With that news about year 12 students, we will leave you for the night.
Our Australian-specific live coverage will resume in the morning. In the mean time you can follow our rolling global coverage here.
Goodnight, stay well, and stay at home.
On ABC news, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says that year 12 students will be able to sit their exams and get an Atar — a university entrance score — but possibly not until next year.
Said Andrews:
It is my aim that they can get an Atar, if not within this calendar year, then very soon thereafter.
We’ve got six or eight weeks at the end of the year that we can catch up with, if you like, when school was scheduled to finish. And when we get to that sort of Christmas holiday, we’re in conversations with universities, with Tafe. We’re talking to other states and territories and of course, the commonwealth.
I know it’s very frustrating, including in my own household. I can’t give [my son] Noah who is in year 12 all the answers he wants, but as soon as we can, we will. The key point here is to get this right.
Year 12 end-of-year exams are usually conducted in October and November, with results posted in early December. University offers flow from early of January, in time for the university semester to start in the first week of March.
Updated
Death toll reaches 35, curve begins to flatten and police investigate Ruby Princess
We will leave you there with a bit of cautious optimism that Australia is beginning to flatten the curve. You can follow our rolling global coverage here.
To recap:
- Police in New South Wales have launched an investigation into the Ruby Princess cruise ship. The investigation will examine possible breaches of biosecurity laws and will be conducted alongside a coronial investigation into the deaths of 11 of the 662 passengers who tested positive to Covid-19.
- The deaths of four of the passengers of the Ruby Princess were confirmed on Sunday. They are three men from NSW and one 78-year-old man from Queensland. The death toll from Covid-19 in Australia sits at 35.
- NSW health minister Brad Hazard has again defended NSW Health staff who made the decision to allow the Ruby Princess passengers to disembark.
- The number of new daily cases in Australia has fallen to 139, and the total number of cases is 5,687. Of them, 91 people are in intensive care, 33 people are on ventilators, and about 2,000 have fully recovered.
- Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the daily case numbers in Australia “does tend to continue the trend we’ve seen of flattening of the curve”. However he said he was concerned that 10% of the cases recorded in Australia were from community transmission.
- The federal government may expand its jobkeeper package to allow more casual workers to access the payment, when parliament is recalled to debate that legislation this week.
- The Victorian government has offered free hotel rooms to health workers seeking to self-isolate to protect their families.
- Governments of all states have warned people against heading to regional towns for Easter holidays, saying that hospitals in those areas do not have the infrastructure to cope with a significant Covid-19 outbreak.
- Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has warned she will close outdoor fresh food markets if crowds continue to congregate.
- Tasmania has closed two wards of the North West Regional Hospital after three health workers tested positive to Covid-19, prompting another 18 to go into self-isolation.
- The hard border between WA and the rest of the country comes into effect at 11.59pm tonight.
You can read a summary of the day’s news in Australia here. Stay at home, stay well, and we will be back in the morning.
Police in Western Australia have arrested and detained a 35-year-old Victorian man for breaching mandatory quarantine “on several occasions” and leaving his hotel to travel around the city.
In a statement, WA police said the man arrived in WA on 28 March and was required under orders on the movement of interstate travellers to quarantine for 14 days, or until 13 April.
The man was put up in a hotel in Perth for the duration of his quarantine.
Said police:
It is alleged during the quarantine period, the man breached the self-quarantine requirements that he was bounded by on a number of occasions. He wedged open a fire exit door at the hotel to enable him to leave and re-enter the property without being seen by staff. He utilised public transport to travel within the metropolitan area.
The man has been charged with two counts of failing to comply with a direction under the Emergency Management Act s.86) 1A.
Police added:
The man remains in custody as he was refused bail on the basis that he will likely continue or repeat the offence, which endangers another person’s safety.
Carnival Australia responds to police investigation
A spokesman from Carnival Australia, the company which operates the Ruby Princess cruise ship, just provided Guardian Australia with the following statement in response to police in NSW launching a criminal investigation.
Carnival Australia said:
We have seen the Police Commissioner’s announcement. In addition to willingly participating in the investigation, Carnival Australia will vigorously respond to any allegations of which there must now be full disclosure and the basis for them.
You can read Matilda Boseley’s full report on this issue here.
Here’s some more information about that latest death in Queensland.
Queensland Health just issued a statement saying that a 78-year-old man with underlying medical conditions died in the Prince Charles hospital in Brisbane, after testing positive to Covid-19.
They said:
The man contracted the disease after recently returning from a cruise.
Queensland Health offers its sincere condolences to his family.
Updated
Back on Sky, NSW health minister Brad Hazzard says NSW has done more testing for coronavirus than any other state or territory.
That’s true in terms of the raw numbers — it has conducted 140,000 tests to date while the next-biggest state, Victoria, has conducted about 56,000. But on a per-capita basis, South Australia has conducted the most tests.
On the Ruby Princess issue, Hazzard says now is not the time for casting blame on public health staff.
We have got to put our trust in the public health doctors and our frontline medical staff who are trying to look after us and are doing their best... it’s not a time for blame.
Eleventh Ruby Princess passenger dies, bringing Covid-19 deaths in Australia to 35.
An eleventh passenger of the Ruby Princess cruise ship has died after testing positive to Covid-19.
It brings the total number of deaths in Australia from Covid-19 to 35 and the number of deaths in Queensland to five.
Brad Hazzard on Sky said NSW Health allowed the ship to come into the harbour in accordance with a federal government protocols.
He said more than 40 people were swabbed for influenza — not Covid-19 — on the ship before it docked in Sydney. About 15 of those swabs were handed over to NSW Health.
He said more than 100 people on the ship had flu-like symptoms before the ship landed.
Hazzard said NSW health made the decision to allow passengers to disembark based on the information they had at the time, and said that neither he nor anyone who is not a doctor should question that decision.
I think the community could be satisfied that we had the best of the best making those decisions.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard is on Sky News talking to Sharri Markson about the Ruby Princess cruise ship.
He says he didn’t know “if you could say it’s incompetence” that allowed the ship to dock in Sydney, and 2,700 passengers to disembark.
