Brisbane news live: Free flu jabs under cloud as people ignore $25m campaign
'It only does any good if it's in your arm': People ignoring free flu jabs
By
The health minister has left a cloud over Queensland's free flu vaccine program, saying continued increases in flu cases and low vaccine uptake this year was 'very concerning'.
Speaking from Greenslopes yesterday, Tim Nicholls said about 90 per cent of the more than 3600 influenza hospitalisations recorded this year were for people who had not received a vaccine.
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About 6.13 million Queenslanders have been vaccinated for influenza since March, about 34,000 fewer than 2024 – and more than 400,000 fewer than three years ago – with Queensland Health reporting at the same time a 16 per cent increase in case numbers from the same time last year.
'We've made public announcements about [the free vaccine program], it runs on our public health messages, it runs on social media … it's been a very substantial news story,' Nicholls said.
'There really is no reason why someone is not aware that there is a free flu vaccine available … there is no reason not to get the free flu vaccine – it does no good in a bottle, it only does any good if it's in your arm.'
Nicholls said the state was 'always happy' to review the $25 million vaccination campaign, but said he would wait until the end of flu season.
'It's not too late to get the free flu vaccine, it is available, [and] the investment has been made in it.'
7.30am
Albanese dismisses suggestion that Xi meeting should be explained to Trump
By Paul Sakkal
Anthony Albanese has dismissed a suggestion that his ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, should explain to the Trump administration the prime minister's intimate meeting with Xi Jinping, details of which were revealed in this masthead.
Host of the ABC's 7.30 program Sarah Ferguson spent the first portion of her interview with Albanese on Monday night asking about last week's lunch in Beijing.
This masthead reported on Monday the pair discussed their upbringing and global outlook in a humour-filled discussion the Australian prime minister said had fostered 'an element of trust'.
Asked if US officials had raised any questions about closer relations between Albanese and China's paramount leader, Albanese said 'No'.
Here's a section of the exchange:
Ferguson: 'Can I come back to that question of trust? Because I do think it's an unusual word that you've used, and I want to know what you think that that word means, apart from having a slightly advanced, developed relationship with him. Would he, for example, take a phone call from you in the event of a crisis blowing up over Taiwan to discourage him from invading or blockading Taiwan?'
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Albanese: 'Well, that's a hypothetical which I'm not going to go into. But I have said before that anything that he has said to me has been fulfilled. There hasn't been any breaches of personal commitments that he has given to me. That doesn't mean he's agreed with everything that I've put forward – far from it. But I'd rather that than someone on an international level saying, 'Yep, we can do all that', and then doing the opposite.'
Ferguson: 'So you trust him that, when he says something, he's going to keep his word?'
Albanese: 'I have no reason to point to any breach that has occurred up to this point.'
Ferguson: 'That's about the past, what about the future?'
Albanese: 'Well, all I can do is talk about the past. I can just talk about facts rather than going forward – we don't know what it will bring. We know there are significant differences. China and Australia have different political systems. We have different values. We have our alliance with the United States which is very important.'
7.21am
'It only does any good if it's in your arm': People ignoring free flu jabs
By Catherine Strohfeldt
The health minister has left a cloud over Queensland's free flu vaccine program, saying continued increases in flu cases and low vaccine uptake this year was 'very concerning'.
Speaking from Greenslopes yesterday, Tim Nicholls said about 90 per cent of the more than 3600 influenza hospitalisations recorded this year were for people who had not received a vaccine.
Loading
About 6.13 million Queenslanders have been vaccinated for influenza since March, about 34,000 fewer than 2024 – and more than 400,000 fewer than three years ago – with Queensland Health reporting at the same time a 16 per cent increase in case numbers from the same time last year.
'We've made public announcements about [the free vaccine program], it runs on our public health messages, it runs on social media … it's been a very substantial news story,' Nicholls said.
'There really is no reason why someone is not aware that there is a free flu vaccine available … there is no reason not to get the free flu vaccine – it does no good in a bottle, it only does any good if it's in your arm.'
