Evidence of blast wave injury found in soldier's brain
Now, the Chief of Army has said more needs to be done after a series of reports on 7.30 exposing the suffering of former and serving Defence Force members. National health reporter Elise Worthington reports.
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- ABC News
Widespread wage theft across childcare sector and pressure on overworked staff, research reveals
Unsustainable expectations on childcare workers are leading to "massive burnout" and compromising child safety, according to a first-of-its-kind Australian study. It also found widespread wage theft across the sector, with more than 70 per cent of educators working an average of 7–9 hours of unpaid work each week. The research from the University of Sydney comes amid a crisis of confidence in the industry following revelations about poor child safety standards at some centres and allegations of child sexual abuse by a worker in Victoria. "Over 70 per cent of our educators say that they are working unpaid hours every single week and for those educators, they're reporting an average of 9 unpaid hours each week — we end up with massive burnout," said lead researcher Dr Erin Harper from Sydney University. The study was based on a survey of almost 600 educators. "Another significant finding was educators' concerns around workload and how that is then interfering with their ability to provide quality education and care," she said. Childcare worker Yingzhao Zhu has worked across some 50 centres over a decade and said staff were struggling, not just with caring for the children but with the hours of administration, cleaning and even taking out the rubbish — tasks known in the industry as "non-contact" time. "To be very honest, doing all of those things in a day and over the weeks, it's pretty hard," Ms Zhu said. Dr Harper's research found the mounting toll of those tasks being spread between too few workers meant staff were only spending 2.5 hours of quality time with children every day. "In our study, over 70 per cent of educators are telling us they are concerned that children are not getting enough of their time," Dr Harper said. "And over 70 per cent are specifically identifying non-contact workload as detracting from quality within their service." Penny* is a childcare worker at a not-for-profit provider, who spoke to ABC News on the condition her identity be protected to allow her to speak freely about problems at her workplace. Childcare workers like Penny are required by law to have a number of "non-contact" hours to design lessons and materials for the children. She said the centre continually pushing to enrol more children meant she was often forced to complete this work in her own time, with implications for the children in her care. "I engage students throughout the whole day but when I have those stressful situations, it affects my work even though I don't want to show it," Penny said. Do you have a story to share? Email She said the centre was forced to rely on casual workers to complete required administrative work or to fill staffing holes, which increased the risk of accidents because they did not have a relationship with the children. "When you change with another educator and then an accident occurs, it's frustrating because if I was there, because of the relationship, it might be avoided," she said. That dynamic put pressure on her to put the children first, which meant completing administrative work unpaid and out of hours. Carolyn Smith from the United Workers Union said employers were taking advantage of staff who were often intrinsically motivated to work in the sector to care for children. "It's impacting educators, it's impacting children and it's certainly impacting quality and safety of care." Dr Harper would like her research to lead to a stocktake of all the tasks childcare workers are required to complete, which often includes providing lengthy updates for parents. That would allow a more realistic appraisal of the number of staff required and better-quality care. "When we look at educators' paid hours, then non-contact workload accounts for about 25 per cent of their time," Dr Harper said. "But when we account for the entirety of their work hours, so including those unpaid hours, it increases to about 40 per cent." In a statement, Minister for Early Childhood Education Jess Walsh said the findings of the report were "troubling". "The foundation of quality in early education is supporting a stable and dedicated workforce," Ms Walsh said. "That's why the Albanese Government is rolling out a 15 per cent pay rise to early educators so they can afford to stay in the sector to provide quality education and care." Ms Walsh said advertised vacancies had fallen by a little more than 25 per cent this year. *Name changed to protect identity.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Federal politics live: More than 10 million illicit vapes seized in government crackdown
More than 10 million illicit vapes have been seized by Australian Border Force in the past year, the federal health minister says. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit the Great Wall of China later today. Follow all the updates in our live blog.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Melbourne woman's body the second to be cryogenically frozen by Southern Cryonics
In a nondescript facility near Holbrook in New South Wales, a woman's body has been cryogenically frozen in the hope that science will one day revive her. Her body is one of two that now lie inside the Southern Cryonics facility, suspended in liquid nitrogen at around -200 degrees Celsius. On July 4, the Melbourne woman died in hospital from chronic illness. Within minutes, Southern Cryonics staff waiting in Melbourne initiated the "cooling process", packing her body in iced water for transport to a funeral home. There, equipped with 250 kilograms of specialist tools, chemicals and cooling agents, a doctor and two clinical perfusionists from a company called Australian Blood Management began a further cooling process lasting six hours. The woman's body was then encased in its final resting place — a cryogenic chamber filled with liquid nitrogen at Holbrook. So far, more than 600 people around the world have undergone the radical procedure. Cryonics is high on spectacle, but critically short on scientific support. RMIT cell and tissue cryopreservation expert Saffron Bryant said despite the excitement surrounding cryonics, the science was far from catching up. Dr Bryant said the challenge was in the freezing process itself because when water inside cells turned to ice it expanded and caused damage. To mitigate that damage, scientists use cryoprotective agents — special chemicals that reduce ice formation — but it is a different story for whole organs. "Organs are made up of lots of different types of cells," Dr Bryant. "They're different sizes and they have different shapes, behave differently, and need different cryoprotectants, so you can't cryopreserve them all in the same way." She pointed out that if the technology had been perfected, we would already be using it to solve real-world problems like the organ donor shortage. Many cryonics enthusiasts were inspired by Robert Ettinger, an American academic known as the "father of cryonics". His 1962 book The Prospect of Immortality, he proposed that death might one day be reversible. It is the same book that former marketing specialist Peter Tsolakides — now the founder of Southern Cryonics — read as a teenager. Two years ago, 35 founding members invested between $50,000 and $70,000 each to establish the facility. Today, Southern Cryonics has 32 active "subscribers" who pay an annual fee of $350, and have signed up for the suspension procedure costing about $170,000. Members sign an agreement that details the terms and conditions of their cryonic suspension. They are also encouraged to sign a religious objection to autopsy form, which requests that an autopsy is not carried out to "avoid destructive procedures and consequent delays" in the suspension process. Southern Cryonics is equipped to hold up to 40 bodies. "We have members ranging from about 15 years old up to about 95, and we range from doctors to bus drivers," Mr Tsolakides said. "Most of the people want to live very long lives, not necessarily be immortal. "They're also interested in seeing what the future is". There are no specific laws relating to cryonics in Australia. Legally, a cryogenically frozen body is considered the same as the remains of any other dead person, and Southern Cryonics is classified as a cemetery on its Greater Hume Council development application. There are operational risks to be considered by those who wish to be frozen. However, Mr Tsolakides said the facility was relatively protected. He said the cryogenic chambers relied on top-ups of liquid nitrogen that arrived periodically by truck from multiple suppliers. The chambers each hold a two-month supply of liquid nitrogen, and a maintenance person checks the levels a few times a week. The suspension agreement, which clients must sign, specifies that in events such as deregistration, insolvency, or cryonic suspension or revival becoming illegal, Southern Cryonics may cease the suspension, and "dispose of the patient's body by burial, cremation or transfer of the body to a responsible person." Health experts have previously raised ethical concerns about the cryonics sector, describing it as "Star Trek in play". However, Mr Tsolakides said he hoped that, given enough time, science would meet him halfway. "Let's say that it [cryonic revival] is possible but very unlikely — say it's 10 per cent possible," he said. "You got 10 per cent possibility of living an extremely long life versus being buried underground or burned. Which one would you choose?"
