Safety concerns about medical devices, an initiative to advance human rights for older people, and calls for a full Productivity Commission review of the private health system, focused on improving its value and reducing out-of-pocket costs – these are among wide-ranging topics covered in this week’s edition of The Zap.
The column also reports on the Federal Government’s decision to delay introduction of the new Aged Care Act and responses to this from across the sector, as well as a path forward for addressing the ongoing health workforce crisis in rural, regional and remote areas
Meanwhile, the Queensland Government is under pressure on a few fronts, facing calls “to publicly release an independent, taxpayer-funded evaluation of the State’s drug testing sites”, and questions about who’s not represented on its review of gender affirming care in the state’s public paediatrics gender services.
The quotable?
Question for the Government: if it is possible to ban advertising of cosmetic procedures to under 18s, what is so hard about banning advertising of unhealthy fast food to the same cohort?”
Charles Maskell-Knight writes:
Over the last few weeks there has been a wave of material released by the Government to help the aged care sector prepare for the commencement of the new Aged Care Act on 1 July.
At some point it appears to have dawned on the Government that despite these efforts there were considerable risks with proceeding with the new Act on 1 July.
On 4 June, Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler and Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae announced that the new Act would now commence from 1 November.
The Ministers said “this will allow more time for aged care providers to prepare their clients, support their workers and get their systems ready for the changes”.
“It will also give us more time to finalise key operational and digital processes, and for Parliament to consider supporting legislation that will enable the new Act to operate effectively,” they said.
Butler subsequently made it clear that the increase in the number of home care packages due to be released on 1 July would also be deferred to 1 November.
Ageing Australia (the lobby group for aged care providers) and Catholic Health Australia supported the change.
Ageing Australia described the delay as “a win for older Australians”, and said it had been “advocating for months for sensible implementation timelines, to ensure smooth transition for older people and providers”.
Catholic Health Australia said “the delay was needed to ensure a smooth transition that avoids unintended negative consequences”.
UnitingCare Australia welcomed the “sensible decision”, with National Director Claerwen Little saying “this change is about new and improved ways of delivering aged care, and we want to make sure that everything is in place for older Australians and providers to transition to a new system”.
The next day, UnitingCare’s Queensland arm Blue Care announced it was cutting 120 jobs from its home care division “as part of a strategy to position itself for operational sustainability”.
This article in Hello Leaders presents views from a number of other providers and commentators on the change, including several suggesting that it was the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing which was unprepared, rather than the sector. This was a common theme in a lot of social media discussion of the issue.
For more reaction from the sector see this compilation of views by the DCM Group.
COTA Australia said the delay “was important to ensure older people have time to understand what the upcoming changes mean for them”.
The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) reluctantly supported the delay “because it was becoming increasingly apparent that older people didn’t have access to the level of detail they needed to make informed decisions about their aged care”.
Occupational Therapy Australia issued a statement welcoming the delay, but said “for the delay to be meaningful, the key issues raised by the sector need to be addressed”.
The following day OTA issued another statement, urging the Government to use the additional time to:
- clearly define the clinical role of occupational therapists within the Aged Care Rules
- base home modification funding on assessed need and realistic cost estimates
- support older Australians to age safely in place through fair and accessible funding.
I am confident none of this will happen.
Speaking of funding, Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers confirmed in a media conference that the deferral would cost the Budget $900 million.
Put another way, the new Aged Care Act will cost older Australians needing care almost $3 billion a year more than the current Act.
At a political level, Shadow Minister Anne Ruston said “today’s embarrassing backflip by the Albanese Labor Government on the delivery of their aged care reforms is a clear admission of failure – and one that could have been avoided”.
Greens spokesperson Senator Penny Allman-Payne said the deferral was “a brief reprieve for older people facing increased fees to access aged care”.
Ministers and government
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing Secretary Blair Comley PSM was elected chair of the World Health Organization Executive Board, following in the footsteps of previous Secretary Jane Halton PSM AO.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced it had begun a Federal Court action against Philips Electronics Australia Limited for the alleged unlawful supply of medical devices that did not meet Australian safety and performance requirements.
