“I  believe that innovation and disruption will be critical to solving the intractable problems that plague Indigenous communities.

First, innovation is all about disruption. We need to disrupt the status quo in Indigenous policy because for decades it hasn’t been working and there’s far too much complacency.

A few years ago I started using the term “disruptive thinking” to describe my approach to Indigenous affairs. It seemed to me that Indigenous policy had become stuck. For 40 years billions had been spent and very little had changed. Yet government after government kept doing the same thing. And anyone who challenged the status quo would get howled down.”

Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO chairs the Yaabubiin Institute for Disruptive Thinking

The concept of “disruptive innovation” was first conceived by Harvard Business School Professor, Clayton Christensen. He showed how new technologies and inventions take hold in established industries – by targeting the bottom of a market which the market leaders have lost interest in or are not paying attention to and eventually displace the established players who’ve become complacent about the status quo.

Today the concept has entered the vernacular and barely a day goes by without some politician or business leader talking about disruption and innovation. It’s been become a key political theme, particularly since the release of the government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda late last year.

It was also a theme of Prime Minister Turnbull’s major announcement on Indigenous Affairs with initiatives to develop Indigenous business opportunities through increased focus on innovation, including a $90 million Indigenous Entrepreneurs Fund.

Some people might think innovation is an optional extra when it comes to Indigenous affairs. Some people might think we should focus on the basics like reading and writing and getting Indigenous people into unskilled jobs before getting ahead of ourselves and expecting Indigenous people to pursue science and technology.

I too am a great believer in the basics. In fact, some people criticise me for being too focussed on simple things – like school attendance and jobs.

But I also believe that innovation and disruption will be critical to solving the intractable problems that plague Indigenous communities.

Here’s a few reasons why.

First, innovation is all about disruption. We need to disrupt the status quo in Indigenous policy because for decades it hasn’t been working and there’s far too much complacency.

A few years ago I started using the term “disruptive thinking” to describe my approach to Indigenous affairs. It seemed to me that Indigenous policy had become stuck. For 40 years billions had been spent and very little had changed. Yet government after government kept doing the same thing. And anyone who challenged the status quo would get howled down.

It’s very damaging if people are too scared to challenge what they know isn’t working or say what they know is true.

I’m well known for challenging the status quo in Indigenous policy, both challenging the mainstream views of Indigenous people and communities and also the embedded thinking of Indigenous leaders. This makes people uncomfortable, even angry. In 2005, for example,  I gave a speech calling for private home ownership on traditional lands and was abused by the audience. In my speech at the Garma Festival in 2013 I began by saying there was a herd of elephants in the room when it comes to Indigenous affairs and I was about to shoot them one by one. And I did (metaphorically speaking).

Both speeches were examples of disruptive thinking. The things I said are much less controversial now and more widely discussed than before. That process of open discussion – even to disagree – is important and valuable.

Secondly, disruptive innovation is about acceleration and making large leaps. This is exactly what’s needed to end the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Developing nations, for example, look to innovation, science and technology as a way of leapfrogging to the quality of life western nations took hundreds of years to get to. Developing nations don’t have the luxury of a few hundred years to catch up and nor do Indigenous Australians.

Thirdly, disruptive innovation is about not being afraid to fail. Fear of failure is something we need to be very wary of when talking about Indigenous-owned businesses. We need to give Indigenous people the freedom to have a go. In the next few years a lot of new Indigenous-owned small businesses will be created. Some will fail or will need to restructure or refocus, particularly if they are starting in areas with no real economy.

That’s a normal part of the business process. But I sense a strong a temptation to shield Indigenous businesses from failure. Coddling Indigenous businesses is no better than welfare. Guidance and capacity building is one thing. Choking them with micro-management is another – particularly if the person doing the micro-managing hasn’t ever run a business themselves.

Fourthly, disruptive innovation about creating something from nothing. Humans invent and discover new technologies when a problem needs a solution. Some challenges for Indigenous people, and remote and regional Indigenous communities in particular, can only be solved by disruptive innovation. The people facing those challenges every day will be best placed to invent the solutions.

We’ll need innovation to build economies in remote areas and to develop Australia’s north, something that will benefit the entire Australian economy. We’ll also need innovation to deliver good quality teaching and education to kids in remote and regional areas, where there won’t be a supply of teachers, especially in STEM and other specialist disciplines.

