Discount health insurance proposal

One Big Switch offers consumers the chance to save on health insurance. Source: Supplied

A NEW campaign aims to win the first-ever discount health insurance open to all Australians.

The goal is to secure 10 per cent off a range of policies from a major provider using the collective buying might of at least 25,000 consumers. That would save a family covered for hospital, optical and dental treatment more than $400 a year.

Discounts of this size are currently available only to people who pay to be members of a union or motoring group, or staff at big workplaces. For everyone else, the best saving now available is about 4 per cent.

The campaign for a much bigger, permanent discount available to all reunites News Limited, the owner of this publication, and One Big Switch, which last year delivered the most successful consumer campaign in the country's history.

Leveraging what News Limited branded "People Power", the Big Electricity Switch led to an estimated $33 million in annual savings for about 80,000 households and businesses. It also created unprecedented levels of competition.

The Big Health Insurance Switch aims to trigger a similar price war.

The cost of private health cover has doubled since 2000 twice the pace of general price increases. From April, premiums will rise again, this time by an average of 5.6 per cent. A family with comprehensive cover will have to find a further $230 on top of the average $4100 a year they are already forking out. Singles face an increase of $115, bringing their annual bill to $2190.

One Big Switch campaign director Christopher Zinn formerly the public face of consumer group Choice said private health insurance was now the No.1 concern among its more than 300,000 members.

"We want to give the private health insurance market the shot in the arm it so desperately needs," Mr Zinn said.

He urged the 12.5 million Australians with some form of health cover and those who have been contemplating taking out insurance to join the campaign.

"Together we can get a better discount than you could get alone," he said.

Consumers Health Forum chief executive Carol Bennett said there was "high need" for relief, with recent changes by the Federal Government making insurance less affordable. She welcomed the Switch campaign as an alternative to downgrading or dropping cover.

"If you can find a better product and it's cheaper especially in this sort of campaign by all means we'd encourage people to do that," Ms Bennett said. "This campaign gives people a chance to get a cheaper price, but not exclude treatments."
 

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AFL bans needles in doping crackdown

Intravenous injections will be banned by the AFL, other than painkillers. Source: News Limited

THE AFL will ban the use of intravenous injections other than painkillers in a significant crackdown on doping.

Chief executive Andrew Demetriou has pledged the AFL will outlaw any questionable medical practices at clubs as the league vows to restore the trust some fans have lost in the game after a tumultuous off-season.

"Rogue" elements in and around clubs, whether they are players, staff or hangers-on, will be driven out.

Surveillance will be increased with a "substantial investment".

Club doctors will be required to be involved in all treatments of players, cutting out the risk of any unauthorised use of external people.

And the injection of all supplements will be banned.

Outlining the action, Mr Demetriou said: "There will be a ban on IV at clubs, not just on game day.

"We are implementing some very, very serious measures to restore the treatment of players under one person and that is the club doctor.

"There is an audit going on of all supplements. We have got our AFL medical officers sitting down with club doctors, reviewing practices, particularly the use of external people. There is going to be a restriction on the use of injections.

"Painkilling injections have a legitimate use, but we will limit the use of injections."

Mr Demetriou also told The Sunday Times:

* The AFL would seek to rid the game of "rogue elements" determined to bring the integrity of the code into question.

* Essendon would operate as a club throughout the entire 2013 season.

* There was no evidence of game-day tanking with Melbourne or any other club.

* He would continue in the role despite a suggestion from former Hawks president Jeff Kennett that the AFL Commission should consider replacing him.

The AFL introduced a rule a decade ago that banned clubs from using IV drips within 24 hours of a match, after the Brisbane Lions used IV drips at half-time of its games in 2001.

Mr Demetriou was adamant the AFL should restore power to AFL club doctors instead of sports science staff members.
 

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Gillard told 'keep out of WA'

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been told she is not welcome in WA by her Labor colleagues. Source: Supplied

LABOR strategists have issued a "keep out" of WA edict for Julia Gillard in the lead-up to the March 9 state election.

