Positioning health promotion as a policy priority in Australia

Recent Australian scholarship has provided a clear rationale for investing in health promotion policy in Australia.1 This is consistent with the aim of the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) ‘to advance the health of all people in Australia through leadership, advocacy and support for health promotion action in practice, research, evaluation and policy’.2 A key element of AHPA advocacy platform has involved the adoption of a multi-partisan approach. This means engagement with political parties of different persuasions as a means to support health advancement in Australia. One recent opportunity involved participation in the Labor Party's National Health Policy Summit (the Summit). It was hosted jointly by the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the Shadow Minister for Health, and the Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health. Held in Canberra on 3 March 2017, it was an invitation-only event attended by 150+ representatives of professional health bodies from around Australia. The authors of this editorial represented AHPA at the Summit, and the commentary reflects our views based on participation in the Summit (it does not necessarily reflect a policy position of AHPA).