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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mostafa Rachwani (now) and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Vaccine likely to be mandatory for aged care workers; returning Australians from India arrive in Adelaide – as it happened

What happened today, Friday 4 June

And with that, another week comes to an end. Here’s everything that went down today:

  • Victoria recorded four new cases, with no plans for an early mark on the Melbourne lockdown, yet.
  • The Delta Covid variant has also been detected in Melbourne, concerning authorities.
  • The PM announced that the federal government and Victoria have come to an agreement to fund and build a new purpose-built quarantine facility.
  • The Foster review into complaints process for parliamentary staff was released, outlining how much work is necessary in the space.
  • Chris Minns was elected the new leader of NSW Labor.
  • Returned travellers in quarantine moved to another Adelaide hotel after a toddler tests positive.

For everyone in Melbourne, here is the Guardian’s quick guide to exposure sites and to lockdown rules. Wishing everyone in lockdown luck and strength.

Updated

NSW Health has released an update on their investigation into a cyber-attack that affected them earlier this year, saying medical records in public hospitals were not affected and that there is no evidence of any information being misused.

NSW Police and Cyber Security NSW have set up Strike Force Martine to investigate the impacts of the attacks, that happened in December/January, and affected around 100 organisations around the world.

A Cyber Incident Help Line has been set up to provide further information and support to those people NSW Health is contacting.

Queensland Health has dismissed the entire North West Hospital and Health Services (NWHHS) board over concerns surrounding financial governance.

The NWHHS services over 30,000 people, but Queensland Health did not specify what specifically led to the decision.

In a statement the health authority said “concerns had been raised around sustainable governance and financial management at NWHHS”.

The minister for health and ambulance services, Yvette D’Ath, appointed former Queensland Health director-general Michael Walsh as administrator in the board’s absence.

I want to reassure communities in the North West that delivering sustainable health services to them is a priority.

Updated

The designs for the Western Sydney International Airport terminal have been released, with the chief executive Simon Hickey saying it’ll be “Australia’s best airport terminal”.

The final designs are said to be inspired by the region’s Indigenous heritage and underpinned by “strong sustainability principles”.

Multiplex will construct the terminal, which is said to include a “climate responsive facade” and features “passive design principles”, apparently.

You can see the designs for yourself in the video above. It certainly looks unique, but I’ll reserve my judgement until I’m sitting impatiently there waiting for a flight.

Updated

Summary

Greens senator Larissa Waters has taken to twitter to give her take on the Foster review (and its timing):

Updated

The family of a man who died after losing his disability funding has received an apology from the federal government.

AAP has the story:

Two years after David Harris lost his disability funding and died at home in western Sydney, his family has an apology from the federal government.

His decomposed body was found two months after he was cut from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

“I am deeply sorry and I absolutely offer my condolences to the family,” NDIS minister Linda Reynolds told a senate estimates hearing on Friday.

Mr Harris lived with a psychiatric condition and diabetes, and his funding stopped after he missed an annual review with the National Disability Insurance Agency.

An autopsy failed to establish the cause of death.

An inquest was announced in December 2020 after a public campaign about his death.

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching is concerned it is another case of neglect and preventable death.

“Did it not occur to anyone to phone when he missed a meeting?” Senator Kitching said.

“He was dead for two months before anyone found him,” she said.

“Obviously it’s not just Mr Harris who has perhaps died in a way that was unnecessary and in a totally undignified way, with no care.”

Ann Marie Smith, who was under the care of the NDIS, died in Adelaide last year from profound neglect.

“That’s why I’m asking these questions because there should not be a single person, let alone more than one,” Senator Kitching said.

The cases have led to change at the federal disability agency.

Disability regulator Graeme Head said he had been working with the NDIA on how to better flag the risk of harm, particularly for people whose links to others are more fragile.

“People’s circumstances change, they lose contact with family members, they may lose contact with support workers,” he said.

National Disability Insurance Agency chief executive Martin Hoffman said the inquest “hasn’t commenced in any significant way” but he has not waited.

A detailed internal review of the circumstances has led to changes in approach to the ending of plans and the continuation of plans, and profiling vulnerability.

“It led to and has contributed to changes we have made around our check-in process with participants,” he said.

But Senator Reynolds said the agency did not have a public guardian role.

The NSW coroner will conduct the inquest.

Updated

Skipping over to Tasmania for a moment, Hobart is set to get a new Covid testing facility to deal with the winter demand.

The Tasmanian government announced today they will be opening another coronavirus testing facility, with the state averaging between 650-70 tests a day over the past week.

Premier Peter Gutwein says he hopes the new facility will keep testing numbers high.

“The facility will open from 8.30am to 3.30pm daily with capacity for up to six lanes for drive-in testing and walk-in testing if demand requires it and this will help keep our testing rates high and meet demand in the colder months and in response to snap lockdowns as we have seen.

Updated

South Australia has received its first flight from India since May, as 150 Australian residents return home.

All 150 were taken to a medi-hotel in Adelaide’s CBD, where they will spend two weeks in quarantine.

A Qantas repatriation flight from India on final approach into Adelaide Airport, Friday, 4 June 4.
A Qantas repatriation flight from India on final approach into Adelaide Airport, Friday, 4 June 4. Photograph: Roy Vandervegt/AAP

Updated

Good afternoon and a happy Friday to all out readers. I wanted to thank Amy again for her work today and this week, it’s been quite a busy one.

I’ll be here for the rest of the day, and there’s much to get through, so let’s dive in.

Updated

A very big thank you to everyone who has joined me for the past two weeks. The super lovely Mostafa Rachwani will expertly guide you through the afternoon.

There is no parliament next week, so there will be no me – but the blog, of course, will continue, going back to the general news blog that we run during non-sitting weeks.

I’ll be back on Politics Live when parliament resumes the next week. In the mean time, I’ll be thinking of you Victoria. You guys have absolutely been through the ringer, and you keep showing up for all of us, and I don’t know if we can ever thank you enough. I can’t pretend to know what it would be like to go through lockdown for the fourth time. I hope you are all taking as much care of yourselves as possible, and doing whatever it is that can bring you joy, or at least a sense of contentment as you make your way through it. To those in hard lockdown, as close contacts, again – sending all of the love. We truly thank you for what you are doing.

It’s been another rough couple of weeks for a lot of people, and the waves never seem to stop coming. If anything has happened which has triggered something, I hope you have support, or at least feel like you can reach out to someone. It’s important. We might feel like we are screaming into the abyss, but a lot of the time, there are people there with us. I hope you find yours.

Thanks to everyone who has come along with me for the past two weeks of sitting. You make my screams into the abyss a lot less lonely. I’ll see you back for Politics Live in another week. In the meantime, please – take care of you.

The CPSU, the union responsible for public servants, has responded to the Stephanie (again, apologies for what was entirely my mistake) Foster review.

National secretary Melissa Donnelly says it should not have taken this long for there to be change:

The number of complaints and training figures show that there needs to be ongoing and mandated training for all staff and politicians.

It defies logic that the review notes the department is now working on its own standalone sexual harassment policy, when at every turn they have blocked or ignored CPSU members calls for such a policy, including rejecting a drafted stand along policy, with no reason or feedback.

If the Morrison government was serious about implementing a sexual harassment and violence policy, they would have negotiated on the enterprise agreement clause employees put forward, rather than dismissing it.

It’s not enough for Minister Birmingham to consult politicians, who are in some cases part of the problem, the next stages of the implementation must focus on the very workers that the policies concern.

All workers deserve to be and should expect to be safe at work, and political staffers should be no different. The Morrison government must take its duty to provide a safe workplace seriously, and stop kicking this down the road. The prime minister and the minister needs to stop talking about safety, ignoring good ideas, and actually do something substantial.”

Updated

Returned travellers in quarantine moved to another Adelaide hotel after toddler tests positive

AAP has an update on what is happening in one of the South Australian hotel quarantine sites:

A group of returned travellers quarantining in an Adelaide medi-hotel have been moved to another facility amid concerns they may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The 18 people were moved from the Peppers Hotel to the Pullman Hotel on Friday after a toddler returned a positive test this week.

SA Health said the guests on the same floor were moved because of fears of a possible risk of transmission after the two-year-old boy spent longer than expected in a hallway at the hotel while being tested*.

Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said officials took a look back at the incident and found that the door to the room where the boy’s family was staying had been opened and shut a number of times.

She said it had been determined that other people on the same floor could be at “significant” risk but said the response taken was part of usual protocols.

“It’s unfortunate, but we have to deal with these situations in our medi-hotels when we have a positive case,” she said.

“These are things that are just not predictable.”

The boy was admitted to hospital on Thursday but later discharged and taken to Adelaide’s Tom’s Court Hotel, where all people known to have the virus are isolated.

However, his mother subsequently tested positive for the virus and was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital along with her son.

Hers was the only positive case reported in SA on Friday, with the state currently having five active infections, all in isolation.

SA Health said the delay in testing the boy was related to his distress, identity checks and language barriers while Professor Spurrier said it was always difficult to test very young children.

She said the people moved might be required to start their 14-day quarantine period again, although some might have that period cut short, depending on where their rooms were located and their personal circumstances.

*I can not imagine how difficult it would be to get a nasal swab from a two year old, let alone one who is tired, sick and scared. And I can’t imagine how traumatic it would have been for the little boy, and his family, having to watch it. Here is hoping for a speedy recovery.

