Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, discusses the Federal Government's medical training announcement on ABC 2 News Breakfast with Joe O'Brien and Virginia Trioli

AMA President Dr Andrew Pesce discusses the Government's health reform plans at a Press Conference in Canberra.

Dr Pesce discusses the Government's health funding reform plan with Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast.

Transcript:  AMA President,  Dr Andrew Pesce, with Leon Delaney, Radio 2SM

Monday       15 February 2010

Subjects:    Coalition plan for public hospital management boards

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce
Parliament House, Canberra, Wednesday 9 December 2009

Sydney Wednesday 14 October 2009

DR PESCE:  Well, thanks for coming. Well, here we go again. This is the first time I'm delivering this report card as the AMA President. But every year the AMA President gets here, delivers the Public Hospital Report Card, and every year the message is the same: things are getting worse.

The governments aren't up to the task of improving the ability of our public hospitals to meet the demands. And our report card shows that once again things are slowly getting worse. Every year governments meet, they have their agreements, but every year things get worse.

Our report card shows objectively that slowly things are deteriorating. Access in emergency departments is worse. Waiting times for elective surgery are worse. On all measures, public hospitals are gradually getting worse.

Subjects: AMA Priority Investment Plan for Australia’s Health System, GP Super Clinics, NSW Health Minister

Transcript of doorstop: AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce
Druitt St, Sydney, Thurday 27 August 2009
E&OE
Subjects: Media reports of Preventative Health Taskforce report, cash payments for nurses.

Dr Capolingua's farewell Presidential Address

JAMES LUSH: The first round of public hearings into the Federal Government's proposed changes to Medicare begins in Perth today. The Government plans to lift the income threshold for paying the Medicare surcharge to $100,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples.

Dr Rosanna Capolingua is the president of the Australian Medical Association, and joins us.

You're not very happy about this change at all, are you?

ROSS STEVENSON: Here are some of the - just adding to the occupations list, that we've got four new occupations from this morning's news alone. There is 'classy cat', 'alleged black widow', 'sex industry stalwart', and now add to the list 'stressed doctors'. That is the thrust of the front page story in the Herald Sun, that our medical system is at breaking point and that doctors are working too many hours and under too much stress.

Dr Rosanna Capolingua is the national president of the Australian Medical Association. Good morning, Doctor.

Dr Speck, good morning and thanks for your time.

Good afternoon everyone.

I would like to thank the Minister for Health and Ageing for her presentation this morning. I want to assure the Minister that as much as the AMA might appear to be a constant objector to her Government's health policies, the AMA, and the medical profession always have our patients and the best interests of all Australians at the forefront of our minds.

I am very pleased that Dr Bennett could attend our National Conference today and I would like to thank her for her contribution to this session.

Good afternoon colleagues, special guests, ladies and gentlemen.

The President's report is meant to capture the last 12 months and deliver the current setting.... difficult in some 10 minutes.

It has been a busy and crucial year from an internal perspective with restructuring the AMA, building better communications and relationships with our essential State and Territory AMA's, appointing a new Sec Gen and so on.

DR CAPOLINGUA: The Access Economic Report clearly supports the AMA's concerns about the Budget initiative, the change to the Medicare Surcharge Levy, which will cause a massive fallout in private health insurance rates in Australia. The damage that will cause to the public hospital system and to the patients that need care is going to be significant.

QUESTION: What will that mean for people that are, you know, paying premiums at the moment?

DR ROSANNA CAPOLINGUA: The AMA wants the public and the government to focus on methamphetamine use in this country and deal with the issues that we need to face in assisting those people that have become methamphetamine-dependent; those that have those significant serious mental health reactions to methamphetamine use, and assist the emergency departments of the hospitals to take care of these patients and community and general practice to look after methamphetamine users.

QUESTION: How big a problem is Ice in Australia?