Wednesday 25 January 2023

The Day Before.....


Tomorrow is Thursday, 26th January 2023. As a mark of respect for First Nations communities across Australia North Coast Voices will not be posting that day.




17 Jan 17 2023

First Nations dance theatre Marrugeku have collaborated with Noongar rapper Beni Bjah on an Australian take on Childish Gambino’s provocative 2018 hit This Is America.


This Is Australia is a blistering tirade against First Nations incarceration, deaths in custody and Australia's treatment of asylum seekers. Filmed on the lands of the Bunuba people in Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley, and directed by Marrugeku's artistic directors Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain, the video features Marrugeku performers and locals, and is packed with references to Australian history and recent events….

 

Tuesday 24 January 2023

Albanese Government's Fraud Fusion Taskforce & the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission at work in 2023

 

The banning orders against these entities send a strong message to any provider trying to take advantage of the NDIS and Australian taxpayers.

For too long, rogue providers have been able to make use of a lack of communication and coordination between government agencies. Australians relying on the NDIS are some of our most vulnerable, and any organisation taking advantage of their safety net must be stopped.” [Minister for the NDIS and Government Services Bill Shorten, media release, 22 January 2023]



NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, NDIS Provider Register – Part 2 – Section 73zs National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, last updated 21 January 2023, excerpt:


Banning Orders

The effect of a banning order is that the individual or organisation that is the subject of the order is prohibited from providing NDIS supports and services, or their provision of NDIS supports or services is restricted. For example, a banning order may be made against an individual on the ground that he or she is believed not to be suitable to provide supports or services to people with disability. The basis for that belief might be the fact that the individual has been charged with a criminal offence. In such a case, the NDIS Commission needs to ensure that the making of the order would not prejudice, in any way, criminal proceedings relating to the charge and that it would not be inconsistent with the presumption of the individual’s innocence. Consequently, the order would initially be for a period long enough for the proceedings to be concluded. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the length of the banning order would be revisited, having regard to the outcome of the proceedings and other relevant factors. The result could range from making the order permanent to revoking it.


The following corporations and individuals have been named in the aforementioned document between 4 January and 18 January 2023:


Rafael Ukken, Harris Park NSW – prohibited from providing disability supports and services, directly or indirectly, to NDIS-funded participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, for a period of two (2) years, effective from 5:00 pm on 24 January 2023.


Millennium Disability Care Pty Ltd, Williams Landing Vic – permanently prohibited from providing NDIS supports and services to people with disability, effective from 5:00 pm on 13 January 2022.


A.C.N. 615 641 079 Pty Ltd trading as Australian Home and Community Care; SIL Finder, Kurunjang Vic – permanently prohibited from providing NDIS supports and services to people with disability, effective from 5:00 pm on 19 January 2022.


Sarah Michael Leen Manyok Thiak, Kurunjang Vic – prohibited from being involved in the provision of NDIS supports and services to people with disability for a period of five (5) years, effective from 5.00 pm on 19 January 2023.


David Anyoun Manyok Thiak, Williams Landing, Vicprohibited from being involved in the provision of NDIS supports and services to people with disability for a period of 10 years, effective from 5.00 pm on 19 January 2023.


Ambrose Mareng, Melton, Vicprohibited from being involved in the provision of NDIS supports and services to people with disability for a period of five (5) years, effective from 5.00 pm on 19 January 2023.


Aman Manyok Thiak, Melton West, Vicprohibited from being involved in the provision of NDIS supports and services to people with disability for a period of five (5) years, effective from 5.00 pm on 19 January 2023.


Deng Manyok Thiak, Braybrook, Vic – prohibited from being involved in the provision of NDIS supports and services to people with disability for a period of five (5) years, effective from 5.00 pm on 19 January 2023.


Ramesh Saini, North West Rocks, NSW – prohibited from being involved in the provision of supports or services to people with disability, for a period of two (2) years, effective from 5:00pm on 11 January 2023.


Further details can be found at:

https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/Provider%20Register%20Part%202%20-%2021%20January%202023.pdf


This file covers the period March 2019 to January 2023 and lists NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission bans currently in force [pp. 2-32], bans no longer in force [pp. 33-36], compliance notices currently in force [pp. 37-41], notices complied with/completed [pp. 42-51], suspension of registrations no longer in force [pp. 53-61], revocations of registration of registered NDIS providers [pp. 62-70], infringement notices [pp. 71-73] and refusals to re-register previously registered NDIS providers [pp. 74-77].