Updated

You can tell it’s Friday – I meant Stephanie Foster, not Christine Foster (there are a lot of reviews to keep straight these days).

Apologies – the correction has been made.

Updated

As Murph explained in a recent Full Story podcast, this is just one of the reviews which have been ordered in the wake of Brittany Higgins making her allegation – and it won’t be the last.

This review was originally called for when it was revealed just how powerless parliamentary staffers were in terms of making complaints – the minister has the hiring and firing power and there isn’t exactly a HR – after Four Corners did a story on some of the experiences of women in November, 2020.

Nothing happened then, despite parliamentarians like Larissa Waters calling for change. When it was clear the response to Higgins’ story had not been adequate, this review was ordered. It still took some time though.

Updated

And the final two recommendations relate to oversight to ensure the recommendations are implemented – and funded.

Recommendation 9

A small taskforce should be established in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to implement these recommendations. The taskforce should work closely with the Prime Minister, the Minister for Finance, the Presiding Officers, the Parliamentary Service Commissioner, and the Departments of Finance and Parliamentary Services in doing so.

Recommendation 10

The framework for reporting and responding to serious incidents and the implementation taskforce should be funded until the end of the 2021-22 financial year.

Updated

Essentially Stephanie Foster has found everything needs an update:

Recommendation 8

The Department of Finance should remain responsible for underpinning Human Resources and WHS processes, including managing:

• Workplace reports that are not serious incidents, including less serious reports of bullying and harassment

• Workers compensation claims

• Existing complaints on foot at the time the complaints mechanism is implemented

• Historical reports that do not fall within the scope of the independent complaints mechanism

• HR and other shared services

• Overall policies, general training and resources

Updated

Stephanie Foster also wants more oversight over after-hours access to the building.

Recommendation 7

To mitigate the risk of serious incidents occurring within Parliament House, measures to control after-hours access should be introduced.

As a first step, all after-hours access should be logged and reported promptly to office managers to deter non-work related access, and areas accessed after hours should be subject to additional patrols. These measures should be underpinned by a clear expectation from parliamentarians to their staff that after-hours access must be work related or for a legitimate purpose.

Parliament House at sunrise

Updated

And it needs to be included as part of any other response:

Recommendation 6

Where Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) Protective Security Service (PSS) officers or local AFP officers are the first to identify or respond to a serious incident within Parliament House, they should provide advice on avenues for assistance, including the 1800 APH SPT line and the complaints mechanism contact channels, in addition to any emergency response action and upward reporting required under their standard operating procedures.

A report on the incident should be provided to the SIT so that a case manager can make follow up contact with the individual and provide trauma-informed wraparound support, should it be required.

Stephanie Foster: new system must be taken seriously in order to promote cultural change

Stephanie Foster says the new system should be taken very seriously – which means actually pushing to make sure it is understood.

Recommendation 5

To promote cultural change, ensure the expectations of parliamentarians and their staff are well understood, and support the operation of the proposed support and reporting system, a comprehensive awareness raising and education program should be implemented. As an immediate response, this should begin with targeted, personalised, face to face training for all parliamentarians and staff, including those in electorate offices. It should be designed to equip parliamentarians, managers and staff to understand their workplace health and safety responsibilities, to provide them with the tools to promote safe and respectful workplaces and to respond appropriately to instances of unacceptable behaviour.

Updated

And there needs to be some accountability:

Recommendation 4

An independent complaints mechanism should be established under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999(Cth) as a function of the Parliamentary Service Commissioner (PSC), with oversight by the Presiding Officers of the House of Representatives and the Senate, to ensure independence from the Executive and the employer and to enable proportionate consequences for complaints that are upheld.

In its initial phase it should:

• Apply to serious incidents or patterns of behaviour causing serious harm, including reports of assault, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and serious and systemic bullying or harassment.

• Cover complaints that relate to the current term of parliament (i.e. since the 2019 election, including periods when either House is dissolved) where the parties remain in parliament or MoP(S) Act employment.

• Apply to all MoP(S) Act staff and parliamentarians, and support referral of reports from other building occupants to their own complaints mechanisms.

• Include a Serious Incident Team (SIT) comprising a group of highly skilled case officers with a mixture of expertise, for example, in trauma-informed support and administrative and employment law to:

Receive reports of serious incidents or patterns of behaviour

Provide immediate and ongoing trauma-informed support, and advice on options

Triage according to the client’s needs and preferences, within a graduated system of escalation

Facilitate the resolution of issues at the local level

Appoint independent experts, to be engaged as required, to review reports of serious incidents and advise on appropriate responses

Provide referrals to police, an independent reviewer, the Department of Finance (for administrative and less serious issues), or specialised support services.

Updated

Here is what Stephanie Foster believes the new system should look like:

Recommendation 2

A new framework for reporting and responding to serious incidents should be established comprising three core interconnected elements: trauma-informed support services; an independent, confidential complaints mechanism; and tailored education and support for all staff, managers and parliamentarians. The framework should be underpinned by clear expectations of appropriate workplace behaviour.

Recommendation 3

The support system should be timely, independent, confidential, and trauma-informed, available to all parliamentary staff and parliamentarians who experience, witness, are accused of or are supporting someone in relation to a serious incident related to the parliamentary workplace. It must be victim centric and empower individuals who have experienced a serious incident. Support should be provided through a combination of the continuation of the 1800 APH SPT Parliamentary support line for immediate, 24/7 counselling and referral services, and the ongoing wrap-around case management support within the independent complaints mechanism.

Updated

Stephanie Foster found there were not a lot of avenues for staff members to make their complaints. She wants an independent process put in place, which the government has already said it is open to. But among the 10 recommendations is the running theme of the need for change:

Recommendation 1

To achieve meaningful change in the management of serious incidents and to restore the trust and confidence of staff and the wider public, parliamentary leaders must commit to reform of the current system for reporting and responding to serious incidents. All parliamentarians should clearly articulate that assault, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and serious or systemic bullying and harassment are unacceptable in their workplaces, and act to support that commitment where necessary. The Statement of Ministerial Standards and Statement of Standards for Ministerial Staff should be amended to align with this.


Updated

Foster review into complaints process for parliamentary staff released

Simon Birmingham has released Stephanie Foster’s report into the complaints process for parliamentary staff.

It’s not great. Which we knew.

From the release:

The Government has today released the consultation report provided by Stephanie Foster PSM into the processes and procedures relating to serious incidents in the parliamentary workplace.

This report has made some significant findings and recommendations to improve how serious incidents are prevented and dealt with in the parliamentary workplace.

For example, the report identified that there was a significant gap in the absence of readily accessible, independent, trauma-informed services. We have already taken steps to address this, by the introduction of a dedicated 24/7 support line, 1800 274 778.

In addition, work is already well underway to implement face-to-face education and support for parliamentarians and their staff, which will seek to create positive workplace cultures that help to prevent, identify and respond to serious incidents in the workplace.

The other critical recommendation in the report was the development of a trusted, independent complaints mechanism. This body of work is complex, however consultation across the Parliament will commence immediately.

Ms Foster has engaged experts in drafting her report, including Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. Ms Foster’s recommendations provide for implementation of important reforms ahead of the receipt of Commissioner Jenkins’ comprehensive review later this year.

I will now work with Ms Foster to provide briefings across Parliament on the report. The Government looks forward to Ms Foster bringing back a final report, informed by those briefings, as soon as possible.

The Government thanks Ms Foster for her report and now looks forward to working together with Members and Senators from across the political spectrum to make the changes we need to ensure parliamentary workplaces are a safe, supportive and respectful.

The report is available here.

Updated

Nothing sinister about leaked plan by NDIS agency, Linda Reynolds says

Linda Reynolds has defended a leaked communications and engagement plan created by the agency that runs the NDIS, in response to Labor claims it reveals a “cynical” and “expensive multi-media spin campaign”.

The 21-page plan, revealed by Nine Newspapers on Friday, talks of the need for the government to be “seen” to have listened to concerns of disability groups over a controversial plan to introduce independent assessments to the scheme. It also states an aim to announce a legislation date in late August.

Labor’s Bill Shorten, who posted the whole document online, and disability groups claim it shows Reynolds’ ongoing consultation process is insincere.

But Reynolds said there was nothing sinister about the “internal draft” document, which she had not seen until the media reports.

“This is a pretty standard communications plan,” she said.

The Labor senator Kimberley Kitching pointed to a section of the document that states: “There are ongoing risks if the Agency is not seen to have made changes in response to concerns raised in the consultation.”

“What I would put to you is there is a cynicism there,” Kitching said.

Kitching said there was a difference between communications and “actually listening”.

Reynolds said Kitching could “cherry pick” from the document, but it merely showed the agency had accepted it needed to improve its communication with the public.

Disability groups say leaked document shows Linda Reynolds’ ongoing consultation process is insincere.
Disability groups say leaked document shows Linda Reynolds’ ongoing consultation process is insincere. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

None of this from Andrew Hastie makes sense.

‘Cancel culture’ does not exist (outside of screaming warnings from anyone who is being asked to explain, or be held to account for something they have said or done – accountability, is not ‘cancelling’ but what on earth is ‘courage culture’?

