GPs’ care to communities in the spotlight

GPs past and present have received recognition for their community service and professional achievements in the 2025 King’s Birthday celebrations.
 
A line-up of almost 20 GPs shared the spotlight on this year’s list, earning recognition among 830 Australians honoured for their contributions to society.
 
Governor-General Sam Mostyn offered her congratulations and gratitude to the recipients ‘for all you have given Australia’.
 
‘These honours recognise the selfless service, integrity, achievement, creativity, and care that flourish across our country,’ she said.
 
‘Every day, and all across the country, Australians are doing extraordinary things with passion, generosity, energy, and resolve.’
 
Northern Territory GP and medical educator Associate Professor Emma Kennedy was surprised to discover an email informing her of her King’s Birthday Honours award.
 
‘I was taken aback. It came out of the blue. I really felt like it was junk mail when I saw it,’ she recalls.
 
Associate Professor Kennedy has been awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division for ‘significant service to medical education and to the community’.
 
An experienced leader and passionate medical educator, Associate Professor Kennedy is Director of the Northern Territory Medical Program at Flinders University, Co-Director of Darwin-based general practice Pandanus Medical NT, and RACGP Northern Territory Faculty Provost.
 
‘In 2018, a colleague and I set up a general practice in Darwin called Pandanus Medical NT, and we wanted to focus on both quality clinical care and education in the primary healthcare environment,’ Associate Professor Kennedy told newsGP.
 
‘The point being that unless we train with people who can support us to learn about the complexity of the context that we’re working in, we’ll always feel more uncertain about how well we’ll be able to meet the needs of the area.’
 
And making a difference starts with having good, trusting relationships, whether that be in a learning environment, amongst health professional or with patients, Associate Professor Kennedy said.
 
‘A big interest of mine here in the Territory has been to try and ensure that the professional training we provide actually equips people to manage in the context here, with a view to the reward and the incredible opportunity and privilege it is just to be able to have agency to make a difference,’ she said.
 
‘And the challenges are huge. We’ve had registrars training in very challenging environments out of their cultural norm, while at the same time learning how to do medicine and be a quality GP.
 
‘That only happens with excellence because of the collaborations with local people, local community, the support to understand how we can do these things together.’
 
Associate Professor Kennedy joins a long list of past and present GPs on the King’s Birthday 2025 Honours list.
 
Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division
 
Dr Peter Rischbieth, SA
For significant service to rural health as a medical practitioner.
 
A passionate rural generalist, Dr Rischbieth practised in Murray Bridge, South Australia, for 37 years before retiring in 2024. During his career, he held key roles in state and national medical associations, including President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and President of the Rural Doctors Association of South Australia. Dr Rischbieth was recognised as Rural Doctor of the Year in 2022.
 
Dr Catherine Hutton, VIC
For significant service to general practice medicine, and to healthcare system improvement.
 
Active in general practice representation and research, Dr Hutton is a dedicated GP who has predominantly practiced in Melbourne’s north-west. She is a highly experienced board member, having held many key roles including Board Director at the North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre as well as being a past Chair of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Victoria.
 
Professor Lisa Amir, VIC
For significant service to women’s health, particularly breastfeeding research and support.
 
Professor Amir is a GP and world-renowned breastfeeding researcher at La Trobe University. With a long-standing passion for women’s health and expertise in breastfeeding research and support, Professor Amir has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the International Breastfeeding Journal.
 
Dr David Law, TAS
For significant service to public health as a practitioner and in leadership roles.
 
Serving in many key committee and advisory roles throughout his career, Dr Law is a founding member and past President of the National Association of Medical Deputising Services, former AMA Tasmania Vice President and is co-founder and triage GP with GP Assist Tasmania.
 
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division
 
Dr David Iser, VIC
For service to medicine as a GP.
 
A GP and community leader, Dr Iser has worked as a dedicated and passionate local GP while holding roles including RACGP examiner and GP supervisor along with senior lecturer and former head of school at Monash School of Rural Health, South Gippsland. Dr Iser was awarded Victorian Rural Doctor of the Year in 2008 and South Gippsland Shire Citizen of the Year in 2010.
 
Dr Gregory Levenston, NSW
For service to the community of Woollahra.
 
Dr Levenston is a GP, the former Deputy Mayor of the Woollahra Municipal Council, and was a drug and alcohol counsellor for more than 20 years. He is the former Chairman of Variety the Children’s Charity and served as a board member from 2012–24. Dr Levenston is currently the Deputy Chairman of the South-East Sydney Local Health District. 
 
Dr Margaret Niemann, VIC
For service to medicine as a GP.
 
A GP with a passion for Indigenous health outcomes, Dr Niemann has held many roles including Facilitator for Indigenous health workshops at Monash University, School of Rural Health and GP at the Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative. She is the recipient of the Annette Walker Award in 2016 which recognises outstanding contributions by a Remote Area Health Corps health professional.
 
Dr Alan Secombe, QLD
For service to the community as a GP.
 
