Something of both symbolic and real-world importance was announced by the Medical Board of Australia yesterday. 

It came in a media release that talked of a plan to fast-track doctors from overseas to work as specialists as a fix for the country’s medical workforce crisis.

Overseas GPs are first on the list, followed by anaesthetists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, and psychiatrists.

The significance, not spelt out explicitly, lies in the fact that these specialists will be brought in without any direct oversight of the specialist colleges: those institutions that, for good or bad, define the standards of what it is to be a specialist doctor in this country.