Health News at Your Fingertips

With that, I’ll pass you back to the lovely Natasha May. See you this afternoon!

Today is a good day to be a duel fan of stamps and football.

Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold has unveiled new stamps to commemorate 100 years of the men’s national football team, known since the 1970s as the Socceroos.

In that time, Australia has qualified for the World Cup finals on six occasions: 1974, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and this year – 2022.

Australia’s first national team formed following a tour invitation from New Zealand.

The first stamp photograph has been colourised with the original uniform and pocket emblem, while the second shows the current football team in action in Kuwait.

Let’s go!

NSW flood clean-up continues

The clean-up is continuing in New South Wales as residents return to flooded homes in parts of western Sydney and the Hunter valley.

While the wild weather has mostly receded, there are still nine mild-to-moderate flood warnings in place across the state, and a hazardous surf warning remains active for large parts of the coast.

The state opposition leader, Chris Minns, has been touring the flood wreckage in Maitland.

Along the Wollombi Brook, minor flooding continues at nearby Bulga, where the river level peaked last Wednesday well above the March 2022 flood and a metre higher than the 1952 flood.

River levels are falling along the lower Hunter River at Maitland with minor flooding.

Elsewhere, communities are still struggling to recover from the March flooding events that engulfed Lismore and parts of Queensland.

Emergency declaration in Molendinar on Gold Coast

Queensland Police have issued an emergency declaration in Molendinar following a large fire and “loud explosions” at a scrap yard.

The declaration, issued under the Public Safety Preservation Act, was called at around 11.45am due to “smoke and potential hazards”, with an exclusion zone covering Precision Drive, Export Drive, Activity Crescent, Production Avenue and a nearby section of Smith Street.

Members of the public have been advised to avoid the area and remain indoors if within the zone with windows closed.

Luke Henriques-Gomes

More on the disability royal commission

The commission today begins a five-day set of hearings in Alice Springs, focused on the experience of the NDIS for First Nations people with disability in remote communities.

After a smoking ceremony, the hearings this morning commenced with counsel assisting the commission, Patrick Griffin, outlining the evidence that will be hearing during this week’s hearings.

The hearings will cover the barriers First Nations people face in getting onto the NDIS, and then, when they are approved for a package, getting the support they need.

The issue of “thin markets” – a shortage of services in particular parts of the country – is one of the longstanding issues that affects First Nations NDIS participants in remote communities.

Griffin said a major area of focus would be the “limited availability of NDIS
providers in remote communities and the experience of First Nations people with disability who have to move away from their home country to receive NDIS services and supports”.

Aside from “thin markets”, the hearings will also look at the NDIA’s cultural competence and whether the agency has been effective in reducing barriers to support for First Nations people with disability.

Griffin said only 66% of First Nations applicants are accepted as being eligible for the NDIS, while 72% of non-First Nations applicants are deemed eligible.

Government data indicates that as of 31 March 2022 there were 37,313 NDIS participants who were First Nations people with disability and about 10% of those live in remote locations.

I’m handing you over to my wonderful colleague Caitlin Cassidy!

Disability royal commission hears about First Nations people who have to leave communities to access NDIS

Today is the first day of hearings held by the disability royal commission in Alice Springs to examine the operation of the NDIS for First Nations people with disability in remote communities.

Mick Fallon, the Northern Territory manger for the National Disability Services, is speaking to the ABC about the hearings:

The access to the NDIS is fraught in some remote locations by virtue of shortage of workforce and qualified and skilled people to support people with disabilities. Plus the opportunities to support people’s complex needs in remote locations.

Fallon says some recipients have had to leave their remote communities permanently to access services because they’re simply not available where they are, which can have a devastating effect on First Nations people losing access to their families and culture:

On lots of occasions people can’t return home, even for short visits, to reconnect with their family and culture and country. It’s a really scary scenario where people can become disabled or removed from their communities and sometimes are never able to return.

So for those people who aren’t able to reconnect back with their culture and their community, they become really isolated. And have to live full-time in a town that’s not their own town, in the way they don’t want to live.

So, there’s lots of people living in Darwin and Alice Springs, for example, that simply don’t want to be there, they have a burning desire to be home. Their families have a burning desire for them to be home but they’re not able to be supported adequately and safely.

It’s an issue Guardian’s rural network has previously covered:

Dangerous surf conditions on NSW coast

More on the Covid outbreak on the cruise ship in Brisbane

The outbreak among the crew and some passengers on the Coral Princess in Brisbane on Sunday led to Princess Cruises offering refunds to those booked on its next 12-day cruise, AAP reports.

Queensland’s health minister, Yvette D’Ath, said on Monday that Covid protocols were in place on the ship before the outbreak.

She said some passengers were now isolating at home or in other accommodation, while authorities were helping the company manage infected staff on board.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 13 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 2
• Cases: 1,143
• In hospital: 136 (with 5 people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 8
• Cases: 7,586
• In hospital: 2,002 (with 63 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 323
• In hospital: 25 (with 1 people in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 4,804
• In hospital: 782 (with 10 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: 1
• Cases: 3,300
• In hospital: 284 (with 9 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 1,439
• In hospital: 28 (with 4 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 8,689
• In hospital: 717 (with 30 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 2
• Cases: 4,882
• In hospital: 282 (with 9 people in ICU)