The incoming president of the nation’s peak psychiatry body has “sincerely apologised” to the college and stood down from his position, pending a review into social media posts he shared criticising the “Israel Lobby” and rubbishing antisemitism training on the grounds Jewish people would be considered “special”.
Angelo Virgona said he would step down from his positions as the president-elect and board member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists on Thursday following questions from The Australian.
The Sydney-based psychiatrist said he would co-operate “fully” with the RANZCP as it conducts its review into a series of posts and reposts he made to X in the months following the Bondi Beach terror attack.
“I am aware that certain activity in my personal X account has led to complaints by members of the RANZCP,” Dr Virgona said in a statement to The Australian.
“I sincerely apologise to the board, the membership and our team that these personal activities have brought attention and caused distress.
“For me, it is also embarrassing and distressing that this takes focus away from our role as an excellent training, education and advocacy organisation.
“Any suggestion or inference that I am antisemitic is false and will be vigorously defended, but I agree it is entirely appropriate for the social media activity to be formally reviewed by the college.”
The posts to his X account, which has since been suspended, prompted senior healthcare professionals to speak out about the importance of the RANZCP being a temperate and impartial voice for the profession.
The posts came to light after the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion heard of rampant antisemitism in the healthcare sector, with Jewish patients and staff revealing how they tried to keep their identities hidden out of fear of reprisals at their work or during treatment.
Dr Virgona was set to be president of the RANZCP in May 2027 and reportedly took down the posts shortly before his account was suspended, as concerns about his social media activity rippled through the health community.
According to records shared with The Australian, which were also sent this month to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Dr Virgona reposted Nine Newspaper cartoonist Cathy Wilcox’s controversial royal commission item three times in the month after the Bondi Beach terror attack.
The Australian Press Council later ruled the cartoon conveyed “antisemitic tropes”.
In his own posts, Dr Virgona announced he attended the Sydney Town Hall protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, writing on February 9: “This visit has been a dreadful blunder, a gross error of misjudgment, caving in to extreme zionist pressure, politicising the tragedy for their own ends. Antizionism is not antisemitism.”
He also commented on a separate post as recently as August 1 criticising special envoy Jillian Segal’s efforts to roll out antisemitism training across key sectors.
“This is dumb, govt should steer clear of this advice. All sector ‘Mandatory training’ will go down like a lead balloon, not lead to cohesion but to Jewish folk being seen as ‘special’ and ‘different’. It would be a serious policy error,” he wrote.
Dr Virgona used the same X account to comment on psychiatry matters and often tagged the RANZCP in posts about the field, according to records shared with The Australian.
He reported content criticising the establishment of the Bondi royal commission and Ms Segal’s promotion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which has been formally adopted by the national health regulation agency.
Posts criticising the “Israel Lobby” and praising Wilcox for “nailing the fact these calls for a royal commission are in fact a racist, Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian, pro-Israeli genocide crusade” were shared by his account.
He also reposted a copy of Wilcox’s cartoon with the caption: “I see the Israel Lobby has begun howling about this cartoon, rolling out the usual cries of antisemitism. It’s nothing of the sort.”
Additional content reported by Dr Virgona suggested Anthony Albanese would be “out of touch” if he listened to calls from the “Zionist lobby”, Gina Rinehart, the Coalition and sport stars to establish a royal commission into the Bondi attack.
It is understood RANZCP members recently became aware of his social media activity – after his election as president – through an industry group chat.
Dr Virgona has worked as a psychiatrist since 1990 and he was elected to the RANZCP board in May 2024. He was due to hold the role of president from next May until May 2029.
His decision to step aside while the review is conducted has thrown the RANZCP into more disarray. An unrelated review into president Astha Tomar’s decision to attend a Labor fundraising dinner has stirred discontent among members after the college rejected on technical grounds members’ requests to hold an extraordinary general meeting to decide on the terms of membership-called reviews.
Australian Zionist Healthcare Alliance president Deborah Bell, said Jewish healthcare professionals had seen “concerning” content shared by colleagues in the field, but not from someone so senior. “What’s significant about him, I think, is his position in the community and the fact that he’s president-elect of an Australasian college,” Dr Bell said.
“It’s deeply concerning to see him repeatedly share material that the Press Council has (later) deemed antisemitic, particularly at a time when there’s been a Jewish massacre and a royal commission on antisemitism.
“Anyone that clearly has such obvious biases and is prepared to post and re-post … controversial comments like that – their (suitability) for a senior role in the medical community definitely has to be questioned. I think it’s definitely worthy of an investigation and I would have grave concerns to see him leading one of our medical colleges, as I’m sure many Jewish doctors, patients and decent Australians would think.”
Dr Bell said the role of president was considered an endorsement of the person’s “standing in the medical community”.
“On that basis, I would have great reservations about his fitness for the role”.
National Association of Practising Psychiatrists president and RANZCP member Philip Morris said the president should be seen by colleagues and the public as “temperate” and “thoughtful”, with the desire to “bring people together and not to divide and express extreme views”.
The president represents the college to government bodies and must deal with all “political persuasions”, Dr Morris said, adding: “We want someone who’s very clearly got a sense of propriety and professional judgment leading the college”. He described Dr Virgona’s social media activity as “disappointing” but commended him for taking down his posts, which included a comment labelling One Nation leader Pauline Hanson a “numbskull”.
“I think that shows some degree of awareness that maybe he was doing things that were less than appropriate for someone who’s going to take over as college president,” Dr Morris said.
In a statement provided to The Australian, an RANZCP spokesman said the college was “aware of concerns relating to social media activity of president-elect Dr Angelo Virgona”.
“The college takes such matters extremely seriously and immediately commenced a review following member complaints, in line with the college’s policies and processes. Dr Virgona has notified the college that he will step aside as president-elect and a board member while this review is under way. While personal social media accounts do not represent the views of the college, the RANZCP expects all members, including office bearers and directors, to engage respectfully and professionally.”
A similar message was sent out to RANZCP members.
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