Australia up for sex selection review!

[AUSgirl]

Thanks, I saw this news today too

Seems they have completed the draft of part B - except for the sex selection section - on which they are seeking further consultation. Good news I think?!

Ethical guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research | NHMRC Public Consultations

There were 65 submissions during the initial consultation period.. I guess many must have been regarding gender selection.

I'll make another submission this time around. Closing date is 17th September. I agree..the more people in favour the better. Let's do this!

[AUSgirl]

If you're thinking of participating, be sure to read pages 55 - 58 of the draft. Particular discussion points of interest, and relevant case studies.

[WannaGirl]

Well I'm definitely putting in a submission, will give me something to do. Also need to look into do i increase healthcare to top cover which includes ivf...wow I thought I was over HT.

[WannaGirl]

This has really brought it all back for me, I guess it will be a year at least before the law is changed, if at all.
Couples are having children later in life, if this was available with no limitations like US, in hindsight I would go through ivf when I was engaged to my hubby at 28 and get what 20 embryos and then see what happened naturally then balance off my family from my earlier and hopefully more successful ivf round than 10 years on. I would happily donate leftover embryos with anonymity or even do a free round of egg retrieval.
I don't mind limitations, at the moment I have 3 children, there will be no guess work so that's it unless I get a gender guarantee, I can't produce a girl naturally it seems.

[MummaBear]

I know it may seem pointless to put a submission forward as yes it would be an uphill battle to get them to change it but since baby gammy they have really had to look at the problems posed by couples going overseas for donor eggs and yes gender selection. The fact that this was up for review over the last 12months and they didn't just say no at the end of the review period is a little promising. They decided they couldn't make a proper decision without more public consultation to see if the view on this had changed. The more people who submit a review the better.

this is my submission. its long but worth a read if u have time. it covers one VERY important point about abortion being legal here in Australia and the loop hole thats been created due to the NIPT test

I am writing to express my views in regards to the use of ART and gender selection here in Australia.
I believe it should be allowed following very strict guide lines of family balancing for those families of 2 or more of the same gender.
My Story

I am a mother of 3 boys soon to be 4. We have tried every old wives tale gender sway technique and still have been unable to again naturally conceive the female child our family longs for.
We both love all of our boys and would not change any of them. When I found out my 3rd child was a boy I was a little upset not because he was a boy but because it still wasn’t the little girl I have always believed I was going to have. My husband and I had always planned on 4 children so we still had one more chance. I had lost a little girl. My first pregnancy was a girl but sadly I miscarried her at 10weeks (trisomy 16 – a completely random event and most common form of early miscarriage). I knew it was possible for us to conceive a girl and at the time we didn’t really want to invest all our savings into traveling overseas for IVF/PGD gender selection. We believed we could have a girl naturally with a lot of effort on us to use the sway techniques I had spent endless hours researching.

When we fell pregnant again I was positive it was a girl, we had put all our effort for months into swaying and surely it had worked. I decided to go with the new genetic testing to find out the gender early. Having 3 boys already the comments when people find out you are pregnant again are very ‘it has to be a girl’, ‘I bet you hope it’s a girl’ etc. This actually makes gender disappointment even worse and I wanted to stop these comments before they began so I wanted to find out gender before we announced it to anyone.

At 11 weeks I found out I was having another little boy. My world came crashing down. Whilst I was happy he was healthy this time being our final child my lifelong dream of having a daughter was gone in an instant. I still haven’t announced this pregnancy as I now feel very protective over this little man and worry people will feel he is unwanted as they know I would have loved a daughter. Again this is not the case but I feel I need to protect him from people and their thoughtlessness. Society is apparently against gender selection but the pressure they put on couples to have both boys and girls is incredible and anyone who has a one gender family receives endless bombardments of comments about having a child of the opposite gender. I have random strangers come up to me and say I have to have a girl as being a mother to a girl is completely different to that of being a mother to a boy, again thoughtless comments that don’t help. People who can clearly see I’m pregnant ask and I say it’s a boy but I have to follow up with a 20 minute speech about us being over the moon happy it’s another boy and yes it will be extremely crazy in our house but we wouldn’t change if for the world. This is normally followed up by wow you will be completely outnumbered. Yes thank you for that completely obvious observation.

