The
Daily Telegraph,
15 December 2021, p10:
The
CEO of an organisation that managed an East Lismore group home where
significant issues arose has apologised on behalf of the service
provider.
Life
Without Barriers CEO Claire Robbs addressed the Disability Royal
Commission on Tuesday.
Ms
Robbs addressed issues including those which arose in relation to a
particular resident of the group home, referred to by the pseudonym
Sophie and another, known as Natalie.
“It
deeply saddens me that for the people who have shared their stories
with the disability Royal Commission, our organisation has not met
this promise,” Ms Robbs said.
“The
physical abuse Sophie experienced is unquestionably not in keeping
with Sophie’s right to feel safe and respected in her own home.”
“I do not condone the violence towards Sophie, and I offer Sophie
and her family our sincere apology for the harm caused to her,
including for the manner in which our investigations into the matter
was undertaken.” She has condemned the misconduct toward another
resident, known as Natalie. “For Natalie and her family, the sexual
misconduct by a staff member is completely unacceptable, and I
acknowledge the pain and trauma that has caused Natalie and her
family,” Ms Robbs said.
“Our
priority should have been to protect Natalie earlier.
“I
offer this apology to both Natalie and her family with a full
understanding that our delay in offering a genuine and human response
was also unacceptable.” Ms Robbs is continuing to give evidence
before the commission in relation to multiple abuse, mistreatment and
neglect allegations at homes run by Life Without Barriers.
The
organisation’s Director of Policy Reform and Business Development
Stephen Doley appeared before the commission on Monday.
Mr
Doley was the director of disability and aged care for NSW and the
ACT at the time of the incidents in Lismore but was also questioned
about the cases of residents in a Melbourne home…..
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
14
December 2021, p1:
More
than 1.9 million coronavirus case alerts have been issued in the
Service NSW app over the past fortnight as end-of-year celebrations
drive an upswing in the state's cases.
The
alerts, issued between November 29 and December 13, include
directions to monitor for symptoms, as well as to test and isolate as
contacts of a case.
There
have been several instances of all patrons at a hospitality venue
being placed in isolation for a week as clusters linked to nightclubs
and pubs threaten to push daily cases into the thousands by the end
of the year…..
A
NSW Health spokesperson said they were unable to confirm how many
people were considered close contacts.
Half
of Sydney's systemic Catholic schools elected to learn from home this
week as families attempt to avoid being deemed a close contact before
Christmas.
But
hundreds of other families are awaiting their fate after their
children were potentially exposed at school…..
Christine
Rooke's daughter, who is too young to be vaccinated, caught COVID-19
on the last day of term at her eastern suburbs private school this
month.
She
tested positive on day six of her quarantine period so will spend the
first 20 days of her holidays in isolation.
Ms
Rooke says she hopes the rest of her family, all of whom are
vaccinated, will avoid catching the virus. If they test positive, the
clock on their isolation will be reset and they will be housebound
until after Christmas.
"If
none of us test positive, we could be out on the 19th. If any of us
test positive now, we will miss it," she said.
"It's
frustrating because we've been sold this story ... that we are going
to live with COVID and life is going to get back to normal, but that
isn't really the case."…..
Courier
Mail,
13 December 2021, p5:
This
week, police will embark on their biggest operation since the
Commonwealth Games and the G20 summit – the reopening of
Queensland.
Late
on Sunday afternoon, stranded Queenslanders and travellers began to
fill Tweed Heads, filling side streets, car parks and service
stations, poised for the border to open at 1am.
Julie
Aubrey and her family parked their caravan at a service station just
9km from the border, setting up camp chairs for the long wait.
Ms
Aubrey travelled from Brisbane to Victoria in June to care for her
sick mother-in-law. She passed in October, but Mr Aubrey couldn’t
return because of hard border closures. “I haven’t seen my kids
for six months, so that’s been tough. I just can’t wait to see
them,” she said.
The
borders have been closed to southern hotspots for the past 141 days,
leaving families ripped apart, Queenslanders stranded and the tourism
industry reeling.
The
border has now been closed three times for a total of 435 days since
the pandemic began.
But
the long wait and the uncertainty is over.
FIFO
dads will see their kids again – some meeting babies for the first
time – grandparents will reunite with families, couples will
celebrate homecomings and some locals will simply be allowed to go
home.
Health
authorities, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and new chief
health officer Dr John Gerrard, have reassured Queenslanders there
are no plans to shut the state down again.
Greeting
the interstate arrivals at road checkpoints and airports will be
officers from a 500-strong contingency, tasked with ensuring border
openings today and vaccine mandates on Friday go smoothly.
The
state’s top Covid cop, Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski, said
it was the biggest police operation since the 2018 Commonwealth Games
and the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane attended by world leaders,
including then-US president Barack Obama.
“We
could see up to 60,000 vehicles (crossing into Queensland) per day,”
he said.
“The
pandemic response has been by far the largest and most sustained
major operation in QPS history but the anticipated numbers (of
people) we will have to deal with when the border reopens will
be significant.” Business and tourism leaders, along with
long-suffering border residents, say the reopening has been a long
time coming and there can be no more crippling closures.
“There’s
enormous relief that the state government has held its nerve and
stuck with the road map despite the emergence of the Omicron
variant,” Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind
said.
“It
should help rebuild shattered consumer confidence about travelling
anywhere across borders.
“We
have to learn to live with the virus and accept that it will spread
in Queensland, but we can manage it.” Mr Gschwind said holiday
bookings and inquiries had surged since the border reopening
announcement.
He
said the decision to reopen four days earlier than scheduled, after
Queensland’s double dose vaccination hit 80 per cent last week, had
reinforced confidence…..
Manning
River Times,
10 December 2021, p3:
Health
systems coping "at the moment" Local health systems, not
just in the Mid Coast, but in other regional and rural areas around
NSW, seem to be coping well at the moment, thanks to high vaccination
rates in most areas. But it still wouldn't take much to tip the
situation to a serious level, health workers say.
"The
problem is things might seem to be going alright but then they can go
pear shaped very, very fast," Dr Holliday said.
"I
guess with small hospitals, and the Manning (Base Hospital) is really
under funded, what will happen is that people will do their very
best, but we don't have the capacity."
Paramedics
and nursing staff in rural and regional areas keep saying there is a
chronic staff shortage, and that the capacity of a hospital to deal
with an increase in COVID cases will not come down to a lack of beds,
but a lack of staff.
Tim
McEwan, an Australian Paramedics Association delegate and working
paramedic from Yamba, near Coffs Harbour, says that staff are "dead
on their feet"
"It's
been relentless. Not necessarily COVID related, just generally
speaking," Mr McEwen said,
"What
we're finding now is that both NSW Ambulance and the hospitals are
struggling to staff their units.
"Even
NSW ambulance can be two or three cars short each shift, and they
just can't find paramedics to fill them. The casuals don't seem to be
putting their hand up as much; certainly the full time staff are not
putting their hands up for overtime.
"If
the hospitals can't staff their wards, then the flow on is that the
ED can't get their patients out of there onto the wards," Tim
says…..
