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News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Four days of heavy rain to drench Sydney, northern NSW from Monday
Millions of Australians on the country's east coast are in the firing line of a huge rain system expected to bring a four-day drenching. The latest forecasts show Sydney could get up to 100mm of rain starting on Monday. While tentative forecasts from a few days ago projected up to 200mm of rain could hit parts of the east coast, the Bureau of Meteorology has now solidified wet weather predictions for NSW. Sydney is now tipped to receive totals of 20mm, 30mm, 25mm, and 20mm in the four days from Monday. Brisbane could get up to 55mm of rain across Wednesday and Thursday. Outside of the capital cities, Port Macquarie is looking at forecasts of up to 105mm of rain between Tuesday and Thursday, the bureau forecasts. Near the Queensland-NSW border, Coolangatta could cop some of the heaviest rainfall, with the bureau predicting up to 60mm of rain on Wednesday and another 50mm the day after. The heavy rain is forecast to create minor flooding in northern NSW. There is already a moderate flood warning for the Namoi River at Goangra. These waters are heading to Walgett this weekend and into Monday. 'This may cause minor flooding at Walgett from around Wednesday,' the Bureau of Meteorology warns. Ahead of the heavy rain, a cold snap continues to hit parts of the southeast. Snow is falling at most of Australia's ski resorts, with temperatures at Thredbo dropping below -5C on Sunday morning. Conditions are essentially opposite at the top of the country. There is an extreme fire danger warning for the Darwin and Adelaide River areas. 'Fresh and gusty winds coupled with warm and dry conditions will generate elevated fire dangers during Sunday,' the bureau warns. Sydneysiders are in for a mostly sunny and mild Sunday, with temperatures to peak at 17C. The day is expected to be cooler and cloudy in Melbourne, with a top of 13C and a chance of showers from late morning. Brisbane is tipped to stay sunny and reach 22C, while a high chance of showers and maximum of 13C is forecast for Adelaide. Perth is likely to remain cloudy with a top of 20C. Both Canberra and Hobart can expect partly cloudy conditions, with respective maximums of 13C and 11C. Temperatures in sunny Darwin are expected to peak at 33C.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
WA government defends ‘world-class' health system after ramping, hospital concerns
Western Australia's health system is not in good health, and the signs for the future aren't much better. The state government has spent the week defending its record, particularly around a range of issues at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which is reportedly falling apart. It's been the opposition's near sole focus this week. "Will the premier commit to cancelling the Burswood racetrack project and directing those funds to fixing up Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital?" opposition leader Basil Zempilas demanded in parliament on Tuesday, landing a two-for-one blow. The government's responses were similarly political. "[Basil Zempilas] is scaring Western Australians because he sees a small gap of political opportunity here," Premier Roger Cook responded, saying improvements were underway. "We have a $3.2 billion capital investment program to ensure we continue to expand our health system. "We have provided more funding than ever before." It's a line often used by government, which usually doesn't mean a lot, because the combination of inflation and an ever-growing population means spending will almost always increase, even if what's being delivered remains the same. There are many signs a lot more funding will be required in the future, including from a Health Department report released this week. The idea of its 'Burden of Disease' analysis is to track changes in not only life expectancy, but also how much of people's lives are lived in good health — meaning their impact on the health system is reduced. The latest report, which looks at data from 2023, found life expectancy was increasing faster than the proportion of people's lives considered to be lived in good health. On average, it said women under 64 and men aged under 60 could expect to have a smaller proportion of their remaining life in good health. It suggests without fundamental changes in the health system, the problems facing patients today will only get worse because of ever-increasing demand. And there are problems at the moment — even if the government is not keen to admit them. The amount of time ambulances spend parked outside hospitals waiting to transfer patients is just one symptom of the problem — highlighting when hospitals are at capacity and unable to meet demand. Between June 2024 and June 2025 a patient would spend, on average, 20 minutes ramped outside a hospital — about in line with the averages in previous years. This month, the average is closer to 30 minutes. "What we want is the premier to drop this 'world-class' line," Australian Medical Association WA president Kyle Hoath said on Tuesday. "We want the premier to acknowledge that there is a problem with our health system, that our hospitals are on their knees, and that we need to work together to fix this. "We need investment in our hospitals, not just new beds, but to make sure that our existing hospitals don't fall to pieces." On Thursday, opposition health spokeswoman Libby Mettam used question time to claim the government's own figures showed it had only added 118 hospital beds in metropolitan Perth between 2018 and May 2025 — far below the 863 beds it claimed to have added. "The number of available beds in the system will change over the course of the day," Health Minister Meredith Hammat attempted to explain over the opposition's interjections. "The reasons it might change, for example, are because a patient has been discharged and that room needs to be