Tag Archives: oceania

Australians warned over 'virus triple threat'

Australians are being warned to protect themselves against a "virus triple threat" this winter, with a leading doctor warning that COVID-19, flu and RSV infections are continuing to rise.

Dr Brad McKay told Weekend Today that Queensland was already experiencing its worst flu season in decades, and warned other states would follow.

He said it was important to get vaccinated early to ensure Australians were best protected.

READ MORE: When should you get your influenza vaccine?

"We are seeing a large escalation of respiratory virus occurring," he said.

"We are also seeing flu cases going up at the moment, we are also seeing COVID-19 cases starting to rise too."

Queensland Health has reported 6,374 influenza cases recorded between 1 January and 9 April this year, "with numbers continuing to rise".

Dr McKay said the rise was due to many people, particularly children, not getting vaccinated against the flu.

READ MORE: 'Moving with the times': Sweeping changes made to housing grants

The influenza virus as seen under a microscope.

"The main problem here is that we are really not vaccinating enough people against flu," he said.

"We (can) forget about kids. We have been concentrating on the elderly when it comes to COVID-19, but when it comes to flu, it is those young kids who are under the age of five who actually can get a free vaccine if you are between six months old and five years old.

"Hardly anybody in that age group is being vaccinated. We really need parents to get out there and go to your GP, to to your pharmacy, yeah, have your vaccinations across-the- board."

READ MORE: Snake season is coming to an end. But where do reptiles actually go?

Just two per cent of children aged six months to five years have received a flu vaccine this year, and only 1.4 per cent of five to 15-year-olds, according to the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.

The flu shot is free for kids under five.

It comes days after the World Health Organisation warned of a new Omicron subvariant XBB 1.16 – colloquially known as "Arcturus" – circulating.

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Millions to become eligible for housing grants as government extends criteria

Home ownership will soon be in closer reach for millions more Australians as the federal government expands eligibility for its Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS), in a bid to tackle the housing crisis.

Under one of the changes friends and family will be allowed to team up to buy a first home as the definition of the word "couple" will be changed from those who are married, or in de-facto relationship, to "any two eligible individuals" from July 1.

Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins has told Weekend Today the eligibility expansion is about "moving with the times".

READ MORE: How other nations have moved to tackle housing affordability

"What we are doing here, is widening the eligibility criteria. What we want to do is support more Australians to get into a home," Collins said.

"(It's) particularly (for) those who have been long-term renting (or) those who are having difficulty over coming the 20 per cent mortgage deposit threshold.

"We need to accept that different people, are doing different things to get into home ownership and that is what today's changes are about."

Under the scheme the federal government acts as a guarantor making up the majority of a loan for prospective buyers,

Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) is also waived.

READ MORE: Your landlord slugs you with a huge rent increase. What can you do?

What are the changes and how will they work?

The HGS includes three different Guarantees:

  • First Home Guarantee, which supports eligible first home buyers with a deposit as little as five per cent.
  • Family Home Guarantee, which supports eligible single parents with a deposit as low as two per cent.
  • Regional Home Buyer Guarantee which helps regional buyers crack into the housing market.

The Family Home Guarantee is currently only open to single parents with at least one dependent child.

Under the new changes this will be extended to single legal guardians of children from July 1.

It means guardians of children such as grandparents, aunts, uncles or foster carers will become eligible.

Australian permanent residents will also be included in the expansion, instead of just citizens.

The scheme will also widen to people who haven't owned a property in 10 years, helping those who have lost their home in financial crisis or a relationship breakdown.

READ MORE: Man allegedly stabbed multiple times outside venue in Sydney's south

Collins said the scheme would be capped at 50,000 places to ensure it would not impact the housing market.

"We have price caps on it, and what we don't want to do, is impact prices but obviously we do want to get and support Australians into home ownership sooner," she said.

"This is just a part of the suite of reforms we are doing as a government."

