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Of all the plant diseases that occur in Australia, banana bunchy top disease would rank high on any list of those that have had the greatest impact on society. Bunchy top first became a major problem in Australia during World War 1 in the Tweed Valley in New South Wales, close to the border of Queensland. The Soldier Settlement Scheme was initiated to provide a livelihood for returned soldiers, and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales was chosen as the site for a new subtropical fruit industry. Physically and psychologically damaged men were encouraged to settle on the land to grow bananas, only to be left in ruins within two years because bunchy top had destroyed their plantations. Bunchy top did not discriminate, and many other well-established growers also 'went broke'. The cries for assistance from the banana growers made it to the federal Parliament in Melbourne, and a Bunchy Top Investigation Committee was formed in 1924 with funding equally contributed by the New South Wales, Queensland, and Australian Governments. Charles Magee was the full-time plant pathologist appointed to the investigation, and he did most of the research. Most histories of the bunchy top research program follow the written accounts of Magee, but he only provided a narrow perspective. Several of the major hypotheses about the epidemiology of bunchy top disease, such as that it was spread in the plant's suckers and was vectored by the banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa , were established by growers such as William John (aka Jack) Burton Marks well before the Bunchy Top Investigation Committee began. This paper describes the beginnings of the subtropical banana industry, the introduction of bunchy top disease, and efforts by the scientific and farming communities to find a preventative treatment or cure for the disease. Banana bunchy top disease is the most serious viral disease of bananas in the world, and nearly wiped out the Australian banana industry in the early twentieth century. The impacts of the disease epidemic were hardest felt by veterans of World War 1, who moved to the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales to create a subtropical fruit industry as part of the Soldier Settlement Scheme. This article describes the early history of the Australian banana industry, the introduction and spread of bunchy top disease, and efforts to develop a disease management plan. Photograph by Scot C. Nelson, University of Hawaiʻi. This article belongs to the Special Issue: History of Plant Pathology in Australasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper aimed to describe the legal worries of Australian general practitioners (GPs) and nurses regarding end-of-life care provided in the aged care setting. Methods: An analysis of responses to the final, open-ended question of a cross-sectional online survey of GPs and nurses practising in aged care settings in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria was undertaken. Results: Of the 162 GPs and 61 nurses who gave valid responses to the survey, 92% (151 GPs and 55 nurses) responded to the open-ended question. Participants identified concerns across all relevant areas of end-of-life law. The most common concerns were substitute decision-makers or family member(s) wanting to overrule an Advance Care Directive, requests for futile or non-beneficial treatment and conflict about end-of-life decision-making. Participants often also identified concerns about their lack of legal knowledge and their fear of law or risk related to both end-of-life care generally and providing medication that may hasten death. Conclusions: Australian GPs and nurses working in aged care have broad-ranging legal concerns about providing end-of-life care. Legal concerns and knowledge gaps identified here highlight priority areas for future training of the aged care workforce. The law supports good end-of-life clinical practice by facilitating health care that aligns with the values and goals of patients, including those residing in residential aged care facilities. GPs and nurses here reported broad-ranging legal concerns relevant to providing end-of-life care within aged care, including substitute decision makers/family members wanting to overrule Advance Care Directives, requests for futile or non-beneficial treatment and conflict about decision-making. Participants' concerns can inform end-of-life legal training for aged care GPs and nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe patterns of use of the available Government-subsidised mental health services among people living in Australian residential aged care facilities. Methods: A retrospective population-based trend analysis was conducted, including all non-Indigenous people living in an Australian facility between 2012 and 2017. Adjusted incidence proportions and trends were estimated for four groups of mental health services. Results: The use of Medicare-subsidised mental health services was very low overall. The proportion of residents who accessed primary care mental health services increased from 1.3% in 2012/2013 to 2.4% in 2016/2017, while psychiatry service use increased from 1.9 to 2.3%. Claims for clinical psychology increased from 0.18 to 0.26%, and claims for a registered psychologist, occupational therapist or social worker rose from 0.45 to 1.2%. People with dementia were less likely than people without dementia to access all services aside from psychiatry services. Conclusions: Less than 3% of residents accessed funding subsidies for mental health services and people with dementia experienced pronounced barriers to service access. Mental health care is a pillar of the publicly-funded health system in Australia, and low use of these services among aged care residents indicates a need for organisational