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Police were called to a board meeting of one of Australia’s largest medical colleges on Wednesday, after its president-elect allegedly attempted to hold her own proceedings to oust the college president without the subject of the vote and other directors present.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which is responsible for training and accrediting more than 33,000 doctors across 33 specialties in Australia and New Zealand, has been in turmoil for months due to an ongoing dispute between its president, Professor Jennifer Martin, and her elected successor, Dr Sharmila Chandran.
Martin has wanted to bring the organisation’s constitution in line with other colleges that separate the roles of president and board chair, but has faced firm opposition from president-elect Chandran and her supporters.
A statement from the board sent to members on Wednesday afternoon claimed, after previous attempts to install honorary treasurer Dr Nicholas Buckmaster as chair of the meeting to avoid a conflict of interest were disputed, leaving Martin as chair of the meeting, Chandran spoke over Martin and “did not stop”.
It went on to allege that Chandran had organised for the meeting’s livestream “to focus the cameras on her” before moving the meeting to a closed room without Martin, the college’s CEO, other directors or the college’s interim company secretary present.
Members watching the meeting online were then watching the video feed of the meeting led by Chandran. The result announced at that meeting, conducted by CorpVote, was 54.5 per cent in favour of ousting Martin, making Chandran chair of the board.
“Martin, the subject of the vote was not given the opportunity to speak to members, despite being present nearby,” the board statement claimed.
The board said it was seeking legal advice as to the validity of the meeting, which it believed had been held improperly.
“The board has grave concerns about the constitutionality of this meeting, breaches of Corporations and WHS Acts, breaches of principles of natural justice and the behaviour demonstrated by Dr Chandran,” the statement read.
“The meeting was not run as per our board bylaws and the results were not correctly scrutineered and the board believes the vote is invalid.”
Chandran, who will assume the role of president in May, said the statement sent out on Wednesday afternoon was “incorrect and completely and utterly inappropriate”.
“This is not from the board … the board is me, I am the chair of the board now,” she said.
“RACP is a member organisation. The members have spoken.”
Chandran said she had already contacted the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to inform them that Martin was no longer chair of the college’s board.
The board statement said Chandran’s husband had called police to the meeting.
Chandran confirmed this was the case, saying she had been intimidated.
NSW Police confirmed they were called to an O’Connell Street office at about 10.30am on Wednesday.
“Police spoke with several people and it was determined no crime had been committed,” they said.
CORRECTION
A previous version of this story said Dr Nicholas Buckmaster was chair of Wednesday’s meeting. This was incorrect: the meeting began with Professor Jennifer Martin as chair.
