Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a chronic shortage of doctors in country Australia. This is well known and it has been a source of great concern to country communities everywhere. Access to medical professionals and the services they provide is something city people take for granted, but country people know all too well what it's like to go without them.

Charles Sturt University aims to help solve this long-running problem by training doctors in the bush for practice in the bush through the Murray Darling Medical School. It plans to quarantine 80 per cent of the places for students from regional, rural and remote areas, because, as Charles Sturt University has shown with its many other courses, students from the country who are trained in the country are far more likely to work in regional Australia after they graduate. The course work at the Murray Darling Medical School would specifically prepare students for future practice in rural communities. It's a model that we know works. It has been successfully implemented by James Cook University in North Queensland. Charles Sturt University is already leading the way in training the next generation of country health professionals. As the lead partner in the Three Rivers University Department of Rural Health, it is training graduates in occupational therapy, radiation services, nursing, physiotherapy, pharmacy, podiatry, para-medicine and social work. In recent years, there has been much work to close the great divide in medical services between the city and country. But, until we solve this long-running problem of getting doctors to practice in the bush, equity in medical services between city and country will remain an elusive dream. The time for the Murray Darling Medical School and equity for rural patients has come.