New research has revealed a troubling trend in Australian workplaces, with a significant number of employers appearing to sideline both older and younger workers due to age biases.

A joint report, released today by the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) and the Australian Human Rights Commission, found nearly a quarter of HR professionals now classify workers aged 51-55 as "older", a sharp increase from just 10 per cent in 2023. 

This shift suggested many employers were overlooking experienced professionals in an economy suffering skills shortages, the commission said in a statement.

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Despite more than half of employers (55 per cent) grappling with hard-to-fill vacancies, only 56 per cent are significantly open to hiring individuals aged 50-64. 

This figure plummets to just 28 per cent for those 65 and over, with a striking 18 per cent outright refusing to consider this age group. 

The situation is equally bleak for the younger generation, with only 41 per cent of employers largely open to recruiting jobseekers aged 15 to 24.

"Our research found some workplaces are hesitant to employ workers over the age of 50, before they are even close to retirement age, or under 24 – including Gen Z's digital natives," Sarah McCann-Bartlett, CEO of the Australian HR Institute, said. 

"One in 5 HR professionals say their recruitment practices negatively impact older workers, and 23 per cent say the same about younger workers."

The report, Older and Younger Workers: What Do Employers Think?, is AHRI and the Commission's fifth national survey of employers and HR professionals. 

It includes responses from almost 150 HR professionals in the private, public, and non-profit sector, and provides a snapshot of how older and younger workers are perceived, supported and included in Australian workplaces.

Robert Fitzgerald, Age Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, said the findings highlight the need for sustained action against ageism.

"Older and younger workers can be a real advantage for businesses," he said.

"Age-diverse teams bring different life experiences to the table and are better at solving problems.

"Employers need to support inclusive workplaces, where competency isn't assessed against age or career stage. Providing equal opportunity for people of all ages to remain engaged in meaningful work can enhance productivity, while also helping close skills gaps," he said.

Report reveals age-based assumptions about key skills

While older workers rated higher for their loyalty (74 per cent), reliability (64 per cent), and ability to cope with stress (62 per cent), compared to younger workers they were rated lower for their ability to use technology and their career ambition, the report found. 

Only 1 per cent of respondents said older workers had better technology skills, and just 7 per cent thought they had higher energy levels.

Younger workers, meanwhile, were rated comparatively lower for reliability (1 per cent), loyalty (2 per cent), and ability to cope with stress (2 per cent), despite being rated higher for energy and technological fluency.

Nearly 60 per cent of respondents said the departure of older workers has led to a loss of key skills, with only 13 per cent saying their organisation consistently captures that knowledge.

"What we're seeing is bias at both ends of the age range," Fitzgerald said. 

"Sadly this undermines diversity of thought and productivity."

The findings come after the federal government this month flagged increasing productivity as a key priority for its second term.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will hold a productivity round table in August, and has said he wants it to build the "broadest possible base" for further economic reform.

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A mother was travelling in a car behind her fiancé and two children when they were killed in a horror head-on crash in Queensland's Central Highlands yesterday.

Police say a Holden Commodore struck a Toyota Hilux ute on the Capricorn Highway, between Comet and Blackwater, just before 11am yesterday.

Four people inside the Commodore, including father Shaun Ranger, seven-year-old Baylee, six-year-old Chandler, and another man, were killed in the crash.

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Ranger's fiancé Renee and the couple's youngest daughter Saphora, aged two, were travelling in a different car, behind the Commodore.

The family is understood to have been returning from a camping trip.

Inspector Ben Wiltshire said the mother was at the scene of the crash when police arrived.

"It was a very high-speed crash with significant damage to both vehicles, fire was involved and the injuries to the people involved were horrific," Wiltshire said.

Two men in the ute, believed to have been driving to work, were also injured.

A 28-year-old man is in hospital in a serious but stable condition and a 27-year-old man was flown to a hospital in Brisbane with life-threatening injuries.

Wiltshire said it was too early to "lay blame" for the crash or speculate on whether charges will be laid.

A GoFundMe has been started for Renee and Saphora by friend Chantel Semple.

"Shaun, Baylee and Chandler were cherished and loved by many and brought so much joy and light into our lives," Semple wrote.

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She said Baylee had a "cheeky smile, bubbly personality and a love for horses".

Chandler was described as a "sweet and kind hearted little boy, full of life (who) loved the outdoors".

"We are all very heartbroken over this unexpected loss and want to give them the send off they deserve, a meaningful goodbye, surrounded by the people who love them," the description reads.

