Aged Care Royal Commission highlights need for action
Since 1902 a total of 135 Royal Commissions have been held in Australia (not counting state and territory commissions and inquiries), the first being convened to look at the transport of troops returning from service in South Africa in the S.S. Drayton Grange. Another, two years, later investigated ‘the affray at Goaribari Island, British New Guinea’.
Since then better known RCs have looked at British nuclear tests, Aboriginal deaths in custody, the Chamberlain convictions, home insulation (the pink batts) and the treatment of people with disability, as reported in this issue of NorDocs.
None have focused on the wellbeing of more Australians than the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, given that 15 percent of the population is now over 65 years, and the number is growing exponentially. Its interim report from late 2019, covered in NorDocs, described the aged care system as being in ‘a shocking state of neglect’. The final report, Care, Dignity and Respect, was released on 1 March 2021, and made for further harrowing reading.
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- Written by Robin Osborne
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SCU researchers win grants on land and sea
Southern Cross University researchers have gained two Australian Research Council grants, totalling $1.2M, to develop environment-focused projects that will reduce ammonium/nitrate-nitrogen levels in coastal waterways and transform abattoir waste into agricultural soil improver.
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RRAPing up the Reef
Warnings abound for the future of the Great Barrier Reef and in the forefront of this concern is Dr Daniel Harrison from Southern Cross University’s highly regarded National Marine Science Centre who believes the window to saving this icon is ‘rapidly closing’. However, he still harbours optimism and is a key member of a massive collaborative effort working on ways to avert further coral bleaching.
Coral bleaching is caused by the interaction of sunlight and water temperatures warmer than what corals are accustomed to. While coral can tolerate some additional heat, when this is combined with sunlight, bleaching occurs because when coral becomes too warm it can’t adequately process the photons it’s receiving from the sun. Bleaching can be reduced by either shading the reefs or cooling them down.
Dr Harrison, an oceanographer and engineer, is also working with colleagues in the USA and elsewhere to track fish species using satellite data-driven modelling tools with the aim of helping fisheries managers gain environmental information.
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Near full employment for SCU health graduates
Graduates in the health sciences and support disciplines from Southern Cross University have a 96.6 percent success rate in finding employment, according to the latest snapshot of tertiary educational outcomes, and a great majority of employers are happy with the skills they bring to their work.
The QILT (Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching) suite of higher education surveys is funded by the Australian Department of Education. It includes the Employer Satisfaction Survey (ESS) of the views of 3,430 employers on the attributes of recent graduates from Australian higher education institutions. The study looked at how successfully graduates gained and settled into employment in terms of their professionalism, teamwork and interpersonal skills, and their ability to perform and innovate.
Southern Cross University scored 83.5 per cent for employer satisfaction and 87.7 per cent in terms of graduate employability. The national overall satisfaction averaged 84.6 per cent in the 2020 survey.
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- Written by Robin Osborne
Getting out from inside causes health concerns for everyone
It is not well known that when people are incarcerated in Australia, they lose access to Medicare cover and Centrelink payments. In NSW their healthcare is then managed by the NSW Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network (JHFMHN). This is a similar situation to what happens when a person presents to a public hospital as a public patient for treatment. They are then covered for health needs by NSW Health not Medicare.
For prisoners this seems like punishment over and above the judicial system, which results in further disadvantage for prisoners after release. This particularly applies to Aboriginal people who are disproportionately represented in our prison system. It requires reconnection with Medicare and Centrelink on return to their community.
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- Written by Andrew Binns
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