May 2014
The multi-billion dollar cost of unresolved childhood trauma in Australia
by launch-admin May 30, 2014 0 Uncategorized 19MEDIA RELEASE ASCA calls for widespread adoption of guidelines and training for GPs and allied health professionals in complex trauma Australia, Monday 26 May 2014: Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) today called for mandatory national guidelines and training for health professionals to assist them in responding to the long-term impacts of childhood trauma. A significant public health issue, the lifetime burden of unresolved childhood trauma, is estimated to cost Australia as much as $40 billion as a result of each year of abuse[i]. President of ASCA, Dr Cathy Kezelman, said: “Unresolved trauma is one of our greatest public health concerns. Failures to identify, acknowledge and respond appropriately to trauma costs the Australian public health system billions of dollars, funds we can ill afford in the current economic climate. “It is the root cause of many significant mental and physical health challenges as well as substance abuse, yet we have no significant investment to help with trauma. ASCA have worked for a number of years to develop best practice guidelines in this area which have already made a substantial difference to public health outcomes. By understanding and identifying this early, and responding appropriately, we can avoid the huge costs to society and make people’s lives healthier and happier.” Announced today, the internationally acclaimed Guidelines developed by ASCA, The Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Complex Trauma & Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery, have been officially recognised as an “Accepted Clinical Resource” by The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). Putting the evidence presented in the Guidelines into practice has the capacity to revolutionise the way in which primary care practitioners respond to patients presenting with trauma related issues – including those who have experienced childhood mental, physical and sexual abuse; neglect and domestic violence. Dr Kezelman added: “The ASCA Guidelines are addressing the wider problem; they establish the evidence around the issue and possibilities for recovery. We are encouraged by the successful uptake of the Guidelines by large numbers of diverse health practitioners – it’s a significant step towards turning this issue around. The vital next stage is for the Federal Government to embed the ASCA Guidelines as standards for practice and invest in broad-based education and training of primary and allied health practitioners.” Key research findings show: * Overseas studies show that when health practitioners identify and acknowledge the prior trauma of patients experiencing childhood trauma, there is 35% reduction in visits to doctor’s surgeries and an 11% reduction in visits to emergency departments[ii]. * Recent Australian research found that adults with a history of childhood abuse suffer from significantly more health conditions, incur higher annual health care costs and are more likely to harm themselves. The results suggest that child abuse has long-lasting economic and welfare costs. The costs are greatest for those who experienced both physical and sexual abuse[iii]. * Australian studies show that child abuse survivors are almost two and a half times as likely to have poor mental health outcomes, four times more likely to be unhappy even in much later life and more likely to have poor physical health.[iv] * Global research shows that 76% of adults reporting child physical abuse and neglect experience at least one psychiatric disorder in their lifetime and nearly 50% have three or more psychiatric disorders.[v] * Global data found that 90% of public mental health clients have been exposed to multiple physical or sexual abuse traumas. Without intervention, adverse childhood events (ACES) result in long-term disease, disability, chronic social problems and early death[vi]. Dr Kezelman commented: “With the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse we have borne witness as a nation to the terrible legacy of childhood trauma. Their impacts reverberate not just through the individual survivor’s life but also through their children, those around them and society as a whole. “Essentially the Guidelines offer the grounding for the education and training needed for all health professionals, and now includes specifically those in the primary health care sector. Improved practices, as identified in the Guidelines, will help reduce the burden of the disease related to unresolved trauma and improve the lives of victims as well as those of their children.” Since their launch at Parliament House in October 2012, the Guidelines, and education and training based on them, has been improving outcomes for the five million Australians with unaddressed trauma issues[vii], particularly child abuse. To date over 7,000 health practitioners and agencies have downloaded or purchased the Guidelines. Australian General Practitioner Dr Johanna Lynch said: “The prevalence of adults who have survived childhood trauma and neglect – or complex trauma – in our community, and its effects on physical, psychological and relational wellbeing is currently not acknowledged in general practice training. As research into this area becomes more robust, and real treatment options become validated, GPs need to become skilled in identifying, managing and providing trauma informed care. “ASCA has led the way in defining best practice through developing the internationally acclaimed ASCA’s Practice Guidelines for Treatment of Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery. Caring for this group of people in our society needs greater awareness of the particular issues – issues that make them less likely to self-present, and to seek medical care, and the delicate task of engaging them in treatment that has the potential to be life giving to both them and their families. I fully endorse the work that ASCA is doing to provide my profession with new information and skills to better serve our community.” Dr Lynch is from the Fellow of Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Fellow of Australian Psychological Medicine Society, member of the Cannan Institute and ASCA Advisory board member. ASCA delivers training and workshops for health practitioners, including doctors, psychologists and counsellors, supporting people with trauma-related issues. For more information and to access fact sheets and other online resources go to www.asca.org.au
