This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2019/feb/11/labor-coalition-election-morrison-shorten-politics-live
The article has changed 22 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Doctors voice support for Phelps bill: 'Lives are at stake – the politicking must stop' – politics live | Doctors voice support for Phelps bill: 'Lives are at stake – the politicking must stop' – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Also worth revisiting this | |
| Tony Abbott:"I have a lot of respect for the medical profession but we all know that doctors always err on the side of compassion." | |
| Chris Bowen has finished his press conference. | |
| He again calls on the government to add an extra sitting fortnight to deal with elements of the banking royal commission, and calls for Tim Wilson to stand down as committee chair over all those many, many, blurred and overstepped lines. | |
| He doesn’t shed any light on where Labor is going on the medivac bill. Not surprising really, because the security briefing is going on, as we speak, and then the caucus has to make a decision at its meeting tonight (about 6pm, I believe). | |
| The federal court is today hearing a Australian Workers Union (AWU) challenge against the Registered Organisations Commission. | |
| The case was prompted by the leaking of federal police raids on the union by a then-media adviser to Senator Michaelia Cash, who is expected to front court on Friday. | |
| Outside court on Monday morning, the AWU national secretary, Daniel Walton, said: | |
| We commenced this case because we believe the minister, Michaelia Cash, misused her position by instigating an investigation into the AWU. That initiation led to the raids on our offices some 15 months ago. | |
| The journey we’ve been thorough led us to this point where we finally get the chance to get the minister, plus her former members of staff – to ask them questions, in terms of: what did they know, when did they know it and who did they speak to? | |
| When the full case is run, we’re confident that the judge will see that this has been a massive overstep and a misuse of political resources. | |
| Cash denies any wrongdoing, saying she is happy to assist the court and that the AWU must still answer questions about donations which were made to GetUp while Bill Shorten was the union’s boss. | |
| Cash’s former media adviser, David De Garis, is the hearing’s first witness. | |
| On the government’s (repeated) claim that the bill will result in “almost all” (about 1,000 at the moment) asylum seekers and refugees being transferred to Australia, and the bill puts border security “into the hands of doctors”, Dr Paul Bauert tells it straight: | |
| The borders won’t be in the hands of medical professionals. What will be happening is what happens throughout a lot of Australia in terms of medivacing these people after having done consultations, either by the phone, or by tele-health. | |
| Two doctors, independent doctors, will make a decision, in agreement, that a particular individual does need to come to a situation where the facilities are better, are more appropriate for their management and for their ability to survive. | |
| That will then go to the minister. If the minister says he doesn’t agree with the medical decision, which he has done regularly over the years, it will then go to a 10-person individual committee, many of whom will have been selected by the minister himself. | |
| If that independent committee then decides that this patient should be transferred, should be medivaced, the minister still has complete control over that individual. | |
| They will be accompanied by armed guards, they will probably end up in a detention centre in Australia, they will be accompanied by armed guards to the hospital, to their appointments. He has complete control over that. And he has complete control, when that medical treatment has finished, of sending those patients back to offshore detention. | |
| ... I think what Dr Phelps suggests should happen, that if people are felt to be unwell by the local doctors then they should seek the help of another doctor. If both doctors suggest the patient is ill enough to be transferred, then we go through that process. | |
| The minister has control over that process. | |
| ... Will 1,000 people come? That is what has been said. I mean, to me, if 1,000 people do come over the next three weeks, it would suggest that they are all absolutely critically ill and need to be evacuated. | |
| I honestly don’t feel that is the case, and I think the talk about 1,000 people being here in two and a half minutes is pure politics. | |
| Given all the misinformation flying around about the crossbench medical transfer bill, it’s worthwhile taking the time to spell out what it does. | Given all the misinformation flying around about the crossbench medical transfer bill, it’s worthwhile taking the time to spell out what it does. |
| The bill (changes initially proposed by Kerryn Phelps and amended by Tim Storer, Labor and others have been added to a piece of government legislation in the Senate) sets out new procedures governing medical transfers from offshore detention. | The bill (changes initially proposed by Kerryn Phelps and amended by Tim Storer, Labor and others have been added to a piece of government legislation in the Senate) sets out new procedures governing medical transfers from offshore detention. |
