Bureaucracy endangers the troops

Rifle ranges that have been safely used for years are suddenly deemed "unsafe" -- which, far from making the troops safer, makes them less safe!

AUSTRALIA'S elite fighting forces – some just days away from overseas missions – have been banned from training with standard-issue ammunition after it was discovered that rifle ranges were too small and posed a safety risk. Crack troops, including snipers and special forces, have been forced to practise with smaller calibre bullets in place of the standard-issue 7.62mm ammunition because Australian shooting ranges do not meet NATO safety guidelines.

Australia's standard issue sniper rifle is the SR-98, which uses a 7.62mm, as does the M4 Carbine used by Australian special forces units. The SR-98 is in service with Australian, British and German snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan. But at least three ranges that cater almost exclusively to Australia's special forces community – including Special Air Service, commando and paratroop soldiers preparing to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan – have had restrictions placed on the use of 7.62mm ammunition. Troops training at these facilities, including one in Perth and one in southwest Sydney, are usually deployed overseas soon afterwards.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon is aware of the issue and has sought further briefings and information from his department.

Sources said the ban had the potential to compromise Australia's frontline soldiers, making it difficult for snipers and special forces personnel to complete mandatory monthly requalification courses with weapons that use the 7.62 ammunition. Instead, Australia's frontline soldiers are forced to practise with 5.56mm ammunition, a situation described by one defence department source as "dangerous". "These are boys who are keeping their readiness up for potentially being sent overseas to places like Iraq or Afghanistan," he said. Things become very interesting if you're a special forces sniper who can't train and is being sent to Afghanistan next week ... so, yes, I suppose it is dangerous."

A Defence Department spokeswoman confirmed restrictions had been placed on the firing of 7.62mm ammunition atthree ranges used by elite soldiers. Additional safety measures have been imposed on firing 7.62mm ammunition because Defence is considering the adoption of the NATO standard for calculating range safety conditions. The spokeswoman said these required a greater safety area than that applied under the existing army safety conditions. Sources have told The Australian that Defence was facing a multi-million-dollar bill if existing rifle ranges were extended to meet NATO safety standards. A Defence spokeswoman confirmed all ranges were being reviewed in the wake of the restrictions.

The spokeswoman said the restrictions on the use of 7.62mm ammunition posed no safety risk, and that alternate training areas were available. The issue is the latest to affect Australia's fighting forces, who have been forced to use sub-standard equipment amid serious concerns about procurement policies. Two years ago, The Australian revealed many Diggers were forced to buy their own equipment after losing faith in the standard of equipment issued by the Department of Defence.

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Federal health dithering

In the past two years there have been seven reports into reforming the nation's health system, but this week instead of action Kevin Rudd gave us yet another committee. The Productivity Commission, Access Economics, the House of Representatives, the Treasury and even former health department chiefs have all diagnosed the diseases afflicting our health system and prescribed the remedies. We know Prime Minister Rudd has read these seven reports because he footnoted them in his 27-page election health policy last year.

If the health system was a patient crippled with pain, it would be wondering this week why it needed the opinion of an eighth specialist and was told to wait another 18 months before getting treatment. A cynic might muse that Rudd is putting off the inevitable increase in spending needed while his Government tries to prove its economic credentials in the May budget.

The problem with waiting to act is that confidence in our health system is eroding as crises emerge daily: public hospitals too busy to care for patients, doctors accused of butchery, and new hospitals with rooms too small for the beds!

Apart from highlighting the incompetence of the Iemma Government, the problems are symptoms of the three issues confronting our health system. The first is a major medical workforce shortage. Twelve million Australians lack adequate access to a GP and we need an extra 2000 doctors to solve the problem. We are training more doctors. Last year 1568 students graduated from university medical courses and by 2012 the number will rise to 2945. But when these extra students leave university, there will not be enough training places for them. All graduates must do a year's internship in a public hospital - but there are currently only 1800 such places funded.

Some of these doctors will want to train to become specialists and there is currently not enough operating theatre time to give them the experience they will need to qualify. It takes 11 to 12 years to train a new doctor, but our health system is in crisis now.

It has long been argued that we should be using our existing workforce more smartly - giving nurses limited prescription rights - the ability to order medical tests - and training them to carry out routine procedures like Pap smears to free up doctors for more complex tasks. For this to work, the Government needs to give nurse practitioners their own provider numbers and Medicare rebates. We shouldn't have to wait 18 months for another committee to tell the Government to act.

Rudd has done a lot in his first 100 days: said "Sorry", signed Kyoto, moved to scrap AWAs, given the states $150 million to clear hospital waiting lists - but he has also set up 25 committees or inquiries. There's a risk that voters who wanted change at the last election will soon be demanding less talk and more action.

