Juniors, migrants reduce Australia’s GP shortage

The decline in the number of doctors training to be GPs is showing signs of reversing, amid an influx of new medical practitioners applying to work in Australia.

In 2023-24, 9490 new doctors were registered to practise, exceeding the figure of 8356 new doctors the year prior, which had been the highest influx of newly registered medics in a decade. Picture: Getty Images

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The decline in the numbers of doctors training to be GPs is showing signs of reversing, with a sharp ­uplift in offers to ­junior medics to begin general practice training.

Figures released by federal Health Minister Mark Butler show that in 2025, more than 1750 offers are expected to be made to junior doctors to begin government-funded GP training, with that intake expected to be up to 10 per cent larger than in 2024.

It comes amid an influx of new medical practitioners in Australia, with an additional 15,274 new doctors registered to practise in the past two financial years.

In 2023-24, 9490 new doctors were registered to practise, exceeding the figure of 8356 new doctors the year prior, which had been the highest influx of newly registered medics in a decade.

The boom in new doctors is being driven by a rush of internationally qualified clinicians applying to join Australia’s health system.

A total of 5431 doctors from overseas registered to practice in Australia in the past financial year, 80 per cent more than the 2991 doctors who registered in 2018-19 before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

Domestically, the government is hopeful that the apparent uptick in interest in the GP specialist pathway may be one of the fruits of its Medicare reforms which have increased bulk billing to the neediest patients and introduced measures aimed at combating chronic disease.

It says the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners now expects to fill every one of the GP training placements it has available, for the first time in years.

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine – whose allocated placements were increased this year – is also expected to fill its rural GP training placements.

Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler. Picture: RoyVphotography

“This is a big vote of confidence from doctors, and it will make it easier for Australians to see a doctor when they need one. It shows that our reforms to strengthen Medicare are working, after a decade of Coalition cuts and neglect,” Mr Butler said.

“We know the difficulty that too many Australians face getting in to see a doctor and we are doing everything we can to attract, train and retain more doctors.”

The federal government has recently been working to reduce the red tape involved in internationally trained doctors becoming eligible to practise in Australia in light of looming workforce shortages and excessive regulatory barriers, with programs to fast-track doctors trained in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand gaining registration coming into effect 10 days ago.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has implemented the fast-track plan under which eligible doctors are recognised for their overseas qualifications and granted upfront registration to work in Australia. Previously, it often took them many years to gain registration.

Those with specialist qualifications in anaesthetics, obstetrics and gynaecology, and psychiatry will be added to the accepted list of overseas-trained doctors who will be recognised for their qualifications from December.

The move has not been without controversy, with the RACGP hitting out against the changes and raising concerns over whether these overseas medics were trained to the appropriate level to practise in Australia.