Mental health services plague Australia's largest state
Four days - that's how long a mental health patient at one of the country's busiest emergency departments waited for treatment, according to figures seen by Four Corners.
And doctors have revealed they felt pressured to discharge people in severe mental health crisis before they're ready.
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News.com.au
16 minutes ago
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell addresses James Sicily's injury concern
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has cleared the air over the injury concern to star captain James Sicily. Mitchell last week strongly defended the fitness of Sicily for him to later be ruled out for at least the next two weeks with a hip-abdominal issue. Sicily will miss the Hawks' season-shaping matches with Western Bulldogs on Thursday night and Adelaide next Friday. Mitchell conceded his comments 'didn't age too well' but doubled down on his previous stance of Sicily playing uninjured. 'We have management of lots of different players across the season of course, and at no point has he been a chance to not play,' Mitchell said. 'That was my frustration last week. It didn't age too well, obviously … at no point have we even considered not playing him, it hasn't even been close. 'There's injuries where 'is he going to get to the line? Is he going to be able to play this week?' He's never been in that category, he's definitely been playing every week – obviously it doesn't age well when it comes out like that. 'He got something that we didn't expect, it's been tracking, getting slightly better each week. His numbers on the screen have been getting slightly better. 'Then this week he had a big progression, so we need to get him right.' Mitchell said Sicily's injury concern had nothing to do with the groin and was in a 'higher spot'. The injury, according to Mitchell, can be 'unpredictable' but he still expected Sicily to return on time for Hawthorn's match with North Melbourne after the bye. 'You don't see that (the injury) often, we have had one recently a couple of years ago which can settle down in a couple weeks, but they can take a little bit longer,' he said. 'We're hopeful the two weeks can be a maximum. He would probably play the third we hope, but there's a bye then, so on the other side of the bye hopefully we get him back. 'One of the downsides of the injury is that he hasn't been able to train a lot. While playing has never been a risk, his actual training consistency hasn't been there. 'Obviously, that makes it a little bit tougher to perform on the weekend, but he's such a proud sort of guy he's always trying to train, always trying to do a bit more.'
ABC News
21 minutes ago
- ABC News
Parliamentary committee dismisses allegations against Darwin Waterfront Corporation
The Darwin Waterfront Corporation (DWC) has been cleared of wrongdoing by a Northern Territory parliamentary committee after the Territory Labor leader raised misuse of public money allegations. Opposition Leader Selena Uibo referred the "serious" allegations to the Public Accounts Committee last month. The allegations included the creation of a made-up unadvertised role that would see DWC's deputy chief executive, Sam Burke, receive a temporary $60,000 higher duties salary increase. The higher duties allowance allegedly continued for up to six years, long after the temporary role ended. Ms Uibo used parliamentary privilege last month to air the claims, which were made in a series of news reports by the NT Independent. Ms Uibo also referred allegations of funds being moved between two public bodies, the DWC and AustralAsia Railway Corporation (AARC). Mr Burke, who is married to NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, is the AARC chief executive and was appointed the DWC general manager in 2016. He was then appointed DWC's deputy chief executive in 2020, at the same salary level, in a four-year contract that was renewed in late 2023. Chair of the railway corporation is Alastair Shields, who is also DWC's chief executive. The AARC is a separate statutory body that manages the railway between Darwin and Tarcoola in South Australia, which is co-located with the DWC. The DWC told the committee Mr Burke was paid a $42,000 salary for higher duties between the two organisations, for five separate stints between 2018 and 2020. "Because none of the periods of higher duties exceeded six months, they were not required by NT [public service] guidelines to be advertised," the DWC submission read. DWC chair Patrick Bellot said Mr Burke's salary was cost-shared with the AARC and DWC. "The auditor-general has never raised any concern regarding these transactions in our unqualified annual audit reports." Mr Bellot said both organisations had their own separate annual audits. Mr Shields told the committee the two organisations had become "enmeshed" due to the sharing of resources and staff since the DWC's establishment in 2006. "We've shared board members, staff, office accommodation, resources from the very beginning," he said. Prior to the committee's hearing, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Marie-Clare Boothby, who has responsibility over the DWC, said the allegations would be "put to bed" by the process. Afterwards, she issued a statement welcoming the committee's unanimous dismissal of the allegations. "I am drawing the line in the sand on this matter," she said. The five-member Public Accounts Committee has a government majority of three members.
ABC News
22 minutes ago
- ABC News
Tornado during WA storm front
Long distance, grainy footage of a tornado at Frankland River spotted during storms that struck southern WA on Tuesday.
