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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcottin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Just the heads up. This episode deals with issues surrounding

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Speaker 2: mental health and in particular suicide. If you need someone

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Speaker 2: to talk to, you can give Live Fline a call

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Speaker 2: on thirteen eleven fourteen.

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Speaker 3: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 3: the first of March. Happy Autumn, Zara, I'm sad and oxymoron.

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Speaker 3: I know this is not happy. It's going to get

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Speaker 3: cold now. In an Australian first, a class action case

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Speaker 3: is being brought against the AFL over the long term

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Speaker 3: effects of concussion.

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Speaker 2: Injuriesfl is set for a showdown in the Supreme Courters.

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Speaker 2: Thirty former players launch a landmark class action over the

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Speaker 2: impact of concussion.

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Speaker 1: Lawyers say the claim involve hundreds of former stars and

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Speaker 1: cost the league millions.

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Speaker 3: The case raises questions about what protections are available to

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Speaker 3: elite sports players as we learn more and more about

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Speaker 3: the long term risks of head injuries.

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Speaker 4: The early development of dementia due to a condition known

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Speaker 4: as CTE is now the most fear drisk for millions

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Speaker 4: of amateur and professional athletes across the globe.

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Speaker 3: So is the risk associated with contact sport just part

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Speaker 3: of the game, or do injured players deserve compensation. We're

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Speaker 3: going to discuss all of that in the Deep Dive.

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Speaker 3: But first, Sarah the headlines.

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Speaker 2: The federal government has announced plans to increase the tax

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Speaker 2: it collects from those with more than three million dollars

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Speaker 2: in their super accounts. If this legislation passes Parliament, ouzzies

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Speaker 2: with over three million dollars of super will be taxed

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Speaker 2: at thirty percent. That's up from the current fifteen percent

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Speaker 2: from the twenty twenty five to twenty six financial year.

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Speaker 2: And in case you were wondering, like me, how many

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Speaker 2: people have more than three million dollars in their super

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Speaker 2: it's less than one percent of assies who will be

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Speaker 2: impacted by these changes.

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Speaker 3: A push to bound the use of crystalline silica in

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Speaker 3: construction practices has been fast tracked by Australia's Workplace Relations

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Speaker 3: ministers who met yesterday to discuss the issue. Chrystline silica

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Speaker 3: is found in engineered stone products and can cause a

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Speaker 3: potentially deadly lung disease for people who inhale its dust particles.

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Speaker 3: We did a deep dive on the issue last week,

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Speaker 3: if you want to go back and have a listen.

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Speaker 2: Hong Kong will remove its mask mandate this week after

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Speaker 2: being in place for almost one thousand days. Hong Kong's

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Speaker 2: leader John Lee made the announcement this week, saying it

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Speaker 2: was the right time to end the mandate and that

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Speaker 2: it would send a clear message that Hong Kong would

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Speaker 2: be returning to normalcy.

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Speaker 3: And today's good news. The Northern Lights have been seen

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Speaker 3: in parts of southern England in a rare display this week.

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Speaker 3: Strong solar activity and clear skies allow the Northern Lights

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Speaker 3: to be visible. A group of former players from the

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Speaker 3: AFL men's and women's competitions are suing the league over

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Speaker 3: the long term effects of concussion injuries. This is the

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Speaker 3: first time a class action of this kind has been

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Speaker 3: brought against the AFL and I just wanted to remind

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Speaker 3: you before we go any further. A class action is

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Speaker 3: a lawsuit which is brought on behalf of a group

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Speaker 3: of people who are suing a defendant for the same

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Speaker 3: or pretty similar reasons.

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Speaker 2: I think if you haven't ever played sport before, the

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Speaker 2: idea of concussions and the severity at least of them

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Speaker 2: is quite a foreign concept. It is to me at

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Speaker 2: least can you talk me through what the actual health

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Speaker 2: risks associated with concussions are well.

