Police are calling for help to identify a man who was critically injured when he was hit by a train inside melbourne.
The man has been in hospital for more than a month since he was hit by a train between Royal Park and Jewell railway stations in Brunswick on July 7.
The man, who is believed to be around 65 to 75-years-old, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and is still in a serious condition.
Police are trying to identify this man, who is in a Melbourne hospital after being hit by a train. (Victoria Police)
Police have been unable to establish his identity despite “extensive inquiries”.
The man had no phone, wallet or cards on him at the time of the incident.
He has been able to mumble the names “Roy” and “Ryan” from Coburg.
It is not clear whether he is referring to himself or someone he knows.
Police have released a facial composite image in the hope someone may recognize him.
He is described as Caucasian, about 175cm tall and of medium build.
The man was hit by a metro train. (TheAge)
He has a prominent mole below his left eye, no identifying scars and no tattoos.
It is unknown exactly what the man was wearing at the time of the incident, but he was wearing black runners with white soles, black socks and a black belt.
Anyone who recognizes the man or has information is urged to contact the police.
Director of the Center for Future Work, Jim Stanford, who authored the ACTU’s jobs summit discussion paper, which is being published on Wednesday, said the RBA could easily drive the country into a recession as it used the “sledgehammer” of interest rates to drive down inflation.
“They are willing to cause a recession and throw hundreds of thousands of people out of work,” he said.
The ACTU believes the key focus of the Reserve Bank must change to full employment.Credit:Louie Douvis
Apart from changing the RBA’s role in the economy, the ACTU is pressing for a more active government role in the economy.
In what looms as a direct challenge to the new Labor government, unions believe there is a case for prices of key goods and services to be regulated to prevent “price gouging” and to reduce inflationary pressures. This would include the energy sector but could also extend to telecommunications or transport, which the ACTU says are “heavily concentrated” industries.
The ACTU believes all governments could do more to relieve pressure on the housing sector. It wants the RBA to end price speculation around property and policy changes such as an expansion of public housing, controls on rent and regulating housing credit to “more affordable” projects.
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It is pressing for the government to abandon the already legislated stage-three tax cuts, due to start in mid-2024, which will deliver large benefits to high-income earners.
An excess profits tax should be imposed on businesses enjoying windfall gains due to current high inflation while businesses that channel profits back to shareholders instead of re-investing the cash into infrastructure or productivity-enhancing technology should face financial penalties.
Unions will also use the summit to press the government to revitalize enterprise bargaining, arguing the industrial relations system is now “entirely broken”. It believes this re-regulation of the system would lift real wages in tandem with productivity.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said working Australians had endured almost a decade of insecure work and stagnant wages. They were now facing high inflation that was contributing to real wage reductions.
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She said the nation’s top economic goal should be to give all people the chance of gaining secure and fairly paid employment.
“At the summit we have an opportunity to address the big problems that have remained unaddressed for a decade to kick-start wage growth, deliver secure jobs for Australian workers and see living standards rise again,” she said.
“Achieving this will require more than fiddling around the edges, it requires new ways of thinking about how our system is managed, who benefits from it and how to change it for the better.”
Unions are expected to have a strong presence at the summit, which has been dismissed by the Coalition as a “Labor talkfest”.
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But Liberal leader Dutton will be formally invited to attend by Treasurer Jim Chalmers who said the government was serious about bringing people together to find common ground on the nation’s economic challenges.
“There’s plenty of goodwill out there and a real appetite for co-operation. That spirit of co-operation can extend to the opposition if they are willing to accept it, and I hope they will,” he said.
“This is a working summit, not a soiree. We want participants to roll up their sleeves and bring fresh ideas to the table.”
Chalmers said the government wanted to also ensure independent MPs also had a presence at the summit, to be held on September 1 and 2.
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COVID-19 threatens to thwart many Queenslanders’ Christmas plans for a third consecutive year, but the New Year brings the hope of next generation vaccines that may better dampen virus transmission.
