A nurse who beat his daughter with a rolling pin for 20 minutes after a boy was allowed into their home has been suspended from medical practice for a month. The man, who cannot be named, had his nurses’ registration suspended by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal earlier this month. The married man assaulted his then 16-year-old daughter with a wooden rolling pin in June 2018 to get her to tell him about a boy and why he’d been allowed into their home. The teenager was hospitalised with bruising and swelling to her body. Her father admitted he had been the attacker before he was charged. A family violence intervention order was issued in August 2018 to prevent him entering the family home. He also has two sons. The man’s conduct and failure to tell the nursing board he had been charged amounts to professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct respectively, VCAT held. A formal reprimand will appear against his registration on the national health regulator agency’s website, the order states. While he has shown “some insight” into his actions, he’s not “demonstrated a deep understanding of the effect of the transgression on the victim and the reputation of health practitioners and the profession in general”. “We consider that family violence of the kind perpetrated by [the man] would, in contemporary society and nursing practice, be regarded as conduct that is ‘disgraceful’,” the decision states. He has previously pleaded guilty to common assault in a Victorian court and was placed on a good behaviour bond, had to pay $1500 and undertake a men’s behaviour change program. Character references stated the assault was out of character as a father and nurse. His wife, who is also a nurse, has been diagnosed with a malignancy in her liver, leaving him as the only working member in the family and they may need to sell the home. “The fact that [he] is suspended for a period will serve to put nursing and other health practitioners on notice that family violence is not acceptable,” the decision states. The length of the suspension, which starts on February 26, may allow him to serve it while on leave from work and without necessarily losing his job.
February 18, 2020
Susan Pascoe has been named chair of the new Catholic Emergency Relief Australia Advisory Council that will co-ordinate the Church’s ongoing response to the bushfire crisis and future national emergencies. Ms Pascoe’s appointment adds to her long list of contributions to public life that includes serving as a 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commissioner and as the inaugural Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commissioner.
February 18, 2020
A man has died after his mobility scooter and a car collided at Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. The man was treated at the scene of the crash on Boneo Road, Rosebud about 10.20am on Monday but couldn’t be revived. The car driver – who was the only person in the vehicle at the time – wasn’t injured and stopped to help the struck man. Crash investigators now trying to piece together what happened.
February 18, 2020
The Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union and Songbird Homes of Thornton have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) set for hearing before Deputy President Saunders at Level 3, 237 Wharf Road in Newcastle today.
February 18, 2020
An application for approval of the Autism Queensland Limited Employee Agreement 2020. (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be ruled upon by Commission Hunt in Hearing Room 4 in Brisbane.
February 17, 2020
Challenge Community Services is facing a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Deputy President Dean in Chambers in Sydney (Inman).
February 17, 2020
A respite carer has been charged following an investigation into the alleged indecent assaults of two children near Newcastle. In October 2018, detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad commenced an investigation following reports two young girls had been indecently assaulted by a man while they were in his care. Following extensive investigations, detectives arrested a 69-year-old man at a home in Newcastle just before 1pm yesterday. He was taken to Waratah Police Station and charged with six counts of indecent assault person under 16 years of age. Police will allege in court that the man indecently assaulted the girls – then aged six and 11 – on several occasions while they were in his care in October 2018. The man has been refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court
February 17, 2020
A 19-year-old childcare worker who snapped during a fight in Croydon with her ex-housemate over rent and repeatedly punched the woman in the head as she lay on the ground has walked from court — with an order to find better ways to deal with her anger. Paige Surplice, 19, faced the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on February 12 following the altercation with her former housemate in Croydon on December 11, 2018. Leading Senior Constable Sarah Logan told the court Surplice punched her victim to the head, causing the woman to fall to the ground where Surplice continued to hit her. Surplice then went inside the house and in her rage kicked a broom, which fell against a door and caused damage, Leading Sen-Constable Logan told the court. Representing herself, Surplice told the court the other woman was verbally abusive to her and implied that she was an alcoholic, prompting her to lash out. She also told the court she was a childcare worker and wanted police to press charges on her victim, who she alleged had also punched her. Magistrate Tim Walsh told Ms Surplice her behaviour was unacceptable and she needed to find better ways to deal with her anger. Surplice pleaded guilty to unlawful assault and wilful damage. Mr Walsh told Surplice that provided she behaved and didn’t land herself back in court on fresh offending within the next six months the charges would be dismissed.
