As a new position statement from the Australian Medical Association calls on specialist medical colleges to make fees more transparent, predictable and fair, the latest National Report Card from the National Mental Health Commission finds that cost is an increasing barrier to mental healthcare.
Meanwhile, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will target four “sector risk priorities” in 2026-27, including culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people delivered by mainstream providers.
On 30 October, it will be two years since Professor Mark Cormack delivered the final report for the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce Scope of Practice Review to the Federal Government. Our columnist awaits the Government’s response.
The Zap also reports on the Senate establishing a new select committee on women’s health, as well as a call from the Public Health Association of Australia for all political parties “to avoid falling for tobacco industry campaigns, and retain current successful comprehensive tobacco control policies, including taxation policies”.
The quotables?
Forty-two years after Medicare began, a Labor Government has promised to open free public dental clinics. Unfortunately it is the Victorian Government, not the Commonwealth Government.”
And…
Falling rates of daily smoking is an enormous success story that also reinforces the importance of the tobacco excise as one part of Australia’s comprehensive tobacco control measures.”
Charles Maskell-Knight writes:
Last week Croakey covered responses from the disability sector to the passage of legislation amending the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
It also covered reaction from the aged care sector to the indictment of the aged care Support at Home program set out on Four Corners on 17 August.
Since the article on Support at Home was published, Cate Swannell in Health Services Daily wrote:
The Government keeps insisting the Integrated Assessment Tool can be improved, but the accumulating evidence raises a more fundamental question:
‘Why is it still using an algorithm that was not live-trialled in its final form, whose independent clinical validation has not been demonstrated, and which experts say is structurally flawed?’
And which, by the way, is leaving elderly Australians without critical supports, security and safety while all this obfuscation and bum-covering is going on.”
Later in the week the Government attempted to defuse another aged care time-bomb when Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae announced the Government had decided to extend the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) to 30 June 2029.
The Morrison Government had planned to roll CHSP into the Support at Home program from July 2023, but in 2023 then Aged Care Minister Anika Wells deferred the date of the merger to 2027.
Butler and Rae have now said “the Government believes CHSP should remain a standalone program, rather than rolling it into Support at Home”.
“We’ll use this extension to strengthen the program so it better delivers for older Australians,” they said.
“We want the CHSP to be sustainable and better integrated with Support at Home to deliver a holistic home care program and will begin consultation this year on a long-term future for the program, including how block funding can be continued, ensuring fair and equitable contributions to the costs of home care and how early intervention services can reduce pressure across the system.”
The CHSP Alliance said it was delighted by the decision, and “stands ready to work with the Government to co-design the renewed CHSP for the future”.
COTA also welcomed the decision, saying “the focus must now turn to ensuring the systems deliver for older Australians”.
COTA CEO Patricia Sparrow said “the task now is making sure the CHSP, Support at Home and the broader aged care system work together so older Australians don’t fall through the cracks, get caught between program boundaries or face unnecessary barriers as their needs change”.
The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) CEO Craig Gear said “the move is sensible and affords older people greater certainty and continuity of care as we plan ahead for a reformed and accessible entry-level aged care system”.
Gear said “there is also an urgent need for increased investment in CHSP now so that it meets its objectives”.
“OPAN member advocates continue to hear from older people who have been approved for CHSP but cannot access services, with providers telling them their books are full or closing.”
Other groups, including provider lobby group Ageing Australia, Catholic Health Australia, Dementia Australia, NATSIAACC, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, and the Victorian Healthcare Association, also welcomed the decision.
It just goes to show the Government can make sensible decisions sometimes.
Gambling “reform” legislation
The Government reached agreement with the Opposition on amendments to the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, which cleared the House of Representatives on 18 August and was then introduced and passed by the Senate the next day.
The report of the Senate inquiry into the legislation included a swingeing critique from independent Senator David Pocock.
After quoting Communications Minister Anika Wells saying that “these reforms break the connection between sport and wagering, minimising kids’ exposure to gambling ads and reducing their saturation on TV, radio and online”, Pocock explains why the legislation will not achieve any of these aims.
Pocock writes that he has followed the Prime Minister’s statements on these reforms closely for three years, and that “during that time, he has repeatedly advanced arguments also used by vested interests opposing stronger reform”.