Nicholls said the state was 'always happy' to review the $25 million vaccination campaign, but said he would wait until the end of flu season.
'It's not too late to get the free flu vaccine, it is available, [and] the investment has been made in it.'
7.16am
A hazy shade of winter
The forecast for Brisbane today spells a cool day with a chance of a shower or two.
A top temperature of 22 degrees is expected, with much the same for the rest of the week. But while today is about a 50-50 chance of rain, tomorrow is almost guaranteed to be wet.
Here's how the week ahead is looking:
7.14am
While you were sleeping
Here's what's making news further afield this morning:
Voters are lukewarm to any surprise reforms from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, clearly oppose change to the GST and want the Coalition to work more closely with the government to reach consensus on new policies rather than oppose them outright, a survey has revealed.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has assured her colleagues the Liberal Party can only improve on its disastrous showing at the May federal election.
The Greens co-founder booted from the party at the weekend has hit back, accusing the organisation of becoming 'too weird and unlikeable' and urging the federal leader to intervene.
Justin Flowers has $300,000 in the bank and he can't get a home loan. The 52-year-old, who runs his own graphic design business, had bought and sold a few properties, upsizing to accommodate his family of four. But he divorced, and he is now single and renting without hope he can repurchase.
As her newspaper prepared to publish details of a bawdy birthday card Donald Trump allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, Emma Tucker's phone rang. The British editor then stood her ground in face of a furious US president.
And political and international editor Peter Hartcher writes that Trump's original White House strategist Steve Bannon still insists the 'deep state' runs the world. And while Bannon has many questions, he has few answers.
7.03am
The top stories this morning
Good morning, and welcome to Brisbane Times' live news coverage for Tuesday, July 22. Today should be cloudy, with a top temperature of 22 degrees.
In this morning's local headlines:
Complications with a 'once in a generation' under-river infrastructure project are forcing officials to dump millions of litres of raw sewage and stormwater directly into the Brisbane River.
A man has been jailed after a Queensland grandmother was killed and her daughter seriously injured when the stolen car he was driving crashed into theirs car at high speed and he fled.
A banned e-scooter and e-bike company has returned to Brisbane streets – but not as you might expect, as the global micromobility hire company merges with one of its key competitors.
Queensland authorities say they will investigate multiple reported crocodile sightings on the Sunshine Coast, hundreds of kilometres south of Queensland's 'croc country'.
Fresh off his maiden starting appearance in Wallabies colours in defeat to the British and Irish Lions, Tom Lynagh will brace for a future in which he is pitted against his brother in an international club clash.
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A long-running saga between an obstetrician and a midwife with different views on the Middle East has landed in court. Melbourne obstetrician Dr Miranda Robinson has applied for a personal safety intervention order in the Melbourne Magistrates Court against Sydney-based Sharon Stoliar, accusing her of stalking and harassment. But the former midwife-turned-maternity advocate has hit back with her own claims of 'racism' and 'anti-Semitism' against Dr Robinson, in an exclusive sit-down interview with Sky News. Dr Robinson made headlines 10 years ago when she delivered four sets of twin girls in one week, during a baby boom at St Vincent's Private Hospital in Melbourne. In the past year, she's restyled herself as something of a medical influencer, posting reels to her public Facebook page about maternity care and revealing her own personal struggles with neurodiversity. But it was a post Dr Robinson made to a Facebook group Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine, which then boasted 1200 members, that began her stoush with Ms Stoliar in January last year. The specialist had posted about Ms Stoliar being a 'POC [person of colour] and married to a Jewish man' who'd 'been brainwashed' due to her support for Israel, adding, 'I'd be very worried if I were one of her patients.' Ms Stoliar was sent a screenshot of the comment and posted it to her own Instagram account, with the caption 'Post 1 of many where healthcare professionals have participated in making libellous statements against me.' She also obtained and reposted screenshots of a private message Dr Robinson had sent another Instagram user, in which the doctor describes Ms Stoliar as being linked to the 'Jewish mafia' and whose Jewish family comes from 'dirty, dirty money'. Ms Stoliar filed complaints about Dr Robinson's posts to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and also contacted the obstetrician's