A man with a gun has been arrested following a shooting near the security screening at CanberraAirport on Sunday afternoon.
The terminal was evacuated at around 1:30pm (AEST), and all flights were grounded following the incident.
A man with a gun was arrested at the scene by police shortly after, who later confirmed the situation is under control and that no injuries have been reported.
A man with a gun has been arrested following a shooting near the security screening at Canberra Airport. (Nine)
Police released a statement around 2:45pm saying the person arrested is believed to have acted alone.
“One person was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered,” ACT Policing said in the statement.
The terminal was evacuated after shots were fired near a security screening. (Nine)
“CCTV has been reviewed and at this time the person in custody is believed to be the only person responsible for this incident.
“The Canberra Airport terminal was evacuated as a precaution and the situation at the Airport is contained.”
Police have told travelers and other members of the public to avoid the airport.
Police arrested a man shortly after the shooting. (Nine)
The number of shots fired has varied. Some witnesses have reported as few as three, while others have said as many as 16.
A number of journalists at the airport posted images and video of the aftermath, showing windows damaged by what appear to be gunshots, and police questioning travelers who were in the terminal at the time.
According to the Canberra Airport website, no flights have departed since 1:20pm (AEST).
There are reports of arriving flights remaining on the tarmac, with passengers unable to disembark and enter the terminal. However, it is believed that flights will resume later on Sunday afternoon or evening.
NBN Co is proposing to slash prices on high-speed internet plans in an effort to win over the telecommunications sector and the federal government, which wants broadband to be affordable for all customers.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland urged the company in charge of the national broadband network last month to go back to the drawing board, deeming an initial regulatory proposal “unsatisfactory”.
A new paper released by NBN Co in response to that request offers improved high-speed internet prices and the removal of a contentious pricing mechanism, which charges based on excessive data consumption, by 2026.
NBN Co chief Stephen Rue says the policy landscape has changed since its proposed SAU [Special Access Undertaking] variation in March.Credit:edwina pickles
“The policy landscape has changed since we lodged our original proposed SAU [Special Access Undertaking] variation in March, allowing us to reconsider our proposal,” NBN Co chief Stephen Rue said.
“We need to maintain our ability to repay government and private debt and ensure we remain capable of achieving a standalone investment grade rating, without requiring any additional government funding beyond existing commitments.”
Already, the telecommunications sector is wary. TPG Telecom said it did not believe the proposal would deliver affordable internet to customers.
“We remain concerned NBN is focussed on providing cost savings for high-speed users, while pushing price increases across most of its low-speed services including its most popular 50Mbps plan,” a TPG Telecom spokesperson said. “While this may benefit the NBN’s bottom line, it is not in the best interests of delivering affordable broadband for all Australians.”
Canberra Airport has been evacuated and a man arrested after gunshots were heard in the check-in concourse on Sunday afternoon.
ACT Policing confirmed they were called to the airport about 1.30pm following reports of gunshots in the main terminal building. They said one person was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered. No injuries were reported.
Police say CCTV has been reviewed and the person in custody is believed to be the only person responsible for the incident.
A video from the airport shows police detaining a man as travelers look on from other sections of the terminal.
Traveler Alison, who preferred not to give her surname, said she had just put her bags into the security check when the incident occurred.
“We were in security and heard the first gunshots. I turned around and there was a man standing with a pistol, like a small one, facing out towards the car drop-off,” she said.
“Someone yelled get down, get down and we just ran out of there.”
Gunshot damage visible in the windows of Canberra Airport.Credit:Katina Curtis
Police said the terminal was evacuated as a precaution and the situation is contained, and asked members of the public to not attend the airport at this time.
An Australian academic previously held hostage by the Taliban has returned to Afghanistan to “celebrate” the regime’s one year in power.
