THE WHITE-ANTING OF MEDICARE BEGINS - TAKE CARE HOW YOU GO & MIND THAT STEP. MEDICARE MIGHT NOT BE THERE TO CATCH YOU! AND YOUR JOB & YOUR DATA MIGHT HAVE GONE OVERSEAS

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PLAN FOR MEDICARE SELL OFF 

AN UTTER DISGRACE

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Labor is deeply alarmed at the Turnbull Liberals’ plan to sell off Medicare services which could jeopardise the patient data of every Australian and the jobs of 1400 staff at centres all around the country.

“First the Liberals tried to kill Medicare, now they’re trying to sell it,” said Shadow Health Minister Catherine King.

“We are hugely concerned the Government has highly progressed plans to privatise the delivery of vital government services like Medicare.

“This idea, from the failed Commission of Audit Report, would mean that these important functions would be being delivered for profit, not with the best interests of patients in mind.”

Shadow Minister for Human Services Doug Cameron said its critical private health details stay in Australia.

“This is a disgrace. This is lazy policy from the Liberals. Nowhere else in the world are these services privatised.

“We have seen the results of government incompetence on call wait times and its lax approach to Medicare fraud.”

“Once again the government see the services most important to Australians are just a source for savings.

“Human Services Minister Stuart Robert has been too busy looking after himself and his mates.

“We need a new Minister for Human Services who’s focused on his day job, not looking after Liberal Party donors, to clean up this mess.”

So far, the Abbott-Turnbull Government has failed to ensure that the Department of Human Services recommendations of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report into the integrity of Medicare Customer Data. If the Medicare payments processing arm of DHS is sold off to multinational corporations, the integrity of patient data and personal records is under further threat.

(DHS) has complied with all

Recent revelations that the Australian Tax Office has been sending work to The Philippines has also rung alarms that private data is at risk.

Answers to Senate estimates questions reveal that as well as risking citizens’ data, hundreds of jobs could be sent off shore.

There are 15 key locations that undertake Medicare payment processing. The closure of these offices would have adverse consequences on the local communities. Labor opposes the sell-off of Medicare, beginning with the sell-off of the Medicare payments system.

GO HERE FOR MORE ON THIS ISSUE

Reforming NDIS : Online Consultation - First Round : Revolutionising Disability Services : Reforming Mental Health : Breaking the Inertia in Reform

National Reform Series 2016 | Civil Society Australia Reforming NDIS: Fulfilling the Promise to Revolutionise Disability Services       Online Consultation - First Round   What Do You Think? The following are proposals for reform of NDIS. There are twelve (12) proposals on which comments are invited. We want to know what you think. Our aim is to receive comments on these proposals so that refined proposals can be presented to the National Conference on Reforming NDIS on 21 March 2016.  1      Participants' Plans  2      Participant-Controlled Information Tool  3       Local Area Circles and Networks  4      Registered Providers of Supports  5      Monitoring and Protection of Self-Direction  6       NDIS Board and Advisory Council  7      Election of 50% of NDIS Board by Participants  8      Control of Management and Administration Costs  9      Participant-Driven Employment Assistance  10    Small /Micro-Business Development Grant  11    Family Support Entitlement  12    Advocacy Voucher for every NDIS ParticipantIf you have suggestions for reform of NDIS and its operations, processes and culture, you have until the end of January 2016 to send them in.  CLICK HERE to submit a proposal. People with disabilities, families, friends, support organisations, community groups, services and policy makers are invited to contribute to this people-driven process to ensure NDIS delivers on the promise to Revolutionise Disability Services. Reforming NDIS: Process and Timeline 1 December 2015 - 31 January 2016 Submit your suggestions and proposals for reform of NDIS. Proposals will be distributed  for consideration. Participants consider various suggestions and proposals for reform, and offer their assessments. 1 February - 21 March 2016 Refinement of proposals based on participant feedback. 21 March 2016 Conference participants assess proposals for NDIS Reform and establish mechanisms for driving an ongoing reform process. CLICK HERE to register your interest in participating in this process.  CLICK HERE to submit a suggestion or proposal for reform.  CLICK HERE to read the submitted proposals and add your comments.  CLICK HERE to register for the 21 March 2016 national conference.

