St Vincent's urges federal government to prioritise health and aged care in AI standards

Healthcare and aged care provider St Vincent's has called on the Australian Government to treat health and aged care as top priorities in the country's upcoming national AI standards and infrastructure plans.

In a formal submission to the federal consultation on artificial intelligence standards, the group warned that Australia risks turning into a pure consumer of overseas systems. St Vincent's argued that relying entirely on imported software threatens domestic technical capability, weakens oversight and overlooks the country's unique health records and medical experience.

The choice between building and buying

St Vincent's operates major hospitals in Sydney and Melbourne alongside residential aged care facilities across several states. Dr Chris Robinson, the provider's chief medical officer, outlined a choice facing Australian policymakers and industry: build local capability or buy overseas products.

Dr Robinson noted that importing models leaves Australian healthcare providers exposed to foreign vendor decisions, while building local tools allows systems to train directly on domestic population datasets. The submission recommended that governments use procurement rules, targeted funding and research partnerships to encourage local development rather than leaving outcomes solely to overseas commercial players.

The provider also recommended public-interest requirements for developers operating in the Australian health sector, including contributions toward research that addresses underserved patient groups. St Vincent's pointed out that untargeted market forces often direct software spending toward affluent, digitally confident groups, leaving higher-need patients behind.

What this means for Australian businesses

For operators running clinics, allied health practices, care facilities or health-tech startups, this push signals where government scrutiny and commercial opportunities are heading:

• Scrutinise overseas software carefully. Foreign tools may be trained on datasets that do not match local clinical guidelines, Medicare coding rules or Australian demographics. Always verify where data is hosted and whether patient information leaves Australia.
• Prepare for stricter sector standards. If Canberra accepts the proposal, health and aged care will face early mandatory testing and audit rules. Keeping clean records of any automated tools you use in clinical notes or triage will save administrative pain later.
• Look for domestic software partnerships. As public funding and health procurement favour sovereign solutions, local software companies and service providers that can integrate compliant, locally trained models will find growing opportunities.
• Audit internal data handling. AI systems depend heavily on high-quality practice records. Small providers that organise and secure their operational records now will be in a much stronger position to deploy compliant automation tools as sector rules formalise.