Queensland weekend vaccine blitz to prioritise aged care workers and ages 40-49

Queensland is about to do a vaccine blitz for frontline workers, including aged care workers, and health minister Yvette D’Ath is warning those outside of that group (or without a booking as a Pfizer eligible person) they may be disappointed this weekend:

My message to you is this – you are likely to be waiting a very long time and you may not get a vaccine at all because we will prioritise those in this group.

We will prioritise aged care workers and then the 40-49 age group and for those who are eligible and coming out on the weekend – but can I give you a bit of an update. Our Logan entertainment centre is already fully booked for tomorrow, but there is still spots available – Rocklea showgrounds is also fully booked [but there are] some spots on Sunday. But we do have vacancies available at Springfield Tower over the whole weekend so you can go online for them and a lot of our regional sites, there are spots available Saturday and Sunday. But some of the big hospitals are already full so Ipswich and PA are already full and Gold Coast hospital is already fully booked for Saturday so please keep an eye on our social media. We will post again tomorrow once we have the final figures for today, where there are still vacancies and where we are fully booked. If we are fully booked, please don’t come unless you have a booking because you run the risk that you will be lining up for a long time.

Updated

Mark Butler and Jason Clare have released this statement on other revelations in estimates today:

Today in Senate Estimates it was revealed the Morrison government has no idea how many homeless Australians have been vaccinated.

Instead, they said it was a matter for the states.

The vaccination rollout is the responsibility of the federal government and Scott Morrison is failing miserably.

After failing to answer how many aged care residents and workers have got their jab, it beggars belief the Morrison government has no idea how many Australians sleeping rough have been vaccinated.

Minister Ruston also refused to outline how homeless Australians would be vaccinated, instead fobbing that off to the states too.

This is not good enough.

Homeless Australians experience some of the worst health outcomes in Australia, leading to an average lifespan of twenty to thirty years younger than Australians who have a roof over their head.

Updated

The Western Australian electoral commission has finalised its boundary redistribution – and accepted the recommendation to abolish the electorate of Stirling (that’s held by first term Liberal MP Vince Connelly, best known for the very strange theatrical techniques he employs to deliver dixers during question time).

Here is how WA’s boundaries will look now:

The augmented Electoral Commission has modified the Redistribution Committee’s initial redistribution proposal by placing:

  • the suburb of Karnup, and part of the suburb of Keralup, in the proposed Division of Brand
    • the Redistribution Committee had proposed transferring the suburb of Karnup and part of the suburb of Keralup to the proposed Division of Canning
  • that part of the suburb of Armadale located to the south east of the intersection of Albany Highway and South Western Highway in the proposed Division of Burt
    • the Redistribution Committee had proposed retaining this part of the suburb in the proposed Division of Canning
  • that part of the suburb of Martin located to the east of the Tonkin Highway in the proposed Division of Canning
    • the Redistribution Committee had proposed transferring the suburb of Martin in its entirety to the proposed Division of Burt
  • the Shire of Waroona in the proposed Division of Canning
    • the Redistribution Committee had proposed transferring the Shire of Waroona to the proposed Division of Forrest
  • that part of the suburb of Lexia located to the east of the Tonkin Highway in the proposed Division of Hasluck
    • the Redistribution Committee had proposed retaining the entirety of the suburb of Lexia in the proposed Division of Pearce
  • the Shire of Wiluna in its entirety in the proposed Division of O’Connor
    • the Redistribution Committee had proposed retaining the Shire of Wiluna in the proposed Division of Durack.

The augmented Electoral Commission has also made a small number of minor alterations, involving no elector movement, to adhere to features or administrative boundaries as a means of providing more easily recognisable electoral division boundaries.

Electoral division names

The augmented Electoral Commission has adopted all of the names proposed by the Redistribution Committee for Western Australia. This includes:

  • retiring the name ‘Stirling’
  • altering the basis for the naming of the Division of Canning to jointly honour:
    • Sadie Miriam Canning MBE (1930–2008)
    • Alfred Wernam Canning (1860–1936)
  • retaining the names of the 14 remaining electoral divisions.

Updated

The Aged and Community Care Association, an advocacy group for those in care, has welcomed the ‘in-principle’ agreement to make vaccinations mandatory though ACSA Chairperson Sara Blunt said it is what they wanted in the first place:

We support the introduction of mandatory Covid vaccines for both residential and home care workers, with appropriate exemptions on medical and other significant grounds. The government must also give consideration to ensuring the mandatory covid vaccine scheme would not place unintended additional pressure on aged care workforce numbers.

Mandatory vaccinations are not new to aged care as it has been in place and working overall effectively for seasonal influenza vaccination in select states for some time.

Even prior to compulsory vaccination of the aged care workforce, governments need to ensure good coverage of vaccination amongst workers and prioritise easy access for better protection of older residents and the wider community. This is especially critical in Victoria but should be a priority across the nation.

Updated

Does Anthony Albanese support mandatory vaccinations for aged care workers (as all the leaders in national cabinet, which includes Annastacia Palaszczuk).

Albanese:

People can’t get vaccinated now. That’s the problem. They can’t get access to the vaccine. The question here is, why is it that the federal government can’t give aged care workers, disability care workers, workers in essential industries, access to the vaccine? Why is it that the federal government can’t even give numbers of how many aged care workers have actually been vaccinated? The figures that the prime minister gave in Parliament yesterday were figures relating to the leftover vaccine when the contractors have visited aged care facilities and have had leftover vaccine, they’ve been offered to aged care workers rather than being wasted.

But in terms of a systematic program of aged care workers, it just hasn’t been fixed by this government. With regard to any compulsion issue, we will always take health advice on that issue. But the issue here is that people who are desperate to get vaccinated haven’t been able to.



Updated

Coalition 'dragged kicking and screaming' to agreement over dedicated quarantine facility, Albanese says

A little earlier today Anthony Albanese, who is back in Queensland (can anyone say election campaign?), was asked about the Victorian quarantine facility agreement with the federal government and said:

Once again, they’ve been dragged kicking and screaming to this position. Once again, now, they are saying some time in the future.

The truth is that national quarantine should have been up and running right now. If that was occurring, we wouldn’t have had the outbreaks, the 21 outbreaks, in hotel quarantine. We wouldn’t have had the spread and the lockdown that we’ve seen in Victoria right now.

I say this as well here in Queensland, why does this prime minister not support a quarantine centre in Queensland? I’ve met with John Wagner. I’ve spoken to premier Palaszczuk about the proposal at Toowoomba.

The proposal next to Wellcamp Airport is well thought out. It can be up and running in just 12 weeks. It’s something in which John Wagner is not asking for any Commonwealth money for construction. What he’s asking [for] is support for the project. But Scott Morrison, even though that plan has been around since last October, has dismissed it.

We learned this week in Senate estimates they haven’t even had any assessment of it at the proposal level by the federal health department. It just shows how anti-Queensland this prime minister is.

Anthony Albanese at the Mount Coot-tha summit lookout in Brisbane, Friday, June 4, 2021.
Anthony Albanese at the Mount Coot-tha summit lookout in Brisbane, Friday, June 4, 2021. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated

Guardian Australia understands a prime minister’s adviser spoke to ABC news director Gaven Morris about the Four Corners story, among other issues, earlier this week but government sources deny putting pressure on the ABC over the story.

Conversations between ABC directors and government staffers are not unusual.

The PMO and Morris have declined to comment.

The latest run in with the government has also highlighted the tension between Four Corners and ABC’s news management.

An ABC source said:

There’s absolute fury at 4Cs.

People sweated blood, worked overtime on revision after revision on the story. The story had passed all the lawyers’ requirements.

Updated

And here’s the latest from Amanda Meade on what happened with the Four Corners story which brought it back into the spotlight:

Updated

For those who missed it, here is the QAnon question and answer:

Updated

National cabinet summary

Well, let’s review what we learned in that press conference in terms of the Covid response, shall we?

The government and Victoria have come to an agreement to fund and build a new purpose-built quarantine facility.

The states will take care of business support and the federal government will do income support, when there are extended (more than seven days) lockdowns (with the conditions reported on yesterday).

The government still hopes there won’t be more lockdowns (even though they have been built into the budget as assumptions).

The vaccine rollout program is being ‘scaled up’ (no admission it hasn’t gone to plan) with the major general who was in charge of operation sovereign borders now in charge of the rollout logistics. That’s quite a change – it’s gone from a public servant, to calling in the army.

The government will start rolling out the vaccine program, nationally, to 40-49 year olds from June 8 (the states and territories have already done this).

There is an ‘in-principle’ agreement to make the Covid vaccination mandatory for all aged care workers. It is not in place as yet, but it looks very likely.

Updated

Amanda Meade has been following the Four Corners story:

In case you didn’t see it, here was the original story by Chris Knaus and Josh Taylor in 2019:

Updated

Scott Morrison addresses 'QAnon' story

Scott Morrison addresses the QAnon story - which has come under lights again, after it was revealed Four Corners has delayed a story it was doing on a man with links to QAnon (as first revealed by Guardian Australia) and his association with the prime minister.

Morrison says:

I find it deeply offensive that there would be any suggestion that I would have any involvement or support for such a dangerous organisation. I clearly do not. It is also disappointing that Four Corners would seek to cast this aspersion not just against me but by members of my own family. I just think that is really poor form.

