Friends,

Here is the link for SBSTV’s Insight program on elder health Tuesday 18 March at 8.30 pm

The episode will be available at this link after 9:30pm on Tuesday 18h March – once it has finished airing on television.https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/news-series/insightProf Ross Fitzgerald, Redfern NSW 0419 661869

Re SBSTV’s Insight program about elder abuse and elder health

The episode will be available at this link below after 9:30pm on Tuesday 18th March – once it has finished airing on television on Tuesday 18th March at 8:30 pmhttps://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/news-series/insight

This program will also be available at any time afterwards on SBS On Demand.A YouTube version will be available for international viewers in the weeks that follow.

Professor Ross Fitzgerald AMRedfern , Australia 0419 661869

Queensland’s autocratic ALP premier and Australia’s only Communist Party MP:The St Patrick’s Day bash.

Professor Ross Fitzgerald AM

History and politics buffs should either be made aware, or be given cause to remember, that in Brisbane, on St Patrick’s Day 1948, Australia’s only Communist Party MP, Fred Paterson, was almost murdered by a Queensland policeman, almost certainly at the instigation of someone higher up.

From 1944 to 1950, Frederick Woolnough (‘Fred’) Paterson was the CPA member for Bowen in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.Soon after his election, it was said of Paterson that only …

Forgive my imperfect memory, but did I mention that SBSTV’s Insight program on elder heath has been moved forward to next Tuesday 18th March at 8:30 pm.

It is also available any time after 9.30am that night on SBS On Demand.

I’m told that my Weekend Australian article on elder abuse and our forthcoming novel Chalk and Cheese both get a mention.

Please spread the word that the program will be show next Tuesday

RedfernRossProfessor Ross Fitzgerald AM

Friends,

SBSTV’s Insight program on elder health has been moved forward to next Tuesday 18th March at 8:30 pm.  

Or any time afterwards on SBS On Demand. 

I’m told that my Weekend Australian article on elder abuse and our forthcoming novel Chalk and Cheese both get a mention.

Could you please spread the word.

RedfernRoss 0419 6661869 

Ian McFadyen, of ‘Comedy Company’ fame and I have nearly finished Chalk & Cheese, a novel about two 80 year old, ex radio stars (Bill & Ben) who hated each other and who end up in the same nursing home.

It is due to be publishedby our nimble Melbourne-based publisher Hybrid in a few months.

Eve though it has comedic aspects, Chalk & Cheese is not a comedy, but it is very filmic & would suit a number of actors who are no longer spring chickens.

Sam Neil or Geoffrey Rush as Bill …

LETTERS

Defence of the elderly

1. Ross Fitzgerald’s article is a powerfully insightful reminder of an inconvenient truth our generation are all too quick to ignore – That older people are indeed people. (“The very real danger of the cashed-up boomer stereotype” 1-2/2)

It is convenient for the struggling daughter or son to ignore that older Australians have the same hopes, dreams and economic fears as they do.

There is nothing wrong with the older generation giving to the youth. But it is shameful that coercion guided by expectation and entitlement becomes the oft …

Elder abuse in Australiaby Ross FitzgeraldMy principal preoccupation this year is elder abuse.

As a widowed, sometimes lonely 80-year-old in the early stages of dementia, I am one of the vulnerable old who are open to the possibility of personal abuse and financial exploitation.

After the death in January 2020 of my beloved wife and friend of 45 years, the artist, actor and model Lyndal Moor, I have lived alone in “Greystoke”, an 1898 terrace house in south Sydney.

I am lonely especially because our only child, Emerald, my granddaughter Ava, 8, and …

The highs and lows of Australia’s drug summits

Australia has experimented with drug summits for 40 years. They’ve come with highs and lows, writes ROSS FITZGERALD.

Australia’s first official meeting referred to as a “drug summit” was convened on April 2 1985 in Canberra by Bob Hawke, the then ALP prime minister.

Officially known as The Special Premiers’ Conference, Hawke met with the six state premiers and the NT Chief Minister – the ACT was not represented as this meeting took place before self government.

This meant that the heads of five Labor governments …

DRUG REFORM, POLICY, POLITICSAustralia’s experiment with drug summitsBy Ross FitzgeraldJan 24, 2025

Australia’s first official meeting referred to as a ‘drug summit’ was convened on 2 April 1985 in Canberra by Bob Hawke, the then ALP Prime Minister.

Officially known as ‘The Special Premiers’ Conference’, Prime Minister Hawke met with the six state Premiers and the Northern Territory Chief Minister. (The ACT was not represented as this meeting took place before the ACT had obtained self government).

This meant that the heads of five Labor governments met with the heads of three conservative …

Lyndal Moor Fitzgerald 1944-2020

Five years ago tomorrow, Wednesday January 22, my darling wife and friend of 45 years, Lyndal Moor, died of cancer in the Wolper Jewish Hospital in Sydney.

Each day I miss Lyndal’s luminous beauty, her honesty, and her laughter.

How lucky am I to have spent our lives together for so long? And how fortunate I am to have recently spent a fortnight in America with our darling daughter Emerald, our granddaughter Ava (8, my grandson River (3), and my son-in-law Adrian.

Few people know that Lyndal, who was 45 …