Suspended doctor William Bay to face court following protest, arrest outside medical regulator’s office
A suspended doctor and anti-vax protest leader is facing a new legal headache after being charged by police.
Breaking News
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A doctor suspended after his bizarre anti-vax spray to Australia’s chief medical officer is facing a criminal charge following his alleged act at a protest outside the medical regulator’s office.
The latest legal headache for William Bay follows the country’s highest court dealing him a humiliating blow in his fight to overturn the medical regulator’s decision to suspend his registration last year.
Dr Bay, 45, had asked the High Court of Australia to toss out applications by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Medical Board of Australia in his Supreme Court legal battle.
But the High Court instead dismissed his application and ordered him to pay costs.
A defiant Dr Bay has announced he will attempt to appeal the “incorrect judgment”.
In a video posted on Twitter, he claims there were errors of fact in the High Court’s decision.
“Why would I be applying on behalf of AHPRA and the board for an application to the High Court?” he states to his followers.
“Well as you know, I have not and did not. I didn’t waste my time, effort and money into applying on behalf of AHPRA and the medical board.”
He claims the fight is “far from over” and states, “We will win.”
NCA NewsWire can reveal Dr Bay is due to face court following an alleged incident with police outside AHPRA’s office on Ann St, Brisbane last month.
A Queensland Police spokeswoman confirmed Dr Bay, from Mango Hill, about 30km north of Brisbane, was charged with a single count of contravening a police direction during an organised protest on May 23
“It will be alleged police received complaints from business owners about noise from the protest,” the spokeswoman told NCA NewsWire.
“When attempts were made to move the man, it will be alleged he ignored police and continued to shout over the top of them through a megaphone.”
Dr Bay arrested pic.twitter.com/cbyrvkJYeG
— Pars Parsley🌿🇦🇺 (@Lewislama) May 23, 2023
Dr Bay is due to face court on June 20.
The former GP registrar – who is also the leader of an anti-vax group known as the Queensland People’s Protest – took AHPRA, the Medical Board of Australia and the Queensland government to court in a bid to overturn the decision to suspend his medical registration.
Dr Bay’s application for a judicial review of AHPRA’s decision was due to be heard in March.
But the hearing was adjourned after Dr Bay announced he had lodged an application in the High Court.
During an appearance on March 23, he told the Supreme Court it was more appropriate that his matter be heard in the higher jurisdiction.
In a brief decision this week, the High Court dismissed Dr Bay’s application.
In their published judgment, High Court justices Gordon and Steward stated Dr Bay was seeking the removal of applications lodged by AHPRA and the medical board to dismiss an application for a judicial review of his suspension in the Supreme Court.
The justices found his application “does not identify any basis to justify” interfering with the Supreme Court proceedings.
“There is no identified urgency and, by granting removal, this court would be deprived of the benefit of the reasoning of the Supreme Court of Queensland,” the High Court ruling states.
“In the circumstances, including the interests of the parties and the public interest, the court is not persuaded that it is appropriate to make the order sought.”
Dr Bay has also been ordered to pay costs.
In the video discussing the High Court’s judgment, Dr Bay tells his followers it was “very, very surprising”.
“I must contend, Your Honours, you have perhaps not read my application or misunderstood my application,” he states.
“I was not applying on behalf of my application to dismiss AHPRA’s application.
“I was applying on behalf of myself to have key constitutional questions decided in the highest court of the land.”
Dr Bay goes on to claim another error was made by the High Court in referencing Health Practitioner National Law (Qld) as the law by which he was suspended under.
“No, no, no, never, never, ever have I ever been even alleged of being suspended under (that legislation),” he states.
“I’m sorry High Court, but you’ve got it wrong. That law was not applied against me.”
Dr Bay’s suspension was sparked after he accused Professor Paul Kelly of “gaslighting” his colleagues as the Australia’s chief medical officer delivered a speech at a conference organised by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in Sydney in early 2022.
During the livestream Dr Bay is heard shouting “all GPs, all doctors of Australia, you are on notice by the people of Queensland” and chanting an anti-vax slogan as he is led out by security.
AHPRA responded by immediately suspending his medical registration.
At the time, the regulator said Dr Bay’s conduct posed a “serious risk to persons” and he “may have behaved in a manner that demonstrates a general absence of qualities essential for a medical practitioner”.
In Supreme Court documents, Dr Bay has claimed his suspension by AHPRA was “invalid at law” and had impacted his “right to work and earn a living”.
During an earlier hearing last year, he told the Supreme Court he was seeking a judicial review of the regulator’s decision as well as an interlocutory order allowing him to seek “gainful employment” outside his profession.
Dr Bay told NCA NewsWire that his High Court matter was about “constitutional questions” on AHPRA’s “power to regulate informed consent and free speech in Australia based on the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law”.
“I will never give up and continue fighting until I win,” he said.
“Even in fighting against this tyranny there is victory. We only lose when we stop trying.”
Dr Bay acknowledged the High Court decision was a “severe setback” but said he was “not deterred”.
“I always knew that there would be a cost to speaking out, ever since the first day I did it,” he said.
He further claimed: “I have taken the step to blow the whistle on these dangerous ‘vaccines’ and the illegality of the medical regulator AHPRA, not for the money or even for my job but for completing the duty of what I was trained to do as a medical student: that is to protect my patients endlessly and continuously for their benefit alone.”
Dr Bay also said he would be “100 per cent defending and winning” the police charge against him.
Footage from the alleged protest incident, uploaded to Twitter, captures Dr Bay being escorted from the protest by police officers.
A crowd of supporters are heard jeering and shouting at officers as he is led away into a paddy wagon.
Another video captures Dr Bay emerging from the Brisbane Watchhouse later that same day to triumphant cheers.
The alleged incident is one of many attention-seeking antics from the defiant suspended doctor, who has become a darling of the anti-vax and anti-mandate movement.
In August last year, he joined a Zoom call with AHPRA officials while protesting out the front of the same office with a crowd of supporters.
It was on the same day he was due to argue why he should not be suspended.
Dr Bay led chants of “kick me out” as AHPRA officials disconnected the call.
Originally published as Suspended doctor William Bay to face court following protest, arrest outside medical regulator’s office
Call for ‘fashion waste shake-up’
Experts are calling for a “fashion waste shake-up” after a study found Aussie charity shops exported high-quality second-hand clothes to Europe, while resellers imported them back.
‘Steep climb’ ahead as clock ticks on stalled climate talks
'Steep climb' ahead as clock ticks on stalled climate talks