The Sunday Times can reveal the edict was issued to federal MPs in December urging the Prime Minister and others to "stay as far away as possible" from Perth.

And, Ms Gillard has agreed to the request, declining to set foot in WA on the orders of campaign chiefs since late 2012.

The WA Labor leader Mark McGowan, who opposes the carbon tax, famously went on holidays when Ms Gillard visited Perth avoiding the threat of being photographed with her.

Warning federal politics was "poison", the ALP said the only chance it had of winning was if Ms Gillard, who is battling renewed leadership speculation, stayed away.

"We rang everyone in December and said, 'Please, don't come'," a Labor strategist said. "We've made it very clear and to be fair everyone has been fabulous about not coming because there are still some grown-ups."

Defence Minister Stephen Smith had been "fantastic" in enforcing the ban, according to ALP sources. A former WA state secretary, Mr Smith had ensured his colleagues did not cross the border unless it was absolutely unavoidable.

Even Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten, who will fly into Perth on Tuesday for a Maritime Union of Australia conference, confirmed he would not be campaigning during his visit.

Mr Shorten's "fly-in, fly-out" visit has prompted much mirth among Labor MPs who suggested he must have received special air clearance to visit.

He is one of only three federal MPs, including Finance Minister Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese, who have visited during the campaign.

Strategists said all three had events they simply couldn't get out of in Mr Albanese's case a road launch and in Senator Wong's case a business breakfast, but all had agreed to stealth visits with little contact with the state campaign.

"Why? Federal politics is poison," a Labor source said. "Soft voters are turned off by federal politics. Every time you go doorknocking and you mention federal politics people just go, 'Arrrgggh!'.

"They start off bagging Julia, but they end up bagging Tony Abbott. It's just a spiral of anger."

Contacted by The Sunday Times the Prime Minister's office confirmed Ms Gillard would not be campaigning in Perth during the state election.

"The Prime Minister made regular visits to Perth in 2012 and expects to visit WA frequently in 2013 in the lead-up to the federal election," a spokeswoman said.

"It is expected that the WA campaign will be fought on state issues."

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Mining bosses face jail over safety

Mining bosses could be sent to jail for safety breaches. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

MINING bosses and managers face jail if a worker dies on their mine site or oil rig, under options being investigated by the WA Government.

It is also considering fines linked to how much profit companies make.  That means mining giants such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting face far greater penalties for any safety failures or environmental pollution.

And resource companies could be put on a demerit point system where they face "very serious sanctions like forfeiture or suspension of operations" if they run out of points.

The Department of Mines and Petroleum will investigate the measures as part of a review of the state's mining legislation and penalties.

It comes after a series of articles in The Sunday Times exposing the dark side of WA's mining boom, which found major safety breaches by companies, environmental pollution and groundwater contamination, and accusations the state's mines and environment watchdogs were not holding companies to account.

Last night, the families of workers killed on mine sites welcomed the review and said they hoped for new laws so company officials could be jailed for failing their workers and for bigger fines to act as more of a deterrent.

The discussion paper will look at whether company bosses, mine managers and supervisors should be charged with corporate manslaughter and held criminally responsible when a worker dies.

It will also examine whether directors should automatically be held liable for environmental disasters such as oil spills.

Department enforcement measures include warnings, fines, stop-work orders, licence amendments or prosecutions.

Company bosses or managers cannot be jailed for offences under the Mining Act, though they can be jailed for the most severe breaches of the Dangerous Goods Safety Act.

Department deputy director-general Michelle Andrews said WA's penalties would be compared with other jurisdictions in Australia and overseas, and different types of enforcement would be scrutinised.

It comes after figures revealed safety inspectors were handing out 140 "prohibition notices" forcing companies to shut down their mines or equipment when there is imminent danger to workers every year.