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Government health department negligence again

"Queensland Health" is a rolling disaster area

A nurse on remote Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait has been raped by an intruder more than a year after the Queensland Government was warned her accommodation and that of others in the region lacked even basic security, putting them at "extreme risk". The Queensland Government ignored the internal report it received in November 2006, despite its authors warning of significant risks to staff "that need to be addressed immediately". Following last month's attack, the 27-year-old victim - who worked alone on the island and had pleaded for improved security - was flown to Cairns where she was admitted to hospital.

The conditions in which nurses, teachers, police and other public servants are expected to live when posted to Cape York and Torres Strait island communities have been the source of constant complaint for more than a decade. The Queensland Nurses Union said yesterday that the state Government had been given a month to get security for all health facilities in the Torres Strait or nurses would withdraw their services.

Queensland Health has repeatedly refused to release the damning report, which has been leaked to The Australian, but in a statement yesterday said it would immediately improve security.

The nurse had been on the island only a few weeks before the attack, which occurred at 3am on February 5. Police subsequently arrested a 22-year-old Mabuiag Island man and charged him with rape and burglary. He appeared in the Torres Strait Island court on February 15 and was remanded in custody. A 17-year-old accomplice was charged with burglary.

The nurse, who was on 24-hour call, had constantly complained to her immediate superiors about the lack of security of her living quarters, which are above the island's medical clinic. She works alone and there is no doctor or police officer on the island, which has about 300 residents.

Mabuiag Island had sought a permanent nurse appointment for years, and the victim of the attack was the first to be given the position. Her colleagues yesterday told The Australian the woman had made repeated complaints about the lack of security and she feared for her safety, but there was no response from Queensland Health.

The nurses were also critical of what they said was a culture of secrecy being maintained by Torres Strait Island administrators and police to not reveal the real truth about violence in the region, particularly against non-indigenous workers.

In November 2006 a report titled Torres Strait Risk Assessments was compiled by Russell Grigg and Bruce Irvine, security managers with the Townsville Health Service District. They inspected all accommodation on all islands and their summary said: "The security risk assessment found that the level of general security afforded to the Torres Strait Health Service District is of a poor standard and exposes Queensland Health staff to extreme risks. "There are some significant risks that need to be addressed immediately to ensure the district meets its obligations under the Workplace, Health and Safety Act 1995, which is to provide a safe working environment for its staff."

The inspection of the nurse accommodation on Mabuiag concluded that the "identified hazard" was "extreme". Its lists of security faults in the premises included poorly maintained doors and locks, no security cameras, inadequate fire systems, no aggressive behaviour management training for staff and inoperable security systems.

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Long-overdue reform for trial lawyers

Barristers [trial lawyers] could be out of a job if they continue to ask rape victims intimidating and humiliating questions under rules to come into effect next month. NSW Bar Association president Anna Katzmann SC yesterday pledged that the tough new code to rein in the aggressive cross-examination of victims would be taken seriously. The ultimate sanction for barristers who continue to belittle, mislead or intimidate rape victims in the witness box is to be found guilty of professional misconduct and struck off the barristers' roll.

The rules, which are open for public scrutiny from today, follow pressure from Attorney-General John Hatzistergos in the wake of outrage following the treatment of victims in gang rape trials. In a major cultural change, the rules also oblige barristers to refuse their client's instructions if questions would offend the witness.

Members of the public, as well as those involved in the court case, will be able to lodge complaints with the Bar Association and the Legal Services Commissioner. "We think these rules provide appropriate balance between the interests of vulnerable witnesses and the rights of an accused person to a fair trial," Miss Katzmann said. She said the barristers' ruling body, the Bar Council, could itself initiate a complaint if it was concerned by courtroom behaviour. Prosecutors and defence barristers who specialise in sexual assault trials will have to take part in seminars about the rules, with input from the NSW Rape Crisis Centre.

Manager Karen Willis said the main issue was that the evidence be examined, not the witness ridiculed, undermined and demeaned. "What currently happens is that defence lawyers think the way they should do things is to get the complainant into a position where she is so confused, upset and traumatised that she is incapable of answering questions," Ms Willis said. "Defence lawyers use that to say she is an unreliable witness. This is not examing evidence, it is mistreating a witness. That has to stop." The public has until March 25 to have its say.

It is the latest in a series of reforms, including enshrining consent in the law, that followed The Daily Telegraph's campaign Justice For Women Now. A copy of the proposed rules is at the Bar Association website http://www.nswbar.asn.au

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