Dr Kerryn Phelps, AMA President, Melbourne
PHELPS: Welcome, everybody. We're here to open the National Conference of the Australian Medical Association. I'm pleased to see that we are represented here by all of our delegates from around Australia, and we also have an unprecedented number of international medical organisations who are represented including the American Medical Association, the British Medical Association, Singapore, Japan, Myanmar, and New Zealand, all of whom have sent delegates to this conference. We will be discussing issues of tremendous importance to the medical profession, including medical indemnity, Indigenous health, complementary medicine, and the future of our public hospitals. Do you have any questions?
JOURNALIST: Have you received an apology from Dr Wooldridge?
PHELPS: No. We haven't received an apology from Dr Wooldridge. We have indicated that we would still like to receive an apology from him, and we've sent a second letter today.
JOURNALIST: Are you still pursuing legal action?
PHELPS: Well, we have conducted all of the appropriate legal processes to this point. We sent a letter yesterday requesting an apology. We have sent another letter today, indicating that we would like an apology, and we will just be waiting until we either get an answer one way or the other. We certainly would like courtesy of a response.
JOURNALIST: …… will the consequences be a defamation suit?
PHELPS: I will be taking advice from my lawyers about that.
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister has backed Dr Wooldridge.
PHELPS: What has the Prime Minister actually said?
JOURNALIST: He said that he offers his support to Dr Wooldridge…
PHELPS: Well, I'm sure he feels that Dr Wooldridge needs support, at this stage.
JOURNALIST: Do you think Dr Wooldridge is being a bit pig-headed about the whole thing?
PHELPS: I think it's very unwise for Dr Wooldridge not to respond with an appropriate apology. The remarks he made were quite intemperate, quite untrue, and quite potentially damaging.
JOURNALIST: Has the legal advice you've received indicated that you've got a very strong case in any potential defamation suit?
PHELPS: Yes, it has. Alright, thank you all. Enjoy the conference.
Ends