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Speaker 3: What's first important to note is that a concussion is

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Speaker 3: not the same as getting knocked out. You don't necessarily

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Speaker 3: have to be unconscious to have sustained a concussion. You

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Speaker 3: can have a big knock to the head and be

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Speaker 3: feeling unwell, dizzy, won't be able to stand up properly,

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Speaker 3: blurred vision, and that can be a cussion without you

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Speaker 3: having lost consciousness at one point. And I guess that's

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Speaker 3: an important backdrop to say that everyone knows that contact

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Speaker 3: sport is rough. But what we're learning about now is

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Speaker 3: the severe long term health consequences from brain injuries sustained

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Speaker 3: in sport, and of particular concern is something called chronic

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Speaker 3: traumatic encephilothopy or CT, which is easier to say, and

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Speaker 3: it's a disease caused in part by repeated brain injuries. Now,

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Speaker 3: CTE symptoms only begin years after the injury is sustained,

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Speaker 3: so it might not be until years after or in

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Speaker 3: some cases, decades after an athlete has finished playing, that

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Speaker 3: they develop symptoms of ct Now where this presents a

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Speaker 3: particular blind spot for the AFL, but also for every

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Speaker 3: professional contact sport, is in how club doctors measure player

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Speaker 3: health for an upcoming game. Because the problem here is

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Speaker 3: that you can't immediately know what the long term impacts

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Speaker 3: of your concussion last weekend might be. And at the moment,

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Speaker 3: if the player can pass a concussion test and can

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Speaker 3: run and tackle and score and look fit, they're good

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Speaker 3: to play.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 3: The symptoms of CTA include things like mood swings, depression, paranoia,

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Speaker 3: and anxiety. Most patients with ct also go on to

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Speaker 3: experience progressive disorders of thinking and memory, and this includes

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Speaker 3: dementia and ct has been diagnosed in many former athletes

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Speaker 3: worldwide who have died by suicide. Now, one of the

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Speaker 3: difficulties in managing this particular disease is that right now

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Speaker 3: we can only diagnose it by autopsy after someone has died.

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Speaker 2: I remember hearing about this for the first time a

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Speaker 2: couple of years ago when Danny Frawley died and I

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Speaker 2: was having a conversation with my brother who is a psychologist,

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Speaker 2: because I had legitimately never heard of ct before. Have

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Speaker 2: there been many diagnosed, I guess public cases of CTE.

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Speaker 3: There have been a few, And you mentioned Danny Frawley.

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Speaker 3: He's the former sin Kilda player. He died in twenty

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Speaker 3: nineteen and he was diagnosed with ct after his death.

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Speaker 3: There was also former Richmond player and professional boxer Shane

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Speaker 3: Tuck who died in twenty twenty. He was also diagnosed

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Speaker 3: with CTE.

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Speaker 2: Those two cases seem fairly recent, so it does feel

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Speaker 2: like a more recent thing that we're hearing about it.

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Speaker 2: Definitely to come back to the story this week, and

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Speaker 2: the reason we're talking about it today is that former

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Speaker 2: footy players assuming the AFL over concussion injuries. While this

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Speaker 2: precedent for CTE, is there precedent for this sort of

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Speaker 2: legal action, Well.

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Speaker 3: We have to go overseas to find an example of

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Speaker 3: this kind of legal action. A high profile example that

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Speaker 3: comes to mind is one from about ten years ago

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Speaker 3: when the NFL in the US agreed to a financial

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Speaker 3: settlement after a class action was brought forward by thousands

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Speaker 3: of players over concussion injuries. The final settlement was worth

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Speaker 3: about one billion US dollars and the average payout for

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Speaker 3: players diagnosed with dementia was about six hundred thousand US dollars.

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Speaker 3: Now back here in Australia, we've heard a lot about

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Speaker 3: concusion issues in both the AFL and NRL, but this

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Speaker 3: is the first time there's been any sort of major

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Speaker 3: class action brought against either of the codes.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so we have to look overseas to find examples.

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Speaker 2: There's no domestic precedent. Do we have any understanding either

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Speaker 2: based on those overseas examples or what experts are saying

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Speaker 2: about how this case will actually fare about what's going

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Speaker 2: to happen.

