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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Graham Readfearn, Josh Taylor and Amy Remeikis

Fifth Covid-19 death at Sydney aged care home – as it happened

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Friday's Covid-19 news roundup

We’re closing our live coronavirus coverage for the day.

Thanks from me, Graham Readfearn, and from my colleagues Josh Taylor and Amy Remeikis. You can still follow events elsewhere on the Guardian’s global live blog. We’ll be back tomorrow with more live coverage.

Here’s a summary of the day:

  • Australia’s death toll from coronavirus rose to 79. Tasmania, Western Australia and New South Wales each announced a death. New case numbers remained low and Tasmania recorded no new cases for the first time in three weeks.
  • Newmarch House in western Sydney announced a fifth death at the aged care facility.
  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, warned aged care providers to loosen restrictions or face stronger regulation.
  • Testing criteria is being broadened across the country.
  • Community sport could be one of the earliest activities to see restrictions lifted or eased. The national cabinet is working on a set of national principles to allow that to happen.
  • Perth airport blocked four Virgin planes from being moved because the airline owes it $16m in airfield and terminal use fees.

Stay safe and thanks again for being with us.

Updated

Jimmy Barnes took a night off last night, but he’s back with more music from his lounge room.

It’s a cover of the 1963 Burt Bacharach and Hal David song (They Long to Be) Close to You, most famously recorded by the Carpenters in 1970.

Updated

Night has fallen now across the entire continent.

Usually hundreds of thousands of Australians would be up before sunrise tomorrow to join Anzac day dawn services and to honour those who serve and have served. But coronavirus means this year will be different.

There won’t be any local marches or public services, but people will still be able to watch ceremonies live streamed from state RSL websites and on the ABC and other networks.

But you can still take part if you choose to and RSL branches want people to still stand and remember at 6am, either in their homes, on their driveways, in their gardens or anywhere they’re allowed to go.

Prof Frank Bongiorno, historian at Australian National University, wrote on the Guardian earlier today that the lack of public ceremony will represent a return to Anzac days of decades long gone.

While the day has had its elements of public ritual since 1916, much early Anzac Day commemoration was private rather than public, sometimes conducted at the gravesides of Australian soldiers buried in cemeteries in Britain and Australia. Women were prominent in these efforts, honouring the memories of men they might or might not have known by placing flowers on their tombs.

There are other echoes of the past. Anzac Day in 1919 was also disrupted by a major crisis in public health. In New South Wales, where the rate of infection from Spanish influenza was high and the number of deaths – approaching 1,000 by Anzac Day – was alarming, the government had banned public meetings.

“This year we may not stand shoulder to shoulder, but let us stand together in that spirit.”

Updated

Several key developments emerged from the national cabinet meeting earlier today.

Rules around aged care visits, hopes for a restart of community sport, clarification on jobkeeper payments and a repeat of medical advice for school classrooms all made for a busy day.

My colleagues Daniel Hurst and Paul Karp have wrapped all the important details here.

Updated

Australia’s total death toll from Covid-19 is now at 79 with another death confirmed an hour ago at a western Sydney aged care home.

We told you about the death of a 96-year-old woman at the Newmarch House aged care facility, who was the third death confirmed today.

A 79-year-old woman, who had been diagnosed with Covid-19, died overnight in Tasmania. A man in his 70s died overnight in Western Australia.

Here are the daily new case counts as confirmed by states and territories.

South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have seen zero new cases.

The ACT recorded 1 new case, Queensland 2, Western Australia 2, Victoria 6 and New South Wales recorded 7.

Earlier today Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration issued infringement notices of $25,200 to celebrity chef Pete Evans, who claimed a fancy light box –sorry, “subtle energy platform” – could help treat coronavirus.

The BioCharger NG Subtle Energy Platform was yours for just $14,990 from chef Pete.

The president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Harry Nespolon, has some comments about the fines.

This celebrity chef can carry on all he likes about ‘activated almonds’ and whatever latest fad excites him but he should steer clear of health advice, particularly when it comes to something as serious as Covid-19.

I welcome this decision and I hope that it gives pause for thought for anyone taking advantage of this pandemic to spread false and misleading nonsense on social media.

I encourage all Australians to ignore his social media content. Please listen to the experts including your GP, we have your best interests at heart and we are doing all we can.

As I have stated previously this ‘light machine’ doesn’t do anything but drain your wallet. However, the problem is that it may lull people into a false sense of security which means they don’t act as cautiously as they otherwise would on responsibilities such as social distancing.

Updated

The various interested parties in the world of broadcasting professional rugby league are creeping closer to agreement.

NRL broadcasters and the Australian Rugby League Commission have been in talks this afternoon. They’ve agreed the competition will start on 28 may, but AAP reports they still haven’t agreed the structure.

From AAP:

NRL television broadcasters Channel Nine and Foxtel have agreed to recognise May 28 as the competition recommencement date following extensive meetings.

On Friday evening, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys confirmed to AAP that the NRL and broadcasters would finalise a competition structure early next week, as both parties want different outcomes.

“We were all united on the 28th May start. But just the competition structure we need a little more time, but we definitely announce it early next week,” he said.

Fifth death confirmed at Newmarch House aged care home

A 96-year-old woman who had tested positive for Covid-19 has died at Newmarch House in western Sydney – the fifth death at the aged care home.

Anglicare Sydney has confirmed the sad news in a statement, saying the woman had “multiple health issues”.

Grant Millard, CEO of Anglicare Sydney, said:

I am thankful that a close relative was able to visit her last night before she died.

We grieve with the family, our staff who have cared for her, other residents who have come to know her, and everyone who has been thinking and praying for us during this difficult time.

Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers.

Anglicare’s Newmarch House
Anglicare’s Newmarch House Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Updated

Schools in NSW go back next week under a model that has students in classrooms for a day a week, starting in week two.

Craig Petersen, the acting president of the New South Wales Secondary Principals’ Council, is talking to the ABC.

He says last night the NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant gave a briefing and “it’s quite clear that the transmission rate between children is absolutely negligible”. Petersen said:

That is reassuring but we also have staff to consider and we do have a number of staff in schools who are aged or have underlying health conditions so we look how we can maintain that. The logistics of returning to school is something the principals will work hard and how to cater for HSC students ....

And the reality is that any staggered return to school is going to be fraught with difficulty. We are really concerned about our HSC students, this is a big year for them and we want to minimise the disruption to their education and get them back on track as soon as we can but not losing track with other students. Some colleagues are working out how to get year 12 back more often than that, maybe 4 or five days out of the week in the early stages but it will depend on the local context and what is working for the students now.

Updated

So it’s been pointed out to me that when the prime minister spoke earlier today about how the four square metre distancing rule didn’t apply to classrooms, this shouldn’t be a huge surprise.

Chiefly, because he has said it before – on 21 April, he said:

On schools, national cabinet was keen to reinforce the point as was made last week that the health advice is not, is not, in relation to schools that a four square metre per person rule be enforced in classrooms. That is not the advice of the medical expert panel and any suggestion that this is a requirement for schools is not the case.

