Peak WA doctors’ body splinters from national group in ugly spat over membership money

Tensions between the national and West Australian branches of the Australian Medical Association have spilled out into an ugly public skirmish and claims the WA branch is in financial strife.

On Thursday, the national AMA wrote to all 5000 WA members alerting them to the “upsetting news” that their membership had ceased because the WA branch had abandoned a long-standing practice of collecting federal dues with state fees and forwarding them on.

AMA President Professor Steve Robson.

With the AMA WA failing to forward federal dues to the national body, there was no avenue for WA doctors to be ordinary AMA members.

The AMA continued to recognise WA memberships until February 29, hoping it could convince the WA board to reverse its decision, but negotiations failed.

The letter, signed by AMA president Steve Robson and the entire federal board, said the AMA WA’s decision was regrettable and driven by the organisation’s struggling finances.

“These negotiations were extensive and involved multiple trips to WA by our senior leadership team. We also offered to enter mediation on multiple occasions,” the letter said.

“Our understanding is that this decision is a result of the financial situation that has been developing in WA over the past few years.

“As a membership organisation, the AMA WA Board is accountable to you for its decisions. In effect, the AMA WA Board has charged the same fee for reduced services and representation.”

The letter said without national membership, WA doctors would not be represented by the AMA when it met with decision-makers at the federal level, including Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler.

But in a scathing response, AMA WA board chair and past president Mark Duncan-Smith voiced disappointment in his national counterparts.

He suggested a push from state bodies in WA, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia to reform the AMA federation – which the national body was resistant to – was the real issue at play.

“For a long time, our state association has contributed approximately 18 per cent of the total member funds remitted to AMA federal, despite only 10 per cent of doctors residing in Western Australia,” he said.

“We do not believe that this is fair, and does not represent reasonable value for the members of the AMA WA.”

Duncan-Smith also said the letter’s detail about the negotiations was not accurate.

“On its first visit to Perth, AMA Federal’s Chair, President and CEO staged a walk-out at the beginning of the meeting with our Board. This was profoundly disappointing,” he said.

“On its second visit, the AMA Federal Board Chair was unable to attend, as they reside overseas, and have done for an extended period until now.

“Our position has always been, and remains, that a federal body is important.

“We do not believe that this problem is unsolvable, and will continue to pursue it, advocating all the while for you to receive the best possible membership service.”

The AMA WA’s finances have been battered in recent years.

The organisation has not yet published its 2023 annual report, but in 2022 it reported a $5 million loss on the back of a $2.16 million loss in 2021.

In the 2022 annual report, chief executive Bennie Ng said the post-COVID-19 period had been turbulent for the organisation, which has training and recruitment businesses.

The AMA WA also took a $1.7 million impairment in 2022 thanks to a writedown in value of a huge purchase of rapid antigen tests made during COVID.

Ng said rapid drop in the value of the tests resulted from a huge oversupply from the state government.

“An overnight shift in the state government’s position on the supply of RATS, due its own excess holding led to an overhang of stock of RATS which at year-end required an accounting provision for impairment of $1.7 million,” he said.

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