Chapter 1: What warning does Jim Chalmers give about inflation and unemployment?
Hi, Natasha Belling with you and welcome to the afternoon edition of The Briefing. Coming up in our deep dive, Lifeblood has removed outdated restrictions on blood and plasma donations. We'll unpack what these new rules, which are effective from today, really mean and how the changes will save thousands more lives every year.
But first, let's check the afternoon headlines this Monday, the 20th of April. Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned Australians to expect higher inflation, lower growth and higher unemployment as the fallout continues over the war in the Middle East.
Mr Chalmers was speaking ahead of next month's crucial federal budget, admitting it's hard to give specific forecasts as there is so much global uncertainty, especially in the Middle East.
The big risks here are to inflation and to growth. And the key...
Factors which will determine whether we get a bit more inflation or a lot more inflation, a bit less growth or a lot less growth, will be how long the war continues, how long it takes to reopen the strait in an enduring way, and how long it takes for the global economy to get back to something which looks a little bit more like normal.
There is growing speculation the government may announce changes to capital gains tax, the NDIS and superannuation in next month's budget.
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Chapter 2: What recent events have escalated tensions in the Middle East?
Iran is reportedly vowing retaliation after another escalation in the war in the Middle East. There are claims Iran's top military command is accusing the US of violating the ceasefire by firing at an Iranian cargo ship. Donald Trump has reportedly claimed US Marines now have custody of the ship after boarding it in the Gulf of Amman.
The US Navy warship ordered the ship to evacuate its engine room in a video that was later posted by US officials onto social media.
Motor vessel Tosca, motor vessel Tosca, vacate your engine room, vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire.
According to US Central Command, Navy Marines then boarded the vessel with the president writing on Truth Social, quote, we have full custody of the ship and are seeing what's on board. The attack on the Iranian vessel is the latest escalation around the waters of Iran.
Over the weekend, Iran's foreign minister declared the Strait of Hormuz was fully open before reversing course a day later, declaring strict control over the strait and attacking two commercial ships passing through. These latest setbacks come as new peace negotiations are set to resume in Pakistan.
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Chapter 3: What tragic incident occurred in Louisiana involving children?
The US Vice President JD Vance is heading to the talks, but Iranian officials are yet to confirm if they will attend. in this next story are confronting. The state of Louisiana in the US is reeling after an horrific act of family violence. A 31-year-old man has shot and killed eight children, seven of whom were his own family.
Latest reports say the children were aged from just three to 11 years old. The man also shot two women who were reportedly his wife and girlfriend. Both were seriously injured. Here is spokesperson Chris Borderland from the local police department.
There was a child that jumped off the roof. We were able to get him to a hospital and he is expected to survive.
Chapter 4: How is the Geelong oil refinery recovering from the recent fire?
There's also two adult females that were injured. during this mass shooting. They are both in critical condition. We are hopeful that they will survive.
The gunman, Shamar Elkins, was then shot dead during a police chase. According to US media reports, Mr Elkins' family says he suffered from mental health problems. An update on the Geelong oil refinery that caught fire last week. Viva Energy, the company which owns the refinery, says it will be back to 90% production within weeks, much faster than previously expected.
The company says the fire was confined to a single unit in the petrol production process and that fuel imports from overseas will comfortably fill the gap in production.
Music
After more than a week on the loose, a wolf who escaped a theme park in South Korea has been found alive and well. The wolf was discovered near a local expressway and was tranquilised before being safely returned to the theme park where vets say his pulse and body temperature were normal.
Over the nine days since the wolf burrowed under a fence and escaped, hundreds were involved in the search, including the local military.
MUSIC
And a robot in Beijing has blitzed a half marathon. The winning robot named Lightning completed the 21.1 k's in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds, more than 10 minutes faster than the human winner of the race. Lightning also smashed the human world record for the half marathon, which is 57 minutes and 20 seconds.
While the videos of the running robots have captured a lot of attention online, the achievement also signals a massive improvement in the technology. During the same event last year, the winning robot took two hours and 40 minutes to cross the finish line.
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Chapter 5: What changes have been made to blood donation eligibility in Australia?
Now it's time to get into our deep dive on the changes to blood and plasma donations in Australia. From today, donors, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation, will be eligible to donate, meaning thousands more people will be able to give life-changing and saving donations.
