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20 Aug 2025
A new pathway to registration is boosting the number of highly skilled, international medical specialists available to practise in Australian communities that are short of doctors.
By the end of July 2025, the Medical Board of Australia had registered 229 Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs) through the new expedited specialist pathway – 208 GPs, 12 psychiatrists and nine anaesthetists. Most (87%) applicants were qualified in the United Kingdom.
Medical Board of Australia Chair, Dr Susan O’Dwyer, said the new pathway to specialist registration struck a careful balance between safety and supply.
‘It’s early days, but we’re registering these highly qualified doctors from similar health systems quickly, so they can start caring for patients in Australia,’ Dr O’Dwyer said.
‘Our goal is to make it easier for patients to get an appointment with a doctor who is safe to practise, when they need one. Most of these doctors are heading for fast-growing communities with limited access to medical care.’
A detailed report on pathway activity and outcomes for the six months from 21 October 2024 to 30 April 2025, published today, shines a light on where these specialists are being registered to practise.
The report shows how the new specialists have been approved to practise where they are needed - 86% in identified areas of workforce shortage such as fast-growing outer metropolitan areas, and 20% specifically in regional, rural or remote areas where it is traditionally harder to recruit.
By the end of July, SIMGs had been registered to practise in all states and territories except Tasmania: Victoria (47), New South Wales (42), Western Australia (39), Queensland (39), South Australia (15), ACT (five) and one in the Northern Territory.
The expedited specialist pathway has streamlined registration processes while maintaining high standards. It allows highly qualified medical specialists from similar health systems to be registered faster so they can start seeing patients in Australia sooner.
According to the report, the Board granted specialist registration less than six weeks after applications were completed for most SIMGs.
Ahpra CEO, Justin Untersteiner, said the expedited pathway was one of several workforce initiatives where the regulator had an important role to play.
‘We're using a range of regulatory strategies to safely boost Australia's health practitioner workforce to help patients get the care they need, when they need it,’ Mr Untersteiner said.
There is stiff international competition for highly skilled medical specialists. Ahpra and the Board are helping give Australia an edge in this tight market, in line with the recommendations of the Kruk review.
Other workforce projects include the General Registration for Internationally Qualified Registered Nurses (IQRN), which removes red tape for eligible IQRNs looking to join the Australian workforce, and ongoing work around rural generalists.
The Board will continue monthly summary data reporting on the expedited specialist pathway and publish the detailed data report annually.
The expedited specialist pathway opened to eligible GPs in October 2024, to psychiatrists and anaesthetists in December 2024 and obstetricians and gynaecologists in March 2025. It enables eligible internationally qualified medical specialists (SIMGs) with specific international qualifications to apply directly to the Medical Board of Australia or the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), rather than be assessed individually by a specialist college.
Governments require specialist international medical graduates to practise where there are identified workforce shortages, controlling workforce distribution through access to Medicare. Jurisdictions review identified districts of workforce shortage (DWS) quarterly, reclassifying them as communities’ health workforce needs change.
The Registration Standard: General Registration for Internationally Qualified Registered Nurses, which opened in April 2025, builds on established pathways to streamline registration for nurses from comparable international jurisdictions.
It is designed to safely fast-track experienced nurses into the Australian workforce to alleviate pressures across the health, aged care and primary care sectors.
‘Our goal is to make it easier for patients to get an appointment with a doctor who is safe to practise, when they need one. Most of these doctors are heading for fast-growing communities with limited access to medical care,’ – Medical Board of Australia Chair, Dr Susan O’Dwyer