Hazzard:
These cruise ships have sadly become crucibles of disease, of this disease.
Updated
WA premier Mark McGowan mentioned earlier that the coastal town of Esperance, which is about 700km east of Perth on the south coast and 400km south of Kalgoorlie, will be subject to specific local border controls to prevent people going there for easter holidays.
Police are already in place.
Please be advised there is currently a vehicle control point set up Southbound traffic heading to Esperance from Norseman. All non essential travellers please avoid the area. #fb #pd10477 #pd10817 pic.twitter.com/u46xlg9cRK
— Norseman Police. (@NorsemanPol) April 5, 2020
The WA border will close at 11.59pm to anyone who does not have an essential purpose or meet one of the narrow categories for exemption. Details on the WA government website, here.
In Tasmania, authorities have closed parts of the North West Regional hospital in Burnie, 330km northwest of Hobart, after three health workers tested positive.
Two hospital staff tested positive on Friday, and a third overnight. A further 18 health workers based at the hospital have gone into self-isolation, after being identified as close contacts of the three who tested positive.
This report is from The Examiner:
Two major wards at the North West Regional Hospital have been closed to new admissions following a coronavirus outbreak.
The medical and surgical wards have been locked down after three health workers were confirmed to have tested positive, Chief Medical Officer Professor Tony Lawler said.
“In discussion with the acting director of public health yesterday, It was determined that appropriate measures would need to be put in place to limit the risk of further complications of the identification of infected individuals,” Professor Lawler said.
“As a result a determination was made that there would be no new admissions to the medical and surgical ward and appropriate hygiene and PPE measures would be put in place.
“It’s obvious that this will have an impact not only on the capacity of the North West Regional Hospital, but a very real impact on the staff.”
Updated
The Ruby Princess cruise ship, which NSW police said today would be the subject of a criminal and coronial investigation, is currently sitting off the coast of Sydney.
Between 100 and 200 — closer to 200, police said — crew members still aboard the ship are showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Some crew have been taken off the ship and taken to hospital.
At least 662 people linked to the ship, mainly passengers, have tested positive to Covid-19, and 10 passengers have died.
Updated
Consumer Protection WA has warned residential tenants to continue paying their rent unless they are genuinely experiencing severe financial hardship.
It has also urged landlords and to show compassion and negotiate with tenants who have lost work due to Covid-19.
Consumer Protection said it has received calls from “concerned landlords who claim that their tenant has stopped paying rent even when they are not facing financial difficulty”.
Consumer Protection commissioner Penny Lipscombe said she was concerned some may be exploiting the situation.
While the national cabinet carefully considers the complex issue of implementing a proposed six-month moratorium on residential tenancy evictions, tenants are reminded that any moratorium will not apply to rental payments.
There remains a legal obligation on the part of the tenant to pay their rent in accordance with their current lease agreement, but we are looking at ensuring that evictions are not carried out if the tenant no longer has the capacity to pay.
Tenants should pay what they can – the proposed changes are about allowing time for tenants to get their financial situation sorted out so they can start paying rent again as soon as it is practical to do so.
It is reasonable for a landlord to ask for proof of termination of employment or other evidence of financial distress, but should not ask to look at copies of bank statements.
Forty-seven Australian children remain trapped in the abject al-Hawl camp in north-east Syria, as the region braces for a potential Covid-19 outbreak.
Syria has reported only a handful of cases, and there are none confirmed in the camp housing 68,000 women and children, most of them family of Islamic State fighters, but there has been little Covid-19 testing across the war-torn country.
In neighbouring Turkey, more than 18,000 cases have been confirmed, and the rate of infection is on the steepest upward curve of any country in the world.
Fabrizio Carboni, the regional director for the Near and Middle East for the International Committee of the Red Cross, tells the Guardian al-Hawl is “hell … this place really is hell”, and acutely vulnerable to a Covid-19 outbreak.
“The challenge for us is prevention, to avoid the virus getting into the camp, and to isolate any cases at all costs to stop the spread in the camp. But really, if this epidemic gets into the camp, forget about having medical supplies, it will be impossible to control.”
More details here:
Meanwhile, in Queensland, police issued 58 infringement notices at a car rally in the Brisbane suburb of Rochedale last night.
That’s right, a car rally.
Deputy Queensland police commissioner Steve Gollschewski, who is also the state disaster coordinator, has professed himself disappointed and frustrated and said the behaviour of people at the rally was “inexcusable”.
Said Gollschewski:
This is all about safety. About saving lives. About stopping the spread of Covid-19. We all, every single one of us, must do our bit. We are in this together.
It is inexcusable what happened at Rochedale last night and such blatant disregard for the lives of Queenslanders will not be tolerated.
Police said they received a tip-off at 10pm that about 150 cars and a “large number of people” had congregated in the carpark of the Brickworks Place warehouse.
From the police statement:
Multiple police units responded with many of the cars attempting to flee the area, with some driving across grassland and becoming bogged in the process.
The infringement notices carry a fine of $1,334, for failing to comply with a direction issued by the chief health officer. The 58 fines were issued to both drivers and passengers, male and female, aged between 17 and 30.
If you’re unclear about the rules in Queensland, you can read our explainer of the rules in each state here or the Queensland chief health officer’s direction here.
Updated
South Australian health minister Stephen Wade said it was “far too early to talk about easing restrictions”.
These figures are encouraging but they are early and we need to see a clear trend, particularly coming up to Easter ... We need to make sure that people follow through in the public health advice, stay at home for Easter, maintain social distancing, maintain high standards of personal hygiene.
Updated
Michael Cusack was asked if the drop in daily numbers meant that SA would lift its border restrictions, or whether it would remain “locked off” from the rest of the country for six to 12 months.
Cusack said he could not answer that question today, as it would depend on national health guidelines.
He said SA was in a “better position” than the eastern states.
He said that the lesson from countries which had managed the outbreak well was to do “a lot of testing, large scale testing in the way we have done here, and then contract tracing of each of the persons who have the infection”.
That, he says, allows you to put “a ring around infected people”.