Key points:
Timothy Weeks was a teacher at the American University in Kabul when he was abducted at gunpoint
He was held hostage for three years before being released in a prisoner swap in 2019
He has since converted to Islam and has previously praised the work of the Taliban
In 2016, Timothy Weeks was a teacher at the American University in Kabul when he, along with his US colleague Kevin King, were abducted at gunpoint and held hostage for three years.
While locked up, the Taliban released videos of the captives, showing them pale and gaunt.
In one of the videos, Mr Weeks pleaded with then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to negotiate his release.
A prisoner-swap deal was made in 2019 that saw the two men released in exchange for three Taliban prisoners, including Anas Haqqani, who is today a high-ranking Taliban commander.
After his release, the Australian teacher converted to Islam and has previously praised the work of the Taliban.
Touching down in Kabul just days ago, Mr Weeks again reiterated his support for the regime.
“I came here with a dream to learn about Afghanistan and now I’m coming again to complete my journey, this is the part two of my journey,” he said
“I am also coming to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the governments of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, who I have stood behind.”
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He was greeted by members of the Taliban, who stood alongside him as he explained that he was back in the country to continue his Islamic studies.
Mr Weeks met with Anas Haqqani, one of the men freed in the 2019 prisoner-exchange deal.
Despite being held hostage for three years — and the mammoth efforts it took by the Australian and United States governments to ensure his release — Mr Weeks insisted it was right to return.
“I was a prisoner. It wasn’t easy… I was beaten. I was kept in difficult conditions… but, after all of this, I am here again,” he said.
“It’s also not without difficulty. My family is worried but I come here because I put my trust in Allah and, secondly, in my brothers here.”
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‘They missed us only by hours,’ Timothy Weeks describes the failed attempts to rescue him
Media reports surfaced earlier this year that Mr Weeks planned to return to Afghanistan, however, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not answered questions about whether he was aware of his planned trip.
In a statement, a DFAT spokeswoman said that Australians should not travel to Afghanistan.
“The Australian government is aware of reports an Australian citizen, Timothy Weeks, may have returned to Afghanistan,” the statement said.
“Australia’s Travel Advice for Afghanistan is ‘Do Not Travel’, due to the extremely dangerous security situation and the very high threat of terrorist attack.
“Australians, anywhere in the world, engaging with the Taliban have obligations under Australian sanctions law.”
People who breach sanctions can face a raft of penalties, including up to 10 years in prison or substantial fines.
The Pacific country of Vanuatu has launched one of the world’s most ambitious climate policies, committing to 100% renewable energy in electricity generation by 2030 and ambitious targets on loss and damage.
The announcement signals yet another instance of the small island state making its mark in international climate efforts.
At last year’s UN climate summit in Glasgow, all countries were urged to “revisit and strengthen” their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) on climate action by the end of 2022. Vanuatu is one of just 12 countries to have done so, and its ambitious targets have been praised by regional experts.
“They are really setting an example for the rest of the world,” said Tagaloa Cooper-Halo, the director of the climate change resilience program at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP).
“Vanuatu is leading by example in many ways, despite having negligible emissions. They are taking the lead by putting up their plan. This was a monumental effort by their government and all the stakeholders because it takes a lot of work and coordination to arrive at that announcement.”
Vanuatu is already a carbon-negative country – meaning it absorbs more emissions than it produces – but has committed to going further, by phasing out fossil fuels almost entirely and hoping to become 100% renewable in its electricity generation by 2030.
They are also pushing for a loss-and-damage finance facility to be rapidly established in order to support vulnerable communities.
According to the government, the costs of achieving Vanuatu’s revised commitments, are estimated at $1.2bn by 2030.
“Thirty years ago, Vanuatu was the first nation in the world to call for climate polluters to pay for the permanent losses and irreversible damage caused by their emissions,” said Dr Wesley Morgan, a senior researcher at the climate council.
“Today, Vanuatu is calling for the establishment of a new loss-and-damage finance facility at the UN. To be an effective ally to the Pacific on climate action, Australia should support a new loss-and-damage finance facility.”
