How can the government Close the Gap with forecasted decline in funding?

The Federal Government will increase investment in First Nations health programs by just 2.8% to $1.4 billion in 2025-26 – only to slash funding every year after that. The Budget papers attempt to justify the decline with a vague explanation, stating it is “due to the currently scheduled end date of some measures which will be considered for extension in a future economic update.”

Donnella Mills, Chair of the National Aboriginal Community-controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), said “We knew what was coming for our sector from the announcements related to the $842m package (over six years) that the Government negotiated with our colleagues at APONT in the Northern Territory. And we were also aware of some injections of funding in critical programs such as rheumatic heart disease (RHD). There is also funding for the Coalition of Peaks, which we are pleased to see.”

NACCHO CEO Pat Turner pointed to Medicare reforms as a significant win but left unspoken the looming funding cliff.

“The big thing for our sector in this Budget is the increased access to Medicare and the PBS. The $8.5b Medicare package will not only help our ACCHOs, but the better access to bulkbilling and medicines will directly benefit the half a million or so Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who access our 550 clinics. It was also pleasing to hear that the Coalition supports this critical announcement,” Turner stated.

But how does the government expect to Close the Gap while it refuses to commit to maintaining even the current level of health funding?

For more than seven years, NACCHO has worked with the Department of Health to develop a new funding model for the ACCHO sector, yet much of the current funding remains tethered to outdated and unjustifiable historical decisions.

“We are on the cusp of instituting a new and fairer model which represents the best chance we have had in a generation to deliver real reform,” Mills explained. “We just need to have it properly funded. In all other respects, it is ready to go. So, NACCHO calls upon both political parties and the crossbenchers to include this tested model as a key plank in their election platforms.”

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