Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for his question. The coalition's budget saw record investment in essential health services in hospitals, in medical research, in medicines and in Medicare, all underpinned by a stronger economy. It's this government's plan for a stronger economy that guarantees the essential services Australians rely on. However, access to medical care will not be equitable if regional Australians cannot access qualified doctors and health professionals. Today our cities have approximately 4½ doctors for every 1,000 people, while our most rural areas have just over two doctors per thousand.

On budget night we unveiled the Stronger Rural Health Strategy, the most comprehensive workforce reform package ever produced in Australia. It resets 29 years of incremental regulatory build-up at every stage of the medical workforce supply, including teaching, training and retention. Let's talk about teaching. We're actually establishing the Murray-Darling medical schools network, creating end-to-end medical school programs that take school leavers straight to rural medical schools. We're cutting red tape for our bonded students, making it easier for them to do their return-of-service obligations in the region. In terms of training, we're making it easier for junior doctors to stay in the regions after graduation, with new access to Medicare provider numbers when working in supervised general practice in the regions. We're providing incentives for more of these doctors to gain full specialist GP qualifications. We're also continuing to support funding to retain GPs and better targeting of the rural bulk-billing incentives. Our Stronger Rural Health Strategy will deliver 3,000 specialist GPs to the regions over the next 10 years, providing Australians with long-term, sustainable access to essential health services, regardless of where they live.