Source: Australian Red Cross Blood Service
A shoulder to cry on; a sympathetic ear; someone who shouts you dinner and makes you laugh – these are some of the qualities that make a good mate – but what extra qualities make a great mate?
This October and November the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) is going to test friendship in a different way, by asking current blood donors to recruit their friends to donate, making them, not just good, but great mates.
To help our blood donors recruit their mates we’ve designed them a unique website: www.matesdonate.com.au
Social network websites are all the rage and the ARCBS hopes matesdonate.com.au will be no exception. Here donors can nominate friends they think should be blood donors, send them an e-mail through the website and track how many of their mates have donated. You can even pick up tips about encouraging mates along the way.
Dr Pip Hetzel, National Operations Manager for the ARCBS said: “One in three of us will need blood or a blood product at some point during our lives, so many of us will rely on others to help us out. You may not have needed blood yet, but is it unreasonable to ask your mates to help out in advance and help other Australians as well? The Australian Red Cross Blood Service doesn’t think so!
Source: ABC Online
Businesses are calling for action to reduce the large number of vagrants squatting in derelict buildings around the Newcastle CBD, in the New South Wales Upper Hunter region.
Newcastle Alliance spokeswoman Evelyn King says it seems more than 20 people at a time are living in buildings that have been earmarked for redevelopment, such as the Palais and Empire Hotel.
Ms King says the damage to vacant buildings caused by homeless people is tarnishing the city’s image.
"One is the spate of fires and the damage that poses to people’s safety, even to their lives, damage to buildings nearby and abutting," she said.
"Also, vandalism, the destruction of property, even down to sheets of glass being smashed in dangerous conditions."
Source: ABC Online
Outspoken Newcastle councillor Aaron Buman has today announced he will stand as an independent candidate for the federal seat of Newcastle, in New South Wales.
He faces an uphill battle to oust sitting ALP Member Sharon Grierson, who holds the seat with a margin of more than 9 per cent.
Aaron Buman was with his wife and two children at his Newcastle cafe this morning when he announced his intention to run for the seat.
He says he is confident voters understand the benefits of living in a marginal seat and is urging people in the electorate not to focus on national issues.
"Let’s see what’s in it for us. Let’s get better infrastructure, let’s get more money into the university, let’s get more money into the John Hunter [hospital]," he said.
Sharon Grierson has welcomed the challenge.
"Well Newcastle always deserves a contest, but this election is really about delivering for Newcastle," she said.
Mr Buman says he will not be doing any preference deals with other candidates.
Source: AAP, The Age
A dozen horses at the Broadmeadow racetrack in Newcastle have returned positive tests to equine influenza (EI).
Leading Newcastle trainers Kris Lees and Paul Perry had swabs taken from several horses on Monday, the same day a positive test for EI was returned by a horse trained there by Rod Byrnes.
Five of the 12 horses that returned positive tests were from the Lees stable and while he was upset by the results he had resigned himself to the inevitable.
"A dozen of them have returned positives and we expected that and now it’s here and we’ve got to let it run its course," Lees said.
Racehorses at Broadmeadow were inoculated last week, and just three days later vaccinated horses at metropolitan Rosehill succumbed to the devastating virus.
Horses require two doses of vaccine for immunity to EI and those at Broadmeadow were due to be given their second shot this Saturday.
"It’s a very disappointing situation. We only had a week until the booster shots," Lees said.
"The horses aren’t that sick because the vaccine has taken the edge off the virus."
Source: John Schell, Sydney Morning Herald
NEWCASTLE racecourse was locked down yesterday after the dreaded equine influenza virus arrived at the track.
EI was confirmed in a horse in Rod Byrnes’s stables, which are between those of powerhouse operators Paul Perry and Kris Lees.
"It is just another disastrous result for the racing industry," Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’Landys said yesterday. "We’ve lost Randwick, Warwick Farm and Rosehill, and for Newcastle to now be affected is a body blow for all participants in the area."