The move also sets the tone for the Pacific’s preparation for the COP27 summit to be held in Cairo in November.
Vanuatu, which is rated the country most at risk of natural disasters by the UN, is also currently pushing for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hand down an advisory opinion on climate-related harm.
“The Vanuatu government has been very bold in pursuing the ICJ opinion, and this is all good for the Pacific,” said Cooper-Halo.
According to the Vanuatu government, more than 80 states from around the world are supporting their pursuit for an advisory opinion from the ICJ ahead of a vote at the UN General Assembly at its forthcoming session.
Tens of thousands of fraudulent flood assistance claims have been made this year, with more than $10 million dollars in support denied.
Key points:
There have been 3.5 million claims for flood support between February 28, 2022 and July 31, 2022
There have been more than 27,770 claims that have raised suspicions
More than 793 criminal investigations have been launched into suspected fraudulent claims
Payments have been offered to people impacted by floods in New South Wales and South-East Queensland in February and the recent Sydney floods in July.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has raised concerns that, while money is being offered to those who need it, others are taking advantage of the system.
“I believe that the taxpayer-funded safety net needs to go to those who need it and it really makes my blood boil when I think that there are some people out there taking advantage of other people’s misery to steal $1,000,” he said.
“What is going on with people? How can people think like that?”
The support on offer includes the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child, as well as the Disaster Recovery Allowance which provides 13 weeks of support at the rate of the JobSeeker allowance.
About 3.5 million claims have been made for assistance between February and July following the floods.
Bill Shorten says it is important fraudulent claims are detected. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty/File)
Of those, there have been 27,770 cases that appear to be suspicious and about $10.5 million in support has been denied.
Mr Shorten said it was important that all fraudulent claims were picked up by the system.
“I’m very mindful that this is taxpayer money and I’m mindful that taxpayers are happy to help their fellow Australians in trouble,” he said.
“But they do expect government agencies to be as careful as they can separating the legitimate from the illegitimate.”
Mr Shorten said he was concerned there had been, or could still be, opportunistic behavior that was “robbing” from flood victims.
“I’m asking Services Australia: ‘Are we catching everyone?'” he said.
“I want to make sure that our detection systems for fraud are what they should be, and anything other than that undermines public confidence in the provision of support for victims.”
He said there were now 793 criminal investigations underway.
More than $1 billion has been handed out to Australians this year in flood support.
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Probe finds lead emergency agencies failed in flood response.(ABCNews)
Just a fraction of the 5,000 seafood species make it from the ocean to dinner plates, but experts say broadening our nets could help seafood sustainability while keeping the weekly food budget in check.
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Is it time for our fish-and-chip menus to change?
New South Wales Department of Primary Industries senior fisheries manager Luke Pearce told ABC Radio Melbourne that while carp had a bad name, the fish could find some love in the kitchen.
Carp are one of the worst introduced pests in Australia and have negative impacts on water quality and biodiversity, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
“They have such a negative impact on our environment and they’ve just caused such huge problems in our river system,” Mr Pearce said.
The more carp taken out of waterways the better, according to senior fisheries manager Luke Pearce.(Rural ABC)
There was also a notion that carp made bad eating and that put people off.
“I was of the opinion for a long time but I’ve convinced a lot of people over my time to taste them,” Mr Pearce said.
“But there are a few things you’ve got to do first.”
Plating up a pest
While Mr Pearce said carp could survive in some pretty unappealing environments, like in the water at a sewerage treatment plant, a good rule of thumb was that if you’d eat any other fish from the water source, carp would also be safe to consume .
A national control plan is being developed for carp.(Landline: Kerry Staight)
“So if you’d eat a trout or a golden perch or a cod from the same waterway, then a carp would be fine to eat from it,” he said.
Mr Pearce said tackling the fish’s flavor was also something to keep in mind.
