Secretary's Review

Introduction

Death rates from cardiovascular disease including heart attack and stroke continue to fall and our overall cancer death rates declined by approximately 14 per cent between 1986 and 2004. This was largely due to the excellent public health and medical systems in place in Australia.

However, Australia’s health cannot be isolated from the health of our region and of the broader world. The need for protection against overseas health threats was the main reason why Australia’s states agreed to create the national Department of Health, 88 years ago, and this need has become much more extreme in an age of rapid travel and trade. International and regional partnerships are becoming increasingly critical to achieving our national health objectives.

In 2006–07, the Department has risen to new challenges in providing leadership and administration for the nation’s health services and programs, by developing, guiding and implementing a series of significant reforms in health and aged care.

The Department’s activities have made significant progress with approaches aimed at preventing and treating chronic disease, as well as implementing major initiatives in significant areas of mental health and the health workforce. A number of these initiatives have the backing of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), which reflects the importance of good health outcomes and a strong health sector to our nation as we continue a demographic transition to an older population.

In addition to delivering these reform packages, the Department also dealt with its ongoing work, and efficiently administered a budget of $41.1 billion. Successes that stand out this year include:

• Exercise Cumpston 06 – The Department tested and improved the nation’s preparedness for responding to an influenza pandemic by conducting the largest health simulation exercise in Australia and one of the largest in the world. The operation simulated the arrival of two people infected with avian flu at Brisbane airport and included a series of exercises and live drills with over 1,000 people involved at national and state levels (see Outcome 15 for more information);
• Roll-out of Opal fuel – By the end of June 2007, the Department had expanded the availability of non-sniffable Opal fuel within the Central Desert Region from 59 sites to 104, including 72 remote Aboriginal communities, 29 roadhouses and service stations and three pastoral properties. Early evidence shows that the removal of sniffable fuel has had an immediate positive impact, with an 80 per cent reduction in the prevalence of petrol sniffing in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands since the introduction of Opal (Outcome 8);
• COAG Mental Health Reform Package – The Department implemented new team work arrangements for psychiatrists, general practitioners, psychologists and mental health nurses; and new non-clinical, community-based services for people with mental illness, their families and their carers (Outcome 11);
• Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Reform – The Department progressed a major reform package for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to ensure continued access to new and expensive medicines for Australians, and to keep the scheme affordable in the future (Outcome 2);
• Private Health Insurance Reform – The Department established a new legislative framework enabling health insurers to pay benefits for a broader range of health care services such as hospital-substitute treatment, programs to manage and prevent chronic diseases and self-management programs for healthier lifestyles (Outcome 9); and
• National Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Program – The Department worked closely with the states and territories to implement the National Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Program within a very tight timeframe. This new program protects girls and young women against four strains of the virus, two of which cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers. A school-based vaccination program for girls aged 12 to 18 years commenced in April 2007 and a community-based program for women aged 18 to 26 and those not at school, commenced from 1 July 2007 (Outcome 1).