"The department and industry must continue to remain vigilant," Ms Andrews said. "That's why we are examining our penalties, despite the fact that 2012 saw the WA mining industry experience its first fatality-free year on record."

Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said the "vast majority" of resource projects met compliance conditions but he admitted there "may be lessons we can learn from other jurisdictions".

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore said the review would help to "make any necessary changes required to ensure WA has international best practice standards to help regulate industry compliance".

The report is due mid-year and will go for public and industry comment.

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If you can't win then get even

Mark McGowan and treasurer Ben Wyatt. Source: News Limited

I LOVE a good rumour almost as much as idle gossip and baseless, cruel insinuation.

I intend to build a career reporting it, so remember, you heard it first from The Ferret.

As Super Saturday nears (hey, this is the media, I have to give it some hackneyed tag) there is an uneasy realisation among some candidates that the thousands spent trying to get into the 39th Parliament may have been better placed on a random nag in the sixth at Northam.

This is causing some to turn on others, and I only encourage all you potential losers out there to leak to me. Remember, it's somebody else's fault that you're in this predicament. If you can't get elected, get even.

So let's start today's lesson with this grand statement: The next premier of this great state, discounting Emperor Colin, may not yet be in Parliament. Think about it; Christian Porter's off to Canberra, Troy Berlusconi is damaged goods and what's left of the Cabinet you couldn't raffle at the front bar of the Railway Hotel on a Friday arvo.

On that theory, the Emperor may well have (at least) six more years on the throne before they carry him out, or he steps down.

Here's my first bombshell: Crazy Brave Mark McGowan will do a fair job as leader, but Stephen Smith, Julia Gillard's Defence Minister, will either not contest the September 14 poll or lose Perth in the looming Coalition landslide and be begged by Labor heavies to be the party's next WA leader.

Plant that expanding butt of yours down right now, because here's bombshell No.2: Nats leader Brendon Grylls could be filling a plush green House of Reps seats in Canberra by year's end.

Grylls is up against popular mayor, Labor's Kelly Howlett, in the Pilbara on March 9, but what was once looking like a political masterstroke is now clearly high risk, according to my mole, who has seen recent polling. Forget Barnett's line about Grylls taking a cold shower before he contested Pilbara, Brendon may well get a bath.

But as the mole explained, if Grylls goes down, there's no better fit than the federal seat of Kalgoorlie now held by Barry McKenzie-lookalike, Liberal Barry Haas. On the state level, another Nat, Wendy Duncan, may well win the Goldfields seat on the back of the popular Royalties for Regions.

An intriguing subplot to all this is that Labor is not fighting the Liberals - that battle is lost - but is out to cripple the Nationals, and their preference in six pivotal seats confirms this. This tactic may well result in Labor gifting the Libs the Kimberley in a move that would send Broome's feral army racing off to the nearest tattooist to get their cheek tears re-etched.

The ex-Labor rat Vince Catania, who has morphed into a Nat in North-West Central, is no doubt sweating bricks.

I also hear there's much jostling over Chris Evans' vacated Senate seat, with the name Alannah MacTiernan being thrown around (again). But The Ferret would have thought you'd need a Haulpak of ammonium nitrate to dislodge the feisty old bird from her Maylands bar stool.

On another related issue, if Barnett believes Tasmanians should hire him for a year to get their economy back on track, as he joked midweek, perhaps Perth news outlets should hire The Ferret to train some of their aspiring Ed Murrows on how to get the most out of their subjects.

To be fair, it's the format that's to blame. It puts the onus and all the pressure on the questioners, rather that the questionees.

They can just sit back and watch the journos sweat blood. And where in the hell was the worm?

The result was a leaders' debate that oscillated between hilariously clumsy and eye-wateringly boring.

But hey, what would I know? I'm only a ferret.

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Volunteer firefighter killed in blaze

A VOLUNTEER fire fighter has been killed after a bushfire in Quindanning, 160km south-east of Perth.