The changes come weeks after new research by YouGov showed nine in 10 people believe young Australians will never own their own homes due to the cost of living crisis and interest rate hikes.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud said the changes would help the housing crisis in a "small way".

"It's part of the total package of solutions that are required but the biggest challenge we have got, is supply," he told Weekend Today.

"We need to increase supply and there is going to be more pressure now that the government wants to bring in 650,000 new migrants over the next two years."

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This urn was lost in a devastating flood – months later it's been returned

An urn lost during the devastating floods that hit New South Wales' Hawkesbury region last year has been reunited with family members.

The urn was handed into police in November after it was found near a skip bin by a local business owner in Brooklyn, more than 30km away from where it was lost.

Sergeant Ben Garrod began investigating with local funeral directors after noticing the urn bore the words "Mollie 'May' Grinsted".

READ MORE: 'Moving with the times': Sweeping changes made to housing grants

It was discovered Grinsted had died in 2007, and her next of kin, nephew Peter Hart, had taken care of her ashes at his property by the Hawkesbury River in Lower Portland.

Hart kept the ashes on his bookshelf but they were soon lost after his house went underwater during widespread flooding last year.

Sergeant Garrod said Hart was in shock after he was notified the urn was recovered.

READ MORE: Snake season is coming to an end. But where do reptiles actually go?

"He couldn't believe it – he thought Mollie's ashes had been lost in the floods," Sergeant Garrod said.

"When I came to his home in Lower Portland to return her urn, he showed me all the damage to his property from the floods and he showed me Mollie's old bedroom. Being able to return her ashes to her family is such a special and rewarding feeling."

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Being reunited with his aunt's ashes brought tears to Hart's eyes.

"Mollie never wanted to leave here, she loved it here and now she has come back home," he said.

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Snake season is coming to an end. But where do the reptiles actually go?

As the weather begins to cool, and the crisp winds blow, sightings of fanged reptiles will become less common as snake season draws to a close.

Already two Queensland-based snake catchers have told 9news.com.au they've seen a drop in snake activity, reporting an average of "around" one to "two or more" a day over April.

But what actually happens to the reptiles in winter, and where do they go?

Here is everything we know about the end of snake season. 

READ MORE: Unusually-coloured snake is one of country's most dangerous

Sightings of venomous snakes, such as tiger snakes, will drop once the weather cools.

What months are snakes most active in Australia?

Snakes are most active during snake season, which typically begins around September and runs until April.

"You're really looking at spring, summer and early autumn for the active months," Billy Collett, operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park on NSW's Central Coast, told 9news.com.au.

READ MORE: Australia's own snake island, where 'giant' tiger snakes slither

The eastern brown snake was over a metre-long and had a white head.

When does snake season end in Australia?

There's no set month snake season ends.

Instead, it's all dominated by the cooling weather.

"It just depends on the season, how much rain, the temperature, all of that," Collett said.

"Like this autumn gone by, it hasn't really been that cold.

"I saw a red-bellied black snake just yesterday cruising around the edge of a dam and we're almost in May."

Collett added that by early to mid-May, sightings should "definitely" begin to drop off.

READ MORE: Why Australia's deadliest snake is so lethal

Do snakes hibernate?

The answer to this question is no.

Instead, snakes enter a dormant period called "brumation".

"The temperature gets too cool for them to be active so they will just sit still and shelter somewhere where they can maintain a little bit of heat," Collett said, explaining some species like pythons prefer trees, while others like hollows and burrows.

"Some will go underground, some will be in rocky ledges, some will literally just tuck up in a hollow log on the ground, as long as they are sheltered and away from the elements."

Snakes, like the death adder pictured, enter a dormant period called brumation.

Are snakes active in winter in Australia?

Collette said vanishing snakes is a bit of a myth about snake season.

While you can expect to see fewer snakes during winter in Australia, it doesn't mean you won't occasionally see some reptiles about.

"People think they won't see snakes until springtime," he said.

