Patients walking out of government hospital emergency rooms untreated

After many hours of waiting. Some are just too ill to sit it out any further

PATIENTS are more likely to leave the Sunshine Hospital's emergency department before treatment than any other Melbourne ER. Figures tabled in State Parliament show 4657 patients walked out of the Sunshine emergency department last year, a rate of 7.6 per cent. The average across Melbourne during 2006 was 5 per cent, or 31,437 people. This was an increase from 30,152 patients in 2005. The official figures show fewer than 1 per cent of patients walk out, against medical advice, after treatment has started.

Opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey said Melbourne's major hospital emergency departments were not coping. "People are giving up and walking out," Ms Shardey said. "Of more concern is the fact we don't know what happened to these people." Ms Shardey said the figures were in contrast to claims by Health Minister Daniel Andrews that Victoria had a first-class health system. "He is failing to recognise that Victorians are just not getting the treatment they deserve in urgent situations because our major hospitals are simply not coping," Ms Shardey said.

Australian Medical Association Victorian president Doug Travis said hospitals lacked the resources to cope with demand. "(Patients) wait half an hour, one hour, two hours, and they walk out," Dr Travis said. "What we need is a commitment from the Government to understand the fact we don't have enough capacity in the system."

A spokesman for the Health Minister said Victoria's emergency departments were rated as the best in Australia. "More than half of all patients were seen by a doctor or nurse in a Victorian hospital within 19 minutes of arrival compared to the national average of 24 minutes," spokesman Tim Pigot said. [What amazing bull! The wait is 3 to 8 hours]

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At last: Three-months' jail for persistent graffiti vandal

A GRAFFITI vandal has been jailed after a judge overturned a court's decision not to convict him over a five-year wave of attacks that caused $50,000 damage. Noam Jason Shoan, 25, was yesterday sentenced in the County Court to three months' jail over 42 counts of criminal damage carried out on Melbourne's public transport network between 2001 and 2006. Judge Tim Wood said a magistrate's decision in March this year not to convict Shoan and to place him on a community-based order was "totally inadequate".

Shoan's relatives cried loudly and one relative accused Judge Wood of "wrecking our family" as Shoan was led from the dock. Judge Wood said Shoan needed to take responsibility for the destruction he caused. "It's not a case of a young person in a moment of madness damaging property," he said. "It was not your right, in the name of art, to damage the property of others."

The jail term was imposed after the Director of Public Prosecutions won an appeal against a sentence imposed on Shoan in Melbourne Magistrates' Court. It is believed to be the first time in Victoria a graffiti vandal has been sent to prison for such a stretch. This year, NSW vandal Derek Allen spent one day in custody after he was caught breaking into a Carrum Downs train holding yard and spray-painting anti-nuclear slogans on several trains. Allen was fined $1200 and freed the next day.

Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere president Steve Beardon praised Judge Wood for being tough on graffiti vandals, saying it would send them a clear message.

The County Court heard Shoan, of Mt Eliza, was part of a graffiti group dubbed 70k - for '70s Kids - that defaced Melbourne's train network and several CBD buildings with tags such as "Renks" and the notorious "Stan and Bonez" signatures. The wave of vandalism, which included 8m murals of Shoan's markings sprayed on countless trains, caused more than $50,000 damage. He was arrested in July 2005 after police raided his father's St Kilda flat and found 46 spray cans and artwork featuring his "Renks" tag.

In March, magistrate Sarah Dawes chose not to convict Shoan because she said it would interfere with his prospects of working overseas as a graphic designer. "You are a talented artist and I accept you are genuine in your remorse," she said. Shoan was "a hard-working young man who pulls his weight at work and at home", Ms Dawes said back then. She ordered Shoan do 250 hours of community service and pay $30,000 restitution to companies, including Connex, Yarra Trams and V/Line.

