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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Amy Remeikis

Victoria records 70 cases and five deaths while Senate passes jobkeeper 2.0 – as it happened

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What we learned today, Tuesday 1 September

That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news, you can follow our other live blog here.

Here’s what we learned today:

  • Victoria recorded 70 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths from the virus. The premier, Daniel Andrews, announced there will be two separate roadmaps for restrictions to be eased – one for Melbourne and one for regional Victoria.
  • NSW reported 13 new coronavirus cases, two of which were in hotel quarantine. The Sydney CBD cluster has grown to 41.
  • Queensland recorded two new cases of Covid-19.
  • Andrews revealed he had a “lengthy” conversation with Scott Morrison on Monday night about border closures, however pointed to issues with the nationally consistent “hotspot” definition favoured by the government.
  • Legislation to extend the jobkeeper wage subsidy has passed through parliament, with the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, heralding “critical industrial relations flexibility” for employers that has also been extended.
  • Facebook has warned that it will block Australians from sharing news if a landmark plan to make digital platforms pay for news content becomes law.
  • Labor again used question time to pursue the government over its handling of Covid-19 outbreaks in the aged care sector.

Updated

Queensland Health has added a childcare centre to its list of venues where confirmed Covid-19 cases have visited.

Anyone who has visited the Fig Tree Pocket Early Childhood Centre at Fig Tree Pocket on 21 August between the morning and evening should monitor their health.

If they develop any Covid-19 symptoms, even mild, they are being urged to get tested and isolate until they receive their test result.

Updated

Josh Frydenberg has responded to Facebook’s statement today that it would stop Australian users from posting news content if draft laws proposed by the ACCC are implemented, declaring “we won’t be bullied”.

Australia makes laws that advance our national interest and we won’t be responding to coercion or heavy-handed tactics, wherever they come from.

We want a sustainable media environment and key to that is to see payment for original journalistic content. So we’re committed to these reforms.

We won’t be bullied no matter how big the international company is. No matter how powerful they are. No matter how valuable they are.

We recognise the technology and the services provided by Facebook and Google are great. People love them. And we want those to continue here in Australia. But we also believe our world-leading reforms based on the work of the ACCC is the future for a more sustainable media environment.

For more on this story, my colleague Amanda Meade has this report:

Updated

Asked if he’s confident jobkeeper won’t have to be extended past March, Frydenberg says:

It’s always been a temporary program and a targeted program and always scalable. What we have done is expanded and extended this program based on the circumstances that we find ourselves in. So the extension of the program till the end of March I think is going to be a great relief to millions of Australian workers.

Asked if it’s appropriate that businesses receiving jobkeeper give bonuses, Frydenberg says:

We want businesses to be profitable but it’s up to businesses who are accountable to their shareholders and owners to take decisions about how much they pay their executives and how they distribute the dividends.

Updated

The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and the industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, are speaking about the extension of jobkeeper legislation to pass through parliament tonight.

Frydenberg says:

The biggest program any Australian government has ever undertaken is the jobkeeper program. And today it is supporting more than 3.5 million Australian workers and is an economic lifeline for around 1m Australian businesses.

The passage through the parliament tonight of the jobkeeper legislation will see this remarkable program extended and expanded for another six months. There’s also critical industrial relations flexibility arrangements that come with this legislation and that’s going to be absolutely critical to our economic recovery.

Porter says:

If you’re a business and suffering a 70% downturn in your turnover, now you’re starting to trade out but you’re still in a very difficult situation. You might be 20% down in your turnover. You’ll be able to access those flexibilities and direct particularly with protections on hours.

Updated

On that note, I will hand you over to Elias Visontay for the evening.

The national accounts is out tomorrow - which means tomorrow, Australia, barring a miracle, will officially be in recession. That officially ends 29 years of uninterrupted economic growth.

It’s going to be a big day.

Meanwhile, Jason Falinski loaded this yesterday. It’s a bit of delayed forward sizzle. It also comes with an official authorisation, which means someone thinks this interview could, potentially, influence your vote. Or Falinski is just being cautious. We’ll let you decide.

Jason Falinski YouTube

I’ll be back in very early tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, please take care of you. Ax

Updated

So there you go.

The Labor MP Ed Husic is appearing on the ABC, asking his party to start drawing a firmer line on what can and can’t be done on jobkeeper.

I think we need to get these decisions made right in an environment where the economy is still – I mean, clearly, the most obvious statement I can make is that it is not in great shape, given it is in one of the worst recessions or the first recession for 30 years, deepest one for quite some time, and you would want to be careful about pulling out support for people at that point in time.

I listened to question time where the government waxed lyrical about jobkeeper, like they’ve got to convince us.

We had a disgraceful situation where people were forced to dig into their own super savings to be able to get some sort of money because the government wasn’t providing that sort of support early enough, and now we have a situation where this will start to taper off in the absence of like seeing – we have national accounts that will be released very shortly, how things are tracking, so the government is going to have to make a fine call as to how it’s pulling these things out, and also the way that they shape legislation. You know, they are doing this really – they think they are being smart in terms of lumping everything in together and saying, “Take it or leave it”, regardless of what type of concerns you might have, and doing all the types of things where jobkeeper might not be provided anymore, but they will allow an employer to make all sorts of changes to someone’s workplace arrangements, and saying that, “If you don’t like that, well then jobkeeper – everything will grind to a halt.”

