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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Ben Doherty, Calla Wahlquist and Amy Remeikis

Three more residents of Sydney aged care home test positive – as it happened

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We’ll conclude our Australian rolling coverage of Covid-19 developments here. Thank you for your company and correspondence, commendations and criticisms, all of it a welcome and vital part of our community’s discussion.

Tonight in Australia:

  • More than 6,753 cases have been recorded, with fewer than 1,100 still active.
  • South Australia has gone more than a week without any new infections. The ACT has zero active cases.
  • The death toll is 92: NSW, 42; Victoria, 18; Tasmania, 13; WA, 8; Queensland, 4; SA, 4; ACT, 3.
  • The latest death was that of an 86-year-old Tasmanian woman, thought to be linked to the Ruby Princess outbreak
  • Twenty-one of the deaths were passengers on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, four were on the Artania in WA and 12 were residents at the Newmarch House aged care home in Sydney.
  • More than 566,000 tests have been conducted across the country.
  • More than 3 million people have registered with the federal government’s tracking app CovidSafe since Sunday.

On restrictions, closures and suppression measures:

  • National cabinet wants to see 20 or fewer cases a week before Australia further eases restrictions.
  • Australia’s borders won’t reopen for at least three months, the federal government says.
  • Prime minister Scott Morrison has indicated a mid-May national cabinet meeting will assess lifting some social and economic restrictions.
  • Initial jobkeeper payments – part of a $130bn package – will be received by employers soon.
  • Australian manufacturers will get $48.3m in federal government funding to help modernise their operations and create 2,600 new jobs.
  • In NSW from Friday, households will be allowed two adult visitors, and their children, under an initial easing of self-isolation measures. Most beaches are open for exercise, swimming and surfing only.
  • In WA, up to 10 people are able to gather for non-contact recreational activities and outdoor personal training, while open homes and display villages will also be permitted.
  • In Queensland, some stay-at-home restrictions will be eased this weekend, allowing people to travel 50km from their residence to visit parks, have picnics and jet ski. Shopping for non-essential items will also be permitted.
  • The Northern Territory plans to reopen parks and reserves this weekend.
  • Victoria has no plans to lift restrictions until May 11 at the earliest.
  • South Australians with coronavirus isolating at home will receive daily support from two new dedicated teams of GPs and nurses via telephone.
  • NSW students will attend school one day a week starting from May 11. Queensland will on May 15 review keeping children at home. No change has been flagged in Victoria. Western Australia hopes all students will return to classes by May 11 while 63% of students have gone back in SA.
  • Still open: supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, public transport, some schools, hairdressers, petrol stations, postal and freight services, bottle shops, newsagents, retail shops. Restaurants restricted to takeaway/delivery in most states.

In other developments:

  • A report into the northwest Tasmania coronavirus outbreak says the most likely cause was the Ruby Princess cruise ship.
  • Victoria has recorded a new cluster of Covid-19 cases at a nursing home.
  • One million Australians are expected to apply for unemployment benefits due to job-losses stemming from the disease.
  • A flight from India will bring more than 100 Australians back to WA on Friday.

The Guardian’s international liveblog continues here:

Updated

States, community organisations, and faith groups come to the rescue of those in Australia excluded from federal government Covid-19 assistance: international students, working holiday makers, asylum seekers and refugees.

A police officer and her partner have been charged with breaching the regional coronavirus travel restrictions in Western Australia.

The pair are alleged to have driven across district lines from the Wheatbelt to the Perth/Peel region on 9 April and again on 15 April, without a lawful exemption.

Under the Prohibition on Regional Travel directions, you can only travel between regions for work or education, for care or compassionate reasons, to carry freight, or because you have another reasonable excuse.

“It is alleged, on both occasions the man driving the vehicle was advised by police he was not an exempted traveller and was given a direction to turn around,” a spokeswoman from WA Police said.

“It is further alleged the man failed to comply with this direction and immediately continued beyond the police checkpoint.”

The 24-year-old man was charged with two counts of failing to comply with a direction and will face court later this month. The police officer, who was off duty, was also charged.

Police said the officer, a 29-year-old Swan View woman, is currently serving in the WA police force but would not be investigated by internal affairs because she had already resigned.

Her resignation was “unrelated to this matter”, police said.

Updated

More on the worsening row between Beijing and Canberra.

Trent Zimmerman, Liberal MP for North Sydney, has left the diplomatic niceties at the door, calling the comments of China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, “downright despicable and menacing”.

For context, the rest of Zimmerman’s comments on the issue were more conciliatory, but it’s a long way back from despicable and menacing.

The comments Zimmerman was referencing, were suggestions by Cheng of a potential Chinese consumer boycott of Australia over Canberra’s pushing for an international, independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19.

Cheng told the AFR:

The Chinese public is frustrated, dismayed and disappointed with what Australia is doing now.

I think in the long term ... if the mood is going from bad to worse, people would think ‘Why should we go to such a country that is not so friendly to China?’ The tourists may have second thoughts.

The parents of the students would also think whether this place which they found is not so friendly, even hostile, whether this is the best place to send their kids here.

It is up to the people to decide. Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?’.

Here’s Zimmerman at greater length:

The calls for the inquiry are perfectly reasonable. To be honest, I’ve been very disappointed in the response that we’ve had, particularly from the Chinese embassy in Australia. I thought the ambassador’s comments were downright despicable and menacing.

We should have a relationship with China which allows us to raise these issues, and recognising China will always be an important partner for us. It’s the world’s second largest economy, the largest consumer market in their own region. No one is talking about shutting the doors to China.

We want to maintain the person-to-person relationship that we have with China. The relationship needs to be mature enough to be able to raise these issues – occasionally critically and occasionally expressing our differences without affecting the fundamentals of that relationship.

The current dispute is, ostensibly, over Australia leading global calls for an independent, international investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, the first-known cases of which emerged in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and foreign minister Marise Payne publicly launched the push last week, amid accusations globally that China initially covered up the seriousness of the virus, costing the world lost precious weeks to prepare and respond.

Morrison has also raised the issue with US president Donald Trump, France’s Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Australia’s proposal has been met with furious ripostes from Beijing, mainly through the embassy in Canberra and the pages of the Global Times.

The backdrop to this particular dispute is a number of long-running issues between Beijing and Canberra, most notably Australia’s decision to exclude Huawei from Australia’s 5G network, China’s continued detention of Australian pro-democracy writer Yang Hengjun, and the overarching issue of Chinese influence in the Australian polity and economy.

Updated

Good evening, Ben Doherty with you until stumps.

This is remarkable. From my colleague Jillian Ambrose in London.

Renewable electricity will be the only source resilient to the biggest global energy shock in 70 years triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the world’s energy watchdog.

The International Energy Agency said the outbreak of Covid-19 would wipe out demand for fossil fuels by prompting a collapse in energy demand seven times greater than the slump caused by the global financial crisis.

The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the federal government to permanently raise social security payments, after it confirmed in the Covid-19 senate inquiry today that the $550 per fortnight coronavirus supplement won’t continue past 24 September.

HRLC’s associate legal director, Adrianne Walters, said it would be cruel for the government to step backwards after effectively doubling the payments for six months.

Walters said:

A good government would ensure that every person has the means to buy nourishing food, keep warm on a cold night, sleep in a safe place and pay for school books and excursions for their kids. This means the Federal Government permanently raising social security payments for all and ending demoralising systems of compliance and penalties.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Government increased Jobseeker and other payments, recognising the unacceptability of a system that forces people to choose between eating and paying rent. A decent standard of living and compassion are values that must be reinserted into our social security system.

On that note, I’ll hand you over to my colleague Ben Doherty.

In other news, NSW fire commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons has left the building.

Fitzsimmons resigned the RFS after 35 years at the start of April, and will head a new government disaster agency, Resilience NSW.

An FYI for our readers in WA’s great southern region:

The three new cases among residents at Newmarch House come after the NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said on Wednesday that two additional staff members tested positive to Covid-19.

