The highs and lows of news in 2019 -Part 2
BARTY: "The stars have aligned for me. I mean, obviously we have dreams and goals as children, but this is incredible," newly-crowned French Open champion Ash Barty tells the world. And Australia tightens its embrace of the 23-year-old who won the junior Wimbledon title in 2011 but quit tennis, disillusioned, in 2014. After a stint with Brisbane in the women's cricket Big Bash League, she returned to the court in 2016. In June this year, she cherishes her French Open triumph after becoming the first Australian woman to win in Paris since the legendary Margaret Court in 1973. It's a season of sustained excellence and she ends the year world No.1, a six-time tour winner and with more than $16 million in prize money. For a sporting public searching for heroes, the humble young woman from Ipswich, Queensland, fits the bill perfectly. On the flip-side, Nick Kyrgios ends the year ranked 30th in the world, his two tournament wins again overshadowed by his antics. He's fined a record $A167,000 for offences including spitting in the direction of an umpire and cops a suspended 16-week ban for other misdemeanours.
TERROR: When Australian Brenton Tarrant walks into two New Zealand mosques and allegedly murders 51 people in cold blood, it sends a shudder around the world. There's profound disbelief not only about what's happening but also where - in a peace-loving nation known for its tolerance and social compassion. Compounding the horror is the revelation that the rampage is being streamed live on Facebook. In a rambling manifesto published before the March 15 attacks in Christchurch, the former personal trainer from NSW shares his white supremacist views and his desire to make Muslims fearful. There's no question the killing spree generates a wave of terror. But it also sparks momentous reforms. New Zealand bans most semi-automatic firearms. A buyback and amnesty takes 37,000 guns out of the community. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern brokers an agreement with other nations and almost 50 tech companies including Facebook to stop extreme material from going viral. Facebook also bans praise, support and representation of white nationalism and white separatism on its platforms. Tarrant stuns grieving families and wounded survivors by pleading not guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder, and one of terrorism. He faces trial in June 2020.
VOLCANO: The plumes of ash rising from New Zealand's White Island on the day the volcano erupts are, surprisingly, silent. The ramifications are deafening. The lives of 47 tourists, half of them Australian, are ended or forever changed by the December 9 blast. Eight are trapped and killed. Others die on their way to or in Whakatane Hospital. More die after being transported to burns units across New Zealand and Australia as the two countries grapple with the medical emergency. Most of those still in hospital remain in critical condition with burns so severe New Zealand makes an urgent application for 1.2 million square centimetres of skin from the United States. Amid the carnage, there is heroism. Helicopter pilots fly into the chaos to help airlift many stricken on the island. First responder medical teams push their limits to deliver care as back-up arrives from nearby towns and cities. And later, defence force operatives complete a daring retrieval mission, coming within a few hundred metres of the crater, to return six bodies to mainland New Zealand. Eight days after the blast, 16 Australians are confirmed dead and another 12 are in Australian hospitals. While the immediate focus is on the victims' treatment and recovery, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pledges a full inquiry into the tragedy in 2020. "There will be bigger questions in relation to this event. These questions must be asked and they must be answered," she says.
AGED CARE: A shocking tale of neglect - that's a royal commission's damning assessment of Australia's "cruel and harmful" aged care system. There's horrifying evidence of widespread substandard care, including outright abuse and maggots feeding in open sores. Chair Richard Tracey QC spends his final weeks completing the commission's interim report while being treated for terminal cancer in the US, where he dies on October 11. In their report released 20 days later, Mr Tracey and commissioner Lynelle Briggs make it clear the woefully inadequate system needs a complete overhaul. They criticise successive federal governments' failures to fix the system. The commissioners describe the waiting list for aged care services as a cruel lottery where some older people die before they ever find out if they have "won". They demand urgent action to stop the overuse of drugs to sedate residents and get 6000 younger people with disabilities out of aged care, plus a significant funding boost for in-home care. The federal government responds with $537 million in funding, mostly for another 10,000 home packages, flagging further reforms will follow. Ms Briggs and new chair Tony Pagone QC have an extra six months to complete their work, with their final report due in November 2020.
FOLAU: Hell awaits homosexuals, fornicators and liars. Repent. That's, in part, what devout Christian and Wallabies star Israel Folau posts on Instagram in April. Folau, who's played elite-level rugby league, Australian Rules football and rugby union, triggers national outrage and a free speech debate. Rugby Australia terminates his contract. Folau goes to the fair work commission, then the Federal Circuit Court - and he wants $14 million in compensation. A confidential settlement is reached with Rugby Australia in December. It comes a month after Folau causes another furore by suggesting widespread bushfires and drought are "God's judgment" on Australia for legalising same-sex marriage and abortion - comments which even Prime Minister Scott Morrison, an evangelical Christian, labels "appallingly insensitive".
