Australian Politics
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Nurses head off prostate cancer admissions
Hmmm ... I am not sure that prostate cancer sufferers will get good advice from nurses. Although I feel perfectly well, I have both prostate cancer and bone cancer: A penalty of old age. I saw a urologist about the prostate cancer but she was not very helpful. But the oncologist was. He prescribed something -- Xtandi -- that fixed my symptoms without any side-effects. So if even medical specialists can be unhelpful, what hope is there for nurses? Better than nothing, I guess
Emergency departments have seen a 60 per cent reduction in admissions from men suffering from prostate cancer who receive the care of specialist nurses, a groundbreaking report has shown, sparking calls to expand the service.
The findings from an independent report by the University of Queensland’s Centre for the Business and Economics of Health has also revealed providing specialist nurses to prostate cancer patients saves the healthcare system up to $20m each year.
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia director of nursing Sally Sara, who is calling for the service to be expanded, said the hospital-based program provides an expert to turn to, as opposed to the emergency room.
“It’s about having that primary point of contact who men can to speak to on the phone, talk about what’s going on and get some advice before things become a problem,” Ms Sara said.
“Specialist nurses can initiate action early so issues are called and treated early before they get to the stage where someone might be quite unwell and ends up being admitted to hospital.
“It may be as simple as a man ringing a nurse after surgery and describing symptoms that sound like an infection, and the nurse can fax a pathology company so he can go straight away,” she said.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the country, with 70 Australian men diagnosed each day.
Ms Sara has overseen the program grow from a 12-person pilot study 12 years ago to a nationwide service with 110 nurses based in all major regional areas and capital cities – trained by prostate cancer experts like herself.
She said the findings indicate an extension of the program will further benefit an overburdened healthcare system and the wellbeing of Australian men.
“The report recognised that having these nurses really helped with hospital avoidance and it came straight from the horse’s mouth. It’s oncologists, urologists, and other health professionals who are reporting back to us saying they noticed that since these positions have been in place, those unplanned admissions have dropped because of early intervention,” Ms Sara said.
“There is excellent evidence that the program itself has generated a positive return financially but also that there is a really big impact in health related quality of life … men have contacted us and said they wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the nurse who kept them going, encouraged them to go to the appointments, or let them talk through their worries.
“It is a very trusted relationship the prostate cancer nurses build with the men they care for and their families as well.”
Husband, father, and Gulf War Naval veteran Paul Bain, 54, said highly-trained specialist nurses were helping men identify and cope with a disease that often goes unnoticed.
“As someone who’s going through having to deal with all the implications of the disease, a situation for me that came out of left-field completely, it has been quite a journey through various stages of treatment, emotion, and mental and physical fatigue that we’ve got to deal with,” Mr Bain said.
“We all appreciate nurses and people in the health community in general but to have some of these specialists that are obviously focused on the intricacies around this particular disease is just fantastic and good peace of mind during what can be a really tricky time.”
Mr Bain was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in June 2020 after his doctor decided to give him a prostate-specific antigen test (PSA) during a routine check-up, simply because of his age.
The Royalla father was fit, healthy, and asymptomatic despite having an aggressive form of cancer doctors said would have killed him before Christmas that year if not for the discovery.
Four years later, Mr Bain is recovering from another round of radiotherapy after the cancer metastasised to his ribs. He said his story speaks to the value of specialist care and greater awareness about the disease.
“Men aren’t great with talking about their health and if they don’t have support networks or family around them as they go through (cancer) it can be really difficult to deal with,” he said.
“The nurses have been amazing for me on my own particular journey and I talk to them at different times about how to approach treatment from the mental to the physical changes you go through.
“Generations ago a lot of men would have just died with prostate cancer and it is a slow growing disease in most instances so it can be overlooked … but I think it’s so important men don’t take it lightly.”
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More rapists and sex offenders spared by Direction 99
Four more convicted sex offenders – including a child sex offender – and a prolific Sydney cocaine dealer were all spared deportation off the back of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ soon-to-be-scrapped Direction 99.
Mahmoud Younes, a Lebanese citizen who had dragged a woman into his car and molested her, had the cancellation of his visa overturned after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal found that the strength of his ties to Australia carried “considerable weight” in his favour. That finding came despite the fact he had spent three of his six years in Australia in jail.
The strength, nature and duration of an individual’s ties to Australia was elevated to a primary consideration under Mr Giles’ Direction 99, and that factor has since been cited in dozens of AAT decisions overturning visa cancellations for serious offenders.
In Younes’ case, the AAT found his extensive family ties in Australia warranted the revocation of his visa cancellation.
In another case, Steven William Morgan, a former ballet teacher convicted of indecent acts against one of his students, was spared deportation back to New Zealand due to his ties to Australia and the needs of his three disabled children.
Morgan was convicted in 2021 of historical offences against one of his young female students over the course of four years in the late 1990s. But the AAT ruled his longstanding relationships in Australia and the needs of his children were strong enough to warrant the overturning of his visa cancellation.
