Health News at Your Fingertips

Peter Hannam

2022 was quite a big year in real estate – although mostly in a negative way.

It was the first year since 2018 that national prices retreated, with a drop of 5.3% in dwelling values. For Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, though, the calendar year declines were the largest on record, according to CoreLogic, whose data goes back to the 1980s.

Read our wrap here (with some info too, from PropTrack):

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/03/record-falls-for-sydney-and-melbourne-housing-in-2022-but-prices-remain-above-pre-covid-levels

Among other things to watch from the decline in real estate prices will be a crunch in state government stamp duty revenues. Lower prices nudged properties into lower categories, while sales were off about one-third too.

“Through the December quarter, estimated capital city dwelling sales were 30.1% lower than a year ago and 9.2% below the previous five-year average,” CoreLogic said.

As the article notes, though, there are some modest signs that a plateau in prices might not be that far off.

But that’s not the case for renters, who saw record increases in rents in 2022. With vacancy rates below 1% in markets such as Adelaide or Perth, those housing costs are likely to continue to rise.

The British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has confirmed this morning that two British nationals are among the four people who died in a fatal helicopter collision yesterday.

A spokesperson for the FCDO said authorities were supporting the families:

We are supporting the family of two British nationals who died in Australia and are in contact with the local authorities.

Paul Karp

The health minister, Mark Butler, has spoken to FiveAA Radio in Adelaide to discuss the fact chief medical officer Paul Kelly recommended against the government adopting pre-flight tests for travellers from China in advice on 31 December.

Kelly had also said in interviews last week the measure was unnecessary, comments echoed by prime minister Anthony Albanese who said he was following the health advice.

Asked about this discrepancy, Butler said:

Well, as I said, when I announced this measure the chief health officers across the country, um, take a view that the resumption of travel between China and Australia poses no public health threat to Australians. Uh and that Australia is very well placed in the fight against covid right now, we have high levels of vaccination, we have very good access to treatments particularly the antiviral medicine …

So we’re well positioned in that fight, but as I said, really over the weekend and after the prime minister said that the things that you’ve just referred to, we started to see a number of countries move, England and France I think within 24 hours of my announcement just as one example. But also as I said [we saw] that WHO statement … about what they described as an absence of comprehensive information about the situation in China. So while the chief health officers say quite rightly that there’s no imminent public health threat to Australia from the resumption of travel between China and Australia, we are concerned to make sure that we can gather more information about what is happening on the ground with China. And this is one way in which we can do it.

This answer puts a significant gloss on the advice. The advice wasn’t just that Australia is well placed and that travel poses no risk – it was explicitly that Australia should not place ANY condition on travel from China.

Kelly said there was “strong consensus” among chief health officers that “implementation of any restrictions to travel from China at this time would be inconsistent with the current national approach to the management of Covid-19 and disproportionate to the risk”.

“I do not believe that there is sufficient public health rationale to impose any restriction or additional requirements on travellers from China,” he stated.

The idea that changes to other countries settings is relevant is also misleading, because Kelly’s advice took into account the fact that both France and England were due to introduce pre-flight checks.

AAP is reporting that one of the four people killed in a helicopter crash near Gold Coast’s Sea World has been identified, as crash investigators continue to try to work out what went wrong.

An experienced pilot and “all-round nice guy” has been identified as one of four killed when two helicopters crashed mid-air near Sea World on the Gold Coast.

Sea World Helicopters chief pilot Ashley Jenkinson died after the chopper he was in careened upside down into a sand bank near the popular Sea World theme park, about 2pm on Monday.

On board, four people were killed and three passengers were critically injured.

The second aircraft landed safely, but five of the six people on board suffered glass shrapnel wounds when the windscreen shattered.

Jenkinson, a father who had instructed numerous novice pilots, was remembered as a “great mate” and “an absolute legend”.

Andy Taylor recalled the bond forged when the pair assisted victims of flooding in northern NSW in 2022.

“Today we lost one of the biggest legends, Ash Jenkinson, you were a gentleman!!” he said.

Colleague Penny Wilson said Mr Jenkinson had “such golden of heart, cheeky sense of humour and always such a laugh to be around”

“An amazing pilot. Always so kind, helpful, and supportive. A true gentleman, and always willing to lend a hand,” former colleague Lucy Kuhn said.

Professor Fiona Russell, from the Asia Pacific Health Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, has told ABC Radio National that the government’s restrictions on travellers arriving from China was “not justified.”

Russel said that from a public health perspective, it was “not a reasonable thing to do”, adding that the risk of a new variant emerging from China was minimal because they were “naive to the virus.”

Look from a public health point of view, it’s really not a reasonable thing to do. And as it really is unlikely to make any difference at all to the burden of infections in Australia or, in fact, the real thing that we want to know is about the variants that are circulating in China. So it doesn’t really make any public health impact at all.

