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I'd love to be there, but will be nearly 33 weeks by then, so not sure about flying! If there's a rally in Victoria, I'll definitely make it. Homebirth had already been made so much more expensive than hospital, with private healthcare companies reluctant to pay, that I'm booked into a birth centre, but if I could have afforded it, it would have been the number one choice!
Is there anyone else in Victoria who'd like to stage a rally here? Anyone know an appropriate location?
Emma
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Any chance we can organise some more rallies in major centres? I won't make it to Canberra with a tiny bub would would happily march down Swanston St
♥ BellyBelly's Creator ♥
If you're on FB, then reply to the thread in there about it, otherwise:
Jo Hunter wrote
at 1:31pm
For all those who can't make it. We are looking at organising a 'virtual rally' at the same time as the 'real rally'. Having everyone send in a head shot, their name, location and 25 words or less that you want the pollies to know. We will then stick the head shot onto preggo bellies with your words on the belly, attach it to a stick and shove them all in the ground out the front of Parliament House. We are just working on coordinating this with some help and we will probably need each person to pledge some money to cover the costs of this happening. our new website is very close to being launched and all info will be on there. Come back here regularly for updates though.
LETS MAKE THIS HUGE!!!!!
Kelly xx
Creator of BellyBelly.com.au, doula, writer and mother of three amazing children
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I will either fly to Canberra or try and organise a rally at the same time on the Gold Coast (Whichever would be more productive).. We have to do something but I don't know where to start with organising something like this... If anyone has guidence to give on what to do just PM please...
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I'm somewhat uncomfortable being a devils advocate here but reading the article and as a Registered Nurse and Paramedic, I feel I have to......
Under the draft Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, released last week, a midwife cannot be registered unless she has insurance.
Midwives as a group are consistently requesting to be independent practitioners and regarding as competent to contribute in that role. To practice for an employer, their insurance is meant to cover you. However, Nursing bodies recommend independent malpractice/indemnity insurance for all nurses. So really this isn't a new expectation.
But with insurance companies and the Government so far refusing to include home births in the indemnity scheme, midwives will face being de-registered if they attend a homebirth.
So the cause should be to force legislation for reasonable indemnity insurance.
"Even though only less than half a per cent of women have homebirths, they should have the same rights as a woman who chooses to have a caesarean. Home-births won't stop."
Caesareans aren't done at home last time I looked. Choice isn't the issue. Adequate financial coverage is. Every one is happy until something sadly goes wrong and a poor midwife is sent into financial ruin because of inadequate insurance covering legal action.
But from July 2010, they will no longer be able to call themselves midwives even though they are trained. Only those insured and registered can use the term midwife, otherwise they face a $30,000 fine
The terms Registered Nurse and Midwife are protected titles so that isn't new. Registration is one thing, insurance to practice outside and hospital again harps back to adequate affordable insurance.
"It breaks my heart to hear that the Government will do this," she said. "This is about choice.
It's about affordable insurance
"The Government should be driving this and helping midwives who want to (do) homebirths. They will never be able to afford insurance."
By allowing legislation to provide affordable and sufficient insurance.
Home Births Australia secretary Justine Caines said the new law took away the rights of women
Birthing is a collaboration. The new law hasn't even been passed, yet the wrong message has been sent.
The minister I have heard previously seem pretty supportive of midwives. To receive the outcome that allows them to practice supportively and independently is about affordability of insurance that safely covers their practice. That has to be the warcry. The aim is about protecting the public as much as protecting Midwifery Professionals.
Burying this amongst emotive rhetoric will have a negative effect. I appreciate the opportunity for home births having attended a few. I am also well aware of when things sadly go wrong and in a very big way. It is very easy for the happy partnership to disintegrate when clients look for an outcome legally.
I hope a successful outcome is reached for those who seek homebirths.
Last edited by Visitor6; June 19th, 2009 at 09:17 PM.
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^^ Perhaps this is just baby brain but none of that made any sense to me. What I gather is that homebirthing midwives currently attend homebirths without insurance and under the new laws this will be illegal. So I don't see how this can NOT be about choice? Since it will remove the choice to have a homebirth??
This is just bizarre. In WA homebirths are government funded for crying out loud, now they're going to be illegal?! I wish so passionately I could afford to go to Canberra for this, hopefully we can organise a protest in WA and other states for those who can't go to Canberra.
2013 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.
I'd love to go... not sure about the logistics of me and Jazz making it down there but I love the "Virtual" idea... if they had a rally in Brisbane I would be down there in a heartbeat...
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
With respect, Stretcher Bearer, I think you fail to understand some of the politics behind the decision to make indemnity insurance a requirement to practice as a midwife.
This is correct.
But surely you understand that, without that adequate insurance cover and therefore, under the new legislation, the right to practice, the choice of women in Australia IS limited? What do you think would happen, in 2009, if the last of the southern hemisphere medical insurers withdrew cover for OBs in private practice? Do you think the government would simply say "tough luck, no more private obstetrics?" Do you think obstetricians in private practice would accept that decision?
That is a risk to no one - NO ONE - but the midwife concerned. It does not impact on her practice, or her ability to provide safe and competent care.
Answer me this. Do you stop being a paramedic when you leave your workplace? Are you still a paramedic at home? Do you suddenly switch off your knowledge and skills outside of the workplace because you are no longer covered by insurance?
To suggest that midwives cannot call themselves midwives and acknowledge their years of training simply because outside of the hospital system they are not insured is insulting to midwives.
And another question - if you, as a paramedic, come upon someone in medical distress in public, when you are not on duty, are you ethically bound to offer assistance to the best of your skills and abilities? If so, is that as a paramedic, or as an untrained bystander?
You don't just stop being what you are trained to be because you are not insured.
... the lack of which limits the choice of Australian women who want to have a safe homebirth with a trained practitioner.
I wonder if you could clarify what you mean here? I'm not sure I follow you. Birthing is a collaboration. One which will not be able to happen when one of the people collaborating is risking a $30,000 fine.
Does anyone know the last time a homebirth midwife, in Australia, was succesfully sued by a client? This statement alone is indicative that you share the position of the government - that homebirth is in some way riskier than hospital birth or birth with a private obstetrician, and that therefore midwives need to be prevented from putting themselves at financial risk. That completely ignores that facts that a) independently practicing midwives are happy to take that financial risk because they are passionate about providing Australian women a safer alternative to birthing in hospitals, and b) that there is any increase in risk, when in fact, if appropriate screening and admission criteria are in place, the opposite is true.
And for those who have chosen to make a career out of providing them.
On a personal note, I wish I could be there marching with you all, but with a brand new baby, I just can't. I'll be with you in spirit.
Last edited by Schmickers; June 21st, 2009 at 07:34 AM.
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ust wondering if anyone will be travelling through xxxx to get to canberra to go? and if they would have room for an adult and toddler? (we can supply our own car seat)
Last edited by kelebek; June 26th, 2009 at 09:16 PM. : see the nsw thread
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sooo if I happen to not agree to everyone else, I cannot contribute my opinion and be a part of the discussion, despite it being what a forum is for?
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