News from the Secretary for November, 2007

Joint scientific meeting of DEA and Rural Health West
I can report to you that I believe that this was an outstanding success. To some extent it was the coming of age for a young and developing DEA. There were about 200 registrants of whom 28 were DEA members. The opening two lectures by Bill Castleden and Colin Butler were given to all delegates; the hall was full and attentive. In the remainder of the program there were 4 streams. The venue for the DEA stream had about 70 seats, all were full and registrants were standing at the back so we had attracted many members from the sessions designed for GP practice. This epitomised the success. Our DEA speakers were excellent (see names and topics at the foot of this newsletter) and there was considerable interest at the DEA stand which had posters, brochures and T-shirts.

 To me the telling responses were the email comments we received after the meeting. For example a comment from a general practitioner, who joined DEA at the meeting, was  “Thanks very much for the weekend it was fantastic. It is so easy for us as GPs to get caught up in our own little worlds and loose sight of the big picture. It was like having an epiphany.”

How should we use this experience? It is perhaps the optimal way of delivering our message to our colleagues some of whom are sceptical that they do not need to be members of another “environmental group”. In reality we are dealing with a considerable proportion of human health and that the entire profession can participate and assist in this endeavour.

 However at this stage we must recognise that this enterprise would not have been possible but for an enthusiastic WA State committee and for us to be effective nationally, State committees must be established in other States

Annual General Meeting
There was a good attendance by enthusiastic members . It was a time to report on the activities of the year (see Annual Report, to be circulated to all members soon) many of which were significant achievements and to indicate decisions reached by the Management Committee for the next year. The main decisions were:-
•    To proceed in conjunction with RACGP with two further posters, one on climate change and the other on transport, health and climate change
•    To try and re-establish our interest in childhood environmental health
•    To further develop the web site and finally
•    To expand our political briefing activities.

The AGM was followed by a most enjoyable dinner at the historic St Paul’s Church in Beaconsfield (S. Fremantle) attended by 70 members and partners. David Templeton, the WA Minister of the Environment, gave the after-dinner speech and then sang to us!

Media initiative on health and climate change
Members will have been encouraged to see our half-page advertisement in the Weekend Australian on November 10th. Concomitantly our web site was headed with an article expanding the topic of health and climate change. The quick response of members to donate $30,000 for the advertisement was magnificent and reflects your belief that this is a vital issue and the politicians have failed to recognise this. Our thanks are due to our highly-valued, albeit anonymous, advertising guru and adviser.     
The advertisement was preceded by a nationwide press release that attracted modest radio and print media coverage.

The Election
From the point of view of climate change and the future of Australia and indeed the world, the election campaign by the major parties has been very disappointing. It seems that a modicum of climate change dollars have been doled out as largesse and without any comprehensive planning like the other goodies that have pork barrelled the campaign. A relatively small portion of the $31-$34 billion worth of tax cuts ‘given away” by both major Parties could have achieved something as revolutionary for the nation as Rupert Murdoch’s commitment to make News Corporation ‘climate neutral’ within three years.

On the day after the election our response has to be to start re-educating the elected, both government and opposition. The enormity of the effort and the duration of the effort required to tackle climate change far outlasts the 3-yearly Federal election cycle in Australia. Almost certainly it has either to be ‘above’ politics or the result of a bipartisan political process. In this respect the process in the European Union, which is just starting to bear fruit after a somewhat ‘hiccoughy’ start, has come about from the united determination of governments of all political spectra choosing to work together on the problem.

Biodiversity Poster
This poster is shown on www.dea.org.au  and will be distributed to all RACGP members in December. The concept is more difficult to convey than that of health and climate change but it is one that must be addressed to enable the public to understand their relationship to the planet and why ultimately their health and well-being depend on a healthy planet. We know that waiting times at doctors’ rooms may be considerable and messages in posters do get studied in detail.
David King of DEA and Jo Glasheen of  ‘The View Concepts’ have done a magnificent job in design and concept and we thank them

Global Healing Program. These are the DEA lectures given at the scientific meeting
Global healing –a WA Perspective.      Dr Bill Castleden, Chair, DEA
Global health, global tensions and climate change.     Dr Colin Butler, Epidemiologist ANU
A doctor in charge of the environment; one DEA member’s experience.   Dr Judy Edwards MLA
Impacts of climate change on WA.     Prof Lyn Beazley, WA Chief Scientist
Conservation; more relevant than ever.   Chris Tallentire, Director, Conservation Council of WA
Climatic and human impacts on vector-borne disease.   Dr Michael Lindsay, Medical Entomologist, Health Dept, WA
Health and nuclear power in WA.    Mr. Kingsley Faulkner FRACS, past President RACS
Present choices and their impacts on future environments.      Prof Michael Moore, Toxicologist, ENTOX, UQ