Monday 30 June 2003

On the road to a cure for motor neurone disease, The Australian, 30 June, 2003.




On the road to a cure for motor neurone disease: [1 - All-round Country Edition]

Ian Gerard, John StapletonAuthor InformationView Profile. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 30 June 2003: 5.
Show highlighting
Family friend David Hyde, 20, is about to set off on a 2260km walking and cycling trek called the Salt Sea to Summit Expedition to raise awareness and help fund a research program by the University of Queensland's Professor Perry Bartlett. The trip is expected to take 20 days. Mr Hyde will walk 200km across theNullarbor plain and then cycle 2000km from Lake Eyre to the Snowy Mountains.

AS she lay dying of motor neurone disease, Deb Bailey, wife of former editor-in-chief of The Australian David Armstrong, had one final wish: that a cure be found.
Two years later, family and friends are trying to raise $5 million for research through the Deb Bailey Motor Neurone Foundation.
Family friend David Hyde, 20, is about to set off on a 2260km walking and cycling trek called the Salt Sea to Summit Expedition to raise awareness and help fund a research program by the University of Queensland's Professor Perry Bartlett. The trip is expected to take 20 days. Mr Hyde will walk 200km across theNullarbor plain and then cycle 2000km from Lake Eyre to the Snowy Mountains.
By doing so, he will travel from Australia's lowest point, ABC Point, 15m below sea level in Lake Eyre, to Australia's highest, Mt Kosciuszko, at 2228m. Mr Hyde said that he hoped to inspire the community and especially young people into realising that there were positive things that they could do to help people with motor neurone disease.
"I'm not going to be able to make huge donations to the foundation myself but I can do other things to help and I am trying to use what I am good at," he said.
Mr Hyde has been in regular training. Every three weeks, he cycles 220km from his home on Sydney's north shore to his grandparents' home in the Blue Mountains, a trip which takes 11 hours.
Donations to the Deb Bailey Motor Neurone Foundation can be made through the site www.debbailey.org
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Living in Interesting Times, With Raymond Lenton, Dads On The Air, 30 June, 2003.






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Saturday 28 June 2003

Malice and Money: How to Survive the Family Court of Australia, A Proposal, 28 June 2003.



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Till death do us part a real risk for men The Weekend Australian 28 June 2003





The Australian
28 June 2003

The Weekend Australian
28 June 2003, Page C14

Till death do us part a real risk for men
By John Stapleton

Breaking up is hard to do. But for some Aussie men it can be deadly.

 John Stapleton reports.

The country's leading research facility for men's health is urging
general practitioners to be more aware of the poor health and high suicide
rates among separated men.

Co-director of the Men's Health and Information Resource Centre at the University of Western Sydney Professor John MacDonald says while it is notoriously difficult to get men to go to a doctor, many GPs are
strategically placed to help when troubled men come knocking.

While last week's announcement by Prime Minister John Howard to
overhaul custody laws and move towards a presumption of joint custody after
separation may go some way to resolve the problem, health professionals are now being urged to look for the danger signs in their male patients.

Statistics suggest separated Australian men are up to six times more likely to suicide than separated women, although this depends on the age group.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report reveals that in the prime divorce age bracket - of 25 to 44 years - suicides remain stubbornly high, or are increasing. This age group of men accounts for almost 50
per cent of all suicides.

"GPs, along with other professionals, are well equipped to help play an important role," Professor MacDonald says.

"The sources of stress belong in the social domain and often in the legal domain. But if the doctor has a list of relevant agencies that can help, some legal agencies rather than medical, for example, then such a GP
would be bringing a holistic service to his clients.

"That would be the doctor acknowledging what we call the 'social
determinants of health'."

Professor MacDonald says several doctors are now asking what they
could do to make their services more accessible to men.

"Even when doctors are referring men on to counsellors or other
agencies, it is important that such services are male-positive."

He points out that many community health services don't deal with men
at all unless they are in crisis, for example for drug and alcohol
problems.

"Most of the medical profession would accept that there are very few
services directed at men," he says.

"We would definitely like to see more male-friendly services."

Geoffrey Greene, federal director of the Shared Parenting Council of
Australia, a representative body of more than 20 fathers and family law
reform groups, says general practitioners are usually the first place
where fathers suffering through the process of separation present.

"Make no mistake, losing your children is one of the single most
distressing experiences any person can go through," he says.

