A ‘great opportunity’ to make a difference

Dr Rebekah Hoffman is a proud complainer. She considers it a ‘good quality’ in anyone – provided they’re also prepared to try to fix whatever is being complained about.
 
‘I’ve always been someone who likes to complain about things, which I think is a good quality because I’ve always said if I’m going to complain about it, I might as well do something about it,’ the RACGP NSW&ACT Chair tells newsGP.
 
‘There’s no point just complaining unless I’m then going to do something with that complaint.’
 
It is what prompted Dr Hoffman to join the NSW&ACT Faculty Council in 2018, initially as a registrar representative.
 
‘I had things as a registrar that I went, “oh, I just wish this was a little bit easier”,’ she recalls.
 
‘At that point in time I thought “I think that, structurally, this is something we can improve … let’s join the RACGP and make change from the inside”. And I continued from there.’
 
That opportunity is now open to GPs all over Australia, with nominations invited for the 2026 RACGP Faculty Council elections.
 
Multiple positions are open across the college’s 11 Faculty Councils, which include seven state and territory based faculties, as well as representing Specific Interests, GPs in Training, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and Rural.
 
Until this year, all positions were for terms of two years. However, as of this year, all positions are for three-year terms, except for the Western Australian faculty, where only the first five of 10 candidates with the highest votes will receive three-year terms, with the following five appointed for two-year terms.
 
As a faculty Chair, Dr Hoffman has been instrumental in helping to achieve even more wins for the general practice community she represents, such as parental leave for registrars.
 
‘Registrar maternity leave and paternity leave was a really big win because that was something that, for me, would’ve had significant improvements in my registrar time,’ she said.
 
‘So, seeing stuff like that actually be identified as a problem, advocated for, and then have really big wins for, is inspiring to keep going on the RACGP faculty and leadership journey.’
 
For RACGP Tasmania Chair Dr Toby Gardner, it was the pandemic that became the catalyst for him to re-join his Faculty Council, after heavy work commitments had kept him away for a few years.
 
‘I became really active through COVID with the practice and with a whole bunch of other practices and specialists in Launceston, just forming lots and lots of networks to help fight this unknown beast that COVID was, and that helped galvanise the group of GPs in Launceston,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘It was from there that I was asked if I’d want to step into a more formal role with council, given I’d established all these relationships and then it went from there.
 
‘I joined council as a representative, then became deputy chair and then as our chair retired four years ago, I stepped into his role.’
 
As with Dr Hoffman, leading a Faculty Council has given Dr Gardner the chance to help achieve wins for his general practice community. Recent state elections, in particular, provided great opportunities to leverage gains from both major parties.
 
‘It was great to use that time to talk to both parties and get support for opening up ADHD diagnosis and prescribing in Tassie because we were lagging behind some of the other states, and also to get the meningococcal B vaccine added to the schedule the state was going to fund for infants,’ Dr Gardner said.
 
‘To be able to get a tangible costed program introduced, funded by the state, to ensure that our children were covered for meningococcal has been a real win for us.’
 
For any GPs considering nominating for one of the RACGP Faculty Councils, Dr Gardner says that ‘now is as crucial a time as ever’ to get involved.
 
‘We’ve never had more threats against our profession, whether they be threats in the way we’re funded, threats from other allied health groups interested in moving into our roles like pharmacists and paramedics, and also just the changes that AI is going to bring and what that’s going to mean for the future,’ he said.
 
‘So rather than sit back and just be a passive observer to it all, get involved to find out what’s going on. Find out what you can do to help strengthen and fortify the profession and keep general practice at the heart of healthcare for Australia.’
 
Dr Hoffman says she is ‘happy to chat to anyone who is interested’ in joining a Faculty Council.
 
‘They might seem scarier propositions than what they are, but they’re really a lovely bunch of GPs who are interested in what general practice is, what it looks like and what it could be,’ she said.
 
‘If you’re like me and love to complain, this is such a great opportunity to then have your complaints heard and have them heard at a level that we can then advocate and make change for.
 
‘If it’s something that you’re passionate about, then this is one avenue that you can then do something with that passion, and we can work together.’
 
Nominations close on Friday 28 August at 4.00 pm (AEST). Candidates will then be announced on Monday 7 September, with voting opening at midday that day.
 
Voting closes at midday on Thursday 17 September (AEST), with elected members announced the following day.
 
For more information and to nominate, visit the RACGP website.
 
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Faculty Council elections GPs in Training RACGP Faculty Council RACGP specific interests rural Faculty Council