Key points:
Experts are warning waves of COVID to continue indefinitely
More than 65 per cent of Queenslanders aged 65 and older have received four doses of a COVID vaccine
Experts say “variant-specific boosters” and nasal vaccines will be rolled out to the public in 2023
With experts predicting COVID waves to roll on indefinitely, Queenslanders are being urged to prepare for a “new normal”, with mandatory mask wearing expected to continue in “vulnerable” settings, such as hospitals and aged care.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard this week tentatively forecast the next COVID wave to begin in December, although he said it was impossible to predict its severity.
While the third Omicron wave has peaked, Princess Alexandra Hospital Director of Infectious Diseases Geoffrey Playford called on the public to remain vigilant by continuing to wear masks when unable to socially distance and to stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines to protect themselves and “keep our healthcare system going as best as it can”.
“We’re all aware in other societies, particularly in South-East Asia, and North Asia, that mask wearing has been a part of normal business, normal society for quite some time – well before COVID-19,” Dr Playford said.
“It may well be that’s where the rest of us go as well.
Masks will be the norm for the foreseeable future. (ABC News: Elizabeth Pickering)
“Humans are incredibly adaptable, and I suspect we will just get to a new normal that we’ll accept as the normal moving forward and we will adapt to that.
“I doubt it will get back to the old normal.”
Hospital balancing act an ‘enormous challenge’
As the fourth year of the pandemic looms in 2023, Dr Playford said the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic had left healthcare workers concerned about the management of other diseases, unrelated to COVID, moving forward.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Dr Geoffrey Playford says hospitals have grappled with enormous challenges.(ABC NewsEmma Pollard)
“People’s cancer screenings, people’s cancer management, all the other non-COVID-related health conditions need to be managed as best as we can side by side with the COVID response,” he said.
“Patients who have COVID need to be managed in specific areas of the hospital and that’s over and above all the other pressures upon our healthcare system and our hospital beds.
“That’s been an enormous challenge trying to balance both.
“Although COVID is circulating within the community and will always circulate within the community … we shouldn’t just be accepting transmission without trying to reduce it as much as possible.
“That takes the pressure off the healthcare system and allows all the non-COVID-related conditions to get the appropriate management that they deserve.”
Queensland’s third Omicron wave is in decline.(ABC NewsAlice Pavlovic)
In Queensland on Tuesday, 710 people were taking up hospital beds with COVID – down about 36 per cent from the third wave peak of 1,123 on July 26.
The state also recorded 24 COVID deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic began to 1,677.
‘Variant-specific boosters’ and nasal vaccines set to roll out
Federal Health Department data shows 65.81 per cent of Queenslanders aged 65 and older have received four doses of a COVID vaccine – just above the national average of 64.87 per cent.
While the first generation of vaccines have not generated herd immunity – creating immunity within the population to effectively quell the spread of COVID – they have been highly successful in reducing hospitalization and death.
Infectious diseases specialist Paul Griffin says more than 100 COVID vaccines are undergoing clinical trials.(Supplied)
Infectious disease physician Paul Griffin said 2023 should see the availability of second-generation COVID jabs, including a “variant-specific booster”, that may be better at hosing down infections.
“We’re going to get improved tools to combat this virus,” he said.
“If we get a vaccine next year that’s a little bit better at blocking infection, that will go a very long way, if the uptake is good, of course, of reducing the burden of the virus.
“The Omicron-specific vaccines will do that, hopefully, to a better degree.”
Dr Griffin also foreshadowed the possibility of a nasal vaccine being available next year that looks “very promising” in reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“I think we’ll get some additional vaccine options next year, which will hopefully be of greater help in terms of reducing the overall burden of the virus that’s around,” he said.
“There’s well over 100 vaccines still in clinical trials.”
Outbreaks in aged care homes in decline
Until the emergence of better vaccines, Dr Griffin joined Dr Playford in urging Queenslanders to keep wearing masks in high-risk venues, to stay up to date with their booster doses of first-generation COVID shots and when they are infected with SARS-CoV- 2, to access anti-viral medication, if eligible.
“We’re not back to normal,” he said.
“Being back to normal is probably some time away but if we get the basics right, we’ll be able to enjoy a quality of life that will be very close to what we had pre-pandemic.”
For the first time in weeks, Australia’s weekly COVID-19 aged care report shows the number of active outbreaks in nursing homes to be trending down.
More than four in five Australian aged care residents have received a fourth dose of vaccine.(Pexels: Matthias Zomer )
Queensland reported active outbreaks in 201 aged care facilities – down from 231 the previous week.
While Paul Sadler, the interim CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia, described the signs as “positive”, he said that they still represented about 40 per cent of aged care facilities in Queensland with active COVID outbreaks.
“It’s far from over and the expectation is we will continue to see elevated levels of outbreaks and infections through August and probably into September,” Mr Sadler said.
More than four in five Australian aged care residents have received a fourth dose of vaccine.
Mr Sadler said some facilities had needed to cancel booster clinics because of outbreaks.
“In many cases, those services have been rebooked for some time in August. We are confident … that the vaccination rate will continue to improve,” he said.
Mr Sadler said 99 per cent of Australia’s 2,700 aged care facilities had reported COVID cases in residents or staff during the pandemic, compared with 63 per cent of Canadian nursing homes.
“It’s very striking,” he said.
“That statistic about this disease getting into all bar one per cent of aged care homes nationally just shows that we’re fighting something that’s a considerable threat to aged care services and particularly, to older people who live in them.”
Pressure is growing on the Northern Territory government to take action on stubbornly high fuel prices, with calls for a fresh inquiry to quiz retailers on the reasons behind the rates.
Key points:
Drivers in Darwin were paying $1.95 a liter on Tuesday, while the average price in NSW was $1.67
The opposition wants fuel companies and retailers to explain their prices in parliament
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says she’s written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Drivers in Darwin were paying around $1.95 a liter for petrol on Tuesday, despite the wholesale price sitting close to the average of interstate capitals of $1.59.
The average price per liter in New South Wales was $1.67, almost 30 cents a liter cheaper than the Northern Territory.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro has called for a new parliamentary inquiry, which she said could potentially recommend a cap on profits or prices.
“Territories are paying [up to] 40 cents a liter more for their fuel compared to any other jurisdictions in the nation,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“The power of an inquiry means that we can call fuel retailers and fuel companies to sit at the table and they have to explain to the public and the parliament why it is that territories are paying so much.”
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro (left) says retailers should explain their prices to parliament.(ABC News: Matt Garrick)
Petrol prices this year rose higher in the Northern Territory than in any other jurisdiction, according to the latest official data.
“Automotive fuel” was up by 6.2 per cent, well above the capital city average of 4.2 per cent.
The Northern Territory opposition is also proposing legislation that would force retailers to publish their profit margins.
In a statement, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the government “stood ready to take further action” if apparent profit margins remained high “without a reasonable explanation”.
Ms Fyles said she had written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and to fuel companies on the issue but did not say what she had told, or asked, them.
‘There would be higher’ at similar prices in Sydney or Melbourne
FuelTrac general manager Geoff Trotter said the Northern Territory was not without options that are already available, pointing to laws dating back to 1949 that can empower a Consumer Affairs Commissioner to set a maximum fuel price.
Such a step can be taken during a natural disaster or “to effectively ensure that consumers benefit from the operation of a competitive market within all or a part of the territory”.
Former chief minister Michael Gunner previously threatened to create a profit cap when petrol stations were making similar margins of around 35 cents a liter in 2020.
Mr Trotter said residents in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory were all suffering through high fuel prices because they attracted less attention than larger capital cities.
“The only thing that has worked in the years I’ve been in the game is when the chief ministers have threatened to invoke that emergency price-setting legislation,” he said.
“[Petrol companies] can do absolutely whatever they like.
“If they were charging the prices they are charging in Darwin … in Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane, there would be absolute uproar. It would be on the news, there would be politicians being asked all these embarrassing questions.”
High fuel and airfare costs in Alice Springs are making the region less attractive to live in, the town’s Mayor, Matt Paterson, says.(ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Costs driving tourists, residents of Alice Springs
Petrol prices are even more expensive in remote parts of the territory, with Alice Springs motorists still paying more than $2 a liter to fill up.
The town’s Mayor, Matt Paterson, said the cost was combining with other factors to drive people away from living in the region.
“Everything is so expensive that it’s sending people to breaking point,” Cr Paterson said.
