Australia has high demand for General Practitioners (GPs), especially in rural areas, and significant needs in Psychiatry, driven by growing mental health awareness and needs, alongside shortages in Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, and various surgical specialties like Orthopaedics, with demand also rising for specialists like Cardiologists, Neurologists, and Dermatologists. Rural and remote areas often face the most acute shortages across many disciplines, including GPs and specialists.
These specialties have a high demand in Australia:
The following list outlines some of the most popular specialties for medical doctors.
The specialties with the lowest supply adequacy in 2038 are vascular surgery (66%), ophthalmology (72%), thoracic surgery (73%), plastic surgery (74%), and family medicine (76%). emergency medicine (116%), critical care and pulmonology medicine (112%), endocrinology (109%), and neonatology (106%).
Family medicine is currently the most in-demand physician specialty, according to AMN Healthcare's (formerly Merritt Hawkins) recent report on physician recruiting.
General Surgery
New medical graduates are increasingly choosing specialties with better work-life balance, resulting in a critical shortage in general surgery. And once again, rural areas are being hit the hardest.
Here you find medical specialties that will benefit from the technological revolution.
Orthopaedic surgery
Aspiring orthopaedic surgeons in Australia must complete three years of postgraduate clinical work before applying to one of the most competitive training programs in Australia.
Australia is facing a critical doctor shortage. By 2026, we'll need an additional 13,000 doctors to meet demand, yet hundreds of qualified international physicians already living here but cannot practice due to bureaucratic barriers.
With an adequacy percentage of 69%, thoracic surgeons lead the pack in the current physician shortage. Recent data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reinforces the future impact of the current adequacy percentages for this specialty.
For example, oral and maxillofacial surgery and plastic surgery are both considered among the rarest specialties in medicine. In the case of oral and maxillofacial surgery, professionals are trained in both dentistry and surgery, which makes it an even rarer specialty.
The concept of the 7-star doctor, as endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) [2, 3], includes the roles of care provider, decision-maker, communicator, community leader, manager, life-long learner, and researcher.
Top 10 Specialisations for Doctors in India
Jobs paying $500k+ in Australia are primarily in highly specialized fields like Medical Specialists (surgeons, anaesthetists), Senior Finance/Executive Roles (CFO, Head of Treasury, Investment Directors), and high-end Sales & Construction Management (Elite Stockbrokers, Senior Project Managers/Estimators in complex sectors). While roles like Neurosurgeon and Ophthalmologist average well over $500k, achieving this in other sectors often involves performance-based bonuses or leading major projects, with opportunities listed on job boards like SEEK and Jora.
Yes, $130k is a very good salary in Australia, placing you well above the median income and in the top earnings bracket, but whether it's "comfortable" depends heavily on your location (high-cost cities like Sydney/Melbourne vs. regional areas) and lifestyle, as high rents can still strain finances, though it generally allows for a solid middle-class life with budgeting.
What is the Most Difficult Doctor Specialty?
GP Salary Ranges and Job Listings
GP salaries in Australia vary widely, depending on location, practice type, and experience level. Here are some approximate salary ranges for GPs in different locations: Metropolitan areas: $150,000 – $300,000 per year. Rural areas: $200,000 – $400,000 per year.
A 3.2 GPA is considered low for medical school, as the average accepted GPA is closer to 3.7+, but it's not impossible; you'd need an exceptional MCAT score, strong clinical experience, research, volunteering, and a significant upward trend in grades to compensate and get accepted into DO programs or some MD programs, especially if you have compelling extracurriculars and personal narrative.
With that in mind, the five least competitive medical specialties are:
Yes, $70k is a fair salary in Australia, often near the median income, making it a decent living for a single person, especially outside major cities, but it can be tight in expensive areas or for those with high living costs like mortgages, with full-time averages now closer to $90k-$100k.
Paediatrics remains the lowest-paid RACP specialty, with mean taxable income of $266,783 in 2021-22, though it showed solid growth of 10.8% from its 2019-20 figure of $240,800.
Top 10 Happiest Medical Specialties
Doctors on Demand provides a 24/7 video telehealth consultation service for more than 380,000 private patients, and eligible policy holders of Medibank Private, Allianz Partners and BUPA.
The minimum GPA for most med schools is 3.0. But if you're a pre-med student, you'll need to aim for a GPA of 3.6 or higher to be a competitive applicant. In 2022-2023, the mean science and overall GPA of matriculants were 3.68 and 3.75, respectively.