How public dental care for adults is funded

The schedule

The 2025–26 schedule at a glance

The Federal Financial Relations page for this schedule gives a short record of it.

1. 2025–26Schedule

   Name

   Public Dental Services for Adults 2025-26

   Agreement type

   FFA - Health

   Program stream

   Public dental services for adults

   Total funding

   $107.76m

   As the Federal Financial Relations page gave it on 9 October 2026.

2. TermDates

   Start

   14 July 2025

   End

   30 June 2026

   Status

   Marked expired

   As the Federal Financial Relations page gave it on 9 October 2026.

The agreement type, FFA - Health, is the Federation Funding Agreement for health, the agreement under which New South Wales signed its Schedule on Public Dental Services for Adults. The page says the schedule supports the delivery of “additional dental services to eligible adult dental patients”. This guide holds no schedule for 2026–27, so it cannot say what, if anything, has taken the expired one’s place; the Federal Financial Relations site is where a new one would appear.

New South Wales

One state’s signed schedule

New South Wales’ signed schedule for 2025–26 shows what one state’s schedule contains. Its parties are the Commonwealth and New South Wales. Its purpose is to improve access to oral health services by helping the state deliver dental services to patients eligible “as per New South Wales’ specified eligibility criteria”. In other words, the money comes from the Commonwealth, while the eligibility rules in this schedule are the state’s own.

• Contribution

  The schedule set the Commonwealth’s estimated total contribution to New South Wales at up to $34.37 million.

• Term

  The schedule was expected to expire on 30 June 2026, or when the initiative was complete, including acceptance of the final performance reporting.

• Extension

  A covering letter from the NSW Minister for Health thanks the Commonwealth for its offer to extend the agreement on adult public dental services “through to 30 June 2026”.

• No double funding

  The schedule notes that, under the National Health Reform Agreement, the Commonwealth does not fund a service, or any part of one, that it already funds another way.

The Budget

What the 2026–27 Budget shows

The 2026–27 Budget lists public dental services for adults in its health section, under payments for specific purposes. In its words: “The Australian Government is providing funding to support the ongoing delivery of public dental services to eligible adults.” Its table runs from 2025–26 to 2029–30 and counts in millions of dollars. Here is its total row, across all states and territories; each state’s own row is in the paper. The total is the same, 107.8, in each of the five years, and the Total column’s 538.8 is $538.8 million across all five.

The Budget table shows 107.8 for 2025–26, in millions to one decimal place, against the schedule record’s $107.76m. The later years are the Budget’s own figures. They are not a signed schedule, and this guide holds none for those years.

The paper also points elsewhere: “A new measure associated with this item is listed in Table 1.4 and described in more detail in Budget Paper No. 2, Budget Measures 2026–27.”

Dates

The dates in order

• 14 July 2025

  The 2025–26 schedule for adult public dental care starts.

• 30 June 2026

  The schedule ends; New South Wales’ signed schedule was expected to expire the same day, unless the initiative was completed first.

• 2026–27 Budget

  Budget Paper No. 3 sets out amounts for public dental services for adults for each year from 2025–26 to 2029–30.

• 9 October 2026

  When this guide was checked, the Federal Financial Relations page showed the 2025–26 schedule as expired, and this guide held no schedule for 2026–27.

The states

What the states say about their side

The state pages describe the same money from the other end. Queensland says its public dental services “are funded by the government” and are free to eligible people. Western Australia says its government subsidises treatment at a public clinic by up to 75% of the cost, depending on the patient’s Centrelink income. New South Wales describes its role this way: “NSW Health provides a safety net public oral health system for eligible patients.” Victoria says anyone assessed as unable to pay is exempt from its fees, and that a provider of public dental care cannot refuse a service only because a person cannot pay.

What a patient pays sits at the end of this chain, and the fees guide sets out each charge. Who can get public dental care covers the eligibility rules each state sets, and the home page puts the funding in one paragraph.