On Saturday night it was hoped Newcastle had avoided EI after tests on horses from the Alan Scorse stable returned negative. But the positive test from the lone horse yesterday is likely to be the forerunner for up to 500 horses trained at the track to succumb to the horse flu.
EI has also been detected in five thoroughbreds at Toowoomba in Queensland.
At a meeting yesterday afternoon V’Landys and Australian Racing Board chief executive Andrew Harding addressed Primary Industries ministers from each state and territory, the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, and the director-generals of all state and federal Primary Industries departments on the need for a national mass vaccination strategy.
Source: powerboatworld.com
The National Maritime and Mattara Festivals will come together for the first time on Newcastle Foreshore on Sunday, October 7. A range of events and activities will be conducted on shore and on the water, including the National Ski Racing Classic, free tours of the working port, Viking re-enactment and wine expo. Navy, Customs and Tall Ships will be open for inspection.
The site for the Mattara Festival this year will be Camp Shortland, and the Maritime Festival is to be held again on the water and along Newcastle Foreshore from Honeysuckle to the Pilot Station.
In a special event, the Mattara Parade will leave its’ traditional route of Hunter Street to travel the full length of the Newcastle Foreshore, to celebrate the linking of these events and the revitalization of the city.
The minute the parade reaches the point the two festivals meet, the parade will stop for three minutes and performances will occur, between Watt Street and Nobby’s Round-about, to celebrate the link between the Mattara and Maritime festivals.
The Parade will commence at 11am on Sunday October 7.
STACEY McMAUGH, Festival Manager says ‘This year’s festival will be the largest the region has ever seen due to the linking of National Maritime and Mattara on Newcastle Foreshore.’
‘With five of Sydney’s best Ships making the journey to participate, the National Maritime Festival will provide an opportunity for the community to experience and celebrate our harbour and the revitalisation of the city.’
The festival has been expanded this year to include:
- Two Navy RAN Minesweepers – HMAS ‘Yarra’ and HMAS ‘Norman’
- Historic HM Bark Endeavour
- High Tech ACV Customs Vessel – ‘Roebuck Bay’
- Maritime Theme Mattara Parade
- FREE tours of the Working Port – ‘Fantasea Crystal’ high speed catamaran
There will also be a host of adrenaline pumped activities:
- National Ski Racing Classic – with speeds in excess of 160km p/h
- ESS Wakeboarding Demonstration – with World Champion Harley Clifford
- Jet Buzz rides on Newcastle Harbour
A FREE shuttle service will be running on the day, to ferry spectators from visiting ships at Throsby Wharf to the National Maritime and Mattara Festival sites in a continuous loop from 10am-5pm.
It is expected that these unique events will attract visitors from around the State, including the Upper and Lower Hunter, Central Coast, Mid North Coast and Sydney regions.
Source: ABC Online
GP after-hours services will return to the Newcastle central business district (CBD), in the New South Wales Hunter region today, when doctors open a facility in the city’s new $36 million community health centre.
The after-hours clinic was forced to relocate to the John Hunter Hospital when the former health centre in Hunter Street was flooded during the June storms.
Dr Mark Foster from the Hunter Urban Division of General Practice says the temporary move was inconvenient for patients and caused logistical problems for GPs.
"It’s been a busy period since the floods, we’ve actually had a big spike in workload due to the winter flu season, that was particularly in August, and so the Newcastle clinic even operating at the John Hunter like all the other clinics has actually been really busy," he said.
Source: ABC Online
A developer has outlined details of a planned $500 million redevelopment of Newcastle’s central business district (CBD).
General Property Trust yesterday briefed Newcastle council, in the New South Wales Hunter region, on the plans to rejuvenate four inner-city blocks.
The plan could also see traffic reintroduced to the Hunter Street Mall.
Project director Phil Heney says it will be a major overhaul of retail, commercial and entertainment facilities in the city.
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