This grief though was something I had never felt before and to make it worse I had to keep it to myself. I went through all the guilt of, I should be happy I have another healthy gorgeous boy on the way all whilst I was trying to come to terms with essentially losing my daughter. Ethically in Australia I could have legally chosen to abort this baby and as we only ever wanted 4 children and if I had aborted we could try again for a girl. It was before 12weeks and it was heavily affecting my mental health. In saying this although it did cross my mind as it was an option, I personally would never ever abort my baby he is still my baby and I love him with all my heart and I could never live with myself for doing something like that but I do know of couples using this option as it is the only form of gender selection available to them here in Australia. So the ultimate question we have to ask ourselves is: It is less ethical to abort a life already created or let couples chose the gender whilst it’s still just a clump of cells? The NIPT blood test enables couples to find out the gender of their unborn baby before 12weeks so has created a loop hole where couples can legally terminate the child of unwanted gender. We are progressive enough in this country to allow abortion but not gender selection for family balancing of usually large families?

The next few months I found myself really struggling and this is not something I am used to. I have never found having 3 kids hard I have always considered myself a natural mother, but I started falling into a form of depression. I was completely drowning and I couldn’t work out why. I started talking to a counsellor and eventually realised I was grieving but it was a hidden grief that I was even trying to hide from myself as I believed I wasn’t allowed to feel this. I wasn’t able to be a good mother, or wife or anything really.
I would avoid friends with daughters; I wouldn’t look directly at girls, no matter what age because looking at these girls I would find myself unconsciously imagining what she would be like. Would she have brown hair and eyes like me, or sandy blonde hair and green eyes like dad? Would she be smart and into study or more sporty? Would she be a girlie girl or more of a tom boy like me? I was trying to completely block this entire part of me out and it was literally killing me.

Eventually when I realised this is what was happening and my husband and I sat down and spoke about it all at great length as we had only ever planned on 4 children, so not only were we now looking at 5 we were looking to do it in a very scientific and risky and expensive way. Not a decision you make lightly. I do have a scientific background so making our little girl through IVF although not the way we ever thought we would it would give us our dream. My husband is religious but when he realised that if we continued to try naturally it would still likely be more boys and he could see the affect it was having on me. Mother Nature really wasn’t giving us a helping hand so science is our best option. We now plan to head over to the U.S. next year to get our little girl unless Australia changes the law here which we are really hoping they will. If we can go overseas and have it done why can we not have it done here?

Societies Arguments
1. Stereotyping
Some people say we are stereotyping her or creating this expectation of what a girl should be. I was a tom boy preferred cars and sports over dolls, make up and doing my hair. I rarely wore dresses and skirts and still don’t now. I like action movies over romantic comedies. I don’t care who she becomes just that she has a chance to become. I have always wanted to be a mother of a daughter not just a mother of only boys. People comment that I am lucky to have only boys as they are much easier, that I only have 4 penises’ to worry about not a million: Yes people do actually say this and to even my surprise it’s rather often! They simply just do not understand. For me none of this matters. What the future holds for her we do not know we hope she can forge her own path and become who and what she wants to be, the same wants and wishes I have for all my children. Comments like this though are stereotyping. She may like girls not boys just like one of my sons might like boys not girls. None of this matters to us. I have kept what dolls I did have as a little girl and my wedding dress and other odd things over my lifetime to give to her as I always just believed I would have a daughter one day. She may not want any of this but I will still give it to her for her to decide.
Before we decided to go ahead and travel to the U.S. to get our little girl, I was trying to come to terms with only ever being a mother in law. Most people don’t understand the gravity of this. Majority of women do not like their mother in laws. Having this faced upon me really opened my eyes to the unnecessary disrespect many women show their mother in laws. This now absolutely breaks my heart.
I will never get a chance to get excited about shopping for formal dresses or wedding dresses or suits if she prefers suits, these material things are not important. I will always be the mother in law when it comes to my grandchildren. My daughter and I might not be close so these kinds of things still might not happen but I will always be there for her as I would be my sons but when it comes to the grandkids the mother will majority of the time always turn to her own mother.

