Australia’s federal government’s latest $224.3 million funding injection for dementia care has earned praise from leading dementia researchers and advocates, who simultaneously issued a clear call for equal, sustained investment in scientific research to tackle the growing public health crisis.
The funding package will expand critical support services across the nation: 20 new specialized dementia care programs will be launched, and a successful hospital transition initiative that helps older dementia patients move smoothly from acute hospital care to residential aged care will grow from 11 existing sites to 20. This new investment comes as part of a broader $3 billion national commitment to aged care with a targeted focus on dementia support.
Henry Brodaty, named Senior Australian of the Year and co-director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney, joined his co-director Perminder Sachdev in sharing their reaction to the budget announcement with media outlet news.com.au. Both leading neuroscience scholars described the funding as a welcome, long-overdue recognition of the growing scale and urgency of dementia across Australia.
“This $3bn investment in aged care – with a clear emphasis on dementia – is both timely and necessary as we face a rapidly growing number of Australians living with this condition,” the pair said in a joint statement. “Dementia is one of the greatest health, social and economic challenges of our time.”
While the pair welcomed the new care funding as an important foundational step, they stressed that this spending must be paired with ongoing, increased investment in dementia research. They emphasized that research is not a discretionary add-on to care efforts, but the core backbone of improving outcomes for people living with dementia.
“Research is how we improve diagnosis, develop new and more effective interventions, and build care systems that are both high-quality and sustainable,” the professors explained. “Without ongoing investment in research and evidence, we simply cannot deliver the outcomes Australians deserve. We already know that even relatively small advances can make a major difference.”
Brodaty is a key public figure leading the *Think Again* campaign, a joint initiative from news.com.au and *The Australian* launched in September 2025. The campaign works to challenge the widespread misconception that dementia only affects older people and is an inevitable part of aging, while also pushing for greater government investment and a more coordinated national approach to dementia care after diagnosis.
New national data underscores the urgency of the call for action. Latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released by Dementia Australia, show 446,500 Australians currently live with dementia, marking an increase of 13,500 new cases over the past year. Projections indicate that this number will more than double to nearly 1 million people by 2065, placing massive strain on national health and care systems.
The data also confirms that dementia is not exclusively a condition of older age: almost 30,000 Australians under the age of 65 live with young-onset dementia, and roughly 1,500 children are living with childhood dementia.
The CHeBA co-directors pointed to a major potential public health gain that research could unlock: delaying the onset of dementia by just 12 months could cut national prevalence by roughly 10%, delivering wide-ranging benefits for patients, their families, informal carers, and the entire health system. This kind of progress is only achievable through robust, well-funded research that is translated into real-world clinical and care practice, they said.
“If Australia is serious about addressing dementia, then research must remain central to our national response – embedded across prevention, diagnosis and care,” the pair said. “With the right investment, we have the opportunity not only to improve how we care for people living with dementia, but to lead the world in reducing its impact across the entire care pathway.”