Finally, disruptive innovation forces regulators to rethink how – and even why – they regulate human activity. (Think Uber and Bitcoin for example). I’d like to see some disruptive innovation that completely upends the over-regulation choking Indigenous Australians, our communities and our land and asset base.

Hear our Voices ” Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands”

New NACCHO TV website launched to promote #healthelection16

http://www.naccho.org.au/media/naccho-video-project/

The Federal Government’s work for the dole program in remote Australia has failed after just 12 months and is increasing financial hardship for jobseekers, industry figures have told the ABC.

Data released by the Department of Employment last week showed around 6,000 people had their work for the dole payments suspended for eight weeks between July and December 2015, Lisa Fowkes from the Australian National University said.

Download report here

I M PA C T O N S O C I A L S E C U R I T Y

People on work for the dole in remote Australia are required to do work-like activities such as landscaping, community clean-up, walking children to school and housing repairs.

To receive full payment people must take part in the activities 25 hours a week, five days a week or risk having their payment suspended.

Ms Fowkes said just over 6,000 people had found work that lasted up to 13 weeks under the Community Development Program (CDP).

“By the end of last year you were nearly twice as likely to have received an eight week penalty as you were to have got a 13-week job,” she said.

Ms Fowkes said more penalties had been applied to the 5 per cent of Australians on work for the dole in remote Australia than to the remaining 95 per cent of unemployed people in the program across the country.

But the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, strongly rejected criticism of his Government’s remote work for the dole program.

He said the number of remote jobseekers with suspended payments was likely to be closer to 4,000.

Food sales drop after penalty rule changes

Job providers said there was anecdotal evidence an increase in welfare penalties under work for the dole since July 2015 was having a social impact.

The CEO of the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Association (ALPA), Alastair King, said there had even been an assault.

“We’re seeing more friction between families, an increase in fighting in and around the store. We’ve even had an assault of one of our managers,” he said.

ALPA runs work for the Ddle programs in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and supermarkets in communities across the Top End of the Territory, Cape York and Torres Strait Island.

Mr King confirmed the sale of fresh food at ALPA stores had dropped 10 per cent since January when the Government tightened rules on penalties for people who did not meet their work for the dole conditions.

He said the organisation was prompted to check its supermarket figures after reports people were arriving at work for the dole activities hungry.

Mr King said sales of baby food and meat had dropped more than 20 per cent in ALPA stores since January and people were buying cheaper tinned and processed food.

He said he was confident the sales figures were connected to work for the dole financial penalties because the two trends started at the same time.

But Senator Scullion said claims people are receiving less money are “false and inaccurate”.

“These pieces of anecdotal data are very disconnected,” he said.

Mr Scullion said financial penalties only applied until a person agreed to return to work for the dole activities.

“[Then] the payments are resumed and the back payments are made. So this notion that is floating around that somehow there is less money to spend – at worst they’ve been delayed,” he said.

CDP: How does it work and why are penalties rising?

Senator Scullion announced in December 2014 that the Coalition’s CDP would replace Labor’s Remote Jobs and Communities Program (RJCP).

Since July 2015 CDP has required remote job seekers on work for the dole to do 25 hours a week of work-like activities five days a week.

People who miss an appointment with their job provider or do not turn up for activities can have their welfare payments suspended.

The Minister said CDP would “re-engage our First Australians”. He pledged $1.5 billion to CDP over four years.

But David Thompson, the CEO of Jobs Australia, said the program did not engage people.

Jobs Australia represents non-government organisations that run work for the dole programs in remote areas.

“I’ve said this to the Minister himself, all sorts of things have been tried and have generally not succeeded in these communities. This initiative looks like it is going very fast down that same path,” Mr Thompson told the ABC.

Update

Department confirms work for the dole penalties are permanent, contradicting Indigenous Affairs minister

The Indigenous Affairs Minister has backed away from his claim that financial penalties applied under the Federal Government’s remote work for the dole program are temporary.

Nigel Scullion made the admission on Thursday after the Department of Employment said about 45,000 financial penalties applied to people who did not attend remote work for the dole activities last year were not back paid to welfare recipients.

The Department’s statement directly contradicted the Minister’s repeated claim last week that welfare payments for people in the Community Development Program (CDP) were “at worst suspended” for non-compliance.

