5 Pillars of Productivity - Pillar 4: Delivering quality care more efficiently - Productivity commission - June 2025
In June 2025, The Salvation Army provided a submission to the Productivity Commission’s consultation for Delivering Quality Care More Efficiently.
In this submission, we draw on our experience as a national provider of social services to highlight the importance of regulatory consistency, collaborative service design, and long-term investment in prevention. We recommend reforms that reduce duplication across jurisdictions, strengthen community-based care, and address the root causes of disadvantage.
This submission covers:
Regulatory complexity across jurisdictions. Inconsistent and jurisdictionally exclusive quality and safety regulations create unnecessary administrative burdens without improving outcomes. Aligning these systems nationally would enhance transparency and efficiency.
Collaborative commissioning. We share our experience with the Child Health Pathways Project, a successful example of co-designed care that improved access to early childhood health services. However, short-term funding limited its continuation. We recommend long-term, flexible funding models that support place-based solutions and allow providers to adapt services to local needs.
Barriers to prevention investment. Governments often prioritise visible short-term outcomes, making it difficult to fund long-term, evidence-based prevention programs. Fragmented funding, limited data systems, and workforce constraints further hinder progress.
Examples of effective prevention. We highlight two successful initiatives: Baby Makes 3, which promotes healthy relationships among new parents, and the Alexis Family Violence Response Model, which integrates specialist practitioners into police units. Both demonstrate the value of early intervention and cross-sector collaboration.
Recommendations for government. We call for national frameworks to support prevention, including shared data systems, longitudinal research, and stable funding. We also stress the need to address poverty as a key driver of demand for care services.
The Productivity Commission’s interim report will be published late 2025.