Media release

26 Apr 2013

The Queensland Board of the Medical Board of Australia has issued a statement.

Queensland Board of Medical Board of Australia statement

All members of the Queensland Board of the Medical Board of Australia (QBMBA) believe they have carried out their responsibilities as Board members with due care and responsibility.

The role of the Board is to protect the public and the focus of Board members on this purpose has not wavered.

QBMBA members have provided a detailed response to Minister Springborg’s request that they show cause why they should not be removed from office. The QBMBA acknowledge Minister Springborg’s public statement on 22 April 2013 that he had no issue with the competence of individual Board members and cast no aspersions on them as individuals.

However, clearly the Minister believes that this is the time for renewal of the QBMBA. As a consequence, a majority of the members have today tendered their resignation, effective at 5pm today. The remaining members await the Minister’s further action.

The QBMBA wishes to stress that at all times every one of the members of the Board, whether medical or community representatives, has exercised significant care, diligence and skill in their Board work. They have taken any necessary action to restrict practitioners’ registration so as to keep the public safe. As required by law, they have referred the most serious matters to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for disciplinary action.

The Medical Board of Australia also believes that at all times the Queensland Board has acted in good faith and had the safety of the public of Queensland as its first priority. (Media release 19 April 2013)

The work of medical regulation is challenging and complex and requires difficult decisions. Together, the QBMBA and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency in Queensland have made significant improvements to the timeliness and robustness of processes in place to manage notifications in Queensland, particularly since the period to which the Forrester review refers.

The QBMBA believes the people of Queensland are best served by a health complaints system in which the public and the Minister have confidence. Prolonging public discussion of the Board’s views will not achieve that. The Board will therefore be making no further comment.

For more information

• Visit under the Contact us page on the AHPRA website to lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 8708 9001 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

Medical Board - Media Release - Queensland Board of the Medical Board of Australia - 26 April 2013 (72.8 KB,PDF)