Under this system, general practice trainees remain employed by NSW Health, allowing easy transition between hospital and community-based general practice training placements, and portability of entitlements such as annual leave. Several trainees at the conference praised the program and Davis told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age it was helpful because losing entitlements by switching employers “definitely turned students off and significantly impacted women, who were more likely to be GPs”.
Butler said the results of the single employer model in the Murrumbidgee would inform a possible further trial in South Australia.
Department of Health secretary Dr Brendan Murphy told the conference that growth in GP numbers was only 1.8 per cent a year, while growth in other medical specialists was 4.2 per cent a year.
He said there were many reasons why medical students were not choosing to specialize in general practice, including the financial rewards and the focus on “high throughput medicine”.
“Far too many of our young doctors are not choosing to go into general practice, which is the area we have the greatest predictive need in the future,” Murphy said.
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“Some colleagues and many of the general practice groups say that some of their other specialist colleagues are earning more money for the same or less hard work, so that’s part of it – the reward for the job.”
Several conference attendees spoke about junior doctors graduating with a high burden of debt and gravitating to the best-paid work as a result, while others described a retention problem in general practice because of financial pressures and burnout.
Davis told this masthead that financial sustainability was important, but money was not the main motivation of most medical students.
“We’re still at the stage where we have come into medicine because we care about people and want to make a difference in the community,” Davis said. “Most students, if they get adequate exposure to general practice and have a good experience would be very likely to go into the career.”
Davis said students were not applying for general practice because of the lack of value placed on primary care. She welcomed the new government putting more funding into general practice, but said universities also needed to invest more in making it the “go-to profession”.
“We do most of our training in medical school in tertiary hospitals in the city and it’s usually a small subset that go out and do rural general practice placements,” Davis said.
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“We’d love to see that really increasing, or even a flipped model where you do most of your training in the community and rotate into hospitals – I think something like that would encourage more students to go into general practice.”
Murphy said the government had “massively expanded” the John Flynn Placement Program to expose junior doctors to general practice, especially in rural and regional areas. This is a voluntary program.
He said the National Medical Workforce Strategy, endorsed by health ministers late last year, showed Australia had enough doctors – more than the OECD average including those trained in Australia and those trained overseas – but the workforce was not properly distributed.
Murphy said a related problem to the undersupply in general practice and other areas such as psychiatry was oversupply in other specialties such as emergency medicine and orthopedic surgery.
This problem arose partly because hospitals relied on employing junior doctors to fill positions in emergency medicine departments, but did not have the staff specialist positions available once the doctors completed their training.
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The following is a transcript of an interview with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania that aired Sunday, July 31, 2022, on “Face the Nation.”
JOHN DICKERSON: We go now to Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. He’s in Zionsville this morning. Good morning, Senator.
SENATOR PAT TOOMEY: Good morning, John.
JOHN DICKERSON: Let’s start with what the Democrats are calling the Inflation Reduction Act. You and other Republicans are not a fan. What is your main criticism?
SEN. TOOMEY: Well, it’s gonna make inflation worse, actually. So, they’ve got a big corporate tax increase that’s going to probably make this recession that we’re in worse. All of this spending is unnecessary. It’s going to exacerbate inflation. It is not going to reduce the deficit. And what did Senator Manchin get for us? Look, I’m a big fan of Joe Manchin. We are friends as he said, and I like Joe very much, but I think he got taken to the cleaners. He’s agreeing to all this bad policy in return for which he’s been promised that there’s going to be some kind of pro-energy infrastructure bills sometime in the future. But first of all, I thought we did that in the infrastructure bill. Secondly, what is the text? But most importantly, why isn’t that in this bill? And the answer is because Democrats don’t support it. And so, this is going to do a lot of harm and there’s not going to be a corresponding benefit.
JOHN DICKERSON: There’s a lot-line in there. Let me focus on inflation, which everyone else is- is focused on. The Committee for a Responsible Budget which has been a fan of yours in the past and even in the present said- said this: ‘Although reconciliation was designed for deficit reduction, this will be the first time in many years it was actually used for that purpose. With inflation at a 40-year high and debt approaching record levels. This would be a welcomed improvement to the status quo.’ They and others who’ve looked at this say it will affect the- the, it will affect the deficit, lower the deficit in this legislation.
SEN. TOOMEY: Yeah, so it- here’s why we won’t, because they use the same gimmick that Senator Manchin said he was opposed to in the past. They claim the revenue over a 10-year window from their big tax increase, and their price controls. And then the expenditure that they acknowledge, they pretend is only going to be for three years. That’s the Obamacare subsidies for wealthy Americans. That’s an obvious political payoff. The last time they had to do this, they said it would only be for two years. It’s about to expire. And they can’t- they can’t have it expire before an election. So, they’re extending it, but only for three- they have no intention of ever ending the Obamacare subsidies over a 10-year window that wipes out the purported deficit reduction.
