Dr Bayley, the practice principal of Raymond Terrace Family Practice, was recognised with the honour at the International Women's Day breakfast hosted by Paterson MP Meryl Swanson and Port Stephens MP Kate Washington in Williamtown on Monday.

"Faced with incredible challenges of a global pandemic, Dr Bayley established the Raymond Terrace Respiratory Clinic for diagnosis and management of COVID-related health issues and established a specialist vaccine clinic," Ms Washington said.

"Since then, Dr Bayley and her team have administered approximately 40,000 vaccines to local residents while continuing to serve the community as a general practice.

"Due to the efforts of Dr Bayley and her team, Port Stephens has the highest vaccination rate across the Hunter region, in an area which too often experiences poor health outcomes.

"Through her strong leadership and immense contribution to the health of Port Stephens, Dr Bayley has delivered services that have saved people's lives."

Since the start of the pandemic, the respiratory clinic has made 20,000 assessments and delivered 48,500 vaccinations. This is on top of delivering care to the GP clinic's 5000 regular patients.

A humble recipient, Dr Bayley was quick to praise the "wonderful efforts" of her team which has worked side-by-side with her throughout the pandemic.

"We've treated 20,000 people in our community, which is a wonderful achievement for my team," she said.

"We've been able to employ lots of people to deliver our vaccination clinics. We chose to give our vaccinations in after hours clinics, which meant we needed more staff. Anyone who has come to our clinics would have seen smiling faces of young people, school-aged and university that have been able to work and take part in this pandemic.

"For me, that's exciting. I love to see young people learning and caring for others. Another thing that was exciting last year, in the first half of the vaccination program, was that Port Stephens lead the way. We were ahead of the mass vaccination hubs that came later."

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The morning's proceedings opened with a welcome to country from Worimi man Leigh Ridgeway.

He acknowledged the crisis in Ukraine, its impact on women, children and families, and asked breakfast attendees to stand and observe a moment of silence for those who had been hurt or killed.

Ms Washington opened the morning's speeches, highlighting the importance of women supporting each other.

"We hope this breakfast brings some light, love, hope and laughter into what has been a fairly hard-going past couple of years," she said.

Ms Swanson spoke on the challenges women face in the workplace, unconscious bias, the need for pay equality and to make the superannuation system more friendly for women who leave work to have families, intimate partner violence and the theme of IWD 2022 - Break the Bias.

"International Women's Day is a century old. We're not doing anything new here," she said. "But you being here is taking action. You're supporting the notion that women deserve better. This is not to say we do not support men, that's not what feminism is. We are here to say that we are against the bias, the constraints placed on us because of our gender."

Following speeches, the MPs questioned the female leaders of Tomaree, Irrawang, Hunter River High Schools and St Philip's Christian College.

The panel was asked questions about their aspirations for the future, whether they think they will bump up against gender bias and their take on gender equality.

Tanya Plibersek, the federal shadow minister for women and education, was also invited to speak on Monday with the MP highlighting the rates of assault against women in the country.

She labelled the rates as "unacceptable" and spoke about Australia "slipping" in international rankings for equality.

Proceeds raised from the breakfast - with prizes donated by female-lead Port Stephens businesses - will be donated to the Yacaaba Centre, Port Stephens Family and Neighbourhood Service and Murrook Cultural Centre's programs that support women.

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