Travel Insurance for Australia: Holidays and Working Holidays

Whether you’re coming for a three-week holiday or a two-year working holiday, sorting travel insurance for Australia is one of those jobs that’s easy to put off. Don’t. We spent two years in Australia on working holiday visas, including 3 months of farm work (which we hated!), and we can’t stress enough how important it is to be covered in an emergency.

Lots of people assume they don’t need insurance because of Australia’s reciprocal health care agreements, or because their visa doesn’t ask for it. Here’s what those agreements really cover, what an ambulance or a night in hospital costs if you’re not covered, and what to look for in a policy, updated for October 2026.

Quick Answer

Is it compulsory? Not for most visitors. The ETA, eVisitor and working holiday visas don’t make it a standard requirement, but the Australian government strongly recommends it and says you are personally liable for all your healthcare costs.
Reciprocal agreements with 11 countries, including the UK and Ireland, cover some public hospital care, but never ambulances, repatriation home, private hospitals or dental.
An emergency ambulance for a visitor costs about AUD 948 plus AUD 8.56 per km in NSW, AUD 1,477 in Melbourne and AUD 1,559.57 in Queensland.
Our pick for UK and European residents: True Traveller, for a holiday or a working holiday. If you live in Australia and are heading overseas, look at Fast Cover instead.

Do You Need Travel Insurance for Australia?

Legally, usually not. None of the ETA (subclass 601), the eVisitor (subclass 651) or the Working Holiday (417) and Work and Holiday (462) visas makes health insurance a standard condition. On the 417, 462 and the Visitor visa (600), the government can add condition 8501, “maintain adequate health insurance”, case by case, so check your grant letter.

But every one of those visa pages says the same thing: the government strongly recommends health insurance, and you are personally liable for all your healthcare costs while you are in Australia. Visitors are usually not eligible for Medicare, which is the public health system Australians use.

What Australia’s Reciprocal Health Care Agreements Cover

Australia has reciprocal health care agreements with 11 countries: the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden. If you’re from France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland or any other country not on that list, you get no cover at all and insurance is your only protection.

What you get depends on your country. These are the two we get asked about most:

Visiting from	What’s covered	Do you enrol in Medicare?	How long
United Kingdom	Medically necessary care as a public patient in a public hospital, medically necessary GP care out of hospital, and some PBS prescription medicines at the general rate	Yes, with your passport, visa and proof you lived in the UK (a GHIC, for example)	From the day you arrive until your visa expires
Ireland	Medically necessary inpatient and outpatient care in a public hospital and some PBS prescription medicines. No GP visits	No. Show your Irish passport at the public hospital or pharmacy	From the day you arrive until your visa expires

Visitors from Italy and Malta are usually covered for 6 months only, and some countries need an EHIC as well as a passport. The details are on the Services Australia website.

What Reciprocal Agreements and Medicare Never Cover

Even with a reciprocal agreement, you are on your own for:

Ambulances. NSW and Queensland both say there are no reciprocal arrangements for ambulance services, and overseas visitors pay the full cost.
Repatriation (flying you home after a serious illness or injury), which only travel insurance pays for
Private hospitals, or being treated as a private patient in a public hospital
Dental treatment, glasses and anything that isn’t medically necessary
Everything non-medical: cancelled flights, lost luggage, theft and your passport

What an Emergency Costs in Australia Without Insurance

These are the official rates for overseas visitors from 1 July 2026, in Australian dollars:

State	Emergency ambulance
New South Wales	AUD 948 call-out plus AUD 8.56 per km
Victoria	AUD 1,477 in Melbourne, AUD 2,179 in regional areas
Queensland	AUD 1,559.57
Western Australia	AUD 1,772 in Perth, AUD 2,120 in the country (St John WA’s non-resident rate)

Hospitals are dearer again if you’re not covered. Victoria estimates AUD 644 for an emergency department visit, AUD 1,957 a day on a medical ward and AUD 6,881 a day in intensive care, before doctors’ fees and tests. In Western Australia an overnight stay is AUD 3,417 a day. One broken ankle on a surf trip can easily cost more than a year of insurance.