and policy changes to improve access. What is known about the topic? People living in residential aged care facilities report very high rates of mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety. What does this paper add? We demonstrate very low use (<3%) of Government-funded mental health services among people living in residential aged care facilities in Australia, with only small increases in use over time. What are the implications for practitioners? Practitioners should routinely assess the mental health needs of people living in residential aged care and refer for in-reach mental health services where needed, noting that facility staff are usually not trained for this role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Forested wetlands occurring on fluvial sediments are among the most threatened ecosystems in south-east Australia. The first quantitative diagnosis of forested wetland types in NSW was completed in 2005. Since then, there has been a three-fold increase in survey data on coastal floodplains, vegetation classification systems have been developed in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and methods for the assessment of ecosystem conservation risks have been adopted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Aims: To ensure an evidence base that can support conservation decisions and national conservation assessments, there is a need to review and update the classification of forested wetlands and integrate classification schemes across jurisdictions. Methods: We evaluated the efficacy of a multi-stage clustering strategy, applied to data from different sources with largely unknown methodological idiosyncrasies, to retrieve ecologically meaningful clusters. We assessed the veracity and robustness of the 2005 classification of forest wetlands as a framework for national risk assessments over an expanded range. Key results: We derived a quantitative, cross-jurisdictional classification of forested wetlands based on a synthesis of 5173 plot samples drawn from three states and identified the status of our units in relation to IUCN's Global Ecosystem Typology. Conclusions: Our analyses support the retention of the five legacy types which are the basis for threatened ecosystem listings under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Implications: Our results will support revised assessments of current listings and facilitate their integration at state, national and global scales. This paper presents a revised broad-scale classification of forested wetlands occurring on floodplains in temperate subtropical south-east Australia and identifies relationships with vegetation types of finer thematic scale described in sub-regional classifications in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. Patterns in the distribution of forested wetland types are described using statistical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane is one of Australia's major agricultural industries, with approximately 95% of the crop being grown in Queensland and the remainder in northern New South Wales. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, cane growers in northern New South Wales started to see a new disease that resulted not only in the death of plants but also in difficulties in the extraction of sugar. Theories about the cause abounded, but investigations by the New South Wales vegetable pathologist Nathan Cobb revealed that the disease, previously unknown to the world, was caused by a microbe in the creamy 'gum' that could be commonly found in the vascular tissues of affected stalks. He named the organism Bacillus vascularum (now known as Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vasculorum). For some time after, the disease was known as 'Cobb's gumming disease of sugarcane'. The Australian bacteriologist Robert Greig-Smith was not convinced that Cobb had conclusively demonstrated that B. vascularum was the culprit, mainly because he did not satisfy Koch's Postulates. However, the American bacteriologist Erwin Frink Smith came to Cobb's rescue when he proved beyond doubt that B. vascularum was to blame. The disease is now known simply as 'gumming disease of sugarcane'. At the start of the decade of 1890, sugarcane growers in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales began to notice a serious disease affecting their crops. American-born Nathan Cobb, who was the New South Wales Government Vegetable Pathologist, discovered that a bacterium, now known as Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vasculorum , was the cause of the disease. Although others were not convinced that Cobb had conclusively proved that the bacterium was the causal agent, it was for many years known as 'Cobb's gumming disease of cane'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A taxonomic revision of the Pultenaea setulosa species complex (Fabaceae, tribe Mirbelieae) is presented. Prior to this study, P. setulosa Benth. was broadly circumscribed as a single, morphologically variable species. Here, we present evidence supporting the recognition of 18 species, 14 of which are new to science. Pultenaea setulosa is recircumscribed as a morphologically uniform taxon endemic to the Marlborough region in south-east Queensland. We reinstate Pultenaea boormanii H.B.Will., Pultenaea campbellii Maiden & Betche and Pultenaea lapidosa Corrick from synonymy of P. setulosa and describe an additional 14 new species: Pultenaea acanthocalyx R.L.Barrett & Clugston, Pultenaea corrickiae R.L.Barrett, Orme & Clugston, Pultenaea estelleae R.L.Barrett & Clugston, Pultenaea farmeriana R.L.Barrett, Orme & P.H.Weston, Pultenaea hoskingii R.L.Barrett & Clugston, Pultenaea imminuta R.L.Barrett & S.F.McCune, Pultenaea murrayi R.L.Barrett, Pultenaea palssoniae R.L.Barrett & Clugston, Pultenaea praetermissa R.L.Barrett & Albr., Pultenaea purdieae