Health News at Your Fingertips

A woman is taking legal action against Aldi after she was injured at a Victorian store last year amid a “special buys” frenzy involving discounted TVs.

The 73-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, is seeking compensation after she was allegedly struck by another customer’s trolley and knocked to the ground during the heavily promoted sale at the Corio store in August 2021.

The woman was knocked to the ground and suffered a fractured hip, which required surgery. According to a statement of claim filed in the Victorian county court, the incident also left the woman with ongoing trochanteric bursitis, depression and anxiety.

Read the full story here:

Sorry not sorry to all non-Collingwood fans, but regardless of your team allegiance, this piece from Caitlin Cassidy on the highs and lows and chronic anxiety of being a sports fan is a lovely read – especially after Sunday afternoon’s epic match.

Eden Gillespie

Queensland inquiry into police responses to domestic violence reopens submissions to public

Queensland’s commission of inquiry into police responses to domestic violence has unexpectedly reopened submissions to the public, citing the reaction to evidence given by the state’s police commissioner as a driver for the decision.

Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, was interrogated for more than eight hours at a public hearing in Brisbane last week after she initially declined an invitation to attend.

The commission said it was contacted by a number of Queensland police service (QPS) members after Carroll “agreed” there were “significant cultural issues relating to sexism, misogyny and racism” within the force.

“After considering the answers to the questions put to [Carroll] at that hearing and upon receiving further communications from current and former members of the QPS … the commission has decided that it’s necessary to reopen call for submissions,” the commissioner, Deborah Richards, said during a brief hearing on Monday.

Read the full story here:

WA puts out call for hospitality workers to fill skills shortage

Not up for a holiday in WA? Perhaps you’d like to work there instead?

Western Australia is urging hospitality and tourism workers from the rest of Australia and New Zealand to consider moving to the state, as it grapples with a skills shortage ahead of summer, AAP reports.

The WA premier, Mark McGowan, announced a major campaign, Discover the Other Side, to attract chefs, wait staff, baristas, bartenders, managers and tour operators ahead of summer.

McGowan said:

Summer is the busiest time of year for our local hospitality and tourism industries, so the timing of this campaign is critical to help attract young workers to WA.

With our strong and thriving economy, relaxed lifestyle and great attractions, there’s no better time to make the move to WA and work in these high-demand industries.

As someone who relocated to WA for work in my twenties and has remained here ever since, I can safely say it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The campaign has been developed with key industry and government bodies, including Tourism WA and the WA Australian Hotels Association.

It builds on the state’s Life in WA campaign launched nationally last year to target skilled workers in the construction and manufacturing industries, which was expanded to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Aaand that bushfire warning has now been downgraded to “watch and act”. If you’re in the area, please keep an eye on the situation.

An emergency warning has been issued for a bushfire in Darwin’s south-east.

Secure NT says the blaze is spreading on one or more fronts and effective containment strategies are not in place for its entire perimeter, AAP reports.

The risk of loss of life or threat to properties is almost certain or has occurred.

Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service is primarily undertaking defensive strategies to protect lives and property.

Locals in the vicinity of Wishart and Kirkland roads have been urged to leave if it is safe to do so. If it’s not safe to leave, they should shelter indoors immediately.

Hanson-Young continues:

We as the committee, the Senate committee that hosted this inquiry, over many months, had the finance department in front of us a number of times. We had the Australia Post board and we had a whole raft of from the two shareholder ministers and their offices in relation to it. Not once was it disclosed that the prime minister himself [was] in a position of being a shareholder minister.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is speaking now about the party’s proposal to reconvene the Senate committee into Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate’s dismissal. She says:

There is a serious question about due process. That’s what the Senate inquiry found. The majority report found there were serious questions about whether the process had been followed, whether Christine Holgate had been given an appropriate opportunity to respond. There were question marks over the behaviour of the prime minister just in the public reaction that he gave.