2. Playing God and Genoside
Some people say it’s playing god but In Australia will allow female gay couples or single women to use IVF to have a family. I think this is wonderful but this is along the same lines. These couples and women can’t have a baby naturally so we allow science to give them that baby they desire. My husband and I can’t have a daughter naturally so we want to turn to science to help us. Just as infertile couples can’t naturally have kids, if we want to enter into this argument god has decided for them to not naturally be able to have kids yet we now with science can help them achieve this. Again I do think this is absolutely wonderful but the playing god argument can’t be used as ultimately we already are.
Another argument against this is I hear often even by members of the NHMRC is that it opens it up for possible genoside where we start selecting for blonde hair and blue eyes etc. Besides the fact that this isn’t actually even scientifically possible yet the NHMRC has the ability to put strict laws into place to stop this kind of thing happening. The people usually extreme enough to want things like this will go to any length to achieve it and someone like Hitler comes to mind.

Scenarios for allowing Gender selection ART here in Australia based on the case studies outlined in the review

Case Study 1: Most couples who look to do ART gender selection are doing so to balance their big families. These big families are usually created as a result of that family trying to naturally conceive the baby of the desired gender. This in itself creates a strain on the health care system as its leading to bigger and bigger families. I have already greatly upset the gender balance by having 4 boys. Allowing it for families with 2 or more of the same gender already would be the best and most logical scenario.

Case Study 2: Allowing a family to have a child based on a particular gender as they tragically lost a daughter etc, this couple already having a daughter is likely to have one naturally again but If they then went on and had 2 boys and still no girl then they could turn to gender selection to have the little girl they long for. If they already have 2 boys then they already fall in the category anyway. Whilst we would all love to have a pigeon pair as 2 kids is exceptionally easier I personally don’t think family balancing comes into play until you have 2 or more children of one gender.

Case Study 3: Many couples each year already travel overseas for IVF/PGD gender selection for family balancing reasons. To allow these families to do it here in Australia will definitely reduce those risks associated with other Doctors and laboratories that aren’t required to follow the same high standards and practices set here in Australia. It will also help to keep the money here in Australia. As this is a complete personal choice no one that does it expects to have the government or health insurers pay for the PGD/IVF. Not only will it reduce the risks associated with the pregnancy and birth, by allowing the couple to choose a child of the gender they are longing for may stop them from continually trying for that gender resulting in increasingly larger family which will definitely impact the health care system.
Being able to do it here in Australia will also mean less disruption for those families. Traveling overseas for 2 weeks affects work and schooling, will also mean unknown babysitters to look after kids during medical procedures whilst overseas etc. All of this opens up more risks for the families involved.

Case Study 4: The daughter we conceived through ART would have never ever had a chance at life if we hadn’t gone down this path. To say that it then means their life is controlled from that point on is invalid. Parents that control a child’s life or a child that feels controlled would have done so or felt this way whether that child was conceived naturally or otherwise. Saying it was a result of being conceived through ART is just looking for something to blame. All children conceived through IVF could then use this argument. I will openly tell my daughter that’s how she was conceived and to me this will mean she will know how wanted and how special she actually is.
I have no expectations of what my daughter will turn out like. As with all my kids I hope I can help them become the men and women they want to be.

Conclusion
So In summary I think ART Gender selection should be available here in Australia under strict guidelines of family balancing for those families with 2 or more of the same gender. No Medicare or private health insurance should be required to cover the costs of the IVF/PGD. In allowing it here in Australia it will help to reduce the risks associated with conducting the IVF overseas in laboratories with lower standards than those set in Australia. It will also help to reduce the strain placed on the health care system by helping to limit the ever increasing family size of those families having more children in search of the desired gender.
Finally the biggest point that needs to be made is that it will stop the abortion of those unborn babies simply because they aren’t of the desired gender. Again is it less ethical to let a couple choose a baby based on Gender before the life is created or to allow them to destroy that life based on gender?

[Girlfriend]

I know it may seem pointless to put a submission forward as yes it would be an uphill battle to get them to change it but since baby gammy they have really had to look at the problems posed by couples going overseas for donor eggs and yes gender selection. The fact that this was up for review over the last 12months and they didn't just say no at the end of the review period is a little promising. They decided they couldn't make a proper decision without more public consultation to see if the view on this had changed. The more people who submit a review the better.

this is my submission. its long but worth a read if u have time. it covers one VERY important point about abortion being legal here in Australia and the loop hole thats been created due to the NIPT test

I am writing to express my views in regards to the use of ART and gender selection here in Australia.
I believe it should be allowed following very strict guide lines of family balancing for those families of 2 or more of the same gender.
My Story

