PRESS RELEASE: Federal Election 2025: Delivering what matters to Australians

With campaigning for the 2025 Federal Election now well underway, the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) is calling on all major parties to prioritise health system reform by committing to measuring and reporting what matters.

‘Australia collects an enormous amount of health data, yet without a long-term strategy to coordinate and direct these efforts, we are failing to maximise its potential to improve care and achieve the outcomes that matter to people and communities,’ says AHHA CEO Kylie Woolcock.

‘To drive meaningful improvements, health data must not only be timely, accurate, and of high quality, but also structured in a way that supports decision-making within care relationships, and is actionable by health leaders across services, stewards and at the system-level.’

Despite the well-known importance of health information and reporting, Australia has yet to implement a comprehensive National Health Information Strategy to support coordination and action on system-wide and structural reforms for the Australian health system. AHHA is calling for a government that will commit to:

Supporting the Strategic Committee for National Health Information (SCNHI) to develop a National Health Information Strategy framework that consolidates health information, promotes cross-sector linkages, and ensures timely and consistent data collection and reporting.

Establishing data standards, ICT architecture, and analytical and reporting capabilities to support informed decision-making within care relationships and ensure accountability across the health system.

Ensuring that implementation and evaluation are adequately resourced and supported by strong and transparent governance structures to support coordination and sustainability, and ensure that measuring what matters goes beyond data collection to drive real-world impact.

‘Data is a powerful tool for driving healthcare improvements, yet without a coordinated and strategic approach, we risk missing opportunities to address inequities, improve health outcomes, and enhance system sustainability,’ continued Ms Woolcock.

‘As Australians head to the polls, we urge all parties to commit to measuring and reporting what really matters—it is only in working together, enabled through data that matters, that we can ensure the right care is provided in the right place at the right time.’

For more information, read the AHHA 2025 Election Statement on the AHHA website: https://ahha.asn.au/federal-election-2025-delivering-what-matters-to-australians/