Current news in Melbourne Archives

The challenge of making public spaces safer for women

Belinda Lo and Olivia Greenwell meet once a week to go running at sunrise along the Merri Creek, in Melbourne’s inner north.

They love the greenery, the birds and the quiet.

“It’s an oasis in the city,” Ms Lo said.

But they would never do it alone.

“The reality of women in our public spaces is we’re actually not safe to run alone,” Ms Lo said.

“We’re always having to look over our shoulder because of potential predatory behaviour of people hiding in the bushes, potentially going to assault us or harm us in some way.

“It’s the reality that girls and women grow up with, and we all know it.”

The local council commissioned a report to examine safety issues along the Merri Creek at Coburg, where there was an alleged rape in 2019.

Monash University’s XYX Lab, which studies gender-sensitive design practices, surveyed more than 800 people, and found although people loved the area’s green space, there were issues with perceptions of safety.

“Since the [alleged] attack, women have been absenting themselves from the creek either permanently, or at certain times of the day, or under certain conditions,” the report found.

It said women experience public spaces differently to men, and often change their behaviour, doing things like walking with a friend or dog to protect themselves from violence.

It found environmental solutions alone would not fix the problem, and more needed to be done to address violence against women.

It suggested adding things like park benches and scheduling community events, to attract people to the area.

For Ms Greenwell, that would make a huge difference.

She said, during the recent COVID-19 lockdowns, she felt safe enough to run by herself, sometimes even at night.

“There were people around, walking their dogs, and it felt safe because there were a lot of people around,” she said.

The Deputy Mayor of Moreland, Mark Riley, said that was something council would look at closely.

“The more people there, the more comfortable you can feel sometimes rather than feeling alone, so it’s important to activate the space,” he said.

The Merri Creek includes several underpasses, where the path crosses under busy roads.

Many women told the researchers they wanted more lighting, with some describing the underpasses as “creepy”.

“Darkness is a strong trigger for raising levels of caution and fear, such that many women curtail their after-dark activities,” the report found.

However, a number of people were also opposed to lighting that would disturb the animal life.

The report called for lighting in key areas, like the underpasses and footbridges, but found CCTV was unlikely to work, given the large area of the creek.

Like many trails along creeks, parts of the path along the Merri Creek are quite narrow or crumbling.

“Paths that are narrow force women closer to strangers who might grab at them or make unwelcome comments,” the report found.

The report also suggested adding more routes in and out of the parkland, so women could escape potentially threatening situations.

Thank you for stopping to visit My Local Pages. We Hope you enjoyed reading this article regarding “News in the City of Melbourne named “The challenge of making public spaces safer for women”. This news article was posted by MyLocalPages as part of our VIC events and what’s on news services.

#challenge #making #public #spaces #safer #women

Source link

Mother’s Day is a hard day for so many women, but it’s time we threw out the old definition

The journalist leaned towards me over the cafe table, compassion in her eyes, a dagger on her tongue.

“You don’t have children,” she smiled, tilting her head sympathetically, “so when you hear someone like Cate Blanchett say that you really can’t understand what love is until you have a child of your own, how does that make you feel?”

All the long walk to this interview about the new ABC TV Breakfast program I had been asked to anchor, I had fretted about being asked this question.

I knew it was coming. It seemed you simply can’t sit down with a childless woman over 40 and not ask her why she had none. What had gone wrong? Did she not want them? Had she been trying? Did she regret not having a family?

And then — the one blow all those little slashes had been leading to: could you even feel like a real woman without a child of your own?

I knew it was coming. I just didn’t expect it in the form of Queen Cate.

What if I had gone through cancer and chemo? What if I’d miscarried – once or over and over? What if I didn’t want children? What if I was fostering, happy in the understanding that the child would return to functioning parents? What if it was all none of her damn business?

There were of course a dozen answers I could have given this soft-eyed sadist but none I could offer honestly or with conviction.

I was in what felt like year 75 of a never-ending war against infertility, and I was losing. Her needling went to the heart of the longing I nursed. I couldn’t answer her for fear of the pain that would pour out.

The assumption in her question was breathtaking. I should have been furious. Instead, I stumbled some sort of answer and dragged myself home — hollowed-out, chastened. Childless.

Closing the door behind me at home, my step-son Tim asked me how the interview went and I told him about the deathless question.

He blinked at me: “Why didn’t you just say you had us?”

