Wellington, Dec 6 NZPA - New Zealand's medical workforce shortage could worsen with Australian plans to make it easier for foreign doctors to work wherever they like there.

Currently Australian laws on overseas-trained doctors now allow the federal Government to control where GPs work.

But a bill to become law in April will lift these restrictions on New Zealand citizens and permanent resident doctors who gain their first medical degree from a New Zealand or Australian university -- likely to increase the attraction of higher salaries for doctors in Australia, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Full-time GPs in New Zealand earn about $150,000, including some after-hours patient care, while doctors in Australia can earn from $200,000 to more than $400,000 for some of the more extreme outback postings.

Resident Doctors Association secretary Deborah Powell said the Australian changes would deepen New Zealand's workforce crisis. She understood the Australian Government agreed to lift the restrictions after coming under legal challenge from a New Zealand doctor.

"It's a threat to the whole medical profession in New Zealand," Association of Salaried Medical Specialists president Jeff Brown told the newspaper.

"We would have major anxieties at the very time when we are trying to address our own workforce crisis, to suddenly have our near neighbours suck us dry potentially."

New Zealand's rural areas and provincial are short of GPs and specialists, and hospitals in the main cities need more resident doctors and specialists.