Rates of anxiety and depression on the New South Wales north coast are almost twice the state average of 10 per cent.
[ABC North Coast NSW radio, 10 October 2014]
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Friday, 17 October 2014
Why is the NSW Baird Government removing surgical facilities from the new $80 million Byron Central Hospital?
In September 2014 it was reported that the early works contract for the new $80 million Byron Central Hospital had been awarded and, that main works construction on the greenfields site was to begin in 2015.
On 16 October 2014 the Echo Netdaily reported on the possible privatisation of surgical services within this hospital:
The NSW Parliament is today set to debate controversial government plans to privatise the proposed Byron Central Hospital after a move by the Labor opposition yesterday to force the coalition to release all documents related to the development.
It comes as a residents group revealed the Ewingsdale landowner of the surrounding land where plans are being pushed through for almost 200 dwellings, a nursing home and shopping centre is the daughter of one of Australia’s richest beef barons who has been buying up prime farmland nearby.
Byron Shire Council last week narrowly approved pushing the so-called ‘seniors’ development through to its development application (DA) stage, outraging local resident groups who say it should have been deferred for more time to consider the contentious plan which contravened the shire’s new Local Environment Plan (LEP).
But comments by Ballina MP Don Page, following the council decision, that he wanted the private sector to provide surgical services at the hospital has sparked the move in parliament to try and throw light on the hospital plans and the push for privately-run services.
Labor’s shadow health minister Walt Secord says his call for papers, known as a Standing Order 52, in the NSW Legislative Council yesterday will be debated this week.
‘It’s an extraordinary step, but this is about finding out the National Party plans for Byron Central Hospital’, Mr Secord told Echonetdaily.
He said Mr Page’s comments to the ABC in favour of a privately-run service followed an announcement by state health minister Jillian Skinner last month that the central hospital’s project team was ‘undertaking a market sounding process to determine whether there is interest from private providers to deliver surgical services at the facility’.
Read the rest of the article here.
The aforementioned debate did take place and Greens MLC Jan Barham from the Northern Rivers spoke up for the people of Byron Bay Shire and revealed what government members were obfuscating that day - that surgical facilities had been entirely removed from the architectural plans for this hospital.
NSW Legislative Council Hansard [Proof Copy] 16 October 2014:
Ms JAN BARHAM [10.55 a.m.]: I support the motion moved by the Hon. Walt Secord. I urge members to have a history lesson on this matter because both sides have misrepresented the situation. As to Byron Central Hospital, I spent 10 years attending meetings and dealing with the processes conducted under the former Government for its delivery, only to be thwarted time and time again. For example, a Central Coast hospital was proposed and it was suggested that Byron would lose its two hospitals and get one large hospital in Ballina. I apologise to the Minister for Ageing, who outlined the Government's position, but he is incorrect. The previous process was always followed carefully and stringently, with wide consultation on delivery of the supply plan for the new Byron Central Hospital.
Until February 2014, architectural plans that were shown to community members—who had served for more than 20 years on committees discussing the delivery of a new hospital—included surgery services. The services plan that was completed in 2002 and put out for public consultation included surgery.
The idea of removing surgery services from the hospital, as proposed in the current planning process, is abhorrent to the local community. People feel that promises have been broken and they deserve answers. Members may note that I have put questions on the Notice Paper about these issues. I recently attended a forum at which design plans for the hospital were released, and committee members were shocked to see that the previous architectural plans had been changed to remove surgery services. It was the first they had heard of it. There has been a lack of consultation and notification about this process. People who have the community's interests at heart and who have voluntarily given so much time and energy to local health issues and to this project, were shocked. That night they expressed their displeasure about what was occurring. [my red bolding]
The Government is unwilling to tell the community why surgery services have been dropped or what process is being undertaken to ensure that Byron shire retains those important services. A new proposal should be developed and presented in a manner that conforms with normal processes so the public can access it conveniently. The process must be transparent. There has been misinformation but the important issues are service delivery and good public health services—about which I have put a question on notice. Tourism is also an important consideration. Unfortunately, visitors who engage in dangerous and adventurous activities often use local health services and facilities. I welcome this important motion but I caution members to recognise, observe and acknowledge the history of this matter. The Byron shire community have put in a lot of effort to ensure they get a hospital that meets their needs. I look forward to these issues being considered and resolved.