One of the staff members had been actively working at the home during the lockdown.

Updated

Three more residents test positive at Newmarch House

Three more residents of Newmarch House aged care home in Western Sydney have tested positive to coronavirus, Anglicare Sydney says. It brings the number of residents to have tested positive to the infection to at least 37, with 22 staff members also testing positive.

As of yesterday, 12 residents who tested positive have died.

In a statement, Anglicare Sydney says:

The reasons for this are still being investigated and we are working closely with NSW Public Health Unit and an Infectious Diseases Specialist.

Anglicare Sydney would like to thank the Commonwealth and NSW Government for the additional support they are providing at Newmarch House.

Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos has responded to calls from the state opposition that the deputy chief health officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen, resign over a tweet.

This is the tweet:

Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said the tweet was a sign that “in Daniel Andrews’ Victoria, left wing views are the main qualification for public office”. We’ll just state, for the record, that van Diemen’s public health qualifications and experience are sound.

The opposition has been calling for the Andrews government to lift restrictions for some time. Victoria and Tasmania are the only states not to announce a loosening of restrictions. The current public health orders in Victoria are due to expire on 11 May.

Updated

Labor senator for the ACT Katy Gallagher was asked on the ABC for her reaction to the jurisdiction reporting no new active cases of Covid-19. She says it’s a “fantastic result” but cautioned against calls to lift restrictions and return to in-person schooling.

We are an island in the sea of New South Wales. We can’t close borders in that sense. So there’s still risks that are presented for us as a small jurisdiction.

I know that the current chief minister will be weighing up a whole range of information and advice that’s coming to him. But I think, and in time I would hope to see, some lifting of restrictions and a pathway to go back to as more normal way of living, and certainly as a mum with two kids at home at the moment, that’s getting kids back to school as soon as it’s safe to do so.

Updated

South Australia has recorded no new cases of coronavirus for the eighth day in the row.

Bishop says she has also been surprised at a press conference by the presence of a senior diplomat, as Greg Hunt was yesterday when Andrew Forrest invited the Victorian Chinese consul general to the press conference without the health minister’s knowledge.

Bishop:

It would not be acceptable diplomatic practice to give the government hosting the press conference no notice or little notice of the attendance of a diplomat that hadn’t been invited by the government. So that would not be usual diplomatic practice.

Although I have experienced similar behaviour in the past, and so it’s not unprecedented, it seems to be an unfortunate situation that occurred.

Forrest and other billionaires, notably Kerry Stokes, have told the government to ease to pressure on China. Bishop said she is not privy to government briefings but imagined Scott Morrison was driven by public health concerns.

Updated

Meanwhile, former foreign minister Julie Bishop is on the ABC talking about the government’s call for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which has upset Beijing.

Bishop says it would be “preferable of course had China led a credible investigation into the origins of coronavirus”.

But clearly China doesn’t want to cooperate with an independent international investigation, and that does make it challenging, not only for Australia, but for other countries that have been affected by coronavirus.

And I think we should scale down the rhetoric, more calm and quiet diplomacy, so that we can understand more about this virus, how it got into human populations and whether decisions could have been taken that would have prevented its spread. So I think that China has a responsibility to support an investigation, if indeed it won’t carry out a credible investigation for the rest of the world itself.

Updated

Police in New South Wales have fined five women for allegedly breaching social distancing laws, after a video emerged of the women dancing on TikTok alongside NRL player Nathan Cleary.

But Cleary himself has not been fined.

This statement has been issued by police:

Police have issued PINs to five women after photos and videos were shared on social media allegedly showing a group not complying with social distancing earlier this week.

Officers from Nepean Police Area Command initiated an investigation after photos and videos were shared on social media concerning an incident at a home in Penrith on Saturday 25 April 2020.

Following further inquiries, police this afternoon , issued PINs to five women – aged in their late teens to early 20s – for failing to comply with a Ministerial Direction.

A 22-year-old man, who was filmed in the videos, was spoken to by police. No offence relating to him has been detected; however, he was issued a warning regarding social distancing.

If you haven’t been following this story, firstly, congratulations, and secondly, allow me to fill you in. Cleary is in trouble with the NRL, who fined him $4,000 after learning of the incident. Police said they didn’t fine him because he hadn’t left his house — the women came to him. It was, Cleary said, an impromptu 10-minute stop-off on their way home. But the emergence of the TikTok has cast doubt on that story, because TikTok challenges can take longer than 10 minutes to film.

The Daily Telegraph doorstopped Cleary about it on Wednesday. Literally: their report said he spoke to them “through the crack of his front door”.

Updated

Let’s summarise the coronavirus results from today.

The total number of cases in Australia increased by just 10 overnight, bringing the total to 6,748. Sadly the death toll has risen to 91 with the death overnight of an 86-year-old woman in Tasmania.

The Australian Capital Territory reported no new cases and, as of today, has no active cases. The ACT had 106 cases: three people sadly died, and the remaining 103 have recovered. It’s the first time in seven weeks the ACT does not have an active coronavirus case.

Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia recorded no new cases, as did the Northern Territory, although the NT has had no new cases for weeks.

Victoria recorded seven new cases —a cluster in an aged care home — and NSW two.

Finally, McMillan says the AHPPC has provided advice to the national cabinet on the resumption of sport (that’s both professional and community, and just recreational activities).

She won’t pre-empt that advice, but notes that the rules around sport have differed between states — Victoria has banned golf, for example, while jurisdictions like the ACT have not — so the easing of restrictions around playing sport is also likely to be state-specific.

McMillan says that the three requirements set in place by the AHPPC and national cabinet in order to lift restrictions — broad sentinel testing, improved contact tracing, and a local response capability built into the health system — remain in place.

She says 20,000 nurses have now registered to complete an additional critical care course that will allow Australia to expand the critical care capacity across the country, if necessary. About 3,000 nurses have also returned to the profession after a time off. But she says Australia should not become complacent.

Testing for Covid-19 is now available to anyone in the health care or aged care workforce in Australia who has respiratory symptoms. McMillan says anyone with concerns should get tested.

The really strong message to everybody, especially those who work with the most vulnerable, those working in the health and aged care sector, is please be very vigilant about any minor or slight symptoms you might have. A scratchy throat, a runny nose.

Testing is available out there readily to everyone, if you are at all concerned you may have symptoms please don’t go to work, seek guidance from your GP or a testing clinic and let’s confirm you are Covid-19 free, let’s not put anybody in the community at risk and we encourage that across the workforce.

She is asked about reports of outbreaks at aged care homes, allegedly caused by a health worker attending work while unwell.

We would not look to penalise anyone who inadvertently went to work and they were unwell, that’s not an approach we would want to take.

As of today, she says, hospitals and aged care facilities have screening processes in place where they are proactively asking staff if they feel unwell or have been in contact with anyone who is unwell.

Updated

Australia records just 10 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

The chief nursing and midwifery officer, Alison McMillan, is giving an update on Australia’s coronavirus situation. She’s not one of the usual faces.

McMillan says Australia saw just 10 new cases in the past 24 hours. Australia has now conducted 556,000 tests for Covid-19.

Thirty-six people remain in hospital, of whom 25 are on ventilators.

The number of people who have downloaded and registered for the CovidSafe app has reached 3.31m. McMillan says they are “eternally grateful for everyone who has done that”.

And a reminder for everyone who has not yet chosen to do that, it is voluntary but we would like you to download and register for that so we can continue our fight against Covid-19 in Australia.

Is that enough people for the app to be effective, a reporter asks? There is a suggestion that between 40-60% of the population may need to register for it to work well.

McMillan says it is hard to tell, because authorities do not know where people who are registered with the app live, so they don’t know how broad the coverage is in Australia.

Everyone who downloads and registers for that app is one more that will help us in this fight.

Updated

NRL players in return-to-work talks

More on that potential spanner in the works to the NRL’s plan to start training next week for a 28 May restart.

