Submission on Tasmania’s 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy

Overview

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In early 2026, CPD made a submission to the Tasmanian Department of Health’s consultation for their draft of The Health Revolution: Tasmania’s 20-year preventative health strategy. The strategy establishes a long-term framework to improve health and wellbeing by prioritising early intervention and prevention across communities and the environment.

CPD’s recommendations centre around the need for strong collaboration between agencies and levels of government, giving communities a voice in decisions, changing how funding decisions are made to prioritise long-term wellbeing and fiscal sustainability, and ensuring ongoing learning translates to real improvements in programs and policies.

The submission draws on CPD’s extensive work across social services reforms and wellbeing government, particularly recommendations developed as part of Embedding Progress, Banking the Benefits and Productivity with Purpose.

Download the submission

CPD’s submission on Tasmania’s draft 20-year preventive health strategy strongly supports the focus on economic drivers of wellbeing and urges the government to continue this focus through implementation.

What is Tasmania's 20-year preventive health strategy?

The Health Revolution is a 20-year roadmap developed by the Tasmanian Department of Health. It identifies five key areas for long-term preventative programs and investment designed to create better outcomes for Tasmanian people, communities, and the environment. It sets out a way for government to look at health holistically, and provide the supports people need now to improve their health and wellbeing for the long-term.

The five key focus areas were developed in consultation with communities and experts, as well as drawing on other wellbeing frameworks and strategies across different jurisdictions. They are:

  • Healthy environment and places
  • Healthy people and potential
  • Healthy communities and social conditions
  • Healthy foundations and equity
  • Healthy systems and supports

Each focus area is supported by specific sub-goals—practical benchmarks for government to track progress toward a healthier and more resilient Tasmania.

What does the submission recommend?

CPD’s submission focuses on how government can best implement the Strategy and effectively deliver the policies, programs, and services needed to achieve its goals.

One of the key recommendations is to recognise that the economy is a primary driver of wellbeing. Achieving a healthier Tasmania is closely linked to how the economic system creates better lives for people and communities.

Other recommendations include:

  • Strengthening collaboration across government and communities: Because health programs often overlap with other policy areas, the Department of Health should work closely with other departments. The submission suggests creating a dedicated interdepartmental committee to oversee this cooperation. Working with local government is also essential, as they are often responsible for delivering services on the ground and will require adequate funding. Tasmania can look to successful models in Victoria and South Australia for guidance. Additionally, the government should establish a formal advisory body to work with First Nations peoples, people with lived experience, and care practitioners to ensure transparency and accountability.
  • Aligning existing strategies: To avoid wasting resources or duplicating work, the strategy should be coordinated with other frameworks already in place, such as those within the Department of Premier and Cabinet, as well as federal initiatives like Measuring What Matters and Closing the Gap.
  • Supporting the public service to deliver: The people working within government must be encouraged and given the authorisation to prioritise prevention in their daily work. This ensures the strategy’s goals are reflected in how every department operates.
  • Changing how funding decisions are made: The financial benefits and savings of prevention often take years to appear. Instead of focusing only on short-term costs, the submission recommends that Treasury and Finance Departments are tasked with modeling how investments today will save money and improve lives over the long term. This will also require building the necessary capability within these departments.
  • Creating policies and programs that learn and improve: It is not enough to simply evaluate programs; the lessons learned must be used to change how services are delivered and policies are designed. By sharing these insights across the entire system, the government and service providers can ensure that programs constantly evolve to meet the needs of Tasmanians.

Why does this matter?

Governments across Australia and internationally are increasingly moving beyond traditional models that focus primarily on economic performance and budget cycles. While managing inflation, productivity, and growth remains important, it is no longer assumed that these factors alone will automatically improve the lives of people and communities.

The 20-year preventative health strategy is a significant example of a holistic roadmap designed to guide government decision-making. Its purpose is to ensure that current policies, programs, and services deliver meaningful, long-term benefits for all Tasmanians.

However, a strategy is only as effective as its implementation. For a framework like this to succeed, it must be embedded into the daily operations of government and guide every aspect of decision-making. CPD’s recommendations focus on ensuring the strategy is integrated into government processes, ensuring that every element—from departmental collaboration to funding structures—works in tandem to improve wellbeing.

By adopting these recommendations, the Tasmanian Government can better deliver on the strategy’s core promise: creating a state where every person has the opportunity to live well.

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