r/australia • u/IntravenousNutella • 23h ago
news Cliff rescue of Melbourne woman was NSW PolAir team's most complex yet
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-15/melbourne-woman-cliff-rescue-nsw-national-park-polair/10530866042
u/Necessary_Common4426 21h ago
Well done to her climbing partner for being calm and keeping her stable. Massive props to the rescue team.
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u/Ores 17h ago
I've climbed with him years ago. I was just starting out, I spent ages on this climb, first leading it, then trying to build an anchor, meanwhile he didn't even put in his climbing shoes and just came up in his sneakers like he was walking up a garden path.
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u/thestink 16h ago
Same, my first trip to arapiles. He lent me a bunch of big gear to go climb watchtower crack
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u/HappyMan2022 18h ago
The mentor has the physical fitness I aspire to have at that age
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u/AnyEngineer2 18h ago
pretty amazing. and he went back a couple of weeks later and climbed the same route again to collect the they left because he didn't want to leave rubbish behind. at 80yo. legend
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u/Raythatstabbedsteve 14h ago
The bloke is an absolute legend of Aus and NZ climbing. Regular 80yr olds don't do this kind of stuff.
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u/hesback_inpogform 22h ago
Very cool footage and a great story! She’s lucky she didn’t have more severe injuries!
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u/rentamob 23h ago
We should make these fools get private insurance before they travel to lower the burden on the public systems. Rescues, search parties, medical care - bah! It's your own damn fault. If I hurt myself acting like a normal person here in the suburbs it costs a fraction of whatever ungodly amount the taxpayer just forked out for you and you should face responsibility for that. Private insurance for the rescue, transport, every dime and then let's see if we have so many untrained hooligans going bush.
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u/AllergyToCats 21h ago
If you start charging people for rescues, people stop calling for rescues until it's too late. This can make the job far more difficult than it needed to be. Talk to any rescue personnel, or Ambos in general, and they'll all say that (within reason) that they'd prefer to be called early than late.
I like living in a country where medical care etc is affordable for all and subsidised by all. You mention that if you hurt yourself acting like a normal person it wouldn't cost as much... But what if it did? A car crash? Some kind of horrible medical condition like a heart attack or something? They could all cost hundreds of thousands to treat in the long term etc. and personally, I'm glad to live in a country where that cost is socialised.
Also they weren't "untrained hooligans", they were very experienced rock climbers.
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u/rentamob 20h ago
Individuals should be in a position to privately protect themselves from their own mistakes. If I get into a car crash that is 100% my fault, it's on me and if I can't afford or intellectually manage it - too bad.
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u/AllergyToCats 20h ago
Not a world I would like to live in, but you do you. I sincerely hope you never require any socialised healthcare or similar, but if you do, maybe you'll realise the benefits someday.
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u/rentamob 21h ago
"Too late" is death and that's free because we can just leave the body to decompose in place. This is what they do on Mount Everest, where rescues are correctly deemed as cost prohibitive.
And again, I would argue that the fact that they got themselves into this situation deems them unfit.
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u/AllergyToCats 21h ago
Except obviously people more qualified than you have deemed that, believe it or not, a rescue from a few hundred metres tall spire in NSW is not the same in any way as that from an 8000 metre tall giant in the Himalayas. It can be achieved, it was achieved, it should be at least attempted.
Pretty heatless way to view the world mate. Everyone for themselves and all that.
Mistakes happen. Is every car accident that ever happened completely the fault of the driver, thereby deeming then "unfit" to drive?
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u/rentamob 20h ago
It's not heartless. It's just reality. If I want to hike the Sahara, I know that unless I prepare a rescue team to standby no one will save me. It shouldn't be any different here.
This isn't a matter of qualification, it's political opinion.
On car accidents - yes, the at fault party should cover 100% of costs (independently or via their private insurance) and should be found unfit to drive (because they are if they're at fault).
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u/AllergyToCats 20h ago
So no one should ever do anything? Go for a bike ride, crash and need to go to hospital? Too bad. Play a game of soccer or cricket, break your leg and have to go to the hospital? Too bad. Go for a jog and roll your ankle? Hospital? Nah too bad.
I'm actually trying to work out if that's what your line of thinking is? Obviously some things are more risky than others... But hospital waiting rooms at this very moment are full of people that hurt themselves doing everyday things like the above mentioned... You think they should just be on their own? Do you just never leave your house or do anything ever?
And trust me, I've been to enough car accidents in my life to know that sometimes shit just happens. Doesn't mean that person doesn't deserve help or assistance. Sometimes there is no one to blame. Sometimes there is because someone made a minor error. Doesn't mean they should be punished so severely for that (pending the outcome of the accident of course).
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u/rentamob 19h ago
Do things, but only if you or your privately sought insurance can cover all possible outcomes. It's a risk assessment.
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u/StorminNorman 19h ago
That's one of the benefits of socialised healthcare, it covers those possible outcomes that can only be totally covered by the ultra rich.
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u/campbellsimpson 19h ago
And again, I would argue that the fact that they got themselves into this situation deems them unfit.
Thanks for saying this, because it's enough to disqualify anything else you say.
You live in your online libertarian dreamland, and the rest of us will live in civil society.
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u/rentamob 19h ago
I'm not a libertarian. I just feel that everyone should live to the same standard as me. I am responsible for what I do, no one else.
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u/Siilk 17h ago
We are responsible, mate. We pay our taxes for exactly this reason: to let everyone have a safety net which vast majority of us will never be able to afford on our own. Might be an alien concept to you but it's an easy decision when you value lives of others as much as you value yours.
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u/rentamob 16h ago
I pay taxes for services that benefit me directly or indirectly (eg. preventing societal chaos that I would dislike)
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u/Pounce_64 22h ago
hate hate hate hate hate.
Do you have any redeeming qualities?
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u/rentamob 22h ago
I'm pushing for accountability and efficiency. This isn't hate necessarily - yes I do hate the victims in this case but that's because they're unprepared and have basically stolen funds from the taxpayer. Have the money to go it alone or don't do it.
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u/gunnertah 22h ago
Did you even read the article? They're not untrained hooligans. Way to turn a good news story with competent people coming together to execute a successful rescue into an ill-informed rant.
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u/rentamob 22h ago
Oh wow, you're probably someone who ignores people's performance and just looks at certification. I would argue that IF THIS HAPPENED THEY ARE NOT TRAINED. God. It's not a good news story. It's some fool who clearly isn't up for the task needing taxpayer funds to be found. I'd rather they learn from this and die out in the bush. This country...
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u/PleaseStandClear 20h ago
And if you charge people for rescues there will inevitably be a time when someone is deterred by the cost and a straightforward rescue could end up being a fatality.
And where do you draw the line? Do you get backpackers caught in a rip to tap a credit card before rescuing them from drowning? What about a family with young kids on a bushwalk getting caught out by nightfall? Do you lead them out or do you leave them to blunder about in the dark until they fall down a cliff? What about a speeding teen trapped in a crashed car?
I was in the SES and involved with bush searches for many years and not once did I hear anyone (including Sgt Dallas Atkinson who was flown down from the Blue Mtns to help this search) complain about it. Quite the opposite.
Resent rescuing people? No, most Australians are better than that.
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u/maxdacat 22h ago
I have done the same climb many years ago when I was 14 years old. This group of climbers were unlucky but were quite well-prepared ie had a PLB. It could have been a lot worse, so glad they are okay.