With many Australians currently feeling the impacts of cost-of-living pressures, affordable and accessible high-quality general practice care was at the centre of the 2025 Federal Election campaign.  
 
Investment in general practice to support cost-effective, high-quality care from GPs people know and trust has never been more crucial. The RACGP developed a comprehensive 19-point plan to guide major parties in how to make high-quality general practice care more accessible and more affordable. 

Major parties backed 6 of our 19 initiatives promising to grow the specialist GP workforce faster and committing to invest $8.5 billion in Medicare. While this funding hasn’t all been targeted in the way we hoped, we will continue to work with the Australian Government to ensure future funding investments are cost-effective and targeted to ensure access to the kinds of care, including long appointments, that more and more people in Australia need.  
 
Some key commitments on both sides of politics which have come out of our Federal Election advocacy include:  

• $7.9 billion to expand the bulk billing incentive to all Australians and launch the new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program.  
• $606.3 million for workforce measures for trainee GPs to ensure people who choose to specialise in general practice can access the same remuneration as their peers. 
• $792.9 million for a women’s health package including increased rebates for insertion and removal of IUDs and implants, and a new rebate for menopause health assessments. 
• $657.9 million for another 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, taking the total to 137 nationally.  
• $792.9 million for a women’s health package including increased rebates for insertion and removal of IUDs and implants, and a new rebate for menopause health assessments.  

We welcome the opportunity to continue working with the Labor Government to ensure accessible and affordable general practice care for all Australia. The RACGP will continue to advocate for reforms such as increased patient Medicare rebates to support long and complex consultations, which would be the best way to ensure high-quality specialist GP care is accessible and affordable for all Australians. 

We will also keep advocating for increased rebates for mental health consults, improving access to essential medicines, funding practices to grow their teams with allied health professionals, nurses, nurse practitioners and pharmacists, and combatting racism in healthcare.