When under stress, carp produces histamines which create an odor and its distinctive muddy taste.
“The quicker you can get that fish on ice, the less likely the muddy taste will be present,” he said.
Slippery mucus on the fish’s body also tarnished carp’s eating reputation, but Mr Pearce said the solution was skinning.
“Once you skin your fish, that mucus is gone and you’ve got a really nice clean, fresh and tasty fillet of fish that you can do a bunch of things with,” he said.
cook vs cull
A $15.2 million carp control plan is being developed with the aim of slashing numbers of the invasive species using a herpes virus, but Mr Pearce said there was still a push for people to see the fish as a protein alternative.
“Carp are being turned into fertilizer … but they’re consuming all these resources that take away from our native fish and the more we can take out the better,” he said.
How about eels?
Co-founder of the Lake Bolac Eel Festival Neil Murray lives on Jupagalk Country in south-west Victoria and has been participating in an annual eel harvest for almost two decades.
Mr Murry said First Nations people would gather in the late summer at Lake Bolac as the eels began their annual migration to the sea to spawn, known as kuyang season.
“The eel was the most-favored fish by First Nations people,” he said.
“It’s highly nutritious, very abundant and it’s easy to catch.”
Eel is still largely exported overseas.(ABC Radio Sydney: Amanda Hoh)
Mr Murry said while the industry was still fairly lucrative, most of the catch was frozen for export.
“I just prefer it freshly grilled over coals and I usually cut it into sections about four-inches long and let the oil drip out of it,” he said.
“I think initially a lot of people were put off it because it’s a slimy, squirmy thing that looks like a snake, but when you’re brought up in the area like I was, it was a part of our diet.”
different not more
University of Melbourne marine and fisheries ecologist John Ford said of the species that fishers caught, only a few made it to the retail giants.
“The fish you see on the supermarket shelves, the ones that are already in demand, are only going to get more expensive,” Dr Ford said.
“The ocean can’t give us any more fish than it is right now and as the population grows, the demand grows.”
Dr Ford said that meant looking at eating lower-quality products, like fish meal, a product made from wild-caught fish and by-products.
But he said there was one major reason lesser-known products weren’t at the shops.
“We don’t know how to cook them, and that’s the real challenge,” he said.
It would need to be profitable for supermarkets to stock alternative seafood.(Flickr: BakiOguz)
Consumers would have to feel comfortable cooking an unfamiliar product.
“It requires someone to be bold and put these products on the shelf and to educate people,” Dr Ford said.
He said while Australia’s supermarket duopoly would make a shake-up a challenge, future collaboration with peak fishing bodies could shore up seafood’s future.
The Victorian opposition promised free public transport for healthcare workers on Sunday in a $100 million election pitch to retain stressed staff, on the same day Premier Daniel Andrews reported Victoria had recruited 700 international employees to work in the health system.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said more than 260,000 healthcare workers would be eligible for free travel across all metropolitan and V/Line public transport services until November 2026.
Under the plan, more than 260,000 healthcare workers would be eligible for free travel across all metropolitan and V/Line public transport services.Credit:Wayne Taylor
The opposition policy, announced on Sunday, pledged Victorian nurses, personal and aged care workers, allied health workers, paramedics, and other staff would be eligible for a special Myki card.
Guy said workers would save up to $7,200 over four years if they were daily users traveling in zone one and two in Melbourne. It will cost at least $110 million in lost fare revenue over four years, but this figure will depend on how many workers use the scheme.
“To fix the health crisis we need innovative solutions to attract, retain and reward health workers,” he said.
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“Our nurses have given so much for our community over the past three years – this important commitment demonstrates the value we place on them. A cheaper, easier commute to work is exactly what our nurses need and deserve.”
Signaling the importance of healthcare in the upcoming Victorian election, Guy made his commitment at The Alfred while Andrews spoke about his health plans across town at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Andrews dismissed questions at a press conference on Sunday about whether he would match the opposition’s policy, pointing to his own announcement about healthcare workers receiving the first of two $1500 winter retention bonuses.
