Federal funding to combat SA's algal bloom
Published 21 July 2025, 8:11 am
The federal government has pledged a one-off 14-million-dollar assistance package for South Australia which is in the grips of a months-long toxic algal bloom. Environment Minister Murray Watt called it a 'very serious environmental event' but has resisted calls to declare the outbreak a natural disaster.
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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Weekend rainbands soak Australia as weather bureau doubles down on wet spring
There are multiple indications the record drought across southern Australia is finally loosening its grip. Firstly, a much-anticipated rainband is engulfing most of the country and will stretch nearly 3,000 kilometres this weekend from tropical Queensland to Tasmania, falling as heavy snow across the Alps. Essential, though, for drought recovery is follow-up falls, and a second bout of rain is predicted from Sunday to Thursday, ensuring this month becomes the wettest for southern Australia since June 2023. Hope of a more permanent drought relief is also backed by the latest long-range outlooks, which now firmly favour wetter conditions this spring. The current rain event commenced through Wednesday and Thursday as a powerful cold front surged well north across Western Australia to the Pilbara, drenching parts of Perth with more than 50 millimetres and spawning a destructive tornado. The extreme northward penetration is the key to this system — it allowed the front to not only drag in tropical moisture, which is a prerequisite for inland rain, but also cause the formation of a low-pressure system near the WA south coast. The low then traversed the South Australian coast on Friday, spreading the rainband across the interior and into south-east states. Clare in the Mid North welcomed more than 25mm — already the town's heaviest rain since late 2023. By sunset, the parched Mallee had picked up 10mm, hardly a deluge, but for Mildura, already the heaviest fall so far in 2025. The front has now shifted the band well into Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales. However, because a low is trailing near the southern coast, showers will continue across SA and Victoria for at least another 48 hours. By late Monday, the southern Murray Basin and most farming regions of SA are likely to receive between 15 and 30mm of rain, including what has already fallen in the past 24 hours. The deep low is also generating strong winds and heavy alpine snow, which will not completely clear until later on Monday, when the low retreats into the Southern Ocean. For the Alps, around 50 centimetres of fresh snow should accumulate on the higher slopes during the next three days, continuing a much-improved ski season relative to the past two years. While the current rain event is crucial, a rebound from drought requires more than just an aberration — and thankfully, modelling is promising follow-up falls during the coming week. Yet another vigorous front, the third in less than a week, will arrive on the WA west coast tomorrow, and like its predecessor, will lead to the formation of a low near the state's south coast. However, this next system will only draw in a small plume of tropical moisture and therefore, for most areas, rainfall intensity will be limited. Nonetheless, the low will still bring widespread showers, starting in WA on Sunday, reaching western SA on Monday, then spreading throughout south-east Australia from Tuesday to Thursday. This will boost the weekly totals to around 25 to 50mm across most of southern Australia — comfortably the most widespread week of rain in two years. For the Alps, the arrival of another low means more snow, and an injection of polar air could lower the snow level to around 1,000 metres along the Great Dividing Range. Full recovery from the worst drought on record will require sustained wet months, a scenario becoming more likely according to the latest extended outlooks issued this week. The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) long-range model called ACCESS–S now shows up to an 80 per cent chance of above-median falls through parts of eastern Australia from August to October. Using one model in isolation can be problematic in forecasting. However, an ensemble of nine different global models, shown below, supports the wet outlook. The model average indicates a 70 to 90 per cent chance of above-median rain across the whole of central and eastern Australia. But why are models consistently tipping the following months will be wet？ One clue is ocean temperatures across the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans. Long-range forecasts are hinting at both a weak La Niña and a weak negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) signal — both drivers of wet conditions in Australia. However, without a clear consensus and no observable trend so far indicating their development, basing forecasts on either La Niña or a negative IOD would be premature. So, can we trust the outlook? Seasonal rain forecasts without active climate drivers should be viewed with caution, but when analysed in conjunction with the current wet weather, it is becoming increasingly likely the worst of the drought, at least from a meteorological perspective, is coming to an end.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
The unexpected realities of receiving a cancer diagnosis when young
