The Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program (RHMT) 2027-2031 provides grant funding to support health students, including First Nations students, in pursuing careers in rural and remote Australia through training, recruitment, education, and research activities.

Overview

The RHMT supports health students to undertake rural training through a network of rural clinical schools, university departments of rural health, dental faculties offering extended rural placements, and end-to-end rural medical training arrangements. The programme also supports regional training hubs that build medical training pathways within a region and guide students and trainees through these pathways. The aim of the RHMT is to improve the recruitment and retention of health professionals in rural and remote Australia.

The Government has announced RHMT reforms to strengthen rural workforce outcomes, consolidate funding streams, improve delivery, and reduce administrative burden. The reformed RHMT will shift to an outcomes-focused model for rural retention and workforce shortages, strengthen universities’ roles in meeting local and national workforce needs, encourage innovation and agility, remove outdated requirements, support continuous improvement across the network, reduce red tape, enhance qualitative and quantitative reporting, and provide greater funding certainty to universities.

Funding and Benefits

Total Amount Available (AUD): $1,356,157,893.00

This funding is intended to support eligible universities in continuing their participation under the RHMT for a further five years (2027–2031).

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must be one of the listed organisations and have received an invitation to apply from the department. The grant is open only to universities currently funded under the RHMT that possess funding agreements expiring at the conclusion of 2026. Eligible organisations include:

• Adelaide University: ABN 41 202 953 738
• Australian National University: ABN 52 234 063 906
• Curtin University: ABN 99 143 842 569
• Charles Sturt University: ABN 83 878 708 551
• Deakin University: ABN 56 721 584 203
• Edith Cowan University: ABN 54 361 485 361
• Flinders University: ABN 65 542 596 200
• Griffith University: ABN 78 106 094 461
• James Cook University: ABN 46 253 211 955
• La Trobe University: ABN 64 804 735 113
• Monash University: ABN 12 377 614 012
• University of Melbourne: ABN 84 002 705 224
• University of Newcastle: ABN 15 736 576 735
• University of New South Wales: ABN 57 195 873 179
• University of Notre Dame Australia: ABN 69 330 643 210
• University of Queensland: ABN 63 942 912 684
• University of Sydney: ABN 15 211 513 464
• University of Tasmania: ABN 30 764 374 782
• University of Western Australia: ABN 37 882 817 280
• University of Wollongong: ABN 61 060 567 686
• Western Sydney University: ABN 53 014 069 881

Eligible organisations have a strong track record in delivering rural clinical training and associated activities within MMM 2-7 areas.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted via the Online Application Form, accessible through the Grant Opportunity Documents button on the GrantConnect page. The completed application form and all necessary attachments must be submitted by the closing date and time.

Applicants should keep a copy of their application and any supporting documents. An automated email acknowledgement will be sent, including a Submission Reference ID. This ID should be retained for any queries regarding the application. If no automated email is received within 48 hours of submission, contact Grant.ATM@health.gov.au.

Other Instructions: Each attachment is limited to 2MB. Multiple files must be scanned into a single document. Compressed or zip files are not accepted. File names must be unique and must not contain foreign characters.

Deadline and Timeline

Close Date & Time: 24 August 2026, 2:00 pm (ACT Local Time)

Publish Date: 28 July 2026

A briefing session will be held at 2:00 pm (AEST) on 30 July 2026. Details are available in the grant opportunity documents.

Contact Information

Health Grants Team
Email: Grant.ATM@health.gov.au

Grant Opportunity Documents and further information are available via the GrantConnect portal under GO ID: GO8505.