Information Sheet - Writing a submission for the Community Affairs – Legislation Committee
Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related Bills
This Senate Committee is receiving submissions until July 20, so please prioritise this. It is important and it will greatly help those of us at the ‘front’ of the lobbying activity.
You can email them to the Committee Secretary
community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au
The 3 bills to be considered by the Committee have been drafted to provide Medicare funding, access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Indemnity Premium support to midwives. These bills if passed into legislation in their current form will not provide funding or indemnity for homebirth midwives. This legislation will then intersect with National Health Registration legislation (to come into force in July next year) that will require all health professionals to hold indemnity insurance. This will prevent midwives providing homebirth from registering and thus make their homebirth practice unlawful.
WHAT IS THE ANSWER?
This Committee is an important step towards achieving an amendment in the proposed bills. We clearly want all health consumers to be treated equally and therefore ask that all related legislation include midwives caring for women at home.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
By providing ‘your story’ to the Senate you help put a face to homebirth that would otherwise be outlawed. In order to achieve change we will need to convince the Coalition, The Greens and key independents, Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding.
If time is stretched you can use the ‘pro-forma’ on the next page, but please add something personal, even if you can only manage a few lines!
Please forward this document far and wide. The more submissions we receive the easier it will be to keep homebirth legal.
In solidarity
Justine Caines
Secretary
Homebirth Australia Inc
{Date}
{Your name}
{Your address}
Ms Claire Moore
Chair
Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee
By E-mail:
community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator Moore
Re: Inquiry into Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related Bills
I write to express my concern about the above bills. I understand that these bills will enable Medicare funding, access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and professional indemnity premium support for midwives providing care for women to give birth in hospital.
Medicare funding for midwifery care is long overdue. It is not acceptable however to exclude homebirth from this funding and indemnity arrangement. By doing this Australia is totally out of step with nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada, The Netherlands and New Zealand.
These nations support the rights of women to choose homebirth and fund a registered midwife through their national health scheme. In New Zealand and the U.K women have a legislative right to choose homebirth.
The intersection of this legislation with the national registration and accreditation of health professionals will prevent homebirth midwives from registering. I believe this to be an unintended consequence and ask that you take steps to include homebirth within the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) and related Bills.
I support a system where all consumers are treated equally, with the same access to funding and the same insurance protection.
{Please add your own comments here}
Yours sincerely
Your name
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Senate inquiry - submissions needed by 20 July
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