source : the age
Security arrangements at mental health facilities are not good enough, a premier has conceded, as six patients abscond from his state’s care each week.
Mental health care across NSW was thrust into the spotlight when Cumberland Hospital patient Setefano Mooniai Leaaetoa, 25, absconded care and allegedly mounted a murderous stabbing spree on Tuesday.
Another patient at the western Sydney hospital, Luke Peter Francis, 31, reportedly fled after threatening a nurse and taking her access card, before he was allegedly involved in a police pursuit that left two women dead on February 14.
But statewide data showed absconding from mental health care is not unique to Cumberland Hospital. About 200 in-patient admissions in NSW since July 1 have absconded, at an average of around six per week. A NSW Health spokesperson noted that was about one per cent of the total 20,000 mental health in-patient admissions in that time frame.
Patients abscond from Cumberland Hospital’s acute mental health care unit at an average of 0.75 incidents per 1000 bed days – more than three times the state-wide average of 0.23.
Premier Chris Minns conceded security was not good enough across NSW and it was putting the public at risk.
“We need to make sure security is in place to protect staff and to protect the wider community, I’m not satisfied that’s the case at the moment at Cumberland,” he said. “We’ve seen a number of people who have been responsible for security breaches that have gone on to commit alleged terrible crimes in our community … we are committed to ensuring safety and security is upgraded, so the public is safe.”
A formal review into the two recent incidents and security protocols at Cumberland Hospital has been announced.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association has continuously campaigned for higher staffing levels at Cumberland.
Unwell people leaving care at Cumberland was common and staff called police to report incidents about once a fortnight, according to one mental health clinician working there. Clinicians would flag high-risk cases with their superiors and ask for multiple staff to be assigned to patients but would get told they don’t have the resources available, registered nurse Nick Howson told the Sydney Morning Herald.
NSW opposition mental health spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell called for urgent attention to given to Cumberland Hospital before more innocent lives were lost.
“The mental health system is at breaking point … with chronic bed shortages and exhausted staff walking out the door,” she said.
Advocates for mental health patients say the community supports needed when people are discharged from facilities like Cumberland Hospital are inadequate.
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AAP
A former Qantas executive has expressed disappointment at the airline’s decision to close regional bases, saying local staff are crucial for tourism and flight reliability.
QantasLink, the airline’s regional arm, has announced its bases in Canberra, Hobart and Mildura will shut from April, with 71 flight and cabin crew affected.
The company said the closures would improve reliability by making more staff available at major airports to respond to flight disruptions.
But unions, councils and some regional transport groups have raised concerns about the potential flow-on effects, while a Senate inquiry continues to examine the viability of aviation in regional Australia.
Tourism Tasmania aviation and access director Steve Farquer, who established the Hobart base when he was a general manager at Qantas, said the airline was entitled to make business decisions but the closure would have ramifications.
“The impact for a number of Tasmanians who have chosen to live in Hobart, who have brought their families to Hobart and established a life in Hobart – schools, education, health – it’s a significant issue for them,” Farquer told the inquiry sitting in Wynyard, in the state’s north-west.
The logistics of the Hobart base were complicated, but central for the operation of flights to other capitals and regions, he said.
“The passion of the crew base, their commitment in advocating for Tasmania, what they deliver in terms of customer service and supporting our brand proposition, and that connectivity with our regular customers has been very, very crucial,” Farquer said.
The Senate committee released an interim report into the QantasLink closures on Wednesday afternoon, finding the move was poorly managed and had devastated both staff and regional communities.
In response, Qantas said all staff at the bases had been offered roles in other locations, “which most have taken up”.
“We put in place a comprehensive support package for impacted team members because we know the decision to close the crew bases has been difficult for our people,” a spokesperson said.
“This support package is well beyond any requirements as part of their agreement and enables them to commute for work, like many other team members already do.”
Qantas continued to invest in regional operations and would work with the committee, the spokesperson said.
Hobart Airport chief executive Norris Carter said he did not anticipate any change or disruption to flights in and out of the city.
The inquiry continues.
AAP
Ukraine has withdrawn a request for retiring Australian helicopters and pivoted its ask to a more lethal chopper as its ambassador raises the alarm over increasing Russian influence in the Pacific.
Kyiv initially requested Australia transfer its retiring Tiger helicopters, but its defence ministry is now asking for American Apaches, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, said.
The Apache request is being made to the US, and not Australia’s incoming 29-strong fleet, which Australia has bought to replace its 22 retiring Tigers.
“There was an interest in Tigers originally, but the position has changed,” Myroshnychenko told reporters in Canberra at an event at the European Commission embassy on Monday.
Ambassadors from EU member states and officials from other nations, including Australia, were briefed on the war by the Ukrainian ambassador on the cusp of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, which is on Tuesday.
