Regional WA is Carrying the Cost of Health Reform

MR RICK WILSON MP
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR O’CONNOR

17th April 2026

Regional WA is Carrying the Cost of Health Reform

Since PM Albanese’s headline-grabbing changes to Medicare on 1st November 2025, and the eye-wateringly huge federal government investment of $8.5 billion, there have been some positive changes to health services in my regional electorate of O’Connor.

According to the Cleanbill 2026 Blue Report, regional and remote communities have seen a welcome rise in bulk billing rates. But for many of my constituents, access to a GP is still limited, out-of-pocket costs remain high, and the burden of keeping doctors in town has quietly shifted from the federal and state governments onto those least able to afford it: local governments.

While this Report suggests that in our small rural towns and remote communities more than half the clinics now offer a bulk-billing GP, the reality is that policy intent and lived experience are vastly different.

Only 23.9% of WA’s GP clinics are located outside Perth, despite the vast majority of the state’s geography - and many of its most vulnerable populations - living large distances from the metropolitan area.

For patients who are not bulk billed, the average out-of-pocket cost at a regional GP clinic is over $50, which is around $5 higher than in Perth.

This is one of the largest city-regional price gaps in the country.

In practical terms, this means fewer doctors, longer wait times, more travel and higher costs - especially for people managing chronic illness, ageing residents and working families who cannot easily leave town to seek care.

Behind these numbers is a reality rarely acknowledged in national debate: regional local governments are propping up the GP system.

I have been receiving regular updates from the Local Government Rural Health Funding Alliance, who are tackling this issue head-on.

This Alliance represents six rural WA councils including the O’Connor Shires of Lake Grace, Kojonup, Gnowangerup, Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe, and the Shire of Narembeen, which is now in the electorate of Durack.

The Alliance have found that across rural and remote WA, council spending to support GP services has risen from $7.8 million in 2021–22 to $9.5 million in 2024–25, with 91% of that funding coming from councils with fewer than 5,000 residents.

These councils are not just topping up salaries - they are providing housing, vehicles, clinic space, paying utility bills and funding administrative support - simply to keep a doctor in town.

Local governments exist to deliver roads, waste service and community infrastructure - not to underwrite the national health system. Every dollar diverted to keeping a GP practice in their community is a dollar not spent on core Shire services that their communities also rely on.

And when local GP access declines, the costs do not disappear - they shift.

Hospitals see increased presentations for conditions that should be managed in primary care. Ambulance services, often run by volunteers, are called on to transport patients vast distances to care. And patient travel support schemes are stretched.

Families end up shouldering increasing costs of transport, accommodation and unpaid care. And many O’Connor constituents, especially older people are delaying or foregoing treatment altogether.

This ripple effect is exactly what rural health experts warned about, and it confirms the Alliance’s argument that the issue extends far beyond individual clinics to workforce 
participation, aged care, disability services and community wellbeing.

The central message is clear: regional WA does not need more goodwill - it needs sustainable funding reform.

One promising solution already on the table is the Alliance’s call for a three-year state and federal pilot to directly fund GP sustainability in our most isolated and disadvantaged 
communities.

They have suggested adjusting Medicare funding and incentive settings to better reflect WA’s distance and workforce challenges - supporting regionally coordinated GP models, expanding supported housing, using locum pools and multidisciplinary care models that reduce reliance on a single GP.

The improvement in regional Medicare bulk-billing rates shows that targeted policy can make a difference. But policy success should also be judged by who is still paying the price?

Right now, in my electorate of O’Connor, that price is being paid by our shire councils - using up to 16% of their rate revenue to cover GP costs - and by patients facing higher out-of-pocket costs.

Regional WA deserves a health system that works by design - not one propped up by council budgets. And regional patients and Seniors deserve so much better in the middle of a fuel and cost-of-living crisis.

Media contact:

Reuben Keyser
Communications and Community Engagement Adviser
[email protected]
(08) 9842 2777
0455 125 035