The Australian Medical Association welcomes the Coalition's commitment to match the government's pledge for an additional $8.5 billion in funding for Medicare and general practice, but says further reforms are also needed.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said the bipartisan recognition of the need for significant investment in general practice was welcome and follows years of campaigning by the AMA on the need to invest in primary care.
"The commitment from the Coalition to match the government's $8.5 billion for general practice shows recognition across the major parties that funding for primary care has for too long been in decline, with patients increasingly unable to receive timely and affordable care where and when they need it," Dr McMullen said.
"Our Modernise Medicare campaign has highlighted the neglect of Medicare, which included years of frozen and inadequate indexation by successive governments.
"While the announcements on the weekend were warmly welcomed, our Modernise Medicare campaign focused on the need for Medicare reform to ensure that patients with complex and chronic care needed were better supported"
Dr McMullen said more work was needed to ensure the complexities of the healthcare needs of today's patients is reflected in the ways general practice is funded.
"The AMA has proposed major reforms to bring Medicare into the modern day, including through a new seven-tier general practice consultation item structure which will fund GPs to spend more time providing more care for patients. Both sides of politics have said they recognise the need for real Medicare reform, and we'd like to see them tackle it."
Dr McMullen said the focus on workforce, highlighted in the government's commitment to funding for training more GPs, was critical to ensure GPs in enough parts of the country to ensure patients are cared for.
"In our 2025–26 budget submission we highlighted the need for additional training places to address an impending and disastrous shortfall in GP numbers. We have also shown the necessity of an independent national health workforce planning agency to ensure Australia's medical workforce is distributed where it's needed.
"The commitments from both sides of politics on the week also responded to our calls for funding for additional training rotations in general practice for early career doctors and funding to improve and equalise employment conditions for GP doctors-in-training. This will make a significant difference to attracting more doctors into general practice, helping to improve accessibility.
"We stand ready to work with politicians from all parties to make sure Australia's healthcare needs are understood and funded for now and into the future."