JOHN DICKERSON: But-so you’re assuming bad faith in the future. But in this case, they extended it and they found pay-fors so that it would be deficit- so that it would decrease the deficit at this moment. So, it’s plausible, given what’s right in front of us today, that that could happen, again, in the future. I get what you’re saying. Politically, it might not. But based on what’s before us, which is an extension of the ACA and deficit reduction, it is possible to happen.
SEN. TOOMEY: They’re- they’re also counting huge amounts of additional tax revenue from giving more taxes, money to the IRS, which the CBO does not agree with. They’re also not taking into account how much our economy will slow down from this big corporate tax increase that will mostly hurt manufacturing and domestic investment. These numbers are very, very dubious.
JOHN DICKERSON: Quickly on that question of production. I mentioned to Senator Manchin, the idea of supply goes down when you tax these companies. He said it’s a matter of fairness, that these breaks that they have-represented from a previous tax cut, and that this is a matter of fairness in America.
SEN. TOOMEY: So, look at, what is the source of this tax increase? It’s very simple. When we made our tax reform in 2017, what we did is we said if a business takes its profit, and invests it back in its business in the form of capital investment, new equipment, new plant, expanding their capacity. Then we said, you’d be able to deduct the cost of that in the year in which you incur the cost. The Democrats are saying we got to bring that to an end, despite the huge surge in capital expenditure that it brought us. And instead, they’re gonna say, you only get to recognize a small fraction of that. We’re gonna- they’re gonna raise the cost of investing in a business.
JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you about the legislation this week, the PACT Act, which I know you want to talk about. It’s providing health care to millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins. 123 Republicans in the House voted for this. 34 Senate Republicans have voted for it. Same bill. This week, the bill didn’t change but the Republican votes did. why?
SEN. TOOMEY: No, the Republican votes didn’t change on the substance of the bill. Republicans have said we want an amendment to change a provision that has nothing to do with veterans’ health care. The Republicans support this. The Democrats added a provision that has nothing to do with veterans’ health care, and it’s designed to change government accounting rules so that they can have a $400 billion spending spree–
JOHN DICKERSON: –But–
SEN. TOOMEY: –My amendment if we’re- if I’m allowed to offer it, will take out that provision and will not reduce veteran spending by a dime.
JOHN DICKERSON: You mentioned this is- the Democrats inserted this, but they did get 134 Republican votes, and you have plenty of Republicans still voting for it. It seems like making this seem like a Democratic gimmick obscures what is your real point and your lifelong interest, which is this is about budgeting and whether the rules should be tight now, or whether as those who defend this bill, say, allow Congress to work in the future to be fiscally responsible. Isn’t that a more accurate way to think about what you’re offering?
SEN. TOOMEY: Well-well, let’s be careful here because, JOHN, you mischaracterized this when you were speaking with Senator Manchin. We are fully accepting that the new expenditures under the PACT Act for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals will increase the deficit. And we accept that as a price we have to pay for people who serve the country. What I’m objecting to is a budgetary gimmick, a sleight of hand in accounting rules, that will allow totally unrelated spending of $400 billion over the next 10 years. That’s what we think shouldn’t be in this bill. Never should have been.
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, there’s a debate about that. And as you know, some Republicans don’t think it’s a- it’s a gimmick. They are still supporting this, and they think it can be fixed later. But let me ask you this. I read your amendment language, which your language doesn’t just deal with this other thing. It actually caps annual expenditures for the toxic fund. And after 10 years, it goes away–
SEN. TOOMEY: –No, so that, John, that’s totally wrong. What it caps is how the government accounts for these transfers, but there is no cap on the amount of money that goes over, there is no cap on the total program. Look, if an honest Democrat evaluating this will tell you, if my amendment passes, not a dime changed in spending on veterans’ programs. What changes is how the government accounts for it.
JOHN DICKERSON: I understand. But the accounting change, as you know, is a result- the reason they put it in that other bucket is that it doesn’t subject it to the normal triage of budgeting. And the argument is that the values at stake here are more important than leaving it to the normal cut and thrust of budgeting. And so, I would ask you this–
SEN. TOOMEY: – Yeah, but that’s –
JOHN DICKERSON: –but it’s worth protecting is their argument. Let me- it’s about priorities. As you know, budgets are a way people talk about priorities in a government. This week, many of the Republicans who switched their vote, voted for semiconductors. In 2017, Republicans lifted the caps on discretionary spending. We also have had a situation where lots of spending gets done in defense. You have been consistent with deficit reduction. But lots of other Republicans when they think it’s in their interest, say let’s lift the caps, let’s not be so fastidious about the budget. So why is it important to be fastidious when it comes to veterans but less so when it comes to say, supporting chip manufacturers?
