Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) expresses concern over the audit of the National Medical Intern Data Management Working Group's findings that approximately 240 Australian medical graduates will not be offered a state or territory internship position;

(b) notes that completing a medical internship is an essential process for a graduate to work as a doctor in Australia;

(c) recognises that:

(i) medical internship opportunities are necessary to keep doctors in Australia and to address shortages across rural and regional Australia, and

(ii) insufficient medical internship placements will impact on Australia's ability to attract international students to Australian universities; and

(d) calls on the Government to expand funding to the Commonwealth Medical Initiative to guarantee an internship for all Australian medical students.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition went to the last election with a plan to alleviate pressure on the training system for medical students and graduates, and we are delivering on that commitment. To assist with an increase in recent years of the number of graduating medical students, the Australian government has committed $40 million to support up to 100 additional intern places each year in private hospitals, with priority for rural and regional areas, during this period of growth in student numbers. This will provide more certainty for students and alleviate pressure on public hospitals for training. To bolster the medical workforce in rural and regional areas, priority is being given to positions and rotations outside major metropolitan centres.

Applications for final year medical students for Commonwealth medical internships open on 19 September and close on 3 October. A list of eligible applicants will be provided to participating hospitals for recruitment by early November. This is an issue the Commonwealth takes seriously.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Notwithstanding the government's modest commitment to increased training places for medical interns, at the conclusion of this training year there will be approximately 240 interns who will find themselves without access to a training place, effectively rendering their medical degrees useless. If we are prepared to make the investment in training these people, we need to ensure that we also provide them with the opportunity to obtain an medical internship to give weight to that degree. It is an important workforce measure. It is also an important measure in terms of a very critical export industry for Australia—that is, the education of overseas trained students. We should ensure that every medical student trained in an Australian university is provided with an internship at the completion of their training.

Question agreed to.