Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

There are a number of initiatives that we have embarked upon in relation to the qualifications and training of doctors over a number of years. The Flynn scholarship is one initiative that I would point to for doctors who are going to work in regional Australia. I am not aware of the particular ratio of doctors to the general population in Bendigo—Senator Fielding has mentioned that—but I can say that nationally the number of full-time workload equivalent general practitioners rose by 2.2 per cent between 2004-05 and 2005-06. That is a positive growth in the supply of full-time equivalent doctors in regional Australia. There has been strong growth in GP activity in rural and remote areas, with a greater than 20 per cent increases in doctor numbers in the last 10 years.

We also have the Rural Retention Program, which is an initiative from the Commonwealth budget of 1999-2000. That program’s objective is to support, through targeted financial incentives, long-serving doctors in rural and remote areas that are experiencing difficulty in obtaining GP services. Eligibility and payment amounts are based on the length of service of individual doctors, the remoteness of the area they are practising in and the level of services they provide. Payments range from $5,000 to $25,000, depending on the remoteness of the location.

I am advised that we are putting extra medical training places into Bendigo which are in addition to the services and initiatives that I have mentioned, and we have general training across rural and regional Australia for GPs in those areas. The Rural and Remote Procedural GPs Program deals with that, and I understand that the program enables procedural GPs in rural and remote areas to access a grant to attend relevant training, upskilling—which is important so that doctors can remain abreast of the times—and skills maintenance activities. The program has two components: a grant of $2,000 per day up to a maximum of 10 days training per financial year for GPs practising surgery, anaesthetics and obstetrics and a grant of $2,000 per day up to a maximum of three days training for GPs practising emergency medicine. These are very practical incentives for doctors in rural and remote areas of Australia, but my advice is that we are putting extra medical training places into Bendigo.