M A N D Y N O LA N ’S
SOAPBOX
W W W . E C H O . N E T. A U /
S O A P - B OX
BE AN EARLY OPTER
I just love people I’ve never met making decisions about my wellbeing. Especially when I’m not consulted. My Health Record is the latest gift from Big Brother, or should we call him Big Doctor? Our government cares so much about my wellbeing that they have kindly created a complete online health record that will collate all my personal health details, both current and historic, alongside all my private identification data. And they didn’t even ask! What a lovely surprise! Nothing more thrilling than the prospect of a little violation of your most personal data. All those STIs you’ve caught and passed on, those alcoholic binges, those psychotic episodes, all captured and released to all the good doctors at the other end. Thanks to the new myhealthrecord.gov.au website, all my personal and confidential health records are soon to be accessible via one convenient little portal! Protected of course with a password – so we all know that it will be terribly secure! It’s just cut the guesswork out for any insurance companies who might be curious about just how risky I actually am. ‘She says she doesn’t smoke, but here we have a record back in the early 90s where she was doing three bongs a day.’ (I only told the doctor three; I was doing six.) Apparently, they won’t be given access – well at least not straightaway. They’ll be second in line after the police, who apparently can use the data without even using a warrant. Great way to find out who the drug users are and where they live. Just a little My Health Record googling and they’ll be able to knock up a spreadsheet of meth users, heroin addicts and pot heads. Gives some doors to knock on when things are a bit slow at the station. Excuse me, Mr Government (paternalistic behaviour means I will be referring to the government gendered as a white privileged male, because typically they are the group who like to make decisions on behalf of all non-white privileged males), but I would have liked to have the choice to ‘opt in’ rather than being told I was already in something that I could choose to get out of. Like a bad marriage. It’s a breach of one’s consent – as until I ‘opt out’ I am ‘in’ something I don’t entirely understand or give permission to be part of. I am not normally a person prone to conspiratorial thinking and in theory the idea of a centralised and easily accessible health record certainly has some positives. For the more itinerant amongst us it means a continuity of health records while doctor shopping, or if you’re presented to ED after a serious accident your medications and pre-existing conditions will be immediately available. But are doctors really going to read your records? They’re going to need a few hours before a consult to read all about your haemorrhoids, high blood pressure and halitosis. Riveting reading. And what if you have an argument with a doctor or they’ve made an incorrect diagnosis – or their notes include something prejudicial about your lifestyle that not only will never be removed but is accessible – forever? What if you have a history of mental health issues; how can you be assured that information like that won’t be accessed by future employers? What if you were an injecting drug user, or you still are and you don’t want your workplace to know? What assurance is there that your private information is going to stay private? Won’t the doctor’s receptionist have your password? I am sure they’re lovely but that feels like a bit of a glitch in the security right there. Could hackers breach patient records and use the information to create fake identities, or commit cyber-crimes? Don’t think it doesn’t happen because it just did last week in Singapore where 1.5 million Singapore patient records were duplicated by hackers. Including the prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. If the prime minister’s records can’t be protected, what hope does anyone else have? I have opted out. It’s not hard. I just googled ‘my health record how to opt out’, then I clicked the link and filled in the required data that requested that I and my dependent children to be removed from Big Doctor. So now the government have a record of me as an opter outer. Let’s see what happens to me now.
LIVE MUSIC LIVE MUSIC LIVE MUSIC LIVE
BEN OTTEWELL
FROM EXHILARATIONN TOO CONNTEMPPLATIOON – THEE MAAGIC OF MULLUMM MUUSIC Music transforms. Music unites. Music connects. And this year the music is the magic that happens at Mullum Music Festival, running four nights and three days (15–18 November) in the halls, pubs, streets and clubs of Mullumbimby. Ben Ottewell(UK) brings the power of riff with his acoustic-driven solo work to the stage after stepping out with his veteran UK guitar band Gomez earlier this year after a four-year hiatus. Conscious Rock roots reggae genre defier, the nature sprite that is Oahu’s Mike Love brings his deeply spiritual message-based music to the stage, leaving audiences moved by the passionate and musical call back to nature – a truly religious experience! Gabriella Cohen is cool incarnate with her debut
record Full Closure praised internationally for its dreamy fuzz-soaked pop-scapes. Darwin’s Caiti Baker combines raw hiphop talent with delicious soul and R&B with Rolling Stone declaring her songs on her latest release Zinc as ‘uniquely wonderful’. William Crighton returns to share his powerful analogues of lived experience, shaking the dust from his boots once again at Mullum Fest in what is sure to be a deeply profound performance. Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Lior returns to Mullum Festival this time with a full string section. The pure soul experience of Zimbabwe-born Thando heads straight to the dancefloor with thumping R’n’B grooves, an electric
presence and powerhouse vocals. Her ability to tell a story takes her audience on a journey of loving oneself and reflection. Mullum Music Festival also welcomes the ecstatic pulses and furious mashups of Sydney-based quintet Tangents, the smooth harmonies of tropical ambassador Bobby Alu, the nu-soul and jazz of Ladyslug, funky fem-hop from 8-piece soul queens The Mamas, and the insane horniness of Sydney’s New Orleans-style big brass band Low Down Riders. From sheer reckless exhilaration to quiet moments of acoustic contemplation Mullum Music Festival offers up the complete music lovers’ experience. Info and tix mullummusicfestival.com.
VETERAN BLUEES Veteran Aussie blues-roots artist Geoff Achison is a household name for many music fans with a reputation he’s forged through decades of making consistently excellent music. Achison first cut his teeth as the young guitar gun in Dutch Tilders’ band in the 80s and has maintained a gruelling touring schedule ever since, both as part of his band The Souldiggers and as a solo artist in Australia and overseas. Achison is on the trail once again in support of his new album Sovereign Town, an acoustic, intimate, organic and decidedly song-driven collection of 12 tracks, inspired by the early days of Victoria’s gold rush and recorded in Ballarat. The official release is set for 25 August, is distributed worldwide through Landslide Records USA, and is available at all good stores through Only Blues Music. Geoff plays the Rails on Wednesday 8 August.
CONTINUED P34
WED
FRI
OPEN MIC NIGHT Happy Hour WITH
HARRY NICHOLS
The Tipsy Scholars + NSK + Sam Buckingham
SAT
SUN
Motherfunk + Papaya Tree +
4-6PM
Happy
Hour 4-6PM
Free Brewery
Don & The Mobsters
Tour 2PM
Darling James
Free Brewery
+ Clawmachinen
Tour 2PM
TO BOOK THE COURTESY BUS | CALL 02 6639 6100 FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BYRONBAYBREWERY
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
The Byron Shire Echo August 1, 2018 33