Latest news with #Allan
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Wild with rage': It took Jacinta Allan more than a decade to learn the source of her pain
Since she was an adolescent, Jacinta Allan has lived with a pain that some – including one high-profile radio host – claim to be 'made up', but which for many women is life-altering. Each month, she had periods and pelvic pain so heavy that she couldn't participate in favourite activities, like sports, and was confused by her suffering. 'Ever since I was a teenager getting my first periods, I always had the experience well known to women who have lived with this: the heavy periods, the long ones, the pain you kind of just put up with,' says the Victorian premier, who is now 51. Like many other women with what was eventually diagnosed as endometriosis, it took more than a decade for her disease to be identified. Even then, it was by chance, after Allan poured her heart out to a friend at a wedding about her unexplained infertility. Loading 'She started to grill me about my period experience and said, 'Why haven't you been checked out for endometriosis?' She had that experience as well,' says Allan. Being validated by doctors was relief 'that my pain was real, and I did deserve help'. 'Thinking back to … what I'd missed out on, day-to-day things I couldn't do, it was overwhelming to know that my pain was real and that help was on the way.'
The Age
2 days ago
- Health
- The Age
‘Wild with rage': It took Jacinta Allan more than a decade to learn the source of her pain
Since she was an adolescent, Jacinta Allan has lived with a pain that some – including one high-profile radio host – claim to be 'made up', but which for many women is life-altering. Each month, she had periods and pelvic pain so heavy that she couldn't participate in favourite activities, like sports, and was confused by her suffering. 'Ever since I was a teenager getting my first periods, I always had the experience well known to women who have lived with this: the heavy periods, the long ones, the pain you kind of just put up with,' says the Victorian premier, who is now 51. Like many other women with what was eventually diagnosed as endometriosis, it took more than a decade for her disease to be identified. Even then, it was by chance, after Allan poured her heart out to a friend at a wedding about her unexplained infertility. Loading 'She started to grill me about my period experience and said, 'Why haven't you been checked out for endometriosis?' She had that experience as well,' says Allan. Being validated by doctors was relief 'that my pain was real, and I did deserve help'. 'Thinking back to … what I'd missed out on, day-to-day things I couldn't do, it was overwhelming to know that my pain was real and that help was on the way.'
The Age
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Teachers to protest in the streets against school funding cuts
Teachers furious at a state government plan to underfund public schools for another six years will take to the streets in a mass protest personally targeting Premier Jacinta Allan as a parliamentary inquiry is launched into the growing scandal. The Australian Education Union on Friday wrote to Victorian teachers calling for immediate action against the government's school funding 'con job' which will strip $2.4 billion out of public schools by pushing back its commitment to fully fund the Gonski reforms by three years. The campaign outlined by the union's state leadership will involve paid advertisements, flooding the email inboxes of Allan and Education Minister Ben Carroll with letters from outraged teachers and school parents and public rallies targeting the pair and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes. The Greens this week established a parliamentary inquiry to examine the impact of the funding cuts on students, teachers and the state school system. The inquiry, backed by the Liberal Party and not voted against by Labor MPs, is due to report by 30 April next year, seven months before the next state election. Cabinet-in-confidence documents provided to this masthead uncovered a secret government decision taken in March last year to delay until 2031 additional funding needed by public schools to deliver the Gonski education reforms. In the three weeks since the funding cuts were exposed, Allan and Carroll have refused to publicly acknowledge the decision or canvass the implications for public school students and teachers. Loading The documents show that Carroll argued against the delay, warning it would damage the state's reputation, entrench Victoria as Australia's lowest per-student funding jurisdiction for government schools and aggravate the funding gap between government and non-government schools and disparity in outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Allan and Carroll, when questioned about the decision in parliament, have pointed to a 34 per cent increase per student in funding for public schools since Labor came to power 11 years ago and $17 billion in capital investments in new and upgraded schools.
