Back to basics as WA AMA president eyes national position.
WA AMA President Michael Gannon has announced his intention to stand for national AMA president at the annual conference in May. He has told media he will focus on mainstream health policy and be less confrontational than Prof Brian Owler over controversial issues such as asylum seeker policy.
AMA national presidential hopeful Dr Michael Gannon
Dr Gannon told Medical Observer that “if you step into the minefield of asylum seeker policy, you risk alienating the Government.”
“I don’t think you should ever have cheap shots – but you must also be constructive in the criticism, provide workable solutions and work in partnership where appropriate.”
Despite being on the federal executive that was responsible for drafting policy on issues such as asylum seekers and Ebola response, Dr Gannon was reported as saying the attacking stance may have detracted from its effectiveness in other areas such as the primary healthcare review, the private health insurance review and the MBS review.
“Although my colleague Prof Owler was very careful in his recent comments on asylum seeker policy and he was reading from our book of policies, I think obviously there is the risk when you criticise a really complex and clear area of government policy, that you then get a bloodied nose in what is core business,” he said.
The West Australian reported that Dr Gannon was uncomfortable with Prof Owler’s intervention in the asylum seeker debate and “fervent” criticism of the Abbott government’s response to the African Ebola epidemic.
Prof Owler hit back saying his public comments had always reflected AMA policy and been supported by members, while Dr Gannon’s comments in favour of the GP co-payment had not been supported by the wider membership.
Federal vice-president and Victorian emergency doctor Stephen Parnis is also running for the top job.
While the AMA WA President Dr Michael Gannon may feel uneasy about the national AMA’s support of doctors standing firm in the face of government pressure over asylum seekers, a number of WA doctors have told us they were deeply concerned about the welfare of local asylum-seeker children.
One doc, who did not want to be named for fear of a backlash, said one of the key issues doctors faced here was the haphazard access these children had to state-funded public schools.
“These families (who do not receive full Centrelink payments and do not always have work rights), need to pay international fees to attend state schools. Thus most are placed within the Catholic education system which is now overstretched. When they are released from Community Detention and move to Bridging Visa Es, families must negotiate with the school regarding fee subsidies or waiving.”
Medical Forum has been told that WA is the only state in Australia that doesn’t allow asylum children access to state schools. We took this up with the WA Education Department who flicked it like a hot spud to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection who responded with: “The Department has funding arrangements in place in all states and territories to ensure children of school age in community detention have access to education.”
It addressed none of our doctor’s concerns nor answered any of the questions we raised.