I am a mother of 3 boys soon to be 4. We have tried every old wives tale gender sway technique and still have been unable to again naturally conceive the female child our family longs for.
We both love all of our boys and would not change any of them. When I found out my 3rd child was a boy I was a little upset not because he was a boy but because it still wasn’t the little girl I have always believed I was going to have. My husband and I had always planned on 4 children so we still had one more chance. I had lost a little girl. My first pregnancy was a girl but sadly I miscarried her at 10weeks (trisomy 16 – a completely random event and most common form of early miscarriage). I knew it was possible for us to conceive a girl and at the time we didn’t really want to invest all our savings into traveling overseas for IVF/PGD gender selection. We believed we could have a girl naturally with a lot of effort on us to use the sway techniques I had spent endless hours researching.

When we fell pregnant again I was positive it was a girl, we had put all our effort for months into swaying and surely it had worked. I decided to go with the new genetic testing to find out the gender early. Having 3 boys already the comments when people find out you are pregnant again are very ‘it has to be a girl’, ‘I bet you hope it’s a girl’ etc. This actually makes gender disappointment even worse and I wanted to stop these comments before they began so I wanted to find out gender before we announced it to anyone.

At 11 weeks I found out I was having another little boy. My world came crashing down. Whilst I was happy he was healthy this time being our final child my lifelong dream of having a daughter was gone in an instant. I still haven’t announced this pregnancy as I now feel very protective over this little man and worry people will feel he is unwanted as they know I would have loved a daughter. Again this is not the case but I feel I need to protect him from people and their thoughtlessness. Society is apparently against gender selection but the pressure they put on couples to have both boys and girls is incredible and anyone who has a one gender family receives endless bombardments of comments about having a child of the opposite gender. I have random strangers come up to me and say I have to have a girl as being a mother to a girl is completely different to that of being a mother to a boy, again thoughtless comments that don’t help. People who can clearly see I’m pregnant ask and I say it’s a boy but I have to follow up with a 20 minute speech about us being over the moon happy it’s another boy and yes it will be extremely crazy in our house but we wouldn’t change if for the world. This is normally followed up by wow you will be completely outnumbered. Yes thank you for that completely obvious observation.

This grief though was something I had never felt before and to make it worse I had to keep it to myself. I went through all the guilt of, I should be happy I have another healthy gorgeous boy on the way all whilst I was trying to come to terms with essentially losing my daughter. Ethically in Australia I could have legally chosen to abort this baby and as we only ever wanted 4 children and if I had aborted we could try again for a girl. It was before 12weeks and it was heavily affecting my mental health. In saying this although it did cross my mind as it was an option, I personally would never ever abort my baby he is still my baby and I love him with all my heart and I could never live with myself for doing something like that but I do know of couples using this option as it is the only form of gender selection available to them here in Australia. So the ultimate question we have to ask ourselves is: It is less ethical to abort a life already created or let couples chose the gender whilst it’s still just a clump of cells? The NIPT blood test enables couples to find out the gender of their unborn baby before 12weeks so has created a loop hole where couples can legally terminate the child of unwanted gender. We are progressive enough in this country to allow abortion but not gender selection for family balancing of usually large families?

The next few months I found myself really struggling and this is not something I am used to. I have never found having 3 kids hard I have always considered myself a natural mother, but I started falling into a form of depression. I was completely drowning and I couldn’t work out why. I started talking to a counsellor and eventually realised I was grieving but it was a hidden grief that I was even trying to hide from myself as I believed I wasn’t allowed to feel this. I wasn’t able to be a good mother, or wife or anything really.
I would avoid friends with daughters; I wouldn’t look directly at girls, no matter what age because looking at these girls I would find myself unconsciously imagining what she would be like. Would she have brown hair and eyes like me, or sandy blonde hair and green eyes like dad? Would she be smart and into study or more sporty? Would she be a girlie girl or more of a tom boy like me? I was trying to completely block this entire part of me out and it was literally killing me.

Eventually when I realised this is what was happening and my husband and I sat down and spoke about it all at great length as we had only ever planned on 4 children, so not only were we now looking at 5 we were looking to do it in a very scientific and risky and expensive way. Not a decision you make lightly. I do have a scientific background so making our little girl through IVF although not the way we ever thought we would it would give us our dream. My husband is religious but when he realised that if we continued to try naturally it would still likely be more boys and he could see the affect it was having on me. Mother Nature really wasn’t giving us a helping hand so science is our best option. We now plan to head over to the U.S. next year to get our little girl unless Australia changes the law here which we are really hoping they will. If we can go overseas and have it done why can we not have it done here?