These include comments that stronger restrictions could push gambling offshore where it is more difficult to regulate, and “an apparently unsourced claim implying that lotteries caused substantially more gambling harm than sports betting”.
Pocock writes “these are industry talking points routinely used by those with a vested interest in preventing stronger reform”.
The Grattan Institute’s Chief of Staff Kate Griffiths wrote an article for The Conversation on the legislation, concluding “stronger consumer protections are needed. The Gambling Reform Bill was a missed opportunity to go further”.
Griffiths wrote “the major parties might be hoping that this political behemoth is now dealt with. But squibbing it just makes it more likely it rears its head again”.
Croakey has published responses to the legislation, as well as re-upping the recommendations from the House of Representatives committee chaired by Peta Murphy that produced the ‘You win some, you lose more’ report.
The article includes a link to stringent criticism from independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who has a long history of campaigning against the gambling industry.
Government
The Therapeutic Goods Administration said it had “flexed its muscle against illegal peptides and steroids” and seized more than $120,000 of illicit peptide and anabolic steroid products from premises in NSW allegedly linked to a social media influencer who “allegedly imported and relabelled the products before advertising and selling them on various social media platforms and a dedicated website”.
The Centre for Disease Control announced the release of a “new five-year strategic plan to progress towards eliminating tuberculosis (TB) and improving health equity”.
The new plan will focus on “strengthening existing TB programs and reducing inequities in TB outcomes”.
The National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) released its 2025 National Report Card, with findings including:
- 14.9 percent of people aged 15 years or older experienced high psychological distress and 9.2 percent experienced very high psychological distress
- People with a mental health condition were five times as likely to experience very high psychological distress and twice as likely to experience high psychological distress
- People with mental health conditions are disproportionately experiencing loneliness and discrimination
- Cost is an increasing barrier to care, with 20 percent of people aged 15 years and older indicating cost as a reason for not seeing a mental health professional during 2024-25, up from 12 percent four years earlier.
The NMHC said “future reform needs to combine prevention, service system improvement, workforce growth and more comprehensive national data”.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) said the Report Card “raises a confronting question: why are levels of unmet healthcare need that would be unacceptable for other serious illnesses still being accepted for Australians living with mental illness?”.
RANZCP President Dr Astha Tomar said “if comparable numbers of Australians with cancer, cardiovascular disease or another serious illness were unable to afford specialist treatment, deteriorating while waiting for care or spending prolonged periods in emergency departments because appropriate services were unavailable, we would call it a health crisis”.
“Why are we accepting it for mental illness?”
Tomar said “we need affordable access to psychiatrists, a sustainable specialist workforce, stronger public services, properly funded psychosocial supports, access to innovative and evidence-based treatments, and clear accountability for outcomes”.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released the second of three tranches of data from the 2025 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), focussing on detailed data on the use of tobacco, e-cigarettes and nicotine products, including emerging products, patterns of use and differences across population groups.
(The first release of findings in July included high-level data on tobacco smoking and the use of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products.)
Publications included articles on:
The AIHW said new findings include:
- In 2025, one in four (25 percent) people who smoke had successfully quit smoking for more than one month in the previous 12 months, up from 20 percent in 2022–2023
- People in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic areas had the highest proportion of recent illicit tobacco use in 2025 (6.8 percent), double the proportion in the most advantaged socioeconomic areas
- 58 percent of people who had used e-cigarettes said that they had done so “out of curiosity”
- Males were over four times as likely as females to have used oral nicotine pouches in the last 12 months (2.9 percent compared with 0.7 percent).
The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) welcomed the new data as showing a drop in smoking rates among the country’s most socio-economically disadvantaged communities.
PHAA CEO Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin said “it’s really positive that more Australians are successfully quitting smoking and as a result smoking rates are going down across a wide range of population groups and communities – including those that have been traditionally harder to reach and help quit”.
“Falling rates of daily smoking is an enormous success story that also reinforces the importance of the tobacco excise as one part of Australia’s comprehensive tobacco control measures,” he said.
“This new AIHW data shows that the cost of smoking is the most common factor that motivated people to quit or cut back (48 percent), followed by concerns about their health (45 percent).”
He concluded by calling on all Australian political parties “to avoid falling for tobacco industry campaigns, and retain current successful comprehensive tobacco control policies, including taxation policies”.
“We urge they take one more step and move to dramatically reduce the number of tobacco retailer licenses.”