Closing the border to one population of people from one country, and we know with this virus it’s just so transmissible with everyone traveling, as they normally do, the virus will just spread everywhere anyway, as it has done and it is everywhere.

So it’ll just find another entry point. And we’re in a very different situation than we were three years ago. So, there’s 1 billion people in China, they’ve moved away from Covid-zero and there are an enormous amount of infections as expected to be there and their health system is likely to be burdened and from what we see coming out there it is burdened at the moment because a lot of the elderly haven’t been vaccinated.

And also because they haven’t been exposed to the virus before like a lot of the rest of the world. So it does go rampant there when that occurs like it did in Australia when we were zero Covid and came out of that this year, there was you know, a lot of infections and things.

So, that is all to be expected. But we also know the main reason why the government has thought to do this is to stop variants coming or potential variants coming into the country.

But they’re more likely to emerge in a population that has already you know, is has got some immunity already. Not in a country like China where they’re fairly completely naive to the virus.

So it’s really you know, from a public health point of view, it’s really unlikely to have much of an impact will have new variants are the key to the public health advice on this

Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud has called on the government to clarify some of the “confusion” surrounding the decision to impose restrictions on travellers arriving from China.

Littleproud was on the Today Show, where he said the decision was “turning into a dog’s breakfast” after it emerged chief health officer Paul Kelly had advised against introducing the measure:

I think it’s important now the government takes away the confusion. … It is getting away from them quickly when you’re at odds with your Chief Health Officer.

It is important the Minister comes out today, clarifies this, but also makes it transparently clear about what are the trigger points moving forward. That’s what builds confidence.

When the institutions that you trust – the government and Chief Health Officer – are at odds, you need to rebuild that trust. That’s why it’s important the minister comes out today and clarifies it.

Senator Pat Dodson, Anthony Albanese’s Special Envoy for Reconciliation, has said the Yes campaign for the Voice to Parliament will begin with a “week of action” next month, and will focus on grassroots conversations.

Dodson told the Australian newspaper that door-knocking and community barbebcues will form part of the efforts to build momentum for the Yes campaign:

A voice means listening to local communities and local solutions, changing the policies and programs that aren’t working, and improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

I’ll be out there campaigning, but this will be led by the grassroots and community organisations that have been working for years to make a voice a reality.

The week of action is about talking directly with Australians about why we need a voice to parliament in the Constitution.

AAP is reporting some further details on the fatal helicopter crash on the Gold Coast, with investigators set to focus on what caused the accident.

One helicopter careened upside down into a sand bank at the water’s edge scattering debris over a wide area in the crash about 2pm on Monday near the popular Sea World theme park.

On board, four people were killed and three passengers were critically injured.

The second aircraft landed safely, but the windscreen was damaged with a number of people injured by glass debris.

Queensland Ambulance supervisor Jayney Shearman said another six patients were treated primarily for glass shrapnel wounds.

The popular Gold Coast theme park was rocked by the tragedy, expressing shock and deepest sympathy in a statement.

“We and the entire flying community are devastated by what has happened and our sincere condolences go to all those involved and especially the loved ones and family of the deceased,” a spokesperson for Sea World Helicopters said.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said an investigation into the fatal mid-air collision has begun.

“Transport safety investigators with experience in helicopter operations, maintenance and survivability engineering are deploying from the ATSB’s Brisbane and Canberra offices,” he said on Monday hours after crash.

The investigators will examine the wreckage and map the accident site as well as gather any available recorded data for analysis and interview witnesses and other involved parties.

A preliminary report is expected to be published in the next six to eight weeks.

While investigations into the tragedy continue, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuka also offered her condolences to all involved.

“My deepest sympathies are with each of the families and everyone affected by this terrible accident,” she tweeted.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was shocked by the terrible and tragic incident on the Gold Coast.

“My thoughts are with all those affected, including first responders, and my deepest sympathies are with those who are grieving,” he tweeted.

Good morning. It’s the first Tuesday of the year (I will be doing this every day, it brings me joy), Mostafa Rachwani with you once again to take you through the morning’s news.

We begin on the Gold Coast, where investigations are beginning after four people died yesterday in a helicopter collision near Sea World. A woman and two children are in a critical condition following the accident. Police have said they believe one helicopter was landing while the other was taking off when the accident occurred.

Elsewhere, the government’s new Covid restrictions on travellers from China remains under the spotlight, after it emerged the measure was imposed against the advice of the chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly.

The advice, published by the health department, said Kelly “did “not believe that there is sufficient public health rationale” for any additional restrictions, increasing the pressure on the government to explain its rationale.

We will bring you more on both stories as they come in, as well as everything else happening around the country.