“The payment is only suspended until they agree to attend an activity and the payments are resumed and the back payments are made,” Senator Scullion told the ABC last week.

“So this notion that is floating around that somehow there is less money to spend … at worst they’ve been delayed.”

The Minister’s original comment came in response to industry bodies linking a drop in food sales in remote supermarkets to financial penalties attached to work for the dole in remote Australia.

Analysis of data released by the Government in June showed a sharp increase in the number of financial penalties applied to people on work for the dole programs in remote Australia in the first six months of its operation.

People on work for the dole under CDP are required to do activities such as landscaping, community clean-up, walking children to school and housing repairs.

To qualify for full payment they need to work five days a week for 25 hours.

A “No Show No Pay” penalty is worth 10 per cent of a person’s fortnightly payment for each day they fail to turn up for activities.

Organisations that provide work for the dole activities have told the ABC a one-day penalty normally equates to about $50.

The Minister made the comments in response to analysis that around 51,000 financial penalties were applied to the 30,000 people engaged in remote work for the dole programs in the first six months of CDP’s operation in 2015.

Senator Scullion conceded through a spokesman today that he “could have been clearer” when he commented on the penalties regime.

Welfare bodies remain critical of program

David Thompson, chief executive of Jobs Australia which represents organisations that provide work for the dole programs, said feedback from his members confirmed the Department’s figures.

“The clear feedback we’re getting from our members delivering the Community Development Program is a very large number of people are incurring financial penalties and that they do not regain the money,” Mr Thompson said.

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) said Work for the Dole in remote Australia had failed.

“These penalties are harsh,” ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said.

“It means people are going without food, they’re going without the very essentials and the minister needs to urgently investigate these deeply concerning statistics,” she said.

Dr Goldie claimed a reduction in spending on work for the dole programs signalled in the federal budget was recognition by Government that the program was a failure.

“It was failed in other parts of the country. There was some recognition of that in the federal budget and yet the government seems determined to pursue it in remote communities,” she said.

She said ACOSS advised the Government when CDP was first proposed, that it would be “unworkable in remote Australia”.

“We continue to address challenges that confront us daily of poor outcomes for our First Nations peoples – the persistent gap that we seek so desperately to close in health and social outcomes, We must work together if we are to see our First Nations peoples have equality of opportunity.”

Handing back land must be done with an acknowledgement of the injustices and the trauma of the past, much of which Aboriginal people still live with today.”

My government’s commitment is to do things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, rather than doing things to them”.

Malcolm Turnbull Prime Minister

Picture : Malcolm Turnbull is surrounded by Aboriginal dancers as he attends the Kenbi Native land claim ceremony near Darwin

From Michelle Grattan The Conversation

Malcolm Turnbull is at his best when he can rise above the overtly partisan fray. So it was on Tuesday that he gave one of the most powerful speeches of his campaign, at a hand-back ceremony marking the end of a decades-long battle for Aboriginal land that lies across the harbour from Darwin and covers most of the Cox Peninsula.

Before becoming prime minister, Turnbull had said little on Indigenous affairs. He had mostly engaged privately with Aboriginal people with wife Lucy and predominantly in Redfern. Prior to Tuesday, his most-remembered campaign comment on the subject was last week’s sharp rebuke of Bill Shorten for talking about a treaty. At that same time, Turnbull did accept Australia had been invaded by the British.

In Tuesday’s speech, on what he described as this “historic day”, Turnbull paid tribute to Aboriginal people as custodians of the land, acknowledged their ill treatment and hurt, pointed to the difficult struggle for progress as well as some successes, and stressed the importance of partnership.

The 37-year legal saga of the Kenbi land claim began formally with its lodgement in 1979, and dragged through multiple legal hearings. In 2000 then Aboriginal Land Commissioner Justice Peter Gray found six people from the Belyuen group to be traditional owners – which has led to some local discontent because of the smallness of the number.

It took another 16 years to bring the transfer to Tuesday’s fruition, with the deeds handed over wrapped in bark paper. The surviving four of the six named traditional owners were at the ceremony.

Turnbull said the Kenbi claim “represents so much more than a battle over land. It is a story that epitomises the survival and the resilience of our First Australians, the survival and the resilience of the Larrakia people. For you are the land and the land is you.”

