Wake Up Australia

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant, filling in for Michael McLaren.

Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward, CEO of the Australian College of Nursing, joins Luke Grant to acknowledge International Nurses Day, which celebrates the contribution that nurses make to societies around the world.

The date has a very strong significance, being the birthday of perhaps the world’s most famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, and has been celebrated on this day since 1965.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a press conference yesterday, “our nurses have been on the front line in this tremendous fight against coronavirus.”

“I want to thank all the nurses for everything you’ve done over recent months but much more than that, I want to thank our nurses for what you do every single day.”

Luke Grant is joined by 73 year old Tom Wolf, who contracted COVID-19 and lived to tell the tale.

The former lawyer had only mild symptoms leading up to being admitted to the Darlinghurst hospital over the Easter long weekend after isolating at home for more than three weeks. 

Within hours of arriving, he deteriorated with bewildering speed and was put into an induced coma for five days attached to a ventilator pushing air into his lungs.

"I was ready to go but every single time I was awake enough to hear them, they'd say: ‘Tom you’re doing really well’, ‘You are going to survive this’," says Mr Wolf.

"I have wonderful memories of those nurses and doctors ... I can’t thank them enough."

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant, filling in for Michael McLaren.

Luke Grant is joined by Dr Paige Williams, University of Melbourne academic and Uplifting Australia Board Member, to discuss new research that says that one in five Australian families are struggling to cope during COVID-19, while a third are embracing the opportunity to improve the way their family functions.

Leading Australian family charity Uplifting Australia yesterday launched the first detailed research on how families are functioning during COVID-19.

University of Melbourne academic and Uplifting Australia Board Member, Dr Paige Williams, said the research highlights both the need to support both families under stress due to COVID-19 and those who have become more open to investing in their family’s well being.

“Many Australian families are spending an unprecedented amount of time at home together and, as any parent will tell you, this has come with undeniable stresses and strains. Almost a quarter of Australian families say they are finding it harder to balance work, home and family and for some, COVID-19 has had an overall negative impact on the family dynamic.”

However, 43% of Australian families surveyed say that COVID-19 has caused them to spend more quality time with their families, and 36% that it has actually provided an opportunity for them to work to improve how they function together.

Steven Wardill, State Affairs Editor for The Courier-Mail/Sunday Mail, joins Luke Grant regarding Queensland’s deputy premier & treasurer Jackie Trad resigning following news the state’s corruption watchdog would be investigating claims she interfered with the recruitment of a school principal in her electorate.

Accepting the resignation, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, “she has made the decision in the best interests of her family, the community and the party.”

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

Luke Grants is joined by Professor Patrick McGorry, Executive Director of Orygen, Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne & and a Founding Director of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (headspace), regarding calls for an urgent consideration of covid-related mental health challenges, ahead of an expected federal government announcement of a suite of healthcare funding on today.

 

Preliminary modelling by the Brain and Mind Centre suggests the COVID-19 pandemic may give rise to 25 per cent more suicides, with up to 30 per cent of those among young people aged 15-25 years.

 

This could see a situation where between an extra 750 and 1500 more suicides may occur annually in addition to the 3000 plus lives that are lost to suicide already every year.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stated that NRL players who refuse to get a flu shot should be banned from competing, after Gold Coast star Bryce Cartwright polarised the rugby league community with his anti-vaxxer stance.

 

Luke Grant seeks to find out whether this can legally be enforced by discussing the matter with Nicholas Marouchak, Director at MKI Legal, who has experience in all aspects of employment law, workplace relations & unfair dismissal.

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren