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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Michael McGowan (now), Josh Taylor (earlier), and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Sixth Dorothy Henderson Lodge resident dies from Covid-19 – as it happened

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I’ll leave it here for tonight. Thanks as always for reading. We’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime you can follow our coverage of Covid-19 news from around the world here.

Here’s what we learned today:

  • Australia has now recorded 41 Covid-19 deaths, after health officials confirmed six new deaths on Monday. Three in NSW, two in Victoria and one in Western Australia.
  • A 90-year-old man who died on Monday night was a resident at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in western Sydney. He is the sixth resident from the aged care home to die after contracting the virus.
  • An 84-year-old man who died in Western Australia had been a passenger onboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship. He is the 12th person who sailed on the ship to die.
  • The NSW government said AirBnb had not been banned in the state, after earlier reports quoted a spokesperson from his office saying the rental accomodation site was now “illegal”.
  • WA’s hard border closure came into place, meaning no one can enter the state without a police exemption. The state’s premier, Mark McGowan, said he expected to see an increase in social unrest as people became “stir crazy” as a result of lockdowns.
  • The Ekka (the Brisbane show) was cancelled.
  • The Gold Coast closed three of its main beaches – the Spit, Coolangatta and Surfers Paradise – after visitors ignored social distancing rules.
  • The federal government ruled out including any more casuals in its news wage subsidy plan despite pressure from unions.

Tasmania is probing an outbreak of coronavirus in the state’s northwest, with five cases linked to one hospital.

AAP reports that a health worker and male patient at the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie returned positive tests to Covid-19 on Sunday. It comes after three workers at the facility previously tested positive.

Health authorities are trying to trace the source of the cases and are contacting recently discharged patients to determine if they have symptoms.

“Whilst it is concerning, this will not be the last time that we will see this type of outbreak at a hospital in Tasmania,” Premier Peter Gutwein said on Monday.

“Importantly for those people that live on the northwest coast, the message could not be stronger ... take into account the rules relating to social distancing.”

The patient had been transferred on April 2 to the Mersey Community Hospital, in Latrobe in the north, before showing symptoms.

Six staff at the NWRH and 21 at the Mersey Community Hospital are in quarantine.

Transfers between the hospitals have been stopped while health authorities are urging discharged patients to contact the public health hotline if they feel unwell.

Updated

Sixth Dorothy Henderson Lodge resident dies from Covid-19

A 90-year-old resident of the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in New South Wales has died of Covid-19.

The Lodge operator, Baptistcare, confirmed the man’s death on Monday night. He is the sixth resident of the aged care home to die after the contracting the virus.

“I have been on the phone this afternoon with the resident’s family, and I grieve with them in their loss. Our residents are not just numbers; they are beloved individuals in our care and the very reason we exist,” BaptistCare chief executive Ross Low said in a statement.

“It is nothing short of heartbreaking to have another resident lose their life to this virus Our care staff and those who are part of Dorothy Henderson Lodge are doing their very best caring for our residents as they would their own family.

“We know that the residents and their families are struggling with the isolation measures in place, and they are missing each other terribly, but these containment measures are now more important than ever.

“The experts we are working with at NSW Health, and our team, remain committed to doing all we can to fight this virus and protect our residents and our people.”

Since 4 March there have been 16 residents and five staff from the Dorothy Henderson Lodge who have tested positive for Covid-19. The first confirmed case was a 50-year-old aged care worker. A 95-year-old woman, a resident of the home, died later that day.

Updated

A Victorian man who allegedly repeatedly sneaked out of Covid-19 quarantine at a Perth hotel to visit his girlfriend has been refused bail, AAP reports.

Jonathan David, 35, faced Perth magistrates court on Monday via phone link, charged with two counts of failing to comply with a direction. He arrived in Perth late last month and was sent into quarantine at the Travelodge hotel for 14 days.

But instead, he is alleged to have repeatedly sneaked out and used public transport.

Police said he even wedged open a fire exit door at the hotel so he could leave and re-enter without staff seeing. The police prosecutor described David’s actions as “gross stupidity”.

Magistrate Richard Bayly denied David bail and he will face court again at a later date.

Updated

Professor of infectious disease at the Australian National University, Peter Collignon, has just been speaking on the ABC’s 7.30 Report about his view that New South Wales and Victoria have gone “too early” in introducing heavy-handed lockdown laws.

He wrote about it for us today. It’s well worth a read if you haven’t already.

An update from Western Australia premier Mark McGowan. WA has 460 total confirmed cases, including 54 from the Artania cruise ship.

The 84-year-old man who died in Western Australia overnight after contracting Covid-19 had been a passenger onboard the Ruby Princess, AAP reports.

He was the fourth person to die of the virus in WA, and brings the total number of former passengers on the cruise to have died to 12.

Updated

A rideshare driver has told Nine News she contracted Covid-19 after picking up a Ruby Princess passenger from the overseas passenger terminal in Sydney.

Speaking from Nepean Hospital, the woman, Julie Lamrock, said:

“It’s incredible that the government let them come off that ship and let other people get sick like me, who had no reason to be sick.”

Lamrock said she drove two women to Campbelltown about an hour away in Sydney’s south-west. She helped the woman with her luggage, who later tested positive for the virus.

“I can’t breathe properly, I’m having the hot sweats,” she said.

“After picking her up and taking her home, looking after her, and then now I’m sick in hospital – I nearly died.”

A total of 662 people linked to the cruise ship have been infected with Covid-19 and 11 passengers have died. On Sunday the New South Wales police announced homicide detectives would conduct an investigation into why the ship’s passengers were allowed to disembark on 19 March.

After weeks sitting just off Sydney’s coast, the ship berthed at Port Kembla near Wollongong on Monday with 200 of the 1,400-strong crew on board were showing symptoms.

Updated

Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick has spoken to Radio National about his plan to recall parliament sooner by flipping the default from the current schedule (it won’t sit until 11 August) to a new schedule, with regular sittings that then have to be called OFF by the leader of government and opposition in each house.

He said:

We have a government taking quite large and unprecedented decisions at the moment, and the exercise of powers that interfere with liberties. Now, that’s not to say they’re being abused – but there might be times we need to stand up and intervene, to adjust legislation. There are other aspects of government that continue to run: the Murray Darling Basin Authority continues to do its work, Asio continues to do its work. And the normal oversight the Senate is responsible for and is its constitutional obligation to carry out ought to be conducted.”

Patrick told Guardian Australia he wants both houses of parliament to resume, but if the lower house doesn’t sit and there’s no legislation coming through the pipeline, the Senate could adjust its business to “focus on oversight”.

Updated

You shouldn’t need any more evidence Nick Kyrgios is the biggest legend in Australian sport, but he’s given it to you anyway.

The Australian tennis star has backed up the generosity he showed during the summer bushfire crisis in the summer, posting on Instagram that he’s ready and waiting to drop off food parcels to anyone who has lost their job as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

“If ANYONE is not working/not getting an income and runs out of food, or times are just tough ... please don’t go to sleep with an empty stomach,” Kyrgios wrote.

“Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to send me a private message. I will be more than happy to share whatever I have. Even just for a box of noodles, a loaf of bread or milk. I will drop it off at your doorstep, no questions asked!”

Kyrgios is at home in Canberra with the world’s tennis circuit in indefinite hiatus.

A thankyou message, from Greg Hunt to you.

The New South Wales minister for better regulation and innovation, Kevin Anderson, has sought to clarify the legal status of short-term rental company Airbnb, after reports suggesting the state had outlawed the company during the Covid-19 crisis.

Earlier today Nine’s real estate site Domain reported it was “now illegal for anyone in NSW to stay in an Airbnb” or similar short-term letting accommodation, quoting a spokesperson for the minister as saying there was “zero reason for someone to stay in an airbnb”.

But that story has since been amended, and Anderson has told Guardian Australia there is “no ban on any kind of accomodation”.

“Reports that it is illegal to stay in short-term rental accommodation are incorrect. There is no ban on any kind of accommodation,” he said.

“The NSW Government advice to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has been very clear. As per the public health orders, people must stay home with the exception of a number of circumstances including work and to provide care.

“The NSW Government acknowledges that in these circumstances the provision of short-term accommodation is often critical, particularly for our frontline health workers.”

Under current public health orders, moving to a new place of residence, or between your different places of residents are considered a reasonable excuse to leave home, although they stipulate that “a holiday is not an acceptable reason”.

Updated

Staying with New South Wales police for a moment, and interestingly they seem to differ with their counterparts in Victoria on whether driving lessons constitute a reasonable excuse for being outdoors. A little earlier we mentioned a learner driver had been fined during a driving lesson.

NSW police say though that a driving lesson would constitute “a reasonable excuse”.