He said it had been 40 years since the Land Rights Act – which was conceived by the Whitlam government and enacted by the Fraser one – and 50 years since Aboriginal stockmen walked off Wave Hill station, triggering movements locally and nationally for land rights and representation.

“We continue to address challenges that confront us daily of poor outcomes for our First Nations peoples – the persistent gap that we seek so desperately to close in health and social outcomes,” Turnbull said. “We must work together if we are to see our First Nations peoples have equality of opportunity.”

But he said we should appreciate what was being achieved “in the face of adversity”, in land rights – more than 40% of Australia’s land mass had been subject of successful claims – education, and combating child mortality.

Turnbull emphasised the importance of the leadership of the Indigenous community working in collaboration with each other and with the government.

He noted that at least a dozen Indigenous candidates are standing at the election from across the spectrum. Of these, the Coalition already has Ken Wyatt (WA) and senator Joanna Lindgren (Queensland) in parliament; Labor has its new WA senator Pat Dodson, although it has lost one Indigenous senator with the quitting of Nova Peris.

“If six or seven of those candidates are successful, we will have parity in our parliament – that is, our First Australians will be represented in the parliament as they are in the population,” Turnbull said.

Turnbull said that handing back land “must be done with an acknowledgement of the injustices and the trauma of the past, much of which Aboriginal people still live with today.

“Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, this land, Australia, was cared for by hundreds of nations of Aboriginal people. Yours are the oldest continuing cultures on earth … The Larrakia people were and are the Aboriginal people of the Darwin region.

“In policies past, Larrakia people were not treated with the respect they deserved – you were confined in reserves, your movement was restricted, your camps like Lameroo Beach were relocated to compounds and over generations, children were separated from their families.

“This trauma and suffering cannot be denied and today we acknowledge these injustices.”

He said the successful resolution of the Kenbi land claim “shows the capacity of our laws to deliver justice to the First Australians.

“Although a long and protracted process, it has produced a result that will ensure the Belyuen group and the Larrakia people more broadly have cultural, social and economic opportunities into the future – and that the sharing of benefits can occur in a way that respects the findings of Australian laws and meets the cultural requirements of the Larrakia people.

“In a symbol of hope and of optimism, the Kenbi land handover will ensure Larrakia people build autonomy and independence, in a partnership based on mutual respect with all other Australians.

“It will ensure your hard-fought rights are protected and managed according to the Belyuen group and the Larrakia people and that those rights are converted into economic opportunities.

“Like Aboriginal people across our nation you have respected your country and have sacred and special knowledge of the environment and the ecosystems. What happens next is up to you.”

Turnbull said his government’s commitment “is to do things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, rather than doing things to them”.

“I look forward to this land enabling strong economic growth and empowerment for the Larrakia people. One of the most important objectives – in some ways the most important – must be greater economic empowerment, more entrepreneurship among Aboriginal people.”

It’s easy to talk, extraordinarily hard to craft Indigenous policy. Still, the talk sends messages. Turnbull’s words are encouraging, as is the fact that he made the trip, probably to the scepticism of some of his campaign hardheads, when there are so many demands on his time in these late days before the election.

 “The Turnbull Coalition will strengthen its comprehensive commitment to keeping women and children safe from violence with an additional $25 million for specific measures to address violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Targeted investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is critical to saving lives and to disrupting intergenerational cycles of violence, dysfunction and disadvantage. “

Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, announced the package during a visit to Cairns.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised and 10 times more likely to be killed as a result of domestic violence than women in the broader community. We have a responsibility to ensure these shocking rates of violence are addressed and today’s additional commitment will deliver effective policies and safer communities.

This $25 million commitment forms part of the Coalition’s $100 million in new funding over three years announced in the 2016 Budget to implement the Third Action Plan under the

National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children which builds on the Turnbull Coalition Government’s $100 million Women’s Safety Package announced in September 2015.