Onthehouse Group Consolidates brands and bundles product offerings for real estate agents
by launch-admin May 30, 2014 0 Uncategorized 19Media Release 5 May 2014 – The Onthehouse Group today announced a consolidation of its range of real estate software products under its Console brand, and unveiled a host of complementary upgrades and product bundles for property agents. The move will bring together Console’s existing product suite, and group GatewayLive, LiveAgent, and OnlineAgent with software solutions such as WebChoice, MobileAgent and ClientManager – which were previously offered under the PortPlus brand. In addition, the subscriptions to all of these software solutions will now be supplemented by enhanced access to research from the Group’s property research and data arm –
ingogo takes the lead in taxi service apps 1.5 million taxi trips, forecasts $100 million in payments
by launch-admin May 30, 2014 0 UncategorizedMEDIA RELEASE Monday, 12 May: Innovative Australian taxi app and mobile payment provider, ingogo, is leading the growth in taxi service bookings, recording more than 1.5 million taxi trips in the past 12 months, with a forecast in excess of $100 million in payments on the ingogo platform in the coming year. Founder and Managing Director Hamish Petrie said ingogo is challenging incumbent player Cabcharge and is significantly outperforming other market entrants in the Sydney and Melbourne regions. “The past 12 months have been a huge period of growth for ingogo and with bookings up around 60% month on month in March and April we look set to continue,” said Mr Petrie. “Quality drivers and regular cab customers are progressively switching to ingogo as a safer, faster, more reliable service. We will continue to rollout our services in other states and are scheduled to take advantage of offshore markets in 2015.” ingogo this week launched in Melbourne and announced its Future Booking service, which allows passengers on both iOS and Android to book trips up to 48 hours in advance. As part of this new feature, ingogo is guaranteeing passengers a $10 credit if their advanced booking is cancelled and a replacement taxi cannot be appointed. ingogo has a driver network of several thousand active drivers in NSW and has already recruited over 750 active drivers in Victoria. The ingogo app also includes an interactive GPS map showing the taxi’s location, an SMS safety feature allowing passengers to text their friends or family the details of their taxi and in-app payment options. The app also provides users with an instant electronic receipt and their trip history is automatically updated as soon as their fare is transacted. In Ocotber 2013, ingogo launched one of the world’s first app-based payment platforms – a wireless payment terminal – with ANZ and Ingenico. Ingogo is the most secure taxi system in Australia. When signing on new drivers to its network, all driver’s licenses and taxi authorities are personally scanned by an ingogo staff member, rather than an app. The app can be downloaded in iTunes:
ingogo put money where their app is and guarantee advanced bookings
by launch-admin May 30, 2014 0 UncategorizedMEDIA RELEASE * ingogo launches Melbourne presence with new feature * Calling for people to take on the ingogo $10 challenge Monday 5th May, 2014: Taxi app and mobile payment provider, ingogo, is calling upon Australians to take the ‘ingogo challenge’ and use the app’s new Future Booking feature, which guarantees passengers a $10 credit if their advanced booking is cancelled and a replacement taxi cannot be appointed. The new feature, which is available to users across Sydney and Melbourne, allows passengers to book trips up to 48 hours in advance. It incentivises drivers to pick up cancelled bookings as it deducts $10 from the driver who cancelled the booking and then provides it to the next driver as a cash bonus. The bonus is increased by another $10 for any additional cancellations until the booking is completed. In the situation where ingogo cannot find a replacement taxi, a $10 credit will be returned to the passenger. ingogo, which also today launched its services in Victoria, is the only taxi app on the market to offer a guarantee for advanced bookings. ingogo is the first app to make future bookings available on the Android platform. They are also the only taxi app that provides a payment system with wireless terminals inside taxis, as well as a booking system. ingogo tested the new feature with a beta trial over one month with 500 passengers. When comparing the results of this group’s app activity before the feature to after, ingogo saw a 58% increase in the number of completed jobs. There was also a significant reduction (23%) of job cancellations by drivers, plus over $100,000 of trip payments processed from the pilot. Founder of ingogo, Hamish Petrie, said the new initiative has been launched as part of their disruption and cause for change within Australia’s taxi industry. “We understand how frustrating it can be for passengers to have drivers not turn up, especially for airport and business travel, so we