The Baby, the Bath Water And the future of IMGs

Migration has significantly accelerated over in the past few decades, with the migration of doctors and other health professionals from developed countries forming a large part of the globalisation of health care. As such, migrant labour has been observed as a means of meeting job shortages within developed countries, from low-skilled to highly-skilled professional occupations, such as International Medical Graduates (IMG). Australia, like many other developed countries, has trained insufficient doctors in the past. This has led to the immigration of IMGs to fill this gap, particularly in rural and remote areas. As countries, such as Australia has developed an ongoing need for IMGs, so too the policies and regulations have developed over the decades to meet those needs. However, as Australia now begins to train more local medical graduates, the future for IMGs remains less conceivable. The aim of this paper is to discuss the increased use of IMGs and the development of legislation and policy to regulate this cohort of migrant labour in Australia while examining what the future may be for IMGs.