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ABC News
42 minutes ago
- ABC News
Paramedic who rescued farmer trapped in grain silo receives highest honour
Vaughan Mason will never forget the triple-0 call that led him to be standing in a silo, frantically scooping grain by hand and using a piece of poly pipe as a makeshift breathing tube to keep a trapped farmer alive. He was the lone paramedic dispatched to a property on the outskirts of Baralaba in central Queensland after a man became trapped in a grain silo in February 2023. Mr Mason was part of a small group of rescuers desperately trying to save grain grower John Lawson. Mr Lawson had stepped into the silo to help release the grain, not realising there was a void underneath. He was quickly buried above his neck. "I could imagine if you're drowning in water, it'd be much the same," Mr Lawson recalled. "A lot of things go through your mind, and you think to yourself, 'Hey, Jesus, this might be it.'" For the first time since the accident, Mr Lawson has reunited with the paramedic who helped save his life. It was an emotional moment for the pair as they stood on the property where it happened, reflecting on how close it came to tragedy. "It's a very, very humbling moment, and it just cements [the fact that] I don't want to think that what we do is in vain." Mr Mason, who is the Baralaba officer in charge, recently received an Australian Service Medal at Government House in Brisbane. The Ambulance Service Medal is the highest recognition a paramedic can receive. The award recognised his service to the Baralaba community, including the grain silo rescue. Gwen Tennent works as a nurse at the Baralaba Multipurpose Health Service. In the small town of about 300 people, she wears a few hats — she is also the president of the Local Ambulance Committee and a volunteer emergency driver. She works closely with Mr Mason and said his presence had become a reassuring constant in the community. "He's very important here, people, they just take to him. I don't think it'd be the same [here] if they had a different officer in charge," Ms Tennent said. "The people really like Vaughan here." She said Mr Mason often went above and beyond the normal call of duty. "He does so much that we don't see … he's always teaching when he's on his days off, and he doesn't know how to say no," she said. Mr Mason runs regular community education sessions on the banks of the Baralaba River and is passionate about building community resilience. "There's an older couple next door, he goes in there just to see if they're OK," Ms Tennent said. "They're in their 90s and he'll try and fix whatever they need — if they need a meal, he'll go and get it for them." More than five years ago, he taught a Victorian grey nomad CPR and how to use a defibrillator when he was visiting the town. When the man returned home, more than 1,900 kilometres away, he used that training to save a woman's life at a bingo event. Mr Mason said the community's response to his award was heartwarming. Mr Lawson, who is a lifelong volunteer in Baralaba's ambulance committee, said Mr Mason was an asset to the town. "The training that he does with people is fantastic, the communications that he's got with the public is great," he said. "I could rattle on all day, but no, he's a good bloke." Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Foster mum Roylene Robinson now helps those in need in cost-of-living crisis
For Roylene Robinson, raising hundreds of children has been challenging but "very rewarding". For almost half a century, she has been a foster mum. "Mother's Day is a very, very big day," the 76-year-old said. "It's either the phone ringing or you've got emails or you've got messages or you've got people calling in … I find it very, very rewarding on Mother's Day." Ms Robinson has fostered 280 children over the past 47 years in her humble Rockhampton home in central Queensland. She also has four children of her own. The single carer said love and encouragement were two of the most important things a parent figure could offer a foster child. Ms Robinson dedicates her life not just to children, but to everyone in need. The doors to her charity store, Moo and Coo, open at 10 each morning and within a few minutes, it's always a hive of activity. "Everything's cheaper, much cheaper and it's like the original op shops," she said. "This is what op shops were years ago where people could come in find what they need and have a cup of tea. Ms Robinson is the heart and soul of the not-for-profit organisation that provides essentials like food, clothing and furniture to people in need. "This is a quiet morning. Saturdays [and] Wednesdays are much, much bigger," she said. With the nation in the grips of a cost-of-living crisis, Ms Robinson says many residents, particularly those on lower incomes, are struggling to afford basic needs like food, fuel, rent and electricity. While the state and federal governments are taking steps to address the issue, the situation remains challenging for many. "We do care packages, food packages, clothing, kitchen packs, baby packs for the hospital, so we do everything that we can, right now blankets and everything to keep the needy warm and fed," Ms Robinson said. "We quite often heat up the meals for the people off the street and give them a knife and fork." Laurel Mason is a social worker who regularly brings her clients — mainly those sleeping rough on the streets — to Ms Robinson's store. Ms Mason admitted she had even experienced challenges in meeting increased cost-of-living expenses in recent times. "I know even for myself, I've used Roylene's shop at one point when I wasn't working, so it was a great help to me at that time," she said. According to a survey of 3,600 people who had accessed assistance from The Salvation Army, 90 per cent reported it was difficult to afford essential living costs, such as housing, groceries, medical care and utilities over the past 12 months. The 2025 Red Shield report also found 70 per cent of respondents said cost of living was their biggest challenge in the past year while 87 per cent of households with children were living below the poverty line. Ms Robinson said she had noticed a huge increase in demand for essential items such as clothing. "The cost of living is happening to everybody," she said. "People are finding rents high, food prices have gone up, your petrol has gone up."