To be fair, the PM didn’t mention the 1.5 metre social distancing rule on 21 April, and he did today. But it’s also clear that classrooms haven’t been the subject of the same health advice as other situations for some time.

Updated

Sydney beaches at Coogee, Maroubra and Clovelly will open on Saturday and Sunday morning for three hours, but only if people are there to exercise.

Between 6am and 9am, surfing, swimming and running is in. Hanging out and watching the world go by, isn’t.

Randwick City Council said it would would reassess the situation on Monday. In a statement, the council said:

All other unpatrolled beaches in Randwick City will remain closed until further notice. These beaches include Gordon’s Bay, Malabar beach, Little Bay beach, Frenchmans beach, Yarra Bay and Congwong beach.

Ocean rock pools in Randwick City will remain closed until further notice as they are subject to a public health order to close.

Graham Readfearn here taking you through the rest of the day in coronavirus-related news.

Earlier today, home affairs minister Peter Dutton had a crack at the Queensland government, saying kids in his state should be back at school.

The reason they weren’t, claimed Dutton, was because premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was “running scared of the militant” Queensland Teachers’ Union.

Well, QTU president Kevin Bates has just been talking to the ABC. An announcement earlier today from the national cabinet that the 1.5 metre distancing rule should no longer apply to schools has thrown the union’s position in the air.

Bates said that the union “had not formed a position” on whether there could be return to full schooling before the end of this current term, which is finishing its first week today.

If you had asked me that question yesterday, I would have potentially given you a different answer, because today the 1.5m social distancing rule has just disappeared. So you know, we’ve got this roller-coaster ride of changing conditions – we’re not making a decision on this in Queensland until the end of the next fortnight.

We would need to look at all of the circumstances that are in play at that time to make a good decision about what the second half of the term would look like.

Bates responded to the accusation his union was running the show saying they were only one of “almost 80 people” who were meeting almost daily for stakeholder meetings with the state’s Department of Education

We are one of the stakeholders, we are a major stakeholder, we represent 48,000 teachers and principals in Queensland, but our voice is not the only one and the government obviously listens to what we have to say, and then they make their own decisions. We don’t always agree with everything they decide and this is one of those cases. But we are working with the government as we look towards what might happen in the second half of the term.

Updated

I am now handing over to my colleague, Graham Readfearn, to take you through the evening.

Police were forced to break up a protest against 5G in Mullumbimby in NSW due to the coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings.

Around 100 people, seemingly unaware of the potential dangers of contracting coronavirus in large gatherings, were incorrectly claiming that 5G can affect immunity.

“Especially in this age of coronavirus, you want to have your immunity as strong as you can,” 7News reported one of the protestors saying.

Updated

We’ve confirmed, as the prime minister said earlier, that Amazon Web Services will host the data from the app within Australia (Sydney area to be exact).

There’s been a lot of people quite concerned about using an American company for this, because of a US law that can force US-based companies to provide data they hold, even if they’re not located there.

We’ll have more on that later, but government services minister Stuart Robert has said new laws will be enacted to make it a crime for Amazon to take the data overseas.

“Keeping Australian data in Australia will be guaranteed through a determination through the Biosecurity Act and legislation. It will be a criminal offence to transfer data to any country other than Australia. A penalty of imprisonment for five years and/or 300 penalty units ($63,000) could apply to breaches of the direction,” he said.

“The highly secure information storage system keys will be managed through Amazon Web Services’ Key Management System (KMS), a widely used security service that has been previously assessed by the ACSC.

“This is exactly the same way the Australian government already uses AWS for many other agencies, including the work of our intelligence agencies, including ASD, and ensures Australian data stays in Australia.”

One point, he said, was that Australia hadn’t signed up to participate in the US Cloud Act yet – except there is currently legislation before parliament to do just that. So more to come on this.

Updated

In case you forgot, avid carnivore Pete Evans was recently seen promoting this Tardis console panel-looking device as a potential treatment for coronavirus.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has now fined Evans $25,200 (or roughly the cost of 1.5 of these machines) for claiming it could be used for coronavirus treatment.

The TGA found there was “no foundation” to these claims.

There were two infringement notices issued. One for the coronavirus claims, and one for the other claims made for this Back to the Future-looking device, including that it could “restore strength, stamina, coordination and mental clarity”.

“As the BioCharger device has been represented by the company as being for therapeutic uses, it is a therapeutic good within the meaning of the act, and is subject to the regulatory framework established under the act and administered by the TGA,” the TGA said.

“Unless a specific exemption applies, therapeutic goods must be entered in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) before they can be lawfully supplied or advertised in Australia.”

Updated

The emergency laws that passed Victorian parliament yesterday as part of the state’s response to the coronavirus should be overseen by an independent committee, human rights commissioner Kristen HIlton has said.

Hilton, who is the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, said some of the measures introduced in the Covid-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Act 2020 would have an impact on human rights, particularly changes relating to the management of prisons, the restriction of visitors, and changes to the way court proceedings are carried out.

She said those impacts were reasonable but must be closely monitored. “During a state of emergency, some limitations on human rights may be unavoidable – and these are not decisions we can take lightly. Any restriction on human rights must be necessary, justifiable, proportionate and time-bound,” Hilton said.

She added: “The government should establish an independent committee to scrutinise the response, that is informed by human rights expertise and can hear directly from the public. This is critical in maintaining public confidence and transparency.”

The Victorian opposition called for the establishment of such a committee, but the deputy Nationals leader, Steph Ryan, said the government refused to establish a committee with a non-government majority.

Hilton said the Victorian Government had filed a statement of compatibility, to show that the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities had been carefully considered in the drafting of the laws, but that did not do away with the need for continual monitoring and independent oversight.

Updated

Perth airport blocks four Virgin planes over $16m debt

Perth airport says it has blocked four Virgin planes from being moved because the airline owes it $16m in airfield and terminal use fees.

An airport spokeswoman said Qantas has also “unilaterally” refused to pay $20m in fees, although there’s no sign of any bulldozers in front of jets sporting the flying kangaroo yet.

The spokeswoman said: “Virgin has significant outstanding invoices from Perth airport for airfield and terminal use charges – money the airline has already collected from its passengers and the FIFO sector.

“While Perth airport is working with the Virgin administrators, it also needs to protect its own interests.

“Perth airport has taken liens over a number of Virgin aircraft – a standard practice in these situations.”

The terminal Virgin usually uses,T1, is closed and the planes in question aren’t currently in use due to the coronavirus crisis.

But Virgin continues to operate charter flights from T2 for the Fifo – fly-in-fly-out – workers in Western Australia’s mining industry.

Updated

Labor leader Anthony Albanese says privacy concerns about the contact tracing app need to be addressed.

He says the parliament will also scrutinise the legislation supporting the app.