Updated

Given where the vaccine rollout is at right now, was it a mistake to outsource so much (and millions of dollars) to the private sector, for consultants and advertising?

Scott Morrison:

I would say that today, we have a situation with three quarters of a million doses are being delivered to date, more than double that what we were seeing six months ago, doses running at more than a million every 10 days and this continues to scale up and in relation to comparable countries, I mean, when you look at comparable countries to Australia’s Covid experience, like New Zealand, in particular, I think that is a very good comparison to make but there are others and when you look at those countries where that has not been a prevalence of community transmission on your face with that challenges, you said vaccination rates which are much lower.

I would not agree with your summary and would simply say that the task ahead of us is still great and I welcome General Furini to come and take on this role which will take us into the next phase.

This is dealing with challenges and issues and ensure we can continue to strengthen as the rollout gathers further pace. That is what is occurring and we will use every resource, private, public, GPs, right across the country, to get the job done and that is what I am focused on.

I am just getting the job done. Working with the states and territories to get the job. That is what Australians care about*, getting it delivered, getting it on the ground, increasing the point of presence and bringing into as many parts of the community as we possibly can.

*So everyone just forget about everything that has happened, or hasn’t happened until now.

Updated

Professor Paul Kelly is now explaining the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the Delta variant of Covid:

These are variants of concern for three reasons. One they are more transmissible or more severe, because more severe illness or have problems with vaccines. In terms of severity, we are not seeing that.

We have not seen a large increase in hospitalisation. In fact, most of the people picked up in Melbourne have been asymptomatic or mildly ill, so that is good news. In terms of vaccine efficacy that is to be seen.

There has been some work in the UK which suggest there may be a lower efficacy of AstraZeneca but it is not zero and that is preliminary laboratory work and we have to wait for the real-world experience which only comes when we have large outbreaks and I’m sure we will not be having those in Australia.

Updated

Professor Brendan Murphy is asked more about the considerations to make vaccination mandatory for aged care workers and says:

The issues we are occupying, the most important was the balance I talked about of unintended consequences. The last thing we want is, and [we saw this] question about the security guards, there was an issue mandated with security guards in WA using a public health order.

Some people chose to leave the industry. We know that that could be an issue so we don’t want that to be an issue.

We want people to come forward and volunteer to be explained what the issues are and ensure we are really focusing on our culturally and linguistically diverse workforce that are often working on these particular settings to make sure they have the full truth and understanding of the vaccine.

So not an admission that it hasn’t gone to plan, but a “scaling up”.

Uh huh

The operation ‘sovereign borders’, major general Craig Furini will now lead the Covid vaccine rollout (logistics etc) from Caroline Edwards, who was a senior public health official.

So that is a slight escalation (that is sarcasm).

Scott Morrison is asked if the major general’s involvement is an admission that things have gone wrong in the vaccine rollout and says:

I wouldn’t describe it like that. I simply wouldn’t accept that proposition that you put forward. With the retirement of Caroline Edwards, there is a chance to scale up again.

As we are moving into the busiest phase of the vaccination program in the second half of the year, as we lead into the very certificate rollout that will occur largely, we believe, from about September to the end of the year when the Pfizer doses, and Greg my journey here, it is important to ensure we have every focused effort we can on this program.

One reason why Operation Sovereign Borders work so well was because it did integrate the whole of government approach and as we move into the phase, this is a great chance to take the next step. Exactly as I describe it. We’re taking the next step and going to the next level.

Updated

Professor Paul Kelly on the possibility of mandatory vaccinations for aged care workers:

Just in relation to the work that AHPPC has done in relation to aged care worker vaccination and mandating that, there were a few issues raised and unanimous with the group. It is important to understand that we are all wanting to protect our most vulnerable Australians. That is largely done in relation to the rollout throughout the country to every residential aged care facility. And higher rates of vaccination there. This extra protection is important. I would join the prime minister and all premiers and chief ministers today and really ask all aged care workers to go and get vaccinated.

Updated

Federal CMO Professor Paul Kelly says the national Covid update came with “a twist” today, when news of the Delta variant came through:

The Victorian public health chief health officer and Prof Sutton talked about this at a press conference earlier that the cases identified travelling in New South Wales and Jervis Bay appear to have a different genomic structure to that virus so that is another mystery for us to work on and AHPPC is meeting now to discuss that.

There was a meeting earlier today with Commonwealth, and Victoria and New South Wales chief health officer representatives at the meeting to discuss that.

This is another new variant which appears to be the Delta variant, and associated with India, different to the Kappa variant circulating in Victoria over the last couple of weeks.



Updated

Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the media in Canberra
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the media following a national cabinet meeting. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

The prime minister also wants you to go back into the office:

I have a simple message, time to get back to the office. Obviously not in Victoria at present but even coming into the recent lockdown in Victoria, moving in that direction, almost entirely around the country, state government employers and federal government employers are saying it is time to come back to the office and here in the ACT, Commonwealth employers have been saying that for some time, as other states have not in other jurisdictions.

But the challenges we have many corporate, particularly corporate headquarters of companies that are headquartered globally overseas who were using US or European or UK rules regarding people’s presence in the office, they are not appropriate to Australia, they should be individualised to Australia we have been encouraging them to standardise the working arrangements to be consistent to what is happening here in Australia.

The BCA supports that position.

We would encourage private employers to move in that direction that will be good for jobs, good for the beating heart of our cities.

Except a lot of people have found working from home works better for them, and are negotiating with companies for new work arrangements. The pandemic has changed how we live in many ways, and not everything is going to go back to how it was - often because how it was, wasn’t working well in the first place.

Updated

Scott Morrison on the ban on Australians returning home from India:

We also discussed the success of the India pause. The India pause proved very effective.

It came at exactly the right time.

Its intent was to prevent a third wave in Australia and while we have a challenge in Victoria, it would not be described in those terms and, what is important is that pause has seen the effect of reducing both the number of cases that have been presenting in quarantine and the caseload of cases in quarantine came down dramatically and that has enabled us to move to the position where those repatriation flights have been coming in, the use of rapid testing means that we are getting very high levels of occupancy of those flights, the take-up of those flights coming back and that is a positive thing and I thank the states and territories for their support in supporting that pause.

The pause happened because our hotel quarantine system is porous and there isn’t enough other facilities to handle the more contagious variants. Which is a problem, because the population isn’t vaccinated. That is why there was a pause.

Updated

And on vaccination certificates, which could allow for freer travel, Scott Morrison says:

The vaccination certification, and this has been a topic of some conversation over the past months, the vaccination certification is already present within services Australia systems but will soon be available through the Medicare app and in the form of a digital wallet that can be used by citizens and that will be available in July and there was already a Medicare reference that you can get through the Medicare app which we anticipate will be ready this month.

That is a tool that can be used by states and territories, in particular we discuss the many exemptions that states and territories provide, whether in a situation exactly like we are now, with Victoria, and there are states and territories that are imposing restrictions on travel and it will be open to states and territories to include an exemption if they so choose. There was no agreement on this, simply the opportunity to take this up if they wanted the circumstances where people had their vaccination in place and they can do so.

Updated

Mandatory covid vaccine on the cards for aged care workers

Then we get to aged care workers.

Scott Morrison says the discussions have begun to enact mandatory vaccinations for aged care workers:

It is very important, it is a high priority for those working in residential aged care facilities to be vaccinated.

That is why, both through the Commonwealth and states and territories governments, propriety has been afforded to those workers in the many areas and that includes fast lanes, green lanes, priority lanes put in place by states and territories as well through the GP program with priority appointments.

In addition to that though, we agreed to an in principle disposition. What does that mean? We are leaning heavily into this, make no mistake, we are leaning heavily into this as government and myself as prime minister to see a move towards mandatory vaccination for aged care workers.

We have had further advice from the AHPPC to advise how the can be done including a timeline how that can be achieved and will be waiting for such advice.

[For] the vaccinations to be made mandatory, for aged care workers, that has to be done by public health orders as it’s done for flu vaccinations and followed [by] the many states and territories.

Ultimately, that is finally a determination of the states and territories there was an agreement and I can assure you, I was firmly of this view [and] supported firmly by states and territories that we need to look at how we can do this safely but the first point is, if you’re working in aged care, indeed in disability care, I should have noted the both of us have been referred to AHPPC and we encourage you to go and get that vaccination. There are numerous points and numerous places you can go to receive your vaccination.

Updated

On to vaccines.

Scott Morrison:

We have discussed the vaccine rollout, a positive vaccine rollout discussion among the premiers today.

A record number doses have been delivered in the previous 24 hours. We are now over a million doses in 10 days.

Over three quarters of a million doses in the space of three weeks and that is a significant improvement. It has grown to three quarters of a million a week and that has been a significant improvement and I think the states and territories and the Commonwealth agencies involved in ensuring that we can move to that level of dosing and both the health minister and the secretary of health will make further comments on those measures.

It was agreed today there will be further simplification of the arrangement on vaccination programs and that will include bringing forward access to 40 - 49 -year-olds for their doses by June.

Updated

But Scott Morrison still mentions how he doesn’t want lockdowns:

We are all agreed that the best thing we can do is ensure that we open up states, territories, cities as quickly as we possibly and safely can and I know that is the objective of the Victorian government at all other state and territory governments to ensure that such payments are not necessary because we are keeping Australian open and our economy moving ahead as the national accounts have demonstrated as we found out over the course of this week.

