The largest ever national consultation to inform LGBTIQA+ health and wellbeing priorities has been undertaken over the past 18 months, to inform development of the National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ People 2025 – 2035, according to Ged Kearney, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health.
The plan, launched this week, will save lives and improve healthcare, and deserves the support of all parliamentarians regardless of their political stance, says Nicky Bath, CEO of LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, and a member of an expert advisory group for the plan.
Beneath her article are responses to the plan from other groups.
Nicky Bath writes:
The launch of Australia’s first National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ People 2025-2035 (National Action Plan) is a moment to pause and recognise history in the making.
It’s taken many years to get here – advocating, building evidence, and listening to the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/transgender, intersex, queer and other sexuality, gender, and bodily diverse (LGBTIQ+) people. The National Action Plan will save lives as it sets out a pathway for governments, health providers, and communities to commit to doing better, together.
The National Action Plan is not a policy document that will sit on a shelf and gather dust. It’s a whole of government turning point and deserves the support of all parliamentarians regardless of their political stance.
It provides us with the opportunity to unite and commit to ending enduring health disparities. Division and using the National Action Plan in a negative way for political gain will be costly for LGBTIQ+ people and cause more harm.
I hope very much that the National Action Plan will be received across parliament as a song sheet that we can all sing from even if some are a little out of tune or find the words challenging. The more we sing together, the more harmony we can achieve and harness our energy for good.
For too long, LGBTIQ+ people have faced disproportionately poorer health and wellbeing outcomes. We’ve seen enduring rates of mental distress, suicidality, high use of alcohol and other drugs, late presentation for some cancers screening and chronic illness that simply should not exist.
We know that today there will be LGBTIQ+ people all over Australia walking into health settings only to be treated as problems rather than people, sharing only part of themselves due to fear of discrimination. Too many lives have been lost and people are living with sub optimal health and wellbeing because care was too hard to find, too unsafe to access, or simply absent.
Monumental
The National Action Plan changes this, and we must remember that when LGBTIQ+ people can access care that is inclusive, safe, and affirming, it is not just LGBTIQ+ lives that are improved, everyone benefits through reduced healthcare costs and an improved healthcare system. Ensuring healthcare is safe and inclusive for LGBTIQ+ people mean it is more accessible and effective for everyone.
This is not a small shift; it’s monumental.
It means the levers are in place for trans and gender-diverse people to access care, without fear or barriers. It means intersex people will have their bodily autonomy respected – something they have been denied for far too long. It means services for sexual, domestic, and family violence will be further compelled to respond to the unique experiences of LGBTIQ+ people, making sure no one is left behind.
The National Action Plan recognises the discrete needs of LGBTIQ+ people.
For lesbian and queer women, it encourages health systems to actually see them, whether that’s through better access to cancer screening, reproductive health care, or preventative health services that reflect their needs. For bisexual people, it calls out addressing the isolation and erasure they face, improving mental health outcomes through care that affirms their experiences. For gay men, it recognises the need for health and wellbeing services and care that goes beyond sexual health.
Crucially, the National Action Plan commits to improving the systems that underpin this change. It focuses on building workforce capacity, ensuring healthcare workers are trained to provide care that is culturally safe and responsive. LGBTIQ+ community-controlled services are recognised as critical stakeholders who have long been at the heart of supporting LGBTIQ+ people and remain chronically under-resourced.
This work will be backed by the Government’s $15.5 million investment, a much needed and welcomed opportunity.
Of that funding:
- $2 million will support Private Lives and Writing Themselves In, the largest studies of LGBTIQ+ people in Australia
- $500,000 will be for InterAction for Health and Human Rights to expand their Interlink program supporting people with innate variations of sex characteristics
- $13 million is being allocated to a grants program to scale up dedicated LGBTIQA+ services and initiatives.
Joyful and humbling
For me, the launch of the National Action Plan and the funding announcement is both joyful and humbling.
Joyful, because this is the result of years of collective hard work. Humbling, because we know there is so much ahead of us.
The National Action Plan builds on the work that has been undertaken to date and provides the desperately needed framework that will take all of us; governments, providers, researchers, and communities, to turn its vision into reality.
There is no denying what this National Action Plan represents. It will save lives. It will improve care. It will connect people to services that see them, respect them, and meet their needs. For the first time, we have a national commitment that says to every LGBTIQ+ person: your health is valued, your life is worthy, and we can and will do better.
At LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, we are ready to get to work. We will walk alongside our members, governments, health providers, and academics to ensure this National Action Plan delivers on its promise.
In ten years, I hope we will look back on today and see it as the moment everything changed for good, the day when LGBTIQ+ people’s health and wellbeing was placed front and centre, when all parliamentarians supported good health and wellbeing for everyone in Australia and we all chose to act and work together.
Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we dig in.