Players are holding crunch talks this afternoon to discuss whether they should plough on without a revised pay deal in place. Nine is reporting that several high profile players are standing firm with the Warriors, who at this point are unsure about flying to Australia from New Zealand to play out the remainder of the season given there are no details on remuneration.

Players were slated to return to the training pitch on Tuesday next week, with Monday set aside for educational programs on the strict biosecurity measures that will need to be put into place if the season is to restart.

AAP reports:

The development comes as talks between the league and its television networks continue on new broadcast revenues for the revised season. The NRL’s plan is for the Warriors to depart New Zealand on Sunday and, while in self-isolation in Tamworth, join rival teams in preparing for a 28 May restart.

Further complicating matters is the Warriors are yet to receive an official exemption to enter the country, or train together while in quarantine. While a charter flight has been booked, the club also continues to demand certainty around a number of issues before stepping on a plane.

Chief among the concerns are how much players can expect to be paid, as well as the possible accommodation of families during their indefinite stay. The Warriors could spend up to six months in Sydney should international travel restrictions remain until the grand final in late October.

Updated

Thank you to everyone who joined me for another week. I am going to hand you over to Calla Wahlquist for the next little while. I’ll be back Monday. Add milk to your bolognese meat sauce, and take care of you.

Rachel Stephen-Smith notes the dangers of a second wave, and encourages Canberrans “not to be complacent”, because no vaccination yet exists.

In terms of timeline from here, she said:

So, we are going to be facing this global pandemic for some months to come and we will need to face up to that has a community and work through that together and what that means. We will not be going back, even as we ease restrictions, to the situation we had in November, or even February, we will not be gathering together again in large groups in thousands of people for some time yet.”

The ACT health minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith, is giving the afternoon update.

She says the ACT won’t be relaxing restrictions despite the territory eliminating its known cases of Covid-19.

That won’t please ACT parents who are remote teaching, after the ACT closed all schools, except for nine “hubs” for term 2:

People now be asking as they have for a few days, what does this in terms of lifting some of the restrictions that we have had in place?

The chief minister will have more to say about this tomorrow. It is important to emphasise that it is not a race to lift restrictions.

Some of the announcements that have been made in other jurisdictions are pretty much in line with some of the arrangements that were already in place in the ACT.

Here in the ACT you have already been allowed to go and visit another person ‘s house, as long as it is only one or two people together, and as long as those physical distancing arrangements can be maintained, that is one person every four square metres or staying 1.5m apart.

We will have more to say tomorrow on some of the other measures we will be looking out over the next little while. Again, it is not a race.

We do need to maintain vigilance in relation to Covid-19. We know that this virus and this disease continues to exist in Australia.

We cannot close our borders in the ACT.

We are an island in the heart of New South Wales and the heart of a broader region for people to live and work and cross the border all the time. So we have to do things in line with national cabinet.

Bearing in mind what is happening in New South Wales but also things that work for our community.

Updated

China’s vice-foreign minister, Le Yucheng, has done an interview with NBC.

While tensions with Australia are not mentioned specifically, he does address calls for an international investigation into Covid-19:

You mentioned international investigation. We are candid, and we are open. We support professional exchanges between scientists, including exchanges for reviewing and summarizing experiences. What we oppose, however, is unfounded charges against China. One should not accuse China first and then run so-called international investigations just to make up the evidence. This is arbitrary investigation based on the presumption of guilt. That is what we firmly oppose. As I said just now, the WHO-led expert group visited Wuhan timely. As for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, it is open to international communication. Ever since its establishment, it has received visits by many international scientists, including those from the United States. Just recently, the head of the institute took an interview with a foreign media, and made it clear that the institute has neither the intention nor the capacity to engineer any kind of virus.

... The international investigation, if there is any, should have a solid basis. Why is this investigation only targeted at China? Is there any evidence to show that China does have problems? Why isn’t there any investigation of other countries? Even for the sake of reviewing for improvement, then science-wise, don’t those countries with rapid spread and surge of confirmed and fatal cases have their own problems? We oppose politically-driven investigation for the purpose of stigmatizing China.”

Updated

There was a Labor-Greens majority on this committee, so this outcome should not be a surprise:

Updated

So this is a spanner in the 28 May NRL re-start date works:

Updated

The ACT Health press conference will be broadcast here, if anyone wants to follow along.

Authorities will be speaking more on the eradication of the (known) covid cases in the ACT, as well as the expanded community testing regime.

Updated

Michael McCormack then takes a phone call in the middle of his press conference.

Michael McCormack is still talking.

He’s trying to pretend that he doesn’t care if the NSW Nationals leader, John Barilaro, decides to run for Eden-Monaro.

If Barilaro ran, and won, he would be a MASSIVE threat to McCormack’s quite tenuous hold on the federal Nationals leadership. McCormack’s not the leader because he’s popular in the party room. He’s the leader because there is no other consensus candidate and not even the Nats were crazy enough to bring back Barnaby Joyce.

McCormack is as successful at delivering his “whatever, he can do what he wants” as I was when my brother got the last slice of cake I’d been thinking about all day:

Look, if John wants to put his hand up and run, of course I’ll support him. Of course I’ll support him. I will support any National party member who puts up their hand for that seat. We need a good local person to run in that seat and to contest that seat and hopefully win that seat. John certainly is a good local candidate. I am sure there would be possibly others as well who want to put up their hand and run for that seat.

Updated

Spare a thought for the culture warriors. It’s been a tough time for them as the nation focuses on facts, not feelpinions.

For the record, it is possible to say that yes, Captain James Cook was a great navigator who achieved many things for his time while also saying that yes, he also brought a world of (ongoing) pain to First Nations people all over the world, ushering in a complete change of life as they knew it, which still has massive ramifications for those people today.

The dude was greeted by Indigenous people 250 years and one day ago, and still wrote this southern land he “discovered” was empty, claiming it for the British Empire. It is not only a fact to acknowledge that, it is absolutely necessary.

Updated

We follow up that wonderful news with a Michael McCormack press conference.

What goes up, must go down.

And so it is written.

That is wonderful news for the ACT and I hope more Australian jurisdictions will soon be able to report the same.

Updated

Here is the ACT Health word on that great news:

There have been no new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the ACT in the past 24 hours. The ACT’s total is still 106.

A total of 103 cases have recovered from Covid-19 and have been released from self-isolation.

There are no active cases in the ACT.

The ACT has recorded three (3) deaths.

The number of negative tests in the ACT is now 8,568.

The ACT chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, has welcomed the news that the ACT no longer has any active cases of Covid-19 but has cautioned the community that the pandemic is still ongoing.

‘Today marks the first time in seven weeks our territory has no active cases of Covid-19 and this is because of the strong work the community is doing to stop this virus,’ Dr Coleman said.

‘I want to thank you for practising physical distancing and making these huge changes to your daily life. Today’s news is exactly why we have put these measures into place.

‘However, it is important to stress that we should still protect the good work we have done. Please continue to follow ACT Health directives and practise good hygiene as we continue help fight this virus together.

‘Tomorrow it will be one week since we expanded testing criteria to help us get an even better view of the situation in the community.

Updated

ACT has no known active cases of Covid-19 in Australian first

The ACT has just become the first jurisdiction to record no known active cases in Australia.

Three people died in the ACT and the territory recorded 106 cases over the last seven weeks.

The other 103 people who had been diagnosed have recovered from the virus.

Karen Andrews is announcing the recipients of the $215m “manufacturing modernisation” program, which includes $1m to the company bringing back the Polly Waffle.

Yes. You read that right.

(For the record, scorched peanut bars are also back but softer, they still make chokitos and lolly gobble bliss bombs and they have also brought back the individual violet crumble squares.)

Updated

This is obviously some of the most important news today:

Not Covid related, but still very important:

The ALP will have to confirm party membership of the woman most likely to be its candidate in the Eden-Monaro byelection, following the retirement announcement today by Labor’s Mike Kelly.

