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Two men have suffered "significant head injuries" and another four are being treated in hospital after a wild, 50-person brawl erupted in Melbourne's south-west overnight.

Police say a group – believed to have consisted of approximately 30 people – were enjoying a "nice barbecue after work" at a warehouse in Laverton, when another group consisting of about 20 people approached sometime between nine and 10pm.

The two parties immediately clashed and a serious brawl erupted, resulting in a number of people becoming seriously injured.

Officers say there's no clear motive for the clash and detectives are still unable to determine "why the other party has attended, or the relationship between the two parties".

"For something like this to happen, with six victims overall, for people that were just meant to be having a nice barbecue after work, it’s obviously of great concern for us," Detective Senior Constable Erin Hardie said.

"For two people to be injured in such a way, that’s obviously of great concern for us to find out who has been involved in that.

"At this stage we have no idea in relation to motive, or why the other party has attended, or the relationship between the two parties.

"Our inquiries are still ongoing… but some of the calls have come through to say that there was between 40 to 50 people.

"They sustained head injuries… significant head injuries."

Hardie said "planks of wood" and other items that may have been used as weapons were found in the vicinity following the brawl.

She said a number of those hurt during the incident self-presented to "various hospitals" around the city.

A 36-year-old Williams Landing man, a 28-year-old Tarneit and a 35-year-old Tarneit man currently remain hospital with serious injuries.

"Today it's just a case of processing the crime scene and trying to work out exactly what's happened," she said.

"We've got CCTV at a number of businesses which we'll be sifting through.

"If anyone has seen anything, if anyone knows anything… contact police or Crime Stoppers."

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Dad's fight for answers after left 'permanently disabled' by surgery

2023-04-30 FreeNews

New Zealand man Pita Shelford (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) knew something wasn't right as soon as he woke up from surgery – from hip to toe, he had no feeling in his left leg.

Within a week it had turned dark purple, and was swollen and cold to the touch.

He'd had spinal cord surgery in January 2022 to drain a cyst from his neck to waistline; according to medical staff the operation went as intended, but he was left with debilitating side effects including reduced mobility and neurological function, and regular shaking fits.

In private correspondence, staff from Waikato Hospital have acknowledged some gaps in his treatment, including failure to lodge an ACC treatment injury claim, and incomplete discharge documentation which delayed his rehabilitative care.

Shelford's spent more than a year trying to get answers about what went wrong and for the hospital to take ownership of those mistakes, including seven formal letters and a complaint to the Health and Disability Commission.

"There was nothing wrong with my left leg prior to surgery, and now there is everything wrong with it," he said.

The father, PhD candidate and husband previously enjoyed exercise and travel, but is now unable to walk without aid, and he's had to come to terms with paralysis and loss of sensation in his leg.

Shelford said his interactions with the health system had been "appalling", and left him "managing life, not living life".

A 'successful' surgery

Initially, Shelford was told the surgery to insert a draining shunt "was a success".

When he raised concerns about limited circulation, with blood flow reduced to about a third of what it would usually be, he was told to just do his weekly physio.

Shelford eventually sought a second opinion from private neurosurgeon Dr Peter Heppner, who was surprised that no imaging had been done for two months following the surgery "given Pita woke with a profound neurological deficit".

"Unfortunately given the time that has lapsed since surgery with such a profound neurological deficit, I do not see any likelihood that there is going to be significant functional improvement for Pita over time," Heppner wrote in an assessment for Shelford's GP.

"I think he would therefore be classed as being permanently disabled."

Five months later, Shelford was still missing feeling in his leg and sought a third opinion from another private neurosurgeon, Dr Peter Gan.

He was told that his shunt wasn't in the right position and was pushing into the fibres of his spinal cord, leading to nerve damage. Waikato Hospital eventually issued him with a wheelchair.

Gan said an ACC Treatment Injury Claim should have been submitted the day Shelford woke up from surgery – that didn't happen.

In response to a complaint, Waikato Hospital nurse director Kim Holt wrote in a letter that "the treatment injury was not evident at the time of discharge".

Shelford ending up filing his own claim via his GP, chasing the hospital over an eight-month period to provide his health information to ACC before the claim could be approved. During that time, he had to self-fund his rehabilitation.

Fight for review

In October 2022, Shelford was told his surgery would undergo an adverse event review which would produce recommendations for the Health Quality & Safety Commission.

However, in March 2023 Shelford was told by panel chair Dr Margaret Fisher that his case did not meet the criteria for "an SAC1 or 2 serious event review", and therefore a formal report would not be produced.

Te Whatu Ora declined to comment on why Shelford's case had not been subject to an Adverse Event Review, and said all necessary information had been shared directly with the patient.

In a letter responding to Shelford's complaints about the lack of an Adverse Event Review, Waikato Hospital's interim lead of hospital and specialist services Michelle Sutherland and interim operations director Kim Holt wrote that initially, "the decision was to lodge it as a serious event in order to generate this review", but that "in hindsight this was the incorrect process to follow".

Another letter, in place of a formal report, arrived over a year after the surgery and did not involve consultation with Shelford. There were no answers for why he had experienced such a significant loss of blood circulation since the operation.

Shelford said the letter was "disappointing, to say the least".

"This to me is a broken promise and a cop-out," he said. "We were told we'd be part of the process and that didn't happen."

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Aussie royalty spotted at Kyle Sandilands' lavish Sydney wedding

2023-04-30 FreeNews

Aussie royalty descended on Sydney's Darling Point yesterday for the wedding of the self-proclaimed "king of radio", Kyle Sandilands and his former assistant Tegan Kynaston.

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Bushfire season ends in NSW but risk remains, authorities say

2023-04-30 FreeNews

The busiest bushfire season since the 2019-2020 Black Summer fires has officially come to an end in New South Wales, a number of weeks after it was extended due to dangerous conditions.

Officials say March was the busiest busiest month of the season, with firefighters responding to over 2800 incidents, "which accounted for almost 50 per cent of the total hectares burnt across the whole fire season".

Though the season has formally drawn to a close, authorities say the risk, while reduced, remains.

Firefighter

"We saw an increase in activity late in the season, with significant fires in Narrabri, Mudgee and Upper Lachlan LGAs," Commissioner of the NSW RFS Rob Rogers said.

"Across the season, firefighters have worked on more than 24,800 bush and grass fires which burnt through over 116,000 hectares.

"We also sadly saw the loss of eight homes, 15 outbuildings and hundreds of livestock across firegrounds, however hundreds more homes and buildings were saved due to the actions of firefighters and landholders.

"Whilst the bush fire season has ended, this doesn't mean the risk of fire has, with the shift from recent wet weather to drier conditions already being seen across much of NSW."

Rogers said a warmer-than-average winter could spell trouble for the state in the coming months and residents should remain on alert.

"With a warm and dry winter predicted, there is a real risk of fires occurring across the cooler months this year," he said.

"Landholders must know their obligations if conducting burns and know the costs if you do the wrong thing, but most importantly, if a fire does get out of hand, make sure you report it immediately to Triple Zero (000)."

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