Advocacy & Policy.

Connect. Inform. Represent.

Advocating for what matters most to Australia's medical students.

Advocacy – The beating heart of AMSA

AMSA advocates for all 18,000+ medical students across the country to positively impact your medical journeys and your communities. By unifying the diverse voices and passions of medical students, we ensure AMSA’s advocacy represents your interests to enact real change, on the local, federal, and international stage.

AMSA Policy

To ensure AMSA advocates for what matters most to Australia’s medical students, all AMSA advocacy work is rooted in policy. Each policy document expands on the research and evidence behind a health issue pertinent to medical students and the communities they live in.

AMSA National Advocacy Priorities

Medical students vote for the advocacy priorities during the AMSA National Survey, which then acts as the key goals for our advocacy stream focus throughout the year.

Join AMSA policy teams! Callouts are released via AMSA’s social media.
Participate in AMSA advocacy surveys, council think tanks and policy teams.
Participate in AMSA subcommittees.

Do you have any questions? We love to hear policy suggestions or feedback from you. If you have any questions or would like to hear more about AMSA policy, please email the Vice President External ([email protected])or get in touch with your university AMSA representative.

What are the successes of AMSA advocacy?

With decades of building and delivering advocacy campaigns, supporting grassroots efforts, and engaging with federal stakeholders, AMSA Advocacy has contributed to a multitude of successful outcomes in creating a more inclusive and equitable medical journey. Here is a snapshot of advocacy achievements throughout the past decade.

Launched the Cost of Living Campaign, writing an open letter to ‘raise-the-rate’ of JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, and other related income payments, and presenting a press conference in Canberra about the health impact and student dimension of the issue.

Contributing and direct appearance of AMSA at the GP Workforce Roundtable held by then Minister of Health, Mark Butler.

Working alongside the AMC Medical Schools Accreditation Committee to successfully review medical students’ concerns about COVID-19’s impact on medical education, student support, training, and supervision.

Coordinated an effective #EndCOVIDforAll campaign with other national stakeholders, resulting in the Commonwealth pledging $500 million to roll out vaccines in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Partnered with the Lancet Countdown to lead advocacy on climate change and provided official testimony at the Western Australia Government Climate Health Inquiry.

AMSA created the Mental Health Initiative Guide for Australian Medical Faculties, resulting in several medical faculties reforming aspects of their medical program.

Advocated for the establishment of the Rural Junior Doctor Training Innovation Fund and funding for 26 Regional Health Training Hubs.

AMSA appeared at the senate inquiry into the Medical Complaints Process, resulting in national medial coverage and the AMSA President speaking about the impact of sexual harassment and bullying on medical students.

AMSA’s #Fixitdon’tfloodit campaign (calling for an increase in medical positions for vocational training programs, not medical schools) generated days of national media focus, and was specifically included in front benchers’ talking points during Question Time.

Launched a Mental Health Campaign to improve and focus on medical students’ mental health. Representatives met with Vice Chancellors from different universities to discuss the provision of mental health services on campuses.

AMSA Submissions & Media Releases

What is a submission?

Parliamentary committees can gauge public reactions and elicit the community’s views on policies and inquiries through having people write to the committee: making a submission. AMSA participates in this process to elevate our advocacy to the federal level.