Country Report - Australia

Country Report - Australia

Author

Dr. Michael Shanahan MB BS FRACS (Retired)

For the14th Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations Congress Hong Kong,27th – 30th November 2008

From the Catholic doctors of Australia we send our warmest greetings to His Eminence Cardinal Lozano, and thank him for his dedicated work as President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care.

We would also send our greetings to Dr. Kwang-ho Meng, Dr Michael Poon, Dr. Peter Au-Yeung, Dr Jose Maria Simon, and a special greeting to Dr. John Lee, our long time friend of the Australian Associations.

To all the delegates and friends who are attending this Congress Greetings. We are very sorry not to have a delegate from Australia to greet you personally, but hope very much to be with you in the future.

Introduction

Since the report to the AFCMA on Australia in 1996 the population in the seven States and Territories has increased from 17million to 21million. The increase is due to migration and natural population increase which has made for a multicultural society. The total number of doctors has also increased by around 30% to about 54000, and the medical student numbers have risen from 1500 to 3000 due to establishment of new medical schools.

Two new Catholic Medical Schools have been opened in the Fremantle campus of the University of Notre Dame Australia in 2005 and on the Sydney campus of UNDA in 2008. Fremantle will graduate its first 78 medical students on the 13th December 2008. A report on the Medical schools of UNDA has been sent separately to this Congress. It will be hoped in time that more of these doctors will be supportive of the Catholic Doctor Associations in Australia.

Current Status

The number of Catholic doctors in Australia could be estimated at 36% of all the doctors, that is around 18000. However, as in the rest of the Western World, the Australian population is increasingly secularized and only a small proportion is actively involved with their faith. There is also a general resistance to form associations of any type which require some form of commitment.

The result of these trends is a reduction of membership and participation in the activities of the Catholic Doctors Associations and Guilds. The active associations in four States in Australia are:

The Catholic Doctors Association (Western Australia)

The Catholic Doctors Association (Victoria)

The Guild of St. Luke Queensland

The Guild of St. Luke New South Wales

The combined total in Australia of financial members would not be much greater than 200 doctors.

Of these groups the Queensland group under Dr Terrence Kent as President, would at present be the most active. It has an active and enthusiastic committee which has arrangedannually a successful Symposium, Annual Mass and Dinner. It has a web site at and produces a newsletter. It also holds monthly Grand Rounds with guest speakers. This Guild has also been busy with pro-life advocacy work especially in the current climate.

The Victorian Association relies more on email contact and does not insist on financial membership for association. This association has been very busy under the guidance of its President Dr. Eamonn to advocate against the recent Abortion Law Reform Bill in Victoria.

The association in Western Australia, led by Dr Michael as President, has found increasing difficulty with active support and is currently reducing its activities to the celebration of an annual Mass for health care workers prior to an AGM, promotion of social and professional contacts and encouragement of members to undertake outreach projects. In the future the CDA of WA will also invite association of allied health professionals including nurses, pharmacists, and physiotherapists. Hopefully it will pick up again as there is a need to resist these adverse changes in the law on abortion and euthanasia.

The Guild of St. Luke in New South Wales with its long term Master Dr Tony Williams has continued to maintain its annual activities of a Mass for their deceased members, although the membership is static with increasing age of its members. However it is looking to foster involvement with the new CatholicMedicalSchool in the Sydney campus of the Notre Dame University Australia.

Abortion Law Reform Victoria 2008

The most pressing need in Australia is now for the members of the Catholic Doctor associations to resist changes in the laws that promote abortion and euthanasia. Only a month ago the Victorian State Parliament passed the most draconian law on abortion in the Western World by a comfortable majority in both Houses of Parliament.

The feature of this Bill was, not only to decriminalize abortion, but also in the process to remove all constraints up to 24 weeks pregnancy. Beyond 24 weeks to term, it will only require the agreement of two doctors, again without stipulating the reasons.

Worse still was the removal of the doctor’s freedom of conscience to not cooperate with the process. In other words the dissenting doctor is bound by law to refer on the pregnant woman to another doctor who is known to support abortion. Failure to do so will risk litigation, with the subsequent loss of indemnity insurance, and as a result the doctor’s registration to practice medicine.

The Catholic Doctor Associations and any other likeminded doctors who oppose this legislation (including Jewish and Muslim doctors) will be asked to support the rescinding of at least this clause in the legislation, as being unconstitutional. Much work is required to bring this obnoxious legislation to the public notice through various strategies.

Failure to successfully oppose this Bill will encourage other Parliaments to introduce their own Bills, and furthermore, to expand with other laws on Euthanasia. The practice of eugenics will then have doctors in Australia only a short step from the worst practices of Hitler’s Germany in the 1930s – 1940s.

We pray and hope that the members of the AFCMA will support us in our battle with an uncaring Government.

The Future.

The future need in Australia is to encourage a greater degree of cooperation between the Guild and Associations. The great distances and different time zones that separate us make physical meetings between groups very difficult.

However use of communications via the internet with easy use of video links, should help to overcome this isolation from each other. Web sites are now being set up in almost all the States which should also improve communication.

Formation of a National association has been moved in the past but has failed due to lack of support by the members. It is now so much more important that we speak with a united voice and assist each other by sharing our expertise and experiences.

Hopefully when we again report back in 2012 at your next Congress, we will have become a united Association, with an active representative of Australia attending your Congress.

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