When Australia and the Philippines announced a new Strategic Partnership in 2023, the language was big and bold. The Partnership outlines cooperation across defence, maritime security, economic development, cyber security, trade and investment, clean energy, climate action, diaspora and migrant workers, and people-to-people exchanges. However, the Partnership forgot its most strategic asset — nurses and healthcare professionals.
Despite the central role Filipino nurses play in Australia’s health system and the importance of migration to the Philippine economy, the agreement does not fully address the needs of the nursing workforce. This is not a small oversight. It is a policy blind spot with profound implications.
Filipino nurses and other health workers are at the very heart of the relationship between our two countries. They are the backbone of Australia’s health and aged care systems, filling chronic workforce shortages, staff rural and regional hospitals, disability services, community clinics, and care for ageing Australians. They send remittances home, support families, and invest in Philippine communities. They help Australia cope with workforce shortages, even as the Philippines struggles with its own chronic lack of nurses. Without this workforce, Australia would face even more severe staffing gaps, longer wait times, and reduced capacity across hospitals, aged care, mental health, and rural services.
The declaration talks about stronger defence cooperation and joint patrols at sea. It outlines ambitious plans for supply chains, climate cooperation, and a resilient, rules-based Indo-Pacific. It recognises the role of diaspora communities and commits to protecting migrant workers’ rights. But it does not once name the nurses and healthcare professionals whose labour literally keeps both societies alive.
Words matter in diplomacy. Being named in a high-level agreement can open doors to funding, programs, and policy attention. Being left out can send the opposite signal: that your contribution is important in practice but invisible in principle.
As we move toward the 2026 review of this partnership, Filipino community organisations and professional groups like the Filipino Nursing Diaspora (FiND) Network believe this omission must be addressed.
Why? Because health security is national security. The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that the strength of a country is measured not only by its ships and planes, but by its ICU beds, its primary health care, and the wellbeing of its health workforce. When one country depends heavily on the nurses of another—as Australia does on the Philippines—this is not just a labour issue. It is a strategic issue.
At the same time, the large-scale migration of Filipino nurses is a double-edged sword. Their remittances and expertise are a boon to the Philippines. But when too many leave too quickly, the health system at home is left dangerously thin. Communities, especially outside major cities, feel the shortage most acutely.
An honest partnership between Australia and the Philippines should not ignore this reality. It should confront it directly, and design joint solutions.
A renewed Strategic Partnership in 2026 could do three simple but powerful things:
1. Name nurses and healthcare professionals explicitly in the Agreement
Recognise in the text of the agreement that nurses and healthcare professionals are key actors in people-to-people links, development cooperation, and regional health security.
2. Create a bilateral healthcare workforce mechanism
A balanced approach requires stronger bilateral commitments: establish a formal platform through which both governments can align recruitment practices with ethical global standards, protections against predatory onboarding practices, fair credential recognition, transition-to-practice programs that protect nurses and support their professional growth, and reinvestment in the Philippines’ education and training capacity.
The Partnership should include agreements that recognise the Philippine nursing qualifications and align competency standards through joint programs or clinical exchanges, ensuring that Filipino nurses can practice in Australia without unnecessary barriers or additional training that duplicates their prior education.
3. Give migrant nurses and healthcare professionals a voice in bilateral policy and workforce planning
Include Filipino nurses, healthcare professionals and community organisations in bilateral consultations, workforce planning, and health system reforms under the partnership. This could include nurse-led advisory groups or bilateral consultation mechanisms, working groups, or joint committees where nurses can share their experiences, highlight challenges, and propose solutions. This strengthens healthcare system planning on both sides and affirms nurses as partners, not just participants in the Partnership.
None of this would diminish the importance of defence, trade, or climate cooperation. On the contrary, it would complete the picture. A truly strategic partnership in the 21st century must recognise that security is human as well as military; that prosperity depends on healthy, cared-for populations; and that diplomacy is most effective when it listens to the people who live its consequences.
The strength of the Partnership will not only be measured by its diplomatic achievements, but by how well it supports the people who hold our healthcare systems together. For Filipinos in Australia, especially nurses, this is not an abstract debate. It is about their everyday lives: their working conditions, their families, their ability to contribute both here and back home. For Australians, it is about the future of their healthcare system and the values they claim to uphold in the region.
The treaty may not have named them. But the 2026 review gives us a chance to change that.
If we genuinely believe in an open, resilient, and humane Indo-Pacific, then Filipino nurses and other healthcare professionals must be recognised not only as workers in demand, but as partners in designing that future.
