Robert J. Burrowes

P.O. Box 167

North Carlton

Victoria 3054

Tel/Fax: (03) 9482 4973

5 October 1996

State Manager

Medicare

GPO Box 9822

Melbourne

Victoria 3001

Dear Madam/Sir

I acknowledge receipt of the 'Application for Medicare Card Replacement' that you sent me recently.

I wish to advise that I do not intend to apply for a card replacement when my current one expires in November 1996. There are many reasons for this; here are two of them.

First, I intend to eliminate, wherever possible, my dependency on state-provided services because this dependence is inconsistent with my ongoing work to facilitate the creation of a network of self-reliant, human-scale communities.

Second, I have no wish to use the services of the mainstream medical establishment, given its failure to adopt a wholistic approach to individual and community health. Because it does not consider the health of the community as a whole, it does not act decisively against the threats to human health posed by, for example, uranium mining, the production of chemically polluted foods, and the marketing practices of multinational drug companies. Because it does not consider the health of the individual as a whole, it contributes to the emotional, spiritual and physical ill- health of individuals by prescribing drugs that suppress how people feel, so that they can continue to perform soul-destroying work.

I will continue to consult my preferred homeopath/osteopath as part of my own comprehensive strategy to remain healthy.

Yours sincerely

Robert J. Burrowes