Tag Archives: Torres Strait Islands

Is TB Australia’s problem? Maybe not long from now.

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I wrote this three years ago.  Have things gotten better? By SUSAN MERRELL TODAY, SUNDAY 24 MARCH [2013], is World Tuberculosis Day. In Australia, tuberculosis (TB) has largely been eradicated and is at a negligible incidence of six cases for every 100,000 of population. So, apart from humanitarian considerations for countries less fortunate, why should TB concern Australia? It’s said that one can walk from Australia to Papua New Guinea at low tide, and PNG has a staggeringly high incidence of 346 TB cases per 100,000, with numbers rising. (There has been a 42% increase in the last decade.) Furthermore, Continue reading Is TB Australia’s problem? Maybe not long from now.→

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Torres Strait Islands – a government to government matter.

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By Susan Merrell Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has instructed cabinet to appoint an eminent persons committee to conduct a review of the Torres Strait Treaty with Australia.  He says: …for 40 years no government has ever stood up on behalf of Trans Fly villages. Indeed they haven’t Prime Minister, although there are some who have been pointing out the inequities for quite some time.  In 2011, I opined that only a government to government solution would work (litigation had already failed).  At last (and bravo!) a PNG government is seeking to effect a more equitable solution for the people of Continue reading Torres Strait Islands – a government to government matter.→

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