A leading spine neurosurgeon is being slammed for a video that shows him tearing down a female MP’s election sign and dumping it in a skip while telling viewers how to ‘bury the body’.
Footage circulated on social media this week showed Melbourne-based Professor Greg Malham ripping down the campaign board of teal Kooyong MP Dr Monique Ryan.
In the middle of a dark street, the senior spinal neurosurgeon for Epworth Richmond can be seen placing the sign in his car as an unidentified woman asks if he had anything to say.
Professor Malham raised a fist and said ‘Go Trump’.
The footage also included a shot at a different location where he removed the sign, trampled it and addressed the camera.
‘Just finishing the job, boys. Always gotta bury the body.
‘Just remember these tutorials. It is all about technique, Nigel. Always remember guys, good technique, then dispose of the evidence.
‘Always remember boys, bury the body under concrete.’
A video circulating on social media shows the moment acclaimed neurosurgeon Professor Greg Malham tears down the campaign sign of teal MP Dr Monique Ryan
Dr Ryan (pictured) said she has seen a ‘climate of hostility’ in Kooyong during the campaign
Professor Malham runs a private practice in neurosurgery in Melbourne and is an adjunct professor at Swinburne University.
The specialist, whose website refers to him as ‘one of Australasia’s premier spine surgeons’, has expressed regrets over the video on Friday.
‘It was a silly thing to do,’ he told The Age.
‘It was intended as a joke, but I recognise how bad it looks.’
‘I am deeply sorry and regret my actions in the video and fully understand the serious distress it has caused in the community.
‘There is no excuse for my unacceptable behavior and I will be fully co-operating with the independent investigation commissioned by Epworth HealthCare.
I will be taking leave while that investigation is happening and have self-reported to the medical regulator, AHPRA. I will be fully accountable for my actions.
‘I sincerely and unreservedly apologise for this lapse in judgment that does not reflect my core values and beliefs.’
Professor Malham (pictured) said it was a ‘silly thing’ to do and he recognises that it looks bad
He also said he had refunded the cost of the sign for Dr Ryan’s campaign plus ‘a bit extra’. The campaign said it rejected and refunded the money.
‘We’ve seen groups from both within and outside Kooyong stoking division through aggressively negative advertising,’ Dr Ryan told the Melbourne publication.
‘It’s creating a climate of hostility that is distressing to candidates, volunteers and the broader community.’
Dr Ryan said she is aware of similar incidents that affected her opponent.
‘I unequivocally condemn this behaviour in all its forms. There’s no place in Australian electoral campaigns or society for violence and aggression.’
Daily Mail Australia has also contacted Dr Ryan for comment.
Other politicians have come out against Professor Malham’s behaviour.
Independent Federal Member for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel called the video ‘an apparent endorsement of violence against women’.
Meanwhile, the Liberal candidate for Kooyong, Amelia Hamer, said there is no place for intimidation or destruction in politics.
The Kooyong election race, which could prove a vital seat for the Liberals in Victoria, has been particularly heated over the last few weeks.
Dr Ryan’s husband was caught on film ripping down a poster of Ms Hamer, refusing several times to say who he was when confronted by a Liberal supporter.
Two days later a pair were captured on CCTV allegedly vandalising a Liberal poster hung on the front gate of a home in the upmarket suburb of Toorak.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Professor Malham and Dr Ryan for comment.
