Election 2025: How to take action for men’s health
Australians will head to the polls in five weeks after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the Federal Election for Saturday 3 May.
Pollsters are predicting a close fight between the ruling Labor Party and Peter Dutton’s Coalition, but right now there is little sign that men’s health will be high on the next Government’s agenda.
Analysis of the last six Federal Budgets by the Australian Men’s Health Forum (AMHF) has found that:
- Labor pledged $1.4B to support men’s and women’s health across four budgets (2022-2025), with less than 2% allocated to improving men’s health
- The Coalition pledged $687m to improve women’s health across two budgets (2021-2022) and $1m to support men’s health
On the upside, both parties have provided some funding to support the National Men’s Health Strategy 2020-2030:
- The Coalition committed $19.7m to support the Strategy at its launch in April 2019 and allocated a further $1m in 2022.
- The Labor Government allocated a total of $22.5m to support the Strategy in its 2021 and 2022 budgets
Over the past six years (2019-2025) around $7m a year has been specifically targeted at improving men’s health by the Federal Government.
Source: Federal Budget confirms men’s health is not a national priority
We must do more for Men and Boys’ Health
AMHF does not advocate for funding to be taken away from initiatives that support women and girls. However, we do advocate for the next Government to invest significant funding to improve the lives and health of men and boys.
Men born in Australia continue to die 5 years younger than women on average. Every day, 50 men die from preventable causes before the age of 75. We estimate that reducing the number of male deaths to the same level as female deaths across 5 priority health issues could save the lives of more than 10,000 Australian men a year.
Source: Can we save the lives of 10,000 men a year?
Australian Governments currently spend around $180 billion a year on health (approximately $540 billion over a 3-year parliament), with men and boys benefiting from many of the health services this funding provides. However, the failure to provide significant investment in initiatives that are specifically focused on improving men and boys’ health is an going concern.
The Health Sector has called for action
In 2023, the Australian Men and Boys’ Health Alliance [AMBHA], called on the Government to provide adequate funding for evidence-based and evidence-building male health initiatives that address the National Men’s Health Strategy’s priorities and objectives.
In 2024, one of the AMBHA’s members, Movember, subsequently called for the next Government to invest $70 million to fund evidence-based programs “that are proven effective in improving physical and mental health outcomes for boys and men, helping to ensure the National Men’s Health Strategy can deliver on its promise of reducing preventable deaths.”
Source: Men’s health sector calls for significant funding
Take action for men and boys’ health
Everyone who is interested in improving the lives and health of men and boys in Australia can make a difference this election in one simple way: ask all of your local candidates what they will do to improve men’s health if they are elected.
Ask your local candidates three questions:
- Do they know that 50 Australian men a day are dying from causes that could be prevented by investing in men and boys’ health?
- Do they know that Australian Governments spend $180 billion a year on health, with just $7 million a year allocated to improving men’s health?
- Will they back the men’s health sector’s call to allocate more funding to improve men’s health in the next parliament?
We’re keen to hear how your local candidates respond to these questions, so please email us with any responses to: [email protected] with the subject line “Election 2025”.
You can also download and forward a copy of our Federal Election Platform 2025: Can we save the lives of 10,000 men? to the candidates standing for election in your constituency.