On a vote in the Lower House the motion passed and the Baird Government is now obliged to supply to Parliament all documents, including but not limited to ministerial briefing notes, email correspondence, financial documents, memos, file notes, meeting papers and meeting minutes relating to the new Byron Central Hospital and Maitland Hospital.
These documents should be interesting to say the least, as one local resident in a submission to the NSW Minister for Planning & Environment in September 2014 outlined how planned surgical services were whittled away before being removed from the building design:
As a member of Byron Bay Hospital Aux, I have been interested in the planning process for the new Byron Shire Central Hospital since the first consultants were engaged by the Dept to consult with the local community, so probably for over 20 years. Along every step of this process I have attended numerous public meetings as well as meetings of the planning committee and was always assured that there would be no downgrading of the services available at the Byron Bay or Mullumbimby Hospitals until the new Hospital was built and we would keep all the current services available at both Hospitals and indeed add to these services, when the new hospital was built. I was astounded to see that the plans currently on exhibition make no mention of operating theatres or day surgery. The initial proposal incorporated two "state of the art" operating theatres. This later became theatres for day surgery procedures and now we have non{e} at all!. As Byron Bay Hospital has facilities for day surgery and has had some form of theatre since it's inception, I find it totally unacceptable that the new Central Hospital has none at all and I say this whilst being well aware that the Area Health Board is looking for expressions of interest for a private provider to build operating theatres on the site, for them to buy back services from. I wish to strongly object to the fact that there is not allowance for operating theatres in these plans. These plans must include provision for at least day surgery in the event that no private provider is found, otherwise the people of the Byron Shire have been duped by the Health Department. This Hospital underwent a very lengthy and painful community consultation, there was much ill feeling in both communities over the loss of both hospitals. The community only agreed to the one Central Hospital provided there was no loss of services. They would not agree to what is now proposed in these plans.
Once again the North Coast Nationals appear to have blindly endorsed a flawed health services plan for the Northern Rivers region.
Culture on the Clarence, Skinner St, South Grafton - Sunday 19th October 2014
Culture on the Clarence: showcasing the talent of the Clarence Valley with a fantastic lineup of local musos, food and community groups, October 19, 2014.
Our ABC speaks out
13TH OCTOBER 2014
Last Friday night, I had the honour of hosting a ceremony as part of the ABC’s Mental As week. I am sure you’re aware of Mental As and our involvement with it, as it illustrates perfectly the role of the ABC—engaging the community in an issue of national importance, using its storytelling expertise and cross-platform prowess to explain a complex, contemporary issue. No other broadcaster in this country could even attempt such an ambitious exercise.
Public broadcasting has always aspired to inform, to educate and to entertain. I couldn’t be prouder of how we fulfilled that role last week, giving Australians a chance to talk, to seek and to give, creating a platform for a national conversation around mental health. It was the work of a digital age ABC, the most comprehensive cross-platform content and marketing initiative we have ever undertaken.
Mental As will have had an impact on millions of Australians who watched, listened and engaged online—and on the nation itself.
That has always been the ABC’s way. Part of Australian life, part of the lives of millions of Australians each week. Something that belongs to all Australians, everywhere.
Our work on Mental As coincided with campaigns around the country over the future of Lateline and other programs. The public response to Mental As and the Save Lateline petitions show yet again the degree of passion the public, the owners of the ABC have for the public broadcaster.
The ABC Board acts as trustee for the Australian people who own the ABC. The Board is independent and accountable to Parliament for the decisions it makes on how to spend the funds allocated to the public broadcaster, for decisions about how best to fulfill the Charter as set out in the ABC Act.
Why is the ABC so widely appreciated by the public in whose interests the Board acts? It’s a national asset, long loved and nurtured down through the generations. For the vast majority of Australians, it’s our most trusted source of news. It’s integral to the lives of millions, with over 70% of Australians over 18 using the ABC each week—not to mention the nation’s pre-schoolers for whom bedtime is signalled by Giggle and Hoot.
