Government edges closer to cementing a Centre for Disease Control after decades of advocacy

Legislation to establish the Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) as a permanent body has been tabled in Parliament, marking what public health leaders describe as a watershed moment in the nation’s preparedness and response to future health crises. If passed by the Senate, the Bill will allow the agency to officially open its doors on 1 January 2026, cementing decades of advocacy and political promises.

“We’re thrilled because this decision by the Albanese Government to deliver on its promise to legislate to create the CDC is the fulfilment of something that Australia has needed for decades,” said Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) CEO, Adj Prof Terry Slevin.

The establishment of a permanent CDC was a central recommendation of the COVID-19 Response Inquiry, which exposed deep fractures in Australia’s health architecture, including the lack of effective data sharing between jurisdictions, outdated emergency planning, and a failure to maintain public trust. Under the legislation, the CDC will be accountable to Federal Parliament, not just the Health Minister, led by a director-general, and legally bound to demonstrate transparency in the evidence base behind its advice.

While the new agency will maintain close ties with the Department of Health, its independence has been deliberately enshrined in law to ensure credibility. This design reflects one of the inquiry’s strongest findings, that public trust eroded during the pandemic must be actively rebuilt through openness and accountability.

The government has committed $251.7 million to establish and operate the centre, with ongoing funding of $73.3 million annually from 2028–29. The recently released National Immunisation Strategy 2025–30 declares that it “will support the intended remit of a future Australian CDC in strengthening disease control and prevention in Australia.”

The Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) and the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID), recently wrote to the Minister of Health, Mark Butler MP, encouraging the inclusion of Infection Prevention and Control into the CDC.

Both organisations strongly advocated for the “formal and enduring incorporation of infection prevention and control (IPC) expertise as a core function within the CDC’s structure to provide national, unified guidance for IPC in healthcare, residential care and community settings”.

“We look forward to Parliament finalising the details in the next few months so that the new Aus CDC can get cracking, and be ambitious in its goals. Australia facing challenges like…falling immunisation rates, the Australian CDC will provide a central, credible source of information. We hope it will grow and evolve to a key leadership role in public health in Australia, and be resourced accordingly,” Adj Prof Slevin said.

The journey to this point has been long. It began in 2011 when the PHAA and the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine released a discussion paper, Does Australia Need a National Centre for Disease Control? In June 2020 Anthony Albanese, then Opposition Leader, told the National Press Club, “We’ve been warned COVID-19 might not even be the ‘big one’ we face in our lifetime. Now is not the time for complacency. For one thing, should we be the only OECD nation without the equivalent of a Centre for Disease Control and Prevention?”

Labor carried the CDC into its 2022 election platform and followed through in its first budget later that year. Funding flowed in stages: an initial $3.2 million to design the agency, then $90 million to establish an interim version within the Department of Health in 2023. By January 2024, the interim CDC was operational, and the following October the COVID-19 Inquiry Report pressed the case for permanence, with government allocating $251 million over four years to bring it to life. Labor reaffirmed the commitment during the 2025 election, setting the stage for this week’s legislation.

“While infectious disease preparedness and response is the immediate priority, the CDC will also play an important role in chronic disease prevention. There are also many people across the continent who are suffering much preventable non-communicable chronic disease.

“We hope we will look back on 2025, and the efforts of Health Minister Mark Butler especially, as a turning point in the nation’s health. We look forward to reviewing the detail of the bill,” Adj Prof Slevin added.

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