MARK BUTLER MP
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE
JASON CLARE MP
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
JESS TEESDALE
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BASS
STRENGTHENING MEDICARE: LABOR DELIVERING END-TO-END MEDICAL TRAINING IN LAUNCESTON AT UTAS
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will deliver end-to-end medical training in Launceston at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) – so for the first time, medical students can complete their entire medical degree in Launceston.
Our funding is all about training more doctors and strengthening Medicare for Tasmanians.
From 2026, UTAS will offer 20 new places for medical students to start a medical degree each year at the university’s Launceston campus.
This election commitment will mean an extra 100 medical students across all year levels will train in Launceston.
This will address regional workforce shortages, improve health outcomes for people living in Launceston, and ensure a local pipeline of doctors to meet the state’s workforce needs.
Through this election commitment, UTAS will convert a number of its existing non-medical Commonwealth-supported places (CSPs) into medical CSPs, ensuring this does not impact other national priority or skill shortage areas such as health and teaching.
The new medical places will have an emphasis on primary health care to encourage more medical graduates to become General Practitioners.
Around half of students at the UTAS Launceston campus are the first in family to attend university.
In 2023, the Albanese Labor Government invested $90 million for six new medical school programs in rural communities across Australia. This included 20 medical places for UTAS’s Burnie campus in North-West Tasmania, with the first students starting end-to-end medical training in Burnie earlier this year.
Labor will deliveri these new medical places at UTAS, in addition to the $617 million we’re investing to train more doctors and nurses.
We are funding the largest GP training program in Australian history, which will see 2,000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.
As part of this broader investment, we’ll deliver an extra 100 medical CSPs each year from 2026, increasing to 150 per year by 2028. The Government will hold a competitive grant round for universities to apply for these medical CSPs later in 2025, with a focus on proposals that build the primary health care workforce.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler:
“The Albanese Labor Government is strengthening Medicare with more bulk billing, more Urgent Care Clinics and thousands more doctors.
“More medical students graduating in Launceston means more doctors living and working in Launceston.
“We are strengthening Medicare by building our future medical workforce through more training places for medical students at university.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education, Jason Clare:
“Tasmania needs more GPs and the Albanese Labor Government is delivering them.
“This investment will help us to train more doctors in Tasmania to look after the health of Tasmanians.”
Quotes attributable to Labor Candidate for Bass, Jess Teesdale:
“As a teacher I know how vital it is to give more young Tasmanians the opportunity to train as doctors in their local community.
“Young Tasmanians shouldn’t need to leave to succeed and that’s why this is a huge win for Northern Tasmania.
“More Tasmanians able to train closer to home means more Tasmanians to deliver the health care needed in our community.
“This builds on the Albanese Labor Government’s plan to strengthen Medicare in Tasmania which includes more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, cheaper medicines and more free doctor visits.”