Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 22:11:21 -0700
Subject: RE: [ausbirthingcommunity] What the Pollies are offering Midwifery?
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 15:11:01 +1000
From: "Allison, Lyn \(Senator\)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Bill
I was very disappointed with your take on what the Democrats are =
offering midwifery. We have indeed endorsed the Maternity Coalition's =
National Maternity Action Plan. My colleague, Senator Ridgeway spoke at =
the launch in Canberra, he put out a media release in support of that =
plan and I also spoke in support of it at the rally in Melbourne a =
couple of months ago. We have both put up successful motions in the =
Senate in on the need for urgent action on midwifery.
Senator Ridgeway has put out numerous press releases expressing the =
view:
"If governments are serious about safer and more effective obstetric =
care they should be offering similar lifelines to casual and contract =
midwives - many of whom are still unable to gain any indemnity insurance =
cover at all."
He initiated an urgency debate in the Senate on midwifery and medical =
indemnity insurance, made several speeches in the Senate debate on the =
bill about the importance of midwifery and tried very hard to have =
midwifery covered by the legislation. =20
I attach the two current Federal election platforms that are relevant - =
Women's Health and Medicare - which express our commitment to [continue =
our] work for midwifery:
Women's health:
* The choice for pregnant women to have publicly funded midwifery =
services throughout pregnancy and childbirth, as available in New =
Zealand
* More research and better advice for women on the implications of =
procedures and treatment such as caesarean section, hysterectomy and HRT
Medicare:
* Medicare item numbers for community-based nurse practitioner and =
midwifery services and allied health clinicians for an agreed range of =
conditions
* Extending the government's medical indemnity insurance cover to =
include private midwife practitioners
With regard to preferences, we have issued a split ALP/Coalition ticket =
in every HoR seat in the country, as is often our practice, and we =
encourage our voters to make their own minds up about who they want in =
government. In the Senate we do a similar split for above the line =
voting.
I wonder why you would think it relevant to mention our Senate =
preference flow that, after going to at least 5 other candidates (it =
varies from state to state) goes to the Family First party when you =
admit that you do not know their position on midwifwery. I note that =
you did not mention that Labor will preference Fred Nile ahead of the =
Democrats. Nor did you point out that the Greens have in the past =
benefited from the preferences of an Abolish Child Support candidate. =20
The Democrats do not agree with a number of the policies of the Family =
First Party, just as we disagree with at least some policies of all =
other parties, however, we have reached agreement with Family First to =
jointly push for a Royal Commission into child abuse. We also agree =
with them on the need to curb gambling and are like-minded on other =
campaign issues such as the treatment of refugees, the environment, =
overseas aid, etc. Our electoral system makes it necessary to vote for =
all candidates in order of preference and as much as we might sometimes =
like to, we cannot put them all last. =20
We have enjoyed working with the Maternity Coalition and would like to =
do so again in the future.
Yours sincerely
Senator Lyn Allison
Deputy Leader and spokesperson on Health
Australian Democrats