Wiltshire said the incident was a "stark reminder of the fragility of life and importance of road safety".

"These lives were cut short far too soon leaving families and loved ones to grapple with the unimaginable grief.

"The tragedy reverberates not just through the family but the entire Central Highlands community."

He said police were working to determine the cause of the crash and urged drivers to be vigilant, avoid speeding, drive to conditions, avoid distraction and ensure they are well rested before long journeys.

Police are renewing an appeal for information into the disappearance of a Sydney man 20 years ago, with his family still "waiting for answers".

Chef Simon Knight, 32, was last seen at a hotel on Crown Street, Surry Hills on the morning of Thursday, July 21, 2005.

When Knight, from nearby Redfern, didn't arrive for his shift at a café in Newtown later that day, he was reported missing.

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A second coronial inquest in 2015 found it was likely he was dead.

But a body has never been found

A reward was increased to $250,000 for information into his disappearance in November 2020.

Now, a fresh appeal for help has been made.

Simon's father, Bob Knight said although it has been 20 years disappearance, they are hoping for a breakthrough.

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"Our family are still waiting, hoping one day we will get answers and closure," Knight sasid.

"So please if you know anything, please get in touch with the police or CrimeStoppers."

In 2020, Knight said his son "wouldn't just disappear".

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"It's hard on all the family, his brother and sister, everyone suffered," he said.

At the time, police said he "basically just disappeared off the face of the earth."

Simon was described as being white, 183cm tall, with blue eyes, a fair complexion, red hair and facial hair.

When he was last seen, it is believed he was wearing a dark green T-shirt and jeans.

Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said Simon's family needed answers.

"Losing a loved one is devastating, but the not knowing makes the loss so much harder," Catley said.

South Sydney Police Area Commander Acting Superintendent Christopher Hill said police believe there is someone out there that knows something.

Police want to speak to anyone who lived around or went to Crown and Oxford streets, Surry Hills, in July 2005, especially if they knew Simon.

"To support this search for answers, anyone who may have held onto information since Simon's disappearance, is urged to come forward," Acting Supt Hill said.

"Any piece of new information – no matter how seemingly insignificant – could be the key to solve this case and help provide much-needed answers to Simon's family about what happened to him."

Police in northwestern Germany on Sunday said that several people were injured when a car veered off a road, hit a seven-year-old boy on a trampoline and went flying into a barn roof on its side.

Police said that the car first collided with a parked vehicle in the town of Bohmte, broke through a hedge and drove into a garden where it hit the boy.

The car then went over uneven ground and it was apparently catapulted into the air and ended up crashing into the roof of a neighbouring barn about 3 meters (10 feet) off the ground.

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The boy was seriously injured, the police statement said.

The driver was an unidentified 42-year-old man, and his wife was also seriously injured.

Their two sons, ages 11 and 12, and a 13-year-old passenger were also on board, who, like the driver, emerged with minor injuries.

Dozens of firefighters, as well as a dozen ambulances and two rescue helicopters were among the emergency services deployed in response.

Images from the scene showed rescuers cutting through the roof, and wreckage of a playground that the car ran through.

The car had to be removed from the roof with a crane and was carted away by police.

An investigation was underway.

The IT company CEO captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resigned.

Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnati-based Astronomer Inc, according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company Saturday.

"Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met," the company said in its post on LinkedIn.

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The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident, which went viral. A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the video.

The short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during a Coldplay concert on Wednesday.

Lead singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his "Jumbotron Song," when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands on.

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"Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy," he joked.

Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a US-based company and the woman as its chief people officer.

Pete DeJoy, Astronomer's cofounder and chief product officer, has been tapped as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for Byron's successor.

Most concert venues warn attendees that they can be filmed

It's easy to miss, but most concert venues have signs informing the audience that they could be filmed during the event.

Look for them on the walls when you arrive and around the bar areas or toilets.

It's common practice especially when bands like to use performances for music videos or concert films.

The venue in this case, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, also has a privacy policy online which states: "When you visit our location or attend or participate in an event at our location, we may capture your image, voice and/or likeness, including through the use of CCTV cameras and/or when we film or photograph you in a public location."

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Once captured, a moment can be shared widely

"They probably would have got away with it if they hadn't reacted," said Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. And by the time the alleged identities emerged on social media, it hit a classic nerve around "leaders acting like the rules don't apply to them," she added.

Still, Taylor and others stress how quickly such a video can lead to an internet search to find the people involved – and note that it's important to remember that such "doxing" isn't just reserved for famous people.

Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances, such as the rising adoption of artificial intelligence, have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in a viral video today.

"It's a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us – and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction, to a gigantic surveillance system," said Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media.

"When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. They're tracking us in exchange for entertaining us."

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Arguing with an equally desperate dad in a pharmacy over its one remaining bottle of ADHD medication as she frantically tried to get through to her doctor, Jane McFadden remembers the clear thought striking her – "how did we come to this?"

A shortage of ADHD medicines is putting families in a serious squeeze around the country, with no relief expected for months or even years.

Parents are resorting to forgoing their own medication to give to their kids, mixing prescriptions, and travelling hours to try to get a piece of the ever-shrinking supply pool.

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McFadden, a psychologist and host of one of Australia's biggest mental health podcasts, ADHD Mums, as well as a mother of three herself, said families and individuals with ADHD had been "completely let down".

She was diagnosed with ADHD at age 36, after which so were her three children, currently aged under 10.

"It was life-changing in a really positive way," McFadden told 9news.com.au, saying she shed tears when she took medication for the first time.

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"It's mind-blowing. You realise you have been white-knuckling through life," she said.

"I'm now parenting differently, I'm on top of things, my relationship with my husband is better."

Her children had a similar happy experience when after a two-year wait and thousands of dollars in medical bills, they were also prescribed medication for ADHD.

It was this experience which drove McFadden to launch her ADHD Mums advocacy platform.

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But then, she said, the family's new lease on life was "ripped away" in months as the shortage hit and medicines became harder and harder to find.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration lists multiple ADHD medication shortages on its advice page, with warnings the squeeze will continue into the end of 2026 for some.

The list of medicines include Concerta modified-release tablets, Teva-XR modified-release tablets, Ritalin LA and Rubifen LA capsules, and Ritalin 10mg immediate-release tablets.

McFadden said she could spend hours on a weekend calling around to check with up to 30 pharmacies for suitable medications, in some cases followed by hours-long drives.

In one heartbreaking instance, the final bottle had been sold as she travelled to the pharmacy in question, though McFadden said the business was "right" to not reserve it.

On another occasion, as she tried to get through to her doctor to send through an updated prescription so she could buy another store's last bottle of medication, a dad entered and also asked for it, prompting an argument over who had precedence.

"He didn't seem like a bad person or anything, he was just desperate like I was," McFadden said.

"It was astounding – here we were fighting over a bottle of medicine, and I remember thinking, how did we come to this?"

She says the government needs to develop a "long-term plan" to face the crisis, and questioned why there was no push to manufacture the medicines in Australia.

GP changes a mixed bag

Recently, the federal government changed the rules to permit GPs to diagnose and manage ADHD.

This has been hailed as a win for accessibility – including by McFadden – but it isn't an answer on its own.

Psychologist and Macquarie Health Collective chief executive Tanya Forster said while the decision was a win for many, especially in regional communities, there were two central problems.

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The first is the worsening GP shortage, with doctors in increasingly short supply, and facing major work overload already.

"We can't solve one problem by worsening another," Forster said.

The other was that broadening access to ADHD tests meant diagnoses were almost certain to rise further – which increases the pressure on a limited medication supply.

"It will take action from the government to correct the supply chain issue," Forster said.

She said the situation was "really challenging" for families, who were already struggling to access the services they needed in the sector.

And for children, the medicine shortage is especially dire.

Forster said an early-diagnosed child with reliable access to prescribed medication was better able to absorb and learn the strategies for managing ADHD that would be "protective" as an adult.

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For McFadden, it's been devastating to watch her kids struggle with intermittent medicine supply.

"You're told, 'go on another type of medication' – it doesn't really work that way for ADHD," she said.

She said an unreliable medicine stream meant her children could be "changing their brain function every day" – confusing and frustrating for them, as well as for their teachers and their peers.

McFadden believes part of the problem is a still-entrenched perception that ADHD medicines aren't critical to peoples' wellbeing.

And despite the resonance of the ADHD Mums advocacy platform, with an audience of more than one million a year around Australia, she said there was a terrible feeling that nobody who could change things was listening.

Forster said wheels "turned slowly" in government and urged parents facing difficulties in sourcing the right medicines not to stray from prescription guidelines but to contact their GP or paediatrician.

"If we are self-medicating, sharing, or rationing medications, there are risks involved," she said.

"These are regulated medicines for a reason."

The TGA's advice page on the ADHD medicine shortage can be found online here.

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