Announcement date
23 February 2025
Link to announcement
Strengthening Medicare: More bulk billing, more doctors, more nurses | Minister’s Media Centre
Problem being addressed
Australia is not generating enough general practitioners (GPs) to meet community need now and into the future. Modelling by the Department of Health and Aged Care demonstrates a growing shortfall of GPs, with 7,700 more GPs needed by 2033 growing to 12,400 more GPs needed by 2048.
A continued undersupply of GPs undercuts broader efforts to improve accessibility and affordability of healthcare. Workforce shortages also increase reliance on locums at an elevated cost and add burden to already overstretched hospital services. Insufficient access to GP services can lead to a sicker population and increase the reliance on the hospital system. This can also lead to downstream impacts, including lower economic productivity and increased health system costs. Negative impacts from a lack of primary care access are disproportionally felt in rural and regional areas and by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups, First Nations and people who experience disadvantage.
Proposal
The Impact Analysis explores the status quo (continuing existing investment in programs) as well as three packages of policy options.
- Package 1
- Allocate 100 new medical Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) per year from 2026, increasing to 150 per year from 2028, which would be intrinsically linked to general practice to drive early career decisions, and uncap medical CSPs for First Nations students.
- Introduce a new prevocational program with 200 additional rotations in 2026, increasing to 400 rotations from 2028, to provide primary care rotations for interns and junior doctors.
- Increase GP training capacity by 200 places in 2026, increasing to 400 from 2028, across Commonwealth funded programs.
- Introduce a one-off incentive payment of $30,000 to address the average drop in baseline salary that junior doctors face when they leave hospital employment to become a GP trainee.
- Introduce leave provisions for GP trainees to address the disincentive to enter GP training due to the loss of state government leave entitlements, such as study and parental leave.
- Package 2
- Allocate 100 new primary care Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) per year from 2026, increasing to 150 from 2028, and uncap medical CSPs for First Nations students.
- Introduce a new prevocational program with 200 additional rotations in 2026, increasing to 400 rotations from 2028, to provide primary care rotations for interns and junior doctors.
- Increase GP training capacity by 200 places from 2026, increasing to 400 from 2028 across Commonwealth funded programs.
- Package 3
- Increase GP training capacity by 200 places in 2026, increasing to 400 from 2028, across Commonwealth funded programs.
- Introduce a one-off incentive payment of $30,000 for junior doctors when they leave hospital employment to become a GP trainee.
- Introduce leave provisions for GP trainees.
Package 1 is the option identified by Department of Health and Aged Care as having the most positive impact on the policy objectives and on the various stakeholder groups.
Assessed Impact Analysis outcome
Adequate
Assessment comments
The OIA notes that the IA describes the policy problem well. To be considered ‘good practice’ as per the Australian Government Guide to Policy Impact Analysis, the IA would have benefitted from further analysis of the likely costs, benefits and overall net impact of each option.
Regulatory burden
The Department of Health and Aged Care estimates of Package 1 will increase average regulatory costs by $0.33 million per year, over 10 years from 2026.