Introduction by Croakey: The next federal government has been urged to fund a national multimedia campaign to elevate the image of nursing, under a series of recommendations put forward by the Australian College of Nursing (ACN).
In its submission to the 2025/2026 federal budget, the ACN also calls for implementation of the national Scope of Practice Review.
Meanwhile, medical research institutes warn that the sector’s financial viability is at risk without increased federal investment, reports Alison Barrett in an ongoing series on the health sector’s budget and election priorities.
(And please send us submissions that may be of interest to Croakey readers.)
Alison Barrett writes:
As President Trump attacks research funding in the United States, the Australian Government is being urged to increase investment in the direct and indirect costs of health and medical research.
The Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) warns in its 2025-26 pre-budget submission that without an immediate and sustained increase in Federal Government research funding, many Australian medical research institutes will not be financially viable in five years.
Australia’s health and medical research funding system is hindered by increasing complexity, inefficiency and fragmentation, according to AAMRI. They write that “outdated rules mean that government grants can only be used to support an extremely narrow set of research activities, leaving other critical research activities unfunded”.
According to AAMRI, for every dollar received through government grants, an additional 64 cents is needed to cover the full costs of research. A survey of the institutes’ members shows that half will reduce staffing numbers in 2025 to help cover the gap in funding.
While the Australian Government has supported decades of health and medical research through sustained investment, it has not kept up with the rising costs of research, AARMI write.
Meeting both the direct and indirect costs of research is critical for it to be translated into more efficient and cost-effective healthcare benefits for all Australians.
Indirect costs of research – including researcher salaries, research supplies, cyber security, publication costs and legal costs – are critical for the successful delivery of research programs.
“Without a whole-of-government, national approach to ensure the full financial costs of undertaking research are covered, we run the risk of losing our future research leaders and our competitive edge in biomedical innovation,” says Professor Elizabeth Hartland AM, President of AAMRI and Director of Hudson Institute of Medical Research.
“This will kill our capacity to deliver life-saving discoveries and economic benefit to the Australian community, and we will inevitably lose our brightest minds to better funding and better organised jurisdictions overseas.”
In its pre-budget submission, AAMRI recommend increasing the annual NHMRC budget by $120 million to cover real salary costs and meeting the indirect costs of research through the establishment of a program similar to NHMRC’s Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support Scheme for MRFF-funded research.
Strengthening the nursing workforce
Meanwhile, in its pre-budget submission, the Australian College of Nursing is calling for strategic investment in the nursing workforce, as well as implementation of the Scope of Practice Review’s recommendations – which is still waiting a formal Government response.
The recommendations proposed in the Scope of Practice Review will empower nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives to work to their full scope of practice, enhancing patient access to quality health services regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic location, the College writes.
Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz FACN, Chief Executive Officer of ACN, said the initiatives proposed in its pre-budget submission “will attract people to nursing, retain the nurses we have, provide incentives to bring nurses back to the profession and provide lifelong career pathways for nurses and midwives”.
The ACN proposes the following initiatives:
- Elevate the image of nursing through a national multimedia campaign to promote the image of nursing
- Strengthen nurse-led models of care including blended funding, activity-based hospital funding and Medicare-based remuneration to support nurses practicing autonomously within their full scope of practice
- Maximise nursing capability by developing and implementing a National Nurses Capability Passport as recommended in the Scope of Practice Review and building digital proficiency
- Enabling the practice environment by implementing a Nationally Consistent Framework to provide all nurses with free and accessible clinical supervision
- Cultivating nurse leadership through mentorship programs and leadership courses.
Previously: Putting rural health, mental health and prevention on the Federal Budget agenda, covering submissions by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), National Rural Health Alliance, Lung Foundation Australia, Asthma Australia and the Stroke Foundation.
Bookmark this link to follow Croakey’s coverage of the 2025/2026 Budget