The AIHW also released a report on estimating common non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) incidence and mortality, concluding NMSC incidence may be as much as three times higher than all other cancers combined.
(NMSC includes basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.)
The Chair of Cancer Council’s National Skin Cancer Committee Sally Blane said the data shows just how serious Australia’s skin cancer burden remains.
She urged people to protect themselves against the sun whenever the UV index is 3 or more, and concluded “most Australians will be affected by some type of skin cancer in their lifetime”.
“We don’t have to accept that. Australia’s most common cancer is also the most preventable. Implementing sun protection habits at any age makes a real difference.”
Commissioner Liz Hefren-Webb said the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) in 2026–27 will target four “sector risk priorities… where action can make the greatest difference to the safety, wellbeing and rights of older Australians”:
- aged care rights in practice
- sexual safety and sexual rights
- de-escalating changed behaviours
- culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people delivered by mainstream providers.
The ACQSC said “while it will continue to oversee providers’ compliance with all obligations under the Aged Care Act, the sector risk priorities identify areas that will receive additional regulatory attention, guidance, engagement, and sector support throughout 2026-27”.
The ACQSC undertook a public consultation on its regulatory strategy for 2025-26, but does not appear to have done so for 2026-27.
The acting Inspector-General of Aged Care released her submission to the Senate inquiry into the Support at Home program, saying it “highlights flaws in the design of the Support at Home program that prevent it from delivering on its intended purpose, and in many ways, undermine it… [and] sets out 19 recommendations to inform future reform and drive the significant changes needed to ensure the program better meets the needs of older Australians”.
Space precludes a detailed account of the recommendations in this column, but recommendation 1 is a good example of the direction and approach in the submission:
“The Inspector-General recommends the Government procure independent economic modelling of the extent to which current and alternative funding arrangements support the preventive objectives of aged care policy. The results should be released publicly, and in full – regardless of whether those findings support or challenge existing policy settings.”
The submission said the modelling should:
- identify which forms of care and support have the greatest impact in maintaining independence, preserving functional capacity and enabling people to remain living at home for longer
- assess the costs and benefits of co-payment settings for older people with different levels of income, assets and care needs – including impacts on residential aged care, hospital utilisation and broader government expenditure
- examine the cumulative impact of co-payments on people requiring multiple forms of care and support
- evaluate whether current co-payment arrangements may discourage timely access to services and undermine the preventive objectives of Support at Home
- be informed by community consultation and expert advice, including the perspectives of older people and their representatives.
The publication must be accompanied by how the Government will respond to the findings.
This work should be completed and publicly released by 31 December 2027.”
Other recommendations included allowing manual intervention in the Support at Home Integrated Assessment Tool, retaining the Commonwealth Home Support Program as a separate scheme (which can now be ticked off), and “urgent action to progress the development of a genuinely co-designed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care system”.
The Office of the Inspector-General also released its 2026-27 Annual Work Plan.
Consumer and public health groups
The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health published a study by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) which found an estimated 1.7 million Australians, or 6.7 percent of the population, were susceptible (did not have sufficient immunity) to measles in 2019.
Zoë Croker, Epidemiologist and Data Analyst at NCIRS and lead author of the study, said: “Australia remains a measles elimination success story, but our findings show we’re closer to the minimum level of population protection needed to prevent outbreaks than many people might expect.”
NCIRS Associate Director Associate Professor Frank Beard said several high-income countries, including Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom, have recently lost their measles elimination status amid rising global outbreaks and international travel.
“What’s happened overseas is a reminder that elimination status isn’t guaranteed – it has to be actively maintained. That means keeping our population immunity as high as possible”.
The Pharmacy Guild used the article as the anchor for a media release “encouraging Australians born during or after 1966 who are unsure of their vaccination history, particularly those planning overseas travel, to speak with their pharmacist, GP or other immunisation provider”.
The Food for Health Alliance (FHA) said a new audit it had undertaken found that popular drinks sold in Australian supermarkets contain as much as 2.5 times the daily limit of sugar recommended for good health, in a single serve.
The worst offenders were Coca-Cola Classic and Solo Original Lemon which contained around 16 teaspoons of sugar in each 600ml bottle.
The FHA said new research by Cancer Council Victoria “shows that 77 percent of Australians surveyed support Government action to push sugary drink companies to reduce the sugar content of their products”.