We consider that it would be a reasonable excuse for a person to leave their house to receive driving lessons (either from a driving instructor or a member of their family), given that this is a learning activity that cannot be done from home and is akin to the listed reasonable excuse of travelling to attend an educational institution where you cannot learn from home.

Can’t imagine why people might be slightly confused about these rules.

Updated

NSW police have issued 98 fines since 17 March for breach of public health orders

Police in New South Wales fined another 15 people for breaching the strict public health orders yesterday. They have now issued 98 fines since 17 March.

  • At about 1am on Sunday police from the Blue Mountains were called to the old Queen Victoria hospital at Wentworth Falls. Police spoke with a 35-year-old man and a 28-year-old man, who were both issued infringements for trespassing and failing to comply with noticed direction.
  • A 65-year-old woman who returned to Sydney on a flight from Indonesia on 22 March was fined after receiving information that she had entered a shopping centre at Grafton. Two hours later, at about 5pm, police located the woman in her car. She told officers she had been to seven separate retail stores that day, including the supermarket.
  • At about 2.15am officers from South Coast Police District were conducting patrols of the North Nowra area when they located a vehicle parked near bushland. As police approached, four women were sighted in the vehicle, including three who were lying down in the back seat. The women told police they had been at a party but had been asked to leave.
  • Just before 11am a 32-year-old male and 31-year-old female were seen leaving their homes at South Kempsey “without reasonable excuse”. Police issued a warning to both individuals to return to their homes. Later in the day, about 1.45pm, police observed the male and the female in a vehicle nearby. When asked by police why they had not complied with direction, the male allegedly told police they were “bored”.

Updated

Good evening. Thanks to Josh Taylor for his efforts this afternoon. Stick with me as we go through the latest developments tonight. It’s not like you’ve got anything else to do, right?

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has just been speaking on the ABC. Bragg was the third Australian politician to contract Covid-19 back in March.

He was one of a cluster of cases which developed after a wedding in Stanwell Tops in New South Wales.

Thankfully, it sounds as though he had a fairly minor case. He told the ABC that for him it was “not a terrible disease”.

Look, for a younger person that’s fit, it’s not a terrible disease, but clearly it is a very serious illness for people who are vulnerable, people who are elderly, or have respiratory issues. So, we’ve got to keep on treating it very seriously, but my own personal experience was not too bad.

You do feel very, very tired, and that’s not a great way to feel when you have things that you want to achieve, right? So if you’re feeling too exhausted to do much, that’s not a great feeling, and that was my main symptom. And also just, you know, some aches and pains and a bit of a temperature. So, that was kind of it.

I’m handing over now to my colleague Michael McGowan to take you through the evening’s news.

The Morrison government has cruelled the hopes of the university sector that changes to allow charities with a 15% downturn in revenue to access jobkeeker would apply to them.

It appears the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, missed an important carveout when he tweeted about the changes on Sunday night:


Although universities are charities - they do not get the benefit of the easier 15% threshold to access jobkeeper.

Zed Seselja, the assistant minister for finance, charities and electoral matters, has clarified:

“The 15% decline in the turnover threshold is aimed at charities like the Salvation Army and Catholic Social Services Australia.”

“This supports charities that are expected to have a significant increase in demand for their services.”

“Non-government schools and universities are eligible for the jobkeeper payment. However, they will need to meet the turnover threshold of 30% for those with an annual turnover of less than $1 billion.”

Updated

Domain is reporting that people staying in Airbnbs in NSW would be breaking the law, because it wouldn’t fit under the reasonable excuses for leaving the house.

That is because a code of conduct, which would have forced Airbnb and other short-term let operators to inform their apartment building they were operating there, has been shelved for the time being. It was due to be released on 10 April.

The logo of the online lodging service Airbnb.
The logo of the online lodging service Airbnb. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge is on ABC News and was asked what is happening with people who are overseas and were applying for a partner visa, will they be allowed to come back to Australia?

There isn’t a blanket rule, he says.

Some people apply from Australia and may, indeed, be applying for a partner visa. Others will be still overseas applying for a partner visa. Obviously – and I appreciate it’s very difficult for those couples if they are separated and we have our borders which are closed, and so it does become difficult for them – but the borders are closed for a reason, we’re only taking people in who – well, obviously if they’re Australian or permanent residents, they can come in and self-isolate, and a select group of other people, on a case-by-case basis. But there isn’t a general rule that people who are trying to get their partner in on a partner visa will automatically be able to come into the country.

That’s just an unfortunate by-product of the circumstances that we’re in at the moment.

Updated

Scott Morrison has made a tweak to ministerial responsibilities to allow Greg Hunt, the health minister, to focus tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement issued just now, the prime minister said responsibility for public service matters – including the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) – has been temporarily transferred from Hunt to the WA MP Ben Morton.

“This will allow minister Hunt to concentrate wholly on the coronavirus response in his health portfolio,” he said.

The APSC, he said, was currently managing the redeployment of public servants “to support the critical and continued delivery of government services”.

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt. Photograph: Michael Dodge/EPA

Updated

Victoria police minister Lisa Neville says she doesn’t want people to be finding loopholes in what people are allowed to do right now. It’s hard for everyone, she says.

“If you follow those four exemptions only, and you minimise non-essential travel you protect yourself and you protect the Victorian community.”

Despite all the less travel, Neville says the road toll is only 3 behind the number this time last year and police will be out in force over the long weekend.

Updated

Victoria police deputy commissioner Shane Patton says Victoria Police will continue to issue fines where it is “deliberate, obvious and blatant” that people are disobeying the direction of the chief health officer.

He says to date, the police have issued 96 warnings for people who were going against the rules.

He says he is only aware of the one incident of a learner driver being given a fine. He says the incident gives absolute clarity that you should only be going out for one of the exemptions provided.

People can travel to their holiday home over Easter, but he reiterates people should be travelling as little as possible and staying home when they can.

Updated

Via my colleague, Paul Karp, this is the response on parliament sitting from Greens leader Adam Bandt:

Given the significant amounts of money being spent on the pandemic response, the likelihood of people falling through the cracks, and the potential for legislative overreach, it’s vital that our country’s elected representatives have the opportunity to independently scrutinise the government’s approach. The Greens want parliament to keep sitting and we’ll work with other Senators and MPs to make it happen.

Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt.
Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has said she “totally agrees” with fellow senator Rex Patrick’s proposal that the default should be that parliament sits sooner than 11 August.

Lambie told Guardian Australia:

We should set down some dates and times – this idea the government has of calling us in on a whim, whenever they feel they need, it’s not the most functional. The other point I’d make is: it’s the 21st century. We can’t take a vote from home? We can’t have a speech from home? Why can’t that be done? ...They’re spending billions of dollars, so it’s time to apply a bit of scrutiny. We’ve been very nice to the government, we’ve played very nice. But with no parliament – is that a sustainable way for a democracy to go? No, it’s not.

Lambie said her preference is to return to Canberra “as soon as possible” and “as soon as safe to do so”, but given the end date of Covid-19 restrictions is unclear, consideration needs to be given to a virtual parliament now.

Lambie is also in favour of a Senate select committee on the government’s Covid-19 response.

Updated

There was a bit of confusion in Victoria because the chief health officer Brett Sutton snapped a photo of his weekend hike, after a Victorian learner driver resident was fined for driving and getting her hours up.

Sutton has clarified that the hike was next door to him and he walked there, and you are allowed to drive to a place to exercise if required.

Updated

Is the AHPPC looking at the clusters in hospitals?

Yes, Kelly says, they are.

And that’s the end of the press conference.

Will we see a peak in deaths in the next few days? Hard to know, Kelly says.

We seem to have successfully flattened the curve at the moment, so whether we indeed will get a peak is hard to know. Maybe we are there already. I don’t believe so. But we will continue to get cases over the next period. In terms of deaths, yes, there is a delay between cases and deaths. Unfortunately, people tend to get sicker in their second week, the ones that had a very severe disease. So there is a very small delay related to that.

The Ruby Princess, with crew only onboard.
The Ruby Princess, with crew only onboard. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

When will restrictions be eased? Kelly says this is a process of national cabinet.

He says each restriction will need to be reviewed in relation to what impact it would have on the curve and what the impact on society would be.

The other component is a vaccine, which we don’t know when will be available.

Updated

Kelly says we are not in the same situation as the US because the measures we have brought in have been effective.

He says some deaths in Australia may have been missed, but those being hospitalised for severe pneumonia are being tested.

The deputy chief health officer Paul Kelly is providing an update.

He says 96 people across Australia are in intensive care and 35 are on ventilators. He says a proportion of these people are relatively young.

795 cases of coronavirus (or 8% in total) are from community transmission, he says.

Our low mortality rate and our low percentage positive in our testing shows me that we are actually finding people early in this disease, isolating them and breaking those chains of transmission that spread through the whole population. So these are very encouraging signs indeed.