The cases of Younes and Morgan takes to 13 the number of convicted sex offenders found by The Australian to have had their visa cancellations overturned since the introduction of Direction 99 early last year.
After several days of revelations showing how serious non-citizen criminals – including repeat domestic violence perpetrators, drug traffickers and large-scale money launderers – were having their visas reinstated off the back of Direction 99, Mr Giles on Wednesday revealed that the direction would be replaced due to a lack of “common sense” in a number of recent AAT decisions.
The decision allowing Younes to remain in the country described how he had followed a woman walking along the road in his car late one night, persistently trying to solicit her for sex. She repeatedly refused, telling him she had a boyfriend, but he continued to follow her and eventually got out of his car, picked her up and carried her to the passenger seat.
There he placed his hands on her buttocks and breast. After he locked the door and walked around towards the driver’s side, the woman managed to open the door and run away.
AAT data shows the number of character-related visa decisions changed after review by the tribunal had spiked since the introduction of Direction 99. In the 2022 financial year – the last full year before the changes came into force – 39 per cent of visa decisions to go before the AAT were changed. That had jumped to 56 per cent in the nine months to March 31 this year. That figure may also end up being higher, with 76 – or almost 68 per cent – of the 112 decisions reviewed by The Australian so far all ending in visa cancellations being overturned.
Shortly before Mr Giles announced that Direction 99 would be replaced, The Australian revealed that convicted rapist Abu Bah had his visa reinstated after the AAT found his ties to Australia and the interests of his two children outweighed the protection and expectation of the Australian community. Bah’s drug-fuelled attack on a woman in 2017 drove his victim into a spiral of self-harm and homelessness but the AAT found his ties to Australia – including his time volunteering to help with the clean-up effort after the Brisbane floods – warranted the revocation of his visa cancellation.
Daniel Thompson, who arrived in Australia from Liberia in 2008 at the age of 30, also had his visa reinstated by the AAT after it was cancelled following his conviction on eight counts of rape.
All those charges related to one hour he had spent with a sex worker in a Brisbane brothel. Again, the AAT found the strength, nature and duration of ties to Australia and the best interests of minor children in Australia outweighed the primary considerations of the protection and expectations of the community.
Mr Giles originally expected his direction would crack down on the number of domestic violence perpetrators allowed to remain in the country. Documents released under Freedom of Information show that Mr Giles and the Department of Home Affairs chose March 8 last year as the start date for Direction 99 to coincide with International Women’s Day and the lead-up to Harmony Week.
“Issuance of the Ministerial Direction during this time would send a strong message to the community regarding the government’s commitment to combat family violence and protect women, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities,” says the correspondence from Home Affairs to Mr Giles on September 8, 2022.
The Australian’s review of the AAT’s decisions since Direction 99 came into effect, however, has identified at least 20 cases in which serious, repeat domestic violence offenders have been spared deportation.
In one case – Sefanaia Mitiani Tavola, whose criminal record includes multiple counts of domestic violence-related assaults – AAT deputy president Dennis Cowdroy stated that Direction 99’s instruction to consider an individual’s ties to Australia was the only reason the Fiji national was spared deportation. “The tribunal concludes that, taking into account that the applicant has resided in Australia since he was five years of age, was educated in Australia, has never returned to Fiji, has worked in employment in Australia, and has provided some positive contribution to his community in Australia, it would be contrary to the requirements of paragraphs 8.3(4)(a)(i) and (ii) of the direction not to revoke the decision under review, irrespective of the applicant’s criminal offending,” he wrote.
It is understood the government will examine the latest cases.
In a statement, Mr Giles said: “It’s clear that the current direction has not been used as the government had intended. That’s why we’re imposing a new direction to make the Government’s intention clear that the protection of the community outweighs any other considerations.”
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Tradies hold the key to Australia’s future
It’s a question parents often ponder when considering their children’s education: what skills are required now to deliver job security in the future?
This is a bit like wondering what jobs might be needed in 2024 from the vantage point of the year 2000. The answer is nearly all skills and ever more workers are required today.
This is because at the turn of the century we didn’t envisage record levels of immigration triggered by a resources boom and the delivery of education services – at scale – to overseas students. Our cities surged as a consequence. More accommodation was required for students as well as a burgeoning bulge of Millennial knowledge workers.
No one connected the dots: more students, more knowledge workers and more (skilled) migrants results in a need for more housing. If this is to be Australia’s trajectory, we need the trade skills to deliver housing and city infrastructure.
In 2000 we did not question the logic of trade routes based on unfettered access to global supply chains. And, seemingly, nor did we consider the idea of buying and/or building nuclear-powered submarines. A pity, because such a project over the past 20 years could have deepened an engineering skills base aligned with the needs of a resources boom.
We need to be bold and lateral in our thinking about the future. I suspect we have followed a line of “safe future thinking” largely based on issues such as climate change and not enough on left-field events like a pandemic or a seismic shift in our strategic position.
