‘Draconian’: Key independent MP demands changes to disease testing bill – Sydney Morning Herald

The report said the bill was introduced to Parliament “in response to a rising trend of assaults and violent incidents encountered by police, correctional services and other frontline workers.”

“Unions representing police and correctional service workers are calling for mandatory disease testing as a way to provide some comfort, to these workers at a difficult time,” the report said.

“Because of the time it takes for blood-borne viruses to show up in testing, workers cannot know with certainty whether they have contracted a blood-borne virus until six months after an incident.”

However, the report said medical and legal professionals “raised questions about whether a mandatory disease testing scheme is necessary”.

“This inquiry heard that risk of transmission of a blood-borne virus is low or non-existent in most situations faced by police and emergency workers, and that existing medical protocols following an incident would not be altered by knowledge of the third party’s blood test result,” the report found.

Loading

The report said “stakeholders in this inquiry were united in their concern for the health and wellbeing of frontline workers” but differed in their views about mandatory disease testing.

The inquiry made one recommendation- the upper house should debate the bill and “the concerns identified by stakeholders as set out in this report be addressed during debate”.

When Police Minister David Elliott introduced the bill late last year, he said legislative reform was necessary because “emergency services and other frontline personnel can be exposed to the bodily fluids of others as part of their daily duties, and this can present a risk of transmission of a serious lifelong disease.”

Mr Greenwich said he would “work with government to bring common-sense amendments to this bill that replace unfounded AIDS hysteria with evidence based policy.”

“Getting an AIDS test can be daunting, it should be done in a health setting, not weaponised by cops as a form of extra-judicial punishment,” Mr Greenwich said.

ACON, NSW’s leading HIV health organisation, has written to all MPs urging them to consider a range of amendments to the bill, including that decisions to carry out mandatory disease testing orders should sit with the NSW Chief Health Officer.