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Speaker 3: Well, we've been hearing from the law firm that's going

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Speaker 3: to be representing these athletes. It's going to be margel

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Speaker 3: It injury lawyers. This was managing principle at the law firm,

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Speaker 3: Michelle Margolitt speaking on radio in Perth.

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Speaker 2: We continue to work with our clients to prepare their cases.

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Speaker 3: And to gather their evidence and then to finally lodge

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Speaker 3: the proceeding which should occur in the coming week. The

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Speaker 3: players are going to seek compensation for loss of earnings

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Speaker 3: and ongoing suffering due to their injuries, which margeal It

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Speaker 3: expects to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Speaker 2: Okay, and so they're suing the AFL. Has the AFL respondent.

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Speaker 3: Read out to them, and they told us that they

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Speaker 3: do take concussion and brain health very seriously and that

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Speaker 3: some of the changes in the game have reflected that

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Speaker 3: in recent times. We're talking about things like mandatory testing

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Speaker 3: for concussion and recovery periods. They also said that they've

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Speaker 3: strengthened the rules that penalize high contact and illegal tackles

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Speaker 3: that endanger the head. They're also considering financial assistance for

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Speaker 3: former players who are affected by serious injuries. But despite

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Speaker 3: all of this, concussion does continue to be a big

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Speaker 3: issue in the AFL. There's two current men's players, Adelaide's

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Speaker 3: Paul Seedsman and Brisbane's Marcus Adams, who are placed on

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Speaker 3: their club's inactive lists, which means they're likely not going

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Speaker 3: to play this year due to ongoing concussion symptoms. If

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Speaker 3: we zoom out, it's also worth mentioning that a parliamentary

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Speaker 3: inquiry into concussions and repeated head trauma in contact sport

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Speaker 3: is currently underway. It's still in the early stages, but

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Speaker 3: we should have a report from that in June, and

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Speaker 3: I think it's going to be very interesting to see

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Speaker 3: what it finds and recommends.

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Speaker 2: We'll be back right after this. So Sam I was

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Speaker 2: looking at our comments section over the weekend and we

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Speaker 2: posted about this story about AFL players suing the AFL,

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Speaker 2: and I was really interested by the comments. If I

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Speaker 2: read one of them out, it says, that's the risk

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Speaker 2: you take with playing the game. Another one said people

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Speaker 2: who play footy except that they're going to have bad

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Speaker 2: knees when they're older. Why they're not aware that in

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Speaker 2: a sport that has head knocks there will be no

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Speaker 2: ill effects. What would you say to that.

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Speaker 3: There's definitely a shift when you think about the AFL

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Speaker 3: as a workplace and this being a workplace injury and

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Speaker 3: this is their jobs and their livelihoods. There's also a

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Speaker 3: shift when you think about the fact that a lot

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Speaker 3: of players who are being diagnosed with CT today played

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Speaker 3: their professional sport decades ago, where we had less knowledge

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Speaker 3: about hand injuries.

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Speaker 2: So you're saying people if they had the knowledge now

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Speaker 2: might not enter that same sport or that same profession.

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Speaker 3: Definitely that we know from research that parents more sensitive

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Speaker 3: about their kids playing contact sport, and that there's more

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Speaker 3: provisions needed at a junior level to reassure parents that

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Speaker 3: their kids are going to be looked after, and also

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Speaker 3: that there's more structures around the players professionally. I mean

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Speaker 3: there's famous stories about rugby players in the seventies being

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Speaker 3: told to lead into tackles with their heads. So the

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Speaker 3: game has changed and our knowledge has changed due to science.

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Speaker 3: Ziral bring you those findings of the parliamentary inquiry and

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Speaker 3: the court case as they developed throughout the year.

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Speaker 2: This episode has dealt with some difficult content, so if

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Speaker 2: you need to talk about anything, it's raised for you,

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Speaker 2: you can give Lifeline a call. On thirteen eleven fourteen,

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Speaker 2: We're back again tomorrow for another episode of the Daily Os,

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Speaker 2: but until then, have a great day.