"Doctors need to be aware that if their patients are experiencing
separation or divorce they are at high risk of suicide. Even if they
are not suicidal they can present with symptoms of stress or stress
disorders. GPs must look at the potential risk factor of suicide ... just
prescribing an antidepressant is not going to solve the problem."

Mensline Australia manager Terry Melvin says the emegency help line is
managing to answer only one-in-four of the deluge of calls to the
commonwealth-funded service.

"Clearly from our experience, men dealing with family and relationship
breakdown deal with a range of physical and mental health issues," he
says.

"We find callers on the line with high levels of anxiety and stress,
depression, and risk of suicide or self-harming behaviour," he says.

"Six per cent of our callers are men who are either threatening
suicide or where the suicide is actually in progress.

"We find that there is a spillover effect into their working lives and
research conducted by Mensline has shown high absenteeism, conflict
with their peers, inability to concentrate and the potential for industrial
accidents.

"There is often a high use of drugs and alcohol as men struggle to cope
with the loss of daily contact with their children and the loss of the
relationship.

"The level of stress increases when they have to deal with the (legal)
system.

"Many men feel alienated from community health services. GPs and all
health workers need to be better educated to understand that the
system in which men are raised undermines their ability to seek help at these
times of crisis.

"The fact that some of these men are walking into a doctor's surgery
is, in itself, a major plea for help.

"To shunt them through in five minutes and give them an antidepressant
pill is the wrong way to deal with them.''

One step being advocated by a new generation of health workers is to go
where the men congregate - into their workplaces, clubs and pubs.
Educationalist and board member of Suicide Prevention Australia Julian
Krieg is running a pilot program called Alive and Well for the Central
Wheat Belt Division of General Practice in Western Australia.

Their slogan is: "Blokes that know going where blokes are".

Mr Krieg says the program was developed as an important alternative to
GPs giving men antidepressants.

Instead, Alive and Well has developed a simple message: "Before things
get too much, talk to a mate."

"A lot of it is stepping back into our humanity and recognising that we
have these issues going on inside us, which we can solve quickly if we
can talk between us, bloke to bloke.

"The analogy we use is a car accident. The reality is that when we come
across a car accident, we refer people to the appropriate support
mechanisms. Very few drive past.

"If we supplied better basic first-aid for each other we would have
better results."

Mr Kreig says many separated men were "falling through the cracks" of
the health system.

"There are support mechanisms for the wife and kids, but the blokes are
expected to carry on, doing the provider thing. There is no approach
that recognises these blokes are, in reality, heart broken.

"The blokes are saying, "it's over. I've failed at my job, my life, my
marriage." A lot of these men do present to GPs but the GPs quite often
miss the symptoms."

He says this is because men do not report they are in trouble but that
they are having trouble sleeping.

"The reality is that the man is not sleeping because he is stressed
out of his brain.

"It is a matter of raising our whole awareness, through GPs, hospitals,
the court system. "When people are going through a divorce there are
critical things going on. The whole spectrum of care needs to recognise
that separation and divorce is a time of risk.

"The emerging men's groups message is powerful, and will make a
difference, but it is about all of us. We have to accept the primary
care for each other."

ORIGINAL COPY:





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Pushed to point of no return, Weekend Australian, 28 June, 2003.




Pushed to point of no return: [1 - All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 June 2003: 2.
Show highlighting
The best-known CSA suicide victim was Canberra man Warren Gilbert. The 28-year-old with three young children was found dead in a car clutching a letter from the CSA. He was losing more than 80 per cent of his gross pay in tax and child support. The coroner indicated there was a clear link between the CSA and theman's death.
The male suicide rate in a single year is now four times that of the total number killed in the Vietnam conflict. Fathers groups around the country claim at least three clients of the CSA commit suicide every day. [JACK] was almost one of them.

