Category: Australia

Project Advisor Iain Benson honoured

News Release

Protection of Conscience Project

Project Advisor Professor Iain T. Benson has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales (FRSN).

A Fellow is someone “ who has made outstanding achievements in one or more of academia, industry, government, public administration, culture or civil society, is held in high professional standing or has made a significant contribution to the welfare and well-being of Australia.” The Society describes him as “an internationally recognized barrister, teacher and writer on legal philosophy.”

The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society that traces its origins to the Philosophical Society of Australasia formed in 1821, with its purpose to ‘awaken a spirit of research or excite a thirst for information.’ That sentiment that is alive today through the mission of enriching lives through knowledge and inquiry, principally through public, interdisciplinary discussions and debates of important matters in the sciences and humanities.

Contact: Sean Murphy, Administrator
Email: protection@consciencelaws.org

Push for conscientious objection ruled out

The Advocate

Adam Holmes

Tasmanians will not be able to claim “conscientious objector” status should they require a mandatory vaccination for work in healthcare settings, Premier Peter Gutwein has confirmed. . . continue reading

Catholic doctors cannot refuse COVID-19 vaccines on moral or religious grounds in Tasmania

The Examiner

Isabel Bird

Conservative catholic doctors, nurses and other health workers who oppose mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations on moral or “conscience grounds” will not be allowed to refuse the vaccine in Tasmania.

The state government, and other jurisdictions, are making vaccinations mandatory for all health workers in the public and private healthcare systems, leading the Catholic Medical Association of Australia (CMAA) to call for the right to a “conscientious objection to vaccination”.

The association says vaccines can be rejected on moral grounds, and because of a lack of research, testing and knowledge about future side effects, but this in comparison to the views of Catholic Church head Pope Francis who has urged people to get vaccinated, saying that vaccines “bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all”. . . . continue reading

Bill Undermines Conscientious Objection to VAD

CQ Today

Duncan Evans

Conscientious objection to voluntary assisted dying (VAD) may not be an option for Queenslanders if the state government’s bill to legalise VAD is passed in its present form, a leading healthcare provider has warned.

In a media statement released last week, Mater Board Chair Francis Sullivan AO said the proposed legislation would force Mater to allow assisted dying to take place at its facilities in direct contradiction to the moral ethos upon which the healthcare provider delivers patient care to Queenslanders.

“The proposed law will also compel Mater and other not-for-profit providers to allow doctors who are not known to our hospitals to enter our facilities to administer lethal doses to our patients,” Mr Sullivan said. . . . continue reading

Tasmania third state to approve euthanasia

The Canberra Times

Australian Associated Press

Tasmania will become the third Australian jurisdiction to legalise voluntary assisted dying after the legislation passed the state’s upper house.

Legislative Council members supported the End of Life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill late on Tuesday night, approving amendments from the lower house.

The lower house had backed the bill in a 16-6 vote in early March, with Premier Peter Gutwein among a handful of Liberals to support it.

The upper house, where the legislation was introduced by Independent Mike Gaffney, had already passed the bill unanimously late last year. . . continue reading