A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Bupa Aged Care Australia Pty Ltd T/A Bupa; Bupa Aged Care for its Bupa Aged Care Australia, NSWNMA, ANMF (NSW Branch) and HSU NSW Branch, New South Wales Enterprise Agreement 2018 has been approved by Fair Work Deputy President Masson in Melbourne on 8 January 2019.
January 8, 2019
Aged care advocate Ita Buttrose has been awarded an honorary UNSW Medicine doctorate.
January 8, 2019
Former Hawthorn doctor Con Kyriacou who has faced court for the first time for allegedly raping and indecently assaulting more than a dozen patients, including a 16-year-old girl, says the charges against him are “stupid”. The 75-year-old former GP has been charged with 34 sexual offences allegedly committed from 1978 to 2004. The Melbourne Magistrates Court was told on Monday that the police investigation was still on-going and more charges could be laid against the doctor.
January 8, 2019
Aged care plans have put residents in a flap over cockatoo protection. The land they’ve been spotted on in Sunrise Beach is set to become a Blue Care residential aged care development with 98 residential aged care beds.
January 8, 2019
Newly appointed Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation (CHAC) chairman Sam Cleland has outlined a vision for the body’s future. Mr Cleland was appointed as CHAC chairman in late 2018, succeeding Peter Benson. A Smithton resident and Bureau of Meteorology scientist, Mr Cleland said it was the corporation’s intent to ensure future generations of Tasmanians who identify as aboriginal have access to their culture. “One of the aspects of the indigenous population in the North-West is a loss of knowledge and culture and language,” Mr Cleland said. “The loss of knowledge is very pronounced here… more emphasised than in other parts of Australia.” He said that CHAC’s focus on cultural research and work to help indigenous Tasmanians regain the language of their ancestors drew him to the role. “The effort that goes on into research to help regain of language and culture takes a lot of dedication,” he said. “That’s being aided by the Trawmanna project, which includes a parcel of land near Smithton that can be used as a focus for cultural development.” The Indigenous Land Corporation granted the property to CHAC in 2012 and provided funding for management and development. Trawmanna is the focal point for Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation’s health, social and community services.
January 8, 2019
Model, designer and actor Annalise Braakensiek has been found dead in her Sydney home. Police went to her apartment in Potts Point just after 3pm yesterday after receiving concerned calls for her welfare. The death is not suspicious. Ms Braakensiek was made an R U OK? ambassador in 2017.
January 7, 2019
A retired Hawthorn doctor has been arrested and charged with a range of serious sexual crimes, including rape, that were allegedly committed during medical consultations as far back as the late 1970s. A warrant was executed at the Balwyn North home of Dr Con Kyriacou on Thursday morning and he has been charged with 35 offences. The 75-year-old was later released on bail. Dr Kyriacou’s arrest comes after three former patients went public with claims about Dr Kyriacou in November after concern about inaction by the national health regulator. The women had independently lodged complaints about Dr Kyriacou’s behaviour with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) beginning in 2016, which has been investigating the claims of misconduct for more than two years. Dr Kyriacou, who was aware he was under scrutiny, voluntarily withdrew from the register of medical practitioners in August 2017, claiming he was suffering from a brain injury. The complaints involved allegations that during consultations – in some cases dating back to the late 1970s – Dr Kyriacou made inappropriate comments or inappropriately touched them. The nature of their allegations cannot be published because Dr Kyriacou has been charged with criminal offences. A former patient, now aged 49, made an initial complaint about Dr Kyriacou’s behaviour to the Medical Board of Australia in 2004 but later withdrew it over concerns she would not believed. She filed a filed a formal complaint with AHPRA in July 2016. A second patient went to the police and the board in 2004 and 2008, before making an official complaint to AHPRA in August 2016. She says police at that time told her the case was weak because it was her word against his. A third ex-patient also complained to AHPRA, providing a sworn statement in January 2018. All three women have previously described growing frustrated at the pace and thoroughness of AHPRA’s investigation and, concerned that the disciplinary process had stalled, decided to air the allegations. The coverage prompted numerous other women to come forward claiming to be victims and sparked an investigation by Victoria Police’s sexual offences and child abuse investigation team (SOCIT) in Box Hill. The Age understands more than 20 former patients – all women – have now made statements against Dr Kyriacou to Box Hill SOCIT. That investigation culminated in the criminal charges laid against Dr Kyriacou on Thursday. Dr Kyriacou is set to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in early January. Dr Kyriacou’s lawyer, John Petts from Kennedys, could not be reached for comment. However, Mr Petts has previously said his client denied the allegations and was suffering from a “significant cognitive impairment” that impeded his memory. “You have questioned how it could be that Dr Kyriacou cannot recall these patients but can deny the alleged actions. The answer is that when these allegations were first made, Dr Kyriacou was able to provide clear instructions and he denied the allegations,” Mr Petts said. Following the result of an assessment in March 2018, psychiatrist Dr Peter McArdle concluded that Dr Kyriacou was “not cognitively well enough to brief his solicitor nor be a capable witness in court”. “When I quizzed him about the allegations he initially said that he couldn’t remember any of these people or the allegations and he denied them altogether,” Dr McArdle said. That diagnosis is set to be challenged in January during professional misconduct proceedings brought against Dr Kyriacou by the health regulator in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
January 7, 2019
A disability carer has become the fifth overseas-born person to drown in waters off Glenelg in just under three years. The body of Nepalese immigrant Nischal Ghimire was found by water operations police floating near West Beach boat ramp just after 7.30pm on Friday. The discovery brought to an end a desperate 17-hour search for Mr Ghimire, who had been looking after a 10-year-old boy with a disability when he disappeared sometime on Thursday night.
