The proportion of general practitioners bulk-billing all of their patients has more than doubled in a year, a report has found, after the government introduced financial incentives for doctors and practices.

The findings come from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) annual health of the nation report, to be published on Wednesday, which includes a survey of 2,766 GPs.The report also states that almost two-thirds (63%) of Australians are now bulk-billed for all their GP care, up from 56% in both 2024 and 2025, which the report says is “likely a reflection of the federal government’s recent investment in Medicare bulk billing incentives”.

Of the respondents, 26% of GPs reported bulk-billing all of their patients, up from 12% in 2025. In November, extra financial bonuses were introduced to practices that bulk-bill all eligible services for all Medicare patients, with those clinics receiving an additional 12.5% top-up payment split between the practice and the doctor. But the proportion of people bulk-billed for all GP care remains short of 2019 figures, when the report found it to be 70% of patients.

The RACGP president, Dr Michael Wright, said the findings indicate “greater affordability across the healthcare system”. Dr Luke Slawomirski, a health economist with the Australia Institute, said while the bulk-billing findings were “certainly good news”, it was important to remember the survey represents about 7% of the GP workforce. The RACGP, anyway, is calling for increases to patient Medicare rebates for longer consultations, and for the government to establish an independent primary care pricing authority to ensure Medicare funding reflects the true cost of delivering care.

The New South Wales government has promised to deliver a $6.8 billion upgrade to the South Coast rail line if re-elected next year, days after scrapping a controversial new timetable that would have added more trains for Illawarra commuters.

The plan includes a commitment to deliver on a promise made by Labor at the 2005 NSW election to electrify the line between Kiama and Bomaderry. That would allow passengers to travel from Sydney to Nowra without changing to the diesel train currently completing the journey. The South Coast Rail Plan also includes extra tracks and passing loops between Wollongong and Kiama, and a doubling of the tracks between Hurstville and Sutherland to separate passenger and freight trains.

The announcement comes just two days after the state government scrapped a timetable overhaul planned for November following backlash from commuters who faced longer travel times and the loss of an airport connection at Wolli Creek, in exchange for more frequent T4 and South Coast services. Minister for the Illawarra Ryan Park described the upgrade as a “must-have” on a line that was expected to see passenger demand grow by almost 30 per cent by 2041. The project includes $621 million in infrastructure upgrades ahead of the major works, to update power and signalling infrastructure, address flooding and landslips on sections of the line, as well as to improve bushfire resilience.

Planning is expected to start in 2027, with construction to be completed by the mid to late 2030s.

The Western Australian government has said it is “extremely disappointed” and is seeking an “expedited” cost recovery from the multinational consultancy firm Deloitte after errors were discovered in a report about a potential university merger, including AI-hallucinated references and hundreds of millions of dollars in cost discrepancies.

The Western Australia government paid Deloitte $166,000 for a feasibility study on merging the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Murdoch University. Deloitte considered three merger options between the three universities, with “low”, “mid” and “high” cost scenarios, and broke down the calculations of those costs in the report’s appendix. Under the “high” cost scenario of a merger between Curtin and UWA, the report calculates the “total costs to day 1” as $514m, and “post day 1” over five years at $145m. The total cost of those two payments is $659m but the report wrote $399m – a $260m discrepancy.

Deloitte is already under pressure after it was revealed in the media this month that the same report contained hallucinated AI references, leading the state opposition to label it “AI slop”. The consultancy firm admits in its report it used generative AI to “support the collation of research, synthesis of information and editorial proofing” and had earlier dismissed the errors as “minor”.

A spokesperson for the WA government told Guardian Australia that the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification had written to Deloitte to expedite the cost recovery process for the report. Prof Stephen Bartos, an expert in public sector governance at the University of Canberra, said the errors discredited the report.