The RACGP is advocating for practical, evidence-based reforms that improve access to high-quality general practice in rural and remote communities.
People living in rural and remote Australia continue to experience poorer health outcomes, reduced access to healthcare services and significant workforce shortages. Rural GPs play a critical role in delivering comprehensive care across communities, often providing services that extend beyond traditional general practice settings.
Our advocacy priorities focus on building a sustainable rural workforce, supporting rural practices and ensuring rural communities can access the care they need, close to home.
Our Rural Advocacy Priorities
The RACGP is advocating for:
- Fund the RACGP-led Pathways to Rural program, creating supported opportunities for metropolitan-based GPs to experience rural practice through workforce relief placements. The program would provide training, mentoring, accommodation and travel support while strengthening continuity of care and workforce sustainability in rural and remote communities.
- Increase supervisor payments through the National Consistent Payment (NCP) Framework to support high-quality supervision across the entire GP training pipeline.
- Invest in funded mentoring and supervision programs for international medical graduates (IMGs) outside existing training pathways, particularly in isolated rural locations.
- Expand targeted funding and support for practices and supervisors in regional, rural and remote areas to ensure sustainable training capacity and equitable supervision opportunities.
- Fund rural medical school placements to address placement poverty and support students undertaking rural training experiences.
- Invest in rural childcare services, including flexible models that accommodate the working hours of rural GPs and registrars.
The RACGP is advocating for:
- An increase to the rural loading of the bulk billing incentive to better reflect the costs of delivering care in rural and remote communities.
- Adequate and safe housing, alongside other community supports, for GPs and registrars working in remote areas, regardless of employer.
- Prioritisation of rural and remote general practices through the GP Incentives Fund, with flexible funding arrangements and streamlined approval processes for practices operating in thin markets where financial viability challenges threaten ongoing access to care for local communities.
- Full implementation of recommendations from the Working Better for Medicare Review, including reforms that strengthen continuity of care and improve access to multidisciplinary services.
The RACGP is calling for greater investment in workforce relief programs to support practice sustainability and clinician wellbeing, including:
- Subsidised locum rates for rural general practices and Aboriginal Medical Services that cannot afford hospital-level locum costs.
- Expansion of the Rural Locum Assistance Program (RLAP) to include GPs, reducing the financial burden associated with securing locum coverage.
- Funded locum leave support for practitioners working in remote communities, particularly MMM6-7 locations.
The RACGP is advocating for:
- Indexation, review and expansion of the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) to ensure it remains fit for purpose and supports ongoing procedural practice in rural communities.
The RACGP supports evidence-based workforce planning and is advocating for reforms to improve the distribution of GPs across Australia, including:
- Alignment of the Distribution Priority Area (DPA) and Modified Monash Model (MMM) frameworks.
- Introduction of a remote general practice maintenance allowance for MMM6-7 communities to support recruitment and retention.
- Ensuring DPA status is applied only where there is demonstrable GP workforce undersupply.
- Greater transparency around the workforce data, assumptions and methodologies used to determine workforce distribution classifications.
Working with Rural Communities
Our advocacy is informed by RACGP Rural members, rural communities and stakeholders across the health sector. Through strong partnerships and evidence-based policy development, we are working to ensure rural Australians have access to sustainable, high-quality general practice care now and into the future.
Learn more
The RACGP’s Rural Advocacy Priorities form part of the College’s broader advocacy agenda to strengthen general practice and improve patient access to care across Australia.
Read our full 2026-30 Advocacy Plan
Read our full
2026-30 Advocacy Plan to learn more about the RACGP’s national advocacy priorities and policy agenda.
Join the RACGP GP Advocate Network
The RACGP GP Advocate Network provides members with opportunities to engage in advocacy activities and support efforts to improve healthcare access and outcomes for their communities.
Through the RACGP GP Advocate Network, members can:
- Stay informed about key advocacy campaigns and policy developments.
- Contribute frontline insights that help shape RACGP advocacy positions.
- Engage with local decision-makers and elected representatives.
- Support efforts to improve access to high-quality general practice care in their communities
Join the RACGP GP Advocate Network