“We will be scrutinising the legislation carefully that the government has said they will provide it to us in advance and we will be ensuring that privacy concerns are met. It can be, obviously, a very useful tool. The medical experts have said that.”

He says the parliamentary committees should have access to the legislation before it hits parliament to speed up the process of passing it in the second week of May.

Updated

Gilbert ends the interview by saying Australia’s in a very good position in dealing with coronavirus.

“Better than most, let’s keep it that way,” Morrison replies.

Morrison won’t be drawn on whether the government will consider broadening or raising the GST as part of the rebound effort post coronavirus pandemic.

He says everything should be on the table, but the goal should be jobs, investment and growth.

“You don’t have to put people’s taxes up,” he says.

On the contact tracing app, Morrison says people should not be worried about it.

“This has one job and that is to help that health officer sitting in that office in Sydney or Melbourne...”

He compares it to the manual contact tracing method (which relies on human memory, not a recorded list of everyone you’ve been around).

“We’ve put the protections in place. You download the app, you’re making yourself safer, you’re making your family safer, and you’re making the community safer.”

He says it is up to Australians to get to that 40% uptake, and he says he will be downloading the app himself.

The app will be out “very soon”, he says.

Updated

“It is hurting, it is hurting hard,” Morrison says, about the economic impact.

Yes there are another three weeks before restrictions will be potentially eased, but states are moving already.

He says if they can do it even a day earlier they will, but he doesn’t want to open everything up and then have to close it down again, which would cost more.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Prime minister Scott Morrison is being interviewed by Sky News’ Kieran Gilbert.

Morrison says Australia is in a much better position now than the national cabinet thought we would be when it was first convened.

He says it is “possible” to eliminate coronavirus entirely, but an eradication strategy is “everyone getting under the doona and not getting out” and you can’t run a country like that.

On that note, I will hand you over to Josh Taylor for the next little bit.

Thank you again for joining us this week. It means a lot. Stay well this weekend – and take care of you.

Aged care minister Richard Colbeck has put out a statement on the aged care edicts Scott Morrison was talking about:

Aged care minister Richard Colbeck says while providers shared a responsibility to protect the wellbeing of senior Australians in care, total lockdowns of facilities were not supported by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) or the national cabinet.

It follows calls by Prime Minister Scott Morrison who reminded providers not to impose tougher visitor restrictions.

Age care providers that wish to have an exemption from the national arrangements should seek authority through the commonwealth.

... But Minister Colbeck said the call to work to the AHPPC recommendations was not a green light to go back to pre-Covid visitation routines.

It is also recommended that all aged care workers and visitors have their flu vaccinations by 1 May.

Updated

Anthony Albanese will hold his press conference at 3.20pm

You may have seen the prime minister and the chief medical officer talk about masks as part of that press conference about an hour or so ago.

Labor’s Andrew Leigh says they need to be made available to charities, writing to Greg Hunt to ask the government to provide them:

I note recent reports that the government has been able to replenish stockpiles of personal protective equipment.

Australian charities are working hard to maintain vital services to vulnerable Australians – providing, for example, acute mental health support, emergency relief and disability support – and in many cases are facing increased costs to provide staff and volunteers with appropriate protective equipment.

Services provided by frontline charities will have increasing importance to the community as physical distancing measures continue. Yet at a time when demand on many services is increasing, donations and program-based revenue is falling. On top of this financial strain, the need to provide adequate safety equipment has left many charities with a choice of
either spending scarce resources to purchase personal protective equipment at a commercial rate in a sellers’ market, or discontinuing services in spite of increased demand.

While our healthcare workers rightly have the highest priority claim on the commonwealth’s reserves of personal protective equipment, I urge you to work with representatives in the charity and community sector to create pathways for not-for-profit providers of vital support services to get access to stockpiled equipment.

These organisations are playing an important role in keeping vulnerable Australians healthy and socially connected. Supporting expert service providers to stay active in our communities will be beneficial for all.

And it is not just charities. Aged care “in house” workers – who may not be nurses, but take care of the showering and feeding needs, or in some cases go into people’s homes for community care, are also crying out for masks. One of the issues with aged care is the tight margins facilities operate with, so that is not only impacting staffing levels, but also, the equipment being provided.

Updated

It’s not just Coogee – Maroubra and Clovelly have been closed again, as well.

The restrictions have impacted a lot of people’s lives in ways you wouldn’t think of, until you are experiencing it yourself.

Here is another way I know a lot of families are dealing with right now

The ACCC says 7-Eleven stores do not have to be trading 7-Eleven (or any other hours) if they don’t want to:

7-Eleven and its franchisees have been granted conditional interim authorisation to discuss potential temporary store closures or reduced trading hours in light of reduced customer demand because of Covid-19 restrictions.

7-Eleven owns and operates stores in competition with its franchisees in some areas and therefore discussions and agreements between them risk breaching the competition laws.

“We recognise that 7-Eleven and its franchisees are facing difficult trading conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and believe this cooperation could help the network and individual stores to remain viable,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

“Importantly, franchisees are not required to temporarily close or reduce their store hours if they do not wish to. Our decision to grant interim authorisation does not force franchisees to agree to the terms offered by 7-Eleven.”

Franchisees that agree to close temporarily will receive an ex-gratia payment from 7-Eleven to cover certain unavoidable operational costs. For franchisees that agree to reduce their hours, the minimum guaranteed income that the franchisee receives from 7-Eleven would be pro-rata adjusted to reflect the temporary reduction in trading hours.

Updated

The Law Council still has some reservations about the tracing app, and has suggested the government adhere to some principles to make everyone feel a little better about it:

With the government’s Covid-19 tracing app in development, the Law Council of Australia is calling for the adoption of core design principles to be included within the legislative framework, designed to govern the operation of the app.

Placing the app on legislative foundations will ensure that the parameters for the app’s use are clear, certain, legally effective and not susceptible to removal or amendment by unilateral executive action.

... The series of core principles include clear governing laws and administrative frameworks, adoption of a voluntary ‘opt-in’ model, limitations on the collection of users’ personal information, a prohibition on any secondary use or disclosure of information collected by the app, security of personal information, and limited use of de-identified information for specified public health purposes amongst others. See the Core Principles document.

Updated

If you need even more Scott Morrison on your Friday, he will be on Sky News at 3pm.

Here is what Coogee beach looked like this morning, before it was closed again.

Mounted police patrolling Coogee beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Friday morning. The beach was later closed.
Mounted police patrolling Coogee beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Friday morning. The beach was later closed. Photograph: Patrick Keneally/The Guardian

Updated

Prof Brendan Murphy barely contained his laughter when asked about this. And then remembered he was on national television

Updated

The prime minister finishes his press conference by effectively saying he expects everyone to be out on their driveways at dawn, for the Anzac dawn service.

Other than that, I will see everyone tomorrow morning at 5.30. I will be at the national War Memorial. Everyone else will be at home.

At 6.00 I look forward to the entire nation, on their driveways, lighting up the dawn, remembering our heroes and drawing inspiration from them for the task and challenge we currently face. Thank you very much.

