Wherever you live, whatever you earn and whatever stage of life you are in, everyone should be able to access the healthcare they need, not just the healthcare they can afford.

That’s why generations of Australians fought for and won access to high-quality hospital care for free. Yet, outside the hospital, people are left to deal with private clinics, long waiting lists and one gap fee after another. As costs rise, people delay care and their health problems become worse and more expensive to treat.

That’s because both Labor and Liberal state governments have continued to pour taxpayer money into treating the symptoms of our broken, privatised system, whilst corporations buy up clinics, gobble up the profits and leave healthcare workers stretched and stressed.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The Green's Plan

With your support, The Greens will:

Establish free community healthcare centres, so you can access a GP, dentist, nurse, allied health professional or mental health support in your local area, with no out-of-pocket costs.
Slash the time it takes to access free public dental, mental and allied healthcare
Pay public clinic healthcare staff a salary instead of paying them for every appointment, so they can give each patient the time and attention they need

The cost of a broken healthcare system

The cost to you

Australians spent $44 billion from their own pockets on healthcare in 2023–24, up from $32.7 billion just a decade earlier[1]. In 2025, 1 in 2 Australians reported delaying or going without healthcare because of the cost. Those who cannot afford the next appointment delay care. Their health problems then become more serious, harder to treat and more expensive. This problem now reaches across generations. Australians aged 25 to 34 remain considerably more likely than older Australians to delay GP and specialist care because of cost[2].

The cost to healthcare workers

Healthcare workers pay a price too. Medicare’s current per-appointment billing system puts pressure on clinics to maintain a constant stream of appointments while doctors spend more time managing billing rules, paperwork and compliance. Increasingly, private corporations are buying up medical centres and allied health clinics, putting further pressure and strain on doctors and healthcare workers who are doing everything they can to provide high-quality care. In 2024, 69 per cent of GPs reported burnout and 70 per cent expressed dissatisfaction with their administrative burden. Regional communities feel this pressure particularly acutely because they already face serious workforce shortages[3].

The cost to the taxpayer

The taxpayer also pays when fragmented and delayed care allows manageable conditions to become medical crises. People turn to emergency departments because they cannot access appropriate care earlier. NSW already recognises that difficulty accessing primary care drives a significant share of urgent emergency department presentations[4].

Not only are the sick suffering unnecessarily, but the longer people wait, the harder and more expensive treatment becomes.

What’s really going wrong

For too long, Australians have had two very different experiences of healthcare. As a public patient in a hospital, doctors, nurses, specialists and technicians can work together, coordinate your tests and treatment, and provide care, all without leaving you with a bill to pay at the end of your stay. Outside hospital however, people have been left to navigate a fragmented network of private clinics, separate appointments, and snowballing gap fees.

The problem is a funding model. The Australian Government’s own Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan acknowledges that Medicare’s fee-for-service structure tends to reward the volume of services rather than better health outcomes[5].

That model no longer meets Australia’s healthcare needs.

The real cause of our healthcare ills

Successive Labor and Coalition governments have made piecemeal changes to our everyday healthcare system, trying to be seen to be doing something, while leaving the broken funding model intact.

Both accept corporate donations and give industry lobbyists too much influence, leaving them too compromised to confront the private interests profiting from the current system.

When politicians take donations from corporations, they take their orders from them too.

The Greens do not take donations from big corporations and never will.

The Greens Plan For Healthcare

Gap-free mental health support

Nearly half of Australians experience mental illness during their lifetime.

Among young people, the problem is especially urgent: almost two in five people aged 16–24 experience a period of poor mental health in a single year. Yet cost prevents one in three people who need to see a psychologist or psychiatrist from getting care⁹.

The Greens will provide free mental health support through public Community Healthcare Centres, so people can get the right level of care, whenever they need it.

Slash public dental waitlists

Australians paid around $8 billion out of their own pockets for dental care in 2023–24. In 2024–25, Australia recorded almost 90,000 hospitalisations for dental conditions that earlier treatment could potentially have prevented.

The Greens will deliver more free public dental appointments through Community Healthcare Centres, cutting waitlists and helping people get treatment sooner.

Public community health clinics

The Greens will bring GPs, nurses, mental healthcare, dental care, allied health, testing and relevant specialists together in public Community Healthcare Centres. One team will coordinate each person’s care through one plan, without gap fees.

For someone with diabetes, that could mean seeing their GP and a nurse, having blood tests and getting support from a podiatrist and dietitian through the same centre. Their healthcare workers could monitor results together and catch problems early.

A parent whose child has persistent joint pain could see a GP, arrange imaging and access physiotherapy through one centre, with fewer separate trips to fit around work, school and family life.

