Health News at Your Fingertips

The crash of a waterbombing air tanker in the 2020 bushfires, which killed three American firefighters, occurred in “hazardous” conditions without aerial supervision, an investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has found.

The investigation, released today, also found that the pilot of the EC-130Q air tanker was “very likely” not aware that the bird dog – a smaller plane to provide observation support – had declined the task.

The report said:

Despite an awareness of these conditions and that all other fire‑control aircraft (including a Boeing 737 large air tanker) were not operating in the area at the time due to the weather conditions, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) continued with their tasking of N134CG to Adaminaby without aerial supervision (birddog). In addition, they relied on the pilot in command to assess the appropriateness of the tasking but did not provide them all the available information to make an informed decision on flight safety. That information for the tasking to Adaminaby should have included details about actual hazardous environmental conditions, resulting in the cessation of local aerial operations, the birddog pilot declining the tasking due to the forecast weather conditions, and a report from the Boeing 737 crew that conditions precluded them from returning to the fire-ground.

The crew of N134CG were therefore very likely not aware that the birddog pilot had declined the tasking to the Adaminaby fire-ground, nor that the smaller fire-control aircraft had ceased operations in the area, due to the hazardous environmental conditions. While this was only one risk factor among others that would be considered by the crew when accepting a task, having this information would have allowed them to make a more informed decision about the weather conditions.

Queensland has recorded 1,233 new positive test results on Sunday, but no new deaths.

There are 283 people in hospital with Covid in Queensland and 10 in ICU.

Victoria also recorded four deaths of people with Covid-19, with 343 people in hospital and 22 in ICU.

There were 2,147 positive test results recorded in the past 24 hours.

New South Wales recorded four deaths in people with Covid-19 on Monday and 1,879 people in hospital.

There were 3,394 positive test results recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

NSW premier to push for reduced isolation period at national cabinet meeting

NSW pensioners and concession card holders are being offered 10 free rapid antigen tests, as the NSW government pushes for a reduction to the isolation period for people who test positive.

More from AAP:

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has flagged he will push for a national reduction in the Covid-19 isolation period from a week to five days when national cabinet meets on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Customer Services minister Victor Dominello says pensioners in NSW will be able to pick up 10 free RATs through Service NSW Centres and at neighbourhood and community centres or disaster recovery centres.

“Although we are heading out of winter, the risk of COVID-19 remains and we want to ensure RATs are easily accessible for pensioners and concession card holders,” Dominello said in a statement on Monday.

Seniors Minister Mark Coure said the free tests built on an earlier commitment to pick up the federal government’s Concessional Access Program, which was discontinued last month.

“We are making sure we keep the pressure off as many people as possible by stepping up and filling the gap that really should have not been created in the first place,” he said.

The free tests are available until the end of October to Commonwealth Concession Card holders in NSW, including those who have a Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card, Health Care Card, and Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold, White or Orange card.

More than 6,000 NDIS participants homeless or at risk of homelessness in last financial year, inquiry hears

Luke Henriques-Gomes

The disability royal commission today kicks off a five-day session looking at experiences of homelessness among people with disability.

Ronald Sackville, the royal commission chair, said in his opening address that the commission had already heard evidence of people with disability experiencing homelessness or being at risk of homelessness for a number of hearings.

New figures revealed by Sackville showed that in 2021-2022, 6,306 national disability insurance scheme participants were either homeless or at risk of homelessness.

That included 1,594 who were confirmed as homeless, the data showed. There are about 500,000 NDIS participants in Australia.

Sackville said the figures revealed “a significant social problem that demands attention”.

He said:

Of course, NDIS participants are not the only people with disability who experience homelessness or are at risk of homelessness. Additional data will be presented during this hearing to provide a more complete picture of people with disability who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Kate Eastman SC, counsel assisting the commission, said the previous 2016 census found that people with severe or profound disability were also overrepresented among certain forms of marginal housing.

ACTU and Cosboa ‘not looking at any mandates’, says Alexi Boyd

Boyd says Cosboa’s members have “wholeheartedly got behind us” in supporting the agreement and the push for reform.

