A private hospital in Melbourne’s east will be transformed into a public surgery center to help deal with the huge list of people awaiting elective surgery in Victory.
Premier Daniel Andrews has announced his government will transform the Bellbird Private Hospital in Blackburn into the ‘Blackburn Public Surgical Centre’.
The center will be operated by Eastern Health and will have four operating theaters, a ten-bed day procedure unit, 43 inpatient beds and offer a range of services including gynecology and general surgery.
Bellbird Private Hospital will be turned into a public surgery center. (Facebook)
The announcement has been made less than a week after it was revealed more than 87,000 people are awaiting elective surgery in Victoria.
Andrews said the move was about making “facilities that were for some patients into a facility what will be for all patients.”
The government has said all 95 of the nurses, allied health professionals, technical and patient support staff working at Bellbird Private Hospital will be offered equivalent ongoing roles with Eastern Health, to retain their skills and expertise for when the new center opens.
Premier Daniel Andrews has announced his government is acquiring the private hospital. (Nine)
The government will takeover the center on October 10, and will expand the hospital’s capacity before it opens to the public in February 2023.
The hospital is set to become the second private hospital repurposed into a planned surgery center by the government.
Frankston Private Hospital is due to transition into a public health service in September.
Once both centers are fully up and running, it is expected they will be responsible for 15,000 surgeries combined each year.
Andrews said his government was aiming to be delivering a record 240,000 surgeries every year by 2024.
A total of 200,000 were being performed annually in the state before the COVID-19 pandemic.
A push to allow access to COVID-19 treatments without prescriptions has triggered safety concerns.
there are — Paxlovid and Lagevrio — and while early treatment is critical to lessen the effects of the virus, access is restricted.
People are eligible for the treatments with a prescription from a GP or nurse.
However, Australia’s pharmacy body wants the federal government to allow them to be supplied over the counter to speed up access upon infection.
Pharmacy Guild president Trent Twomey says wait times to see GPs are getting longer, which is a problem considering the window to use the medications.
“Given the treatment program of these life-saving antiviral medicines needs to commence within five days of the initial onset of COVID-19 symptoms, it’s vital patients test early and often and receive treatment without long delays,” he said in a statement on Thursday .
Professor Twomey says New Zealand recently followed the example of Canada and the United Kingdom by dispensing antivirals at local pharmacies.
However, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) believes patient safety should be prioritised.
While treatments need to be provided more quickly, issuing them over-the-counter is not the answer, says RACGP president Karen Price.
“Allowing pharmacists to prescribe and dispense antivirals will not improve access and there are significant risks to patients,” Professor Price said.
“These drugs have what we call ‘contraindications’, which is the term used to describe when a particular treatment should not be used, as well as interactions with other common medications.”
She said general practitioners know the health history of patients and can assess the potential impacts of the antivirals, while pharmacies cannot.
“Pharmacies should keep their focus on the job at hand, which is availability of stock,” Professor Price said.
“There should be a website showing where stock is available, as they have previously done for rapid antigen test stocks.”
She said antivirals can be the difference between a patient having mild effects from the virus or ending up in hospital.
“However, we must proceed with caution because the last thing we want to do is potentially endanger patients,” Professor Price said.
Health Minister Mark Butler says prescription rates almost tripled following the expansion of antiviral access in July.
Australia recorded more than 27,000 COVID-19 cases and 133 deaths on Wednesday, with nearly 4,500 people in hospital with the virus.
Manly Sea Eagles hooker Manase Fainu will remain on bail over the weekend after being found guilty of stabbing a church youth leader in a brawl outside a sydney dance.
The 24-year-old pleaded not guilty to wounding Faamanu Levi with intent to cause grievous bodily harm at Wattle Grove late at night on October 25, 2019.
In his evidence to the District Court jury, he denied being the stabber, saying when he heard “knife knife” he ran away scared for his own safety.
