Luke Grant is joined by Professor John McCallum, National Seniors Chief Executive and Director of Research, who have just released a comprehensive report on what older Australians want now in aged care.

The country’s peak consumer organisation for seniors conducted the research throughout the past year in the wake of the commission’s hearings and media coverage.  The report, titled ‘As close to home as possible’ found that if older Australians had to go into residential aged care, they wanted a place that was more like a home than an institution.

Professor McCallum says respondents told the survey they wanted home cooked meals and accommodation that was home like and catered more for individual needs. He says, “The Royal Commission and the media coverage have had a major impact on older Australians’ attitudes toward residential aged care,” - “Many of those people who responded are worried they will suffer the same neglect and abuse they have heard and read about in evidence tabled at the Royal Commission.

“They say one way to combat this fear is for smaller, community minded facilities with home-like features.”

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Luke Grant has his weekly chat with Abul Rizvi, former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration & author of “Population Shock” to discuss about how Australia may assist with the emerging humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the ongoing issue that nobody wants to talk about or deal with - exploited workers who do the work Australians won’t.

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Professor David Flint chats to Luke Grant on the week’s important issues & political news.

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Luke Grant checks in with Amelia Adams, Nine News Correspondent, who is currently reporting from Lviv in Western Ukraine.

Amelia gives a vivid account how ordinary people are dealing with this extraordinarily dangerous situation that sees refugees cross the borders to neighbouring countries to the west, such as Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova.

Satellite imagery indicates that a huge convoy 65 kilometers) long of Russian military vehicles is heading toward Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv.

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Luke Grant is joined by Sarah Boorer, Communications professional & CWA award-winning cook, to look at the world of baked goods, delicious treats and & easy recipes.

This week Sarah looks at Pear and coconut crumble with double-thick cream

INGREDIENTS

5 beurre bosc pears

1 lemon, halved

125g pitted dates, chopped

1/3 cup (75g) coconut sugar

75g unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly

1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour

1 cup (100g) almond meal

1/2 cup (70g) slivered almonds

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

300ml double-thick cream

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Peel and core the pears, rubbing the flesh with half a lemon to prevent them from going brown. Cut into thin wedges, then place in a 22cm round baking dish. Add the dates, 1 tbs coconut sugar, juice from remaining lemon half and 2 tbs water, and toss well to coat. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes or until just tender.

Meanwhile, to make crumble, combine butter, flour, almond meal, almonds, cinnamon and remaining 1/4 cup (35g) coconut sugar in a bowl. Remove foil from baking dish and stir pears to coat in syrup. Sprinkle crumble over pear mixture, then return to oven and bake, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes or until crumble is dark golden and pears are tender.

Serve with double-thick cream.

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Luke Grant speaks to the local federal MP for Page in northern NSW Kevin Hogan, who is also the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister / Assistant Minister for Local Government for the latest on the Lismore floods.

He says he’s been speaking with the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and many other Ministers since the early hours of Monday making the nation’s leaders aware of the seriousness and the danger to life that is currently present around Lismore.

Mr Hogan says, every resource is being mobilised, including the army and they are doing everything they can to save lives. Given people went to bed thinking this was an 11.5m event, and it is now an over 14m event, it is obviously causing many challenges and he thanked everyone who is doing what they can to support others.

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Tragic death of teenager from box jellyfish sting

A sad story from north Queensland resulted in the loss of a 14-year-old boy who died after being stung by a box jellyfish at Eimeo Beach in Far North Queensland.   

Widely regarded as one of the world’s most venomous animals, the box jellyfish grows longer than an average male human with tentacles extending up to 3m long.

Luke Grant speaks to Dr Ken Winkel from the University of Melbourne, a leading Australian toxinologist & the former Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit, who knows all about the dangers of marine stingers, what they do to the victim and the best way to treat a wound.

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Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant.

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Luke speaks with Michael Kamieniak, a Polish resident trying to get his family out of the Ukraine.  Michael, until about 6 years ago, lived and worked in Australia - his story is one of desperation, danger and just the raw emotion of saving your loved ones in the most terrifying of circumstances.  

At some point, he has to go to Ukraine and return with his loved ones safely.

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Stefan Romaniw OAM, the co-chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations and vice-president of the Ukrainian World Congress here in Australia, talks to Luke Grant about Ukrainian Australians feeling completely helpless. 

Mr Romaniw asks, Why?  How could this happen in the 21st century?  

Last Thursday, these questions were on the lips of many, including Ukrainians in Australia, as Russia started a war to seize Ukraine.

Seeing missiles in the skies, people stood in shock. The feeling was compared to when we saw two planes fly into the twin towers on September 11.  In a mad panic, many Ukrainians in the diaspora took their phones to call parents, family and friends in Ukraine. It was a surreal feeling. Vladimir Putin, who had bluffed the world into thinking he wanted to negotiate, in turn commenced a full-scale offensive.

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