Health News at Your Fingertips

Call to help identify man hit by train in Victoria

A mystery man has been laying in hospital unidentified for more than a month after being hit by a Melbourne train, AAP reports.

Struck between Royal Park and Jewell railway stations in Brunswick on July 7, he was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and remains in a serious but stable condition.

No phone, wallet or cards were found on the man at the time he was hit and police haven’t been able to identify him despite extensive inquiries.

From his hospital bed, the grey-haired patient has mumbled the names “Roy and Ryan from Coburg” but it is unclear if he is referring to himself or someone he knows.

A facial composite image of the man, believed to be 65-75 years old, has been released in the hope someone will recognise him and contact Crime Stoppers.

He is described as white, about 175cm tall and of medium build with a prominent mole below his left eye, no identifying scars and no tattoos.

Chair of NSW flood inquiry calls for government to release full report

The NSW Labor MP who chaired the inquiry into the Northern Rivers flooding, Walt Secord, spoke to ABC radio, after findings of serious failures by agencies during the devastating floods earlier in the year.

The full report is yet to be released but the parts which have been leaked were scathing.

Secord said the members of the “tinny army” – the men and women who jumped into boats, surf boards, to rescue neighbours – did so against the orders of state officials.

But he said, “if they didn’t things would have been a lot worse”.

He said the want to see SES engaging with more local volunteer recruitment and is calling on the government to release the full report.

You can read the full story about what the flood inquiry found from my colleagues Tamsin Rose and Josh Butler:

New South Wales recorded 11,356 new Covid cases in the last reporting period and 30 deaths. There were 2,212 people in hospital and 55 in intensive care.

Melissa Davey

Bulk-billing statistics dishonest, minister says

Claims by the former government that most patients are being bulk billed are “not honest”, the federal health minister, Mark Butler, has said, as a taskforce prepares to examine why basic healthcare is increasingly unaffordable.

In December the previous Coalition government said GP bulk-billing rates were at a “record high” of more than 88%, with almost nine out of 10 visits to the GP in 2021 resulting in no out-of-pocket cost for the patient.

But as Guardian Australia revealed this year, it is a rate that consumer groups and health policy experts have questioned. They say the bulk-billing figures have been artificially inflated by non-compliant billing practices, and that government statistics don’t reflect the number of people saying it is hard or even impossible to find a bulk-billing doctor.

When presented with these concerns, Butler said he had asked for more information from his department “to obtain a more complete and accurate picture of the state of bulk billing”:

The former government was not honest with Australians about the true state of bulk billing in Australia by selectively quoting only this [88%] figure

Primary care is in its worst shape since Medicare began. Across the country we hear stories of Australians not being able to get in to see a bulk-billing doctor, or GPs changing from bulk billing to mixed billing.

Read more:

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has posted a robust rise in full-year profit, buoyed by strong home and business lending, AAP reports.

The country’s biggest lender today reported cash profit of $9.59bn for the year to 30 June, an 11% increase from the year earlier. Its statutory bottom-line result was up 9% to $9.67bn.

It will pay a fully franked final dividend of $2.10 a share, up from a $1.75 a share interim payment in the first half.

The chief executive, Matt Comyn, says the bank’s focus on strengthening customer engagements helped in growing its core deposit and lending volumes to retail, business and institutional customers:

Our operating performance was higher as a result of this continued volume growth and profitability was further supported by sound portfolio credit quality.

Newton-John family would accept state funeral

Olivia Newton-John’s niece, Tottie Goldsmith, has revealed her family would accept a state funeral, though a formal offer from the Victorian government is yet to be made, AAP reports.

A spokesperson for premier Daniel Andrews said today that “no offer or acceptance has occurred” at this time but did not rule out the possibility.

Goldsmith, an actor, appeared on A Current Affair on Tuesday night to remember the Grease star. She said her family would accept an offer of a state funeral:

On behalf of not just our family, but I think Australia needs it – she’s so loved. I think our country needs it, so we’re going to accept it.

Defence minister calls Chinese military activity near Taiwan ‘very concerning’

As China escalates its military activity with drills in waters near Taiwan, officials in Beijing have warned Australia to stop criticising China.

The defence minister and acting prime minister Richard Marles appeared on ABC Breakfast News saying de-escalation and maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait is in the national interest.

Marles was asked if he shares the concerns expressed late yesterday from Taiwan’s foreign minister saying China is using those drills to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan:

Well, I think what we are seeing is very concerning which is why it is – we do want to see … a return to a greater sense of peace in the region. And a greater sense of normality and that’s what we’re advocate advocating for. It’s what the world is advocating for.

