NDPCHS Guest Lecture Series: Developments in Primary Care Reform in Australia 2025+
Friday, 23 January 2026, 12.15pm to 1.15pm
St Luke's Chapel, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG
Next in our Guest Lecture Series, we welcome Professor Stephen Duckett for an insightful discussion on the evolving landscape of primary medical care in Australia. The session will be chaired by NDPCHS Researcher Joseph Kwon.
The Minister for Health in Australia, currently spearheading national reforms, is addressing two long-standing challenges: financial barriers to accessing primary care and the workforce composition within general practice. On 1 November 2025, new financial incentives for general practitioners were introduced, aiming to raise the proportion of visits with no out-of-pocket costs from around 75% to 90%. This landmark policy shift is designed to ease patient access and reshape the economics of care delivery.
The lecture will also explore the broader context of primary care reform in Australia. Despite decades of proposals, progress has been slow in diversifying the workforce or moving away from fee-for-service remuneration. Today, however, policy rhetoric is sharpening around the creation of multidisciplinary teams and a gradual shift from Australia’s heavy reliance on fee-for-service models.
This session will examine these two pivotal changes, the factors that have made now the moment to pursue them, and the prospects for their success in transforming primary care for Australians.