Updated

Scott Morrison finishes his press conference with a reminder that parliament is returning on 12, 14 and 13 May.

I met with the opposition last night, our regular weekly get-together. On the Wednesday of that week, there will also be the Federation Chamber operating in the House of Representatives. The arrangements that we’ve had in place for the other days of sittings will be pursued when we return in more or less the same form, ensuring the chamber operates with the appropriate social distancing. But I anticipate we’ll see a lot more members back in the Parliament House, but obviously they can’t all be in the chamber at the one time.

Or, indeed, in the Federation Chamber at the one time. The business of the parliament in that week, it will be the ordinary business of the parliament.

Updated

The ACT has recorded one new case of Covid-19 in the past 14 hours.

Authorities are working out how he contracted the virus.

Updated

And then the nation gets another dose of guilt about civic duty when it comes to the tracing app, as Scott Morrison talks about how the national cabinet is looking at lifting the restrictions:

What we also want to be careful of, and this is why we’re doing it in a very sort of incremental, iterative way as a national cabinet, is what we don’t want to see is a stop-start approach to our road back.

This is why getting in place the sentinel testing, the testing regime, the contact tracing, which is very much helped by this app, this health app, a public health app that helps health workers help you, we need this so we can have the protections in place for you, your family, so you can get back to work, so you can get your kids back to school, so you can get back into community sport – that is what this app helps you do. That’s what it’s designed to do.

That’s why we’ve been so direct about it and so careful about its construction and the protections that are there.

And to have this, as you say in your question, this rapid response that can deal with the condition on the ground, of course there will be outbreaks.

I think we can anticipate that. But where you have the response capability and the AUSMAT teams and other quite well-trained and highly qualified people to go and seal off those outbreaks, then you can keep the rest of the country moving at the same time.

That is our much preferred position. You know, you don’t want to go on a stop-start basis, and that’s why you’ve gotta be careful when you come to relax some of these restrictions.

Updated

On why he wants people back in workplaces, Scott Morrison says:

I would love to see a return to normal right across the board. Of course we want to see that.

And that includes people going to work in offices.

And that’s an important part of how our economy functions. I mean, there are some people who can work from home, and for whom this period of time has been less of an inconvenience to them than it has to many others.

But I can – I’m sure you’d know that if you’re a parent at home, trying to work from home and you’ve also got the kids at home, and they’re trying to learn, it’s not working too well for you. And your productivity isn’t doing too well either. And so when we can get back to the point where we can have kids back at school, and we can get people back at work, then I think we’re gonna see that also lift our economy in ways that we very much need.

Because we want our economy to support businesses and jobs, not government through subsidies and income support payments and things of that nature. I mean, our social security net will always be there for those who need it.

But our preference and priority is always to ensure that our economy is what supports people’s livelihoods. And that’s what we need again.

Updated

Prof Brendan Murphy is barely holding back incredulous laughter when asked if anyone should follow Donald Trump’s latest brain fart about dealing with the coronavirus – which was basically injecting disinfectant (kill it with bleach! and yourself!) and blasting yourself with massive amounts of UV light (kill it by giving yourself cancer!).

Murphy:

Um ... I would not ... I would caution against the injection of disinfection! They could be quite toxic to people. I wasn’t privy to his comments, so I want to be very careful about commenting on something that I didn’t hear myself. And ultraviolet light, look, I don’t know the context in which he said it, so I really would need to study it before I could comment, thank you.

My dad used to clean my cuts with Pine-o-cleen because it saved money and he figured one disinfectant was as good as another, but even he would draw the line at injecting it.

Updated

On the issues with the implementation of the jobkeeper wage subsidy, Scott Morrison says it is something which is being addressed:

We’re working closely, as the treasurer is, in particular, as is the tax commissioner, on the implementation issues around jobkeeper. And let’s also remember that where jobkeeper doesn’t apply, jobseeker does kick in.

So, these two work together, and that’s always been important. Jobkeeper was never intended to be a catch-all for every Australian worker, or a worker who had their hours significantly reduced or, indeed, was stood down. It was intended to be there as an important element of the income support that we put in place, and the lifeline to businesses and to keep people connected to businesses. But where that can’t be in place because of arrangements that we’ve set to ensure that we manage these issues well, not just administratively but fiscally, then jobseeker is available.

As I said, we’re approaching now almost 600,000 claims for jobseeker over these last five or so weeks, which has been quite an effort on their part. And, again, I thank those who have made claims, and those who are still awaiting for their claims to be processed for their patience.

Updated

Queensland has announced it will look at whether the school restrictions need to be extended beyond the fifth week of term two, which is around mid-May.

But anyone who wants to send their child to school, can. They are open. Parents have been advised to talk to principals if they have any concerns. I know, because my sister is a public school teacher in Queensland. And also, because I pay attention to press conferences.

In response to this tweet

Scott Morrison says the home affairs minister is just “expressing his opinion as a local”.

Well, look, I’d simply say that Peter, of course, is a minister in my government, but he’s also a Queenslander. And these are issues that are being debated and addressed in Queensland. And whether you’re a local member, a minister or just any old Queenslander, then you do get to have the right to have a view as a local. And I’m sure that’s the context in which Peter’s expressed those views.

Updated

How does the chief medical officer see restrictions being lifted for gatherings, as well as travel?

I mean, there may be a situation where a country has effectively eliminated or got very low cases.

For example, New Zealand, we might have a situation where it could be relaxed. But if you’re coming from a country where there is significant community transmission, I think that the impact - you’ve seen the graphs.

The impact of our quarantine measures on what’s happened in Australia has been huge.

Clearly the national cabinet has asked us to come back with a range of potential recommendations for gently, carefully, cautiously relaxing distancing measures.

And, of course, the size of gatherings will be in that mix.

But I don’t want to pre-empt the decisions of national cabinet. But we will be making recommendations.

Similar to those that you’re talking about. And they’ll be coming to national cabinet. It will be their decision.

Updated

Scott Morrison moves to address some more concerns about the tracing app – namely where the server will be situated:

The server is in Australia and it’s using AWS, who work with Australia on many, many sensitive issues. In terms of Australia’s data management.

It’s a nationally encrypted data store.

It is illegal - it will be illegal for information to go out of that data store to any other person other than that for whom the whole thing is designed, and that is to support the health worker in the state to be able to undertake the contact tracing, with the data that they access being released by the individual for whom is the subject of the contact tracing.

Although people would probably be feeling much more comfortable with the idea of the app if the government hadn’t passed “national security” legislation which allows the government to force tech companies to build secret backdoors into apps, which can be accessed, without anyone knowing. I am not saying that is happening here, but I am saying trust is low for a reason.