Manly NRL player Manase Fainu has been found guilty over the stabbing of a man at a church in 2019. (Rhett Wyman)
But the jurors took just over two hours to return a guilty verdict on Thursday afternoon, prompting prosecutor Emma Curran to apply for immediate detention.
Judge Nanette Williams adjourned the application until Monday because of the late hour and because Friday’s industrial strike by prison officers would mean he couldn’t be taken into custody if she so ruled.
Fainu’s barrister Margaret Cunneen SC opposed the application saying he had not breached any bail conditions over the last three years.
“This obviously will be appealed as a perverse verdict in view of the evidence,” she said.
Noting it would be surprising if full-time custody was not imposed, the judge ordered Fainu to report to police daily, live with his parents and not leave the address without one of them, and not contact any witnesses.
Tony Quach testified to seeing Fainu plunge a steak knife into the back of Levi in the car park brawl, referring to him looking angry and wearing a sling.
The jury was told the footballer had recently undergone shoulder surgery and had his arm in a sling that evening.
The stabbing occurred after an earlier fight on the dancefloor of the alcohol-free charity event organized by the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
Cunneen had submitted that in the heat of the moment, with the darkness, chaos and speed of it unfolding, the jury could not be certain who stabbed Levi.
But they could be certain the NRL hooker, never before in trouble for any violence, did not, she said.
Fainu (centre) will remain on bail over the weekend. (Wolter Peeters)
The jurors were told Fainu and his friend Uona Faingaa, known as “Big Buck”, were involved in the dancefloor fight and ushered outside by Levi, who told them not to fight on church grounds.
CCTV footage showed Fainu with a white towel draped over his head and his four friends jumping back over a fence and into a car park where the brawl occurred with Levi.
Curran contended that when things looked like they were getting out of hand, Fainu pulled out the knife and plunged it into Levi’s back.
“Not content with having stabbed him once… (Fainu) moved around to the front of Mr Levi and swung the knife upwards towards (his) face cutting him across the eyebrow,” Curran said.
“Then he ran back to the car.”
Another witness involved in the brawl told the court that he saw a male in a sling approach his brother holding a knife.
“The accused was the only person in a sling. And a sling is quite a distinctive feature,” Curran said.
Fainu could face up to 25 years in prison. (APA)
She argued that Fainu was an unimpressive and evasive witness who gave contradictory and occasionally fanciful answers.
She asked the jury to reject such evidence including his reason for scaling a three-metre tall brick fence to get back onto the church grounds, rather than entering through the front gate, because “it was easier”.
He told the jury the white towel draped over his head was a “security blanket” doused in cold water because he had a headache, not to hide his identity.
Fainu also denied holding, seeing, or knowing of a weapon being brought that evening.
Smoking will be banned in WA prisons, in a move that risks a new riot flashpoint in jails across the State.
The ban will begin at Bandyup Women’s Prison, where inmates will be forced to stub out on October 31.
Prison bosses will evaluate the fallout with the attempt of making all other jails smoke-free.
WA is the only jurisdiction in Australia where smoking is allowed in jail. Prisoners are allowed to light up outdoors.
Previous governments have toyed with the idea because exposing prison staff to passive smoke rubs against occupational health and safety laws. But successive administrations have shied away from a ban for fear of inciting riots.
Four in five prisoners smoke and each year 5000 smokers spend $10 million on tobacco at jail canteens – half of all sales. A 25g pouch of White Ox tobacco costs $63.10.
Bandyup Women’s Prison. Credit: ross swanborough/The West Australian
The change at Bandyup will see prisoners, staff, contractors and visitors stopped from lighting up.
Nicotine patches are other products will be made available and QUIT support programs rolled out to the 161 Bandyup inmates who smoke.
Tobacco products will be limited in the lead up to the October 31 deadline to stop stockpiling.
The harmful effects of smoking and its impact on those who inhale second-hand smoke is well-documented and this move is an opportunity for prisoners to quit and have a fresh start.