“This has become a very sad habit for us,” EU ambassador Gabriele Visentin said alongside Myroshnychenko, with ambassadors and envoys in Australia meeting on every anniversary to express sustained support.
The Ukrainian ambassador called for more Australian contributions to a NATO-led Ukrainian fund that co-ordinates critical defence purchases for the besieged nation.
Australia has donated more $1.7 billion to Ukraine, including $1.5 billion in military assistance, since the start of the war, but concerns have been raised about the sporadic approach to announcing support. He vowed to raise the issue with Defence Minister Richard Marles on Monday.
“We appreciate what we get, don’t get me wrong … Bushmasters have become symbols of support, Australian tanks are there defending Ukrainian democracy – it’s just, this war is so brutal,” Myroshnychenko said.
“We need your support now more than ever.”
The ambassador also raised the alarm over an increasing Russian presence in the Indo-Pacific, and revealed that Australia’s defence and foreign affairs departments had commissioned and received reports into Russian influence in the region.
Myroshnychenko rejected any peace deal with Russia that would cede Ukrainian territory, and said it was about more than just the land.
“It’s about the people who live there under the Russian occupation,” he said.
“How much torture, rape, total erasure of their identities [is] happening in the occupation?”
AAP
Australia’s childcare workers are on “ick” alert as they scramble to rebuild public trust after the sector was engulfed in sexual abuse scandals and widespread safety concerns.
A Senate inquiry into the troubled industry moved to Brisbane on Monday as it probes quality and safety in the nation’s early childhood education and care system.
It was sparked by calls for reform after a series of high-profile scandals, including allegations of sexual abuse, unnecessary restraints and other failings in the sector.
Goodstart Early Learning chief executive Ros Baxter, representing a non-profit group that is the nation’s largest operator of childcare centres, said the organisation’s staff were urged to report any uncomfortable incidents.
“Nothing is more critical than children’s safety,” Baxter told the inquiry. “I have met several times over the last year with every one of our centre directors in every centre across the country … we talk about anything that gives you an ick.
“Anything that gives you a moment of something just not looking right, you will absolutely be supported through that process” of reporting, she said.
The sector has been battling child-safety concerns since it was revealed a Queensland worker sexually abused dozens of girls at childcare centres in one of the worst paedophile cases in the nation’s history.
Ashley Paul Griffith was sentenced to life in prison in November 2024 after admitting to more than 300 offences at daycare facilities in Queensland. He is separately accused of abusing at least two dozen children in NSW and in Italy.
The distressing abuse scandal deepened after a second worker from the Affinity Education Group was charged with more than 70 sex offences in Victoria.
Joshua Dale Brown worked at 24 facilities between 2017 and 2025, including many run by Affinity.
“These are all very serious and troubling matters, and I want to express how profoundly sorry I am that something like this could occur to any child in our care,” Affinity chief executive Glen Hurley told the inquiry. “It is something that should never have happened.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of child harm and will dismiss employees found to be in breach of this safeguard. On behalf of Affinity, I offer my sincere apology for the incidents that occurred at centres.”
Affinity has since conducted a review to address safety concerns and implemented strict new childcare requirements, which have led to a reduction in reported incidents, he said.
CCTV cameras had been installed and incident reporting simplified under a “see something, say something” policy.
“Our full focus is on strengthening safety, quality, and oversight across our services,” Hurley said. “The early indicators have been reassuring – we’ve witnessed reduced complaints, breaches, and a more stabilised workforce.”
Affinity childcare centres recorded more than 1700 regulatory breaches between 2021 and 2024, the inquiry heard.
“We treat all of these safety incidents and breaches extremely seriously,” Hurley said.
AAP
Woodside engaged in a concerted lobbying campaign to convince Environment Minister Murray Watt’s department to water down conditions designed to reduce emissions emanating from its North West Shelf project – one of the largest gas projects in the country.
Emails released under freedom of information laws show the conditions attached to Watt’s approval of Woodside extending the plant’s operation to 2070 were changed several times after the gas giant’s lobbying.
In May last year, Watt said he had imposed “strict” conditions on his provisional approval of Woodside’s bid to extend its North West Shelf operation in Karratha to 2070. At the time, he refused to reveal the conditions, he said, so Woodside had the opportunity to respond to the terms.
The documents show his department was negotiating the terms of those conditions with Woodside until September 6, 2025, before Watt announced on September 12 the 48 conditions upon which his approval of the North West Shelf extension rested.
The released emails show Woodside was particularly opposed to two conditions: that it monitor levels of various emissions in real time, and that it reduce emissions on five-yearly intervals.
Read the full story here.
The Australian government has issued a warning for those travelling to Mexico following the death of drug lord “El Mencho” in a military raid.
