Source: The Melbourne Age [Letters to the editor]

"...The launch of the Senate Aged Care Inquiry's Report garnered little comment in the media as this letter, published in the Melbourne Age and from Multiple Sclerosis Society of Victoria Chief Executive, Lindsay McMillan, indicates..."

June 29, 2005
Defining but silent moments

Last week the Senate aged care inquiry released its unanimous report. It called for detailed action on the plight of young people with disabilities in nursing homes, as well as improving training in aged-care homes. For the families and organisations that have been involved in this issue over decades, these recommendations - combined with the historic Council of Australian Governments agreement to get young people out of aged care and into dignified accommodation - were defining moments.

The fact that the Senate committee's recommendations went largely unreported in the media was a great disappointment. Nor have we seen any analysis of the important issues involved.

Disability affects 20 per cent of Australians directly (and many more indirectly). However, rarely will you find disability, ageing or carer issues included in sustained media analysis or in central ministerial portfolios in government or oppositions. Sadly, there are relatively few votes in disability. Part of the reason for this may be its lack of profile.
Lindsay McMillan, chief executive, MS Society of Australia, Blackburn

Mr McMillan's letter brought the following response about the lack of media attention to the YPINH issue and the Senate Report ...

July 1, 2005
Dispatch Warne sex to news boundary

As I read Wednesday's Age, two items gave me pause to think. The first item, on the front page, was about the continuing Shane Warne saga. It included quotes from an unnamed "close friend" of Warne's alleged former mistress - "He had the hots for her, big time" and he "wanted sex outside, inside, wherever he could", including, it seems, on the bonnet of his BMW.

The second item was a letter from the MS Society of Australia, informing us of a Senate inquiry into the plight of young people with disabilities living in aged nursing homes. The letter continued: "The fact that the Senate committee's recommendations went largely unreported in the media was a great disappointment."

It made me think about the space and analysis given to a sportsman's sexual antics. This has nothing to do with elitism or wowserism. Keep us up to date with gossip, if you must, but please, not at the expense of news that affects people's lives.
Annette Magro, Eltham