SA Footy

Gozu wrote:Joe The Plumber

BUYER beware. There’s some old stuff masquerading as some new stuff on the Australian political market. And it’s just fluked its way out of obscurity.

In a twist of electoral dumb luck, the ironically renamed Health Australia Party (HAP) has won the first column on the NSW senate ballot paper.

In reality, the HAP is merely a rebadged and reimagined version of the Natural Medicine Party (NMP) – and its renaming is misleading in the extreme.

The HAP could accidentally get over the line by duping voters who think they’re voting for good health policy. This should be a major concern to evidence-based health professionals and the Australian public alike. In politics, perception is everything and so the rebadging of the NMP is the key here.

With the rebadge – they hope – comes legitimacy in a space where they have none.

Delving into HAP policies reveals crucial misunderstandings.

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But chronic diseases aren’t the only area where the HAP is misguided and misinformed.

They’d also like to get rid of water fluoridation. They don’t see a benefit in a public health measure shown to significantly reduce rates of dental decay and improve dental health – one that has also been shown to have no demonstrable negative effects despite repeated and thorough investigations looking for them.

No, the HAP doesn’t like it because they believe fluoride is toxic and causes health effects. No matter what the evidence says. That’s not science. That’s not a good way to make policy.

Similarly, if the HAP had their way they’d repeal the Commonwealth’s No Jab, No Pay legislation. This is the legislation that means that unless a child is fully vaccinated – or a plan is in place to catch up on missed vaccines – parents are ineligible for certain government payments. It’s not forced vaccination and it doesn’t remove choice. It is good policy that demonstrates the importance of childhood vaccination and provides consequences for opting out.

Legislation like No Jab, No Pay is part of the reason why Australia enjoys one of the lowest rates of endemic vaccine preventable illnesses and has a vaccine program that is the envy of the developed world. Getting rid of it would be a backward step.

The HAP’s policies are fundamentally preoccupied with seeing ineffective therapies, including homeopathy and naturopathy, on an equal footing to evidence-based medical practice in Australia’s health policy. In the eyes of Medicare this includes, presumably, valuing homeopathic vaccines as equivalent to the ones that actually work. That is not the way to keep Medicare sustainable.

vondes wrote:Thinking of "party politics", and the whole thing, I have a problem voting for Jamie Briggs despite being a Liberal Party member.
I may have to check out the Xenophon candidate.

vondes wrote:Thinking of "party politics", and the whole thing, I have a problem voting for Jamie Briggs despite being a Liberal Party member.
I may have to check out the Xenophon candidate.