This is something that certainly my side of politics needs to start taking a firmer line on. We’ve tried to do the right thing here, but we’ve got a government that keeps playing these cute parliamentary games and treating legislation like it’s some sort of political game that it can just wedge people in. It’s just not right.

What does Labor need to be firmer on, exactly?

I think we’ve got to draw a line at some point and say, “No!” We tried to do the right thing, when the pandemic was at its worst, for example, early on, and the government lumped in all these things, including the super changes, and we said at the time, “We are not going to stop this but we are very worried about the way it is all going.”

Now we’ve seen 600,000 Australians – 600,000 Australians have completely drained their super accounts because of the way that this scheme has been set up. The fraud that we’ve seen occur, the criminal activity that we’ve seen occur with superannuation, because all of this legislation is jammed in together on a “take it or leave it” basis, and Labor will have to start digging its heels in and say, “No, go back to the drawing board.”

Updated

You may have heard about planned protest action on the fifth – led by QAnon and 5G conspiracy types.

Victoria police have announced they have charged two men with “incitement”.

Updated

So. Many. Binders.

Prime minister Scott Morrison arrives for question time.
Prime minister Scott Morrison arrives for question time, paperwork in tow. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
A cool and collected treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
A cool and collected treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton arrives for question time
Home affairs minister Peter Dutton – and, yep, more binders. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
A MP arrives for question time
A masked Michael McCormack, upping the binder stakes. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

So – we can’t really do anything if Facebook/Instagram decides to go ahead with its threat.

And the minister can’t go as far as to call a multi-billion-dollar company using its reach to try and force an outcome favourable to it a bully.

Again, cool, cool, cool.

Updated

Patricia Karvelas: Let me put this to you: should Australians stop using Facebook if it refuses to let them share domestic news?

Paul Fletcher: Look, again, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals.

PK: Well, that is a live option, because they put it on the table today.

Fletcher: Patricia, we’ve been clear from the outset. There’s no question that Google provides useful services to Australians. There’s no question that Facebook provides useful service to Australians. That’s why 19 million Australians a month use Google; more than 17 million use Facebook. There’s also no question that having a vigorous news media sector is an important part of our liberal democracy. It’s important that there is trusted, reliable news from organisations which have journalists, which have editors, which have editorial policies. These are all the policy issues we’re working through in a very careful and systemic way. The point I make is, with these kinds of issues, it is not without precedent for large, global tech companies to make heavy-handed threats.

PK: So are they bullies? Do they behave like bullies?

Fletcher:

It’s not without precedent for them to make heavy-handed threats.

PK: You don’t want to use the word “bully”, but that’s what you’re implying – that they use their power in a way that is unfair and disproportionate.

Fletcher: Patricia, we will continue on with our careful, thorough public policy process. One thing that’s very important about the way that we carry out public policy in Australia is that we do it making sure that all stakeholders have the chance to comment, have the chance to put their views to government.

We’ve charged our competition regulator with taking on this issue because of the significant competition implications. The ACCC’s digital platforms inquiry went into great detail about the market power of Facebook and Google, and the way that they’re competing with the news media businesses for advertising revenue.

The business model of Facebook and Google is to attract eyeballs to their sites – they do it very successfully – and then they very successfully sell advertising revenue to people wanting to get in front of all of those eyeballs. So there are significant competition issues here. We’ve treated it as a competition issue from the outset.

That’s why we’ve charged our competition regulator with taking this matter forward.

Updated

Just in case you had forgotten, the Victorian Liberal branch-stacking investigation is ticking on:

Updated

Q: As you say, big threats have been made before. But if there is follow-through, you still haven’t addressed that key part of the question, which is - can the government stop Facebook and Instagram from actually blocking this news content being shared? Because you can’t, can you? They can do whatever they want.

Paul Fletcher: Well, we expect people doing business in Australia to comply with the law of the land in Australia. Now, Facebook has made a statement this morning – it’s free to do that. Frankly, I’ll leave it to them to explain what it is that they mean by that. But we’re clear on what our public policy process is.

Patricia Karvelas: OK, if I could just politely interrupt – they could still comply with the law, and just not let people share it. They’re complying, because they’re not using it – that’s the way they can get around it. What do you say to that? Because you can’t do anything.

Fletcher: Again, what I say to it is that I’m not going to be commenting or seeking to explain or analyse a statement that Facebook has made about the way it conducts its business. What I’m happy to speak about is the government’s public policy intention here. Let’s go back to the fact that the ACCC was charged with inquiring into these issues.

That inquiry began as long ago as the end of 2017. It’s a very thorough and comprehensive piece of work. It found that Google and Facebook have substantial market power – over 17 million Australians use Facebook every month; over 19 million Australians use Google every month.

And as the ACCC has found, these companies are unavoidable business partners for Australian news media businesses. And so what the government has asked the ACCC to do is to develop a mandatory code – “mandatory” means backed by the force of law – and it’s gone through a careful and thorough process to do that. The most recent step in that has been a four-week consultation process. It will now give its advice to government and government will then consider how we act in relation to that advice. But let’s be clear ...

Karvelas: Do you feel like Facebook is bluffing here?

Fletcher: Well, the point I make is – it is far from unprecedented for big tech companies to make heavy-handed threats. We will continue with our thorough and careful process, our public policy process, based upon the facts, based upon giving all stakeholders the chance to put their views.

Updated

The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has just moved a motion to refer the jobs-ready graduate package to a Senate inquiry. The motion failed after the votes were tied 24-all.

