Election complaints and reports of infighting have led to action by charities and not-for-profits watchdog

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Australia’s professional college for medical specialists, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, is under investigation by the charities and not-for-profit watchdog following years of controversy.

The college has been particularly scrutinised since its board and president elections in March 2018. The election saw Prof John Wilson named president-elect and three new directors appointed to the board in a landslide victory: Prof Niki Ellis, Dr Jacqueline Small and Prof Paul Komesaroff.

The college received complaints about the conduct of Wilson, Ellis, Small and Komesaroff after thousands of college members were emailed election material urging them to vote for the four as part of a “reform ticket”. Some of the complaints questioned whether using email addresses in this way breached college bylaws or privacy legislation.

An independent third party was appointed by the board to review the election complaints, but the full findings were never released to college members. A redacted version of the report was eventually released.

Royal Australasian College of Physicians election at centre of email controversy Read more

On Friday the college confirmed it had been formally notified by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission that it was under investigation.

“We wish to reassure our trainees and fellows that the college’s annual program of written and clinical examinations, training and inductions to fellowship will continue as normal while this investigation is under way,” a statement from the college said.

“… the board has committed to enter into a voluntary compliance agreement with the commission in relation to improvement of board culture and governance.”

The college has been marred by reports of infighting and a dysfunctional internal culture.

In February 2018 a technical glitch during a high-stakes exam left hundreds of trainee doctors distressed and forced to resit the exam at a later date, and the college was criticised for having no adequate contingency plan in place.

Neither the commission nor the college would comment further about the investigation. A college spokesman did confirm the current board would remain in place throughout the investigation.

The college represents more than 17,000 specialist doctors and 8,000 trainee specialists in Australia and New Zealand.