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Ubookdirect offers all NSWNMA members discounted rates on 1000's of hotels Australia wide. Fill in a quote request today to save on your next getaway.

UBOOKDIRECT is giving members a $20 voucher to use on any already discounted member package when booking through the Concierge. To book one of these fantastic destinations log on to https://travelbenefits.ubookdirect.com and click on the ENQUIRY tab or call 1300 959 550.

50% OFF!

Return to Paradise Resort Samoa

Visit beautiful Samoa for an incredible $799 for 5 nights. Rate covers 2 adults in a Garden View Room with the following inclusions:

• Daily breakfast

• UPGRADE to a Beachfront View Room for just $200

Experience Samoa's tropical paradise at Return to Paradise Resort. With its beachfront location it is the perfect setting for a romantic escape or a fun-filled family vacation. Relax and enjoy your own private verandah or explore all the island has to offer.

40% OFF!

30% OFF!

Rahaa Resort Maldives

Relax in luxury in your private Ocean View Villa with full board – $1699 pp for 2 adults (minimum 5-night stay) with the following inclusions:

• Full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for two guests

• Domestic flights and speedboat transfers for two-guests

Enjoy a private and peaceful stay with views of the Indian Ocean. Rahaa Resort offers a relaxing spa, a choice of restaurants and several excursions including dolphin watching, fishing trips, snorkelling and sunset sailing.

Limited offer! Send an enquiry for your requested dates today! Use your $20 voucher to save even more on these offers.

Park Regis City Quays Cairns

Stay in the heart of Cairns in a dual key 2-bedroom apartment (minimum 3-night stay) for just $299 per night.

• Free cancellation 7 days prior to check-in

• Free WiFi

• Fully equipped kitchen & laundry, balcony with outdoor setting

• Reef and tour information

• Executive hotel rooms also available for just $70 per night pp (min 3 nights for 2 adults) Featuring a beautiful rooftop swimming pool to relax and recharge. A short stroll away from the Esplanade, harbour foreshore, restaurants, shops, night markets, Reef Casino and Marlin Marina.

ALL OFFERS: For full t&c’s go to https://travelbenefits.ubookdirect.com . Subject to availability and block-out dates. Samoa: valid for travel until 31 March 2024. Rate based on 2 adults for a min 5-night stay (2 x children can be added with extra person cost added at time of booking). Maldives: valid for travel until 15 July 2025. Rate based on 2 adults for a min 5-night stay (villa sleeps up to three guests with additional gusts added at time of booking). Cairns: valid for travel until 31 March 2024 and based on a min 3-night stay.

COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency: WHO

The emergency is over but the world must remain vigilant, says global body.

The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced in May that the UN health agency was downgrading COVID’s alert status that had been in place since 30 January 2020, The Guardian reported.

But he warned that COVID remained a persistent threat with the disease still killing someone every three minutes.

Tedros said the decision to downgrade the alert status did not mean the danger was over, cautioning that the emergency status could be reinstated if the situation changed. He pointed out that long COVID impacted one in 10 people who had contracted the virus and hundreds of millions of people could still need long-term care.

“The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that COVID -19 is nothing to worry about,” he said.

COVID has officially claimed more than 6.9 million lives, and affected the health of more than 765 million others, according to WHO. It said the true figures were likely to be much higher and an ongoing commitment to public health was essential.

“It is critical for governments to invest long-term in their health system and workers,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

1 In 6 Globally Affected By Infertility

The prevalence is ‘staggering’ says the World Health Organization.

Around 17.5 per cent of the adult population – roughly 1 in 6 worldwide – experience infertility, showing the urgent need to increase access to affordable, high-quality fertility care for those in need, says WHO.

In a call to action, the WHO recommended that countries offer universal health coverage of fertility treatments, pointing to many European countries, as well as Morocco (which has made fertility treatment available in the public sector), and Indonesia (which includes it in primary care services) as leading the way.

The report analysed 133 studies from 1990 to 2021, defining infertility as a disease where a person fails to conceive a pregnancy after one year or more of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse.

There are major disparities between high-income and low-income countries when it comes to accessing treatment such as in-vitro fertilisation.

“The costs of fertility care are an immense challenge for many people,” said Pascale Allotey, director of sexual and reproductive health and research at the WHO.

Around the world, most people pay out-of-pocket for fertility treatment. In the United States, a single round of IVF typically costs US$15,000 to US$20,000.

Patients in low-income countries without public financing options often pay significantly more than their entire annual income for one round of assisted reproductive technology. Such high costs create “a medical poverty trap for those affected,” Allotey said.

Australia

‘Privatisation is politically dead’

Voters in NSW followed the trend in other states and rejected the further sell-off of public assets

The NSW Labor victory in the recent state election – when it ruled out any further privatisation of state-owned assets – is the latest in a trend of state Labor parties winning big on anti-privatisation platforms, says the Centre for Future Work (CFW).

