Extended agreements, accompanied by a $300m injection, will provide ‘crucial financial stability’ for Indigenous health providers.
The government has announced it will extend Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations’ grant funding agreements to offer greater stability for long-term service planning and delivery, set to come into effect on 1 July.
The new agreements will implement four-year rolling funding cycles for ACCHOs rather than the previous one to three-year terms, under which organisations were frequently only given six months’ notice for future funding arrangements before their existing funding expired, the announcement said.
Alongside the transition in funding cycles, the government also announced an additional $300 million nationwide to increase staff retention and strengthen continuity of care across all 120 ACCHOs nationwide.
“The new rolling funding arrangements, coupled with the Government’s ongoing commitment to expanding the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programs’ comprehensive primary healthcare funding, provide crucial financial stability for the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector,” said Dr Dawn Casey, acting CEO for the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.
“We thank the government for its continued commitment to closing the health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.”
