Bastian Manfred Seidel (born 23 April 1975) is an Australian politician and medical doctor. Seidel was born in

Kamen Kamen () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the district Unna. Geography Kamen is situated at the east end of the Ruhr area, approximately 10 km south-west of Hamm and 25 km north-east of Dortmund. Neighbouring cities, t ...

, a small town in the Ruhr Valley region of Germany, and undertook preliminary medical training in South Africa and Germany, before completing specialist general practitioner training in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he emigrated to Australia on a skilled migrant visa, and established a medical practice in

Huonville, Tasmania Huonville is a town on the Huon River, in the south-east of Tasmania, Australia. It is the seat of the Huon Valley Council area and lies 38 km south of Hobart on the Huon Highway. At the 2016 census, Huonville had a population of 2,714 an ...

in 2008. He was president of the

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is the professional body for general practitioners (GPs) in Australia. The RACGP is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and re ...

(RACGP) from 2016 to 2018. In 2020, Seidel nominated as a candidate for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

at the 2020 election for the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, H ...

division of Huon. He was elected on 1 August 2020, defeating incumbent independent MLC Robert Armstrong. In 2018 Seidel (the then

President) expressed concerns about changes to the register of practitioners. These changes concerned the registering of disciplinary decisions made against practitioners under investigation for sexual misconduct. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and Medical Board believed these changes would give the community easier access to public information to enable them to make an informed decision regarding their medical care. In February 2021

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

newspaper published a report regarding an allegation of sexual assault raised against Seidel with AHPRA. It was alleged the current Shadow Health Minister placed his hand on the vagina of a cancer patient he was treating after taking blood from her. While Seidel denied the allegation the Medical Board's decision (after a 16 month investigation) as outlined in the article stated "while it is possible the incident occurred as described" it was "not able to form a reasonable belief that Dr Seidel had engaged in behaviour that constitutes professional misconduct." The article also raised questions as to whether Seidel informed the

of this allegation and investigation prior to his party endorsement and Upper House election. Seidel and the

refused to make any comment in regards to the allegations. On 23 August 2021, Seidel resigned from the state Labor caucus, stating that he could no longer "work in a toxic environment". His resignation from the Legislative Council took effect on 3 December 2021, and triggered a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the

electoral division of Huon The Electoral division of Huon is one of the 15 electoral divisions in the Tasmanian Legislative Council. It was created in 1999, however similar electorates of this name have existed since 1900, and members of the Tasmanian upper house for ...

Personal life

Seidel was married to Erica Bell, an academic, medical researcher and novelist. Bell died from a brain haemorrhage in July 2014, and Seidel established the Erica Bell Foundation in her memory, which awards two $10,000 literary prizes each year. Seidel became a parent in June 2016 with work colleague Dr Alexandra Smith now Dr Alexandra Seidel.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seidel, Bastian 1975 births Living people Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania Independent members of the Parliament of Tasmania German emigrants to Australia Australian general practitioners Leipzig University alumni University of Pretoria alumni University of the Free State alumni University of Tasmania faculty 21st-century Australian politicians