To help assuage some of the costs of travel above what is considered normal, every State and Territory to my knowledge have some form of Patient Transport assistance. This payment helps to offset or cover the cost of travel and accommodation, In some cases Accommodation providers accept the payment from the Government as full reimbursement. I hope the following links will help those who may be unaware of the assistance offered.
Qld
https://www.qld.gov.au/health/services/travel/subsidies/ptss-subsidies#about-accommodation
NSW
https://www.iptaas.health.nsw.gov.au/about
Vic
WA
Tas
https://www.health.tas.gov.au/patients/support-services-your-visit-hospital/travel-support-ptas
In some cases if no medical support is available even for GP visits in a town/area, then ringing the most local hospital may help arrange PATS for the patient. A distance that has to be traveled will need to be met to be eligible, but it at least may offer some cost alleviation if the criteria are met. Some States/Territories only make the PATS scheme available for Specialist treatment, e.g. Qld has a 50 km travel requirement one way and must be for Specialist treatment not for GP visits. NSW has a more lenient treatment of who a patient is referred to, e.g a Doctor may refer to another Doctor (No specialist requirement), but the distance needed to be traveled one way is 100 km.
NSW
An article in The Conversation outlines 6 reasons why it is harder to get to see GPs. Among those reasons is a decreasing amount of Doctors choosing to become GPs with an estimated shortfall in the number of GPs required.of 11,500 by 2032 (https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-cornerstone-health-gp-workforce-06052022.pdf).
