Margins were tight between the two frontrunners, with Dr Michael Wright edging ahead of Dr Michael Clements by 24 primary votes, and 109 votes after preferences were tallied.
This year’s election saw a rise in voter turn-out, but still only one-fifth of eligible voters cast a ballot. Of 36048 ballots sent to eligible voters, 7105 votes were cast—representing a 19.7% participation rate. This is up from 15% in 2022 and 11% in 2020.
The Sydney-based Dr Wright has worked as a GP in Australia and England, and previously owned a practice in Queensland.
He is currently the Chief Medical Officer at Avant and a health economist with expertise in policy and reform. His governance experience includes roles as National Chair of RACGP Funding and Health System Reform Expert Committee, Deputy Chair of NSW/ACT Faculty Council among others.
“I’m well aware that I’m taking on the role of RACGP president at a time when Australia’s health system faces significant challenges, and fair and equitable access to general practice care is under threat,” he said, promising to fight to ensure policymakers understand and acknowledge the value of GPs and general practice – and invest in it accordingly.
During the voting period, a Healthed survey of almost 1500 GPs found their top desired attributes in an RACGP president were ‘duration and range of GP experience,’ ‘demonstrated negotiating and lobbying skills’ and ‘RACGP governance experience at either state or national level.’
You can read more about Dr Wright’s experience in all three domains in response to the survey here.
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