However, the crossbench senators Jacqui Lambie, Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff voted together in favour of the Greens-Labor push for an inquiry, a warning shot to the government that they don’t have the votes for the package – unless they agree to an inquiry. The package is unlikely to be passed this week as a result.

The jobs-ready graduate package proposes to reduce the overall government contribution to degrees from 58% to 52% and increase fees for some courses including humanities to pay for fee cuts in sciences and 39,000 extra university places by 2023.

The education minister, Dan Tehan, has already modified the package after a revolt from the Nationals, exempting psychology and social work from the 113% fee hike for humanities and agreeing to pay relocation allowances to universities “based on historical enrolment of regional students”.

Updated

The communications minister, Paul Fletcher, is Patricia Karvelas’s guest on Afternoon Briefing today. He is asked if Facebook can just ban Australian organisations and people from sharing news articles.

Fletcher:

Well, let’s be clear. We’ve got a public policy process underway here which is a careful, thorough process. Indeed, the ACCC has just been consulting for four weeks on a draft code, which it issued precisely to secure the views of stakeholders.

Facebook, Google, all of the other stakeholders – the Australian news and media businesses and any other interested party – is free to make submissions, and many submissions have been received.

Look, the tech giants have a history of making heavy-handed threats on public policy issues, but we’re not going to be distracted from that. We’re going to get on with our careful, thorough process. What will now happen is that the ACCC is considering all of the submissions it’s received.

It will then bring forward its final advice to government after weighing up all that it’s had put to it.

Updated

It’s been a long decade

And here is the exact quote from the deputy chief medical officer Prof Michael Kidd on whether the expert medical committee was asked to advise on the regulator stopping unannounced visits to aged care homes during the pandemic:

I’m not aware of the AHPPC being asked for advice about whether there should have been any cessation of visits by the visitors from the Quality and Aged Care Safety Commission. It is important though, as you’re alluding, that visits do take place in person so that people are able to see for themselves that each facility is doing everything that it can and should be doing to protect the health and wellbeing of the residents in those facilities.

Updated

Big thank yous to the MPs who have popped up to have their photo taken for Mike Bowers’s masked MP series – these photos are not just for the blog, but also for the Museum of Modern Democracy, as Bowers and other photographers document this historical period.

Anyone else who wants to take part has one more chance tomorrow – so bring in your favourite mask and get in touch with Bowers for your photo slot.

Updated

So this is interesting.

Prof Michael Kidd is asked if the expert health committee was asked to give advice on whether the regulator should cease unannounced visits to aged care homes during the pandemic.

He says:

Look, it’s absolutely essential that we continue to learn from what’s happened in the aged care facilities in Victoria, and particularly New South Wales, throughout the pandemic.

We’ve had a lot of additional learnings, particularly through the establishment of the Aged Care Victorian Response Centre – established a month ago now between the Victorian and the commonwealth government – to oversee what was happening in the responses in all the facilities where Covid-19 cases were diagnosed amongst staff and/or residents over the past month.

It is really important that continued accreditation happens. I’m not aware of the AHPPC being asked for advice about whether there should have been any cessation of visits by the visitors from the Quality and Aged Care Safety Commission.

It is important though, as you’re alluding, that visits do take place in person so that people are able to see for themselves that each facility is doing everything that it can and should be doing to protect the health and wellbeing of the residents in those facilities.

Updated

Victoria Health has released its official data:

Victoria has recorded 70 new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 19,138.

The overall total has increased by 58 due to 12 cases being reclassified mainly due to duplication.

Within Victoria, 23 of the new cases are linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 47 are under investigation.

There have been five new deaths from Covid-19 reported since yesterday: two women aged in their 70s, two women aged in their 80s and one woman aged in her 90s. Two of the deaths occurred prior to yesterday – the retrospective reports are due to amended reporting obligations for aged care facilities and data reconciliation work.

All five of today’s deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities. To date, 570 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

In Victoria at the current time:

  • 4,327 cases may indicate community transmission – a decrease of 11 since yesterday
  • 2,519 cases are currently active in Victoria
  • 421 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, including 20 in intensive care
  • 15,967 people have recovered from the virus
  • A total of 2,235,040 test results have been received, which is an increase of 10,153 since yesterday

Of the 2,519 current active cases in Victoria:

  • 2,317 are in metropolitan Melbourne under stage 4 restrictions
  • 139 are in regional local government areas under stage 3 restrictions
  • 57 are either unknown or subject to further investigation
  • Six are interstate residents
  • Greater Geelong has 50 active cases, Greater Bendigo has eight active cases and Ballarat has five active cases

Of the total cases:

  • 17,729 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 1,150 are from regional Victoria
  • Total cases include 9,153 men and 9,968 women
  • Total number of healthcare workers: 3,138; active cases: 352
  • There are 1,197 active cases relating to aged care facilities

Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers are as follows:

  • 214 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping
  • 203 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner
  • 193 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee
  • 161 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer
  • 139 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth
  • 124 cases have been linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir
  • 123 cases have been linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North
  • 115 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North
  • 115 cases have been linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury
  • 114 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg

In Victoria, there are currently 42 active cases in residential disability accommodation:

  • Total resident cases: 15; total staff cases: 27
  • Active cases in NDIS homes: 36 (15 residents)
  • Active cases in “transfer” homes (state regulated/funded): 6 (0 residents)
  • Active cases in state government delivered and funded homes: 0

Updated

The deputy chief medical officer Prof Michael Kidd is giving the national Covid update today:

In the past week we’ve seen 771 new cases of Covid-19. This compares to the week before, when we saw 1,288 new cases; the week before that, with 2,076 new cases; the week before that, 3,040 new cases; and the week before that, 3,465 new cases.

