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I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land, the Larrakia people, and pay my respect to elders, past and present.
I extend that respect to all First Nations people here today.
I would also like to acknowledge:
- Dr Stephen Gourley, President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM)
- Dr Sarah Chalmers, President-Elect of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA)
- Peta Rutherford, CEO of RDAA
- Associate Professor Michael Clements, Vice President of the RACGP and Chair of the RACGP Rural Council
- Dr Rod Martin, President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), and
- rural and remote doctors from across the NT here today.
It's genuinely been a privilege for me these past few days in the Northern Territory to meet with doctors in their far-flung workplaces - from the new home of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress in Alice Springs, to the Mutitjulu Community Health Centre and headspace Darwin.
You who live, work and study here know it well.
You also know its persistent challenges - and one of the most pressing is the health care workforce, especially in the more remote parts of the Top End.
It's a challenge that came into sharp focus during my conversation with Dr Alan Kerr at Mutitjulu on Wednesday. He spoke with me of the privilege working with the oldest continuing culture in the world - the thread of history - and at the same time the harsh realities of health care in remote communities.
Our government knows this too. Which is why we are working alongside you to introduce measures to tackle health workforce challenges. Initiatives that recognise that one size does not fit all. That understand local needs. That provide local solutions to local issues - grassroots, not top down.
The importance of attracting and retaining the medical professionals we need and fostering a home-grown workforce. And providing education and training, housing, and the right incentives.
I'm proud to be part of a government dedicated to equitable access to quality health care, regardless of where people live in Australia. Working to lift bulk billing right around the country so that it works better for patients and doctors. Training future doctors beyond the big cities and towns.
Strengthening Medicare is central to our government's health reforms. We are working to restore both the intent and integrity of this idea - introduced by Labor - that all Australians can get universal health coverage. That's all Australians. Not just those in the big cities and towns.
Tripling the bulk billing incentive for all Australians from 1 November this year will benefit regional, rural and remote areas. The benefits of our increase in bulk billing incentives have already been felt most in rural and regional Australia, with 3 million bulk-billing incentive claims in the 12 months to June 2025.
Free Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and Medicare Mental Health Centres are moving the dial on access to care, closer to home, with more funding for new and existing clinics in recognition of higher staffing costs and to support extended hours.
Health workforce is a major focus. In the last Budget, we allocated more than $662 million to grow the primary care workforce and deliver more doctors around Australia.
This includes strengthening general practice as a specialty, and the expansion of GP and rural generalist training places. Government-funded GP training will grow to over 2,000 commencing places each year for junior doctors to specialise in general practice, with over half of these training places in regional and remote areas.
Removing barriers faced by junior doctors who wish to pursue GP training, with new $30,000 salary incentives and payments for up to 20 weeks' parental leave and five days of annual study leave for GP registrars from 2026. Extra rotations for junior doctors so that over the next four years around 1,300 more early career doctors will gain exposure to primary care. An extra 100 Commonwealth Supported Places for medical students from next year, increasing to 150 per year by 2028. And an additional 400 scholarships through the Primary Care Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship Program. All with benefits for patients and a range of health practitioners, particularly in rural and remote areas.
These investments aren't just numbers on a page - they're already making a difference. At the Palmerston Medicare Urgent Care Clinic yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with Associate Professor Chris Harden, who shared with me the value of students learning and working in multi-disciplinary teams, and the positive impact that has on care.
We know that medical graduates who come from a rural background or study in rural areas are much more likely to stay and practice in these communities. And here in the Territory, I'm pleased that the Northern Territory Medical Program is going from strength to strength.
This collaboration between Flinders University, Charles Darwin University, and the NT and Commonwealth governments is about building a home-grown medical workforce equipped to work in remote areas, including First Nations communities.
The figures tell the story. 36 student training places offered as Commonwealth-funded scholarships each year, with eight for First Nations students, to become junior doctors and registrars working and living in the NT. All bonded to practice in the NT for a period of two years. A total of 230 medical students graduated since 2011. More than nine out of 10 living in the NT. And nearly half still working in the NT after the two years.
