Federal budget confirms men’s health is not a national priority
This week’s Federal budget brought the total funding allocated to men’s health and women’s health by the Albanese Government to nearly $1.4 billion since 2022.
According to a brief analysis by the Australian Men’s Health Forum (AMHF), nearly 98% of that funding was allocated to improving women’s health, with less than 2% directed towards improving men’s health.
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.
4 in 5 Australians back funding for men’s issues
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.
We know from previous research that the Australian public is supportive of funding being targeted at tackling both women’s issues and men’s issues.
Here, we provide a brief analysis of the Government funding allocated to men’s health and women’s health across four Budgets (2022-2025) based on information published by the Government.
Funding Allocated to Men’s Health and Women’s Health
|
Budget |
Women’s Health | Men’s Health |
| 2022-2023 | $330.6m | $0 |
| 2023-2024 | $69.1m | $10.9m |
| 2024-2025 | $161.7m | $11.6m |
| 2025-2026 | $792.9m | $0 |
| TOTALS | $1.354 bn | $22.5m |
The First Budget - 25 October 2022
The Government’s first budget in October 2022 placed women “front and centre” with more than $7 billion funding to support the Government’s election commitment to make Australia a world leader on gender equality.
This included funding for the Office for Women to implement Gender Responsive Budgeting and Gender Impact Assessments and develop a National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality, which included a focus on improving women and girls’ health.
The Budget allocated $330.6 million of investment into key pillars of the National Women’s Health Strategy and announced the establishment of National Women’s Health Advisory Council to monitor and report on implementation of the National Women’s Health Strategy.
In the first budget, no funding was specifically allocated towards improving men’s health or delivering the National Men’s Health Strategy.
The Second Budget – 9 May 2023
Six months later, in May 2023, the Government delivered its second budget describing it as “the most significant single year investment in women's equality in at least the last 40 years”.
This primarily focused on tackling some of the social determinants of women’s health, with more than $10 billion of funding allocated to improving women’s economic security and women’s safety.
The Budget also allocated $69.1 million to improving women’s health and wellbeing and $10.9 million to enhance evidence and continue support for male health over 2 years.
The Third Budget – 14 May 2024
12 months later, the Government's third Budget was presented as putting “women and gender equality at the centre of Australia's economic plan” with the aim of making “women's lives safer, fairer and more equal”.
It was the first Budget to highlight the Government’s Working for Women agenda which focuses on five priority areas: gender-based violence, unpaid and paid care, economic equality and security, health and leadership, representation, and decision-making.
The 2024-2025 Budget highlighted the fact that the Government has invested more than $3.4 billion to support women's safety since 2022.
The Budget included $161.7 million of new funding targeted towards women's health. In addition, $11.6m was earmarked for men’s health as follows:
“There is funding for the highly successful Men’s Sheds movement ($6.1m) and education and training for health professionals ($2.1m). The Male Health Initiative will continue to provide health information, awareness and support to men and boys ($3.4m).”
The Fourth Budget – 25 March 2025
In its fourth and final budget in March 2025, the Government stated that equality for women has been a priority since day one, with every single member of the Government committed to making life better for women.
The Government highlighted its Working for Women Gender Equality ten-year plan, which invests in 5 key areas - including women's health - and confirmed that these areas have been a focus for the Albanese Government since its first budget. This included investing more than $4 billion to support women's safety since 2022.
In terms of women’s health, the Government stated that “women have specific and varied health needs and often face higher health costs and health care not targeted to these needs”.
With this in mind, the Budget allocated $792.9 million over five years from 2024–25 to deliver more choice, lower costs, and better care for women.
There was no apparent funding allocated to specifically improve men’s health. However, the budget briefing did note that “certain patients with metastatic prostate cancer will benefit from the listing of talazoparib” on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Comparing Governments
The uneven approach to funding men’s and women’s health is not unique to the Albanese Government.
In May 2021, Scott Morrison’s Coalition government unveiled a $3.4 billion women’s budget which included an allocation of $353.9 million to focus on the 5 priority areas identified in the National Women’s Health Strategy. There was no parallel Men’s Budget, and no funding allocated to focus on the 5 priority areas outlined in the National Men’s Health Strategy.
Similarly, in the run up to the 2022 Federal Election, the Morrison government announced a $2.1 billion Women’s Budget which allocated $333 million “to strengthen health services available to women and girls…as part of the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020–2030”.
In contrast, there was no mention of the National Men’s Health Strategy 2020–2030 and just $1 million allocated to “improve long-term health outcomes for all Australian men and boys”.
Sources for Women’s Health Funding:
Sources for Men’s Health Funding:
FURTHER READING:
Is it time Australia had a Men’s Budget?