Monday 23 January 2023

A look at common ticks which bite humans in Australia

 


LEFT: Australian Paralysis Tick before & after feeding. 
Image: WikipediA
RIGHT: Southern Paralysis Tick. Image: iNaturalist







LEFT: Ornate Kangaroo Tick. Image: WikipediA
RIGHT: Common Marsupial Tick. Image: shire.science.uq.edu.au

LEFT: Southern Reptile Tick (Male). RIGHT: Southern Reptile Tick (Female).  
Images: Tasmanian Arachnids


In early November 2022 authorities began to warn that this summer was likely to see a rise in tick numbers due to to widespread and persistent wet weather. At the same time, veterinarians were warning that the high number of domestic animals suffering tick bites was placing a strain on tick anti-venom supplies.


Now in 2023 the Australian Dept. of Heath has observed that globally in recent decades, “ticks have been expanding their geographic ranges largely due to climate change.”


Below is what might be described as a cliffs note on common ticks which bite humans in Australia.


Australian Government Dept of Health and Aging, Guidance Note: Introduction to Ticks, Australian Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases and Illnesses, excerpt, January 2023:


Overview and summary


Ticks are parasites that feed off animal and human blood. Globally, ticks, along with mosquitoes, are recognised as the most important vectors in the transmission of bacterial and viral pathogens to humans and animals. Ticks transmit the most diverse array of infectious agents of any blood-feeding arthropod and have the potential to pose public health and biosecurity risks.


Globally, there are almost 900 species of tick, distributed into two main families: soft ticks (Argasidae) and hard ticks (Ixodidae). Of these nearly 900 tick species, only 28 species globally are recognised to transmit human pathogens, which include organisms such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa.


Hard ticks have a hard, flat body and elongated mouthparts with rows of backward pointing teeth. This group includes the most important species that bite humans. Hard ticks favour habitats with areas of vegetation, such as forests and fields where females lay eggs on the ground, however, they may also be found in urban areas if there are unoccupied patches of grass.


Soft ticks have a wrinkled leathery appearance. Only a few species of this type are found in Australia, and they rarely come into contact with people. Soft ticks generally favour sheltered habitats and will hide in the nests of hosts or areas where hosts rest.


While ticks and tick-borne diseases are often limited to specific geographical regions, they may be potentially found anywhere in the world, with international travel from endemic regions to non-endemic regions by people, animals and cargo, potentially transporting ticks.


In recent decades, ticks have been expanding their geographic ranges largely due to climate change.


Australian ticks and tick-borne illnesses


In Australia, there are over 70 species of tick, 66 of which are endemic to Australia. Five species were introduced by humans with domestic animals (‘exotic’ ticks), which result in economically important diseases restricted to domestic animal hosts. None of the exotic ticks typically bite or feed on humans.


Of the tick species endemic to Australia, 17 may attach and feed on humans, but only six of these ticks are able to act as competent vectors for the transmission of pathogens to humans. Apart from the occasional local bacterial infection at the tick bite site (eschar) the only two systemic infections that are definitely known to be transmitted by tick bites in Australia are rickettsial infections from infection with Rickettsia spp.(Queensland tick typhus (QTT), Flinders Island spotted fever (FISF), and Australian spotted fever (ASF)), and Q fever (Coxiella burnetii).


Two additional species of Rickettsia (other than those that cause QTT, FISF and ASF) have been identified in Australian ticks and may be considered potential pathogens, although their presence in febrile patients has yet to be confirmed. These new species are Rickettsia gravesii and Candidatus Rickettsia tasmanensis.


The species of Australian ticks known to bite humans and transmit bacterial infection are:


the Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus), which is endemic on the east coast of Australia and causes QTT due to Rickettsia australis and causes Q fever due to C. burnetii


the common marsupial tick (Ixodes tasmani), which occurs in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria and causes QTT due to R. australis and causes ASF due to Rickettsia honei subsp. Marmionii


the southern paralysis tick (Ixodes cornuatus), which occurs in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and causes QTT due to R. australis


the ornate kangaroo tick (Amblyomma trigutattum), which occurs throughout much of the central, northern and western Australia and causes Q fever due to C. burnetii


the southern reptile tick (Bothriocroton hydrosauri), which occurs mainly in southeastern Australia and causes FISF due to R. honei


the Haemaphysalis novaeguineae tick (no common name), which causes ASF due to R. honei subsp. Marmionii.