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- Business
- The Advertiser
Tax reprieve for farmers as drought declared statewide
Farmers will be temporarily spared from paying a hiked emergency services levy as drought support is expanded statewide. An extra $37.7 million has been earmarked for drought relief in Victoria as paddocks and dams run dry following low autumn rainfall. A Victorian drought relief package, which includes $5000 grants, will be made available across the state after previously being limited to 24 local government areas. Its expansion means all farmers will not pay the increased rate for the expanded emergency services levy in the 2025/26 financial year. Their rate will remain at the same level as 2024/25 and automatically applied to notices for primary production properties. The expansion of drought support was based on Bureau of Meteorology and Agriculture Victoria advice that the worse case for May rainfall had been realised, Premier Jacinta Allan said. "All of Victoria is being now recognised as being affected by drought," she told reporters in Fiskville on Friday. Thousands of farmers and firefighters protested against the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy outside Victorian parliament on May 20, the day of the state budget was handed down. Under the original changes to the levy from July 1, the average annual bill was expected to rise $678 for primary producers and $63 for residential home owners. Spooked by the backlash, the Allan government lowered the rate for farmers and introduced rebates for CFA and SES volunteers and life members. The expanded levy was meant raise an extra $2.1 billion over the next three years to cover more emergency service agencies in the face of more frequent and intense natural disasters. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said the recent tweaks would leave the budget $73 million worse off but she remained confident of delivering an operating surplus of $600 million in 2025/26. "It doesn't impact any of the commitments that we've made," she said. The premier will also chair a drought task force that includes Ms Symes, Agriculture Minister Ros Spence and Nationals MP Peter Walsh, as well as farming, banking and local government representatives. "We know there will be more work that we need to do," Ms Allan said. Victorian Farmers Federation President Brett Hosking, who is on the task force, said the government had noticed backlash to the levy and decided to offer farmers a glimmer of hope. "At a frozen level, we've placed our farmers in a position where they can get through the next 12 months," he said. Wimmera farmer Andrew Weidemann and United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall, who led the budget day protest, still want the expanded tax scrapped. "The laws will remain on the books, and the tax will hang over the heads of every Victorian ... for every year to come," they said in a joint statement. Victorian Nationals deputy Emma Kealy said the expanded levy on producers was "unjustified and unfair", regardless of whether they faced drought conditions or not. "The latest drought package falls short when it comes to water and fodder requirements farmers have been calling for over several months," she said. Farmers will be temporarily spared from paying a hiked emergency services levy as drought support is expanded statewide. An extra $37.7 million has been earmarked for drought relief in Victoria as paddocks and dams run dry following low autumn rainfall. A Victorian drought relief package, which includes $5000 grants, will be made available across the state after previously being limited to 24 local government areas. Its expansion means all farmers will not pay the increased rate for the expanded emergency services levy in the 2025/26 financial year. Their rate will remain at the same level as 2024/25 and automatically applied to notices for primary production properties. The expansion of drought support was based on Bureau of Meteorology and Agriculture Victoria advice that the worse case for May rainfall had been realised, Premier Jacinta Allan said. "All of Victoria is being now recognised as being affected by drought," she told reporters in Fiskville on Friday. Thousands of farmers and firefighters protested against the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy outside Victorian parliament on May 20, the day of the state budget was handed down. Under the original changes to the levy from July 1, the average annual bill was expected to rise $678 for primary producers and $63 for residential home owners. Spooked by the backlash, the Allan government lowered the rate for farmers and introduced rebates for CFA and SES volunteers and life members. The expanded levy was meant raise an extra $2.1 billion over the next three years to cover more emergency service agencies in the face of more frequent and intense natural disasters. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said the recent tweaks would leave the budget $73 million worse off but she remained confident of delivering an operating surplus of $600 million in 2025/26. "It doesn't impact any of the commitments that we've made," she said. The premier will also chair a drought task force that includes Ms Symes, Agriculture Minister Ros Spence and Nationals MP Peter Walsh, as well as farming, banking and local government representatives. "We know there will be more work that we need to do," Ms Allan said. Victorian Farmers Federation President Brett Hosking, who is on the task force, said the government had noticed backlash to the levy and decided to offer farmers a glimmer of hope. "At a frozen level, we've placed our farmers in a position where they can get through the next 12 months," he said. Wimmera farmer Andrew Weidemann and United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall, who led the budget day protest, still want the expanded tax scrapped. "The laws will remain on the books, and the tax will hang over the heads of every Victorian ... for every year to come," they said in a joint statement. Victorian Nationals deputy Emma Kealy said the expanded levy on producers was "unjustified and unfair", regardless of whether they faced drought conditions or not. "The latest drought package falls short when it comes to water and fodder requirements