BCNA continues to advocate for national reform at Australia's BreastScreen conference 

UPDATE - 10 March 2026

BCNA welcomes next steps to modernise BreastScreen Australia following national review

At the close of the conference, Mark Butler, Minister for Health, provided an update on the progress of the BreastScreen Australia national review, commissioned by the Australian Government in October 2023.

What has the Commonwealth committed to?

The Minister outlined several areas of work the Commonwealth will now begin to support implementation of the review’s recommendations.

These include:

• developing a national policy framework for risk-based screening, acknowledging that the evidence continues to evolve
• establishing a national strategy and action plan to boost participation in breast screening
• developing a contemporary quality framework to strengthen program delivery
• supporting activities that progress implementation of the review’s recommendations
• strengthening collaboration between the Commonwealth and states and territories to ensure reforms can be implemented nationally.

The Minister noted that these changes aim to modernise and strengthen the BreastScreen Australia Program, ensuring it continues to deliver strong outcomes for women into the future.

Why this matters

Participation in breast screening is well below where it needs to be in order for us to see the change that we want and all should expect in order to see the program deliver its full benefit.
At the same time, advances in screening technology are creating new opportunities to improve cancer detection and better understand individual risk.

For these innovations to be implemented safely and effectively, the program will require continued investment in technology infrastructure, workforce capability and dedicated research to build the evidence base that supports screening policy.

The program operates through a partnership between the Commonwealth and states and territories - yet there is still no clear national picture of how much Commonwealth funding is flowing into screening services, how it is being used, or what level of investment states and territories are contributing themselves. Greater transparency is needed and BCNA will continue to ask the questions that need to be answered.

BCNA members must be part of the solution

For BCNA, one of the most important aspects of the next phase of reform will be ensuring that the voices of people with lived experience remain central to decision-making.

BCNA’s network of members and Consumer Representatives brings invaluable insight into how screening programs are experienced in the real world - and how policies and systems can better support women.

Ensuring people affected by breast cancer are involved in the design and implementation of reforms will help strengthen trust, improve participation and ensure the program continues to meet the needs of women across Australia.

BCNA looks forward to working with governments, clinicians, researchers and its national consumer network to support the next phase of this work and ensure BreastScreen Australia continues to evolve in ways that benefit all women.