15 JULY, 2026
Staff go retro for Glasgow
Victoria University staff dress up for a Retro Sports Challenge ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. (Damjan Janevski) 563206_01
The 2026 Commonwealth Games might be happening in Glasgow instead of regional Victoria, but that hasn’t stopped staff at Victoria University (VU) from getting in the sporting mood. VU will host a number of activations and events in both the lead up to the games and then during the event itself from 23 July to 2 August. Come and try activities will give staff and students the chance to experience Commonwealth Games sports like wheelchair basketball, lawn bowls and weightlifting, while action from Glasgow will be shown on big screens atthe Footscray Park and City Tower campuses. Some activities have already begun, with VU staff dressing up as Commonwealth Games heroes of the past for the Retro Sports Challenge on Tuesday 14 July. In teams of six, staff competed in activities like tunnel ball, hula hoop pass and bean bag relays. Director of the thrive wellbeing program at VU, Rohenna Young, said the Retro Sports Challenge was fi rst held in 2024. “It was such a hit that we thought we would replicate it in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games,” Ms Young said.
Cancer cash wait By Cade Lucas A Derrimut father battling brain cancer has slammed online fundraising platform GoFundMe for taking nearly two weeks to transfer $25,000 worth of donations to help pay for his treatment. Peter Navascues launched the fundraising page on 19 June after being diagnosed with a Grade 4 glioblastoma, the most deadly type of brain tumour that kills most patients within 12-18 months. The GoFundMe page quickly attracted thousands of dollars in donations and with the Yarra Trams employee unable to work, only some of his treatment covered by Medicare and with a wife and two children
to still support, he sought to access the funds on Sunday 28 June. “I’m chewing through my savings like there’s no tomorrow,” Mr Navascues said, pointing to the cost of extra treatments like hyperbaric therapy and naturopathy aimed at increasing his very low chances of survival, as a big reason why. “I’ve spent about $6k this week out of pocket on all my treatments.” But despite the amount of money donated towards Mr Navascues and his obvious need for it, it wasn’t until Saturday 11 July that it fi nally landed in his bank account “I was so relieved I could’ve cried mate,” he said of the moment the transfer went through after being made to wait more
than three times longer than expected. “It said three (business) days and it took 11,” Mr Navascues said of the delay which he blamed on GoFundMe’s customer service, or lack thereof. “It was all just AI.” When his money didn’t arrive as expected, Mr Navascues said his inquiries to GoFundMe were met with AI responses that were not only unhelpful, but for someone with failing eyesight due to brain tumours, hard for him to read. When he put this to the AI assistant, the response was even less helpful. “They said ask someone to read it out to you,” Mr Navascues said, adding that when he fi nally did get to speak to a real person
from the company last week, it didn’t go much better. “I actually got through to a human who couldn’t help me.” The only message Mr Navascues did get from the company was that his request for the money to be transferred was “pending verification” leading him to believe that the issue could’ve been a discrepancy in his initials on the ID documents he’d provided. “With the driver’s licence in Australia, your middle name is an initial but then your bank statement will have your full name, it has to match 100 per cent,” Mr Navascues said. Continued: Page 4.
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