Australian Emergency Law

I have previously written on paramedics seeking to access patient records via The Viewer for the purpose of clinical review, in anticipation of arrival on scene and for training students – see

That was the outcome in Paramedicine Board of Australia v Naudi [2026] VCAT 877 (though the term ‘car park rage’ is mine and is not used in the judgment).

Mr Naudi, a decorated paramedic, was taking his family to Melbourne Zoo on 20 April 2024. A minor...

Today’s correspondent is:

… wondering where it stands with NSW SES and RFS being used as the first aid provider at events to cut costs. I own an event first aid business and I’m finding it more and more common that organisations are relying on these services to provide first aid coverage at their events. The usual replay “we have SES or RFS onsite for first aid.”

The facts in Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Butler [2026] TASCAT 136 simply beg the question ‘what was she thinking?’

Ms Butler was a registered nurse. In February 2017 ‘she applied to undertake professional honours in a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Tasmania’. She did not pass her units, and she did not complete the course. Between F...

A doctor in Victoria has been reprimanded and suspended for six months after he struck a patient in the face, twice, and abused him. The longer story is that the patient ‘was verbally and physically aggressive’ (Medical Board of Australia v Hambly [2026] VCAT 818, [2]). A decisi...