That is how you keep numbers low and you effectively save lives.
SA has, as of Sunday, conducted 38,863 tests. That’s about 2% of the population, which is one of the highest per capita testing rates in the world. SA also has among the highest per-capita infection rates, and Cusack says the one follows the other.
He said data from other countries showed that “countries that have done a lot of testing have had sort of relatively higher rates of infection, but that is because they know the size of the infections that they have got in their populations.
I mean, there are some countries in Europe I guess where the level of testing has been quite low and although the quoted figures in terms of the number of people that they know have infection is low, what we see of the impacts on the hospitals in the health systems, the likelihood is there is an awful lot more people in the community, that they just do not know have infections.
So I think the approach taken so far has been the right one in terms of a lot of testing, being really clear who has infection. [To] the people watching this: if you have symptoms or if you think you may have symptoms and you meet these testing criteria, you need to get tested quickly because what we do know about the virus, that people are infectious very early on and that is why we need to make the diagnosis early and then they can go into isolation and we can immediately get those contact traces made.
Updated
Michael Cusack said a drop-off in cases was expected, because SA had put in place domestic border restrictions on top of the requirements for international travellers to quarantine.
That means that the number of people coming to the state, both domestic and international travellers, has dropped.
Cusack:
Obviously once that kind of tap is switched off you would expect there would be a decline in imported disease.
What the real anxiety has been and why social distancing is so important is that where the virus is in the community, there is a risk that we start to see some community spread, and that is why it has been so vitally important that we get the public to understand why they should distance themselves.
And I would have to say in South Australia the public have been fantastic at actually buying into this and doing the social distancing, and I think it is very early days but that is perhaps starting to bleed through into the numbers.
Updated
Like every other public health officer to speak today, Michael Cusack is cautiously optimistic about the ability of his team to get ahead of the spread in their jurisdiction.
Cusack said they are “obviously” pleased with just two new cases recorded overnight, but added that they often see a “slackening off” of new cases recorded over the weekend, which suggested there could be fewer checks conducted.
He said:
So I wouldn’t want to read too much into this, but we have seen a gradual decline in recent days.
That leads to a question of if we should change our restrictions, and so forth. We are still in the early stages of this disease and we don’t, as I say, we are keen that we don’t read too much into this at an early stage. We may well see an increase in the coming days again, as we have done previously.
Updated
South Australia records just two new cases in 24 hours
SA’s deputy chief Public Health Officer, Michael Cusack, says just two new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in that state overnight, bringing the total to 409. Neither of those new cases are from the Ruby Princess cruise ship. More than a quarter of all cases in SA — about 120 — have been traced back to cruise ships.
Cusack says that the number of cases linked to the cluster among baggage handlers at Adelaide airport had increased by three, up to 28 cases, of which 17 are baggage handlers and 11 are secondary contacts, including family members.
Those three cases are not included in the two new cases reported overnight — so they were reported earlier.
Nineteen people are in the Royal Adelaide hospital with Covid-19, and nine are in ICU.
Updated
Thanks to Luke Henriques-Gomes for keeping us all informed today.
We’ll go now to South Australia, where health minister Stephen Wade is giving an update.
He begins by urging people not to travel for the Easter holidays.
If you are planning to holiday beyond home, I would urge you to reconsider. The challenge is real and by staying apart, South Australia is truly united.
Wade said SA was fast-tracking a plan to recruit 97 new ambulance officers.
The ambulance SA chief executive, David Place, said they were also hiring more people to answer triple-0 calls, bringing the number of new employees to 100.
They’ve also contracted Toyota to sterilise ambulances that have carried confirmed or suspected cases.
Updated
And with that, I might leave you in the hands of my excellent colleague Calla Wahlquist.
A quick look at the main developments so far today:
- NSW police launch criminal investigation into the Ruby Princess deaths
- Another three deaths from the cruise ship, and four in total, pushed the death toll to 34
- The CMO says the curve is continuing to flatten; 139 new cases
- Mark McGowan warns WA residents to come home before the border closes at midnight
Updated
Asked if schools will reopen at the start of term two, McGowan says that education ministers are expected to present a plan to National Cabinet on Thursday.
“I’m keen that our schools have the very best of health advice but that we continue to provide ongoing education. What the model is? Not sure yet.”
McGowan is asked about a call to house homeless people in hotels now, rather than the government’s trial that has put 20 people in a hotel.
The Guardian reported on this issue here.
McGowan is unmoved.
I think it’s best to continue with the trial and make sure that is a successful and workable way forward. I spoke to the manager of the hotel the other day. He was very excited and very pleased by the way it’s progressing but I think it’s worth watching and making sure that it works well before we expand it.
Updated
McGowan says the government would be more likely to reopen cafes and restaurants before reopening the border.
“If we can push the level of infection down and continue to have the low rates of infection, well, then the first thing I want to do is try and get our economy back up sooner, or as soon as possible. But I can’t put any deadlines or timeframes on that. It might be months and months away. Clearly to me the inconvenience of someone from the east not being able to come here or people from here not being able to go on holidays in Bali is minor compared to someone losing their business or job. So getting the economy back up and running is my first priority. But we can’t do any of that until we know we get the best health advice and know it’s the right time to do it.”
Updated
How long will the state’s hard border be in place?
“That’s the $64 million question,” says McGowan. He admits he does not have “easy answers” about when this will happen, but says that people should be prepared for “anywhere up to six months at this point in time”.
Updated
McGowan is asked about police in Kununurra who are now in self-quarantine. He says that there were three officers in self-isolation, although it may be more now, he says.
He can’t provide any more detail than that.
Updated
WA borders to close at midnight
McGowan is talking about the WA’s new hard border. He manages to invoke Brexit. Sorry, Britain.
What we have done in less than a week took Britain four years to work through. Brexit has taken four years and we put borders in place in the space of one week. That is testament to the people who have been working around the clock to get this done across the public sector, in particular our police commissioner.
McGowan’s message to people outside the state is “come home by midnight tonight”.
