Everyone, including doctors, should enjoy freedom of religion and speech in this country.

HRLA client and Christian husband and father Jereth Kok will finally get his day in court this week to defend exactly that – his freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

With the assistance of HRLA, Jereth is defending himself at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal against charges that he is unfit to practice medicine because of his online comments. He will be defending his fundamental rights and those of all Australian medical professionals.

Jereth takes the stand today.

During the five scheduled days of hearings, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) will call legal and medical experts to testify against Jereth.

Jereth is being represented by the Human Rights Law Alliance and an exceptional barrister team, with expert evidence being provided by top experts on gender medicine and Covid science.

This case has implications not just for Jereth but for all Christian medical practitioners. As Jereth has said:

“Even though I’ve been forced out of medical practice, there are still thousands of Christian health practitioners in the Australian system. I fear that the decision the courts make about me will affect their ability to speak out in the future about destructive medical practices and sexual ideologies that contradict biblical truth.”

In Jereth’s case, the process has been the punishment.

He has been suspended indefinitely, which has meant that he has been unable to work over the past five years as a medical doctor.

Jereth originally thought the process would be finalised within a couple of months. But that didn’t happen, and the process has so far taken five years. 

As Jereth has said:

“You get these big long periods of several months where nothing happens. Then all of a sudden you get another letter saying that you need to respond. And so the process drags on in stops and starts.”

Even if he wins, he’s effectively had his career ruined as a result of an anonymous complaint and an ideological medical board.

People should not be punished for expressing their religious views.

As John Steenhof, Director of HRLA has said:

“This will be a ground-breaking case which will determine the parameters around what doctors of faith, completely outside any doctor-patient relationship or clinical setting, can and cannot vocalise about their personally held Christian and political beliefs on contemporary issues.

We are helping Jereth to defend against the further curtailing of freedom of religion and speech in this country that everyone, including doctors, should be free to enjoy”.

Your support for Jereth is vital. He is grateful for prayers and any financial support that people can offer. You can pledge your support for Jereth at his GiveSendGo page, which can be accessed here.