Category Archives: Melbourne

Babies missing out on health checks in Melbourne due to Covid-related workforce shortages

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Exclusive: two Victorian councils limiting maternal and infant service, despite government lifting statewide pause enacted during Covid surge

There are fears health issues in babies could be going undetected as infant and maternal health checks remain suspended in parts of Melbourne’s west due to a shortage of workers.

Early childhood and maternal care experts warned the ongoing limits to the free service meant some parents were relying on blogs instead to find health information about their child’s development.

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Life after prison: Victoria expands jobs program for ex-offenders in bid to reduce recidivism

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Inquiry has found unemployment a key compounding factor in people returning to jail

Domestic violence and sexual assault survivor Grace* knows first-hand the discrimination experienced by ex-prisoners while job hunting.

The 27-year-old floated between the criminal justice system and attempts to find work, having been locked up for theft and drug possession.

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‘Absolutely due to upcoming election’: Australian government releases more refugees from detention

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Iranian refugee Hossein Latifi is one of nine people released from Melbourne’s Park hotel a fortnight after 50 others were freed

Iranian refugee Hossein Latifi has been released from Melbourne’s Park hotel, along with nine other people, after nine years in immigration detention.

Latifi was released on Friday – his 33rd birthday. It was the first time in almost a decade he had been able to celebrate outside the walls of a detention centre.

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‘Not fit for purpose’: new noise benchmark needed for Melbourne’s third runway, group says

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Victorian Transport Action Group says standards recommended by World Health Organization are needed

Melbourne airport must adopt new health-based metrics based on World Health Organization research for its proposed third runway to ensure people aren’t exposed to harmful noise levels, a group of transport experts say.

The $1.9bn proposal for the airport’s 3km third runway, due to open by the end of the decade, will be submitted to the federal government for approval next year.

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Police find helicopter crash site after aircraft with five people on board disappeared over Mount Disappointment near Melbourne

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Chartered helicopter was flying in convoy with second helicopter when it went missing on Thursday morning

Police have confirmed five people have died in a helicopter crash at Mount Disappointment, north of Melbourne.

The helicopter was travelling in a convoy with another helicopter over the area, which is 60km north of the Victorian capital, when it disappeared just after 9.30am on Thursday.

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Japanese encephalitis declared disease of national significance – as it happened

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Rex Patrick to reveal political intentions tomorrow after Nick Xenophon announces run for Senate; Japanese encephalitis declared disease of national significance; Liberals select candidate for Bennelong; fifth arrest this week over climate crisis protest; Morrison says having Putin at G20 ‘a step too far’; at least 35 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Here’s the latest on that rain to come, which is already hitting Sydney.

Australia is risking its economic security in a future crisis by being too dependent on foreign-flagged commercial ships, a former navy chief, Tim Barrett, has warned.

When push comes to shove, the place where the ship is registered is king. They can tell their ships where to go, what to do and what to carry. We don’t have an ability to do that except for the handful we have left.

To be entirely dependent on others is very concerning.

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Shane Warne remembered at private funeral in Melbourne

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Late cricketing great’s family and friends attended the service at the St Kilda Football Club

Shane Warne’s family and friends have held a private funeral in Melbourne, with about 80 guests gathering to say their goodbyes to the cricketing great.

Warne’s three children, Jackson, Brooke and Summer, and parents Keith and Brigette, along with close friends including retired Test captains Mark Taylor, Allan Border and Michael Clarke and former England skipper Michael Vaughan, attended the service.

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Former soldier who held woman at gunpoint to retrieve cat in Melbourne jailed for six years

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Judge finds Tony Witmann had PTSD and was ‘genuinely remorseful’ but victim fears she will never recover

A former soldier who tied up a woman at gunpoint while trying to get his cat back from Melbourne’s Lost Dogs Home has been jailed for six years.

Tony Wittman was armed with an assault weapon and dressed in full-military style clothing when he went to the Home in January 2021, causing victim Bailey Scarlett to initially believe he was a legitimate police officer due to his appearance.