The prison watchdog, the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services, estimates that 82 per cent of prisoners smoked, compared with 11 per cent of the free community.
The 2021 study found Aboriginal people, women and younger inmates were more likely to be smokers.
The ban would ensure jails comply with the Work Health and Safety Act 2021. It is understood there are five children staying at Bandyup with their mothers.
“The Bandyup Women’s Prison trial is part of the WA Government’s commitment to provide a healthy and safe environment for those in the care of, working or visiting custodial facilities,” Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston said.
Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston. Credit: Kelsey Reid/The West Australian
“The harmful effects of smoking and its impact on those who inhale second-hand smoke is well-documented and this move is an opportunity for prisoners to quit and have a fresh start.
“WA and the ACT are the only Australian jurisdictions where smoking is allowed in prisons, with smoke-free policies successfully implemented everywhere else.
“We are taking a staged, cautious and considered approach to ensure a smoke-free Bandyup Women’s Prison.”
The Department of Justice is finalizing the schedule for bans in other facilities.
Tobacco will likely become sought-after contraband but the ban should reduce the number of fires lit deliberately by prisoners because of the availability of lighters and matches.
The move will be supported by the WA Prison officers Union, which has lobbied for the change.
In 2014 WorkSafe issued the Department of Corrective Services with an improvement notice, giving it until April 2015 to stop prisoners lighting up indoors.
The chief executive of WA’s Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS), which oversees Perth Children’s Hospital, has resigned from the position.
Key points:
Dr Aresh Anwar was appointed to the role in 2018
He offered to resign last year following the death of Aishwarya Aswath at PCH
The Health Director General praised his “work ethic, dedication and integrity”
The WA Department of Health confirmed the news that Aresh Anwar had resigned from his role effective from Friday.
Health Director General David Russell-Weisz said he had accepted Dr Anwar’s resignation, 15 months after he rejected it when it was offered in the weeks following the tragic death of Aishwarya Aswath at Perth Children’s Hospital last April.
Aishwarya was seven when she died from organ failure resulting from sepsis after waiting for two hours in the hospital’s emergency department.
A report, released in November last year, revealed extensive problems with the hospital’s handling of her case.
A coronial inquest into the little girl’s death will begin on August 24.
In a media release issued on Thursday, Dr Russell-Weisz acknowledged Dr Anwar’s efforts in charge of CAHS.
Dr Anwar initially offered to resign in the weeks after the death of Aishwarya Aswath at Perth Children’s Hospital in April 2021. (ABC News: Darren Dunstan)
“Dr Anwar brought considerable expertise, a strong work ethic, dedication and integrity, and he has also been a trusted member of the broader WA Health executive team,” Dr Russell-Weisz said.
“Among many achievements, he oversaw the foundational phase of our flagship Perth Children’s Hospital and steered CAHS through a complex and challenging period while also leading CAHS’s outstanding response to COVID-19.
“Dr Anwar played a critical role in setting up the initial roll-out of the state’s highly successful COVID-19 vaccination program and has made a considerable contribution to the WA health system, including stewardship of key recommendations within the Sustainable Health Review.”
Family worried about timing of resignation
In a statement, Aishwarya’s family said they hoped Dr Anwar was “not being made a scapegoat”.
“We are worried about the timing of the resignation, which is two weeks away from the start of the inquest,” they said.
Aswath Chavittupara and Prasitha Sasidharan, are the parents of Aishwarya Aswath who died at Perth Children’s Hospital.(ABC News: West Matteussen)
“All we are looking for is a change and a better health system.”
Ms Valerie Jovanovic has been appointed as acting chief executive for four months until a full recruitment process has been carried out.
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson thanked Dr Anwar for his service, in particular for his work throughout the two-and-a-half years of the COVID pandemic.
“I would like to thank Dr Aresh Anwar for his valuable contribution to our public health system as the chief executive of the Child and Adolescent Health Service,” she said.
