The annual update of the DPA map was released on – 1st of July 2022.
However, as no changes have been made, and locations that received DPA as per the exceptional review that occurred earlier in 2022 will retain their DPA status.
The message provided from the department is “The DPA and DWS are updated annually. The newly elected Australia Government committed to changes to the DPA to expand access to the GP workforce. Consideration of these changes is currently underway and a single update to the DPA will be made soon. The Health locator tool and web information will be updated for the DPA and DWS at that time. Until the update DPA and DWS 2021 continue to apply. Catchment that were classified as DPA through the exceptional circumstances process in 2021-22 will remain DPA until the update.”
Unfortunately, there has been no detail provided about when the map will be updated, so it is hard to predict how long it will remain unchanged. We understand that a comprehensive review is underway and with the change of government being so recent, our guess is that it will be some time before it changes.