SEN. TOOMEY: Because John, once again, you’re completely mischaracterizing this. We are all accepting that there are no changes to the projected spending path for all the veterans’ programs, the existing veterans’ programs and the new ones under the PACT Act. What we’re objecting to is an accounting gimmick that will allow totally unrelated spending $400 billion over the next 10 years. And most Republicans think we shouldn’t loosen up the budget rules so that Democrats can go on a spending spree on things that have nothing to do with veterans’ health care.
JOHN DICKERSON: Of course, Democrats have to be in charge in the future when that spending happens, and they may very well not be, but thank you, Senator, for being with us. We appreciate your time.
SEN. TOOMEY: I would impose- I would impose the restriction on Republicans as well.
JOHN DICKERSON: And you have the last word, Senator Toomey, thank you. We’ll be right back with more Face the Nation stay with us.
Nerfs to Chamber’s Tour De Force, Headhunter, Trademark and more are now live on the VALORANT public beta environment.
Players have been calling for Chamber nerfs since he was released in November of last year, and some of those nerfs will be coming to the main client sometime soon. Recent changes to Chamber’s kit tweaked his abilities from him and removed one of his two Trademarks, but these changes were not enough to bring his value from him down to the level of other agents. The upcoming nerf will change the way Chamber is played and force players into different situations than what they are used to.
Chamber’s teleport ability, Rendezvous, will have an increased cooldown time on both the base and recall. Originally, the Rendezvous had a 20 second cooldown, but that has now been increased to 30 seconds, leaving a longer gap between when the teleport is placed and when it is available to be placed again. The radius size of Chamber’s teleport has also been shrunk from 21 meters to 15, making the distance he can teleport much shorter.
Chamber’s Trademark is a great way to catch enemies on the flank or when they are entering onto a site. When activated, the Trademark shoots out a slow, but the nerfs have also made this ability a bit less dominant. The slow duration for Chamber’s Trademark has been decreased from 9.5 seconds to just six.
Chamber PBE only!:
Rendezvous (E) 🥖Base Cooldown increased 20s >>> 30s 🥖Recall Cooldown increased 20s >>> 30s 🥖Cooldown set to 45s whenever a Rendezvous anchor is destroyed 🥖Radius Size decreased 21m >>> 15m Trademark (C) 🥖Slow Duration decreased 9.5 >>> 6s
Additionally, Chamber’s ultimate, Tour De Force, will be receiving some adjustments as well. Instead of reducing the number of bullets the ultimate has, Chamber’s ultimate will now require eight points instead of seven. Like his Trademark from him, Chamber’s Tour De Force slows will also be receiving the same duration decrease from 9.5 to six seconds. Finally, Chamber’s Headhunter bullets will now cost 150 credits instead of the original 100, making it slightly more expensive per bullet than a Sheriff.
Players can test out these Chamber nerfs on the PBE now before they hit the main servers in the near future.
When I walked into the Sydney Theater Company’s Wharf 1 theater to see Michelle Law’s production Top Coat, I was expecting to watch an entertaining retelling of how dire the situation in Australia’s news and media is for people of colour. What I was not expecting, but perhaps should have been, was how personally affected I would be by it.
As a young woman of color in the media I have faced discrimination in Australian newsrooms and I thought I was resilient. But Top Coat left me with a lot of questions, mainly personal ones: how am I not healed from the prejudice I experienced in various jobs in Australia’s white, male-dominated media industry?
First, a bit about the show. Top Coat is Law’s STC debut and centers around two characters — Winnie (Kimie Tsukakoshi) and Kate (Amber McMahon). Winnie works at a nail salon that Kate visits between her very demanding schedule of her as a TV executive “girlboss” at a multicultural broadcaster. One evening, just before Winnie is closing shop for the day, Kate comes in asking her for her chipped nail to be fixed – Winnie begrudgingly obliges. The two complain about the barriers they face in work and life and utter the same sentence: “I wish I were in your shoes.” A Freaky Friday situation takes place and they swap bodies. Now Winnie has to go to Kate’s TV job and face her her boss her Barry and her entitled her boyfriend Jeremy (John Batchelor) while Kate has to tirelessly give out manicures and pedicures for hardly any money.
Since seeing the production, I’ve spent a lot of time mulling it over, as well as my own negative experiences in the media, ones that I thought I had gotten over. But seeing similar experiences play out on stage gave them a fresh sense of reality, and more affirmation that I didn’t just make up the prejudice I’d faced in my head.
I came to Australia to study journalism as an international student in 2016. A highly unorthodox career choice for someone like me – an Indian with parents who just wanted me to have a stable career in something like business or law. Even convincing them to let me study journalism was a hard task. There was a lot of arguing and a lot of, “yes, print may be dying but everything is moving online, Pappa!”. So I knew I had to make my time in Australia worth it – worth their investment, and worth my future.