cleaned before another patient can use it. It may be that some maintenance is potentially required for one of those beds. "This is why the more accurate measure is to count the number of beds that have been added through infrastructure upgrades." While a common understanding of the issue might have proved elusive, there was a marked change in language. On Tuesday, the premier told parliament the health system was "world-class" four times. The following day, Health Infrastructure Minister John Carey also used the term. On Thursday, no ministers used the description. "Every minister in every portfolio advocates for more funding," Carey told reporters that day. "I do anticipate that we will have to make further investment in Charlies." But the government is not writing the health system a blank cheque, with Treasurer Rita Saffioti pointing out on Thursday "there's always unlimited wants, unlimited demand" for taxpayers' money. "And so it's always trying to make sure you can deliver increased funding and getting improvements," she said, pointing to $110 million of investment at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital alone. On the face of it, it's a fair enough comment for a government to make. Not every funding request it received can be accommodated. But it's a trickier argument to make when the state budget is $2.4 billion in surplus, and the question is whether health spending should be increased. Only six months into this term of government, the opposition has honed in on health as a weak point for the government, and one it will almost certainly continue to prosecute relentlessly. It's a tricky one for the government to counter, given the web of systems and services run by state and federal authorities in an increasingly complex space with no easy answers. When the next election is held in 2029, the opposition may well have convinced the public of the severity of problems — but they'll have to do a lot more to prove they have the solutions needed to turn things around.
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
Bindi Irwin sparks endometriosis conversation after sharing her story
Bindi Irwin is urging women not to accept endometriosis pain as normal. The 27-year-old's post on social media in 2023 detailing her diagnosis with endometriosis has been liked more than one million times. This week, Ms Irwin stated that after 13 years of fighting for answers, 51 endometriosis lesions, a cyst, two surgeries, and a hernia, it was now time to heal. She said she felt "utterly ashamed" of her pain as her endometriosis symptoms were constantly dismissed. Like many women, Ms Irwin said this eroded her self-esteem, and she was speaking out to help reduce the stigma and secrecy around discussing the condition. Endometriosis is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other parts of the body. About one in 10 of those assigned female at birth have endometriosis. Ebony Nykiel, 26, from Queensland's Sunshine Coast, said Bindi's post resonated with her. She said it took 13 years for her diagnosis of endometriosis. Ms Nykiel said she had her first period at 10, and from the start, her painful symptoms were dismissed by others. Her eventual diagnosis was "bittersweet". She said it was validating to learn she "wasn't crazy" but that she was left with limited treatment options. Ms Nykiel said it wasn't just a woman's issue. "It's everyone's issue," she said. Ms Irwin said she was "slowly, slowly" regaining her strength. "I can FINALLY (sic) say that I'm feeling better. Genuinely healing. I can function in everyday life without wanting to throw up or pass out from the pain," she wrote on social media. "I cannot express the gravity of my emotions as I am beginning to recognise myself again. "I felt utterly ashamed as a teenager and young adult being told that my pain was just part of being a woman. "I felt lesser. I felt hurt. I felt weak." She said others should not have to endure isolation along with the trauma caused by endometriosis. "Young girls and women shouldn't feel alone with pain in the driver's seat of their lives," Ms Irwin said. "We need to take away the stigma of talking about women's health. It's time to have open discussions and make change on a global scale." Jessica Spain, a social worker and PhD candidate at the University of the Sunshine Coast, is researching the experiences of women and girls in regional Queensland accessing an endometriosis diagnosis. She said it was "so common" for them to be dismissed or for their pain to be normalised, misdiagnosed, or mistreated. Miss Spain said it could take six to eight years to be diagnosed. Accessing care, she said, was even more challenging for those who were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, transgender, non-binary, living with a disability, or in a regional area. "The stigma around it has kept women under wraps for hundreds and thousands of years," she said. "Females are the experts in their own bodies and we know when something's wrong." She said women were often told they were being dramatic or that it was stress-related. Miss Spain said she found Ms Irwin's post empowering. "Endometriosis doesn't discriminate," Miss Spain said. "It's so powerful for her to speak up about that because that will resonate with so many people." Monica Forlano, from Endometriosis Australia, said it was a full-body and potentially lifelong health condition. She said, historically, the female body was not studied in the same way as men's bodies. "It essentially just comes down to medical misogyny," she said. "We know so little about it, it's still a mystery, an enigma." She said that through more funding, research, and awareness, the future was likely brighter for those living with the disease. Ms Forlano said she hoped to see endometriosis discussed more widely in schools with boys and girls of all ages. "It shouldn't be a life-defining condition. People can thrive," Ms Forlano said. "They just need to be seen and heard and listened to."
