Latest news with #KimberleyPrice
ABC News
26-05-2025
- ABC News
Victoria bans machete sales
Andy Park: Australia's first ban on machetes is set to begin after a brazen and violent daylight gang brawl in a Melbourne shopping centre at the weekend. The Victorian Premier's ban comes after a series of high profile and tragic knife crimes both here and overseas. One victim is campaigning for a complete ban on pointed kitchen knives in the UK. The tip and not the edge of the knife being the most harmful source of her own critical injuries. Kimberley Price filed this report. Kimberley Price: Crowds of shoppers flee a Melbourne shopping centre on Sunday as a violent brawl unfolds. A man wielding a machete is seen on CCTV lunging towards two people before a shopper called Anthony stepped in to make a citizen's arrest. Anthony: I saw one of the guys with the machetes just kind of bring it out from his waistband, sort of remove the sheath and then have it in the air and start swinging at it. One of the guys ran towards us into the shopping centre and that's the guy that I tripped over. Kimberley Price: Two teenagers were arrested at the shopping centre and charged with a fray, intentionally causing injury and possession and use of a controlled weapon, while a 20 year old was seriously injured. It wasn't the only knife related incident in Melbourne over the weekend. On Saturday, Victoria police shot dead a woman after she drove at officers while they were arresting a man allegedly armed with a machete. Today, Premier Jacinta Allan declared Victoria will fast track Australia's first machete ban. Jacinta Allan: We must never let the places where we gather, the places where families come together to meet, to shop, to enjoy the peace of their weekend become the places we fear. Kimberley Price: It will be illegal to sell machetes in Victoria from midday Wednesday. The government says the move is an attempt to dry up the market before a ban on possessing the weapons comes into effect in September. Jacinta Allan: This comes also off the work that is being done to provide Victoria police with expanded knife search powers, which has seen a record number of these dangerous weapons being seized and taken off the streets. Kimberley Price: The Australian Bureau of Statistics says knives were the most common weapon used in homicides between 2010 and 2023. Recent high profile incidents like Sydney's Bondi Junction shopping centre stabbing where seven people were killed underline the danger. As authorities hold inquiries into these deadly incidents, overseas, Leanne Lucas, who survived the Southport stabbing in England last year where three children were killed at a dance studio, wants to see an end to the sale of pointed kitchen knives. Leanne Lucas: I feel like I've just had my eyes opened to the dangers of how domestic tools can be weaponised and the fact that they're so readily available. A safer option is to go for a curved or a blunt tip knife that reduces that risk of the kitchen knife being used ever as aa weapon. Kimberley Price: Dr Vincent Hurley is a criminologist at Macquarie University and former New South Wales police officer. He welcomes the Victorian government's ban, but argues it doesn't go far enough. Vincent Hurley: If you go back and look at graffiti about two decades ago, state governments decided to put spray cans behind grills in hardware stores to stop graffiti. If governments were serious about knife crime, then they would put behind grills, machetes, axes, tomahawks and all these sharp implements. They would do what they did with the gun buyback scheme 20, 30 years ago after Port Arthur, where they would pay people to hand in axes, machetes, zombie knives and things like this. Together, those two things would be an excellent suggestion to try and reduce knife crime. It would have to make a difference. Kimberley Price: Dr Hurley believes Leanne Lucas's campaign could prevent some crime, but it wouldn't stop people from accessing other bladed instruments. Vincent Hurley: Knife crimes account for most deaths in Australia against violence against women and machete attacks like this. It is the idea that they are so easily accessible that they are a weapon of convenience. Anyone can purchase them. Kimberley Price: Victoria Police continue to investigate Sunday's shopping centre incident, while the state inquest into the Bondi Junction stabbing attack remains ongoing. Andy Park: Kimberley Price there.
ABC News
22-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
New Alzheimer's drug approved in Australia
Andy Park: A new drug promising to treat the early stages of Alzheimer's disease has been approved for use in Australia, the first of its kind in nearly 25 years. Donanemab , sold under the brand name Kisunla, is a medication which can potentially slow the progress of the disease and maintains a patient's independence. However, there have been some concerns about the drug's effectiveness overseas and its high cost, as Kimberley Price reports. Kimberley Price: It starts with forgotten names and missed appointments, but eventually takes away your ability to carry out even simple tasks. More than 400,000 Australians live with dementia, with Alzheimer's disease the most common type. For two decades, there has been little progress in treating it. But today, a new drug has arrived which may change that. Michael Woodward: This is a significant breakthrough. It's the first time we have a disease-modifying drug for Alzheimer's disease. Kimberley Price: That's Associate Professor Michael Woodward, head of dementia research at the Memory Clinic at Austin Health in Melbourne. The drug he's talking about is Denanimab, a medicine which clears away amyloid plaques, the molecules which are believed to cause the symptoms of Alzheimer's. Michael Woodward: So it means that people will deteriorate more slowly because the amyloid sets off a process that causes the symptoms of forgetfulness and loss of our ability to look after ourselves. So if we use this drug, particularly in the earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease, we can't completely cure the disease, but we can slow it down substantially. Kimberley Price: Donanemab has some major limitations. It can cause swelling or bleeding in the brain, which can be life-threatening. And those taking the drug require regular MRI scans to monitor for side effects. It's also only approved for use in patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's who are dealing with initial memory loss and mood changes. Michael Woodward: It's not approved for moderate or severe dementia due to Alzheimer's disease because unfortunately by then the amyloid has done too much damage. We need to remove the amyloid and stop the other cascade of Alzheimer's pathology at an early stage if possible and that's where this drug has been approved. Kimberley Price: Sydney-based geriatrician Professor Peter Gonski believes Donanemab needs to be used as part of a larger treatment plan. Peter Gonski: We do have to see the patient as a person and we need to treat them looking at a whole lot of different strategies in trying to improve their lives and continue their good quality life as long as possible. And I think that this is a very important addition to our treatment plan. Kimberley Price: And while the drug has limitations, Professor Gonski says it's an important new tool. Peter Gonski: We have not really had medication development for 25 to 30 years and although we have had some medications that have slowed down the progression of the condition, sometimes even improved people in the early stages, they really haven't changed the actual underlying pathology that occurs in Alzheimer's disease. They've basically changed the chemicals in the brain. Kimberley Price: While Donanemab has been approved by the TGA for use in Australia, it's currently not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. While no price has been listed, in the US the drug costs the equivalent of $47,000 Australian dollars per year. Andy Park: That report by Kimberley Price and Luke Radford.
ABC News
29-04-2025
- ABC News
AUDIO: Victim questions Victoria Police's family violence unit's response
Sabra Lane: The ABC's obtained new documents showing a disparity between cases of Victorian police officers accused of family violence and criminal defendants in the general community. Victoria Police has a special team dedicated to investigating serious cases of sexual and family violence by serving officers. Anti-abuse advocates say there are now serious questions about the unit. A warning, the story details allegations of sexual and family violence. Kimberley Price reports. Kimberley Price : When Kate, that's not her real name, was 17, she alleges her boyfriend's father started making sexual advances, initially with forced hugs. A voice actor is being used. Kate: Like, my hands are just down to my side and he would just make me do it again. Kimberley Price : Kate didn't want to hug her boyfriend's dad, who was a Victoria Police officer, but she says he insisted. Kate: Well, I felt really uncomfortable, but we never, like, spoke about it, like ever. Kimberley Price : Kate told her mum Claire, also not her real name, what was happening. Kate also revealed instances where the police officer would allegedly tell her to sleep in the same bed with him and touched her inappropriately. Claire was shocked. Claire: That night I couldn't even sleep. I'm thinking, who do I tell about this? I literally have no idea. I honestly didn't have a clue what to do and so I googled. Kimberley Price : Claire came across SOFU, Victoria Police's Sexual Offences and Family Violence Unit, which is tasked with investigating allegations of serious and complex sexual and family violence against Victoria Police employees. So she approached a SOFU police officer. Claire: He says, you know, you don't live there, so you can choose never to go back to their house again. So the fact that he just took our phone call, gave us ridiculous advice, didn't do any investigation, didn't do any follow-up calls. What's the whole point of this department? And I did think, you know, if it was a different independent body who'd run this department, I really think that it would have been done a full investigation. Kimberley Price : Through a separate Victoria Police investigation, the police officer was charged with two counts of intentionally touching. The Office of Public Prosecutions later recommended the charges not proceed, and they didn't. While advocates note some positive interactions with the Special Investigations Unit, SOFU, documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information show, statistically, Victoria Police officers charged with family violence are more likely to have their matters withdrawn compared to defendants in the community. It also shows Victorian police officers are less likely to be found guilty. Lauren Caulfield is a coordinator of the Beyond Survival Policing Family Violence Project. Lauren Caulfield : We know that police officers remain significantly less likely to have any charges against them actually prosecuted in court, and vastly more likely to avoid conviction. Kimberley Price : SOFU's Detective Superintendent Sharon Congreve said in a statement, the figures actually show Victoria Police is relentless in pursuing those employees who choose to perpetrate family violence. Detective Congreve also says Kate's case was fully investigated, and SOFU is focused on providing a victim-centric response. Sabra Lane: Kimberley Price and Hayley Gleeson reporting, and if you or anyone you know needs help, you can call 1800RESPECT, that's 1800 737 732. If it's an emergency, call 000.
