Beasley’s warning hangs over Minns Government’s prevention summit

The Minns Labor Government has confirmed the NSW Preventive Health Summit will be held in Western Sydney from 7 to 9 October, putting prevention and health equity at the centre of its response to a scathing assessment of the state’s public health system.

The two-day Summit forms part of the government’s response to the Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding and will bring together experts from across the health sector, multiple government agencies and other stakeholders to tackle disease prevention and improve health outcomes across NSW.

The focus of the Summit is a direct response to the 2025 report of the Inquiry led by the Hon. Justice Richard Beasley, which laid bare the deep structural, funding and governance failures confronting the NSW public health system. The Inquiry spanned 70 hearing days over 18 months and produced 41 recommendations, with Justice Beasley concluding that the system required “significant work” and that responsibility for its shortcomings rested with both state and federal governments.

“The failure to embed prevention in all its forms into the health system despite repeated and evidence-based recommendations to do so is beyond my comprehension,” said Justice Beasley at the time when the report was released.

NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park said the Summit would seek to move the prevention agenda towards practical reforms.

“The NSW Preventive Health Summit will bring experts together to find new ways forward to strengthen preventive health and reduce rates of chronic disease,” said Minister Park. “We know that chronic disease impacts people differently in NSW, the Summit will focus on addressing these differences and improving health outcomes for the people across the State. Improving overall health outcomes can makes a significant positive impact on people’s lives, while also reducing pressure on our hospitals now and into the future.”

The Summit will seek to build consensus around potential health system and cross-government approaches to preventive health, with discussions informed by NSW Health’s report, The Health of the People of NSW 2026, which provides the latest overview of the health of the NSW community.

Susan Pearce AM, NSW Health Secretary, said “The NSW health system is one of the highest performing in the world and we have a strong commitment to preventive health with a range of programs in place to tackle chronic disease. The NSW Preventive Health Summit is just one step in building a sustainable health system by identifying practical system-wide actions to boost and strengthen health prevention initiatives for the people of NSW.”

Initial discussions are already underway with a broad range of stakeholders, including health system representatives, consumer organisations, universities, non-government organisations, clinical groups and peak bodies, with the Government seeking to ensure competing perspectives are represented at the Summit.

The emphasis on workforce expertise could prove particularly significant as pressure continues to build across the health system, with HSU NSW Secretary Gerard Hayes AM arguing that prevention represents both a clinical opportunity and a financial imperative.

“The depth of skill and insight amongst the existing health workforce is a huge, untapped resource that could help us prevent so many conditions become chronic or acute,” stated Hayes. “Getting on the front foot with preventative health is obviously much better for the patient themselves, but it also means less pressure on our emergency departments and a smarter use of the health dollar.”

The challenge for the Minns Government will be translating the Summit’s consensus-building exercise into measurable action, especially as the state heads into an election in March 2027.

NSW Health will prepare a report following the Summit, which will be presented to the NSW Government and is expected to inform the next phase of its preventive health policy agenda.

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