Gemma Falcon-Meyer from Red Cross Lifeblood joins us to explain the changes and her important new message for Australians wanting to make a difference. Gemma, thanks so much for joining us. Some pretty historic changes effective from today for people who want to donate blood. Tell us what these changes are.
Yeah, I think there's some pretty historic changes being made to blood donation that a lot of people from the community have been wanting and waiting for.
So our blood donation sexual activity rules are changing today and effectively what they will mean is that gay and bisexual men and trans people in monogamous long-term relationships will become eligible for the first time in Australian history. So the donor questionnaire form that people fill in before they donate will will no longer have a question about men having sex with men.
Chapter 6: Why were outdated restrictions on blood donations lifted?
Rather, people of all genders will be asked the same questions about new partners, launching a really fair and equitable set of questions before people donate.
Many would say these old rules, which we understand were enforced from the 1980s, were very discriminatory. Why has it taken so long for these changes to occur, Gemma?
Yeah, so the way blood donation works is that we have to ask donors questions before they donate. And that's because testing doesn't always pick up a new infection. And so what we do is look within the population to see where those cases of new infections are occurring. And we then ask people as a group not to donate. It's almost a bit like a COVID lockdown. It's about the groups that you're in.
And so HIV was obviously the reason why these rules were introduced.
Chapter 7: How many lives are expected to be saved by the new blood donation rules?
But it is only the last five to 10 years where new cases of HIV have come down in Australia to a point where we had the evidence and research to say there would be no change to the safety of the blood supply. And so I guess that's the first step for us. It's having that research and evidence.
And from there, there is quite a process to go through to actually get those changes happening, which is the same for all our blood donation rules. We have to go through a process with the Therapeutic Goods Administration and making a submission, doing any research that they need for us to make the change.
And we then had to go through a process with governments and changing a legal change to our donor questionnaire forms. And so it has taken us many years of work to get to this point.
And what kind of difference will this make, Gemma? What type of boost do you think you're predicting or expecting by having all of these new wonderful donors able to give this really important gift to so many?
Yeah, so our modelling shows that we will be looking at around 20,000 donations every year, which is amazing, really.
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Chapter 8: What misconceptions exist about blood donation and its importance?
That's 60,000 lives saved. I should say that we made changes to our plasma donation rules last year, which effectively removed sexual activity rules from plasma donation. And we've seen 10,000 donations from that change so far. And I guess it's a good reminder to people that people that can't donate in other countries, including those with new or multiple partners,
or people on PrEP, which is a medication that prevents HIV. All of those people will be able to donate plasma still in Australia, but we are expecting that these blood donation changes will really expand Australia's eligibility.
And Gemma, it's just not about blood donations you mentioned there, it's about plasma donations. How many lives are saved every year? You mentioned about, I think it was 20,000 and that could be 60,000 lives. Many of us don't know how life-saving these donations are until unfortunately we are in the position where we know that they can save and change lives.
That's right. And I think people still have that misconception that blood donation is all about accidents and trauma. And it is really important in those situations. And it can take 100 donations to help someone in that situation. But we have thousands of cancer patients and new mums.
Also, plasma is just this really magic part of blood that is helping more than 50 medical conditions in our hospitals now. So that need is growing and going up. And so having these extra people able to donate blood is really critical and you really don't know when it might be someone you know or love who needs that blood.
So take us through some of the diseases or situations these donations can help. And you mentioned before it can help people that have obviously been in accidents and lost a lot of blood, but also new mums. Can you explain some of the other people that blood donations and plasma donations can help?
Yeah, so I guess cancer patients are Australia's largest users of blood and all the parts of blood are needed to help them. So there's three bits in blood, so the platelets, the tiny band-aids which clot. They're really important in chemotherapy to stop bleeding, They're important for new mums who might be late or hemorrhaging in childbirth.
They're important for newborn babies if they're not born with enough platelets. They're used in accidents and emergencies. Red cells are really important for people undergoing surgeries. Our bodies need red cells to keep our bodies alive, carry everything around there. Lots of people who are having heart surgeries, for example, rely on those red cells. And then we have plasma.
And so it has lots of antibodies in it that are really magic. They protect us from diseases and infections. And as you can imagine, there's a lot of patients in hospital, but including cancer patients, but people with faulty immune systems or weak immune systems who really rely on those regular infusions of those antibodies to protect them against diseases and infection.
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