Bettina Arndt cautioned over use of 'psychologist' title but escapes legal sanction

Besieged Order of Australia recipient Bettina Arndt has been cautioned by the health practitioner regulator over media appearances in which she is frequently described as a "psychologist" despite never having been registered as one.

However, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency declined to pursue legal action against Ms Arndt at this time. Falsely using a protected title is a criminal offence and carries a maximum penalty of a $60,000 fine and three years imprisonment.

Instead, the regulator strongly urged the 70-year-old commentator to take reasonable steps to counter misunderstandings and incorrect descriptions of her title in the media, and to avoid promoting content in which she was described incorrectly.

The health practitioners' regulator will not take legal action against Order of Australia recipient Bettina Arndt.Credit: Joshua Morris

AHPRA said that due to the regularity of Ms Arndt's media appearances and the frequency with which she was described incorrectly, it was incumbent on her to do more to correct the record.

Ms Arndt has since removed the phrase "trained as a clinical psychologist" from her online resume, and instead lists the title of her degree - a Master of Clinical Psychology at the University of NSW. She sought advice from the AHPRA last year on this matter but said she did not get a response.

The AHPRA investigation followed a New Matilda article which unearthed 179 occasions over several decades in which Ms Arndt was described in the media as a psychologist. Ms Arndt said AHPRA's investigation had vindicated her.

"AHPRA has determined [New Matilda's] hit job has no substance," she wrote on her website.

"Their letter to me simply suggests some minor changes in the language I use to refer to my clinical psychology background.

"They acknowledge the problem of controlling how the media labels me ... but advise every effort should be made to get that right and where possible to clarify descriptions in interviews shown on video and online. I am in the process of doing that now."

Ms Arndt was admitted to the Order of Australia in January for services to gender equity through advocacy for men. But her commentary on Rowan Baxter's murder of his estranged wife Hannah Clarke and their three children has thrown her accolade into doubt.

In a series of tweets praising comments by a Queensland detective, Ms Arndt congratulated police for "keeping an open mind ... including the possibility that Rowan Baxter might have been 'driven too far'".

In the federal Senate, all parties except One Nation voted in favour of a motion that condemned Ms Arndt and said her comments were "not consistent with her retaining her Order if Australia".

The Council for the Order of Australia is now reviewing Ms Arndt's honour in line with its usual processes.

Chairman Shane Stone last week warned the council's deliberations would be "based on factual information and not by external pressure or lobbying".

Council members contacted by The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age refused to comment on the matter, citing internal rules.

In recent years Ms Arndt's has focused her efforts on men's rights, including university tours in which she describes college sexual assaults as a "fake crisis" invented by left-wing feminists.