Trigger warning: Domestic violence, mental health, drug/alcohol use It looked like garbage, carelessly dumped on her front lawn. She approached to inspect, and then she heard the groan. Up close, it was clear that there was blood. That there was a woman, lying unconscious. Macarthur resident Nina Surplice rang an ambulance and the woman on her lawn sat up, muttering; ‘I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright.’ Half an hour later, Ms Surplice’s heart broke. “I heard a car and it was obviously her boyfriend, and as she got up, all her face was bloody…whatever happened was [so] violent that there…
Author: Angelina Sokolsky
‘Free sport is on the line’ is the slogan for a new campaign run by Channels 9, 7 and 10 for sports to be free or everyone to watch. The broadcasters wanted to amend the Communication Legislation Amendment (Prominence and Anti-siphoning) Bill, which passed federal parliament yesterday, to include mandated free-to-air sport elements. The bill gives ‘aerial TV’ channels the opportunity to buy the rights to sport events before they are offered to pay-TV and streaming platforms. Free TV Australia Chief Executive Officer Bridget Fair said she was disappointed about a few gaps in the bill. “The rights that need…
The New South Wales government has released photoshopped images last week of what an offshore wind farm would look like from the shores of Illawarra beaches, escalating the debate between locals about whether wind farms are environmentally friendly. RadioU UOW · Illawarra offshore wind farm debate escalates A conference was held by Responsible Future Illawarra Chapter in April, where former treasurer of New South Wales and current politician Andrew Constance attended. Mr Constance said the photographs were misleading and the government should not go through with the planned wind farm. “I’m just not convinced that the government is going about…
The number of adoptions has reached a record low in Australia, with young people opting against having children due to rising living costs, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and Monash University’s 2023 Australian Youth Barometer. The total rate of adoptions is also the lowest for New South Wales, with a total of 105 in 2023. The number of finalised adoptions in Australia in 2022-2023 was 201, a decrease from 330 in 2017-2018. AIHW Statistics by UOWTV A reason for the decrease, according to the 2023 Australian Youth Barometer, is more than half of young Australians…
There has been an alarming increase in serious incidents against Australians living with a disability who receive funding from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), with reports of some suffering from allegations of neglect, abuse and sexual misconduct. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s latest quarterly performance report from October 2023-December 2023 has revealed the increase in a range of serious incidents, as described in the graph below. The statistics are nation-wide, with NSW higher than any other state. At the National Press Club last December, Minister for the NDIS Bill Shorten said the incidents were result of a failing…
A 2024 update by the Productivity Commission has revealed four out of 19 Closing the Gap targets are not on track, including the number of children in out-of-home care and rate of Indigenous suicides per year. The Commission moved some targets into the ‘on track’ category, including newborns with a healthy birth weight and increasing rights to land and sea. Most, however, have remained in their original categories, while others have worsened. There are urgent targets to reduce the number of Indigenous suicides towards zero and reduce the rate of Indigenous children in out-of-home care by 45 per cent by…
An independent MP’s petition to make HECS fairer for university students has attracted almost 220,000 signatures in under two weeks. Member for Kooyong Monique Ryan launched the petition 12 days ago and it already has 216,000 signatures. The petition proposes to index HECS loans in line with each year’s lowest indexation rate, such as the consumer price index or wage price index University of Wollongong law and communications and media student Lachlan McInerney said he was not taught about Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and much students would pay for their tertiary education. “Especially when you’re just going into uni, I…
UOW student actors have wrapped up the opening night of ‘Justified and Ancient’, with a plot-twist. While the show brought the house down, some say there were challenges behind-the-scenes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gCA7PczgI
Trigger warning for eating disorders (level: mild mention, location: paragraphs 1-3) Shifting her feet on the uneven floorboards of City Beach, a curvy, pale, 14-year-old girl tugged on a bikini. Summer body dread had begun. She sucked in her stomach before turning to face the changing-room door and began to breathe again, deciding in silence that bikinis were not made for her body type. In subsequent summers she would shrink from a healthy size 14 to a size 10, and would be ecstatic — not because she had worked for it, but because it was easy to treat a bottle…
While rapper Macklemore and Gen Z have romanticised thrift-shopping as ‘trendy’, its true worth is hidden in its impact on the environment and clothing sweatshops. When you walk into a thrift store, do you turn your nose up at the smell of musty clothing and dusty antiques, or do you venture through the isles of vintage apparel with anticipation? Are you overwhelmed by the knick-knacks about to fall off the crowded shelves, or do you soak in the atmosphere as you hunt for hidden treasure? For many, thrifting has become an art, a lifestyle, an attitude. Despite being weighted by…