Queen Street Medical Centre

“The devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales highlight, yet again, Australia’s failure to plan for natural disasters. As we’re seeing now in heartbreaking detail, everyday Australians bear the enormous cost of this inaction.” writes Professor Barbara Norman – Chair of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Network, University of Canberra in The Conversation.

“In just a few years, many Australian communities have weathered a series of natural disasters overlaid by the COVID pandemic. They are exhausted, and deserve better.

So what must Australia do to get ready for the harsher future that awaits?”

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is reminding people that face masks still need to be worn in general practice as rules are relaxed across Australia. The RACGP President also called for more support for general practice which is under unprecedented pressure after two years of pandemic. The RACGP is calling on the federal government to invest in a series of initiatives to improve patient care and health outcomes.

2022 influenza vaccines for the National Immunisation Program will be available from April. We will post updates on our site. Flu vaccination clinics will go live for online booking when the vaccines have been received. Please do not call us – continue to visit this site for updates. Continue reading for more early advice about the influenza program.

Jim Stanford in The Conversation writes today:

That some political and business leaders have, from the outset of COVID-19, consistently downplayed the economic costs of mass illness, reflects a narrow, distorted economic lens. We’re now seeing the result – one of the worst public policy failures in Australia’s history.

The Omicron variant is tearing through Australia’s workforce, from health care and child care, to agriculture and manufacturing, to transportation and logistics, to emergency services.

The result is an unprecedented, and preventable, economic catastrophe. This catastrophe was visited upon us by leaders – NSW Premier Dom Perrotet and Prime Minister Scott Morrison in particular – on the grounds they were protecting the economy…