Dr Lance O'Sullivan: It was when my daughter got sick that I realised how important immunisation is
Dr Lance O'Sullivan writes from the heart, and from the head: "It was 1996 and we were young parents. I was at medical school when I came upon an anti-immunisation pamphlet left in one of our lecture theatres.
"I was suspicious of the establishment at the time. You need to understand, I had grown up a welfare-dependent "half-caste" (I hate that term) boy living with his mother, escaping from a life of alcohol, crime and a level of violence that I would not tolerate for my daughters. An under-achiever, I was expelled from two secondary schools. I feel I had a reason to be angry at "the system".
"Then I became a father. It changed my life. I needed to be a responsible adult caring for a son, then a daughter – eventually seven children. We were young parents and wanted to do only the best for these precious beings.
"I read the pamphlet. It described "studies" in the Netherlands into communities that didn't look like mine, but I took little persuasion. I stated our second child, our little daughter Te Miringa, would not be immunised.
"At the time my wife Tracy was working as a nurse at the local medical centre and immunising children daily. Yet this was my protest against the establishment that I so mistrusted.
"Fifteen months later, we had a scare. Te Miringa became unwell with high fever and a body rash and the doctors were concerned as there was a measles outbreak locally. And I realised the information from the Netherlands did not reflect my reality.
"We got Te Miringa immunised."
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Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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52.5% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.8% Critical thinking
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29.6% Resilience and adaptability
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3.1% Other - I will share below!
Brain Teaser of the Day 🧠✨ Can You Solve It? 🤔💬
Make a hearty dish. Take just half a minute. Add four parts of kestrel. Then just add one. What have you made?
(Trev from Silverdale kindly provided this head-scratcher ... thanks, Trev!)
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm on the day!
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Boundaries of Adaptation - An exhibition by Nina Bulgakova
Boundaries of Adaptation
An exhibition by Nina Bulgakova
28 February - 18 March
Community Gallery Space - Franklin Arts Centre
Opening Event: Saturday 28 February, 10am
Adaptation is often understood as the ability to adjust to an environment, to accept its conditions and become less visible within it. In this body of work, the focus shifts to a different moment, the point at which adaptation reaches its limit and begins to form a boundary.
This boundary is not a gesture of refusal or isolation. It appears as a need to define how interaction with the outside world takes place. Not to shut it out, but to stay in contact while maintaining a sense of stability. Here, the boundary is not an opposition, but a way of reaching agreement.
The works take the form of wall-mounted sculptural objects, where the boundary becomes material and physically present. Within these objects, it is expressed through weight, density, surface, and tension of form, shifting from an abstract idea into a direct experience.
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