R.L.Barrett & Clugston, Pultenaea renneri R.L.Barrett & Clugston, Pultenaea venusta R.L.Barrett & Orme, Pultenaea westonii R.L.Barrett & Clugston and Pultenaea woolcockiorum R.L.Barrett & Clugston. Sixteen of these species are endemic to New South Wales, one to Queensland and one to Victoria. All taxa are described and illustrated, and habitats and conservation status are discussed. Two additional related species, Pultenaea procumbens A.Cunn. and P. setigera A.Cunn. ex Benth. are recircumscribed. Pultenaea setigera is reinstated here, known from the type collection made in 1822 and is possibly extinct. Lectotypes are selected for the names Pultenaea boormanii, P. campbellii, P. procumbens, P. setigera and P. setulosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This study aimed to map the geographic distribution of tertiary hospitals in Australia’s most populous cities. Good access to hospital facilities improves the health and welfare of a community. The use of geographic information system (GIS) technology can assist in understanding spacial accessibility to services. Methods. Using Quantum GIS, a geodatabase was constructed to incorporate hospital locations and demographic distribution data throughout Australia’s 20 most populous cities. Data on the population’s age groups were integrated into the geodatabase to investigate the distribution of age groups and their utilisation of access to emergency departments in tertiary public health care. Overall this study reported the geospatial distribution of 89 tertiary hospitals and the demographics of the population in areas around these hospitals. Results. The majority of hospitals were located in the three most populated cities of New South Wales (NSW), Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle, which contain a total of 32 hospitals, with 23 (72%) of the hospitals in Sydney. There were 7.8, 24.0, 53.4 and 81.0% of the population in NSW within 1.5, 3, 6 and 50 km of the hospitals, respectively. The second-highest number of hospitals was in Victoria (n = 22), with 18 (82%) hospitals located in Melbourne. This was followed by Queensland (n = 14), with eight (57%) hospitals located in Brisbane. Conclusions. The results indicate that 82.2% of the Australian population lives within a 50 km radius of a tertiary hospital, with NSW having higher age distribution percentages than the other states. The results of this study could be used to locate and improve areas of need with a high burden of disease and low accessibility to healthcare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A population of white-footed dunnarts (Sminthopsis leucopus) occurs in the Wet Tropics bioregion of tropical north Queensland, Australia separated by about 1800 km from conspecifics in temperate New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. We conducted targeted surveys for S. leucopus in north-east Queensland and obtained new records, including the first reported capture of the species in Queensland in 18 years. We assessed the genetic and morphological divergence of the north Queensland population against New South Wales, Victorian and Tasmanian S. leucopus , in conjunction with distribution and habitat differences, to assess whether this isolate should be described as a distinct taxon. Sequencing of the mitochondrial Cytochrome b gene revealed genetic divergence estimates of 2.3–2.8% and 4.3–4.8% between the north Queensland population and S. l. ferruginifrons (Victoria) and S. l. leucopus (Tasmania) respectively. Based on genetic divergence, cranial morphology, differences in habitat, and geographical isolation, we describe the north Queensland population as a new subspecies of Sminthopsis leucopus. We suggest a conservation classification of Endangered given its small distribution, apparent low density, tropical upland location and potential threats, especially related to climate change. A population of White-footed Dunnarts (Sminthopsis leucopus) occurs isolated in Queensland's Wet Tropics. We conducted targeted surveys and obtained the first reported capture of the species in Queensland in 18 years. We assessed morphology, genetic divergence, and conservation status and describe the Wet Tropics White-footed Dunnart as a new subspecies of Sminthopsis leucopus. Photograph by Gary Cranitch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has suffered more modern mammal extinctions than any nation. Among the list of extinct species is the blue-grey mouse (Pseudomys glaucus ), a rodent known from just three specimens (two from southern Queensland and one from northern New South Wales). We investigated circumstances of collection for the three specimens referred to this species to better illuminate optimal habitats and climatic conditions for continuing rediscovery efforts. No additional information could be found on two specimens from southern Queensland sent to the Natural History Museum, London. However, we recorded a first-hand account of how the northern New South Wales specimen was collected and have established that the collection year was 1956. We also obtained a copy of correspondence from Ellis Le G. Troughton thanking the collector for the contribution. The northern New South Wales specimen was from a pastoral property formerly dominated by woodland vegetation communities on alluvial soils. It was captured during a mouse plague following consecutive seasons of above average rainfall. Pseudomys glaucus is likely already extinct, but our results help better direct any future survey efforts. Surveys should be targeted in woodland communities on alluvial floodplains in the Darling Riverine Plains bioregion, following periods of above average rainfall conducive to the irruption of rodent populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red-legged pademelons (Thylogale stigmatica) occur as several subspecies in eastern Australia. The