Federal Budget 2025-26

March 25, 2025

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Federal Budget 2025-26

Dear MRHP Partners and Stakeholders,

The Australian Government has released the Federal Budget 2025-26.

Please find a compilation of key measures from the Budget papers relevant to clinicians, community, health care services, and support organisations working with migrant and refugee communities. If you would like to access all papers, they are available here: https://budget.gov.au

We look forward to continuing to work with you all as we seek to support the health and wellbeing of migrant and refugee communities across Australia.

Kind regards,
The MRHP Secretariat

Expanding Pharmacy Services and Medicine Access

The Government will provide $784.6 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $236.4 million per year ongoing) to lower the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) general patient co‑payment from $31.60 to $25.00 on 1 January 2026.

The Government will provide funding over six years from 2024–25 to improve access to medicines and to trial an expansion of the range of services delivered by community pharmacies. Funding includes:

  • $539.4 million over five years from 2024–25 (and an additional $98.8 million in 2029–30) to establish the First Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Agreement with the National Pharmaceutical Services Association to ensure medicines remain accessible across Australia.
  • $109.1 million over four years from 2025–26 to support two national trials to make it cheaper and easier for many women to get contraceptives and treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections.
  • $13.2 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $4.5 million per year ongoing) to meet increasing demand on the National Return and Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Program and guarantee safe disposal of unwanted medicines.
  • $10.0 million in 2027–28 to review pharmaceutical wholesaling arrangements to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
  • $5.7 million in 2025–26 to extend funding to ensure sustainability of Australia’s electronic prescribing infrastructure.
  • $1.0 million in 2025–26 to update Australia’s pharmacist practice standards and guidelines as part of implementing the Strategic Agreement on Pharmacist Professional Practice with the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

Better Healthcare for Women

The Government will provide $240.4 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $42.3 million per year ongoing) to support women’s health. Funding includes:

  • $134.3 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $35.3 million per year ongoing) to increase the schedule fee for four long‑acting reversible contraception (LARC) items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), and to incentivise bulk billing through the creation of an MBS item claimable when a provider bulk bills a LARC insertion or removal service.
  • $26.3 million over three years from 2025–26 for a health assessment item on the MBS for women of all ages experiencing perimenopause and menopause.
  • $25.6 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $7.0 million per year ongoing) to establish eight LARC Centres of Training Excellence to provide LARC services and training to health professionals.
  • $20.9 million over three years from 2025–26 to support 33 Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinics to provide specialist care and support for women experiencing endometriosis, pelvic pain, perimenopause and menopause.
  • $12.8 million over two years from 2025–26 for a public campaign to raise awareness of perimenopause and menopause symptoms, and management options.
  • $10.0 million over four years from 2025–26 to the New South Wales Government to support the provision of public maternity services for women and babies in the Central Coast region of New South Wales $6.0 million over two years from 2024–25 to the Tasmanian Government to improve access to maternity services in Hobart and the surrounding regions.
  • $4.4 million over three years from 2025–26 to develop national clinical guidelines for perimenopause and menopause, and to deliver professional development courses for health professionals specialising in perimenopause and menopause.

Domestic and Family Violence Support and Women’s Safety

Additional Support for the Housing Services Sector

The Government will provide $8.9 million over three years from 2025–26 to improve and expand support services for vulnerable Australians, including Australians experiencing housing insecurity and family, domestic and sexual violence. Funding includes:

  • $2.5 million in 2025–26 to provide emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence under the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program.
  • $0.2 million in 2025–26 to extend funding for complex case management and provide wrap around support services for victim‑survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence.

Response to Sexual Violence

The Government will provide $21.4 million over three years from 2025–26 to improve victim and survivor engagement in the justice system and inform a broader response to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Inquiry into the Justice System’s Response to Sexual Violence. Funding includes:

  • $19.6 million over three years from 2025–26 to extend three specialist trauma‑informed sexual assault legal services pilots in Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, expand the pilots nationally and trial additional non‑legal support services, including culturally safe justice system navigators and supporting access to restorative justice pathways.
  • $1.2 million over two years from 2025–26 to extend the ALRC’s lived experience Advisory Group for one year to advise on implementation of the ALRC Inquiry report and also to support engagement with a range of sector stakeholders and experts to provide advice on the ALRC’s recommendations.
  • $0.6 million in 2025–26 to engage academics and other experts to research systemic reasons for the withdrawal of complaints, review supports provided during the police investigation phase and commence scoping an independent complaints mechanism to seek review of police decisions not to pursue charges.

The above measures support the implementation of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.

Preventative Health, Wellbeing and Sport

The Government will provide $132.0 million in 2025–26 to improve health outcomes through preventive health and other health initiatives. Funding includes:

  • $2.7 million in 2025–26 to extend the National Multicultural Peer Navigation Pilot and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Prevention Workforce Development Pilot, supporting the prevention, testing and treatment of HIV in Australia.
  • $3.2 million in 2025–26 to the Australian Sports Commission to support women and girls’ participation in sports leadership through coaching, officiating and sports administration.