| The government has been trying to create an impression that two doctors decide, entirely on their own volition, who comes to Australia and who doesn’t. To put it bluntly, that’s complete bollocks. | |
| It’s correct to say that the bill envisages giving two or more treating doctors the capacity to recommend a transfer of an ill person to Australia for treatment. | It’s correct to say that the bill envisages giving two or more treating doctors the capacity to recommend a transfer of an ill person to Australia for treatment. |
| If you read the legislation, this is what happens next: | |
| Within 24 hours of being notified that a person should be transferred, “the minister must approve, or refuse to approve, the person’s transfer to Australia”. | Within 24 hours of being notified that a person should be transferred, “the minister must approve, or refuse to approve, the person’s transfer to Australia”. |
| The minister must approve the transfer unless the minister “reasonably believes that it is not necessary to remove the person from a regional processing country for appropriate medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment; or “the minister reasonably believes that the transfer of the person to Australia would be prejudicial to security within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, including because an adverse security assessment in respect of the person is in force under that act”. | |
| So there are two grounds of ministerial refusal: one general and one specific. | |
| If the minister refuses the transfer on the grounds that it is not medically necessary, the issue then goes to an Independent Health Advice Panel. | |
| That panel conducts another clinical assessment. Back to the legislation to explain what happens next: | |
| “If the panel recommends that the person’s transfer be approved, the minister must approve the person’s transfer to Australia unless the minister reasonably believes that the transfer of the person to Australia would be prejudicial to security within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, including because an adverse security assessment in respect of the person is in force under that Act”. | “If the panel recommends that the person’s transfer be approved, the minister must approve the person’s transfer to Australia unless the minister reasonably believes that the transfer of the person to Australia would be prejudicial to security within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, including because an adverse security assessment in respect of the person is in force under that Act”. |
| Now, who is on this panel? The legislation says the commonwealth’s chief medical officer, the surgeon general of Australian Border Force, the chief medical officer of the Home Affairs department, and not less than six other members, including people nominated by the AMA, the college of psychiatrists, the college of physicians and one specialist in paediatric health. | |
| So, to summarise: | |
| * Doctors can recommend medical transfers. | * Doctors can recommend medical transfers. |
| * The minister can then refuse a transfer on two grounds, one general (I don’t agree) and one specific (security grounds). | * The minister can then refuse a transfer on two grounds, one general (I don’t agree) and one specific (security grounds). |
| * If the refusal falls in the ‘I don’t agree’ category, then it goes to a medical panel comprised of the CMO, the surgeon general of border force and other specialists. | |
| * If the panel says the transfer should proceed on medical grounds, then that overrides the minister, except if there is a negative security assessment on the individual. | * If the panel says the transfer should proceed on medical grounds, then that overrides the minister, except if there is a negative security assessment on the individual. |
| You’re welcome. | You’re welcome. |
| Speaking to Sky News, Dr Paul Bauert explained the doctors concerns: | Speaking to Sky News, Dr Paul Bauert explained the doctors concerns: |
| The longer these people are there, the worse they are getting. We know that the main, the main reason for the impairment of mental health, as Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist from Auschwitz described very well in his book, Man’s search for meaning, the main problem these people have is the lack of meaning, the lack of any end to what is going on. A lack of certainty. | The longer these people are there, the worse they are getting. We know that the main, the main reason for the impairment of mental health, as Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist from Auschwitz described very well in his book, Man’s search for meaning, the main problem these people have is the lack of meaning, the lack of any end to what is going on. A lack of certainty. |
| And this more than anything causes severe mental health damage. Even those that finally knew they were about to be condemned to the gas chamber, at least found some sense of relief in knowing what was happening. | And this more than anything causes severe mental health damage. Even those that finally knew they were about to be condemned to the gas chamber, at least found some sense of relief in knowing what was happening. |