“Air fares, petrol prices, house prices — it’s just horrendous at the moment.”
Cr Paterson said that “no one can justify” why fuel prices were so much higher in Alice Springs, but expected Territory Labor would not support the opposition’s call for an inquiry.
“I just want people to know we are getting the raw end of the stick, continuously,” he said.
Federal Labor’s Luke Gosling says the fuel excise cut won’t be renewed, arguing it would be fiscally irresponsible.(ABC News: Che Chorley)
Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling said the Commonwealth needed to ensure the ACCC “has got the teeth to enforce fairness and transparency.”
“But that may end up being also a role for the Northern Territory government, to ensure that there is that sort of transparency from fuel retailers,” Mr Gosling said.
“The fuel retailers should stop gouging territorians and people in other places in the country where they are clearly at the moment.”
Mr Gosling said the fuel excise tax was unlikely to be extended beyond September, citing the state of the federal budget.
Trillions of dollars may be misallocated to deal with the wrong climate threats around the world because the models used by central banks and regulators aren’t fit for purpose, a leading Australian climate researcher says.
Prof Andy Pitman, director of the Australian Research Council’s Center of Excellence for Climate Extremes, said regulators were relying on models that are good at forecasting how average climates will change as the planet warms, but were less likely to be of use for predicting how extreme weather will imperil individual localities such as cities.
The concerns, detailed in a report in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, were underscored by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s release on Monday of its corporate plan 2022-23. Apra plans to “continue to ensure regulated institutions are well-prepared for the risks and opportunities presented by climate change”.
But Pitman said regulators were still ill-equipped to assess the risks and to regulate the ability of banks and other institutions to cope with them.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, we’re overestimating the cost of climate change in some areas and grossly underestimating it in others,” Pitman said. “We need to take this issue seriously – not just access information flying around and think we can package it to do proper economic assessments.”
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“If you’re going to throw billions or trillions of dollars around, you need to ensure that you’re getting the right scientific advice on how to interpret the climate information,” he said. “I think that’s a no-brainer but [regulators] are not doing that.”
Pitman’s paper, and a separate one he co-authored for Nature Climate Change in 2021, examined the models being used by groups such as the Network for Greening the Financial System. The NGFS advises about 100 central banks and other regulators globally, including Australia’s Reserve Bank and Apra.
The climate models underpinning such advice, however, are based on general climate change, such as rising temperatures. In part because their resolution typically covers only 100km-by-100km regions, the models’ coarseness makes them unreliable for predicting how extreme weather events will change, Pitman said.
Without their own climate scientists, the RBA and Apra rely on scenarios generated by NGFS to understand how a heating planet will influence economic and financial stability.
The RBA referred queries to Apra, where a spokesperson said: “Apra’s focus is not on specifying individual climate risks for different regulated entities but rather on ensuring that entities are making lending, investing and underwriting decisions based on a full understanding of the relevant risks, including climate risks.”
“We do not evaluate risks on behalf of the entities that we regulate,” the spokesperson said.
Apra recently released the results of a self-assessment survey on members’ approach to those risks. It is also now completing its inaugural climate vulnerability assessment of the five major banks.
Pitman, who had contributed to the soon-to-be-released inquiry into the NSW floods earlier this year, said the standard approach must avoid being complacent about the possible changes that may not be well understood.
For instance, people should not build on flood plains even if the trend of future climates might result in some regions receiving fewer multi-day rain events but more short-term, intense ones.
Decisions needed to be “framed in a deep understanding of uncertainty and chosen very carefully to do no harm” and include greater investment in the science, Pitman said.
He said Apra’s corporate plan implied “we can do this well and we’ll continue to do it well, and I think that’s courageous”.
For instance, it was clear the flood-prone Hawkesbury River near Sydney would flood “again and again and again”, Pitman said.
“You don’t need climate projections to say there’s a vulnerability there,” he said. “Go and look for where there’s vulnerabilities in supply chains, or in the planning for those most at risk, and invest in those because you’re on very sure ground that those risks aren’t going away.”