For all these reasons, when you talk about the prospects of the ABC being changed, and changed significantly, it would be negligent not to talk about the challenges the ABC is facing right now.
If you love and care for the ABC, if you support and want it to remain strong, robust and relevant within Australian life—and if you read the headlines—then you know these are uncertain times for the ABC.
In the face of this uncertainty, the ABC Board and its management team remain resolved to secure the ABC’s future in the digital age. For the ABC to be an indispensible element in the lives of millions of Australians and the life of the nation. For it, as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, to be a place where despite all the international content freely flowing within our media streams, Australians know they will find Australian stories and a national conversation.
Convergence, technological change and new competition continue to create uncertainty everywhere in the media sector.
The ABC also contends with an additional uncertainty, dependent upon funding decisions that are still to be made—or at least revealed—by the Government.
Everyone except the cynics would be a little surprised to find the ABC facing this uncertainty.
For decades now, the ABC has been funded through a bipartisan triennial funding arrangement, where three years funding has been committed by the Government of the day. This enabled the ABC to undertake multi-year contracts and plan with some certainty, most importantly in program production areas, with a secure income stream.
That security is particularly important to the ABC in that, unlike other media organisations, we effectively have no other way of raising revenue.
We’re now in the middle of the most recent triennial funding agreement, made in May 2013. This agreement still has a year and a half to run, and it’s very rare indeed for the ABC’s budget to be cut in the middle of a triennial funding agreement.
I don’t need to remind you of the very clear, public and oft-repeated commitment made by Mr Abbott before the election, and after the election, inside Parliament and outside Parliament. He guaranteed that, in its first term of office, the Government would maintain the ABC’s budget.
These are facts that I can report—I’m not going to provide further commentary.
The reality is the ABC’s budget has already been cut this year. And more cuts are on the way.
Earlier in the year, I’d imagined that by the time I’d be speaking to you here at the University of Melbourne, we’d know the future funding position for the ABC.
Not so.
We are still not sure precisely how much will be cut. We are still not sure precisely when the cuts will become payable. And decisions around size and timing could, naturally, have a material impact on ABC audiences.
I want to pay tribute to our staff. As I have said to them, the very best thing they can do during this period of uncertainty is to do their very best work. And they’ve done it, continuing to be completely professional, dedicating themselves to bringing Australian stories and conversations to Australians everywhere regardless of the climate of uncertainty in which they’ve had to work.
Some commentators have suggested the ABC should stop grandstanding and get on with belt-tightening. The reality is the ABC has already been belt-tightening, and taken steps to deal with what amounts to a $120 million funding cut over four years.
In the May budget, the Government introduced the somewhat novel concept of a “down payment”. This “down payment” came in the form of an extraction of funds from our triennial funding settlement—a 1% cut to base funding and the termination of the Australia Network contract, which still had over 9 years to run.
ABC International has been forced to downsize and more than 80 people have left the ABC as a result—many great talents are now lost to us, over a thousand years of experience has gone out the door.
The challenge was not helped at all by the fact that compensation provided by DFAT for terminating the contract fell short—by more than $5 million—of the actual costs of termination.
We have also taken steps to deal with the first tranche of the $40 million base funding cut. No one’s procrastinating.
Now, “down payments” normally provide some notion of rights for the payee about when and how the final payment will be made.
But not so in this case.
The final strategy for dealing with the funding cuts will have to be determined by the Board and Executive once the size of the cut and the repayment timing is known. Obviously both will have a significant effect on the decisions that must be made.
And since rumour loves a vacuum, while we’ve been waiting for the Government to reveal just how much more they want back from the ABC, some of the ABC’s critics have taken this opportunity to step up and offer us helpful guidance on where cuts must be made, while ABC supporters have been telling us where they must not be made.
We’re hopeful that this will, finally, be resolved soon.
In the meantime, we continue to develop a range of options to deal with what we do know, and contingency plans to deal with what we don’t.
And while I’m not able to deal with specifics tonight, I do want show you how we’re thinking through the considerable challenge.
Let’s begin with efficiency.
