Health News at Your Fingertips

Lorena Allam

The Western Australian government has pardoned and apologised to the Yamatji family of a baby who was brutally murdered by Mervyn Bell after his mother was arrested by police who had been called to assist her in an assault.

After nine years of lobbying by the devastated family and their legal advocates, Tamica Mullaley and her father, Ted Mullaley, were officially pardoned on Wednesday by the WA attorney general, John Quigley. Tamica Mullaley was pardoned for resisting arrest and Ted Mullaley for obstructing arrest, charges they received that day while enduring “the unthinkable”, Quigley said.

“I am sorry by the way you were treated by the government and the WA police,” Quigley said.

“The granting of such pardons is a truly exceptional step. It is so exceptional that I could not find a case in modern Western Australian history, where pardons of this nature have been granted.

“These pardons are a show of mercy … and it has been a long time coming.

“As a government and the state we must acknowledge that the response at the time was clearly deficient.

“For that I am truly sorry. You deserved much better.”

NDIS price limits to rise by 9% from next month

From AAP:

Price limits for support as part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will increase from next month.

The NDIS sets maximum prices registered providers can charge people for disability support and services, to ensure participants receive value for money.

The limits will rise by 9% from July 1.

The decision comes following an annual pricing review of the scheme, with all current NDIS plan budgets rising as a result of the changes.

The limit increase will also include a 2% temporary loading during the 2022/23 financial year.

The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, said people using the scheme would have better access to support as a result of the increase.

“These improvements will better support participant outcomes and reduce workforce turnover by funding better conditions for NDIS workers,” Shorten said.

“This price review finally recognises the true cost of continuity of support, keeping participants safe and improving systems to drive productivity.”

Ben Doherty here, minding the blog a wee while…

National treasure (TM) First Dog on the Moon dares to boldly go where no cartoonist has gone before

(don’t @me about the split infinitive, I know, I know…)

A senior staff member of former MP Craig Kelly told a young woman that no man she could marry would ever love her more than he did, despite her telling him she had no romantic interest in him and repeatedly rebuffing his requests for physical contact, a Sydney court has heard.

Francesco “Frank” Zumbo, 55, is facing 20 charges, including sexual touching and indecent assault, linked to accusations by five women between 2014 and 2020.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced four new secretaries for government departments, continuing the new Labor administration’s clearout and restructuring of the public service.

As expected (and reported earlier this week) Jan Adams, currently the ambassador to Japan, will become the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The current secretary, Kathryn Campbell, “will be taking up a senior appointment in the Defence portfolio in an Aukus-related role”, Albanese said in a statement today.

Natalie James will become the new secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Jenny Wilkinson, currently deputy secretary of the Treasury department, is the new secretary of the Department of Finance.

Jim Betts will become secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.

David Fredericks, secretary at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, will move over to lead the new Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. A new secretary for the Department of Industry, Science and Resources will be announced “shortly”, Albanese said.

Simon Atkinson, current secretary of the infrastructure department, and Campbell will finish up their jobs on July 1.

“I thank them both for their service to the Australian Public Service over many years. They have both brought great professionalism and deep experience to the range of roles they have held, and I wish them both the best,” Albanese said.

“I congratulate Mr Betts, Ms Adams, Ms James and Ms Wilkinson on their appointments,” the PM added.

Kieran Pender

Alarmingly, in Tasmania, the freedom to protest is under threat.

On Tuesday a small public protest was held in Devonport, a coastal city in northern Tasmania. It was, as someone described on social media, a protest by “shop-keepers, farmers, fisherman, bakers, retirees and accommodation operators” who felt they were “left out by decision makers”.

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, says his party will not support legislating a more ambitious medium-term emissions reduction target over the coming parliamentary term because the “big hand of government” isn’t necessary to drive the transition to low emissions.

In the wake of the Coalition’s devastating election loss, moderate Liberals are now urging Peter Dutton to let the party room adopt a more ambitious position on climate change policy, and at least two MPs have signalled they would be prepared to cross the floor to support Labor’s 2030 target of 43%.

Green and golden bell frog restoration project celebrates birth of 100 frogs

From AAP:

Conservationists are celebrating the birth of 100 endangered green and golden bell frogs that were once abundant around Sydney.

