The Australian Medical Association welcomes the commitment made by the federal government of an additional $8.5 billion in funding for Medicare and general practice, which follows years of campaigning by the AMA on the need to urgently invest in Australia's primary care system.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said general practitioners are the cornerstone of Australia's healthcare system and equitable access to affordable GP care is essential.
"This is the second significant package of funding for general practice from the government and follows a $5.7 billion investment in 2023 to support patients and address growing concerns over the viability of many general practices," Dr McMullen said.
"Through our Modernise Medicare campaign we have highlighted the neglect of Medicare, which included years of frozen and inadequate indexation by successive governments," Dr McMullen said.
"In 2023 our analysis of the impact of that freeze , and years of inadequate indexation found close to $4 billion had been stripped from general practice, and it would be further compounded without reform and investment. The neglect of Medicare by successive governments means the patient rebate no longer bears any relationship to the actual cost of providing high quality services to patients."
Dr McMullen said the government had taken the AMA's calls for more investment in general practice very seriously, however more work was still needed to address issues relating to the growing complexity of general practice care.
"This funding package will help address affordability issues for many vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians who do not currently qualify for bulk billing incentives. But greater support for patients with more complex needs can't afford to be ignored.
"We need a rethink of Medicare rebates to ensure today's patients who have increasingly complex needs get the care they require. Today's patients have more chronic disease, more mental illness, and our population is aging. Australians need more time with their GP, but the structure of Medicare encourages shorter consultations, meaning many patients face out-of-pocket costs.
"The AMA has proposed a generational reform to Medicare that would introduce a new seven-tier general practice consultation item structure that is fit-for-purpose and designed to meet the challenges of the growing burden of complex and chronic disease.
"While bulk billing incentives will now be available for all patients, it is important for the public to understand that general practices will still need to set their fees based on an assessment of the costs they face in running a modern medical practice."
Dr McMullen welcomed funding to grow Australia's GP training places to 2000 by 2028.
"Only recently, in our 2025–26 budget submission , we highlighted the need for additional training places to address an impending and disastrous shortfall in GP numbers, with our 2022 report showing Australia is facing a shortage of more than 10,600 GPs by 2031.
"The government has also responded to AMA 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.
"The government announcement today is important. As we approach an election campaign, we look forward to hearing from the Coalition which has yet to articulate its policies for improving access to general practice."
