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) (14:20): I thank the member for Fowler for her question and for acknowledging the huge results that have gone to her community through our record investment in bulk-billing. I know the Medicare urgent care clinic is doing terrific things.

The bulk-billing rates are truly extraordinary in Fowler and in so many other parts of Western Sydney and South Western Sydney, where we see bulk-billing rates now well above 95 per cent. That's terrific for people's hip pocket. It's terrific for their health.

But I do want to address the member's question, because it is a really important one. We've said that we have three pillars to our Strengthening Medicare policy: the urgent care clinics, and the bulk-billing turnaround—both of which are delivering real difference to Australian patients—but also we need more doctors. We particularly need more GPs, and the challenge for us is that they don't grow on trees and they take a while to train.

We've added 350 places to medical schools, here in Australia, in our time in government. That has been difficult. Former governments have had real difficulty adding CSPs, or Commonwealth supported places, to medical schools.

I remember, back in 2014—the first year of the coalition government—a huge fight between the then government and the AMA about the addition of a new medical school in Perth, through Curtin University. Three hundred and fifty additional CSPs mean, on average, about 1,800 additional medical students in Australia training to become doctors. What we've always also wanted, though, is for more of them to become GPs.

It used to be the case that 50 per cent or so of medical graduates chose general practice as their career of choice. We want— The SPEAKER: The member for Fowler on a point of order. Ms Le: Thank you, Speaker.

It's on relevance. I'm asking if you can demand a review is open to high-need communities like Fowler, so that our practices can recruit doctors, because we are still tagged as MM1, and we're locked out of the Distribution Priorities Area— The SPEAKER: That's okay, thanks, Member for Fowler. You don't need to add in extra things or information when you're taking a point of order.

I'd just remind all members that I'll withdraw the right to take a point of order on relevance if it's not taken correctly. The minister was asked a question about bulk-billing and the electorate of Fowler, so he is giving information to the House about the subject and the question he was asked about. I'll just ask him to continue but to make sure he is being directly relevant.

Mr BUTLER: Sorry, Speaker. And it was about the shortage of doctors in parts of metropolitan Australia, which is why we've leaned so heavily into trying to ensure that more medical graduates train as GPs. This year, there are more GPs in training than ever before.

Last year was a record year. We've broken the record this year. We expect more again next year.

But still we need more doctors than we've got. As the member says, generally our distribution levers have distinguished pretty sharply between the big cities and rural and regional Australia, so that doctors coming from overseas—which is the question the member asked—are required to practice for 10 years in rural and regional communities. Now, there are parts of, particularly, outer-suburban Australia who are really struggling—who have lower doctor rates per head of population than many parts of regional Australia.

And we are grappling with that question. We've engaged with doctors' groups and patient groups to see whether there is a more forensic way in which we can deal with those doctor shortages. But, every time we have an overseas doctor go into the cities, rural communities understandably complain that that's taken from them.

So I'm happy to engage with the member more about that. It's not particularly simple, though.