gp

But the core of the crisis and key to this election is GP services, or primary care, largely offered by private clinics.

So his startup Cleanbill began asking the question: if the average Australian adult walked into a GP clinic, could they get a free, standard appointment?

This year, they called almost all of the nation's estimated 7,000 GP clinics – only a fifth of them would bulk bill a new adult patient.

She came back to a far more sustainable three-day week in the GP clinic, with Streaky Bay forced to wage a bidding war with other desperate regions for pricey, fly-in-fly-out doctors to fill in the gaps.

"We don't want a gold service, but what we want is an equitable service," says Penny Williams, who helps run the community body which owns the GP practice.