No one from over east will be allowed entry into Western Australia unless you’re an approved exempt traveller. I can’t stress this enough – you must be exempt, otherwise you’ll be turned around. People can go to the government website to get the latest information and download the necessary forms. Checks will be occurring. If you’ve lied on an exemption form to get into our state, there’s every chance you’ll get caught and be forced to face the consequences.
Updated
McGowan is pleased with WA’s progress, as you can see from this metaphor-heavy passage.
I know we’ve been asking a lot of you all over the past month. I’m so proud that Western Australia has risen to the challenge. It’s also reassuring to see our efforts are having a positive impact and encouraging to see the low number of new cases. But that’s just all the more reason for us to stay on course. What we’re doing is working but this is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re still heading into the storm ... Our best weapon in this war is you.
Updated
WA premier Mark McGowan tells reporters there have been 17 new cases in WA overnight.
McGowan says those who tested positive since yesterday were aged between 26 and 78 years old.
That brings the state’s total to 453 cases. There are 302 active cases. There are 59 confirmed cases in Perth hospitals; 18 are in intensive care units.
Updated
Don't go on holidays, police commissioner warns NSW
Just turning back to Mick Fuller’s press conference, he was asked if police will be doing random checks to see that people have not gone on holidays. The question included a reference to checking IDs.
Fuller says:
“We will. I feel we’re getting good levels of compliance. The exercise issue is a complex one because we want people to get out and manage their mental health. You look at the transmission rates around our beaches and the area is much, much higher than it is in other areas generally. We will be stopping people and if you don’t have a good reason to be where you are, you could face a $1,000 fine. As I keep saying we would much rather work with the community than be issuing fines.”
Updated
A reporter presses Murphy on the modelling that the government has claimed it will release.
Why is the modelling not ready for release, but good enough to use to make decisions from?
“National cabinet will consider some of the modelling work in the coming week and I think that the national cabinet, my understanding is, are quite keen to share some of the modelling with the community. I think we’ll wait and see what the national cabinet discusses on Tuesday.
“The intention is to provide the modelling when it’s in a fit form for publication. That’s pretty close, I think.”
Murphy is asked if there is a point where asymptomatic people in the community will be tested.
There wouldn’t be an availability of testing kits to test the whole community. The whole world is very keenly acquiring testing kits. We’re doing a lot. We’ve managed to secure very large numbers of testing kits to meet our high testing rate. There is no evidence at the moment about testing asymptomatic people. The only situation where we think it might be valuable at the moment is in an aged care outbreak because we’ve found some aged care residents can have asymptomatic measures.
Updated
Brendan Murphy says Easter is “going to be very different this year”. People have been asked not to travel over the holiday.
However, he says the Easter Bunny is exempt from this. “I’ve been asked about the Easter Bunny and I’m told because he’s a solo operator and an essential service, Easter Bunny, he or she, will be allowed to continue to operate.
“But the rest of us will have to do things differently.”
The major concern continues to be community transmission. Murphy acknowledges he may sound like a “broken record” on this.
We all know just how infectious this virus can be. Just look at what it did on some cruise ships. Thirty-five people in one wedding. The Qantas and Jetstar baggage handlers in Adelaide. It spreads very quickly. So we’re in a good place at the moment. We are achieving good control because the community has done what we have asked.
Updated
Murphy says it’s estimated that more than 2,000 people have “fully recovered from the virus already in Australia”.
He says authorities are “increasingly confident” that they can prevent a situation like that in New York if people “continue to adhere to” the social distancing measures.
Curve continues to flatten, says Brendan Murphy
The chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, is now speaking in Canberra.
He says there are:
- 5,687 cases, an increase of 139 cases over the past 24 hours
- 34 deaths
- 91 people in intensive care; 33 on ventilators
“That is probably the lowest rise we’ve had for a few days and it does tend to continue the trend we’ve seen of flattening of the curve.”
Fuller is asked what laws are being considered as far as the criminal investigation goes.
You have overarching biosecurity acts from a national or federal perspective and then you’d have state legislation in terms of borders and then that criminal negligence-type crimes. But, as you said, we’re at the beginning. I haven’t even handed over the evidence I’ve collected thus far and there’s a lot more work to be done.
Updated
Fuller says he has received a letter from Carnival that states that they will provide whatever documentation is requested through the investigation.
He is also asked if he’s disappointed that no agencies involved in the Ruby Princess issue have taken responsibility for what went wrong.
“I suppose the important thing is, from the New South Wales state perspective, this, the premier stood up, put police in charge of the ports and the airports in terms of border control and we haven’t seen this happen again. I think that’s the important thing. Because coronavirus is not over and we still have planes landing every day and hundreds of Australians returning, which is important that we manage that, with that same sort of humanitarian perspective.
“We will continue from a police perspective and they’ll look at all of those agencies. It’s not just about finishing on Carnival or finishing on person X, we’ll have to look at all the touch points to get to the bottom of it. There will be lessons learnt, I have no doubt.”
Updated
Fuller says there will also be coronial oversight of the police investigation.
Fuller says that crew members who need medical assistance have been taken off the ship. Fuller says about 200 people who are still on board the cruise ship have symptoms.
Authorities are looking at finding a safe place for the ship to dock.
Fuller is asked whether cruise line operator Carnival was underplaying the symptoms of those on board.
“We will only know by getting the ship’s records, the records from the doctors on the ships and obviously there are over a couple of thousand people who were passengers on the ship who have come off.
“Well, there seems to be ... discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see is the benchmark for the laws that the federal government and the state government put in place in terms of protecting Australians from cruise ships when coronavirus had started.”
Fuller also says that there has been another crew member taken off the Ruby Princess today.
Updated
NSW police launch criminal investigation into Ruby Princess fiasco
NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller confirms that there will be a criminal investigation into the Ruby Princess debacle.
“There is clear evidence that [Covid-19] has been brought off that ship,” Fuller says. There’s clear evidence now when it stopped in New Zealand Covid-19 has come off that ship and at least 10 people have died in Australia from COVID-19. The only way I can get to the bottom of whether our national biosecurity laws and our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation.”
He adds: “The investigation will look into the actions of every agency.”
Ten passengers who were on the cruise ship have now died.
While we await those press conferences, I might point you to this excellent weekend feature by my colleague Lisa Cox.
Updated
We are expecting press conferences from the chief medical officer Brendan Murphy, the WA premier Mark McGowan, and the NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller, after 3pm.
Updated
Burke is asked how Labor will go in opposing aspects of the legislation.
His key point is that the opposition wants the legislation to pass. They want it to pass “in the best possible form”.
At the moment there is no existing legislation. They have not finished and we have not been presented with anything and I don’t think the government is playing a game. This is genuinely complex legislation to deal with every circumstance as to how this would unfold in any workplace. So, it is complex. Once we see it they may have already made ... the amendments to the announcement if they haven’t we would look at how we can use the parliament to be able to do with that.
Updated
On the leave issue, Burke describes Labor’s concerns like this:
An employer at the moment, if they force someone to take leave that someone has built up over the last year and in some cases they would have built up over many years, that is a liability that the employer already owes a worker, it is already on the books. At the moment, the way the government has described it, the employer can register for JobKeeper, register that employee as part of the scheme and even though the employee is simply getting what they were already owed and entitled to long before anyone had ever heard of coronavirus, the employer will be getting $1,500 a fortnight and keep it to improve their balance sheet. That is not what this program was established for.
Updated
Tony Burke, who is Labor’s industrial relations spokesman, turns to the jobkeeper package.
He says the government’s jobkeeper package could be improved. Burke is concerned that some casuals will be left out of the package.
“We get a whole lot of perverse outcomes with the 12 month rule that the government is currently imposing.”
He says that there will be casuals who only work a shift or two each fortnight, who will now get $1,500 a fortnight, while another worker who relies on regular casual shifts but has not been at the same company for 12 months will not be eligible for the wage subsidy.
Parliament must sit more often, says Labor's Tony Burke
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke is addressing the media.
He is saying that the parliament should be sitting more often than is scheduled. Parliament is set to return to next week on Wednesday, ostensibly to pass the jobkeeper package, but will then will not return until until 11 August.
“When you push $200 billion out the door in the space of six months with legislation drafted only days before it gets introduced and go through all of its stages, mistakes will happen. We need to have the parliament sitting regularly to be able to deal with those errors and we have found ways now so that we can be sitting with only one-third of the members of the House of Reps present, with similar arrangements in the Senate. We need to be there to make sure the legislation can be adapted, as is required, and also, with $200 billion going out the door and no scrutiny on the floor of the house on a regular basis?”
Updated
NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern has codified social distancing laws that prevent people from seeing their partners if they do not live under the same roof, AAP reports.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, and police minister, Lisa Neville, briefly told residents that it had adopted a similar policy this week, before reversing that position.
Not so in NZ, AAP reports.
The country is currently in a four-week lockdown. Ardern had previously told people to “apply common sense” and shrink down their social group to “a small group of individuals who are part of your bubble ... the bubble you must maintain” for the month.
But a new Health Act order does not allow people to visit their partners unless there is shared custody of children or if at least one of the partners lives alone.
NZ has gone further than Australia, closing all non-essential businesses – including all restaurants and educational facilities.
The country has just passed 1,000 cases.
Updated
Here is a primer from Paul Karp that will give you a sense of Labor and the union movement’s concerns about the government’s plans to change the Fair Work Act.
This debate has played out today between Sally McManus and Christian Porter.
Also just letting you now that the NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller will address the media at 3pm.
There is currently a police investigation into the Ruby Princess fiasco. Sky News’s Andrew Clennell has reported that this will proceed to a criminal investigation.
However, it should be noted this has not been confirmed officially. No doubt Fuller will address this question later today.
A criminal investigation is set to be launched into the conduct of Carnival Australia around the Ruby Princess cruise ship and its docking in Sydney. @aclennell https://t.co/Z4GlOR4ZdC
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 4, 2020
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More from Christian Porter’s press conference.
The Attorney-General says "special purpose" RAAF aircrafts will be used to get some MPs to Canberra, due to the lack of commercial flights.
— Caitlin Taylor (@caitotaylor) April 5, 2020
Porter has a fairly colourful response when asked who he thinks is responsible for the Ruby Princess debacle.
It’s been busy few days in government and I have not gone through a PhD analysis of jurisdictional laws in regard to the Ruby Princess. Maybe one day I will go through that but I did find the explanation of the timing of events [by Michael Outram] to be utterly persuasive.
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Porter indicates that there will be room to move on the government’s jobkeeper package as far as eligibility goes.
On the issue of casuals, he suggests that the government is “working on that and listening” and trying to be “as inclusive as possible”.
The government’s current definition means only casuals who’ve worked at an employer for 12 months would be eligible.
Asked about McManus’s idea for a test that offers jobkeeper to anyone who would have been “reasonably” expected to work, he says that he will consider the option, but considers it a bit “rubbery”.
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Asked to respond to the ACTU’s concerns about rorting, Porter says:
“I’ll be sharing drafts with the ACTU, working through those line by line in a cooperative, open, frank and honest way with the ACTU. [We] want them to have comfort that this is time bound and has the requisite safeguards and mechanisms in it to ensure that there is not rorting of the system, but ultimately the laws need to change to allow people to receive $1,500 where they would otherwise receive nothing because the business was unviable.”
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Porter says Fair Work changes needed for jobkeeper package
Porter makes the case that there needs to be changes to the Fair Work Act in order to make sure the jobkeeper package works.
You’ll remember we reported ACTU secretary Sally McManus’s concerns about this earlier today.
The issue is whether employers can direct their staff to take their leave. It would have a sunset date of six months.
Porter suggests that the government does not intend to budge on this.
They will be time bound and only last as long as the payment system lasted, but without the changes, even if it were the case that a business would face a situation where they would otherwise have to let an employee go, so that they have no job and no wage and no way to provide for their family, without changes to the IR system and employment relations system, that is what would happen, rather than the employee getting the $1,500 instead of getting the normal wage. We must change the system.
