Jasmine Davis is a rare kind of medical student. Not only does she want to be a general practitioner, she also wants to work regionally. "I come from regional Victoria, and for me, I've always been really passionate about the idea of community and giving back," she said. "Seeing the disparities that we have between rural and metropolitan Australia, I see that as a real area of need and somewhere where I could make a really big difference. "Alongside that, I think living and working in rural areas is just fantastic. Less traffic, more opportunity to explore the outdoors, all those sorts of things are very appealing to me." READ MORE: Canberra GP workforce shortage 'time bomb' In 2021, only 14 per cent of final-year medical students considered general practice as a preferred career. But the Australian Medical Association said there would be a shortfall of more than 11,000 GPs nationwide by 2030 without urgent action. So with the nation facing a critical shortage of GPs - and regional areas most at risk - Ms Davis is just the kind of doctor-in-training the country needs. And she wants to ensure more of her kind choose general practice. On Tuesday, Ms Davis attended a roundtable discussion with Health Minister Mark Butler and opposition health spokeswoman Senator Anne Ruston in her role as president of the Australian Medical Students Association. She said the group went around the table proposing ideas to get aspiring doctors interested in general practice. These included a grant scheme to support clinics that excel in teaching and increase the length of students' general practice placements. Ms Davis has also said placing pupils in regional areas for practicals and recruiting regional students would be part of the solution. She said it took around nine to 13 years for a first-year medical student to become a qualified general practitioner. "It means the time to act is now," Ms Davis said. "Today, the discussion was really one piece of a very large puzzle. "There definitely needs to be a long-term investment in primary care to make sure that the whole system is sustainable and that it is attractive." Minister Butler said a lack of respect from the previous government had devalued general practice. READ MORE: "Right now, only about one out of every eight medical graduates is choosing general practice as a career. Not too long ago, that figure was four out of every eight," he said. "We've seen nine years and cuts and neglect to Medicare, in particular, a six-year freeze on the rebate, which really impacted the financial viability of general practice businesses, but also the incomes of general practitioners. "So while the wages of hospital specialists were rising, essentially general practice wages were frozen." Mr Butler also said GPs in training find it hard to take annual and parental leave because they rotate through practices. "[Students] need to move through multiple employers during their period of six years of training," Mr Butler said. "They particularly find it difficult to accrue parental leave [when maybe] they're at a time where they'll be thinking about raising a family, for example. "We've got some of those pilots in place now for single-employer models ... we want to expand that model."