A WTF moment for NSW Health

Last week if you were placed on hold by the Maclean District Hospital switchboard, along with the canned Musak you would have heard a voice tell you that this hospital had three rooms with en suite and Austar television available for in-patients with private health insurance.

Now Maclean District Hospital is a public hospital in the North Coast Area Health Service and it is sometimes stretched for beds, so it is not unknown for wards to be culled for people to send home so that new (and sometimes more urgent) cases can be admitted.

Which makes one wonder - if a well-off retiree whose insurance is paying out to the area health service and an old-age pensioner on Medicare were to be assessed in such a cull, which one would be sent home?

If you picked the retiree as the patient most likely to be sent home I suspect that you wouldn't get the cigar - human nature and hospital bottom lines just don't work that way.

These three beds are not a good look for NSW Health and definitely not a good look for a Rudd Government seeking to work cooperatively with the states towards a better public health care system.

Mungo doesn't mess about when it comes to L'l Johnnie Howard

This classic Mungo MacCallum phrasing turned up in Crikey last Monday:

"And speaking of past leaders ... John Howard bobbed back up in the bowl last week to give us a bit of advice on, of all things, human rights. Truly the man has no shame.

The Prime Minister whose government incarcerated innocent children behind razor wire until they literally went mad and abandoned its own citizens to illegal imprisonment and torture by a foreign power now warns us that judges and lawyers should not be allowed to tamper with decisions made by politicians elected by "ordinary" people. Any attempt to change our unsurpassable current arrangements would represent the final triumph of elitism and be an abrogation of the very idea of the sovereignty of the people."

Australian society: two faces of the young today

It has ever been thus, that members of the ruling generation think the generation following is less than they were when young.
The truth of the matter is that the best and worst aspects of any society are often mirrored in the behaviour of children.

Here are two examples in the local media on the same day.

The Daily Examiner, 31 August 2009 Click image to enlarge

Good work, lad

ON July 6, my mother aged over 70 years, was walking along Little High Street, Yamba. Her mobility is restricted, and while negotiating the uneven path she fell to the ground, her head striking a parked car on the way down.
She is alright, however was sore for a number of days and had to receive ongoing; treatment to her injured arm.
I grew up on the Lower Clarence, but have not lived there for over 20 years. I am penning this letter to show my family's appreciation of an unknown teenager who came to her aid.
According to my mother the boy was in about Year 9 (14 or 15 years of age). The boy physically lifted my mother from the ground, despite my mother telling him that he would not be able to lift her.
He escorted her to a nearby chemist, being the Yamba Pharmacy, where the staff treated her.
The boy stayed with her while she was treated, and would not leave until he knew that she was alright. For the days following, staff at Yamba Pharmacy treated my mother's wounds. We thank those staff members for the assistance and care they have shown for our mother.
That is not all. What has really impressed me and my family is the boy repeatedly apologised for not being quick enough to catch my mother as she was falling.
If the young boy happens to read this letter, we want you to know that we are very grateful for your help on that day.
Further, you and your family should be very proud of your actions. Thank you.
This comes at a time when the youth of today regularly bring themselves under notice in all communities, for the wrong reasons, but not this lad.
Well done, you have a bright future.

JOCK HENRY,
Mudgee.
[The Daily Examiner, letter to the editor,31 August 2009]

2009 Grafton Jacaranda Festival Queen Candidates

Click on poster to enlarge

The 75th Jacaranda Festival Matron of Honour and 2009 Queen Candidates

Top row: Matron of Honour Christine Hackett & Kim McClymont

Second row: Lorelela Abele & Abbey Browning

Third row: Samantha Dive & Keira Ellingwood

Fourth row: Mackenzie Harvison & Miranda Predo

Bottom row: Alison Smith & Amanda Finucane

The Jacaranda Festival runs from 30 October to 8 November 2009 at Grafton in the Clarence Valley NSW

Jacaranda Festival website

Water raiders still after Clarence River water and now looking to NSW Government

Obviously worried about the fact that the Rudd Government stands firmly behind the Northern Rivers and Clarence Valley opposition to damming and diverting environmentally sensitive coastal rivers, the Murray Darling Association is hedging its bets by also looking at twisting the arm of the NSW Government.

From A Clarence Valley Protest today:

Murray Darling Association members may be bickering at their annual conference but they are still fixed on the idea of Clarence River water diversion

The 65th Murray Darling Association annual conference is drawing to a close at Playford, SA and today at its annual general meeting the association will vote on not one but two motions concerning Clarence River water diversion.

Although association members are throwing around vague accusations about water theft and abuse within the Murray Darling Basin, they seem oblivious to the fact that this is the intent behind their motions concerning the NSW North Coast Clarence River catchment.

According to the Playford AGM Agenda:

13.2 Clarence River Region 2
For many years, Region 2 has been raising the issue of a feasibility study to dam part of the
Clarence River and divert some of the water inland to the Murray-Darling Basin to help alleviate water shortages. The Federal Government has made it quite clear that it will not support any such project but the NSW Government has not been as clear on the issue. Some years ago, the Association supported a feasibility study into the idea.
RECOMMENDATION: That the NSW Government be asked to respond directly to community requests over the years that part of the Clarence River be dammed to minimise flood damage and to divert some of the water inland to the Murray-Darling Basin.

13.3 Clarence River diversion Region 6
This proposed diversion of the Clarence River was first discussed in the 1930s. The Fraser
Government allocated $4 million to fund a feasibility study into the scheme. The Hawke
Government discontinued this. The proposal, if feasible, would involve the construction of a
headwater dam on the Clarence River, with a 22km tunnel under the Gibralta Ranges in Northern NSW. This tunnel would emerge on the Murray-Darling Basin side of the ranges and feed into the Beardy River, then the McIntyre River and, ultimately into the Basin. The Gibralta Ranges are situated in one of the highest rainfall areas in Australia. Benefits of the scheme include:
• The dams would have storage capacity approaching that of the Snowy Mountains
Scheme.
• The capacity of the headwater storage would provide flood control to the Clarence Valley.
• The diversion would only require 24% of the total maximum storage volumes of water to
provide similar volumes of water to the Basin as the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
• The generation of hydro-electricity is another major benefit.
This motion is not a request to build the scheme, but to revisit it in the context of recent climatic
events and over-allocations in the Murray Darling Basin.
RECOMMENDATION: That the MDA requests the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency, to commission a report on the Clarence River Diversion Proposal relative to water flows through the Murray-Darling system and to make that report widely available.

Howzaat!

I must say that my understanding of cricket matches is limited to memories of forming part of a backyard team each summer school holidays.
This exchange in The Australian 's First Byte between Ashes tragics tickled both fancy and memory.

• 27 August 2009

After 24 hours of careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the reason why Australia lost the Ashes was because England made more runs.

Tom Rundell
Warana, Qld

• 28 August 2009

Sadly for Tom Rundell (First Byte, 27/8), here's the basic truth of the matter. Australia lost the Ashes because England won more Test matches. Overall, England managed a meagre 2869 runs, while Australia scored a mammoth 2886. And, to rub more salt into our wounds, England lost a staggering 84 wickets in achieving its tally, while Australia lost just 71.

Col Shephard
Yamba, NSW