It wasn't until Ashlynn Heaton was about to be wheeled into theatre to have an ovarian cyst removed that doctors told her scans revealed it was probably cancer, and she'd need her right ovary and fallopian tube taken out. Aged just 26 at the time, she had already delayed the surgery by six weeks to complete a work placement and it was an abrupt interruption to a life busy with work, university and her first boyfriend. "I didn't know that cancer in young people really existed," she said. As a young woman, she was concerned about surgical scars and how to preserve her chances of having children in the future. She was also put into medical menopause and was left to deal with the symptoms. Within weeks, she broke up with her partner as the prospect of dealing with fertility questions proved too overwhelming. "The reality was that I couldn't handle having to go through this health challenge plus the relationship," she said. Determined to finish her degree, Ashlynn was soon juggling the physical demands of intense daily chemotherapy and trying to finish university assignments in hospital. "Just even standing was really hard," she said. "If I sometimes couldn't pack my bag, my mum or my sister had to pack it for me and then I'd get in the car and drive myself to chemo." She's one of an emerging group of young people receiving a cancer diagnosis. For this generation, there are limited supports. Dr Peter Diamond, Chair of Cancer Council's Supportive Care Committee, said younger patients typically accessed information online and the Cancer Council were seeing an increase in the number of clicks on information relating to cancers for younger people. "The big thing that we hear about, if you are diagnosed and have young children, is how do you talk to young children and teenagers about cancer," he said. He said younger patients were often not set up financially and had little superannuation to draw on if they were in difficulty. "People end up financially struggling quite a lot," he said. Assistance to cover dealing with treatment side effects such as fertility issues or sexual function also varied state by state. "They also have a lot longer to live with those side effects than people who would probably be diagnosed later in life," Dr Diamond said. He said there were lots of supports available but the problem was having good navigation and coordination to ensure people got help from the start and not when they reached crisis point. "What we find is that people are reluctant to call because they think that there are people out there who are way worse than what they are," he said. Treatment left Ashlynn isolated as she couldn't see friends while her immune system was suppressed. And, some of her social network didn't have the life experience to know how to properly support her. Reflecting on it now, Ashlynn said while there were many children's cancer charities and support groups, there were few options for young women. There was also limited publicly funded psychological help, especially to help navigate the anxiety around regular scans and concerns over her fertility. "Finding that new normal is a real challenge," she said. Unable to work, the medical bills started to add up and without large savings, she struggled financially. "It just it took a toll on me. Can you afford your medication? Can you afford getting fuel?" At a practical level, Ashlynn said what would have helped was transport to chemo appointments, with hospital parking costs alone adding up to about $500 during her three-month treatment. For Andrew Saliba, a bowel cancer diagnosis not only brought the perils of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but he had to navigate its side effects while juggling two small children. "I had a port-a-cath installed — they put it under your skin just above your chest. So having that and then having the kids wanting to give you a cuddle and they climb on you — it's very painful," he said. "We were always trying to remind them to be careful of Daddy — so they kind of knew Daddy's sick in his tummy but they didn't know the extent of it." During his chemotherapy treatment and with a suppressed immune system, Andrew had to stay at his in-law's house when his family caught COVID. On another occasion, he ended up in emergency with a fever. Andrew said with each treatment his mental health declined and his relationship was put under stress. "There were lots of times I said I'm not doing any more treatment because it's too hard," he said. "I was very moody some days, so that obviously put a bit of a strain on the relationship but at the end of the day I think it has definitely brought us closer. "My wife was amazing through it. She picked up the slack." The couple were still paying off their house and as Andrew's treatments ramped up, he had to give up his job as an electrician, placing the family in financial difficulty. He said if it were not for employer-supplied income protection insurance, they would not have stayed afloat. "The biggest thought I had was, 'What's going to happen to my family if I'm not here?', because I was the main income earner." In the darkest days, Andrew wanted to give up treatment many times, but he said it was after he had his stoma removed that the real problems began. A stoma is a surgically created opening in the abdomen with a bag attached to collect stool. As his bowel recovered, Andrew found himself needing to go to the toilet between 20 and 50 times a day and he didn't leave the house for three months. Returning to work seemed impossible, but eventually he got on top of things, with the help of nutritionists from Bowel Cancer Australia. Even barbecues with friends took on a different flavour with Andrew needing to bring his own food and cook it in the oven instead of on charcoal to help keep his bowels in check. "It definitely sucks now I can't really drink much because it makes my stomach play up — I can't have a barbecue cooked on charcoal. "Going to a restaurant is hard because I can't eat garlic. I can't eat onions." These days, Andrew is trying to make the most of life and has scaled back at work to coach his daughters' rugby league teams. "I kind of used to be work first, now I'm a bit more family first." Andrew said a practical support for anyone going through bowel cancer would include a referral to a nutritionist who could offer advice to help manage bowel movements. "The nutritionist helped me probably the most out of anyone. I had to eat smaller meals. I went straight to eating boiled rice and a few veggies and really watching what fibre I ate." His message is to get checked early to avoid the worst side effects of serious treatment. "If you really think something is wrong, go get a second opinion."