On the stark tablelands in the Monaro region just east of the NSW Snowy Mountains, a group of dedicated volunteersis working hard to restore the ghostly landscape to its former glory.
The Upper Snowy Landcare Network is working with volunteers, landholders and researchers to get native trees back into the dieback-ravaged landscape. (Supplied: Upper Snowy Landcare Network)
The grassy plains were once dominated by towering ribbon gums (Eucalyptus viminalis), but in recent years, a mysterious dieback event has reduced nearly all the trees to brittle skeletons.
“It just left a huge scar on the landscape,” says Margaret Mackinnon, volunteer and chair of the Upper Snowy Landcare Network (USLN).
A mysterious dieback event has killed off most of the eucalypts in the region.(Supplied: Upper Snowy Landcare Network)
The root cause of the dieback is still a mystery, but that hasn’t stopped Dr Mackinnon from pitching in to help reverse the devastation.
Since she joined the USLN in 2016, Dr Mackinnon has been working with landholders, community volunteers and researchers to get native trees back in the ground, including eucalypts, wattles and small shrubs.
“We can’t just leave it to business and landholders to spend the money on repairing the environment; we’ve got to get individuals involved and doing it in their own backyards,” she says.
theirefforts are beginning to pay off.
Over the past five years, around 100 volunteers have planted roughly 1,000seedlings in each of 36 plots across the region.
Dr Mackinnon says one of the most rewarding things about tree planting is watching the results grow before her eyes — literally.
“The satisfaction of seeing them grow is quite contagious.
“It’s a long-term legacy that will be there forever.”
friends worth keeping
Wherever we live, trees take care of us in more ways than one. But it’s easy to forget that we need to take care of our woody friends too, says Kylie Soanes, a conservation biologist at The University of Melbourne.
“I think we can take them a little bit for granted.”
In urban areas for instance, trees are nature’s air conditioners, cooling the air by releasing moisture through pores in their leaves and providing us with shade.
Taking care of trees is important as they provide us with clean air and shade, especially in cities. (Getty Images: Steve Waters)
“Having an urban forest is such a big part of making a city a liveable, comfortable, pleasant space,” Dr Soanes says.
Even small patches of native trees in urban areas — particularly massive old ones — are like “wildlife hotels” for birds, mammals, and insects on the move, says Rebecca Jordan, a conservation scientist at the CSIRO in Hobart.
“It’s not just about having the trees in the big forests,” she says.
“All those other trees can provide connections so that our wildlife can move through the landscape and connect to other big areas.”
In cities along the east coast, gum trees are a favorite roadside pit stop for endangered swift parrots (Lathamus discolor), which fly from Tasmania during the winter months.
“That’s just a really big testament to how valuable even supposedly scrappy, isolated patches of trees are,” Dr Soanes says.
Native trees in cities allow wildlife—such as the endangered swift parrot—to hopscotch their way between different locations.(Wikimedia Commons: JJ Harrison)
bush in the burbs
If urban trees are wildlife hotels, then Harry Loots’s garden is a five-star resort.
On a quiet street dominated by box-hedged front gardens in Sydney’s Cremorne, Mr Loots has created a slice of urban bushland in his backyard.
Mr Loots’s native haven is packed with around 200 species of Australian plants and trees, including eucalypts, banksias, and grass trees.
Harry Loots has created a piece of the Australian bush in his backyard in Cremorne, Sydney. (Supplied: Harry Loots)
This bush in the ‘burbs spills out onto the street. On the nature strip, an old yellow-flowered water gum (Tristaniopsis laurina) towers over thick shrubs, such as a vibrant netted bottlebrush (Callistemon linearifolius) planted by Mr Loots’s mother half a century ago.