The assisted breathing devices (including CPAP devices and mechanical ventilators) contained a polyester-based polyurethane foam for noise suppression which could break down, resulting in inhalation of particles by users. According to the TGA, this could lead to range of harmful consequences including asthma.
In one model of ventilator the polyurethane foam was replaced with silicon foam, which allegedly was at risk of “dislodging from its position and blocking the air pathway… [possibly] resulting in hypoventilation, hypoxemia, hypercapnia and asphyxia”.
Ahpra and the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia issued a joint statement on the issue of “reassurance ultrasounds” being provided to pregnant women outside a regular referral and reporting framework.
While the statement referred to the requirements on registered individuals to adhere to their code of conduct, these requirements do not apply to sonographers who are not also registered as radiographers.
The statement said that the review of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme is considering whether sonographers should be registered.
For more on this issue see Marie McInerney’s article for the Croakey Conference News Service.
Ahpra and the National Boards issued advance copies of Guidelines for practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures and Guidelines for practitioners who advertise higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures, which will come into effect on 2 September 2025.
Ahpra said the “sweeping guidelines” would provide greater protections to Australians undergoing cosmetic procedures such as anti-wrinkle injections and fillers.
The guidelines will require further training or education for those practitioners wanting to expand their scope of practice to provide cosmetic treatment, and will require nurses to complete a set period of practice before expanding their scope.
The advertising changes include a requirement for advertisements to contain information about the practitioner performing the procedures, a stronger ban on the use of testimonials from social media influencers, and a ban on advertising aimed at under 18s.
(Question for the Government: if it is possible to ban advertising of cosmetic procedures to under 18s, what is so hard about banning advertising of unhealthy fast food to the same cohort?)
In addition, “those under the age of 18 considering non-surgical cosmetic procedures will have a mandatory seven-day cooling off period between their first consultation and any procedures”.
The Australian College of Nursing supported the guidelines, saying they “are a critical step in reinforcing public safety and providing long overdue clarity to nurses and other health practitioners working in this field”.
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons also welcomed the guidelines, saying they would bring other registered health professionals in line with the requirements already applying to doctors, creating greater consistency and stronger protections for the public.
Ahpra also announced it was reviewing the Supervised practice framework, and invited submissions by 31 July.
The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) reminded followers that “ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS Thirteenth Edition supersedes ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS Twelfth Edition and is applicable for admitted separations from 1 July 2025”. Education modules on the changes are available on the IHACPA Learn site.
In other news for data nerds, IHACPA released the National Hospital Cost Data Collection (NHCDC) Public Sector Report for the 2022–23 financial year. IHACPA said the report included data from 738 health service providers and public hospitals from across Australia.
It shows that total national expenditure on public sector hospital activity in 2022–23 was $69.9 billion, a 13 percent increase from the previous year’s $61.9 billion.
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announced the launch of the Human Rights As We Age Network, which will “work collaboratively to advance human rights for older persons, including through supporting the development of an international legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons and pursuit of a national Human Rights Act and Framework”.
It will be co-chaired by Australia’s Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald AM and Sue Hendy, Director of the International Federation on Ageing.
The AHRC said “as Australia ages, the need for enforceable human rights for older persons becomes more urgent”.
Perhaps the new group could start its work by persuading the Government to amend the new Aged Care Act to ensure that the rights for older persons set out in the legislation are enforceable.
First Nations
The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) held its annual members’ conference, covered by Marie McInerney here as part of the Croakey Conference News Service.
McInerney reported that presenters, panellists and delegates “highlighted the ongoing fight against racism in the healthcare system, and the failure of governments to meet their obligations under the Closing the Gap National Agreement, notably the four priority reforms focused on transforming government agencies and Indigenous data sovereignty”.
Consumer and public health groups
The Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand released the (Australian) Medical Schools Outcomes Database report for 2025.
