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Pharmacy trial spreads to skin
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2022 |
‘ I declare all my criminal history to AHPRA ’
Dr Lisa Searle travelled to NSW to challenge the state-run Forestry Corporation , where she was arrested for the 12th time .
Sarah Simpkins
TASMANIAN GP Dr Lisa Searle was arrested last month — her fourth arrest this year and 12th in total .
She had used a metal device to attach herself to the entrance of NSW ’ s state-run Forestry Corporation , based in Sydney , which oversees timber production on public land .
Police cut her free and then charged her with failing to comply with directions .
Dr Searle says she and fellow protesters wanted to send a message to the
Doctors have ‘ a lot of fear ’ around protesting , including losing their registration . corporation and State Government that native forest logging is “ totally unacceptable ” amid an environmental and climate crisis .
“ We need to be protecting every single native forest we have left ; these forests are dwindling , and so many threatened and endangered species are being pushed closer to the brink of extinction ,” she tells Australian Doctor .
So far , Dr Searle has been subject to good behaviour bonds , $ 1000 fines , an order for 49 hours of community service and , in several cases , a ban on returning to the place where she was arrested or associating with other environmental activists .
She says the possible consequences worry her — including losing her medical registration .
“ But for me , the cause is more important . I believe passionately in the power of direct action to effect change . I do not think we have any time left to play with .
“ We are only taking direct action after we have exhausted all other avenues .
“ We write letters ; we do marches in the streets ; we have public meetings ; we lobby politicians ; we continue to try all these different strategies .
“ But at the end of the day , the chainsaws are still chopping down trees , and I do feel the urgency of the situation quite strongly that the planet is dying .” So far , AHPRA seems unbothered . “ I declare every change to my criminal history as I am legally required to do , and so far , I have had no problems ,” she says .
She and her group targeted the Forestry Corporation , claiming it failed to conduct proper surveys for threatened species before logging .
For two weeks , they conducted their own unofficial surveys of NSW forests , looking for traces of the endangered southern greater glider possum .
Regulations require that the gliders ’ nesting trees , known as den trees , are identified and protected with a 50m exclusion zone .
Dr Searle says her team found a greater glider den tree near where logging work had begun in Flat Rock State Forest , near Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast .
“ They really should not have ever gone into that particular forest and started logging operations ,” she says .
So around a week before her most recent arrest , her group protested on a platform suspended about 25m off the ground .
“ I went up a tree , and I was on a platform that was suspended , hanging off all of the logging machines .
“ We spent the night and most of the next day on that platform .
“ The police came in , and search and rescue came in . They dismantled what we had set up , and they arrested me again .”
Shortly after , the NSW Environment
Protection Authority issued the Forestry Corporation with a stop-work order , saying it had found a den tree within 30m of active logging and that the corporation had not conducted detailed and thorough searches .
When asked about the protests and stopwork order , a spokesperson for Forestry Corporation said it was “ committed to protecting the habitat of greater gliders and other threatened species ”.
It added it was “ limiting operations to a proportion of the forested area and retaining large numbers of trees for glider habitat and food sources ”.
As for Dr Searle , she will continue to dedicate six months a year to environmental activism with the Bob Brown Foundation .
For the other six months , she works with
Dr Searle has been subject to good behaviour bonds and fines of up to $ 1000 .
Médecins Sans Frontières — most recently in Ukraine and Haiti .
She says doctors have a “ lot of fear ” around protesting , including for their medical registration under AHPRA . But she is still urging them to join her . “ The fact is that this is peaceful , non-violent protesting , and I am standing up for the planet ,” she says .
“ I do believe that humans cannot be healthy if our climate is not healthy , so I am doing this for humans as much as I am doing it for the threatened and endangered species and the forests .
“ I think we as health practitioners , we have a responsibility to stand up to make sure that this planet remains inhabitable for all of the people who live on it .”
A big thankyou , from AusDoc
THIS is the last print edition for the year .
I want to take the opportunity on behalf of the editorial team to thank you all for your support .
There is a hidden collective that makes any successful publication possible — and that is true of us more than anyone .
Our collective covers the large number of clinical experts and medical researchers who give their time to ensure we are informed and precise in what we report .
It covers those doctors who share
their own experiences — the good , bad and confronting — to show what is happening in the wider world .
And it also covers all our regular opinion writers and clinical contributors .
I do recognise that Australian Doctor has privileged access to the profession .
It has been a difficult year on many levels , global and local .
As such , I would like to wish you all a safe and genuinely happy summer break with your friends and families .
Paul Smith , editor
Pharmacy trial spreads to skin
Sarah Simpkins THE NSW Government has confirmed its pharmacy trial will be expanded to allow pharmacists to prescribe treatments for four skin conditions , including shingles .
It is a green light for the pharmacists who sign up to provide first-line medicines for the management of “ straightforward ” herpes zoster for patients aged over 18 , as well as impetigo .
They will also be free to prescribe topical treatments for dermatitis and mild plaque psoriasis .
The skin condition component of the trial will run for 12 months and is scheduled to start in March next year , pending ethics approval .
The trial ’ s chief investigator , Dr Sarah Dineen-Griffin ( PhD ,) says the details of the medications are still being worked through .
Since launching in August , the trial has grown to cover around 1100 pharmacies — 60 % of pharmacies in the state — with pharmacists offering antibiotics for UTIs and repeat scripts for oral contraceptives .