Stop the National Law Amendment Bill

My name is the Suspended Dr William Bay, I am the leader of the Queensland Peoples’ Protest (QPP) and no longer a registered practising QLD-based doctor.

I have been asked by members of our community to outline the reasons why my organisation is visiting and protesting different sites around Queensland. 

QPP has now toured many different locations across QLD as part of our State Undemocracy Tour to bring awareness to residents that their MPs were complicit in the ending of parliamentary democracy on the 31st March 2022 with the amendment to the Public Health Act 2005 under section 362B (Reference No. 1) that gives the Chief Health Officer unreviewable powers to make any directive he believes is necessary as long as it is connected to preventing the spread of Covid-19. The CHO’s powers are absolute with the Supreme Court and the Premier unable to review them. 

These powers are unconstitutional, illegal and immoral because they override all laws and considerations pertaining to due process, human rights, and basic Western freedoms like freedom to transact, speak and move. Consequently, this law cannot be allowed to stand. 

Furthermore, the tyranny in QLD is set to be multiplied with the impending vote on the:

Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 (Reference No. 2) which is before the QLD Parliament now. It is a bill introduced by Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and was reviewed by the Health and Environment Committee headed by Chair, Aaron Harper member for Thuringowa, who disappointingly recommended the bill be passed. 

The committee determined that the key objective of the bill was to strengthen public safety and confidence in the provision of health services.

The legislation’s key reform is to refocus the objectives and guiding principles of the existing National Law to make public safety and confidence paramount considerations.

It is worth noting that If the bill is passed in QLD it automatically applies to all state and territories except WA and SA which must (but will very likely) update their laws.

The threat of this bill is that it seeks to make “public confidence in health services” as the paramount principle of all our healthcare. 

This is a radical departure from the previously well-established and respected principle of patient-centred care.

The RACGP and AMA have expressed concerns over this refocusing of healthcare, and professional indemnity insurance companies like MIGA and the Insurance Council of Australia have agreed that the term ‘public confidence’ lacks a clear definition and scope, and they raised concerns about how courts and tribunals would interpret the term.

The Queensland Peoples’ Protest argues strongly that the passing of this legislation will end the practice of medicine as we know it and will result in the death of informed consent, medical ethics, and the very lives of many Queenslanders and Australians. 

This is because when treatment of patients is not guided by their individual circumstances (medical history, medications, allergies etc.) but by the principle of what makes the Department of Health in each state look most trustworthy; then mistakes and indeed, incorrect treatments of patients is bound to occur. 

Mistakes in medical treatment will inevitably lead to patient deaths, deaths that can and will be directly attributable to the passage of this inherently unconscionable bill. 

The Queensland Peoples’ Protest urges all Queenslanders to write to their state MP and demand the blockage of this bill lest all our medical freedoms are eroded and unimaginable patient harm occurs to you or your loved ones.

Sincerely 

The Suspended Dr William A. Bay

MBBS (Hons.) M.Ed B.Bus Dip.F.S.

Leader of the Queensland Peoples’ Protest

GP Registrar, Brisbane, QLD Australia

References:

1. Public Health Act 2005

https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-2005-048

2. Report No. 21 - 57 Parliament Health and Environment Committee July 2022

https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/tabledpapers/2022/5722T961-D73B.pdf