Updated

Expanded testing to be opened across the nation

A lot of jurisdictions have already done this – but testing will be extended across the nation, to ensure any community transmission is being picked up, Professor Brendan Murphy says:

In particular, national cabinet was informed today that every single jurisdiction has now – every state and territory has now broadened their testing criteria from today. Some did it earlier. So that anybody with acute respiratory symptoms – cough, sore throat, runny nose, cold symptoms, flu-like symptoms – can get tested. This will significantly expand the population of people tested. We’re pretty confident that most of them will be negative, but this will give us a really broad reach of what we call passive surveillance. But we’re also looking at a range of active surveillance mechanisms to test even people without symptoms in a range of frontline occupations and a range of what we call sentinel situations, where we sample the population. National cabinet is very clear that they want to be absolutely confident before relaxing any measures that we are in a position in this country to detect any community transmission of any significance.

Updated

Scott Morrison then moves to how Australia has moved into the “community phase” of monitoring the spread of Covid-19, where it has to watch for community transmission:

We now have to be wary against community transmission, and so we are dealing with that third wave of the virus.

We will also be then working towards decisions that we have to make over the next few weeks, getting the key data metrics in place as to how we’ll make decisions on further easing of restrictions.

We are, though, I confirm, seeing states and territories individually waiving various parts of the restrictions they have put in place above the baselines.

They’re making those announcements almost on a daily basis. We welcome that, whether it’s in schools or in other areas, and we can expect to see that happen over the next few weeks.

The national cabinet will meet next Friday again.

Updated

Aged care homes must allow visits or apply for exemption

Sorry for the slight delay - my computer had a slight meltdown.

Back to the press conference, Scott Morrison says it is time for aged care facilities to start allowing visits, if they are not already, or face having to get commonwealth permission for changing the arrangements:

On aged care, there is a meeting this evening, a webinar, and national cabinet has continued to stress its concern about restrictions that are being put in place in aged care facilities, as I noted earlier this week, beyond the baseline requirements of what national cabinet has agreed, based on the expert medical advice.

So, we are flagging – I am flagging very clearly at a federal level – that should we not see an improvement in this area, under the voluntary arrangements that we currently have in place, that the commonwealth would be moving to require aged care facilities that wish to have an exemption to those national principles, those national arrangements, then they would need to seek authority to do that from the commonwealth, and we would make such a decision in consultation with the relevant state and territory jurisdiction.

Now, there are quite valid reasons why you would have exemptions, particularly as we’ve seen in north-west Tasmania at the moment, or what we’ve seen in western Sydney or in other places. That is entirely sensible as to why you would have restrictions that are greater than the national baseline in those circumstances.

Totally reasonable.

But more broadly, having people stuck in their rooms, not being able to be visited by their loved ones and carers and other support people, that’s not OK.

And so let’s see how the industry goes with that. We would very much like to keep these things on a basis where aged care facilities are exercising their proper discretion.

But we are not going to have these as secret places, where people can’t access them.

Updated

We will see some new modelling during this

Meanwhile, as Scott Morrison talks of opening public spaces up once again, Coogee beach is once again closed:

On the theme of ‘national principles’, there are also safe workplace national principles on the way. Scott Morrison:

This is all about getting Australians back to work, and ensuring that when they go back to work that they and their families can feel safe in going back to work, and to ensure that there are important principles in place, there are protocols and procedures that, should a Covid case present in a workplace, then the rules that people need to follow... The minister for industrial relations has been working closely with the Covid commission, union representatives and others to ensure we get helpful tools in place.

Updated

On exercise and training, Scott Morrison says “national principles” will be released:

The first, at the elite and professional level. So, the major sporting codes, our Olympic sports, training arrangements that sit around support for those activities, by elite sportspeople.

Secondly, at the community competitive sport level. That is such an important part of our way of life here in Australia, and the principles that can help guide decisions by states and territories in the future.

And, thirdly, at the individual passive level of sport and recreation. Activities from everything from - whether it’s in the shire, if you’re going surfing, or if you’re walking in the local national park, or whatever it might happen to be, those set of principles that states and territories can draw on in terms of getting some consistency across the country as we move into this next phase.

Scott Morrison on schools:

On schools, confirmation – and this is in the medical expert advice – the AHPPC’s document being released today – confirmation that the 4 sq metre rule, and the 1.5m distancing between students during classroom activities is not appropriate and not required.

I can’t be more clear than that. The advice cannot be more clear than that.

The 1.5m in classrooms and the 4 sq metre rule is not a requirement of the expert medical advice in classrooms.

Updated

Scott Morrison on wearing of masks:

On a couple of quite specific issues, on the wearing of masks, and Brendan Murphy, the professor, will talk a little bit more about this. But on the wearing of masks, the medical expert panel, we accepted their advice that it is not recommended by the expert panel that they are necessary to be worn, and importantly, it’s important to note that the wearing of such a mask does not protect you from an infection, but if you are displaying respiratory symptoms then it is, at best, a measure that prevents you transferring it to others.

It’s not about protecting you from infection, but that’s why, when people were leaving airports and things of that nature, they were wearing it to prevent the transmission.

The tracing app is on its way. Scott Morrison:

There are still some issues we’re working through late in the piece, which is to be expected.

We’re not too far away now. Earlier this week, as I indicated to you, it received the in-principle support of the national cabinet and we have been taking that through its final stages in recent days.

That will be also an important tool for the country as we seek to manage how we live in a Covid-safe economy and community into the future.

And the rapid response to individual outbreaks – we should be aware, as a community right across the country, that when we take further steps to ease restrictions, of course, we will continue to see outbreaks. That is to be expected. What matters is being able to move on them quickly.

Updated

Scott Morrison press conference

The prime minister starts the press conference by passing on the national cabinet’s and the nation’s, condolences to the families of the four Victorian police officers who were killed on Wednesday night, during a traffic stop.

The Nine Network’s Charles Croucher had this lovely story last night.

I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see the industries which have been hardest hit so far

The national cabinet meeting has ended.

Scott Morrison will give an update at 1pm.

Death toll rises to 78

Western Australia authorities have reported a passenger on the Artania cruise ship, who was being treated for Covid-19, died overnight.

The man, aged in his 70s, is the eighth person to die in WA and the 78th person to die in Australia, after a Covid-19 diagnosis.

We heard yesterday that so far, almost $4bn has been withdrawn from super funds, from people struggling under financial pressure because of the Covid-19 crisis.

There will be another round opened up in the next financial year.

The average withdrawal has been $8,000.

But how much will that cost when you want to retire?

Updated

The select Senate committee looking at the Covid-19 response will hold another hearing next week. Treasury will be up then.

In the meantime, the transcript from yesterday, which featured Prof Brendan Murphy and officials from the health department, is up.

Updated

Food security in remote Indigenous communities is a problem at the best of times, but it has been exacerbated by the coronavirus, to the point where people have been unable to source essentials for weeks in some communities.

A group of 13 Aboriginal organisations from across the Northern Territory this week called on the national cabinet to do more to guarantee food security for remote communities.

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, convened a second round table of the major supermarkets, the NT government and the community stores, to guarantee supply.

Coles announced today it has donated more than 80 pallets, or about 50 tonnes of food and grocery essentials, to remote communities across the Northern Territory this week.

