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Dear All,
Apologies for cross posting...
The Maternity Coalition (MC) and the
Australian College of Midwives Incorporated (ACMI) are calling on Mothers,
Midwives and families of Australia to support a national
action.
In May the NT Government passed the Health Professionals Act that requires all health professionals to have Professional Indemnity Insurance (PI). For the last 3 years the NT government has known that PI has been unavailable to midwives on the global insurance market. The Northern Territory Government has removed all rights of women to access midwifery care in their community/home attended by an experienced and registered midwife. In May this year the NT Nursing Board applied this legislation, and to date have refused 2 midwives registration in the Northern Territory and taken 1 midwife off the register because they are unable to obtain PI. The MC and the ACMI have decided enough is enough! We must ensure all Australian women have choice and access to fair and reasonable cost effective midwifery care and that midwives can rightfully practice their skills in any setting according to the definition of a Midwife, established by the International Confederation of Midwives, and endorsed by World Health Organisation and the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians. The National leaders of MC and ACMI are meeting with the Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott and Shadow Health Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th August, 2004 in Canberra. They will inform the Government of the dangerous position in which they have placed women and midwives by restricting practice under this new legislation. Women are already birthing at home without a professional attendant because they cannot obtain the services of an experienced midwife. A groundswell of people around the nation is embarking on a major campaign to bring this unfair and discriminatory issue to the attention of federal leaders. A campaign to demonstrate the effects of legislation applied only to those midwives unable to purchase PI. Please help ensure that our federal representatives receive our message that women and midwives are united in wanting the Howard Government to take immediate steps in obtaining PI insurance for midwives, so that Australian women have access to fair and reasonable cost effective midwifery care. Visit:
http://www.maternitycoalition.org.au/NT_action.html for more
information on the plan of action and a sample letter to send to the
politicians.
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