The president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand has quit after a speaker during one of the society’s debates made a joke about digital rectal examinations of Maori patients.

The presentation took place last November at the society’s New Zealand conference and was focussed on the topic of rectal exams and whether they were a barrier to the diagnosis of prostate cancer in Maori men.

In an attempt at humour, Dr Peter Davidson was alleged to have claimed to be tangata whenua – the phrase meaning ‘people of the land’ used to refer to the Maori people – because he was descended from early colonial settlers.

Then during a five-minute speech, he allegedly went on to say that given many Maori men were in jail, access to screening should not be an issue as there was “so much rectal probing” occurring in prisons.