‘Why are we here?’ Rare truce for warring doctors at Supreme Court hearing

Warring factions of the Australasian College of Physicians have reached a rare agreement at a seemingly pointless Supreme Court hearing, scuttling an eleventh-hour attempt to delay a meeting that would help determine who will run the organisation.

The RACP – responsible for the training and accreditation of more than 33,000 doctors across 33 specialties in Australia and New Zealand – appeared before Justice Francois Kunc on Wednesday, who, at the outset, questioned whether the hearing was necessary at all.

Representatives for the RACP had asked the court to rule on the validity of an extraordinary general meeting in April, at which the president, Professor Jennifer Martin, was ousted and the now-suspended president-elect, Dr Sharmila Chandran, made several board appointments.

Fiona Roughley, SC, representing the college, initially argued that the organisation had serious concerns that, if Friday’s planned annual meeting were to proceed, it would descend into chaos, given the ongoing conflict, which culminated in police being called to the April meeting.

The RACP’s bitter constitutional deadlock and months of dysfunction and infighting centres on two factions claiming leadership; one supporting Martin, and the other Chandran.

“Before we start, I want to know if there is a real point to this proceeding,” Kunc said.

“I’m not going to be able to fix all the problems in this organisation.”

Kunc said he wanted to avoid turning the matter into a royal commission inquiry on “[to] put it diplomatically … a problematic period for the organisation”.

When the court was informed that Martin would not stand for re-election during Friday’s meeting, Kunc responded: “Why are we here?”

Barrister Nicolas Kirby, representing Chandran, told the court that the suspended president-elect was prepared to concede that the April meeting was not valid, and thus that several board appointments were also not valid.

During a recess, both parties agreed that both Chandran and Martin would not chair Friday’s meeting, and Chandran agreed that she would not hold herself out as president-elect or board chair during her suspension until September.

Susan Pascoe, the former commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC) has replaced Chandran in the interim.

Kunc said he had refrained from delving into the backstory for a dispute that has dragged on for almost a year, deeming it “completely irrelevant”.

The backstory

The trouble kicked off in earnest in mid-2025 when the college board passed a vote of no confidence in Chandran. Six of the board’s 10 directors subsequently resigned.

Fair Work NSW, The Medical Council of NSW, and the ACNC have expressed concern over the organisation’s toxic culture, following multiple internal and external investigations.

Chandran has seen off three extraordinary general meeting votes that would have prevented her from assuming the dual roles of president and board chair.

Australia’s charities regulator issued a directive to suspend Chandran, preventing her from assuming the presidency until September 20.

In March, the college asked the charities watchdog to urgently dissolve its board hours before a vote to unseat Martin.

The college has held five EGMs in six months, reportedly costing members more than $1 million.

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