Sydney Health Law

Tag: medical ethics

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Accessing assisted dying in Victoria: how will it happen, exactly?

    Last November, Victoria passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, becoming the first Australian State to legalise assisted dying. The Act comes into force on 19 June 2019. How will a person lawfully use the Act?  This post provides a brief walk through the procedure established by the Act. This is not the first time Victoria…

  • Abortion law reform on the horizon in NSW and Queensland

    Contrary to popular belief, abortion is not available “on demand” in NSW. The Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) contains three criminal offences relating to abortion. Section 83 creates an offence for unlawfully administering a drug or using any instrument or other means to procure a woman’s miscarriage, Section 82 creates an offence for a woman to…

  • Muzzling health and welfare professionals in the name of national security: Australia’s Border Force Act 2015

    Muzzling health and welfare professionals in the name of national security: Australia’s Border Force Act 2015

    As law professors employed by one of Australia’s oldest law schools, we live and breathe law, and care about the rule of law. Frankly, however, we don’t care about it enough to stand by while government tries to muzzle dedicated professionals working in difficult conditions to protect the safety and dignity of children.