New docs and old. Corporate governance nightmare engulfs Royal Australasian College of Physicians

Lavish spending, a boardroom brawl, bullying allegations and court row, a series of EGMs and doctored documents have plunged the Royal Australian College of Physicians into crisis. Michael West investigates.

On June 26, directors and senior managers of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) gathered for dinner at the swish Bambini Restaurant, located within the grand brownstone of the St James Trust Building, above Sydney’s Hyde park.

The bill came to nearly $6,000, so senior executives must have taken credit for Bambini’s ‘award-winning wine list’ as well as its fascinating culinary experience, sophisticated ambiance and ‘Parisian charm’. It was a joyful evening, where festivities did not foreshadow the intrigue that was to follow.

Action against whistleblower

The very next day, president Jennifer Martin and her allies called an extraordinary general meeting to split the roles of RACP president and president; This is popular director and whistleblower Dr. It was a move designed to prevent Sharmila Chandran from becoming the Chairman of the Board.

This led to a turbulent board at the top of Australia’s peak medical body, with allegations of bullying and questionable corporate practices that have since spilled into the courts, which even closed the case to the media.

Documents received by MWM It shows the Board’s worrying irregularities in corporate governance, including excessive expenditure, altered Meeting Minutes, failure to keep the RACP’s 32,000 members informed and the disregard for external legal advice on good governance.

Fair Work confidential bullying cases

Fast forward four months and at the Fair Work Commission’s three-day hearing in October, Dr. Chandran was interrogated in the witness box for two and a half days of those days.

Chandran was the only witness to be cross-examined, and not only did the College lawyer agree to the request for the Court to be closed for confidentiality, but the whistleblower’s lawyers were also not allowed to question the other party.

Interestingly, at the request of the RACP, the media was opposed and Dr. Despite Chandran claiming to have been bullied at work, he had to endure a harrowing 15 hours in the witness box. The matter has been postponed until next year.

Meanwhile, after the Fair Work hearing, Dr. Chandran was re-elected to the Board with a large majority, despite the Board’s efforts to remove him.

One EGM…make that three

The next chapter of this extraordinary boardroom dispute is likely to draw the ire of many College members, as another EGM will be called later this month, on November 26, and the Board will again attempt to remove him as director.

The cost of all this was high and RACP staff were put under enormous pressure.

MWM He obtained evidence showing excessive expenditure by the Board on lawyers and EGMs above the RACP Governance Budget.

Among the estimated costs of more than $1 million, Dr. It includes $250,000 from three EGMs brought to prevent Chandran from becoming president and more than $300,000 from law firm Norton Rose Fullbright.

MWM referred questions to the RACP. Answers will be published. No response yet.

Separating the Condition

Beyond the governance saga, MWM Reviewed the amendments made by the President to the RACP Charter. The new Bylaws, dated May 2, 2025, made several changes, including the addition of provisions allowing the president and/or treasurer to investigate directors. For example, it is an unusual conflict of interest for a president to expend an organization’s resources to personally investigate an executive.

It is also unusual for the Board to have the power to remove a director and is perhaps contrary to the Companies Act (S203C). Normally the person who exercises this power is the Regulator, not the directors of a company.

Squeaky Demand

In September 2025, the Board met with Dr. It announced that 100 ‘petitioners’ had registered to remove Chandran and later the same month announced that the second EGM had been called to remove him, but the Board did not publish the list of petitioners to members. MWM has seen governance advice from an external law firm which says the Board has a legal obligation to ‘publish the lists’.

Tensions had been increasing in the University Board of Directors for a while. Things escalated further at the meeting in May this year when the company secretary was prevented from doing his job and the Chairman tried to control who came in and out of the meeting.

According to sources, the President, Dr. He removed comments made by Chandran at the meeting even though they had already been included in the minutes by the company secretary as is routine corporate governance practice.

Having already spent $250,000 on two EGMs to remove Dr Chandran but failed, a further estimated $200,000 will be spent by the RACV at the November meeting, also in a bid to remove the whistleblower from the Board.

The only decision of the upcoming November meeting is to impeach him despite an unsuccessful motion on October 31, which Dr Chandran returned with 65% of the vote (8,200 votes) despite the President’s best efforts.

Doctor heal yourself: Power struggle at Royal College spills into court