The federal government should be doing more to encourage foreign trained doctors to come Australia, the country's peak medical group says.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon introduced draft laws to parliament on Wednesday which would make it easier for New Zealand doctors to work in Australia.
Overseas-trained doctors and foreign graduates of Australian medical schools, generally, have been restricted from providing services that attract Medicare benefits for a period of 10 years.
But they can be granted an exemption from those restrictions if they work in a rural or regional area where there is a shortage of doctors.
Under the new legislation, that restriction would be removed for New Zealand citizens and permanent resident doctors who obtain their primary medical degree at home or from an Australian medical school.
Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce welcomed the changes, but said they should go further.
He said the AMA had identified "a series of issues and inconsistencies" around how the Health Insurance Act treats international medical graduates.
"These doctors need more support to enable them to improve their contribution to patient care and to encourage them to seek a permanent place in the medical workforce," Dr Pesce said.
"We need to send a strong message to rural communities that every effort is being made to ensure they have access to quality care from a doctor."
He said the AMA's federal council would discuss the Health Insurance Amendment (New Zealand Overseas Trained Doctors) Bill 2009 when it meets in Canberra early next month.
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