The AMA has a range of representative and scientific committees. One of its stated aims is "leading the health policy debate by developing and promoting alternative policies to those government policies that the AMA considers poorly targeted or ill-informed; responding to issues in the health debate through the provision of a wide range of expert resources; and commissioning and conducting research on health issues.".
The AMA uses a representative structure involving state branches and committees to work with members to promote and protect the interests of doctors in Australia. The mechanisms that allow this include:
working with governments to maintain and increase provision of world-class medical care to all Australians;
tracking and reporting government performance on health;
challenging government on policy that potentially harms the interests of patients;
providing a resonant and authoritative expert medical commentary on health issues;
responding to issues in the health debate through provision of a wide range of expert resources; and
commissioning and conducting research on health issues.
protecting the academic, professional and economic independence and the well being of medical practitioners;
promoting and advancing ethical behaviour by the medical profession and protecting the integrity and independence of the doctor/patient relationship; and
preserving and protecting the political, legal and industrial interests of medical practitioners.
Engagement, Equity and Inclusion
The AMA with slightly fewer than 30,000 members is the second largest association of Australian doctors, behind the RACGP, but slightly bigger than the RACP. The AMA represents slightly fewer than 30% of all Australian doctors, down from previous levels of 95% in 1962 and 50% in 1987. The rate of membership amongst Australian GPs is lower than for other doctors, with approximately 6000 out of 45000 GPs being AMA members. Engagement of GPs by the AMA is lower than for the RACGP and ACRRM. There are 15 officially recognised specialty medical Colleges in Australia. The AMA offers only the 11 largest out of the 15 representation on with the smaller Colleges currently ineligible for representation. The AMA offers an Indigenous Medical Scholarship. It has called upon the Federal government to spend more on Indigenous Health in a number of areas. However, the AMA lobbied against equitable time-tiered Medicare consultation rebates for different specialists, which was proposed by the MBS Review Taskforce. Inability to access equitable time-tiered MBS rebates for Sport & Exercise Medicine specialists under Medicare is an important issue for Indigenous Australians. In 2020, the AMA President Tony Bartone criticized attendees at the Black Lives Matter rallies in Australia during the Coronavirus pandemic for attending a large gathering, although AMA President Andrew Miller was supportive. The AMA formed an in the mid 2000s which produces an anti-racism statement in 2018. The AMA held a and set targets to improve female representation on AMA Boards and Committees, aiming for >=40%. The AMA has only had two female Presidents in its history, and in early 2020, less than 20% of members on were female.
The AMA acknowledges the scientific consensus that climate change is real and anthropogenic. In September 2019, the AMA officially declared climate change a public health emergency, stating that "The scientific reality is that climate change affects health and wellbeing by increasing the situations in which infectious diseases can be transmitted, and through more extreme weather events, particularly heatwaves." Dr Tony Bartone, AMA President, noted that climate change will cause "higher mortality and morbidity from heat stress; injury and mortality from increasingly severe weather events; increases in the transmission of vector-borne diseases; food insecurity resulting from declines in agricultural outputs; a higher incidence of mental-ill health". The AMA has called on the Australian Government to:
Adopt mitigation targets within an Australian carbon budget
Promote the health benefits of addressing climate change
Establish a National Sustainable Development Unit to reduce carbon emissions in the healthcare sector.
Community pill-testing
The AMA officially endorses trials to use pill-testing at community events such as festivals. AMA President, Dr Tony Bartone publicly declared his support for pill-testing at festivals, stating that it would provide "an opportunity to try and inform about the dangerous consequences and try to get an opportunity to give them education and access to rehabilitation in terms of trying to reduce their drug dependency." NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton rejected the AMA's call for pill testing.