Three of the 66 species endemic to Australia are well-known for biting and feeding on humans - the Australian paralysis tick (I. holocyclus), the ornate kangaroo tick (A. triguttatum), and the southern reptile tick (B. hydrosauri).


In Australia, most tick bites pose no medical problems if the tick is safely removed. Tick bites can lead to a variety of illnesses in patients, with the most common being allergic reactions. The Australian paralysis tick is the most medically significant tick in Australia and is

responsible for over 95% of tick bites in humans in eastern Australia and for most tick-borne illnesses in Australia. The Australian paralysis tick can cause several illnesses, severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis), mammalian meat allergy (MMA), paralysis, and death.


While tick bites in Australia can lead to a variety of illnesses in patients, as indicated above, much about Australian ticks and the [non-allergic] medical outcomes following tick bites remains unknown and requires further research…..


In Australia, no definite tick-borne viral infections of humans are known, although a new tick virus has recently been isolated (Graves, unpublished).2


2 Unpublished at the time of publication of this Guidance Note. Provided by Graves, S. R., April 2021


Sunday 22 January 2023

COVID-19 NSW STATE OF PLAY 2023: Counting Dead People

 

The NSW Perrottet Government publishes a very basic update of COVID-19 infection statistics once every 7 days and it releases a weekly epidemiological report whenever it feels in the mood.

So the only NSW Respiratory Surveillance Report-weekly epidemiology summary currently available which contains data on new infections, hospitalisation and basic mortality demographics, only covers the period 1-7 January 2023.

In that particular 7 days only two out of the 15 state local health districts did not record a death due to COVID-19, these were the Far West and Northern NSW.

Of the total 92 deaths of people (aged between 30-39 years & 90+ years) recorded between 1-7 January, 36 were aged care residents (14 of these people died in hospital and 22 died at an aged care facility), 7 people diagnosed with COVID-19 prior to death died at home and presumably the remaining 49 died in local public hospitals.

The following graphics show that while infection and hospitalisation numbers are falling in the first three weeks of 2023 the death toll continues to mount.

 





Graphics via @NSWHealth

 

The total number of deaths included in these four graphs represent 352 people.


The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 2023:


Everyone dies. But last year in NSW, far more people than usual did. Every single week up to September, dozens more deaths were reported than the state’s average. The cause is no secret: a rapidly ageing population combined with the ongoing impact of the pandemic.


But behind those numbers stands a colossal and often misunderstood industry that deals with everything from palliative care and burials to cremation and counselling.


And under immense pressure, 2022 changed it forever.


Crematorium operators spent the year dealing with a “high volume” of requests, funeral directors have been forced to increase their services and, as if to prove bureaucracy stays with you to the grave, the city’s cemeteries are set to be full within 10 years.


Guardian Funerals, a giant provider of funerals across the state, said they assisted “more families than ever before in 2022 and as we have commenced 2023, there continues to be an increased demand for our services.”….. [my yellow highlighting]


It’s only now, after a few years of increased focus on dying, that the public is experiencing what those in the industry have known for decades: when it comes to dealing with death, Sydney is headed for a crisis.


Saturday 21 January 2023

Cartoon of the Week

 

Patrick Chappattee
via @WilliamJRipple



Tweet of the Week

 


Friday 20 January 2023

NORTHERN RIVERS NSW STATE OF PLAY JANUARY 2023: in 39 days time it will be exactly one year since a catastrophic extreme flood devastated Lismore

 

As this sad milestone approaches for Lismore residents it must often feel as though the pain will never stop.


ABC News, 18 January 2023:


The Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW says it has received dozens of complaints about power bills issued for unoccupied flood-affected homes & businesses on the state's Far North Coast.


Lismore business owner Anne Walker said she had not used her business premises since it was flooded in February 2022, but months later she received messages from her retailer that said she owed more than $700.


"The texts were coming in saying if I didn't pay this amount, they were going to discontinue my electricity, which is ironic because there was no electricity," she said.


