The Australian Society of General Practice has paused the Fair Work registration process but says it hasn’t given up hope yet.
Fresh-faced GP organisation the Australian Society of General Practice has put its application to become a Fair Work registered organisation on ice as it ramps up lobbying efforts in preparation for the federal election.
ASGP applied for union status late last year, but the existing union for doctors, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation, objected.
Full disclosure here, folks – my father, as it turns out, is the Brisbane solicitor acting for ASMOF in this matter. This was news to me. Small world!
The objection was largely around the fact that some members of ASGP are also practice owners.
ASMOF argued that this would make union status inappropriate for ASGP, as employers cannot claim to represent the best interests of employees.
Originally scheduled to take the matter to a Fair Work hearing this week, ASGP ultimately declined to do the hearing – this effectively put the application on ice, according to ASGP president Dr Chris Irwin.
“I believe that we are the union for general practice on a purely moral point of view and the legalities of that will simply take time and money to achieve,” Dr Irwin said.
“We had a chat amongst the board in terms of our priorities with the federal election and the RACGP election coming up, and we just feel it’s better to spend our time and resources – more importantly, our members’ time and resources – on fighting for general practice.”
The group are in talks with professional lobbying firms, and say they are close to locking in a deal with an established lobby group.
“Our primary objective has always been lobbying governments,” ASGP vice president Dr Umair Masood told TMR.
“We thought that getting union status would give us a louder voice in that respect, but having said that, with or without union status we are going to go after our primary objective, which is to lobby government.”
Still, once the elections are over, ASGP intends to have another stab at applying to be a registered organisation.
“We haven’t given up on the process at all,” Dr Masood said.
“The thing I always tell people is that when ASMOF registered as an organisation in the 80s, it took them six years to get registered.
“It’s not an overnight process and we are fully aware of that – we’ve been trying to get this done for less than 10 months so far, so I think it’s still baby steps at the moment.”
ASMOF federal vice-president Dr Antony Sara said that ASGP’s decision to hit pause on its application was a positive move for the industrial space.
“It means that we’re going to be diverted away from conflict with other groups in medicine,” Dr Sara said.
Having multiple competing voices in the public space did not necessarily make sense, Dr Sara said.