Brisbane landlord David Holt feels like he is caught between a rock and a hard place.
surging interest rates mean that when the fixed term of his interest-only mortgage ends in January, he will suddenly be losing money on the modest, two-bedroom unit he bought in Logan, south Brisbane for $150,000 in December, 2020.
When this happens, Holts says, he will be forced to increase the rent he is charging to cover his costs, which also include strata, maintenance and repairs.
The two bedroom villa unit in Logan, which David Holt purchased for $150,000 in 2020. (Supplied)
It’s something he says he has been trying his very best to avoid because he knows the impact it will have on his pensioner tenant.
Yvonne, who asked for her surname to be withheld, currently pays $290 per week to rent Holt’s unit in Woodridge – where she has lived for six years.
The 72-year-old told 9news.com.au her current rent represents 57 percent of her income, which includes the aged pension and rental assistance of $130 per fortnight.
Yvonne said when she did a recent search of nearby rental properties, it showed up just 3 out of 50 that she could “afford”, however these would also swallow up more than half of her income.
Anyone paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing meets the definition of being in rental stress.
Yvonne was, in short, facing down the barrel of homelessness, she said.
“If the owner increases the rent in January, it will essentially make me have to decide which bridge I am going to have to live under,” she said.
Yvonne, a former social worker who raised her children as a single mum, said she was barely scraping by as it was.
“It is difficult. I certainly don’t buy luxury items in terms of food and I’m forced to use a credit card to pay off bigger items, which will leave me in debt,” she said.
Yvonne said she was also very wary of predicted electricity price hikes.
“I focus on just keeping one light on at night and the TV. I only use the (heating) when I am absolutely freezing.”
Yvonne said the amount of rental assistance she received from the government had not changed in years.
David Holt said he felt a lot of sympathy for his pensioner tenant but would soon be forced to raise the rent to meet rising interest rate costs. (Supplied)
“The pension is not enough to live on and there definitely needs to be an increase in rent assistance, given the circumstances,” she said.
Holt said he felt nothing but sympathy for Yvonne.
At 80 years old, Holt is not your typical landlord.
Holt said he was living on the aged pension himself, and had used the equity in his mortgage-free home to take out the interest-only loan to buy the unit.
The unit, he said, was an investment he hoped to pass on to his son, who has epilepsy and cannot work full time.
“I don’t make any income from the unit right now, but I hope that, in the fullness of time, rising rental income will provide a source of income for my son.”
Holt said he realized it was much easier for him to live on the aged pension, having paid off his home, than for others such as Yvonne, who also needed to pay rent.
“I genuinely feel for her. She shouldn’t be paying 57 percent of her income on rent, that’s ridiculous,” he said.
“I do care, I don’t want to see anyone wandering the streets or living in their car.
“I know that she won’t find anywhere cheaper, and that’s what gets me.
“It’s not like she has been living beyond her means in luxury. I don’t know where she could get a more affordable place.”
Holt, who is also a member of the body corporate committee for his unit complex, said he was aware of one tenant in the same building who had recently been evicted for not paying their rent.
That unit was almost immediately leased for $350 per week, he said.
Holt recently wrote a letter to Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is also his local MP, advising him of his situation.
A spokesperson for the treasurer replied, expressing sympathy but also warning there were likely to be rough times ahead.
“Sorry to hear about the tough times for your tenant and also for your family,” the spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately things are going to get tougher before they get better, but it will get better,” the spokesperson said.
Last week, Everybody’s Home, a national housing crisis campaign, released figures showing the cost of renting a two-bedroom unit in Brisbane had increased 15 percent over the last 12 months to August.
The average rent for a Brisbane two-bedroom unit is now $455 per week, compared to $395 in August 2021, the figures, sourced from three years’ worth of SQM Research rental data, shows.
“The plight of renters looks set to worsen as the knock-on effects of rising interest rates filter through to renters and combine with cost-of-living pressures,” Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology senior research fellow Dr Megan Nethercote, said.
“With almost half of renters on rental assistance already in rental stress, the risk of some renters falling into homelessness is real and high.”
She said rising costs would likely mean some renters would lose their homes as landlords sold the properties.
Nethercote said stronger national leadership was needed to direct how rental properties were built and operated.