I’ve been working very cooperatively with Sally McManus and the ACTU and Greg Combet on the prime minister’s commission and we’ve had enormous progress in relation to the industrial relations systems. We will not be waiting or hoping that this change can be affected over the coming weeks or months by changing 121 awards and thousands of individual enterprise agreements. This change will be happening next Wednesday. No matter how late we have to sit, the change will be happening next Wednesday. Six million Australian jobs depend on it.”
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Porter says jobkeeper legislation is being worked on by both Treasury and his department and a draft should be ready on Monday.
The attorney general, Christian Porter, is addressing plans for next week’s sitting of parliament on Wednesday.
Porter says there will be 47 pairs granted in the House, meaning 37 members of the government and 21 members of the opposition.
He says he’s not checked with the crossbench but it’s expected they will attend.
Parliament will be dealing with the jobkeeper package. There will be a question time session at 2pm on Wednesday as per usual.
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Qld premier not happy with conditions at Brisbane detention centre
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has indicated she will raise with the federal government the cramped conditions being experienced by refugees at a Brisbane detention centre.
AAP reported on Saturday that dozens of refugees protested on the verandah of a Kangaroo Point hotel which houses refugees transferred from offshore detention to receive specialist medical treatment.
The premier said on Sunday that she was “not happy” with the situation.
“No I’m not happy with the situation and I will talk to the federal government,” Palaszczuk said in comments reported by Nine Newspapers. “The refugee issue is an issue for the federal government and I am happy to raise it with them.”
The Guardian reported last month that an immigration guard at the hotel had tested positive for Covid-19.
The refugees have called for better protections during the pandemic. “There’s no distancing here which is really dangerous for us,” a one refugee told AAP. “If one guy was infected here, then all of us would be infected.”
An ASRC spokeswoman told AAP on Saturday the refugees at Kangaroo Point live in cramped conditions and are “really scared” there will be a Covid-19 outbreak.
There are about 1,400 people held in detention centres across Australia.
Human rights lawyers are urging the government to reduce the number of people in these crammed spaces and release them into safer spaces, the ASRC said in a statement.
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Tasmanian upper house elections delayed
The Tasmanian Legislative Council elections in Huon and Rosevears have been postponed.
About 53,000 voters would have voted on 2 May, but new public health advice has forced the elections to be delayed.
The Tasmanian attorney general, Elise Archer, says that the government still intends to hold the poll before 25 August, when the Tasmanian upper house will next convene.
“The government will continue, of course, to seek public health advice over coming months to determine an exact polling date. Should public health circumstances require a further deferral of the election, then a further notice would need to be considered at that time.”
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Gutwein says he was concerned yesterday to see groups of people “browsing” at the shops.
There were still children in groups in the mall and walking through the city. Now, I know this is tough stuff. I know this is hard and I have had many discussions over the last 24 hours with my own family and children about the need for this to occur. It is important that we all take every step that we can to socially distance and ensure that we follow the rules. So if you are going to the supermarket, and yesterday I sat in the car with my children while my wife went in, only going to the supermarket, don’t go with a family to browse and to shop. It is not a social outing. Go and buy what you need.
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Tasmania update
Moving on from NSW, in Tasmania the premier, Peter Gutwein, has provided an update.
Gutwein says there were two new cases confirmed overnight, taking the overall number of cases to 82.
One of those who has tested positive was a health worker at the Northwest Regional hospital.
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Three of four new deaths in NSW from the Ruby Princess
Dr McAnulty has just confirmed three of the four people who died overnight likely acquired the coronavirus on board the Ruby Princess.
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'We are hopeful ... we are starting to flatten the curve': NSW authorities
McAnulty is cautiously optimistic that the curve is starting to flatten.
We want to be hopeful, but not to over-egg the figures. The last few days we have seen numbers bounce around without escalating at the same level as we have seen before, so we are hopeful that we are starting to flatten the curve. But there is more work to be done, and it is important that we all heed those messages.
But he does not want people to get ahead of themselves.
Because we have seen internationally, where we think there is good news, people kind of relax the measures, and then that leads to an upswing in cases.
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Four deaths overnight in NSW
NSW Health’s director of health protection, Jeremy McAnulty, says that four people have died overnight, bringing the NSW death toll to 16.
They were a 91-year-old man, who died at Port Macquarie hospital, a 80-year-old man and a 76-year-old who died at Westmead, and a 61-year-old who died at Hornsby.
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Nearly 90 new cases in NSW
NSW Health Director of Health Protection Dr Jeremy McAnulty says there have been 87 new cases reported up until last night.
While it is “early days”, he says this suggests a “stabilisation” of the numbers. He is keen to see testing continue in places where community transmission has taken place, such as Bondi.
There are 2,580 cases overall in NSW, with 578 acquired locally from a known confirmed case or cluster, and 380 locally acquired but without direct contact with a known case or cluster, and 56 remain under investigation.
McAnulty notes that the “biggest single age group is people in their 20s”. “And in fact, we have seen also three people who were ventilated in intensive care in their 30s.”
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Hazzard apologises that he did not confirm yesterday in newly issued public health orders that places of worship may have the staff they need to conduct livestreams.
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Brad Hazzard says some people are not heeding the message not to travel. He is not happy about large numbers of people entering the North Coast, Central Coast and the South Coast a few days out from Easter.
“I know Aussies like to thumb their nose at authority, but on this occasion, I would ask you to not thumb your nose, because the messages we are giving you are about keeping you alive, keeping your family alive, keeping your friends alive, and making sure the community stays safe. If you have headed off for a sneaky little holiday, my message to you is go home.”
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Hazzard says he is “appalled” by news reports suggesting that doctors and nurses are being physically and verbally attacked.
“That very same doctor, that very same nurse, when you see that person in a uniform in a hospital, and they might be putting a tube down your throat to keep you alive, you will wish you hadn’t actually done what you did previously.”
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NSW update
The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, is speaking in Sydney.
Hazzard says that there are now 39 people who are in intensive care units in the state, including 23 who are on ventilators.
