Portfolio — 29 March 2026

The Assistant Minister for Women, Health and Aged Care and Indigenous Health, Ms Rebecca White, released the National Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Strategies 2026 to 2030 on 29 March, establishing a framework to eliminate both viruses as public health challenges within four years [TA-260330-health-e49ad919ce81]. The strategies rest on three pillars — strengthened prevention, improved early diagnosis, and expanded treatment access — and set measurable elimination targets against which progress will be tracked to 2030 [TA-260330-health-e49ad919ce81].

Two funding commitments accompany the release: $23.7 million for on-the-ground initiatives including point-of-care testing and pilot programs, and a further $51.7 million over three years to sustain the national viral hepatitis elimination program [TA-260330-health-e49ad919ce81]. Implementation will be coordinated through partnerships with Hepatitis Australia and the Australian Centre for Disease Control, both named as central delivery partners in the action plan architecture [TA-260330-health-e49ad919ce81].

The strategies were developed through extensive consultation with people with lived experience, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, clinicians, researchers, and state and territory governments — a breadth of engagement the minister's release positioned as foundational to the credibility and responsiveness of the final instruments. The portfolio's stated approach anchors the elimination effort in community-led, culturally safe care and treats stigma reduction and removal of access barriers as conditions for achieving the 2030 targets, not merely ancillary concerns.

The cross-portfolio resonance of that framing is notable: the Indigenous Health dimension of the minister's role means the strategies carry obligations to communities where hepatitis B prevalence remains disproportionately high, and the emphasis on culturally safe design reflects a consistent thread across the portfolio's health equity work.