JACK, a senior public servant, slashed his wrists after receiving 36 letters from the Child Support Agency in one day.
"Their system is so maladministered they can't mail letters regularly," he says.
"I am being pushed against the wall emotionally, financially and in every other way. The best analysis: you get stuck in a dark tunnel, you keep walking down thetunnel, there is no light at the end, so why keep walking?"
The male suicide rate in a single year is now four times that of the total number killed in the Vietnam conflict. Fathers groups around the country claim at least three clients of the CSA commit suicide every day. Jack was almost one of them.
Two years ago he says he told the CSA by phone he was being driven to the wall.
"I was losing control, I was thinking of chucking it all in and said I might as well go the whole hog," he said. "I made it very clear to them that I was contemplating suicide."
Jack was provided with no professional counselling or sympathy and to his knowledge the police were not informed.
He hands over 27 per cent of his pay in child support payments. He also has to support his second family, which includes two teenagers.
He says the CSA overcharges him by deeming his income to be more than it is and by constant miscalculations.
"You ring up the CSA and tell them your situation," he says. "They don't care. Their attitude is, pay up or die.
"I have stopped at least five guys from suiciding just talking to them over the phone, letting them know that they are not the only one."
For many men "you come home, you've got the photos on the wall and the bills on the fridge and that is your life".
The best-known CSA suicide victim was Canberra man Warren Gilbert. The 28-year-old with three young children was found dead in a car clutching a letter from the CSA. He was losing more than 80 per cent of his gross pay in tax and child support. The coroner indicated there was a clear link between the CSA and theman's death.

ORIGINAL COPY:

CSA victims pushed to point of no return The Australian 28 June 2003

The Australian
28 June 2003, Page 2

CSA victims 'pushed to point of no return'
By John Stapleton

Jack, a senior public servant, slashed his wrists after receiving 36
letters from the Child Support Agency in one day.

"Their system is so maladministered they can't mail letters
regularly," he says.

"I am being pushed against the wall emotionally, financially and in
every other way. The best analysis: you get stuck in a dark tunnel, you
keep walking down the tunnel, there is no light at the end, so why keep
walking?"

The male suicide rate in a single year is now four times that of the
total number killed in the Vietnam conflict. Fathers groups around the
country claim at least three clients of the CSA commit suicide every day. Jack
was almost one of them.

Two years ago he says he told the CSA by phone he was being driven to
the wall.

"I was losing control, I was thinking of chucking it all in and said I might as well go the whole hog," he said. "I made it very clear to them that I was contemplating suicide."

Jack was provided with no professional counselling or sympathy and to his knowledge the police were not informed.

He hands over 27 per cent of his pay in child support payments. He also has to support his second family, which includes two teenagers.

He says the CSA overcharges him by deeming his income to be more than it is and by constant miscalculations.

"You ring up the CSA and tell them your situation," he says. "They don't
care. Their attitude is, pay up or die.

"I have stopped at least five guys from suiciding just talking to them over the phone, letting them know that they are not the only one."

For many men "you come home, you've got the photos on the wall and the bills on the fridge and that is your life".

The best-known CSA suicide victim was Canberra man Warren Gilbert. The 28-year-old with three young children was found dead in a car clutching a letter from the CSA. He was losing more than 80 per cent of his gross
pay in tax and child support. The coroner indicated there was a clear link
between the CSA and the man's death.
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Child Support agency ignored threats, Weekend Australian, 28 June 2003. Page One.



Child agency ignored threats: [1 - All-round Country Edition]

Michael McKinnon * FOI editor, Christine Jackman, John Stapleton. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 June 2003: 1.

The agency received 184 suicide threats, 320 client-to-client threats, 48 bomb threats, with four bomb incidents, and 453 harassment calls between 1996-97 and 2001-02. But security incident reports reveal the police were called in fewer than half a dozen of these cases.
A CSA spokeswoman said no records had been kept of police referrals before July 2001 and no records of counselling referrals had ever been kept. But in the financial year to June 25, 2003, the CSA had received 111 suicide threats, 81 client-to-client threats, 74 threats to staff and seven bomb threats.
In the two years since July 2001, 59 client-to-client threats and 46 suicide threats had been referred to police.

