Australia’s largest nursing body has issued a clear warning ahead of the next Federal Budget: without immediate and sustained investment in nursing, Australia’s healthcare pressures will intensify.
In its 2026–27 Pre-Budget Submission, the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) argues that nurses are being constrained by outdated funding models and regulatory settings at a time when demand is accelerating across every part of the system.
“Nurses are Australia’s largest, most trusted, and most geographically distributed health profession – yet they remain blocked from working to their full scope of practice,” ACN CEO Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz said in the College’s media release.
The context is hard to ignore. An ageing population, rising chronic disease and ongoing hospital access bottlenecks are converging with workforce fatigue. On current projections, Australia could face a shortfall of 70,000 nurses by 2035.
That figure is not simply a headcount problem. It represents reduced system capacity.
Unlocking capability already in the system
ACN’s submission outlines six reform priorities designed to stabilise and strengthen the profession:
- Invest in nurse-led vaccination initiatives to reverse falling immunisation rates.
- Expand transition-to-practice programs and retention measures to keep experienced nurses in the workforce longer.
- Progress registered nurse prescribing reform to improve access to medicines.
- Scale nurse-led primary care models to relieve pressure on general practice and emergency departments.
- Strengthen community nursing capacity to prevent avoidable hospital admissions.
- Support advanced practice roles across acute care settings.
At the heart of the submission is a productivity argument. Australia does not only need more nurses. It needs to better utilise the nurses it already has.
Professor Zeitz argues that enabling nurses to practise to their full scope improves both access and retention.
“Nurses who work to their optimal scope of practice are more satisfied and more likely to remain in the profession,” she said.
In other words, reform is not just about training pipelines. It is about redesigning how care is delivered.
System flow, not sector silos
Nursing reform rarely sits neatly within one portfolio. Its impact ripples across hospitals, primary care, community health and aged care.
As aged care reforms have mandated 24/7 registered nurse coverage in residential facilities, demand for experienced clinicians has intensified. That reform was designed to lift safety and quality standards following the Royal Commission. But it also shifts workforce dynamics.
When one part of the system increases its demand for registered nurses, the effects are felt elsewhere.
Hospitals already managing discharge delays depend heavily on community and aged care capacity. If aged care providers struggle to recruit or retain nurses, medically fit patients can remain in acute beds longer than necessary. That slows patient flow, contributes to ambulance ramping and compounds elective surgery backlogs.
This is not a competition between sectors. It is a shared workforce pool operating inside a connected system.
The more constrained that pool becomes, the more fragile system flow becomes.
A budget moment with structural implications
The upcoming Federal Budget therefore carries significance beyond workforce funding lines.
ACN is calling for investment that embeds nurse-led models of care into mainstream funding architecture, rather than leaving them as pilots or localised initiatives. Prescribing reform, expanded primary care roles and advanced practice recognition are framed as practical levers to improve access and relieve pressure upstream.
For healthcare executives, the implications are strategic.
Workforce shortages are no longer episodic disruptions. They are structural risks. Organisations that build clear career pathways, actively support scope expansion and invest in leadership development are likely to be more resilient in a tightening labour market.
Those that do not may face escalating agency reliance, rising labour costs and service instability.
The bottom line
The Australian College of Nursing’s message is direct but grounded in system logic.
Without coordinated investment and reform, a projected shortfall of 70,000 nurses will not only strain hospitals. It will test aged care reform, primary care access and community health capacity.
The question for government is whether nursing is treated as a budget expense or as essential infrastructure.
Because in healthcare, capacity is not built by buildings alone.
It is built by people.
Source: Government needs to invest in nurses to solve Australia’s healthcare crisis, Australian College of Nursing.
Building pressure: what’s straining Australia’s hospitals and how to build resilience