I have worked in multiple newsrooms, first as an intern and freelancer, and eventually a full-time employee – a prized possession for anyone in the media industry, let alone for an international student.
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Each experience prepared me for the prejudice I would face in the next. From others who had connections and networks within the organization getting picked over me, preferred and trained for jobs I was highly qualified to do, to micro-aggressions over my curly hair, my accent, pronouncing my name or even discussing my skin tone.
Coming from a hierarchical Indian society where speaking up against those who are senior to you is disrespectful, I decided not to fight back. So I put my head down and did stories instead. Focusing on giving other people a voice and ignoring my own.
But the bottled-up emotions finally came out upon watching Law’s production.
I have always believed to be lucky in this industry. Lucky to get unpaid internships with broadcasters and news organisations. Lucky to get to certain stages of an interview process when many times I got an immediate rejection because of my visa. Lucky to be able to get a full-time job and be able to experience the stability and security that so many of my Australian citizen classmates at uni got to experience as soon as they graduated. Lucky to get a spot at the table, rather than to be seen as just another international student who has been unable to make it in the arts in Australia.
But at some point, you have to look beyond luck and look at reality – Australian newsrooms and media organizations have a problem with race. They use people of color for our connections to our communities, as Law’s play demonstrated with First Nations character Marcus (Matty Mills). They use us to get certain “sensitive” stories about our communities over the line. They also use us for their often celebrated diversity statistics. We are also often the newsroom’s reserve forces – casuals or part-timers who are called upon when the full-time white reporters and producers are burned out, on holiday in Europe, or taking annual leave.
Let me be clear – I don’t have a problem with my white colleagues. I have a problem with the predominantly white agenda-setters at the top who allow this problem to happen. People who think they are progressive because they hire a token diverse person or they fit certain categories that mean they have faced prejudice in their life. And while I empathize with the barriers they have faced, they will never know what it’s like to be overlooked because of the color of your skin, the texture of your hair, the accent you have and the nationality on your passport.
Australia’s media industry needs a radical racial overhaul. And it starts with executives at the top unlearning decades of prejudice – a message Law sends clearly in Top Coat.
Karishma Luthria is an audio producer at Guardian Australia
The result means St Kilda claimed the Bulldogs’ spot in the eighth, but the Saints have the pleasure of playing in Geelong next week with their record at the venue as disspiriting as it is for the Bulldogs.
Selwood did not have to do much but reflect on his record as he played his 300th game alongside Hawkins and enjoyed the 254th win in his career and the 96th of his 110 games at GMHBA Stadium. He has now been on the winning team in each of the seven 50-game milestones in his career after losing on debut ironically to the Bulldogs way back in 2007.
The Bulldogs did not kick their first goal in the second half until the 14-minute mark of the final quarter when Ceglar arrived late to spoil Cody Weightman and conceded a 50-meter penalty.
By then the result was decided with the only disappointment for the Cats being that Gary Rohan was subbed off with concussion while the Bulldogs took Bontempelli off the ground for the final six minutes after he limped around in the last quarter.
Selwood has captained Geelong to 160 wins – a new record.
Video: Gunman at large after 7 hurt in downtown Orlando shooting Multiple people were shot overnight in downtown Orlando. (Sabrina Maggiore, WFTV.com/WFTV)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Police are investigating an overnight shooting in downtown Orlando.
The shooting happened around 2 am near the area of Wall Street Plaza and South Orange Avenue.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Police said that as the bars and restaurants were closing, a large fight took place and a shooting followed.
Photos: Gunman at large after 7 hurt in downtown Orlando shooting
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Gunman at large after 7 hurt in downtown Orlando shooting
Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said there were seven victims. One person drove themselves to the hospital and six others were transported by EMS.
Read: Coronavirus: President Biden tests positive again for COVID-19
All victims remain in stable condition, according to police.
There is no suspect information at this time.
Read: Renters and landlords talk about growing housing crisis in Orange County
Police ask anyone with information to call Orlando Police Department or contact Crimeline by texting or dialing **8477(TIPS).
Read: DeLand police search for 4th suspect after deadly carjacking near technical college
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
BMW has been expanding its SUV stable of late, thanks to the addition of cars like the iX. However, there’s still a place in the hearts of many drivers for the X3, long hailed as an excellent SUV option for those who want a mix of luxury and sportiness. For 2022, BMW has given the X3 a few modest tweaks, including the addition of a hybrid system to make the ride even smoother.
But BMW isn’t the only manufacturer to expand on its SUV efforts. In the last year or so, we’ve seen a number of electric SUVs and crossovers — and many of them make a seriously compelling case for themselves. Does the 2022 BMW X3 M40i do enough to retain its place as a top competitor in the SUV space? I’ve been driving it for a while now to find out.