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Australia news live updates: Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; international border reopens; 17 Covid deaths

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Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; Peter Dutton says all signs on Ukraine ‘pointing in one direction’; at least 17 Covid-related deaths; Australia’s international border reopen for the first time in nearly two years. Follow the latest updates live

AGL Energy has rejected a takeover bid by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset management giant Brookfield, saying the preliminary offer “materially undervalues the company”.

Brookfield and Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures made the extraordinary offer to take over Australia’s most polluting company on Saturday, with a goal to shut its coal power plants earlier than planned.

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‘We’re letting these people die’: a family’s anguish for Melbourne grandmother lost to Covid in aged care

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Merilyn Saunders, who loved sport, music and, above all, her family, spent her final two years almost entirely in isolation

Merilyn Saunders loved sport, music, dressing up and, most of all, her family.

The Melbourne grandmother died alone after contracting Covid in her aged care facility in January.

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NT chief minister says Omicron ‘too infectious’ for lockdowns to work as nation records at least 88 Covid deaths – As it happened

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Michael Gunner says lockdowns and lockouts no longer effective; At least 88 Covid deaths recorded around the country as Kerry Chant says Omicron sub-variant is circulating in NSW; Queensland reveals back-to-school plan. This blog is now closed

Albanese says Labor will boost aged-care funding, but cannot specify by how much.

There has been a boost.

Two things they haven’t done: One is to tie that funding of actual delivery of better healthcare for aged-care residents in terms of some of the regulatory measures required that were recommended by the royal commission, but the big missing piece in this workforce, we still don’t have a commitment to have a nurse in a nursing home.

We still don’t have a commitment to increase in the number of other care workers in aged care, and we still don’t have a commitment to increases in wages and conditions so that aged-care facilities are able to attract the staff.

Quite clearly there will be a need for increased health funding, but there is a need also to look at the particular areas of funding.

GPs, for example. One of the reasons there is so much pressure on the hospitals is we have GP shortages in terms of training, we have GP shortages in terms of some of the changes that they’ve made to the Medicare schedule that have had an impact in our regions.

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Australia news live update: at least 98 Covid deaths on nation’s deadliest day; PM responds to Grace Tame photo; Russia’s ambassador hits back at Dutton

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At least 98 Covid deaths recorded across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA and ACT; Scott Morrison comments on viral photos of Grace Tame meeting; Russia’s ambassador to Australian condemns ‘propaganda’ reporting; additional Covid deaths in Sydney aged care homes confirmed. Follow all the day’s news

Hazzard said NSW is supporting the Victorian government push to change the definition of fully vaccinated in Australia from two doses to three.

But he says there are some issues to be ironed out before that change can be made. He doesn’t know what issues, he says, because he is not a part of national cabinet.

I understand that most of these things require a range of medical expert input. In fact, they all require a range of medical expert input, and I think when you’ve got a committee of a large number of people, all giving their input, sometimes it takes a while to get there. Sometimes it is easier being a minister, I’ve got to say, than being on a committee.

So for everybody who is eligible, please go and get the booster as quickly as possible.

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Australia live news update: Novak Djokovic federal court decision expected today; ‘difficult three weeks’ ahead for NSW amid Covid surge

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Government argues Serbian tennis star has become ‘icon’ for anti-vax groups as federal court adjourns; Victoria records 13 Covid-19 deaths and 28,128 new cases; Perrottet warns of ‘difficult three weeks’ as NSW records 20 deaths and 34,660 new cases; Queensland records three deaths and 17,445 new cases; ACT records two deaths and 1,316 cases. Follow all the day’s news here

In further Australian Covid news, the Morrison government has announced $24m in new funding to widen the use of telehealth for GPs and other specialists. The funding is a direct reaction to the infection rate from the Omicron outbreak. AAP reports:

The $24m will also cover the continued supply of personal protective equipment, such as masks, respirators, face shields and gowns for face-to-face consultations including patients that have tested positive through a rapid antigen test.

The latter aligns with national cabinet’s January 5 decision that RAT tests no longer need to be confirmed by a PCR test.

