Latest news with #ChrisSteel
SBS Australia
14-07-2025
- Health
- SBS Australia
After decades of being banned, Chris hopes his liquid gold is 'a step forward for equality'
Chris Steel hasn't sat in a donor lounge chair for decades. He compared his last phone call from Red Cross Australia asking him to donate, "effectively having to come out again". "I had to say, look, I know I can't donate. I'm gay. I'm sorry," he told SBS News. "And you know, it is one of those things that you don't want to have to necessarily confront. It's a difficult conversation to have." Steel, who is the ACT treasurer, has been advocating for blood donation services to include donations from gay and bisexual men for years. He says he is now happy to see the source of angst removed for many. From Monday, most gay and bisexual men, those using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and transgender women will be able to donate plasma nationwide, even if they'd had sex with men in the previous three months, as long as they meet all other eligibility criteria. Lifeblood Australia estimates the change affects 600,000 Australians and anticipates an extra 24,000 donors or 95,000 extra plasma donations as a result. Ban rooted in HIV transmission fears Skye McGregor, an epidemiologist whose work focuses on surveillance and prevention of sexually transmissible infections and blood-borne viruses at the Kirby Institute at the University of NSW, said the ban stems from the 1980s. She said fears over transmitting HIV through blood transfusions prompted an urgent health response from Australia and many other countries around the world. "Australia introduced an indefinite deferral for men who have sex with men, and this because they're the population who've historically been most impacted by HIV," she told SBS News. "There was a three-month or more delay between someone acquiring HIV and a test being able to detect it. "And so as HIV testing improved over time, the deferral for men who have sex with men decreased from indefinite to 12 months … then in 2021 this was reduced to three months." First-time donor Johannes felt frustrated that he was unable to donate for years. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop Steel is excited to witness the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) provide a safe pathway for donating the liquid gold and hopes to encourage thousands to donate. "Gay men are just as altruistic as anyone else," Steel said. "They want to help others, and they've been prevented from doing so; that changes today, and it's really great to see this step forward for equality." The service is also working on changes to eligibility for blood and platelet donations after the TGA approved a submission to remove gender-based sexual activity rules. Under those changes, all donors will be asked the same questions about their sexual activity, regardless of their gender or sexuality. All donors with new or multiple partners will be prohibited from proceeding if they've had anal sex in the last three months. Rolling up their sleeves a 'step towards equity' Since hearing about the rules update, 26-year-old Canberran Ben, who did not give his last name, has been recruiting friends to roll up their sleeves. Ben arrived before 9am to be one of the first donors at the launch event on Monday. He said he found the previous guidelines "a little bit unfair". "It's a step towards equity and I think it's a reasonable sacrifice to make," he told SBS News. Following the rule change, Ben (right) has already enlisted six of his friends to donate plasma. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop Ben was accompanied by Johannes, who works in a Canberra hospital and was motivated to add to the plasma supply after seeing the impact on recipients first-hand. "I'm at the giving side of blood products, and I know how life-saving it can be to have them, whether that's plasma or red blood cells," Johannes said. 'Felt braver': Life-changing plasma Hayley Teasdale cannot put into words the impact of two small vials of plasma. For years, a rare primary immune deficiency left her unwell, bedridden and frequently visiting the hospital. Hayley Teasdale uses two vials of plasma a week, the equivalent of 100 plasma donations, to boost her immunocompromised body. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop Now, the equivalent of 100 plasma donations a year, has meant she can live a full and active lifestyle and keep up with her three-year-old daughter. Teasdale received her first dose of plasma at the age of 24 and described it as "life-changing". "I felt braver to go out in public spaces. "I could deal with getting sick now, because I had the support of someone else's immune system, essentially, and that was very powerful."