FHA Executive Manager Jane Martin said “sugary drink companies pack their products with excessive amounts of sugar and relentlessly target Australian consumers with promotions and marketing to make us want to buy them”.
“With big profits to be made from these drinks, we know companies won’t stop making and pushing these high sugar products on Australian families on their own,” Martin said.
“It’s time for governments to intervene through regulation and incentives to stop these companies from continuing to profit at the expense of Australians’ health.”
Palliative Care Australia (PCA) National Policy Director Josh Fear said a significant gap in the aged care assessment process is the lack of specific consideration of palliative care needs in the Integrated Assessment Tool.
Fear said “assessors should be equipped to recognise palliative care needs early so they can inform a person’s care and support”.
He said the problem was compounded by the eligibility rules for the Support at Home End-of-Life Pathway, which require a doctor or nurse practitioner to estimate that a person has three months or less to live.
“Someone can have significant and worsening needs but miss out on additional end-of-life support because a clinician cannot confidently predict that they are likely to die within three months.”
“PCA has proposed the Government trial a needs-based approach so that access to the End-of-Life Pathway better reflects a person’s actual palliative care needs.”
First Nations
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss and Professor Marcia Langton AO presented to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
They provided statements and oral evidence highlighting the need to address the fundamental attitudes and values towards First Peoples stemming from colonialisation, in order to lay the foundation for social cohesion in Australia, Commissioner Kiss later wrote.
“To fully understand racism in Australia today requires an understanding of our colonial history and of the inequitable governance arrangements and institutions that emerged from it. Racism is not confined to individual acts of prejudice. It is systemic and structural and embedded in institutions, laws, policies and practices,” she said.
“Unless and until Australia addresses racism against First Peoples, we will struggle to create a culture capable of effectively addressing racism more broadly.
“Social cohesion must be about acceptance, inclusion, respect, dignity, unity. It cannot be about cultural erasure, denial of identity, assimilation and integration, racism, or monoculturalism.”
Commmissioner Kiss said they stressed that dealing with racism on a case-by-case basis will not eliminate racism – you can call one person/agency/journalist/politician/social media platform out. And addressing one form of racism without addressing racism generally and for all who experience it won’t change anything, as change must be systemic.
“We also talked to the importance of education and particularly civics education and truth-telling to promote understanding of history, difference and the evolution of policies, laws and practices where racism is embedded.
“We stressed the need for strengthened human rights protections, including the need for a Human Rights Act, and implementation of the UNDRIP, and the National Anti-Racism Framework.”
Meanwhile, Reconciliation Australia said it was honoured to welcome Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC as Patron of Reconciliation Australia.
The announcement was made at a function held at Admiralty House in Sydney to mark 25 years of Reconciliation Australia.
Co-chairs of the board, Kirstie Parker and Michael Rose, said: “Her Excellency’s support holds particular significance given her connection to Reconciliation Australia in her previous role as a director of our organisation from 2007–2010”.
“Her patronage reflects a deep and enduring commitment to reconciliation and to the work of building a more just, respectful and united Australia.”
Trade unions
The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) called for “detail on how states and territories will reform their health systems to unlock their share of the Government’s $60 million commitment to jurisdictions that enable health professionals to work to the top of their scope of practice”.
I think the ACN is being a little optimistic: as far as I can see under the National Competition Policy Federal Funding Agreement, all the states and territories have agreed to is to “work with the Commonwealth to develop and endorse a coordinated work program that aligns drugs and poisons regulation… and resolves definitional inconsistencies and supports safe, innovative models of care through phased coordination”.
The work program for harmonising drugs and poisons regulation “could include
- General Practitioners prescribing medication for ADHD
- Designated Registered Nurse Prescribing
- Administration of immunisations
- Administration of medicines by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners, paramedics and other appropriate health professionals
- Regulation of cannabis, cosmetic injectables and other substances of concern.”
It is now coming up to two years since the release of the report of the Scope of Practice review, and the Government has yet to provide a response.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) released a position statement calling on specialist medical colleges to make fees more transparent, predictable and fair.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said “doctors in training are telling us – loud and clear – the cost of specialist training is a source of real financial stress and, in some cases, a barrier to progressing in their chosen field”.