Bega Valley Shire mayor Kristy McBain is believed to top the list of possible candidates to be considered by the ALP national executive this afternoon.

However, party officials will first have to check her credentials as it is understood McBain might not have her membership up to date. Guardian Australia has been told she was in Young Labor at university but then left the ALP, although her policies as mayor have been similar to Labor’s.

McBain and Labor’s NSW head office have been contacted for comment.

The national executive would be able to resolve the membership issue, if there is a problem, and preselection at the meeting today.

McBain has the backing of opposition leader Anthony Albanese in what is expected to be a tight battle for the notoriously swinging seat.

Updated

And so it begins

Twiggy Forrest reportedly making bid for Virgin Australia

The Australian Financial Review is reporting that billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is putting together a bid for Virgin Australia.

His investment group, Minderoo, is reported to have hired investment bank Credit Suisse as advisers.

The report came as creditors of the airline met by videolink this morning.

Minderoo has been contacted for comment.

Forrest was last seen yesterday announcing his charitable foundation would buy 10m face masks at a press conference with health minister Greg Hunt that has caused some controversy because the billionaire invited along a Chinese diplomat, Zhou Long.

In this-is-why-using-the-internet-should-maybe-need-a-licence news, there is a conspiracy theory which has been promoted by anti-vaxxers that the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, faked getting a flu vaccine.

She did the usual politician-rolls-up-sleeve-for-shot routine, but the administer of the flu shot was so gentle, and fast, Palaszczuk didn’t react, and some of the cameras missed it. So a photographer asked to re-stage the shot, which happened, and now people are using the staged photo as proof for their insane conspiracies.

Palaszczuk got the shot. Get yours, if you can.

If you need some easy iso cooking inspo, and want to be entertained at the same time, and haven’t seen this, you should check out Nat’s What I Reckon:

He agrees with my oma that adding milk to bolognese is an excellent idea. Try it, if you haven’t.

Just to let you know, because I know how much the below the line chat means – we’ll be turning off comments at about 3.45pm, when our exceptionally hard working moderator finishes her shift.

The Australian government chief nursing and midwifery officer, Alison McMillan, will deliver the national Covid update today.

She’ll present that from 3.15pm.

Updated

Michael Gunner then laid out the Northern Territory moving to stage two:

Two weeks later, from noon Friday 15 May, Stage 2 begins.

This includes simple and safe indoor events and activities that can be done in less than two hours and with physical distancing. Restaurants and cafes, pubs, bars.

But for those venues it must include the consumption of food for this initial period.

So, essentially, meal and a drink.

Shopping centre food courts, gyms and other indoor training, like F45 and Crossfit, Pilates, yoga, dance lessons, things like that, indoor religious worship, libraries, beauty therapy for non-facial services, like getting your nails done.

It will also include organised outdoor training activities for clubs and teams without physical contact.

For businesses and organisations that open or expand operations under these rules, they will need to have a Covid-19 management plan in place.

This will be a simple checklist to show how your venue can adhere to physical distancing, hygiene and cleaning principles.

Updated

Northern Territory relaxes restrictions

Michael Gunner has laid out the relaxed restrictions for the (best) territory:

From noon tomorrow, restrictions will be adjusted on outdoor activities where physical distancing can be maintained.

This includes playgrounds, pools, water parks and skate parks, exercising and personal training outdoors.

Non-contact outdoor sports such as golf, tennis, shooting and athletics.

Outdoor gatherings, including religious gatherings, weddings and funerals. Visiting parks and camping, and fishing - you can go fishing with people not from your household, so long as physical distancing is maintained.

You can fish with your mates again.

Tomorrow’s changes also include real estate open inspections and auctions, and gatherings in your home with physical distancing.

So, this weekend is set to be pretty great outdoors.

Parks, playgrounds, pools, camping, fishing, golfing, getting married, if you can organise it that quick - take your pick.

NBN Co has extended its additional capacity offer to internet service providers for another two months:

NBN Co has also extended its offer to increase download data limits for its standard Sky Muster service to 90GB of data on average for another two months. This offer, which came into effect at the end of March, provides an additional 45GB for each standard Sky Muster service at no additional cost to internet providers.

‘We are extending these offers by another two billing periods because we know how crucial it is for the nation to have access to reliable and fast broadband services as Australians continue to work, study and be entertained at home,’ said Brad Whitcomb, chief customer officer-residential at NBN Co.

That’s because demand during the day is settling into a new high:

For the week from Monday 20 April to Sunday 26 April, peak download throughput (the measure of data flowing through the nbn™ access network) during daytime business hours, increased by 18 per cent to 9.2Tbps compared to the last week of February.

The peak download throughput on the main wholesale service recorded in the early evening hours for the week beginning 20 April increased 17 per cent to 11.5Tbps compared to the pre-Covid-19 baseline, while the peak download throughput on the main wholesale service in the evening busy hours increased by 13 per cent to 12.5Tbps.

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Department never told minister there had been a MyGov website hack

Services Australia never told Stuart Robert the MyGov website had suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, the Covid-19 Senate committee has heard.

The government services minister made the incendiary claim on 23 March after the website crashed, before rescinding the claim in parliament.

Under questioning by Labor’s Murray Watt, Services Australia chief executive Rebecca Skinner said the agency had only ever told Robert the DDoS alarms had gone off and that the agency was in an environment where such an attack could be expected.

She acknowledged the agency had “not categorically” told Robert there had been an attack.

Robert had fended off reporters’ questions about the MyGov outage by stating the website had not crashed, but instead had fallen victim to a cyber attack.

Skinner noted Robert went on to correct himself in parliament.

Skinner also said the agency had been “surprised” by the large queues at Centrelink that week in March, prompted by increased lockdown and the government’s boost to welfare payments.

But she rejected suggestions the agency was unprepared, saying it would not have been economical to design the MyGov website to cope with such unprecedented traffic.

Updated

Mark McGowan, who is in high-vis today (that’s how you know things are slowly returning to normalish, because politicians are back on the hustle), says WA will extend its state of emergency for another two weeks.

That new declaration will expire on 13 May, when it will be extended (most likely) again.

That just means that authorities can direct people to move on, etc.

Updated

Spoke too soon - I have just seen this report from AAP:

A West Australian school principal has been stood down after she wrote to parents asking that only certain children attend class amid coronavirus concerns.

Halls Head College principal Bronwyn White reportedly sent the letter last week, calling for only the children of essential workers or those unable to stay at home to turn up at the independent public school, south of Perth, for the first week of term 2 on Wednesday.

She cited concerns about cleaning supplies and being able to apply physical distancing requirements, saying only Year 11 and 12 students should return for weeks two and three, then issued a retraction as the letter was in breach of education department guidelines.

Comment has been sought from the department.

Western Australian Secondary School Executives Association president Armando Giglia told ABC radio the department was going through usual processes.

“Bureaucracy is bureaucracy,” Mr Giglia said on Thursday.

“She had the best interest of the students at heart – nobody denies that.”

We haven’t heard too much more on schools this morning, but Tanya Plibersek had a chat to the ABC about how she is going with remote learning for her kids, as well as the messages parents are receiving:

Confusion and, to be honest with you, a little bit of frustration. I’ve discovered that I’m not the most patient distance educator on the planet. Look it’s a very confusing time for parents in particular, they’re hearing one message from the federal government and a different message from their state government, and parents just don’t know what the right thing is to do.

The prime minister is urging them to send their kids to school and the premiers are saying please keep your kids at home. No parent wants to be in that circumstance and the principals and school staff who have been working so hard over the holidays, and the weeks before the holidays, to prepare for distance education are tearing their hair out.

They’re the meat in the sandwich here. Trying to support parents who are sending their kids to school, particularly those key workers who’ve got no other option but to send their kids to school and they’re caught between different messages from the prime minister and the premier of their state or territory. No one wants to be in that position.

