Member for Mallee and Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health Dr Anne Webster says Labor has doubled down on its regional doctor distribution disaster as they again changed the Distribution Priority Areas this week.

“Metropolitan Australians can see a doctor relatively quickly and close to home, compared to regional Australians.  Mallee constituents have to wait weeks if not months, and at times travel for two hour round trips, to see a doctor.  We have a dire maldistribution of the doctor workforce and this week Labor have made that worse, not better,” Dr Webster said.

“So I utterly reject the Albanese Government’s claim that this announcement is a ‘no losers’ approach.  When you keep shifting the goalposts in favour of metropolitan communities, of course you can claim there’s no losers when regional Australians are abandoned outside the playing area.

“In 2022 the incoming Labor government changed the distribution priority areas (DPA) to include Modified Monash Model (MMM) 2 regions, which captured most of the larger metropolitan areas of Australia.  Labor’s 2022 policy saw the number of doctors leaving regional Australia increase 56 per cent in the first six months.”

“As I have said before in the press and parliament, Labor robs regions to buy votes in the inner cities.  This week’s inclusion of swathes of the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Mount Barker in Adelaide further illustrates that Labor does not care one bit about rural, regional and remote Australians.”

“I hope Labor shifting Hopetoun in Mallee from ‘rural town’ to ‘remote’ will help their local doctor shortage – but changes like these illustrate that the MMM is broken.”

The Federal Government’s Working Better for Medicare Review recommended moving away from MMM to the Department moving “to progressively use the GP catchment area as the prime building block to establish DPA status.”

“I strongly hope that the Coalition wins government at the upcoming election so more rural, regional and remote Australians can see a doctor.”

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