Societies Arguments
1. Stereotyping
Some people say we are stereotyping her or creating this expectation of what a girl should be. I was a tom boy preferred cars and sports over dolls, make up and doing my hair. I rarely wore dresses and skirts and still don’t now. I like action movies over romantic comedies. I don’t care who she becomes just that she has a chance to become. I have always wanted to be a mother of a daughter not just a mother of only boys. People comment that I am lucky to have only boys as they are much easier, that I only have 4 penises’ to worry about not a million: Yes people do actually say this and to even my surprise it’s rather often! They simply just do not understand. For me none of this matters. What the future holds for her we do not know we hope she can forge her own path and become who and what she wants to be, the same wants and wishes I have for all my children. Comments like this though are stereotyping. She may like girls not boys just like one of my sons might like boys not girls. None of this matters to us. I have kept what dolls I did have as a little girl and my wedding dress and other odd things over my lifetime to give to her as I always just believed I would have a daughter one day. She may not want any of this but I will still give it to her for her to decide.
Before we decided to go ahead and travel to the U.S. to get our little girl, I was trying to come to terms with only ever being a mother in law. Most people don’t understand the gravity of this. Majority of women do not like their mother in laws. Having this faced upon me really opened my eyes to the unnecessary disrespect many women show their mother in laws. This now absolutely breaks my heart.
I will never get a chance to get excited about shopping for formal dresses or wedding dresses or suits if she prefers suits, these material things are not important. I will always be the mother in law when it comes to my grandchildren. My daughter and I might not be close so these kinds of things still might not happen but I will always be there for her as I would be my sons but when it comes to the grandkids the mother will majority of the time always turn to her own mother.

2. Playing God and Genoside
Some people say it’s playing god but In Australia will allow female gay couples or single women to use IVF to have a family. I think this is wonderful but this is along the same lines. These couples and women can’t have a baby naturally so we allow science to give them that baby they desire. My husband and I can’t have a daughter naturally so we want to turn to science to help us. Just as infertile couples can’t naturally have kids, if we want to enter into this argument god has decided for them to not naturally be able to have kids yet we now with science can help them achieve this. Again I do think this is absolutely wonderful but the playing god argument can’t be used as ultimately we already are.
Another argument against this is I hear often even by members of the NHMRC is that it opens it up for possible genoside where we start selecting for blonde hair and blue eyes etc. Besides the fact that this isn’t actually even scientifically possible yet the NHMRC has the ability to put strict laws into place to stop this kind of thing happening. The people usually extreme enough to want things like this will go to any length to achieve it and someone like Hitler comes to mind.

Scenarios for allowing Gender selection ART here in Australia based on the case studies outlined in the review

Case Study 1: Most couples who look to do ART gender selection are doing so to balance their big families. These big families are usually created as a result of that family trying to naturally conceive the baby of the desired gender. This in itself creates a strain on the health care system as its leading to bigger and bigger families. I have already greatly upset the gender balance by having 4 boys. Allowing it for families with 2 or more of the same gender already would be the best and most logical scenario.

Case Study 2: Allowing a family to have a child based on a particular gender as they tragically lost a daughter etc, this couple already having a daughter is likely to have one naturally again but If they then went on and had 2 boys and still no girl then they could turn to gender selection to have the little girl they long for. If they already have 2 boys then they already fall in the category anyway. Whilst we would all love to have a pigeon pair as 2 kids is exceptionally easier I personally don’t think family balancing comes into play until you have 2 or more children of one gender.

Case Study 3: Many couples each year already travel overseas for IVF/PGD gender selection for family balancing reasons. To allow these families to do it here in Australia will definitely reduce those risks associated with other Doctors and laboratories that aren’t required to follow the same high standards and practices set here in Australia. It will also help to keep the money here in Australia. As this is a complete personal choice no one that does it expects to have the government or health insurers pay for the PGD/IVF. Not only will it reduce the risks associated with the pregnancy and birth, by allowing the couple to choose a child of the gender they are longing for may stop them from continually trying for that gender resulting in increasingly larger family which will definitely impact the health care system.
Being able to do it here in Australia will also mean less disruption for those families. Traveling overseas for 2 weeks affects work and schooling, will also mean unknown babysitters to look after kids during medical procedures whilst overseas etc. All of this opens up more risks for the families involved.