“Dr Anwar is a hardworking and dedicated individual, his management, in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped protect vulnerable children and ensure they continued to access essential treatment.
“I will continue to work with the CAHS Board and the WA Health Director-General to progress important changes at CAHS for the benefit of children in our state and our hardworking healthcare workforce.”
Community childcare center director Rebecca Stiles is close to breaking point.
Key points:
Childcare centers around Australia are experiencing high turnovers in staff
Low wages have been recognized as a problem in the sector
There are also calls for the government to restructure the sector, as more than 70 per cent of service providers are for-profit operations
After 27 years in the industry, she’s now contemplating what was once unthinkable – joining the exodus from childcare and education.
“That’s actually heartbreaking, to think that crosses my mind, to move on to somewhere else,” she told 7.30.
The reason for her growing stress is staff shortages at her community center at Hillbank, in Adelaide.
“Sometimes I wonder how I cope,” she said.
“I do find I spend most of my time staring at my roster at my desk, wondering what I’m going to do for that afternoon or the next day.”
It’s a similar story across the country.
“It was critical before COVID,” said Elizabeth Death, the chief executive of the industry body Early Learning and Child Care Australia (ELACCA).
“It’s now even more dire.”
There is broad agreement about the root cause of the problem – wages in the sector are just too low.
Working in the sector requires at least a diploma qualification or a bachelor’s degree, but many early childcare educators receive little more than the minimum wage of around $24 an hour.
Helen Gibbons says early educators have “voted with their feet”, leading to huge vacancies in centers across the country.(ABCNews/7.30)
“You can have a degree and work in an early education setting, and exactly the same degree will allow you to earn at least 30 per cent more if you worked in a school,” said Helen Gibbons, the director of early education at the United Workers Union (UWU).
“It’s just obscene.
“They’ve [early educators] really voted with their feet over the past six months.
“I don’t think there’s a center in the country that is not currently advertising for an early educator.”
Brisbane early childhood teacher Samira Shire said she felt undervalued.
Brisbane early childhood teacher Samira Shire has been working in the industry since 2014.(ABC News: Chris Gillette)
“Our wages are one of the lowest in the country — I can’t say it’s the lowest, but it’s really quite close,” she said.
“The bit that bugs me when I read comments from the community is always how people think that we are not qualified, how people think that only a percentage of a center is working as qualified educators and the rest are working without qualification — that’s not the case.”
Impact on children
The high turnover of staff can have a devastating effect on the quality of care and education, according to developmental psychologist Karen Thorpe from the University of Queensland’s Brain Institute.
“Some of our research that we’ve recently reported shows that emotional attachment, and that emotional support and emotional quality of care, has effects on children’s language development, but also we’ve done some data linkage to show it has effects right through to secondary education,” she said.
Karen Thorpe says early educators are “seriously important” in a child’s development. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)
Professor Thorpe said there was an overwhelmingly strong case for the federal government to invest more money into early childhood care and learning in order to improve wages and conditions.
“We need to more strongly advocate that these are not just childcare workers,” she said.
“They are seriously important educators at the most serious point in human development.”
Measures to improve pay
Apart from providing more federal funds, one of the obstacles to improving pay rates in the sector is the present structure of Australia’s industrial relations system, according to gender pay expert Meg Smith from the University of Western Sydney.
“There’s only been one successful equal remuneration order in the past 20 years, and I think that speaks to some of the challenges,” she said.
However, Dr Smith said she was encouraged by the Albanese government’s pledge to strengthen the gender equity section of the Fair Work Commission and supporting legislation.
“I am optimistic if those changes are to be implemented and to have applications across multiple paths of the Fair Work Act, I would be optimistic that there’s a capacity for change,” she said.
The Albanian government has pledged $5.4 billion to make childcare more accessible. (ABC North Queensland: Nathalie Fernbach)
The UWU has organized a national shutdown of the early childhood education and care sector on September 7 to highlight these wage issues and is also calling for a more substantial restructuring of the industry.
