The Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) strongly commends the bipartisan commitment to investing $8.5billion into Medicare and general practice (GP), but warns that increasing Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) will not fill workforce gaps. 

Data gathered by the Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand shows a declining interest in general practice as a career. In 2020, more than 15% of graduating medical students expressed a preference for general practice, this is down to 10.5% in 2023 and is a far cry from the 40% needed to service the Australian public. 

“Currently, the GP placements that medical students receive are shortchanged by overworked and undercompensated GPs who do not have the resources to nurture future GPs,” says Melody Ahfock, President of AMSA. 

“What research shows is that increasing positive and quality exposure to general practice is what incentivises students to enter the career. Without that, medical students and graduates are not choosing general practice, they are choosing to leave. ” says Ms Ahfock. 

AMSA acknowledges that increasing bulk billing rates for GPs and other incentive programs are a step in the right direction. AMSA calls for targeted usage of funds in evidence based programs that funnel medical students into general practice including funding training programs that equip GPs to educate student doctors and increasing Practice Incentive Payments (PIPs) to GPs to increase the quality and quantity of community placements. 

Of special concern is the number of increased CSPs, by 2031 an additional 1000 CSPs are slated to be added to medical schools with only increased GP training spots and no guarantees of other specialty training pathways following suit. 

AMSA calls for the Federal Government to: 

1. Redirect funding to community placements for medical students including increasing PIPs and education training for GPs. 
2. Guarantee increases in specialist training pathways proportional to the increase in CSPs. 
3. Fund the national medical workforce strategy and a national health workforce planning agency as per the recent AMA 2025-2026 budget submission.

AMSA is the peak representative body for over 18,000 medical students across Australia.