The $25 million announced today to address violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is for initiatives that could include:

• Improving the quality and accessibility of services available to those experiencing or at risk of domestic and family violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• Developing and delivering integrated services and trauma treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, children and families;
• Training a skilled Indigenous workforce to deliver family violence support services within their local communities.
• Expanding the Building Better Lives for Ourselves project, delivering culturally appropriate support from senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to those who have experienced violence in their communities;
• Culturally appropriate and community led perpetrator programmes;

• Enhanced Family Violence Prevention Legal Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;

• Supporting Indigenous children through technology to provide age-appropriate information to help them identify violence, keep themselves safe and support them to report violence and access services;
• Trialling perpetrator intervention models that embed a law and order framework to change behaviours, with specific programmes for young people and Indigenous Australians;
• Engaging with perpetrators using men’s referral services to provide assertive outreach and;
• Building on the national Stop it at the Start campaign to create social change focused on early intervention to disrupt intergenerational cycles of family and domestic violence.

These initiatives are based on advice from the COAG Advisory Panel on Domestic Violence.

The specific initiatives to be funded will be identified in consultation with the States and Territories, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council.

The Coalition has already made a significant investment in services to address domestic violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, children and families.

In addition to today’s funding commitment for services specific to Indigenous communities, the balance of the $100 million for initiatives to implement the Third Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children will be directed to other initiatives and programmes that will also be accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

The Turnbull Coalition will seek wherever possible to leverage additional funding from State and Territory governments to increase this $25 million investment.

Our significant additional investment recognises the priority the Turnbull Coalition places on the importance of ensuring our first peoples are safe in their own communities.

The Turnbull Coalition is unwavering in its commitment to ensure women and children are safe in their homes, safe on the streets and safe online.

“All parties are supportive of Closing the Gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, with Labor considering broader systemic issues, such as a possible treaty and the central role of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

However, announcements from all parties give minimal consideration to the major health challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Alison Verhoeven is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, the independent peak membership body and advocate for the Australian health care system and a national voice for universally accessible, high quality health care in Australia

Health issues including the Medicare rebates freeze, public hospital funding and co-payments have hit the spotlight in the lead-up to the 2016 Federal Election, but other vital issues such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, and quality care have been underplayed, according to a review undertaken by Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association (AHHA).

AHHA members representing a broad range of stakeholders across the health sector analysed the publicly announced policies of the Coalition, Labor and the Greens to develop the AHHA’s Australian Election 2016

Health Policy Scorecard.

“The scorecard provides a run-down on how each of the national parties shapes up on health policy. We urge all parties seeking election to consider this feedback from health leaders and stakeholders regarding their policies, and commit to maintaining a healthy Australia, supported by the best possible health system.” AHHA Chief Executive Alison Verhoeven said.

The scorecard rated party policies against several criteria:

• Commitment to universal healthcare principles
• Commitment to long-term sustainable funding
• Policies to support integration
• Commitment to preventive care
• Commitment to quality outcomes
• Policies to support innovation
• Commitment to working collaboratively with the states and territories

Reviewers found the Coalition has made some amends for the damaging cuts in the 2014-15 Budget, but some policies continue to exacerbate issues of access, equity and sustainability

Labor’s support for universal care and preventive health is welcome. Its policies work toward a more sustainable health system, but further development of reform proposals will be important. The Greens are strong supporters of universal care and have announced positive policy proposals, but gaps remain.

“Voters will entrust the 45th Commonwealth Parliament with our nation’s health, at a time when there are growing challenges in terms of equity and sustainability. Strong and strategic leadership is needed from our political leaders to ensure our world-class health system is able to provide care for all Australians, regardless of where they live or how much money they have.”

Scorecard on health policies

Alison Verhoeven

This piece was written prior to the weekend announcement by the ALP of its preventive health policy. The AHHA commends the policy, its strategy and its initiatives as a stand-out commitment, making preventive health the cornerstone of its approach to health — AV

HEALTH issues including the Medicare rebates freeze, public hospital funding and co-payments have hit the spotlight in the lead-up to the 2016 federal election, but other vital issues such as Indigenous health and preventive care have been underplayed, according to a review undertaken by the Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association (AHHA).

AHHA members, representing a broad range of stakeholders across the health sector, analysed the publicly announced policies of the national parties to develop the AHHA’s Australian election 2016 health policy scorecard.

Commitment to universal health care principles

Public health care is being severely tested by uncoordinated reforms, financial strain and increasing demand. Although Australians have had access to universal health care for over 30 years, our system is not immune to pressures such as an ageing population, rising rates of chronic disease and escalating health care costs.

