The budget did not adopt a comprehensive approach to the primary health care system, perhaps because many community health services, which represent the other important arm for delivery of public health services, are the responsibility of states. The timetable for renewing Public Health Outcome Funding Agreements (PHOFAs) between the Commonwealth and states and territories in 2004 raised in the minds of some stakeholders, the possibility that the Commonwealth might adopt a more comprehensive and strategic approach, linking public health and primary health care funding streams.