CRANAplus Pre-Bud­get Sub­mis­sion 2025 – 26

Today, CRANAplus, the peak pro­fes­sion­al body for the remote and iso­lat­ed health work­force, released its work­force pipeline plan to deliv­er 1,000 nation­al­ly accred­it­ed nurs­es and mid­wives who are pro­fes­sion­al­ly, clin­i­cal­ly, cul­tur­al­ly, and emo­tion­al­ly pre­pared for prac­tice in rur­al and remote Aus­tralia by 2031. 

The sub­mis­sion details a plan for a post­grad­u­ate, nation­al­ly recog­nised, rur­al and remote gen­er­al­ist nurs­ing and mid­wifery pro­gram built on the key pil­lars of cul­tur­al and clin­i­cal capa­bil­i­ty. Addi­tion­al­ly, it calls for a ful­ly fund­ed nation­al clin­i­cal super­vi­sion ini­tia­tive for all rur­al and remote nurs­es and midwives. 

CRANAplus Chair, Dr Ann Aitken PhD empha­sised that build­ing a robust and sus­tain­able work­force pipeline along with enhanced com­pre­hen­sive sup­port for cur­rent staff is fun­da­men­tal to resolv­ing the severe work­force insta­bil­i­ty plagu­ing rur­al and remote communities. 

CRANAplus’ sub­mis­sion high­lights the crit­i­cal junc­ture for the sur­vival and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of our rur­al and remote health ser­vices across Aus­tralia. The pro­posed 18-month pro­gram will assist in sta­bil­is­ing the health work­force and pro­vide career advance­ment for an esti­mat­ed 1,000 par­tic­i­pants over the 5‑year fund­ing cycle, thus adding strength and resilience to a strug­gling health­care system.

“If we are to see improve­ments in exist­ing ser­vice dis­rup­tions and reduce inflat­ed health­care costs, urgent invest­ment is need­ed in a nurs­ing work­force pipeline,” Dr Aitken said. 

Act­ing CRANAplus CEO, Emma Bar­ritt says, ​“Research has shown that mil­lions of dol­lars annu­al­ly can be redi­rect­ed from short-term work­force solu­tions to qual­i­ty health care through a sta­ble and capa­ble nurs­ing and mid­wifery workforce.” 

“This ini­tia­tive will save mon­ey, and even more impor­tant­ly, it will save lives.

“We have strong sup­port from employ­ers, uni­ver­si­ties, and indus­try bod­ies, and togeth­er, we can deliv­er a work­force ini­tia­tive that aligns with sec­tor needs.”

CRANAplus’ pre-bud­get sub­mis­sion builds on the key Aus­tralian nurs­ing and mid­wifery peak’s calls for com­pre­hen­sive clin­i­cal super­vi­sion for all nurs­es and mid­wives, advo­ca­cy for the Scope of Prac­tice Review rec­om­men­da­tions, and fur­ther reforms, includ­ing the Nation­al Rur­al and Remote Nurs­ing Gen­er­al­ist Frame­work that ful­ly utilise nurs­es, nurse prac­ti­tion­ers, and mid­wives to improve health out­comes for all Aus­tralians regard­less of their postcode. 

CRANAplus has deliv­ered edu­ca­tion and work­force sup­port to the remote health work­force for more than 40 years and is unique­ly posi­tioned to pro­vide a sus­tain­able and cost-effec­tive work­force solu­tion to the cur­rent work­force cri­sis in rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties across Australia. 

CRANAplus urges the gov­ern­ment to increase its invest­ment in a more sus­tain­able rur­al and remote gen­er­al­ist nurs­ing and mid­wifery work­force to ensure equi­table access to high-qual­i­ty health­care for all Aus­tralians, regard­less of location.

CRANAplus’ Pre-Bud­get Sub­mis­sion 2025 – 2026 can be accessed here.

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CRANAplus is a grass­roots, not-for-prof­it, mem­ber­ship-based organ­i­sa­tion that was found­ed in 1983. It pro­vides ser­vices, sup­port and oppor­tu­ni­ties to nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als to ensure the deliv­ery of safe, high-qual­i­ty pri­ma­ry health­care to remote and iso­lat­ed areas of Australia.

CRANAplus deliv­ers edu­ca­tion­al cours­es con­tex­tu­alised to the remote and iso­lat­ed set­ting to upskill the remote health work­force. Its Bush Sup­port Line pro­vides free, con­fi­den­tial, 24-hour tele­phone sup­port to mem­bers of this work­force and their families.

CRANAplus also serves its mem­ber­ship by rep­re­sent­ing the work­force and advo­cat­ing for change with­in the remote health sec­tor, pro­vid­ing schol­ar­ships and grants, facil­i­tat­ing remote health employ­ment, and pro­vid­ing career sup­port and advice.

Media Con­tact
Jody Horne
Mar­ket­ing & Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Man­ag­er
(07) 4047 6400
communications@​crana.​org.​au