| “So, all of these people without any idea of what is going to happen to them, what their future is, will be suffering on a daily basis. And we have seen from some of the television shows, and the media that have followed them, once they have been released, that all of them end up with severe, significant mental health problems which will take a long, long time to settle, with most having post-traumatic stress disorder. | “So, all of these people without any idea of what is going to happen to them, what their future is, will be suffering on a daily basis. And we have seen from some of the television shows, and the media that have followed them, once they have been released, that all of them end up with severe, significant mental health problems which will take a long, long time to settle, with most having post-traumatic stress disorder. |
| “I am concerned, all the doctors are concerned, that the longer this politicking goes on, the longer these people are left in this critical situation, the worse their health is becoming.” | “I am concerned, all the doctors are concerned, that the longer this politicking goes on, the longer these people are left in this critical situation, the worse their health is becoming.” |
| It is worth revisiting this interview Kathrine Murphy did with Paul Bauert late last year: | It is worth revisiting this interview Kathrine Murphy did with Paul Bauert late last year: |
| Paediatrician Paul Bauert has spent days roaming the corridors of Parliament House trying to get politicians to focus on what’s happening on Nauru. | Paediatrician Paul Bauert has spent days roaming the corridors of Parliament House trying to get politicians to focus on what’s happening on Nauru. |
| There’s a recurrent observation from the political class that chills him. In an interview with Guardian Australia’s Politics Live podcast, he says: “It almost brings me to tears when one of the politicians, or one of the politician’s minders ask me … ‘Do you think it will take a death before things change?’ | There’s a recurrent observation from the political class that chills him. In an interview with Guardian Australia’s Politics Live podcast, he says: “It almost brings me to tears when one of the politicians, or one of the politician’s minders ask me … ‘Do you think it will take a death before things change?’ |
| “I cannot, for the life of me, understand where that thinking comes from, truly: ‘Do you think it will take a death?’” | “I cannot, for the life of me, understand where that thinking comes from, truly: ‘Do you think it will take a death?’” |
| This is happening in Adelaide today: | This is happening in Adelaide today: |
| Witness list for Day 1 of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality #auspol pic.twitter.com/2H8BpjyKHH | Witness list for Day 1 of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality #auspol pic.twitter.com/2H8BpjyKHH |
| Dr Paul Bauert on those who need urgent treatment: | Dr Paul Bauert on those who need urgent treatment: |
| We know that 24 of them are in a hospital facility at the moment, with two of them comatose. And the fact that 4,500 thousand doctors have spent their weekend signing a letter and sending it in, shows the frustration of the medical profession with the politicking that has been going on with this issue for far too long. | We know that 24 of them are in a hospital facility at the moment, with two of them comatose. And the fact that 4,500 thousand doctors have spent their weekend signing a letter and sending it in, shows the frustration of the medical profession with the politicking that has been going on with this issue for far too long. |
| Lives are at stake. The politicking must stop. There is an opportunity with Dr Phelps’s approach to this issue for the politicking to stop and that we get a clear, well organised system where these unwell patients, critically unwell patients, receive the treatment that they deserve. | Lives are at stake. The politicking must stop. There is an opportunity with Dr Phelps’s approach to this issue for the politicking to stop and that we get a clear, well organised system where these unwell patients, critically unwell patients, receive the treatment that they deserve. |
| Doctors are back in Canberra. Why? | Doctors are back in Canberra. Why? |
| Because the medivac legislation is in danger of falling to politics. | Because the medivac legislation is in danger of falling to politics. |
| Dr Paul Bauert, of the AMA federal executive, is a paediatrician who has led a lot of the fight on behalf of the medical community. | Dr Paul Bauert, of the AMA federal executive, is a paediatrician who has led a lot of the fight on behalf of the medical community. |
| He answers the question of why a paediatrician is so involved – because some of those on Manus Island were children when he first started treating them, and they’re still there. | He answers the question of why a paediatrician is so involved – because some of those on Manus Island were children when he first started treating them, and they’re still there. |
| GetUp has funded a television advertising campaign, featuring doctors and others, to run this week in a bid to get the politicians who were in support of the bill to hold their ground – which means it is aimed squarely at Labor and Cathy McGowan. The other crossbenchers have already locked in their support. | GetUp has funded a television advertising campaign, featuring doctors and others, to run this week in a bid to get the politicians who were in support of the bill to hold their ground – which means it is aimed squarely at Labor and Cathy McGowan. The other crossbenchers have already locked in their support. |