SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
(Luke Hemer)
IT shortfalls exposed after council leaks
Heart-starter plea By Laura Michell Emma McRae knows she wouldn’t be alive if paramedics hadn’t used a defibrillator to restart her heart after she went into sudden cardiac arrest while grocery shopping earlier this year. The Darley Primary School teacher (pictured) was shopping in her local Aldi store after school on Thursday, April 14 when she suddenly collapsed. Ms McRae, 33, has no memory of what happened from the day she collapsed until the following Saturday, but has been told the store manager and another staff member started CPR while a member of the public called for an ambulance.
There was no defibrillator available in the store, so the staff members performed CPR on Ms McRae for 10 minutes before the ambulance arrived. Paramedics then gave Ms McRae two shocks with the defibrillator to restart her heart. She was taken to Sunshine Hospital, where she stayed for 17 days while doctors tried to work out the cause of her sudden cardiac arrest. They placed a defibrillator in her chest. She was told there was no reason for her cardiac arrest, meaning there is nothing she can do to prevent another incident. She had another cardiac arrest in July and was admitted to hospital last week with further heart problems. But that hasn’t stopped Ms McRae from
advocating that defibrillators be located in more public spaces. “The doctors made it pretty clear had I not been given shocks from the defibrillator, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “If someone is having a sudden cardiac arrest, they need a defibrillator. You need it within minutes of your heart stopping. “In society, it’s law to have a fire extinguisher – but not to have a defibrillator.” Ms McRae has joined not-for-profit organisation Urban Lifesavers to push for a national rollout of defibrillators. Urban Lifesavers will hold a mass defibrillator training event at Federation Square on Wednesday, October 12, from 11.30am. To attend, visit: www.urbanlifesavers.org.au
The Local Government Inspectorate has urged councils to secure their IT systems after Moorabool council records were accessed by a former councillor without clearance. Moorabool council lodged two complaints with the inspectorate in November 2013 and May 2014 alleging leaks of confidential information. The complaints, lodged by chief executive Rob Croxford, related to confidential details of the council’s review of family day care, as well as information about a block of land at Taverner Street. Mr Croxford alleged the release of the information breached section 77 of the Local Government Act, and the inspectorate launched an investigation, interviewing councillors and witnesses, and analysing access logs to the council’s supposedly secure website. As a result, a former councillor was interviewed by the inspectorate, but has not been named. Inspectorate investigations and compliance manager Ross Millard said the person interviewed was found to have made improper use of information acquired as a result of being a councillor, and accessed data without authorisation. The inspectorate found the former councillor repeatedly and knowingly accessed the council’s website without authorisation. Mr Millard said the inspectorate sought legal advice about convicting the former councillor of misuse of position, but was unable to prosecute because it could not prove that they gained any advantage by access to the information. The inspectorate also sought to prosecute the former councillor with a summary offence of unauthorised access to restricted data under the Crimes Act, but statutory time limits prevented charges being laid. The inspectorate has urged councils to ensure that only those who are authorised have access to confidential and internal council information. Mr Croxford said the investigation had no adverse findings for current councillors, or the council, and changes since have further secured its website. Laura Michell
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