A recent Australia Institute report found 77 per cent of service providers are private, for-profit operators — one of the highest rates among OECD countries.
“To achieve the aim that ECEC [Early Childhood Education and Care] in Australia becomes an essential service, like Medicare, it has to be delivered more on a basis of public need than private profit,” Andrew Scott of Deakin University and convenor of the Australia Institute’s Nordic Policy Center said.
“To sustain adequate public expenditure on childcare, and to avoid further escalating fees for parents in Australia, there will need to be less reliance in future on paying subsidies to private, for-profit operators.”
The UWU’s Helen Gibbons said there was a “creeping commercialization” in the sector.
Australia has one of the highest rates of for-profit early education operators among OECD countries.(ABC News: Chris Gillette)
“We have seen an increasing number of for-profit providers – private companies and private equity – making a lot of money off taxpayers,” she said.
“And it’s going to profit, it’s not going to little children … [it’s] certainly not going to early educators.
“It’s a crazy system.”
ELACCA’s Elizabeth Death disagrees.
She said Australia had strict quality controls that allowed a mixed market to operate effectively, and the government’s immediate focus should be on fixing the staffing crisis.
“I think the most important factor here is not trying to turn the sector upside down at a time we have a workforce crisis, [and] at a time our children need the best, most consistent education care.”
The family of a “kind and generous” father killed by a drunk driver has told an Adelaide court they will never forgive the “selfish” man responsible.
Key points:
39-year-old Nick Peart was killed in a crash at Brukunga
His children give the judge artwork to show their loss
Killer driver Campbell Henderson will be sentenced next month
Campbell Henderson, of Mount Barker, pleaded guilty to causing the fatal Easter Monday crash at Brukunga in 2021, by dangerous driving.
The 29-year-old was three times over the legal blood alcohol limit and was driving almost 40 kilometers an hour over the speed limit when he lost control of his ute and crashed into a tree.
His passenger Nick Peart, 39, died at the scene.
The crash was just meters from the houses of the men, who were neighbours.
Mr Peart’s high school sweetheart and partner of 26 years — Elaine Revi-Peart — told the District Court her husband had paid the “ultimate price” for trusting a friend.
Crash victim Nick Peart was a husband and father of three.(Supplied)
“I feel I have been condemned to loneliness for the rest of my life,” she told the court in her victim impact statement.
“We tried to be there at any and every way we could, this desire to help the defendant and willingness to trust them that was the major contributor… that led to my husband’s abrupt death.
“I think it’s important to state how good of a man the world has lost on that Easter Monday.
“He was non-judgmental, kind, tolerant, generous.
“I know the defendant made a choice to drive, and as far as I’m concerned he deserves to suffer any and all of the consequences that are coming to him.”
Children want drunk driver jailed
The court heard Mr Peart and Henderson were neighbors and had become friends – Mr Peart’s children even referred to him as an uncle.
The three children provided artwork to Judge Joana Fuller and told her they missed their dad and “hate” Henderson for taking him away from them.
One said he wanted to give Henderson “a knuckle sandwich”, Mr Peart’s daughter said she wanted to see him “leave in handcuffs and prison clothes”.
“I have lost my dad, my role model, best friend, hero and a piece of my heart, soul and joy,” his daughter told the court.
“I love and miss you Dad”.
The court heard the “staunch environmentalist” had planted more than one million trees as part of his conservation and regeneration work.
Mr Peart’s mother, Wendy, told the court she was living a nightmare following the “senseless loss” of her firstborn child.
“We’ve all seen reports of road deaths on the television and felt sorry for the loss of that person and feel sad for the family,” she told the court.
“But until it happened to us never could I have imagined the utter heartbreak it would inflict on all of our lives.”
