By Professor Renée Leon, Vice-Chancellor, Charles Sturt University:

Albert Einstein said that “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity”.  

There is no mistaking that Australia’s regional healthcare system is in crisis. According to the Department of Health, rural and remote areas face chronic shortages of healthcare professionals, with vacancy rates for medical and allied health roles considerably and consistently higher than in metropolitan centres. In May alone, more than 30,000 health and medical job ads were posted nationally, with regional areas disproportionately affected. 

The consequences are stark for regional Australians: poorer health outcomes and higher rates of preventable hospitalisations. Most worryingly, life expectancy is some seven years shorter for men and six years shorter for women in remote areas compared to their urban counterparts, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 

The relative scarcity of GPs in regional Australia is where the city-country healthcare disparity is at its most obvious. Speaking to Canberra Times, one pregnant woman who relocated to a country town summarised the issue: “There are three GPs in town and mine's also my obstetrician, so he agreed to take the family on his books. Otherwise, you can't get in to see a GP; there's a waiting list of at least 100 people.” 

In recent years the two of the parties best equipped to remedy this issue – government and universities – have struggled to settle our differences on matters like international student caps and domestic student funding models. But when it comes to the provision of more regionally based frontline health workers, our goals align. 

Therein lies the opportunity. 

Government and universities must unite to invest in regional education as the primary solution to Australia’s healthcare disparities. In doing so, we can ensure that every Australian—regardless of postcode—has access to the skilled professionals they need to live healthy, dignified lives. 

Charles Sturt University is celebrating a milestone that directly progresses this goal, with the first cohort of medical students soon to graduate from our Joint Program in Medicine with Western Sydney University. 

This achievement is a powerful step forward in our mission to train doctors who will serve and transform healthcare systems across regional Australia. These are students from regional Australia who will, almost exclusively, practice in regional Australia. 

Already this inaugural cohort is making their mark, with two of the group acknowledged as Medical Students of the Year for New South Wales and Victoria. 

To scale up the life-saving impact of our first graduating class of less than 40 medicine students, we need a reasonable share of the 100 new Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) for medicine students announced for 2026. 

We know the shortage of doctors affecting health outcomes and life expectancies is in regional Australia, not in capital cities. More than 70 per cent of Charles Sturt’s graduates go on to live and work in regional Australia. So securing a portion of these additional CSPs would allow us to train more doctors for the towns and cities that most desperately need them. 

If this is coupled with funding models that enable us to accept more nursing, midwifery, paramedicine, dentistry and allied health students, we will be the engine room that provides regional Australia’s healthcare workforce for decades to come. 

In announcing the additional CSPs for medicine, Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler said “more training places will deliver more doctors to care for Australians in every corner of the country”. Sadly, in terms of healthcare skills and services, there are corners of regional Australia which are being overlooked. 

Amidst this ongoing crisis, we must seize this opportunity for change.