- Target:
- Tasmanian State Government
- Region:
- Australia
TAFE Tasmania has recently axed courses in Natural Therapies, which means that as of next year Tasmania will be the only state in Australia that does not offer courses in Natural Therapies.
This will force people to study interstate or by correspondence and will leave Tasmania without a valuable skill base from which to draw qualified practitioners. A 2005 study (Xue et al. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2007, 13(6): 643-650. doi:10.1089/acm.2006.6355) found that the estimated number of visits to Complementary and Alternative Medicince practitioners by adult Australians in the 12-month period (69.2 million) was almost identical to the estimated number of visits to medical practitioners (69.3 million).
The annual “out of pocket” expenditure on CAM, nationally, was estimated as 4.13 billion Australian dollars (US $3.12 billion). Natural therapies are used widely in the community and form the basis of preventative health care. We believe that preventative medicine should form the back bone of health care in any progressive society.
Supporting natural therapies education is about providing choice, quality and safety in health care to every member of the Tasmanian community.
TAFE Tasmania has recently axed courses in Natural Therapies including :
* Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy
*Advanced Diploma of Western Herbal Medicine
*Diploma of Remedial Massage
*Certificate IV in Massage
*Certificate IV in Kinesiology
*Advanced Diploma of Homeopathy
*Diploma of Shiatsu and Oriental Therapies.
This means there will be NO structured training for most natural therapies in Tasmania, which will result in a loss of trained health professionals in the state.
We, the undersigned, disagree with the decision to axe these courses and call on the State Government and TAFE Tasmania to provide funding so that these courses can be reinstated immediately.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Natural Therapies Deserve Better Support petition to Tasmanian State Government was written by Chani Grieve and is in the category Education at GoPetition.