We also referred to the medical expert panel, the post quarantine testing arrangements, a matter the expert health committee has considered on many occasions and reviewed events over the last few weeks and considered it appropriate that some uniformity with dealing with states and territories.

And an agreement has been reached on who pays for what when there is an extended lockdown.

Scott Morrison:

We discussed the cost sharing arrangements and agreed nationally across the country that the cost sharing will work on the basis that the Commonwealth will provide the direct personal income support through the temporary disaster recovery payment for Covid and that state and territory governments will meet the cost of a business support that are as a result of lockdowns that may be put in place by state and territory governments so it is a clear allocation of responsibilities.

We would do the individual support after seven days, consistent with a hot spot, as I announced yesterday.

For business support, that will be the responsibility of State and Territory governments to ensure there is as much uniformity and consistency in those business support arrangements referred to the meeting of treasurers who will seek to get consistency in the businesses support is provided in those circumstances



Updated

National cabinet press conference

Scott Morrison says the next national cabinet meeting will be in person next month, in Darwin. He then goes into the agreement for the Victorian quarantine facility:

It was a positive and very constructive meeting dealing with the challenges of Covid-19 together, working together to deal with those challenges, delivering solutions and responses in a collaborative and cooperative way.

Today, the Premier of Victoria and I concluded a memorandum of understanding to develop a new quarantine facility in Melbourne.

The facility will both assist the Victorian government who will run the operations of the facility.

We will develop the facility together with the Victorian government and the Commonwealth government will meet the capital costs of that and the Victorian government will make the operational costs and run the facility.

This will both assist them and the risk management of the various groups that we are providing for in the quarantine system and delivering additional capacity for the quarantine system in Victoria and that is a very welcome process that we have been through [with] the Victorian government.

A very good proposal. One that I was very pleased with when I first saw it and I think our officials and Victorian officials were working so quickly to the agreement we reached today.

Updated

Nino Bucci has passed on a statement from the Arcare Maidstone aged care facility, where two residents (and two staff members) have tested positive for covid:

Arcare is pleased to advise that the results from the latest round of COVID-19 testing of residents and team members at its Maidstone residence are all negative.

The two residents who tested positive are both still asymptomatic at this stage and will remain in hospital for precautionary monitoring. They received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday. The two team members are recovering well at home.

Please note the fifth case being reported as linked to Arcare Maidstone is one of the team member’s son.

Further testing will take place tomorrow and will continue to occur in line with Department advice.

We are encouraging our team members to access the COVID-19 vaccine, particularly during the current aged care worker ‘Vaccination Blitz’.

We are very conscious of the psychological and emotional impact isolation will have on our residents while we remain in lockdown and are constantly seeking innovative ways to keep
them engaged and entertained.

Arcare will continue to work closely with the Department, Western Health and other agencies to ensure our residents are as safe as possible.

We’d like to thank our team members for their incredible work at this time and to the wider Arcare community who have sent in messages of support for the team and residents at Maidstone.

A government department has launched a crackdown against job agencies accused of incorrectly claiming bonus payments for getting people with disabilities into education courses.

Guardian Australia last week revealed the contents of a damning consultant’s report, conducted for the Department of Social Services, which singled out Disability Employment Services providers for funnelling people into education, because it was easier than finding work for people.
Separate freedom of information documents also revealed the department had been forced to “lock down” its IT systems in order to thwart faulty claims.

Catherine Rule, a deputy secretary of the department, told Senate Estimates on Friday the department had tightened the rules for providers and stepped up compliance.
“In some instances have taken compliance action where we think providers have actually done things that are clearly outside of the rules,” she said.
Rule took on notice how many providers had been penalised. She said it was clear some providers were referring people to education courses, rather than work, simply because it was easier. The crackdown had reduced spending on some suspect claims.
The Boston Consulting Group report found reforms to the scheme in 2018 provided a windfall for providers but failed to lift outcomes.

However, employment service providers have dismissed report as “skewed”.

Rick Kane, Disability Employment Australia chief executive, said the report was conducted too quickly and its results were skewed due to the impact of Covid.

The idea of expecting the DES Program to magically perform at peak efficiency while the rest of the population was in lockdown and losing jobs at a record rate seemed ludicrous.

But that’s exactly what happened.

With the pandemic under control in Australia, lockdowns over and jobs returning, the DES Program enjoyed its highest ever placement rates in February, March and April, 2021.


Senate estimates also heard that the government was aiming to unveil a new model of the disability employment services program in 2023. Existing contracts meant it could not enact a wider overhaul of the scheme until then.

You can find more information on the NSW Labor leadership vote, here:

Updated

Scott Morrison will hold his press conference at 12.30 (which means national cabinet has ended).

Updated

There have been a few questions, (including mine) about the federal government claim that hotel quarantine in Australia has been ‘99% effective’.

I couldn’t find anything which quantified the claim. Mike Ticher (one of my bosses) pointed me in the direction of this piece by Driss Ait Ouakrim, Ameera Katar and Tony Blakely at the University of Melbourne, which was published in The Conversation, and takes a closer look at the numbers:

We identified 21 failures that have occurred between April 2020 and June 2021 in Australia:

  • three in Queensland
  • eight in New South Wales
  • two in South Australia
  • five in Victoria
  • three in Western Australia.

One of these caused more than 800 deaths and the most recent is causing the current lockdown in Victoria.

There were 4.9 failures per 1,000 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases in quarantine. This means that one outbreak from hotel quarantine is expected every 204 infected travellers.

Since April 2020, on average 308 infected travellers arrived in Australia each month, so that is 1.5 expected outbreaks per month.

This doesn’t sound like a system that is 99.99% effective.

You can read the whole piece, here

Updated

The NDIS minister, Linda Reynolds, has apologised after the agency that runs the scheme accidentally gave a woman’s private details to her abusive ex-­partner.

The Herald Sun on Friday morning reported that the privacy breach “occurred when her son’s NDIS plan was sent to his father, who was released from jail last year”.

The paper said the family’s location, school and names of some professionals working with the son were sent to him in February, and that the woman was now worried about becoming homeless.

Under questioning from Labor’s Jenny McAllister, Reynolds said she had requested a report on the case from the agency.

Reynolds said the agency would “make sure she’s looked after”:

The first thing I’d say is to unreservedly apologise... It should not have happened. My first priority … is the safety and and the privacy of the woman in the family concerned, and then to also to work out how this happened, and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Martin Hoffman, the NDIA chief executive, also apologised and said the agency had launched an investigation.

Hoffman said the material provided to the man did not include their address, but included their suburb and other details.

The Herald Sun reported the woman had been told to send an email when she had requested more information from the agency.

But Hoffman said he was “satisfied” the agency had “very actively engaged” with the mother and the family in providing support, including alternative accomodation.

Hoffman said the support provided was “significantly more than what is reported in the press”.

Linda Reynolds, the NDIS minister
Linda Reynolds, the NDIS minister, has apologised after the agency that runs the scheme accidentally gave a woman’s personal details to an abusive former partner. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Recap of Victorian press conference

It wasn’t as long as some of the recent press conferences, but there was still plenty of information in there.

Four new cases have been diagnosed, with three linked to known cases (one is still under investigation).

The Delta Covid strain has been found in Melbourne. The west Melbourne family who traveled through regional NSW (before restrictions were in place) have been found to have the ‘variant of concern’.

Melbourne’s outbreak had been the Kappa variant. The Delta variant is the one which has been seen in the UK and India and is considered more contagious.

Seven people are considered to be part of the Delta variant cluster so far.

Investigations are continuing into how the family contracted the virus in the first place. Nothing is being ruled out. The timing means it is possible the family picked up the variant in NSW, but nothing is confirmed as yet.

The two false positives from what was considered ‘fleeting’ contact have not changed the lockdown - another eight cases are considered to still be from ‘fleeting’ or ‘stranger to stranger’ contact, with limited contact.

Updated

Chris Minns new NSW Labor leader

Reports are coming in from the NSW caucus where a new leader was being chosen.

Michael Daley withdrew from the leadership, leaving Chris Minns to be elected.

Labor member for Kogarah Chris Minns
Labor member for Kogarah Chris Minns. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

Brett Sutton says “nothing is ruled in and nothing is ruled out” when it comes to where the Delta variant could have come from, and that includes Victoria’s hotel quarantine (it has been picked up in returned travelers in most states, because it is becoming a dominant strain in the UK and India)

Should Dr Kerry Chant be worried, given it is within the realms of possibility the Delta variant could have been picked up in NSW?

Professor Brett Sutton:

I’m not going to give her advice on how to respond emotionally to this. She is a very expert chief health officer, with loads of experience, and she has done a magnificent job in New South Wales. And we are here to support her as, no doubt, she is to support us.

Updated

Given NSW has handled its outbreaks in a different way, does Brett Sutton speak to his NSW counterpart, Dr Kerry Chant, about her approach?

Sutton:

Of course we do. They not necessarily different approaches. If Kerry Chant were dealing with this, I can’t second-guess, but I imagine that it wouldn’t be a case of just using contact tracing, I would imagine there would be restrictions in place.

In the outbreak started in Avalon, the same kind of scenario, a few generations of transmission have probably already occurred when the first cases were known and Avalon was shut down.

