Latest news with #TomParrish
Perth Now
21 hours ago
- Health
- Perth Now
Burnt-out cops' astonishing compo payout
The NSW Auditor-General has revealed NSW Police officers suffering psychological injuries received $1.75bn in compensation payments between 2019 and 2024. A new report titled The Mental Health and Wellbeing of NSW Police released by the Auditor-General's office examined whether the force had effectively managed the psychological wellbeing of its workforce. It found the number of psychological injury claims, compensation payments and medical exits from the police force escalated in five years from 2019. There were more than 1200 psychological injury claims from NSW Police officers in 2023-24, and of those who left the force, more than half cited medical reasons. The number of psychological injury claims from NSW Police officers has escalated. Tom Parrish Credit: News Corp Australia Psychological injuries were the most common, accounting for 769 officers leaving in 2023-24. Mental stress, exposure to workplace violence and work pressure were the main reasons for quitting. In February last year, 1261 officers were on long-term sick leave with active workers compensation claims for a psychological injury, which 536 employees attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder. The NSW Police Force is Australia's largest law enforcement agency, with more than 16,200 sworn officers and 4294 civilian officers serving 8.5 million people. Like other NSW public sector departments, the number of police psychological injury claims had been increasing until a significant investment in October last year of tens of millions of dollars to better support police. More than $1.7bn in compensation payments have been paid out to police between 2019 and 2024. NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia But the Auditor-General found that while the NSW Police Force monitored psychological injuries, it had not analysed the root cause to effectively prevent future harm in its workforce. The Auditor-General found that improved risk reporting had not been implemented and initiatives to improve wellbeing within the workforce had been done without proper analysis of the cause of psychological injuries. 'The new initiatives provide counselling and support for police after traumatic incidents but do not address other psychological risk factors such as role overload, fatigue or burnout,' the report stated. 'There has been limited evaluation of initiative outcomes to date, and their effectiveness has not been determined. 'In the absence of data about the causes of psychological injury, or evaluations of wellbeing services, the NSW Police Force was unable to demonstrate the efficiency or effectiveness of its wellbeing investment.' Psychological injury is a common trait among police. Picture Thomas Lisson Credit: News Corp Australia Recommendations were made for police to allocate officers that matched workloads in command areas and to implement systems to better understand factors that led to psychological injury claims. A NSW Police spokesman told NewsWire that policing was a challenging and rewarding job that exposed officers to traumatic incidents. 'The psychological wellbeing of our people is vitally important, and we will continue to improve the support programs at all levels that enable our officers to do the job that they love,' the spokesman said. 'We welcome the report and the work of the Audit Office of NSW, and it is important that we acknowledge the challenges and opportunities recognised in the report. 'We are well on the way to doing better and have made significant improvements over the past three years to improve our awareness, training, education and support of all our people.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Community rallies around arts groups after federal grants are cancelled
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways The Brief The National Endowment for the Arts rescinded their awards for 2025, putting many Bay Area art organizations in jeopardy. The organizations have until the end of the week to submit an appeal against the grant cancelations. Arts groups are doubling down with community support. SAN FRANCISCO - Bay Area artists are feeling the burn, and using that as fuel for their comeback. The National Endowment for the Arts rescinded their awards for 2025, leaving organizations uncertain of the future. Now, arts organizations are doubling down with community support. What they're saying Tom Parrish, the Managing Director for the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, told KTVU the Bay Area is home to swathes of creative people who have proven to be more than happy to offer their backing. "This is a very arts and culture-rich region, and there are a lot of wonderful supporters who support that work," Parrish said. Still, the NEA's news comes as another blow in a string of difficult years for most of these organizations. A lot of these arts groups are still trying to build an audience back from the pandemic. "These are very challenging and troubling times for arts organizations everywhere," Parrish said. "By the federal government moving away from funding the arts, they're basically saying the country does not value the arts." Parrish said Berkeley Rep is already working on their appeal, which is due by the end of the week. The backstory In the email sent Friday, the NEA said it's updating its grantmaking policy and focusing on projects "that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President." The email listed those priorities as, "projects that elevate the Nation's HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities." Parrish said the Berkeley Repertory Theatre's work does not conflict with the NEA's updated policy. "We think that our work is still aligned with the priorities which is why we are appealing the decision," Parrish said. Local perspective For more than 55 years, Berkeley Rep has been developing artists and creatives. With the loss of a grant for their incubator program, The Ground Floor, artists developing new work will take a hit. "We've had hundreds of projects that we've incubated here, a number of them have gone on to Broadway," Parrihs said. "We had two shows on Broadway this fall that resulted from the work of The Ground Floor." This follows grant cancellations by the National Endowment for the Humanities last month. At the Oakland Theater Project, Managing Director Colin Mandlin said the organization lost $55,000 between the NEA and NEH, threatening an educational program and a 2026 stage adaptation of the novel Moby Dick. "Our ability to perform year-round and produce this many shows definitely hinders on both individual giving as well as government grants and foundation grants," Mandlin said. "There seems to be a lot of confusion, a lot of uncertainty, some moving parts." In San Francisco, The Lab is a 40-year-old experimental arts organization in the Mission District providing space and resources for creatives, who criticize the Trump administration for silencing their expression. "The idea of the arts as a place where people can give voice to a lot of the communities and a lot of the ideas that are generally excluded from the dominant society is the core part of the granting programs, and I think we're seeing that start to come apart with the current administration," said Andrew Smith, the executive director of The Lab. "This is one more way of stifling descent, of crushing opinions are outside of the mainstream." Smith said it's dealing with a $20,000 budget gap for projects already underway. He credits the community for helping him raise half of the money. "When something like this happens, we see people turn out in mass," he said. Similarly, Mandlin said the community has helped him raise $30,000, but they're still short $25,000 in funding. While many organizations may take this challenge as motivation to close, Mandlin perceives it differently. "This feels like a moment to lean in and be bold and put forth an inspiring message and something for the community to rally behind," he said. The message across the board is the same: regardless of what's happening in Washington, there is something arts supporters can do. "People can show up, donate, buy tickets," Parrish said. The organizations have until the end of the week to submit an appeal against the grant cancelations. KTVU reached out to the NEA for more information about their guidelines for grants, and did not hear back. With President Trump threatening to eliminate the organization, critics say it would be a blow to American culture. The Source National Endowment for the Arts, KTVU reporting