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
The demise of cash brings a stark new reality for Australians
Cash is king, so the saying goes. These days it's more like Prince Harry – exiled and mostly forgotten about except for the odd bit of novelty entertainment. I was recently packing for a week away at the Warrnambool races and shoved my hand in a suit pocket before putting it in the bag – only to find a wad of $50 notes that I'd clean forgotten. As best I could deduce, I must have won it on the punt previously and never retrieved it from the jacket. So I proceeded to hand it all back to the bookies, never to be seen again – which, in one way or another, is what has happened to most people's cash. Not necessarily on the punt. But it's nowhere to be seen. Even as a young man, there was a time when I only punted with cash. I'd do the form on Friday evening and Saturday morning I'd go down to the pub or TAB to put my bets on for the day. There were always a few coins on hand to have a quick bet if I popped into the pub for a quiet pint in the afternoon. I was on first-name terms with the lady who ran the TAB near the newsroom in Adelaide. The kitty was in my bedside drawer and I could see exactly how much cash was coming in and out. Then Covid came along and the sneeze police said you couldn't go to the pub or you'd be put in the city watch house so I was forced to punt online instead – and I've been doing it ever since. It's a bit sad, really, because I enjoyed the ritual of going to the TAB to have a chat and put a bet on but new habits formed and they stuck. Now, on a Friday afternoon, I sometimes take myself to the pub with some cash for the novelty of having a bet the old fashioned way. All of this is to say that you don't realise just how quickly habits form – and how fast that has driven cash into obscurity. You may say you don't care because it's easier to use your credit or debit card. And that's fine so long as you still have the freedom to use cash – but just you wait till that doesn't exist anymore. This masthead's Ella McIlveen recently wrote of how supermarkets are slowly squeezing out cash by reducing the number of self-service terminals that will take it. Many of the Coles and Woolworths outlets she visited had just two terminals accepting cash. One – a Coles shop – had none at all. The only way you could use cash was to go to a manned checkout. Except none of them were manned. This is not for the convenience of the consumer. It is a deliberate ploy by corporate Australia and the federal government to reduce the use of cash so they can eventually scrap it altogether. It's a bit like banks keep justifying the closure of ATMs and branches by saying that fewer people are using cash without acknowledging that one of the main reasons fewer people are using cash is because they've taken away all the places from which you can get it. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that ultimately leads to the abolition of the one form of money over which you have complete control – which is exactly what they want. The most valuable resource on the planet today is not dug out of the ground, it's dug out of your life. Data is worth more than gold or any diamond and digital transactions paint a picture of who you are and what you do. Your bank probably knows you better than you know yourself. And once you get rid of cash, the government can introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC). CBDCs would be issued by the federal government of Reserve Bank but because it exists digitally and not physically, it can potentially give the issuer control at all times. The controller of a CBDC could, theoretically, add or deduct money from your account at any time for any reason. It could give the controller – the government – the power to dictate how that money can or cannot be spent. And it could give the government complete oversight of how and where you spend your money, thus creating a surveillance state on a mass scale. You may figure that's unlikely to be a problem – but imagine that power in the wrong hands. Governments don't always act in your best interest.
