General practitioner
Diagnose and manage a wide range of conditions in primary care, refer to specialists and coordinate ongoing health management.
Registration: AHPRA medical registration with FRACGP or similar fellowship
Salary
Cited figures only: median full-time weekly earnings for the ANZSCO unit group General Practitioners and Resident Medical Officers (2531) from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia), and where available the QILT graduate starting salary for the matching study area.
| Figure | AUD | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median full-time weekly earnings | $2616 | Your Career (2026-09-23) |
Jobs, demand and who does this work
Figures for the ANZSCO occupation General Practitioner (253111), the closest official match for general practitioner, from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia data, sourced 2026-09-23).
- People employed
- 48,700
- Future demand
- Very strong
- Work full-time
- 69%
- Average full-time hours
- 45 a week
- Women
- 48%
- Median age
- 45
Where the jobs are (share of workers)
| NSW | 30.8% |
| VIC | 25.2% |
| QLD | 21.5% |
| WA | 10% |
| SA | 7.3% |
| TAS | 2.2% |
| ACT | 2% |
| NT | 1% |
Highest qualification held by workers
| Postgraduate qualification | 38% |
| Bachelor degree | 58.1% |
| Diploma or advanced diploma | 0.6% |
| Certificate I-IV | 0.3% |
| Year 12 | 0.4% |
| Below Year 12 | 0.1% |
What a general practitioner actually does
Most GPs run a booked clinic that opens around 8am and finishes between 5pm and 7pm, with consultations stacked in 15 to 20-minute blocks. A typical session is a long string of short problems: an antibiotic question, a mole check, a worried parent, a Workcover certificate, a mental-health plan review. Between consults the GP triages pathology results, signs off prescriptions, writes referral letters and reads hospital discharge summaries. Most GPs also run home visits to nursing homes one afternoon a week. Hours are generally weekdays with some on-call after-hours or weekend rotations depending on the practice model. Bulk-billing rates have fallen sharply, so most GPs now charge a gap or split-bill model, which means more time on practice administration than 10 years ago. The work is intellectually relentless: you're the first port of call for everything from pregnancies to suicidality to undifferentiated abdominal pain.
Typical tasks
- Consult with patients, take histories and perform examinations.
- Order and interpret diagnostic tests.
- Prescribe medications and manage chronic disease.
Skills you'll use
- History-taking and physical examination across all body systems
- Pattern recognition for both common and red-flag presentations
- Prescribing within the PBS and dealing with shortages
- Mental-health management including K10, suicide risk assessment and care plans
- Procedural skills (excisions, joint injections, IUDs, implants)
- Reading pathology and imaging reports critically
- Difficult conversations about diagnosis, prognosis and risk
- Practice-management literacy (Medicare item numbers, billing rules)
How to become one
- 1Finish Year 12 with high enough ATAR or UCAT to enter a medical degree
- 2Complete a 4-year graduate-entry MD or a 5 to 6-year undergraduate medical degree (MBBS/MD)
- 3Sit and pass the medical school's clinical-skills assessments and final exams
- 4Complete an intern year (PGY1) followed by at least one resident year (PGY2) in a hospital
- 5Enter the AGPT Program through the RACGP or ACRRM and complete 3 to 4 years of GP training including supervised clinical practice
- 6Sit the RACGP fellowship exam (or ACRRM equivalent) to become a Fellow and unrestricted GP
- 7Decide on practice location, billing model and any special interest such as skin cancer, mental health or paediatrics
Where you can work
- General practice clinics (corporate, group and solo)
- Aboriginal community-controlled health services
- Rural generalist practices with hospital admitting rights
- Defence Force and correctional health services
- Skin-cancer and cosmetic clinics
- University student health and corporate occupational-health teams
- Telehealth-only practices
Career progression
Typical stages and roles. Years of experience are a rough guide; pay at each stage depends on the employer, award or agreement.
- Intern0-1 yearsTypical roles: Medical intern, PGY1 doctor
- Hospital resident and registrar2-4 yearsTypical roles: Resident medical officer, GP registrar (AGPT)
- Fellowed GP5-10 yearsTypical roles: Fellow of RACGP, Associate at a practice, Locum GP
- Practice owner or partner10+ yearsTypical roles: Practice principal, Partner GP, Clinical director
Is this for you?
You might love this if
- You enjoy variety and don't want to specialise in one organ system
- You can think clinically and broadly under time pressure
- You're good at building long-term trust with patients and families
- You can hold a clear line on what you can and can't fix in 15 minutes
- You're comfortable being the most senior decision-maker in the room
This might not suit you if
- You hate the idea of running a small business or worrying about billing
- You want a hospital-based specialist career with procedural focus
- You can't cope with patients you'll never be able to fully cure
- You want to avoid administrative paperwork and Medicare audits
Ways in
Uni and TAFE routes for general practitioner. We only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.
University
Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.
TAFE / VET
Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.
No direct TAFE pathway to this career.
Sources
ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Your Career (yourcareer.gov.au) directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.