It’s no secret that there’s a sh!tstorm over in RACP HQ. I’m as lost as anyone in trying to work out where my vote should go.
I think, however, after reading the following I’ve worked out who NOT to vote for:
RE Phillip Morris:
Professor Philip Morris AM: Chronology of public advocacy on gender-affirming care
All references below are publicly available.
*October 2019*
- NAPP under Morris calls for federal inquiry into gender-affirming care for under-18s
NAPP, with Morris as acting president, published a position statement calling on then-Health Minister Greg Hunt to order a parliamentary inquiry into the treatment of transgender youth, and for new national standards for the treatment of trans people under 18.
Morris was originally quoted in The Weekend Australian.
OutInPerth, 19 October 2019:
https://www.outinperth.com/psychiatrists-call-for-parliamentary-inquiry-into-gender-treatment/
*7 February 2020*
- Morris testifies at Queensland Parliamentary Inquiry against conversion therapy ban
Morris appeared as President of NAPP before the Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee inquiry into the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. He recommended that “part 5 clause 28 be deleted from this bill” — the section prohibiting conversion practices.
He distinguished between same-sex attraction and gender identity, arguing the legislation should not apply to the latter. He explicitly endorsed what he called “the more conservative approach to treatment” over “the affirmation model” for adolescents with gender dysphoria.
He gave two hypothetical scenarios in which gender dysphoria was framed as a manifestation of underlying psychiatric pathology (schizophrenia in one example, depression in another). He also publicly attributed possible conflict of interest to RANZCP's submission supporting the ban — a suggestion the committee member described as “mildly spurious.”
Hansard transcript, 7 February 2020 (Morris evidence at pp 45-50):
Significance: This is Morris in his own voice, in formal parliamentary proceedings, opposing legislation that would later be supported by RACP. The Queensland conversion therapy ban (Health Legislation Amendment Act 2020) passed in August 2020 with the gender identity provisions intact, against Morris's recommendation. RACP is signatory to joint medical college positions supporting conversion practice bans.
*5 March 2020*
- RACP formally advises against a national inquiry into gender dysphoria
RACP President's letter to Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health, dated 5 March 2020, in response to Hunt's August 2019 request for advice. The letter states that “a national inquiry would not increase the scientific evidence available regarding gender dysphoria but would further harm vulnerable patients and their families through increased media and public attention.”
The advice “strongly supports expert clinical care that is non-judgemental, supportive and welcoming for children, adolescents and their families experiencing gender dysphoria.”
RACP letter (PDF):
RACP media statement, 6 March 2020:
https://www.racp.edu.au/news-and-events/media-releases/racp-statement-on-gender-dysphoria
Significance: Morris and NAPP have continued to call for a federal inquiry into gender-affirming care in the years following this RACP advice (including via media appearances in 2022 and 2023, and via Morris's continuing public statements as NAPP President). Morris is now standing for the Presidency of the College whose own formal advice he has continued to publicly campaign against.
*17 March 2020*
-Morris publicly criticises RACP via Australian Christian Lobby
Twelve days after RACP's formal advice to the Health Minister, the Australian Christian Lobby published a piece by ACL Chief Political Officer Dan Flynn attacking RACP's response and quoting Morris directly. Flynn described RACP as having “waved a white flag” on gender dysphoria.
Morris is quoted criticising RACP's advice to the Minister for giving “no advice about the competing merits of the affirmative approach versus supportive, more conservative treatments of children with gender dysphoria (and) no information on the safety and effectiveness of puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones in children and adolescents.”
The piece concludes with ACL calling for a parliamentary inquiry - exactly what RACP had just advised against.
My Christian Daily / ACL piece by Dan Flynn:
https://mychristiandaily.com/author/dan-flynn-australian-christian-lobby/
Significance: This is Morris using a Christian advocacy platform to publicly attack his own College's formal advice to government, within two weeks of RACP issuing it. He is now standing for President of that same College. The pattern of Morris campaigning publicly against RACP positions while seeking RACP leadership is documented from this point forward.
*February 2021 *
- Morris co-signs letter to Victorian Attorney-General opposing conversion practices ban
Joint letter from Professor Patrick Parkinson and Dr Philip Morris (President, NAPP) to Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, opposing the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020. Argued that “all references to gender identity should be deleted from the Bill” and that the position “there is no evidence gender identity can be changed” is “contradicted by a large body of medical and scientific evidence.”
Eternity News, 3 February 2021 (archived):
*March 2021*
- Patrick Parkinson publishes “Conversion Therapy Laws: Standing With Jesus Against Injustice” naming Morris
Article on the Christian legal think tank Freedom for Faith. Parkinson writes: “Leading psychiatrist Dr Philip Morris and I warned publicly that the law would have a chilling effect, deterring risk-averse mental health professionals from taking on any patients presenting with gender dysphoria.”
