Before Channel 7 starts frightening Australians about reducing immigration and the supposed collapse of our healthcare system, perhaps they could investigate why Australia deliberately restricts its own medical training capacity. The Australian Government controls the number of Commonwealth-supported medical school places. Specialist training is also constrained by funded positions, accreditation and supervision capacity. These aren’t conspiracy theories, they’re documented features of Australia’s medical training system. We have many capable young Australians competing for limited medical school places, while our healthcare system has become heavily dependent on importing doctors trained overseas. And now we’re told reducing immigration threatens the entire system? Perhaps we should be asking why successive governments haven’t invested sufficiently in training Australians in the first place. Of course we need skilled overseas doctors to fill immediate shortages, particularly in regional communities but importing qualified professionals should complement a strong domestic training system, not become a permanent substitute for building one. Train Australians, expand medical school places, fund specialist training and let’s build a sustainable healthcare workforce.