Two Days in March 2016This process and conference on Monday 21 March 2016 forms part of a series of reform events hosted by Civil Society Australia in 2016. Two events will be held in March 2016. Participants may attend one or both of these as they wish. Monday 21 March 2016  Reforming NDIS Revolutionising Disability Services Tuesday 22 March 2016  Reforming Mental Health Breaking the Inertia in Reform CLICK HERE for further information. Venue The Angliss Conference Centre is located in the Melbourne CBD, on the corner of LaTrobe and King Streets, on the fifth floor. It is close to train and tram services. Flagstaff railway station is one block away in LaTrobe St, and Southern Cross station is three blocks away in Spencer St. Trams 23, 24, 30, 34, and City Circle run along LaTrobe Street. There are numerous accommodation options close by, to suit all budgets. Start and Finish Times Both events begin at 9.15am, finishing at 5.00pm.  CLICK HERE to register for one or both of these events.  Further Information CLICK HERE for further information. CLICK HERE for Civil Society Australia website.

Civil Society Australia.

Anti-vaccination campaigners. Do they have a Taliban mentality?

I am tired of the unreasonable trendiness of the anti-vaccination campaigners who think that if they and their children live a healthy lifestyle then a disease like polio, which can be avoided by vaccination, will not affect them.

These unreasonable people do not, in the main, acknowledge that they are beneficiaries of "herd immunity" or what is now referred to as "community immunity".  They are on a level with the clerics in the north-wesgtern tribal areas of Pakistan where there are strong links to the Taliban which organisation has worked, and worked violently, to keep vaccinators out of the areas that they control.

Would the trendy anti-vaccination campaigners ever go as far as depriving communities of vaccination against polio and other highly infectious diseases that maim and/or kill? It is not beyond the realm of possibility - if they were assured they had the numbers.

What also irks is that they show a disdainful ignorance for the history of polio, particularly of those people still alive who contracted polio in the 1950s - those who have been crippled since childhood; those who have lived long enough to be affected by post-polio symptoms and illness.

For those who are anti-vaccination, I suggest watching the movie below.  It portrays what happens to one family who find themselves in the middle of an outbreak of diphteria.

Post-polio Australia

First: Turn Back The Boats. Now: Turn Back Australian Ebola Patients

Anyone would think that the Abbott Government was entering the gymnastics section of the next Olympics. Another backflip after much criticism!  It seems the government is now supporting Australians anxious to help those stricken by the ebola virus in West Africa. Let's take a look at how it seems they might have arrived at this peculiar stance:

To begin with a small remembrance of the history of Michael Wooldridge.  It is assumed that this is the authorised and sanitised version.  Then this is some of the murkier history from 1999.  Lots of schmoozing encompassed by this article, it would seem!

And now back to the present day and the FeF - the Federal ebola Flip.  

The Abbott Government is still rejecting calls to send in military personnel.  And - surprise, surprise - the government has opted for an external contractor - Aspen Medical.  And - surprise, surprise - who sits on the board of Aspen?  None other than the man of murkiness, Michael Wooldridge.  There's more about the Aspen ebola fight here.  Is the government able to get mates' rates for us on this deal?

And now we not only have "Turn Back the Boats", we have a new policy of "Turn Back Suspected Australian Ebola Victims".  If Australians working with ebola patients in West Africa are suspected of contracting ebola, they will not return to Australia.  Australians will be treated in the UK.  The UK deal has come after rejecting a previous offer from the European Union. Could this possibly be another example of the Abbott Govt's preference for the right to be a bigot? How could non-English speaking people be expected to adequately treat Australian cases of ebola?

For more, please go here.

Sanitation and hygiene - not just a health issue but an issue about women's inequallity #Blogaction14, #Inequality, #Oct16, #Ballarat

We, in supposedly comfortable Australia,

often forget that what we regard as "the basics" 

are not always available everywhere.

Sanitation is not only a matter of health and hygiene,

it is also a women's issue of great importance.

Some women on this planet, because of culture and poverty,

 can only "go"under cover of darkness to a communal dump.

Sanitation is an issue in Australia too -

for many Aboriginal communities in remote Australia.

Please update your knowledge at the links below.

Please consider.

Water and sanitation are human rights for women and girls

Women, safe water and sanitation

...and the situation in Australia?

Sanitation in Australian Aboriginal communities

 Indigenous Plumbing & Sanitation Foundation

This post is being cross posted at Advocacy for Blog Action Day 2014

Morwell - in our midst, a portent of what may yet come to many places and peoples.

CommunityRun.org

http://goo.gl/8yPdel

It's taken 45 days for the fire raging through Hazelwood Mine's open-cut brown coal fields to be declared "safe". But that's 45 days too many for Morwell residents who've been breathing air full of carbon monoxide, carcinogens and other toxic fumes.