Other commentary
Anna Brown, CEO, Equality Australia
Our communities have unique and sometimes very challenging health needs. LGBTIQ+ people continue to experience discrimination, stigma and harassment which contributes to poorer mental and physical health.
The sector has long called for greater national coordination and investment in this area and today’s action plan is a groundbreaking step in building a health system that works for all Australians.
Dash Heath-Paynter, CEO, Health Equity Matters
This National Action Plan is an important step forward for LGBTIQA+ health equity in Australia. For the first time, we have a comprehensive, community-informed roadmap that addresses the systemic barriers our communities face in accessing healthcare. This plan’s emphasis on data collection and evaluation will be crucial in ensuring we can measure progress and adjust our approach as needed.
Just.Equal Australia spokesperson Rodney Croome
The initiative is weak and inadequate. What we need from the Federal Government is a set of targets for improved LGBTIQA+ health, but all we have is a list of parenthood statements.
The associated funding of $15.5 million is woefully inadequate, especially for a ten-year plan.
For the plan to succeed the Government must commit to critical law and policy reforms that will improve health outcomes by reducing discrimination.
Mr Croome said the plan should include concrete targets for 2035 in areas such as how many health care workers will be trained in LGBTIQA+ inclusion, how many LGBTIQA+ people will have access to dedicated health services, how much shorter wait times will be for gender affirming care, and how much lower mental health risk will be.
Without specific targets the plan is just a wish list with no in-built measures of success and no accountability for failure.
Mr Croome said $15.5 million will not be enough to address the poorer health outcomes of LGBTIQA+ Australians, and the prejudice and stigma that cause these outcomes.
If we conservatively estimate there are 1.5 million LGBTIQA+ Australians, that’s $10 each over one year which is obviously not enough to remedy decades of discrimination. If the funding is for a decade, it’s $1 each per year.
Mr Croome went on to say the action plan should also address the role of the law and policy in reducing discrimination and improving health.
“The action plan would be much more effective if it committed the Government to a range of critical law and policy reforms including stronger hate speech laws, a prohibition on discrimination in faith-based hospitals and schools, ending medically unnecessary surgeries on infants with innate variations of sex characteristics, and allowing transgender people to claim gender affirming treatments on Medicare.”
Mr Croome said the LGBTIQA+ community should demand more from the Federal Government “and not accept crumbs from the table”.
“The fact successive governments ignored our health needs does not mean we must be happy with the weak plan and inadequate funds on offer from this Government.”
“The plan and the funding should be renegotiated, preferably by a wider and more representative group of community advocates.”
Public Health Association of Australia
The PHAA applauds the Government’s announcement of a 10-year Action Plan to improve the health and wellbeing of the LGBTIQA+ community.
The National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ People outlines ways to improve the care LGBTIQA+ people receive and deliver better mental and physical health outcomes across the community.
Key areas of focus include strengthening preventive health and building health literacy, enhancing accessibility, availability and safety of health care services, and ensuring workforce capability and capacity across both mainstream and LGBTIQA+ led services.
The Government will also invest $15.5 million into system-wide improvements that ensure LGBTIQA+ people can access safe, appropriate and stigma-free health and wellbeing care.
“We know that discrimination, stigma, and harassment, both within and outside the health care system, lead to poorer health outcomes for LGBTIQA+ people compared to the wider community,” said PHAA CEO, Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin.
“The Action Plan is a welcome step by the Government to address these disparities and make safe, inclusive and high-quality health care available to all LGBTIQA+ people.
“We also wish to express our appreciation to everyone who has helped develop this plan, from members of the LGBTIQA+ and health communities across the continent, through to the public servants and minister who will help enact it.”
Statement by The Greens
The Greens welcome the Albanese Labor Government’s release of the long-awaited National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ People today — more than two years after announcing it.
When Labor announced this at the 2022 election, we were promised a real plan within a year. Now two years later, we get the plan on the eve of an election with no time left to implement it.
It’s especially disappointing since earlier this year, the National Action Plan disappeared from the federal budget.
Stephen Bates MP, Australian Greens LGBTIQA+ spokesperson, said: “After two years of delays, it’s disappointing that the final plan is so light on deliverables and so light on funding. Guardrails and guidelines are a good starting point but making up for years of sector neglect needs more than that.
“This plan just sets out to improve consultation and make sure our health system is inclusive. This has to come with broader systemic reform that delivers material help to queer people struggling with out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
“If the Government wants some ideas, they could start by removing out of pocket expenses for gender affirming care, expanding eligibility for IVF and reproductive health programmes to LGBTIQA+ families, and making sure every community, from capitals to the regions, have access to comprehensive and LGBTIQA+ friendly health services.
“I want to thank everyone who contributed to the important work of the expert advisory group and all the LGBTIQA+ organisations who have been calling for real action on our community’s health and wellbeing for decades.”
See Croakey’s archive of articles on LGBTIQA+ health