SBS Australia
14-07-2025
- Health
- SBS Australia
'Liquid gold' donations to flow after Lifeblood's new sexual activity rules take effect
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . The last time Chris Steel donated blood was decades ago. When the Red Cross later called, asking him for another donation, he says it was like coming out all over again. "I had to say, look, I know I can't donate. I'm gay. I'm sorry. And you know, it is one of those things that you don't want to have to necessarily confront it's a difficult conversation to have." The A-C-T's Treasurer has been pushing for blood and plasma donation rules to be changed since entering politics. Today, he's one of 625,000 Australians now eligible to donate plasma as sexual activity restrictions blocking most gay and bisexual men from giving the liquid part of blood are lifted. "After the marriage equality non binding plebiscite result and the changes to marriage equality laws, people were looking at other forms of discrimination that existed in society, and this was one that I think a lot of people came up against and recognised, but it wasn't one that could be changed overnight." Lifeblood estimates the new 'plasma pathway' will lead to an additional 95,000 plasma donations a year. It marks the end of restrictions that began in the 1980s, as Dr Skye McGregor from the Kirby Institute explains. "HIV transmission through blood transfusions prompted an urgent public health response. And so Australia, like many countries around the world, introduced an indefinite deferral for men who have sex with men, and this because they're the population who've historically been most impacted by HIV in Australia, and at this time, there was no HIV testing." As HIV testing advanced, the total ban was lifted and replaced with a suspension period. "The deferral for men who have sex with men decreased from indefinite to 12 months in 2000. And then in 2021 this was reduced to three months since last sexual activity, however, really didn't take into account that there was lower risk groups." From 14 JULY, potential plasma donors will only be asked one sexual-activity related question, with people who have had sex with someone who have been found to have HIV, hepatitis B or C, or HTLV in the last three months unable to donate. And while men and transgender women donating blood will still be asked if they have recently had sex with men, there's a plan for that to end, with a gender neutral screening question to be introduced next year. Once implemented, all donors will be asked the same questions, with most people in monogamous sexual relationships able to donate. Instead, anyone who has recently had anal sex with new or multiple partners will be unable to donate, regardless of gender. Dr McGregor says that reflects the potential risks. "Unprotected anal sex carries a higher risk of HIV transmission compared to other sexual activities, and this is particularly if it's a receptive anal intercourse, and this is because there's a risk of tears and abrasion in the anal passage, and it makes it easier for HIV to enter the bloodstream." For people like Hayley Teasdale, it's also a big day. "It's pretty hard to put into words just how important these donations are for my life. Before I received the plasma products, I was incredibly unwell, spending a lot of time in bed in hospital, always recovering from some kind of illness, and I'm able to live a full and active life. I have a job that I love, a family that I get to spend so much time with a beautiful, three year old daughter who keeps me very busy that without this plasma, I would not be able to keep up with it's honestly just given me a whole life I never thought was possible for a while there." The 33 year old relies on 100 plasma donations a year for her medication to treat a rare immune deficiency. "It's just such a huge moment for a community that's been just wanting to donate for so long. And it's moved me to tears to listen to Chris speak about that, and I'm so excited for all our new donors."
Sky News AU
08-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
'It's going to be a big hit': Queensland council hits residents with stunning 25 per cent rate rise
A southeast Queensland council has hiked rates by 25 per cent as it seeks to fix a $69 million-dollar black hole in its finances. North Burnett Regional Council raised general rates by 25 per cent in its budget delivered on Monday morning, surpassing Townsville City Council's recent 20 per cent increase for some owner-occupiers. The council has also increased rates by 19 per cent on sewerage, water and waste along with levies for local disasters, natural resource and landfill management. Mayor Lez Holtz, who backed the rate rise, said in the absence of government funding the council had to raise revenue to continue paying for its essential services. He added that the additional revenue would shave off $2.6 million off the council's deficit and bring it down to about $8 million by the end of the financial year. "We're just trying to meet the costs without having to reach out and ask our state and federal government to assist," he said. "I'm sympathetic toward the ratepayer that is struggling, the pensioner and those that do not have work. "It's going to be a big hit." The council is not the first local government to cop criticism whilst seeking to slug a rate hike on its residents. The ACT Government, which serves as both a state government and council, recently announced that all Canberrans would be slugged with a $100 health rate levy. "The levy will raise necessary revenue to fund record investment in Canberra's public health system, which now accounts for more than 33 per cent of the ACT budget," ACT Treasurer Chris Steel said. The revised levy has only been agreed to for one year and will be reviewed annually. In Sydney, several councils have also wanted to raise their rates, including North Sydney which wanted to increase rates by 87 per cent.
