The 2025 – 26 Australian Federal Budget allocates $662.6 million to bolster the health workforce, with funding for training, education, salary incentives, and scholarships. These measures aim to grow the GP and junior doctor pipeline, upskill nurses and midwives, expand career pathways, and improve workforce supply and retention — particularly in rural areas and primary care. Below, we explore the budget’s key Strengthening Medicare and Health Workforce initiatives and what they mean for health professionals, jobseekers, and employers across the sector.
🔑 KEY HEALTH WORKFORCE AND EMPLOYER INITIATIVES
GP and Medical Training
- Expansion of GP Training: Funding will support an additional 1,300 GP trainees over four years from 2026, aiming for over 2,000 new trainees annually by 2028.
- Enhanced Support for Trainees: Salary incentives, paid parental leave, and study leave will make general practice more attractive to junior doctors.
Rural and Regional Medical Workforce
- Prevocational Training Placements: Additional training rotations in primary care and rural generalism for up to 1,300 early-career doctors
- Medical Education Expansion: Introduction of 100 additional Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) for medical students annually from 2026, increasing to 150 by 2028, with targeted support for First Nations students.
Nursing and Midwifery
- Scholarships: 400 scholarships for registered nurses and midwives to pursue postgraduate studies to become nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives.
- Establishment of a Training Academy: A new academy in Victoria will enhance leadership, research, and educational skills among nurses and midwives.
- Aged Care Nursing wage rise: Higher minimum award wages and a streamlined classification structure under the Nurses Award will support nursing roles and career progression in aged care.
Mental Health Workforce
- Workforce Development: Additional training places for mental health professionals and peer workers to help expand multidisciplinary care teams and improve access to mental health services.
Private Practice
- Practice Incentive Payment (PIP) Enhancements: General practices that commit to universal bulk billing will receive enhanced financial incentives under a revised PIP framework. This is especially important for outer metropolitan and regional clinics facing financial viability challenges.
Allied Health Supports
- Foundational and Early Intervention Programs: The budget includes funding to expand access to foundational supports through programs like the Early Childhood Approach and the Disability Gateway. These measures are expected to create additional job opportunities for allied health professionals—particularly in early intervention and community-based services outside the NDIS.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS, JOB SEEKERS, EMPLOYERS AND RECRUITERS
💡Opportunities:
- Career and Jobseeker Opportunities: Expanding training places and incentives across medicine, nursing, midwifery, aged care and mental health fields will make workforce entry and career progression more accessible and attractive.
- Upskilled Nursing Workforce: New scholarships and training infrastructure will help grow a more autonomous nursing workforce, potentially easing pressure on GPs and hospitals by expanding nurses’ scope of practice and team-based care.
- Mental Health and Aged Care Workforce: Better pay for Nurses working in Aged Care, and improved training options for mental health roles, can help to strengthen workforce retention and improve multidisciplinary models of care while reducing reliance on emergency and hospital care.
- Private Practice Sustainability: Enhanced bulk billing incentives under the revised PIP framework offer new financial support for private general practices, particularly in outer metro and regional areas. This, along with higher numbers of junior GPs, may help clinics remain viable and maintain continuity of care in communities where recruitment and retention have been difficult.
- Expanded Roles for Allied Health Professionals: New investments in foundational supports and early intervention programs are expected to generate more job opportunities for allied health professionals — particularly in areas such as paediatrics, disability support, and early childhood care—supporting both public services and private/contractor-based providers.
- Reduced staff shortages and increased candidate supply, including in rural and regional areas: Additional placements and training opportunities will help to grow the rural and GP medical workforce, benefitting both public hospitals and private clinics in underserved areas, while providing employers with a broader pool of qualified candidates.
- Career development and workforce retention: These initiatives support meaningful career growth and may alleviate staff shortages and improve working conditions, leading to better job satisfaction and long-term workforce retention.
⚠️ Challenges
- Workforce Lag: While investment is significant, workforce gains (particularly for GPs) will take several years to materialise, meaning existing staffing shortages may remain an immediate concern.
- Supervision and Practice Readiness: General practices and hospitals will need to invest in supervision, infrastructure and onboarding capacity to absorb additional trainees.
- Recruitment Resourcing: Health services and recruitment agencies may face increased demand to support expanded training cohorts, which can strain existing administrative and HR systems.
- Retention Beyond Training: Expanding training pathways is vital, but long-term workforce sustainability also relies on good working conditions, safe staffing levels, clear career development opportunities, and effective local retention strategies that promote job satisfaction and long-term stability.
- Viability and Complexity in the Private Health Sector: While new budget incentives provide some support, many private providers — including general practices, private hospitals, and independent contractors — continue to face viability pressures. Rising operational costs, complex funding arrangements, administrative burdens, and compliance demands, can strain existing business models and challenge long-term service sustainability.
👩⚕️ BUDGET FACT SHEETS AND RESPONSES:
The Australian Medical Council (AMA) welcomes the budget initiatives, but they comment that it lacks other essential reforms, including independent national health workforce planning, transparent funding deals for public hospitals and doctors, and policies to improve private health sector sustainability - see more details here.
For more information on the 2025/26 Federal Budget, see the Department of Health & Aged Care’s budget fact sheets, including the Strengthening Medicare – Health workforce fact sheet.
