QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Health and Ageing and Deputy Leader of the House) (14:25): I thank the member for Calare for his question and for his persistent advocacy around improving healthcare services not just in his community but in rural Australia more broadly. I'll come to the question of CSPs because I think he's aware that there is a tender open right now, but can I refer to the college of GPs General practice: health of the nation 2025 report released this morning.

It is an annual report that the college has delivered for nine years now, I think—since the former government got rid of the BEACH dataset that used to track activity in general practices. It's an important contribution. One of the highlights of this morning's report is that for the first time in many years the number of GPs, in a full-time-equivalent sense, has started to increase again.

That is a good thing for the country. It reflects determined work to make general practice more attractive for junior doctors as they consider their future career after finishing medical school. The member does highlight the fact that there has been limited growth in medical school training places for many, many years now—often because of pretty determined opposition from the medical community itself, including the AMA over the years.

Over the last several years this government has added a number of new medical schools, or is in the process of adding new medical schools, particularly outside of our major cities—James Cook University in Far North Queensland; Darwin, for the first time, will have its own medical school; and a number of other places have been added over the last several years as well.

There are currently, I think, 100 Commonwealth supported places for medical schools open for tender. Charles Sturt University and other universities are able to apply for that. Obviously it is a competitive process, and that will be conducted at arm's length from me and from the education minister.

We have asked in the tender, as I understand it, for universities to indicate a particular focus on general practice because, although we want to see doctors more broadly come into the system, we are prioritising an increase in general practice above all things else because we know that a well-functioning general practice scheme is utterly central to a well-functioning healthcare system.

I welcome the question. Obviously I can't comment on the tender which is open right now. But more doctors, more bulk-billing, more urgent care and even cheaper medicines are the four key pillars of our strengthening Medicare agenda.