I am delighted to present this edition of O&G Magazine, the first published in my presidency. This year saw a change in the timing of handover of presidency to coincide with the Annual Scientific Meeting. The Annual General Meeting was held at the ASM again this year. I want to extend my thanks to the ASM Organising Committee for an engaging and thought-provoking scientific program.  

It is an honour to have this opportunity to serve the RANZCOG membership and the profession as President. I am extremely grateful to Dr Gillian Gibson and the RANZCOG Board and Council for their hard work during the 13th Council term. I look forward to working with the 14th Board, Council, and you, the membership, over the next two years. This is a challenging time for all medical colleges with regulation changes with regards to training, accreditation, CPD, and assessment of SIMGs, amongst others. The old adage of ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ has never been more relevant.

My priority as President is to ensure RANZCOG is an organisation ready for the future. One of the key roles of the College is that of advocacy. In order to do this, it is important that the College establishes relationships with federal and state governments, focuses on member priorities, and engages in workforce sustainability through robust training and assessments as well as supporting life-long learning. This report highlights the different ways in which the College advocates for its members, trainees, and for women’s health more broadly. 

Building and Re-establishing Relationships with the Australian Federal and State Governments

RANZCOG was able to make progress on re-establishing key connections and building new relationships with the federal government over the winter and spring. Women’s health has a new minister in the Honourable Rebecca White MP, the newly elected MP for Lyons in Tasmania and the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Assistant Minister for Women, and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health.  

College leadership met with the Assistant Minister in Canberra in late August and have continued to liaise with her office on issues central to women’s health through the spring. The College was honoured to have the Assistant Minister participate in our roundtable in November that focused on developing solutions to the crisis in private obstetrics.  

The College continues to advocate directly to the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing through relevant Medicare Benefits Scheme divisions, meeting regularly with staff to raise issues of concern to members, and in the domain of obstetrics and gynaecology. Recent discussions have addressed the perceived inequity in billing practices when comparing some MBS items for obstetricians and midwives. The Department has also indicated that there will be further work carried out during this term of government on issues supporting medical specialist needs. The College remains in contact with the Department about what this outline of work entails.   

At the state and territory level, RANZCOG has recently signed a Statement of Intent with the Western Australia Department of Health. The Statement is designed to formally agree on areas of collaboration between the College and the Department to improve health service delivery, models of care, and training in WA. The College is pursuing similar agreements with other states and territories.  

Private Practice – Focused on Solutions

The College held a follow-up roundtable meeting on 17 November to dig into solutions to the crisis facing private obstetrics in Australia. This roundtable brought together clinicians and health professionals working privately in O&G to develop practical solutions to the problems pressing on private practice. The College’s report on the outcomes of this roundtable, Collaborating for Women’s Choice: Sustainability for Private Maternity, is available on the RANZCOG website. This report forms the basis for advocating to government, carrying these solutions forward to be applied in practice in 2026 and beyond.  

Concurrently, the College has continued to work with government on the issue of private practice through available forums, such as by joining the Maternity Working Group, Innovative Models of Care Subgroup of the Private Health CEO Forum, which is a body that has been established to advise the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing, the Honourable Mark Butler MP, on the crisis in private health.  

Private practice is an equally pressing issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, where a specific private practice obstetrics and gynaecology committee has been created.  

Workforce

The Obstetrics and Gynaecology Education and Training (OGET) program has recently expanded its reach by establishing three new hubs in Wagga Wagga (NSW), Newcastle (NSW), and Burnie and Launceston (Tas), bringing the total number of regional health service OGET hubs from nine to twelve. 

This expansion has significantly enhanced access to onsite, localised education, and skills maintenance at more than 60 peripheral regional, rural and remote health services across Australia. The program continues to effectively support a wide range of health professionals, including GPs, registrars, anaesthetists, midwives, nurses, and others, strengthening clinical capability and workforce sustainability across Australia.  

The College is continuing to pursue opportunities to extend OGET program funding. At the time of writing, discussions with various jurisdictions are progressing well.  