2022 BMW X3 M40i
Rating: 4 Stars
The BMW X3 M40i is a stylish and comfortable midsize SUV with a powerful engine and plenty of room.
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BGR may receive a commission
pros
Stylish outside
Comfortable inside
powerful engine
good handling
Cons
Interior design is aging a little
2022 BMW X3 M40i exterior design
The exterior look of the BMW X3 M40i will be familiar to those that have seen any other modern BMW — but that’s not a bad thing. It looks sleek and stylish, with slim headlights and a near timeless look. The car has avoided the completely oversized grilles, however, they are still larger than previous generations. As I’ve said before, I don’t mind the huge grilles anymore regardless.
Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR
The side-profile of the X3 definitely shows the fact that it’s a mid-size SUV, with a slightly sloped roofline that curves down into the back of the car. There’s a small upper spoiler for style points, and the taillights are sculpted in a way that looks modern and interesting.
The X3 is available in a few different colors, and our review model is the Blue Metallic, which looks great. The wheels on our model are the 20-inch M double-spoke wheels, which I also love.
2022 BMW X3 M40i interior design
The BMW familiarity extends to the inside of the car. Like all other modern BMWs, the X3 boasts a high-quality tan-colored stitched leather throughout, and generally, it looks and feels great.
One of the best things about this particular BMW, however, is how spacious it is on the inside. The higher roof helps ensure plenty of headroom in both the front and the back, and the oversized windows give plenty of visibility no matter the height of the driver.
Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR
The space extends to the trunk too. I happened to be reviewing this car when my parents and brother flew into town, and I was easily able to fit three large suitcases in the trunk. The trunk boasts 28.7 cu-ft of space with the rear seats up, and an impressive 62.6 cu-ft of space with them down.
At the front there’s a good selection of physical buttons for climate controls, and the car, in general, has three climate zones, so the rear passengers can have their own controls. There are also USB-C ports dotted throughout the car, which is handy.
2022 BMW X3 M40i infotainment
The BMW X3 M40i features BMW’s iDrive 7 infotainment system, which I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with. The design of it is fine, though it still looks a little dated and cluttered. It’s centered around a customizable home screen, followed by a few screens of “apps” that you can dive into. Again, it works fine, and it’s better than some others. It’s also relatively responsive, which is always helpful.
Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR
Of course, you don’t have to use iDrive 7 much if you don’t want to. The car comes with Android Auto and CarPlay through a wireless connection. Unlike some other BMWs, I never really experienced any connectivity issues with CarPlay Wireless, but maybe I just got lucky.
2022 BMW X3 M40i Performance
The 2022 BMW X3 M40i comes equipped with a 3.0-liter i6 engine, but perhaps even more interesting is that BMW has also included a mild-hybrid 48-volt starter-generator. The result is that the car gets 382-hp, and 369 lb-ft of torque. It can get from 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. Yeah, it’s pretty quick.
Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR
Fast acceleration is only part of the picture though. The car is responsive and smooth. It handles easily around corners, with little lean despite its taller stature. It’s really a joy to drive, regardless of the drive mode that you’re in.
2022 BMW X3 M40i driver assist
As you would expect, the BMW X3 M40i comes with a few driver-assist features that can help make it easier to drive and park. You’ll get basics, like a backup camera and blind-spot monitoring. You’ll also get the 360-degree camera view, which has fast become one of my favorite features on modern cars.
BMW in general is lagging a little behind some of the competition when it comes to autonomous driving tech, but depending on the options you get, you’ll still get adaptive cruise control, which can be helpful in stop-and-go traffic. And, you’ll get a lane assistant.
conclusions
The BMW X3 M40i is a luxurious SUV that’s easy to handle and quick off the mark. It’s not cheap, but if what you’re looking for is luxury and spaciousness, then the BMW X3 M40i is an excellent option.
The competition
The BMW X3 M40i is a great option, but it’s not without competition. Most notably, the car goes up against the likes of the Genesis GV70, which is perhaps a slightly better option thanks to its stunning design and excellent performance. That said, you really can’t go wrong with the X3 M40i.
Should I buy the 2022 BMW X3 M40i?
And it is. If you’re not into the Genesis GV70, the BMW X3 M40i is an excellent option.
Deep in the outback, you’ve just played one of the great pub shows on a cross-country tour.
And then you realize you’ve stuffed the logistics.
Guts first toured in 2016 and travels about 7,000 kilometers across the country.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
When the tour played in Katherine.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
Now you’re driving through the night to make it to your next gig, an eye-watering 700 kilometers away, and ‘Tracy’, the bus you bought from a retirement home, is chugging fuel at what seems like an unsustainable rate.