That was geographically fortunate for Sydney, in terms of really focusing on those suburbs, if we had, you know, that kind of circumstances in Melbourne, we could take a similar approach. I would not say they are manifestly different.

Was Brett Sutton worried when he heard about the Delta variant being found in Melbourne?

I did not get worried. You know what we have to do. It is not a question of anxiety. It is a question of being absolutely thorough in the investigation of where it has come from and doing absolutely everything, as we do for our existing Melbourne cluster, doing absolutely everything to run it down.

The point I have made about other international jurisdictions, you know, do you think for a moment Taiwan would want to be dealing with 300 cases a day and could look back and think what could we have done differently to have maintained our COVID free status?

The same for Singapore and a month of lockdown and not out of control, but not driving numbers down.

Brett Sutton is asked why Melbourne has had more outbreaks which require lockdowns, compared to other Australians cities and says:

I do not know the answer. In many respects they are very similar cities but we have seen with the randomness of individuals infected with this virus across the country.

There are individuals infected out of hotel quarantine who simply were not infectious. There is nothing to love down, nothing to be concerned about because no further transmission occurs.

It is fair to say that our Black Rock outbreak was chased down without a circuit breaker. Minimal restrictions put in place during that period. We had transmissions in hotel quarantine we just followed up the individuals who had been out in the community without further restrictions but we have to do with proportions.

With respect to this outbreak, we had three or four generations of transmission before that first case was identified and that makes a huge difference.

Doesn’t dozens of people already exposed and about to become cases which is what we saw stop 24 people as positive cases in the first couple of days and that makes a huge difference because you can follow them down prospectively but, if at every single case has 100 close contacts going to nightclubs, pubs and across dozens of exposure sides, you are chasing down a huge number and it just increases.

Updated

On the two casual contacts which were found to be reclassified, Jeroen Weimar says:

The material point I would suggest is we did not make a decision about where we were with that entire outbreak based on these two cases.

They are two cases in the context of 60. This is not the entire focus of the investigation. We have eight we are worried about.

We have two less but it does not change the narrative and structure and that dynamics with the Delta outbreak.

Updated

But given there have not been QR codes until recently, how do authorities know it has been a ‘fleeting contact’?

Jeroen Weimar:

This is where the contact tracing interviews are so important. This is where the in-depth discussion we have with the positive cases, recognising we have a number of people involved in this, we have extensive conversations and asking about movements and the timing of their movements, whether it is QR code data, that is why getting more is important, we use mobile phone data and whatever we can to establish what they were doing.

In these cases, the reason we call them out, is the individuals concerned, those were positive, they’re not saying I went to the Telstra shop and had a 20 minute chat and did this, that is not what they were saying, as they go through the pricess, they are saying I did this, I did not have interactions with any body else.

And the two parts of the puzzle are telling us a very casual contract has emerged.

That is good contract tracing

...It is important that we as members of the community understand that that is an aspect of transmission. We have always said and Brett has been really clear on this – households and household meetings behind closed door meetings are really high risk when you have positive cases. Workplaces can be really high risk where people are sharing cutlery, food, other bits and pieces, that is really high risk stop what we’re now seeing of course is potential for transmission at these casual contact sites.

The Covid commander, Jeroen Weimar then explains more about the remaining “fleeting contact” cases:

We have eight cases at five different public exposure sites.

As we have discussed in the last few days, each of these outbreaks we have seen over the last 12 months and certainly the ones we have been dealing with this year and the end of last year, they all have their own profile, their own dynamic on their own characteristics.

BlackRock very much focused around a gathering at a restaurant, that was a super spreader event, followed by household transmission.

With the Inn, a super spread events as a private party at a venue, followed on by household transmission.

This particular outbreak, at the moment, insofar as we have it right now, what is typifying is a loss of household contacts, some business and social contact, a workplace, also these eight cases of casual contacts where people didn’t know each other, were not aware of encountering each other, and the transmission occurred.

We’re not saying is massively different, we are saying is a feature dynamic of this particular outbreak.

What we are pleased about is we have seen as a result of that so many people come forward to get tested. The fact we have 477,000 tests done, 57,000 a day for the last seven days that is what we need to see if we beat this together as a community. We are pleased with that. And there is ultimately more intelligence and confidence about how these will go.

Updated

Professor Brett Sutton then speaks on some of the language which have been used to describe this outbreak and whether it has been overblown:

I’m not saying this variant is the most infectious variant, the Kappa, it isn’t. I’m not saying it has the magical qualities, but we have noticed five exposure sites where transmission has occurred to individuals, I believe, who have had less than that usual prolonged indoor home, work, face-to-face settings or restaurant settings. That might be more thorough search, more people stepping up to get tested, that is reality. It is what we have found and are reporting on.

Updated

Asked (given the prime minister’s comments yesterday) that Australians shouldn’t “fear” the virus yesterday, whether he has responded in fear with the lockdown, Brett Sutton says:

I agree with the prime minister, we shouldn’t respond with fear.

I think I have been calm for a year and a half and have provided an assurance for the things we need to go through to get control of the virus, I do like to warn against complacency but all they have said about the Kappa variant, the primary when we are dealing with in Melbourne, they are factual, they relate to the fact that we absolutely have two chase every single case down, we need to chase every case out.

When you use the term beast, and there might be a technical definition of that term, I don’t think so, I’m trying to warn against complacency and to motivate everyone to get tested to isolate, to follow the rules.

I think Victorians have done a magnificent job in that regard. The fact we’re getting 50,000 tests per day, that is 5% of Victoria has been tested in the last week.

It is a huge part of being able to get on top of this. I can only be grateful. But I want to warn against the idea that just because we have always beaten this virus back, in Victoria and elsewhere, and that Australia has been virus free in terms of community transmission for months and months and months, we shouldn’t expect that we should be in this position forever.

That is something we absolutely have to work continually to guard against.

Updated

Brett Sutton says it is in the “bounds of possibility” the family who have been found to have the Delta variant (not the Kappa one which has been the main variant in this outbreak) could have picked it up in NSW.

The family holidayed in NSW (the south coast) and Sutton says it is possible they received the infection there (but it is not confirmed, and he is not pointing fingers – he was asked a question about it).

It is within the bounds of possibility. It is not unexpected. The average incubation time for SARS-CoV-22 is about six days. There’ll be individuals who go through a much more rapid transmission cycle, there will be a longer one. Five or six days puts it in New South Wales, Jarvis Bay territory, or indeed earlier.

Updated

Prof Brett Sutton says the discovery of the Delta variant won’t necessarily change the Thursday lock down expiry:

I think we review as we always have just what else emerges. We will shut down the downstream transmission as was referenced, all those people who had been exposed from this family, we need to understand where it has come from. That means there are unidentified upstream cases, whether they are in Victoria or elsewhere is to be determined.

Updated

There have been cases of the variant in Australia, in hotel quarantine. Brett Sutton:

This variant has been known in hotel quarantine. It is becoming a common variant, including in Europe. We are seeing it in international travellers.

In terms of closely genetically sequenced related cases, we don’t have anything across Australia that matches. There are some sequences that cannot be fully sequenced and therefore they are not available for matching.

But that is part of the process that the laboratory will go through in terms of trying to work that out

Brett Sutton is asked to explain more about the Delta variant:

The new variant, the Delta variant is the one that has become the predominant variant in India. It has obviously had very high transmission potential, because it spread extremely rapidly across India to become the predominant variant, almost the exclusive variant there. And in surrounding countries, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are also affected by a significant uptick in cases related to that variant. It does appear to be the most significant in terms of transmissibility. There isn’t much information about severity of illness with this variant, although there are some anecdotal reports of greater illness in children as well as greater increase transmissibility in children, so we have concerns for that reason.

Sutton says the likely transmission is between two grade five students, but they are “exploring all avenues”. The likely primary case is linked to the first cluster in west Melbourne, and transmitted – but they are still confirming how, and when.

We have to explore all avenues. We have to be clear who the likely first case in this cluster is and then to go through a really forensic process of understanding everywhere they have been and obviously all of the testing of those people they may have been in contact with, including blood tests of people have recovered from illness.

Updated

NSW records no new local Covid cases

NSW Health has released its update – no new locally acquired cases.

Updated

Three of Victoria’s 64 cases linked to this outbreak are in hospital as a precaution.

Updated

Delta Covid variant detected in Melbourne

Prof Brett Sutton then speaks of a new variant of concern which has been found:

Sequencing has come through on two of our original West Melbourne cases overnight. That sequencing has identified a new variant that is unrelated to all of the other cases in our cluster thus far in Melbourne. That variant is the Delta variant, it is now infamous in India and increasingly in the United Kingdom. It is a variant of significant concern.

The fact that it is a variant different to other cases it means it is not related, in terms of transmission, with these cases.

It has not been linked to any sequence cases across Australia from hotel quarantine or anywhere else that it is not linked in Victoria or any other jurisdiction.

We know this family traveled to Jervis Bay and we are examining here with the likely index case in this case and therefore trying to trace back where this variant has been picked up.

We are working without NSW, ACT and commonwealth counterparts in that regard. Given that Jervis Bay territory has a combination of responsibility across those jurisdictions. In terms of the ongoing sequencing, we will try to look at all other sequences, re-sequenced to the fullest extent possible across Australia to see if there are any potential linkages to known cases and that includes those who have come through formal quarantine but also anyone else, maritime, airline, diplomatic and others.