The green and golden bell frog project was established last year by Aussie Ark, in collaboration with Macquarie University, with the aim of breeding the endangered species in large enough numbers to return to the wild.

The frogs, known for their striking bright green backs with gold patches, are being monitored in tanks at the Australian Reptile Park on the NSW Central Coast before being released into the wild.

Like many Australian frog species, they are declining rapidly.

Amphibians are among the hardest hit by the planet’s extinction crisis, with at least 2000 species in danger of disappearing. According to a United Nations report, 40% of amphibian species are threatened.

Aussie Ark’s head of reptiles, Jake Meney, said frogs acted as environmental health indicators, “so the disappearance of our amphibian species is a definite cause for concern”.

“In just a short time we have already had incredible success,” he said. “We know that long term we can make a real difference to the species.”

Adeshola Ore

The use of excessive force against Victorian prisoners is “persistent and endemic” in the state’s remand centres, with an ombudsman’s report concluding a culture of silence is a barrier to uncovering the full extent of the problem.

The report by the Victorian ombudsman, Deborah Glass, which was tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, found officers were failing to use body-worn cameras as required and that incidents often occurred in “CCTV blind spots”, which raised suspicion about officers’ actions and motives.

Former veterans’s affairs minister admits no attempts were made to adopt urgent reforms

From AAP:

The previous veterans’ affairs minister has conceded no serious attempts were made under his watch to adopt urgent reforms in his department in a series of hostile exchanges before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

Darren Chester, who served as the federal minister for veterans’ affairs and defence personnel for two years until July 2021, came under attack as he attempted to defend the coalition government’s failure to act on a series of reforms recommended by the Productivity Commission in 2019.

Pressed repeatedly about what steps he and the Morrison government had taken, Chester struggled at times to explain why work had not progressed beyond his call for a “legislative roadmap” in May 2021, two months before he left the portfolio.

He also wasn’t sure that the notoriously complex Department of Veterans’ Affairs claims system, and a huge backlog of claims, could be directly linked to a high suicide rate among defence members and veterans.

Chester insisted it wasn’t “entirely accurate” that the government had made no progress.

He pointed to his request for the department to develop a “legislative roadmap” in May 2021 to simplify compensation and entitlements legislation for veterans and defence members.

“I hope I’m not trying to hedge my bets, but I do believe there has been some decision in that regard that government is seeking to pursue through the normal process, through DVA and consultation,” Chester told the inquiry.

The operator of Australia’s main electric grid plans to conduct a “detailed investigation” into the breakdown of the country’s wholesale power market that triggered an unprecedented suspension during last week’s energy crisis.

The Australian Energy Market Operator said on Wednesday it plans to resume trading in a two-stage process starting with the market-setting prices again from 4am AEST on Thursday. After monitoring conditions for 24 hours, Aemo will decide whether the market suspension will be formally lifted.

New ad campaign to encourage Covid-19 vaccine uptake to begin from Thursday

From AAP:

A fresh advertising blitz will be rolled out in an effort to increase Australia’s uptake for Covid-19 vaccines.

The health minister, Mark Butler, said the campaign would target the six million Australians who have yet to get their third vaccine dose to be fully protected against the virus during the winter period.

The ad campaign will also focus on the Indigenous community as well as parents, encouraging them to get their children aged five to 11 vaccinated.

The advertising will be rolled out nationwide from Thursday, and the message targeting parents will begin next week.

Butler said it was critical for as many people to get their booster dose as soon as possible.

“If you have only had two doses of the vaccine, you are not fully protected,” Butler told reporters in Canberra.

“We’re still seeing an enormous loss of life, enormous dislocation and massive pressure on our health and our hospital systems, and on top of that, influenza has returned to the country as well.”

Daniel Hurst

Australia has provided funding to install tracking devices on more than 4,000 Sri Lankan fishing vessels, a move partly aimed at detecting asylum seekers journeying to Australia.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has repeatedly emphasised during her visit to Sri Lanka this week that Australia maintains its hardline Operation Sovereign Borders policy, despite the change of government last month.

NSW Health releases plan to eliminate hepatitis C as public health concern by 2028

NSW’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said the new strategy is centred on prevention, testing, treatment and addressing stigma and discrimination associated with the disease.

