Royal Commission begins in Sydney

BRUTAL bashings and the sexual abuse of children under the care of the Anglican church in NSW will be examined at the next round of public hearings in a national inquiry.

The third case study by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will open in Sydney on Monday.

It will look at the response of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton to claims of child sexual abuse at the North Coast Children's Home in Lismore.

The diocese's handling of a group compensation claim will also be examined.

The Bishop of Grafton, Keith Slater, resigned in May this year and apologised for his failings in handling complaints about the orphanage.

He is expected to be called to give evidence at the inquiry.

The Royal Commission will in December begin examining allegations and responses to abuse pertaining to the Catholic church.

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Cancer gene women unprotected: research

MANY Australian women are failing to protect themselves from breast and ovarian cancer despite knowing they carry a dangerous gene mutation, according to a new study.

About 20 per cent are likely to have their breasts removed, according to the study which tracked 325 women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations for up to 15 years.

The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, shows about 40 per cent have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

Apart from protecting against ovarian cancer, this procedure reduced the risk of breast cancer if done before menopause, said research leader Professor Kelly-Anne Phillips from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

Three per cent of the women in the study participated in a clinical trial of Tamoxifen, a medication which Prof Phillips and her team recently showed helped halve the risk of breast cancer.

The next phase of the research would involve face-to-face interviews with women and their doctors to understand why some women did not use cancer prevention strategies.

"All the options have advantages and disadvantages. These are complex and personal decisions," said Prof Phillips.

Data collection for the study ended in May 2012, before actor Angelina Jolie went public about her double mastectomy.

An increase in genetic testing has been reported in Australia since then and Prof Phillips told AAP it was possible this had prompted more women to take preventative action.

But prevention during the research period was low compared with other countries, she said.

One reason could be that women were not aware of the latest options.

"The evidence for the different interventions has changed significantly over the past few years," she said.

"My advice is for women who know they have the gene mutation to talk to their specialist at regular intervals.

"Women who don't know if they have the mutation but are concerned about their family history should talk to their GP.

BRCA1 mutation carriers have a 65 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and a 39 per cent chance of ovarian cancer by the age of 70, according to the study.

BRCA2 mutation carriers have a 45 per cent chance of breast cancer and 11 per cent risk of ovarian cancer.

"There are things women can do that will dramatically reduce their risk," said Prof Phillips.

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Bold action needed for Aussie kids: report

AUSTRALIA needs bold action to improve the wellbeing of its young people, says a high-powered group concerned the country is underperforming compared with its peers.

The main problems include a lack of support for babies and toddlers, education, physical health and income disparity, says a strategy report compiled by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY).

The document, titled Nest, will be launched in Canberra on Monday.

It says Australians aged 0-24 rank in the top third for about a quarter of wellbeing indicators and in the bottom third for another quarter compared with other countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Australia is doing well for youth smoking, education and employment, but relatively poorly for infant mortality, income inequality, jobless families, pre-school attendance and year-4 reading and science.

The report highlights serious inequalities between indigenous and non-indigenous children and youth.

"Australian children are not doing as well as they should be. We are middle of the road at best for child wellbeing compared to other countries," said Dr Lance Emerson, CEO of the 3000-member group.

"We have management plans for the hairy-nosed wombat, but we don't have an overarching plan for kids."

He said a co-ordinated plan was needed across several areas.

"It is important that we don't try to address issues individually.

"Finishing Year 12 is a better indicator of low risk for heart disease than hypertension and a lot of other illnesses combined."

The aim was for Australia to achieve a top-five position for education performance and physical, social and emotional wellbeing by 2025, he said.

"Healthy children mean a healthy economy."

Australia needed a strong legislated approach that ensured children got off to a better start, Dr Emerson said.

"The Scandinavian countries are doing incredibly well. They invest heavily in services for parents in the early years."

ARACY Chair Elaine Henry said there had been excellent reforms in the past, but non-government agencies, governments and service providers had been working in isolation, all looking after their own patch.

"We know we can achieve these targets if we invest wisely in evidence-based and prevention-focused policies, programs and practices," she said.

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Nobel-winning author Lessing dies

DORIS Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and author of The Golden Notebook, has died aged 94.

The British author died peacefully at her London home in the early hours of this morning, a spokesman said.

Born in Iran in 1919, Ms Lessing grew up in Southern Rhodesia before emigrating to London after the Second World War with the manuscript of her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, in her suitcase.

It was published in 1950 and across the course of her life she produced 54 further works, including poetry, two operas, short stories, plays and non-fiction.

In 2007, she became the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize, aged 88, and only the 11th woman to win the award.

Jonathan Clowes, her long time friend and agent, said today that he was greatly saddened by the news.

"She was a wonderful writer with a fascinating and original mind; it was a privilege to work for her and we shall miss her immensely," he said.

The writer is survived by her daughter Jean and granddaughters Anna and Susannah.

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Eddie Obeid to give evidence at ICAC

EDDIE Obeid will take the witness stand at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Monday as more than three weeks of public hearings into the corrupt former MP's conduct conclude.

Since late October the ICAC has been examining witnesses in relation to three operations - Cyrus, Cabot and Meeka.

And on Monday morning Mr Obeid is due to give evidence on all three investigations.

Operation Cyrus is investigating whether between 2000 and 2011 Mr Obeid "misused his position as an MP to attempt to influence other public officials" over lucrative retail leases at Circular Quay in which his family had hidden interests, the ICAC says.

It's also examining under Operation Cabot whether Mr Obeid used his political muscle to have a generous water licence, several times larger than recommended by authorities, granted over a Bylong Valley property his family owned.

And the third ICAC operation, Meeka, is looking at allegations the fallen Labor kingmaker lobbied parliamentary colleagues and public servants to make decisions favourable to a staff management company in which he had secret financial interests.

During their time in the witness stand, former Labor ports ministers Carl Scully, Michael Costa, Eric Roozendaal and Joe Tripodi all told the ICAC Mr Obeid had spoken to them about the Circular Quay leases.

All denied knowing his family had a stake in two harbourside restaurants and a cafe.

On Monday Mr Obeid will give his version of events to the ICAC inquiry, held in central Sydney and headed by assistant commissioner Anthony Whealy.

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