This has been a dramatic fall in the number of new cases over the past month as a consequence of the restrictions in place.

Nationwide there are now 450 people in hospital with Covid-19, which is 31 fewer people than this time yesterday. Among those in hospital, 26 people are now in intensive care units.

Over 6.2m tests for Covid-19 have now been carried out. In Australia, there were over 41,000 tests carried out in our country yesterday, but it is essential that testing continues around the country and that people do not become complacent.

If you have symptoms, no matter how mild, please arrange to get tested, then isolate at home while you wait for your results.

Even with the consistent fall in new diagnoses, contact tracing remains essential. We must ensure that every new case of Covid-19 is followed up every day.

I acknowledge the work of our colleagues in Victoria to ensure that this is happening, and the support being provided by contact tracers around the country. We remain very concerned about any cases of Covid-19 in aged care services.

It’s heartening to see the decline in the number of cases among staff and residents in aged care facilities in Victoria.

Yesterday, the government announced half a billion dollars to include funding for enhanced infection control capability in every aged care facility in the country, including an on-site clinical lead in infection control.

Funding will support aged care workers to reduce the number of people working across a number of aged care facilities.

And funding will also improve communications with families and improve visitation arrangements.

All these measures will enhance both the quality and the safety of our nation’s residential aged care facilities and our home care services for elderly.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the sacrifices which have been made and which continue to be made by people across Australia but especially by the people of Melbourne and across Victoria. There is hope on the horizon but we cannot afford to become complacent.

Updated

Penny Wong’s motion to suspend standing orders has been defeated: Ayes 24, Noes 26.

It is hard to tell who is abstaining and who is paired at the moment, given the virtual attendances.

Updated

One more snippet from the Q&A with the head of the Australian Signals Directorate:

It turns out Scott Morrison’s public statement that Australia was experiencing significant cyber activity against it prompted 270,000 people to download advice on upgrading the security of their systems.

The ASD director general, Rachel Noble, told an audience at the Australian National University that “our defence is the best offence”.

She outlined the impact of the press conference conducted by Morrison and the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, in June, when the pair said a range of the nation’s public and private sector organisations were “currently being targeted by a sophisticated state-based cyber actor”.

“What we saw [after] that was an incredible response by the Australian private sector and individuals – 270,000 downloads of our cyber security advice that we make public to the whole country to help them take action to protect themselves. So I think that we’ve done a lot to tell people about the threats. It’s maybe not couched in the same enticing spooky spy terms that we might like to hear about, but there’s certainly a lot out there.”

Noble was being asked by Prof Rory Medcalf about whether there was space for the ASD to be more transparent about its powers and, in particular, about its own offensive cyber operations.

Noble argued that the ASD had been “pretty transparent” and said her predecessor, Mike Burgess, had given a speech at the Lowy Institute last year, setting out an example of an offensive cyber operation against Islamic State.

She said ASD particularly spoke publicly about cyber threats and how Australians could take action to address those threats, “which in turn imposes a cost on those actors which is really important”.

Updated

The House has moved on to the matter of public interest, which today is on:

“The failure of the government to deliver on its announcements in areas of critical importance to all Australians.”

Tony Burke is leading that.

Updated

Here is a bit more from Labor’s Penny Wong in the Senate:

Mr President, this is a motion which goes to the failure of this minister to take responsibility for the devastating crisis in the aged care sector, which has caused death, grief and untold trauma for vulnerable Australians in Australia, vulnerable Australians and their families.

We move this motion because ministers are accountable to the parliament. And despite the protection racket being run by Prime Minister Morrison, Senator Colbeck is accountable to this Senate.

And Senator Colbeck has been found wanting.

How much grief and loss must be suffered by Australians as a result of the incompetence of this minister?

When the incompetence of a minister is measured in the sum of lives lost – when the most vulnerable of our older Australians are the victims of this neglect – when does this chamber say someone must be held accountable?

When the consequences for Australian families is the death of a loved one, the consequence for the minister responsible cannot simply be a shrug.

And I’ll take that interjection. You know what is shameless? His failure to take responsibility and your involvement in the protection racket. That is what is shameless, that is what is shameful.

Because a minister cannot simply absolve himself of responsibility by shrugging and blaming somebody else.

He cannot absolve himself of responsibility for deaths by neglect [by] simply saying that is a “function” of aged care.

Updated

And question time ends.

Updated

The aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, has defended himself, rejecting the “base politics Labor is attempting to play with a national tragedy”.

Although there have been 462 deaths in aged care, Colbeck argued that:

  • Covid-19 spread in aged care is correlated with community transmissions (so the deaths are a function of the outbreak in Victoria).
  • 97% of aged care providers haven’t had a case of Covid-19 – so “a large number have been well prepared”.
  • About “20 odd” centres have had “significant infections” but by the time the first case is discovered, the outbreak had already occurred.

Colbeck expressed condolences, explaining that “every single death is an absolute tragedy”, but said the government from the Australian health protection principal committee down are “working every day to ensure Australians and those in aged care have the best chance, the best level of resources available”.

Updated

Mike Bowers is on the floor of the parliament again for QT:

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, during question time today.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, during question time today. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

The aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, is defending himself in the Senate and says he would “rather be in Australia than any other country in the world”.

