News & Insight

Take Kare Ambassadors - keeping Sydney safe on New Year's Eve!

Take Kare Ambassadors - keeping Sydney safe on New Year's Eve!

Tiny bastions of safety will pop up across Sydney's foreshore on New Years Eve as the city's information booths transform into safe spaces for the drunk, lost and injured. 

The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation's (TKYF) "Take Kare" Ambassadors will commandeer six information booths to help vulnerable revellers get home in one piece during one of the world's biggest NYE celebrations.

"Everyone deserves to have a great night on New Year's Eve and to come home safely at the end of it," said TKYF founder Ralph Kelly.

 

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22nd annual Santa Claus Pub Crawl for Charity

22nd annual Santa Claus Pub Crawl for Charity

“Back on Xmas Eve, 1997; I was attacked by 5 guys leaving a pub in Hurstville," Neil Webster said.

“They proceeded to beat the crap out of me - my jaw broken in two places, three cracked ribs, and a concussion - just because I wasn't going the same way down the street as them. I spent weeks in hospital and lost 13kg drinking through a straw for the next three months. 

 

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Alcohol sending hundreds of thousands into hospital each year

Alcohol sending hundreds of thousands into hospital each year

Alcohol is sending hundreds of thousands of people to emergency departments each year, far outranking the scourge of ice, research on Australian and New Zealand hospitals has found.

Julia Medew

Health Editor, Sydney Morning Herald (24th November 2015)

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Licence to drink to excess: Not in our backyard. Not in anyone’s backyard – not ever again

Licence to drink to excess: Not in our backyard. Not in anyone’s backyard – not ever again

2011 Resident’s Association’s Helen Crossing tells the Senate Inquiry into Personal Choice and Community Impacts that the failed social experiment that saw the promotion of alcohol consumption in Kings Cross and the attendant harms to people and which culminated in the deaths of two young men is ample evidence that regulations need to remain in place.

 

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Prof. Gordian Fulde, awarded "NSW Senior Australian of the Year, 2016"

Prof. Gordian Fulde, awarded "NSW Senior Australian of the Year, 2016"

NSW Premier Mike Baird congratulated this year's field of honourees, describing their achievements as inspiring examples to others. 

"Together they have advocated for equality, supported the disadvantaged, and cared for those less fortunate than themselves.  Their efforts and leadership have helped so many people and will continue to do so," he said in a statement before the event. 

NSW recipients will join winners from across the country for the national awards which will be announced in Canberra on the eve of Australia Day. 

 

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A shocking sport - based on horrific violence

A shocking sport - based on horrific violence

The reaction of most people when they get a close-up look at the video of what happened in the so-called "Ultimate Fighting Championship", which took place in Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on Sunday, in front of a record-breaking 56,000 spectators.  Just 59 seconds into the second round, American woman Holly Holm unleashes a left-foot kick to the head of undefeated champion Ronda Rousey, to go with the series of fearful left hooks that have already repeatedly snapped her head back and cut her lip.

As the foot connects, Rousey goes down like a sack of spuds, albeit one with brain trauma. Holm then falls upon Rousey's prone form and gives her another couple of smacks to the head for good measure.

The referee calls off the fight, Holm is declared the winner, and new World Bantamweight champion, the UFC world rejoices, and . . .

And what? 

The red flashing lights? Aw, don't worry about that.  That is Rousey, after also receiving stitches to her split lip, being taken to hospital. She was still too out of it to even think of making the post-fight press conference, but I'm sure she'll be all right. Forget her, I say! 

 

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Revised lockout laws will curb alcohol-fuelled violence, Queensland A-G says

Revised lockout laws will curb alcohol-fuelled violence, Queensland A-G says

Labor's plan to revise lockout laws will significantly reduce levels of alcohol-fuelled violence, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath says.

She said laws would be introduced to State Parliament this week for a 2:00am last drinks call in pubs and clubs across Queensland.

Nightclub precincts would be able to apply for an extension of last drinks to 3:00am, but would need to impose a 1:00am lockout.

Rapid-consumption drinks like shots would also be banned from midnight. 

