From the President

It’s been a busy first week in the new role! For my first public engagement I had the honour of being invited to dinner with the St Vincent’s Health board. I started my career at St Vincent's and so it was wonderful to return "home" and share ideas about how we create the health system of the future. How do we best support doctors to deliver care to our patients now, and into the future? We need a health system that is innovative, but equitable and protects clinical autonomy, patient choice, and quality care.

On Thursday I joined the Australian Human Rights Commission, Justice Reform Initiative and the National Children’s Commissioner for the launch of the Commissioner’s report: Help way earlier! How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing.

As doctors, we know that incarceration of children damages their physical and mental health. We know that children with disabilities, and our First Nations children are disproportionately represented in detention. While a “tough on youth crime” stance may be politically attractive, it does nothing to address the real issues of social inequity, housing, education. We need to act early to prevent crime and keep kids out of jail. You can read more in our media release on the issue.

While in Canberra your Vice President Julian Rait and I also had the opportunity to meet with the TGA to discuss our priorities in medicines, including addressing shortages and supporting better access to medicines. We also met with the Australian Border Force to continue our strong partnership on getting vapes out of the hands of children.

This weekend, I’m really looking forward to catching up with our Council of General Practice for our two-day meeting. As you all know, there is a lot happening in the GP space with many reviews reaching their conclusion. Our role at the AMA is to make sure the outcome of these and the implementation, results in a meaningful investment in general practice — we need better funding and less red tape, so we can get on with delivering excellent patient care.

The council will be discussing our proposal for reform of GP MBS attendance items. This is a really exciting piece of work which we started as a result of our member survey on fees, and I can’t wait to share more.

Meanwhile, there’s been good news in QLD this week where both sides of government have committed to a payroll tax exemption for GPs — let’s hope other states follow suit.

And finally, I want to talk about World Mental Health Day, which was yesterday. This year's theme focuses on the vital connection between mental health and work.

It's hard to think of a more fitting theme for my colleagues working in medicine. As a GP, I know just how important mental health is to my patients.

Sadly, many doctors neglect their own physical and mental health as the demands of the job catch up to them. It's a tale as old as time, but I won't stop speaking about it, because it is incredibly important.

I want to encourage all my medical colleagues to take stock of their mental health and book in to see your GP if you need support.

It's also a reminder of other avenues for mental health support, including the excellent Drs4Drs, providing free, safe, supportive and confidential services for doctors across Australia.