We’ve been talking about this for a number of months now, obviously, because it’s an important decision for Cosboa. We have the backing of our members and a recognition that what we are fighting for is to understand the differences … It’s not a one-size-fits-all. And that’s why it’s going to take time to articulate and go through the processes and find out what’s best, perhaps for an industry, or perhaps for a particular business. But we have to start working through this process one by one.

I think what’s really important about this is that this is an opt-in process. We’re not looking at any mandates or requirements or whole sector requirements or anything like that. It’s about finding what’s fit for purpose for a particular business so that they can help on a one by one basis and help them to navigate the system. Right now, the system is broken.

Our own Paul Karp asked Boyd what the threshold should be for employer bargaining – that is, what proportion of a workforce needs to be involved.

Boyd says that’s one of the details that is yet to be worked out.

It’s going to take time to work out what those agreements look like. It will take time and when we say multi-employer – that may be a different articulation to what’s been talked about in the past. But we need to work out the details as the time goes on.

The ACTU and Council of Australian Small Business Organisations are giving a joint press conference in Canberra, about their agreement to work together to progress multi-employer collective bargaining.

Cosboa acting chief executive, Alexi Boyd, said it is difficult for small business owners, particularly those just starting out, to understand what their obligations are under Australia’s industrial relation systems.

What we’re trying to do with this memorandum of understanding is start a conversation about what simplicity in the system for small businesses looks like. In the past, there’s been lots of conversations in industrial relations, trying to make the situation better for business. But this is the first time we’ve put small business first.

As the largest employer in the country, it’s important that small businesses do things right for their workers, but make sure that their compliance is correct as well. So we’re really thrilled to be working together with the ACTU for the months to come, to work out the detail about what this looks like.

ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, said:

It’s a really historic agreement between the ACTU and Cosboa. It’s really important that the employees in small businesses can benefit from the same benefits as employees in large businesses have had from bargaining, from collective bargaining.

The system of today was not built for the economy of today. We now have small businesses being the largest employer in the country. When we developed the enterprise bargaining system 30 years ago, that wasn’t the case. And so it was built for big businesses. So, we need to have new flexible options that work for small business so that we can see small business owners and their employees also benefit. So this goes to the issue of simplicity.

It goes to the issue of, also, compliance, like making sure that workers clearly understand what they’re meant to be paid, and same with the employers so they don’t have to worry about multiple awards or other that might be in a very small workplace.

We recognise, as the union movement, that small business doesn’t have the same resources as large business in terms of HR departments and things like that. And that it’s in their interest to be able to bargain in an efficient manner in a way that doesn’t take up the precious time that those employers need to run their businesses.

So we’re working on multi-employer options that work for small business so that we can see a bargaining system that works for more people and the different types and sizes. We have a one-size-fits-all system at the moment and currently, actually, it’s not fitting anyone. That change needs to happen, and today is a really historic and important step forward in modernising our current industrial relations system.

The Victorian government has announced a “jobs guarantee” for students who graduate with a social services qualification from TAFE.

It follows on yesterday’s announcement of free university courses for 10,000 nursing and midwifery students, as part of the Andrews government’s pre-skills summit skills blitz.

Students who graduate from a diploma of community services between 1 September this year and 31 August, 2024, will be guaranteed a job, assistant treasurer Danny Pearson said.

Registration for the program will open on 1 September.

In a statement, Pearson said:

Right now, there are thousands of Victorians in need – women experiencing family violence, children needing care and Victorians with disability looking for support.

That’s why we are looking for people who are ready to make a difference and apply for jobs that matter now.

Guaranteeing graduates in priority areas a job when they finish their study will help thousands of Victorians get the jobs they want, to give Victorians the care they need.”

Thunderstorms and heavy rain expected across Victoria today

After a warm and sunny weekend, Victorians will see heavy rain and thunderstorms today.

Severe storms are expected in the west of the state, from Mildura to Hamilton and across to Ballarat, Maryborough and Kerang. There is also a likelihood of severe thunderstorms in the central and north east districts, as well as in Melbourne.

It’s currently bucketing down with a lot of thunder here in central Victoria.