A Dean Winter Labor Government will train and recruit more doctors and nurses to help deliver the healthcare Tasmanians need – where they need it.
This builds on Labor’s commitment to start TassieDoc and ensure Tasmanians who need it can see a regular doctor for free.
After 11 years of the Liberals, Tasmanians are still struggling to see a doctor or get the maternity care they need. It’s time for change.
Labor will give our health workforce a fresh start with new scholarships for midwives and recruitment and retention incentives for doctors.
For midwives
For midwives
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Support for the University of Tasmania’s plan to restart midwifery training in 2026 — so we can train and keep more of our own midwives close to home.
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200 new scholarships for UTAS midwifery students over four years designed to train and retain midwives here in Tasmania.
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Each scholarship will provide $10,000 to support the cost of training, with an extra $5,000 bonus for those who stay and work in Tasmania for two years after qualifying.
For doctors
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150 recruitment grants to make Tasmania competitive with the mainland and attract and retain a permanent workforce.
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100 x $10,000 grants for doctors in urban areas.
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50 x $20,000 grants for doctors in rural and regional communities.
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Our government-run TassieDoc clinic that let doctors focus on practicing medicine without having to worry about running a business.
The grants will go to practices to help cover the costs of employing and supporting new doctors—building the workforce needed to deliver Labor’s free, bulk-billed doctor clinics across Tasmania. This plan builds on a successful Federal program and has been welcomed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and AMA.
Labor will train more midwives here in Tasmania, and we’ll keep more doctors working in the communities that need them.
It’s in Labor’s DNA to support Tasmanians to get the healthcare they need – that’s what these initiatives will deliver.
After 11 years of the Liberals, it’s time to give our health workforce the support it deserves and they only way to do that is to vote Labor.
Quotes attributable to RACGP Deputy Chair Dr Tim Jones:
“We see it as very attractive to our emerging workforce. We are training a record number of GPs here in Tasmania, but those are doctors who do not have business experience, who are not clinic owners, and we think that working under this model is going to enable them to do what they do best – which is focus on the care of patients in the community.
“We have seen from interstate initiatives that have developed some of these models in the past that they have worked very well to both recruit and retain doctors – and over that time led to a decrease in hospital costs, which is absolutely what we need to see in this state as well.
Dean Winter MP
Labor Leader
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Minister for Health