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GPs warn over children’s vaccine rollout ‘failings’; 3,500 cases in hospital nationwide – as it happened

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‘Serious failings’ in children’s vaccine rollout, GPs warn; 2,186 Covid cases in NSW hospitals, 816 in Victoria, 502 in Qld and 211 in SA; NSW reports 25,870 new Covid cases and 11 deaths, Victoria 37,944 cases and 13 deaths, Qld 20,566 cases after testing glitch fixed, SA 2,921 cases, ACT 1,508 cases and one death, Tasmania 1,379 cases, NT 594. This blog is now closed

The Health Services Union has warned the aged care sector is experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” with “chronic understaffing, excessive workloads and extended shifts” hitting the sector amid the Omicron wave of Covid-19.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 HSU members:

The Morrison government comprehensively failed to plan before allowing Omicron to rip through the community and modestly paid workers, and residents in aged care facilities who built this country, are paying the price. Only just over a third of members surveyed have received their booster shot, despite working overtime in high risk settings.

There are active outbreaks in almost 500 aged care facilities across the country. Yet workers can’t access RATs, they can’t access PPE. They are on the front line with very little protection. Not only are staff at risk but vulnerable residents are at a heightened risk of severe disease or death.

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‘If it was me …’: tennis players respond to Novak Djokovic visa saga – video

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Figures from across the tennis world have weighed in on the controversy surrounding Novak Djokovic's entry – and now hotel detention – in Australia, as the world number one awaits a court ruling on his entry visa after his vaccine exemption was revoked. 

The 34-year-old is being held in isolation at the Park Hotel in Carlton, Melbourne, awaiting the outcome of an appeal against the decision to cancel the reigning Australian Open champion's entry visa and deport him. 

Players offered a range of views about Djokovic's predicament. 'In some way, I feel sorry for him. But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decision,' said the Spanish player Rafael Nadal

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Australian Open players given exemptions similar to Novak Djokovic under investigation

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Home affairs minister Karen Andrews says border force officials received intelligence about other players who may not have met entry requirements

The Australian Open could be thrown into further disarray with the home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, revealing other international players and officials are being investigated after Novak Djokovic’s visa was cancelled.

Andrews also defended the government’s treatment of Djokovic, who is in a Melbourne detention hotel waiting for a legal hearing, rejecting his family’s accusation the government was “keeping him captivity”.

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We know the hell we’re in. It will get worse before it gets better | Melbourne ICU nurse

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I’ve seen people die without their family. It used to bring me to tears. Now I just feel weary

My therapist says it’s OK that sometimes I feel dead inside.

I’m a critical care nurse. I worked in intensive care for all of 2020 and 2021.

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Novak Djokovic wins interim injunction against deportation; more than 72,000 new cases nationwide – As it happened

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Karen Andrews, home affairs minister, did give a hint of how things might play out.

AAP reports that, before Novak Djokovic’s arrival, she said that while the Victorian government and Tennis Australia may allow a non-vaccinated player to compete in the Australian Open, it was the federal government that dealt with border entry requirements.

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‘We’re struggling’: Covid surge spoils summer for Australia’s hospitality and tourism businesses

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Staff shortages and a drop in customers dampen peak season as Covid cases skyrocket and testing regimes struggle

For Phil Johnson, the licensee of Aireys Pub, keeping the hotel open seven days a week at what should be peak season has instead become a “day-by-day proposition”.

During summer the hotel’s lawn, which boasts spectacular views of the sea and sunset, is usually packed with holidaymakers who have flocked to the Victorian surf coast town of Aireys Inlet to escape Melbourne’s heat.

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‘Appalling message’: outrage over Novak Djokovic’s medical exemption to play Australian Open

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Former AMA president says Djokovic shouldn’t be allowed into Australia, while fellow players express surprise at the decision

The decision to grant Novak Djokovic an exemption from Covid-19 vaccination requirements to play in the Australian Open in Melbourne has been labelled “appalling”, with some players expressing surprise at the late decision.

On Tuesday night, the defending Australian Open champion posted on Instagram that he was coming to Melbourne to participate in the tennis tournament with an “exemption permission”.

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