It is a concern that it is not linked to other cases but we are chasing down all those primary case contacts for that family and looking into where it might have been acquired.

Updated

Martin Foley has a special message for a group of Victorians going through an even harder lockdown at the moment:

I wanted to thank the thousands of Victorians who are currently going through the 14-day quarantine period as immediate contacts, close personal contacts of known cases.

It is the most challenging thing you can do but it is so important and on behalf of all Victorians, we thank you for doing your part in keeping the rest of us are safe and making sure that we can get ahead of this effort.

Your individual efforts are keeping our community fighting this virus and keeping the most vulnerable members of our community safe

Updated

Michael McGowan has the final breakdown on who will be paying what for breaking the George Pell (whose conviction has since been quashed) suppression order.

Updated

Victorian press conference

Health minister Martin Foley is leading today’s presser (as James Merlino is in national cabinet).

There are four locally acquired coronavirus cases today, bringing the total number of people linked to this outbreak to 64.

These are four cases are made up of firstly three members of a family linked to the West Melbourne outbreak, two parents and a child. We have an indeterminate result on another child and we are currently investigating the nature of that case. The fourth, the remaining case for today, is a primary close contact of an existing case and they were in quarantine during their infectious period.

Updated

Michael McGowan is covering the contempt of court hearing into media companies which broke a reporting injunction.

Updated

The university sector is predicted to lose about 10% in revenue since the pandemic began, with the loss of international students a very big hit, while being kept out of the eligibility for jobkeeper meant the loss of at least 17,000 jobs (not counting casuals).

It’s still in crisis.

But yes. This is absolutely the greatest issue on the table right now when it comes to universities. Go off, minister.

Updated

And a reminder that even in the best case scenario of meeting the target “full employment” in Australia still means we plan, as a policy setting, to have 4% of people unemployed.

That’s put in place as a tool to help keep inflation under control (currently not an issue, because we have over-corrected).

But it means that for everything to work, the government and fiscal institutions plan for a percentage of the population to be out of work.

And at the same time, policies are put in place which demonise those who are out of work. Makes total sense, right?

Updated

Greens senator Rachel Siewert has responded to the ‘Dobseeker’ hotline the government has set up – and Stuart Robert’s, (who oversaw robodebt) crowing about it:

This attempt to once again demonise people looking for work is despicable. There are 1.14 million people looking for work and the minister is making a big deal of a few hundred calls that are still being ‘investigated’. This demonising has to stop.

The mutual obligations system is a vicious cycle of intimidation and paper pushing.

Every month businesses have to deal with 17 million job applications, despite there being just 243,500 jobs available.

Come July that will go up to 23 million per month when people on jobseeker have to apply for 20 jobs per month.

At the end of the day minister Robert needs to take responsibility for his government’s policies and the impact it has. People lose their only income if you don’t put in 15 job applications per month.

It’s because of the government’s rules that businesses are having to deal with so many applications, but of course Mr Robert is just going to use it as an opportunity to attack people on income support.

Updated

Marise Payne (who was in London when the prime minister made the mistake on Taiwan) said she learnt about it while traveling with her advisers.

Penny Wong asks Payne whether in her experience, Scott Morrison is someone who acknowledges his mistakes.

Payne avoids the questions.

I think prime ministers broadly speaking, all of us as humans, acknowledge that we make mistakes.

Wong: Has he ever acknowledged to you that he has made a mistake?

Payne: (slightly flustered) I am not going to go into my private conversations with the prime minister.

Updated

Ooft.

Over in Dfat estimates, Marise Payne and Dfat officials are trying to explain how Scott Morrison messed up Australia’s position on Taiwan – where he said “one country, two systems” after he was asked about Taiwan on a Melbourne radio 3AW interview (which is not Australia’s position). The official explanation was he thought the original questions were on Hong Kong (even though Taiwan was mentioned twice).

But then in a subsequent interview with SBS, he was asked if he got it wrong on Taiwan, and said “no”.

Which it was clearly wrong, as he clearly did.

Penny Wong asks Marise Payne why Morrison used “one country, two systems” in relation to questions about Taiwan.

Payne says she has “nothing to add” and that Australia’s “one China” policy hasn’t changed.

Did he just misspeak, Wong asks?

Payne says the statement issued after it clarified Australia’s positions had not changed.

But did the PM get it wrong, Wong wants to know.

“I can’t speak for the prime minister,” Payne says.

“Did he just make a mistake?” Wong asks.

“I can’t speak for the prime minister,” Payne repeats.

Payne has to take it on notice whether her office was consulted on the clarification. A Dfat official says they were not consulted.

So now everyone is checking whether it was a ‘formal’ clarification or not.

Updated

And then we have this:

Senate estimates is hearing about the difficulties faced by a national peak homelessness organisation obtaining a meeting with the homelessness minister, Michael Sukkar.

The Labor senator Nita Green raised claims by National Shelter who say Sukkar has continually refused to meet with them since he took the role in December.

Estimates heard that the national organisation had gone as far as complaining to the prime minister’s office in order to request a meeting with the government.

Scott Morrison’s office referred the peak body to Anne Ruston, the social services minister.

Ruston said she was willing to meet with the organisation. Sukkar, also assistant treasurer, also has responsibility for homelessness, which sits within Ruston’s portfolio.

She said “there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation” why Sukkar had not yet met with the peak body.

Green said she was disappointed Sukkar was refusing to meet with peak organisations to the point they had to complain to the prime minister.

“I think these organisations deserve better from your government,” she said.

Updated

Just a small break in proceedings in case you missed this story yesterday.

There are so many people who are using their skills to do what they can to improve things for others.

Here is one example:

And closer to home:

Football fans will be able to follow the Matildas’ tilt at World Cup glory after Optus secured media rights for the 2023 tournament in Australia and the telco announced plans to co-broadcast all the national team’s matches live with a free-to-air partner.

The tournament, to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will feature 32 teams and 64 matches, all of which will be streamed live by Optus.

The subscription streaming service has promised to deliver additional programming, highlights and other digital content in what it says will be “the most comprehensive coverage ever of a Fifa Women’s World Cup”.

“The Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 represents a huge opportunity to help drive growth and visibility of women’s football in Australia,” Optus vice president Clive Dickens said.

The identity of the free-to-air partner will be revealed in due course, with the first game of the tournament kicking off at Auckland’s Eden Park on 20 July 2023.

A statement on Friday morning said: “Optus will provide further details of its broadcast plans, commentary team and other innovations relating to the tournament closer to the event, including plans to co-broadcast key matches on free-to-air television – including all Matildas matches.”

Updated

Peter Dutton also confirms what we all knew anyway – the federal government doesn’t want states going into lockdowns, even if publicly the criticism has pretty much been silenced:

There has been a problem in Victoria, let’s be clear about it.

Richard [Marles] can blame the federal government all he likes but Victoria compared to the other states and territories has had more critical. I am not being critical. That is just a fact. Whether it’s a Labor or Liberal state elsewhere, they haven’t had the lockdowns that Victoria has. We want to work with all the jurisdictions to stop them from going into lockdown.

And there’s no argument at all for regional areas, for example, to be locked down where there hasn’t been a single case since the start of this pandemic and you look down the whole state. As we’ve seen in Queensland and NSW and even in WA, you can lockdown certain areas, deal with the virus that that area, have the people test and do the contact tracing and that’s better than closing down schools across the states.

We hope there is a nuanced way going forward. We won’t provide support in the first seven days but if the lockdown is extended beyond that and it’s in a way that the commonwealth medical officer agrees with, we will provide support and I think that’s appropriate.

Updated

Peter Dutton, who originally dismissed Victoria’s dedicated quarantine facility proposal as “smoke and mirrors” is now all for it.

It was on the Nine Network’s Today show in April that he said:

“I’ve seen some political smoke and mirrors over my time and I think this is right at the top of the list,” he he was first asked about it.

But today, on the same program, he is right behind it:

As we know, quarantine has been a 99.99% success rate and if you look at the hundreds of thousands of people we have brought back from overseas, people who have had to go to funerals or visit elderly parents, it’s been success.

Where there’s been a problem in hotel quarantine is where there’s been a human breach, someone has gone into the corridor or seen someone in the next door or a security guard has breached the protocol and that can happen in any facility.

The government has been working with the Victorian government on a proposal at Avalon airport. The prime minister has delivered an MOU to the Victorian acting premier and it will supplement the hotel quarantine that is in place in Victoria at the moment and we’re happy to talk to other states if they’ve got proposals.

Also, that hasn’t been the whole case. I’m still not sure where the “99% success rate” measure has come from, but aside from that, it hasn’t been all human error – we have just learnt more about the virus. Including the role of ventilation, and the potential for it to pass through the air. In Adelaide recently, it was passed from a traveler to another traveler after someone who was unknowingly infected collected their food from outside their door, and within 30 minutes, someone else opened their door to collect their food. The lack of airflow at the end of the corridor is believed to have contributed to the transmission.

(And it’s not the first time Dutton has criticised something and then come on board. He was very heavy in his criticisms of the Queensland government when Tom Hanks and a film crew were allowed to enter the country to film a movie, and made a very big deal out of it, but went quiet when it was revealed it was his own department which had given the permission for the entry.)