But now we find out that he actually was in an extra position of power and that was never disclosed at any moment or at any point. So it really does create an uncertainty over the lack of due process and the legality of whether Christine was removed.

Nationals leader calls for ‘maturity’ in debate of Morrison’s secret ministries

National Party leader David Littleproud is speaking to the ABC right now about the examination of former PM Scott Morrison’s self-appointment to multiple ministries. Littleproud says Anthony Albanese has been too intent on “tearing down the former Coalition government”.

I think we need a level of maturity to this debate now. That’s what the Coalition will bring to it.

OK, sure.

New black hole song

New album from Nasa just dropped, and it’s the sound of a black hole. Quite literally.

NSW facing extension of industrial action by rail union

Industrial action by NSW rail unions could continue next month as the state government and opposition call for an end.

The potential extension came after workers refused to operate 37 trains they said did not meet minimum maintenance standards, leading to delays on the T1, T2, and T8 lines on Monday, AAP reports.

Rail, Tram, and Bus Union NSW secretary Alex Claassens said:

People are in my office talking about a calendar for September. Everybody is very frustrated and angry and something’s got to give here.

Claassens said trains that did not meet minimum maintenance standards could be affected by a range of issues “from safety all the way through to cleanliness”. He blamed outsourcing and extended time between maintenance inspections for failure to meet standards.

Meetings took place on Friday, Sunday, and Monday to try and resolve the long-running dispute over a new enterprise agreement and the union’s safety concerns with the mothballed Korean-built fleet of intercity trains.

While the action that took trains out of service on Monday was in the union’s advised calendar, Claassens said the union did not expect so many trains would not meet the standards.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said trains being out of action was incredibly disappointing and dismissed the industrial action the union has been engaged in throughout this month as “political games”.

Perrottet said Monday’s action was “unplanned”, although the union advised weeks ago it would not be operating trains that did not meet minimum standards. The premier said the trains did meet those standards.

This is just the union once again taking action and inconveniencing people for their own political benefit.

None of us understood that it was going to have that massive impact, and that again has highlighted the problem that we’ve got.

The blustery sunny day in Victoria has turned into blustery rain and hail and potential for minor floods. Please keep an eye on local warnings.

A little interlude: here is current federal treasurer Jim Chalmers and former Labor prime minister (and treasurer) Paul Keating having a chinwag this morning.

I’m informed that Chalmers wrote his PhD thesis on Keating’s leadership.

The Greens are calling for the senate committee that held an inquiry into the sacking of Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate to reconvene, after revelations that Scott Morrison was a “shareholder minister” at the time.

Thanks so much to Natasha May for her intrepid blogging, as usual! I’ll be with you until early this evening.

Natasha May

Thanks for your attention – I hand you over to the splendid Stephanie Convery who will keep you updated for the rest of this Monday.

Qantas frequent flyers struggling to claim “apology” perks due to technical issues

Qantas frequent flyers have been offered a $50 voucher as an “apology” from the airline for flight cancellations and delays in recent months.

However news.com is reporting that the airline’s app and website has crashed after frequent flyer members rushed to redeem the vouchers.

The perks offered also included status extensions for Qantas frequent flyers in silver and above, also increased lounge access and extra award booking availability as well.

Parliament could have “different view” from solicitor general on legality of Morrison’s actions, Shoebridge says

Greens Senator David Shoebridge appeared on Sky News earlier, weighing in on the Scott Morrison secret ministries saga as the public awaits the findings of the solicitor general.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, revealed just before midday that the solicitor general has released his findings on the legality of Morrison’s actions and that he will make those findings public following a briefing this afternoon.

Shoebridge said the parliament may have a “different view” from the solicitor general on the lawfulness of Morrison’s actions.

Shoebridge said the solicitor general’s report would not be the end of the investigation. He said:

Both the Senate and the House have very distinct interests to the government of the day when it comes to … the power to, secretly or otherwise, appoint ministers.