National and global health trends, private health insurance reforms, dental tourism, NAIDOC Week, and a push for mandatory Health Star Ratings are among the topics covered this week.
Our columnist also suggests the Federal Government could step up investment in supporting communities to be more physically active, given recent news that overweight and obesity is now the leading risk factor contributing to ill health and death in Australia.
The quotable?
…no AI tool should be deployed unless its impact on the most marginalised people using that service has been formally assessed.”
Charles Maskell-Knight writes:
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released the 20th edition of the biennial Australia’s health report, “charting our nations’ progress while also informing priorities for future improvement”.
The AIHW concurrently released Australia’s health topic summaries, “a collection of 65 web pages providing comprehensive statistics on health, the health system and health services, as well as key data improvement activities”.
In the media release accompanying the release, the AIHW highlighted:
- Dementia is now the leading cause of death. Over the last decade the number of deaths caused by dementia has risen by 39 percent, while the number of deaths caused by coronary heart disease has decreased by 18 percent
- A little over one in five Australians aged 16–85 experienced a mental health condition (such as anxiety or depression) in the last 12 months in 2020–2022. The prevalence of mental health disorder among young people aged 16–24 increased from 26 percent to 39 percent between 2007 and 2020–2022
- The five-year relative cancer survival rate increased from 50 percent to 72 percent between 1987–1991 and 2017–2021
- Overweight and obesity is now the leading risk factor contributing to ill health and death, overtaking tobacco smoking for the first time
- While self-reported daily tobacco smoking continues to decline, around one in five young people aged 18–24 reported using vapes in 2022–2023, and almost one in ten used vapes daily
- Over the five years to 2025 childhood immunisation coverage fell from 95 percent to 92 percent for one-year olds, 93 percent to 90 percent for two-year-olds and 95 percent to 93 percent for five-year-olds
- There has been considerable improvement in the health of First Nations people but there are still opportunities to progress further.
Croakey’s Dr Melissa Sweet has covered the report here, and this article in The Conversation provides some more analysis of important trends.
The Pharmacy Guild seized on data in the report showing 27 percent of Australians delayed or did not see a GP in 2024–25, and urinary tract infections (UTIs) were responsible for 91,700 acute potentially preventable hospital admissions in the same year.
They pointed out that “eligible Australians nationwide can visit a community pharmacy for a consultation with a specially trained pharmacist for the diagnosis and treatment of uncomplicated UTI”.
Pharmacy Guild National Vice President Simon Blacker said “expanding access to appropriately trained pharmacist prescribers will help improve healthcare access while allowing GPs to focus on patients with more complex medical needs”.
The day before the AIHW released Australia’s health, the Sax Institute released a report commissioned by Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP).
The College said the Sax Institute report “raised serious questions about the lack of evidence underpinning the ongoing roll out of pharmacist prescribing in all Australian states and territories”.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said: “GPs across Australia are seeing patients with adverse health outcomes or diagnoses missed after forgoing a GP appointment in favour of a pharmacy prescription.
“This can look like a patient getting prescribed treatment for a urinary tract infection and then presenting to a GP down the track with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, pelvic inflammatory disease or even an ectopic pregnancy. We cannot take these risks lightly.”
Wright said the RACGP “looked for high-quality clinical evidence that might support safe autonomous pharmacist prescribing but couldn’t find it”.
“Then we asked State Governments to give it to us, but they declined. So, our last resort was to commission this independent report in case we were missing something. As it turns out, the evidence doesn’t exist and what does exist is limited or of very low quality.”
He concluded “we need our health system to be evidence-based not lobbyist-led”.
“Governments are putting policy ahead of safety and it is the Australian people who will pay the price.
“We all want to see better access to medicines for patients around Australia, but not when it puts their health at risk.”
The Pharmacy Guild reacted to the Sax Institute report, saying it “confirmed the most important finding for patients: pharmacist prescribing improves access to treatment”.
Guild vice-president Blacker said “what the report doesn’t fully reflect is the extensive recent evidence demonstrating pharmacist prescribing is safe, effective and highly valued by patients”.
The Guild statement attached links to recent studies, at least some of which had been considered and discounted by the Sax Institute report.
Ministers and government
Assistant Minister for Health Rebecca White announced the “Government is helping more Australians get active, stay connected and improve their health, with a $200,000 investment backing nine community-led projects across the country”.
