Catholic Health Australia congratulates Anthony Albanese and Labor on its return to government following a strong focus on health during the election campaign.
“We congratulate the Albanese Government and acknowledge its important emphasis on health during the campaign,” said CEO Jason Kara.
“We look forward to working with the government to deliver reforms to ensure the sustainability of the private hospital system and tackle workforce shortages across the health and aged care sectors.
“We thank the health and aged care ministers Mark Butler and Anika Wells for their energy, urgency and constructive collaboration, and look forward to building on our advocacy in the government’s second term.
“We also thank former opposition leader Peter Dutton and Shadow Health and Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston for their constructive role in supporting reform that benefited all Australians.”
To improve the sustainability of private hospitals, CHA is calling for a National Private Price and reform of the private health insurance premium round, and will continue to push for these reforms when the new government is formed.
“Private hospitals are crucial in reducing the burden on the public system but many services are being forced to close due to insufficient funding. We need urgent reform to prevent this,” said Mr Kara.
In aged care, the transition to the Support at Home Program requires urgent attention. CHA strongly supports a staged transition to the new program beginning on 1 July 2025. This will reduce risks to this important reform and ensure older Australians are fully engaged in co-designing the care they receive.
During the election, CHA published a number of policy papers on its Election 2025 website.
Notes to editors: Catholic Health Australia (CHA) is Australia’s largest non-government, not-for-profit group of health, community, and aged care providers. Our members operate 80 hospitals in each Australian state and the ACT, providing around 30 per cent of private hospital care and 5 per cent of public hospital care, in addition to extensive community and residential aged care. There are 63 private hospitals operated by CHA members, including St Vincent's, Calvary, Mater, St John of God and Cabrini. CHA members also provide approximately 12 per cent of all aged care facilities across Australia, in addition to around 20 per cent of home care services. 25 per cent of our members’ service provision is regional, rural and remote.
Contact details:
Charlie Moore: 0452 606 171