Resolving the Health Crisis in Remote Areas - Key Issues and Solutions - Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia

Summary

This paper outlines the key drivers of poor health outcomes in remote Australia, including workforce shortages, geographic isolation, funding inequities, and limited access to culturally safe care. It highlights persistent challenges in attracting and retaining primary health care workers, leading to heavy reliance on locum staff and high workforce turnover.

Drawing on research evidence, it emphasises the importance of “growing our own” First Nations health workforce, strengthening leadership and infrastructure, and adopting community-controlled, context-specific service models. The report calls for a long-term, evidence-based strategy centred on First Nations leadership, local partnerships, and sustained government commitment to improve workforce stability, service quality, and health outcomes in remote communities.

Attracting and retaining a health workforce in rural and remote northern Australia

Northern Australia’s population live in cities, towns and communities supporting pastoral, farming, mining, and tourism industries. A common need is the delivery of appropriate health services by professional staff. One persistent issue fundamental to achieving better access is addressing the shortage and excessive turnover of health staff. For example, turnover of 148% per annum has been quantified in the remote nursing workforce (Zhao, 2019). Optimising staff retention is facilitated by multiple strategies. However, there is a gap in our knowledge about what support ‘bundle’ is most effective in different circumstances. This project will address this gap through a partnership across the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland which will develop an evidence-base to inform how best to bundle retention interventions. Application of this knowledge will in-turn optimise staff retention and be shared through targeted policy briefs and targeted workshops for Queensland Health and Western Australia Health. Additionally, this research will compare the costs and benefits of proven retention incentives with the known high costs of frequently recruiting replacement health workers. Additional workforce retention questions will include whether targeted and systematically delivered training and support in continuous quality improvement and evaluation skills boost staff morale, job satisfaction, and concurrently promote applied health services research for clinicians including allied health professionals and nurses. News articles: ‘Getting real’ in remote health research – Partyline, 17 December 2025 Journal articles: ‘Remote health: What are the problems and what can we do about them? Insights from Australia’ 30 May 2025