An application for approval of the Churches of Christ in Queensland – Churches of Christ Care Nurses Enterprise Agreement 2018 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be determined by Deputy President Booth in his NSW chambers.
February 22, 2019
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application from The Commonwealth of Australia as represented by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs T/A Department of Veterans’ Affairs for the DVA Enterprise Agreement 2019-2022 has been granted by Commissioner Lee sitting in Melbourne on 18 February 2019.
February 22, 2019
Following an extensive search, footy great Tim Pickup has been found alive and well at North Sydney Leagues Club after he went missing from his northern beaches retirement home on Monday evening. Mr Pickup, 70, who lives at the RSL Lifecare retirement village — the War Vets — in Narrabeen, has dementia.
February 22, 2019
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application from Wesley Community Services Limited T/A Wesley Mission for its Wesley Hospitals and NSWNMA-ANMF NSW Branch Enterprise Agreement 2018-2020 has been agreed by Fair Work Commissioner Harper-Greenwell in Melbourne on 15 February 2019.
February 22, 2019
Justice Mathew Downs, at the High Court in Auckland, cleared a sex offender’s criminal record after he argued he should be able to work in a rest home. A former teacher convicted of sex crimes against a 12-year-old boy over 30 years ago has won the right to have his criminal record cleared, in a precedent-setting case. The man, who has not been convicted of any other offences since, fought for his name to be cleared in an effort to gain employment as an older people’s carer. The Criminal Records Act, otherwise known as the Clean Slate Act, allows people to conceal convictions dating back seven years or more – providing they aren’t serious offences and didn’t result in jail time. In 2014, a decade since the Bill was passed, more than 100,000 people have had their convictions wiped. However, no case declined in the District Court has ever been successfully appealed to the High Court. The offending in the man’s case dated back to 1986, when he volunteered at a children’s camp where he met the young boy. During that time, the man repeatedly abused the child, which involved forcing him to touch his genitals. He told the boy what they were doing was “entirely natural” and they were “not doing anything wrong”. He was convicted for that offending 10 years later after details of the abuse was reported to police. When spoken to by police, the man admitted he had formed a relationship with the victim but said it was limited to kissing only. He further admitted a fascination with “man-boy” love relationships. He pleaded guilty to the abuse and was given a 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and a term of community service. A suspended service means a person is only sent to prison if they offend again or break certain conditions. The man did not reoffend and after a career in another field, he decided he wanted to work in the elderly care sector. This led him to apply for his conviction to be disregarded last year in the District Court. During that hearing, a psychiatrist told the court the man posed a “low risk of re-offending” and work in a rest home would be a “low-risk environment”. That application was declined – with the District Court judge ruling “low risk is not no risk” and said potential employers should know about his past convictions when deciding to employ him. The man appealed the decision in the High Court. Justice Mathew Downs received affidavits from four different elderly care facilities who said they would not employ someone like the man due to his criminal convictions, irrespective of expert opinion. “It is highly likely [the man] will not be able to work in the aged care sector unless his criminal record is concealed,” Justice Downs stated. “[The man] appears otherwise suitable for this type of work.” The New Zealand police asked the judge to pay attention to the fact the man had travelled to Thailand twice – a country known for sex tourism. The judge noted that the obvious risk to allowing the man to do rest home work was him being exposed young children visiting relatives. In his judgement, Justice Downs said he had to balance the likelihood of reoffending against the hardship being faced by the applicant. The judge said the man was “fortunate” to not have been sentenced to prison at the time, which would have ruled him out of applying for a clean slate. “The case is on the cusp,” Justice Downs judgement read. “… It is highly likely [the man] will not be able to work in the aged care sector unless his criminal record is concealed. “Contact in that sector is likely to be limited, and even more likely to be in the company of others. “Offence opportunity is therefore low.” Justice Downs ruled the man’s convictions should be disregarded and his convictions were wiped from his record.
February 21, 2019
The Nepean Hospital lockdown on Wednesday is the latest incident in a series of security scares at NSW hospitals following the release of a damning report of violence against hospital workers. The incident at Nepean on Wednesday morning forced patients, visitors and staff in the emergency department to move from the area for almost three hours, a spokesperson for the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District said. Paramedics avoided the major trauma centre, transporting patients to hospitals further afield before Nepean was reopened in the early afternoon. NSW police said the hospital was closed “as a precaution”. In October last year, a man was shot and tasered by police after he brandished two knives outside Nepean Hospital. Wednesday’s lockdown comes less than a month after a violent incident at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where a 29-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly stabbing a 45-year-old man in the back in the triage area of the inner-Sydney hospital’s emergency department. At Lismore Hospital in November, a woman allegedly stabbed a man with a syringe and in August at Blacktown Hospital a male patient allegedly stabbed a nurse repeatedly with two knives. The series of violent events prompted the NSW government to launch a review into the safety of staff, patients and visitors at the state’s public hospitals. The Health Services Union (HSU) NSW has repeatedly called for an extra 250 security guards at NSW hospitals, working in pairs, who would have the power to detain and retain.
February 21, 2019
A record number of South Australian paramedics are under investigation following a spike in adverse outcomes, including death, stemming from their decisions not to transport a patient to hospital. In the first calendar year since the $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital opened, up to 20 “adverse events” were identified, up from about a handful in previous years, according to sources within SA Ambulance Service. In correspondence circulated to paramedics, SAAS management said there was “a large and renewed focus on non-transport decisions as a result of a number of adverse events” that had resulted in deaths. Each event is being investigated, with “absent, poor or incomplete patient assessment and observations” a common theme, according to internal documents. It is unclear how many cases have involved a person’s death. “A preliminary review of these cases indicates there was often a lack of appreciation of the clinical risk associated with the patient’s presentation,” an SAAS memo to staff on December 20 said. The same document, issued by SAAS’s executive director of clinical performance and patient safety, Keith Driscoll, acknowledged that “system-based distractions such as ramping” had upped pressure on paramedics. “However, it is vitally important that we remain focused on providing the safest possible care,” he said. “We have a responsibility to contribute towards addressing this concerning trend in adverse patient outcomes.” Ramping — a term used when an ambulance is parked outside a hospital because there are no free beds to treat a transported patient — has been rife at the RAH since it opened in September 2017. The problem is not isolated to the RAH, with one woman developing bed sores after being ramped at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide’s south for eight hours on Monday. Ambulance union boss Phil Palmer said his members were “furious” at the extent of ramping that occurred within a system crippled by a lack of capacity. Mr Palmer conceded last year’s rise in adverse outcomes, but said a lack of resources rather than incompetence was behind the problem, which had coincided with a decline in quality assurance and clinical support for paramedics. “We said this pressure-cooker environment would cause mistakes … it’s a human thing,” Mr Palmer said. “There’s absolutely no doubt this whole issue with workload and ramping has already led to adverse incidents and will undoubtedly lead to others. “It’s a failure of the system, it’s not a failure of the individual.” Following Mr Driscoll’s memo to staff, SAAS team leaders held one-on-one meetings with paramedics. The service’s “treat no transport” guidelines were also updated. One paramedic welcomed the focus on education, but questioned whether it was a “box-ticking” exercise by bureaucrats. The same paramedic said some within the service had ignored protocol requiring them to call for clinical assistance when assessing a patient.
February 20, 2019
Baptist Care (SA) Inc has a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) which it must address today before Deputy President Anderson in his SA chambers (Belbridge).
