Albanese ends hospital stalemate with $25b deal to move kids off NDIS
Updated ,first published
State and territory governments have won an extra $2 billion from the prime minister to secure a $25 billion deal to fund hospitals over the next five years, ending a long-running deadlock in negotiations.
Anthony Albanese has made his latest bid to get state and territory governments to shoulder more early intervention work for children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism even sweeter Within the scope of the Emerging Children program to remove them from the bloated National Disability Insurance Program.
Prime ministers rejected the government’s previous $23 billion offer in December. Requesting more money to help ease the economic burden an aging population
“This agreement represents one of the most significant national reforms in living memory,” Albanese told reporters after the national cabinet in Sydney on Friday. he said. “This is an important step forward in addressing the pressures on our health and aged care systems, as well as ensuring the sustainability of the NDIS into the future as part of this agreement.”
“The Commonwealth will provide an additional $25 billion for public hospitals to reach a record $219.6 billion over the next five years. This is three times more additional funding for public hospitals than was agreed under the last five-year agreement.”
The governments agreed in principle in 2023 that the federal government would increase its share of funding public hospitals in exchange for help from the states and territories to fund disability services. But negotiations stalled after provincial prime ministers disputed estimates that showed the December offer was several billion dollars below the original offer, and the Albanian government accused the provinces of overspending and demanded they cut spending.
The funding deal announced on Friday includes $24.4 billion for the Commonwealth’s share of projected hospital operations from 2026-27 to 2030-31 and more than $600 million in investment in the public hospital system.
The states agreed to invest $2 billion to implement Kids Successful, but asked for more time to begin implementing the program, delaying its launch by three months to October 1.
Albanese insisted on Friday that the program would be fully implemented as planned by the end of 2027.
“The states suggested to us the possibility of a short delay in the full implementation of Thriving Kids. However, Thriving Kids will start this year and full implementation will be completed by January 1, 2028. So we accepted that offer. It made sense to get this right,” Albanese said.
Children with severe disabilities, including autistic children who require high levels of support, will continue to benefit from the NDIS, and families will be able to use NDIS services until the Developing Children program is launched.
The government has said children with low to moderate support needs will be able to benefit from Thriving Kids supports from October 1, but has not yet confirmed what these services will cover.
Prime Ministers have been calling for more money to cope with the growing number of elderly patients waiting in hospital beds for places in aged care facilities. The states argued that this “bed bloc” shifted the cost burden of the aging population from aged care, for which the Commonwealth had responsibility, to hospitals run by the states and territories.
“We know that as we age we need to move patients out of hospital rooms and into specialist care for longer periods of time, and aged care reforms will help with that,” Albanese said on Friday. he said.
Queensland government had The federal government was called to find a solution moving the state’s 900 stranded aged care patients into long-term accommodation, including buying land and partnering with the private sector to deliver aged care facilities.
NSW, which will receive $6.5 billion from the funding deal, is almost 1200 patients who exceeded their estimated discharge date in September – 54 percent increase in 12 months.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the deal would lead to increased costs in the future linked to an aging population, but all governments needed to make a concerted effort to keep costs under control.
Speaking alongside the Prime Minister, Minns said: “No matter how strained the system is today, we can expect even more problems in the future.”
NSW is also in the midst of arbitration over new pay deals with both nurses and doctors, but Minns said these would be determined separately by the independent Industrial Relations Commission.
In Victoria, just over 40 per cent of ED cases involve lower-urgency patients who can be attended to through primary care services.
Opposition health and aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the government should turn its attention to the aged care crisis, pointing to the Productivity Commission’s report published today which found older Australians are waiting up to eight months for home care support, which doubled last year.
The Albanian government was determined on Friday to secure the deal before the South Australian government goes into caretaker mode ahead of state elections next month and the end of the current funding deal on June 30.
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Brittany Busch is the federal politics correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
Angus Thomson is a health reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