Campbell Henderson leaves the Mt Barker Magistrates Court at an earlier hearing.(ABC News: Gabriella Marchant)
Henderson apologized for the “irreparable damage” he had caused to the family and friends of his best friend.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t miss him and the suffering that I have caused his family,” he said.
“It is not fair that my actions have placed his family in this position.
“All I can say is I am sorry for what I have done and if there is any way I could trade places with Nick I would.”
Henderson’s lawyer James Marcus told the court his client made an “exceptionally stupid” decision to drive that day while drunk and that it was “out of character behaviour.”
Mr Marcus told the court Henderson spent weeks in hospital after the crash, had suffered ongoing physical and mental health issues and had a limited memory of the crash.
The court heard Henderson had no criminal history and was likely to be deported to the United Kingdom upon his release from prison.
His lawyer asked for Henderson to be spared jail and serve his sentence on home detention which the prosecution opposed.
Video footage has captured the dramatic arrest of a passenger at a crash scene after a tow-truck became trapped under a Brisbane rail bridge.
The video shows police arresting the 37-year-old, who had been a passenger in the wedged vehicle, holding him in a headlock as they urge him to cooperate,
In the video, officers are heard telling the man “stop resisting – you’re under arrest, for obstructing police,” with the crushed truck in the background.
The man was pinned by police for several minutes. (Supplied)
“Get your arms behind your back – close your arms d—head.”
“Alright calm down – you’re under arrest for obstructing police. You calm down and we will sit you up. Do you understand?”
The 37-year-old is accused of shoving an officer and refusing to move away from the crash scene when ordered by police.
Truck crash Brisbane (Nine)
It takes officers several minutes to calm him down.
Police confirmed the passenger is now cooperating, but he has been charged with assaulting and obstructing police.
The tow-truck caused traffic chaos this afternoon as it remained stuck under the bypass on Countess street, a major intersection in Brisbane’s CBD, for over two hours.
Several lanes of traffic were blocked with significant delays to drivers.
The driver said he had taken a wrong turn while following his GPS before getting trapped under the bridge. (Nine)
The truck driver told 9News he was shaken by the incident, adding the crash occurred after he took a wrong turn while following his GPS.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he said.
“I’m truck driving – I’m 35 years in truck driving – I don’t know.”
How long do you have to wait before entering a rail crossing?
Emergency services attended the scene and worked to remove the vehicle as well as the now-crushed cars it had been towing.
Drivers were urged to avoid the area and instead use Hale Street as traffic ground to a halt this afternoon.
Police say they have identified the man who was hit by a train in Melbourne several weeks ago.
Earlier this week, police found themselves in a “very rare” situation after they were unable to figure out the identity of a man who had been in hospital for more than a month.
He was critically injured when he was hit by a train between Royal Park and Jewell railway stations in Brunswick about 6.33pm on July 7.
Police are trying to identify this man, who is in a Melbourne hospital after being hit by a train. (Victoria Police)
The man, who is believed to be around 65 to 75-years-old, was taken to hospital with life-threatening head injuries and is still in a serious condition.
Police were previously unable to establish his identity despite “extensive inquiries”.
The man had no phone, wallet or cards on him at the time of the incident.
Senior Constable Dean Pilati said the man was non-communicative, but had been able to mumble the names “Roy” and “Ryan” and “Coburg.”
The man was hit by a metro train. (TheAge)
He said it was not clear whether the man was referring to himself or someone he knows.
Senior Constable Pilati said police had door knocked people, checked missing persons data bases, checked the man’s DNA and checked with local homeless shelters, to no avail.
He said it was “very rare” for police to be in this situation. He also said it was possible the man was from overseas.
When a loved one dies, there is a lot of practical, organizational things that need to be done.
Clearing out their home and deciding what to do with all their stuff can be a very daunting and emotional task.
Olivia (name changed for privacy) found the experience somewhat overwhelming when she first helped her father downsize following her mother’s death, and then again after he died less than a year ago.
