1. YMCA NSW declared not a child safe organisation
YMCA NSW is not a child safe organisation, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been told. The conclusions were drawn by the Commission’s counsel assisting Gail Furness SC after examining the organisation’s handling of YMCA worker Jonathan Lord who was jailed for a minimum of six years for 13 offences involving 12 children in 2009.
YMCA is one of NSW’s largest providers of child care, with 74 before-and-after-school care locations across the state.
2. Body recovered after man fell overboard on cruise ship
The body of a man has been recovered after he fell overboard from the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship. An Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesperson has said that the passenger fell at 2am this morning, roughly 300 nautical miles off the coast of Brisbane.
3. Clive Palmer’s Galilee Basin mine approved
Environment Minister Greg Hunt has approved Clive Palmer’s plans for a mine in central Queensland’s Galilee Basin, desperate conservationists’ concerns. The $6.4b project, named ‘China First, will wipe out half of the 8,000-hectare Bimblebox Nature Refuge, as well as involve the construction of a 453km rail line to Abbot Point port, so that the coal can be exported.
It is estimated that the new mine will provide over 30 years worth of coal for export markets.
4. Congregating in overcrowded apartments could see asylum seekers with bridging visas returned to detention
Congregating in overcrowded apartments is just one type of “antisocial” behaviour that could see asylum seekers on bridging visas placed in detention under Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s new code of conduct. Previously, those on bridging visas could only be placed in detention after being arrested for a criminal offence.
5. British and US surveillance targets included UNICEF and Israeli PM
Leaked top secret documents from the GCHQ and the NSA have revealed that a very diverse group of organisations and individuals were coming under their surveillance. The documents show that UN children’s charity UNICEF, former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Medecins du Monde were all targeted in their surveillance operations.
6. 79 injured after West End theatre collapse
79 people have been injured following the collapse of a balcony in the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End. A full house were watching a performance of the Olivier award winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime when the balcony began to creak and eventually fell. It is currently believed that theatre patrons leaning on the railing of the Grade II listed building may have caused the collapse.
7. 2013 predicted to be Australia’s hottest calendar year
Having already secured Australia’s hottest day (49.6C, recorded in Moomba on January 12) and hottest month (January) it appears that Australia may have experienced its hottest year on record.
The year has included a variety of heat related-feats. These included the country’s hottest ever winter day (August 31, which averaged 29,92C across the country.) The month of September was also much hotter than usual, a full 1.1 degrees above the previous mean record.
Definitive stats on 2013’s mean temperature will be released in the new year.
Top Comments
I found the YMCA case very interesting. I'm a former YMCA worker and I found that the guidelines were a LOT stricter than straight out childcare centres. If you were doing a toilet run you had to have at least 3 children with you. If you were comforting a child or trying to communicate with them away from the group you had to be able to be SEEN by at least 2 other staff members and you had to have another child sitting nearby to be 'safe'. You weren't encouraged to play/interact with the older children in case they got the wrong idea and developed a 'crush'. It was insane.
I 'worked' at the YMCA holiday program when I was in high school so 20 years ago and it was basically kids looking after kids! Looking back there is no way I would send my kids to something like that, there were some older kids 17-19 who were in charge, and obviously some adults were around but they were in the reception area and basically we were left to it, also in charge of the crèche, no training, no supervision and we had a couple of kids that were high care so we would have 1 person with them all the time but again no training or anything just basically following them around. We also took them out on excursions again no adult with us!! And we had an end of holiday party where all us workers had a sleep over at the centre with only a couple of 18 year old boys in charge! You can imagine the shenanigans we got up to! Well I guess at least the older ones wouldn't share their joints with the younger ones! Hahaha
I gather you were working with a responsible centre. My brother and I belonged to the Essendon YMCA in the 80's and two of the people in charge have been charged with child sexual offences. I didn't have that but I am pretty sure that my brother did. He withdrew from our family when he was in his early teens and he was being taken away a lot by the two who were charged.