AMA state president Dr Christian Rowan accuses own organisation of being “extreme, left-wing” #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
THE head of the state’s peak doctors’ group has broken his silence over the doctor contracts dispute to lash out at his own organisation for going along with a union-conspired mass resignation plan.
Australian Medical Association Queensland president Dr Christian Rowan has been gagged by his colleagues from speaking about the Newman Government’s doctor contracts since February, after coming under fire from some doctors over his LNP links and public support of the contracts.
But The Courier-Mail has obtained a copy of an email in which Dr Rowan accuses the AMA and its state branch of being infiltrated by “extreme left-wing union ideology”.
In the email, Dr Rowan warns the AMA’s failure to repudiate a strategy by doctor unions for mass resignations from public hospitals would have “devastating consequences” for its credibility.
He also accuses the AMA and its state branch of failing to repudiate doctors “who have threatened, harassed, bullied and intimidated” their colleagues who were willing to sign the doctor contracts.
The email was sent on April 6 after doctors’ union the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation and its state branch warned it had stockpiled doctors’ letters of resignations in a bid to force the Newman Government back to the negotiating table.
“As president of AMA Qld, I express my extreme disappointment with the AMA’s lack of definitive public repudiation of the ‘mass resignation’ strategy that is being led by federal ASMOF and ASMOFQ in relation to senior medical staff employed within our Queensland public hospital system,” he writes in the email to AMA members, including federal president Dr Steve Hambleton.
“The AMA/AMA Qld simply ‘distancing itself’ is not sufficient and grossly inadequate,” he continues. “The continued implicit, and in some cases explicit, support for this strategy by AMA/AMA Qld will have devastating consequences for both the relevance and credibility of AMA/AMA Qld with Queensland Government.”
The AMAQ appointed Dr Shaun Rudd its president-elect after passing a resolution to silence Dr Rowan. Federal president Dr Hambleton has since handled most negotiations. Both declined to comment on the email.
Source: Courier Mail