Given the AIHW finding that overweight and obesity is now the leading risk factor contributing to ill health and death, there is probably a strong case for the Government to increase its spending in this area beyond $200,000.
Apologies to readers for missing this, but on 27 May the Government introduced the Health Insurance Amendment (Incentive Payments and Other Measures) Bill 2026, which has now passed the House of Representatives and is before the Senate.
According to the Explanatory Memorandum, the bill will “formalise the Commonwealth’s long-standing use of incentive payments to support quality improvement, affordability, access, digital health uptake, rural and remote service delivery, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes, after-hours care, health workforce distribution and education and training.
“[It will] provide a consistent legislative basis for those programs, including existing programs such as the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, General Practice Aged Care Incentive, the suite of payments under the Practice Incentives Program and the Workforce Incentive Program, while allowing program settings to be updated over time through subordinate legislation.”
The bill will also change the name of the Health Insurance Act 1973 to the Medicare Act 1973, reflecting the main purpose of the legislation.
A Senate inquiry into the bill is calling for submissions by 17 July.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) released a consultation paper on private health insurance reforms, seeking submissions by 13 August.
The paper includes the options that were included in a consultation paper released in January 2025. In that paper DHDA said the options had been selected on the basis that they were “able to be agreed immediately by Government, and can be substantially progressed or fully implemented within six months”.
At the time I argued in an article in Croakey that that until the Government could articulate the problem it was trying to solve, it was premature to put forward options for consideration.
Eighteen months later, the most recent paper still does not articulate the problem, yet it is presenting many of the same options.
Private Healthcare Australia (PHA, the private health insurers lobby group) said it welcomed the consultation, but “every proposed reform should be tested against one fundamental question: will it help keep private health insurance affordable?”.
PHA CEO Dr Rachel David said “every significant reform proposal should be supported by robust independent modelling of its likely impact on premiums before any decisions are made”.
Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) CEO Brett Heffernan told Croakey that while the APHA was disappointed it has taken Government three years to arrive at this point, it saw the first tranche of consultation reforms as a positive move.
He said “the areas to be examined in this first tranche are all areas the APHA has supported and advocated for reform for many years”.
“However, while they are important and can afford positive reforms, they do not – individually or collectively – address the purpose for the years of talkfests, the viability of private hospitals.”
Heffernan reiterated APHA’s calls to restore the benefits to revenue ratio to the pre-COVID level of 90 percent, and introduce a mandatory code of conduct for contracting between insurers and hospitals overseen by the ACCC “to bring transparency, accountability and fair terms to a system that has been plagued by abuses”.
He concluded “this process needs to deliver real reform, not another report”.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration opened consultation on proposed improvements to the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code. Submissions close on 3 September.
The Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) released updated Requirements for Information Communication and Reporting for pathology providers, reflecting amendments to Schedule 1 of the Health Insurance (Accredited Pathology Laboratories–Approval) Principles 2017.
The ACSQHC said the “update responds to significant advances in laboratory information systems, interoperability, and new legislative requirements, particularly the introduction of mandatory ‘share by default’ uploading to My Health Record from 1 July 2026”.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission released data on aged care sector performance for the period 1 November to 31 December last year.
It explained the delay in reporting saying “since introduction of the Aged Care Act 2024, the type of data available for reporting has changed”.
“Some data is still available in the past format, but some has changed significantly. It will take time for us to adapt our systems to these changes and make sure our new reporting format is robust.”
The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) opened public consultation on the development of residential aged care pricing and costing advice to the Government for 2027-28.
IHACPA said “this year’s focus areas include residential respite care funding arrangements, cost collections and refinements to the allocation of administrative and care costs”.
Submissions close on 21 August.
Consumer and public health groups
Palliative Care Australia (PCA) welcomed (slightly belatedly) the introduction on 1 July of the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026.
The PCA’s new CEO Dr Chris Hatherly said the legislation establishing the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner recognised that culturally safe care is fundamental to quality care, particularly for people approaching the end of life.
“Every Australian deserves care that reflects who they are, their culture, their values and what matters most to them.”
“For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, that means care that respects connection to Country, family, community, culture and identity throughout their care journey, including at the end of life.”
First Nations
NAIDOC week ran from 5-12 July, and was marked by many health groups. Croakey’s comprehensive wrap of related health news included comments from NACCHO and others.
