Sydney Health Law

Author: rogermagnusson

  • Vaccine mandates webinar

    On 9 December, the Parsons Centre for Law & Business, together with Corrs Chambers Westgarth, convened a seminar entitled Vaccine mandates and public health orders: legal and ethical issues for business. The seminar reviews the emergence of vaccine mandates in public health orders in NSW, and vaccine mandates imposed by businesses and other organisations from…

  • Religious discrimination in Australian health law: hype or reality?

    Queensland has passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021. I’m disappointed in Queensland’s Parliament, not for passing assisted dying legislation, but for consciously trampling over the religious beliefs of Catholic and other religious healthcare organisations. Catholic hospitals are right to be aggrieved.  It’s entirely predictable that church institutions are now considering civil disobedience. (See “Catholic…

  • A triumph for religious freedom, or viral spreading? The US Supreme Court in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v Cuomo

    During his Presidency, President Trump had the opportunity to appoint three new Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2017, the acerbic conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch replaced Justice Antonin Scalia; In 2018, Justice Brett Kavanaugh replaced retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy; and In 2020, Justice Amy Coney Barrett replaced Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. These three appointments…

  • The tricky business of Covid-19 reviews & origins investigations

    Dr Dominic Dwyer, Australia’s member of the WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2, won’t remember me, but he was generous and helpful when I interviewed him as a PhD student in the early 1990s. His more recent comments to the media illustrate the challenges of attempting to investigate the origins of SARS-CoV-2 as…

  • Reckless, incompetent, outrageous: rogue doctors performing cosmetic surgery still a problem in NSW

    A previous post briefly reviewed the regulation of cosmetic surgery in New South Wales.  This post reviews the decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Health Care Complaints Commission v Blackstock. Professional disciplinary complaints in NSW First, some background.  In NSW, professional disciplinary complaints against a medical practitioner can be made on a…

  • Improving safety for patients undergoing cosmetic surgery in NSW

    If you’ve ever had work done, or thought about it, the decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Health Care Complains Commission v Blackstock should send a shiver down your spine. This case is a powerful reminder of how behaviour that constitutes professional misconduct can give rise to professional sanctions, criminal liability, and…

  • Freedom to protest, public health, and Covid-19

    Update: the podcast of the event described below is now available, click here. Recently, a number of protests have taken place on the grounds of The University of Sydney against Commonwealth government education policies.  See, for example, here (28 August) and here (14 October). During the latter protest, police were filmed throwing a demonstrator heavily onto…

  • Rule of law in the Covid-19 response

    The International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) has released a short publication that highlights the role of law in governments’ response to Covid-19.  See here. Established by international treaty in 1988, IDLO is an inter-governmental organisation devoted to upholding the rule of law.  Australia, and the United States, are among its 37 member parties, which span…

  • Vaping: the madness of the British?

    Vaping: the madness of the British?

    My google search engine thinks Public Health England (PHE) is a vaping organisation. “Vaping organisation UK”.  You can try it yourself. E-cigarettes lie at the centre of PHE’s tobacco control strategy, probably drawing attention and commitment away from alternative strategies for reducing smoking rates. In September 2017, PHE encouraged smokers to “stop smoking with an…

  • Post Covid: alcohol and the night time economy in the Sydney CBD

    Sydney’s CBD has been bleak and empty the past few months, especially at night, but coronavirus restrictions in NSW are slowly easing. From 1 June, pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants can seat up to 50 customers (instead of the previous 10), provided businesses ensure social distancing of one person per 4 square metres, and no…

  • Who’s in control of Australia’s response to coronavirus? Part 2: Operational responses

    For part 1 of this post, click here. One reason why there is a measure of confusion about operational control during an outbreak of disease with pandemic potential is because of the different functions and responsibilities of the Commonwealth, and the States within a federation. For example, even if the (modest) number of cases meant…

  • Who’s in control of Australia’s response to coronavirus? Part 1: Legal frameworks

    The situation in Australia with human coronavirus is deteriorating. 454 cases so far, and 5 deaths, but cases are rising rapidly.  See here for updates. Globally: 6,800 deaths and rising. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer – Australia’s Director of Human Biosecurity – has advised the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that gatherings of more than 500…

  • Despite industry objections, alcohol and pregnancy warnings will be mandatory in Australia and New Zealand

    The food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has finalised the form of the alcohol and pregnancy warning label that will be mandatory on packaged alcohol sold in both countries. Assuming the States do not request a further review, the new warning will be added as an amendment to Standard 1.2.7 of the Food…

  • Legal management of the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Australia

    On 31 January the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), following the advice of the Emergency Committee.  (See here). Under the International Health Regulations, which govern global management of infectious disease outbreaks, a declaration that a PHEIC exists…

  • Australia and the language of fire

    There are currently 100 fires burning across New South Wales.  Fifty of them are uncontained, as the weather swings between baking hot, and blustery southerlies. Here in Sydney, the sky looks yellow.  Soot is washing up on Sydney beaches, and clouds of dust are turning New Zealand glaciers pink. According to the Bureau of Meteorology…

  • International Guidelines on Human Rights, Healthy Diets and Sustainable Food Systems: could they make a difference?

    The BMJ has published an Opinion calling on the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr Michelle Bachelet, to jointly initiate a process to develop International Guidelines on Human Rights, Healthy Diets, and Sustainable Food Systems. 180 signatories from 38 countries have supported…

  • Smoke-free streets and lanes: a growing headache for big tobacco?

    Smoke-free Melbourne? One of Melbourne’s quintessential experiences is to stroll its laneways, many lined with restaurants.  Smoking here would spoil things for everyone. In 2014, Causeway Lane, a small restaurant strip running between Bourke Street Mall and Little Collins Street, went smokefree. You can read reactions to this smoke-free pilot here. Three more laneways were…

  • Breastfeeding rooms in US federal buildings: who would have thought?!

    Last year the US watered down a resolution of the World Health Assembly that would have called on States to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding”, and to provide technical support to “halt inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children”. A step too far, apparently, given the economic interests of US-domiciled formula companies. See…

  • Abortion law reform and conscientious objectors in NSW

    New South Wales is on the cusp of reforming its decades-old abortion laws. Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 which passed the State’s Legislative Assembly last week abolishes the triumvirate of criminal offences for abortion in the Crimes Act 1900 (ss 82-84), together with any residual common law liability for performing an abortion. It creates…

  • Infrastructure…non-communicable diseases: Australia’s pivot to the Pacific islands an opportunity to take Pacific health priorities seriously

    Barely 100 metres from Australia’s High Commission in Nukoalofa, Tonga, lies this plaque – erected by the People’s Republic of China. In 2012, China upgraded a small section of road in the Tongan capital, installing drains beside the sidewalk in a town prone to flooding. Close by, in other parts of the town, rain collects…