isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae and in the Enterobacteriaceae. These and other activities have given AGAR a unique perspective on emerging patterns of resistance in key pathogens in Australia. The recent extension of membership to include more private pathology laboratories may provide the opportunity to conduct more representative community based surveys.