A spokesman for the Shire of Williams confirmed the man, who lived in Quindanning, died today while mopping up from the blaze adjacent to Fletcher Road, Quindanning.

Police believe the man in his 60s was killed when a tree branch fell on him.

He was taken Narrogin Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The ABC reported Terry Hunter from the Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades said the man was helping the Quindanning fire brigade when the accident happened.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said the cause of the fire would be looked into, but it had not posed a threat to the local community, so no alerts had been issued.

Worksafe has been advised.

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Olympic legend berates swimmers

Michael Delany, second from left, and the rest of the 'Mean Machine' during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (Neil Brooks, Greg Fasala, Mark Stockwell). Picture: News Ltd Archive Source: news.com.au

• Mean Machine relay star speaks out
• His verdict on the London swimmers? "Pathetic"
• In his day, it wouldn't have got like this

That's the verdict from an Olympic relay legend on today's statement from the shamed London 4x100 relay team - who today admitted to a wild, Stilnox-fuelled bonding night in the lead-up to last year's Games.

Michael Delany, who at 18 won silver as part of Australia's legendary "Mean Machine" 4x100 relay team at the 1984 Games, could not be more scathing of the team when he spoke to news.com.au this afternoon.

"They couldn't speak for themselves," Delany told news.com.au. "I thought it was pathetic that there was just the one statement."

Delany's verdict of Swimming Australia Barclay Nettlefold's announcement he would punish the swim stars with a "letter, sanction or fine" was the same: "Pathetic".

Swimmers Eamon Sullivan, Matthew Targett, James Magnussen, James Roberts, Cameron McEvoy and Tomasso D'Orsogna fronted the media with a joint statement read by Australian Swimming Association CEO and former Olympic swimmer Daniel Kowalski, and then answered media questions.

Mr Delany said the antics in London, where swimmers used Stilnox on a wild bonding night in the lead up to the Games, probably would not have happened in 1984.

"There were strict rules. Laurie Lawrence was my coach at the time and he just wouldn't put up with this stuff, or crap as he'd put it."

"When Neil Brooks, who was in the Mean Machine with me, was having an issue with one of the officials, he was sent home."

Olympic swimmer Jade Neilsen has accused three men's relay team members of inappropriate behavior.

That should have happened in this case, Delany said, adding that age was no excuse for the team's immaturity.

"Everyone who's saying they're only young, messing around ... The previous people that went before them were all 17, 18, 19. I just don't cop that."

He said the current circus was particularly insulting as the swimmers have more taxpayer support when they did in 1984, when swimming was still considered an amateur sport.

Delany said Australians should not act too much like wowsers - it was fine for athletes to party hard after the Olympics, just not in the lead-up to competition.

"Once you finish competing, provided it doesn't affect anyone else, of course you go out and let off some steam."

"You know what it's like having your head in a chlorinated pool for the best years [of your life]."

The team's claims that Stilnox was not a drug that affected athletic performance were unbelievable, Delany said.

"I just can't believe that," he said. "In my day you trained so hard you couldn't get to bed quick enough."

Prime Minister Bob Hawke with the "Mean Machine". Michael Delany on the far left. Picture: News Ltd Archive

Delany said the only sponsorship he got in the team was a pair of green and gold Speedos.

"I was very thankful for that," he said. "I was just so honoured and thrilled to be an Australian Olympian."

The London Olympic 4x100 relay team, which included swim star James Magnussen, fronted the press this afternoon.

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Nurses' strike snowballs out of control

TOXIC: WA Nurses Union boss Mark Olson claims he was sworn at during a toxic meeting with Kim Snowball. Source: PerthNow

DENIAL: Health Department boss Kim Snowball denies he swore at Nurses Union leader Mark Olson. Source: PerthNow

HEALTH bosses in Western Australia are treating a threatened nurses' strike as a looming disaster and say patients are already in peril from bed closures.

Nurses in our major hospitals have voted to go on strike for 24 hours unless they receive by Monday a fresh offer of a 20 per cent pay hike over three years.