The report contains data from an annual survey administered to final year medical students from all medical schools across Australia which collects information on demographics, previous and current education, medical school experiences, rural background, career intentions and future practice location and speciality preferences.
The National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) said the report confirms that a majority of students from rural backgrounds remain committed to rural practice, with 62 percent expressing a preference to work in regional centres, rural towns, or remote areas. Students who undertook rural placements longer than one year were ten times more likely to prefer rural practice than those without such experience.
NRHA Chief Executive Susi Tegen said “the data is clear: if we wish rural communities to have doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, we need to train them where they are needed”.
“Supporting rural medical, nursing and allied health students in their studies and building up capacity to train rurally would help address the ongoing health workforce crisis in rural, regional and remote areas,” she said.
The Public Health Association Australia (PHAA) commented on research published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on paediatric (children and teens) e-scooter injury data on the Sunshine Coast.
While Queensland law imposes a speed limit on 25kph on roads and 12kph on pedestrian walkways, requires helmets and forbids doubling, the study found 42 percent of 180 cases in the study weren’t wearing a helmet; 36 percent involved speeds greater than 25kph; and 12 percent involved doubling.
PHAA CEO Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin said “e-scooters are a public health and safety concern across Australia, and while use of the devices has exploded, regulation has failed to keep pace”.
“Proper regulation and enforcement is the key,” he said.
National Seniors Australia (NSA) issued a statement on private healthcare, prompted by the Healthscope imbroglio and recent APRA data showing increasing out-of-pocket costs for private hospital admissions.
NSA reiterated its call for a full Productivity Commission review of the private health system, focused on improving its value and reducing out-of-pocket costs.
Trade unions
The Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC) responded positively to the Beasley report’s view that better health workforce planning requires medical expertise at the decision-making table.
The Health Services Union (HSU) welcomed the decision by the Fair Work Commission to increase the national minimum wage rise by 3.5 percent from 1 July.
The HSU said the decision will provide critical cost-of-living relief for health, aged care and disability workers, with increases of around $44 per week for a full-time disability support worker, $43 per week for a full-time aged care worker, and $36 per week for a full-time pathology collector – with more increases to come for pathology collectors as a result of the gender undervaluation case.
The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) called on the Queensland Government “to publicly release an independent, taxpayer-funded evaluation of the State’s drug testing sites”.
This follows reports that the Government would not release the report of the evaluation, carried out by the University of Queensland at a cost of over $450,000.
Presumably if the report did not support the program, the Government would be only too happy to release it to justify the decision to defund the sites; not releasing the report strongly suggests the evaluation found the program was effective at reducing harms.
The RACGP also marked Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Awareness Week, “urging federal, state, and territory governments to make the RSV vaccination free for at-risk groups and protect our most vulnerable”.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said while the Federal Government provides free vaccines for pregnant women to protect them and their babies, and state and territory governments have funded immunisation across the country for babies who do not already have protection from RSV through the mother’s vaccination, it was time for “all vaccines recommended in the Australian Immunisation Handbook to be freely available for every at-risk group”.
The handbook recommends RSV vaccination for pregnant women, all people over 75 years of age, and anyone over 60 who is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or who has medical risk factors for severe RSV disease.
On 6 June, the RACGP celebrated Crazy Socks for Docs Day as “an opportunity to recognise the barriers both patients and GPs can face when seeking mental healthcare”.
Industry groups
The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association released an Issues Brief from the Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research, Consideration of environmental impacts in health technology assessment, “calling for environmental sustainability to be embedded into healthcare decision-making, design and delivery as part of business-as-usual operations”.
Private Healthcare Australia (PHA, the private health insurance lobby group) wrote on LinkedIn that “in the 10 years to the end of 2024, 143 private hospital licenses have been revoked when private hospitals closed, and 165 hospital licenses have been granted. We’ve also had seven new hospitals open across Australia this year”.
PHA also issued a media release saying “Medicare data shows the number of Australians consulting medical specialists in the community has fallen 10 percent over the past five years as some doctors charge more than $900 for a first appointment”.