Now the whole town is suffering. Men, women and children complain of headaches, bleeding noses and bloody eyes, coughing, breathing difficulties, insomnia, lethargy, skin irritations, throat, eye and ear infections, depression, agitation and anxiety. The list goes on.

Community worker Tracie talks to Morwell residents every day about what effect the toxic air is having on their physical and mental health. That's why, this week, she decided to start a campaign on CommunityRun calling for an inquiry into the health impacts of the fire on the people of Morwell.

Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Rosemary Lester, is already considering an inquiry into the long-term health effects on the town's residents but hasn't made up her mind if it's in the best interest of the community.

A public outcry right now could help her make up her mind and end the uncertainty felt by Morwell's 14,000 residents.

Help bring Tracie's campaign to Ms Lester's attention by signing the petition now.

"We're calling for an inquiry because there's no existing health information about this. Unless an inquiry happens now, Morwell residents won't get the health information they need to prepare themselves for any long-term effects of the Hazelwood mine fire." - Tracie, community worker in Morwell

When Tracie speaks with Morwell residents, she hears the same questions every time: Am I going to get sicker? Is something bad going to happen? Will my kids be alright? Am I going to be around to see them grow up?

Tracie knows it isn't the symptoms Morwell residents are suffering from right now that worry them most. Their biggest fear is about the long-term health problems they don't yet know about and the future health of their families.

This week Tracie's going door-knocking and flyering shop windows around Morwell to get the message out about her campaign. But to get the number of signatures she needs to put pressure on Ms Lester to announce an inquiry, Tracie needs our help too.

Can you let Tracie know she has your support? 

Click here to sign Tracie's petition now

Tracie's fighting hard for an inquiry because she knows it means the difference between Morwell residents living in fear about what's to come or having the ability to move on from this tragedy and regain control of their lives.

Thanks for your support,

Emma and Michael, for CommunityRun.org

PS - CommunityRun is a tool built and powered by GetUp that allows any person to start, run and deliver their own campaign on the issue they care about. To learn more about CommunityRun or start your own campaign visit http://www.communityrun.org

---

CommunityRun is a new online organisation that lets anyone start, run and win their own campaigns. It receives no political party or government funding and is not affiliated with any political party. If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.communityrun.org. To unsubscribe from CommunityRun updates, please click here or visit http://www.getup.org.au/unsubscribe?cr=true. To unsubscribe from individual CommunityRun campaigns, please visit www.communityrun.org. Authorised by Sam Mclean, Level 2, 104 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. 

Modern ministers for health in the Liberal Party are no friends of families or of Medicare.

Couldn't be at yesterday's

Save Medicare Rally in Melbourne ?

Get a cuppa, sit back, put your feet up ...

and Miss Eagle will make you feel as if you were there.

The ABC News has a done a quite reasonable story

on the rally and the issue.

Then there is this YouTube item

There's a Flickr photostream here

Miss Eagle's rally photos are here

Ian Hall's photo of the march are here.

The march went from the State Library

to the premises of the Business Council of Australia.

The Abbott Government's Commission of Audit

and other elements of the Medicare proposal

have involvement from members of the BCA. 

The research - which is recommending co-payments

for GP visits now fully funded by Medicare - 

has been done by Terry Barnes, an adviser to Tony Abbott,

when he was Health Minister in the Howard Government.

The research was commissioned and funded by the 

Australian Centre for Health Research.

When you visit the last link,

click on the 'About Us' tab on the silver ribbon at the top.

Then go to the side-bar and click on 'Board of Directors'.

Please note who these directors are.

Not one of them could remotely be considered as

a consumer advocate or representative.

ACHR has tried to make itself look as if it is

broad-based or non-political

with the inclusion of 'Labor man' Neil Batt. 

A look at Batt's background should make clear

that he is hardly and working-class man.

An this is certainly the case for the others.

You also might note that the name

Australian Unity has more than a mention.

Australian Unity is a major health insurance fund.

Their self-interest is self-evident.

Should, dear reader, you have health insurance

with Australian Unity you must think upon the 

fact that in giving AU your business, you

are contributing to the downfall of Medicare.

So let's look at the pedigree of this proposal.

There is a Commission of Audit established by Tony Abbott.

It is comprised of members of the Business Council of Australia

(who, it can be assumed, either have the top rank of health insurance

or can afford to pay for their own health services)

and, almost certainly, each are paid up members of the Liberal Party of Australia.