 

Aged Care Support

an additional $12.7 million in 2029–30) to continue the delivery of aged care reforms and the implementation of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Funding includes:

  • $47.6 million over four years from 2025–26 (and an additional $12.7 million in 2029–30) to support First Nations organisations to deliver culturally appropriate aged care assessments for First Nations people.

Strengthening Community Access to Healthcare

Medicare Changes

The Government will provide additional funding of $8.4 billion over five years from 2024–25 (and $2.5 billion per year ongoing) to increase access to bulk billing, including:

  • $7.9 billion over four years from 2025–26 (and $2.4 billion per year ongoing) to expand eligibility for bulk billing incentives to all Australians and introduce the new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program for general practices if they bulk bill every visit under Medicare.
  • $256.2 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $82.1 million per year ongoing) to introduce new and amend existing items on the MBS, including:
    • $74.9 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $29.1 million per year ongoing) for severe speech and language disorders to be added to the eligible disabilities under the MBS item group for complex neurodevelopmental disorder and disability services.
    • $57.9 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $16.4 million per year ongoing) to provide faecal calprotectin tests to manage symptomatic inflammatory bowel disease.
    • $43.6 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $12.9 million per year ongoing) to support treatment of advanced neuroendocrine tumours.
  • $228.7 million in 2025–26 to continue modernising My Health Record and support the digital health reform agenda.
  • $17.3 million over three years from 2025–26 to provide affordable access to Medicare‑eligible Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) services at three metropolitan locations with below average bulk‑billed MRI services, pending MRI licencing requirement changes commencing 1 July 2027.
  • $15.6 million over two years from 2025–26 to continue initiatives under the Health Delivery Transformation Program.
  • $7.0 million over five years from 2024–25 to deliver improved functionality and more transparency on the Medical Costs Finder website, allowing the public access to data about the median fees charged by individual non‑GP specialists and gap arrangements from private health insurers.
  • $0.9 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $0.3 million per year ongoing) for the Supporting Living Organ Donors Program to increase reimbursements and therefore reduce barriers in accessing the program.

Supporting the Health Workforce

The Government will provide $662.6 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $230.9 million per year ongoing) to continue to strengthen and support Australia’s health workforce. Funding includes:

  • $606.3 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $226.3 million per year ongoing) to deliver more Australian doctors and nurses. Funding includes:
    • $265.4 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $94.8 million per year ongoing) to expand general practitioner (GP) training through the Australian General Practice Training Program and the Remote Vocational Training Scheme to deliver 200 new general practitioner training places each year from 2026, increasing to 400 from 2028.
    • $248.7 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $83.6 million per year ongoing) for salary incentives for junior doctors to specialise in general practice, and to provide paid parental leave and study leave for trainee GPs.
    • $45.0 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $29.9 million per year ongoing) for 100 new medical Commonwealth Supported Places per year from 2026, increasing to 150 per year from 2028.
    • $44.0 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $16.0 million per year ongoing) for 200 new junior doctor/internship rotations in primary care per year from 2026 increasing to 400 per year from 2028.
    • $3.2 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $2.0 million per year ongoing) to uncap the number of medical Commonwealth Supported Places for First Nations students from 2026.

    • $28.0 million over three years from 2025–26 to support the construction of the Nursing and Midwifery Academy in Victoria, to be operated by the Epworth Medical Foundation.

  • $16.5 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $4.6 million per year ongoing) for the costs associated with updates to the Modified Monash Model and Distribution Priority Area classification systems to reflect the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data, and workforce data from the Department of Health and Aged Care.
  • $10.5 million over two years from 2025–26 to expand the Primary Care Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship Program to deliver an additional 100 graduate certificate/diploma scholarships and 100 masters scholarships per year to support nurses and midwives to undertake post‑graduate study.
  • $1.3 million over two years from 2024–25 to extend the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Education and Training Program by 12 months to provide training for a range of medical professionals who assist in the provision of maternity or maternity‑related services.

Expanding Medicare Urgent Care Clinics

The Government will provide $657.9 million over three years from 2025–26 to expand the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics Program. This will include an additional 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across Australia, which will take the total number of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics to 137. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics reduce pressure on hospital emergency departments by supporting Australians to access care for urgent, but not life‑threatening, conditions. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are open during extended business hours with no appointments or referrals required, and with no out‑of‑pocket costs for patients. Funding includes:

  • $653.8 million over three years from 2025–26 to expand the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics Program by an additional 50 clinics, extend the opening hours of the Batemans Bay and Launceston Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and to continue to support the operations of the Mparntwe (Alice Springs) Medicare Urgent Care Clinic.

  • $4.1 million over two years from 2025–26 to enable state‑funded urgent care services to access Medicare Benefits Schedule items.

Supporting Multicultural Communities

The Government will provide $178.4 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $1.2 million per year ongoing) to support social cohesion in Australia. Funding includes:

  • $4.0 million in 2024–25 for the Project Rozana Foundation to address critical gaps in rehabilitation services and foster capacity‑building in the health sector in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

 

Please note that many of these measures are part of the Federal Government’s Budget announcements and have not yet been legislated. If the current Government is re-elected, it has pledged to implement these measure

Federal Budget 2025-26 - Migrant & Refugee Health Partnership