Ms Walker spoke to her provider in October to address the issue, but it took until last week to be resolved.


"It was very stressful — extremely stressful," she said.


The ombudsman's office recorded 55 complaints from the Northern Rivers since the start of September, including 28 from the Lismore area.


"Often there's no resident there, the property is not occupied and, of course, the billing doesn't reflect the fact that," said ombudsman Janine Young.


"[There is] either no usage or, where there is some usage, it's overestimated."


Estimated bills to be reviewed


Residents who spoke to the ABC said the incorrect bills they received were based on estimates of their usage.


This occurs when a meter reader is unable to access a property to record the energy usage, so an estimated bill is issued by the energy provider.


In the case of a situation that has led to vastly reduced energy usage, or no usage at all, Ms Young said the rules for bill estimates needed to be reviewed.


"When estimates are done, the rules allow an estimated bill based on the same period the prior year, or on what a comparable customer might be," she said.


"When there's been floods & there's been no usage, if you're getting an estimate based on the prior year, that's completely wrong.


"Those rules have to be looked at."


Customers should first try to resolve any dispute with their retailer, but those left dissatisfied could turn to Ms Young's office for help, she said.


"We've had outcomes where we've got the bill waived, where we've had the daily supply charges waived as well," Ms Young said.


"The retailer is much more aware of the customer circumstances & when it's likely that the property can be again inhabited — if it can be."


No meters, no power


Adrian Walsh from Broadwater said he received an estimated usage bill of about $800, despite not having power after the flood.


"When I first rang up & complained [to the retailer] ... their solution was to pay the bill & perhaps I could claim it back later," he said.


"I wasn't really in the mood for that."


Bungawalbin's Keely Patch said metering equipment damaged by the floods was still not working in her area.


Despite having only a single working power point in her home, Ms Patch said she was sent estimated usage bills that totalled $800.


"If estimated bills are based off previous usages, that kind of gets taken out of the picture when, for months, there was no usage at all," Ms Patch said.


"Since the bills have come in, I've only been running a fridge & some lights & that's pretty much all I've got."


The ABC heard from people who were experiencing similar issues across a range of energy retailers.


In a statement, Origin Energy said it was committed to supporting customers affected by floods…...


Red Energy said it stopped billing & debt collection activities in the aftermath of the floods while it assessed the situation…….




....Eleven months ago, an unprecedented deluge swept across the eastern seaboard, inundating towns across southeast Queensland and northern NSW, in one of the worst recorded flooding disasters in the nation’s history.


With communities such as Woodburn, Kyogle and Nimbin in the northeastern corner of NSW facing a monumental rebuild, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet vowed not a dollar would be spared in the recovery effort, saying those who had lost homes were a primary concern.


But of the $1.6bn promised by the government in May last year, Service NSW data reveals only $322.2m has been distributed eight months later.


Inordinately high numbers of grants had been ruled ineligible by the government, with more than 67 per cent of small business grants rejected.


South Lismore cafe owner Tony Zammit said his experience in the aftermath of the floods had been positive, but he had faced issues applying for the small grants program later on, with multiple applications green-lit by Service NSW staff before being subsequently rejected.


Early on they were helpful but as time went on it became daunting. By the end, honest claims and applicants were treated as criminals,” Mr Zammit, the owner of The Sassy Bean cafe, said.


One near-$50,000 claim was deemed ineligible by Service NSW because assessors could not verify an $1100 electrician’s bill, he said. When he attempted to resubmit his claim, Mr Zammit was told he could not submit any of the same receipts as they had all been deemed fraudulent.


More than 80 per cent of rental support applications have been declined, while of special disaster grants available to farmers and primary producers, only $116m of $302m claimed has been paid out, despite 86 per cent of applications being approved or rejected.


Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke warned in May last year the government had an “obligation” to ensure the proper processes were in place to filter out fraudulent grant applications. The NSW government’s independent 2022 flood inquiry noted concerns among flood-impacted farming communities that there were “onerous processes for accessing grants, and for submitting development applications”.


An upper house inquiry reached similar conclusions, finding a lack of streamlined grants processes meant applicants were repeatedly interviewed, “leading to frustration and trauma”, while a lack of assessors on the ground “delayed the rollout of grants”…..