The Hon. Dr B. P. V. PEZZUTTI [11.00 p.m.]: This is the first time I have had the opportunity to inform the House of the death of a great New South Wales doctor, Dr Tony Buhagiar, who died in July. Tony Buhagiar was a general practitioner, a visiting medical officer and assistant surgeon, and a visiting medical officer and assistant gynaecologist and obstetrician at Parramatta hospital when I was a junior resident in 1990. He was competent in all branches of medicine. He was what would be called an old-fashioned doctor. He was not old-fashioned in the teaching he gave me or in the treatment and care he gave to his patients.

He was universally admired and loved by the nursing staff, by his patients and by the students, registrars and residents who worked with him. Without doubt he was one of the most competent general practitioners I have ever seen. He never did anything he felt uncomfortable doing. He was quite happy to refer patients who needed assistance beyond his abilities, but his abilities were quite remarkable.

It is no surprise that he was one of the movers and shakers behind the formation of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. He became president of that college and in 1984 was President of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association. He retired from medical politics but resumed his interest when the Federal Government introduced a system of bringing general practitioners together in different areas. He formed the Western Sydney Division of General Practice, which had some 600 members. If it were not for the leadership of Tony Buhagiar that body would not have been as successful as it was. He brought all the general practitioners together to work in a systematic way for the overall benefit of the people of western Sydney who needed primary care.

He was a robust, rotund man who loved life. He was always more than happy to give his opinion on any matter at all. He would often give an hilarious opinion, but if the matter was serious, he was very serious. He had no prejudices at all. In 1979 when the iron curtain came down in Czechoslovakia, two young doctors were stranded. Although they were overseas trained, while working at Parramatta hospital they had proved they were very good doctors. Tony took both of them into his heart, into his home and into his general practice. Tony was one of the people who showed me how to deal person to person - not doctor to patient - with the people who came for care.

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I was always impressed with his dedication, not just to his patients but to his profession. He made sure the patients received a good professional service and in doing so he advanced the profession because the patients saw what a proper doctor did. Tony would come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who did not achieve that quality of service.

I refer to a story in the Australian Doctor. Honourable members may know that a lot of general practice training involves role play, where general practitioners get together and play out a scene. This journal tells the story of how Tony Buhagiar had to play a 40-year-old female barrister who had come into the surgery for the result of a pregnancy test, which was positive. Try to imagine a person about five foot tall and five foot round with a deep, gruff voice playing the role of a 40-year-old female barrister - and with conviction.

That was Tony Buhagiar. He was a person who led from the front, who led by example, and always demonstrated his compassion and his deep understanding of the need to stay current, competent and in touch. He was called old-fashioned but one would never say his relationship with his patients was old-fashioned. He was always very professional, very personal and very reliable.