Thursday, 16 October 2014
NSW Deputy Premier and leader of the NSW Nationals Andrew Stoner walking away from Parliament in 2015
Although an increasingly irrelevant rump to the Liberal Party, it is still worth noting a change of Nationals leadership at state level in New South Wales.
The Land 15 October 2014:
NSW Deputy Premier and leader of the NSW Nationals Andrew Stoner is to retire from politics at the 2015 state election.
Hospitality Minister Troy Grant, the member for Dubbo, is the leading candidate to take the leadership after deputy leader Adrian Piccoli ruled himself out this evening.
Mr Stoner, the member for the Mid North Coast seat of Oxley, has served in the NSW Parliament since 1999 and as Nationals leader since 2003.
At a lunchtime news conference on Wednesday, Mr Stoner said he would step down as Nationals leader on Thursday morning, after which a ballot for the Nationals leadership will be held and a new Deputy Premier elected.
Mr Piccoli, also Education Minister, was initially reported to be a challenger to Mr Grant. However, he released a statement this evening confirming he will support Mr Grant in the ballot.
Mr Piccoli will continue in his current role of deputy leader and member for Murrumbidgee…..
The news follows the announcement by former NSW Liberal energy minister Chris Hartcher earlier on Wednesday that he will also retire at next year's poll.
The Australian 15 October 2014:
Mr Stoner said he was quitting politics in order to spend more time with his family. He is married with six children and lives in Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast.
He told a press conference this afternoon that he had spent 250 days a year away from home, and this made it very difficult for his wife and children. He did not intend to get a full-time job after politics but may look for some part-time position, he said.
He said his wife had faced some difficult family issues pretty much on her own.
He had recently had a break from politics and had seen what she was dealing with. She had asked him to give up politics and he had not hesitated, he said.
Mr Stoner will remain in Cabinet with his existing portfolios of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure, Tourism and major events, Small Business and the North Coast.
His safe seat of Oxley could be a parachute for the Nationals Upper House MLC Melinda Pavey, who was dropped down the ticket in recent pre-selections. She lives on the NSW North Coast.
Mr Stoner has held Oxley since 1999 and been leader of the Nationals since 2003. He became deputy premier after the election of the O’Farrell government in 2011.
Turning state school students into good little Christians in Abbott's Australia
Not content with circumventing a High Court of Australia ruling and forcing exclusively religion-based counsellors into the secular state school system, now Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his merry band of mindless ideologues are intent on revising the national education curriculum to place more emphasis on morals, values and spirituality and to better recognise the country’s Judeo-Christian heritage.
Proof that Christianity is a prominent focus can be found in the 2014 final report of the ‘independent’ two-man committee (comprising ex-Liberal Party staffer and lobbyist Kevin Donnelly & professor of public administration and Abbott supporter Keith Wiltshire) tasked with reviewing the education curriculum - with its sixty-three mentions of this religion and/or Judeo-Christian heritage.
The Australian published this potted outline on 13 October 2014 for readers who may not be inclined to wade through the report:
One day after the final report was released Abbott was quoted in The Newcastle Herald publicly support the reviewer’s final recommendations:
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott believes sending schools back to basics, as recommended in the national curriculum review, will boost the economy and students' job prospects.
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
The very infantile Tony Abbott......
Excerpt from doorstop interview by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 13 October 2014, in which he foolishly declares he will be physically aggressive during the G20 Conference:
I’m going to shirt-front* Mr Putin – you bet I am……
I think that there’ll be a lot of tough conversations with Russia and I suspect that the conversation that I have with Mr Putin will be the toughest conversation of all…
This year we want to be a good and constructive leader of the G20, and if the Russian President turns up he will get – in no uncertain terms from me – Australia’s attitude…
* 1. An aggressive scruff of an opponent’s jumper is often called a shirt front and is an illegal and reportable offense (but again, often subject to interpretation). In some cases, for example, one player will grasp his opponent’s jumper and aggressively pull and push him trying to make contact with the lower jaw with his fist.[Wikipedia]
2. http://youtu.be/-v8V1_xVSd8 [video - Jezza gets shirt fronted by Stan Magro]
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