ABC News
04-07-2025
- ABC News
Inquiry into Transport Canberra's MyWay+ continues as functionality issues persist
Seven months since the ACT government launched its MyWay+ ticketing system, functionality issues persist and an inquiry has raised questions about its rollout. An ACT parliamentary committee, tasked with looking into the procurement and delivery of the public transport ticketing system, was due to report by the last sitting day of June 2025. But a day earlier, committee chair Jo Clay announced that deadline had been extended due to "the considerable volume of evidence". "Including reports of significant usability issues experienced by MyWay+ users, and concerns relating to accessibility and cybersecurity," she said. "The committee is of the view that in order to properly discharge its responsibility ... tabling a report by the last sitting day of June would not be possible." At that stage, 109 submissions had been published and the committee had held five hearings and called multiple witnesses, including government officials, ministers, contractors and commuters. But, like many frustrated Canberrans, the committee had more questions than answers — as was heard this week. On launch, some MyWay+ customers were unable to tap on and off with their debit or credit cards, while others reported issues with the app, website and QR code system. Transport Minister Chris Steel told the inquiry yesterday that most launch-day issues have been fixed. "While a number of issues have been resolved quickly, others have taken more time," he said. "In hindsight, certainly some of the elements were not ready, as ready as they could have been. That's clear. But a lot of those were rectified fairly soon after launch in November." But multiple users told ABC Radio Canberra the MyWay+ readers still didn't work, resulting in "free trips". "MyWay+ is the best! I've had endless free travel! I couldn't ask for more!" one listener texted in. "Another free trip to work today due to a non-working MyWay+ reader," said another. Another user said, "MyWay minus just another in a history of failures." Commuters have also reported problems with the system's live tracking functionality, and being charged on Fare Free Fridays. "When [will] destination information boards be connected at interchanges?" asked another. In March, the inquiry heard that the personal details of public transport users could be accessed on the internet before and after the MyWay+ launch. This week's inquiry questioned whether community testing on the system was adequate, and suggested the community should have been told that it was a "minimum viable product" so expectations weren't as high on day one. "We could have done better in terms of communicating about this as a transition, rather than expecting everything to go right on day one — clearly that didn't happen," Mr Steel conceded. But Mr Steel insisted that going ahead with the November launch was still the best approach. "A slightly later commencement probably would've provided a few options there, but I still think a decision around the hard switchover minimised confusion for the community around the change from MyWay to MyWay+," he said. "It's not just about the revenue loss, it's about customer behaviour. If you have a long period of time when no fares are collected, and then you switch on a system 15 months later, then people are not in the habit of paying for public transport and there is a big behavioural change that's required." MyWay+ executive Mark White said Transport Canberra was prepared for last year's launch. "More than 6.7 million journeys have been used, using debit cards, credit cards." Another of the issues raised in the inquiry was around the contract Transport Canberra signed with NEC Australia. The inquiry heard that delivery milestones were pushed back after the contract had been signed. The contract was meant to be completed by June 30, 2025, but it hasn't been. "We are currently engaged in contract discussions with the provider, as to why it's not complete and what penalties we may be applying," Mr White said. Yet to be completed is the disability compliance aspect of the contract. "There is no mechanism within the contract for us to actually penalise [breaches] of the Disability and Discrimination Act," Mr White said, adding that there were "other pieces of functionality" that remained incomplete. "There are other components, more in the functional back-end side of the system. So, that's our data systems and data warehouse," he said. "Off the top of my head, there are other functionalities that we would be providing to the community as well as our operators; things that are enhancements to manage our transport systems, as well as to manage our account-based ticketing." The deadline for the inquiry committee to report back to the Assembly has not been announced yet.
ABC News
30-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
ACT government slashes health levy to $100 as part of budget deal with Greens
The ACT government has slashed its proposed health levy from $250 to $100 for residential ratepayers after striking a deal with the Greens. The levy was unveiled in the ACT budget last week and was to be attached to rates notices every year until 2029-30, bringing in an extra $205 million over four years to help pay for health services. But the ACT Greens said they wouldn't support what the party called an "unfair and regressive tax". After days of negotiations, the levy has now been reduced to $100 for residential and rural property owners, but will remain at $250 for commercial properties. Treasurer Chris Steel said the agreement followed constructive discussions with the ACT Greens about revenue measures in the 2025-26 budget. "The levy will raise necessary revenue to fund record investment in Canberra's public health system, which now accounts for more than 33 per cent of the ACT Budget," Mr Steel said. The revised levy has only been agreed to for one year, and will be reviewed annually. To offset the lower levy, Mr Steel said the government would introduce a higher payroll tax rate of 8.75 per cent for large businesses with national payrolls exceeding $150 million. The new rate is expected to come into effect from January 1. "This outcome reflects the government's commitment to working collaboratively to ensure vital services are funded responsibly, without the need for deep cuts to public services or infrastructure investment," he said. ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said his party could not support the levy in its original form. "Through these negotiations we recognise it is vital for government to raise the revenue that is needed to pay for key community services in this territory," Mr Rattenbury said. He said the flat levy was unfair but there had been "significant pressure" to reach an agreement quickly, with the rates determination having to be signed off by midnight on June 30. "There needed to be a decision today to enable the government to put that determination in place in the legislative time frames, and so we've had to work quite quickly," Mr Rattenbury said.
