Another board spill is afoot at the Royal Australian College of Physicians as accusations of bullying and a cover-up spill into Court. Stephanie Tran reports.
On Tuesday, the Fair Work Commission began hearing a stop-bullying application filed by the president-elect of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), Dr Sharmila Chandran, against the college’s current president, Professor Jennifer Martin.
The case marks the latest and most explosive chapter in a bitter power struggle that has engulfed the RACP for years. RACP CEO Steffen Faurby and Dr John O’Donnell are also named in the application.
The RACP, which represents more than 30,000 physicians and trainee specialists across Australia and New Zealand, has long been dogged by internal turmoil.
College tries to muzzle Court hearing
Lawyers for the College and Dr Martin sought confidentiality orders to prevent board minutes and recordings from being made public, arguing they contained sensitive material about the college’s internal governance.
Dr Chandran’s lawyers objected to this order contending that the case is of significant public interest and the principles of open justice should prevail.
Commissioner Sloan ruled that the minutes should remain public, citing the significance of the inner workings of the college to the case but held that the recordings of meetings would be treated as confidential.
“I’m not persuaded that it is appropriate to make a confidentiality order in all bar one category of the documents,” Commissioner Sloan said.
“This case concerns the inner workings of the college, and they will be explored as part of these proceedings. … The principles of open justice are a guiding light of how the commission conducts its proceedings.”
The ruling means the college’s internal disputes, long the subject of rumour among members, are now set to play out in public.
The bullying allegations
Chandran’s lawyers told the Commission that tensions began well before her election as president-elect but escalated after she lodged a whistleblower complaint about Martin’s alleged conduct. They said the alleged bullying intensified when Chandran later filed her Fair Work application and publicly opposed proposed changes to the college’s constitution.
In May 2025, Dr Chandran lodged an application for an anti-bullying order under the Fair Work Act, claiming she and her colleagues had been subjected to repeated bullying and mistreatment. In a statement to members, she said she had “raised concerns of bullying and harassment in the college” through internal channels, but that “adequate corrective action has not been taken”.
A few months later, on 22 August, the College board passed a vote of no confidence in her, accusing the president-elect of contributing to a “toxic culture” and engaging in “adversarial and disrespectful behaviour”.
Six directors resigned soon after the vote
Dr Chandran’s lawyers submitted that this was due to pressure from College members who felt that the members had unfairly used their power to oust Dr Chandran who was democratically elected as president by College members.
Dr Chandran said no written allegations were provided to her and she was denied a right of reply.
“No grounds were given regarding the vote of no confidence …it was pure bullying and public humiliation,” she told the Commission.
“I was horrified by what the board did to me”
Her legal team allege that the college and its CEO Steffen Faurby were aware of the bullying allegedly perpetrated by Dr Martin and failed to intervene.
They also alleged that the claims of bullying Dr Chandran raised against Dr Martin during a board meeting were subsequently removed from official board minutes.
A coup attempt and looming showdown
The conflict now threatens to split the college ahead of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 31 October, where its 33,000 members will vote on whether to remove Dr Chandran from the board and block her from assuming the presidency next year.
The motion to remove her provides no explanation of who initiated it or why. Internal material circulated to members accuses her of undermining the board’s “reform agenda” and diverting attention from “the college’s core purpose”.
The Fair Work Commission hearing is expected to continue for three days.
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Stephanie is a journalist with a passion for uncovering stories that hold power to account. With a background in both law and journalism, she has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award.