Updated

Anthony Albanese has responded to the news of a new quarantine facility in Victoria:

Daniel McCulloch from AAP has an update on attempts to speed up the vaccination roll out for another vulnerable, priority group – those with disabilities.

Disabled people will soon be able to visit vaccination hubs in central locations as the Morrison government tries to speed up its slow rollout.

Support workers and primary carers will also be granted access to the sites.

Fewer than two per cent of people living in disability care have been fully vaccinated despite being identified as a priority group.

National Disability Insurance Scheme minister Linda Reynolds said the number of participants getting vaccinated was growing, with thousands more doses distributed in the past week.

A disability specific vaccination hub will open at Dandenong in south-east Melbourne next week, complementing one already running in the northern suburb of Thomastown.

Another will open in the Adelaide suburb of Medindie.

Later this month, dedicated sites will established in Newcastle and the NSW Central Coast.

NDIS providers in the vicinity of the hubs will be contacted as they open to confirm local access arrangements for participants, their carers and support workers.

Senator Reynolds said plans were well advanced to open further hubs nationally in coming weeks.

People with disability can also access vaccines through primary care sites, state and territory operated clinics, commonwealth hubs and GP in-reach services.

Updated

Four new Covid cases reported in Victoria

During that press conference, the new numbers came in:

Updated

James Merlino says he doesn’t mind where the federal government decides to build the dedicated quarantine facility – be it Mickleham or Avalon, as long as it gets built.

He says there should be no impediment to construction starting pretty much immediately.

He then rushes in for the start of national cabinet.

We should have Victoria’s numbers for you very soon.

James Merlino is then asked about the temporary Covid payment:

I am pleased that the commonwealth is providing some additional support for Victorian workers and indeed what’s before national cabinet is there is a nationally consistent approach, in terms of if there are future lockdowns anywhere in Australia, there is an understanding of what support the commonwealth can provide for workers.

I am pleased that the PM has announced this additional support.

My view remains the same, that business support is a responsibility of the state government, income support is the responsibility of the federal government and the PM has indicated he is comfortable, either in a situation where it is fifty-fifty between the states and the federal government on that support or fifty-fifty, in the sense that the states provide business support and the federal government provides income support.

That’s the Victorian position. We have already announced some $460m of business support for this lockdown and we will provide additional support for regional tourism and accommodation and I hope to make that announcement in the next little while.

I am pleased about the announcement by the commonwealth. The only thing I would say is it seems a little bit unfair individuals are to be taxed on that support and I hope that’s reconsidered. Overall, I am pleased the commonwealth is providing this income support and we will provide the business support.

Updated

James Merlino says no plans to lift Melbourne lockdown early

But James Merlino says there will be no change to the lockdown, despite two of the “fleeting” stranger-to-stranger cases being re-classified as false positives (the stranger-to-stranger transmission was one of the reasons given for the extended lockdown).

Merlino:

Our answer on that hasn’t changed and nor should it. It is absolutely based on public health advice and that is assessed day by day, hour by hour. The health minister and public health officials will be able to go into further detail, in terms of exactly where we are at today but the proposition put forward by public health was that we needed this further seven-day period for greater Melbourne to absolutely run this thing to the ground. That remains the case.

Updated

James Merlino says there have also been discussions with Greg Hunt over increasing Victoria’s vaccination supply, which he said were promising:

As we have seen and reported on over the last week or so, we have seen a significant increase in demand for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca at our state centres, we’re now running at around 140,000 doses per week but demand still exceeds access.

People are having to wait weeks, we have seen long queues, we have also seen gaps in access, particularly in regional Victoria and in our peri-urban areas.

This morning we have made a request to the commonwealth, a request to double the distribution, double the number of AstraZeneca to our primary care givers, our GP network.

We agree with the AMA that our GPs can do double what they are doing. We want to see a doubling of the AstraZeneca vaccine to our GPs. We also want to see additional Pfizer allocations, starting from a further 100,000, an additional 100,000 from mid-June and some confidence in supply for that six-week period. We need some ongoing confidence that that supply is coming.

Updated

Acting Victorian premier James Merlino won’t be going through today’s numbers – he is here to talk about the MOU the Victorian government and the federal government have agreed to, to build a dedicated quarantine facility. The feds are chipping in $200m.

We are very pleased that the commonwealth government has indicated their support for Victoria’s proposal for an alternative quarantine facility and to fund its construction. There have been very positive discussions with the commonwealth all the way through, from the PM’s comments earlier on that this was a very comprehensive policy proposal put forward by the state and would be dealt with in good faith.

That has been the nature of the discussions to date. I am very pleased that today, we have reached agreement, both the PM and I have signed a memorandum of understanding and we are going to get cracking and deliver this facility. This is a very, very good outcome for Victorians and for all Australians.

Updated

Remember the ‘dob in’ line the government set up for employers to report people receiving unemployment payments who did not accept their job?

Stuart Robert is crowing this morning that the hotline has received more than 300 reports.

There are plenty of reasons why people don’t accept a job, and most often, it is not because they don’t want to work. It can be about safety, about transport, about a feeling, unreasonable expectations, unrealistic travel distances, conditions, all sorts of things. With the reinstatement of mutual obligations also came a responsibility to apply for even more jobs in order to receive the payment. But now they risk losing that (below the poverty line) social safety net payment, because the government is encouraging employers to report those who turn down the jobs.

Companies though, who paid dividends to share holders while receiving jobkeeper? That’s totally fine.

Updated

Victoria’s Covid commander, Jeroen Weimar has spoken to Melbourne radio 3AW and said there are more positive cases to be announced today (we are still waiting on the official confirmation).

Acting premier James Merlino will hold a quick doorstop ahead of the national cabinet meeting at 8.30am.

Updated

Here was Simon Birmingham explaining that on the ABC this morning:

As always, with payments that we make through the federal system, you want to make sure that those who reclaiming them are eligible for them.

There will be the potential for checks to ensure that people who are out there working in any event knowing that many parts of the economy do continue still to function aren’t also just going and making these claims.

...The payments are there to help those who need it.

So what about those companies who ended up not needing jobkeeper – like Harvey Norman, and posted profits during the pandemic?

Birmingham:

They acted within the laws as established at the time. We have to look to March of last year when we developed the jobkeeper program at that stage and at that point it was about expected downturns in relevance to trade and the potential for lockdowns...

...The commonwealth law was passed by the parliament. We are not going to go back and chain the rule. Not only every big business, but every small business, many sole traders, small businesses claimed jobkeeper as well and ultimately it was there to provide confidence at a time of enormous uncertainty when we were looking at a nationwide lockdown to keep people employed. It worked. It worked overwhelmingly in terms of putting Australia in a position where we now have more people employed than was the case pre-pandemic.

Updated

In news that should surprise no one, there will be “retrospective compliance activity” for the temporary Covid payments.

Because it is self assessed, the government will then go back and check whether you really did meet the criteria for the $500/$350 payment.

But you know who they are not chasing for the millions of dollars of taxpayer money they received as Covid payments? Companies which received jobkeeper and then posted a profit.

If those companies want to pay it back, great. But no one will force them.

People who are trying to get by after losing a week’s pay and then facing another week at a reduced wage though – you better make sure you check every single one of the (multiple) boxes the government has laid out for you. Otherwise, you’ll be getting a tap on the shoulder.

Updated

Victoria Health says there are still eight cases of Covid after “fleeting contact” with someone who had the virus. (Also known as “stranger-to-stranger” transmission.)

Updated

There has been a lot of commentary about stranded Australians and why they didn’t come home earlier.

There are a lot of reasons why people couldn’t pack up their lives and just jump on a flight back to Australia when the border announcement was first made.

And there are a lot of reasons why people need to desperately get home. Limited resources and health, are just some of them.

Updated

Good morning

We’ve all made it to Friday, which is no mean feat, so congratulations! Give yourself a cookie.

Today estimates will continue and the national cabinet will sit, where hopefully there will be some sort of agreement over the temporary Covid payment.

That’s the one the federal government was dragged kicking and screaming to yesterday, and the one Scott Morrison seemed to announce through gritted teeth. In estimates late yesterday, the social services minister Anne Ruston couldn’t seem to remember when she had discussed the payment with her cabinet colleagues, or when it had gone through the economic review committee (known as the budget razor gang, ERC is where proposals get ticked off against the government’s budget). Given that the payment only really became an issue from Sunday (or if you want to be generous last week when Victoria first went into lockdown) it doesn’t seem too difficult a job to remember when everyone first discussed it.

Meanwhile, also late yesterday, Victoria Health announced two of the “fleeting contact” Covid cases, including the prize home one and Brighton Beach hotel had actually been false positives.

Which cuts down on the number of “fleeting contact” positives, which is one of the reasons authorities had locked down, given the concerns over how contagious this variant seemed to be. Both areas remain exposure sites as they are still linked to confirmed cases, but the people who brushed by and were originally thought to have been positive, are not.

We’ll bring you all the updates as they happen. You’ve got Amy Remeikis with you to take you through to national cabinet, so let me know if you have any questions.

It being a Friday blog, I am absolutely having cold pizza for breakfast. And maybe that cookie.

Ok, ready? Let’s get into it.

Updated

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