A sign with the words ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19)‘ hangs from a podium during a press conference by Australian Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly.
A sign with the words ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19)‘ hangs from a podium during a press conference by Australian Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

Updated

The national cabinet will meet tomorrow, after which the government will release the modelling it has been using to create these measures.

In the meantime, I will log off for the day, and leave you in the very capable hands of Josh Taylor.

The deputy chief medical officer is coming up at 3.30pm, to give the national update.

Until tomorrow – take care of you.

And on the issue of Year 12 students being forced to repeat the year, Mark McGowan is in the ‘no’ camp:

That will be debilitating for that year. Education ministers are working on options. It might mean exams are moved sideways, it might mean a range of measures, but I think repeating will be an absolute last resort.

WA premier expects social unrest to grow as people go "stir crazy"

Asked about comments the police commissioner made on Jenna Clarke’s WA podcast this morning, where he opined that police were prepared for social unrest from citizens after a month of quarantine, Mark McGowan says he shared those concerns:

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. A lot of people will go stir crazy, but I just urge people to understand and reflect on the consequences of doing the wrong thing, which is more people can die.

This is a difficult situation, we are only a few weeks in and feels like months

I urge everyone settle in, be patient, make sure you buy some books or get Netflix, learn your exercise routines, do all of those things to get through the months ahead.

On a Victorian man, who allegedly tried to skip out of his WA quarantine, Mark McGowan says:

He has done the wrong thing. He [allegedly] jimmied opened a door and was going in and out to visit his girlfriend somewhere allegedly.

He has done the wrong thing, he has been caught, he has been charged, he has been in custody and custody is far worse than staying in a hotel.

He has already suffered a consequence. He can now suffer a penalty of up to $50,000 and further incarceration. He has done the wrong thing, he has been caught. I expect the law will deal with him fairly harshly.

Drive Through Coronavirus Testing Clinic Set Up At Bondi Beach.
Drive Through Coronavirus Testing Clinic Set Up At Bondi Beach.
 Photograph: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Shoppers are seen waiting outside a Coles supermarket at Firle in Adelaide, Monday, April 6, 2020.
Shoppers are seen waiting outside a Coles supermarket at Firle in Adelaide, Monday, April 6, 2020. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP

WA is reporting it has 162 people who have recovered from Covid-19.

Updated

WA reports a new death

A man in his 80s has passed away in WA. He became the state’s fourth death.

Health minister Roger Cook says:

The Department of Health is reporting that we have just seven new cases of Covid-19 today. That takes the state total to 460. All of today’s cases are related to cruise ships or overseas travel. So we have still seen no hard evidence of sustained community transmission.

The department is still working through the contact tracing details of the new cases, but this is what we know at the moment.

Seven new cases overnight are aged between 41 and 79 years. Of the Western Australian cases, six are from the metropolitan area and one is from the Kimberley. One case is related to overseas travel and six are related to cruise ships.

One case is a health worker from the Kimberley. We have 13 cases from the Kimberley, seven of which are healthcare workers. I am pleased to report that today’s case in the Kimberley is a healthcare worker who had returned from overseas travel and had not been in the workplace. Obviously that person is currently self-isolating. As with all cases, contact tracing is under way to ensure all close contacts have been notified and a self isolating.

Updated

Mark McGowan is rounding out the state leaders. he is standing in front of thousands of boxes which represent $5.5m in medical protection equipment.

He says the new border measures are working well:

I am advised our interstate border, a temporary border, has been implemented very smoothly.

There are now police at the airport, ensuring that the border arrangements operate properly.

And police on checkpoints on the border between Australia and the Northern Territory and WA, on both of those crossings, ensuring that our border arrangements work properly.

This is a unique situation, never done before, but it is designed to close off our state as best we can from the eastern states, to protect our people from infection being spread from the east.

As we know, the infections are largely people who come in from overseas, and largely people from cruise ships, but there is some spread from people from the eastern states, so we’re doing all we can to protect Western Australia from the spread of illness from the east, and from overseas.

It is a temporary measure. I am not sure how long it will last, maybe months, maybe many months, but we need to do this to ensure we protect our state as best we can, with the obvious exemptions that we have announced before.

Updated

Melbourne radio 3AW reported on this today – a Victorian mother and son, who were fined for driving practice, where the only people they would come into contact with, were each other.

It is very, very important though, that you only get tested if you have symptoms.

A mobile phone message showing a negative result to a COVID-19 swab test.
A mobile phone message showing a negative result to a COVID-19 swab test. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Updated

Mikakos continues:

As a result of the declining number of returned travellers, we are now broadening our testing criteria to get a clearer picture of the extent of community transmission.

So from today, from this morning, in fact, any person who has the clinical criteria, that is a fever or acute respiratory symptoms, and is 65 years or older or is part of an occupational group that has close contact with the public, and this also includes now childcare workers, school teachers, primary and secondary teachers, firefighters who are engaged in an emergency medical responders are also eligible to be tested for Covid-19 as a priority group, and this is regardless of whether those individuals have a history of overseas travel.

So as a result of the declining number of overseas travellers, the changing demographic we think now is the right time to be broadening out the types of groups in the community that will be tested for Covid-19, and I need to stress that they need to have the relevant clinical symptoms before they would be eligible for testing.

Victorian Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos.
Victorian Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos. Photograph: Michael Dodge/AAP

Updated

Jenny Mikakos, the Victorian health minister, is giving Victoria’s update:

A man in his 50s who has died in hospital and a woman in her 80s who has died at home.

This brings the total of Victorians who have died as a result of Covid-19 to a total of 10 to date and my thoughts are with both of these individuals families.

There are 88 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Victoria that are believed to be related to community transmission and this is an increase of 13 since yesterday. To date we have had more than 57,000 tests conducted.

We currently have 45 people in hospital, including 11 who are in intensive care. On a positive note, we have 620 Victorians who have recovered from Covid-19.

Updated

As part of its re-skilling program, Tafe NSW is offering free courses.

You can find details on that here.

Updated

The Australians trapped in Peru may have a glimmer of hope they will soon be home (Peru closed its borders earlier than a lot of countries, leaving tourists with very limited time to get out).

Updated

Paul Kelly, the deputy chief medical officer, will give an update at 3.30pm.

That will be a picture of where the nation is at.

Also, the government is still working on the modelling it will be releasing to the public, most likely tomorrow.

Steven Marshall is delivering South Australia’s update:

He says the state is increasing its hospital bed capacity for high-care patients and upskilling 80 additional nurses to staff those beds.

Updated

Annastacia Palaszczuk says the Easter holidays are cancelled:

If I could just reiterate that people should be staying in their region and staying in their village.

Now is not the time to be a tourist.

Now is not the time to hop in the car and go to the beach. The time for going to the beach will be once we get through this because we want people to stay in their suburbs.

It’s going to be much easier for us to identify community transmission into the future, and what we don’t want to see is people moving, mass movements of people to other parts of our state.

So very clearly everyone is doing a great job. 99% of the people in their state are doing a great job. We now want to make it 100%.

And from what I can see, people are out walking in their local communities, which is wonderful. But it’s not the time to pack up and take your family to the beach for a holiday. There is no holiday this year.

Enjoy the time, spend it with your family at home.

Have a lovely Easter break at home.

How many times do we not have enough time to spend with our family during these times? We’re always leading such busy lives. It’s actually a nice opportunity to be with loved ones during this time.

Updated

The Queensland Police Commissioner, Katarina Carroll said Queensland police have turned away 532 vehicles at the border (from 23,000 cars).

Police have also fined 139 people for breaking the social distancing rules, including 19 people who attended a car rally on the weekend.

On the weekend, we have fined people for blatantly just being out and about for going for a ride or a drive.

Which was clearly not essential travel. And I think that we have been patient. We have communicated with people. We have been very, very compassionate.

But time and time again, even when we pull people over and explain this to them, and it’s happened again and again, unfortunately it has for those people.

They’ve been given an enforcement notice. We’ve seen people blatantly drive around our barricades.

So now we are putting out concrete barricades to make sure that people can’t drive on footpaths and get around them. So can I please ask – as we go into what is normal an incredibly busy weekend, that we really listen to the rules and comply with them. Because it has had an extraordinarily positive impact so far.

Updated

The government’s announcement about charities with a 15% decline in turnover qualifying for jobkeeper payments has raised hopes this will mean many universities now qualify.

Higher education export, Andrew Norton, certainly saw it that way:

Universities Australia seems to agree, its chief executive Catriona Jackson told Guardian Australia:

Access to the jobkeeper payment on the amended terms for charities as outlined by the treasurer over the weekend is very important for universities.

Some commonwealth government support is crucial if we are to ensure pathways are open for the next generation of students to receive a world-class education.

Updated

Queensland will also be extending its testing regime.

