The newly elected federal president of the AMA, obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Michael Gannon, from WA, takes up the reins at a time when, in his words, the Australian health system is at “a crossroads.”
This makes the AMA’s relationship with federal politics more important than it has ever been, he added: “The AMA needs strong leadership with an appetite to engage constructively with Government, whichever political party is in power.”
Dr Gannon replaces Professor Brian Owler whose two-year term may have ended but whose face will continue to be familiar through the posters and TV ads for the anti drink-driving campaign he spearheaded.
Campaigning is a role that Dr Gannon, too, has quickly moved into, with the AMA launching an ad campaign - joining that of the RACGP - to end the government’s six-year freeze on Medicare rebates.
"GPs are at breaking point. They can't take too many more cuts," Dr Gannon said last weekend when he was appointed.
He called the Coalition's budgetary decision to extend the freeze on indexation for Medicare rebates to 2020 "unfair and wrong", putting him at odds with PM Malcolm Turnbull who says the state of budgetary affairs does not allow for the freeze to end at this time.
However, Health Minister Sussan Ley apparently feels more sympathetic, saying her argument to end the freeze was overruled by Treasury, a claim refuted by her senior colleagues.
Responding to Labor’s promise to lift the freeze at a cost of $12 billion over a decade, Dr Gannon said he believed there was an opportunity for the Coalition to “change tack” on its stand.
However, he has insisted that the AMA’s focus is on policy not politics. The peak body is not going to take sides in the election campaign, but will continue to speak out on issues it feels are not being appropriately addressed. One of these, hardly divorced from politics - except both major parties are in accord - is the welfare of asylum seekers being held in offshore detention. Along with the many issues affecting Australians’ health, this is “core business” for the AMA, Dr Gannon told the ABC’s Fran Kelly.