“[It is a] mountain of stuff that you have to work through,” the 40-year-old Sydneysider said.
“Even though my parents’ didn’t have a load of stuff, they still had a lifetime of stuff.”
Olivia says she was lucky because she didn’t have any arguments with her two brothers about who got what of their parents’ possessions, but it was still tough to know how to dispose of a house full of things.
“My parents had furnished their home with antique furniture that a relative of my dad had brought out from England when they arrived in Australia,” she says.
“That furniture had a lot of sentimental value to my dad, [but] it’s not the kind of furniture that any of us kids would have.”
Lynette Brigden runs a business that helps families deal with a lifetime of stuff when someone dies or needs to downsize and move into care.
She says it’s always going to be an emotional experience and can be overwhelming.
“You just can’t keep everything,” she told Philip Clark on ABC’s Nightlife program.
“You have a whole house full of stuff and most people can’t absorb that into their house, because they’ve already got a whole house full of stuff. So you do have to be a bit brutal.”
Here are some tips on how to go about packing up a lifetime of stuff.
Start in one room and make piles
There are businesses that you can use to help you pack up a parents’ home, if that’s affordable and accessible to you.(Pexels: Ivan Samkov)
Ms Brigden’s first tip is to start to pack up an area of the house that doesn’t get used too much, something like a spare bedroom or office is a great place to start.
Go through everything in the room and make a decision with every item, placing them in a pile to keep, sell, give away or send to the tip.
Olivia says her mother’s advice, after dealing with her grandmothers’ possessions, was to move through the non-sentimental things quickly, stuff like cutlery, toiletries and linen and so on.
“Because the longer you leave it, the greater attachment you get to things that you otherwise wouldn’t have had attachment to,” she says.
How quickly you have to go through everything will depend greatly on your situation.
When Olivia was helping her father downsize, they had a long time to go through everything and work out what to do with it. But when he died, the retirement home needed his accommodation from him to be free within two weeks, meaning Olivia and her brothers from her had to move fairly quickly.
Does anyone want brown furniture?
[photo of brown furniture]
When you’re making your piles you might have to put more in the give-away pile than you want to.
“I’ve just donated a deceased estate and it had a lot of brown furniture and I ended up giving a lot of it away,” Ms Brigden says.
“People are happy to take the brown furniture if it’s free.”
Fashion in furniture comes and goes, and generally people will only want your grandad’s old dining table if it’s in really good condition.
However, to avoid tip fees and reduce the amount of stuff that ends up in landfill, Ms Brigden recommends giving as much of the old furniture items away for free as you can.
She recommends using local area Facebook Groups, Gumtree or sites like Street Bounty to list what you have to give away.
Opshops and charities will often take good quality items of furniture, clothing, some books and kitchen items, but they will only want things in very good condition and they may not take everything you want to give them.
Old bed frames can often be donated, but old mattresses are best off sent to recycling.
Ms Brigden says donating books to a street library can be a great way to give those books a new life.
Is this actually worth anything?
This article contains content that is not available.
One of the piles Ms Brigden always makes is the garage sale pile, which can be a relatively easy way to make some cash from unneeded possessions.
You can also list items for sale online on places such as Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, eBay and so on, if you have the time and capacity to do that.
Nightlife talkback caller, Mark, says he struck it lucky when he went through the boxes of stuff his grandmother left behind.
“I inherited a Phantom comic collection, which I recently was able to sell for $1,300,” he says.
“My advice would be to go through everything and do some internet research.”
Another option that might work, says Ms Brigden, is to get someone from an auction house to come and go through the house to help you work out what might sell, or send photos of items to an auction house and ask for valuation.
But often the really important items are the ones that hold no monetary value, but still mean the world to you.
Olivia says the most valuable things she kept are pieces of her mum’s writing.
“There’s a card, there’s a couple of articles my mum wrote, there’s some emails. Re-reading those, they’re so strongly in her voice it brings her back.”
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