"It's not uncommon in the middle of winter, even when it is freezing cold, if we have sunny days, with not much wind to see them.

"They will take the opportunity, cruise out from wherever they are camping, and sit in the sun for the day to get a bit of UV, a bit of heat, and then the tuck back down."

Do snakes eat during winter?

Snakes throughout east and south-eastern Australia will not touch a bite until the weather begins to warm.

If they do, it could prove fatal.

"Snakes need to maintain a warm body temperature to digest food so if it gets too cold it will literally rot inside their stomach," Collett said.

"They will be forced to regurgitate it, otherwise it will kill them.

"Maybe if we're in Cape York, up around Darwin, or the Kimberley, some of those snakes will eat a little bit – like once a month – but only if it's warm enough."

READ MORE: Snake myths busted and, in one case, verified

Inland taipan stock photo

Collett added that snakes have evolved to "go months without eating", partly for this reason and partly because of the harsh climate.

"When we look at places like western Queensland where they have lots of dry periods, and I'm talking dry periods that last five to six years at a time, they may not see much food," he said.

"So they will eat just once or twice a year."

What should you do if you're bitten by a snake?

Should a person find themselves on the receiving end of a snake's fangs in winter, first aid should be quickly applied.

"Move away a few metres, don't go running, sit down and call for someone to grab you a pressure bandage if you have something like that," Collett said.

"If you don't, rip up your shirt or whatever is at hand and start wrapping it around the limb.

"Go around the bite site three times, one below and wrap all the way up past it.

"If you have a second bandage throw that on too."

Then he saw the two perfectly spaced holes.

After this, the person should seek professional medical help by calling triple zero or seeking out hospital care.

"But it's about getting the bandage, or the equivalent of a bandage, on as soon as you possibly can," Collett added.

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'Something you see in a movie': Adelaide man saves baby dolphin

A man has saved a baby dolphin by wading into the ocean, picking it up and carrying it back out to sea in Adelaide's south.

Rescuer Brock McIntosh saw the dolphin calf was in trouble so instead of waiting for animal rescue services he saved the mammal himself at Moana Beach.

"My partner's like you've got to do something so I ran down there and picked up this dolphin," McIntosh said.

READ MORE: Lead surf lifesaver in deadly Sea World helicopter crash shares story

Baby dolphin rescued from Moana beach in Adelaide.

"Another bloke there he was holding it and said we're getting someone down here to help and I said 'nah you've got to get it back out there', so yeah just swam out there with the dolphin."

He said he followed it for about five minutes.

"Eventually it ducked off out the back through a wave and went out to the ocean it was like something you see in a movie," McIntosh said.

READ MORE: Queenslander 'extremely remorseful' for drunk, naked rampage in conservative Indonesian province

Rescuer Brock McIntosh went into the water fully clothed to assist the calf in Adelaide's south.

"Drove home in my jocks so it was all good."

The South Australian now has a new nickname.

"Oh yeah mate I'm the new dolphin whisperer, yeah daddy the dolphin whisperer."

Photographer Roger Foster said they usually had a pod of dolphins at the beach every morning, which he suspected the baby dolphin was part of.

"Hopefully he got back out to his mum again," Foster said.

There haven't been any reports in the local area of the dolphin washing in again.

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Horror moment croc emerges from water, snatches dog caught on video

A crocodile has been filmed snatching a pet dog from the shoreline in Far North Queensland.

Video shows the huge crocodile sneaking up on two dogs before snatching one while the other runs away near Wiepa in Cape York.

The owner of the pet dogs warned others to stay safe near the water when the video was posted to social media yesterday.

READ MORE: Queenslander 'extremely remorseful' for drunk, naked rampage in conservative Indonesian province

A Far North Queensland crocodile snatched a pet dog from the shore.

Queensland's Department of Environment and Science is investigating the incident.

The department warns people to be "croc-wise in croc country".

This includes obeying signs, never swimming and standing a few metres back from the water's edge when fishing.

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