Health News at Your Fingertips

More details on that shooting in Melbourne…

A hospital was locked down for two hours after a shooting near a fast-food restaurant in Melbourne’s northwest, as a police hunt continues.

Three people got into a verbal dispute near the St Albans shop on Sunday morning before a shot was fired into the back windscreen of a blue Holden Commodore.

A man and woman inside the car fled towards Sunshine Hospital on Furlong Rd and crashed into a responding marked police vehicle.

They ran away on foot in different directions, with the woman arrested inside the hospital and the man a block away.

The woman suffered an injury to her foot but police are unsure whether it occurred in the shooting or in her efforts to evade officers.

Acting Senior Sergeant Ben McGibbon said the hospital was locked down while police searched a nearby construction site and surrounding areas. It resumed normal operations after about two hours.

The pair have been taken to a police station as detectives look to uncover what triggered the initial altercation.

“Not many things like this occur at this time of the morning on Sunday,” McGibbon told reporters.

“But for this to have occurred something has sparked it, and there’s either been an altercation or disagreement or something has happened.”

The third person remains on the run and police believe they may be carrying a small handgun.

“The investigation is in its infancy,” McGibbon said.

“We’re still hoping for some other witnesses to come forward to tell us an independent version of what’s actually occurred.”

-from AAP

A gun has been fired and two people arrested after a fight near a fast-food restaurant in Melbourne’s north-west, AAP reports.

A blue Holden Commodore was hit by a gunshot during an incident between three people at St Albans on Sunday morning, police say.

A man and woman fled in the car towards a hospital along Furlong Road and collided with a responding marked police vehicle.

They tried to run away on foot in different directions but the woman was arrested inside the hospital and the man about a block away, before being taken into custody.

The third person remains on the run.

Penny Wong blasts Russia for ‘deliberately obstructing’ UN nuclear treaty agreement

Sarah Martin

The foreign minister Penny Wong has blasted Russia for “deliberately obstructing” a nuclear treaty conference at the United Nations amid a dispute about control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine.

Wong said that the government was “deeply disappointed” that the review conference of the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) did not reach a consensus outcome after four weeks of negotiation between 151 countries at the UN in New York.

Russia had refused to agree to a statement of support for the NPT which aimed to reaffirm and bolster the treaty’s aims of disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

The statement included a paragraph that emphasised “the paramount importance of ensuring control by Ukraine’s competent authorities of nuclear facilities … such as the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant”. The plant is currently occupied by Russian forces.

“Russia has deliberately obstructed progress. Its actions directly challenge core tenets of the NPT,” Wong said in a statement on Sunday.

“We condemn Russia’s ongoing unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression and call on Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukrainian territory.”

Wong said Australia remained “deeply committed” to the NPT goal of a world without nuclear weapons:

Australia is steadfast in our support of the NPT as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime. Irrespective of this outcome, the treaty continues to deliver tangible security benefits to us all.

Australia’s tech industry has called for cyber skills to be given priority at Australia’s upcoming national skills summit to help address cybersecurity risks, AAP reports.

Global software company Elastic, which serves half the Fortune 500, says calls by Andy Penn for greater government investment in education is the bottom line for strengthening Australia’s cyber protections.

The outgoing Telstra CEO and top federal government industry cyber advisor recently warned a National Press Club audience that the online lives of Australians are increasingly vulnerable and their skills lacking.

Elastic’s regional vice-president Anna Mascarello says the technology sector can do more at the grassroots level to feed the talent pool too.

“We’re in conversation with Australian universities to understand how we can help support the curriculum and nurture the next generation of critical thinkers,” she said.

The Productivity Commission says industry certifications and short courses could help build knowledge at a time when a skills shortage is holding Australia back on adopting digital technologies and cyber safeguards.

The two-day Jobs and Skills Summit begins on Thursday.

No one with Covid-19 has died in South Australia overnight, with the state recording 439 new cases on Sunday morning, 153 people in hospital, and 7 in ICU.

Plibersek says green jobs are an ‘exciting growth space’ for Australia

Lisa Cox

A little more on the green jobs roundtable discussions the environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, will host on Monday to lead into the jobs and skills summit.

Plibersek says environmental jobs are an “exciting growth space for Australia’s economy” with enormous potential if the government gets the settings right.

She says:

This is particularly exciting for regional Australia, where many of these jobs will end up being based.

As an example, on Friday I visited a farm in Griffith and heard about the types of professions being utilised on the land, in agribusiness, to enhance regenerative farming practices – agronomists to improve soil health, environmental consultants to advise on native bush regeneration, small businesses turning cotton waste and food waste into compost and fertiliser.

These are the types of jobs that will drive a future green economy in Australia and I want to set our country up to be a world leader in this space.

The first of the two roundtables will focus on how to create more opportunities and better career pathways in a green economy.

The second will look at nature and productivity, how to value the environment and build new industries.