It’s all part of the fun on a Guts tour, which first dissected the country from south to north along the Stuart Highway in 2016, drawing inspiration from Midnight Oil and Warumpi Band’s legendary 1986 Blackfella/Whitefella tour.
Midnight Oil and the Warumpi Band performing on the South Alligator River at Kakadu during the Blackfella/Whitefella tour.(ABC)
Guts will be back on the road for the first time since 2017 next month, playing 36 shows from the tropics to Tasmania with 19 bands, and putting on 20 music workshops in towns and communities across the outback.
The tour begins it’s 7,000km journey in the town of Jabiru, on Kakadu’s edge, on August 15 and includes artists like Bad//Dreems, Black Rock Band, Children Collide and Birdz.
‘Play some Chisel’
Jack Parsons says not enough live music gets out to regional and remote Australia.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
The idea for a tour that snatches up and drops mostly southern bands into some of Australia’s most remote locations, the tour’s creator Jack Parsons says, was a nod to a time when things were a little different in the Australian music scene.
“We wanted to tour regionally and with a real sense of adventure and go to some places off the beaten track, like bands used to tour, and that famed pub rock era of Australian music where it was really a plug-in-and-play ethos,” he said.
“And it didn’t matter if there were 10 people or 100 people or 1,000 people, you toured.”
Bad//Dreems and Black Rock Band will play the NT leg of the tour.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
So on a Guts tour, Parsons says, bands will gig wherever they are like their life depends on it
“There’s been some tough shows,” he recalls. “Coober Pedy springs to mind, you know, sort of eight people in the crowd, one of which was yelling out to these Melbourne bands to play some Chisel.”
The tour will roll out eight different line-ups in 2022.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
But in the bush, open-air desert shows can give way to special moments for bands and the host communities, which have little access to touring artists.
“The kids have a beaut time and the response is always fantastic,” Parsons says.
“It’s a good opportunity [for kids] to refresh their mind,” Black Rock Band’s Richie Guymala says.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
“I do remember one showing, when we did pay in Barunga the kids were going absolutely bananas and they were sort of all over the stage and playing the drums.
The Guts tour in the Northern Territory community of Barunga.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
“The walls were down and it was pandemonium.
“There have been some very memorable shows, and we’re so lucky this year to have grown to a point where we can ask these great bands to be a part of it.”
“We’re really blessed … these communities welcome us with open arms,” Parsons says.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
Shows, workshops and swags
Getting kids in communities excited when the bands are rocking out is one thing, but much of the tour’s energy is directed towards workshops, where band members share technical expertise and some music industry 101 with kids.
A workshop in Barunga.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
The Northern Territory leg of the tour includes gigs and workshops in 10 remote communities.
“The workshops are a beautiful thing,” Parsons says.
“We get kids who have never played drums before and we put them on a drum kit, we show them a basic beat, and they can play and get the feeling of being in a band.”
A drum lesson in session in Santa Teresa, near Alice Springs.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
Richie Guymala, the lead vocalist of the Black Rock Band out of west Arnhem Land, says the workshops uplift spirits in communities, where there are already a lot of great young bands.
“There are a lot of issues around communities in the Northern Territory, but stuff like this, it helps,” he says.
“The [bands] come up from down south and they get to see a bit of Black Rock’s family, where we are connected from,” Richie Guymala says. (ABC News: Leigh Brammel)
“It’s a good opportunity [for kids] to refresh their mind and to say, you can do this for yourself — whatever it is… you can follow your dreams.”
The touring bands, Parsons says, are grateful for it too.
“We’re really blessed that the people we speak to in these communities welcome us with open arms, and we’re putting on shows and workshops, and we’re being looked after with accommodation and places to roll out the swags,” he says.
“It all comes back to that Oils and Warumpi Band tour, being able to take great music and great artists to these wonderful places that have great music in them.”
This year’s shows kick off in Jabiru, where the Kakadu and Arnhem highways intersect.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
‘There’s good music out there’
Guymala and Black Rock Band will play through the whole Northern Territory leg of the tour, finishing at Kalkarindji Freedom Day Festival where they will share the stage with artists like Paul Kelly and Ripple Effect Band.
“I’m looking forward to getting back on the road again, sharing our music again with the community, and also just to run into other countrymen,” Guymala says.
“It’s also good because the [bands] come up from down south and they get to see a bit of Black Rock’s family, where we are connected from.”
Communities get behind bands and look after them when they roll into town, Parsons says.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
Guymala says he’d love to welcome touring bands more often.
“I think it should happen more. I think it will be a good way to promote smaller bands from smaller communities,” he says.
“We’ve got that many bands in Arnhem Land, and there’s good music out there, and I think tours like this will open up opportunities for other bands that want to get their music heard.”