PHA CEO Dr Rachel David said “we have record high health insurance membership in Australia and an ageing population with more chronic disease, so we should be seeing demand for private hospitals rise faster than it is”.
“The barrier is clear,” she said. “People can’t afford to see private medical specialists in the community. This is the first step to accessing a private hospital. This trend needs to be addressed if we want our private hospitals to thrive and take pressure off the public hospital system.”
The PHA statement coincided with the release of a report by Cleanbill on dermatologist fees showing substantial increases in out-of-pocket costs between 2017 and 2025.
The Australian Private Hospital Association (APHA) said that private health insurance exclusionary products rather than specialist out-of-pocket fees were “the main reason for out-of-pocket costs being barriers to private healthcare”.
The APHA pointed to an increase in the number of people covered by exclusionary products “from 57.7 percent in December 2019 to 67.6 percent in March 2025”.
Of course, a lot of this growth is probably due to people with income increases pushing them over the Medicare Levy Surcharge threshold, and deciding to buy a cheap policy with minimal coverage (a so called “junk policy”) simply to reduce their taxation burden.
Politicians and parliamentary committees
The Senate Select Committee on PFAS will be holding a public hearing in Canberra on 10 June.
International
In the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary said the FDA will carry out a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone. This is apparently in response to a report published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), an anti-abortion conservative think tank.
That report claims it is the “largest-known study of the abortion pill” and that nearly 11 percent of women “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.”
The EPPC report has been derided by a wide range of medical groups, not least because it was not peer-reviewed, it does not include its dataset and procedure codes, and many of its policy recommendation are unsupported by the data analysis.
Despite the shortcomings in the report, an ABC story this week said “at least 11 MPs from across the political divide” cited the report during debate in the NSW Parliament over expanding access to the mifepristone by allowing nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe the abortion medication for early-stage pregnancies.
Queensland
In late January the Queensland Government announced an Independent review of Stage 1 and Stage 2 hormone therapies in Queensland’s public paediatrics gender services.
The Medical Republic reported that this week the Queensland Government revealed the membership of the review: a retired judge, two psychiatrists, an endocrinologist, a Professor of Ethics and Professional Practice, a Professor in Social Work and Social Policy, and an Associate Professor who is an expert in health law and bioethics.
Past Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) president Dr Clara Tuck-Meng Soo asked “would anyone dare to actually have a panel commenting on women’s health matters without actually including any women or any experts working that area?”
“Having a panel with no experts in gender affirming care is like having a panel to look at mental health treatments without any psychiatrists.”
Consultations and inquiries
Here is our weekly list of requests by government bodies and parliamentary committees for responses to consultations or submissions to inquiries, arranged in order of submission deadlines. Please let us know if there are any to add for next week’s column.
Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2026–27
13 June
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Proposed amendments to the Poisons Standard
13 June
Paramedicine Board of Australia
Proposal to regulate advanced practice paramedics
20 June
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board
Accreditation Consultations
25 June
Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
Accreditation Consultations
25 June
Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
Accreditation Consultations
25 June
Podiatry Board of Australia
Accreditation consultations
25 June
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Adoption of International Scientific Guidelines in Australia
30 June
Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan for a commercial release of a genetically modified (GM) mosquito strain to help prevent dengue outbreaks.
7 July
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Australian Safety and Quality Medical Imaging Accreditation Scheme
18 July
Queensland Health
Independent review of Stage 1 and Stage 2 hormone therapies in Queensland’s public paediatrics gender services
29 July
Ahpra
Review of the supervised practice framework
31 July
Department of Health and Aged Care
Updating clinical guidelines for dementia care
31 December
Charles Maskell-Knight PSM was a senior public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Health for over 25 years before retiring in 2021. He worked as a senior adviser to the Aged Care Royal Commission in 2019-20. He is a member of Croakey Health Media; we thank and acknowledge him for providing this column as a probono service to our readers. Follow on X/Twitter at @CharlesAndrewMK, and on Bluesky at: @charlesmk.bsky.social.