For patients, this means fewer appointments to organise, less time chasing referrals and results and better quality care, close to home.

Better care across regional NSW

People in regional communities can face long journeys for care, limited appointment options and serious shortages of health workers.

Community Healthcare Centres would help reduce long and expensive trips. Bringing more services together would also make it easier to organise care close to home.

We will start the rollout in communities with the greatest need. Local community members and frontline clinicians will advise on the services each area needs before the rollout begins.

Give healthcare workers time to heal

Our healthcare system should give health workers the time and support to care for us properly, without driving them to burnout.

The Greens will employ centre staff on salaries, giving them time to understand each person’s health, work collaboratively with other professionals and provide care before problems become crises.

Team support, predictable pay and less billing administration would give doctors and other healthcare workers an alternative to private practice, including in communities that struggle to attract and retain staff.

How we will pay for it

The NSW Government will fund Community Healthcare Centres as part of the public health system. We will seek a fair Commonwealth contribution through Medicare and national health funding agreements.

The Greens will pay for the plan by increasing coal and gas royalties, taxing pokies profits and closing tax loopholes and subsidies for developers and big corporations.

Earlier, better coordinated care would also help prevent avoidable hospital admissions and reduce pressure on emergency departments. We would reinvest savings in the services people need.

What The Greens healthcare plan means for you

For patients, The Greens plan for healthcare means more money in their pockets, fewer appointments to organise, less travel and no need to chase providers for referrals and results.

In regional NSW, Community Healthcare Centres with visiting specialists will reduce long and expensive journeys for care.

Most importantly, it will mean better long-term health for the people of NSW.

Imagine being able to see a GP, dentist, nurse or psychologist in your local community without paying out-of-pocket costs. Imagine public dental, mental and allied healthcare all in one place, without endless waitlists and admin.

It will create efficiencies and reduce the burden on emergency departments.

Most importantly, it will mean better long-term health for the people of NSW.

Show Your Support

For decades, the vast majority of Australians have agreed on a simple principle: the healthcare you receive should depend on what you need, not what you can afford.

Together with health workers and communities across NSW, The Greens are fighting for quality local healthcare, without the gaps.

To show your support, sign the petition to fund public community healthcare clinics across NSW.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Community Healthcare Centre?

A publicly funded and run local healthcare centre where GPs, nurses, psychologists, dental teams and allied health professionals provide care together. The Greens’ plan brings everyday healthcare into one public service, with a team coordinating your care and no out-of-pocket costs for the services it provides.

What does “gap-free” mean?

You would pay no out-of-pocket costs for care at a Community Healthcare Centre. The centre would provide its GP, mental health, dental and other services free to patients, whatever their income.

How is this different from Labor’s urgent care clinics?

Urgent care clinics treat immediate, non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries. They do not provide the full range of ongoing care people need to stay well.

Community Healthcare Centres would bring regular GP care, dental, mental health, allied health and relevant specialist support together, including ongoing care for long-term conditions.

Where would the centres open first?

The Greens will prioritise communities with the greatest need and stage the rollout across NSW. Local community members and frontline clinicians will advise on local needs. The rollout plan will set out locations, opening dates, services and staffing.

Can I keep seeing my current GP?

Yes. Existing private GPs and practices will continue to operate, and you can choose your healthcare provider. Community Healthcare Centres will add a free public option and extra capacity where people struggle to get timely, affordable care.

Where will the healthcare workers come from?

The rollout will need a workforce plan for each centre. Salaries, team support and less billing administration would help make the centres attractive places to work. Staging the rollout would allow services and staffing to develop together, starting where the need is greatest.

Isn’t healthcare a federal responsibility?

NSW already runs public hospitals and urgent care clinics with funding support from the federal government. The Greens’ plan would make Community Healthcare Centres part of that existing system and seek a fair Commonwealth contribution through Medicare and national health funding agreements. People should not have to wait for affordable care while governments argue over who should pay.

Would free care encourage people to use services they don’t need?

The Greens are more concerned about the 1 in 2 Australians who delay essential care due to the cost than we are about rationing and policing people’s healthcare. When the Government can find $360 billion dollars for AUKUS, they can find the money to pay for healthcare for ordinary people. It’s a matter of priorities. Delayed care often turns a manageable problem into an emergency, costing far more than it should. Community Healthcare Centres will use appointments, triage and coordinated care plans so people receive the right care, at the right time, from the right healthcare provider.

How can The Greens deliver this plan?

A Greens government would fund the centres and direct NSW Health to deliver them. In a hung parliament, every additional Greens MP would strengthen our ability to negotiate funding for the first centres, a no-gap guarantee and a statewide rollout.