“Renters deserve homes that are affordable, provide adequate security of tenure, are well-maintained and have appropriate provisions for tenant representation,” Dr Nethercote said.
She said meeting the needs of renters warranted “serious deliberation within a new national housing agenda”.
Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Alex Claassens said the protected industrial action had been deliberately designed to ensure services could continue to run and described the operators’ decision to shut the lines down as a “disgraceful response”.
“There is absolutely no reason for the Illawarra line to be shut down on Wednesday. The protected industrial action being taken by rail workers will, by design, impact very few workers at any one time,” he said on Monday.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matthew Longland.Credit:Nine
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the operators planned to provide limited rail services on the lines during the industrial action, but the Rail Tram and Bus Union was “unable to provide guarantees about staffing and operational arrangements”.
“We are continuing to work with the RTBU to develop a plan for live running of a possible hourly, limited stop train service on the T4 and South Coast line on Wednesday, but that will be dependent on the number of trains that are available and staff that are willing to work during the stop work period,” they said.
The NSW government suffered an embarrassing defeat early last month in its efforts to stop unions from taking industrial action across Sydney’s rail network.
The Fair Work Commission dismissed the government’s bid to suspend industrial action for 10 weeks, rejecting “inexplicable” claims that it was harming the state’s economy.
The rail union wants the government to sign a deed guaranteeing that it will modify the new intercity train fleet at a cost of $264 million to address safety concerns, before completing negotiations over a new pay deal. However, the government wants both the train fleet modifications and a new enterprise agreement completed together.
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Long-term hospitality staff are as rare as hen’s teeth in outback Queensland.
Key points:
Families are being broken up between countries due to long delays in processing visas for skilled migrants
It could take more than six months for the government to deal with a backlog of almost a million unprocessed visas
Business owners say it’s rare to find workers who want to stay in remote communities
When Sri Lankan chef Madushka ‘Max’ Dilshan Perera moved to Longreach in 2020 to work in a local pub, his skills were not taken for granted.
The chef started a weekly night ‘Sri Lankan Curry Night’ which has become a local institution.
Mr Perera wants to stay in Longreach long-term and raise his family there.
“I love this town and I love to work here,” Mr Perera said.
“My whole life is here, everything I bought, the toys for my kid, it’s all unpacked and in the house.
“Everything I worked for is here.”
But the outback chef has spent much of his time in Australia in limbo, trying to get visas for his wife and two-year-old daughter to join him in western Queensland.
Mr Perera says the first thing he’ll do when his family comes to Australia is spend some quality time around town.(ABC Western Qld: Danielle O’Neal)
Forced to wait while the borders were closed, Mr Perera’s family applied for their entry visas in March this year.
Mr Perera hadn’t heard anything from the government since April, which left him worried about his future.
“I work here, I go home, I’ve got no one. Last week I got sick and I had no-one,” Mr Perera said.
“Just doing FaceTime every night and after the phone call I start crying because I miss my daughter.
“We became a family because we need each other and right now I don’t have anyone and the same for them as well.”
Max has seen his two-year-old daughter in Sri Lanka for two weeks of her life.(ABC Western Qld: Danielle O’Neal)
After the ABC spoke with Mr Perera, questions about his situation were put to the Department of Home Affairs on Monday morning.
That afternoon, after months of waiting, his family were granted their visas.
Mr Perera said he was already trying to arrange flights to Longreach so they could be reunited.
‘We don’t seem to be able to deliver what we offer them’
The news is a boost not only for the young dad, but also for his boss.
Birdcage Hotel owner Gavin Ballard said it was extremely rare to find staff who want to stay long-term in remote outback towns.
“It takes a special person to come out to the outback and to work, so when you get someone who wants to stay as a business owner you certainly want to look after them and do the right thing by them,” Mr Ballard said.
Gavin Ballard says Mr Perera has been fantastic for the community, and his business.(ABC Western Qld: Danielle O’Neal)
“A lot of people like to go to the coast.
“We’ve had our trials of chefs who come this way and get job offers and they just go back to the coast, which is why we went the sponsored way.
“We’ve got a couple more guys here doing the same thing.”
Mr Ballard said if Mr Perera had left his job, the position would likely be empty for several months.
