It is now a little over a year since I stepped into the role of AFMW President, and since January I have also been managing the Treasurer role with Vice-President Dr Madhura Naidu and Secretary Dr Katrina Harris authorising payments. I am delighted to report that in July Dr Michelle Li expressed interest in the role after a few months of shadowing was formally appointed by Council in September as AFMW Treasurer.
Many of you recall the circumstances of me stepping into the role of President. I am not a politically motivated person and the only agenda I brought to the role was a desire to see AFMW thrive into the future after the resignation of some key people.
The last 12 months has seen us re-group as an organisation and we have a sound accounting system underlining our financial viability which is reassuring. Our Code of Conduct Document which was adopted in January and distributed to all members has set out standards of respect and support that I know we all aspire to – I thank everyone for adopting it.
We are a Federation of State organisations so any issue that is localised is managed by the State Organisation (who are very active with functions pertinent to their members, and I encourage all members to engage with their State/Territory MWS).
We also have some individual members who are not aligned to a State organisation, mostly through being distant from the major centres or in states without an active Medical Women’s Society, and I recognise that there is little opportunity for engagement of our widespread individual members, something we need to improve.
We have maintained our association with CAHA (Climate and Health Alliance), DEA (Doctors for the Environment Australia), and are of course affiliated with MWIA (Medical Women’s International Association). We are also aligned with UN CSW (United Nations Commission on the Status of Women). Previously close interactions with The Australian Women’s Coalition and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health have largely lapsed, not because of lack of importance but because the individuals who were leading the interactions are no longer on AFMW Council.
We have established a strong commitment to Indigenous Doctors and are in the process of completing a Reconciliation Action Plan to guide our steps in this direction.
This year the Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Bursary Project awarded an unprecedented $7500 in Bursaries to 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Women. I thank Dr Lydia Pitcher and Dr Deb Colville for their ongoing commitment to this project and I am deeply grateful to the donors who have made this possible. We are indebted to the regular financial support from Ochre Health, Regional Economic Solutions, Myuma group, The Healing Foundation and Dr Mary Rita See.
We have had interactions with “Healthy Hospitals”, and supported a recent submission led by the Australian Women Lawyers to Safe Work Australia’s Best Practice Review on Primary Prevention of Gendered Violence.
We have been represented internationally at the MWIA Congress in Cairo, October 2025 by our National Coordinator, Dr Betty Ge. The next International Congress will be in 3 years time in Georgia (Eastern Europe). Dr Madhura Naidu stepped forward to represent MWIA at the WHO Western Pacific Meeting in Fiji recently.
Dr Madhura Naidu has also taken the lead in setting up a working group to organise the MWIA Western Pacific Conference which is to be held in Melbourne in October 2027. The planning will be ramping up in the very near future, and I look forward to seeing what we can do to rival the enthusiasm of such events in the past.
Some of you will have noticed that the previously regular “Spotlight Series” Zoom conversations are no longer scheduled. I admit that I became disheartened when only a small number of members joined in to the chat live and stopped the exercise – an archive of the chats remains on the website and we had some fascinating conversations with our guests, worth dipping into if you have time over the holiday period.
Our only current outreach to our members is via the weekly eBulletin. In the first half of the year Madhura Naidu penned an inspirational series of articles for our eBulletin “From scrubs to social impact” outlining ways that we can all make a difference to various causes and organisations through advocacy, direct involvement or financial support.
AFMW Council is currently considering the shortfalls of the current Constitution and most of us agree that our future will be best served by stepping away from our current status as being Incorporated in the state of SA and become a Company Limited by Guarantee, especially as we do not have a membership base in SA. These decisions are important and I thank Dr Kate Duncan especially for her considerable knowledge and expertise in our current Constitution.
The pathway to achieving this and ensuring a healthy organisation into the future needs further investigation and the help of Constitutional Lawyers… watch this space! I would welcome input from any of our members who have a particular interest in organisational optimisation – please contact me.
I wish all of you a very happy Festive Season and hope that we can all approach 2026 with fresh energy and enthusiasm!
Dr Brenda Masters
President, AFMW
Dr Brenda Masters is a Canberra GP, President of the AFMW (2024-2026).
Brenda grew up in rural SA, studied Medicine in Adelaide, and has worked in Practices around the country before settling in our beautiful National Capital over 20 years ago.
Brenda is keenly involved in the Medical Women’s Society of ACT and Region, a group who provide both networking and peer support. She believes that everyone should be given the opportunity to realise their full potential in life and applies this to both her work and her relationships.
Brenda enjoys gardening and singing in her spare time and tries to make the most of Canberra’s proximity to the snow.