LineNoise @ LineNoise @kbin.social

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121

Joined

2 yr. ago

That’s a whole other story at the moment.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/21/nsw-police-looking-to-replace-mental-health-response-program-lauded-by-minister-as-so-successful

This bit in particular…

In their response to the report, released on Monday, the police said they were “in the very early stages of exploring an alternative to the current Pacer program”.

“This issue will only be addressed with the responsibility for the appropriate management of those with mental health issues being returned to NSW health services,” the response said.

…should be pounced upon. It’s rare to see any police force offer a suggestion of actively excluding them from mental health responses. Minns doesn’t seem to have half the ambition required to actually take up the idea.

Police attending mental health crises are an escalating factor. They shouldn’t be there at all, with a trained and equipped new response in their place whose only responsibility is health care.

The truth telling process should have come first.

Maybe it didn’t have to if we had a government ready for the fight phrases like “History Wars” and “Great Australian Silence” should have made bleedingly obvious was coming, but that’s not the government we have.

As it stands the emboldened and networked hard and far right off the back of a no vote may be a more urgent reason to vote yes than the institution at the heart of the matter. They will likely now pose a threat to the rights of far more Australians, well more than 50%.

Our cheapest housing is car dependent. These ideas sound nice but without enormous infrastructure investment, projects that will take a decade or more, the reality is that they disproportionately benefit wealthy areas that are well served by public transport to the detriment of poorer areas.

Every Attorney-General in the country understands that incarceration of children increases recidivism.

Symes’ inaction here beggars belief. Cowering to populism while adding fuel to fire those populists are attempting to fan.

I'm honestly surprised that the Coalition's China hawks haven't been more vocal about this publicly, and I'd be very interested to know how this is being discussed behind closed doors.

A no vote should it eventuate is going to be a regional geopolitical hindrance.

In Victoria I’d be amazed if the terrible state of our road surfaces aren’t a contributing factor, particularly regionally. There’s a backlog of work that runs back before COVID because of changes to road maintenance funding and staffing.

The other grim factor is that with our mental health crisis, cost of living pressures etc. not all single vehicle accidents without seatbelts will be accidental.

Major choice here for the Palaszczuk government. Are they committed to a functioning anti-corruption body, or are they more interested in protecting their own.

Pro hospital system tip: If you or your loved one is pushed to go into a "Transition Care Program" while recovering from surgery refuse.

It's so under resourced that I've just had to shell out what will probably be $2-2.5k on private patient transport because they have zero resources or budget to organise it on our behalf.

Good to see Chaney introduce a private members bill to remove the carve out for political parties.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/28/labor-albanese-government-privacy-crackdown-political-parties

But the outcome of that seems like a fait accompli in any parliament where Labor and the Coalition can combine for a majority.

The Ombudsman's press release with a link to the full report is up here: https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/our-impact/news/ombudsman-finds-victorias-electric-and-plug-in-hybrid-vehicle-charges-administered-unfairly/

Put here by Margaret Simons more succinctly than I probably can from my phone at the moment:

Over the last couple of years, the words “tightly held” have come up in almost every conversation about Andrews government decisions.

It reflects the way in which major policy has been developed by a small group of his most trusted people – developed in what one observer described as a “black box”, with even government ministers excluded, unless they were in the increasingly tiny circle of the favoured.

The politicisation of the public service – its lack of ability and sometimes the will to stand up to the premier – was becoming one of the themes of the government.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/26/daniel-andrews-remoulded-the-state-of-victoria-but-the-wheels-were-beginning-to-wobble

The problem was decisions occurring within the Premier's office despite departmental or ministerial advice, and often in advance of questions being asked. It's been a problem for years at this point but my experience of the issue really came to a head during COVID when trying to work with a DHHS / DFFH that was actually incapable of making any decision or holding to the ones that it did make and communicate with pretty deleterious outcomes.

The problem was particularly highlighted by the step change in those interactions in March 2021 when Merlino became acting Premier.

It was a functional issue, it's become a major factional issue within Labor, and it's a large element in the contempt for integrity institutions and ombudsmen that the government has shown recently.

This was a recommendation of Dorrelle Anderson's report that was used by the Federal government to back in its alcohol bans.

1. The NT Government make urgent amendments to the Liquor Act 2019 that will see town camps and nearby remote communities return to alcohol free areas, with a clear path forward if the community wishes to introduce responsible drinking options, upon the development of a Community Alcohol Management Plan.
2. The NT and Commonwealth Governments continue to work together to deliver needs based funding to the relevant service providers in the Northern Territory as a matter of priority, so that the cycle of intergenerational trauma and disadvantage can truly begin to be broken.

https://cmc.nt.gov.au/data/assets/pdffile/0007/1189087/proposed-actions.PDF

Unfortunately they acted on the part they had already made their mind up on and ignored the rest.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-06/nt-alice-springs-report-released-alcohol-bans/101934758

Hopefully we see far less centralisation of decision making within the Premier's office from here on out.

Figured better to link this page but the meat is in the linked PDFs. The critical explainer in particular doesn’t pull the punches.

Harm from displacement and community fragmentation: In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, more than 10,000 people have just been thrown into a very uncertain future knowing that they will be displaced and their communities broken up. The harmful effects of displacement on health, wellbeing, social connection, and life opportunity are well known. Displacement of low-income communities is known internationally to cause serious harm and death.

Figured better to link this page but the meat is in the linked PDFs. The critical explainer in particular doesn’t pull the punches.

Harm from displacement and community fragmentation: In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, more than 10,000 people have just been thrown into a very uncertain future knowing that they will be displaced and their communities broken up. The harmful effects of displacement on health, wellbeing, social connection, and life opportunity are well known. Displacement of low-income communities is known internationally to cause serious harm and death.

From the Human Rights Commission: https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/media-releases/human-rights-commissioner-critical-covid-inquiry-scope

With the tower sites they’re already flagging that it’ll only be about 1/3 public with the rest commercial meaning how much land is retained is in question. At a minimum public housing priorities will lose any strata vote.

There are good reasons not to build monolithic public housing but communities need to be retained and it would mean the scale would need to be even bigger. As it is it won’t even cover the wait lists.

There’s zero trust in this government when it comes to public housing and mostly for well founded reasons.

It’s difficult to have any faith in this government taking public housing needs seriously after how it has behaved since installation. Everything thus far has prioritised developers and shown near zero regard for community and amenity for public housing residents.

Thanks for getting out into the streets today if you did. Remember that win or lose there's going to be much to be done beyond October 14. Stay active, please. You'll be needed.

Outrage at the accusation of racism would require an understanding that racism is abhorrent. From the likes of Dutton, many of the figureheads of the reactionary No campaign, and from the commentators amplifying this supposed outrage from The Australian’s pages we have years - often decades - of behaviour and speech which suggests they do not possess that understanding.