The flourishing native garden extends out onto the street and includes around 200 species of Australian trees and other plants. (Supplied: Harry Loots)
The flourishing garden is a favorite hangout for possums, blue-tongued lizards, water dragons, and native bees. It’s also popular among walkers, who often stop to admire Mr Loots’s handiwork.
“They get to walk through a bit of Australian nature,” says Mr Loots, who is treasurer of the Australian Plants Society NSW.
An avid bushwalker, Mr Loots says taking care of the trees in his backyard has given him a greater appreciation for the biodiversity in the bush.
“It’s a real education about how the bush functions, how it works, how the total environment works.
“It’s only with education and understanding that you really appreciate why different areas are important.”
Forests on the farm
For forest scientist and farmer Rowan Reid, taking care of trees on farmland is an investment that can pay dividends for future generations.
“The most degraded part of Australia is the agricultural landscape,” Mr Reid says.
“Trees are clearly going to have a role to play in repairing that damage, and doing it in a way that the farmers are in control and can also become more productive.”
Forest scientist Rowan Reid (right) is helping farmers like Andrew Stewart (left) learn tree-growing techniques to increase their land’s productivity while also taking care of the environment. (Supplied: Cormac Photography)
Just west of Geelong, Mr Reid owns and runs Bambra Agroforestry Farm, a 42-hectare property with around 70 species of native and exotic trees.
Each tree plays several roles in keeping the wheels turning. Along the once-degraded creek running through the farm, eucalypts and native rainforest trees stave off soil erosion, shelter livestock, provide timber, and offer habitat for wildlife.
Mr Reid’s tree-dotted farm doubles as an “outdoor classroom”, where he shares his agroforestry knowledge with landholders who want to explore how tree-growing can support their farming and benefit the land.
It’s less about telling farmers why they should plant trees, and more about giving them the growing techniques they need to meet their goals, Mr Reid says.
“We’re trying to see what happens when you give them the knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm to go and do it themselves.”
Some farmers are interested in growing more trees to address soil problems like salinity, while others might want to grow timber and provide wildlife habitats that can help control crop-destroying pests.
Whatever the goal, cultivating a diversity of trees can future-proof a farmer’s livelihood.
For instance, if a disease wiped out a dairy farmer’s cattle, they could switch to selling timber, seeds, or flowers to keep their business afloat, Mr Reid says.
“You can make your whole farming system more resilient to the shocks that are potentially coming through.”
But there’s more to it than simply planting more trees or saving every last one. It’s really about managing an ever-changing system. As climate change looms, farmers need to consider which species will fare best over the next few decades.
Bambra Agroforestry Farm is also an “outdoor classroom” for people who want to learn about growing trees on farmland. (Supplied: Bambra Agroforestry Farm)
Rather than planting tree species that have grown naturally in a particular spot for hundreds of years, Mr Reid now plants species that are more robust against hot, dry conditions, such as Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata).
While managing trees on farmland is a constant work in progress, watching the degraded landscape transform into a flourishing, diverse ecosystem makes it all worthwhile, Mr Reid says.
“That’s really important for a lot of families because they talk about passing their family farm onto the next generation in a better state.”
How to take better care of trees
So, what can we do to take better care of the trees in our communities?
Local tree-planting and bush regeneration groups, such as Landcare and Bushcare, are good places to start for people who enjoy getting their hands dirty out in nature.
In addition to planting trees, it’s important to protect the ones we already have, Dr Jordan says.
In addition to planting new trees, we must also take care of our elderly friends. (Getty Images: Gallo Images)
“It’s really important that we keep the big old guys in the landscape while that revegetation planting catches up,” she says.
“It can take up to 70 years to get all that habitat rebuilt.”
This means thinking twice before cutting down a large old tree that’s causing problems. If a tree has just a few limbs that are causing danger, it’s best just to remove those rather than chopping the tree down altogether, Dr Soanes says.
Even the gnarly stumps of dead trees are worth protecting, as they continue to provide homes for insects, lizards, frogs, birds and small mammals long after their leaves drop.
