ACRRM
College Submission
October 2025
Thriving Kids Initiative
About the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM)
ACRRM’s vision is healthy rural, remote and First Nations communities through excellence, social accountability and innovation.
The College works to define, promote and deliver quality standards of medical practice for rural, remote and First Nations communities through a skilled and dedicated Rural Generalist profession. We provide a quality Fellowship program including training, professional development, and clinical practice standards; and support advocacy services for rural doctors and the communities they serve.
ACRRM has more than 5000 rural doctor members including some 1200 registrars, who live and work in rural, remote, and First Nations communities across Australia. Our members provide expert front line medical care in a diverse range of settings including general practices, hospitals, emergency departments, Aboriginal Medical Services, and other remote settings such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and the Australian Antarctic Division.
Initial Comments
ACRRM appreciates the opportunity to submit feedback on this initiative. The College supports a framework that continues to protect the viability of rural and remote health systems and ensure the ongoing flexible work of Rural Generalists (RGs). Funding should support integrated, place-based care, not fragmented services or incentivise urban transfers.
About Rural Generalist Medicine
Rural Generalist Medicine (RGM) is a distinctive model of care that equips practitioners to provide broad and integrated medical services in rural and remote areas, including comprehensive primary care, hospital and emergency care, and advanced specialised services to meet local needs. It also emphasises population health and involves collaboration within multi-professional teams to deliver services within a cohesive and community-responsive system of care.
ACRRM Feedback Thriving Kids Initiative Page 1
June 2025
ACRRM Fellows are specialist general practitioners with the training and experience to provide skilled services working to the RG scope. The College is hopeful that in accordance with the recommendations of the Medical Board of Australia, this scope will be recognised in the national law as a specialist field within the next 12 months.
Recognising Effective Strategies
The College is of the view that the Thriving Kids Initiative’s primary goal should be to target programs with early intervention and detection. In the 2023-24 Financial year, 36.3% of regional, remote and very remote communities reported waiting longer for a GP than they felt was acceptable, compared to 26% in major cities.1 Longer wait times indicate a higher strain on services and a lack of access which has a direct impact on families seeking medical advice early in a child’s development. Early intervention through additional funding could decrease strain on services by reducing unmet demand and urgency of care and overall improving the health of the local community which will assist children and their families.
The Thriving Kids Initiative should target all programs that directly or indirectly support health outcomes.
The magnitude of projects that the Thriving Kids Initiative can target is interminable; however, the conditions that are targeted should be chosen with care to ensure equity and effectiveness. Indirect programs could be the most effective approach, with the ability to include multiple participants and have a higher rate of willingness to participate, while also increasing job opportunities in rural and remote communities.
ACRRM supports initiatives that strengthen the health system holistically, recognising that direct programs must be carefully designed to avoid placing additional pressure on existing organisational and workforce capacities.
The College conducts education on Autism in Rural and Remote General Practice, this develops the registrar’s working knowledge of autism but also puts autism in the context of rural and remote communities.2 This course helps identify the unique challenges that individuals diagnosed with autism and their families face and how doctors can provide guidance on navigating the diagnosis process, accessing services, advocacy, including within the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The course work allows registrars to be ready for situations that they may face and therefore allowing early diagnosis, relieving unnecessary strain on health services.
ACRRM also supports Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programs either run by us or other professional bodies. An example being a CPD event run by Public Health Network, Western, New South Wales on Autism Spectrum Disorder, which we promote through various channels.3 CPD programs supporting the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system by ensuring doctors have the latest clinical knowledge maximising the quality of care.
1 Patient experiences, 2023-24 Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-services/patient-experiences/latest-release\ 2 Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, 2025. Available at: https://mycollege.acrrm.org.au/search/find-online-learning/details?id=34537&title=Autism+in+rural+and+remote+general+practice\ 3 Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, 2025. Available at: https://mycollege.acrrm.org.au/search/find-college-event/details?id=37991&title=Autism+Spectrum+Disorder+%28ASD%29+Update+-+DUBBO+-+28%2F10%2F2025+-+28%2F10%2F2025
Workforce Gaps
Direct health programs shouldn’t be overlooked; however, for them to be effective, workforce gaps need to be addressed. The primary workforce shortage is the lack of General Practitioners and Rural Generalists in rural and remote communities, with Rural Generalists commonly being the only health contact. We believe the Thriving Kids Initiative should consider the overall funding requirements that are needed in the expansion of primary health care within rural and remote communities, specifically targeting obstetric and paediatric education programs that directly relate to children and mother healthcare.