employers at St Vincent's and Epsworth private hospitals, and Sage Women's Healthcare. The Australian reported last August AHPRA had backflipped on a decision to impose conditions on Dr Robinson, instead finding she had 'indicated that she never intentionally meant to cause harm to [Ms Stoliar] and appreciates that [she] may have found the comments to have been hurtful.' The agency said the doctor had completed 'formal education' on social media use and 'demonstrated her commitment to uphold the professional standards with respect to appropriate conduct on social media.' But Dr Robinson continued to publish offensive posts to social media, in November sharing another post titled 'Z!onism is a mental illness' and commenting she 'loves the Netherlands' on a post about the attacks on Jewish football fans in Amsterdam that month. Bizarrely, Dr Robinson also posted a comment in support of convicted mushroom killer Erin Patterson to LinkedIn, writing, 'I see someone yet again traumatised by a system that doesn't understand her.' Other pro-Israel activists started to reshare Dr Robinson's content online with their own commentary. Ms Stoliar then made a second complaint with AHPRA in March this year about the fresh posts, followed by a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the original post on the basis of racial discrimination against both Jews and people of colour, both sighted by Sky News. Spokespeople for both the regulatory body and the commission said they could not comment. In submissions filed with the court, Dr Robinson alleges Ms Stoliar's repeated complaints represented a 'pattern of targeted harassment and cyberstalking… [including] doxxing, catfishing, intimidation, threats and online harassment' and a 'campaign to vilify and target [Dr Robinson] for her political views.' She claimed the initial post about Ms Stoliar was made on a 'private' Facebook group that had been created 'to share concerns about the humanitarian impact of the Gaza genocide'. Dr Robinson claimed her contracts with two of the healthcare providers had been terminated as a result of the 'targeted campaign', and that she has experienced 'ongoing fear for her safety and that of her children', 'professional isolation', and had been 'forced out of private practice and lost her admitting rights at the Epworth Hospital, resulting in the estimated loss of $80,000 per month in professional income.' An Epworth spokeswoman said the hospital 'does not comment on individual matters or proceedings before the court.' The doctor also claimed in the submissions that the 'reputational harm' she had suffered had led to the 'premature termination of a planned podcast series', losing her 'access to a growing audience and potential patient base.' She said since November last year, she had attended 'weekly psychological appointments' for 'ongoing distress' and 'significant anxiety and stress resulting from the Respondent's targeted campaign.' Ms Stoliar denies she was harassing Dr Robinson and questioned many of her claims. 'That's not harassment – that's me as a legal citizen of this country accessing my legal right to escalate concerns that I feel are justified,' she said. 'I wouldn't call it doxxing if something has already been posted online and I'm resharing. I don't have access to her personal information and as far as I'm aware, doxxing is about exposing personal, private information that is not publicly accessible. 'Maybe she's angry that I have chosen not to be silent about it, that I am actually someone who is speaking out about an injustice that I see needs to be dealt with. There needs to be accountability and I don't think she likes that.' Ms Stoliar says she, too, had received threats as a result of Dr Robinson's and other pro-Palestine activists' posts about her, some serious enough to force her to move home. In her second complaint to AHPRA, Ms Stoliar raised specific concerns about the safety of Dr Robinson's patients, writing: 'Dr Robinson's continued expression of hatred online is alarming, particularly in the context of her role in patient care.' 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'They're holding these biases within them and if we've progressed to the step where they're publicising it on social media - public platforms - when does that translate into clinical practice or subconscious mistakes when it comes to treating patients? 'This is my concern, not just about Dr Miranda Robinson, but about so many doctors who have high positions in Australia who have voiced comments online. 'We hold doctors to a higher standard in our society, something every doctor needs to come to terms with. That comes with the job, with the title, with the role and when you are celebrating the near-death of hundreds of Jewish people publicly [in the Netherlands], that is concerning, and I think that calls for an investigation into the emotional stability and the psychological stability of the person.' 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'My client reserves all of her legal rights against Sky News, any journalist involved in their personal capacity and Ms Stoliar in relation to this matter,' Ms Zaydan warned.
