☕️ Former childcare worker gets life sentence

TDA is interviewing the Housing Minister Clare O’Neil this week. As always, we’d love to hear any question suggestions you have! Just let us know by hitting reply to this email.

“He is a clever and cautious man, I should hope.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

$19.25 million
The amount hospitality group Merivale will pay staff who allege they were underpaid over the course of six years, settling a class action. The group did not have to admit fault in the settlement.

1993
Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, once known as “the world’s best-known criminal”, was shot dead by police.

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A former childcare worker who abused nearly 70 children in Australia and Italy has been sentenced to life in prison.

In September, Gold Coast man Ashley Paul Griffith pleaded guilty to 307 child abuse offences in a Queensland court.

The charges relate to 65 children he abused in Queensland and four in Italy.

The charges relate to a period between 2003 and 2022.

They include 15 counts of ‘repeated sexual contact with a child’, 28 counts of rape, and 190 counts of ‘indecent treatment of a child under 16.

The investigation began in 2014, when Queensland Police found 46 images and 10 videos he had filmed and uploaded to the dark web.

At first, the police were not able to identify the offender, victims, or location of the videos.

However, in August 2023, police confirmed the location and identity of the man and arrested him.

He has now been sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 27 years.

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Reporting by Billi FitzSimons.

The NDIS has announced it will change how much it pays for art and music therapy.

The NDIS said these services “do not meet the evidentiary standards” required to qualify as therapy.

The decision is part of broader changes to the NDIS, set to come into effect in February next year.

Advocates have criticised the move, calling it a “significant step backward”.

The NDIS is a Government service that provides support for more than 680,000 Australians with disability.

If a person meets an eligibility checklist, they can claim support for assistive technology and objects, or assistance delivered by an NDIS-approved provider. These supports are available under a time-limited plan.

Participants are allocated a personal budget to help cover everyday items, transport, help with daily activities and broader social interactions. Budgets are calculated by “what is reasonable and necessary” for participants.

Earlier this year, the Government passed a law to update the list of support services available to NDIS participants.

It did so because of concerns about the ongoing cost of the NDIS.

Internet, gym memberships, marriage counselling, wellness coaching and sex services were among the list of things removed from NDIS coverage.

There is a “transition period” to “ensure participants aren’t penalised for simple mistakes” until October 2025.

On Tuesday, the NDIS released a statement saying that following the Government’s law, it would change how it funds music and art therapy.

Currently, the rate the NDIS pays for a one-on-one session of music or art therapy is $193.99.

Under the changes, the rate will change to $67.56 for one-on-one sessions.

This means the amount that music and art therapy providers can charge the NDIS for sessions will more than halve.

In its announcement, the NDIS said that its support coverage focuses on “evidence-based therapy” aimed at improving or maintaining participants’ functional capacity.

It said that art and music therapy do not meet the standards required to be classified as such under its guidelines.

The Australian Music Therapy Association said it had been informed music therapy was being removed from the NDIS category for “Capacity Building” supports.

“No one in the music therapy community was consulted about this decision,” it said.

Speaking to ABC radio, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said that while he “absolutely” believes in music and art therapy, the NDIS is seeking ”outcomes for the money that [it’s] investing”.

Shorten said that anyone who can currently access music and art therapy under their plan at the $193.99 rate can do so until it ends.

“After that, we just need to see it demonstrated that it’s actually helping you... What we’re not doing is just signing a blank cheque... because you do a music class,” Shorten said.

The Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA) is the peak professional body for creative arts therapies in Australasia.

ANZACATA CEO Dr Kate Dempsey said the “sudden exclusions” have “left the profession reeling”.

“We were not consulted and the reason given for our sudden exclusion (that art and music therapy are not evidence-based therapies) is incorrect,” Dr Dempsey said.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

TDA Volunteer Profile: Meet Michael Ponticello, a volunteer at Make-A-Wish.

I volunteer at Make-A-Wish Sydney South Branch, helping grant wishes for children facing critical illnesses. As a former wish kid myself, I know how impactful these moments are.

Discover how you can get involved with volunteering here.

Esther Sanderlin-Keim has been delivering frozen turkeys to rural Alaska for the past several Thanksgivings. Some residents in remote parts of the state live in homes that are only accessible by snowmobile, plane, or boat during the winter, meaning trips to the supermarket are difficult and limited.

For those who haven’t been able to leave their homes, Sanderlin-Keim runs what she calls the Alaska Turkey Bomb, dropping turkeys and hams from her plane to rural properties. Each year, Sanderlin-Keim delivers around 30 to 40 frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving.

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Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

A new study has found people feel sorry for single bananas. That is, if the solo fruit are marketed as being single and lonely.

In a study published in the academic journal Psychology & Marketing, researchers tested different kinds of signage around a display of lone bananas.

They found signs that made the fruit seem sad to be by itself encouraged buyers to put them in their cart.

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

In the last hours of Parliament for 2024, Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media. The ban is set to come into effect within the next year and will include Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, and Reddit.

In today’s deep dive, we explore how the ban will work, and why the Government has pushed ahead with this world-first measure.