Chief health officer Jeanette Young says the 32 cases where community transmission seems to be to blame – on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns – are a concern:

It wasn’t from someone who had been overseas, it wasn’t from a confirmed case.

So therefore, today, I’m going to be asking healthcare workers to increase the people they are testing, even if they don’t have any travel history.

And I’ve asked for that to be done in the Gold Coast, in Brisbane and in Cairns. Because that’s where we’ve seen those cases.

So it doesn’t make any difference to anyone who is out there, but it just means that when people present to their GP or present to a fever clinic, that they’ll also be tested for Covid-19 if they have any respiratory symptoms. So that’s cough, sore throat or shortness of breath.

So we’ll be doing that additional testing to just get a picture of whether we think that there is any community spread happening through one of our communities. So those places are the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns.

Updated

Queensland’s health minister, Steven Miles, is updating on that state’s Covid-19 situation with just 14 new cases since yesterday (less tests are being carried out on weekends):

That 14 positive figure overnight is another great result for Queensland and underlines how effective we are all being at keeping our distance and keeping ourselves and our communities safe.

Of the 921 cases so far, we consider 743 of those to be active, meaning that 173 are confirmed to have recovered.

43 remain in hospital. Of those, 12 are in intensive care and ten ventilated. It was tragic to hear the news that we lost another Queenslander to Covid-19 yesterday afternoon.

Of the five Queenslanders who have died from this disease, four have come from cruise ships, as did the 78-year-old gentleman [who passed yesterday].

But the positive figures and the ongoing reduction in the average number of positive figures demonstrates just how what we are doing is working. We are slowing the spread, and all Queenslanders need to keep it up.

This extra death reminds us that what we are doing is to save lives, to save the lives of other Queenslanders.

Updated

Lunch recap

  • Four more deaths have been reported, bringing the national total to 39.
  • WA’s hard border has been put in place – no one can enter without a police exemption.
  • The Ekka (the Brisbane show) has been cancelled.
  • The Gold Coast has closed three of its main beaches – the Spit, Coolangatta and Surfers Paradise – after visitors ignored social distancing rules.
  • The government has ruled out including any more casuals in its wage subsidy plan.

Updated

Rex Patrick seeks to recall Senate earlier than August

As the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke has just reiterated – although the prospect of a Senate select committee on the government’s Covid-19 response is likely, Labor’s position is that this is no substitute for parliament sitting.

This had me wondering, given the government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate, why doesn’t Labor and the crossbench team up to schedule sittings there?

Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick told Guardian Australia he has raised this issue with Labor, and it is under consideration.

When parliament adjourned last time, it adjourned until 11 August, unless the government and opposition agreed otherwise. The plan is to flip the motion on Wednesday and have the Senate agree to come back sooner unless the government and opposition vacate the sitting dates on public health grounds.

Patrick said:

That way, the default is to sit - unless there is good reason not to. Special procedures could be adopted to accommodate social distancing ... Such an arrangement should be adopted by both houses.

Updated

Treasury is consolidating its factsheets on the measures the government has announced as part of its Covid-19 response.

You will find them all here.

Updated

Again, there were less tests done over the weekend.

The ACT is now expanding its testing regime to anyone with symptoms, in a bid to judge community transmission.

Updated

Goodstart childcare finds solution with government's charity changes

Goodstart Early Learning has emerged as one of the big winners from the government’s change to the eligibility for the wage subsidy scheme.

The group, which is the country’s largest childcare provider with 665 centres, was originally going to face the higher bar of proving a 50% drop in turnover to access the jobkeeper payments.

While most businesses and not-for-profit organisations have to prove a 30% drop in turnover, Goodstart faced a tougher test because it has more than $1bn of annual turnover.

The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, announced late last night that the threshold would be lowered to 15% for any charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission.

Goodstart Early Learning said it was “very relieved” to learn that it was now eligible to apply for the $1,500 per fortnight subsidy for its staff. “Access to the jobkeeper payments is vital as it will ensure that we can trade through this very difficult time,” the chief executive, Julia Davison, said in a statement issued just now.

Updated

Dan Tehan spoke to Neil Mitchell on Melbourne radio 3AW about some of the options being considered for this year’s Year 12s this morning:

Well, there’s a lot of options. So, we’ve been talking to the universities, for instance, and they’d be happy to look at a mix of what’s happened during the student’s assessments in Year 11, and then look at what’s happened in Year 12, and look at a mixture then of both.

And, then they might look at some assessments themselves. So, there’s that possibility.

There’s also the ability, of course, to be able to – and they do this for areas, for instance, which have been impacted by bushfires, or if the students have been ill – to be able to lift ATAR’s to ensure that we get the right median right across the nation. And, look, there are other things as well. There is the possibility that you could push back when exams are.

So, instead of them normally being in November, back into December. These will be all the things that we’ll be looking at and working through tomorrow.

Tony Burke, on Christian Porter’s comments that basically, the government had “better things to do” than sit in parliament, had this to say about why it is necessary:

To be the principal parliamentarian for the nation, to then ridicule the importance of their own job, that’s what Christian Porter did today.

He ridiculed the importance of his own job.

Have a look at what question time was like when the parliament last met? Two things happened in terms of our questions.

I don’t think anyone can argue that they were [politically] targeted.

The questions that we asked and indeed even the Dixons that came from the government. They weren’t ‘tell us how good you are’ though they weren’t sledges from us. They were questions of detail that the Australian people wanted answers for.

And in fairness to the government ministers, the answers they gave were unusually good.

They weren’t slamming Labor. In fact, they managed to not once in an entire question time tell us how much they hate us.

It was what question time should be.

At the moment you’ve got parliament behaving at its best.

And the government’s response is they’d rather not have the parliament we showed last time.

We can meet and observe a whole lot of social distancing and public health demands that are really important for people who then returned to all the corners of the country.

Members of parliament, some of them had to isolate when they returned and had no hesitation in putting themselves forward again saying but they’d still come back this time.

People want to do their jobs. And as members of parliament, our first job was to be a member of the parliament. We need the parliament to be meeting to be updated legislation.

Updated

Victoria reports two more deaths

The national death toll has risen to 39, after Victoria reported two more deaths, which brings that state’s toll to 10.

NSW also reported two more deaths today.

Negotiations are continuing for a Senate select committee, which would oversee the government’s response to Covid-19.

Labor’s Katy Gallagher and Penny Wong are leading those negotiations, and the committee looks like it’s being set up.

But Tony Burke says there is still a need for parliament to sit.

Updated

But Tony Burke says he can not see any circumstance that would prevent Labor from voting for the legislation. He says the opposition is just doing what it can to improve the bill:

Nothing that I can imagine. Absolutely nothing that I can imagine. Let’s not forget the order of this. We called for a wage subsidy. They said that they didn’t want one. We kept demanding it. Eventually they said – OK, there will be a wage subsidy and we have welcomed that. The discussion since then is simply – how can we make it as effective as possible.

...Of course, we’re not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But we’re not going to also, in the public argument and the debate between now and when this goes through, stop advocating for one million people who the government wants to leave behind. We want them included as well. We’re arguing for that. We’re advocating for that. Yesterday, the government gave them some hope. This morning, the government, for reasons I don’t understand, has done an about-face. They really should be looking at this situation for casuals who are relying on this income.

Updated

On Christian Porter’s claim that the fair work commission would take too long to change things (which is why the government wants to change the fair work act in the parliament to pass the changes) Tony Burke says:

The commission is showing at the moment that they can move at lightning speed. And you know, for a whole lot of... For most awards, this is a really simple and fast change. The only reason we’ve been arguing that the commission needs to have a role is because every award and employment arrangement is different. And as a result of that, there is a high chance that a legislative change will have unintended consequences. So that’s what I’ve argued the whole way through this.

Tony Burke is holding his press conference in Sydney.

Asked why Labor is pushing for more casuals to be in included in the wage subsidy, given the Centrelink payment has doubled (which is $400 less than the wage subsidy) Burke says:

There are two things that change.

One – the amount is a different rate. But the bigger concern, and it’s hard to think what would be a bigger concern than the rate, but I’ll tell you, there is one, and it’s this – you lose the connection to the employer.

The reason Labor argued for a wage subsidy is because we want people to keep their connections to the employer during the crisis.

Not only because it is better for them now, but it also means on the other side that then, the Australian economy will be able to kick back into gear more quickly, and those people who have been on a wage subsidy, the relationships that are there with the employer and they can get straight back to work.

In previous downturns, many people when they’ve lost a relationship with the employer, many people never return to work again. We don’t want that to happen. And that’s why we’ve welcomed the government establishing a wage subsidy. But for people who are truly reliant on it, it should be there.

Updated

There are flow on effects to the Year 12 exam issue.

The university sector is already very, very nervous about what next year will look like, given a lack of international students. Take away new enrolments from this year’s Year 12 and 2021 looks very, very difficult for the sector to navigate.