This incenses the Greens’ Rachel Siewert, who says Australians are “sick of hearing Australia compared to the rest of the world”, given how many Australians in aged care died.

Updated

Things are going really well:

And here is the Pharma In Focus story both Chris Bowen and Greg Hunt were referring to.

Updated

Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison:

I refer to the previous answers. Isn’t it the case that at least 17 countries have signed and sealed at least 49 agreements to secure potential Covid-19 vaccines? Together, these deals guarantee over 6bn doses – but Australia hasn’t actually signed a single deal for a single dose. Why has the prime minister provided false hope with a big announcement of a “deal” which simply doesn’t yet exist?

Greg Hunt gets this one as well:

I’m very pleased to respond to the member for McMahon’s question. Let me quote, specifically, the response of AstraZeneca to this so-called claim. This is what they wrote to the authors of the article in particular at Pharma In Focus:

“We stand behind what was stated at this morning’s press conference between the prime minister, Prof Kelly and ourselves. AstraZeneca is thrilled. Your interpretation is incorrect. We have not questioned the veracity of the letter of intent. We have never questioned the deal ...” – I want to repeat the phrase – “we have never questioned the deal, and we are not perplexed about the agreement. We really don’t appreciate the approach Pharma In Focus has taken.” Melissa Milliard, ... AstraZeneca Communications.

I am sorry if those two words offend the shadow minister. I realise that this is not the portfolio he wished for. It’s not the position he chose and it shows, because there is not much work or research.

He got very excited ... he got very excited about two words – “deal” and “agreement”. And they’re the words from AstraZeneca. But stepping back, where is Australia in all of this?

We are in the fortunate position that, because of our onshore manufacturing capacity, because of the ability to work with CSL, because of the ability to deliver whole-of-population support, we have been able to identify carefully, as one would want, the best-in-class of the vaccines – the most capable, the most prospective, the most likely to deliver an early outcome, a safe outcome, and an effective outcome for the Australian population.

And that’s precisely what we’ve done. Already with AstraZeneca, but more is to come, as well as the onshore manufacturing and, therefore, the delivery of whole-of-population vaccination outcomes.

And you know why? You know why we can do this? Because we’ve just delivered record vaccination rates in Australia as well for five-year-olds. We’ve also delivered on the PBS.

We were not the ones that stopped the listing of medicines. We were not the ones that held up the funding for the PBS, in particular for medicines for schizophrenia and medicines for endometriosis. These are the things that they stopped. So we’ll deliver whole-of-population vaccine exactly as AstraZeneca has said through whether you call it the deal or the agreement – both are their words. But that’s what we’ll deliver [to] the Australian people.

Updated

Chris Bowen, the shadow health minister, to Scott Morrison:

On 19 August, the prime minister announced Australia had a “deal” with the drug company AstraZeneca to secure a Covid-19 vaccine. But AstraZeneca said there was no deal, and a local manufacturer had not been found. Why do the prime minister’s announcements never match their reality?

Scott Morrison:

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The shadow minister for health has a habit of coming up with all sorts of sledges that always end up proving not to be true, Mr Speaker.

I’ll ask the minister for health to update further.

Greg Hunt:

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Unfortunately for the shadow minister for health, he neglected the second part of the discussion that day where AstraZeneca actually wrote to the paper in question and rejected their statement, reaffirmed that which they said next to the prime minister, noted that they had struck an agreement with the government that this was the first stage and the most important stage - this is the first and the most important stage - and is a written agreement between the government and AstraZeneca.

I think the shadow minister will have a very difficult time in the future when he looks back on the fact that we will have delivered whole-of-population vaccines for Australia. We will have delivered it. We have a written agreement with AstraZeneca.

We have signed that agreement. It’s my name on that agreement. And as the person who had worked through it with them as one of this team which had the authority of the expenditure review committee to do that, we have put Australia in a position where we are now at the forefront of those countries which will have access to vaccines.

AstraZeneca isn’t the only vaccine, I would also mention. We are working with a variety of other companies around the world. We are working in terms of Australian manufacturing production with CSL.

So what we will see is that the Australian population will be given access to whole-of-population vaccines on a free basis, which is one of the fundamental pathways for the road out for Australians, so we have containment and we have capacity.

The ultimate capacity is that of vaccination. It happens that we are in a fortunate position because we have Australian manufacturing capacity on top of our access. Indeed, we also have – within Australia – an over-$350m Covid vaccine preparedness and treatment program.

That includes the investments in the University of Queensland molecular clamp, a $5m investment. But also $25m of additional funding for clinical trials, which was announced only in the last 10 days. So all of these things have come together as part of our capacity structure.

Primary care, aged care, hospitals and vaccines. And, in particular, we have a written agreement with AstraZeneca as the first and the most important part. We have advanced negotiations with other companies. And we have production capability, as well as the capacity to be part of the [vaccine].

Updated

The Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, has launched an extraordinary broadside against the aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, in support of a motion to censure him over Covid-19 deaths in aged care.

Wong said Colbeck had been “found wanting” and the grief and loss caused by his mishandling of the portfolio can be “measured in the number of lives lost”.

“When the most vulnerable older Australians are victims of neglect – when does this chamber say someone must be held accountable? The response cannot simply be a shrug,” she said.

Wong said $1.7bn had been “ripped out” of aged care when Scott Morrison was treasurer, and he was forced to call a royal commission that concluded the government’s handling of aged care was characterised by “neglect”.

