President's update: National Press Club, pre-budget submission, voluntary assisted dying, rising fuel prices, and more

Hello again and happy Friday! I hope you’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

This week I had the privilege of speaking to a sold-out National Press Club of Australia. It is a stage frequented by prime ministers and other leaders and the audience in the room is made up of key decision makers, as well as being televised live. It was a chance to give members a national voice on centre stage and remind the public of the critical role that doctors play. 

Australia’s health system remains one of the best in the world. As doctors, we see its strengths every day: strong general practice, our mix of public and private services, and clinical outcomes that are the envy of the world. That is something worth defending.

But it's also a system buckling under severe strain. We see daily headlines of a system in crisis — ambulance ramping, public hospitals in logjam and private hospitals closing their doors.

With all the challenges we face, and opportunities ahead of us, strong medical advocacy is more important than ever.

The cracks in the health system’s foundations are getting bigger and trying to paper them over with patch-ups is no longer sustainable. We need urgent concerted action to relieve the pressure felt by patients every day and stresses on doctors, who are trying to hold the system together.  

General practice is the foundation of our system. Our ageing population faces more complex medical conditions. GPs are being forced to do more with a funding model that does not reflect the reality of patient care. We need a new seven-tier Medicare rebate structure so that GPs can provide both the acute care and complex care that we are trained to provide.

Our public hospitals remain in crisis. Ambulances ramped, EDs overcrowded, patients waiting too long for essential surgery. Staff are exhausted, burnt out and exposed to abuse while doing their jobs. Although it was a relief that the National Health Reform Agenda was finally signed, by our costings it may not be enough. Further reforms are definitely needed.

In 2024 overweight and obesity overtook smoking as the leading modifiable risk factor contributing to our disease burden. Yet we continue to treat prevention as optional. The government could introduce a sugar tax on sweetened beverages. It’s a no-brainer —patients win, health gets a win and Treasury gets a win.

At the NPC I outlined at the AMA’s plan to start tackling these challenges, which we have outlined in our 2026-27 Budget submission.

If you’d like to catch up on more details from the address, you can watch it on the ABC’s IVIEW platform.

In other news, this week I was asked by the ABC to comment on calls for a review on the ban on telehealth for voluntary assisted dying consultations. Blanket banning any use of the telephone to discuss voluntary assisted dying is not in line with the spirit of the legislation around the country.

We are not saying that people should never have to be seen face to face for this very sensitive care, but surely the conversations along the way could be undertaken via phone or video call once someone has been appropriately consented, and with appropriate regulation.

Lastly, the conflict in the Middle East continues to impact us all — rising fuel prices, economic uncertainty and potential shortages of a range of goods, including medical supplies, particularly the longer this conflict drags on.

If you have difficulties in sourcing medical supplies in your practice, or the fuel crisis is affecting you and your patients, please let us know by emailing president@ama.com.au.  

I met with Health Minister Mark Butler this week and we are keeping him and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing updated on any impacts on the health sector caused by the conflict. We remind decision-makers that one of the COVID learnings was that early engagement of the profession is critically important.  

Until next week, take careHello again and happy Friday! I hope you’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

This week I had the privilege of speaking to a sold-out National Press Club of Australia. It is a stage frequented by prime ministers and other leaders and the audience in the room is made up of key decision makers, as well as being televised live. It was a chance to give members a national voice on centre stage and remind the public of the critical role that doctors play. 

Australia’s health system remains one of the best in the world. As doctors, we see its strengths every day: strong general practice, our mix of public and private services, and clinical outcomes that are the envy of the world. That is something worth defending.

But it's also a system buckling under severe strain. We see daily headlines of a system in crisis — ambulance ramping, public hospitals in logjam and private hospitals closing their doors.

With all the challenges we face, and opportunities ahead of us, strong medical advocacy is more important than ever.

The cracks in the health system’s foundations are getting bigger and trying to paper them over with patch-ups is no longer sustainable. We need urgent concerted action to relieve the pressure felt by patients every day and stresses on doctors, who are trying to hold the system together.  

General practice is the foundation of our system. Our ageing population faces more complex medical conditions. GPs are being forced to do more with a funding model that does not reflect the reality of patient care. We need a new seven-tier Medicare rebate structure so that GPs can provide both the acute care and complex care that we are trained to provide.

Our public hospitals remain in crisis. Ambulances ramped, EDs overcrowded, patients waiting too long for essential surgery. Staff are exhausted, burnt out and exposed to abuse while doing their jobs. Although it was a relief that the National Health Reform Agenda was finally signed, by our costings it may not be enough. Further reforms are definitely needed.

In 2024 overweight and obesity overtook smoking as the leading modifiable risk factor contributing to our disease burden. Yet we continue to treat prevention as optional. The government could introduce a sugar tax on sweetened beverages. It’s a no-brainer —patients win, health gets a win and Treasury gets a win.

At the NPC I outlined at the AMA’s plan to start tackling these challenges, which we have outlined in our 2026-27 Budget submission.

If you’d like to catch up on more details from the address, you can watch it on the ABC’s IVIEW platform.

In other news, this week I was asked by the ABC to comment on calls for a review on the ban on telehealth for voluntary assisted dying consultations. Blanket banning any use of the telephone to discuss voluntary assisted dying is not in line with the spirit of the legislation around the country.

We are not saying that people should never have to be seen face to face for this very sensitive care, but surely the conversations along the way could be undertaken via phone or video call once someone has been appropriately consented, and with appropriate regulation.

Lastly, the conflict in the Middle East continues to impact us all — rising fuel prices, economic uncertainty and potential shortages of a range of goods, including medical supplies, particularly the longer this conflict drags on.

If you have difficulties in sourcing medical supplies in your practice, or the fuel crisis is affecting you and your patients, please let us know by emailing president@ama.com.au.  

I met with Health Minister Mark Butler this week and we are keeping him and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing updated on any impacts on the health sector caused by the conflict. We remind decision-makers that one of the COVID learnings was that early engagement of the profession is critically important.  

Until next week, take care.