I know there are a lot of Year 12 students who are in limbo over their final exams.

It is a top agenda item on the national cabinet with many options being canvassed – which includes postponing the exams until April.

From AAP:

Education ministers are looking at every trick in the book to ensure year 12 students finish school this year despite the mayhem caused by coronavirus.

Concerns have been raised about how the disruption caused by Covid-19 could damage year 12 results.

State and federal ministers will meet on Tuesday to canvass options including extending the academic year or postponing final exams.

They will also discuss boosting overall scores and changing university application procedures.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has floated the possibility of extending year 12 into next year, but his federal counterpart is not keen.

“All options will be considered tomorrow when we meet - that is an outlier option - that is in a very worst-case scenario,” federal education minister Dan Tehan told Seven on Monday.

“The hope is that we will be able to get everyone through this year.”

State and territory curriculum and assessment authorities will present all available options to the meeting.

Mr Tehan said it was likely responses to the pandemic would vary between jurisdictions.

“But there is a collective will amongst all education ministers for us to be able to ensure that all those Year 12 students will be able to complete their studies this year,” he said.

“And then go on to university, vocational education or employment next year.”

Universities themselves are keeping a close eye on how the virus and disruptions are playing out for their potential graduates.

But the sector’s peak body says it’s still too early to know what concessions might have to be given.

“This unprecedented situation is changing so rapidly that the impacts on both universities and schools six, nine and 12 months from now just aren’t possible to predict,” Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson told AAP.

“However, universities are nonetheless aware of the potential impact of Covid-19 on school examinations and are developing contingency plans. These will be updated as circumstances change.”

Updated

The Royal Easter Show was expected.

As was the August Brisbane Exhibition Show – it has just been made official

I am pretty sure that the Victorian parliament is doing this too.

Updated

NSW Health has released its official update for 6 April (remember there are fewer tests done on weekends).

As at 8pm, Sunday, 5 April 2020, an additional 57 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed, since 8pm 4 April, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in NSW to 2,637.

There are 249 people with COVID-19 being treated by NSW Health. This includes 40 people in Intensive Care Units, and 22 of these require ventilators. More than half the remaining cases are being treated through Hospital in the Home services.

Sadly, NSW Health confirms the death of 2 people from COVID-19, bringing the state’s total deaths to 18.

An 86-year-old man confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in Liverpool Hospital. He was a resident of the Opal Care Bankstown aged care facility. There are now 5 cases associated with Opal Care Bankstown: 2 residents and 3 staff.

An 85-year-old-man confirmed to have COVID-19 has died, also in Liverpool Hospital. He was a close contact of another confirmed case.

NSW Health extends our condolences to the men’s families.

Updated

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians is asking the Australian public to stop unnecessarily wearing masks, with fears it could be taking necessary equipment from health workers:

Dr Beata Byok, President of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and RACP spokesperson said “Improper use or reuse of masks has the potential to increase your risk of infection. Personal protective equipment is critical for those at most risk; our frontline health and emergency service workers.

“For everyone else, please follow the official Government advice when it comes to protecting your health.

“The best ways for the public to protect themselves and others are to not go out when symptomatic, particuarly with a fever or cough, maintain social distance of 1.5 metres from others, wash hands frequently, cover your cough and sneeze and clean surfaces in common use.

“Wearing a face mask may make people think they are protected and neglect these other, vitally important, measures.

Professor John Wilson, a Respiratory Physician and President-elect of the RACP says “We know that there is a shortage of vital personal protective equipment for health workers, who are putting themselves at risk to serve the community through this pandemic.

“Masks need to be available to essential workers at greatest risk of exposure – so Australians need to do their bit and not inappropriately use much needed medical equipment including masks produced for medical use.

“If you are unwell you should be staying at home. A mask is only necessary if this is recommended by your doctor or nurse.

“We understand that during these unprecedented times, people are feeling anxious. There are many other highly effective actions people should be taking to protect themselves and others from the virus. Social distancing and hand-washing are the most effective means of stopping the spread of infection.”

The wage subsidy legislation the government is taking to the parliament on Wednesday is still being drafted. The international aid agency Plan International Australia has thanked the government for lowering the lost revenue threshold to 15% for charities to access the scheme, but also wants the government to remove government grants from the eligibility criteria

Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena said even with the new provision in the legislation, announced by Minister Josh Frydenberg yesterday, it remains likely many INGOs will remain ineligible due to their highly complicated funding structures.

“The Australian aid agencies on the front line of containing COVID19 in the Pacific and developing nations are being hard-hit by the economic downturn and may struggle to survive the coming months,” Ms Legena said.

“Aid agencies have very complicated funding structures, so even with yesterday’s generous announcement that the Government will lower the threshold to a 15% downturn for charities, the reality is it may not help charities like us.

“Why? For two reasons, firstly, because we receive government grants to deliver the work that do not necessarily extend to staff wages and secondly, as donations dry up, we are suffering a slower, rather than an immediate downturn, but even so the effects will be just as disastrous.

“That is why it’s absolutely crucial this new legislation, which will go to the Parliament on Wednesday, needs to exclude government grants in annual turnover, and the test for charities must be based on a projected deadline in revenue over the next 12 months.”

Updated

Andrew Giles, the shadow minister for multicultural affairs, has called on the government to provide meaningful support to temporary visa holders, saying, “We should look after our mates, so they can look after us.”

He said international travel restrictions and a massive reduction in international flights meant many temporary migrants were now stuck in Australia with no way home – often in desperate circumstances that bore no relationship to the purpose for which they came here.

“Without a network of family or friends and without access to a government safety net, people are at risk of becoming homeless and reliant on over-stretched charity organisations.”

Giles argued that some temporary migrants would likely fall through the cracks of the programs – including jobkeeper – announced so far.

“Social distancing won’t work if there’s no safety net for people like Sourabh Sanam, a 27-year-old intern chef, at a Sydney restaurant.

“Sourabh lost his job, can’t return home and his visa conditions mean he is currently not able to apply for another job. He’s not the only temporary migrant in Australia that is in a difficult situation through no fault of their own.”

Andrew Giles
The shadow minister for multicultural affairs, Andrew Giles. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Asked how he knows it is visitors, and not Gold Coasters, who are disobeying the rules, Tom Tate says:

When I speak to [the police] chief superintendent there are a lot of cars we pull over and ask whether it is essential travel and they are going to the beach.

It’s not essential travel.

Plus a lot of locals and news crews, were at The Spit and the majority of questions when asked where are you from?

From Brisbane.

So, quantitatively or not, the congregating is happening.

And I put it straight on to the fact that the congregations are happening around The Spit and the northern part.

You go further south and where locals go, that’s not happening.

So, my summation then is out of towners are congregating and not respecting what we Gold Coasters are doing.

Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has asked Queenslanders to stay in their suburbs. Tate says if the rules keep being disobeyed, the Gold Coast will close and barricade more of its beaches.

Updated

Famous Gold Coast beaches close

The Gold Coast mayor, Tom Tate, says he has been forced to close some of the region’s most famous beaches after visitors failed to obey social distancing rules:

Gold Coasters should fight Covid-19 with community, and the out of towners should do the same as the Gold Coasters.

Unfortunately, over the weekend, out of towners are descending on the Gold Coast in mass numbers.

And I fear that this number will increase over the Easter weekend.

Therefore, as of midnight Tuesday, tomorrow night, the Spit, Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta beaches will be closed.

To Brisbane and Logan, we love you but we don’t want you visiting now. The [other] beaches are open for our locals so they can walk and continue to exercise.

We are working through the finer details to have parking officers redeployed to monitor illegal parking.

I didn’t want to do this but over the weekend, it shows me, especially people visiting from Brisbane are not listening to us.

Updated

Tony Burke has been very quick off the mark responding to Christian Porter this morning:

Up to 1.1 million casual workers will miss out on a wage subsidy – and potentially be forced into the unemployment queue – because of the Morrison Government’s refusal to compromise.

Yesterday, Christian Porter signalled he was listening to Labor and union concerns, and was considering changes to the JobKeeper program that would extend it to more casuals who will otherwise miss out. The Government even briefed possible changes to the newspapers.

But this morning Porter – clearly overruled by his own colleagues – has ruled out any such change.

Porter must now explain why he thinks forcing up to 1.1 million casuals into the Centrelink line is good for those workers or for the Australian economy.

Instead he is trying to distract from this terrible decision by making the ridiculous claim that Labor intends to block the JobKeeper legislation.

This is hysterical and dishonest nonsense.

It was Labor that pushed for a wage subsidy for weeks when the Government was stubbornly ruling it out.

Labor facilitated the return of Parliament this week because we want this legislation to pass as soon as possible.

It would certainly help if the Government provided us with the Fair Work Act amendments rather than blank pages.

