AUSSIE NURSES IN HAVE TO ANNOUNCE WHITE PRIVILEGE TO LOCAL NATIVES BEFORE THEY CAN TREAT THEM
This story makes no sense at all. In Australia, both nurses and midwives are now required to pronounce their white privilege before they can treat aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander patients. It has been widely criticized as being “racist to its core.” That seems a fair assessment. White privilege is the definition of white people who have not had to earn their social or cultural advantages. This is specifically in comparison to non-whites who don’t enjoy the same advantages. But why formalize this to enable medical treatment for a local native? I’m sorry I’m white and advantaged, now I can offer you treatment? These Aussie nurses and midwives aren’t happy about it. But it makes no sense at all!
HEAD OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SAYS IT’S RACIST AT ITS CORE
But the Nursing and Midwifery Board has other ideas. They believe that the cultural safety of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders is just as important as their clinical safety. Well, ok. But no, not ok. What is unsafe about a local native receiving treatment from a white person who doesn’t acknowledge inequality first? What happens when someone dies for that delay in their treatment? This story is really bizarre. But the outrage in response is strong. The spokesperson for the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland, Graeme Haycroft, is calling bullshit on the new requirement. He believes this could have serious negative impacts on nurses. He says it’s simply racist at its core.
DRIVE FOR PC POLITICS HEADS INTO ABSURD TERRITORY
But the Board is calling this new requirement to be “a decolonizing model of practice based on dialogue, communication, power sharing and negotiation, and the acknowledgment of white privilege.” Ok, fostering a better cultural awareness of the realities and history of colonization is a good idea. But in practice why insert it into medical treatment? It really makes no sense at all. It’s like using a hammer on a screw. It might work in a certain fashion. But it will also be messy and destructive. Haycroft said half of his members were already opposed to the new requirement.
A MIDWIFE WOULD HAVE TO ANNOUNCE THIS SO A NATIVE MOTHER IN LABOR FIRST. WHAT?
What are midwives to do? Do non-white mothers in labor want a delay in getting help giving birth? So far, none of them have complained for not being notified of their Aussie nurses or midwife’s white privilege. Identity politics keep cropping up in strange ways. What does it mean to be PC these days? In Australia, politically correct means medical staff have to apologize for being white before they can help patients. Will bankers have to do the same before giving a mortgage? How about police before they save a hostage’s life? Or teachers? Once this idea starts, where is it supposed to end? It should end here.
