State and territory leaders have expressed confidence the federal government will extend health funding boosted during the pandemic in the first meeting of national cabinet since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's election win.
Australia's biggest health crisis saw the creation of national cabinet and more than two years on, health remains front and centre.
As he arrived this morning, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he was hopeful the support would continue.
"We had a very productive discussion last night at the Lodge about extending funding and I'd hope that we'll be able to reach that agreement today," he said.
"Now is not the time to do less. We in fact need to step up and do more."
The state and territory leaders want health funding consistency and an improvement in primary care to reduce the number of people in hospitals.
During the height of the pandemic, the Morrison government increased Commonwealth funding to public hospitals to a 50:50 split but that is due to expire in September and all the state and territory leaders want that extended.
Mr Andrews warned the new government not to proceed with "Scott Morrison's cutbacks".
"All we want is some time, we want to buy some time to do some really important work whether that's three months, six months, whatever it might be we can't proceed in September to cut health funding at a national level, that just doesn't make any sense," he said.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he also expected an extension of the national partnership agreement, and said there was a "very real need for reform" in the health system.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said premiers and chief ministers were on a unity ticket on the issue.
"There are a lot of pressures on our hospital system," she said.
"We're absolutely united that health has to be front and centre of today's discussions."
Health problems will need more than money to address
Victoria, along with a number of other states and territories, has also raised concerns about the number of Australians that are using the emergency department as a first resort for care.
South Australia's Premier Peter Malinauskas said some hospitals are overcrowded because primary care has not been managed properly and the problem is across multiple states.
"This challenge isn't just about the money … what we also have to confront as a nation is what are we doing to manage demand," he said.
"There are a lot of people in hospital emergency departments that quite frankly don't need to be there, they are coming from the aged care system … or they are not getting access to the GP.
"If someone is in a hospital because they couldn't get access to a GP, we have a problem with health care service delivery that is out of the control of the states."
A spokesman for Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said yesterday they have hundreds of older people and people with a disability that should be receiving care outside the hospital system.
While health is a priority for the states and territories, the leaders are very aware they will not walk away with a "magic solution" at the end of today's meeting.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday talked down the prospect of committing to additional funding.
"We inherited a trillion dollars of debt with not much to show for it," he said.
"That is the context in which we will consider discussions going forward, we are not in a position to do everything we would like to do immediately."
Mr Albanese pointed to the government's promise to fund new GP clinics that aim to take the pressure off hospital emergency departments in an attempt to boost primary health care support.
Worker shortages to contend with
The Prime Minister has indicated that today's meeting will cover a range of issues, including ways to reduce cost-of-living pressures.
"I want productivity to be front and centre of that agenda and I will be discussing that … as well as no doubt we will have a discussion about energy as well," he said.
There have been nearly daily meetings of energy ministers who have talked through the east coast power crisis, and it's expected that today's meeting between state and territory leaders will focus on issues other than power.
One of those is migration and skills shortages: New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria have signalled their intentions to discuss workforce problems.
Businesses have repeatedly raised concerns about the difficulties in finding qualified staff and some have called for changes to make it easier to hire skilled workers from overseas.
The Northern Territory, on the other hand, wants to discuss projects in energy, critical minerals and manufacturing, as well as workforce needs.
How will national cabinet work under Albanese?
While there are unlikely to be any major announcements on the health, energy or jobs front, the group is expected to try and determine how national cabinet will work in the months and years ahead.
Mr Albanese has said he wants to make changes to how the group operates.
"I will work those things through cooperatively … I want to see how we can involve local government, I will discuss that with them … and I will discuss the way that we progress into the future," he said.
State and territory leaders have previously agreed that national cabinet worked reasonably well during the pandemic because the group was focused on a single crisis.
However, a spokesman for the Queensland Premier said there were now "several" crises, such as health, skills shortages and energy, and he said the leaders will look at how they can best be managed.
"[For example] who should be on this body, how often will it meet," he said.
Mr Malinauskas said he was "open-minded" to how national cabinet worked into the future and who should be included.
"There is a role if not an urgent need for seamless, collaborative engagement from the state and the commonwealth regardless of political persuasions," he said.