It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday, and while it’s always important to recall that this day has become just another calculated retail opportunity, that doesn’t soften its capacity to sting.

It is a hard day for so many women. Women without children who wanted or lost children; women without their mothers; women who care for children but aren’t admitted into the pantheon of motherhood, which is now realised in the impossibly perfect Instagram ideal of beautiful cherubs heaped around happy mums.

The construction of that perfect female ideal had even got to me. Tim was right. I had been lucky enough to have the three wonderful children of my husband in my life for years before our son came along, and yet somehow those precious relationships were never enough to silence the questions I had been fending off from others for all that time: why don’t you have children of your own. As if they were the only kind who mattered.

The right to claim these young people as my own children never really felt like one I had the privilege to make. Until Tim’s beautiful question allowed me to see that I could.

I know women who mother with their every phone call, card, or message to the child of someone they love, with their every visit, every special trip to the cinema, every shoulder they offer to someone to cry on, every wise bit of hard-learned advice they share.

There are a thousand ways to mother, a thousand kinds of mother and they don’t all look like the ones in your Facebook feed.

So — to all the women who provide love and care and support for children: the aunts and the best friends, the neighbours and the kindergarten teachers, the co-workers and the carers, those with, without or around children, tomorrow is a day for you too.

You are all the mothers of the kids of the world. Happy Mother’s Day.

Speaking of those glossy images of perfect motherlove, this weekend we take you into the wild world of the influencers – in all its paid-for glory; we spend some time reflecting on 100 days of Joe Biden (it sure is a lot quieter around here these days) and don’t ditch that vinyl collection! You know there is gold in there …

Have a safe and happy weekend and while I figure out a way to use this column sometime soon as a vehicle to discuss the quite extraordinary television experience that is Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen — DC Comics meets searing race politics — allow me to hook you in you with the music.

Trent Reznor, the founder of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, is now a celebrated and much-awarded composer for film and TV scores and he has created his own alternate musical universe for the series. Here’s the dark doorway into this place – don’t look back.

Virginia Trioli is presenter on Mornings on ABC Radio Melbourne and the former co-host of ABC News Breakfast.

Thank you for dropping in to My Local Pages and checking this post on “News in the City of Melbourne titled “Mother’s Day is a hard day for so many women, but it’s time we threw out the old definition”. This news release was presented by MyLocalPages as part of our current events and news aggregator services.

#Mothers #Day #hard #day #women #time #threw #definition

Source link

Current news in Melbourne Current news in VIC day definition hard Latest news in VIC Latest news in Victoria Melbourne news mothers News in City of Melbourne News in Melbourne News in VIC News in Victoria threw time What's on in Victoria women

Calls for change as new report finds Victorian paramedics under stress levels akin to a mental disorder

Paramedic Dean Adams was coming home from a 12-hour night shift during which a patient had threatened to murder him when he realised something had to give.

He’d barely had time to use the toilet, let alone eat anything that night, as his crew was sent from job to job — culminating in treating a man who’d assaulted a police officer, and then turned on him.

In his three years since starting as a paramedic, Mr Adams has seen the workload increase dramatically.

“The relentlessness was just unsustainable going forward, and for me that was evidenced by sleeping difficulties … it was impacting my eating patterns,” he said.

He was dreading going to work, especially to back-to-back 12-hour night shifts.

He stopped seeing friends and felt drained.

“I think we all strive to provide the best care to our patients … but there’s times where you’ve been working for 10-12 hours and you haven’t had time to stop and recover … and that’s when it becomes dangerous,” he said.

A new study, led by researchers at Swinburne and RMIT universities and obtained exclusively by the ABC, has found that like Mr Adams, many Ambulance Victoria employees are at breaking point.

More than a third feel burnt out by their work, and 10 per cent are looking to leave the profession in the next year.

Almost one in 10 are exhibiting stress levels comparable to having a severe psychological disorder, while a quarter report being under moderate levels of psychological distress.

In comparison, previous studies have found less than 13 per cent of the general population exhibits similar distress levels.

Report author Peter Holland said the research pointed to a dangerous level of emotional exhaustion in the workforce, far beyond anything he’d seen in his previous studies on nurses in hospitals.

“They’re under very significant levels of stress, to the extent that some of these people need some help themselves in that sense,” Professor Holland said.

The survey of 663 staff — about 17 per cent of on-road Ambulance Victoria employees — was completed in September last year during Melbourne’s second COVID-19 lockdown.

