Homeopathy & Australia

A profession in undoubtable decline

At the beginning of the twentieth century homeopathy was well accepted in Australia, and utilized at the Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, and Launceston homeopathic Hospitals.¹

The temporary (1875) Homœopathic Hospital 17 Spring Street, Melbourne. Photograph: Charles Nettleton, courtesy State Library of Victoria. Taken from: History of Homeopathy in Australia - www.historyofhomeopathy.au

Established in Redfern in 1902, The Sydney homeopathic Hospital was relocated to the corner of Wigram and Glebe Point Roads in 1915.² Dr. Leigh Feild Deck, the last homeopathic doctor, retired in 1941, and the matron administered the final doses of homeopathy in 1945.³ Operating (until 1989) as a general hospital under the public system, the 1911 bequest of William Moore ensured a bed was always provided for homeopathic treatment.⁴ In 1990, after lobbying of Moore’s bequest by The Australian Medical Faculty of Homeopathy, a homeopathic outpatient clinic was opened at Balmain Hospital.⁵

With gratitude to Barbara Armstrong for the comprehensive compilation History of Homeopathy in Australia at www.historyofhomeopathy.au

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The Australian Federal Government established the National Competency Standards in Homeopathy in 1999, homeopaths meeting these government-endorsed standards qualify as registrants of the Australian Register of Homoeopaths (AROH).

Australia, in 2008, had degree programs in homeopathy at universities, and was awaiting the Federal Government to appropriately legislate, endorse, and regulate complementary medicine practitioners, including homoeopaths - after extensive investigation by a Government expert committee, and input from the Australian Homeopathic Association (AHA)…⁶ the formation of Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPRA) in 2010 ensured this did not come to fruition.⁷

Fast forward to Australia in 2019, when:

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia penned an open letter recommending pharmacies “cease all activities that encourage the stocking, promotion, recommendation or marketing of homoeopathy”⁸ on the back of the failed King Review (2017) which recommended a ban on all natural medicine in pharmacies⁹ not adopted by the Federal Government suspected as likely due to ‘people power’ - over 80,000 oppositional signatories - via the AHA’s powerful Your Health Your Choice campaign.¹⁰

• The Australian Federal Government cut private health insurance rebates for natural therapies¹¹ on the back of the NHMRC (2015) report.¹²

• followed (within the week) by an announcement of a ‘Natural Therapies Review’ (still in progress)¹³¹⁴ for the sixteen excluded natural therapies (see here for the homeopathy research protocol).¹⁵

• The NHMRC finally released their (2012) hidden draft report which concluded “encouraging evidence for the effectiveness of homeopathy” in five medical conditions.¹⁶

• followed (within the month) by NHMRC CEO Prof Anne Kelso ‘clarifying’¹⁷ for us the finding of 2015’s¹⁸ report stating: “Contrary to some claims, the review did not conclude that homeopathy was ineffective.’’

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  In 2023 the NHMRC Australian Review stakeholder complaint¹⁹ lodged in 2016 with the Commonwealth Ombudsman concluded with the following press release:

  “Despite our best efforts, it was not possible to engage an expert (or experts) to provide independent advice to our Office on this subject. In the absence of independent, expert scientific expertise we have not been able to conclusively determine those matters of scientific methodology.”

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The Aurum Project - June 2019 4th HRI Conference - 1st National Survey Results Poster https://aurumproject.org.au/posters/

• Homeopathy charity and research peak body The Aurum Project conducted the First National Practice Survey of AROH registrants - which found Australians visited a registered homeopath most commonly for mental health.²⁰

This survey also reported the average Australian homeopath was 52 years old, and that just 14% of over 450 eligible AROH registered homeopaths participated in the survey. These findings coupled with no onshore homeopathy colleges* and the continued and sustained disparagement of homeopathy²¹²²²³²⁴ led the researchers to conclude clear indications for a profession in undoubtable decline.

*2023 concludes with a growing cohort of graduate homeopaths and students of one of the four AROH accredited courses²⁵ - a hopeful indicator for a revival of the profession of homeopathy in Australia.

1. https://www.historyofhomeopathy.au/hospitals.html

2. https://www.historyofhomeopathy.au/hospitals/item/194-sydney-homopathic-hospital.html

3. Armstrong, B. 2020. Letter to the Editor. Similia, The Australian Journal of Homeopathic Medicine. 32:1. The Australian Homeopathic Association. Hobart.

4. https://www.historyofhomeopathy.au/hospitals/item/194-sydney-homopathic-hospital.html

5. Armstrong, B. 2020. Letter to the Editor. Similia, The Australian Journal of Homeopathic Medicine. 32:1. The Australian Homeopathic Association. Hobart.

6. Torokfalvy, P. 2008. Homeopathy in Australia. Hpathy. Mar 15. Available from: https://hpathy.com/homeopathy-papers/homoeopathy-in-australia/

7. https://ahpa.com.au/allied-health-professions/

8. https://www.homeopathyoz.org/news-members/291-aha-media-release

9. https://www.homeopathyoz.org/news-members/270-natural-medicines-will-remain-on-pharmacy-shelves

10. https://www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au/

11. https://www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au/

12. The Australian report

13. https://www.health.gov.au/topics/private-health-insurance/private-health-insurance-reforms/natural-therapies-review-2019-20

14. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-advice/public-health/complementary-medicines/natural-therapies-review

15. Homeopathy for preventing and treating health conditions: a protocol for an evidence evaluation. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=346433

16. https://www.hri-research.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Draft-annotated-2012-homeopathy-report.pdf

17. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/attachments/CEO-statement-signed.pdf

18. The Australian report

19. Australian Homeopathic Association. 2017. Executive Summary - Commonwealth Ombudsman Complaint. Hobart [online]. Available from http://www.nhmrchomeopathy.com/ombudsman-exec-summary.html

20. Salter et al., 2020. Sustaining homeopathy in Australia: Results and Analysis of the First National Practice Survey. Similia, The Australian Journal of Homeopathic Medicine. 32:1. The Australian Homeopathic Association. Hobart.

21. Lewis, M. 2019. De-legitimizing complementary medicine: framings of the Friends of Science in Medicine-CAM debate in Australian media reports. Sociology of Health & Illness. 41:(5):831-851. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30793332/

22. Greenland, J. 2017. Marginalising homœopathy: an Australian case study. Prometheus. 35(3):171-192. Available from: https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.1080/08109028.2018.1472361

23. Levy D, Gadd B, Kerridge I, Komesaroff PA. 2015. A gentle ethical defence of homeopathy. J Bioeth Inq. Jun;12(2):203-9. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25037244/

24. Weiermayer et al., 2020. Evidenzbasierte Veterinär-/Homöopathie und ihre mögliche Bedeutung für die ­Bekämpfung der Antibiotikaresistenzproblematik – ein Überblick [Evidence-based homeopathy and veterinary homeopathy, and its potential to help overcome the anti-microbial resistance problem - an overview]. Schweiz Arch Tierheilkd. Oct;162(10):597-615. German, French. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33006555/ Synopsis at https://cam-europe.eu/evidence-based-homeopathy-and-veterinary-homeopathy/

25. https://www.aroh.com.au/Accredited-Courses