“You start all over again, the process doesn’t happen overnight,” Mr Ballard said.
The Birdcage Hotel in Longreach is packed during tourist season.(ABC Western Qld: Danielle O’Neal)
“If this is going on not only here, but with other businesses, we’re all going to struggle.
“We want to get skilled people out here, but we don’t seem to be able to deliver what we offer them.”
The Birdcage Hotel is one of Longreach’s busiest pubs.(ABC Western Qld: Danielle O’Neal)
Thousands more waiting
The extreme pressure on Max and his family has been relieved by the sudden issuing of the visas.
But the Restaurant and Catering industry Association says they are many more people still living in limbo due to issues with skilled migration programs.
“There are many stories that we’re hearing about are families that are broken up, people trying to get into the country, very long delays, but the biggest issue that we have is that there is no communication,” CEO Belinda Clarke said.
“That’s the hardest thing, for people to be able to plan and understand what’s happening. Will I get a yes or a no? But there’s no communication.”
More than 56,000 skilled workers entered Australia in the last financial year on the same temporary skill shortage visa as Mr Perera.
But federal government data shows it’s taking between six months to two years to process visas for the families of skilled regional workers.
The Restaurant and Catering Industry Association’s CEO Belinda Clarke says there’s “no communication” in the process of applying for a visa.(Supplied)
The Restaurant and Catering industry Association says there are more than 900,000 visas waiting to be processed by the Australian government.
In a statement, a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said the demand for skilled workers and processing current visa applications is a priority.
“The upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit will provide the opportunity for meaningful consultation with industry stakeholders, to address labor shortages and ensure Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19,” a spokesperson said.
Ms Clarke — who met with the office of the minister for immigration Andrew Giles this week — said it could take more than six months for the Albanese government to work through the backlog.
“We are so far behind in this processing, that the light isn’t clear of when we’re going to get through this, it’s going to be a good six months to a year [until] we’re really going to be able to get a clearer picture,” Ms Clarke said.
“[The government] is not happy, they know there’s a problem, they are desperately trying to find the solutions and they certainly weren’t expecting it to be such a huge amount that they had to process.
“They are certainly focused on it and trying really hard looking at ways they can get through this, but it’s not going to be a problem that’s fixed in the short term.”
Amy Grant couldn’t stop worrying about the worst-case scenario as she drove around Cairns looking for her family’s stolen 4WD.
Key points:
Cairns has eclipsed its yearly record of 782 stolen cars set in 2021
Police have urged people to ensure their keys are hidden, even at home
A new trial program is aimed at understanding why at-risk youth steal cars for joy-riding
The keys to the LandCruiser had been taken from the Grant family’s caravan while they slept inside.
It was one of about 800 vehicles reported stolen in the Cairns region so far this year, eclipsing the yearly record set in 2021 in just the first three quarters of the year.
“Let’s have a think about a 13-year-old driving down the Bruce Highway in and out of traffic, going from suburb to suburb,” Ms Grant said.
“As a mum, for those first few days, I’m thinking there’s a likelihood my car could kill a family.”
The theft left her family and their caravan effectively stranded in Cairns, the final destination of an east coast road trip the Albury residents had been enjoying.
Deadly consequences
Car thefts in Far North Queensland have already ended in tragedy this year.
A 14-year-old boy was killed in February when an allegedly stolen car he was a passenger in crashed into a tree at high speed in suburban Cairns.
The Grant family’s stolen car was captured on CCTV being driven in Cairns.(Supplied)
There have been near misses too.
Police said two pedestrians had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit when a 17-year-old girl drove a stolen car on to a footpath to get away from officers on Sunday evening.
Police have repeatedly pleaded with residents to make their cars more difficult to steal by ensuring their vehicles and homes were locked and keys kept in a secure place.
Alternatives needed
Criminologist Shannon Dodd, from Australian Catholic University, said taking a purely punitive stance against young offenders “could actually make it worse.”
“I understand why these issues cause a lot of community concern and certainly as a parent, I can understand wanting to feel safe,” Dr Dodd said.
“But as a criminologist and knowing the research, I couldn’t justify approaches which are aimed at taking a harsher stance toward these young people; throwing the book at them per se.
