Volume 214 - Issue 8
Queensland’s new Human Rights Act and the right to access health services
Authors: Michael Levy and Daniel Mogg
Med J Aust 2021; 214 (8): 387-387.e1. || doi: 10.5694/mja2.51013
Published online: 3 May 2021
Published online: 3 May 2021
To the Editor: In an article on the Human Rights Act 2019 passed by the Parliament of Queensland, Brolan1 noted the Act was “historic but not without challenge”. This challenge is manifest in the case of prisoners.
In 2007, the Queensland Coroner recommended prisoners have access to clean injecting equipment.2 We described in 2009 the threat to prisoners’ health of ongoing breaches in infection control,3 which was later evident in the cluster of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) cases in the Wacol Youth Detention Centre in Brisbane.
In 2018, The Medical Journal of Australia documented the precarious state of harm minimisation in Australia’s prisons. With reference to Queensland, there was only mention to the elimination of hepatitis C infection from one prison and the fact that opiate replacement therapy was not available to all prisoners.4 Furthermore, despite some initial success to improve hepatitis C infection rates among Queensland prisoners,5 they have gone backwards, with reportedly high rates of post‐treatment reinfection in Queensland prisons.
How is it possible that Queensland continues to stand out as a model of health service deprivation? Evidence that opiate replacement therapy can be life‐saving for prisoners is conclusive.6
Human rights are universal. The right to health provision and health protection cannot be, and in fact has not yet been, effectively negotiated for or by the community’s most disempowered individuals. Despite human rights protections since 2004, the Australian Capital Territory’s dismal experience7 challenges not just Queensland but all Australians.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Brolan CE. Queensland’s new Human Rights Act and the right to access health services. Med J Aust 2020; 213: 158–160. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2020/213/4/queenslands-new-human-rights-act-and-right-access-health-services
- Office of the State Coroner. Inquest into the death of Darren Michael Fitzgerald. https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/86707/cif-fitzgerald-dm-20070119.pdf (viewed Aug 2020).
- Levy M, Mogg D. Infection control in Australian prisons: forgotten but not forgiving. Healthc Infect 2009; 14: 13–19.
- Levy MH, Treloar CJ. Health protection and Australian prisons, 2018. Med J Aust 2018; 209: 460–461. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/209/10/health-protection-and-australian-prisons-2018
- Bartlett SR, Fox P, Cabatingan H, et al. Demonstration of near‐elimination of hepatitis C virus among a prison population: the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre Hepatitis C Treatment project. Clin Infect Dis 2018; 18: 460–463.
- Malta M, Varatharajan T, Russell C, et al. Opioid‐related treatment, interventions, and outcomes among incarcerated persons: a systematic review. PLoS Med 2019; 16: e1003002.
- Stoové M, Treloar CJ, Maher L, et al. Salvaging a prison needle and syringe program trial in Australia requires leadership and respect for evidence. Med J Aust 2015; 203: 319–320. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2015/203/8/salvaging-prison-needle-and-syringe-program-trial-australia-requires-leadership
Linked content
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MJA Perspective: Queensland's new Human Rights Act and the right to access health services
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MJA Letter: In Reply