Warnings from overseas, from experts and unions, the outbreaks at Dorothy Henderson Lodge and Newmarch House in NSW still haven’t been acted upon, Wong said, and the government still hasn’t produced an aged care plan.

Wong called on Colbeck to immediately invest the $650m per year the royal commission called for to improve the system.

“When lives are on the line – why is this minister putting off until later what he knows older Australians need today,” she asked.

Wong called on all Coalition senators not to join Morrison in running a “protection racket” for Colbeck, and claiming that “no one on that side has confidence in this minister any more”. “The Senate should do the right thing and censure this minister.”

The leader of the government in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, responded that Colbeck had worked “flat out to do the best he can to ensure aged care residents are safe”.

He said Wong should be “ashamed” of herself, accusing her of politicising deaths from the global pandemic.

Updated

Mathias Cormann is launching a very spirited defence of Richard Colbeck in the Senate.

Brendan O’Connor, the shadow small business minister, to Scott Morrison:

I refer to the treasurer’s announcement the small and medium enterprise loan guarantee scheme is providing an unprecedented level of support to SMEs, and will help businesses move out of hibernation, successfully adapt to the new Covid-safe economy, and invest for the future.

Prime minister, how much of the announced $40bn in support has been delivered?

Josh Frydenberg gets this one as well:

17,652 businesses have so far received $1.7bn and, as you know, we’ve ... as you know, we’ve extended and expanded the criteria which allows those loans to have a greater tenure of up to five years.

Previously, it was three years, Mr Speaker. Previously, it was up to $250,000.

It’s been a very important program. I don’t know what the honourable member has against the government partnering with the banks to help small business, Mr Speaker.

What do the honourable members opposite have against supporting small business, Mr Speaker?

What do they have against supporting small business? What do they have against ... The harsh reality of Covid-19 is it has had a significant impact on small businesses right around the country.

We all know that small business owners are often the ones who are first into their office or to their shop, and they’re the last to leave.

They work at the front of the office or the shop, and they work at the back, in the back office, Mr Speaker.

And they have received unprecedented support from the Morrison government through this crisis.

And that support has been very varied. It’s either been through the jobkeeper payment, which has helped support their workers keep a job through this crisis.

It’s been through the cashflow boost, which has helped meet their working capital requirements through this crisis. It’s been through the SME loan guarantee. And right now, more than 17,500 businesses are benefiting from our government’s partnership with the banks.

Updated

“Senator Colbeck is accountable to the Senate, and Senator Colbeck has been found wanting,” Penny Wong says.

Labor seeks to censure the aged care minister in the Senate

Labor is moving to censure the aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, in the Senate. Here is the motion Penny Wong has just moved:

Mr President

I give notice that on Thursday 3 September 2020 I shall move:

That the Senate:

(1) notes:

(a) the Australian government funds and regulates residential aged care;

(b) the Morrison government failed to protect aged care residents from Covid-19 by ignoring:

(i) the interim report of the aged care royal commission;

(ii) the warnings from experts and unions;

(iii) the warnings of Dorothy Henderson Lodge and Newmarch House;

(c) the Australian government has not produced a Covid-19 plan for aged care;

(d) more than 450 aged care residents have died from Covid-19; and

(e) the aged care royal commission has said if the Australian government had acted upon previous reviews of aged care the suffering of many people could have been avoided; and

(2) Censures the minister for aged care and senior Australians for:

(a) failing to recall the most basic and tragic facts about aged care residents;

(b) describing his management of aged care as a “high water mark”;

(c) dismissing deaths as a “function” of aged care; and

(d) failing to take responsibility for the devastating crisis in aged care sector which has caused death, grief and untold trauma for vulnerable Australians and their families.

Updated

That last line doesn’t quite land – but the Speaker is not impressed either way.

Tony Smith: The treasurer will withdraw that term. Members on my left will cease interjecting. You should refer to speakers by their title.

Josh Frydenberg: I withdraw the term “Jim”.

Smith: No. You’ll withdraw.

Frydenberg: I withdraw.

Smith: I’ll tell you why I’ve been strict on this. He might find it funny now, but I know for a fact when the boot’s on the other foot, ministers don’t appreciate it. And they are the first to complain.

Updated

The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, to Scott Morrison:

I refer to the treasurer’s announcement that “the Morrison government is providing an unprecedented $314bn in economic support, the equivalent of $12,500 for every Australian man, woman and child”. How much of this announced support has actually been delivered by the government?

Josh Frydenberg gets this one:

Well, Mr Speaker, let’s go through it.

In relation to the cashflow boost, 785,418 recipients have received $24.1bn, Mr Speaker. In relation to economic support payments phase no. 1, in relation to $750 payments, 7.3 million people received $5.5bn. In relation to the economic support payments phase no. 2, $3.7bn.

... Mr Speaker, the member for Rankin should quit while he’s ahead and say no more. Mr Speaker, the coronavirus supplement, going to 2.3 million people at $9.7bn.

In terms of jobkeeper, 996,388 businesses with more than 3.5 million employees have received $42.27bn. That program is costed at $101bn.

The reality is, Mr Speaker, we are getting on with the job of helping businesses stay in business and people stay in jobs. Mr Speaker, when it comes to our $314bn – which is a 15.8% of GDP – we’d also like to see the states contribute more, Mr Speaker, because their contribution – their contribution, Mr Speaker – has been around 2.4% of gross state product, Mr Speaker – that is in comparison to our 15.8%.

