The Trump Administration’s support for, and from the tobacco industry is revealed in a must-read article included in this column. Meanwhile, there’s good news on public health from Chile, and an upcoming meeting in Singapore will examine the health impacts of air pollution during times of extreme heat.
The Australian Indigenous Doctors Association has released its road map for the next five years, arthritis research is getting a funding boost, and there will be public reporting from a new National Wastewater Surveillance Program monitoring for priority communicable diseases, such as COVID-19 and influenza.
The quotable?
Investing in cycling means investing in healthier people and more connected, liveable communities.”
Urging peace
While conflicts in the Middle East are often framed in Australian political and media discourse as of primary concern for the economic security of Australia, health experts from Canada and several other countries have called for peace as the best solution to mounting health crises in the region.
Conflicts are undermining two foundations of public health, they say – institutional infrastructure (including hospitals, supply chains, disease surveillance systems, and the health workforce) and ecological infrastructure (air, water, soil, sanitation, energy, and food systems).
These dual assaults trigger a cascade of compounding, interacting crises, the authors write in The BMJ. They say that restoring peace is not “a political luxury” but a critical upstream intervention for population health in the region and beyond.
“Peace is the single intervention that is effective across the entire causal chain because it reduces immediate violence, protects health workers and infrastructure, allows ecological remediation, reopens supply routes, and creates the conditions for surveillance, reconstruction, and care. Some damage remains reversible; health services can resume, supply chains can be restored, and disease surveillance can be re-established.
“But delaying peace increases the share that cannot be easily reversed, including ecological contamination, preventable disability, child undernutrition, and intergenerational psychological harm.”
Other global health news
This report says that Trump’s investment in tobacco companies, and their political donations occurred as the Trump Administration pursued a broadly pro-tobacco agenda. His administration “amounts to the most pro-tobacco, pro-nicotine presidency in some time — a remarkable policy given the tens of millions of deaths cigarettes caused during the 20th century,” says the report. Since late 2023, MAGA Inc has received over US $20 million in funding from the industry, federal campaign records show.
The researchers said their findings “provide crucial, evidence-based support for policy makers worldwide who are considering food environment policies as a scalable, impactful strategy to combat the childhood obesity epidemic”.
NDIS and carers
Carers will have no choice but to fill the gap created by the Federal Government’s proposed NDIS changes, and many are already depleted and exhausted, according to Carers Australia.
Commenting on the organisation’s submission to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, CEO Joanna Cave said eligibility, reassessment and support changes will push costs and responsibilities on to carers, and greater reliance on them risks accelerating burnout.
“This is yet another policy change that fails to consider the effect on family and friend carers, ignoring the role they play in the lives of people with disability. Carers are effectively NDIS administrators, managers and advocates for the people they care for. Without them our health and care systems would be on their knees, yet policy changes are made without considering carers, while relying on them to pick up the slack, often to the detriment of their health and financial wellbeing,” she said in a statement.
“While we recognise the importance of securing the NDIS for future generations, and support reforms improving the integrity and sustainability of the scheme, not considering the impacts on carers risks implementing poor policies, undermining participant and carer outcomes and imposing higher costs on taxpayers in the long run.
“There are changes that could make the NDIS market work better, slow cost growth, deliver better value for taxpayers and have less impact on people with disability and their carers. Provider overcharging is a one example and a concern for many Australians. Evidence shows some NDIS providers set prices at or near price caps, contributing to cost blowouts.”
Cave said carers and those they support also need longer to assess the changes and their flow on effects and a longer consultation period for the public hearings, scheduled to finish today after only three days.
“These are some of the most significant changes to the scheme since it was introduced and it is important for people with a disability, as well as their families and carers, to have time to consider these changes and provide feedback on what they will mean for them. We also want an assessment of the impact of the proposed changes on carers. The Bill should not be passed at this stage given the lack of consultation and the significant consequences of the proposed changes.”
Carers Australia is also concerned that some of the proposed changes, including those to slow the growth of the Scheme and target fraud, risk undermining the intent of the NDIS.
More #AusPol news
Public health
From the second quarter of 2026, the National Wastewater Surveillance Program will test wastewater from sentinel sites across Australia to detect and monitor priority communicable diseases, such as COVID-19 and influenza.
The Centre for Disease Control says this will help us assess risk and be ready for future public health threats.
A public dashboard will provide timely, high-level data about wastewater detections. The dashboard will go live when data starts coming in and we analyse it.
First Nations
Jobs and opportunities
Awards
The Kings Birthday Honours List details are here; The Zap will report in more detail on these next week. In the meantime, a few snapshots…
Upcoming events
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