Updated

Greg Hunt addresses the media in Melbourne
Greg Hunt addresses the media in Melbourne. Photograph: James Ross/EPA

Updated

Andrew Forrest, another WA magnate with significant financial interests in China, who has also been calling for Australia to calm its farm over Beijing, spent the morning shrugging off criticisms he blindsided Greg Hunt by inviting a Chinese consul representative to his press conference yesterday. He told the Seven Network Hunt looked pissed off because of the media, not the situation:

Yes, the minister walked out looking a bit grumpy, and the media jumped all over that. He looked a bit grumpy because a journo almost tried to trip him up to stop him leaving and ask him a heap of questions, and he refused, and said, no, you can take that up with China, or Andrew and me outside.

He walked out like he meant to walk out. But that had nothing to do with the press conference.

Updated

Over on our international coronavirus blog, Helen Sullivan reports Donald Trump’s claims that China wants him to lose the 2020 election:

US president Donald Trump, in an Oval Office interview with Reuters, has said he is looking into different options for the consequences China might face for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “I can do a lot,” he said.

Trump said that coronavirus has “upset very badly” the US trade deal with China, and that China “will do anything they can to have me lose in 2020”.

Trump does not see the 2020 election as being a referendum on his handling of the pandemic, he said.

For all the international news on the pandemic, you can head here:

Updated

Anthony Albanese has released his official statement on Mike Kelly’s resignation:

The Federal Parliament will be poorer for the retirement of Mike Kelly as the Member for Eden Monaro.

Mike Kelly is a great Australian.

He has served our nation in uniform and he has served his community in our national Parliament.

Mike’s retirement is a direct result of renal health issues sustained in connection with his service in Somalia, Iraq and Timor Leste.

He has been struggling with these health problems for some time and is retiring because of the heavy demands of servicing his large and diverse electorate.

Mike is putting his community ahead of himself.

Mike served the nation for 20 years in the Australian Army before retiring as a Colonel.

He won the seat of Eden Monaro for Labor from the Coalition not once, but twice.

In Government, Mike held five Parliamentary Secretary portfolios. He also served as Minister for Defence Materiel.

I will miss Mike as part of the Federal Labor team.

On behalf of the Australian Labor Party I wish Mike, his wife Rachelle and his family the best for the future.

Updated

Working from home means a lot of people are doing a lot more to keep everything afloat. To everyone who has taken on additional duties to keep their loved ones’ heads above water – we thank you.

Updated

Jobseeker supplement to end 24 September

Some jobseekers may miss out on the final instalment of the $550 coronavirus supplement at the end September, the Covid-19 committee has heard.

Although it was touted as a six-month temporary boost by the government, the way the legislation has been drafted means the fortnightly additional supplement will start on 27 April and will end on 24 September.

Some recipients will only receive their first payment from May, depending on when they report their income to Centrelink each fortnight, the Covid-19 Senate committee heard.

These people will not receive a further payment beyond 24 September, meaning they will receive the supplement for a shorter period than six months.

“What that says to me is people will not get the six months if they are still on jobseeker [by then],” said the Greens senator Rachel Siewert.

The DSS secretary, Kathryn Campbell, told the committee: “The legislation says the 24th of September unless there is some change.”

But she said that she assumed that the person was “still on jobseeker”, adding that the government was determined to get people back into work.

Campbell acknowledged there “may have been some confusion” about the length of the supplement.

Updated

The West Australian newspaper has continued its run of “EXCLUSIVE” interviews with Kerry Stokes (who owns the paper), this time to air the magnate’s views on why Australia needs to mend ties with China.

I suppose that would have nothing to do with his significant financial investments in China.

Updated

Anyone interested in the new jobseeker data can find it here.

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The Eden-Monaro byelection could be a three-way contest.

Updated

The first of the funerals for the four police officers who were killed on Melbourne’s eastern freeway will be held today.

Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor will be farewelled at the Police Academy at 1pm. Under the physical distance rules, only her family will attend, with the funeral to be broadcast to colleagues.

Victoria will hold a memorial for the police officers once restrictions are lifted. Police and emergency services have been given permission to flash their vehicle lights in tribute to the their colleagues.

Updated

Treat yo self. Eat the cookie.

AAP story has a story on how we are spending our money while at home – it seems every day is now spa day:

Australians have turned into a nation of beauty-obsessed, wannabe chefs with little care for how our breath smells, if spending habits during the coronavirus lockdown are anything to go by.

The country has been in partial shutdown since March to slow the spread of the deadly virus. In that time, toilet paper and dried pasta flew off the shelves.

Supermarket chain Coles reported an increase in purchases of at-home products such as hair colour, but a downturn in some everyday items.

“As customers increasingly work from home, we are seeing less demand for packaged salads, while social distancing has led to a downturn in sales of gums and mints,” a Coles spokeswoman said.

Australians may care less about their breath but they are not neglecting their faces despite beauticians and spas being shut down.

Department store Myer, which closed its physical doors on March 27 and won’t reopen until May, reports a 520 per cent increase year-on-year in beauty product sales and a whopping 600 per cent rise in skincare purchases.

Online cosmetic store Adore Beauty has seen a 61.2 per cent increase in the sale of face masks in the past month and 62.7 per cent in exfoliators.

As we pamper ourselves during the pandemic, we are doing so in comfort, with online retailer The Iconic recording an 800 per cent surge in slipper sales in two weeks.

Myer also reported homeware sales were up 260 per cent compared with April 2019, showing the coronavirus may have created a nation of interior designers.

People are also cooking up a storm with cafes and restaurants closed.

Myer had a 170.9 per cent year-on-year rise in entertainment sales driven by cooking appliances, with some of the best performing products being coffee machines and mixers.

Coles has seen a rise in purchases of vegetable, such potatoes, onions and carrots, while larger volumes of broccoli, lettuce and cabbage are being grown.

Woolworths said after disinfectants, bread mix was the second most popular purchase, with demand growing by 88 per cent between March 18 and April 14.

The supermarket chain also saw sales of dried herbs and spices rise by more than 70 per cent, dried soup mixes more than doubling.

And Woolworths recorded a 1,000 per cent rise in demand for hand sanitiser compared with this time last year.

Consumer group Choice said the results of individual retailers were seen across the country and overall, Australians were buying up on coffee machines, benchtop cookers and renovation-style content, as well as printers and antivirus software as more people worked from home.

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Victoria’s health minister, Jenny Mikakos, says police checks are still happening:

In terms of police checks we are now up to, since they started Operation Sentinel, up to 32,000 checks undertaken by Victorian police and in 24 hours they undertook 656 checks and issued 43 fines, which is both a mix of those lower numbers and a mixture of the greater use of discretion combined with people continuing to do the right thing.

It does appear to be more people out but people continue to do all of the social distancing and follow the rules and the directives set by the chief health officer.

Updated

Victoria is expanding its hotel accommodation scheme (where frontline health workers can stay in a hotel instead of going home between shifts and isolate away from families) to frontline emergency service workers and community workers.

Victoria reports cluster of cases at Melbourne aged care home

From AAP:

Victoria has recorded seven new cases of coronavirus, with more expected to emerge after authorities revealed a cluster in an aged care facility.

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton told 3AW Radio on Thursday a cluster at the Hawthorn Grange aged care facility was under investigation, with extensive testing being conducted.

“I think we’ll get on top of that. We’ve identified those additional cases and tested across the board for residents and staff,” Mr Sutton said.

“(Aged care facilities) are places where you absolutely need to act down on it immediately and that really means extensive testing, including individuals with no symptoms.”

The state’s effort to test up to 100,000 people in two weeks has seen six new mobile coronavirus testing sites open across Melbourne on Thursday.

The seven new cases bring the state’s total tally to 1361, while the death toll remains at 18 after a woman in her 80s died on Tuesday.

The announcement of a new cluster comes after two dozen staff at a hospital in Melbourne’s west were put in self-quarantine.

A patient who attended Sunshine Hospital’s emergency department last Thursday tested positive for coronavirus.

The patient required urgent surgery but had no known symptoms of COVID-19.