Plibersek says green jobs will be central to the government’s environmental policies and will feed into the summit.

We would welcome input from the Greens political party – or indeed any other political party – into the jobs white paper process. The summit is just the beginning. There is plenty of time and opportunity for those willing to get involved.

Dog rescued from flood waters in WA

Western Australian police have rescued an 80-year-old man’s bull mastiff named Max from a vehicle trapped by rising flood waters.

At 7.30am police responded to a call from a member of the public about a car stuck in flood waters on Katrine Road in Katrine, about 94km north-east of Perth.

The car was stranded about 20 metres into the flood waters and while the man was able to escape to dry land he was unable to rescue Max – who weighed 30kgs.

As the waters began to pick up speed, two officers who waded out to the car and carried Max to safety.

Max, reportedly, was very happy to be reunited with his owner.

As the recent electric vehicle summit got under way Dr Jake Whitehead was sitting in a plane somewhere over the Indian Ocean.

The conference was intended as a reset to overcome nearly a decade of Australia’s policy inertia on electric vehicles and road transport under the former Coalition government – but Whitehead, head of policy at the Electric Vehicle Council, was on holiday.

It had been a dream trip for a longtime EV researcher: three separate stints across thousands of kilometres in three different countries with his partner – all in electric or hybrid vehicles.

As his colleagues were shaking hands and listening to keynote speeches, Whitehead was getting a first-hand education in what the rest of the world had been up to on the electric vehicle front during the two years Australia closed its borders to the world.

“You can read as much as you want online but it’s not until you’re actually over there and able to do the comparison that you can see what’s actually happening here in Australia,” he says.

“It’s amazing to see how much further these countries have come.”

For more on how the return of travel is showing Australians how the world has moved on EVs, read the full weekend feature.

Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps has responded to claims made by Deputy Liberal MP Sussan Ley on Saturday that “no one in the world is making electric utes” by pointing to several EV utes that are currently on the market.

No one with Covid-19 has died in the Northern Territory overnight, with the territory recording 63 new cases on Sunday morning, 14 people in hospital, and no one in ICU.

Another NSW government MP is pulling up stumps and will retire from politics at the next state election, AAP reports.

The Nationals MP for the mid-north coast electorate of Oxley, Melinda Pavey, announced her decision in a Sydney newspaper on Sunday.

Her Nationals leader, Paul Toole, said she had been a passionate advocate for regional communities for 20 years.

“She has served across both chambers of the NSW Parliament, entering the Legislative Council just weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Emily,” he said in a statement.

Mel can be proud that her time in the parliament and as a long-time member of the NSW Nationals team has helped deliver a stronger regional NSW for the next generation.

Pavey joins a stream of Liberal and Nationals MPs throwing in the towel ahead of the NSW state election in March next year.

The Liberal departure list so far includes Corrections Minister and Parramatta MP Geoff Lee, Customer Service Minister and Ryde MP Victor Dominello, Riverstone MP Kevin Conolly and Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton.

Departing Nationals MPs include the member for the seat of Clarence Chris Gulaptis and Myall Lakes MP Stephen Bromhead, and now Pavey.

Infrastructure, Cities, and Active Transport Minister Rob Stokes, who holds the Liberal seat of Pittwater, earlier this month said he was still weighing up whether or not to run again.

There’s also speculation another Liberal, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, is also considering his political future.

Victorian opposition will match government’s offer to pay for 10,000 nursing degrees

Benita Kolovos

Victoria’s opposition will match the state government’s announcement to cover the cost of nursing and midwifery degrees if elected in November.

Speaking at the Liberal party state conference on Sunday, the opposition health spokeswoman, Georgie Crozier, says the $270m plan to cover the cost of more than 10,000 nursing and midwifery degrees, as well as offer scholarships for nurses to undertake postgraduate specialities, has come too late:

Daniel Andrews has had eight years to do this and has failed to do anything … This government is bereft of ideas and are coming at this late time to make an announcement.

Lisa Cox

Greens urge Tanya Plibersek to focus on jobs that protect the environment

The Greens are calling on the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to use the jobs and skills summit to promote jobs that protect and restore the environment.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens’ environment spokesperson, has written to Plibersek to say a focus on green jobs could help many plants and animals “before they are lost forever”.

The letter says:

A strong plan to invest in green jobs would provide a high return on investment while also ensuring the restoration and recovery of critical ecosystems and wildlife. As the State of the Environment report showed, Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world. There are almost 2000 species listed as threatened under the EPBC (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation) Act, with many still waiting on recovery plans well past their due date.

The party is calling for intensive environmental restoration and water management, a target to plant 2 billion trees by 2030 and a taskforce to restore forests and revegetate bushland and degraded habitat .

Hanson-Young writes this would provide jobs across the country and help reduce carbon pollution.

The government has two roundtables scheduled on green jobs to feed into the summit.

