RACMA’s 2025 Health Budget Summary

The 2025 Federal Budget continues the Government’s focus on cost-of-living pressures, with a strong emphasis on improving access to primary healthcare. Investments in bulk billing, urgent care clinics, workforce development, and pharmaceutical subsidies are intended to reduce out-of-pocket costs and ease pressure on emergency departments.

Primary Health and Medicare

• Medicare Urgent Care Clinics: $644 million to establish 50 new clinics nationwide, bringing the total to 137. These clinics aim to reduce emergency department pressure by offering bulk-billed care for non-life-threatening conditions.
• Bulk Billing Expansion: $7.9 billion that aim to deliver 9 out of 10 GP visits bulk billed by 2030, with over 4,800 full bulk-billing practices expected nationwide.

Workforce Development

• Primary Care Workforce: $662.6 million to grow the workforce of doctors and nurses, including up to 400 new GP training places annually by 2028 and incentives for junior doctors specialising in general practice.
• Nursing and Midwifery Scholarships: 400 postgraduate scholarships are funded to train nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives.

Public Hospitals

• $1.8 billion for public hospitals to reduce waiting lists, emergency room delays, and ambulance ramping. The Commonwealth contribution will increase by 12% to reach $33.9 billion in 2025–26.

Women’s Health Initiatives

• $792.9 million package for women’s health, including:
• Expanded Medicare rebates for contraceptive services.
• New PBS listings for oral contraceptives and menopause hormone therapies.
• Establishment of new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics.

Pharmaceuticals

• $3.2 billion to reduce medication costs further under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), including new and amended listings

Workforce

The $600 million allocated to the health and medical workforce in the 2025–26 Australian Budget is focused on the primary healthcare workforce.  Specific allocations include:

Key Allocations

1. GP Training Expansion:

• Funding for up to 400 new GP training places annually by 2028, increasing the number of doctors entering GP training to over 2,000 annually.
• Salary incentives for junior doctors specialising in general practice, alongside paid parental and study leave for trainees.

2. Nursing and Midwifery Scholarships:

• $10.5 million allocated for 400 additional scholarships to support nurses and midwives pursuing postgraduate studies to become nurse practitioners or endorsed midwives.

3. Medical Workforce Development:

• Investments in training rotations for early-career doctors and funding to improve employment conditions for GP doctors-in-training.

4. Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Practitioners:

• $4.7 million was allocated to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical practitioners through the Northern Territory Medical Program.

While the Budget delivers on key consumer-facing measures, areas such as mental health, rural health, and digital health infrastructure received limited attention. RACMA will continue to monitor the implementation of the announced initiatives and advocate for a more system-oriented approach in future funding decisions.