Cardiology meltdown at major Queensland public hospital

A leading Queensiand cardiologist is on the brink of resigning out of frustration with the state's failing health system. An investigation into problems in cardiac services at Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital has been launched by the Crime and Misconduct Commission. The specialist cardiologist, who declined to be named, had initially raised concerns with hospital managers but they failed to respond to her complaint. Details of the complaint have not been revealed, but are believed to concern management conflicts stemming from bed and staff shortages.

It is not the first time senior doctors at the Prince Charles cardiac department have been forced to quit. In 2000, heart surgeon Dr Julie Morton resigned, citing workplace environment as the problem, and in 2004 Dr Con Aroney also left the cardiology department. Only last year, renowned heart and lung transplant surgeon Dr John Dunning was so appalled by the state of Queensland Health that he returned to Britain.

Dr Don Kane, president of the Salaried Doctors Queensland union, said Queensland Health had failed to fix on going problems. Managers at the Prince Charles Hospital refused to comment.

The above article by Hannah Davies appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on November 25, 2007




The Senate battle begins

Leftist rage in evidence already. A wiser man would start negotiating -- and do so in a civil manner. But I guess his glass jaw is showing already. Flying into a rage when frustrated seems to be his form



Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says the Coalition is being "arrogant" if it thinks it can stand in the way of his Government's workplace reforms. Senior Coalition figures admit that Labor now has a mandate to abolish WorkChoices, but they warn that Senate support for the ALP's changes is not guaranteed. The Coalition will retain control the Senate until July next year but Mr Rudd says Opposition senators must listen to the voters.

"There could not be greater clarity about what we stand for and propose," he said. "Are the Liberals still so out of touch with working people in Australia that they think they have a mandate to retain WorkChoices? "Is that the sort of arrogant statement we're hearing from the Liberals two or three days after an election?"

Earlier the former workplace relations minister Joe Hockey said he believed Labor had a clear mandate to get rid of the IR legislation. "The Labor Party has a mandate to tear up WorkChoices," he said.

Liberal leadership candidate Brendan Nelson says the Liberal party has received a strong signal on WorkChoices, but he has concerns about the impact of Labor's plans to change unfair dismissal laws. "We've got to make sure that the Labor Party does what it said it would do," he said. "We'll look very carefully at any legislation that is presented. I feel very strongly about any retreat at all on unfair dismissal law provisions."

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Encroaching sanity about GM

NSW, Vic lift GM bans in landmark moves



The Victorian and New South Wales governments have become the first in Australia to allow farmers to grow genetically-modified (GM) food crops. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald has announced the state is ending its four-year moratorium on GM canola crops, despite a last-minute plea from Western Australia and Tasmania to maintain the ban. Mr Macdonald says the move will put NSW farmers on a level playing field with overseas farmers because GM canola now accounts for 70 per cent of the global canola market.

But NSW farmers will need to get approval from authorities before they plant the crops. "It is a cautious approach to this issue to balance the various stakeholder interests and concerns," Mr Macdonald said. He says GM canola crops will be segregated to protect non-GM crops. But Biological Farmers Australia director Scott Kinnear has questioned the effectiveness of that strategy, saying the wind tends to carry GM seeds into non-GM areas.

Mr Macdonald says growing GM canola will have a positive impact on the environment because it reduces the need for pesticides. He says strict labelling laws will also be in place so people will know what they are eating.

Greens MP Ian Cohen is strongly opposed to the move. "We really are moving into a new set of circumstances in agricultural production and consumption," he said. "It's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to turn it back."

Mr Macdonald says South Australia is also due to make a decision on GM canola soon. He says his Government's decision was made after an inquiry chaired by former Nationals leader Ian Armstrong. "This panel received 1,375 submissions and conducted more than 30 interviews on issues associated with the marketing and trade aspects of GM crops," he said in a statement. "The review found that it was time for change and that farmers and markets wanted the choice. "There is a confidence out there in the industry that it is time to move into the future on this important issue." Mr Macdonald says GM canola will be available in a limited supply for next year's planting season.

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Kids must not run in park

Obesity, anyone?



A GROUP of children have been nabbed for running around a park and threatened with fines by their council. Glen Eira Council has ordered these cute "crooks" out of a Caulfield park and threatened to hit each one with a $250 fine if they return. The children and their parents are furious after they were challenged by Glen Eira officers last Thursday and ordered out of Princes Park during after-school exercise.

The council says it is trying to protect the drought-affected park by making it off limits to any organised sporting groups without a permit. However local families say the fun police are a bad joke. In recent weeks, about eight children and parents from the three families have been meeting at the park after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The energetic youngsters run a lap of the three-oval park and play games.

Dad Grant Cohen said they were approached last week by a Glen Eira local laws officer who told them organised groups weren't allowed on the grounds. "It's ridiculous -- we're just three families who all live five minutes away," Mr Cohen said. "We started coming down here because the kids would be getting home after school and playing computer games all arvo. We wanted to give them a chance to run around. "This park should be full of kids doing exactly that."

Now the kids have gone from running around to being on the run -- forced to be fitness fugitives. "We rang the council and they said that even if we went down the road to Caulfield Park, as long as we were in a group we'd still be fined," Mr Cohen said. The group were told even a single family of eight kids would not be allowed to run around together.

Glen Eira director of community relations Paul Burke said the by-law banning unauthorised groups from parks had been in place since 2000, and council had stepped up enforcement because of the drought. While Mr Burke wouldn't say the minimum number that constituted an organised group, he stuck by the decision to ban the kids.

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