“I know that’s what a lot of people call for but unfortunately, what we might see as the likely result of that is individuals becoming entrenched in the justice system.”
Police urge drivers to hide their keys and lock their homes and cars.(ABC News: Emilia Terzon )
Dr Dodd is helping lead a new six-week trial program for up to 20 young people aged 13 to 20 that aims to better understand why at-risk youth choose to go joyriding in stolen cars.
The program, to take place in Townsville, will combine educational sessions with hands-on activities “that get their heart racing”.
Mareeba Shire Mayor Angela Toppin said she wanted juvenile offenders sent to remote areas to take part in diversionary programs.
“These are young 10, 11, 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds maybe, [who] can be sent to gain both social and vocational skills rather than be sent to a youth detention facility,” she said.
Queensland Police and Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan have been contacted for comment.
A petition has been started to remove a slippery dip at a playground on the New South Wales South Coast, where at least one family is pursuing legal action after more reports of serious injuries.
Key points:
Signs erected at the park say the slide is designed to “challenge” children “physically and mentally”
A three-year-old broke her leg on the slide this week and a four-year-old suffered two broken legs in April
Lawyers say the signs at the park may indemnify the council from liability
Shoalhaven’s all-ages Boongaree Nature Play Park at Berry opened in January and since then dozens of parents say the giant slide has left their children with broken bones, facial fractures and burnt skin.
On Monday Mitchell Liddicoat launched a petition urging Shoalhaven City Council to get rid of the slide after his three-year-old daughter, Harlow, broke her leg when they slid down in tandem.
“I couldn’t believe the speed and the force that we actually went down with,” Mr Liddicoat said.
“There’s quite a large kink in the middle of the slide, so we went up one wall and it pretty much catapulted us into the other wall.
“I can’t forget Harlow’s scream.
“It will be with me forever—it was absolutely bloodcurdling.”
Dozens of parents say their kids have been seriously injured on the Boongaree Nature Play Park slide.(Supplied: Shoalhaven Council)
Four-year-old’s legs broken
Mr Liddicoat’s concerns echoed those raised by Tisha Fleming, whose four-year-old daughter broke both her legs on the same piece of equipment at the multi-million-dollar playground in April.
According to signs erected at the park by Shoalhaven Council, the slide is designed to “challenge” children “physically and mentally”.
It also warns parents not to assist their children to access or use the equipment.
Mr Liddicoat said the sign was not located near where his daughter accessed the slide.
He felt her injuries could have been much worse if she had not been with her on the slippery dip.
“The main thing for me is the kink in the middle of the slide — if it was a gradient curve that went around, or they could make it a bit smaller, it might stop other kids from getting hurt,” Mr Liddicoat said.
“I think the rest of the park seemed great and I’m not trying to take fun away from other children.
“But you do expect your kids to be safe and not walk away with a broken leg.”
The online petition had attracted about 100 signatures so far.
The ABC is aware of at least one family that is pursuing legal action against the council, as well as another family that has contacted a law firm.
A sign at the bottom of the giant slide warns parents not to assist their children to use the equipment.(Supplied: Mitchell Liddicoat)
Loopholes ‘hard to activate’
James Govan from Wollongong’s Acorn Lawyers in Wollongong says under the state’s 2002 Civil Liability Act the council has little legal culpability if warning signs are erected.
“It is quite clear in the legislation … there is a particular section in the act which is headed ‘no duty of care for recreational activity where risk warning is given,'” he said.
“If an appropriate risk warning is given the defendant has, at least potentially, a complete defense to any claim.
“It doesn’t have to be a specific warning — it can just be a very general warning and it has to be placed in such a way that it is reasonably likely to bring it to the people’s attention before they use the equipment.”
Mr Govan said waiver forms used at private operations were an even more “powerful force” for protecting businesses and organizations from legal challenges.
“There are loopholes, but it’s very hard to activate them,” he said.
“The claims will always be very strenuously defended by councils, by their insurers and their lawyers.”
Shoalhaven Council has been contacted for a response.
In a previous statement it said the play equipment had been designed and certified as compliant with the relevant standards.