Mr Speaker, we hear from the member for Rankin. He often is complaining about debt and deficit, but then asking us to spend more, Mr Speaker.

The member for Rankin – he’d been asking for a transition down from jobkeeper. Now he’s said he’s not in favour of a transition. The member for Rankin said people on jobkeeper were getting paid too much. Now, he wants people on jobkeeper to be paid more, Mr Speaker.

The member for Rankin is jumbled. His head is jumbled with all these different facts and figures. The member for Rankin should no longer be known as the member for Rankin. He should be known as “Jumble Jim”.

Updated

Just a reminder: MPs receive 15% superannuation contributions.

This is about moving your superannuation contribution from 9.5% to 10%, which was previously legislated.

But as we know, things are very easily un-legislated.

Updated

We then go to Josh Frydenberg:

I would have thought the leader of the opposition would have been interested in the words of the governor of the Reserve Bank.

When asked about the increase in the superannuation guarantee, he said the following: “Increases of this form do get offset by lower wage growth over time. It would certainly have a negative effect on wages growth. There’ll be less current income if there’s less income there may be less spend. And if there’s less spending, there may be fewer jobs.”

The Grattan Institute said the following: “Increasing compulsory super contributions in the midst of a deep recession would slow the pace of recovery.”

Mr Speaker, Acoss have also made comments about it, as well as the Cosboa representing small businesses. The reality is ... The reality is, Mr Speaker – and you will see this tomorrow with the national account numbers – that the Australian economy has been hit hard by Covid-19. We are working through these issues and taking into account the comments and the insights provided by a number of people, including the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Anthony Albanese tries to table a document:

I do, Mr Speaker – the prime minister’s transcript of 7 November 2018 in which he said: “We want to make sure that Australian workers actually get these additional increases which goes to their future superannuation.”

Leave is not granted.

Updated

Scott Morrison gets a question from Anthony Albanese on superannuation, and uses it to pre-announce changes to the pension indexation fund.

There is no indexation increase this year – so the government will have to actively decide to increase the pension, and it looks like it will be (there was no other choice, really) but then we get this exchange.

Albanese: Why is the prime minister not only neglecting older Australians of today in aged care, but neglecting older Australians of tomorrow by failing to deliver on the increase to their retirement savings in superannuation that he announced on 7 November 2018?

Morrison: Mr Speaker, let me speak, first of all – because I know the leader of the opposition has raised this in other places – I know he is raising a separate issue here, but just to put pensioners’ minds at ease, Mr Speaker, when it comes to the impact of the ... This is an issue of concern to older Australians, Mr Speaker, and I’m sure that the opposition won’t object to me ... letting older Australians know that those who are on the pension and those who are dependent on these types of benefits that, because of the very extraordinary and irregular impact on the indexation of how these things work, that the government will be making announcements to ensure ...

Tony Smith: I just – before the manager of opposition business – I won’t give the manager the call at this point. I’m just going to say to the prime minister – the question had two parts.

One was about aged care and the other was about changes to superannuation. Whilst he might want to speak about a concern with respect to pensions, he’d need to get a question that asked that to talk about pensioners. It was very specific about aged care and about superannuation. The prime minister:

Morrison: Mr Speaker, I just want to ensure, in concluding in that element ... Mr Speaker, if those opposite aren’t interested in this issue, that’s a matter for them.

Smith: I’ve just got to make the point to the prime minister that the question was very specific. It referred to aged care and superannuation. The prime minister has the call.

Morrison: We will address the matter that I was just referring to, and we look forward to making those announcements when the decisions have been made, Mr Speaker.

I don’t accept the assertions and smears that the leader of the opposition has asserted in relation to the government’s position on aged care, and already during this question time, I’ve outlined the responses that the government has made – in particular in relation to specific facilities when questioned on those matters by members opposite. I’ll ask the treasurer to add further to the answer on the other matters raised in the member’s question.

Updated

Labor’s Tim Watts to Scott Morrison:

Elizabeth’s mum contracted Covid-19 at Benetas St George residential aged care in my electorate.

Elizabeth said when she [her mum] was taken to hospital, she had a secondary chest infection and tract infection and had been left in soiled nappies for days on end.

Why does the prime minister boast about a list of aged care announcements when listeners and viewers know the gap between the prime minister’s announcements and his delivery?

Scott Morrison:

First of all, for all those who have been involved with the very difficult conditions at Benetas St Georges – there have been 31 patients that have contracted Covid at that facility. Twenty-eight are members of staff, and six people have lost their lives to Covid at Benetas St George’s. There are currently two residents who are currently in hospital.

Benetas St George’s notified the Department of Health it had a positive case on 7 July, and the Department of Health tailored specific support as soon as this notification occurred.

Testing of residents and staff commenced on 9 July. The Australian government has provided a range of surge workforce to assist the facility. Ausmat teams also provided on-site advice.

The Department of Health and the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre will continue to provide intensive support to Benetas St George until its outbreak is resolved.

All impacted aged care services in Victoria are receiving assistance from the government, including case manager, PPE, testing support, and workforce support, Mr Speaker.

The initial testing I noted occurred on 9 July, and regular retesting occurred, including most recently on 31 July ... 7th, 11th, 18th, 22nd and 23rd of August. Staff and residents may be tested on separate days. Workforce included Aspen Medical clinical first responder on-site. Ausmat on site on the 14th, 15th, 16th and 19th of August. And an interstate team.

And we are so thankful to those interstate teams that came from other parts of the country to assist with the workforce support that was needed in our aged care facilities, particularly including at Benetas St George’s.