If for some sort of reason, such as a career which requires them to parade

as impartial, I feel confident in guessing that

 they frequent Liberal Party events and people.

The research has been done by a former Liberal Party policy adviser,

Terry Barnes.

Abbott was not the first Liberal Health Minister that Terry Barnes served.

He also worked for Michael Wooldridge.

I don't want to query Barnes's ethics but many have questioned those

of Michael Wooldridge.

Added to the Wikipedia entry, you can read about the MRI scandal

here, here, and here.

All this sort of muck did eventually mean that Wooldridge 

wore out his welcome.

One is left to wonder where Barnes was in all this?

Did he prove to be a gun for hire way back then,

as he clearly is now?

So the background for the Medicare co-payment is indeed circular.

It is an expose, as well, of how some people build their careers

and establish their finances.

It is well to always take heed of Adam Smith.

As he said in his seminal work -

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations - 

People of the same trade seldom meet together, 

even for merriment and diversion, 

but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, 

or in some contrivance to raise prices.

I would also add 

"or in some way to influence and collude with government".

From Wooldridge to Abbott to Dutton
there is no reason to feel comforted
that Liberal Party Ministers of Health
will act in the best interests of Australian families.

CAMPAIGN TO SAVE OUR MEDICARE: Keep health care free and universal for all Australians

The Abbott Government threatens to re-introduce 

a $5 fee for every visit to the doctor.

This policy will unfairly target

those in our community who make frequent visits

to their doctor:

the elderly, the poor, expecting Mums, families with kids.

For years, Medicare has been an Australian institution.

Medicare is the envy of the world.

It provides free and universal health care.

This great and useful policy is now under threat.

Here's how you can help:

- Let your friends and your family know that these changes are unfair.

- Share this post to support the campaign to keep Medicare working for ALL Australians. 

- Tell Health Minister Peter Dutton how you feel by emailing him at

 Peter.Dutton.MP@aph.gov.au 

OR 

on his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/peterduttonmp

Let's send a message to the AustralianGovernment: 

Keep health care free 

and universal for all Australians.

Don't want to see Maccas at Tecoma - get your voice heard to-morrow on 3CR at Collingwood

Have received the following from Marg of Health Achievers~~~~

http://www.3cr.org.au/anarchistworld 

Above link is audio recordings of Dr. Joe's Weekly News Program 

every Wednesday 10.am to 11.am  for your convenience. 

After announcements, his presentation begins at 2.30minute. 

This Wednesday (24/7/13)  and you can now listen to previous recordings.

His other radio program is "Talk Back with Attitude" every Thursday 

between 9.30am - 10.30 -  Tel: 9419-0155.  

People can call and discuss issues of interest.

On today's Wednesday program Dr. Joe announced that:

On Thursday 1st August 2013 - 9.30am - 10.30am 

Dr. Joe will broadcast the 

" Talk Back with Attitude" program

in front of

Head Office, McDonalds

Crn 2 Smith Street and Victoria Parade, Collingwood.

If you DO NOT AGREE with McDonalds 

having an outlet in beautiful Tecoma in the Dandenongs,

and 

if you want to show support 

PLEASE ATTEND AND VOICE YOUR WILL 

THAT WE ARE IN AGREEMENT 

WITH THE PEOPLE IN TECOMA STATING "McOFF" !!

Joe informs us today that protesters are threatened 

with heavy fines and there are "8" injunctions 

placed on some protesters.  

 McDonalds is threatening to move for compensation 

from the protesters for "delays caused" 

as a result of the ongoing protest. 

This is assisted by the "Courts". 

The consequences of these "court injunctions" 

on community people is enormous.  

Another example: 

if people do not want

 a radio active waste dump, uranium mine or a coal seam gas project 

near their property they may be sued 

for loss of income by corporations?

GIVE YOUR SUPPORT TO SHOW 

THAT CORPORATIONS DO NOT RULE!

HOPEFULLY,  TECOMA PEOPLE BEGIN THE PROCESS 

OF A  "PEOPLE'S MANDATE" 

AS EVIDENCE THAT THE

MAJORITY OF THE COMMUNITY 

REJECTS MCDONALDS IN TECOMA.

Pleases notice the television host plugs McDonalds

because his child received employment experience.

Unbelievable!

What I say:

the majority ingredients in the food is not fit for healthy human consumption.

Do your own research.

"A health achiever - I regularly visit Tecoma - 

the "stench of this junk food outlet will interfere with the fresh air!!"

To the best of my ability I boycott unethical products.

That is my Motto!"