Trevor Dal Broi's boss and moral compass

Trevor Dal Broi a chemist in Griffith, has stopped stocking condoms and is telling women that are using oral contraceptive pills for birth control to take their scripts elsewhere. He is also banning the sale of emergency contraception morning-after pills from his shop.

Chemists have a social responsibility with the priviledge they hold to be the gateway to legal drugs and the right of women to have control over their bodies, and choice. The morning after pills are available legally without prescription, but Trevor has removed himself as a gateway to accessing these drugs. They are not there to put their judgement on the women that come to them and restrict those womens choice over what they do with their own body.

Unplanned pregnancies and rates of sexually transmitted infections would be so much higher without access to condoms and contraceptives in our communities.

In A Strange Land gives some very relevant information in regard how chemists in Australia are partially government funded via pricing and subsidy rules for medicines, and thus should have a social responsibility to the people they serve. Indeed the businesses are protected as there are strict rules about where new chemists can be located. (Community Pharmacy Agreement PDF – go to p. 22).

25.1. The objectives of the Location Rules are to ensure:
a. all Australians have access to PBS* medicines;
b. a commercially viable and sustainable network of community pharmacies dispensing PBS medicines;
c. improved efficiency through increased competition between pharmacies;
d. improved flexibility to respond to the community need for pharmacy services;
e. increased local access to community pharmacies for persons in rural and remote regions of Australia; and
f. continued development of an effective, efficient and well-distributed community pharmacy network in Australia.

* Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

In A Strange Land rightly points out that this man is ‘getting in the middle of the relationship between doctor and patient’.

It’s ironic that these are the same people that crow about how their god gives choice, and are the same ones that attempt to take that away from others, specifically women. It’s lack of empathy that comes from the teaching of their scripture as truth and the standard for morals in the catholic patriarchal system. These people honestly think they are doing the right thing taking away others ability to freely choose what they do with their own body.

This man has a position of trust, he has a position that has been given him by the community and in doing so should not be able to abuse that privilege in restricting others choices by pushing his personal religious attitude onto the women that come to him. By all means he doesn’t have to wear a condom, but if he doesn’t want to be a trusted gateway to drugs, he should not be a chemist, and apply for that position of trust in the Australian community.

Shame Trevor Dal Broi, for removing the choice that you claim your ‘higher being’ gave to people, for playing god, for passing your judgment onto these women from your position of power that you claimed from the community and received in good will, injecting your religion upon others.

Hats off folks for pointing this out to us, we also call on the government to respond to this blatant distinction between Australians promptly, it’s time religion did not have rights above and beyond anyone else doing the same thing.

Atheists, non-believers,  unite!

The Global Atheist Convention 2010 in Melbourne, Australia is expected to be the largest gathering of atheists, rationalists, humanists, sceptics, free thinkers and other like-minded people in Australian history.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia is running the Convention and applied for government funding months ago – but has not yet received a response. This delay seems excessive and the government appears to be trying to dodge the issue of supporting non-believers, perhaps worried about upsetting the religious organisations they have a mutually beneficial relationship with. In Australia exemptions or concessions apply to religious organisations in relation to income tax, fringe benefits tax, GST, payroll tax, land tax, stamp duties, car registration fees and municipal rates. And let’s not forget the recent Victorian government decision to exempt religious organisations from a range of anti-discrimination laws…another example of one rule for the religious, another for everyone else. This is blatant discrimination.

To run an event the size of the Global Atheist Convention must cost a lot of money, even though all the speakers have generously donated their time, and the Convention is relying on ticket sales for funding. Consider the millions of government dollars that will help fund the Parliament of World Religions and the $120m the World Youth Day cost Australian tax payers (and let’s not even start on the civil liberty restrictions associated with World Youth Day…) – it’s time the atheists received some of the same support.

It’s time our “representatives” actually represented us and supported the Global Atheist Convention.

We are Australian atheists and it’s time the government heard us.

Please help us by spreading the word – raise this issue on blogs, in conversation and anywhere else the politicians might hear you.