Wednesday 11 December 2019

The Morrison "government" 's proposed religious discrimination bill

Australia's neoliberal "government" is ignoring the 2019 climate bushfires and focusing instead on matters such as enabling religiously-motivated bigotry.

This appalling - doubly so, after being re-written - bill is discussed at https://alastairlawrie.net/2019/12/03/the-internal-contradiction-of-the-morrison-governments-religious-discrimination-bill/ and https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/11/the-coalitions-religious-discrimination-bill-whats-changed-and-can-doctors-refuse-treatment.

From my point of view, I would like someone (and I have written to a couple of progressive MPs requesting them to do this) to ask the following questions:
  1. Are the bigotted - and they are that - doctors who are going to refuse to perform certain procedures going to let members of the public know in advance so the bigotted doctors can be avoided? 
  2. If not, is there a way to avoid having to pay those doctors for what amounts to misleading/deceptive conduct (the appointment was made in good faith, but the doctor has not behaved in such a manner - perhaps someone can move an amendment on this)
  3. Is compensation going to be available to cater for the harm that the bigoted doctors are causing by having their say? Are patients going to get an equal right of reply to the vitriol they may be exposed to? 
  4. Is there going to be a mechanism to enable patients find decent doctors? (As it is, I drive more than an hour to attend a clinic that I consider reasonable.) 
  5. Will the Morrison "government" ensure that sufficient government funded services in ALL areas of Australia are provided by decent doctors to ensure adequate access for ALL Australians?
If I get a response, I will add it here, but given the obfuscation of the neoliberal Morrison "government", I'm not holding my breath.

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