Labor has also argued Parliament should continue to sit regularly throughout this crisis so we can fix any problems that arise and provide more support for people. It is the Government that has put the Parliament into “hibernation”.

Since the Government announced JobKeeper we have only made constructive suggestions on how to improve it so it can reach as many people as possible and isn’t subject to rorting.

We have never once suggested we would hold up the passage of this wage subsidy.

The ACCC has released a warning over scammers attempting to have Australians access their super early, through a third party, which is charging a fee:

Scammers are now trying to exploit Australians financially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis with new superannuation scams being reported to Scamwatch in recent weeks.

Scammers are already trying to take advantage of the Government’s recent announcement that people suffering financial hardship can have partial access to their superannuation from mid-April.

“Scammers are cold-calling people claiming to be from organisations that can help you get early access to your super,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

“For most people, outside of their home, superannuation is their greatest asset and you can’t be too careful about protecting it.”

“The Australian Taxation Office is coordinating the early release of super through myGov and there is no need to involve a third party or pay a fee to get access under this scheme.”

You also DO NOT have to access your super to pay your rent if you are in financial difficulty.

Asic has warned real estate agents in each state about giving what amounts to unlawful financial advice, after letters emerged from real estate agents to tenants, telling them accessing their superannuation was an option to pay their rent:

ASIC’s concerns

We are concerned that the conduct by real estate agents referred to above may:

• constitute unlicensed financial advice in contravention of section 911A of the Corporations Act; or

• not be in the best interests of individuals in contravention of section 961B of the Corporations Act.

Financial advice must only be provided by qualified and licensed financial advisers, or financial counsellors, not by real estate agents who neither hold the requisite licence, nor are an authorised representative of an Australian Financial Services Licensee.

Christian Porter also went with a semi-Star Wars reference to explain the “controlled hibernation” of Australia’s economy:

We don’t want to put an economy into complete carbon freeze.

There is work for casuals in some sectors, it’s growing and we have seen that. Obviously in many sectors it has tapered off and [employment is] down. But there has to be a line drawn.

Carbonite seemed to work out for Han though.

Updated

You have probably heard of NRL Island – a proposal to house all the NRL players together on an island, to keep the league playing during the coronacrisis, while obeying travel restrictions.

(If not, you can read about it here.)

AAP reports the AFL is looking at something similar:

The AFL, which reduced its regular season to 17 rounds on the eve of the opening clash, has joined the growing trend of sports across the globe to consider extreme measures in uncertain times.

The competition is suspended at least until May 31 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

AFL football operations general manager Steve Hocking says the league is determined to play all remaining 16 rounds.

One option being mulled by the AFL is having all players quarantined away from their families in order to complete the match schedule when they are given the green light to resume playing.

Updated

Christian Porter is asked about this story from the ABC:

Australian Federal Police (AFP) recruits are under investigation for throwing a party at their residential college in Canberra in apparent breach of the strict coronavirus regulations their senior colleagues are now enforcing.

The AFP confirmed it was aware of an “internal recruit gathering” at its training college in the Canberra suburb of Barton late on Friday.

“ACT Police can confirm it attended a gathering at the AFP College on Friday evening and spoke with those involved,” an AFP spokesperson told the ABC.

“The matter has been handed to the AFP to investigate further and take any action deemed necessary. The matter is currently being investigated.”

Look, I haven’t seen the video. It is another matter I am dealing with but it doesn’t sound very good and it sounds like it should definitely be a matter of disciplinary proceedings for the commissioner with his recruits which I am sure he will engage in with a robust fashion, but I haven’t seen the video.

Updated

Why hasn’t Labor seen the draft of the laws to change the Fair Work Act? (It was sent a blank page).

Christian Porter:

We undertook to get a draft which is complicated, that draft went, in the meantime we transmitted drafting to the ACTU, I am working through that this morning.

Then, when there is a final draft of the fair work side, it gets married up to the Treasury side.

I understand we discuss it with Labor tonight as a whole. That is as good as we can do and be consultative through the union movement who have been very helpful with this process but that is as good as we can do in the timing we have.

Some people would like more time. I’m one of them, but that’s as good as we can do in the circumstances.

Updated

Christian Porter, who has just spent another 10 minutes saying why the only way the government can make the changes it needs to make to legislate the jobkeeper subsidy is to change the Fair Work Act, now says he can’t change the definition of a “casual worker” to ensure those who have worked less than 12 months for one employer can access the scheme, because that would require changing the Fair Work Act:

Q: Will you make any changes to extend it to allow casuals who have been with their employer or employers for less than 12 months to be eligible? A yes or no? Any changes?

Porter:

I will confirm this for the seventh time in the course of two days but the definition is systemic and regular definition with the same employer for 12 months.

Q: No bending?

Porter: That’s the definition.

Updated

He is a fan of his “Dunkirk” analogy and uses it again:

I’ve described it as a $130bn worth of lifeboats going out.

This is parliament’s Dunkirk moment. We get the lifeboats out, and we save jobs.

And we do it in the simplest, clearest, guaranteed formula that parliament can devise.”

(Anyone who has studied Operation Dynamo knows it wasn’t a smooth process, and there was quite a bit of luck involved in its success, which maybe doesn’t make it the greatest analogy here.)

Updated

Christian Porter is explaining the government’s position on changes to the Fair Work Act. He says the government believes it is “not plausible” to make the changes any other way.

The structural problem the legislation needs to deal with, simply put, if a business on the edge of viability, can only afford to pay a worker the $1,500 jobkeeper amount, unless we change the Fair Work Act, we cannot guarantee that a worker can lawfully work the right amount of hours for the $1,500 payment.

Now, Labor suggested, I think in the words of Tony Burke, their view is that that should be done by the commissioner, the Fair Work Commission.

Now, the difficulty with that is that would require changes to 121 modern awards, an unknown, but high percentage of 11,000 enterprise agreements.

And 4 million Australians who are under agreements, some tied to awards, some not tied to awards.

That process, if it could be done, would take weeks, if not months, it complete. The only sure way we can guarantee a person works the right amount of hours for a $1,500 payment if that is all the business can afford because its viability is threatened is to change the Fair Work Act. It is as simple as that.

Updated

Mark McGowan says he is “100% sure” that closing WA’s borders was the right action to take.

The west has taken the hard border shutdown approach – as of midnight, anyone seeking entry to WA must:

Anyone seeking an exemption must complete the following Exemption Application form prior to travel and submit it by emailing the form to WAEntryRequest@police.wa.gov.au

Exemptions must be granted by WA Police prior to travel.

You must carry your exemption form and proof of its submission when travelling. You may be asked to produce this documentation at a check point or by WA Police patrolling the area.

If your exemption category requires further documentation or proof you must produce this on request. Failure to produce this documentation may result in penalties including imprisonment or a fine of up to $50,000 for individuals or $250,000 for organisations.

Updated

Queensland police have created a social distancing chart for that state:

Covid-19 has also changed Australia’s scientific expeditions.

The environment minister, Sussan Ley, says there needs to be changes to how Australia’s researchers approach Antarctic expeditions:

The COVID-19 crisis has meant that for one of the few times in our rich Antarctic history, Australia will be forced to limit scientific research at its stations next summer and send only the most essential expeditioners to maintain stations and services.

Careful management and screening to date has made our stations on the Antarctic continent and sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island COVID-19 free.

However, the ongoing pandemic has led to substantial changes in operations including:

    • decreased operational capacity
    • disrupted supply chains
    • delays in major projects including the RSV Nuyina
    • the inability to assemble and train teams for next season

Instead of sending 500 expeditioners to the region next summer season (October 2020-March 2021) the Australian Antarctic Division will send only around 150.

The focus will be on essential tasks including the resupply of stations, the change-over of teams, and automated research and data collection.

Updated

Labor still wants parliament to sit during the Covid-19 crisis, to ensure there is accountability and a sense of normalcy around Australia’s democracy.

Christian Porter told the ABC this morning that would be a “waste of time”:

Parliament’s a very flexible organ of government, right? The power exists to recall parliament any time it’s needed, which is exactly what we’re doing on Wednesday and we’re doing it in a flexible way.

But why would we set down a regular sitting schedule over the coming weeks and months, in the most irregular time Australia has ever known?

What is the point of that?

I mean again, why we are being dragged into these bizarre procedural debate, if people want to sit out there during the greatest economic crisis Australia’s experienced and read practice and procedure of the House of Representatives, good luck to them.

But we’ve got better things to do.

Other than emergency sittings, parliament is not scheduled to sit, as normal, until at least August.

Updated

Victoria police fine 108 people in 24 hours for breaching restrictions

Police in Victoria have fined 108 people for breaching quarantine and social distancing laws in the past 24 hours.

They have also conducted 983 checks on “homes, businesses, and non-essential services”, a statement said.

