Latest news with #RoseJackson
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
NSW government defends 'broken' mental health system using misleading figure
"I actually wasn't surprised." That was NSW mental health minister Rose Jackson's response to our Four Corners story exposing the state of the system she oversees. We uncovered that people are waiting up to four days for critical mental health treatment in one of the country's busiest emergency departments. Doctors revealed they feel pressured by higher ups to discharge patients too soon. And most devastatingly, we heard from the families of people who've lost loved ones after being turned away from care. "I'm familiar with a lot of those issues, they are things that are across my desk regularly," the minister told 2GB radio on Tuesday morning, after declining Four Corners' repeated requests for an interview. As journalists, we were stunned by these revelations. But if the minister has heard all of this before — including that young people are dying after being sent home without treatment — it raises a disturbing question: why is the NSW government still refusing to offer meaningful solutions to fixing the mental health care system? Instead, it's been relying on misleading figures to defend the status quo. Everyone agrees there's a major shortage of psychiatrists in NSW. Our story found it's led to the closure of several mental health wards and beds, including child and adolescent units. That means people are unable to access timely and urgent care. To help solve the workforce shortage, psychiatrists have been pushing for a 25 per cent pay rise to retain staff in the state who are leaving for better offers elsewhere. Even with that increase, first year psychiatrists in NSW would still be among the lowest paid in the country. Minister Jackson on Tuesday told the media the pay rise would cost $700 million. "When you increase the pay of an already relatively well-paid doctor by 25 per cent in one year, and there are obviously hundreds and hundreds of those doctors, the cost is significant," she told ABC Radio Sydney on Tuesday. Yet, NSW Health's own figures, tendered to the Industrial Relations Commission, show the increase would cost an extra $30 million per year, a stark difference to the $700 million figure the minister is repeatedly quoting. When asked in parliament on Tuesday why there's such a big disparity in the numbers, the minister gave an incomprehensible response: "I'm aware of the suggestion that there is a misalignment, but my response to that is that it is not comparing the same cost, it is not an apples to apples comparison and that explains the difference." In response to us, the minister's office said the $700 million "represents the total projected costs into the future, including the full suite of conditions and entitlements sought by the psychiatrist staff specialists". But the government would not provide a breakdown of what those costs cover or how many years the costs are spread, so it's still hard to know how its reached this conclusion. The NSW government has a track record of massaging the numbers to win a publicity war against psychiatrists, scores of whom resigned in January protesting dire conditions in the mental health system. The NSW Premier Chris Minns has consistently said a 25 per cent increase would equate to an extra $90,000 for one doctor for one year. In reality, only the most senior, full-time psychiatrists would receive that amount. Around half the workforce is at the senior level, and the average psychiatrist is not employed full-time. The NSW government has referred the pay question to the workplace disputes referee, the Industrial Relations Commission, promising to honour its decision while reiterating it has overall budget concerns in the state. The pay dispute is only one small part of a much larger crisis in the mental health care system. It's the government's job to question if a pay rise is the best way forward, but aside from a lower counteroffer and statements with tricky mathematics, it has failed to provide any new alternative to fix the sector. On Tuesday, Minister Jackson acknowledged it was unacceptable that people are waiting days for urgent care in emergency departments, and promoted Safe Havens, as an alternative to hospital. Part of the government's Towards Zero Suicides initiative, the Safe Havens are walk-in centres for people experiencing suicidal thoughts or in need of therapeutic support, and there are 21 across NSW. The centres were praised by one person we spoke to, 20-year-old Carly Richardson, but she said they're not set up for her complex needs. And she has to travel for more than an hour on public transport to get there. 'The Safe Haven's great. It's definitely not a place that fixes me, but it kind of [tides] me over a bit when I'm really not okay. I think we need more services that offer that step-up, step-down approach." Medical professionals say strategies like this do not adequately address the major shortfall in services for people with life-threatening mental health conditions. Many we spoke to in the system said what needs to be urgently fixed is community mental health care — teams of health professionals who aim to keep people out of hospital. We found some of the teams are severely understaffed with unmanageable workloads — in a crisis team in the Sydney Local Health District, for example, there's one part time psychiatrist for around 130 patients. The minister has admitted that more funding is needed in community care but said it will take years to deliver despite saying she's known about these problems for a long time. The government's own data from the end of 2023 shows almost 60,000 people with severe mental illness likely aren't get the community care they need. "It's about how we spend that money and doing that in a thoughtful way that doesn't just keep delivering more ambulances at the bottom of a cliff but actually investing in community base care to desert people from and those kind of game changing investments and realigning the system, they take some time," the minister told ABC Radio Sydney on Tuesday. Hearing the response from the NSW government, it's clear there's a massive disconnect between what the health department says it provides, and what people experience on the ground. For example, Minister Jackson said on Tuesday that if someone walked into a Sydney hospital, she could guarantee they would get the help they need. But we heard from doctors who said they had no choice but to turn people away from hospital because of a lack of resources, and from patients on the receiving end. The government continues to defend itself, reiterating that it's spending $2.9 billion on mental health services. But the state still has the lowest funding per capita in mental health care across the country, and Minister Jackson on Tuesday stopped short of committing to more resources. "We are now trying to deliver more money into the system. We have a budget coming up in a few weeks but it's not something that you can turn around in in one budget or in one year," she told ABC Radio Sydney. The problems in the system have been laid out and there's a growing chorus of voices demanding urgent action before more lives are lost. The government insists it knows its system is struggling — now it needs to decide how many more people must suffer before it acts.