Travel Insurance for a Holiday in Australia

For a holiday of a few weeks, you’re looking for a single-trip policy that covers Australia (most insurers group it with New Zealand). Make sure it includes:

emergency medical and hospital costs, ambulance and repatriation home
cancellation and curtailment, in case you can’t travel or have to come home early
luggage, passport and valuables
the activities you’ll actually do: surfing, snorkelling and diving on the Great Barrier Reef, hiking or a skydive
any stopovers or side trips, like Bali or New Zealand on the way

Travel Insurance for a Working Holiday in Australia

A working holiday is a different story, because you need a long-stay policy that covers you while you work. Things to know:

Length: True Traveller long-stay policies covering Australia and New Zealand run for up to 18 months. Its 24-month policies are for under-36s on the worldwide area that includes the USA and Canada. You can extend a policy while you’re still travelling.
Farm and fruit-picking work: True Traveller’s standard pack only covers non-manual work, such as bar, restaurant, office and childcare jobs. For your 88 days of farm work you need the Adventure Pack or higher, which adds general farm work and fruit picking (including driving tractors), but not heavy machinery or working above 2 metres.
Trips home: with True Traveller you can fly home mid-trip (for a wedding or Christmas, say) without cancelling. Your cover simply pauses while you’re in your home country.
Reciprocal care still helps if you’re from the UK or Ireland, but it doesn’t replace insurance, for all the reasons above.

Working Holiday Visa Changes in 2026

Higher fee: the first Working Holiday visa (417) costs AUD 840 from 1 July 2026, up from AUD 670. Second and third visas are AUD 1,000. The 462 visa is also AUD 840.
Age limit: Irish and UK citizens can apply up to the age of 35. For some countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden, the limit is 30.
UK passport holders haven’t needed any farm or regional work for a second or third visa since 1 July 2024. Irish and other 417 holders still need 3 months (88 days) of specified work for the second visa and 6 months for the third.

For the full checklist, see our working holiday visa Australia checklist.

Questions to Ask Before You Buy

Are trips outside Australia covered? We were planning to visit the Philippines and travel around Asia, so this was super important to us.
What’s the policy on trips home? Some insurers don’t allow them, some allow a couple, and some pause your cover while you’re home.
What’s the excess? That’s how much you pay yourself on each claim. No-excess policies cost more.
Are your luggage and valuables covered, including a lost or stolen passport?
Which activities are covered? Once summer hits you’ll probably try surfing, and maybe a skydive on the East Coast.
How do you contact them in an emergency? Save the number in your phone as soon as you buy, as you usually have limited time to report a claim.

Our Pick: True Traveller

We’ve used True Traveller on many occasions, and we always chose comprehensive cover because we wanted to explore Indonesia and the Philippines too. It’s the insurer we recommend most to European members of our groups.

For UK and European residents only
Single-trip holiday policies for Australia and New Zealand, or worldwide
£10 million (or €10 million) medical cover, including repatriation, on all policies
92 activities as standard, with Adventure, Extreme and Ultimate packs for more (and for farm work)
Long-stay cover for a working holiday, and you can extend while you’re away

Get a True Traveller quote

If you live outside the UK and Europe, compare policies from insurers licensed in your home country, and check they include ambulance and repatriation.

Travel Insurance for Australia: FAQ

Is travel insurance mandatory for Australia?

Not for most tourists or working holiday makers. The ETA, eVisitor and working holiday visas don’t require it as standard, though condition 8501 can be added to some visas case by case. The government strongly recommends it, and you pay all your own healthcare costs if you’re not covered.

Does the UK reciprocal agreement mean I don’t need insurance?

No. It covers medically necessary public hospital and GP care once you enrol in Medicare, but not ambulances, repatriation, private hospitals, dental or anything non-medical like cancellations and lost luggage.

Are Irish visitors covered in Australia?

Partly. Irish residents get medically necessary public hospital care and some PBS medicines by showing their Irish passport, but no GP visits, ambulances or repatriation.

How much does an ambulance cost in Australia for tourists?

From 1 July 2026, an emergency ambulance for an overseas visitor costs about AUD 948 plus AUD 8.56 per km in NSW, AUD 1,477 in Melbourne, AUD 1,559.57 in Queensland and AUD 1,772 in Perth.

Does travel insurance cover farm work in Australia?

Only if your policy covers manual work. With True Traveller that means adding the Adventure Pack or higher. Check the exclusions for machinery and working at heights.