The federal budget delivered virtually nothing in the way of specific, significant reform for nurses — despite warnings that the country is heading towards a massive nursing shortfall.

The claim comes from the Australian College of Nursing, which says that big-picture health reform, including expanding nurse roles, remains “unfinished business”.

“We are producing nursing graduates, but we do not have enough new graduate roles for them to go into,” its acting CEO Dr Zach Byfield (DPS) said.

“We are also seeing far too many early-career nurses abandon their clinical roles because of a lack of support and direction in the high-pressure field of nursing.”