Asked about the possibility a miscalculation in waters off Taiwan and the air over Taiwan could seriously escalate tensions, Marles said:

I think the more that we are seeing drills of this kind, the greater the risk of miscalculation. So it definitely is a concern and that a product of intentions that have escalated. That’s why we have been saying for some time new that we really want to see a de-escalation of tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Our position, as I say, is underpinned by not wanting to see any change to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. That means as a country we have adopted a one-China policy that we had in the place since the 1970s.

China’s ambassador to Australia will address the National Press Club in Canberra today in his first speech since taking on the role at the beginning of the year.

The troubled government contact tracing app CovidSafe is being put out to pasture – but there won’t be a whole lot of tears shed.

At the end of 2021, as Covid-19 vaccination rates reached more than 90% of eligible Australians, contact tracing began to be scaled back. But even before the scaling back, there weren’t a whole lot of cases being identified by CovidSafe.

The app was largely ineffective and will be remembered, as a “lemon” – as one industry expert, Electronic Frontiers Australia’s chair, Justin Warren, called it. As my colleague Josh Taylor reported in July 2021:

As England and Wales experience what is being called a “pingdemic” – with more than 600,000 isolation alerts sent to users of its NHS app in one week earlier this month – Australia’s CovidSafe app has managed to identify just 17 close contacts who were not picked up by other means since it launched in April last year.

Australia will consider funding Solomon Islands elections if asked, Pacific minister says

Pat Conroy, the minister for the Pacific, has just appeared on ABC Radio after his return from a trip to Honiara where he met Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare.

The visit follows a bid by the Solomon Islands government to delay upcoming elections until after the Pacific Games in December next year, which has raised alarm.

Solomon Islands opposition members have suggested Australia could fund the election, Conroy is asked if he is open to that:

He says as far as the parliamentary bill being debated about that decision is concerned:

This is a question for the Solomon Islands parliament and the people of the Solomon Islands.

Asked if he will offer monetary support, if this is the barrier, Conroy responds:

I think it’s very important we respect the internal processes of other countries, historically we have provided funding for elections and if asked we would consider such requests.

Serena Williams has announced her pending retirement in an article she has penned in Vogue.

The tennis superstar revealed she is putting away her racket because, at 40, she really wants a second child (and her daughter is campaigning hard for a little sister). But she talks about the conflict that creates in her mind, with her ambitions in tennis at war with her love of motherhood.

Australia’s Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles is of course the one Williams didn’t beat. With 23 grand slams, she was one tournament away from equalling it. In the article Williams says, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record.”

There are people who say I’m not the GOAT because I didn’t pass Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles, which she achieved before the “open era” that began in 1968. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. Obviously I do. But day to day, I’m really not thinking about her. If I’m in a grand slam final, then yes, I am thinking about that record. Maybe I thought about it too much, and that didn’t help. The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus grand slams. I had my chances after coming back from giving birth. I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.

Williams is candid about her reticence in making the decision, reflecting that she wished she could welcome retirement the way that Australia’s Ash Barty did:

I know that a lot of people are excited about and look forward to retiring, and I really wish I felt that way. Ashleigh Barty was number one in the world when she left the sport this March, and I believe she really felt ready to move on.

NSW train commuters are being affected by industrial action, with some services cancelled as the rail union continues its campaign to secure changes to a new fleet of intercity trains and reach a new enterprise bargaining agreement, AAP reports.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the strike would affect about 70,000 commuters who regularly travel on Sydney’s T4 Eastern line, the Illawarra and South Coast lines.

Services will operate normally until about 9am, when trains will be taken back to stabling yards and depots before the industrial action starts at 10am.

He told Sydney radio 2GB this morning:

We won’t be back to a full timetable on the T4 service until around about five or 5.30 in the afternoon.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union secretary Alex Claassens said the train services should not have been suspended, with about 90% of train crews still available to work. He said on Monday:

If [the network] is shut down, it will be because transport bureaucrats have simply decided they don’t want to run the trains, not because they can’t.

The Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, will address the National Press Club today after officials in Beijing warned Australia to stop criticising China’s military drills near Taiwan.

The Albanese government is calling for a de-escalation of tensions in the region, as acting prime minister Richard Marles has affirmed on ABC Breakfast Television this morning.

In more diplomatic news, Australia yesterday committed $16.68m to the Solomon Islands to support preparations for the Pacific Games. Manasseh Sogavare’s government has said it wants to extend parliament until after it hosts the 2023 games.

Minister for the Pacific Pat Conroy will be speaking soon on ABC Radio. We’ll bring you those updates.

An Australian Council of Trade Unions discussion paper is also out this morning, criticising the Reserve Bank’s over-reliance on interest rates to contain inflation.

The government’s jobs and skills summit in September remains a hot ticket but when Labor announced the event it was unclear whether opposition members would receive the invite. We now know Labor has invited opposition leader Peter Dutton to the September summit with treasurer Jim Chalmers saying it is a sign the federal government is serious about finding common ground.

Let’s jump in!