The packages include fresh and tinned produce, pasta, rice, biscuits and breakfast cereals.

“Spring water, toilet paper, nappies and sanitary items will also be delivered to residents in Darwin, Alice Springs and to many remote communities such as Santa Teresa, Beswick and Elliott, which is 735 km away from a Coles store,” a spokesman said in a statement about the delivery.

Updated

Sarah Hanson-Young has a bit to say in a statement about the removal of environmental “red tape” during this pandemic:

The Morrison government has declared war with the environment with its announcement it plans to cut ‘green tape’ even before the 10-year review of environmental laws is completed, the Greens say.

Greens spokesperson for the environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:

‘Using the cover of Covid-19 as an excuse to scrap environmental protections is an act of bastardry, and everyday Australians will be appalled.

‘This anti-environment government has always had cuts to environmental protections in favour of its big business mates on its agenda.

‘They seem to think Australians are distracted enough by the Covid-19 pandemic they won’t notice this latest attack. But I’ve got news for the environment minister, Australians care about the environment now more than ever and won’t take this lying down.

‘Trying to cut environmental protections to give big business, who donate to major political parties, easy access to cut down, dig up and trample the environment in the name of economic stimulus after a global pandemic is shameful.

‘We need stronger environmental laws, not weaker ones. The EPBC Act is already failing in its purpose of protection conservation and biodiversity with flora and fauna continuing to become threatened species and even going extinct.

‘Fast-tracking applications will do even more damage. As it is, only about 2 per cent of applications under the EPBC Act get knocked back.

Updated

Federal court judge John Middleton has decided to allow administrators of Virgin Australia to avoid personal liability for the stricken airline’s $1.2bn in aircraft leases for a month.

Middleton has also allowed the administrators, Vaughan Strawbridge, Salvatore Algeri, John Greig and Richard Hughes, of accounting firm Deloitte, to hold a meeting of creditors next Thursday by videolink and correspond with creditors by email.

At a hearing this morning - itself held by videoline - Middleton said that any interested party that objected to the orders could come to the court and he would hear them on short notice.

Middleton said he could himself turn out to be a creditor of Virgin Australia because he has booked flights to be taken in July.

He said he also held points in Virgin’s frequent flyer scheme, Velocity, which is not in administration, and was a member of the airline’s lounge club.

Updated

Got a sniffle and live in NSW?

The government would love it if you got tested for Covid.

From the NSW health release:

The NSW government is urging anyone experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 to be tested in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.

Covid-19 symptoms include:

· Fever;

· Cough;

· Tiredness (fatigue);

· Sore throat;

· Shortness of breath.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian today announced there is now capacity to double the number of Covid-19 tests from around 4,000 tests per day to 8,000.

Updated

And within that report

The Parliamentary Budget Office has a new report out - this one on unlegislated measures carried forward into budget estimates.

It is before any of the Covid measures were in place though, so don’t expect to find that.

With all the talk about new ideas for the Australian economy, Anthony Albanese was also pressed on what he thought needed to happen, while on Melbourne radio 3AW this morning.

Here is what he came up with:

Hydrogen is an industry that can absolutely power steel and can power aluminium. How about we look at, for example, in Gladstone, they’re looking at, Rio Tinto own the aluminium refinery there, what they want to do is to power that up with solar energy in order to operate. They reckon they can double their capacity.

... One of the things that we could look at, for example, is go back to the Henry Tax Review. And one of the things that it said was that when you look at tax, you change behaviour. What sort of behaviour do we want?

... For example, rather than looking at just company tax cuts, I think what makes far more sense is to look at how do we encourage investment in Australia that creates jobs by companies.

Updated

Neil Mitchell didn’t waste any time with his opening question to Anthony Albanese this morning:

Mitchell: Is Scott Morrison doing a good job?

Albanese: Look, I think the Australian people are doing a good job. And when the prime minister has got together with the state premiers and territory leaders, it is a good thing that we are getting more cooperation than we have historically in our federation system. I think … listening to the medical experts has been good. And that engagement has been constructive. I think that it is a good thing, for example, and I met with the prime minister and other senior ministers last night.

Updated

So we are spending just over $90m on emergency fuel stock and $2.5m on storage for the fuel, to keep it in America, because we have nowhere to store it onshore.

Which completely goes against the point of having an emergency fuel store. The point of the store being that if there is a conflict, or supply chains are cut, you have fuel on hand. Which Australia does not. Because it will be in America.

baby steps.

Updated

Mathias Cormann has released the latest spendings:

This week I made $94 million in additional funding available to support the government’s purchase of oil stocks and the leasing of storage capacity in the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve by using the Advance to the Finance Minister.

One determination of $91.5 million for purchasing oil was made from the Advance which was appropriated by the parliament in the Appropriation Act (No. 6) 2019-2020; and

A second determination of $2.5 million for leasing storage was made from the Advance which was appropriated by the parliament in the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2019-2020.

Both determinations were signed yesterday.

The determinations were registered on the Federal Register of Legislation, together with an Explanatory Statement (these will be available on legislation.gov.au).

Updated

Given the writings of former prime ministers are in vogue, here’s the latest from the 28th:

Updated

This seems pretty to the point:

Updated

Police in Victoria appear to be continuing the trend of slapping anyone who is out allegedly conducting another crime with a fine for breaching social distancing laws.

This seems to be a liberal interpretation of the public health orders unless you want to argue that robbers, like other professionals, should be working from home during this period. In the past 24 hours police have issued 54 on-the-spot fines.

Recipients included three men fined for attending a birthday party in Romsey, four men and one woman who were spotted together at Winchelsea football oval, and “multiple people committing criminal offences, including robberies, vehicle theft and drug related offences”.

Updated

This is interesting, given that Australia is taking some of the TraceTogether code base for its own app (some, not all):

Updated

Six more Victorians have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

As we heard about a week ago, a mental health worker had been diagnosed with the virus, which authorities were keeping an eye on, given their contacts.

The Victorian health minister, Jenny Mikakos, confirmed a mental health facility (unnamed) had seen a cluster of cases, with 14 people linked to the facility now diagnosed with Covid-19.

“Five are patients, five are staff and four are household close contacts,” she said.

“Further testing will be undertaken today to determine if there is any further spread.”

Updated

During the Sars epidemic, civet cats were thought to be one of the vectors which led to that virus being transmitted to humans.

The evidence is very scant when it comes to Covid-19, but the World Health Organisation has previously said that cats don’t seem to be playing a major role in transmission to humans, but can catch the virus from people.

Dogs, so far, seem to be OK.

Updated

It is the first time in about three weeks that Tasmania has recorded no new cases.

But given the devastation the virus can cause in that community particularly, Peter Gutwein has decided to extend the strict lockdown restrictions, which have been in place in the north-west, for another week.

They had been due to be lifted this weekend. Gutwein says there needs to be more testing done, before they can risk it.

