President's update: NAIDOC celebrations, new CMO meetings, GP workforce reforms and gambling glamour concerns

I’m writing from the traditional lands of the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul People and I am proud to share that an AMA member — Dr Daniel Hunt — has been named the 2025 NAIDOC Person of the Year! Not only is Dr Hunt an incredible GP and health leader, he’s also a dentist! Congratulations Dr Hunt, on a well-deserved award. 

As co-chair of the AMA-AIDA Indigenous Taskforce on Indigenous Health, I’d also like to extend an invitation from Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA) President Dr Jonathan Newchurch and myself for any First Nations AIDA members to join the Taskforce. 

It’s particularly timely that today we have a meeting of our AMA Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) working group to progress work on our Reflect RAP.  This important piece of work will help us as an organisation to deepen our understanding of our current position and develop a plan to strengthen our reconciliation commitments. 

On another note, we’ve had some rather sad news at the AMA in the past few weeks with the passing of former AMA President Dr Lindsay Thompson and former AMA NSW President (and longtime federal AMA Chair of Council of General Practice) Dr Brian Morton AM. 

Dr Thompson was AMA President between 1982-1985 and his outstanding service to organised medicine at an international level was recognised with the AMA Gold Medal, awarded for his courageous and selfless devotion to the profession and his superb quality of leadership in resolving major confrontations between the medical profession and government. 

Dr Brian Morton was AMA Council of General Practice chair when I first got involved with the AMA and I am personally so grateful for his guidance and mentorship. 

This week (like so many weeks at the AMA) have been filled with meetings, both external and with AMA Councils and Committees. The Primary Care and Workforce Reviews Expert Panel met again on Monday to review the many primary care reviews... it's a big piece of work to bring five reviews together and help inform advice to government. Everything from models of GP funding to after-hours care and rural and remote health service provision is covered. But we’ll get there, and I’m glad the AMA has a seat at the table for this incredibly important work.  

It was great to meet with our new Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Michael Kidd this week, and I must say it’s pretty exciting to have our first ever GP in the CMO role, which is apt considering the focus on primary care. We also spent time covering preventive health, immunisation, First Nations health, the private health sector, and the synergies between health, ageing and disability in the departments newly expanded remit. 

In more GP matters, our AMA Council of General Practice (CGP) met last Saturday where the GP Chronic Disease Management changes were discussed. These are big changes and I recommend you register for the webinar on 28 July with Louise Riley from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and Chris Smeed from Cubiko, who will share insights, tips and answer your questions.  

CGP also received an update on the initial evaluation of the General Practice Aged Care Incentive.  Clearly this incentive is so far not working as intended, and CGP shared strong feedback with the department about their concerns with this program.  

The last of three presentations was from Health Direct CEO Ms Bettina McMahon, who briefed members on the expanded role of 1800MEDICARE from the start of next year and the opportunities for improved integration with general practice as the home of a patient’s care. The after-hours and urgent care space has undergone significant change in recent years and at the AMA we continue to advocate for strong integration with a patient's usual GP as the best place of care, to deliver quality and continuity. 

Our mental health committee, made up largely of psychiatrists and GPs, also met this week to discuss the urgent need for reform in our mental health system. We need a coordinated, patient-centred mental health sector that supports people with chronic, enduring mental illness and understands that episodes of care are part of a continuum.  

This week has also been hectic busy with media on online gambling in the wake of our media release a few weeks ago. The Guardian ran an article this week, in which we are calling for action on the scourge of social media influencers glamourising gambling, with some pretty shocking content. This led to a flurry of media activity, with interviews across print, radio and TV. We will continue to urge the government to take a stronger stance on protecting Australians from the harms of gambling advertising on ABC radio, (including Triple J), Win TV and SBS TV. 

Tomorrow is a joint meeting of our IMG Working Group and Council of Public Hospital Doctors, so I will be back next week with more on this and everything else going on at your national AMA.