The Joint Colleges Training Services (JCTS), the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and the RACGP issued a joint statement during the week celebrating the expansion of JCTS and an increase in funding for the next five years.
They said JCTS will expand its Cultural Health Education and Safety Training program, creating additional Senior Cultural Educator, Cultural Educator and Medical Educator positions across Australia.
The expansion “will allow more registrars to learn directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators [and help to] create a culturally safe healthcare workforce by addressing conscious and unconscious bias and providing equitable healthcare for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.
ACCRM also said it was “celebrating the evolution of First Nations representation within the College, with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Members Group expanding its role through the establishment of a formal Committee”.
It said the Committee was “the next step in a journey led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members themselves [and would] strengthen opportunities for First Nations Rural Generalists to contribute to the College’s governance, strategy and future direction”.
Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) President Professor Sarah Chalmers said the 50th NAIDOC “was an opportunity to celebrate the growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors, especially those who work in rural and remote Australia [and an] opportunity to recognise the invaluable lessons rural doctors continue to learn through working alongside Indigenous communities”.
The National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP) issued a statement inviting Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners, health services, stakeholders and the broader community to start planning for the National Day of Recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners on 7 August 2026.
Trade unions
The Australian Dental Association (ADA) was in the media, commenting on reports of dental tourism. Dentists in Australia are increasingly seeing older patients with complications arising from work done overseas, with patients often not factoring in the costs of maintaining complex dental work, the ADA said.
President Dr Chris Sanzaro said “a new national oral health plan is overdue, and that despite considerable ADA advocacy on the issue, long-running calls for a scheme to fund care for vulnerable groups, including seniors, still haven’t been answered by the Government”.
The ADA also issued a statement foreshadowing that during Dental Health Week (3 to 9 August) it will be promoting good oral habits to 18- to 25-year-olds, with an emphasis on wisdom teeth and the truth about cosmetic procedures.
In its submission to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand consultation on mandating the Health Star Rating (HSR) system, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) described HSR as “a significant step towards strengthening Australia’s front-of-pack nutrition labelling and ensuring people have access to clear, consistent information about the food they buy”.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said the case for mandating the HSR system was unequivocal, noting that “after more than a decade of voluntary implementation, just 37 percent of packaged foods display a health star rating – far short of the government’s 70 percent target”.
The AMA said there is strong public health and consumer support for mandatory ratings, with more than 82 percent of Australians backing the requirement for all packaged foods, and 19 countries already mandate similar systems.
McMullen said “a well-designed and well-governed mandatory HSR system, supported by broader public education, would strengthen both Australia’s food labelling environment and national health literacy”.
The AMA also announced it had appointed Warwick Hough as Secretary General and CEO to replace Natalia Centellas.
As reported by Croakey here, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Association (ANMF) issued a statement expressing serious concern about the decision by Ahpra to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
The RACGP said the July 2026 issue of the Australian Journal of General Practice (AJGP), themed ‘Ophthalmology’, focused on the early recognition and management of eye conditions in primary care and highlighted the vital role GPs play in protecting Australians’ sight.
Industry groups
The APHA announced that Ramsay Healthcare would leave the organisation at the end of 2026. APHA CEO Heffernan said “the APHA is well-positioned for this transition and remains focused on what matters most – advocating for a strong, sustainable private hospital sector that serves all Australians”.
Catholic Health Australia (CHA) released a position paper on AI, saying “AI technologies offer significant benefits but must be carefully managed to mitigate novel risks that could cause significant harm”.
CHA Director of Mission Brigid Meney said: “AI has enormous potential to improve diagnostic accuracy, reduce administrative burden on clinicians, and expand access to care for underserved communities.
“However, those benefits are not guaranteed unless health and aged care organisations put robust governance in place before deploying these tools.”
Meney said that “no AI tool should be deployed unless its impact on the most marginalised people using that service has been formally assessed”.
Parliamentary committees
The Senate Community Affairs Committee is having a busy time at the moment, with nine current inquiries.
Its inquiries into epilepsy and the aged care Support at Home program both have hearings scheduled for 27 July, and 3, 4, 25 and 25 August.
One of the other inquiries under way is into Aged Care Rules.
Subsection 602(12) of the Aged Care Act 2024 requires the committee to begin a review of any subordinate legislation made under specified provisions in the Act within three months after the day the rules are tabled in the Senate, and to report the committee’s findings to the Senate as soon as practicable after completing each review.
