In August last year, Health Minister Mark Butler attended a meeting with members of the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC), the peak body representing the colleges of 16 medical specialities in Australia and New Zealand.

It was, we believe, the council’s first face-to-face formal meeting with a federal health minister since it was established back in 1986.

At that meeting, Mr Butler expressed his pleasure at being able to talk with all the medical colleges at the same time in one room. 

For me, as the chair of the council, the meeting represented a turning point in our relationship with government. It was the culmination of a two-year campaign to revitalise the council and raise its profile as a voice for medical specialists.