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an hour ago
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Would-be mothers to get ‘more transparency' on what egg-freezing may do
Fertility technology has leapt ahead since the first IVF birth in Australia in 1980, but one significant barrier for would-be mothers remains: age. One in 16 babies nationally is now born with the help of IVF, or 17,963 babies in 2022, but a key to likely success continues to be how old the woman is when her eggs are retrieved to create embryos, which some fertility specialists say is still not well enough understood. As the IVF industry undergoes heavy scrutiny and new regulation after devastating embryo bungles, claims of exaggerated success rates and expensive add-ons that are not clinically proven, scientists at one large provider have produced what they believe will give women 'more transparency' about egg freezing. The number of Australian women freezing their eggs, at a cost of $5000 to $10,000 a cycle, has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. Nearly 7000 women froze their eggs in 2022, up from 3642 in 2020, and multiple collection cycles are often recommended. There are more than 100,000 eggs frozen via 100 clinics nationally, but relatively few women have yet returned to use them, the primary reason being that women fall pregnant spontaneously, says longtime Monash University fertility researcher Karin Hammarberg. A large American study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2022 found the pregnancy rate from frozen eggs is not as good as many women think, and some patients are overly optimistic. Loading Professor David Gardner, of Virtus Health and the University of Melbourne, has co-developed a calculation tool designed to provide evidence-based estimates of women's chance of having a baby with their thawed eggs, which is intended to help women decide if the process is for them, when to time it and how many cycles to have. The tool carries a disclaimer that women's medical profiles should be considered, but provides an overall estimate based on three data sets capturing final live birth rates from frozen eggs. Two of the studies are international and the third parcel of data is compiled from the known outcomes of 5180 thawed eggs in Australia – but not presented as a peer-reviewed study.
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Would-be mothers to get ‘more transparency' on what egg-freezing may do
Fertility technology has leapt ahead since the first IVF birth in Australia in 1980, but one significant barrier for would-be mothers remains: age. One in 16 babies nationally is now born with the help of IVF, or 17,963 babies in 2022, but a key to likely success continues to be how old the woman is when her eggs are retrieved to create embryos, which some fertility specialists say is still not well enough understood. As the IVF industry undergoes heavy scrutiny and new regulation after devastating embryo bungles, claims of exaggerated success rates and expensive add-ons that are not clinically proven, scientists at one large provider have produced what they believe will give women 'more transparency' about egg freezing. The number of Australian women freezing their eggs, at a cost of $5000 to $10,000 a cycle, has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. Nearly 7000 women froze their eggs in 2022, up from 3642 in 2020, and multiple collection cycles are often recommended. There are more than 100,000 eggs frozen via 100 clinics nationally, but relatively few women have yet returned to use them, the primary reason being that women fall pregnant spontaneously, says longtime Monash University fertility researcher Karin Hammarberg. A large American study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2022 found the pregnancy rate from frozen eggs is not as good as many women think, and some patients are overly optimistic. Loading Professor David Gardner, of Virtus Health and the University of Melbourne, has co-developed a calculation tool designed to provide evidence-based estimates of women's chance of having a baby with their thawed eggs, which is intended to help women decide if the process is for them, when to time it and how many cycles to have. The tool carries a disclaimer that women's medical profiles should be considered, but provides an overall estimate based on three data sets capturing final live birth rates from frozen eggs. Two of the studies are international and the third parcel of data is compiled from the known outcomes of 5180 thawed eggs in Australia – but not presented as a peer-reviewed study.