Ms D'Ath said if passed, the laws would come into force on July 1 2016.

"I would rather - as a member of the Palaszczuk Government - explain to someone why at 2:30 in the morning they can't have another alcoholic drink, than explain to their parents why they're not coming home," she said.

Ms D'Ath said the State Government was standing up against alcohol-fuelled violence in the community.

"Personal safety must be paramount - this Government made a commitment at the last election to the people of Queensland to keep their loved ones safe when they went out at night, and this comprehensive package is designed to do just that," she said.

"One in six Queenslanders has been the victim of alcohol-fuelled violence and two-thirds of Queenslanders consider the city or centre of their town unsafe on a Saturday night."

She said there was about 30,000 hospitalisations each year due to alcohol consumption.

"The community is telling us it's time to act to keep people safe," she said.

"This is a comprehensive package that gets the balance right.

"It allows our licensed venues to continue to trade under their existing hours so people can enjoy Queensland's entertainment and nightlife at the same time as dealing with alcohol-fuelled harm in the early hours by calling last drinks at 2:00am."

Read More TKYF Mosman, NSW Australia

LOCKOUTS IN SYDNEY CBD LEAD TO REDUCTION IN BOOZE INJURIES - Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)

LOCKOUTS IN SYDNEY CBD LEAD TO REDUCTION IN BOOZE INJURIES - Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)

THERE has been a significant decline in the number of critical and serious alcohol-related injuries presenting to St Vincent’s Hospital since the introduction of a “lockouts” at hotels and clubs in the Sydney CBD entertainment precinct, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

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Ralph Kelly receives the UTS Community Alumni Award.

At a Gala dinner at the UTS Grand Hall Ralph Kelly Founder and Director of the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation received the Community Alumni Award.

Each year the University of Technology Sydney formally recognises and celebrates the outstanding achievements of UTS alumni as well as graduates from our six antecedent institutions.

The UTS Alumni Awards showcase the breadth and depth of UTS’s alumni community and the extraordinary ways in which UTS graduates are contributing to their profession and society as a whole.

The recipients of the 2015 UTS Alumni Awards were announced on Thursday 22 October 2015.

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GORDIAN Fulde has been named as a finalist for Australian of the year.

The professor and director of emergency at St Vincent’s Hospital was today named among the state’s nominations for senior of the year.

The 67-year-old Bondi local is Australia’s longest serving director of an emergency department and was nominated for his three decades manning one of the country’s busiest hospitals.

Professor Fulde, who is on the board of the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, was also recognised for his efforts in generating awareness on the dangers of alcohol fuelled violence.

October 23, 2015 12:00am Wentworth Courier

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Let’s make this State the safest in the nation - NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione

Let’s make this State the safest in the nation - NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione

The average number of alcohol-related assaults has fallen by over 20 per cent across the State. A great outcome. And double that, over 40 per cent, in Kings Cross. That is an enormous drop.

The falls in specific time periods impacted by the new laws have been even greater. There are certain hours which were known as dangerous, the “witching hours” between midnight and 6am. Let’s have a look at some of those figures.

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Media Release: Sydney’s youth safer for longer on city streets

Media Release: Sydney’s youth safer for longer on city streets

A program that has already helped more than 5,000 young people avoid the risk of late night alcohol related violence in the city centre has been extended into Kings Cross.

The initial trial of the Safe Space and Take Kare Ambassador Program, set up by the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, proved so successful the program has secured funding for the next three years.

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Last night a life was saved by two of the Take Kare Ambassadors

Last night a life was saved by two of the Take Kare Ambassadors

At 3.45am, Laura and Meggie were walking back to the Safe Space at Town Hall to finish their all-night shift.  They found a man lying on the road covered in blood. Immediately going to his assistance Laura commenced providing CPR to the man who had been badly beaten by a group of other men.  The man stopped breathing twice as they waited for the paramedics to arrive and take over.

Few people would have known that Meggie is Thomas Kelly’s cousin.  Absolutely amazing work.   We are so proud of both of you.

Working with the police, ambulance and paramedics this shows how crucial the Savlos Street Teams and Take Kare Ambassadors are to the night scene in Sydney.

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