Judge Wood yesterday overturned the ruling, saying it was far too lenient. He said Shoan had set out to commit a "sustained and relentless project of damaging property" and deserved jail. "(It was) so prolific that it required a special police unit to put an end to your activities," Judge Wood said. Shoan was convicted on each of the 42 criminal damage charges.

Police set up the transit safety divisional response unit seven years ago to tackle the graffiti scourge and other transport safety problems. The unit has been responsible for catching some of the state's most destructive vandals, including Shoan, "Vosco" tagger Simon Nelsen and several interstate vandals in Melbourne on "graffiti tours".

Mr Beardon said the community would welcome the tough stance against vandals. "It shows this is a crime against the community that costs us a lot of money and will no longer be tolerated," Mr Beardon said.

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Australia Stocks Climb for Fourth Day as Subprime Concern Fades

Australian stocks rose for a fourth day, wiping out losses this month. BHP Billiton Ltd. led gains by companies with growing earnings, while Macquarie Bank Ltd. surged on signs the U.S. subprime housing crisis is easing. BHP, the world's biggest mining company, rallied 5.8 percent after saying second-half profit rose to a record. Macquarie, Australia's biggest securities firm which lost money on subprime investments, surged 5.7 percent after the biggest U.S. mortgage lender received an infusion of capital.

``The reporting season has been reasonably good, there haven't been too many disappointments,'' said Jason Teh, who helps manage $6.5 billion at Investors Mutual Ltd. in Sydney. ``Sentiment works both ways, and it looks like sentiment today is coming back into the market in a positive way.''

The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 159.50, or 2.7 percent, to 6,164.50 as of 11:45 a.m. in Sydney, as more than 12 stocks climbed for each that fell. The gauge advanced 5.9 percent in the past three days, after falling as much as 7.7 percent from the end of July. The S&P/ASX 200 Index's futures contract for September rose 2.4 percent to 6,166. The broader All Ordinaries Index added 2.6 percent to 6,155.40.

BHP rose A$2.02, or 5.7 percent, to A$37.42. The company reported an eighth consecutive record profit of $7.2 billion yesterday on continued global demand for commodities.

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Students warned against APEC protests

The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting next month will include many heads of government, including George Bush, so it is a big occasion (for hot air and not much else) and Australian Leftists are planning to parade themselves in big "protests" at the time. And, in their usual way, they will try to rope in naive school students

NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca says parents should not allow their school-aged children to participate in major APEC protests because they could find themselves in a potentially "dangerous situation". Mr Della Bosca says major protest groups such as Resistance, Mutiny and the Stop Bush Coalition were actively recruiting students to attend APEC protests early next month.

Other recent major protests in Australia and overseas showed they were often not peaceful events, despite organisers' assurances, he said. "Experience has taught us that while the intention of students may be to take part in a peaceful protest, there are some people in the community and some activists groups with anti-social intentions," Mr Della Bosca said. "They have in the past manipulated such protests and put the well-being of young people involved at risk. "Students have found themselves suddenly in the middle of a dangerous situation or a clash with police for which they were not prepared, did not want, and could not control."

Mr Della Bosca said a major protest was planned for Wednesday, September 5, and this was a school day. He said students should remain "at school during school hours under the supervision of their teachers and principals where they are safe". "If students learn their friends or classmates are planning to attend these protests, they should warn them of the dangers involved or discuss the situation with their teachers and principals," Mr Della Bosca said. He also said he had written to the state's school principals and they would also seek to emphasise to parents the risks posed by the protests.

Stop Bush Coalition spokesman Alex Bainbridge said students had a right to voice opposition and concern over global issues such as the war in Iraq and global warming and, domestically, on industrial relations. "They might be missing a day's school but really in the scheme of things, that is a very small price to pay when the issues at stake are saving people's lives in Iraq or global warming, like the future of humanity," Mr Bainbridge said. "I think young people have opinions, they're quite entitled to express them. "It is a lot of speculation and hype really," he added. "I think the government has really hyped up the threat of violence at our protest when the real violence is coming from the Howard government."

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