No penalty for Melbourne obstetrician Miranda Robinson in ‘racist’ row

A Melbourne obstetrician accused of making ‘racially motivated’ comments towards a midwife married to a Jewish man has avoided punishment under the nation’s health regulator.

Melbourne obstetrician and gynaecologist Miranda Robinson. Picture: Facebook

A Melbourne obstetrician accused of making “racially motivated” comments towards a midwife married to a Jewish man has avoided punishment under the nation’s health regulator, with authorities saying she claimed she “never intentionally meant to cause harm”.

Miranda Robinson was reported to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency last year by midwife Sharon Stoliar, after Dr Robinson accused Ms Stoliar of “almost certainly” being behind an anonymous Instagram account posting about anti-Semitism in healthcare and the conflict in the Middle East because she was a “POC” (person of colour) and married to a Jewish man.

Dr Robinson also said Ms Stoliar had been “brainwashed” and that she would be “very worried” to be one of her patients, and also claimed in a private conversation her family were billionaires connected to the “Jewish mafia” and “dirty dirty money”.

AHPRA backflipped on an earlier decision to impose conditions on Dr Robinson, and instead found she had “indicated that she never intentionally meant to cause harm to (Ms Stoliar) and appreciates that (she) may have found the comments to have been hurtful”.

AHPRA said in August last year that its reasons for not taking action against Dr Robinson were that she had completed “formal education” on social media usage and “demonstrated her commitment to uphold the professional standards with respect to appropriate conduct on social media”.

Despite this, in November Dr Robinson wrote on social media said she “loved” the Netherlands after a violent incident involving Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam that sparked accusations of anti-Semitism.

Dr Robinson also wrote in a private message, obtained by The Australian, to an Instagram account on January 31, 2024, that she laughed about Ms Stoliar requesting in her AHPRA complaint that she take a Jewish and South Asian cultural awareness course, and visit the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

Dr Robinson’s Instagram account wrote that the Stoliar family were from ‘dirty dirty money’.

And that they were ‘Jewish mafia’.

She also wrote in the private message that “the Stoliar family are a very very wealthy Zionist family”, adding in the chain the family came from “dirty dirty money” and “Jewish mafia”. These messages were sent after the AHPRA complaint had been lodged on January 11.

“Not only is this comment about my family being Zionist Billionaires connected to the “Jewish mafia” and “dirty dirty money” false, her conversation highlights deeply ingrained anti-Semitic thinking and rhetoric,” Ms Stoliar wrote to St Vincent’s Private Hospitals, the healthcare provider Dr Robinson works for as a contractor.

“St Vincent’s is aware that the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has been notified about Dr Robinson’s social media posts,” the organisation said. “St Vincent’s regards these issues with great seriousness. We find all forms of bigotry and hate-speech abhorrent.”

In her complaint to AHPRA, Ms Stoliar alleged the obstetrician’s comments about being a person of colour and being married to a Jewish man were discriminatory, bullying, vexatious and disrespectful.

Ms Stoliar also called on AHPRA to formally reprimand Dr Robinson, to issue a public apology and retract her statement, and undergo cultural training related to Jewish and South Asian cultures, and to attend the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

Social media messages and commentary involving Dr Robinson's various social media accounts. Source: Facebook

When contacted on Monday, Dr Robinson – who describes herself in her Instagram profile as “friendly and inclusive” – would not elaborate on the “dirty dirty money” and “Jewish mafia” claims.

“If you write this (article) I will be seeking legal action against the newspaper, this is bullying and harassment … this is doxxing and against the law,” Dr Robinson claimed.

“This has been settled by a matter through AHPRA, those comments were made in a private group, they were screenshot outside of the group, that is doxxing.

“They were made as a private discussion of a private group.”

She refused to elaborate on how her social media comments had been “taken out of context” before ending the phone call. In May last year Dr Robinson filed a complaint to AHPRA against Ms Stoliar for sharing a screenshot from a private Facebook page, which the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission chose not to take further.

Ms Stoliar said she was “shocked” when she first read the comments, and the claims that she was behind the anonymous Instagram page were “categorically false”.

“I am particularly appalled by her reference to me as a person of colour, which perpetuates a patronising and racist narrative that suggests a brown woman cannot think for herself and has been brainwashed by her Jewish husband,” Ms Stoliar said.

Sharon Stoliar, midwife and author of Scars of Gold.

“Such insinuations that I am less capable of independent thought because of my skin colour are blatantly racist. Moreover, her reliance on anti-Semitic tropes, alleging that Jews brainwash people, is equally reprehensible.”

The latest furore comes after The Australian revealed last week another Melbourne doctor quietly begun work at one hospital despite resigning from another just months ago after being exposed for his horrific social media posts in which he praised terrorist group Hamas and its former leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Mohamed Ghilan resigned last year from Caulfield Hospital – in an area with a large Jewish community – when colleagues raised concerns about his “racist and inflammatory” social media content, in which he shared the pro-Hamas propaganda. He is now on leave while an investigation, now under way, is conducted by his new employer St George’s Health Service, which operates under the auspices of St Vincent’s Health.