Every single location proposed by Charles Sturt and LaTrobe universities for the Murray Darling Medical School already trains medical students, and in several cases hosts students from more than one university.

As a product of the combined Melbourne-Monash Rural Clinical School in Bendigo, I can attest that the quality of education provided is excellent, and government-funded education infrastructure is already in place.

I am surprised that Nationals member for Calare Andrew Gee is not aware of the students studying in his electorate - from the University of Sydney studying in Orange, or from Western Sydney University in Bathurst.

To waste $50 million creating a new medical school and duplicating or replacing these facilities would represent economic folly.

Our medical school system is already bursting at the seams. In Victoria, where I study, we’re looking at a shortfall of 100 intern places for the graduating class of 2018. Without a job as an intern these medical graduates cannot become qualified doctors in Australia.

In Mr Gee's electorate of Calare, intern positions at Orange hospital are massively oversubscribed. More than 100 students applied, and 84 interviewed, for 17 intern places for 2018.

In Wagga, 17 of 18 interns were graduates of the local UNSW Rural Clinical School, representing a very impressive retention rate.

A new medical school duplicating these rural clinical schools will only displace these students dedicated to rural practice, and do nothing to increase the number of future rural doctors.

Despite the medical education provided by rural clinical schools, and the enthusiasm of the students they train, the opportunities for medical graduates to continue their vocational training in the country and become rural doctors are limited.

This is where we need to place our attention and efforts – how we can increase rural specialty and generalist training to allow our young doctors to stay and complete their training to become fully qualified in the bush.

To create the rural doctors our communities need, the better option is funding for the Rural Health Commissioner’s National Rural Generalist Pathway, which is supported through a historic agreement between the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, and funding for more rural-based specialty training places.

These will provide qualified rural doctors in a much shorter time than a new medical school, and satisfy a demand for rural training from doctors already in the system.

The last thing we need funded in this year’s budget is another medical school that will only exacerbate the bottlenecks in our medical training.

I am heartened that the Nationals are paying attention to the issue of rural doctor shortages, and the disparities in health outcomes faced by rural communities. However, the solutions are complex and do not include a short sighted and misguided gift to Charles Sturt and Latrobe.

We do indeed have the power to change the situation in this year’s budget – but the right choices need to be made.