But Professor Holland and co-author Lara Thynne believe the situation would not have changed since that time because workloads had increased dramatically since the lockdown ended.

“If anything, things have gotten worse,” Dr Thynne said.

She said while being a paramedic was always a high-intensity job, the research found recent trends of missing meal breaks, working overtime, and gruelling night shifts with no rest time were taking their toll.

“The damage is the emotional effects on paramedics outside work. We know paramedics [already] have higher rates of suicide, and higher rates of marriage breakdown,” she said.

Since the COVID-19 lockdown ended, Victoria’s health system has been under strain, with demand for ambulances skyrocketing.

Victoria’s hospital emergency departments are full, which leads to ramping — a situation where paramedics care for a patient in the ambulance outside a hospital until a bed becomes available inside.

This in turn prevents the crew from attending emergencies in the community.

Pair that with an increase in call-outs in recent months, and ambulance wait times are now at their worst levels in six years, according to new quarterly data.

The deadly consequences of this were evident two weeks ago, when 32-year-old Christina Lackmann died after waiting six hours for an ambulance.

It prompted the Victorian government on Friday to announce more than $750 million in the upcoming budget for more paramedics, better systems to deal with non-urgent emergency calls, and better access to beds in emergency departments.

The exact reasons for increased call-outs are not known, but Danny Hill from the Victorian Ambulance Union said his members were seeing more patients with chronic illnesses who had let their treatment go during the pandemic.

He also believes his members are increasingly taking patients who don’t need further care to hospital, because the paramedics fear they won’t be supported by Ambulance Victoria if the patient later suffers an adverse event.

Thank you for dropping by My Local Pages and reading this story on “News in the City of Melbourne named “Calls for change as new report finds Victorian paramedics under stress levels akin to a mental disorder”. This post was shared by My Local Pages Australia as part of our local and national events & news stories services.

#Calls #change #report #finds #Victorian #paramedics #stress #levels #akin #mental #disorder

Source link

akin calls change Current news in Melbourne Current news in VIC Disorder finds Latest news in VIC Latest news in Victoria levels Melbourne news mental News in City of Melbourne News in Melbourne News in VIC News in Victoria paramedics report stress Victorian What's on in Victoria

Victoria moves to single QR code COVID-19 check-in system amid concerns about compliance

It wasn’t until Rachelle Connor left Victoria and returned that she started to become worried about how QR codes were used in her home state.

At the first restaurant they visited after arriving in Western Australia, Ms Connor and her family were asked to download the SafeWA app before scanning into the venue.

“That’s how diligent they are,” she said.

It was one of the first times she had been told she would not be allowed into a venue without showing proof of her checking in.

“It’s just everywhere, people are doing it and people are complying,” she said.

“And it just struck us that after being in Victoria, where we’ve had so many cases, to go to a state that has had barely any cases, and everyone is still scanning to go into any sort of shop or any outlet was just extraordinary.”

Ms Connor, a council worker, said she had written to businesses since returning home “and I was told that it’s not mandatory in Victoria”.

Most venues, including hospitality, sport facilities, gyms, religious sites, community venues, entertainment venues, real estate inspections, museums, nightclubs, gaming, accommodation and beauty services, are all required to use a QR code system.

Supermarkets, retail and shopping centres are “highly recommended” to use the service.

The results of a recent survey released by the government found only 41 per cent of visitors to hospitality venues checked in every time.

Authorised officers visited a range of venues between April 30 and May 2 and issued warnings or notices about a lack of compliance with the system.

Health Minister Martin Foley said there had been “declining levels of compliance with the kind of measures we need to stay safe and stay open”.

The use of QR codes for contact tracing is in the spotlight after New South Wales authorities praised a couple at the centre of the outbreak for using the state’s system.

Nancy Baxter, head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne, said the QR codes were “really helpful” if everyone was using them.

The data collected through the QR codes can work faster than the “deep detective work” of contact tracers, meaning potentially infected people isolate sooner.

But Professor Baxter said their usefulness depended on their uptake.

“Even myself, I try to be vigilant about it, but just recently, I couldn’t seem to get the system to work. Did I persist? No, honestly … and I don’t think I’m unique,” she said.

The government has today announced small-to-medium-sized businesses will have patron caps lifted from May 28.

Venues that are 400 square metres or below will be able to have up to 200 patrons per space — such as a dining room or band room — with the previous rule of one person per 2 square metres removed.

They must use the government’s Service Victoria app and have COVID marshals in place to ensure people are checking in to each space.

