THE federal minister for Health and Aged Care has refuted Member for Mallee Anne Webster’s claims that the closure of GP clinics is the fault of the Labor government.
Earlier in September, NewsGP reported that at least 184 general practices hase closed around Australia in the past 12 months, while the rate of new openings is falling significantly short of making up the difference.
“These closures, and there could be more that aren’t captured by the data, are not being offset by new clinics,’ Dr Webster said.
“This highlights the crisis our health sector is facing, and this is only exacerbated in regional Australia under the watch of the Albanese Labor government.”
Dr Webster said the expansion of Distribution Priority Areas (DPA), a classification system that identifies areas with lower levels of GP services and then implements initiatives that aim to increase the supply of GPs in that area, had seen more than half of international medical graduate doctors move to urban settings away from regional areas.
“The expansion of the DPA was a major factor in GP clinics closing in the Mallee and around Australia,” Dr Webster said.
“There are not enough doctors and Labor’s policy simply funnelled the workforce to outer suburbs of major cities.
“They have done nothing to alleviate GP shortages in the regions.
“These nationwide closures are simply disastrous for those living in the country.”
Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler has hit back at Dr Webster’s claims, saying it is because of the actions of the former government that they are left with a healthcare mess to clean up.
“There is no higher priority in health for the Albanese government than rebuilding general practice,” Mr Butler told The Guardian.
“The former government ripped billions of dollars out of primary care and caused gap fees to skyrocket – no wonder young doctors are walking away from general practice in droves.”
The 2023–24 federal budget delivered a $6.1 billion investment to strengthen Medicare, including $3.5 million in bulk billing incentives.
“Our historic investments in Medicare will triple the bulk billing incentive – the largest increase to the incentive in the 40-year history of Medicare,” Mr Butler said.
“This will help over five million children and their families and more than seven million pensioners and concession card holders to see a bulk-billed GP.
“Doctors’ groups have called this a ‘game-changer’ and GPs right around the country have said this will help them maintain and even shift back to bulk billing.”
