Rural Australia continues to call out for primary health care professionals, a report by the Regional Australia Institute has found. The report, which highlights findings of the internet vacancy index, published by Jobs and Skills Australia, identifies medical practitioners and nurses as the most in demand job classification for regional Australia. General practitioners, who are not dealt with separately in the report, remain a major area of concern for public health experts, with a rural shortage preventing many Australians from enjoying the benefits of a fully functioning health care system. Dr Andrew Bonney, south coast general practitioner and chair of…
Author: Patrick Lazarus
Some of the nation’s leading young sportspeople will throw down a challenge on Wollongong fields in coming days. The Under 24s Ultimate Frisbee team, ‘The Goannas will take to the University of Wollongong this weekend, for an intensive training camp. The camp is in preparation for the upcoming World Championships in Nottingham (UK) and will see them take on the Australian opens team ‘The Dingoes’ as part of a showcase event. The game is set to take place at 11 am, on UOW Oval, this Sunday. The University of Wollongong’s Ultimate Frisbee Club has three Goanna representatives, including co-captain Jono…
The Australian Government has announced it plans to regulate the ‘buy now pay later’ (‘BNPL’) industry. The products are set to be classified as ‘credit’, meaning they will be subjected to similar restrictions as other financial services. Assistant Federal Treasurer, Stephen Jones is concerned the current lack of regulation represents a loophole with regard to financial responsibility. “We have heard people are opening multiple BNPL accounts, to access far more debt than they’d be able to get on a credit card or payday loan,” he said. The proposed reform will imposed responsibility on industry giants, like Afterpay, to ensure appropriate…
Tuesday this week saw the sacking of St George Illawarra head coach, Anthony Griffin. The end of the veteran coach’s tenure came as no surprise to most of the NRL community after a continuation of the joint ventures’ lacklustre results. The Dragons haven’t won since a strong victory over the Dolphins in round 5 and, following a string of narrow losses, were beaten 42-22 by the Cowboys at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Saturday. Dragon’s lock, Jack de Belin, said that the team needed to take accountability for Griffin’s dismissal. “At the end of the day it is a results…
Australian tourism appears to be on the road to recovery, according to new research. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data released this morning revealed short-term international arrivals in Australian are now at 80 per cent of pre-Covid numbers. Short-term visits, which suffered an exponential drop after global lockdowns began in March 2020, have gradually increased since December 2021. Post-Covid visits are continuing to pick up, with an increase of 443,080 visits from March 2022 to March 2023. NSW has attracted the most visitors, with 234,000 arrivals this March, 74,750 more than the next highest state, Victoria. Destination Wollongong Business Development…
Higher education employees across Australia were striking this week, as a part of a co-ordinated week of industrial action. Protests culminated in Victoria, with staff from five major universities walking out, causing classes to be rescheduled and cancelled. The National Tertiary Education Union (‘NTEU’) has identified the gradual casualisation of the industry as a key issue on which they are calling for change. The Union estimates that 7 in 10 higher education employees, are employed on a casual basis. This amount exceeds the national average by 47 percentage points. NTEU president, Alison Barnes says that casual employment fails to provide…
A shake-up to the prescription medicine landscape has been announced today, with the federal government confirming its intentions to double the amount of medication some Australian’s can get from their pharmacists, per script. Under the current scheme, consumers are restricted to a 30-day supply of medicine, for which they pay a ‘co-payment amount’, which is capped at $30 for most PBS listed medicines. Once the new scheme begins in September, patients will be able to obtain 60-days’ worth of their prescription medicine, without paying more than they were previously. Federal Minister for Health Mark Butler said, in a statement, the…