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘I had treated my body as a rental': Media personality Shelly Horton reveals life-changing health message to Australian women
When Shelly Horton found herself in the ICU after an ablation in 2020 (a simple procedure to stop persistent bleeding), it didn't cross her mind that it might be a symptom of perimenopause. Nor did she join the dots between a raft of sudden physical and mental changes – heart palpitations, increased body temperature, 'brain fog', and debilitating depression – and perimenopause. The now 51-year-old says she'd never heard the word before, and instead was told by doctors that it might be cancer and was sent for an ultrasound. 'They said, 'Great news, you haven't got cancer. You must be stressed and maybe you should take up a hobby',' Horton tells Stellar. 'I drove home in tears, blaming myself, and didn't go and see another doctor for nine months.' It wasn't until the TV presenter consulted with her friend, Dr. Ginny Mansberg, whom she met as a fellow panellist on Seven's Sunrise in 2008, that she was able to make sense of her suffering. Before that defining moment, she hadn't considered herself in the target market. 'I thought menopause was for women in their late 50s, their period stopped and they got hot flushes,' she explains. 'I had that stereotype in my brain of grey-haired old ladies clutching their pearls and fanning themselves. 'I was like, 'I'm a fox. I'm way too young and fabulous.' 'I didn't understand that perimenopause can last 10 years so, in fact, I was right in the average age group.' Once she started to feel better, Horton got mad. Specifically about the menopause cone of silence which perpetuates the dearth of knowledge and poor treatment options for women. 'We've been taught by our mothers and past generations that it's just women's problems so you keep it to yourself,' she says. 'A heads-up would have been nice. I felt like the sisterhood let me down. 'Secret women's business holds women back. This whole 'soldier on' of the boomer generation, I'm like, 'No, I'm Gen X. We're going to get loud about this.'' In 2023, Horton shared her experience at the first parliamentary roundtable on menopause alongside respected experts – the first time 'menopause' had been mentioned in the Australian Parliament. It sparked a Senate inquiry, with Horton inadvertently becoming a spokesperson on perimenopause. It's not the first time Horton has led the charge on de-stigmatising taboo topics for women. When she 'bravely' wrote about her decision to stay 'child free' in 2013, she copped a pile-on from dissenters and was trolled on social media. But she takes heart in knowing it started a national conversation. 'I had comments like, 'A woman who doesn't want kids is not a real woman. She's a waste of a uterus.' It was awful. I didn't understand why anyone cared about my uterus and what I did with it.' As the TV presenter sees it, one of the many upsides of being child-free is having the freedom and funds to travel. She and her husband, Darren Robinson, whom she met 'the old-fashioned way' in a bar in 2013, renew their wedding vows in every country they visit. In 10 years of marriage, that's 25 vow renewals. 'Sometimes it's been incredibly romantic in the Maldives with the sunset. Then we nearly forgot in Iceland and we did it on the plane as we were taking off,' she laughs. They also run their production company together, Robinson behind the camera ('the workhorse') Horton in front ('the show pony'). She says their two rescue dogs were a salve during her three years of depression. 'My wonderful husband would put me to bed and hand me a puppy.' Adhering to her motto of 'adapt or die', Horton's career trajectory has been 'eclectic'. She was a producer for the first American Survivor in Borneo, a crime then health reporter for the ABC, Sydney gossip columnist, panellist on Today Extra, and host of Married at First Sight's spin-off TV show. It's a long way from home for the girl from Kingaroy in regional Queensland. 'From the red soil to the red carpet,' she says. Now she can add author to the list, documenting her harrowing menopause experience – along with evidence-based advice from experts – on paper to support other women going through it. Despite the turmoil of menopause, Horton reveals it has also helped her too. 'I wish I could just say, 'Slap on some HRT [hormone replacement therapy], you'll be fine', but it's not as simple as that,' she tells Stellar. 'I had to do the work. I had treated my body as a rental. 'I had to have the appointments with the psychiatrist. I had to change my lifestyle, improve my sleep, increase my exercise. 'I'm living proof that you can go through dark times and come out. Perimenopause broke me, but then I rebuilt me.'
