TRANSCRIPT
- Doctors say improving bulk-billing would improve Australians' access to healthcare
- Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai urges Muslim leaders to refuse to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan
- Australia claims a four-wicket win over England to start the Ashes
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says there is more work to do to make healthcare more accessible.
Online healthcare directory Cleanbill has been tracking the rates of bulk-billing across nearly 7,000 GP clinics around the country.
In its latest report, it finds - on average - a national decline in the proportion of clinics or providers that bulk-bill all patients over a 12-month period.
It's gone from 24.2 per cent to 20.7 per cent, a fall of 3.5 per cent.
In November 2023, the Albanese government tripled the incentives for GPs to bulk-bill pensioners, concession card holders and children.
The Medicare statistics - collected by the federal government - measures all services that are bulk billed.
The data for the September quarter [[2024]] shows 75.3 per cent of all standard general practice consultations were bulk billed - an increase of 2.1 per cent compared to the same period 12 months prior.
Sydney GP and health economist Dr Michael Wright is the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
He's told SBS the extra funding and incentives from the federal government has shown results for the people targeted, but there are more steps that can be taken.
"Adding that additional funding (did) increase bulk billing for the people who it applied to. So kids under 16 and people with health concession cards. But it hasn't helped the majority of Australia. So that is why I suggest we need to increase the Medicare rebates for all patients, particularly for longer consultations, which is where chronic and complex care happens."
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Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has condemned the state of women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan, labelling it gender apartheid at a conference in Islamabad.
Speaking during a rare visit to her home country, Ms Yousafzai participated in the inaugural conference on girls' education in the Muslim world.
The gathering, backed by the Mecca-based Muslim World League, is being attended by advocates and dignitaries committed to advancing girls' education, but representatives from Afghanistan, where girls are banned from education under Taliban rule, were absent.
She urged Muslim leaders to do more to protect the rights of women and girls.
"Under their system of gender apartheid, the Taliban are punishing women and girls who dare to break their obscure laws by beating them up, detaining them and harming them. Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings ... But we can only have an honest and serious conversation about girls' education if we can call out the worst violations of it."
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The counterterrorism unit from New South Wales Police is leading an investigation into an attempted arson attack at a synagogue in Sydney's inner west.
Police are searching for two people who are alleged to have spray-painted a synagogue in Newtown, Sydney's inner west, with Nazi symbols in the early hours of Saturday.
The state government has vowed to boost security, following a spate of attacks targeting the Jewish community.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has condemned the behaviour, and urged the public to reach out to police if they have any information about the attack.
"We are of course appalled to see antisemitic crime on the street of Sydney in New South Wales. There's never any justification for this kind of racist, antisemitic targeted attacks on our members of community. We are a beautiful multicultural community, but it rests on the premise that people are free to practice their religion, free from discrimination, violence, hatred and racism."
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Los Angeles authorities say they have arrested 29 more people overnight in the fire zones, including one burglary suspect who was allegedly dressed as a firefighter.
A night-time curfew has been put in place to reduce looting.
The death toll is expected to increase from 16 as teams with cadaver dogs search through the rubble for bodies.
Firefighters are slowly making progress in their battle to contain the inferno that has burned wide areas of Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, but spreading flames and strong winds still threaten communities in the San Fernando Valley.
Nick Pemberton, who lives in Altadena and is affected by the Eaton fires, says it's been difficult to combat the blazes.
"Not having the fire hydrants still even turned on and not being able to hose down yards and rooftops and things like that. But thank God we were able to get the pumps in the hoses and start pumping out swimming pools. And it was amazing. Every neighbour with a swimming pool was running out and saying: use our water."
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In cricket, Alyssa Healy has bounced back to form with a statement half-century against England, taking Australia to a four-wicket win over England in the first One Day International of the Ashes.
After Ashleigh Gardner took three wickets to have England all out for 204 at a sold-out North Sydney Oval, Healy starred with the bat on Sunday.
Australia's captain hit 70 from 78 balls, peppering the square boundaries as the hosts chased down the target with 67 balls to spare.
The win gives Australia a 2-nil lead in the multi-format series, with each of the three ODIs and T20s worth two points and the Test worth four.
Gardner says it's a great start.
"I guess I have taken a lot of confidence out of what I was able to do against New Zealand, in the New Zealand series. Coming to a home Ashes with a sellout crowd that spurs you on to do really well for your team. And to contribute with both bat and ball was something that I wanted to do to start really well and take some confidence into the back end of the series. So we're 2-nil up, but we know that there is a long way to go in this Ashes series."