northern subspecies (T. stigmatica stigmatica) in north Queensland is considered common; the southern subspecies (T. stigmatica wilcoxi) in north-eastern New South Wales is, by comparison, rare and is listed as threatened. Activity patterns should also vary between these subspecies because T. s. stigmatica emerges from the forest at night to graze, whereas T. s. wilcoxi remains in the forest throughout the 24-h cycle. Using camera traps, we detected pademelons at a greater rate at a Queensland site occupied by T. s. stigmatica than at a New South Wales site inhabited by T. s. wilcoxi ; this result is consistent with their conservation status. However, pademelons at these sites displayed remarkably similar activity patterns within rainforest over the 24-h period, a result that was unexpected based on what is known of their diel behaviour. Red-legged pademelon occurs as distinct sub-species in eastern Australia; the north Queensland subspecies differ in their ecology and conservation status from those in north-eastern New South Wales, but data comparing abundance and activity patterns in these populations are lacking. We found pademelons were detected at a higher rate at a north Queensland site compared with a northern New South Wales site, but both populations had remarkably similar activity patterns. Our results add important information about future conservation of these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyse Medicare expenditure by State/Territory, remoteness, and Indigenous demography to assess funding equality in meeting the health needs of remote Indigenous populations in the Northern Territory. Methods. Analytic descriptions of Medicare online reports on services and benefits by key demographic variables linked with Australian Bureau of Statistics data on remoteness and Indigenous population proportion. The Northern Territory Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations were compared with the Australian average between the 2010/2011 and 2019/2020 fiscal years in terms of standardised rates of Medicare services and benefits. These were further analysed using ordinary least squares, simultaneous equations and multilevel models. Results. In per capita terms, the Northern Territory receives around 30% less Medicare funds than the national average, even when additional Commonwealth funding for Aboriginal medical services is included. This funding shortfall amounts to approximately AU$80 million annually across both the Medicare Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The multilevel models indicate that providing healthcare for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person in a remote area involves a Medicare shortfall of AU$531-- AU$1041 less Medicare Benefits Schedule benefits per annum compared with a non-Indigenous person in an urban area. Indigenous population proportion, together with remoteness, explained 51% of the funding variation. An age--sex based capitation funding model would correct about 87% of the Northern Territory primary care funding inequality. Conclusions. The current Medicare funding scheme systematically disadvantages the Northern Territory. A needs-based funding model is required that does not penalise the Northern Territory population based on the remote primary health care service model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One new species of Lindernia All. is described (L. yarun Wannan) from south-eastern Queensland. The following three species of Lindernia are newly recognised for Queensland: L. clausa (F.Muell.) F.Muell., L. procumbens (Krock.) Philcox and L. rotundifolia (L.) Alston. Illustrations of flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, stem anatomy, and specimens are provided. Notes on habitat, distribution and conservation status are also provided. A key to eastern Australian species of Lindernia , Bonnaya Link & Otto and Yamazakia W.R.Barker, Y.S.Liang & Wannan is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient abundance during development has profound effects on adult morphology, life history and behaviour in many insects, but effects of nutrition on juvenile development are less well known. We investigated how larval diet quality affects patterns of growth, development and survival of larvae and pupae in the neriid fly Telostylinus angusticollis (Enderlein). We reared flies on two larval diets varying in nutrient concentration ('rich' versus 'poor') that have been shown previously to affect a wide range of adult traits in this species. We found that nutrient concentration affected larval growth trajectories, with individuals reared on the rich diet exhibiting greatly accelerated growth and reaching a larger body size. By contrast, we found no evidence that diet affected timing of development at the pupal stage, suggesting that developmental constraints may prevent variation in pupal development rate. Although overall mortality during the immature stages was not affected by larval diet, we found some evidence that individuals reared on a poor diet might experience higher larval mortality, whereas individuals reared on a rich diet might experience higher mortality during emergence from the puparium. Our results enhance understanding of the effects of nutrition on growth, development, and life history. We carried out the first detailed analysis of juvenile development in Telostylinus angusticollis (Diptera: Neriidae), a fly endemic to coastal New South Wales and southern Queensland that has become a valuable model system in evolutionary research. We found that larval nutrition strongly affected the rate of larval growth but, surprisingly, had no effect on the speed of metamorphosis in this species. Our results also suggest that larval diet has stage-dependent effects on juvenile mortality. Photo by Russell Bonduriansky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]