Case Study 4: The daughter we conceived through ART would have never ever had a chance at life if we hadn’t gone down this path. To say that it then means their life is controlled from that point on is invalid. Parents that control a child’s life or a child that feels controlled would have done so or felt this way whether that child was conceived naturally or otherwise. Saying it was a result of being conceived through ART is just looking for something to blame. All children conceived through IVF could then use this argument. I will openly tell my daughter that’s how she was conceived and to me this will mean she will know how wanted and how special she actually is.
I have no expectations of what my daughter will turn out like. As with all my kids I hope I can help them become the men and women they want to be.

Conclusion
So In summary I think ART Gender selection should be available here in Australia under strict guidelines of family balancing for those families with 2 or more of the same gender. No Medicare or private health insurance should be required to cover the costs of the IVF/PGD. In allowing it here in Australia it will help to reduce the risks associated with conducting the IVF overseas in laboratories with lower standards than those set in Australia. It will also help to reduce the strain placed on the health care system by helping to limit the ever increasing family size of those families having more children in search of the desired gender.
Finally the biggest point that needs to be made is that it will stop the abortion of those unborn babies simply because they aren’t of the desired gender. Again is it less ethical to let a couple choose a baby based on Gender before the life is created or to allow them to destroy that life based on gender?

What a great submittion, I couldn't agree more with everything u said.
I would also like to stress to all the Aussies out there - Please please please take the time and submit something before the due date because I believe there's a reason why they have been undecided and asked for more submittions it's very promising for all of us to have this band lifted so let's all do our bit. Every vote counts !!!!!

[Mischa]

I have just read the relevant sections of the draft consultation document. I plan to make a submission regarding sex selection for family balancing reasons too. I hope there is change in this area

[1+2+3boys]

Hi, I am meant to be having a long term break but wanted to log in to chip in just here as it is important. I know of the rules being under review and have read the submissions on the NHMRC website so far and wanted to ask that more people please make submissions. There are some exelent ones for GS but there are still WAY more against. So I guess that means we are losing? Come on people please please please, you only have to comment under section 11 for GS if you want. I really want to but not sure I can since I am from New Zealand. Will try anyway though

[Girlfriend]

Sorry guys ive posted this in alot of threads but i really want lots of submissions put in
Please girls, put in submissions. Also get husbands and any supportive family members and friends to do the same. doesnt have to be long, just in support of gender selection.

If anyone is concerned about confidentiality here is a response i got from an email i wrote:


Thank you for your interest in the review of the guidelines for the clinical practice of ART, Part B of the Ethical guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research, 2007 (ART guidelines).

Depending on your preferences, and level of anonymity you are seeking, you may wish to choose between the following submission methods:


1. Create an account via the Public Consultation Portal, using your real name and contact details. You will be asked to complete the following ‘Disclaimer’ regarding your permission for NHMRC to publish your submission (see below). If you do not provide your permission, then no details of your submission will be publically available – however, you will be identifiable to the members of Working Committee and NHMRC staff working on the review. Please note that any submission made to NHMRC may be subject to the requirements of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Permission to publish on the NHMRC website: *
Yes, NHMRC may publish my submission on the NHMRC website
No, I do not consent to my submission being published on the NHMRC website
My submission contains some information which I do not want published on the NHMRC website. I have clearly marked the information I’d like redacted before NHMRC may publish my submission.
*Note: Any submission made to the NHMRC may be subject to the requirements of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act 1982. NHMRC retains the right to determine which submissions it will publish. All personal information should be removed from your submission if permission to publish has been granted. Submissions may not be made public if personal information is included in the submission

2. Create an account on the Public Consultation Portal under a pseudonym, providing a false name (e.g. Ms Anonymous) and email (e.g. anonymous@email.com) and other personal details. To remain anonymous, you would also need to ensure that you do not include any identifying information within the body of your submission.

This option would allow you to remain anonymous, even if you choose to grant NHMRC permission to publish your submission. However, this option would mean that NHMRC will be unable to email you updates about the review

Thank you for clarifying all this. I agree we all need to make a submition - the more people that write the better. Every vote counts and helps.

[LJ81]

1+2+3boys - how do you view other people's submissions? When I look it says that none are available. Thanks!