Victoria's Attorney-General Jill Hennessy, sexual assault survivors and advocates of domestic violence prevention have condemned the conferring of Ms Arndt’s Australia Day honour, awarded for her "significant service to the community as a social commentator and to gender equity through advocacy for men". Ms Arndt has not been charged with any offence. Loading Dr Leow, a Sydney-based skin surgeon who is also an academic, was arrested and charged by Victoria Police in September 2018 after he was allegedly involved in a 2017 incident of "stealthing", the non-consensual removal of a condom during sex, with another male doctor. In July last year, Dr Leow was committed to stand trial in the County Court on one count of rape and one count of sexual assault. Under Victorian law the non-consensual removal of a condom and continued penetrative sex is classified as a sexual assault, but there is nothing in the Crimes Act in Victoria that explicitly states stealthing is a crime.

Dr Leow, whose name was initially suppressed, had his practising licence suspended by the Medical Board of Australia last year but the ban was lifted following a battle in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Loading The medical board fought to overturn the VCAT decision through the Victorian Court of Appeal, arguing that Dr Leow was charged with a serious criminal offence and should not be allowed to treat patients while standing trial for rape. Justice Richard Niall dismissed the appeal in August finding that allegations were yet to be tested and immediate action against the surgeon was not in the public's interest. Dr Leow, who runs his own medical practice, Aesthetic Dermatology in Darlinghurst, also has surgical privileges at St Vincent's Private Hospital in NSW.

Loading He is one of only three dermatologists nationally who regularly operate in theatres at a major teaching hospital. A website for his practice describes him as "a highly skilled and trained procedural dermatologist" who specialises in Mohs surgery – a surgical technique used to treat skin cancer – along with reconstruction, laser and cosmetic surgery. Dr Leow was a 2019 alumni achievement award recipient at the University of New England and has voiced international campaigns for the likes of Tourism WA and the University of Technology Sydney. He has also been an interpreter for Australian, British, US, Canadian, Indonesian and Malaysian heads of state at meetings of the G20 and United Nations.

He has volunteered as the chief medical officer for Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in recent years. Court documents obtained by The Age and Herald revealed Dr Leow and the complainant met in 2010 and remained in contact when Dr Leow moved interstate. VCAT documents reveal that Dr Leow and the other doctor had been out to dinner when they decided to return to the doctor's home. Worried about contracting HIV, the complainant told Dr Leow he would not have sex without a condom and that medication the surgeon was taking to avoid contracting HIV was in his view an added safety net, not a substitute for using a condom. But when they began to have intercourse it is alleged the complainant could not feel a condom and later told police he was “very upset and distressed” and asked Dr Leow why he had removed the condom.

Court documents reveal the accused replied "it feels better". A spokesman for the Office of the Governor-General said all nominations for the Order of Australia were considered by the independent Council for the Order of Australia, which includes community members and representatives from each state and territory, who make recommendations to the Governor-General. Loading He said it was not possible to discuss individual nominations or the Council for the Order of Australia’s deliberations around any specific award or appointment. "Prior to consideration by council, nominations are researched — including desktop research, checking with referees identified in the nomination and proactively identifying and contacting additional referees identified in the research phase," he said.