10 year life-saving and job-creating medical research plan

Date published: 

2 April 2019

Intended audience: 

General public

The 2019–20 Federal Budget details the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting lifesaving medical research. The Budget includes a $5 billion 10-year investment plan from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).  

This investment will reaffirm Australia’s position as a global health and medical research powerhouse. It will also fuel cutting edge research to deliver breakthroughs in new cures and treatments. These will make a difference to the lives of all Australians.

The Plan has 4 themes:

  • patients
  • researchers
  • translation
  • missions

The Plan extends important key initiatives under the MRFF. It will provide more money for:

  • clinical researcher fellowships
  • clinical trials
  • the bold game-changing Frontiers initiative
  • translation centres across Australia

The new initiatives align to the new MRFF Priorities (2018-2020).  These are determined by the independent Australian Medical Research Advisory Board following national consultation.  This includes funding for:

  • new missions stem cells:
    • Indigenous health research
    • dementia ageing and aged care
    • cardiovascular health
    • traumatic brain injury
  • preventative and public health research
  • primary health care research
  • commercialisation support for medical research
  • critical research and data infrastructure

This 10-year plan builds on $3.5 billion in health and medical research funding provided through the National Health and Medical Research Council and the $500 million Biomedical Translation Fund.

Find out more about the 2019–20 Health Budget.