Freedom for Faith, 3 March 2021:
*May 2021 / March 2025*
-NAPP Gender Dysphoria Guide published, then updated “Managing Gender Dysphoria in Young People: A Clinical Guide,” signed by Dr Philip Morris AM as President of NAPP. First version published 17 May 2021. Subsequent revisions in March 2022, January 2023, and March 2025. The Guide presents itself as clinical guidance for health practitioners and advocates a “cautious” approach in opposition to the gender-affirming model.
2021 version evidence base: References 24, 26, 27, and 28 cite Reddit threads and Tumblr posts as evidence on detransition prevalence in a document presented to clinicians as a guide for health practitioners.
Current March 2025 version: empirical claims worth scrutiny: the desistance claim (drawn from older studies of gender-nonconforming children using diagnostic criteria no longer in use); the “no long-term studies” claim (long-term studies do exist, including the de Vries Dutch cohort); and the claim that puberty blockers are “banned” in the UK (factually inaccurate - NHS England restricted new prescriptions for gender dysphoria to research settings; puberty blockers remain available for other indications and patients already in treatment).
Current version on Morris's website:
https://www.drphilipmorris.com/managing-gender-dysphoria-in-young-people-a-clinical-guide/
Independent archival timeline of NAPP Guide revisions (Pyrophore): https://severalproblems.press/pyrophore/napp/
*August 2021*
-Parkinson and Morris publish peer-reviewed article opposing conversion therapy laws “Psychiatry, psychotherapy and the criminalisation of conversion therapy in Australia,” Australasian Psychiatry.
The article concludes that conversion therapy laws in Victoria and the ACT “provide inadequate protection for clinically appropriate psychiatric practice and may deprive patients of mental health care.”
Sage Journals: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10398562211014220
*July 2022*
- Morris co-authors and lead-signs ivermectin advocacy statement
Statement titled “Repurposed drugs to treat Covid-19: Ivermectin,” published 22 July 2022 on Morris's website.
Recommends Australian governments encourage medically supervised use of ivermectin in combination therapy for prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Cites a meta-analysis by Tess Lawrie (later substantially discredited following revelations about the fraudulent Elgazzar trial) and dismisses the Cochrane systematic review as “an unreliable assessment of the efficacy of ivermectin.” Published over a year after the major RCTs (TOGETHER, ACTIV-6) and meta-analyses had concluded ivermectin had no clinical benefit for COVID-19. Relevant to Morris's claims to support evidence-based medicine in his RACP candidate statement.
drphilipmorris.com:
https://www.drphilipmorris.com/repurposed-drugs-to-treat-covid-19-ivermectin/
*December 2024*
-Morris publishes “How to approach empathically a child’s belief that they are ‘born in the wrong body’”
Article on Morris's website advocating “respect without affirm” as the preferred clinical approach to a child or adolescent presenting with gender distress, in opposition to the gender-affirming model.
drphilipmorris.com:
*April 2025*
- NAPP seminar “The Future of Youth Gender Medicine”
Seminar with Morris speaking alongside Dianna Kenny, John Whitehall, Peter Parry, and Andrew Amos. Direct evidence of Morris's continued advocacy in concert with the broader anti-affirming-care network.
NAPP:
https://napp.org.au/the-future-of-youth-gender-medicine-report/
*26 February 2026*
- Medical Board imposes immediate-action conditions on Dr Andrew Amos AHPRA and the Medical Board of Australia imposed immediate-action conditions on Dr Andrew Amos's registration.
The conditions prohibit Amos from social media posts about gender medicine, gender identity, or transgender persons, and bar him from direct or indirect clinical patient contact. Amos had publicly questioned the gender-affirming model of care.
Morris's framing of Amos's situation as one of professional silencing for raising legitimate clinical concerns is contested.
Discussion within Australian medical professional forums has noted that Amos's social media statements went well beyond clinical commentary: including assertions equating trans identity with psychosis and characterising clinicians providing gender-affirming care as “medically negligent or criminally culpable.” The substance of these statements, rather than the act of disagreeing with the gender-affirming model, is what triggered AHPRA's regulatory response.
NAPP under Morris's leadership has campaigned publicly on his behalf.
AHPRA published register and contemporaneous reporting:
*March 2026*
- Jillian Spencer subject to ongoing AHPRA action; NAPP campaigns on her behalf
Spencer was suspended from Queensland Children's Hospital in April 2023 after publicly criticising the gender-affirming care model. NAPP's public advocacy on her case is ongoing and visible across NAPP's website.
