Albanese Government to fund 100 additional university places for future Australian doctors
The Albanese Government is providing 100 additional Commonwealth supported places (CSPs) a year for students studying medicine to help train the next generation of doctors.
The places are spread across 10 universities that demonstrated, through a competitive process, they would focus the places on primary care training with more rotations in general practice to help address GP shortages in underserved rural and suburban areas.
Each of the following universities will receive an additional ten places:
- Charles Sturt University
- Flinders University
- Griffith University
- Monash University
- The University of Melbourne
- The University of New England
- The University of New South Wales
- The University of Notre Dame Australia
- The University of Sydney
- The University of Wollongong
This is part of the Government’s commitment to strengthening Medicare and builds on our previous investments to grow the pipeline of future GPs, particularly in regional areas.
Under the Albanese Government, there will be more Australians studying medicine next year than ever before.
This comes as more than 1,800 doctors have commenced government-funded training to become a GP in 2025, in what will be the largest cohort of future GPs in Australian history.
This is the first of two grant streams for eligible universities as part of the Building the GP Workforce - Primary Care CSPs opportunity:
- Stream A: 100 additional commencing medical student places in 2026.
- Stream B: An extra 50 places, for a total of 150 places per year from 2028, with applications expected to open March–June 2026.
In addition, subject to the passage of legislation, a demand-driven stream will guarantee Commonwealth supported places for Indigenous medical students from 2026 to increase the number of Indigenous doctors.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler:
“The Albanese Labor Government is strengthening Medicare with more bulk billing, more Urgent Care Clinics and thousands more doctors.
“By growing our medical workforce, we are strengthening Medicare for decades to come.
“More training places will deliver more doctors to care for Australians in every corner of the country.”
Quotes attributable to Australian Minister for Education Jason Clare:
“We want more young Australians to become doctors, and more of them to become GPs.
“That’s why we are expanding the number of Australians studying medicine with these additional places spread across the country.
“Next year, there will be more people studying medicine than ever before in Australia.
“More places and more training means more opportunity for young people – and more doctors for communities that need them.