Julia Creek seeking new GP with offer of $680k a year salary

It has to be one of the more lucrative job offers in Queensland, yet even an astronomical $680,000 salary package, plus free accommodation and five weeks’ leave has so far failed to lure the right candidate. Do you have what it takes?

Julia Creek’s main street. The town has faced a doctor shortage for more than a decade

It has to be one of the more lucrative job offers in Queensland, yet a $680,000 salary package has not yet lured a doctor out to Julia Creek in the state’s northwest.

“We are getting a few nibbles,’’ said McKinlay Shire councillor John Lynch, who sounds a little bewildered as to why a young medic wouldn’t leap at the chance to serve the tiny town of around 500.

“But nothing yet.’’

Julia Creek has faced a doctor shortage for more than a decade.

Things were looking up in 2023 when then Brisbane-based doctor Adam Louws took advantage of the extraordinary offer (which made national headlines) of a rent-free house and $500,000 a year.

Julia Creek GP Adam Louws is moving on with his family.

With Dr Louws and his young family looking to move on, the salary package has now moved closer to $700,000 a year.

The deal still includes free accommodation along with five weeks annual leave as well as a work vehicle and incorporates a few little “add-ons’’ like the Workforce Attraction Incentive Scheme which can boost a salary by up to $70,000.

Cr Lynch, born and bred in McKinlay and now living on Viola Station in the shire’s northwest, says Julia Creek is a great town to live in.

With two supermarkets, a cafe, post office, pub, hardware shop and Rex Airlines hosting three flights a week to places like Townsville and Mount Isa, it’s hardly a ghost town.

Mount Isa, a much larger centre, is less than three hours’ drive away and Townsville around seven hours.

Julia Creek Multi-Purpose Medical Centre.

Cr Lynch says a few mining ventures are being developed in the surrounding district and they are expected to double Julia Creek’s population over the next two to five years.

Cr Lynch notes that the Sunshine Coast shares the same “regional’’ status as Julia Creek when it comes to Queensland Health workers.

“But this is all about trying to get people to move out of the built up areas,’’ Cr Lynch says.

Originally published as Julia Creek seeking new GP with offer of $680k a year salary