ABC News
25-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
NSW government to announce reforms allowing doctors to diagnose, treat ADHD patients
General practitioners in New South Wales will soon be able to diagnose and treat patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Under the new reforms to be announced by the state government on Monday, doctors will be able to apply for training which will allow them to medically diagnose and treat both children and adults with ADHD. The new reforms will also allow GPs to manage ongoing prescriptions for children and adults living with the condition who are on stable doses of medication. NSW will join Western Australia and Queensland in doing so, both of which have already implemented similar reforms. Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said the changes will allow those struggling to afford the cost of a private psychiatrist or paediatrician to get timely treatment. "One of the things that we've consistently heard is that people living with ADHD really struggle with long wait times and some pretty high costs to access the medication that they need to treat their condition," she said. "If you don't have a lot of money and you rely on the public system, and you can't afford to pay for private assessment and diagnosis, then you're locked out of access to medicine. "I think that's a problem." Currently, people seeking an ADHD assessment must be referred to a specialist, with children referred to paediatricians for testing while adults must see psychiatrists. GPs cannot prescribe ADHD-related medication, including stimulants, without approval from NSW Health. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), it's the most common mental health disorder for children and adolescents, with 7 per cent of children living with the disorder. Ms Jackson added that the reforms will put the treatment of children first. "If children miss out on a diagnosis this early in life, it can have pretty major impacts on their academic work, on their socialisation," she said. "If you can intervene early … you're less likely to be reliant on medication in the longer term." WA was the first state to allow GPs to diagnose and treat both children and adults, while in Queensland, since the scheme's introduction in 2017, only children can be assessed by doctors. The reforms have been welcomed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). The NSW and ACT chair of the RACGP, Rebekah Hoffman, said that some patients have spent up to $5,000 on ADHD assessments and treatments, and there are many GPs who want to make those options affordable. "So what we're hoping is that if GPs can look after the majority of patients with ADHD … then that will actually also improve access for our really complicated patients." The government has not put an exact figure on how much the training will cost, but has committed to funding the training of 1,000 doctors. According to Dr Hoffman, a working group comprised of paediatricians, psychiatrists and general practitioners is still determining the training hours needed. However, the government said children could be assessed by GPs by early 2026. Adults will have to wait longer. "We would hope for that to be around the middle of 2026," Ms Jackson said. "The critical thing that we have to do between now and the end of the year is do that accreditation and training for doctors." According to the AIHW, over 4.6 million prescriptions for ADHD medications were dispensed to just under 600,000 patients nationwide from 2023 to 2024.
Time Out
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Sneak peek: The first modular social houses in NSW are almost ready for residents
The housing crisis in NSW is real. And as Sydney's population continues to grow (our city's population recently reached an all-time high of 5,557,233, as recorded by the 2023-2024 Census), the NSW government is looking for solutions. Last year, the government announced the biggest investment in public housing in the state's history, and new housing developments are popping up around the city and beyond, mostly close to contact links like the expanding Sydney Metro network and the new Western Sydney International Airport. Now, a super-compact solution to the housing crisis is in the spotlight – with Sydney's first factory-built homes for social housing almost ready to welcome residents. Back in July 2024, we reported on the first trial sites for modular homes in NSW – with seven sites across the state set to welcome residents to high-spec, super-compact homes by July of this year. Now, the first modular homes for social housing are almost ready, with the three compact homes receiving their finishing touches in Smithfield, set to be delivered and installed in Wollongong soon. Once these first three are in-situ, a further 10 homes are due to be installed in Shellharbour and Lake Macquarie by the end of the year. According to the NSW Government, this modular method of building slashes build-time by up to 20 per cent, and supports around 100 local manufacturing and construction jobs. 'This is the future of social housing – smarter, faster, modern and built to provide tenants dignity. Modular homes aren't 'shit-boxes' they are the future,' said NSW Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson. 'We're using modern construction to deliver beautiful homes for people who need them most, cutting wait times and creating good local jobs along the way. These homes show what's possible when we stop dragging our feet and start thinking differently.' Each of the first sites will feature a bedroom, a multi-purpose room and bathroom. They'll each be installed in the backyard of an existing social housing property, creating extra homes for people in need on the land already owned by the state. here.