“At last November’s Victorian election, Victorian Labor pledged to recreate the State Electricity Commission (SEC). This promise was widely cited as the ‘cutthrough’ issue that led to that party’s dominant victory,” said Charlie Joyce, a researcher at the CFW.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews called for electricity to be run for people and not for profit.

“Privatisation has failed. It’s failed pensioners, it’s failed families,” he said.

Earlier last year, South Australian Labor also returned to government, after only one term in opposition, pledging to return the recently privatised state railway network to public ownership.

In Queensland, Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government has affirmed its opposition to privatisation and supported public ownership.

“Public ownership is popular – and it’s no mystery as to why. Publicly owned enterprises provide consistently cheaper and more reliable services because they are run for public good, not private profit. On the other hand, the owners of privatised services have strong incentives to cut corners and raise prices in pursuit of higher profit margins. This consistently leads to privatised services being more expensive and less reliable,” said Charlie Joyce.

The silver lining in COVID: solidarity

World Happiness Report finds higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic. Interviews with more than 100,000 people across 137 countries found significantly higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic, The Guardian reported.

Things were slightly worse in Western countries and slightly better in the rest of the world, but overall “the undoubted pains were offset by increases in the extent to which respondents had been able to discover and share the capacity to care for each other in difficult times,” the 10th World Happiness Report found.

“It’s amazing,” said John Helliwell, a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia and a co-editor of the report.

“People ended up discovering their neighbours. People were checking in more regularly [with other generations], so that sense of isolation was not as much as you would expect.”

Acts of everyday kindness that have been shown to boost happiness, such as helping a stranger, donating to charity and volunteering –activities spurred by the needs of lockdowns – are now above prepandemic levels.

The study found the happiness effect of “having someone to count on in times of trouble” increased during the pandemic and since 80 per cent of people surveyed said they did have someone to count on, that had a significant effect.

English nurses stand firm on pay

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) mark May Day with another 24-hour stoppage – their third strike this year While some employees within the National Health Service accepted a 5 per cent pay offer from the government, nurses belonging to the RCN and junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) have vowed to continue their campaign for fairer pay rises.

RCN members had never gone on strike in their 106-year history until last year. The 280,000 members are now poised to vote on whether to escalate the strikes.

If RCN members vote in favour of further strike action, the union will have a mandate by law to conduct strikes for a further six months across the full NHS.

Another NHS union – Unite – also rejected the government’s pay offer.

“It is quite frankly a joke that NHS workers are being forced to fight for a decent pay rise after years of pay freezes and all their sacrifices during the pandemic,” said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

Unite said “the government is choosing to let the NHS collapse”. RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said it was regrettable that strike action had to be taken but that the government needed to improve its pay offer.

“Nursing staff are looking for a fair settlement that shows the government values and understands their profession. We appear a long way from that currently,” she said.

Germany

German nurses strike for better pay

Germany has been rocked by its biggest strikes in 30 years as the cost of living explodes.

German nurses and other health workers carried out “warning strikes” at the end of March as part of a pay campaign supported throughout the public sector.

Hospitals, psychiatric clinics, aged care facilities and emergency services were affected nationwide.

The strike came after health workers rejected an employer offer of a 3 per cent pay rise this year and a 2 per cent increase next year with a 2500-euro bonus spread over the two years.

Inflation in Germany is currently running at nearly 9 per cent. Ver.di, the public sector union that covers health workers is calling for a 10.5 per cent pay rise.

The German government has been making significant cuts to health spending during an economic crisis while at the same time pledging to increase military spending by more than 100 billion euros.

The health workers’ strike coincided with industrial action by 2.5 million workers in the service sector and by 230,000 railway workers.

It was the largest strike in Germany since 1992.

“Employees are fed up with being taken for a ride in collective bargaining,” Ver.di President Frank Werneke told Le Monde .

Since the start of the year the union has added 70,000 new members. “This is the strongest growth we have seen in more than 20 years,” said Werneke.

AUSTRALIA ACTU calls out RBA on interest rate rises

The ACTU has called on the Reserve Bank of Australia to stop hurting workers with interest rate rises.

The latest rise of 0.25 per cent means there have been 11 increases since May 2022, with a brief pause providing next to no relief.

Working people are bearing the brunt of fixing inflation but the real driver is corporate profits fuelled by excessive price rises, says the ACTU.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus says there is no wage-price spiral and it’s time to cease interest rate rises and for corporate Australia to moderate their profits.

“Working people are under immense pressure and this will make it worse. Ordinary Australians are struggling to pay the bills every time they go to the supermarket. Mortgages and rents have gone up an extraordinary amount as well.

“We can see inflation around the world coming down and that’s because it’s being driven by supply chain issues and by companies such as Qantas price gouging. The Reserve Bank should be calling that out, and putting pressure on companies to stop price gouging.

“The Reserve Bank is a very long way from the lives of ordinary Australians, who need wage increases just to keep their heads above water. Increases to the minimum wage and award wages this year are now more urgent than ever.”