Coco Eke says it can be tough for bands in community to get out and tour.(ABC News: Leigh Brammel)
Coco Eke, a board member of Music NT, says the rarity of regional tours through these parts of the country is what makes Guts exciting.
“It’s really difficult to tour regionally and especially remotely coming in, and for bands wanting to tour outside of their communities, it’s expensive,” she said.
“The roads are tough and it’s hot and to get a band from one community to Darwin takes tens of thousands of dollars sometimes.
“So this is a really exciting tour to see the bands and the rest of the crew that will be in the bus go through to the communities to really lift the spirits and bring music back.”
Bands “learned a thing or two about dancing” on a past trip to Santa Teresa.(Supplied: Guts Touring)
English cyclist Matt Walls was involved in a horror crash at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday when he was catapulted over the barriers and into the crowds at the Lee Valley VeloPark.
The Olympic omnium champion, competing in the men’s 15km scratch qualifiers at the London venue, received treatment for more than 40 minutes before being taken away by ambulance.
Spectators were also hurt after Walls and his bike came over the top of the barriers on the high banking of a corner.
Two other riders — the Isle of Man’s Matt Bostock and Canada’s Derek Gee — were also taken to hospital, while two spectators were treated for minor injuries at the velodrome.
A statement from Team England said: “Following medical treatment in hospital, Matt Walls has been discharged with stitches in his forehead, scrapes and bruises but thankfully no major injuries.”
The Isle of Man team said Bostock had a CT scan from which the initial prognosis was positive.
General view of a crash in the Men’s 15km Scratch Race Qualifying Round.Source: Supplied
Witnesses said that because of the gradient of the banking, spectators in the front row had been unsighted for the crash.
One man received treatment for cuts to his arm while a young girl also received medical attention.
Walls had been trying to avoid riders who had failed. The stricken pair of New Zealand’s George Jackson and Australia’s Josh Duffy slid up the banking, forcing Walls up on to the barrier and then over it.
Gee also surfed the top of the barrier but managed to avoid following Walls into the stands but he fell heavily.
A Birmingham 2022 spokesman said in a statement that three cyclists and two spectators had been treated by the on-site medical team.
“The three cyclists have been taken to hospital. The two spectators did not require hospital treatment,” the statement added.
Canadian Mathias Guillemette was disqualified from the race for causing the initial crash and the rest of the morning session was cancelled.
British five-time Olympic gold medalist Laura Kenny, who is competing for England at the Commonwealths, called for bigger barriers or screens to be fitted in velodromes to improve safety.
Kenny, speaking a day after England’s Joe Truman was knocked unconscious in a crash, fears the sport is growing more dangerous.
“I think the crashes are getting worse and it’s because the speeds are getting higher, the positions (on the bike) are getting more extreme,” she said.
“Some of the pursuit positions people are getting in, you see people crashing into the back of people.
“At some point the UCI (cycling’s governing body) are going to have to put a cap on these positions. Maybe there should be screens because Matt should not have been able to go over the top and into the crowd — that’s pretty damn dangerous.” Australia dominated the afternoon session, with Georgia Baker taking gold in the women’s 25km points race and Kristina Clonan winning the women’s 500m time trial in a time of 33.234sec.
Australia’s Matthew Richardson won the men’s sprint, denying Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul a second gold of the Games.
New Zealand’s Corbin Strong won the men’s 15km scratch to leave the Kiwis on six cycling golds, one behind Australia.
Most of the events at the Commonwealths are being held in Birmingham but the track cycling is taking place in London.
BUCKHORN, Ky. – Devastated communities across eastern Kentucky began digging out in earnest Sunday as the state’s death toll rose and another round of storms threatened to expand the historic flooding.
Dozens of people remained unaccounted for, and some areas remained inaccessible to search and rescue teams. Spotty cellphone service added to the chaos.
“In more tough news for the commonwealth this morning, our death toll has risen to 26 lost – and that number will increase,” Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday on social media. “There is widespread damage with many displaced families and more rain expected.”
Excessive runoff from showers and thunderstorms Sunday and Monday could result in additional flooding of rivers, creeks and streams across much of central and eastern Kentucky, the National Weather Service warned. Rainfall rates of up to 2 inches an hour could spark flash flooding, especially in areas that see repeated rounds of thunderstorms.
Hard-hit counties including Floyd, Knott and Perry are among the areas under alert. Power, water, shelter and cell service are major issues in some communities, Beshear said. The flooding overwhelmed some neighborhoods where people didn’t have much to begin with, he said, and a heat wave forecast this week will further deepen the suffering.
The flooding has caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage and displaced hundreds of people, he said.
“We want to make sure that we wrap our arms around our Eastern Kentucky brothers and sisters and make sure that they are ok,” Beshear said. “We will be there for you today, tomorrow, next week, next year. We are not going anywhere. We are going to help you rebuild.”
