Doctors and nurses are the lifeblood of the health system - essential to providing high quality health care to the Australian community.

When Labor came to Government in 2007, we inherited a legacy of workforce shortages affecting the majority of the country – a result of the neglect of Tony Abbott and the previous Coalition Government.

Julia Gillard and Labor are turning this situation around through record investments to train more doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

We are doubling Mr Abbott’s cap on GP training places from 600 to 1,200 per year by 2014. This will deliver more than 1300 new GPs practising or in training by 2013, and 5,500 new GPs or GPs undergoing training over the next decade.
 
We are training more specialist doctors, by more than doubling the number of places available for medical graduates to undertake training to become specialist doctors in private, community and rural settings from 360 to 900 by 2014. This will deliver 680 more specialist doctors into the health system over the next decade.

We are funding more than 1,000 new university training places each year, as well as delivering more scholarships and financial support for nurses and aged care workers to upgrade their skills and qualifications.