We acknowledge that the Health Minister wants to address workforce shortages in regional Australia through ‘leveraging mainstream broad-based systems like primary care, infant and maternal health system’.4 However, the workforce in rural and remote areas is already experiencing strains, including burnout. It is important that the Initiative has ongoing and meaningful consultation and engagement with Rural Generalists to ensure its meeting the needs for the community.
ACRRM members have expressed that if primary care systems are to be leveraged, engagement is required to improve the coordination and structure of outreach services of remote communities. As communities are experiencing frustrations around the piecemeal delivery of services to children.
ACRRM notes the Minister’s suggestion around the necessity of involvement of the Early Childhood Education system within the context of the Thriving Kids Initiative.5 Expanding education professionals’ knowledge around ADHD and autism, could see multiple benefits including reducing stigmas, expanding parent support and could potentially increase early referral for diagnosis. Additional support from other professionals in small communities can expand the resources available for parents and medical professionals to improve and streamline the access to diagnosis and treatment frameworks. Early diagnosis prevents strains on the health and education system by limiting schooling impacts.
Health Equity with Rural and Remote Communities
For the Thriving Kids Initiative to achieve full health equity, everyone must have access to comparable health access and opportunities, and that the initiative must be accessible to all children, not purely focused and resourced for urban areas. ACRRM accepts that different communities face different challenges; therefore, to achieve better health equity, locally suitable programs must be available in different areas of Australia. The Department of Health, Disability and Aging needs to ensure that programs are accessible to all children and that these opportunities are properly distributed to help attain health equity.
The Initiative must consider intersectional issues, with the geographical diversity of the communities and how this interacts with other inequities. With intersectional issues interacting differently between urban and remote communities, different approaches are needed.
4 Commonwealth Australia, The Hon Mark Butler MP, 2025. Available At: Q&A from Minister Butler, National Press Club — 20 August 2025 | Health, Disability and Ageing Ministers | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
5 Commonwealth Australia, The Hon Mark Butler MP, 2025. Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/speech-from-minister-butler-national-press-club-20-august-2025
The commentary from the Australian Autism Alliance is noted, with their expressing how any “one-size-fits-all” model excluding specialised supports risks falling short and would appear to contradict the layered Model of Foundational Supports recommended by the NDIS Review.6
ACRRM acknowledges the disparity in the support available to parents of children with autism and developmental delays. These conditions place significant strain on parents’ wellbeing. While urban communities often have access to support groups, rural and remote areas lack similar opportunities. Improving support services available to families would improve outcomes and help prevent burnout among General Practitioners and Rural Generalists.
ACRRM recommends a high degree of community and specialist engagement to ensure health equity is achieved and to minimise the impact of intersectional Issues. With the combination of views, the Thriving Kids Initiative should meet the needs and resource requirements of each community. A key engagement in each community should be General Practitioners and Rural Generalist as they not only live in community, but they can also express what conditions should be targeted and have an understanding of the broad health requirements of the area.
Indigenous Health Considerations
ACRRM advocates for the importance of Indigenous consultation on the Thriving Kids Initiative specific to ensure that it adequately captures the complexity of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly in rural and remote settings.
Indigenous patients face unique cultural, geographic, and socio-economic barriers to care, requiring tailored policy interventions and funding mechanisms. These should enable culturally safe, community-based, and flexible service models that improve access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
College Details
| Organisation | Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) |
|---|---|
| Name | Marita Cowie AM |
| Position | Chief Executive Officer |
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6 Australian Autism Alliance, 2025. Available at: Media Release: Response to “Thriving Kids” Program Announcement - Australian Autism Alliance
ACRRM acknowledges Australian Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander People as the first inhabitants of the nation. We respect the Traditional Owners of lands across Australia in which our members and staff work and live and pay respect to their Elders past present and future.