Mr Foley said the move to the single system was made on public health advice and after looking around the rest of the nation.

After allowing venues to use their own check-in system for months, Victoria recently mandated the use of the Service Victoria app, or for third-party systems to link back to the government’s interface.

Venues were given an amnesty until April 23 to comply.

There had been some pushback over fears small businesses would be forced to bear the cost of the move to a single program.

The new rules announced today mean all venues must use the government’s app instead, despite many going through the process of having their systems approved over recent weeks.

“Business welcomes the announcement of the easing of restrictions today,” chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Paul Guerra said.

Thank you for visiting My Local Pages. We hope you enjoyed checking this story regarding “News in the City of Melbourne titled “Victoria moves to single QR code COVID-19 check-in system amid concerns about compliance”. This news article was presented by MyLocalPages as part of our local events, news and stories aggregator services.

#Victoria #moves #single #code #COVID19 #checkin #system #concerns #compliance

Source link

checkin code compliance concerns COVID19 Current news in Melbourne Current news in VIC Latest news in VIC Latest news in Victoria Melbourne news moves News in City of Melbourne News in Melbourne News in VIC News in Victoria Single system Victoria What's on in Victoria

Man charged after serious truck crash injures five pedestrians in Melbourne’s Southbank

Victorian police have charged a man over a serious crash in Southbank that left five pedestrians injured.

Police said the 64-year-old driver from Wyndham Vale was arrested after the incident on Thursday night. On Friday night he was “initially” charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.

In a media statement, police said it was alleged that while turning left, the truck cut the intersection corner and mounted the footpath, knocking over a traffic light.

Five pedestrians — four men and a woman all aged in their 20s — were injured.

The driver has been remanded into custody and will face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today.

Earlier, investigators said the B-double tanker was turning left from City Road on to Power Street about 7:00pm on Thursday when it mounted the footpath.

The tanker did not stop at the crash scene and left via Power Street.

Earlier, the driver’s employer said the driver had told them he was “unaware” of the incident.

The K&S Group said in a statement that the man had worked for the company for nearly 10 years and was on his way to a depot in a company truck at the end of his shift.

“Our thoughts are with the people and the families of those involved,” K&S Group managing director and CEO Paul Sarant said in a statement

“It’s obviously a very serious matter which is being fully investigated by the police and the company. We’re advised the driver maintains he was unaware of the incident.”

Police said a motorist who saw the crash unfold followed the truck and provided information that helped officers find the driver.

A truck, believed to be that involved in the crash, was found in Truganina in Melbourne’s west.

Investigators have appealed for anyone who saw the incident or who has dashcam footage to come forward.

Ambulance Victoria said the five pedestrians were taken to two different hospitals.

Two men in their 20s were taken to the Alfred Hospital with lower body injuries.

One remains in a critical but stable condition while the other is in a stable condition.

Two men and a woman in their 20s, were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with lower body injuries.

The men are in a serious condition and the woman is in a stable condition.

Southbank resident Peter Duras was at the scene of the crash shortly after it happened.

“My stomach just turned, it was just horrifying to see people lying everywhere, ambulance officers doing their best and police and fire cars everywhere,” he said.

Mr Duras said the corner had been a concern for years, because trucks with placarded loads were not allowed to enter the Domain or Burnley tunnels, and were funnelled onto City Road.

“As the area is built up more and more and more highly developed it’s become a definite concern because you see the difficulty which some of these vehicles have getting around that corner,” he said.

“This is a high density residential area so it’s possibly inevitable that one day this would happen.”

Another Southbank resident Janine Patterson said last night’s crash was an accident “waiting to happen”.

“That particular corner had a recent build on it and it actually decreased the size of footpath available for pedestrians to stand safely,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne.

Thanks for checking out this post involving “News in the City of Melbourne called “Man charged after serious truck crash injures five pedestrians in Melbourne’s Southbank”. This story was shared by MyLocalPages as part of our local events, news and stories aggregator services.

#Man #charged #truck #crash #injures #pedestrians #Melbournes #Southbank

Source link

charged crash Current news in Melbourne Current news in VIC Injures Latest news in VIC Latest news in Victoria man Melbourne news Melbournes News in City of Melbourne News in Melbourne News in VIC News in Victoria pedestrians Southbank truck What's on in Victoria

Prime Minister criticised on Q+A over abandoning Australians of Indian heritage during COVID-19 crisis

Australia may be set to resume flights from India next week to get stranded citizens home, but the Morrison government received a lashing on Q+A from guest Mannie Kaur Varma, who said Australians of Indian heritage are not being seen as equals by the Prime Minister.