The Aged Care Rules 2025 and the Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Rules 2025 were tabled in the Senate on 27 October 2025 and 29 October 2025 respectively.
The committee duly began its review on 24 November 2025, calling for submissions by 23 January 2026.
So far it has published 49 submissions (including one from the Companion Animal Network Australia arguing for the inclusion of pet care assistance services), but has yet to hold or schedule any public hearings.
The inquiry home page gives no indication of progress, or when the inquiry may report.
The rules have now been in operation for over nine months without the scrutiny envisaged in the Act.
It is time for the committee to get a move on.
The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee inquiry into rural, regional and remote Medicare access and funding has scheduled hearings for 30 July and 14 August.
International organisations
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the WHO Global Status Report on Cancer 2026, developed jointly with the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
WHO said while the report shows “progress across key areas such as political commitment, cancer prevention – particularly through tobacco control and vaccination programmes – and investment in treatment, [it] also reveals persistent and widening inequities in access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and supportive care, leaving millions of people without the services they need”.
WHO noted “nearly four in ten cancer cases globally are linked to preventable risk factors, particularly infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B and C, and helicobacter pylori, alcohol, tobacco use, high body mass index and insufficient physical activity, highlighting the critical role of prevention”.
The report called for three strategic shifts to be implemented across all countries and communities
- Better capabilities: integrate cancer control into universal health coverage and invest in human capital to prevent and control cancer
- Better protections: place people with lived experience at the centre of cancer systems while strengthening social protection
- Better value: align research and innovation with public health needs and ensure equitable access to valued-based advances in care.
Finally
Many years ago I attended an evening meeting with all but one of the neurosurgeons in NSW.
When I expressed surprise that they were all there and asked about emergency cover, I was told that all was well because Bill at Westmead was on deck.
Recent research by a team from the cardiology department at Concord Hospital led by Dr Timothy Kwan suggests that low specialist staffing levels can affect patient outcomes.
The article published in the International Medical Journal examined 30-day mortality among patients admitted due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during the dates of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting (CSANZ ASM).
Using data from 2003 to 2021 from the NSW admitted patient data collection database linked to the death registry, it found “the adjusted 30-day mortality risk was higher during meeting days (odds ratio (OR) = 1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.37, P = 0.02)”. (However, the six-month mortality was not significantly different.)
The authors say the effect “may be seen as comparable to the ‘weekend effect’ in which patients admitted with AMI on the weekend have mortality 5 percent–13 percent higher than weekdays”, but note the results “contrast with American data in which 30-day mortality declined during cardiology meetings”.
While acknowledging the data do not allow conclusions about causation, the authors suggest “the findings do cause some concern that the decreased staffing during the CSANZ ASM may delay some critical treatments or that the absence of leaders in cardiology may reduce the application of optimal evidence-based management strategies”.
“We do believe that increased attention on staffing during meetings is warranted.”
In the meantime, try and avoid an AMI from 6-9 August.
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
Feedback on consumer input on HTA committee agenda items
16 July
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (and all National Boards except the Medical Board)
Have your say on how practitioners stay up to date and connected with their profession
17 July
Senate Community Affairs Committee
Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026
17 July
Senate Community Affairs Committee
Health Insurance Amendment (Incentive Payments and Other Measures) Bill 2026
17 July
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Consultation on Sunsetting of Narcotic Drugs Regulations
19 July
Food Standards Australia New Zealand
Cell cultured duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) biomass
22 July
Senate Committee on Environment and Communications
Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 and National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026
24 July
Senate Committee on Environment and Communications
Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2026
24 July
Senate Community Affairs Committee
Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Medicines Shortages and Other Measures) Bill 2026 and Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Amendment Bill 2026
24 July
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Radiopharmaceutical regulation in Australia
31 July
Senate Community Affairs Committee
Support at Home Program
31 July
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Provide feedback on the Standard for VTE prevention
31 July
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Fee Transparency in Health Care: Informed Financial Consent and Split Billing Practices
5 August
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Changes to the Permissible Indications Determination
12 August
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Private Health Reforms – Consultation Paper 1
13 August
Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
The development of residential aged care pricing and costing advice to the Government for 2027-28
21 August
Senate Community Affairs Committee
Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026
21 August
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Co-design the future of aged care Application Programming Interfaces
29 August
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Improvements to the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code
3 September
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
9 October
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability
Inquiry into the access to and affordability of medical specialists
16 October
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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