A National Sunscreen Program for Australia
UVI3 is calling on the Australian Government to fund free SPF 50+ sunscreen as a minimum starting point for:
Childcare centres
Primary and secondary schools
Universities and TAFEs
Community and sporting clubs
This first phase should lead to expanded access in public settings, and ultimately free sunscreen for all Australians.
Sunscreen is a TGA-approved, evidence-based intervention that reduces the risk of melanoma and other skin cancers when used correctly and consistently.
Estimates suggest a national sunscreen prevention program would cost a fraction of what we currently spend treating skin cancer each year. Even a modest reduction in future cases would save lives, ease pressure on GPs and hospitals, and reduce long-term health costs.
Making sunscreen freely available in high-exposure settings ensures that protection doesn't depend on income, postcode, or whether someone remembered to bring sunscreen that day.
We already fund vaccines, road safety infrastructure, and smoking prevention programs. Sunscreen belongs in the same category: essential public health infrastructure that saves lives and reduces long-term costs.
All sunscreen provided through the program must meet Australian TGA standards for SPF 50+ broad-spectrum protection.
Sunscreen should be prominently displayed in high-exposure settings, making protection easy and normalised.
Begin with educational and community settings where young Australians are most exposed, then expand to broader public access.
Monitor program effectiveness, usage patterns, and health outcomes to refine and improve implementation over time.
Covered by Medicare. For everyone. No exceptions.
Phase 1 gets sunscreen into schools and sporting clubs. But our ultimate goal, the vision that drives everything UVI3 does, is bigger than that. We believe sunscreen should be free for every Australian, subsidised through Medicare, just like other essential preventive health measures. Here is why this is not just a dream. It is a logical, evidence-based, fiscally responsible policy that Australia can and should adopt.
$2.47B
Skin cancer cost the Australian health system in 2023–24, including diagnosis, treatment and pathology
Source: Australasian College of Dermatologists, 2025
$150
Saved in Medicare costs for every $1 spent on sunscreen per person per year, according to QIMR Berghofer research
Source: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
$8.70
Returned for every $1 invested in sun protection programs, based on WA SunSmart program analysis
Source: Health Promotion Journal, 2024
Australia spends $2.47 billion every year treating skin cancer, a disease that is, in the majority of cases, preventable. A national Medicare-funded sunscreen program covering all 26 million Australians with a quality SPF 50+ product would cost an estimated $500–700 million annually, less than a third of what we currently spend on treatment. The savings in avoided surgeries, hospitalisations, pathology, and specialist consultations would far outweigh the program cost within a decade.
Medicare and the PBS already fund a wide range of preventive health measures. The principle is well established: when the government invests in stopping disease before it starts, everyone benefits. Sunscreen fits this model perfectly.
Childhood vaccines
Fully funded through the National Immunisation Program
Cervical cancer screening
Free Pap smears and HPV tests under Medicare
Bowel cancer screening
Free home testing kits mailed to eligible Australians
Breast cancer screening
Free mammograms through BreastScreen Australia
Nicotine replacement therapy
Subsidised through the PBS for smoking cessation
Sunscreen for veterans
Already subsidised through the Repatriation PBS, proving the model works
The precedent already exists. The Repatriation PBS currently subsidises sunscreen for Australian veterans, acknowledging that sun protection is a legitimate, fundable health intervention. If it is good enough for our veterans, it is good enough for every Australian.
A quality SPF 50+ sunscreen costs between $15 and $30 per bottle. For a family of four using sunscreen daily through an Australian summer, that is a real cost, and for low-income families, it is often a cost they cannot afford. Research consistently shows that sunscreen use drops significantly as price increases.
67%
More sunscreen applied when cost drops below $0.20 per ounce, proving that price is a direct barrier to protection
Source: American Public Health Association, 2024
2x
Higher skin cancer rates in lower-income communities, where consistent sunscreen use is lowest due to cost barriers
Source: Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2025
A Medicare-funded sunscreen program would eliminate this inequity entirely. Whether you live in Toorak or Tennant Creek, whether you earn $200,000 or $20,000, you would have the same access to the same protection. That is what a fair health system looks like.
Australia is not the first country to recognise that sunscreen access is a public health issue. Other nations are already acting. The question is: why is the country with the world's highest skin cancer rates not leading this charge?
🇳🇱 Netherlands
Installed free sunscreen dispensers in parks, schools, and public spaces in 2023 in response to record skin cancer rates. Praised globally as a model for public health action.
🇨🇦 Canada
Multiple provinces running free public sunscreen dispenser programs in outdoor recreation areas, with studies showing significant increases in usage and awareness.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
The British Association of Dermatologists called for VAT removal on sunscreen to improve access, with modelling showing significant reductions in melanoma incidence.
Australia has the highest UV radiation levels and the highest skin cancer rates on Earth. If the Netherlands, a country with far lower UV exposure, can justify free public sunscreen, the argument for Australia is overwhelming. We should not be following. We should be leading.
We want to live in an Australia where no one skips sunscreen because they can't afford it. Where every child, every outdoor worker, every person, regardless of income or postcode, has access to the same protection. Where the government treats skin cancer prevention the same way it treats every other preventable disease: as a shared responsibility.
Free sunscreen through Medicare. It is not radical. It is rational.
Sign the PetitionJoin us in calling for a National Sunscreen Program.
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