The Australian Nurses Federation state secretary Mark Olson said relations with the Department of Health had turned "toxic'' before nurses voted today to scrap their previous pay offer of 12.75 per cent and return to their original demand of 20 per cent over three years.

Almost 300 beds in hospitals around the state will stay closed over the weekend.

Director-General of Health Kim Snowball said patients' lives were already being put at risk and the health system as looking at a crisis.

"This is a crisis we have not faced before, and I have activated our disaster preparedness management unit to help us through this disaster - because that is what it is,'' Mr Snowball said.

Gary Geelhoed, WA's chief medical officer, said the situation was already a matter of life and death, saying an 80-year-old male patient had waited 80 hours for a hospital bed this week.

"This may lead to the death of patients,'' Mr Geelhoed said.

Mr Olson told the 1200 nurses at today's meeting that relations between the union and WA Health were so bad that Mr Snowball had told him to 'f**k off' as Mr Olson left to address his members.

Mr Snowball has denied the claim, and Mr Olson later told media the remark was made by a "department of health official''.

The nurses' threat to walk off the job in the middle of an election campaign has stepped up pressure on Premier Colin Barnett to intervene.

"Billions of dollars are going around in this election like confetti, and he expects the public to believe he can't make a promise to nurses,'' Mr Olsen said.

"The Premier needs to get someone here from his department into these negotiations.''

The face-to-face meeting between Mr Snowball and Mr Olson today followed a week of talks at the Industrial Relations Commission.

Mr Olson told the nurses he had been abused as he left by "bovver boys in the health department''.

A spokeswoman for Mr Snowball said the health boss would not describe the encounter as heated and denied he had sworn.

Mr Barnett has said no agreement with the nurses could be signed during the caretaker period before the March 9 election, but health bureaucrats could agree to a deal in principle and recommend it to the government.

"We would be very pleased and we would sign up if an agreement is negotiated during this period,'' Mr Barnett said.

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Perth gamer caught in Xbox crime raid

A PERTH man's house has been raided by police after he allegedly tried to sell a prototype of Microsoft's new Xbox gaming console on the internet.

According to website www.thetechgame.com, the man, who goes by the names "superDaE'', tried auctioning off a Durango development kit on Ebay.

The new Xbox is expected to be launched in time for Christmas this year.

"Technology Crime Investigation unit is currently conducting a multi-jurisdictional investigation into computer-related offences,'' a WA Police spokesman said.

"A search warrant was conducted Tuesday the 19th of February 2013 in relation to this investigation where items were seized.''

The spokesman could not confirm whether the FBI was involved.

But superDaE tweeted "police raided me'' and mentioned having "an FBI agent and 7-8 police in your house''.

"I don't even have bank cards to buy or pay for a lawyer or a phone,'' he tweeted.

He also published the search warrant online.

"I find it hilarious how the warrant only really mentions "Microsoft'', "eBay'', "Paypal'','' he wrote.
 

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Armed robbery at CBD Bankwest

The scene at the Bankwest branch at Raine Square after a robbery this afternoon. PICTURE: Richard Polden Source: PerthNow

The scene at the Bankwest branch at Raine Square after a robbery this afternoon. PICTURE: Richard Polden Source: PerthNow

A BANKWEST branch in the city has been closed and staff and customers evacuated after an armed hold up this afternoon.

Police are investigating the CBD robbery after they confirmed a man threatened staff with a knife.

Officers were called to the scene just before 2pm and cleared customers and staff from the scene.

A Bankwest spokesperson confirmed there had been a "robbery" at the branch but no customers or staff were harmed.

They would not say how much money was stolen.

The offender was described as fair skinned, with a medium build and aged in his late 20s or early 30s.

He was wearing a black T-shirt with white writing on the front, a baseball cap and dark-coloured trousers.

The store is Bankwest's flagship branch and is located in the new Raine Square development.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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