The strategy aims to reduce hepatitis C infections by 60%, decrease the number of deaths linked to hepatitis C, remove the stigma linked to the virus and increase testing and treatment.

Between 2016 and 2020, more than 30,700 people began treatment for hepatitis C in New South Wales.

More than seven in 10 people living with hepatitis C in Australia have reported experiencing stigma and discrimination, which can be a major barrier to receiving treatment.

The strategy addresses this through reducing structural barriers, increasing education, and strengthening the peer workforce to support those in the community with hepatitis C through care.

Hepatitis C disproportionately affects Aboriginal people in NSW. In 2019, the notification rate for hepatitis C was 11 times higher in Aboriginal people compared with the rest of the population.

The NSW Government invested $6.2m in services to strengthen testing, treatment and prevention of hepatitis C in 2021/2022.

Blockade Australia activists say arrests are a ‘weaponization of the legal system’

Blockade Australia has said its climate activists have been slammed with extreme bail conditions and imprisoned for weeks after being arrested in a chaotic raid of a property west of Sydney over the weekend.

Seven people were arrested and given charges with maximum sentences of up to ten years.

The remaining two arrestees have been refused bail and will be imprisoned for weeks until their court hearings on the 12th of July.

Of the seven, five have been released. Their bail conditions include: Residing only at their designated bail address, reporting weekly to the local police station, remaining within the state, and not entering the Sydney CBD.

This comes in the leadup to Blockade Australia’s Sydney mobilisation to resist climate destruction from July 27th.

In addition, activists have been given unprecedented non-association orders which prevent them from interacting with designated members of their community.

Blockade Australia said:

This is an extremely concerning escalation in the repression of climate activists by police. It is intended to intimidate those who seek to challenge climate destruction on this continent with the threat of imprisonment, and to protect the systems destroying our future from community resistance.

It is a weaponisation of the legal system to attack and disempower activists. The fact that these sorts of responses by police are becoming increasingly frequent presents a huge threat to democracy and must be actively resisted by communities.

ANZ raises fixed rates by up to 0.9%

Australia’s fourth-largest lender, ANZ, has today hiked fixed rates by up to 0.90% points.

This comes a day after Westpac hiked fixed rates by 0.50% points for customers looking to lock in their rate.

From RateCity:

Fixed rates aren’t the only loans undergoing a major transformation. Yesterday, [the] RBA governor, Philip Lowe, said the Board would consider hiking the cash rate again next month by either 0.25% points or 0.50% points.

If the RBA hikes by 0.25% points in July, someone with a $500,000 loan could see their repayments rise by an additional $68 a month.

If the RBA hikes by 0.50 % points, that same borrower would see their monthly repayments rise by an extra $137.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 63 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 1,085
• In hospital: 85 (with 1 person in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 26
• Cases: 9,472
• In hospital: 1,499 (with 51 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 248
• In hospital: 12 (with 1 person in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 6
• Cases: 4,802
• In hospital: 497 (with 7 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: 4
• Cases: 2,686
• In hospital: 223 (with 7 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 1
• Cases: 1,157
• In hospital: 45 (with 3 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 24
• Cases: 7,769
• In hospital: 402 (with 29 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 2
• Cases: 5,770
• In hospital: 259 (with 9 people in ICU)

Bob Carr: NY trade commissioner job ‘an expensive joke’

On Twitter, Bob Carr has weighed in on Peter Hannam, Michael McGowan and Tamsin Rose’s story from this morning revealing the NSW government offered a plum trade commissioner job to a senior public servant with a stellar resume, only to rescind the offer and later appoint the former deputy premier John Barilaro.

Carr’s Tweet:

The story:

From SA Health:

There have been 2,686 new cases of Covid-19 reported in South Australia today. There are currently 15,718 active cases in South Australia.

Sadly, SA Health can confirm a woman in her 60s, a woman in her 80s, a man in his 60s and a man in his 80s, who tested positive for Covid-19, have passed away.

There are 223 people with Covid-19 in hospital, including seven people in ICU. Of those hospitalised, 132 people have received three or more vaccine doses and 87 people are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and four have an unknown vaccination status.

Due to a reconfiguration of the data, the total number of cases has been readjusted.