Experts widely view the Specialist Training Program, which focuses on rural healthcare, as ineffective, since less than 7% of non-GP specialist training positions are currently filled in rural areas.
Professor Jenny May, the National Rural Health Commissioner, argues that rural Australians will only receive fairer healthcare if at least 30% of non-GP specialist training takes place outside major cities.
At the Rural Medicine Australia conference, Associate Professor Kerin Fielding—representing the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges—stated that most of the STP’s funding has instead supported urban initiatives, failing to address rural training gaps.
Associate Professor Fielding explained that millions were invested across medical colleges to explore flexible training models in rural areas, but these efforts have since been abandoned.
Professor Susan Wearne, a GP and senior advisor to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s workforce division, clarified that the research was temporarily halted rather than permanently discarded.
Rural Training Reform
Dr Rod Martin, the former president of ACRRM, believes state governments are a major obstacle preventing progress in rural medical training programs.
According to Dr Martin, state authorities prefer to avoid funding training roles that require time off for study or exams, making it simpler and more cost-effective to maintain the status quo.
He acknowledged that medical colleges are highly motivated to improve access, as they directly face patient shortages, long waitlists, and severe service gaps in rural regions.
One conference delegate stated that more could be done from the federal end to ensure that states played a role, say, by using the National Health Reform Agreement.
National Health Reform Agreement
Professor Wearne noted that the National Health Reform Agreement 2026-2031 calls on states, territories and the Commonwealth to commit to developing a shared evidence base, including exchange of relevant data and the use of nationally consistent data sets that enhances workforce planning.
One of the stated goals was increased and better collaboration between governments, education and training providers, post-graduate councils, professional colleges and/or associations and other relevant bodies to inform the coordination, setting and distribution of prevocational and vocational training numbers and capacity building efforts.
Conference MC Dr Norman Swan put it to Professor Wearne that this sounded more like a “plea” than a directive.
Professor Wearne replied that this is what they are aiming to be working on in the next five years, and that the CPMC had recently been invited to co-chair a short-term committee looking at the workforce for advanced training in non-GP specialities with DoHDA as a direct result of schedule G.
Next Steps
Professor Fielding confirmed that the colleges are ready to go with flexible approaches to training in expanded settings for states’ projects, and that they have presented to the government three options for STP reform.
The Rural Medicine Australia conference, which is jointly hosted by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, will continue until 24 October.