The College has been party to several discussions around workforce planning and continues to press for sustainable action on the part of governments in both countries. The College met with the National Maternity Workforce Strategy (NMWS) staff team in August, which provided an opportunity to discuss common points of concern into the NMWS, such as speeding up training in gynaecology surgery; the declines in GPO numbers and risks incurred from that decline; how rural workforce recruitment and retention can be supported; and how private closures are also impacting on workforce numbers. The College expects to be included in consultations on a draft paper being developed by the NMWS’ Strategic Advisory Group, with a public survey expected soon, to be followed by detailed consultations. The College was able to advance similar points in direct discussions with the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s Health Workforce Division Health Resourcing Group.  

In Aotearoa New Zealand the College has continued to be active in advocating for workforce issues, particularly around surgical training and access to training opportunities, with increasing outsourcing of surgery to private hospitals.  The College also supported Te Whatu Ora to establish a technical advisory group that will study access issues for gynaecology with the remit to suggest ways to make access more consistent across Aotearoa New Zealand. The College is continuing to advocate for this to evolve into a gynaecology national clinical network, which will provide clinical leadership and inevitably need to bring in considerations of sustainable workforce supply.  

Sexual and Reproductive Health

Sadly, the perpetual effort to undermine abortion services through legislation rolled along this spring, again in South Australia. Much like in spring 2024, the introduction and debate over a private member’s bill to limit access to abortion at later gestations drew significant focus to the state. The College came out strongly against the bill proposed by Ben Hood MLC in 2024 and did so again against the bill proposed this year by Sarah Game MLC.  

The College appreciates that individual members will have their own personal views on abortion, but RANZCOG’s position on this remains unequivocal: abortion is essential healthcare.  

A decision to terminate a pregnancy is deeply personal and complex. These decisions must remain between the woman and her healthcare provider and not be subject to the whims of political intervention. Current legislation in South Australia – and indeed, in all States and Territories – already have well-defined parameters guiding the provision of abortion services. Amendments like Mr Hood’s and Ms Game’s only further erode women’s autonomy over their bodies and the freedom to make decisions about their own healthcare. The College spoke out strongly against Ms Game’s bill and will do so again whenever and wherever warranted when access to women’s health services come under political threat.  

To the contrary, RANZCOG was pleased to support MSI Australia and its associated pharmaceutical company MS Health in its application to the Therapeutic Goods Administration to vary the indications of MS-2 Step. Currently, MS-2 Step is approved for use in medical abortions up to nine weeks (63 days) gestation, which is not in line with best practice or with RANZCOG’s own guidelines on abortion care, which calls for use of the MS-2 Step formula up to ten weeks (70 days). MS Health’s application to the TGA also seeks to extend the indication of MS-2 Step for use in management of miscarriage, which the College also supports.  

The College has been active in supporting the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s new project to develop a Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Monitoring Framework and Data Strategy. Sexual and reproductive health data at national level in Australia is a gap that has needed filling for some time, which this project recognises. The College contributed to focused stakeholder discussions at the launch of the strategy earlier this year and is continuing to consult with the AIHW as it develops it’s work program over the next couple of years.  

Advancing Women’s Health: Looking Towards 2026

The priorities described here provide a roadmap for action in 2026; all are complex topic areas which are sure to remain high on the College’s agenda. At the federal level, the opportunity to advance priorities without the interruption of a federal election, and a strong foundation laid with a second term government is positive. State elections in South Australia and Victoria provide room to continue to push for members’ priorities in both states. In Aotearoa New Zealand the 2026 general election will provide the opportunity to advocate for women’s health priorities. 

Finally, the College is humbled to have delivered an apology to Māori trainees and Fellows who experienced unsafe, racist, and inequitable treatment during their training. It is fitting that this apology was during the period in which RANZCOG was led by an Aotearoa New Zealand Fellow, Immediate Past-President, Dr Gillian Gibson. The College is looking at ways to research and take appropriate steps in response to similar experiences in Australia (possibly alongside other Colleges).  

This is the last issue of O&G Magazine for 2025. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all RANZCOG members and trainees who will be working over the summer, providing essential healthcare services across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. I also want to thank Ms Vase Jovanoska, Chief Executive Officer, and the RANZCOG Executive Leadership Team and staff for their dedication to the vision and mission of our College. I hope you will all have some downtime with family and friends to rest and recover over the summer holidays.