wanted to put a stop to it and set a high service standard that would create more work for drivers and in turn improve the taxi industry.” he said. “We want to take as many steps as we can to ensure customers are never left waiting and we are confident that our app and Future Booking technology will guarantee this for passengers. So much so, that we are prepared to do something that no one else on the market is doing, and that is to offer passengers a $10 guarantee that once a driver has accepted their Future Booking job a taxi will turn up. Full stop. We are now calling on Aussies to download our app and test out our promise for themselves.” Mr Petrie added that he anticipated the service promise would shake-up the market in Melbourne, as they have been doing in Sydney. “Dominant payment players in Victoria, such as GM Cabs and Live Payments, have already tried to push us out of the market – we’ve received legal threats and had an attempted smear campaign against us, but it’s only fuelled us to work harder. This new offering aims to further disrupt the taxi incumbents. None of the existing networks including Cabcharge who own: 13 Cabs / Black Cabs as well as Silver Top, currently offer any guarantee to passengers once their job is accepted.” ingogo began recruiting for drivers in Melbourne at the start of 2014. They now have over 500 taxi drivers signed up to the ingogo system, with hundreds more joining the platform every month. “We’re incredibly excited by the initial response to the app, and look forward to Melbourne passengers helping us grow our network even further with our new ingogo challenge,” he said. The new future booking feature allows users to watch how far away their driver is on a GPS map and can call or private message their driver directly, bypassing the networks. The feature also sends push notifications to remind both the driver and passenger of the booking, as well as an email to users to let them know the booking has been accepted. ingogo is inviting Sydney users who travel inter-state, to now use the app in Melbourne, including at Melbourne airport using the pre-booked taxi bays. The launch of the feature comes as both Victoria and New South Wales begin to introduce reforms that will support the growth of taxi apps in Australia as well as improve safety standards. The app can be downloaded in iTunes:
Australia¹s strongest residential performers over last quarter
by launch-admin May 30, 2014 0 Uncategorized Media Release Australia, 29 May 2014: New research released today, by Onthehouse¹s property data arm Residex, revealed the Australian suburbs that have seen the largest capital growth over the last quarter for both houses and units nationally. Sydney suburbs dominate the top 10 list for capital growth when it comes to houses, with values for Beaumont Hills increasing by more than 13% in the three months to April this year making it Australia¹s fastest growing suburb. Eastwood and West Pennant Hills followed closely behind with capital growth rates over 12%. Alphington in Melbourne, with a growth rate of 8.65%, was the only suburb outside of New South Wales to rank in the top 10 for houses. Capital Growth Best Performers Houses Best Houses Location Suburb Median Value Median Rent Capital Growth Last 3 Months Sydney BEAUMONT HILLS $866,000 $760 13.13% Sydney EASTWOOD $1,248,500 $775 12.28% Sydney WEST PENNANT HILLS $1,094,000 $860 12.07% Sydney HOMEBUSH $1,141,500 $620 11.83% Sydney MARSFIELD $1,234,500 $780 11.75% Sydney RYDE $1,110,500 $665 11.72% Sydney DENISTONE $1,126,500 $680 11.43% Country NSW LAWSON $353,500 $360 9.01% Melbourne ALPHINGTON $1,183,000 $710 8.65% Country NSW KATOOMBA $393,500 $380 8.58% Source: Onthehouse.com.au / Residex Consulting Analyst for Onthehouse and Founder of Residex, John Edwards, said that growth rates in Sydney have continued to increase in early 2014. ³Growth in Sydney has continued, with house price growth of 8.15% in the last quarter. We have not seen this high level of quarterly growth since September 1988, when Sydney saw its last large property price boom. ³While the strong growth rates are good news for property owners, if growth continues on its current upward path there could potentially be some problems in the medium-term as interest rates are likely to increase.² For units, the Sydney market again dominated the list, featuring seven of the top 10 suburbs. The Sydney suburbs of Wollstonecraft, Milsons Point and Plumpton recorded the highest growth in the last quarter, with their median values each increasing by better than 7%. The country Western Australian suburb of West Busselton also featured in the top 10, as did the Melbourne suburbs of Balwyn and Box Hill. Capital Growth Best Performers Units Best Units Location Suburb Median Value Median Rent Capital Growth Last 3 Months Sydney WOLLSTONECRAFT $789,500 $690 7.27% Sydney MILSONS POINT $1,137,500 $870 7.14% Sydney PLUMPTON $322,000 $410 7.12% Country WA WEST BUSSELTON $362,500 $345 6.77% Sydney CHATSWOOD $760,500 $685 6.70% Sydney WERRINGTON $290,500 $345 6.63% Sydney COLLAROY $623,500 $575 6.48% Melbourne BALWYN $662,000 $470 6.33% Melbourne BOX HILL $451,000 $380 6.23% Sydney NORTH SYDNEY $640,000 $600 6.17% Source: Onthehouse.com.au / Residex Mr Edwards said it is important that buyers always do their research into any suburb before making a purchase. ³Gathering information on a suburb is crucial before buying. Investors should be able to estimate where a suburb is in its growth cycle if they are considering buying in the area.² More property data and information is available at www.onthehouse.com.au and www.residex.com.au -ENDS- Media contacts Ashford Pritchard: E ashford@launchgroup.com.au / T 02 9492 1040 / M 0411 020 680 Laura Douglas: E laura@launchgroup.com / T 02 9492 1000 / M 0452 505 859 About onthousehouse.com.au www.onthehouse.com.au