More doctors will be trained next year than ever before, according to the GPs’ peak body. Follow the day’s news live
- Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Chalmers says ‘optimism is warranted’ on economy
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will today deliver an economic statement to parliament setting out the progress the government has made on key indicators and causes for optimism about the economy and the budget.
At every stage we have been upfront about the nature and magnitude of our economic challenges. Even with very substantial progress in the aggregate numbers, we know that doesn’t always translate to how people are faring and feeling day-to-day.
We’re not pretending its mission accomplished – it isn’t. We are realistic about this, but optimistic too. Today as I provide a stocktake of the global and domestic economy preview the mid-year update which we will hand down in December. And outline our policies and plans. I will explain why that very cautious confidence and emerging optimism is welcome and warranted.
This 20% growth in GPs in training is a sign the GP workforce is recovering. But it can’t be taken as a sign the job is done. The story we’ve been told, and that we’ve often told each other as GPs, is one of general practice in decline. These training results show us we can turn that around with the right investments, because funding general practice gets results.
