The governance of the RACP is under a cloud after the college’s board reportedly issued a vote of no-confidence against its president-elect, Dr Sharmila Chandran.
It remains unclear what triggered the vote and what it means for Dr Chandran, although The Australian reported on Monday that eight out of ten board members had threatened to immediately resign if she took office [link here].
Current president Professor Jennifer Martin said on Monday: “I think at the moment I’ll just say the board is working overtime to restore good working relationships and to refocus on what really matters – continuing our large reform agenda to improve training quality and care for the patients and communities our members serve.”
Dr Chandran, a Melbourne renal physician who was voted in as president-elect earlier this year, could not immediately be reached for comment.
While The Australian’s report suggested the board had undisclosed concerns about Dr Chandran’s appointment, no further details have emerged by Monday afternoon.
But the controversy represents the latest episode in the RACP’s ongoing governance struggles that have plagued the medical college for years.
The Australian’s report referenced the 2018 computer system failure that forced 1,200 trainees to resit their exams, as well as the 2019 warning from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission over governance practices.
More recently, former CEO Lee Whitney and president Dr Jacqueline Small both resigned in 2024 amid separate governance issues.
In 2024, college president Dr Jennifer Martin told the limbic the college had been working with external governance experts and working to address issues raised by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission in 2019 about the organisation’s practices [link here].
“‘Governance’ is a fairly vague word. It can mean a lot of different things to different people. But it’s not something you really hear about when organisations are sound. Board chairs don’t usually need to publicly discuss their governance,” she said at the time.
“Governance is an evolving process though and there are always new governance challenges. It will be the job of the board to address those and get the culture right at the top and to lead from the top.”