MEDIA RELEASE
NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton has condemned the shocking treatment of Queensland psychiatrist Dr Jillian Spencer, who was pushed to the ground and dragged from a major medical conference for a peaceful, silent protest.
Mr Shelton said the incident at the recent Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists conference in Melbourne this week exposed a deeply troubling intolerance within Australia’s medical establishment — and a failure of political leadership to defend basic freedoms.
“Dr Spencer did nothing more than hold a small sign asking a simple question — ‘RANZCP kicked out Dr Amos. Why?’ — and for that she was physically removed in a humiliating and forceful manner,” Mr Shelton said.
“She was not shouting, not disrupting, not causing harm. Yet she was pushed to the ground and dragged out in front of hundreds of psychiatrists. That should alarm every Australian.”
Mr Shelton said the treatment of Dr Spencer and her colleague Dr Andrew Amos reflected a broader pattern of silencing dissent within the profession.
Dr Amos was expelled by the RANZCP after raising concerns about the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on gender-distressed children — treatments increasingly questioned internationally due to risks including infertility, impaired sexual development and long-term health complications.
“Dr Amos asked legitimate clinical questions about whether vulnerable children are being exposed to irreversible harm. Instead of engaging with those concerns, the College chose to punish him,” Mr Shelton said.
He said Dr Spencer had also been suspended from her role as a senior psychiatrist at Queensland Children’s Hospital and faced regulatory scrutiny from Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency for expressing similar concerns and supporting open clinical debate.
“These doctors are not being punished for wrongdoing — they are being punished for speaking up,” he said.
Mr Shelton renewed Family First’s call for Dr Spencer to be immediately reinstated and for a full, independent inquiry into the actions of the RANZCP and AHPRA.
“Patients deserve doctors who are free to speak honestly about risks and evidence — not doctors who are intimidated into silence by ideological pressure,” he said.
Mr Shelton also questioned why the Queensland Liberal National Party government led by David Crisafulli had failed to act.
“Where is the leadership? Why has the Crisafulli LNP failed to stand up for these doctors and for the children they are trying to protect?” Mr Shelton said.
“Silence in the face of this injustice is complicity.”
Mr Shelton said Family First would continue to advocate for the protection of children, the restoration of ethical medical standards and the defence of free speech within Australia’s institutions.