Ms Varma said those in the Indian community felt abandoned by Mr Morrison, as she took aim in a show opening that mocked the PM’s love of curries, suggesting he thinks they are India’s major contribution to Australian society.

“First you grant us exemption to go to India to look after our loved ones who are fighting for their lives, then you abandon us and leave us in a country that is gasping for air,” Ms Varma said.

“In 2019 the Prime Minister said Australia is like a fragrant garam masala…for the Prime Minister, is the value of Indians reduced to just our food or does he see us as equals?”

Asked by host Hamish Macdonald how the flight ban and the threat of jail time for those returning from India made her feel, Ms Varma said the government ruling, under the Biosecurity Act, made it feel like Indian-Australians were not equal.

“What is going on in India is horrible and to know we are not treated the same as everyone else is just appalling,” she said.

Coalition Member for Reid in NSW, Fiona Martin, said the ruling was simply a case of following the health advice available to the government due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in returned travellers from India.

“Last month we saw over 40 per cent of people travelling home from India testing positive to COVID-19,” Ms Martin said, before adding other countries such as the United States (6 per cent) had a much lower rate.

Asked if those of Indian descent in her electorate had expressed similar feelings to Ms Varma, Ms Martin said that was not the case, but they did feel the threat of jail was overly aggressive.

“The penalty is what has been of concern by constituents, not the ban itself,” she said.

“As I mentioned, earlier in the week, I thought the penalty was a little heavy-handed and that part of it was problematic.”

Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services Linda Burney, who herself has a sizeable Indian population in her Barton electorate in NSW, said she had heard similar gripes to Ms Varma’s.

She said constituents felt “abandoned” and pointed out that to become Australian citizens, those who hail from India had to renounce their India citizenship, making the government’s flight ban an even more egregious move.

“We’re not talking about people who are not Australian citizens,” Ms Burney said of the Australians stranded in India.

“They are Australian citizens and Australian governments are responsible for keeping their citizens safe and providing them with as much support as possible in difficult circumstances.

Ms Martin was quick to refute the notion of it being a political response.

“This is not a political response. This is a health response. This decision has been based on health advice,” she said.

While India and coronavirus opened the show, a large part was devoted to the discussion of coercive control and how Australia can tackle the issue moving forward, including making it illegal.

In a powerful opening to the topic, audience member Suzette Sutton said she endured abuse for 25 years during which she tried to take her own life twice. She asked how the issue could be solved in relationships that involve domestic violence.

SBS journalist Jess Hill said that criminalising coercive control would make the entire gamut of domestic violence visible — not just physical or sexual assaults — and that it would ultimately help victims.

“What we’re proposing with criminalising coercive control is to make the entire arc of what you were subjected to visible,” Hill said.

“Not just the physical incidents, not just the things that our criminal justice system recognises now, but everything from the start to the finish so that we understand what the risks are, what the damage has been and how dangerous the offender is.”

Ms Burney, herself a survivor of domestic violence, said she wanted Australians to understand just how crippling coercive control could be, adding that it should be criminalised.

“Something that I want people to understand is this often the basis to destroying a person,” Ms Burney said.

“It takes away who you are.

“I agree that coercive control should be criminalised.

Thank you for dropping in to My Local Pages and reading this news update regarding “News in the City of Melbourne titled “Prime Minister criticised on Q+A over abandoning Australians of Indian heritage during COVID-19 crisis”. This post was presented by My Local Pages Australia as part of our local events & news services.

#Prime #Minister #criticised #abandoning #Australians #Indian #heritage #COVID19 #crisis

Source link

abandoning Australians COVID19 crisis Criticised Current news in Melbourne Current news in VIC heritage Indian Latest news in VIC Latest news in Victoria Melbourne news minister News in City of Melbourne News in Melbourne News in VIC News in Victoria prime What's on in Victoria

Man charged after serious truck crash injures five pedestrians in Melbourne’s Southbank

Victorian police have charged a man over a serious crash in Southbank that left five pedestrians injured.

In a media statement, police said it was alleged that while turning left, the truck cut the intersection corner and mounted the footpath, knocking over a traffic light.

Five pedestrians — four men and a woman all aged in their 20s — were injured.

The driver has been remanded into custody and will face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.