Doctor banned for 12 months after sending racist email to Australia’s first Indigenous eye surgeon

Ophthalmologist Kristopher Rallah-Baker received an offensive email from a GP. That doctor has now been reprimanded over misconduct. Photograph: Michael Amendolia

A GP has been banned from registering as a doctor for a year in Australia because of discriminatory behaviour toward an Indigenous doctor he accused of being a “fake Aboriginal” akin to “like a watered down bottle of Grange”.

The medical board described the decision as a “landmark outcome” as it is the first case to make reference to changes in the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) national law introduced last year to include a definition of cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.