Chris Davis awarded $1.4m as Qld Health found to have discriminated

Queensland Health has been ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in compensation to a former state MP after a tribunal found he was discriminated against for political reasons.

Chris Davis in front of his electorate office when he was a Liberal National MP

QUEENSLAND Health has been ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in compensation to former State LNP MP Chris Davis after a tribunal found he was discriminated against for political reasons.

Dr Davis, who dramatically quit the LNP, took the Metro North Hospital and Health Service to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, claiming discrimination, after he missed out on a job as a part-time geriatrician at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in August 2014.

Change as good as a rest for former LNP Member for Stafford Chris Davis

The tribunal found: “It is reasonable for the Tribunal to draw the inference that the reason for the decision was directly connected to who the sole applicant was and to his recent actions … as a politician and a potential future political candidate.”

Dr Davis was the sole applicant for the position after the only other person who applied, who was not a geriatrician, was ruled to be unqualified.

The tribunal was told established recruitment procedures for senior medical officers within Metro North, including the convening of a selection panel, were not followed in Dr Davis’s case.

Instead, the position was withdrawn and a decision taken for existing staff to cover the vacancy.

Dr Davis’s knock back for the job followed his sacking by Premier Campbell Newman as Assistant Health Minister in May 2014, amid his speaking out against government policies, and subsequent resignation from parliament.

In a 48-page judgment, QCAT senior member Clare Endicott said she was satisfied that Metro North Hospital and Health Service had contravened the Anti-Discrimination Act in relation to Dr Davis, a former Australian Medical Association Queensland president and The Prince Charles Hospital’s director of geriatrics between 1992 and 2012.

She ordered the hospital and health service to pay him $1.45 million within 30 days.

“I find that the unlawful discriminatory conduct which ceased the recruitment process, and which prevented Dr Davis from being appointed to the Senior Medical Officer position, caused Dr Davis loss and damage,” Ms Endicott said.

“Dr Davis has been changed … from a confident, highly achieving medical professional capable of taking responsibility for the management and direction of an entire department of a major public hospital to an anxious, despondent, socially isolated person who demonstrates a lack of purpose, self-worth and drive.

“The Tribunal finds that this deleterious impact has been long lasting … and ongoing.”

Senior Palaszczuk Government Minister Kate Jones said the judgment was further evidence of “why the voters switched back in 2015”.

“The worst thing that could happen is if this has to be funded out of the frontline budget of the Metro North Health Service,” Ms Jones told The Courier-Mail.

“Unfortunately, we are still paying for the Newman Government’s decisions years later.”

In a statement, Metro North HHS said it was “carefully considering” the QCAT decision and was seeking further legal advice.

“As an equal opportunity employer, our selection processes and employment decisions are undertaken in a non-discriminatory way,” it said.

While acknowledging the work and expertise of the tribunal in making its decision, Dr Davis said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the judgment in detail “as the matter is open to possible appeal”.

But he said: “Getting this outcome has not been easy, being up against opponents who are extremely well-resourced by government and told me I couldn’t win. The message is you can.”