Askew & Co Barristers & Solicitors

31/05/2026

29/05/2026

For too many people, accessing legal help can be confusing, stressful, and full of barriers. Finding support can feel like navigating a maze; guessing, asking friends, searching online, and sometimes being turned away.

From our survey of people who couldn't receive all the legal help they need;
• 31% of people didn’t know where to go
• 45% had been turned away or had a negative experience

After being turned away 82% of people who needed legal help did not reach out again

These numbers show why we must make legal assistance easier to find, welcoming, and accessible for everyone.

Read the full Justice Through Our Eyes: https://bit.ly/3PGpogV

24/05/2026

🛠 This year’s state budget is expanding the GTO Wage Subsidy Program with an additional 330 places for construction apprentices across WA.

The program has already supported around 1,000 apprentices to gain valuable on-the-job experience while earning an income. The additional investment will create more pathways into building and construction careers and help strengthen the future workforce.

The expansion will also assist small and medium-sized businesses to access skilled apprentices, supporting industry growth and helping meet demand across the sector.

24/05/2026

Our Budget includes a $169.7 million boost to make allied health more accessible for veteran card holders.

Alongside this change, we’re removing the current 12-session treatment cycle, so veterans can access more than 12 sessions without needing an additional referral.

Of course, veterans with a critical or acute health need will continue to be supported. This will include additional support above the limit where this is clinically required.

08/05/2026

08/04/2026

There’s a Census job for you! Apply now at census.abs.gov.au/jobs

From capital cities to regional towns and remote areas, there are temporary jobs available across Australia. Earn extra money close to home with flexible hours that work for you.

07/04/2026

07/04/2026

05/04/2026

Having had people around me suffer with the effects of whooping cough, it is a very serious infection for babies and the immunocompromised. This is one vax I support.

The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) has a**lysed 2025 vaccination coverage and found the proportion of one-year-olds up to date with vaccinations was at its lowest point in 12 years.

STORY: https://ab.co/4s5NS0i

Overall, childhood vaccination coverage at the one, two and five-year milestones declined for the fifth year in a row.

"Across the board, every age group, we're continuing to see that vaccine coverage is falling and it's been falling year-on-year now since 2020," NCIRS director Kristine Macartney said.

Professor Macartney said the post-COVID-19 data for vaccination rates of two-year-olds was particularly alarming.

"We're seeing for the first time now that coverage has dropped below 90%. One out of every 10 two-year-olds isn't up to date with these life-saving vaccines," she said.

"In 2025, there were 80,000 children in Australia who were not up to date with their vaccines … opening up a chance that they could have one of these terrible diseases that's otherwise completely preventable."

If coverage continued to decline on this trajectory, "we will absolutely see more deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases", she said.

"Very sadly, for the first time in around a decade, we saw two young babies die from whooping cough in the last two years."

Fewer teenagers were also getting the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which can prevent cervical, oral, a**l and other ge***al cancers, according to the data.

Less than 80% of adolescents are up to date with the HPV vaccine. The target is 90%.

Professor Macartney said adolescent HPV vaccination coverage has dropped to 78.7% in girls and 75.6% in boys — down 7.9% and 9.3%, respectively, since 2020.

She said that was a "startling" development.

"We were on track to become one of the first countries to eliminate cervical cancer, as well as I'd say many of the other cancers from this virus. But we will not get there unless we push protection back up," Professor Macartney said.

📝 National health equity reporters Caitlyn Gribbin and Rachel Carbonell

05/04/2026

Margaret Medcalf, who turns 100 this week, insisted that decades of Aboriginal welfare records be preserved in the state archives and not destroyed. Those documents have proved essential to connecting Aboriginal people with their family history.