Beshear asked that people donate cleaning supplies or water or donate directly to the state flood relief fund, where 100% of donations go to Kentuckians affected.
►Bigger pictures: Climate change exposes growing gap between weather we’ve planned for – and what’s coming
►In Eastern Kentucky: Flooding brings up memories of previous disasters
►Where is the flooding? See photos, drone videos of the devastation
Almost a foot of rain; more is coming
The hardest hit areas of eastern Kentucky received almost a foot of rain late last week. The North Fork of the Kentucky River reached 20.9 feet in Whitesburg, more than 6 feet over the previous record, and crested at a record 43.5 feet in Jackson, National Weather Service meteorologist Brandon Bonds said.
The rains of Sunday and Monday won’t be the end of it, the weather service warned. Thunderstorms are also possible on Tuesday, as well as Thursday through Saturday.
The dozen shelters opened for flood victims across the state drew 388 occupants Sunday, FEMA said. About 70 trailers – purchased by the state for use during deadly tornadoes that ripped through Western Kentucky in December – are being deployed as temporary shelters.
“Yesterday our first travel trailers arrived and we are working fast to establish additional shelter options,” Beshear said.
The state also plans to work with area hotels to pay room costs for displaced residents – and to cover funeral expenses for people killed in the floods.
Searchers go door to door
More than 1,200 rescues have taken place. Still, multiple state police posts have been getting calls from people unable to contact family and friends. The National Guard has been called out and is helping first responders going door to door to find as many people as possible, he said. But the heavy rains are making it difficult, and some people cannot be reached, he said.
Damage to critical infrastructure is also providing challenges to rescuers. Scores of bridges are out and roads washed away, making it hard to access some communities to deliver desperately needed water and other necessities he said.
“The next couple days are going to be hard,” Beshear said. “We’ve got rain, and maybe even a lot of rain that is going to hit the same areas.”
Dig-out begins in small towns
In southeastern Kentucky, some small mountain towns that were initially difficult to reach because of roads blocked by fallen trees or high water were beginning to dig out Sunday. In Buckhorn, a Perry County hamlet of about 130 people, a branch of the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River carried away cars and destroyed some homes during Wednesday and Thursday’s historic floods.
One of its critical community gathering points was also decimated: the Buckhorn School, which dates to the early 1900s and whose more than 300 students are drawn from across the mountainous region.
Torrents of water and debris that rose from Squabble Creek, which runs alongside the school, smashed walls, broke windows and tore the parking lot asphalt into pieces just two weeks before the school year was to begin.
Damaged schools provided more than education
Like other schools in the region, the county K-12 public school serves as an important hub of resources for students whose families live on low incomes, said special education teacher Kristie Combs, 46.
“It’s more than just a school, it’s a community,” said Combs, who surveyed the damage for the first time Saturday after water receded from a road leading to her home in a town 20 miles away.
In a nearby neighborhood along the creek, where generators hummed on Saturday, Teresa Engle, 33, said her two kids, Haley, 8, and EJ, 6, would likely attend in another school or county.
For now, Engle said she was just happy to be alive. In the early hours of Thursday, she said her family de ella was trapped by the roaring waters that reached the door but left it intact. Others were less fortunate.
“We could just see cars and houses going by,” she said. “I’ve never been so terrified.”
On Saturday, her daughter gave away a stuffed animal and a pair of boots to a neighbor’s child whose home had been destroyed.
Teachers try to help flooded communities
Buckhorn School teachers and students were handing food, water and supplies to families in need.
“Some kids had homes washed away,” said high school teacher Jalen Cooper, 27, explaining that some were staying in hotels and others packing in relatives who have generators.
“It’s going to take a long time, a lot of effort and a lot of grit,” he said. “But we know how to push through.”
“It never got like this before,” Bert Combs, 58, said as he stood shirtless, peering at the creek and what was left of Rainbow Lane. The rain, he said, “just kept coming.”
Rebuild must consider climate change
The state must “build back stronger” to compensate for the more intense storms driven by the changing climate, Beshear said. Roads, bridges, culverts, water and wastewater systems and flood walls must be designed to withstand greater intensity, he said.
An infrastructure bill drawing bipartisan support is a good start, Beshear said.
“The infrastructure is so expensive,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “If we truly want to be more resilient, it is going to take a major federal investment, as well as here in the state. We’re ready to do our part.”
White House rushing aid to Kentucky
The Biden administration has added individual assistance to his Major Disaster Declaration to help the people of eastern Kentucky who “have lost everything,” noting recovery will be long-term.
“I’m taking more action to help the families being displaced and lives lost,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
FEMA said the individual assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
Contributing: Lucas Aulbach, Louisville Courier Journal;Associated Press
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