RURAL doctors say the Australian Government is out of its Depp spending more than $20 million to attract a pirate movie to the Far North, rather than investing in young medical professionals.

The Walt Disney Studio has announced its Johnny Depp-led Pirates of the Caribbean ­sequel, Dead Men Tell No Tales, will be filmed on the Gold Coast and at Port Douglas next year.

The film is due to be released in July 2017.

The Federal Government agreed to transfer $21.6 million in location offset incentives, while the Queensland Government is also providing incentives including payroll tax exemptions reported to be about $7 million.

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Rural Doctors Association of Australia president Dr Ian Kamerman slammed the Federal Government for spending so much money on attracting the production to Australia, rather than attracting junior doctors to rural medical ­practice.

“We have been asking the Government for the continuation of a highly successful general practice placement program that attracted many young doctors into rural practice only for them to say there isn’t enough money to fund it,’’ he said.

“I enjoy Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean as much as the next person, but it is ridiculous to spend that sort of money to attract the production of a movie with one hand, while pulling money out of the health system with the other.”

He said the successful ­Prevocational General Practice Placement Program, which gave young doctors an opportunity to work in bush areas, had been scrapped in the federal health budget.

The move, he said, would result in Australian medical graduates carrying out their intern placements overseas.

“We have been vocal in our requests for (the program’s) ­reinstatement, but with no success to date,’’ he said.

“It is unfortunate to find that attracting doctors to the bush rates behind Dead Men Tell No Tales when it comes to funding decisions.”

Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the federal investment in the Disney production would pay dividends for Australia in several other areas, including health.

“It is important for the Government to invest in initiatives that provide an opportunity for small businesses to actually prosper and create wealth,’’ he said.

“They, in turn, will pay their taxes and with those taxes, we can then pay for our health bill.

“We can then pay for more rural doctors.”

He said the Rural Doctors Association’s comments were shortsighted.

“I think our investment was relatively modest, when you look at what other countries like Mexico were bidding for this production,’’ he said. “They were smart enough to know exactly what it was worth to them. We could say we don’t want that and keep walking away from those sort of ­opportunities, and businesses will continue to struggle as we have seen in Cairns for the last few years.”