No one with Covid-19 has died in Australian Capital Territory overnight, with the territory recording 175 new cases on Sunday morning, 104 people in hospital, three in ICU and one on ventilation.

Victoria will pay Hecs debts for 10,000 nurses and midwives to deal with shortage

Benita Kolovos

The Victorian government is set to cover the cost of more than 10,000 nursing and midwifery degrees, in an effort to boost the state’s health workforce.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, and the health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, announced the $270m initiative at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian branch on Sunday.

Under the plan, all new domestic students enrolling in a professional-entry nursing or midwifery course in 2023 and 2024 will receive a scholarship of up to $16,500 to cover course costs.

Students will receive $9,000 while they study and the remaining $7,500 if they work in Victorian public health services for two years.

A postgraduate midwifery incentive program will also be expanded to cover course costs and salary support for 150 existing nurses to complete their specialist studies in midwifery.

Scholarships worth an average of $10,000 will also be available for nurses who complete postgraduate studies in areas of need including intensive care, cancer care, paediatrics and nurse practitioner specialities.

In a statement, Andrews said:

If you’re in Year 12 and you’ve been thinking about studying nursing or midwifery – go for it. We’ve got your Hecs fees covered. Every health system in the country is under enormous pressure due to the pandemic. The best thing we can do to support our hardworking staff is give them more support on the ground – that’s why this package will train and hire more nurses than ever before.

Queensland recorded 1,125 new Covid-19 cases overnight, with the state recording 288 people in hospital on Sunday morning and ten in ICU.

The state does not report deaths on Sunday or Monday and instead publishes them as part of their Tuesday totals.

Tony Abbott: ‘If you want to keep the Andrews government, vote teal’

The former prime minister Tony Abbott is rallying the Liberal faithful to stick fast with the Victorian Liberal party leader, Matthew Guy, after a fresh bout of poor polling.

Abbott flew into Melbourne for a Liberal party fundraiser at Preston on Saturday night, just under three months until the November election.

The Victorian Coalition continues to trail Labor in the polls, with the latest Newspoll from Saturday suggesting the Andrews government is on track for a third term.

Labor holds a 56-44% two-party-­preferred lead, compared with 58-42% in the previous Newspoll and 57-42% result at the 2018 election.

Dissatisfaction with Guy’s performance has risen seven points since ­November, two months after toppling Michael O’Brien in a leadership challenge.

But Abbott believes the Victorian Liberal-Nationals can turn the tables, citing the 2010 federal election when he led the Coalition to 72 lower house seats and forced Labor into minority government.

“No one thought we had a chance in 2010 and we did extremely well against a first term government because we had a strong sense of what we stood for,” he told Sky News.

A Liberal party that stands for things, that fights for things, always has the hope of victory, the scent of victory in its nostrils.

Integrity is seen by voters as a key issue for the November 26 state election, as both major parties head to the polls with questions over their heads.

Abbott described the Andrews government as ethically challenged but would not be drawn on the state Liberals’ donor scandal involving Guy’s former chief of staff Mitch Catlin.

Victorian Liberal MPs are facing more independent challenges in traditional heartland seats such as Kew, Sandringham and Hawthorn after several of their federal colleagues were ousted by the “teal” wave at May’s federal election.

Needing 18 seats to reclaim government outright, Abbott said voters should understand that casting their ballot for teals will keep Labor in power.

“The Andrews government is probably one of the worst governments Australia has ever had,” he said.

If you want to keep the Andrews government, vote teal. If you want to change the Andrews government vote Liberal. Simple as that.

Guy is due to give a speech at the Victorian Liberals state council meeting on Sunday.

-from AAP

Richard Marles to tour Europe as defence minister

The defence minister, Richard Marles, will tour key British shipyards as the government moves ahead with its decision to purchase nuclear-powered submarines, AAP reports.

The 18-month consultation period under which the government will decide whether to purchase US or UK made submarines is coming up in March 2023.

Marles previously visited Washington and will now tour yards “which build some of the world’s most capable ships and submarines”.

“Our relationship with the United Kingdom is both historic and mutually beneficial, and is reflected through our continued commitment to Aukus,” he said in a statement.

“I look forward to meeting my counterpart, [the] secretary of state for defence, Ben Wallace, and collaborating on a new era of opportunities and challenges.”

The defence minister, who is also deputy prime minister, will visit France and Germany over a four-day stint as Europe looks to expand its presence in the Indo-Pacific.

Germany recently joined Exercise Pitch Black, which brought around 100 aircraft to Australia’s Top End, for the first time, and mobilised fighter jets to Singapore within 24 hours to highlight its rapid response capabilities.

Marles will meet with his German and French counterparts to discuss defence cooperation as well as participate in industry roundtables.

This visit reflects the importance we attach to our European partnerships and reaffirms the government’s commitment to working together towards shared strategic goals that transcend geography.