A major legal firm is reminding all Australians that they have a right to compensation if they are involved in a car accident after a young Victorian woman was involved in a four-car crash while she was already en route to the hospital.

Bethany Mansbridge was booked in for her fourth hand surgery following a workplace incident when she was involved in a serious collision on the Western Freeway in Rockbank in April 2021.

"The car in front of us suddenly stopped. A car that was pulling a caravan pulled out in front of a truck, causing the accident," she said.

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She was rushed to hospital where she received treatment for a spinal fracture, a broken collarbone, internal bleeding and fractures to her sternum and ribs.

Mansbridge's hand was initially injured while working as a track work rider, training racehorses when she was kicked by a horse in the right hand in February of 2021.

"My hand was completely shattered, if I touched it my hand would just collapse, there was nothing underneath the skin," she said.

"My first thought was 'I can't do the job I love anymore'. I was so overwhelmed, but I knew I had to soldier on and focus on recovering."

After months of recovery and rehabilitation, along with multiple surgeries, the 29-year-old still struggles with day-to-day management.

Not only has the physical and mental pain been difficult to overcome, but also the financial. 

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Slater and Gordon Lawyers Practice Leader in Work and Road Claims Sue Emery said people involved in a car crash can be entitled to compensation.

An example of this includes the 'no-fault' insurance scheme owned by the Victorian Government.

"If you are nervous about getting the support you need, remember that every registered vehicle in Australia has third party insurance included in their registration to ensure compensation is available in the unfortunate event of an accident," Emery said.

"Likewise, Workers' Compensation is a compulsory insurance that covers all Australian employees. It provides protection against workplace-related injuries or illnesses regardless of who is at fault.

"These types of accidents completely change the trajectory of someone's life, and people are entitled to the support they need to heal and re-build their lives after the accident, no matter if it happened on the road or in the workplace."

Mansbridge has since taken advantage of the service, claiming compensation as she continues to service a mortgage while she is out of work.

"I didn't know I could ask for help, or that even just being in a car accident entitled you to a lawyer," Mansbridge said.

"We're not taught this and so when the unthinkable happens we can feel on our own."

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial or legal advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

In an unprecedented move, the Vatican has beatified a Polish family of nine — a married couple and their small children — who were executed by the Nazis during World War II for sheltering Jews.

During a ceremonious Mass in the village of Markowa, in southeastern Poland, papal envoy Cardinal Marcello Semeraro read out the Latin formula of the beatification of the Ulma family signed last month by Pope Francis.

In his homily, Semeraro noted that for their "gesture of hospitality and care, of mercy" the Ulmas "paid the highest price of martyrdom".

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A contemporary painting representing Jozef and a pregnant Wiktoria Ulma with their children was revealed near the altar.

A procession brought relics taken from their grave to the altar.

It was the first time that an entire family has been beatified.

At the Vatican, speaking to the public from a window in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis said the Ulmas "represented a ray of light in the darkness" of the war and should be a model for everyone in "doing good and in the service of those in need."

The pope then invited the crowd below to applaud the family, and he clapped his hands.

Those gathered in Markowa watched Francis' address on giant screens placed by the altar.

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Last year, Francis pronounced the deeply Catholic Ulma family, including the child that Wiktoria Ulma was pregnant with, martyrs for the faith.

The Ulmas were killed at home by German Nazi troops and by Nazi-controlled local police in the small hours of March 24, 1944, together with the eight Jews they were hiding at their home, after they were apparently betrayed.

Jozef Ulma, 44, was a farmer, Catholic activist and amateur photographer who documented family and village life.

He lived with his 31-year-old wife Wiktoria; their daughters Stanislawa, seven; Barbara, six; and Maria, 18 months; and sons Wladyslaw, five; Franciszek, three; and Antoni, two.

With them were killed 70-year-old Saul Goldman with his sons Baruch, Mechel, Joachim and Mojzesz, along with Golda Grunfeld and her sister Lea Didner with her little daughter Reszla, according to Poland's state Institute of National Remembrance, IPN, which has meticulously documented the Ulmas' story.

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Giving the orders was Lieutenant Eilert Dieken, head of the regional Nazi military police.

After the war he served in the police in Germany.

Only one of his subordinates, Josef Kokott, was convicted in Poland over the killings, dying in prison in 1980.