Since these laws came into force on 21 March, police in Victoria have conducted 14,275 spot checks.

Updated

Christian Porter is holding a press conference at 10.30.

He has ruled out changing the jobkeeper scheme to include casuals who have been employed for less than 12 months.

Here he is speaking to Fran Kelly this morning, on ABC radio:

Well, I mean, we’ve got to refine our definition but it’s not going to be changed in its essential principle. And what we said from the outset was that casuals who will be eligible for jobkeeper are those that have been employed on a regular and a systemic basis for about 12 months, for a 12-month period.

Now that’s a definition of casual that’s meant to show a pattern of employment over a period of time. That’s a definition that sits inside the Fair Work Act already, that’s known to the industrial law. You have to have some kind of guiding limits on the outer edges, even of a scheme that represents expenditure of this extraordinary amount.

So the fundamental principle is not going to change, I mean, how we finally work the drafting of that, we are still working through at the moment. But the fundamental principle is that you get it if you’re a casual, if you’ve had connections to your employer for that period of time.

Now that doesn’t put any limit on how many hours you worked or whether you had shifts that were different from week to week. So you will find that some people in those categories worked for only a few hours and will find themselves being lifted up very quickly to that $1,500 payment.

Updated

This may be news to people (like me) who have seen repeated “no connection” screens, or buffering, but the ACCC boss, Rod Sims, says NBN speeds are holding up well, according to the measuring broadband Australia tests the consumer watchdog has put in place:

It is clear that NBN Co’s temporary boost in network capacity which allows RSPs to increase their capacity on the network by up to 40% at no extra cost for three months is underpinning these encouraging results.

Despite serious issues when there was a massive increase in calls to some government numbers, mobile networks are handling the increase in volume quite well.

Retailers are increasing plan allowances or reducing excess charges to help their customers adjust, and they should be applauded for this.

Updated

Brendan O’Connor was asked about employers asking staff to run down their leave entitlements at the same time as accepting the government’s proposed wage subsidy, when talking to Laura Jayes on Sky News this morning:

I don’t think it’s fair that the taxpayer of Australia subsidises an employer to pay for what are effectively entitlements already owed to employees. A wage subsidy has never been used in a way to subsidise ongoing entitlements. It’s about prospective wages so that employers are relieved of the burden of paying those wages or a large part of those wages and also ensuring that there is no sort of rorting going on.

Now I think most employers of course want to do the right thing. They always do, as do employees, so I think it’s fair to say the taxpayers of Australia shouldn’t be finding a way to subsidise entitlements owed to employees that already exist because of accumulated leave. I think it’s also fair to say that some employees and employers will arrange employees taking leave. That’s OK, but we just have to watch out for any gaming of this arrangement.

Updated

The Liberal senator Zed Seselja was asked on Sky why giant entities like the Catholic church can access the government’s jobkeeper scheme when it has billions in assets, especially given that companies like Virgin will most likely be denied a bailout, because it is mostly foreign-owned:

Well, we’re certainly not in the business as a general rule of bailouts.

But what we have said in our response, is that we will scale up our support that it will be targeted, that it will ensure that it gets support fundamentally to keeping people in work.

That has been the fundamental of economic responses as we’ve dealt with the health crisis.

We have designed a package which provides a larger safety net a much larger safety net for those who find themselves out of work, but for those who can remain in work, who can remain attached to their employer.

And I think Australians would expect nothing less, whether they’re employed by a foreign employer or by an Australian employer.

It is a job for that person. It is a job for that family. And there’s a way that I can look after themselves.

We want to keep them attached to those businesses, so that when the economy rebounds, they will be much better placed, they will be still part of the workforce and, and hopefully, and we hope and expect that those jobs will grow and the ability of those businesses to fund those jobs will grow as revenue comes back.

Updated

This is another change put through in response to mass job losses in rural, regional and community media:

Updated

The government has lowered the bar for charities to access the jobkeeper wage subsidy but some not-for-profits say more changes are needed.

On Monday Josh Frydenberg announced changes that meant charities could now access the package, which provides $1,500 per fortnight per employee, by demonstrating a 15% hit to revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The bar for small and medium-sized businesses is 30%, while companies with a turnover above $1bn must show a 50% decrease in revenue.

Anglicare Australia’s executive director, Kasy Chambers, said:

Charities are run differently from businesses. Our budgets are not just about simple profits and losses. Grants that are used to carry out one aspect of our work can’t be used to fund another aspect of our work.

That means that if we’re seeing major losses in our childcare services or from our op shops, we can’t prop them up with funding from other grants. These losses mean that some charities will have to stand down a huge number of workers – but still won’t be eligible for the jobkeeper payment.

The government has now recognised that charities are different from businesses, and that’s a great start. Now we need to see changes in how this scheme will work. That means that the jobkeeper scheme should exclude grants where the funding is tied. Charities simply don’t have the freedom to use that funding to prop up other workers.


Parliament will consider the jobkeeper package on Wednesday.

Updated

This is the argument Labor is having with the government. It wants to know what the changes to the Fair Work Act are.

Christian Porter says those have been provided to Labor.

This is what Labor received:

Updated

NSW extends testing areas

NSW Health authorities are also extending testing facilities in areas where there have been clusters identified:

Dr Jeremy Mcanulty:

We are extending testing and encouraging doctors and patients who have got symptoms, so people with symptoms of acute respiratory infection, so cough, shortness of death, sore throat or fever in the areas where we’ve seen some evidence of local transmission to talk to their GP or go to a testing clinic for testing.

So these areas are Broken Hill, Lake Macquarie, Manning Valley, Waverley, Woollahra, Ryde, Macquarie Park, Dee Why, Manly, Nowra and south Nowra, Byron Bay and Port Macquarie.

As an added precaution we want to make sure we have access to testing those areas where there may be some local transmission so we can find people early and make sure they are in isolation and cared for and make sure that their contacts, who may be also at risk of getting infection are aware and also placed in isolation to avoid any ongoing transmission.

Updated

Covid-19 cluster in Tasmanian hospital

Peter Gutwein also gave a special message for those in the north-west community, after a cluster in the hospital:

I want to say a few words to our north-west community.

It is important you understand this is serious. I cannot stress just how serious this is in terms of ensuring that you abide by the rules.

An investigation is under way, which will obviously include the identification of contacts both in the community and within the hospital.

It will look at the risk to staff, patients and visitors to the hospital.

We are throwing additional resources at this.

The CIB and members of police will be assisting the public health effort as we look to work through this and get to the bottom of this situation.

I want to, very clearly, say that we will aggressively track and trace contacts and in terms of the incident management teams that have been established they will do everything they possibly can to get to the bottom of this.

I want to say to people that whilst it is concerning, this will not be the last time that we will see this type of outbreak at a hospital in Tasmania.

I want to be clear about that. I don’t want to normalise it because it is something we have to deal with and treat as very serious.

But importantly, for those people that live on the north-west coast, the message could not be stronger, nor firmer, than rights now to ensure that you abide by the rules, that you take into account the rules relating to social distancing, that’s you stay at home unless you are travelling to work or to volunteer, unless you are going out for essential services or medical supplies, unless you are going to school or study if that can’t be done at home and importantly if you’re going out to exercise.

Updated

Tasmania’s premier, Peter Gutwein, is at the podium for his daily update.

There have been four more cases overnight, bringing the state’s total to 86.

I can confirm two of the cases related to cruise travel and one another to the contact of a previously known case with both being in quarantine.

The others relate to the north-west regional hospital cluster, in fact, to the north-west outbreak we are seeing at the moment. We have a health worker and patient both tested as positive.

Updated

The national cabinet is still trying to decide what to do about year 12 exams as well.

There is no answer on that as yet but there are suggestions it will be pushed to next year.

That’s because there is so sign of Australian life returning to anything even resembling normal, until at least October.

Updated

Christian Porter and the government are pushing back against calls to have the jobkeeper wage subsidy (the $1,500 one) extended to a wider group of casuals.

The subsidy is available to casuals who have worked in the same job for at least a year. The government has been asked to extend the program to include casuals but Porter has given that a firm no.

Updated

AAP also has a report on an upcoming test, looking at people’s immunity to Covid-19.

Australian scientists have made a test to check who is likely to develop coronavirus.

Researchers at Monash University and Alfred Health have developed a rapid test to determine a person’s immunity to Covid-19.

The test will indicate who remains infectious and the severity of Covid-19 if a person was to get it.

Cell samples will begin arriving from the three coronavirus hotspots – Italy, China and New York – as well as sufferers from Melbourne, from next week.

The test will also look for differences in the blood of patients with a mild disease compared to those with a severe infection to find biomarkers to predict who needs early medical treatment.

Experts repurposed influenza and allergy testing tech­nol­ogy to create the rapid test, which will involve a blood test.

