‘Colourful’ Lindisfarne GP Stephen Hindley deregistered after anti-vax rants and abusive slurs

A Lindisfarne GP and former One Nation candidate has been deregistered as a doctor for his “wild west” behaviour during the Covid pandemic. Find out why.

Stephen Hindley contested the seat of Franklin as the One Nation candidate in last year’s federal election. Picture: Kenji Sato

An anti-vax Hobart GP accused of “wild west” behaviour during the Covid pandemic has been deregistered and barred from calling himself a doctor.

In August this year, Stephen Hindley – a former Lindisfarne GP and previous One Nation candidate – defended himself in a hearing brought by the Medical Board of Tasmania, which sought a number of sanctions against him.

It came after a number of behaviours deemed “inappropriate”, including telling a Covid-vaccinated patient she was stupid and “would eventually get cancer and die”.

The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has now found the allegations against Mr Hindley proven – reprimanding him, cancelling his registration and disqualifying him from re-registering him for four years.

In its published decision, the tribunal found Mr Hindley engaged in professional misconduct on four of five allegations, and engaged in unprofessional conduct on the fifth.

One of the allegations related to Mr Hindley using “abusive and belittling” language to Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) officers dealing with a complaint against him, using slurs like “a gang of criminals”, “large invertebrates”, “government stooge” and that they “barely qualify as human beings”.

The tribunal said in September 2021, while dealing with a patient who he told was “stupid” and would die, Mr Hindley promoted anti-vaccination views and allowed his “his own personal beliefs to override his professional values”.

It found he later improperly accessed the patient’s confidential clinical records to phone her about her AHPRA complaint against him.

Thirdly, the tribunal found he engaged in unprofessional conduct by failing to keep proper clinical notes when he summarised her appointment as “med cert” and “chat”.

The tribunal described this as “completely inadequate record keeping”.

Former Lindisfarne doctor Stephen Hindley and supporters outside his tribunal hearing earlier this year. Picture: Chris Kidd

Fourthly, the tribunal found Mr Hindley’s communication with AHPRA officers was “inappropriate, abusive, offensive, denigrating”, with some of his comments “threatening and intimidating”.

Lastly, it found his social media comments about Covid breached the Medical Board’s code of conduct and social media guide.

His posts included comments describing Covid vaccinations as a “bioweapon” or “genocide” and that doctors who administered them had “had a lobotomy”, or were war criminals or devils.

Mr Hindley had argued he was caught in “a catch 22” – that he opposed public health guidelines and the generally-accepted medical practice regarding Covid vaccines.

He said he felt he was being coerced into committing the crime of aggravated assault, and that he had an ethical obligation to speak out.

“I felt I had no option but to use the strongest tool available to me at the time, which had to be social media,” he said during his hearing.

“Now my language on social media was colourful to say the least. Ill advised, I think we can all agree, with hindsight.”

Mr Hindley accepted his language on social media and with AHPRA officers was inappropriate, and that it was not his “normal practice to swear and rant at people like a drunken sailor”.

Mr Hindley previously said he did not plan to return to work as a doctor in the future.

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