Home

---

On 25 February 2008, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Ageing announced the establishment of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission.

• Joint Media Release from Prime Minister and Minister for Health and Ageing (PDF 28 KB)
• Joint Media Release from Prime Minister and Minister for Health and Ageing (Word 8 KB)

The Commission has been established to develop a long-term health reform plan for a modern Australia. The Chair of the Commission is Dr Christine Bennett, who is currently Chief Medical Officer of BUPA Australia Ltd. Nine other Commissioners will assist Dr Bennett. They are:

• Rob Knowles, former Victorian Health Minister;
• Geoff Gallop, former Premier of Western Australia;
• Mukesh Haikerwal, Melbourne GP and immediate past-President of the AMA;
• Stephen Duckett, health economist and former Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Health;
• Ron Penny, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of NSW;
• Sabina Knight, Associate Professor, Centre for Remote Health and remote area nurse;
• Sharon Willcox, Director of consulting firm Health Policy Solutions;
• Justin Beilby, Executive Dean of the University of Adelaide’s Medical School; and
• Mary Ann O’Loughlin, Executive Councillor and Head of the Secretariat, COAG Reform Council.

Interim Report

The Commission has prepared an Interim Report – A Healthier Future for All Australians – which contains its proposed reform directions.

Report on a framework for the next Australian Health Care Agreements

Following its establishment, the Commission’s first term of reference was to provide by April 2008, advice on the framework for the next Australian Health Care Agreements (AHCAs), including robust performance benchmarks in areas such as (but not restricted to) elective surgery, aged and transition care, and quality of health care. This was the subject of the Commission’s first report - Beyond the Blame Game: Accountability and performance benchmarks for the next Australian Health Care Agreements

Principles to shape Australia’s Health System

The Commission has developed a set of principles which to a large extent should shape the whole health and aged care system - public and private, hospital and community based services. Comments on these principles were invited as part of the Commission's call for submissions.

Submissions

The Commission called for submissions early last year and again in February-March 2009 following release of the Interim Report: A Healthier future for all Australians. Both the first round and Interim Report submissions are publicly available on this website.

Page currency, Latest update: 04 June, 2009