The Rudd Government will invest $148 million to immediately establish new GP training places, allowing 175 additional new doctors to begin training to become GPs over the next two years.
This will help tackle the nationwide GP shortage, which currently affects six in 10 Australians - delivering more GPs, and helping more families to access basic health services.
It is not good enough that with a GP shortage stretching right across the country, potential GPs were being knocked back from training places because of a cap imposed by the previous Liberal Government.
The Rudd Government has acted to fix this, as an immediate down payment on future workforce reform.
With more and more graduate doctors coming out of our universities each year, it is crucial that they are encouraged and able to join disciplines - such as general practice - where there are shortages.
There will be 75 new general practice training places in 2009 and 100 new places in 2010, bringing the total number of training places to 675 in 2009, and 700 in 2010.
This investment will be of particular benefit to Tasmania which has been allocated five additional training places for 2009 as a result of this initiative. This means that five suitable applicants who missed out on a training place will now be able to be re-considered.
Immediate priority will be given to existing eligible applicants who have applied for a 2009 placement, but have not yet been offered a position.
The most recent Medical Workforce Survey, released last Friday, shows that the overall supply of primary care practitioners fell from 101 to 97 full time equivalents per 100 000 population between 2002 and 2006.
The Rudd Government will ensure that the increasing numbers of medical graduates coming online in the coming years are supported to work in areas where the community needs them most - providing frontline care to those who do not enjoy the same good health outcomes as the rest of Australia.
Doctors training to be GPs on the AGPT program train in general practice settings in rural and urban locations. This investment also provides funding so that trainees can choose to undertake training time in Aboriginal health services. Attractive incentives are offered to those who commit to rural or remote general practice locations.
The Government is also investing an extra $18.4 million in the Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS) for medical practitioners in remote and isolated communities throughout Australia.
This program helps remote communities retain access to their GP because training is structured to allow them to continue to provide general medical services to their communities while accessing distance education and supervision.
The new funding will increase the number of places from 15 to 22 from 2011.
The Rudd Government believes all Australians should be able to get the health care they need, when and where they need it.
This action is an early and important step towards that goal.
The process for applying for the GP training places is available through the Australian General Practice Training program website at www.AGPT.com.au