farmers have been calling for over several months," she said. Farmers will be temporarily spared from paying a hiked emergency services levy as drought support is expanded statewide. An extra $37.7 million has been earmarked for drought relief in Victoria as paddocks and dams run dry following low autumn rainfall. A Victorian drought relief package, which includes $5000 grants, will be made available across the state after previously being limited to 24 local government areas. Its expansion means all farmers will not pay the increased rate for the expanded emergency services levy in the 2025/26 financial year. Their rate will remain at the same level as 2024/25 and automatically applied to notices for primary production properties. The expansion of drought support was based on Bureau of Meteorology and Agriculture Victoria advice that the worse case for May rainfall had been realised, Premier Jacinta Allan said. "All of Victoria is being now recognised as being affected by drought," she told reporters in Fiskville on Friday. Thousands of farmers and firefighters protested against the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy outside Victorian parliament on May 20, the day of the state budget was handed down. Under the original changes to the levy from July 1, the average annual bill was expected to rise $678 for primary producers and $63 for residential home owners. Spooked by the backlash, the Allan government lowered the rate for farmers and introduced rebates for CFA and SES volunteers and life members. The expanded levy was meant raise an extra $2.1 billion over the next three years to cover more emergency service agencies in the face of more frequent and intense natural disasters. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said the recent tweaks would leave the budget $73 million worse off but she remained confident of delivering an operating surplus of $600 million in 2025/26. "It doesn't impact any of the commitments that we've made," she said. The premier will also chair a drought task force that includes Ms Symes, Agriculture Minister Ros Spence and Nationals MP Peter Walsh, as well as farming, banking and local government representatives. "We know there will be more work that we need to do," Ms Allan said. Victorian Farmers Federation President Brett Hosking, who is on the task force, said the government had noticed backlash to the levy and decided to offer farmers a glimmer of hope. "At a frozen level, we've placed our farmers in a position where they can get through the next 12 months," he said. Wimmera farmer Andrew Weidemann and United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall, who led the budget day protest, still want the expanded tax scrapped. "The laws will remain on the books, and the tax will hang over the heads of every Victorian ... for every year to come," they said in a joint statement. Victorian Nationals deputy Emma Kealy said the expanded levy on producers was "unjustified and unfair", regardless of whether they faced drought conditions or not. "The latest drought package falls short when it comes to water and fodder requirements farmers have been calling for over several months," she said. Farmers will be temporarily spared from paying a hiked emergency services levy as drought support is expanded statewide. An extra $37.7 million has been earmarked for drought relief in Victoria as paddocks and dams run dry following low autumn rainfall. A Victorian drought relief package, which includes $5000 grants, will be made available across the state after previously being limited to 24 local government areas. Its expansion means all farmers will not pay the increased rate for the expanded emergency services levy in the 2025/26 financial year. Their rate will remain at the same level as 2024/25 and automatically applied to notices for primary production properties. The expansion of drought support was based on Bureau of Meteorology and Agriculture Victoria advice that the worse case for May rainfall had been realised, Premier Jacinta Allan said. "All of Victoria is being now recognised as being affected by drought," she told reporters in Fiskville on Friday. Thousands of farmers and firefighters protested against the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy outside Victorian parliament on May 20, the day of the state budget was handed down. Under the original changes to the levy from July 1, the average annual bill was expected to rise $678 for primary producers and $63 for residential home owners. Spooked by the backlash, the Allan government lowered the rate for farmers and introduced rebates for CFA and SES volunteers and life members. The expanded levy was meant raise an extra $2.1 billion over the next three years to cover more emergency service agencies in the face of more frequent and intense natural disasters. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said the recent tweaks would leave the budget $73 million worse off but she remained confident of delivering an operating surplus of $600 million in 2025/26. "It doesn't impact any of the commitments that we've made," she said. The premier will also chair a drought task force that includes Ms Symes, Agriculture Minister Ros Spence and Nationals MP Peter Walsh, as well as farming, banking and local government representatives. "We know there will be more work that we need to do," Ms Allan said. Victorian Farmers Federation President Brett Hosking, who is on the task force, said the government had noticed backlash to the levy and decided to offer farmers a glimmer of hope. "At a frozen level, we've placed our farmers in a position where they can get through the next 12 months," he said. Wimmera farmer Andrew Weidemann and United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall, who led the budget day protest, still want the expanded tax scrapped. "The laws will remain on the books, and the tax will hang over the heads of every Victorian ... for every year to come," they said in a joint statement. Victorian Nationals deputy Emma Kealy said the expanded levy on producers was "unjustified and unfair", regardless of whether they faced drought conditions or not. "The latest drought package falls short when it comes to water and fodder requirements farmers have been calling for over several months," she said.
