Further details about the decision to hold a vote of no confidence in the RACP’s president elect have emerged overnight.
Six board members of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians have now resigned following a power tussle over disapproval with the president elect.
Just four board members remain.
Earlier this week, the board passed a no confidence motion in president elect Dr Sharmila Chandran.
The remaining board members have now made a statement for the reasoning behind the no-confidence vote.
“The issues are not about disagreement on policy,” the email, which has been posted to Reddit, read.
“They are about conduct.
“The president-elect has engaged in adversarial and disrespectful behaviour, contributed to a toxic culture that has led to the early departure of directors and diverted significant time and resources away from the College’s core purpose and reform agenda.”
Dr Chandran has denied these claims and has since filed a Fair Work action.
The email was not signed by any specific member of the board.
“As a Board, we have a duty to protect the College and its members,” the email continued.
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“We cannot remove an elected director – only members can do that.
“What we can do is register our lack of confidence and work with members towards a resolution that restores stability and allows us to get back to the work you expect of us.”
Infighting at the RACP has not been an uncommon occurrence.
“We really tried to make the organisation kinder, more inclusive and truer to its original purpose,” former RACP board director Professor Paul Komesaroff told The Australian.
“The president-elect was elected by a democratic vote and this appears to be a blatant attempt to subvert the will of the electors.
“Surely, if there are disagreements about important issues, these should be argued out publicly – where appropriate, with involvement of the membership.
“The attempts to silence any opposition or contrary voices in order to hold on to power at all costs must stop.”
The original policy dispute that prompted the no-confidence vote was a governance change that would cease the automatic appointment of college presidents to the chair of the board.
This was proposed along with the establishment of a nominations committee that would take the responsibility of approving candidates for either the board or recommendation for election as president.
Per The Australian, Dr Chandran opposed this change on the basis that it could give the nominations committee too much power.
