Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash announced the changes on Sunday at the the National Rural Health conference in Darwin.

Ms Nash said the GP Rural Incentives Program (GPRIP) would be overhauled so smaller rural communities would be able to more easily attract and retain GPs.

Communities listed as qualifying for higher incentives included Batemans Bay, Moruya, Tuross Head, Broulee-Mossy Point, Long Beach, Narooma and Dalmeny.

Under the old system, some $50 million in annual incentives were paid for doctors to live in 14 large regional cities, including Townsville (population 175,000) and Cairns (population 145,000).

The system created incentives for doctors to remain in well-serviced cities which had little trouble attracting doctors.

An independent expert panel consulted with stakeholders before compiling a report, using the new Modified Monash Model to classify rural and regional towns and cities.

Minister Nash thanked the panel for its work.

“The new GPRIP system will deliver a fairer system for smaller towns; redirecting money to attract more doctors to smaller towns that have genuine difficulty attracting and retaining doctors,” Minister Nash said.

“It makes more sense to use that money to attract doctors to where the greatest shortages are - small rural and remote communities, not big regional cities.”

In recent years, Batemans Bay struggled to attract GPs, with the shortage putting extra pressure on emergency departments and on Moruya doctors.

The new GP rural incentive payment will not be available to doctors working in the 14 large regional cities with a population of more than 50,000.

The highest incentive paid to work in remote Australia will jump from $47,000 a year to $60,000 a year.

More information and the expert panel report are available at ruralhealthaustralia.gov.au.