Mexico’s Defence Ministry said a shootout in the western state of Jalisco on Sunday left Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera seriously injured, and he died during an air transfer to Mexico City. The ministry noted that US authorities had provided “complementary information”.
The operation set off a wave of violence, with burning cars and gunmen blocking highways in more than half a dozen states, particularly in the country’s north and west.
The warning on Australia’s Smart Traveller website says:
Serious security incidents have been reported across the state of Jalisco, including in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, following a federal law-enforcement operation against organised crime. Authorities in Puerto Vallarta have issued a public advisory to shelter in place. There may be transport disruptions, including by air. Stay alert and follow the advice of the local authorities.
Security incidents have also been reported in other parts of Mexico, including Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon.
We continue to advise exercise a high degree of caution in Mexico overall due to the threat of violent crime. We also continue to advise reconsider your need to travel to the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Guanajuato, Sonora, Colima and Chiapas. There are lower levels within some of these locations. See our advice level summary for details.”
The government is advising travellers to “exercise a high degree of caution in Mexico overall due to the threat of violent crime”.
“Higher levels apply in some areas.”
With Reuters
A controversial Israeli journalist could be barred from Australia because of inflammatory comments he made lamenting the fact there hadn’t been more casualties in Gaza and applauding the killing of Palestinian journalists.
Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli is scheduled to speak at fundraising events next month in Sydney and Melbourne, but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is considering using his powers to deny him a visa.
Burke told this masthead: “It always surprises me when someone, who has made the sorts of comments that this individual has, advertises a speaking tour before they’ve even received a visa.”
The looming decision comes as the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion prepares to hold its first public hearing on Tuesday, and the government moves to ban the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir under new laws passed after the Bondi terror attack.
“The ASIO advice is now in. This is the first time we have been able to ban, potentially, a group which falls short of a terrorist listing,” Burke told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.
Read the full story here.
The opposition has called the Albanese government “hypocritical” for opposing Donald Trump’s tariff regime at the same time as Labor considers its own climate-based import charges on materials such as fertiliser, cement and steel entering Australia from high-pollution countries.
Australia’s consideration of a long-awaited carbon tariff report, which was received by the government last year but released on February 13 as the Coalition toppled Sussan Ley as leader, coincides awkwardly with Trump’s snap imposition of a 15 per cent global tariff on imports.
A carbon tariff regime would also be a significant shift in Labor’s reform legacy from the 1980s, when the Hawke government championed reforms to remove import protections, deregulate the economy and expose Australia to international competition.
Trade Minister Don Farrell is currently lobbying the Trump administration for an exemption for Australia from his global 15 per cent tariffs on all imports to the US, announced after the US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were unlawful.
“Australia believes in free and fair trade,” Farrell said yesterday. “We have consistently advocated against these unjustified tariffs.”
Read the full story by climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley.
Thank you for reading our national news live blog for Monday, February 23. Here’s what we have covered so far today.
- The Coalition will challenge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to take further steps to stop the return of a cohort of IS brides and their children to Australia, seeking the introduction of laws that criminalise the actions of non-government organisations or advocates who help people linked to terrorism return to the country. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor today said the new laws were designed to target “terrorists and terrorist-sympathisers”. Albanese said the proposal was “not serious”.
- Save the Children Australia has released a statement responding to the proposed legislation. Chief executive Mat Tinkler said: “While we have yet to see the details of this proposal, any attempt to criminalise advocacy for Australian children stranded overseas would be extraordinary.”
- After a 39-year career with the ABC, journalist and long-time news presenter Michael Rowland announced his departure from the organisation on ABC’s News Breakfast this morning.
- In world news, police and US Secret Service officers shot and killed a man in his early 20s, armed with a shotgun and fuel canister, who was trying to break into Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, authorities say. The man breached the secure perimeter on the north side of the property about 1.30am on Sunday (Florida time) when he was confronted by two Secret Service agents and a local police officer. Trump was not in the resort at the time.
- Violence has erupted in Mexico after the killing of a major drug lord commonly known as “El Mencho” during a military raid, Mexican officials said, as the country’s government ramps up pressure on cartels after US intervention threats.
Follow along as we bring you the latest live news updates from Australia and beyond throughout the afternoon. I’m Emily Kaine, handing over now to my colleague Isabel McMillan.
Royal commissioner Virginia Bell will travel to Bondi later this week to visit the scene of the December 14 massacre.
While at Bondi, Bell will meet with survivors of the attack and relatives of those who died in the massacre.
The former High Court judge will give an opening statement tomorrow morning outlining how the inquiry will operate.
Then she will visit Bondi later in the week for an informal meeting with those who were directly affected by the mass shooting, in which 15 people were killed.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has told those invited to the meeting that Bell will use it “to explain the limitations on the approach the commission can take to leading evidence of the circumstances of the attack and to answer any questions about how the commission proposes to go about its work”.