With a long career in general practice and years of dedication to his community, Dr Secombe has held many roles including as a GP and visiting medical officer with the Murwillumbah District Hospital, medical educator and registrar supervisor as well as being a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Wollongong Medical School. He was also a community educator for volunteers at the Tweed Palliative Support and Wedgetail Retreat.
 
Associate Professor David Rimmer, QLD
For service to rural and remote medicine.
 
A leader in rural health advocacy, mentorship and community service, Professor Rimmer has dedicated more than 45 years to general practice. His current role as the Director of Clinical Training for Central West Hospital and Health Service has oversight of medical student, junior doctor, registrar and early career Fellow training. Professor Rimmer has been a member of the Queensland Clinical Senate Executive and is Foundation Board Member of the Western Queensland Primary Health Network. He is also the recipient of a Meritorious Service Award from the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland and was awarded 2025 Citizen of the Year for Longreach.
 
The late Dr Allan Shell, NSW
For service to the Jewish community and to healthcare.
 
Dr Shell was a dedicated medical professional and passionate advocate for the Jewish community. He served on the Wolper Jewish Hospital board for 20 years, including as Vice President, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer, as well as being part of Wolper’s Medical Advisory Committee for over 30 years. He was a visiting educator with GP Synergy NSW, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Clinical Medicine, University New South Wales, and served as a GP to the Rose Bay community in NSW between 1980–1997 before taking on numerous medical and community roles.
 
Conjoint Associate Professor Mark Bloch, NSW
For service to medicine.
 
Associate Professor Bloch has held many medical roles throughout his career. He is currently Director of Holdsworth House Medical Practice in NSW, President of Wayback, a charitable alcohol and other drug rehabilitation service, and Conjoint Associate Professor at The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales. He is past President of the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine, Hepatitis and Sexual Health, and a member of the RACGP Sexual Health Medicine Specific Interest Group.
 
Dr Carolyn Lawlor-Smith, SA
For service to medicine and to community health.
 
A dedicated and long-serving GP to her community, Dr Lawlor-Smith spent 33 years running her own practice in Happy Valley, South Australia. She is a former committee member of Doctors for Assisted Dying Choice South Australia.
 
Dr Colin Crighton, NSW
For service to the community of Port Macquarie.
 
Former GP and geriatric doctor, Dr Colin Crighton has played a valued role in his local community of Port Macquarie. Aside from his career in medicine, Dr Crighton is an active member of the community and has been involved in the Port Macquarie Mixed Probus Club, Oxley Pistol Club and the Port Macquarie Branch of National Seniors Australia.
 
The late Dr John Dyson-Berry, VIC
For service to medicine as a GP.
 
A highly experienced and well-regarded GP, Dr Dyson-Berry practiced in Mildura from 1994—2024 and dedicated more than 25 years as a visiting GP to the Coomealla Health Aboriginal Corporation. He took on a wide range of roles, including as a Commonwealth Medical Officer, Aviation Medical Examiner and consulting physician to the Aged Care Assessment Service in Mildura. He is also the recipient of a Length of Service Award from Rural Workforce Victoria in 2023.
 
Dr Rosalie Cooper, VIC
For service to medicine through a range of roles.
 
Dr Cooper was a GP between 1992–2007. She served on several roles within the Victorian Medical Women’s Society, having been a member since 1961, as well as serving for the Australian Federation of Medical Women. Within Red Nose Australia (SIDS and Kids Victoria), she held many leadership positions, including former Chair of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Researchers Forum, Melbourne. Dr Cooper has also undertaken several academic achievements, including being a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Mothers’ and Children’s Health.
 
Public Service Medal (PSM)
 
Dr Lawrence Palmer, SA
For outstanding public service in Palliative Medicine
 
GP Dr Palmer is described as a ‘humble, approachable, generous man with kindness and integrity to his core. He was appointed the director of Palliative Care at Modbury Hospital in 2005 and within seven years of this appointment, he built a well-respected service and contributed to the wider hospital community. In the 2012, Dr Palmer was appointed as the Medical Head of Unit and is known for his ‘steely determination that puts patients at the centre of all care’.
 
Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM)
 
Major Julie Doherty
For meritorious achievement in blood preparedness and clinical leadership as the Senior Medical Officer of the 2nd Health Battalion.
 
Major Doherty, a GP, was recognised for her duty in progressing the Australian Defence Force’s blood capability, as well as enhancing the clinical capabilities of the 2nd Health Battalion. In her role as the Senior Medical Officer, her work has led to improvements in education, training and preparedness of clinicians and health capabilities to provide trauma care and blood-based resuscitation.
 
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright congratulated all winners, saying the awards reiterate the essential role of GPs in keeping their communities healthy.
 
‘Everyone who has been named in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours has served the community with selflessness and integrity, and these awards reflect not just a personal achievement, but often outstanding care, creativity, and resilience,’ he said.
 
‘Recognition through King’s Birthday Honours reflects truly outstanding service. I’m proud so many GPs have received honours this year, for both medical practice and service in other leading roles, including in the army and the public service.
 
‘On behalf of all Australians, I thank recipients for their service and congratulate them on their recognition.’
 
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King’s birthday Order of Australia