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1. Further distressing details of newborn baby’s death at hands of teen Dad.
Warning: This item contains details of child abuse and death and may be distressing for some readers.
The teenage father of a newborn baby had been left with his son for just minutes at Bunbury Hospital when he smashed his 27-day old baby’s head against a wall twice.
The father who was 15 at the time has admitted to manslaughter.
The teenager told police he had ‘bumped’ the baby on a door frame.
PerthNow reports that the surgeon who examined the baby said he had suffered the worst head and brain injuries she had ever seen.
The baby boy died in his mother’s arms days later.
The teenager, now aged 16 will be sentenced next month. It is reported he was sobbing in the dock as he faced court on Monday.
2. Disability support payment overhaul.
The final recommendations of the sweeping review of Australia’s welfare system conducted by Patrick McClure is to be released today.
It will recommend that the current system of government payments be simplified into five types of assistance.
The overhaul calls for a working age payment, a supported living pension for people with a severe and permanent disability, age pension, child and youth payment and carer payment.
The reports suggest that income support should not be available to young people in their own right until they are 22 but go to their parents instead.
Top Comments
I really hope that if young people are not allowed to get payments themselves until the age of 22 that there is some kind of clause or function allowing them to appeal that if they can show their parents are either incompetent or the relationship has broken down. Otherwise it's making life even harder for people who already have odds stacked against them. Not every parent is more reponsible than their child unfortunately. If the child is over 18 years old, the law treats them as an adult - why won't the welfare system treat them like an adult too?