from YAPRap February 2007
by Luke Bo'sher, Policy Officer, Youth Coalition of the ACT
In just one day, we have seen the Howard Government extend their protection of children and young people through the Convention on the Rights of the Child while simultaneously being exposed as having removed the right to health care access.
Less than one day after the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission applauded the Australia Government for ratifying two Optional Protocols on the Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect young people from involvement in armed conflict and from sexual exploitation, the Australia Medical Association have highlighted the Howard Government's attempt to stifle young people's basic access to medical services.
The attempt by the government to use the Access Card* legislation as a means to remove young people's right to have their own Medicare Card as a matter of course constructs yet another barrier that will prevent many young people from accessing vital health services - particularly sexual health, mental health and alcohol and other drug services which rely on Medicare Cards.
We have spent the last decade promoting and destigmatising these health services for young people and in one move, the Howard Government will have undone so much of this work by not allowing young people to access these services confidentially.
We know that young people need to use mental health services and sexual health services and they often do not want their parents to know about it for one reason or another. As a community, we have accepted this in Australia and for that purpose have allowed 16-18 year olds have their own Medicare Card.
Yet for no apparent reason, the Howard Government has determined that this should no longer be the case - at least not without the direct approval of the Minister or the Secretary of the Department of Human Services to allow young people to get their own Access Card.
These bureaucratic restrictions are foolish and arbitrary. Anyone who has worked with young people knows how important confidentiality and privacy is for them. We also know that without the ability to access health care services individually, many young people will simply not to access health services at all.
The issue of access to basic health care for all 16-18 year olds is just one of the issues this arbitrary decision will impact on. What about the importance of the Medicare Card as a proof of identity for young people who are less likely to have a drivers' licence nor passport than the rest of the population? What about young people who live away from home? What about the impact of increased bureaucratic paperwork and red tape for all young people who received concession cards from Centrelink when they are students?
Reducing young people's access to health care services is not only poor policy but directly contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Australia is a signatory. The Convention specifically states under Article 24 of the Convention that government must "ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to health care services".
At the same time as the Australian Government increases its commitment to this Convention by signing two optional protocols, it is proposing changes that directly contravene other sections of this Convention.
It is clear that one of two things has occurred when this legislation has been drafted. Either the government has put it together in such a rushed and on the run manner that they haven't considered the impact this will have on young people, or secondly, that young people are not important.
Given that this government has defunded the national peak body for youth affairs, downgraded and then abolished the Minister for Youth Affairs, halved the size of the only consultation mechanism they have with young people, abolished their Indigenous youth consultation body and restricted young people's ability to sign onto the electoral roll, it is difficult to suggest this change is for any other reason than this government has abandoned any commitment it ever had to young people in this country.
The Howard Government needs to retract these changes and reduce the minimum age for Access Cards to 16 years of age to bring it in line with the current arrangements for Medicare Cards. Failing to do so will deter thousands of young people around the country from accessing basic health care services and will seriously undermine our commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
*What is the access card?
[Source: www.humanservices.gov.au/access Feb 2007 - link no longer current]
The health and social services access card uses smart card technology to improve the access to-and delivery of-health and social services benefits for Australians. It replaces 17 health and social services cards, including the Medicare card, health care cards and veteran cards.
What's on it?
The access card will have limited cardholder information on it:
- the front will have the cardholder's name and photograph
- the back will have the cardholder's signature and card number.
Personal information such as address, date of birth, concession status and details of any children or other dependants will be stored in the card's chip. This information will only be accessible by the cardholder and other authorised people.
If the cardholder chooses, they could also use the card to store information such as emergency contact details, allergies, health alerts, chronic illnesses, immunisation information or organ donor status.
When will I get one?
The access card will be phased in over a two year registration period beginning in 2008. From early 2010, people will only be able to obtain government health and social services benefits if they have an access card.
