John Madigan (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to contribute to today's debate on the Turnbull government's lack of courage on matters of importance to everyday Australians. Yesterday, with Senator Xenophon, I co-sponsored a motion that called for an inquiry into bullying within the Australian medical profession. This motion was passed by the Senate, and I applaud Senator Xenophon for his work on this important issue.

I was pleased to stand beside him because of the actions of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency against the small number of doctors who are treating patients in Australia presenting with Lyme disease—or, as referred to in this place, a Lyme-like illness. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Baggoley told the Senate hearing last year that the Department of Health and the Medical Board of Australia did not support a policy of warning off doctors from treating patients with suspected Lyme disease. Professor Baggoley said AHPRA did not have an official position on Lyme disease, and it was not its role to adjudicate treatment of the condition.

But this is not true. Seven doctors treating patients for Lyme disease have been or are currently being bullied and harassed out of their profession. Camberwell doctor Geoffrey Kemp, a GP of more than 40 years experience, has treated more than 350 patients for Lyme symptoms and is now unable to continue because of severe—some would say outrageous—restrictions on his practice. These include being only allowed to work in a group practice approved in advance by the Medical Board of Australia, not using homeopathic medicine, not practising without a workplace supervisor who is approved in advance by the board and submitting to a fortnightly audit of his patients' files. AHPRA's campaign against Dr Kemp commenced mid last year but reached a climax in December with a formal hearing at the disruptive time of just before the Christmas holiday break.

I call on the Minister for Health, Sussan Ley, to rein in her AHPRA attack dog. I call on the government to insist that AHPRA immediately stop targeting doctors treating patients with Lyme disease. This campaign of harassment and bullying is creating medical refugees out of thousands of sick Australians who now cannot obtain treatment or who must go overseas to do so. I put on the record my enthusiasm for the forthcoming Senate inquiries into both the prevalence of Lyme-like illness in Australia and bullying in the medical profession.