That’s why today, following advice from Public Health, we have taken the extremely difficult decision to extend the additional restrictions, the additional retail restrictions that are in place on the north-west coast, out for another week until next Sunday, 3 May.

It’s not a decision that is taken lightly. I know many in the north-west will be unhappy about this.

But we need to get on top of this. We need to stamp this out. We need to crush this virus. We need to understand right across the community if this virus is there, and importantly to track and trace it aggressively.

While there is certainly promising signs that the north-west is coming under control, an additional week of deeper testing will ensure that we have a very clear understanding of what’s occurring right across the coast and it will be our best opportunity to ensure that we have this outbreak completely under control and, importantly, if there are pockets to stamp them out as quickly as we possibly can.

I would ask that the people of the north-west bear with us.

Updated

But Peter Gutwein said there had been no new cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in Tasmania in the last 24 hours. He said that news, combined with the death of another Tasmanian, was conflicting:

To the woman’s family, friends and loved ones – I’m sorry.

On behalf of the government, I extend our condolences and sympathies to you all.

To lose someone else is just an absolute tragedy. It brings the total to nine lives lost in the state to the virus in past months.

As I’ve continually said, there will be bad days. But there will also be better days as well. Today, unfortunately, is another one of those bittersweet moments.

To stand here and have to announce that we’ve lost another life is something that gives me deep concern and is, you know, again, something that I must admit troubles me deeply. I find it very difficult to do.

However, what it does do, it sharpens my resolve to get on top of this and stamp out this insidious virus.

Updated

National death toll rises to 77

Tasmania has recorded another death, after a 79-year-old woman, who had been diagnosed with Covid-19, passed away overnight.

She is the ninth person to have died in Tasmania after contracting Covid-19.

Anzac Day is going to look very different tomorrow, from what we have become used to since the Howard years.

There will be no flag waving crowds, or thumping displays of nationalism.

There will be commemorations and quiet reflections.

And, of course, biscuits.

The only answer here is chewy. Obviously. Unless you like bad biscuits. In which case, I cannot help you.

Updated

Of all the sport hub ideas for a post-restrictions Australia, this really seems like a no-brainer:

(via AAP)

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has backed a Victorian push to host a quarantine hub in a bid to restart the AFL season.

All states and territories are being considered by the AFL to set-up a hub to ensure the competition resumes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The AFL is weighing up whether to put together one hub for all 18 clubs, or spreading teams across Australia in multiple locations.

Most states, including Western Australia through premier Mark McGowan, have already declared their interest in setting up a hub.

But first-year Dockers mentor Longmuir believes Victoria would have an advantage over his home state with 14 days of quarantine required for anyone entering Western Australia.

Travel restrictions between states are not in place for Victoria and NSW.

In the meantime, I will continue to wish for NRL island to be a thing. Maybe forever.

Updated

All signs point to schools resuming on-site learning by mid-May:

Updated

Back on the carbon price, because it is something you are going to hear a lot about in coming months.

Don’t expect the final term to include the words “carbon price”.

Anthony Albanese, in his interview with the ABC, said the market had moved beyond what the Gillard-Rudd government had promoted:

What I’m saying is that you did need a price signal a decade ago. There has been a change now so that renewables are not just competitive, they are, in fact, the cheapest form of new energy production.

And in terms of what you have seen is a bizarre circumstance where by the government have been talking about subsidising a new coal-fired power station in north Queensland and indeed have made a substantial contribution for a company to study themselves whether their project is viable or not.

That shows the way that the market itself has changed. The government hasn’t changed its rhetoric, and they need to do so. They need to listen to the science and acknowledge that we do need to act on climate change.

We need to drive down our emissions and there are, indeed, advantages for employment in doing that. It is good environmental policy, but it is also good economic policy.

Updated

While we are talking about the future, Mathias Cormann spoke to Laura Jayes this morning on Sky and repeated what Scott Morrison has been saying – higher taxes are not on the Coalition’s agenda.

So everything is on the table, except that.

But in the way things go in Australian politics, we are, of course, talking about ideas which had been dismissed, by one side of politics or the other, for no other reason than a different side of politics once suggested it or tried to enact it.

One being, a carbon price.

Which Labor is in support of. As are the unions. As are the main business lobby groups. But which the Coalition was very much not in support of. But that could be changing, because it is popping up quite a bit lately, and that is actually a good thing, because maybe, just maybe, there could be a grown up discussion on the issue.

Anthony Albanese was also asked about that this morning:

One of the things that has happened over recent times of course is that the cost of energy, the cheapest form, is new renewables. What it needs is a government that is prepared to provide certainty in terms of the energy market and providing a policy framework that will drive that investment.

We’ve seen investment in 2019 fall off the cliff for renewables but we also need to look at the way that renewables and clean energy can drive advance manufacturing, can add to our industrial growth with new industries and new energy sources such as hydrogen as well can play an important role.

Updated

There has been a lot of talk lately about whether or not the new bipartisanship and openness to ideas we have been seeing over the last six weeks will extend to a post-Covid Australia, at least politically.

Part of it will have to – the economy is not going to look anything like it has, and pulling Australia through the next years is not going to be easy. Or pretty.

But this is Australian politics, so I don’t think anyone is overly hopeful.

Anthony Albanese gave his opinions on that this morning, when speaking to the ABC:

I would hope that some of the government’s rhetorical changes last beyond the current crisis.

They’ve acknowledged that unions play a constructive role in society rather than their previous concentration on attacking the rights of working people and the trade union movement.

They have acknowledged that we need to listen to the science and I hope that that translates into other issues beyond medical science, into environmental science, into listening to what the scientists are telling us about the need to act on climate change, and they have acknowledged there is a role for government in providing support for the private sector to operate.

We certainly will need a strengthening of the private sector coming out of this crisis but we will also need to acknowledge the vital role the government plays, the contracting out, for example, of Centrelink services meant that we weren’t in a position to actually look after people when it was needed during this crisis.

Updated

Peter Dutton spoke to the Nine network this morning and said banks that did not pass on bridging finance to businesses which were struggling to pay their staff should be “publicly shamed”.

Australia’s banks have access to some pretty cheap credit at the moment, the idea being that they use those credit lines, which are basically secured by the government, to provide credit lifelines to businesses.

Businesses need those credit lines because there was a time gap between when the government’s wage subsidy was announced and when the ATO started paying it out. If you have no one coming in and spending money in your business, you have no way to pay your staff. And round and round it goes.

But the banks, which got in massive amounts of trouble in Australia for lending to just about anybody with a pulse and identification not that long ago, are now getting in trouble for not rushing those loans out.

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg held a phone hook-up with the banks yesterday. The morning TV and radio shows will tell you it was a FURIOUS phone call, which means the political spinners can give themselves a pat on the back this morning. Morrison and Frydenberg both spoke about the call yesterday and gave a public warning to the banks to start the credit flowing.

This morning it was Dutton’s turn:

The banks have got a lot of stepping up to do. There’s been a lot of activity already, where you can point to case where is they have provided significant assistance, but it needs to be more widespread.