The staff then developed a mild cough over the weekend and undertook a test for the virus, returning a positive result.

Western Health’s executive director operations Natasha Toohey says 24 hospital staff have entered self-quarantine as a precaution, with testing also underway.

No other patients had been in close contact with the infected person

“The safety of our staff is paramount and Western Health took immediate action in response to this positive result,” Ms Toohey said.

Updated

The Labor leader says the Coalition starts as favourite in the coming Eden-Monaro byelection.

Kelly won the seat off the Coalition, lost it and won it again. It’s not an easy electorate for Labor to hold – Kelly, despite his popularity in the region, only just held on at the last election.

Updated

Anthony Albanese on Mike Kelly:

We have seen today in the way that he has handled this difficult decision exactly why he has had the faith of the people of Eden-Monaro.

He perhaps, has downplayed how tough the last six months has been for him. Ten surgical and medical procedures he has been through.

I have spoken to him throughout that period and I know how difficult he has found it.

But at the same time, every time I have spoken to him, even on the days where he is about to undergo a procedure, he has focused on the people of the electorate of Eden-Monaro.

And his work that he did during the bushfire crisis was quite extraordinary, the commitment that he showed.

Updated

The exclusion of disability pensioners and carers from the coronavirus supplement has generated a lot of frustration among some of the country’s most vulnerable people.

We first covered the issue here.

At the Covid-19 committee hearing, Labor’s Katy Gallagher asked the Department of Social Services why they were excluded from the $550-a-fortnight supplement.

She gives the example that a single parent of a six-year-old receiving parenting payment now receives more than a carer of a six-year-old child with a disability.

Campbell’s argument is that the coronavirus supplement was designed to further support people who were also in paid work or looking for work.

Asked if there was consideration given to applying the supplement to DSP recipients, Campbell says no.

“DSP recipients weren’t generally in the workforce,” she said.

About 9% of disability pensioners and 7% of carer payment recipients also had earnings in December 2019, government data shows. That compares to 35% of people receiving parenting payment single.

Updated

Except it seems, this option.

Updated

Mike Kelly:

I have to say, I know another phrase around here is “If you want friends, get a dog” in politics, but I haven’t found that.

I don’t have any enemies I have made in politics and I have friends on both sides of the chamber.

You know, in my army career I stared into the face of true evil, whether it was genocidal warlords in Somalia or murdering militia in Timor or war criminals in Bosnia or staring into Saddam Hussein’s face and the dirty dozen, so-called, in Iraq.

So it kept me in the situation where I had a good perspective on all of this.

And so I treat people on the other side of the chamber who I find is decent human beings, and having the national interest at heart, as I find that way.

And I do count the number of them as friends. We may have deep disagreements about policy issues but, you know, I am quite happy to call some of them friends, and I feel grateful for that experience as well.

And certainly my caucus colleagues.

But now, of course, the focus has to be on all of us pulling together to face the crisis we are in right now, and I think for Eden-Monaro, I’m sorry to be putting you to a byelection at the moment, but I do believe, you know, that with the restrictions and a process of being eased in the months ahead that it will be feasible to hold a byelection in that space as well.

Updated

On his political career, Mike Kelly says:

I have had a lot of ups and downs in politics, of course, as everyone does.

I want to thank in particular Kevin Rudd for his support, his intention in making me defence minister, his backing to get the centre up and running. I was very proud to be part of that.

Julia Gillard for making me minister for defence materiel. Bill Shorten’s support for giving us a native shipbuilding industry and making that a bipartisan commitment and supporting me to be in the shadow security committee, and also the parliamentary joint committee on security and intelligence.

That has been a wonderful experience of working together collegiality with colleagues across the chamber in the interests of national security and our nation generally, and it’s been a really rewarding and enjoyable experience, along with working with my good friend the member for Berowra on the prevention of suicide, a subject close to my heart, and really supporting the work we have done together in that space. So those are possibly the most rewarding experiences in recent years.

So thank you to all of those involved in that, and to Albo for continuing to support me in the shadow National Security Committee and the PJCIS.

Updated

I’m watching the Senate committee into Covid-19, which is examining social policy today.

The agencies that will appear today are the Department of Social Services, Services Australia and the National Disability Insurance Agency.

Already, we have some news: the Department of Social Services has revealed the number of jobseeker payment recipients increased from 815,000 on 28 February to 1.3 million on 24 April. The department is forecasting 1.7 million by September.

“It is a significant number,” said the department secretary, Kathryn Campbell.

She said the current figures were “broadly in line” what the department was expecting.

Updated

Here is his entire statement:

It is with great sadness that I have to announce that I am resigning as the Member for Eden-Monaro effective from Thursday 30 April.

This has been an intensely difficult, gut wrenching decision. I contested the last Federal Election in good faith with the intention of serving the full term of this Parliament and beyond.

However, I’ve had serious renal health issues to work through over these last six months, related to my former Army service, which has required ten medical procedures. These issues are ongoing and I have another procedure to come in the next few months. Added to this is the recent classification by the Department of Veterans Affairs that I am permanently impaired due to my deteriorating osteoarthritis condition.

This situation has made it impossible to fulfil the challenging duties that the community in Eden Monaro rightly expects of its member. At the same time, my wife is also having health issues and I need to provide more support to her than I have been able to.

I regret that my resignation will result in a by-election that will be an inconvenience for the community. I hope, however, that this will also be an opportunity to bring to the forefront the extreme issues that are confronting us through the combination of the catastrophic bushfires and now the COVID-19 situation. In this way I hope Eden Monaro will get the extra attention it needs and deserves right now.

The electorate office staff will remain in place to support all those who need help, through to the declaration of the by-election poll.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the people of Eden-Monaro for allowing me to serve them throughout my time as Member. It has been the greatest privilege of my life. This community and region mean everything to me and I was not prepared to work on at a reduced capacity, given all the challenges ahead of us.

I intend to keep fighting for our region and the issues that concern me, including our security and climate change challenges. I will also stay closely in touch with our ongoing recovery effort and the community organisations I am involved with.

I wish the Australian Labor Party and our leader Anthony Albanese all the very best for the next election where I am sure they will form the next Government of Australia. I will continue to be a Labor man for the rest of my life. I wish all my parliamentary colleagues all the best in their endeavours.

Updated

Mike Kelly said he would not be able to cope mentally with not being able to serve his community as it deserves:

My whole life of 36 years of public service has been body and soul into whatever I’ve done, and I’m sort of paying a bit of a heavy price for that at the moment.

But I would have continued on if I felt that I could have done the job to the extent to which it has to be done in Eden-Monaro. It is not the seat of Wentworth, it is larger than 66 countries, Eden-Monaro, these days.

It is 42,000 sq km of rough terrain, difficult weather, incredibly diverse, incredibly challenging, where the community that is spread out and really requires you to be on the road a hell of a lot, thousands and thousands and thousands of kilometres.

And I just can’t do that physically any more.

He thanks his family, his friends, his colleagues and his medical team for all their support.

Updated

Mike Kelly is officially announcing his retirement. Anthony Albanese introduced him and said he was proud to call him a friend – which would continue.

Kelly says he has been classified as permanently impaired by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs because of a severe illness which originated when he was serving in the Middle East and he can no longer do his job effectively:

People are aware, I think, that I have been going through some health issues. These are all service-related, going back to my time in the army.

On the one hand, I suffered some severe episodes of dehydration which led to some renal issues, and of course, in the last few weeks the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has classified me as permanently impaired due to deteriorating osteoarthritis situation, which has been exacerbated by the nature of the work in Eden-Monaro.

The renal situation was at times quite serious. I’ve had 10 procedures in the last six months.

In the bushfires and coronavirus situation have in some ways masked my inability to be on the road and be out in Eden-Monaro as much as I should have or would have liked to have been.

Fortunately it’s been possible for me to do my work, you know, remotely and online and on the phone through the bushfires and the rest of it.