“There’s this real misconception that once a tree has died then its life is over,” Dr Soanes says.
“That’s really far from the case.”
For those who enjoy bushwalking, another easy way to take care of trees is to clean your bushwalking boots and equipment when moving between forests, Dr Jordan says.
“Making sure you’re not carrying any soil or plant material between our forests can help protect them and notspread those diseases that might threaten our trees.”
Ultimately, our relationship with trees needs to be a two-way street, Dr Soanes says.
“If we take care of trees, trees are helping to take care of us.”
Perth’s public hospitals have been forced to declare more than 500 code yellows in the past year as capacity issues continue to plague the health system.
Worst impacted was Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which went into code yellow 144 times in 2021-22 – an average of eleven every two and a half days.
That was followed by Perth Children’s Hospital (89 code yellows), Fiona Stanley Hospital (74) and Royal Perth Hospital (68).
Your local paper, whenever you want it.
The city’s biggest maternity hospital, King Edward Memorial, declared 36 code yellows in the year to July.
A code yellow refers to an infrastructure or other internal emergency that is impacting service delivery – including a lack of available beds.
Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam said the “shocking” figures – contained in answers to questions in Parliament – pointed to a health system that was “significantly under-resourced and lurching from crisis to crisis”.
The McGowan Government has rolled out 420 of the 530 additional hospital beds it promised last year as part of preparations for the arrival of COVID but Ms Mettam said it was clear the public system still did not have enough capacity.
“These 530 beds are in effect the same ones that were closed shortly after Labor first came to power in 2017 which points to a government that has been asleep at the wheel when it comes to supporting WA patients,” she said.
“Especially concerning are the number of code yellows the figures from PCH and King Eddie’s, hospitals that look after sick children and birthing mothers and are clearly under exceptional pressure.”
Figures previously provided by WA Health revealed the public health system was short more than 100 midwives and 350 junior doctors.
There were also more than 300 pregnant women placed on “maternity bypass” and forced to attend alternative hospitals on the day of their deliveries in the past year.
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson outlining ambulance inquiry response outside Parliament House, Perth. Credit: simon santi/The West Australian
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said public health systems around the country were under pressure as a result of “global workforce shortages, the pandemic and sick leave”.
“The (code yellow) alerts are a moment in time and hospitals can change status multiple times throughout the day. The status of hospitals changes as patients move through the system and demands ebb and flow,” Ms Sanderson said.
“There is no doubt our hospitals are busy, as is the case across the country, but they are coping well with the demands of the pandemic and we sincerely thank our healthcare workforce for their continued dedication.”
Australian Medical Association (WA) president Mark Duncan-Smith said code yellows are “nearly unheard of” when he was a junior doctor but had become increasingly frequent in recent years.
“It is a direct consequence of the McGowan Government running the medical system into the ground over the last five years with inadequate funding of health’s operational budget,” Dr Duncan-Smith said.
NEw Australian Medical Association WA president Mark Duncan-Smith. Credit: Nick Ellis/The West Australian, by Nic Ellis The West Australian
“Often politicians will say code yellows are a normal procedural event but that is wrong – they shouldn’t happen anywhere near as often as they do and indicate a system that has inadequate capacity.”
He added that the “true” number of code yellows was likely much higher because some hospitals felt “political pressure” not to make the declaration even when all beds were full.
There were 513 total code yellows across the metropolitan area in 2021-22, with every hospital besides Kalamunda declaring at least one.
COVID has forced thousands of frontline medical personnel into isolation since the start of the year, further exacerbating staffing shortages.
A lack of available beds has contributed to unprecedented levels of ambulance ramping, with paramedics made to wait nearly 7000 hours to transfer their patients to the care of hospitals in July.
There were already 2463 ambulance ramping hours in the first 11 days of August – placing the month on track to again come close to 7000 total hours.
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