The 'Dispatched' Podcast

A special week in review recorded in New Zealand with election candidate and former industry executive Todd Stephenson. We were lucky to join Mr Stephenson and ACT leader David Seymour on the campaig...

1 Okt 202320min

A special guest joins the podcast to discuss the lost opportunity to celebrate a significant anniversary for the PBS and even reshape perceptions of the program. The government has also released its F...

22 Sep 202335min

The entitlement challenge, secret policy processes, and why they matter. We also discuss why Budget forecasts for PBS spending have minimal use - what matters is the actual spend that reflects the add...

15 Sep 202331min

Two PBS 'demonstrations' in Canberra this week - different tones but the messages were basically the same. The complex period ahead for the PBS is reflected across the health portfolio. The raft of r...

7 Sep 202323min

What are the wider implications of the negotiation for a new Community Pharmacy Agreement, to take effect on 1 March 2024, and can another secret policy process deliver for patients? Another managed r...

1 Sep 202313min

The 2023 IGR has reinforced the longstanding isolation of Budget investment in health and new therapeutic technologies as 'costs' that must be managed. It has also acknowledged the challenge of foreca...

24 Aug 202330min

This week's discussion concerns transparency, or the lack of in policy development processes, and how it leads to highly curated outcomes that rarely benefit public health programs and the people they...

18 Aug 202332min

We discuss what has been a hectic week, to say the least, where to from here, and the implications against the backdrop of a complex and highly uncertain period ahead.

10 Aug 202330min