The global action plan of the World Health Organization (WHO) for preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases aims to substantially reduce the burden of premature mortality caused by cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic lung disease by 2025, through action on nine targets measured by 25 indicators of performance. As a member state of the WHO, Australia is committed to the global action plan. However, we argue that the Australian government devotes insufficient attention to health policy, funding and program implementation for effective prevention. In this article, we review Australia’s progress against national non-communicable disease (NCD) targets set in 2009, and suggest that a more comprehensive approach is required.