But we are coming to a time now when restrictions are likely to be eased, and it will be time for a member for Eden-Monaro to be on that road again.

So the timing for me is about enabling that new member to do that work, to prevent myself from being in the position where I would let down my community, my caucus members and my leader by not being able to do this job to the full extent that it should be done, that the community demands and deserves.

Updated

Andrew Forrest, who has seemed to have taken on a mantle as Australia’s unofficial spokesman on China, has tried to shrug off criticisms of his press conference performance yesterday.

He was asked about bringing along the Victoria Chinese consul general Zhou Long in the middle of a diplomatic spat, without letting the minister, Greg Hunt, know when on Sunrise this morning:

China has really stepped up so I brought the Chinese consulate along because they’ve helped Australia.

Mums and dads and boys and girls are now able to get tested across our country.

I brought the consulate along when we broke the back of the PPE crisis in Perth so I brought him along again in Melbourne.

Here is AAP’s story on it:

Billionaire Twiggy Forrest is facing criticism for inviting the Chinese consul general to a press conference with Greg Hunt without the minister’s knowledge.

The relationship between the two countries is strained, with China openly criticising Australia which is calling for an international inquiry into the origins of coronavirus.

Mr Hunt and Mr Forrest held a joint press conference on Wednesday to announce the mining magnate’s foundation had sourced 10 million COVID-19 testing kits.

But Mr Forrest also invited Victoria Consul General Long Zhou to address the media.

He said the diplomat’s attendance was “a gesture of appreciation and friendship between our two great countries”.

Mr Long took the opportunity to talk up China’s response to the pandemic.

“The virus has, knows no ideology, border or race and in face of the epidemic the testings of all countries are closely interlinked. We’re all in this together,” Mr Long said.

Several conservative government backbenchers, including Matt Canavan and Andrew Hastie, have criticised Mr Forrest’s action.

“This guy drops out of the sky in his private jet and enables the Chinese Communist Party to ambush a Commonwealth press conference. Yeah, we’re not happy,” Mr Hastie told The Australian.

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop says by being on the United Nations security council China has an obligation to support an investigation into the virus, as the pandemic is a threat to international peace and security.

“This is no time for there to be threats or coercion by any nation against another because we are in the midst of a global pandemic,” she told Seven’s Sunrise on Thursday.

“This pandemic has been a threat to international security because of the profound disruption to the global economy. There must be an investigation into how the virus got into human populations so we can be better prepared.”

Updated

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Six mobile testing sites to open across Melbourne

Victoria Health has just announced this:

Six new mobile coronavirus testing sites across Melbourne will open today, as part of the Victorian Government’s blitz to test up to 100,000 people in two weeks.

The new sites located at Bunnings West Footscray, Pacific Werribee, Pacific Epping, Watergardens Town Centre, Westfield Fountain Gate and Bayside Shopping Centre in Frankston are due to begin conducting tests this morning.

It comes after four new mobile coronavirus testing sites opened yesterday at Chadstone, Doncaster, Highpoint and Northland shopping centres – bringing the total so far to 10.

Updated

Jobseeker and other social safety net payments and the response are the focus of today’s Covid Senate select committee hearing.

That includes Stuart Robert’s “my bad” hack that wasn’t.

The national disability insurance scheme heads will also be at the meeting, where they will be asked about what is missing for those living with a disability in this response, or caring for someone with a disability. There is an easy answer to that straight off the bat – the Covid supplement.

Updated

Queensland has recorded no new cases.

Updated

Anthony Albanese will stand up with Mike Kelly at 10am to officially announce the Labor MP’s resignation.

Updated

You’ll find the Tasmanian Health report into the north-west outbreak here.

Updated

It is Senate Covid committee day.

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Sign for Federal Labor MP Mike Kelly.
A sign for the federal Labor MP Mike Kelly, who has announced his retirement Photograph: Supplied

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The Tasmanian report will add fuel to the fire for the tit-for-tat between Peter Dutton and Kristina Keneally:

(For some context, Keneally has previously called Dutton’s criticisms and focus on her “unhinged”, which is one of the reasons he used it here.

And for the record, Dutton’s criticism that Keneally is attacking “uniformed officers” of Border Force leaves out that it was Dutton who changed the department to first of all create “Border Force”, secondly make them “officers” and thirdly, put them in uniforms.”)

Updated

The Labor MP says it wasn’t the choice he wanted to make, but his health determined it for him:

I found it to be the greatest privilege in my life to represent his community because Eden-Monaro is deep in my blood and my heart.

This region has been my family story for over 160 years, you know, the pioneers who helped to build the region. My great, great, great grandfather built the Tathra wharf and my great-great-grandfather ran the Bega cheese co-op and my great-grandfather ran for Eden-Monaro in 1940 and was a big part of fighting the battles during the Great Depression and other things, so it was a proud part of my life to be part of that family tradition in serving the region, and so to have two lay down that torch is very emotionally charged and distressing.

Updated

Labor MP Mike Kelly retires

Mike Kelly spoke to the ABC about his “gut-wrenching” decision to retire:

What we will do now is put Eden-Monaro squarely at the front and centre of the national debate.

It will be number one on the radar, it will be a battleground for the policy ideas we have to now have in terms of what we do for climate change, but also importantly for the recovery process through all of this.

No region has suffered more through the double whammy, if you like, of climate change, bushfires and the coronavirus situation than Eden-Monaro, so it will be an opportunity for our issues to be front and centre for our particular trauma to be addressed and it will be our competition for who can provide those answers for our community.

There are a lot of things that have been slipping from consciousness and below the radar that really need urgent attention, so by falling on my sword now I think I’m doing the best in the region to make sure we are front and centre in the debate and we get the commitments that we need.

It’s been incredibly gut-wrenching.

Labor’s Mike Kelly in 2016
Labor’s Mike Kelly. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Tasmania reports one new Covid-19 case

Just one person in Tasmania was diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

Updated

Peter Gutwein says the government will be taking the lessons from the report into the north-west Tasmanian outbreak seriously:

I do want to say that what this report will demonstrate very clearly is that most likely the Ruby Princess is the root cause of our problems on the north-west coast.

In terms of how this highly infectious disease has then been spread, to be frank, it is something that we will never know.

What we do know is that healthcare workers caught this, healthcare workers who would have been doing their very best to serve Tasmanians and to look after their patients and, as a result of that spread we have had the north-west cluster, the north-west outbreak, and importantly then as a government with the support of our health experts took the responses and the actions that we did.

But I would say to everybody, don’t use this report to blame people, use this report to ensure that we learn and as a state that we go forward and, importantly, we take every step that we possibly can to keep people safe.

Updated

Peter Gutwein repeats that “no one is to blame” for the north-west outbreak.

What we have is a dedicated health workforce, what we have is a highly infectious disease and, unfortunately, we have had an outbreak and we have done everything that we possibly can to get on top of that outbreak.

There are lessons ... though, from all of this and by all of us I mean the entire state of Tasmania.

One point that I do want to make is that sometimes our strong work ethic can be our worst enemy.

It is a stark reminder to us that this virus moves quickly, that this virus, once somebody has been infected, can demonstrate no symptoms at all and it’s important that whether people work in a hospital, whether they work in a manufacturing plant, whether they work in a shearing shed, the lessons from this report are such that we should all take on board that we need to ensure that no matter how good we feel, if we have a sniffle we shouldn’t turn up to work.

If we have any concern whatsoever then we should take the precautionary principles. We must continue to be cautious and we must continue to vigilant.

Updated

'Ground zero' for Tasmanian north-west outbreak was the Ruby Princess

Tasmania’s premier, Peter Gutwein, says no passenger was to blame, and no health worker was to blame, but the north-west Covid outbreak started with the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

Another woman, an 86-year-old, died in Tasmanian yesterday. She had been diagnosed with Covid-19. Hers was the 12th death in Tasmania. Eleven people have died in the state’s north-west.

