Examples of corruption in Australia

[Bruce Tuncks]

I didn't mind Cathy Freeman getting fussed over and getting more than she might have deserved. In Aboriginal schools in the NT there are posters of her and she is held up as an example.

Those abos are misogynistic as hell and so she did well on 2 levels.

[nomadpete]

Back to topic... Corruption.

 

As Onetrack said on Recflying site, and I think it is an example of corruption:

 

Regarding SOAR Aviation, which I personally view as potentially one big scam:

 

"So, essentially, the Victorian Govt has coughed up $33M of taxpayers money to keep aggrieved parties quiet, and to ensure there's no investigation into the competence of the Box Hill Institute, as regards setting course structures?"

[Jerry_Atrick]

My response was the $33m wasn't necessarily to cover up.. but it will be interesting to see what the government does next..

 

Where there is power, there is corruption...

 

[old man emu]

The latest scandal is the $40 billion being rorted by medical pratitioners from Medicare. A mate of mine told me last night that he recently was concerned that he might have caught COVID. He had one of those tests that take a day or so to get the results and was told that his doctor would contact him with the result. He got a phone call from the doctor whose conversation was basically, "You are OK. The result was negative." Then he found out that the docotor had claimed a telecheck and billed Medicare $35. Previously the results of that test were sent to the patient by a tecxt message at no cost.

 

Doctors are calling for an increase in their payment from Medicare and are not bulk-billing. Therefore they set ther own rates, leaving the patient to make up the difference. Also docotors are now working on a "one issue per visit" basis. After waiting for up to a couple of weeks for an appointment, you can't discuss a pain in your gut and a boil on your bum in the same appointment. 

 

Of course the Government is said to be the reason we do not have enough doctors and specialists because the Government sets the number of student places in medical faculties, and they set the number very low in comparison to the needs of the Nation. 

 

It is getting to the stage where we need a revolution and install a governing regime that puts its foot down and forces the fixing of the basic needs of the Nation - health, education, self-sufficiency. They did it with the Manpower Act duting WWII.

[Bruce Tuncks]

OME, I dunno if it is still the case that the government is artificially limiting the number of medical graduates. They sure are limiting the number of medicare provider numbers though, and for most of us, this amounts to the same thing.

As regards the number of specialists, I doubt that the government is needed to put a brake on. You have the unio...  er "college " of existing practitioners allowed to decide if they need more to swell their ranks. Unique huh? 

In Alice Springs, there were many GP's who studied every night to sit for the exams needed to be promoted to be a specialist. ( the rewards were a 5million yearly income ). They always failed unless some relative of a big specialist tried his luck. The rest  never got told why they failed.

I always thought that the system was corrupt, but there is one mitigating factor....  you need a certain baseload to keep your skills current, and a more open system would make this harder.

But when you read that the wait to see a neurologist in Adelaide is ten years, surely this is too much?

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

They sure are limiting the number of medicare provider numbers though,

Simple solution to the shortage of GPs in rural areas - issue zone specific provider numbers and monitor the addresses provided on patient's Medicare claims. Solves two problems.

1. If you want to benefit from getting Medicare reimbursements for your work, work where GPs are needed.
2. By monitoring the addresses of patient's Medicare claims, a shonky docotor can't register a business address in Lower Bumfvck West and have most patients who live in metropolitan areas. 

[facthunter]

Lower Slobovia East is worse. . Maybe tax incentives. Certain "remote "areas had reduced tax rates,. There's worse jobs than that of a GP in  the bush. Nev

[red750]

At our local medical centre, bulk billed concession card holders (pensioners) can only see a doctor during normal business hours. If you need to see a doctor after 5.00 pm, you have to pay cash at non-concession rates. When I had my care plan reviewed (by the practice nurse), the doctor had to poke his head in the room for 10 seconds so they could state that I had seen the doctor, and they could claim the Medicare payment. If I need a replacement script for medication I have taken for years, and will need to take for life, I must make an appointment and be seen by the doctor, he cannot write the script and leave it at reception for collection.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I really don't know why medicare provider numbers are not geographically assigned. Does anybody know the reason?

[Bruce Tuncks]

Facthunter, in the last 45 years, litigation has changed a lot of things. Our kids were delivered by our local GP then, but these days you have to get a specialist obstretician....  because GP's were successfully sued for bad outcomes.

I hope it's not a ten year wait....

[spacesailor]

' Obstetrician '

In those dark days of my youth,  

Babies were delivered at HOME , if wealthy or Lucky . You had a ' midwife ' .

Or just an older woman to help .

No men present or drugs for your pain .

Epidural injections for total relaxation child birth wern,t invented. .

spacesailor

[Old Koreelah]

Over the ages as the human brain got bigger, the female pelvis had to adapt to ever-larger newborn’s heads. Some didn’t fit thru. Death in childbirth was common until recent times. Now many are delivered via caesarian. Our species may soon become dependent on them.

