The Medical Board of Australia has defended its use of emergency powers to suspend doctors for making public statements it believes undermine public confidence in the profession.

The debate over the limits to doctors’ free speech has been sparked after the board suspended a GP last year over a long-running series of social media posts he had made.

It originally acted under section 156(1)e of the National Law, which states immediate action can be taken against a doctor if the board believes it necessary to “maintain public confidence in the provision of health services by health practitioners”.

A number of the posts were judged to be “denigrating, demeaning and slurring” to medical practitioners providing terminations; and they allegedly included calls for them to be subject to capital punishment.