Dr Sharmila Chandran says delays to the FWC hearing have rendered the process pointless.
In a shock move, the Royal Australasian College of Physician’s president-elect has dropped her Fair Work bullying case against the sitting president, due to the delayed process.
In conversation with The Medical Republic, Dr Sharmila Chandran outlined how this move is not indicative of the case being invalid but rather that it would not deliver its intended results soon enough.
Dr Chandran takes over as president from Professor Jennifer Martin in June.
“The Commissioner sent in letters saying that probably he won’t provide the verdict till after May,” Dr Chandran told TMR.
“There was no point putting in everybody for a two-week hearing when a verdict has been served, considering the impact on everybody.
“The second reason is, I didn’t think Fair Work was particularly fair at all.
“I don’t think the process was fair, I think there were lots of delaying tactics played by the barristers, which was tolerated by the commissioner.
“In fact, I’ll be bullied more by agreeing to a week-to-week hearing, so for this reason, it was time to drop it.”
Timing was the key reason for Dr Chandran dropping the case with the results of the case expected to be delivered sometime in mid-2026.
With the current president Professor Jennifer Martin set to hand over the role to the president-elect at the end of May, Dr Chandran views the process as a delay of justice.
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“There was a massive delay and that was not my doing,” Dr Chandran told TMR.
“The commissioner needed to go on holidays, and then the parties pretended they didn’t have any time till April.
“It was all dealing tactics, and then not finding an approved time, which is why I said Fair Work is not fair, it’s set up.
“It needs to be reformed … when this happened to me, other people came to speak to me, all said you’re wasting your time.
“[It’s] incredibly unfair. There’s never justice.”
In addition to this development a member-led requisition for an EGM has been filed that would see RACP members vote on potentially removing Professor Martin from her role before the official end of her term.
The over 100-strong member requisition, which was leaked to the media, argues for the potential removal of Professor Martin along with providing the potential EGM date of 23 April 2026.
Dr Chandran has confirmed to TMR that she was not involved with this requisition due to her responsibilities as a member of the board.
The RACP has made a statement on the requisitions existence but has said that it will not deliver any additional comment due to it being a member-initiated process.