The suspected betrayer was Wlodzimierz Les, a member of the Nazi-controlled local police.

Poland's wartime resistance sentenced him to death and executed him in September 1944, according to IPN.

The Catholic Church had faced a dilemma in beatifying Wiktoria's unborn child and declaring it a martyr because, among other things, it had not been baptised, which is a requirement for beatification.

The Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints issued a clarification saying the child was actually born during the horror of the killings and received "baptism by blood" of its martyred mother.

The clarification was issued September 5 by Cardinal Semeraro, who is the prefect of the Vatican's saint-making office.

Polish President Andrzej Duda along with the ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, attended the celebration in Markowa, and thousands of pilgrims came from across Poland to take part.

Poland's conservative ruling party has been stressing family values and also the heroism of Poles during the war and the beatification ceremony added to its intense political campaigning ahead of the October 15 parliamentary elections in which the Law and Justice party wants to win an unprecedented third term.

After the Mass, Duda, who is the ruling party's ally, spoke to thank Francis for beatifying the Ulmas. He also stressed that the ceremony had a political dimension because it "told the truth about the Nazi German occupation" of Poland during the war.

Poland's government is seeking reparations from Germany for wartime damages, but Berlin says the matter had been closed.

The Ulma beatification poses several new theological concepts about the Catholic Church's ideas of saints and martyrs that also have implications for the anti-abortion movement because of the baby in the mother's womb, said the Reverend Robert Gahl, a professor of ethics at the Catholic University of America and Rome's Pontifical Holy Cross University.

The Vatican stated that the child was "born" at the moment the mother was executed.

In doing so, the Vatican also affirmed that the killers intended to kill the child out of hatred for the faith, a requirement for a martyrdom and beatification declaration, Gahl told The Associated Press.

After beatification, a miracle attributed to the Ulmas' intercession would be necessary for their eventual canonisation, as the church's sainthood process is called.

Israel's Yad Vashem Institute in 1995 recognized the Ulmas as Righteous Among Nations who gave their lives trying to save Jews during the Holocaust.

In Poland, they are a symbol of the bravery of thousands of Poles who took the utmost risk while helping Jews.

By the occupying Nazis' decree, any assistance to Jews was punished with summary execution. A Museum of Poles Saving Jews During World War II was opened in Markowa in 2016.

Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939. Around six million of its citizens were killed during the war, half of them Jews.

When Melissa Watt first moved into the Woodlea housing development in Melbourne's west five years ago, there were a few show homes around and not much else.

Now, Woodlea is fast becoming a "mini-city" in the suburbs with 14,500 residents calling the area home and the local population expected to swell past 20,000.  

There's an upgraded train station, parks, cafes, a new shopping centre, a child care centre and a doctor's surgery. A high school is under construction.

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But Watt and other locals say there's one small – but essential – item that appears to have been overlooked in the $2 billion development, which sprawls across the suburb of Aintree and north into Bonnie Brook. 

A post box.

Watt told 9news.com.au they were unsure why Australia Post was yet to install one of its red mail receptacles in the neighbourhood – but the oversight was frustrating.

Fed up with the situation, Woodlea residents started a campaign, posting an online petition two weeks ago calling on Australia Post to install a post box within the development.

Watt said she needed to drive around 10 minutes to a neighbouring suburb in order to send any mail.

"It's ridiculous. I have to go to Melton or Caroline Springs just to send a letter," she said.

"I literally drive around with mail in my car, hoping to go past the mail box at some point.

"If I miss a courier, they take it up to Melton and I have to get there to pick up my item."

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The campaign from Woodlea residents appears to have had some success, with a spokesperson for Australia Post telling 9news.com.au the service had been "working with the Woodlea developers over the past few weeks around the installation of a new street posting box".

Australia Post was also looking at the option to install "self-service parcel lockers" in Woodlea, the spokesperson said.

Australia Post has 15,000 post boxes around the country.

This number is down from about 16,000 a decade ago in 2012-2013, data from Australia Post's annual reports show.

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The campaign from Woodlea residents comes weeks after Australia Post recorded a $200 million loss amid a massive decline in the number of letters Australians are posting.

Letter volumes have declined 7.8 per cent on the previous financial year, with Australian households now receiving on average 2.2 addressed letters each week, down from 8.5 in 2008, the postal service said.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au

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