“I want to say this is an extremely dangerous virus. It is still marching through our community, and people need to be on high alert. It has killed at this stage in New South Wales 16 people. I also want to say that, for those who don’t know what it is like, if you have never had a severe bout of pneumonia, a severe bout of asthma, and I have had both those, the effect, whether or not you have a fever, normally there is a fever, is that you end up with a lack of oxygen.”
Hazzard claims that some young people still believe he virus cannot affect them. But he says of the 2,580 cases in the state, 565 relate to young people under 29.
“Take it seriously is my message to young people.”
The Victorian chief health officer, Brett Sutton, is asked if the government has found the source of a cluster of cases at The Alfred hospital.
The answer to that question is no. But Sutton says the “solution is the same”.
We will protect our healthcare workers by not becoming patients ourselves. By not transmitting to other people in hospital and not turning up to hospital if we’re well and following the rules around visitation.
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Andrews also points to a government announcement that the state will spend $20m to purchase hotel rooms that will be available to frontline healthcare works who test positive to Covid-19.
“... We’ll put them up in a hotel room – no cost to them. This will be a matter of their choice. Many will choose to avail themselves of that hotel room option because they might live with older people. They might live in a share house with a range of other workers. They might have people at home in their household who are vulnerable for one reason or another. So we don’t think that if you have Covid-19, or you have to isolate because you may have Covid-19, principally because of the work you’re doing, we don’t think that it’s fair that you would have to go and self-isolate in a hotel room, and potentially, potentially incur very significant expense. This is exactly the right thing to do.”
Separately, the government has also announced $45m to ensure that kindergartens can stay open. Andrews says the announcement builds on the government’s child care package, which he says was “the right thing”.
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Victoria: 142 fines issued in past 24 hours, says Daniel Andrews
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is also speaking in Melbourne.
Andrews says that the state has conducted around 56,000 tests so far. He says there has been “really significant success” flattening the curve, but there is still a “long way to go”.
He thanks Victorians who are “doing the right” thing. But he notes 142 fines have been issued over the past 24 hours for people flouting social distancing laws. And 751 checks over that same period.
'My last warning': Qld premier threatens to close fresh food markets
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has addressed reporters in Logan.
She starts by saying that overnight cases are “coming down”. Out of the 907 cases in Queensland, 119 are linked to cruise ships, she says. There have been nine new cases.
But the premier is not happy about crowds that gathered at markets yesterday.
Yesterday we saw crowds at markets and guys, it’s not on. If I see that happen again, they’re going to be shut down immediately. So I’m going to be talking with the police commissioner and if that happens again, it’s going to be shut down because people are not ... observing social distancing from each other. Now I want to try and keep fresh food markets open for people. It is not a chance to go down for an outing. You should only be going down there if you intend to purchase fresh produce and if you don’t adhere to social distancing then we will have no choice but to shut those markets.
I don’t want to do that. So everyone needs to do the right thing and I’m giving my last warning in relation to that.
Brisbane residents have been caught out blatantly ignoring social distancing rules at one of the city’s most famous markets this morning https://t.co/jweHzIcGfo pic.twitter.com/SrBfw9jqh9
— The Courier-Mail (@couriermail) April 3, 2020
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Aside from Daniel Andrews’ scheduled press conference at 10.30am, we’re told Annastacia Palaszczuk will give an update on Queensland shortly.
AAP has filed this story reporting that an Australian has been rushed to hospital in Florida:
An Australian is among four passengers rushed to hospital after the coronavirus struck the Coral Princess cruise ship docked in Miami, Florida.
Two other passengers died before the ship arrived in Miami on Saturday.
The Australian was taken to Larkin Community Hospital. “There are two people who will be transferred to Larkin,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told reporters on Saturday.
“One is American. One is Australian.”
“There are two Americans who will be transferred to a hospital in Tampa.
“We originally had six, but apparently two passed away on the way in.”
The Coral Princess, with 1,020 passengers and 878 crew, is the latest cruise to turn into a nightmare when people began falling ill with coronavirus symptoms and nations refused to let the ship dock.
Princess Cruises said seven passengers and five crew members had tested positive.
The ship was cruising around South America and was due to end in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 19 March.
Gimenez agreed to allow the ship to dock at Port Miami as soon as Princess Cruises arranged for flights out of Miami International Airport for passengers deemed fit to fly.
Strict protocols, including passengers wearing masks and separate waiting areas at the airport, would be in place.
A similar predicament was endured by 133 Australians on the Zaandam and Rotterdam cruise ships that were initially blocked from stopping at South American ports.
The two ships were cleared to dock at Florida’s Port Everglades on Thursday with the Australians placed on charter flights for the US west coast and connecting flights back to Australia.
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Dutton warns of imported 'home' Covid-19 test kits
The home affairs minister Peter Dutton has warned imported “home” Covid-19 test kits pose a serious risk to public health.
Dutton said the Therapeutic Goods Administration has ruled the test kits were unapproved medical devices.
“Inaccurate results could prevent people from seeking the medical help they need, or alternatively, discourage people who should be self-isolating from doing so,” Dutton said in a statement on Sunday.
“Our ABF officers at the border are on alert for any unauthorised or homemade Covid-19 products and they will continue working day and night to ensure these dangerous goods don’t make it into Australian households and communities.”
Authorities have intercepted a number of faulty keeps in recent weeks, including 200 units that arrived in Perth from China as air cargo in March.
Similar detections have now been made in Perth (50 units) on 23 March and Melbourne (39 units) on 27 March, both originating in Hong Kong, AAP reports.
Dutton said the only approved tests for Covid-19 in Australia are laboratory based tests or tests that can be used by health professionals at the point of care such as in hospitals or clinics.
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Speers asks what McManus thinks the workforce could look like after the pandemic is over.
We’ve got different experiences of this. On one hand, it’s like a collective experience for everyone around the world, but at the moment, you’ve got the frontline workers facing the virus, fighting the virus. You’ve got the support workers. Those workers working from home. Some of them with kids as well and you’ve got then people who have lost their jobs. I think that the biggest thing for us, as a country, is we’ve got some strong institutions like our public health system, but casual work – too many insecure jobs. It’s just been so exposed about how much risk has been shifted on to the individual. Coming out the other side, that’s something we’d really like to see changed. We need more permanent jobs for more Australians.