[Marty_d]

Talking about corruption in Australia, NSW and QLD being dicks about having their prisons inspected by the UN hasn't made us look good.  

 

Australia signed up to the UN's Convention against Torture, which includes allowing the UN subcommittee unrestricted access to any prison in the country.  However NSW and QLD haven't been playing ball and now the committee has suspended its visit.  They've done inspections in 81 countries and Australia is only the 4th country that hasn't cooperated with them.

 

So next time our government gets up and accuses China, Russia, Myanmar, or some other godawful tinpot dictatorship of human rights violations, what are they going to say?  "Australia is a hypocrite - they didn't even let the UN inspect their own prisons!"

[Jerry_Atrick]

Too right, Marty! I read that and thought how embarressing. Obviously, pollies have no shame, or they have something to hide.

 

The excuse given by the NSW corrections minister.. something along the lines the UN inspectors observed not enough different varieties of cheese were available in the cheese sandwiches. I haven't checked up, but my guess it would have been not enough accounting for diets of differernt religions or something similar... Either way, it couldn't have been too damming a report in NZ or it would have been on the front pages.

[old man emu]

23 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I really don't know why medicare provider numbers are not geographically assigned. Does anybody know the reason?

My cynical answer is that the "Colleges" of medical practitioners don't want their members to be forced to abandon working without a sea breeze cooling them.

 

It is odd that petrol stations in rural areas are increasingly being staffed by people from the Sub-Continent, but there are no doctors practising as GPs from the same source. Perhaps those GPs are enslaved in metropolitan medical centres.

[nomadpete]

12 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

Over the ages as the human brain got bigger, the female pelvis had to adapt to ever-larger newborn’s heads. Some didn’t fit thru. Death in childbirth was common until recent times. Now many are delivered via caesarian. Our species may soon become dependent on them.

I have been told that it is an 'intelligent design'.

 

The sort of design I'd expect from a contract engineer. After five minutes of thought and a thorough risk assessment from the legal team.

[nomadpete]

11 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Obviously, pollies have no shame, or they have something to hide

Obviously, both.

[Yenn]

OME said "It is odd that petrol stations in rural areas are increasingly being staffed by people from the Sub-Continent, but there are no doctors practising as GPs from the same source. Perhaps those GPs are enslaved in metropolitan medical centres."

We may not have GPs from the sub continent, but we seem to have many specialists and experts in medicine from there.

The specialist who is supervising my cancer treatment is Indian I think. He looks and sounds as if he is. He has gone on holiday and I had a video check with his offsider, who looks and sounds even more Indian. I could not understand what he was barking at me and the nurse had to translate.

He asked me why I was on chemotherapy? What a stupid question. When he told me I was having a scan the next day I thought it was time to spit the dummy, as It was news to me.

I think he may have understood why I was so aggro with him because he changed his tone immediately. I just wonder why we have so many foreigners in the medical profession, especially when they will not slow down their speech so us oldies can work out what they are saying.

At the Gp 's that I go to we now have a young Australian doctor, who'se family is local. That is among the South Africans and other nationalities at the practice, but they are all easily understood.

[red750]

My cardiologist is Indian or similar nationality. Surname is Sajeev.

[onetrack]

My opthalmologist is a bloke named Milan Dodhia. He's Indian, but he looks more Eastern European. He speaks very well, and he's a superb opthalmologist, with an excellent manner, and a studied, careful approach, to eye examination and results.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have never cared too much about where someone has come from, as long as they do their job well., If any country needs to entice those from other countries to make up for a lack of skill in their own country, the blame lies with that country, not the immigrants who come to plug the gaps.

[facthunter]

Rich  Counties  (like US) should not rely on enticing skilled people here from countries which have paid to educate them. They are arguably more needed there than HERE. If anything we should help train people for other countries as well as carry the cost of our own.  Nev

Edited October 29, 2022 by facthunter

[Marty_d]

I think there's a difference between not wanting to see a foreign-born doctor because of their race, and not wanting to see them because you can't understand their accent.

I'm a bit hard of hearing and have real trouble understanding people sometimes.  I work in a very multicultural team and some Chinese people I can understand no problem, and others I really have difficulty understanding.  It's not their fault - they're talking about very technical subjects in a new language, jeez I wouldn't have the brains to learn Mandarin in the first place, let alone go work there and take part in team meetings where people are not only speaking in Mandarin but also with regional accents and local slang.

[old man emu]

We employ a lot of workers for non-medical work in our aged care facilities who have less experience of some domestic products used there. In my mother's cse there is a very obliging Tibetan chap. She asked him to lay out some ant traps in her room becasue the ants were coming in out of the rain. He probably had never seen them before and didn't know to remove the cover strip over the adhesive pad that sticks the traps in place.

 

Also, aged people have a different vocabulary than younger people, and that causes problems in effective communication. Would your grand child understand what "1470 on your radio dial" means? 

[facthunter]

Or a Mickey Mouse watch? I'd love one of those. Nev