Full Text


HUNDREDS of threats of assault, murder and suicide by angry parents have been mishandled or ignored by the Child Support Agency, an investigation by The Weekend Australian has revealed.
Federal Children and Youth Affairs Minister Larry Anthony yesterday ordered the agency to explain itself after it was revealed he had been misled by a CSA briefing on its safety procedures.
The CSA calculates and monitors child support payments for more than 1.2million separated or divorced parents.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal Mr Anthony was advised in September 2000 that any "possible murder or suicide" threat from CSA clients would be referred to police.
The agency claimed staff were also trained to refer on to qualified counsellors "distraught" parents who "occasionally" contacted it.
"A few of these threaten to harm themselves or others," the CSA brief noted.
But internal documents obtained during a six-month investigation by The Weekend Australian show the CSA fields hundreds of threats to harm ex-partners and children, use bombs or commit suicide each year.
The agency received 184 suicide threats, 320 client-to-client threats, 48 bomb threats, with four bomb incidents, and 453 harassment calls between 1996-97 and 2001-02. But security incident reports reveal the police were called in fewer than half a dozen of these cases.
In one incident in western Sydney, a client who had threatened suicide was instead sent a "letter requesting (he/she) call the agency".
This is despite the CSA ministerial briefing stating that "when indicators of self harm are recognised, CSA staff refer parents to a community agency skilled in counselling in the parent's local area."
No records of client referrals to counselling were kept, although staff were often given in-house counselling after aggressive encounters.
Prime Minister John Howard announced a government inquiry this week into child custody arrangements, including controversial formulas applied by the CSA to calculate parents' support payments. But the inquiry will not address administrative or security procedures within the agency.
Mr Anthony said he had never seen data about threats or other security incidents.
He admitted to writing on the CSA's briefing paper that it was "an understatement" for the agency to claim distressed parents only "occasionally" contacted the service.
But Mr Anthony said he had been led to believe all "extreme threats" were referred to police.
A CSA spokeswoman said no records had been kept of police referrals before July 2001 and no records of counselling referrals had ever been kept. But in the financial year to June 25, 2003, the CSA had received 111 suicide threats, 81 client-to-client threats, 74 threats to staff and seven bomb threats.
In the two years since July 2001, 59 client-to-client threats and 46 suicide threats had been referred to police.
Asked to explain why these figures did not match those provided under Freedom of Information laws, she said incident reporting and record-keeping had been updated during that time.
More reports -- Page 2

The Australian
28 June 2003, Page 1

Child agency 'ignored' threats
By Michael McKinnon, Christine Jackman and John Stapleton

Hundreds of threats of assault, murder and suicide by angry parents
have been mishandled or ignored by the Child Support Agency, an
investigation by The Weekend Australian has revealed.

Federal Children and Youth Affairs Minister Larry Anthony yesterday
ordered the agency to explain itself after it was revealed he had been
misled by a CSA briefing on its safety procedures.

The CSA calculates and monitors child support payments for more than
1.2 million separated or divorced parents.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal Mr Anthony
was advised in September 2000 that any "possible murder or suicide"
threat from CSA clients would be referred to police.

The agency claimed staff were also trained to refer on to qualified
counsellors "distraught" parents who "occasionally" contacted it.

"A few of these threaten to harm themselves or others," the CSA brief
noted.

But internal documents obtained during a six-month investigation by The
Weekend Australian show the CSA fields hundreds of threats to harm ex-
partners and children, use bombs or commit suicide each year.

The agency received 184 suicide threats, 320 client-to-client threats,
48 bomb threats, with four bomb incidents, and 453 harassment calls
between 1996-97 and 2001-02. But security incident reports reveal the police
were called in fewer than half a dozen of these cases.

In one incident in western Sydney, a client who had threatened suicide
was instead sent a "letter requesting (he/she) call the agency".

This is despite the CSA ministerial briefing stating that "when
indicators of self harm are recognised, CSA staff refer parents to a
community agency skilled in counselling in the parent's local area".

No records of client referrals to counselling were kept, although staff
were often given in-house counselling after aggressive encounters.

Prime Minister John Howard announced a government inquiry this week
into child custody arrangements, including controversial formulas applied by
the CSA to calculate parents' support payments. But the inquiry will
not address administrative or security procedures within the agency.

Mr Anthony said he had never seen data about threats or other security
incidents.

He admitted to writing on the CSA's briefing paper that it was "an
understatement" for the agency to claim distressed parents
only "occasionally" contacted the service.

But Mr Anthony said he had been led to believe all "extreme threats"
were referred to police.

A CSA spokeswoman said no records had been kept of police referrals
before July 2001 and no records of counselling referrals had ever been
kept.

 But in the financial year to June 25, 2003, the CSA had received 111
suicide threats, 81 client-to-client threats, 74 threats to staff and seven
bomb threats.

In the two years since July 2001, 59 client-to-client threats and 46
suicide threats had been referred to police.

Asked to explain why these figures did not match those provided under
Freedom of Information laws, she said incident reporting and record-
keeping had been updated during that time.
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