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Huge changes to impact millions of renters in Australia: What you need to know
Landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants without good cause, marking the end of no-grounds evictions, a reform designed to provide security for millions of renters. The reform came into effect on Monday, alongside two other key changes introduced under the NSW government's latest rental laws. Premier Chris Minns described the changes as significant, saying it brings the 'rental market into the 21st century'. 'These are sensible reforms. With more than two million renters in NSW and over 600,000 investors, we have taken the time to get these major changes right,' he says. The reforms, announced in March, have been labelled a win for the economy, promising better prospects for young workers in one of the world's most expensive cities. Tenants will also be able to apply for a pet, with owners only able to refuse the request for specific reasons, such as the owner living at the property. Approval will be automatic if owners do not respond to pet applications within 21 days. Owners and agents must also provide certain fee-free rent payment methods such as direct bank transfers to renters. Housing minister Rose Jackson believes the reforms are the biggest step forward for renters in a generation. 'These reforms recognise that pets are part of people's families,' she said. 'Renters shouldn't have to choose between a place to live and keeping their companion animal. These changes put common sense into the rental system and end the blanket ban on pets.' Victoria recently passed similar laws in March, which included a complete ban on evictions without a reason. South Australia and the ACT have already banned no-grounds evictions for both periodic and fixed-term tenancies, while Queensland and Tasmania have put a stop to only the latter. Western Australia and the Northern Territory allow no-grounds evictions for all tenancies.
News.com.au
28-04-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Our leaders tirelessly talk about the cost of living, so why can't they get the price of eggs right?
COMMENT Watching politicians flail on live TV is a live sport everyone enjoys ... until you remember one of these blokes will soon be running the country. In a stunt as old as time, the pair were asked to guess the price of a supermarket staple in their final debate and it went down like an airplane omelette. You always knew it was going to make you cringe. To be fair, I don't think anything can match NSW housing minister Rose Jackson's wild assumption that Sydney rentals go for ' a couple hundred dollars per week', but Mr Dutton's Hail Mary comes close. When asked what a dozen yolks goes for these days, Mr Dutton stumbled and gave a figure less than half the standard rate. '$4.20,' he said, wildly oblivious to the fact a dozen standard-issue cage eggs at most supermarkets has pushed near $9 and in some cases, beyond. Mr Albanese guessed $7, but only after Mr Dutton was told $4.20 would be lucky to get you six. His answer wasn't as damning, but still isn't a great look for the darling of Australia's centre-left. While it's clear guys in this position don't stroll down to Woolies for a bag of groceries every day — they have sponsored events to fill their bellies at — it should be said that if you're running a cost of living smear campaign against your opponents, you'd hope your figurehead at least knows the basics. That comment alone would have pushed an untold amount of still-undecided voters away from Mr Dutton. As someone who doesn't feel like they have a dog in the fight — I'm a self-branded political hobo with no real home to turn to in Aussie politics — Mr Dutton's comment rubbed me, and likely millions of others, the wrong way. Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald ran a piece about ' soft voters ', generally young people who feel like they're always playing catch-up and have rapidly lost their optimism for any political party. These are the people who can be swayed last-minute before they inevitably pick up the pencil on voting day. We like to include everyone in the process Down Under, even those who understand the man calling the shots in Canberra isn't really going to change their day-to-day life. But we still make it compulsory for them to participate in the process. Those are the people Dutton must target this week. Amid the countless TV appearances speaking about complex issues like nuclear power, defence and trade, a simple slip-up over a dozen eggs has potential to send Dutton's campaign tumbling down the basement staircase a-la Homer Simpson. Unlike economics and tax policy, it's an easy thing to remember for the hordes of Aussies who will no doubt be dragged into a conversation about the election this week. They'll be thinking about it on Saturday morning when they treat themselves to a $19 bacon and egg roll, and they'll probably think about it again when they find a melted Easter egg in their jacket pocket while waiting in line for the booth. The problem is that the rising cost of living affects (almost) everyone, and Liberal supporters doing it tough will be feeling a bit let down that their man hadn't even brushed up on what it's like to live in 2025 Australia. Don't politicians expect these questions anyway? I really didn't want to fill this article with lazy egg puns, but my brain is a bit scrambled after an hour of scrolling back through the debate. Australia votes on May 3.