“This and other tests like it will provide us with a more nuanced approach to managing the disease,” lead researcher Associate Professor Menno van Zelm, from Monash University’s Central Clinical School, said on Monday.

The test, similar to that for influenza, looks at memory B lymphocytes which are immune system cells that make antibodies to fight pathogens such as viruses.

The cells remember the same pathogens for a faster fight in the future, and are formed after vaccination.

If there is evidence of a large population of the cells specific to a pathogen, it is likely a person has been infected in the past.

The test is expected to be ready in the coming months.

Updated

A tiger has tested positive for coronavirus in the US.

The Bronx zoo resident is expected to make a recovery.

Government expected to release modelling after Tuesday's cabinet meeting

The government is expected to release the modelling it has been using to make its decisions after the Tuesday meeting of the national cabinet with all the state and territory leaders.

Scott Morrison made the commitment on Friday:

That modelling work looks at different scenarios.

So we can be confident to an acceptable level that the potential course of the virus in Australia will run at a pace in which our health systems will be able to support the Australian population.

The early news on some of this early modelling is that at the current rate, if we keep doing what we’re doing and we keep doing the work to upgrade our ICU capacity and secure the extra ventilators and all of the things we’re doing right now, then right now that trajectory is promising. It’s encouraging, but there are no guarantees I want to stress, this virus writes its own rules and we have to seek to try and understand them as best we can and respond as best we can to the pressures that we face.

Now, that modelling will have further work done over the course of the next few days. It will be reviewed again by the national cabinet when it next meets next Tuesday morning.

And then following that, the chief medical officer and I will be conducting a briefing on that information and sharing that with the nation. The good news, though, is that on the scenario planning we have at the moment, we are tracking well, but we can take none of that for granted.

Updated

AAP has this report on businesses needing loans to survive:

Small and medium businesses have borrowed more than $150m from the Commonwealth Bank as they battle the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The loans are part of the federal government’s Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme, which became available on 23 March. The government guarantees 50% of the loan amount.

Commonwealth Bank says more than 1,850 traders have taken loans and nearly 70% of the businesses are from NSW.

Hospitality operators accounted for 15% of the businesses receiving loans followed by construction (13%), professional services (12%) and retail (11%t).

The hospitality sector has been among the hardest hit by restrictions on public gatherings to slow the spread of the virus.

Most banks last month announced a host of measures, such as the scrapping of fees and postponing repayments, to help businesses and individuals.

Updated

There are some wobbles on the bipartisanship over the $130bn six-month wage subsidy legislation.

Here was Christian Porter on the ABC this morning:

This is our Dunkirk moment. What we cannot be doing is what people like Tony Burke and the Labor party are doing and say wait, that we should wait for changes to award systems or 11,000 enterprise agreements or millions of Australians who are on individual contracts.

That is crazy stuff. This is happening in 48 hours. The lifeboats have been pushed out in 48 hours – $130bn worth of them and people need to decide whether or not they are going to help us push those lifeboats out.

Tony Burke responded on Twitter:

Updated

RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons to be NSW resilience commissioner

The Rural Fire Service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, who was instrumental in leading NSW out of the summer bushfire crisis, finishes up in that role in a month – and takes on a new role, as NSW’s resilience commissioner.

The premier said the new agency was necessary:

A new agency that will ensure now and into the future New South Wales is prepared but also is able to respond and recover through major crises be it Covid, be it cybersecurity be it a with whole range of things we could not foreshadow.

Who would have thought in 2020 NSW would be facing a pandemic.

We don’t know the challenges of the future but what I do know is that NSW through Resilience NSW will be able to focus on preparing and recovering from anything that comes our way now and into the future.

It is really important for us to have a whole-of-government approach and I really want to thank Commissioner Fitzsimmons for accepting this new role within the public service, which he will commence in a month.

Updated

NSW reports 2,637 confirmed cases of coronavirus

The NSW Health executive director Dr Jeremy McAnulty is giving the update from his department.

There are now 2,637 cases in NSW. There was an increase of 57 to 8pm last night, but the doctor says people also need to keep in mind that there were less tests performed at the weekend.

McAnulty also said there were two deaths in NSW yesterday:

  • an 86-year-old man
  • an 85-year-old man

He didn’t give any more information than that.

Updated

Mick Fuller says 97 international flights have arrived into Sydney with 4,500 people in quarantine in Sydney hotels.

Wednesday will be the end of the quarantine for the first group, with 200 people allowed home.

The only ship still in NSW waters is the Ruby Princess. It is due to dock very soon.

Fuller:

Between New South Wales Health, the New South Wales police and the emergency management team a plan has been developed that will be around isolation on the ship and then from that, from that 10-day period of isolation we can then continue to work with Carnival in relation to repatriation of the individuals on the ship.

There are some 1,040 crew members on the ship from 50 different countries but nevertheless we will continue to work with them closely.

Obviously the health and wellbeing of the crew members is essential. Another two crew members were taken off the ship yesterday requiring additional medical assistance. We will continue to do that.

The ship itself will dock at Port Kembla shortly. The reason we need to dock it is because of the regular supplies that need to go on the ship. Taking sick crew/passengers off at sea is a complex and dangerous task.

A fisherman casts his line as the Ruby Princess docks at Port Kembla on Monday.
A fisherman casts his line as the Ruby Princess docks at Port Kembla on Monday. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

NSW premier flags 'early positive signs' of recovery and announces 21 free Tafe courses

Gladys Berejiklian is holding her daily press conference. She says NSW will continue to review the restrictions in place but there are “early positive signs” and the state is looking towards recovery:

It has been about a week now and we know we are making a difference and we want to keep this up because every four weeks, every day, we are able to review how New South Wales is going and there is a chance down the track where we can lift the restrictions in some ways or else what we don’t want to have to do is go harder and that is certainly something I don’t want to do.

I’m also pleased to say we have already started focusing on recovery, on what we can do as we emerge out of this difficult time.

We know the next six months are going to be difficult and what we have done today is announce that through Tafe there are 21 free courses you can do from home to upgrade your skills or to acquire new skills and this is good news.

It means people can start preparing for when these difficult times are over and through Tafe NSW if you pop on to their website you can actually acquire how you can do one of these courses from home and get qualified over a short period of time. Rather than just if you haven’t got a job or not working from home, it is an opportunity for you to upgrade your skills or acquire new skills so you can enter or re-enter the workforce when you finish this difficult time.

Updated

The Queen sends a message to 'stoic and resilient' Australians

In case you haven’t seen it, the Queen sent a message to Australians overnight:

At a time when people across the Commonwealth are experiencing a profound and rapid change to their lives, the pain of lost loved ones, and an understandable concern about the future, my thoughts are with all Australians.

Whilst it can be difficult to remain hopeful in such challenging times, especially following the summer’s devastating bushfires and recent flooding, I am confident that the stoic and resilient nature of the Australian people will rise to the challenge.

I extend my sincere admiration to the many Australians who work tirelessly to help those affected, provide essential services for their fellow citizens, and continue to care for the most vulnerable.

You will remain in my prayers in the coming months, with the resolute knowledge that with hard work, faith and unity, we will rise to the challenges ahead and ensure the health and vitality of all Australia’s communities.

I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all.

Elizabeth R

Updated

The ACT will begin testing for community transmission of Covid-19 today by allowing for random tests.

While someone must still have symptoms of Covid-19, they don’t need any of the other indicators – such as travel overseas, or contact with someone who has been a confirmed case, to be tested.

Updated

There are thought to be about 200 crew members displaying Covid-19 symptoms on the Ruby Princess.

It is one of the reasons they won’t be allowed to disembark.

Updated

Good morning

All eyes on Port Kembla, near Wollongong, where the cruise liner the Ruby Princess is due to dock.

NSW ports say they have been directed to provide berth and port facilities for a period of 10 days.

No crew will be allowed off the ship except those who require hospitalisation. Instead, Border Force officials and health workers will board the ship to test crew members for the coronavirus. The operation will be overseen by NSW Health and police.

In a press conference yesterday afternoon the police commissioner, Mike Fuller, said he now required the ship to stay in Australian waters while a criminal investigation into its handling when it docked in Sydney on 19 March is conducted.

Authorities want to know whether or not Carnival Cruises, which owns the ship, was as forthcoming as it needed to be about Covid-19 cases on board. At least 600 of Australia’s cases and 11 deaths have been linked to the ship.

MPs are preparing for parliament to return on Wednesday, where the $130bn six-month wage subsidy plan will be legislated. There are still some kinks to work out with the Fair Work Act but it is being done in the shadow of a 20-point turnaround in Scott Morrison’s personal Newspoll popularity over his handling over Covid-19.

You have the entire Guardian Australia brains trust at your disposal as we cover that and everything else that happens today.

Let’s get into it.

Updated

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