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Business View Australia - January-February 2016 103
& AGED CARE
Referring to the role of the PHAA
and its primary areas of focus with-
in Australia’s health system, Mela-
nie Walker says, “We want to see an
increasing emphasis on prevention
within health. Traditionally, preven-
tive health only attracts a small por-
tion of the health expenditure of any
government and we would like to see
a greater focus on prevention rather
than on acute care.
“We would like to see a greater in-
vestment in keeping people well
and keeping them out of hospital.
This would also reduce the cost of
the health sector as a whole. If we
remain focussed on the acute sec-
tor we will continue to see rising ex-
penditure on health.
“That is one of our big goals. We
also put in a great deal of effort to
ensure that there is no contraction
in government expenditure on public
health initiatives.”
Melanie Walker
& AGED CARE