“The position statement we are releasing today supports constructive engagement with specialist medical colleges to find a balanced approach that recognises both trainee needs and system sustainability.”
Perhaps exposure to excessive training fees predisposes specialists to charge excessive fees when they are qualified?
Ahead of Scams Awareness Week, the Australian Psychological Society (APS) warned “being scammed can cost Australians far more than money, with targets often experiencing shame, embarrassment, guilt, reduced confidence, and disconnection from others”.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) supported the inaugural Parliamentary Friends of Safe and Quality Use of Medicines event, and called for “a stronger national focus on helping Australians use medicines safely, effectively, and appropriately”.
Members of the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) attended the WA Parliament to provide free health checks to members, and to lobby for the WA Government to:
- reduce unplanned hospital admissions by incentivising GP care post-discharge, including a “Hospital to GP Transfer of Care” pilot program and a funding incentive for GPs who see patients within seven days of an unplanned hospital discharge
- make ADHD treatment fairer for Western Australians, by providing an additional $350,000 in funding to expand the ADHD GP training program and deliver 100 more qualified GPs by June 2027
- put GPs at the centre of health reform by establishing a Chief GP Adviser within the WA Department of Health to strengthen collaboration with the general practice sector and improve coordination between primary and tertiary health care.
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) released its submission to the House of Representatives inquiry into access to and affordability of medical specialists.
It said the submission was informed by a survey of 700 members, which “identified pressures across Medicare, private health insurance, public hospital capacity and the distribution of the surgical workforce as barriers to Australians accessing affordable surgical care”.
RACS called for:
- modernising Medicare patient rebates so they better reflect the cost and complexity of contemporary surgical care, with appropriate ongoing indexation
- reforming private health insurance settings to improve affordability and transparency
- increasing public hospital surgical capacity
- strengthening national workforce planning.
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) published an article by President Dr Sarah Chalmers saying while “Bullying No Way Week is aimed at schools, this year’s message, Small Acts, Big Impact, has something to say to every workplace”.
Chalmers concluded “for a long time medicine has had a pretty bad reputation when it comes to bullying, but the ability to change that is in our hands, right now. How we treat our colleagues, our registrars, our nurses, our Aboriginal health workers, is in our control, and we can all do better”.
“So today, start by picking one small thing; include someone, share an opportunity, speak up, or even just smile. It will probably take only a few seconds or a minute out of your day, but for somebody else it could change their entire day, or their entire career. That power rests with you.”
Industry groups
The Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) issued a lengthy media release covering its submission to the DHDA consultation on private health insurance reform.
It argued inter alia that “at some point the government must address the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS)”.
“It currently pays a psychiatrist less to treat acute patients in hospital than to provide lesser services in consulting rooms. Out-of-hospital care attracts 85 percent of the schedule fee, while the more severe and complex mental disorders needed to be treated via in-hospital attendances attract just 75 percent.”
Apparently the APHA is unaware of the requirement, which has been in place for almost 40 years (currently set out in subsection 72-2(2) of the Private Health Insurance Act 2007), for insurers to pay 25 percent of the schedule fee for in-hospital medical attendances.
(Croakey published an article based on my submission to the consultation, which can be found here.)
The Members Health Fund Alliance (Members Health, the lobby group for private health insurers which do not distribute profits) released its submission to the Senate inquiry into the Private Health Insurance Rebate Bill 2026.
Spoiler alert: it is opposed to the bill.
Private health insurers
Bupa released a discussion paper, Building a More Accessible, Modern and Sustainable Health System, setting out “a vision for a health system better equipped to address the chronic disease burden affecting 15.4 million Australians”.
The recommendations included:
- Establishing a National Prevention Partnership Framework to help governments, providers and insurers invest in prevention, improve health outcomes and reduce pressure on hospitals
- Enabling private health insurers to fund prevention and early intervention including health checks, screening, coaching and care coordination before conditions become serious
- Giving insurers greater flexibility to fund mental healthcare outside hospitals, potentially avoiding 41,000 admissions and saving $140 million a year.
- Expanding Hospital in the Home so more Australians can receive hospital-level treatment including IV antibiotics, wound care and post-operative recovery safely at home
- Continuing to move Medicare towards blended funding that rewards prevention, chronic disease management and coordinated care involving nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals
- Fast-tracking workforce reforms, including streamlined pathways for overseas-trained doctors, a national specialist workforce plan and expanded specialist training.