We want people to remain connected with their businesses.

We hope that, over the next few weeks, we can start to see the economy take its first steps back to normality, and that will require the banks to be involved, for credit to be extended, wages need to be paid, and businesses need to be paid, and businesses need to be able to put themselves in a position where they can reopen and re-function.

Updated

It’s just gone NSW press conference o’clock.

Gladys Berejiklian says there were seven new cases in the last 24 hours, but added that the state had increased the amount of testing it was doing.

Can I again thank all of you and say the New South Wales government is considering what we can do moving forward to ease everybody’s stress that you are going through and part of that strategy is increasing the number of testing, making that more available to everybody across the state but also making all of us aware that if we do consider going forward in the future with lifting restrictions we also have to be prepared to practice social isolation because we know that cases will go up and people will need hospitals. That is why we have bought ourselves good time in New South Wales and in preparing our health system and other institutions for what the next few months might look like.

Updated

The Victorian parliament sat to pass its coronavirus legislation yesterday.

Its emergency bills passed last night. As AAP reports:

The government now plans to borrow $24.5 billion to help the state combat the economic carnage from the virus.

The mammoth COVID-19 omnibus also includes temporary changes, including the introduction of judge-alone criminal trials, virtual meetings for state and council politicians, WorkCover extensions and a ban on evictions and rent increases, with a sunset clause of six months.

As well, the Victorian government has set up a dedicated taskforce to help keep the state’s building and development industry running through the crisis.

It has approved four new projects worth more than $1.5 billion.

The state government’s omnibus bill passed with the support of the coalition, despite Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien’s concerns it grants unprecedented powers to the justice system.

Updated

Karen Andrews was given the job of filling Australia’s manufacturing gaps (there are a lot of them, so it is mostly the most crucial, such as medical PPE which has been the focus) as the government turns towards what broken supply chains would mean for an island nation.

There is still no talk of subsidies to reanimate the manufacturing sector in Australia. Instead, there is a lot of talk of “identifying the gaps”. As you would know, there is no hope of a long-term manufacturing resurgence, without government assistance. That is an issue for another day – at the moment, Andrews is happy when an Australian company can switch its focus for something the nation needs.

The latest?

Clets Linen & Co Pty Ltd, which normally specialises in linen and garments for hospitality and other industries, will provide 3,750 disposable isolation gowns to the national medical stockpile in its first production run.

Updated

Greg Hunt has committed an additional $6m to drug and alcohol addiction support during the pandemic.

That includes:

· $2m to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation to deliver an information and awareness campaign to make Australians aware of the support that is available, and to develop resources specific to the isolation context.

· $1.5m to Turning Point to scale up treatment episodes provided by Counselling Online, and enable better integration of the service with primary care providers.

· An additional $1.5m to Hello Sunday Morning’s Daybreak Program. Daybreak is a treatment and early invention mobile app that provides online support to individuals seeking assistance in reducing their alcohol consumption. The service helps Australians reduce risky drinking habits by simultaneously addressing the psychological and relationship issues that can sometimes drive drinking in the first place.

· $0.4m to SMART Recovery to support adaptation of their service delivery model to an online format.

· $0.6m to the Matilda Centre to support enhancements to Cracks in the Ice and Positive Choices portals, to target Australians impacted by isolation. Cracks in the ice provides information about crystal methamphetamine for community organisations. Positive Choices is an online portal to help school communities access accurate up-to-date drug education resources and prevention programs.

In addition, the National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Australia will deliver a Covid-19 Alcohol and Pregnancy campaign addressing increased alcohol consumption leading to unplanned alcohol-exposed pregnancies during the pandemic.

The campaign will be implemented largely via social media and target women impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, particularly social isolation and quarantine.

Updated

The national cabinet will meet today as part of its normal schedule.

Australia has just finished the first week of the four-week suppression phase, which I guess would be better described as a holding pattern, so we don’t expect any big changes or announcements from this meeting.

Queensland will move to have its changes to funeral restrictions – from 10 people to 20 – given the OK by the national cabinet. Scott Morrison will continue to push for schools to be reopen, although that doesn’t look like happening much beyond the fifth or sixth week of term, as the states give parents time to get used to the idea.

Basically, everyone is in agreement that if the infection rates stay this low, restrictions can be lifted. But with nations like Singapore, which suppressed the virus only to see a surge when restrictions were lifted, as an example, the national cabinet is taking a softly, softly approach to how it will relax the physical distance rules.

Updated

The woman speaking here, Sophie, would not be alone.

And that is despite Australia’s rates being quite low.

As AAP reports:

A final-year medical student has been thrown out of her Brisbane share house because a housemate feared she would infect him with coronavirus.

The student, identified only as Sophie, has told the ABC she was told to get out because she was on a placement at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital.

She said one of her housemates had become convinced that she would become infected with the virus and pass it on to him.

The student said she picked up on her flatmate’s anxiety and all four housemates sat down to chat about minimising risks, how they’d support each other if any one of them got sick, and how they’d isolate in a shared environment.

“I thought the conversation went reasonably well,” she said. “The next morning I received a message asking me to leave. He said he was sorry things had to be this way, but he was uncomfortable with the risk of me being a medical student and attending placement.”

Sophie has since moved in with a friend but says her experience becoming suddenly homeless due to her job in health isn’t rare.

“I have friends, personally, who’ve been asked to leave then their landlord has retracted that when it’s become apparent societally that it’s not acceptable,” she said.

“Others have elected to move house to try and isolate themselves from their families if they’re working in a high-risk area, and really struggling to find somewhere to live.”

She urged people to consider more than themselves during the coronavirus crisis.

“I think we run into trouble when people only consider pandemics and coronavirus in terms of what’s the risk of you giving it to me.”

Updated

Good morning

The Ruby Princess has left Port Kembla and the nation is preparing for a very low-key Anzac Day.

Other than that, it’s situation stay suppressed as Australia ends another week with a flatter curve.

Anzac ceremonies will go virtual this year. Most RSLs have arranged for veterans to pay homage how they can and to ensure there is community support for those who want or need it. Ceremonies will be broadcast for those at home.

Winston Peters, the deputy New Zealand prime minister, has been talking about reopening the trans-Tasman borders when possible as a sort of trans-Tasman “bubble” for some time. Yesterday Scott Morrison said it was New Zealand that Australia was looking to “reconnect” with as soon as possible. The leaders of both nations have been speaking every week, as usual, with both optimistic their countries can manage to suppress – or in NZ’s case, almost eliminate – Covid-19 from their populations ahead of a vaccine.

Which means Australia is heading into the “sentinel” testing phase – testing people to ensure that the virus hasn’t spread to more of the community than anticipated. NSW is now opening testing to anyone with symptoms, not just those in the cluster areas. One in 70 people in Victoria are being tested as that state ramps up its procedures as well.

We’ll cover all of the day as it happens. Thank you again for joining us. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.

Ready?

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