August 13, 2008 * CHARITIES AND CHURCHES COULD FORFEIT TAX CONCESSIONS * MEDICAL PROFESSION DIVIDED OVER CHANGES TO EUTHANASIA LAWS * LESBIANS LOSE COMPO CASE AGAINST IVF DOCTOR ----------------------------------------------- CHARITIES AND CHURCHES COULD FORFEIT TAX CONCESSIONS Charities and other non-government organisations could lose billions of dollars' worth of tax perks as the Rudd Government's taxation review prepares to examine whether the concessions offered to the $80 billion non-profit sector are justified. The investigation, by Treasury boss Ken Henry, is expected to meet with resistance from some of the sector's most powerful groups. Most of the country's religious groups, which make up about $25 billion of the sector, run commercial enterprises. Among them is the Seventh Day Adventists' cereal giant Sanitarium, which generates more than $300 million a year. Many of the operations have little to do with charitable work but are exempt from various taxes including corporate tax and capital gains tax. The Catholic Church has long opposed reforms such as charging tax on commercial enterprises. While any changes recommended by Dr Henry may offer the opportunity to bolster Treasury's coffers, it will create a significant political challenge for Kevin Rudd, a confessed Christian who has courted the religious vote. Australian Industry Group head Heather Ridout, said the non-profit sector was a huge part of the economy and so it made sense to look at it as part of the review. "The non-profit sector is a very big and important part of this", she said. Business enterprises run by religious groups range from pizza chains, insurance companies, wineries, farms, schools, hospitals and aged-care facilities. All are exempt from tax. Australia is one of the few countries in the world where religious groups are not forced to pay tax on business ventures.The non-profit sector accounts for 8 per cent of GDP and employs more than 600,000 people, but a lack of transparency and poor accounting standards and corporate governance in the financial arrangements of many organisations has long been a concern. In an era of heavy corporate regulation, most parts of the non-profit sector remain unregulated. There is no process for the registration of charities, no consistent collection of information about the activities or funding sources of charities and there is little or no monitoring of the activities of charities. Source: Compiled by APN from media reports ----------------------------------------------- MEDICAL PROFESSION DIVIDED OVER CHANGES TO EUTHANASIA LAWS The Victorian Parliament is currently considering a physician-aided suicide Bill proposed by the Greens. Debate on the bill is expected to continue next week when Parliament resumes after the winter break. Meanwhile a poll of almost 1800 Victorian doctors shows they are evenly divided over whether euthanasia laws should be changed so terminally ill patients can end their own lives. A minority go further and say elderly patients with no hope of recovery should be denied expensive life-preserving treatment. 45 per cent thought the medical profession should support euthanasia and lobby the Government to make it legal. Almost the same number (44 per cent) said they opposed such a push, underlining the discord among the medical fraternity. Inspite of the survey results, anti-euthanasia campaigner Nicholas Tonti-Filippini said he believed most doctors did not support changing legislation to allow assisted suicide. "Most doctors look at euthanasia and just see it as incredible bureaucracy, whether they support euthanasia or not," he said. The Australian Medical Association does not support euthanasia, and does not have a policy on what resources should be applied to end of life treatment which they consider to be a moral issue that society needs to address rather than the medical profession. Anti-euthanasia supporters believe that the value of human life should not be assessed in monetary terms. Euthanasia is the administration of drugs with the deliberate intent to end the life of the patient. They believe that is very different to the administration of drugs with the intent of relieving pain, though a side-effect of high doses of pain relief, necessary to ease the suffering of some patients, may also hasten death. The intent of the doctor in the first scenario is to kill the patient; the intent of the second doctor is to care for the patient. Source: Compiled by APN from various sources ----------------------------------------------- LESBIANS LOSE COMPO CASE AGAINST IVF DOCTOR The lesbian mothers of IVF twin girls have lost a legal bid to sue their doctor for the cost of raising one of the toddlers. The women, whose names have been suppressed, sued prominent Canberra obstetrician Sydney Robert Armellin for more than $400,000 for implanting two embryos instead of the requested one. The ACT Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of Dr Armellin, and ordered the couple pay his legal costs. The IVF procedure, which used sperm from a Danish donor, resulted in the birth of twin girls, now aged four. The couple, whose combined income is more than $100,000, sought $398,000 from Dr Armellin to cover the costs of raising one of the girls, including fees for a private Steiner school in Melbourne. The court was told the twins' birth mother had lost her capacity to love and the couple's relationship suffered as they became mired in everyday tasks associated with raising two children. But Dr Armellin's lawyer said loss of freedom was experienced commonly by parents across Australia. The couple said it was Dr Armellin's responsibility to ensure his patient's wishes were carried out during the operation at Canberra's John James Memorial Hospital on November 12, 2003. Dr Armellin countered by saying the birth mother only told him she wanted one embryo minutes before she was sedated, after previously signing a form consenting for up to two embryos to be implanted. The case, before Justice Annabelle Bennett, sparked nationwide condemnation of the women in the media. Source: Compiled by APN from media reports
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