The Courier
3 days ago
- Health
- The Courier
How Abernethy dad learned he had bladder cancer - despite having no symptoms
Two years ago insurance broker Allan Donnachie decided to take up the offer of a free medical check up through his workplace. The then 54-year-old from Abernethy felt perfectly healthy. But he had no idea that his health MOT would lead to him being diagnosed with bladder cancer. 'I was working as an insurance broker for Marsh Commercial in Perth at the time with 27 years service,' he explains. 'Fortunately I was provided with private healthcare through my job so took up the offer of a health check up. 'I had my cholesterol, blood pressure and everything else checked. 'But because I was over 50, the doctor asked me if I wanted to check my prostate. 'To be honest I didn't know what was involved but I said yes anyway. 'He then phoned me the next day to say he was a bit concerned about my prostate. 'And he suggested I should get it checked out as soon as I could.' So Allan, who is now 56, made an appointment at Spire Murrayfield Hospital in Edinburgh so further investigations could be carried out. But after some scans, tests and an operation, Allan was shocked to discover he had three cancerous tumours on his bladder. Today Allan is sharing his story to mark Bladder Cancer Awareness Month. And he is grateful his bladder cancer was caught in the early stages. After deciding to opt for private health care, Allan made an appointment at Spire Murrayfield Hospital. This was after concerns were raised about his prostate. 'The doctor carried out more checks and asked me to measure everything I drank for the next ten days,' he explains. 'He was concerned about the number of times I was needing to visit the toilet. 'So I did that and went on to have an MRI scan which found a shadow on my prostate. 'Then then did more tests and one of them was a cystoscopy.' A cystoscopy is a procedure where a thin, flexible tube with a camera (cystoscope) is inserted into the urethra to examine the inside of the bladder and urethra. It's used to diagnose or treat various bladder conditions, including detecting bladder cancer. Allan continues: 'They looked at my prostate first and said it was fine. 'But they said I would need to go in for an operation as they had found something on my bladder. 'Less than two weeks later, in August 2023, I had surgery. 'After the operation I was told the surgeons had found three cancerous tumours on my bladder.' Allan is one of nearly 1700 people who are diagnosed each year in Scotland with bladder cancer. Yet he had no idea he had the disease. And the diagnosis was the last thing he expected to hear. 'I have never been sick in my life,' he says. 'I just thought maybe there was a lump they had seen on the MRI, but I never thought it would be cancerous. 'They were able to confirm it was cancer after the tumours were removed and analysed. 'According to the NHS, one of the main causes of bladder cancer is smoking but I don't smoke and I never have. 'So that's why the diagnosis came as such a shock. 'But at the same time I was pleased it had been caught early.' After the operation Allan was given his first chemotherapy treatment straight away. 'I was given this right after the operation and was told this was the most important chemotherapy treatment,' he explains. 'After the tumours were removed the chemo would start working straight away and prevent any more tumours from forming. 'Once the tumours had been analysed I was told there was a low grade, intermediate risk of the cancer returning. 'So on the back of that I was given six shots of chemotherapy.' After the first round, Allan went on to have the next few chemotherapy sessions at the end of October. And he finished the treatment on December 28, 2023. Allan had his first check up – which included having a cystoscopy – after finishing treatment in February 2024. And the results came back clear. As part of his recovery he took part in a wellness nutrition course at Maggie's Dundee. 'It was good to chat to other people who had had bladder cancer, just knowing that there were other people who had been through the same experience. 'But it made me realise how fortunate I had been. 'There had been other guys at Maggie's with the same cancer as me but they had had their bladders removed. 'It made me glad I had gone for that medical when I did.' Allan continues to have regular check ups and so far, remains clear of cancer. 'I have to have four cystoscopies a year for the first two years. 'This means I will have another in August, then one more in November. From then it will go down to two a year.' Allan, who has two daughters Natalie, 14 and Rosie, 10, is grateful for the support of his family, particularly wife Marie, 50. 'It was my wife who encouraged me to go to Maggie's and sign up for the wellness course. She went to Maggie's with me a couple of times. 'She has been very supportive and really helped to keep me going.' Allan is now looking ahead to the future. 'I am grateful it was picked up early because I could still be sitting here today not knowing I had the disease because I never had any symptoms. 'I might have ended up having my bladder removed or worse.' He adds: 'I feel extremely lucky.'