HCF convened a Reimagining Mental Health Care Roundtable, a “cross-sector discussion on the future of mental health care in Australia built on analysis developed by HCF and Nous Group, which found access to private mental healthcare is narrowing, while the people seeking care are presenting with increasingly complex needs”.
HCF foreshadowed a “White Paper drawing on the evidence base, roundtable insights and further participant feedback, capturing key themes, areas of alignment, differing perspectives and opportunities for further exploration”.
Politicians and parliamentary committees
On 19 August, on the motion of ALP Senator Marielle Smith, the Senate established a select committee on women’s health, to inquire into and report by 18 August next year on:
(a) best practice approaches to postpartum healthcare, including the delivery of physical and mental health support and services for mothers and their partners including those who have experienced infant loss
(b) women’s experiences in the postpartum period, including the physical, psychological, emotional and economic impacts of birth
(c) best practice pregnancy and postpartum care models to support long-term maternal physical and mental health
(d) the cost and accessibility of postpartum healthcare, including:
(i) infant feeding supports
(ii) mental health supports and services
(iii) physiotherapy services, including pelvic health services
(iv) related allied health services
(e) antenatal and postpartum reproductive health support and education, including contraceptive care
(f) research, education and training on pregnancy and postpartum care for healthcare professionals working in maternal care
(g) existing Commonwealth, state and territory government policies, programs and healthcare initiatives addressing postpartum care
(h) data collection, reporting and monitoring processes and allocation of research efforts relating to postpartum healthcare
(i) the ways in which women and girls experience recurrent, severe, or long-lasting pain conditions
(j) women’s experience in seeking appropriate healthcare responses to pain, including experiences of medical misogyny
(k) barriers to effective pain management, including the range and affordability of available treatments
(l) best practice approaches to assisted reproduction treatments
(m) access and affordability issues relating to fertility and assisted reproduction treatments
(n) the regulation of medical devices used in women’s healthcare treatments, including risk assessments, monitoring and reporting
(o) the role of relevant regulators and other agencies in responding to complaints regarding medical devices
(p) any related matters.
Smith told the ABC that it was her experience in the weeks after her son’s birth that has “driven a passion for postpartum health care amid fears Australian women are currently ‘suffering in silence’”.
The RACGP welcomed the establishment of the committee, saying it “followed sustained calls from the College to recognise the first 12 months after birth as a national health priority”.
RACGP Acting Vice President Dr Cath Hester said “the first year after birth is one of the most important periods in the lives of both mother and baby, yet too many families struggle to access the coordinated support they need”.
The RACGP said it called for a “dedicated MBS-funded GP-led post-partum care plan and the establishment of a National Breastfeeding Advisory Council to improve coordination, accountability and support for families during the critical first 12 months after birth”.
It also called on state and territory Governments to digitise the Pregnancy Health Record and Baby Book, which tracks immunisations, growth charts, developmental milestones, and six-week checks.
International
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is on track to be the worst on record. Case numbers and deaths continue to grow rapidly, and many new cases cannot be linked to known cases, meaning there are unknown transmission chains.
The Bundibugyo strain of the virus involved in the outbreak replicates more slowly than others, meaning infected people can be active for longer before seeking treatment, and hence potentially transmitting the virus to many others in the community.
Health services are underfunded, overwhelmed, and often under threat.
Against this background, the WHO reported the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG) has responded to a request from the DRC government and agreed to release an initial 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine.
The Ervebo vaccine is licensed and recommended for use in outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (previously called Zaire ebolavirus), and it is not known whether Ervebo may be protective against the Bundibugyo virus in humans.
The 70,000 doses released by the ICG includes 20 000 doses for a Phase 3 clinical trial to understand the impact of the vaccine on the Bundibugyo virus, and 50 000 doses for frontline and health workers in line with the current recommendations of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization.
WHO said “it is key that the people offered the vaccine, in the trial and otherwise, receive information of the risks, potential benefits and limitations related to the use of the vaccine in an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus and are able to provide informed consent”.
In its continued assault on science and women’s rights, the Trump Administration has nominated Dr Heidi Overton as the Commissioner to lead the US Food and Drug Administration.
While Overton is a qualified doctor, she has little clinical experience and has worked in policy positions since 2019, first at the White House in the first Trump Administration, then at the conservative America First Policy Institute, and currently in the White House as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy.
