Medicare Without a Strong Community Health Sector Is a Loss to the Australian Health System
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Date
2026
Authors
Baum, F.
Fry, D.
Musolino, C.
Freeman, T.
Lewis, V.
Macmillan, J.
MacDougall, C.
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Journal of Australian Studies, 2026; 50(1):7-30
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Fran Baum, Denise Fry, Connie Musolino, Toby Freeman, Virginia Lewis, Jennifer Macmillan and Colin MacDougall
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Abstract
This article explores the politics that drove the interplay between the Whitlam government's 1973 Community Health Program (CHP) and the Hawke government's 1984 Medicare program. We draw on research which examines the history and development of the CHP through archival and oral history research. The CHP instituted a funding program for multidisciplinary, locally based health care with no costs to users. The program included one-on-one care services, self-help and therapy groups, and community-development and social-action activities, and was community managed in South Australia and Victoria. The federal CHP grants ended in 1981 but left a significant legacy. We examine the counterfactual question of how the health system might have developed had the Hawke government revived the CHP to expand multidisciplinary primary health care at the same time as implementing Medicare for hospitals and medical care. We note that commitment to accessibility, equity, patient-centred care, multidisciplinary work practices, attention to the social determinants of health, and participatory planning have all influenced mainstream health services. We conclude that a revived CHP has much to offer an Australian health system struggling with an epidemic of chronic disease and increasing health inequities.
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© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.