Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash announced changes to the system for providing financial incentives to encourage doctors and medical students to practice in rural areas. 

Addressing the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) conference in Sydney, Ms Nash said the government would switch to the fairer Monash Model for classifying what counts as a rural area. 

Under the old system, places like Tamworth and the smaller township of Barraba would have attracted the same incentives for doctors, despite having vastly different population sizes (more than 45,000 and less than 2000, respectively). 

Tamworth GP and president of the RDAA Ian Kamerman lauded the changes and said they would be “extremely good for our area”. 

“Minister Nash announced a change to the rural classification system that has been responsible for some great inequities in the ways ‘rurality’ has been identified, resulting in a mal-distribution of doctors,” Dr Kamerman said. 

“It’s classifying like with like. Tamworth and Barraba aren’t the same,” he said. 

He said the change would result in a higher incentive for doctors to live and work in more remote areas of our region. 

Ms Nash also announced the District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) program – which highlights which areas have less access to Medicare-subsidised services compared to the national average – would be assessed every 12 months, rather than fluctuating every three months. 

Dr Kamerman said the change would offer more stability to rural doctors and up-to-date data would provide a more accurate picture of medical shortages in the bush. 

Ms Nash also announced bonded medical students – who study under the obligation to return and practice in the bush – will now no longer be limited to working only in DWS areas, but can work in rural towns with populations below 15,000 as well.