Midwives in on the Act |
||
 Australian Democrats MLC Sandra Kanck: an advocate for South Australia's midwives.
|
Controversial
amendments by the Australian Democrats could see the nation's first "Nurses and
Midwives Act" passed in South Australia. The amendments recognise midwifery as a distinct profession from nursing, ensuring safe midwifery care for women and their babies and maximising choices for expectant mothers. "An increasingly doctor-centred model of childbirth has emerged in SA with an alarming number of caesarean sections and births being induced. The figures exceed the recommendations of the World Health Organisation," says Sandra Kanck, Democrats Health spokesperson. "Specialist skills provided by a midwife before, during and after birth need to be advanced for the benefit of South Australian women and their babies. "With the advent of Direct Entry Midwifery courses at the University of South Australia and at Flinders University it is imperative that we have legislation which reflects the changes in midwifery care and public expectations." Despite opposition from the Australian Nurses Federation, the Australian Democrats will support the Government to allow enrolled nurses, in certain circumstances, to practise without supervision from registered nurses. Enrolled nurses may be able to work unsupervised with the written approval of the Nurses Board under conditions determined by the Board. "Unnecessary fear and uncertainty has risen about this but my amendments will give guidelines to applications which will ensure the standard of nursing care for the public is maintained," she says. Other amendments include maintaining the three separate registers for general nurses, midwives and mental health nurses, and for the first time providing definitions for those providing nursing and midwifery care. "SA has the oldest Nurses Act in Australia. It is well overdue for a complete rewrite and if our amendments are passed our State will once again set the pace for the rest of Australia." Ms Kanck is seeking the support of the Labor Opposition for her amendments. Watch this space! More news on Health |
|
| The Australian
Democrats have lost a bid in Parliament to protect children who are called as witnesses in
court proceedings, including sex abuse victims. Democrats’ Legal Affairs spokesperson Ian Gilfillan moved amendments which would have made the use of closed-circuit television for children’s evidence a presumption in all proceedings, except a few defined occasions. |
||
|
This is the law in WA, NSW, and
the ACT, and is recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission, but was rejected by
both Labor and the Liberals on March 9 in the Upper House. Mr Gilfillan condemned the old parties for failing to protect children in the most vulnerable circumstances. "Children are often fearful of confronting an accused in court," Mr Gilfillan says. "Defendants have been known to intimidate children, making threatening gestures or faces at them." "Getting ‘grilled’ by rival lawyers, can also be traumatic for children. Prosecutors sometimes want to provoke tears from a child victim, or defence counsel may set out to destroy the child’s credibility. The lawyers’ behaviour often reflects an attitude that gives greater priority to winning the case than to the well-being of the child victim or witness. "A December 1998 Australian Institute of Criminology report concludes: "all too often the trial centrepiece – the cross-examination, is, in itself, child abuse." More news on Legal Affairs |
|
