After racking up its fifth extraordinary general meeting in six months, the RACP board has officially asked the charities commissioner to immediately suspend … itself.
There is yet another twist in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians succession saga, with the board now calling on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to suspend and potentially remove college board members.
It comes on the same day as the college’s fifth extraordinary general meeting in six months. This time, the membership is being asked to vote on whether outgoing president Professor Jennifer Martin should step down immediately.
Even if the vote were to fail, Professor Martin is due to hand over the reins to president-elect Dr Sharmila Chandran at the end of May.
In an email to members on Friday morning, honorary treasurer Dr Nicholas Buckmaster emailed the RACP’s 30,000 members advising of the board’s resolution to formally seek the involvement of the ACNC.
Specifically, the email said the board would be requesting that the commission use its powers to “immediately suspend” each of the RACP’s board directors, “consider the appropriateness” of removing any of the members once suspension has commenced and appoint acting directors.
To be clear, this is not the ACNC making a move to investigate the RACP board.
“This decision has been taken following a prolonged period of governance difficulty, which has significantly affected the Board’s ability to operate effectively and complete its work,” Dr Buckmaster’s email read.
“Despite sustained efforts to address these challenges, the Board has formed the view that it cannot, in its current circumstances, consistently meet the standards expected of it or fully discharge its responsibilities.
“The Board considers that independent regulatory involvement is the most appropriate course to support the restoration of effective, stable and accountable governance.”
Calling in the ACNC is a big deal.
Theoretically, it has the power to revoke the RACP’s charity status.
When a charity’s registration is revoked, it stops being eligible for tax concessions and other government benefits.
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But revocations are a very serious move, reserved for the most serious cases of noncompliance.
In fact, the ACNC only tends to get involved if it suspects an organisation is not complying with the requirements of the ACNC Act and there is a serious risk to public trust and confidence in the sector.
Internal disputes – like a board dispute – do not generally meet these thresholds.
Speaking to The Medical Republic in her capacity as a college member, Dr Chandran said it was unlikely that the ACNC would be intervening.
“I am aware that ACNC have been contacted constantly by members since the first lot of EGMs, and ACNC have replied to members and told them quite clearly that it’s for members to act, not the regulators,” she said.
“And basically, there’s only one way members can act: they can call an EGM … and they have.
“The ACNC asked them to do something, and they have, so it would be very unusual for the ACNC now to come in and say, ‘okay, yeah, we will take over’.”
Even if the ACNC were to take an interest, the point is somewhat moot given that the college leadership will be changing in a little over two months’ time anyway.
“If the process is allowed to run its fair course, we will have a functional board from – at the latest – the 29th of May onwards,” Dr Chandran said.
As incoming president, Dr Chandran has a seat on the board. However, she said she was not involved in the decision to call in the ACNC.
