This month the RACGP Board were in Darwin, which was a welcome, albeit too brief, escape from the cold Tassie winter. We were humbled to hear from NT Chair Dr Sam Heard, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Cultural and Education Advisor Ada Parry, and NT Regional Manager Joint College Training Services, Pete Thomsen who shared their accounts of the early days of medical student education in the Northern Territory. We live in a vast continent where healthcare for Australians in remote locations is chronically inadequate compared to urban populations.

This is despite a greater need, due to increasingly poor health outcomes for people in these remote communities. It was a timely reminder that there is no “one size fits all” approach to primary health care in Australia, reinforcing the importance of the state faculties advocating for state-based solutions particular to their population’s needs.

Back at home data confirms that tripling the bulk billing incentive is working.Tasmania’s 8.1% increase is the largest in the country, providing relief for the increasing number of people unable to afford healthcare in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. However, those ineligible for the bulk-billing incentive are facing higher out-of-pocket healthcare costs than ever before. In real terms the Medicare rebate is half of what it was 20 years ago, with many Australians now forced to forgo healthcare to pay for essentials such as rent, power and food. Rebates for consultation numbers must be increased significantly both to improve the health of the Australian people and avoid the budgetary ramifications of shifting the burden of treating conditions, which could have been avoided with early primary healthcare, on to the more costly tertiary sector.

Finally, with the government reaching their first 100 days back in power, we are still yet to see many of their election commitments materialise. We will continue working with our elected representatives and relevant stakeholders to see these commitments implemented.