NAPP “Protecting Children in Gender Medicine” event page (refers to Spencer):
*14 April 2026*
-NAPP hosts Kaltiala webinar
“Webinar: Medical gender reassignment in minors. Why are we cautious in Finland?” - Finnish psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala.
Originally referenced on Morris's website four days before his RACP candidate statement.
drphilipmorris.com:
*23-24 April 2026*
- RANZCP suspends Amos's College membership; Morris attacks RANZCP in The Australian three days before RACP vote - The Australian, 24 April 2026, by Stephen Rice (NSW Editor).
RANZCP - the peak professional body for psychiatrists, of which Morris is a member - suspended Dr Andrew Amos's College fellowship without procedural fairness, framed as an interim governance measure responding to AHPRA's restrictions on his practice. The decision strips Amos of the right to use FRANZCP.
On the same day The Australian's coverage was published, Morris is quoted attacking RANZCP. He says RANZCP “has its head in the sand on these issues” and that “the college doesn't want to touch it because it's too frightened that it's going to offend the pro-trans people.” Morris confirms NAPP has written to RANZCP asking it to support Amos and to the Medical Board questioning AHPRA's regulatory action against doctors who oppose gender-affirming care.
In the same article Morris tells The Australian: “There are 10-year-olds who want to be given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones because they want to change from being a boy to look like a girl. Do they know that they'll never be able to produce sperm, they'll never be able to have children?”
This statement is factually misleading. Australian clinical guidelines do not initiate cross-sex hormones in 10-year-olds. Cross-sex hormones are typically initiated at age 16 or older after extensive multidisciplinary assessment. Puberty blockers are reversible.
The fertility framing conflates the effect of puberty blockers alone (which do not cause permanent infertility) with the effect of subsequent cross-sex hormone treatment.
The Australian, 24 April 2026 (Stephen Rice):
Significance: Three days before voting closes for the RACP Board, Morris is in a Murdoch masthead publicly attacking his own professional College (RANZCP) for failing to defend a doctor who has been regulated for opposing gender-affirming care, and making misleading claims about Australian clinical practice on youth gender medicine. He is simultaneously seeking the leadership of another medical College (RACP) whose policy positions he has campaigned against for over six years. The pattern of attacking medical colleges from the outside while seeking to lead them is now documented across both colleges.
*April 2026*
- Morris stands for RACP President-elect (and Member Director)
Morris is contesting two Board positions in the same election.
Proposer for both: Dr Sharmila Chandran (current President-elect).
Seconder: Dr John Saunders.
Voting closes 28 April 2026.
CorpVote (members only): https://netvote.com.au/auth?vac=692
Morris's public advocacy footprint
Morris's RACP candidate statement positions him as offering measured, evidence-based clinical leadership. The public record shows something different: a sustained, high-volume external advocacy campaign on gender-affirming care over a decade.
A 2023 submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications (Murdoch Media Inquiry Bill 2023, Submission 22) by advocacy group Rainbow Rights Watch identified Morris as the second most widely cited medical professional on the topic of gender-affirming care across News Corporation mastheads since 2016, with 101 citations, and the most widely cited in the 18 months prior to the submission.
The submission also asserts that Morris has not personally treated a case of gender dysphoria and is not affiliated with a clinical unit practising or researching in gender healthcare. These claims are made in a public submission and have not, to our knowledge, been publicly contested by Morris.
This is significant for the RACP election because the question facing members is not whether Morris holds private clinical concerns, but whether a candidate whose principal public profile is an external advocacy campaign against the consensus care of one specific patient population is the right fit for College leadership. The risk is that the RACP presidency becomes another platform for that advocacy.
Submission 22 to Senate Inquiry, August 2023:
*Conflicts with current RACP policy positions*
Several of Morris's documented public positions are in direct tension with active RACP policy:
**Gender-affirming care:
RACP supports gender-affirming care; Morris's NAPP work over a decade opposes it.
National inquiry into gender-affirming care: On 5 March 2020 RACP formally advised the federal Health Minister against a national inquiry, warning it would harm vulnerable patients and families. Morris and NAPP under his leadership have continued to publicly call for exactly such a federal inquiry in the years since.
**Conversion practice bans: RACP is signatory to joint medical college positions supporting conversion practice bans; Morris co-signed letters and a peer-reviewed article opposing such bans.
**Evidence-based medicine: Morris's candidate statement emphasises “evidence-based policy.” His July 2022 ivermectin advocacy, recommending the drug to Australian governments after the major RCTs had concluded no benefit, runs counter to that framing.
**Equity, diversity and respectful inclusion: Morris's candidate statement claims commitment to these.
His sustained public advocacy against the clinical care of trans young people is in tension with this claim, and is not disclosed in the candidate statement.