The development of a Data Plan to map data and digital assets and improve data sharing has been slated for action in Australia’s first National Health and Medical Research Strategy 2026-2036.
The strategy – prepared by Rosemary Huxtable AO – proposes a national data integration, sharing and access plan to make better use of existing health and medical research data.
The Data Plan would enable secondary use of existing data for research, adhere to data sovereignty principles and be trusted by consumers and the community, complemented by a capable highly skilled workforce in data analytics.
It would map data and digital assets across the public, private and research sectors, support reuse of existing datasets, and identify gaps in data relating to priority populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Data sharing would be improved across jurisdictions and internationally by addressing governance, interoperability and linkage barriers.
Public trust
The strategy says it will be important to continue to build public trust in how health and research data is shared and used or made open by default for the benefit of people and businesses. This means including stronger privacy protections, responsible use of AI and clear evidence that research delivers benefits for healthcare.
There is also a need for Indigenous Data Governance and Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles across the data ecosystem, developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
It also calls for greater use of interoperable digital health platforms to support timely access to comprehensive health data, including whole-of-population datasets, and expanded training pathways in data analytics, AI, machine learning, statistics, programming and other technical skills needed for modern health and medical research.
The plan could also help build sustainable, interoperable national data infrastructure, improving the use of Australian data for research, policy and commercial purposes while enabling responsible secondary use of deidentified health data.
It would also embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data sovereignty, culturally safe governance, place-based access and equitable data access for priority populations.
A key outcome would be greater confidence across the community, research and healthcare sectors in the responsible use of personal health data.
‘Data and digital technology’ is one of the four enablers of the strategy, along with workforce, funding and infrastructure.
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