According to NPR and The New York Times, Overton is opposed to gender-affirming care for minors, and is opposed to abortion, which she has described as “corrosive to women”.
She has “questioned the safety of medication abortion and suggested that the FDA was wrong to allow it to be prescribed via telehealth”.
Overton described Trump’s controversial executive order pushing to change the childhood vaccine schedule as “a historic action”, and backed his call for the production of individual vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella.
She said the executive order could “could help states recognise ‘gold standard’ recommendations and take steps to limit vaccines required for school entry”.
In his Truth Social post nominating her, Trump described her as “a ROCKSTAR in my Administration”, and said he expected her to deliver on his priorities, including clinical trial reforms and lower drug prices.
According to The New York Times, “the biotech and pharmaceutical investor community was less jubilant after news of her likely nomination first broke, noting that Dr Overton has little work experience to prepare her to run a large agency that regulates the increasingly global food, drug, tobacco and medical device industries”.
Finally
Forty-two years after Medicare began, a Labor Government has promised to open free public dental clinics.
Unfortunately it is the Victorian Government, not the Commonwealth Government.
Ben Carroll said that, if re-elected, the state Labor Government would open ten free dental clinics (seven in Melbourne and three in regional Victoria) to deliver free check-ups and treatment such as fillings, root canals and extractions.
No appointment will be required, but the clinics will deal with the most urgent cases first, including dental pain, swelling, or people who have had an accident.
The clinics will be open 9am-9pm on weekdays and 9am-5pm on weekends.
Labor also said it would pay relocation expenses for clinicians moving to regional areas, and fund traineeships and study programs to build and develop a workforce.
Consultations and inquiries
Here is our weekly list of requests by government bodies and parliamentary committees for responses to consultations or submissions to inquiries, arranged in order of submission deadlines. Please let us know if there are any to add for next week’s column.
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Co-design the future of aged care Application Programming Interfaces
29 August
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Inclusive Communities Fund Consultation
31 August
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Improvements to the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code
3 September
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Proposed changes to Required Advisory Statements for Medicine Labels
4 September
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Draft Assisted Reproductive Technology Standards
6 September
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Adoption of International Scientific Guidelines in Australia R01-2026
11 September
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Public consultation to help inform a possible “commissioning” approach for part of the Supported Independent Living market
13 September
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Proposed changes to support automated decision making for applications to change listed medicines
14 September
Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee
Public consultation on items to be considered by the PBAC in November 2026
16 September
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Public consultation on items to be considered by the PBAC
16 September
Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
Commercial supply of a genetically modified multivalent vaccine for chickens
25 September
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Medical Research Future Fund Reducing Health Inequities Mission – Consultation on the Roadmap and Implementation Plan
25 September
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Draft National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (third edition)
25 September
National Health and Medical Research Council
- Nutrient Reference Values – Public Consultation on Draft Recommendations – Vitamin B6
- Nutrient Reference Values – Public Consultation on Draft Recommendations for Sodium
30 September
Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee
Rapid Review of PBS medicines for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
1 October
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Requirements in the draft National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards to improve the cultural safety and quality of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
2 October
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Consultation on sharing more information about medical devices
2 October
Medical Services Advisory Committee
- Surgical Procedures for Gender Affirmation in Adults with Gender Incongruence
- Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel) for the treatment of large B-cell lymphoma
- Implantation of an active middle ear implant (Vibroplasty) for treatment of mixed and conductive hearing loss
- Supervised oral food challenge in patients with suspected food allergy
- Genomic testing for the diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency
- Procedures for the implantation and refill-exchange of the Port Delivery System with ranibizumab to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration
9 October
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
New Framework Planning and NDIS Supports
14 October
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability
Inquiry into the access to and affordability of medical specialists
16 October
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Additional public consultation on amending the Poisons Standard regarding ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and epichlorohydrin
26 October
Author details
Charles Maskell-Knight PSM was a senior public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Health for over 25 years before retiring in 2021. He worked as a senior adviser to the Aged Care Royal Commission in 2019-20. He is a member of Croakey Health Media; we thank and acknowledge him for providing this column as a probono service to our readers. Follow on X/Twitter at @CharlesAndrewMK, and on Bluesky at: @charlesmk.bsky.social.
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