AHHA reviewers found that all parties recognised the disadvantaged and under-serviced groups with respect to health policy.

However, there is little policy detail as to how the discrepancies in health outcomes for these groups will be addressed.

The Coalition was singled out for the negative impact of its policies freezing payment indexation and raising the possibility of co-payments for health services – this increases the risk that access and equity, particularly for vulnerable groups, will be eroded.

All parties are supportive of Closing the Gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, with Labor considering broader systemic issues, such as a possible treaty and the central role of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. However, announcements from all parties give minimal consideration to the major health challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Commitment to long-term sustainable funding

Reviewers scored the Greens highly on their pledge to legislate the Commonwealth’s share of health funding for the states and territories. Labor’s Australian Healthcare Reform Commission was praised as a potential positive force for system reform.

However, reviewers cautioned that independence in the pricing of hospital services must be maintained via the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, which Labor would fold into the commission.

Policies for innovative models of patient-centred, integrated care, such as the Coalition’s Health Care Homes and Labor’s Your Family Doctor, were welcomed but reviewers questioned the adequacy of the Coalition’s funding commitment to Health Care Homes.

Policies to support integration

A whole-of-system approach to reform is needed to ensure Australians with multiple care needs are able to access the services they require with minimal difficulty.

As our population ages and the rates of chronic disease rise, more Australians will find themselves in need of multiple types of care. Greater integration is required to ensure better service delivery and health outcomes.

The Greens, the Coalition and Labor were all praised by our reviewers for supporting Primary Health Networks and including them in policy positions. Questions were raised over the patchy commitment towards addressing the increasing burden of mental health.

All parties were urged to target better health outcomes via quality outcomes-based funding.

Commitment to preventive care

Expenditure on preventive health measures is necessary if we are to reduce future demand on the health system and improve health outcomes for all Australians. While all parties committed to specific programs, there was a lack of unequivocal funding support for a broader preventive care strategy.

The Greens’ Active Transport policy to invest in cycling and walking came closest to true upstream prevention policies.

Longstanding multipartisan support for action on immunisation and tobacco has not been replicated in preventive health policy announcements in this election campaign, and there is an ongoing absence of broad cohesive strategy for preventive health.

Commitment to quality outcomes

Maintaining the status quo and tinkering around the edges of system reform, exemplified by current multiple review processes, will not provide a future-proofed health system.

Traditional approaches of measuring outputs rather than outcomes do not capture elements of quality and safety, nor do they reflect patient experience. Reviewers found that the Greens and the Coalition expressed support for reform focusing on quality outcomes, but only Labor had attempted to articulate how it might be achieved.

Details of the announced policies remain unclear and will be key in determining the quality of outcomes achieved.

Policies to support innovation

Australia has a high quality, world-class health system, but for some groups health outcomes are poor. Innovative approaches to health services delivery, underpinned by a strong evidence base, are needed to respond to these challenges.

Shared electronic health records remain a weakness in developing innovative models of care; all parties recognise the need for a workable electronic health record system, but there is no clear articulation of how the impediments will be addressed.

Our reviewers found that Labor’s pledge for an Australian Healthcare Reform Commission was positive, but warned against the potential to dilute the specific focuses of the agencies it will merge into the Commission.

The Coalition’s establishment of the Medical Research Future Fund and their commitment to improving access to clinical trials was applauded, but it was noted that health systems research should be in scope for the Fund.

Commitment to working collaboratively with the states and territories

Governments and the health sector agree that current arrangements in health policy and funding between the Commonwealth and the states and territories are not working as well as they should and are limiting the ability to deliver effective, accessible, equitable and sustainable health care focused on quality outcomes.

Reviewers praised Labor for their frequently articulated commitment to working collaboratively with states and territories. While the Coalition has begun to re-establish relationships with states and territories, developing durable partnerships will take significant work.

Conclusion

The Coalition has made some amends for the damaging cuts in the 2014-15 Budget, but some policies continue to exacerbate issues of access, equity and sustainability.

Labor’s support for universal care is welcome, but further development of the party’s reform proposals will be important. The Greens are strong supporters of universal care and have announced positive policy proposals, but gaps remain.

The AHHA urges all parties seeking election to commit to maintaining a healthy Australia, supported by the best possible health system.

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