The Menzies Centre for Health Policy aims to provide the Australian people with a better understanding of their health system and what it provides for them. The Centre encourages informed debate about how Australians can influence health policy to ensure that it is consistent with their values and priorities and is able to deliver safe, high quality health care that is sustainable in the long term.

The Menzies Centre:

• produces and publishes high-quality analyses of current health policy issues;
• delivers public seminars and education programs on a wide variety of health policy topics;
• undertakes comprehensive research projects on health policy issues.

History

In 2009, the Australian Health Policy Institute and The Diabetes Unit at the University of Sydney merged with the Menzies Centre for Health Policy. The Australian Health Policy Institute was originally conceived by Mr John Wyn Owen when he was Director-General of the NSW Department of Health (1994-97). Mr Wyn Owen observed that Australia lacked a broad-ranging independent institutional capacity dedicated to the analysis of domestic health policy and the promotion of debate on health policy issues. In 1999, the late Professor John Young, then Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Health Sciences, took up this conception and the Australian Health Policy Institute was formed to provide a high-level capability for authoritative, independent, non-partisan analysis of major health policy questions which confront Australian and international health systems.

The Institute had four themes: Futures; Equity; Serious and Continuing Illnesses; and Governance.