This will be further boosted next year with the new medical school at Charles Darwin University, with Commonwealth funding of $27.4 million over five years and 40 new medical Commonwealth supported places a year.
Prevocational rotations are an important part of the medical training pathway - providing early career doctors with valuable experience before settling on your future career.
Rural GPs have long argued for more primary care rotations for hospital-based prevocational doctors to help 'grow' the GP and rural generalist workforce. We've listened. From next year, the Australian Government will fund 1,000 rural rotations for prevocational doctors every year - that's an increase of 200 from this year, and double the number in 2023.
Since 2023, around 950 junior doctors have undertaken rotations in a rural primary care setting through the John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program - 137 of them in the NT. The renamed Australian Primary Care Prevocational Program will be a truly national program, but with a continuing rural focus - over 70 per cent of funded rotations reserved for the rural stream.
Rural generalist doctors play a critical role in delivering health services in rural communities through a mix of community general practice and in regional hospitals. The model is building momentum. Of more than 5,000 trainees under the Australian General Practice Training Program last year, more than 1,000 were rural generalist trainees.
There's more to come - with 200 extra GP and rural generalist places next year, increasing to an extra 400 places from 2028. It will mean more GPs and rural generalist trainees - indeed a record number - working in communities where they are most needed. The GP colleges tell us that demand for rural generalist training remains strong, with rural generalists expected to make up more than a quarter of new AGPT trainees next year.
Work also continues to recognise rural generalist medicine as a distinct field of general practice. I know the RDAA and CEO Peta Rutherford have been strong advocates for rural health policy and rural generalism over many years. The Australian Government is a supporter too. We funded both general practice colleges-the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners-to apply to the Medical Board of Australia to recognise rural generalist medicine. Commonwealth and state and territory Health Ministers are currently considering this joint application for recognition. A decision is expected soon.
Other recent health investments in the NT health workforce include locum support, and the Workforce Incentive Program with its three streams of support for multi-disciplinary care, encouraging doctors to practise in regional, rural and remote communities, and for GPs and rural generalists to provide emergency care and/or advanced skills.
Thin and failing markets are a persistent challenge. The General Practice Incentive Fund supports health services at risk of closing and makes sure local communities have access to the care they need, close to home.
Two such services are in the NT - Berry Springs and Nhulunbuy. The nurse practitioner-led service at Berry Springs, which started in July, is showing both community support and improved access. And emergency funding for Nhulunbuy will start in November.
There's more to do. Late this year, the government will hear from a taskforce that is bringing together consolidated advice from four reviews around strengthening primary care and the health workforce. This will include picking up on the recommendations of a major scope of practice review completed last year. Nurses, midwives, allied health and mental health professionals working to their full scope will be of great benefit beyond the cities. The taskforce will make sure the voices of rural and remote practitioners and community members are heard. And a big thank you to Dr Sarah Chalmers from the RDAA who is working with the taskforce.
I'd also like to thank the RDAA representatives on the National Medical Workforce Strategy's Clinical Supervision Working Group for their valuable insights and contributions. This group aims to increase the capacity for high quality medical clinical supervision. This includes considering how clinical supervisors are recognised and rewarded, culturally safe supervision and alternative models of supervision (such as remote or blended models) to enhance and grow medical supervision capacity in regional, rural and remote Australia.
Growing and supporting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical workforce remains a key priority for our government.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation within the medical workforce is increasing - about 9 per cent over five years. We are working on boosting those numbers further including by introducing demand-driven places for First Nations students to study medicine from next year.
However, key challenges remain including cultural safety across the broader health workforce and retention. The Department of Health is currently establishing a working group to support implementation of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce Plan. We welcome the opportunity to continue working with the RDAA on this.
I trust I've been able to give you a sense of policy and program activity around the NT's health workforce and health reform more broadly. As the national government we are serious about the Top End and rural health across the country. An agenda aimed at bridging the city-country divide once and for all.
Of course, we cannot do that without you at the front line.
I'm confident that, working together we can achieve much in providing the best health care for the people of the Northern Territory. Thank you.
