The ACT Government has won its push to overturn a finding that it discriminated against a highly trained Chinese-born doctor, after he missed out on a medical internship at Canberra Hospital on the basis of where he trained.

Key points: The neurologist missed out on an internship because he had trained overseas

The neurologist missed out on an internship because he had trained overseas He initially won a $40,000 discrimination payout after arguing it amounted to racial discrimination

He initially won a $40,000 discrimination payout after arguing it amounted to racial discrimination The ACT Government wins its appeal against the finding, overturning the decision

Qinglin Wang was initially awarded a $40,000 discrimination payout for his "anxiety, embarrassment and humiliation" after his application for a resident medical officer position was rejected.

The former director of neurology at Tianjin Medical University moved to Australia in 2001 and became a citizen in 2006.

By 2013 Dr Wang had completed all requirements to practice medicine in Australia, except for a one-year internship at an Australian hospital.

But a hiring policy introduced by the ACT Government, which ranked international graduates last for internship consideration, effectively barred Dr Wang from succeeding.

Dr Wang, who had a masters degree in neurology and more than 15 years' experience, was left working as a nurse assistant at an aged care facility after being knocked back.

He made a complaint arguing the policy amounted to racial discrimination because it disadvantaged graduates of foreign universities, which the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) upheld in a 2016 decision.

But the ACT Government appealed, and the tribunal overturned the decision on Monday.

International graduates ranked last for consideration

During the appeal, lawyers for the ACT Government argued that the policy divided applicants not on the basis of race or nationality but on where they had studied — which was not an attribute protected by discrimination law.

But lawyers for Dr Wang said that people not born in Australia or New Zealand generally had the attribute of having received foreign qualifications, and that it would amount to discrimination to treat them unfavourably.

"Dr Wang submitted that people of Chinese origin will generally (although not always) have obtained their medical degrees from overseas universities," ACAT President Graeme Neate wrote of Dr Wang's case.

"Accordingly, the ACT's use of the priority list to determine internship placements is capable of supporting a finding of direct discrimination."

In the appeal, the ACT Government argued that of the highest-prioritised category of applicants — Australian National University graduates who had committed to working in Canberra — 48 per cent had been born overseas.

In light of those figures, the tribunal found "there is no evidence … to find that the administration of the policy had the effect of disadvantaging people of Chinese national origin or non-Australian national origin".

The ACAT found the ACT Government had not discriminated against Dr Wang, either directly or indirectly, on the basis of his nationality.

It found that Dr Wang had not faced racial discrimination, in part because having a medical degree from China was not a characteristic most Chinese-born people had.

"The Tribunal accepts the ACT's submission that it is self-evidently false that people of any national origin 'generally have' the characteristic of having a medical degree from an institution in their country of origin," Mr Neate said.