ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Good morning everybody. It's wonderful to have you all here in Canberra to bring a sharp focus on the needs of Australians living in rural and remote communities and particularly their access to specialist care. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people. I pay my respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people here today and recognise colleges who are now having an even stronger focus on First Nations specialists and supporting them in their practice including in rural and remote Australia.
To Professor Jenny May, the National Rural Health Commissioner, it is always a pleasure, Jenny, to work alongside you in the interests of Australians living outside of metropolitan cities and genuinely we thank you for the work that you and your team do. To Associate Professor Kerin Fielding, a rural surgeon from Wagga Wagga. Congratulations as the Chair of the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges, and I'm sure under your leadership that we'll see even more progress. As you say, it's time to implement.
I'm genuinely delighted to be here to be part of opening this workshop for increasing the rural and regional specialist workforce. In Australia today, I think you agree, looking around the world, that we do have one of the best healthcare systems in the world, a system underpinned by the principle of universal access and delivered by a dedicated and highly skilled workforce. At the same time, as Kerin has said, there are pressing challenges in accessing care, particularly for those Australians who live in rural, regional and remote communities, and building a responsive and distributed rural specialist workforce is absolutely vital. And this requires meaningful collaboration between government, between the department, our partners across the health sector, particularly those of you today representing your medical colleges, and thank you for taking the time to be here for this workshop.
As we heard at last year's workshop, you discussed the importance of consistent, transparent selection approaches in supporting more applicants with rural career intent, and who are from rural areas in specialist training. And I'm pleased to see that guideline was developed for medical colleges to implement following on from the workshop. And this year, as we shift the focus towards increasing opportunities for early career doctors to gain experience or undertake training entirely in rural and remote settings, your insights as representatives of your respective colleges will be invaluable.
Just recently, Jenny May and I had the privilege of joining the graduating class of CSU at Orange, and to see a cohort of, was it Jenny, about 40 medical graduates, most of whom- I think all have expressed an intention to continue their training in rural and remote communities, is another shining example of when government works with the colleges and universities we can see real change and ongoing change. We know that where training doctors live and undertake their training, and you know this through your own experience, has a significant impact on where they will eventually practise.
So we want to hear from you about how we can better foster rural training opportunities, what innovations can be applied from specialties other than your own that you've seen work, and how we can better support you and your staff to integrate these learnings into training networks and posts. How we can support the growth of a skilled rural workforce to initiatives such as the Specialist Training Program. And you'll be aware since 2010 the Specialist Training Program has supported thousands of registrars to gain experience in healthcare settings outside of traditional metropolitan teaching hospitals. Our government’s investment in the program is now approximately $866 million over the last five years. We want to make sure that the Specialist Training Program continues to deliver for your registrars and supports access to specialist care for rural and remote communities.
I know that many of you have been engaging in the co-design process to reform the Specialist Training Program so we can make the program more effective and better aligned with the National Medical Workforce Strategy and I thank you for your contribution to that and your ongoing engagement, because we want to deliver programs that not only help meet current demand for specialist services but also boost the capability of rural training settings to meet growing demand for specialised care in rural and remote communities now and into the future. That disparity in health outcomes is clear. It's something that I know you all are alive to and I know that you genuinely want to work to resolve in the interest of the communities and patients that you serve.
And we know that when we increase the opportunities and support available for trainee specialists, we're not only investing in their future, in their career progression, but in the future of rural communities and those who live in them. It makes a real and ongoing difference to those communities, this investment. And as representatives of your respective colleges, your role in the future of our healthcare workforce is critical. Whether it be through developing rural training pathways or supporting and role modelling generous medical careers, and we've had a brief discussion about this this morning about how when someone is fellowed they are in many respects a generalist, that have a view that may be role modelled about a particular kind of setting or subspecialty. I did hear about left toe surgeons…
But you can follow that with Kerin. But kind of- to get back to the point, is really that mostly people are fellowed as generalists and having the confidence and the role modelling in support to practise as generalists. And we really look forward to hearing how the growth in rural training capacity complements the increased interest in general practice and rural generalist training. And I want to acknowledge RDAA, RACGP, ACRRM, the Rural Health Commission, and everyone here who has worked towards the recognition of rural generalists within the specialty of- Michael, in particular, thank you Nicole, for the work that you have done, as heading up the rural section of the RACGP.
I genuinely think when we reflect on this, as we're always facing what is the next kind of big challenge, but I genuinely think when we reflect on this, it will be seen as a very significant change within the medical field, but more broadly with health in the Australian context. And we're really optimistic changes that we have seen that have flowed from that, including the record number of Australian medical graduates who are now choosing a career in general practice. And of those, those who are choosing a career in places like Mackay, Nicole; or Magnetic Island, Michael. And I think that really shows with the right design and the resourcing to implement that we can see genuine, and hopefully Nicole beyond green shoots, oncoming change.
Next you'll be hearing from Jenny May and our National Rural Health Commissioner who will help to set the scene. Jenny, as I said, it's always a privilege to work with you. The collaboration between rural generalists, GPs and non-GP workforce is genuinely critical to enabling effective place-based solutions for our communities, as I know you know. I wish you all the best this morning, I see that there's some post-it notes and coloured paper. So I trust that your workshop will be productive, and we really are looking forward to learning more about the insights gained from the discussions and thank you for the opportunity to be here on behalf of the government.
I understand Minister Butler will be joining you tomorrow. Yes, so genuinely from our government, we want to thank you for the contribution that you’re making for the good faith with which you’re working with the government, and I think we can recognise that there has been some real meaningful and hopefully sustained change. So thank you, and all the best for your workshop.