News

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RACGP Presidential candidate Q&A

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With voting for the next RACGP President opening on 11 August, newsGP spoke to the three candidates hoping to take on the role.

Each candidate is listed below, in order of the official election ballot draw, with their responses to the same three questions.
 
Dr Anita Muñoz
What will be your priorities if you are elected as President?
It is imperative that we wrest back respect and recognition of our value as expert generalists. Independently priced funding, return of removed item numbers, separated gap payments from bulk billing, the right to autonomy in our clinical, business and billing decisions are essential. The spend on general practice must return to the 8% of the health budget seen in 2003. We cannot divide the current 5.5% in increasingly complex ways and expect anything but decimation of the sector.
 
GPs must retain the right to political commentary and diversity of opinion, provided it is respectful, professional and ethically expressed. GPs also deserve the right to natural justice, transparency and procedural fairness inside of Australia’s regulatory and compliance structures.
 
Why do you want to be RACGP President?
I will be the leader the members are looking for, with open channels to raise concerns, advocating for you all, and fighting for our future. I have the political awareness, intelligence and experience to see that general practice is under existential threat; I have been calling that out consistently and with fortitude for years.
 
The membership deserves a leader that will call out ideas that degrade our profession and defend it from the myriad attacks currently imperilling our futures. I have proven a willingness to assert our profession publicly and with government, and to stand firm against forces that seek to sideline, placate, distract or cajole us away from effective advocacy. We must not squander the coming two years and 2028 Federal Election.
 
Why should members vote for you?
I am capable of this presidency because I have proven results in Victoria in an era of austerity and intense political challenges:

• Payroll tax five-year, retrospective amnesty and bulk-billing exemption
• The first $40,000 GP training grant that became permanent national policy
• A mandate for a GP on every rural hospital board
• ADHD legislation changes and training grant
• Tens of millions of state dollars invested in general practice
• GP representation on every health system reform project in the past six years
• Forthright advocacy for cohealth

My courage and preparedness to fight for the profession is only growing stronger – I will step up and fight hard for general practice.
 
Dr Gavin Colthart
What will be your priorities if you are elected as President?
As GPs we are members of a predominantly taxpayer-funded profession, with core ethical principles of equity and justice, and a tradition of evidence-based practice. But we are facing an accelerating corruption of the values, laws, and institutions on which our ethics and role are based.
 
The far-right politics sweeping over us at unprecedented speed does not value universal healthcare, sees the public service ethic as ‘woke’, and regards scientific evidence as a nuisance. We should continue to promote GPs as central to primary care, battle the Medicare monster, and advocate for adequate GP funding, but we need to go further.
 
Why do you want to be RACGP President?
My candidacy isn’t a sales pitch for me but is a call for the college to acknowledge the urgency of wider and more forceful advocacy and then decide how to act to preserve what we love about our profession and its value to society. To do this effectively I believe we need to radically democratise the college.
 
My key proposal is that we harness the commitment and skills of non-office-holding GPs via a randomly selected council empowered to add to Board agendas and initiate non-binding member polls on key issues, helping the Board to pursue courageous advocacy outside its comfort zone.
 
Why should members vote for you?
As the outsider candidate, I’ve been clear that I have a broad range of skills and experience which fit me for the role, but I am an older white dude with non-traditional ideas. And running against two very capable women with extensive college experience also sits uncomfortably with my preference for diversity.
 
It’s also true that the president actually has very little authority – elected by members (20% actually vote), they have no special place on the Board (mixed elected and appointed), and their spokesperson role is expected to follow ‘Board-approved policy and strategy’. Not an obvious setting for radical advocacy, but we’ll see.
 
Dr Ramya Raman
What will be your priorities if you are elected as President?
My priority is to keep more money in general practice and protect the continuity our patients depend on. I will fight for the proper indexation of Medicare rebates, better recognition of longer and complex consultations, and an independent pricing authority.
 
I will also back every GP, from GPs in training and supervisors to rural, IMGs and established GPs, while opposing fragmentation and unfunded workload. Just as I have done on WA payroll tax, ADHD reform and pharmacy prescribing, I will engage early, build credible solutions and turn advocacy into outcomes for members.
 
Why do you want to be RACGP President?
I want GPs shaping the decisions that affect our profession, rather than reacting after they are made. Underfunding, fragmentation, workforce pressure and rapid technological change are reshaping general practice.
 
This is not new work for me. As a GP, practice owner, educator, advocate and Faculty Chair I have worked across government, training, rural workforce and clinical reform both at Federal and State level. I am running because I know the college must exert greater influence earlier, fight harder for general practice and turn the concerns GPs raise every day into national action.
 
Why should members vote for you?
Members should vote for me because I combine a clear plan with a record of getting things done. I have helped secure written payroll tax protections for WA practices, delivered practical reforms in ADHD care, fought unsafe pharmacy prescribing and worked directly with GPs, GPs in training, supervisors and governments across Australia.
 
I understand both the pressures inside a consulting room and how decisions are made outside it. As President, I will use that experience nationally to fight for better funding, protect continuity and turn the voice of members into stronger national outcomes.
 
Voting opens 11 August
The voting period will open on Tuesday, 11 August 2026, 12.00 pm (AEST) and close on Friday, 21 August 2026, 12.00 pm (AEST). The new President-elect will be announced on Monday, 24 August.
 
A candidate Q&A member webinar will be held on Tuesday, 18 August, 7.30 pm (AEST) for voters to meet the candidates.
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

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RACGP election RACGP President RACGP Presidential Election

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