As a member of the medical profession:

I solemnly pledge to dedicate my life to the service of humanity;

The health and well-being of my patient will be my first consideration;

I will respect the autonomy and dignity of my patient;

I will maintain the utmost respect for human life;

I will not permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient; […]

Declaration of Geneva (World Medical Association 2017)

(a) To improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities by supporting the pursuit of clinical excellence and high quality patient care, clinical practice, education, and research for general practice. […]

(j) To advocate on any issue which affects the ability of members of the College to meet their responsibilities to patients and to the community.

RACGP Constitution November 2025

My name is Dr Gavin Colthart, a GP and emergency doctor based on Yunbenun/Magnetic Island, unceded lands of the Wulgurukaba people.

I’m standing for the presidency of the RACGP because, as doctors, our ethical foundations seem to be coming into direct conflict with an accelerating corruption of the shared values, laws, and institutions on which our ethics are based.

And despite the urgency of dealing with this rush towards what increasingly looks like some form of tyranny, I’m not hearing our leaders, medical or otherwise, fully rising to the challenge. Instead, what we often hear is silence, or dissent presented so carefully that it becomes just a louder form of silence. And as the price of any kind of dissent is steadily increased, the silence seems only to grow.

As a doctor, I can’t help but see what is happening in our societies now as some kind of auto-immune disorder doing its unpleasant auto-immune thing. Attacking multiple systems concurrently while weakening our ability to fight back. Destroying key parts of our wellness while hiding behind a misdiagnosis. Never sleeping, unaware it is steadily working its way towards its own decay.

I’m not here to set out a series of demands or provide all the answers but I do believe our College can aspire to speak loudly and clearly in defence of a future in which our society once again values honesty, compassion, and equity.

The College is already successful in supporting us to train and develop as GP’s, and to advocate for general practice as a key part of healthcare.

Maybe it is time for the College to step up and help prevent the destruction of the values on which this success is based.

I realise GP’s are time poor but we are also smart, with quite a talent for quickly getting the gist of complex new information. So, take a look at the other pages of this mini-site as it evolves - I don’t have a team of web developers or social media wizards so things will be added as I have the time. But you will eventually find a far from comprehensive collection of resources and links which might provide a (potentially-CPD-able) crash course in resistance.