{"id":5483,"date":"2023-08-24T11:36:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bnaibrith.org.au\/victoria\/?post_type=news&p=5483"},"modified":"2023-10-11T10:33:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T23:33:48","slug":"opportunity-to-influence-government-policy-about-genetic-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.bnaibrith.org.au\/victoria\/news\/opportunity-to-influence-government-policy-about-genetic-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Opportunity to influence government policy about genetic discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support New Laws to ban genetic discrimination of Australians<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Jane Tiller is a friend of B’nai B’rith, having worked with us on a JeneScreen genetic testing event a few years ago. She is committed to the cause of genetic discrimination by life insurance companies. Tiller has advised us that right now is “one of the best chances we have had in many years for a meaningful policy change on the issue of genetic discrimination”<\/strong>, and she has asked us to assist by requesting that you to push hard to help demonstrate the importance of this issue to the community.<\/p>\n

In July, Josh Burns MP (Chair, Parliamentary Human Rights Committee) hosted a round table with Stephen Jones MP\u00ad (Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services) in Melbourne. This was a great opportunity for him to hear directly from some stakeholders and hear some stories of how discrimination has affected people. His office has been very engaged on this issue and have indicated that the more support we can demonstrate from other politicians, patients and the general public, the better.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secondly, Josh Burns has drafted a motion calling for support for the government to consider policy change on the issue of genetic discrimination. This has been selected to be debated in Parliament on 4 September 2023 and the spots to speak to it were filled very quickly this week, indicating the level of interest on this issue in Parliament currently.<\/p>\n

Finally, and to support this work and maintain the momentum Jane and her team have built, they have now launched a mass mail campaign on this issue. She checked with the key MPs and Ministers\u2019 advisers about this, and they said that it is actually a very helpful tool to demonstrate the level of community concern.<\/p>\n

The campaign is hosted on a site called Do Gooder. The link is here: https:\/\/discrimination.good.do\/ban_genetic_discrimination_aus\/<\/strong><\/a> . It is very simple and contains a tool that allows a person to look up their Federal member, customise the template email if they wish, and then send it off.<\/p>\n

In support of this, we now share this campaign with our members, networks, friends and allies. Anyone who is concerned about this issue can write to their Federal member and ask them to support the recommendations made in our report. Don\u2019t forget to complete it yourself! Each person can only send an email once.<\/p>\n

In advance of your support, Jane writes, “Thank you so much for all of your support on this issue. We hope to be able to secure a great policy outcome on this and would not be able to achieve that without your support!”<\/p>\n

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