Gutwein:

Last night when I was thinking about how to outline this report today, and I would ask everybody to consider this as well, I thought that it was important to actually take a walk in the steps of the issues of those that have been Ruby Princess passengers but also those who have been healthcare workers.

This is simply a case of people going about their lives, going about their jobs, while this dreadful set of circumstances has ensued and has wreaked havoc and misery on so many people. Hard-working and passionate healthcare workers continue to turn up to serve their community.

What the report will indicate in many cases, unaware that they were carrying symptoms. In fact, most of them were unaware that they were carrying symptoms.

Now, we know that our state is not immune to the virus and unfortunately, like the rest of the country, we are not immune to outbreak.

What we do know is that this insidious disease is one that spreads very quickly, is highly infectious and the learnings that we take from this report today will enable us to consider our systems to ensure that we work even harder to keep people safe.

Updated

As expected, Mike Kelly will announce his retirement this morning.

We’ll bring you that announcement, when it is (officially) made, when it happens.

ANZ profit tumbles

ANZ is this morning the second big-four bank to reveal a coronavirus-ravaged half-year result, telling the market profit was down by 51% for the six months to the end of March to $1.55bn.

Coincidentally, this is the same percentage fall recorded by its rival NAB a few days ago.

ANZ said it slashed the value of its loan book by $1.67bn, with just over $1bn of that due to the effects of the coronavirus crisis.

It has also cancelled its dividend in line with strong suggestions from the prudential regulator – something NAB did not do.

ANZ also cut the book value of a group of Asian banks in which it owns shares by $815m, “largely due to the impact Covid-19 is having in those markets”.

These banks, which include the Malaysian bank linked to the 1MDB scandal, Ambank, have long been troubled investments for ANZ and it has been trying to sell its stakes.

Updated

Rex Patrick says Coalition being hypocritical by demanding transparency from China

The cossbench senator Rex Patrick says he put in a freedom of information request for the advice the prime minister’s department had at the beginning of the pandemic, and was denied.

He says the government is being hypocritical by demanding transparency from China but not being open itself:

The government has piled on every exemption category it can think of – international relations, national security, internal government deliberations and cabinet business – to withhold every word of five briefings provided to the prime minister between the 1st and 31st of January.

This was the critical time in which the government first received reports of the coronavirus outbreak, and first learned of human-to human transmission, but decided to only screen flights from Wuhan and hand leaflets to passengers arriving from China.

The Australian government is right to seek an international inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic, and China needs to be much more transparent and cooperative. But our government’s position would be much stronger and much less hypocritical if they committed to full transparency themselves and didn’t engage in bureaucratic obstruction and obfuscation.”

The prime minister can fix this by directing his department to release the briefings. He should do so now.

He needs to practice what he preaches.

Updated

Deputy chief medical officer cites concerns about a second wave of coronavirus

The expert medical committee will be advising the national cabinet this week on an exit strategy.

But Dr Nick Coatsworth says there are still concerns a second wave will strike:

It’s fair to say that a second wave is a concern and the reason why all Australians will not remain complacent. I know that our behaviours will continue to remain the same.

We’ll maintain our 1.5-metre distance, we won’t be shaking hands or hugging, we’ll be performing hand hygiene.

As our mobility increases, our behaviour must stay the stay. And then monitoring the number of Covid-19 cases closely, breaking down the clusters, breaking down the transmission chains very quickly and increasing the number of tests.

All those things together mean we aim to avoid or minimise any second wave.

Updated

The deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth (he shares the role with Prof Paul Kelly) says he doesn’t expect there to be a national lifting of restrictions:

I think it would be difficult to take an entirely national approach to this.

The broad principles are set by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, going to national cabinet, and agreed upon at national cabinet. Then it’s very clear that the epidemic is in different phases.

Previously, on the show, we heard about the Northern Territory. That has had no community cases. For the Northern Territory to have the same measures that Victoria or New South Wales have would make no sense.

Western Australia has 60% of their school students back in public schools as of yesterday.

So we are a continent. It can be confusing seeing different states doing different things, but it is a necessary consequence of the federation having an epidemic that’s behaving somewhat differently across the country.

Updated

NSW reports two new Covid-19 cases

It is Gladys Berejiklian o’clock. The NSW premier says there have been two new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

That is great news ahead of restrictions being (slightly) eased tomorrow.

Essentially, the definition of “care” is being expanded, to include two adult visitors to your home (you can take young children if you need to) but physical distancing remains in place.

Berejiklian:

We want to look at new opportunities in the future to ease restrictions.

I have confidence everyone will respect what we put in place from tomorrow so we can all move forward together in a pleasing way. That’s certainly my hope and my anticipation for the month of May.

As you know, three big changes in May. Schools will be going back in a considerable way, obviously the restrictions on visiting others, and again on that point, can I stress, have conversations in your family, have conversations with your friends, if you’re visiting people who are vulnerable, if you’re visiting older people, you may choose not to visit based on your circumstances and theirs. Please make sure you have those conversations.

And obviously, as we’ve been advising, as we can tell through the data we’re getting, a number of retail outlets previously closed have chosen to reopen or commence reopening.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian briefs the media in Sydney on Thursday morning.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian briefs the media in Sydney on Thursday morning. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

Polly Waffle is back!

And this time it is the chocolate, not what comes out of MPs’ mouths (because that never stopped).

But Karen Andrews will announce who gets a slice of the $215m “manufacturing modernisation fund”, which includes $1m for the return of the chocolate.

Bring back the original Milo bar, you cowards.

Updated

Also, the Eden-Monaro MP, Mike Kelly, is expected to announce his retirement today. The Labor MP has struggled with his health for some time, after he became grievously ill while serving in the Middle East.

Anthony Albanese is expected to stand by his side as he makes the announcement.

Scott Morrison is fairly chill about the Coalition’s chances – byelections don’t usually result in a swapped party, and sitting governments always struggle in those contests, but the NSW Nationals leader, John Barillo, has had his eye on the federal seat for a while and is quite popular in areas of the vast region, so who knows.

Updated

If you are looking for a break from Covid news, Daniel Hurst has this for you, from an interview conducted on the A Rational Fear podcast, hosted by Dan Ilic:

Updated

Josh Frydenberg appeared on Sky after dark last night to ram home the point Mathias Cormann and Scott Morrison had already made on Wednesday: the jobseeker (formerly Newstart) rate which was doubled to $1,100 at the start of the Covid-19 crisis will not have that increase extended.

Forty dollars a day is not enough to live on when there is a pandemic, apparently. But it is fine as Australia navigates life after a pandemic.

Frydenberg:

We don’t want these payments going out the door for a day longer than they have to. We’re very conscious that these programs will end when it’s appropriate to do so.

But the tax cuts are still going ahead and company tax cuts are back on the agenda. There is money for that.

After decades of being told it can’t be done, we found out that governments can spend as much as they want on social enrichment programs, with a flick of the pen – but politics will always find a way to nose back in.

Updated

Good morning and welcome to today’s coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. We’re expecting more news today about easing restrictions in some parts of Australia, including in the Northern Territory, while the Tasmanian premier is expected to announce an exit plan. Creditors of the grounded airline Virgin Australia are also set to meet today.

Here’s a brief summary of yesterday’s major developments:

  • Australia has a total of 6,746 confirmed cases. Ninety people have died across the country from Covid-19.
  • There was another death at Sydney’s beleaguered Newmarch House aged care home. Twelve people have now died there.
  • More than 3 million Australians have downloaded the government’s Covidsafe app.
  • The degenerating relationship between Canberra and Beijing deteriorated further, with tit-for-tat bickering, trade threats and a gate-crashed press conference, all emerging out of Australia’s proposal for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak.

There will be more on schools, and what a restriction exit strategy looks like. The deputy chief medical officer Prof Paul Kelly yesterday said 11 May was the target, which would fit with the June timetable the prime minister has set. That means, if things still look good, then we’ll start hearing how restaurants, gyms and domestic travel (among other small freedoms) will open up in two weeks.

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

Updated

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