Federal Minister Welcomes Leadership on Medical Interns

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PDF printable version of Federal Minister Welcomes Leadership on Medical Interns (PDF 168 KB)

9 November 2012

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek today congratulated those jurisdictions that are working with the Commonwealth to fund additional medical internship training in public and private hospitals.

“Western Australia, the ACT, Queensland and the Northern Territory have agreed to work jointly with the Commonwealth Government to train more interns in their hospitals. This will ensure that more Australian trained doctors remain in the Australian health workforce,” said Ms Plibersek.

“Those jurisdictions that have agreed to provide additional funding for public sector intern places will benefit from additional Australian Government funding for intern places in private hospitals in 2013.”

Under the agreement WA, the ACT, Queensland and NT will fund an additional 32 internships in their public hospitals. In return the Commonwealth will fund an additional 84 intern places in 2013, almost all in private hospitals.

“These governments have made a responsible decision to work alongside the Australian Government in counteracting the projected national shortage of medical internships in our hospitals next year,” she said.

The Australian Government has been willing to invest in additional intern training in private hospitals.

“We had a situation where up to 180 medical graduates would not have been able to complete their medical training next year. We are part way to a solution - but some graduates may still miss out because of the refusal of remaining state governments to find a relatively small number of additional internship positions in public hospitals”.

“The Australian Government has offered a shared solution – reflecting our 2006 and 2008 agreements to work together with the states – by funding up to 100 internships in the nation’s larger private hospitals. This offer stands, and the remaining states should come to the table”.

“The decision by the WA, Queensland, and ACT and NT governments to work with the Commonwealth on this issue is most welcome,” Ms Plibersek said.