16 FEBRUARY 2022
ISSUE 276
REAL INDEPENDENT LOCAL WEEKLY NEWS
News
‘At the end of our tether’
A plan to create a 246-lot residential development in Mardi that has already been knocked back by Council will come under scrutiny this week by the Regional Planning Panel. See page 3
Out&About
Cast and crew were on site at Dooralong on February 14 for the filming of the second season of the socially-conscious TV series Australian All Stars. See page 15
Business
Nurses strike as numbers show 227 local current COVID cases in their ranks As four busloads of nurses and midwives travelled to Sydney for a rally on February 15, statistics revealed the Coast’s aged care workers fell victim to COVID far more frequently than the residents they care for. Data taken from the 18 aged care facility across the seats that report their case figures on a weekly basis to the Department of Health shows that there were 153 active cases of COVID among residents in the week to Friday, February 11. Some 227 nurses care workers across the 18 centres
were active COVID cases in the same week. “Nurses and healthcare workers have borne the brunt of a pandemic that our health system was unprepared to cope with,” said the Nurses and Midwives Association ahead of a strike this week. “Our patients know what years of rampant understaffing means to safety; it’s time the NSW Government did too,” it said. While the 18 centres paint a small snapshot of the entire system, staff shortages have weighed heavily on local care homes for some time with the pandemic only serving to
exacerbate the problem. Local nurse and Nurse and Midwives Association delegate, Michelle Cashman, told CCC from the Sydney demonstration: "We are at the end of our tether, working many extra shifts and expected to front up time and time again. we are now falling down in heaps, exhausted." "Everyone is struggling, it's not safe, we are dealing with some aggressive and tired patients who simply want to be treated. "We can’t take it anymore and we've taken this unusual strike action," she said. Cashman said nurses from
around NSW were attending the demonstration in Sydney yesterday. "All across the state there are similar rallies, in Newcastle, out west and up and down the coast,” she said. Fifty buses had arrived in Sydney by early Tuesday morning to join the rally outside State Parliament, according to Cashman. “We are asking the government to wake up and take us seriously, we want all MPs in parliament to take us seriously, we have very real problems in our healthcare systems. “Our local health district’s
management has been sending threatening text messages demanding nurses turn up though the union has brushed off the directive. "We are here to help people; we're not threatening people. “We want safe staffing levels and reasonable pay and conditions but really it's about ratios primarily, nurse ratios so we can keep our patients safe. “It's very disappointing that the government is treating us like this, after all that we've been through - sending us to the industrial relations commission the day after the by-elections". Continued page 4
Students from the University of Newcastle at Ourimbah spent their summers taking part in a pilot elective that saw them create a pair of mini dwellings. See page 21
Sport
The Mariners have been forced to settle for another draw at Central Coast Stadium against Perth Glory on Sunday, February 13 due to a Perth goal in injury time. See page 32
Puzzles page 19
It all starts with spirit spiritsuper.com.au Advice on Spirit Super is provided by Quadrant First Pty Ltd (ABN 78 102 167 877, AFSL 284443) and issuer is Motor Trades Association of Australia Superannuation Fund Pty Ltd (ABN 14 008 650 628, AFSL 238718), the trustee of Spirit Super (ABN 74 559 365 913). Read the PDS at spiritsuper.com.au before making a decision.
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