National Health & Hospitals Reform Commission

On 25 February 2008, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Ageing announced the establishment of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. A copy of their media release is available here.

The Commission has been established to develop a long-term health reform plan for a modern Australia. The Chair of the Commission is Dr Christine Bennett, who is currently Chief Medical Officer at MBF Australia Ltd. Nine other Commissioners will assist Dr Bennett. They are:

• Rob Knowles, former Victorian Liberal Health Minister;
• Geoff Gallop, former Premier of Western Australia;
• Mukesh Haikerwal, Melbourne GP and immediate past-President of the AMA;
• Stephen Duckett, health economist and former Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Health;
• Ron Penny, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of NSW;
• Sabina Knight, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Remote Health and remote area nurse;
• Sharon Willcox, Director of consulting firm Health Policy Solutions;
• Justin Beilby, Executive Dean of the University of Adelaide’s Medical School; and
• Mary Ann O’Loughlin, Director, The Allen Consulting Group.

Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference for the Commission (PDF 15 KB) were announced by the Council of Australian Governments in its communiqué of 20 December 2007.

Commission website

The Commission website can be found at www.nhhrc.org.au

Contact information

People wishing to contact the Commission with suggestions for health and hospital reform can do so by
phone: 1800 017 533
email: talkhealth@nhhrc.org.au
mail: PO Box 685 Woden ACT 2606
facsimile: 02 6262 7264