After a tumultuous year, the physicians’ college has largely gone quiet. Its members still have questions.
Just as the dust from this year’s somewhat disorderly transition of power was beginning to settle, more than 350 people have signed a petition calling for an independent forensic audit of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians’ finances.
The call to send in the accountants came after an extraordinary general meeting in April descended into chaos, with then-president elect Dr Sharmila Chandran allegedly physically taking the laptop on which the meeting was being held into a separate room against the wishes of then-president Professor Jennifer Martin.
Police were called to the meeting, but no one was arrested or removed from the premises.
Remaining members of the board declared the EGM invalid and announced an internal investigation.
Dr Chandran was later suspended from her position on the board following an unrelated incident.
Two independent board members were appointed by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
Because Professor Martin’s term has now ended but Dr Chandran’s suspension is still in place, ACNC-appointed director Adjunct Professor Susan Pascoe is the interim college president.
The matter even briefly made it to the Supreme Court of NSW, with the college seeking a ruling on whether its May annual general meeting (AGM) could be postponed and whether the April EGM had in fact been valid.
Both parties ultimately settled outside of the courtroom, and the matter of the April EGM’s validity remained unanswered.
The Change.org petition launched this week by “members of the RACP” sought answers to “urgent questions relating to the financial management” of the college.
The 34 “urgent questions” presented in the petition were broken up over three themes: payments to directors and staff members, a proposed loan to upgrade the college website, and bullying within the board.
Some questions were highly specific, to the point where individuals could potentially be identified.
The Medical Republic asked the RACP directly if it could answer some of the less sensitive questions posed in the petition, such as whether the ACNC-appointed directors were paid a salary and whether member funds had been used for the Supreme Court case.
A spokesperson confirmed the RACP was aware of the petition.
“We have a new Board with full oversight of all aspects of financial management,” they said.
“It is their job to ensure full transparency is provided to the Board on financial matters and to manage any risks.
“The Board is focussed on moving on from the recent period of disruption and ensuring that governance and workplace improvements required by regulators are put in place.”
The petition included a disclaimer stating that the questions were posted “in good faith with the objective of verifying probity and maintaining the integrity of RACP processes”.
There were 366 signatures at time of writing.