And the interview is over.
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Minimum wage boost still needed, Sally McManus says
Speers turns to the minimum wage. Unions have been calling for a 4% increase. He tries to pin McManus down on whether or not she still supports an increase.
Remember, minimum wage increases happen in the second-half of the year, so that’s from 1 July onwards. We’ve got it think, as the prime minister has talked about, about the snap back. If we want a snap back, we have to make sure that people have got money in their pockets. Because for a long time, we’re going to depend on our domestic economy. All our small businesses will need money in their pockets to spend it. We think it’s far too early to be saying that there should be any freezes on the minimum wage. In the end, the minimum wage has to be enough for people to live on, and at the moment, it’s not. And we should look at the other side of this pandemic and making sure that people have got enough money in their pockets.
Speers suggests that small businesses may not be able to cope. He notes a decision is needed before July.
McManus says that the minimum wage should “absolutely” still be increased, but says there is plenty of time to assess the scale of that rise. She notes the current minimum is only $39,000 a year.
She says that the decision could be looked at closer to July, but of the 4% ask, she says: “We are going to be sensible, we want to save jobs.”
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McManus is asked by David Speers whether Labor “fight to the death on this ... or make the point and then let it pass?”
Her response is essentially, let’s wait and see.
Look, Labor and the Greens and the crossbenchers, we are saying to them that they should oppose changes to the Fair Work Act because we’re just not necessary. We also haven’t seen the changes that the government has proposed yet. So I imagine that things will develop over the next couple of days.
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Pressed on employers being able to instruct workers to take their leave, McManus reiterates that she does view that as reasonable in some cases.
But she does not believe there should be a blanket provision for all to be able to do this.
McManus says that many workers will choose to take their leave anyway, because it will entitle them to more than the $1,500 per fortnight jobkeeper allowance.
We shouldn’t have a situation where this money is used really to subsidise the leave entitlements. Rather, it’s a wage subsidy. And we need to be clear about what it’s for.
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What are McManus’ specific concerns about changing the Fair Work Act?
For example, we know that what’s being considered is that an employer may be able to direct people just to take all their leave. Now, that is going to be sensible in some circumstances where an employer has shut down, and already, I mean, workers will make that decision to take leave rather than being on the jobkeeper allowance, because it’s going to be more money. But a whole lot of other employers that aren’t affected, well, should they be able to direct everyone to take their leave? That doesn’t sound like it’s a fair situation.
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McManus is opposed to plans to change the Fair Work Act with legislation in order to implement the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
Well, we want to see it happen by cooperation, not by legislation as we have been cooperating. And not every instrument needs to change, not every enterprise agreement. There are lots of industries that are doing well under the crisis because they’ve got a lot more business. You think about all of the utilities still working. There’s no need to change those agreements and if you have it imposed on worker, then some employers, unfortunately, might take advantage of it. So we believe that everything can be done without changing the current system. Remember, the Fair Work Act is workers’ rights. Just don’t tinker with the workers’ rights, we can make this happen.
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McManus acknowledges that the Australian wage subsidy will mean some casuals are paid more ($1,500 a fortnight) than they would otherwise in normal circumstances. But she says, too, that the UK and Danish subsidies are more generous.
It’s a unique system they’ve brought in, similar to the New Zealand one, a flat rate. There’s swings and roundabouts. Yes, it is true that lower paid workers and people who aren’t full time workers, some will get more than they would have got. But it also means that higher paid workers will be getting much, much less than they would have got under, say for example, the UK or the Danish system, where it’s around 80% or 70% of wages. So you know, you’ve got to take those swings and roundabouts, and trade unions are just willing to make this the best system we can.
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In saying that, McManus says that the union movement is concerns that there are 1.1 million casuals who will miss out on the jobkeeper allowance. (It is limited to those who have been on an employer’s books for 12 months.)
McManus would like the payment issued to all people who would be “reasonably expected” to be working.
I think it’s reasonable to draw the line somewhere. I think that best way of thinking about it is – if you could have reasonably expected to be working if it were not for the coronavirus, then you should get the jobkeeper allowance. Unfortunately in our country, we’ve become so dependant on casual work and so many employers would have had their casual workers working. Think about all of the universities – more than 50% of the workers there are casual workers and they won’t get that allowance unless it changes.
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The ACTU secretary Sally McManus is on Insiders with David Speers.
McManus is asked if she agrees with Scott Morrison’s “there are no bosses or unions, just Australians” comment.
First she pays tribute to front line workers.
McManus says “I wouldn’t say there’s no unions”. But she congratulates the government for the wage subsidy announcement.
It was the right announcement, the wage subsidy as well as the childcare subsidy and the private hospitals. They made really good decisions. I wouldn’t say that there’s no unions and I can assure the working people in Australia that the trade union movement in Australia is here and working in their corner. Having said that, the fact that we’re now consulting with the government means that better decisions are being made because you’re listening to more voices.
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NDIS participants to get 'priority' supermarket delivery
Hundreds of thousands of NDIS participants will have access to priority delivery from supermarkets during the Covid-19 crisis, the government has announced.
From Monday, all participants will receive a code via SMS or email that will allow them to access the priority delivery offer, the government said.
“The Priority Home Delivery Service will help hundreds of thousands of NDIS participants across the country access everyday items through an option that removes personal health risks and great stress associated with going shopping in the current environment,” government services minister Stuart Robert said.
“I thank those supermarkets for delivering this service as it will be a great help to hundreds of thousands of Australians and their families.”
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Good morning
Good morning.
Thanks for joining our continuing coverage. We’ll be with you all day.
Just so you know what’s coming up this morning: the ACTU secretary Sally McManus is the main interview on Insiders so we’ll bring that to you in real time. And the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is scheduled to hold a press conference at 10.30am.
The latest figures show 5,544 cases of Covid-19 across the country. The death toll stands at 30.
There will be much more throughout the day – so stick with us if you can.
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