Australians need to have confidence that someone, somewhere, is thinking about – is scenario planning, and actively war-gaming – a range of impacts that could shape our nation. It’s not enough to say “Oh, this is unexpected.”
What does Australia look like by the middle of the 2030s, when half of the Baby Boomer cohort is 80-plus? A decade of post-pandemic amped-up immigration, required to offset retiring workers, changes Australia.
We are focusing on the ramifications of artificial intelligence (AI) rather than scoping the need for jobs of the future. In the early 2030s we will need vastly more aged/disability carers, to the extent that this could replace shop assistant as this nation’s largest single occupation.
I have a contrarian view of the future of work: less focus on tech wizardry, more attention on delivery of basic human needs, such as security, care and shelter.
Repetitive jobs will continue to be replaced by technology. Petrol-pump attendants and ticket sellers disappeared a generation ago. Checkout operators are shrinking.
If Australia is to grow, defend itself, house its people and care for its aged, we need to allow a greater role to be played by those who deliver vocational training. The past 25 years have been the era of the university and knowledge worker (and the hipster); maybe the next 25 will be the era of the trade college and technical worker (the tradie).
This shift could start with parents being as supportive of their child choosing to pursue an apprenticeship or trade certificate as a university degree. I see an even greater need for technical skills in an Australia of the future.
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Chinese tech could smash Australia's battery making dreams
If British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak loses the upcoming election, he will be the first major western political casualty to the global electric car mess that has been created by politicians misreading the market.
And here in Australia, as I will explain below, there is grave danger the Chinese technology will disrupt our plans to hose billions of dollars at battery making and “essential” raw materials, particularly nickel.
But the Chinese battery technology could help solve some of the problems facing the global electric car market.
Sunak listened to the green elite and their demand for electric cars and set rules for motor makers that completely misread the views and buying patterns of ordinary Britisher.
Sunak set a target of banning new petrol car sales by 2030.
And he went further with a Zero Emission Vehicle mandate that came into force last January and required car manufacturers to ensure that 22 per cent of the vehicles they sell in Britain this year are fully electric.
Hybrids don’t count. The carmakers are fined £15,000 for every vehicle sold short of the mandate, which will rise to 28 per cent next year and continue to rise until it hits 80 per cent initially by 2030.
The UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says electric cars currently have a market share of only 15.7 per cent – about -the same as last year. Sunak gave fleet companies big incentives so they now buy five in every six EVs sold, but it can’t bridge the boycott by the majority of the population.
Sunak’s policies are set to push the British motor industry out of existence. Why have the ordinary British people told Sunak to jump in the Thames and refused to buy electric cars?
Via the SMMT, the carmakers and retailers in public statements try to explain to Sunak that his problem is that the ratio of charging points to EV drivers has not improved since last year.
Around 30 per cent of the population don’t have a dwelling garage so must park their car in the street so can’t charge EVs at home.
Meanwhile, the cost of electricity from a rapid charger is up by about 10 per cent so not only are EVs 40 per cent more expensive to buy than petrol cars, but they are also costlier to run, despite the big petrol taxes. Eventually, electric vehicles being charged must face “petrol” taxes because governments need the revenue.
Cornered, Sunak extended the “no petrol car sales” deadline from 2030 to 2035 which enraged his green supporters. But he has left in place the massive fines, so whoever wins the next election will need to decide between slashing the fine, subsidising electric vehicles on a massive scale or sending vast areas of the motor industry broke.
The Sunak mess is a warning for politicians around the world that pandering to elites against the will of ordinary people does not work. You need to fix the basics and bring the population with you. Then impose your penalties.
Meanwhile, China, the dominant force in making electric vehicles, not only flooded its own market with electric vehicles but shipped vast quantities to the UK and other countries that would take them.
In the UK, these unsold vehicles are clogging storage areas near the ports.
But out of China is coming a battery revolution that may make it possible to get ordinary people to buy electric cars.
A report from the International Energy Agency says China has developed a fast-charging “Shenxing” battery “capable of delivering 400km of range from a ten-minute charge”.
But the next generation of batteries will be able to travel almost 1000km from a ten-minute charge.
While these technology advances offer the opportunity to increase the popularity of electric cars beyond the elite, the technology advance is also likely to enshrine China’s dominance of the renewable energy market.
One of the few things President Biden and former President Trump agree on is the need to make America much less reliant on China in all areas.
But of course Trump will also encourage the production of oil and gas and the use of petrol. For US motor makers struggling with a similar scenario to the UK, a switch back to petrol will cause more chaos.
Meanwhile, Australia wants to be a leader in battery production, but it will need to match the Chinese in technology or Australia’s money will go down the drain.
And the new Chinese batteries use less nickel, which means that nickel may go into a period of great oversupply just as we are subsidising nickel mines.
The Sunak story has a lesson for Australia as well as the rest of the world
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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