Mr Speaker, they are the responses the government has put in place to the very serious conditions that emerged at Benetas St George that followed on from the significant community outbreak of Covid-19 across Victoria.

Mr Speaker, we will continue to deliver those responses – including giving support to Opan, which assists with communications, with families, and including the provision of PPE out of the national medical stockpile.

These are our responsibilities, and that is what we’re doing to deliver support to that facility. And all the families of those – particularly, Mr Speaker, of the six people who passed away in that facility – we extend our deep sympathies and condolences. We also thank all the staff, including those who’ve come from other places, to support and deal with the very serious and acute conditions that emerged at that facility.

Updated

And the Speaker, Tony Smith, explains the confusion there with the independents’ question:

Just to get it back on track, I’ll go to the opposition, then we’ll be back on track.

And just as I said, I didn’t have notice of the leader of the Greens trying to remote in with a question, so as I said, we require notice. It was all there as part of the agreement so, unless we get notice, you won’t be called. Just to be very clear, I’ve got no notice today of anyone asking any questions remotely at this point.

Updated

Adam Bandt to Scott Morrison:

For many parents, childcare is expensive, the waiting lists are often long, and places aren’t available where they need them. Today, parents, business and community groups are calling for the government to act by transforming Australia’s system into Swedish-style quality, universal and accessible early childhood education. Prime minister, will you use the upcoming budget to make childcare universal and free?

Dan Tehan gets this one:

I thank the member for his question. What we have done in government since we introduced changes to the child care subsidy two years ago is to make sure that those who earn the least get accessible care, get affordable care.

And what that has meant is that, for parents, there has been a 3.2% out-of-pocket reduction in cost since the child care subsidy came into placement

And not only that ... it has led to participation increasing and, in particular, female participation increasing.

We’ve seen a 6% increase in female participation. So the subsidies, the changes that we’ve put in place, have worked. And what it’s enabled us to do is to ensure that the support is there for the sector.

And it’s also enabled us to provide support for the sector through Covid-19. And I once again take this opportunity – and I’m pretty sure it’s World Educators’ Day tomorrow – to thank all those early educators who have supported the childcare sector throughout this Covid-19 pandemic.

The work that they have done is outstanding. On behalf of the parliament, I thank them for all the work that they have done helping us carry the sector through Covid-19. It’s been quite extraordinary what the childcare sector has done, especially for essential workers throughout Covid-19.

We have been able to keep 99% of childcare facilities open throughout the pandemic by providing support, and we are continuing to provide support to the sector, especially when it comes to those childcare providers in Victoria and, in particular, in Melbourne, who are still facing an incredibly difficult time as a result of the stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne and the stage 3 restrictions in the rest of Victoria.

Our hope is, as Victoria recovers from the pandemic, we’ll be able to keep those supports in place for Victorian childcare providers so that they will be able to provide that care for parents as they seek to get back into the workforce as those restrictions are lifted.

Updated

Bob Katter had the independents’ question, but he is not in the chamber, so there is a bit of confusion over what to do.

That is very on-brand for Bob Katter though, so the House quickly recovers.

Liberal Jason Falinski gets a dixer – and says he is “happy to be lucky anytime” and I wish he didn’t.

Wait no – it looks like it was Adam Bandt’s question. The Greens leader is coming through video link, so there was some delay. (Bob Katter who was in the chamber yesterday, is not in the chamber today.)

Updated

Again, yes, overall funding has increased in aged care.

But money has also been taken out of certain areas in the sector, and redirected.

The shadow minister for ageing and seniors, Julie Collins, to Scott Morrison:

Why does the prime minister boast about a list of more than 15 announcements, but not mention his biggest contribution to aged care - his $1.7bn cut which left aged care residents more vulnerable to the deadly Covid-19 virus?

Scott Morrison:

Again, Mr Speaker, the Labor party continues to make these assertions that even ABC Fact Check, Mr Speaker, has ruled against them on these things – as they did before the last election ... and at the last election, Mr Speaker, the ALP supported the government’s policies when it came to in-home aged care.

And despite the fact, having policies that would seem $387bn – $387bn – in higher revenue from their higher taxes, how much were they able to put aside from that $387bn to support more in-home aged care places, Mr Speaker? The answer to that is nothing. Nothing.

Absolutely nothing, Mr Speaker.

By contrast, we put forward a plan for 10,000 additional in-home aged care places. But not just have we delivered on that, Mr Speaker, but we went further than that for a further 10,000 places and, a further 6,000 places beyond that. Continuing to ensure that we are doing everything we can to meet the very significant needs that exist in these sectors, Mr Speaker.

And by “these sectors”, I mean the in-home age sector and the residential aged care sector, where our funding goes up more than $1bn every year. Mr Speaker, these are just statements of fact. These are things that the government has done.

What we understand as a government is there is much more to be done. And we understand ... that the mountain we are seeking to climb when it comes to dealing with the challenges in aged care is significant.

And we understand, Mr Speaker – as we have over each and every year of the past seven years – increased funding by more than $1bn every year to ensure that we are meeting the challenges in aged care. And there is more to be done. Because we still need to close that gap on the needs that are there. And we will continue to do that each and every year, Mr Speaker.

Because, like everyone in this chamber, we want to ensure that elderly Australians are treated with dignity and with respect and can get the care and support that they seek, whether it’s in a private facility, a public facility, or a not-for-profit facility, Mr Speaker. And we have backed that up by the significant commitment of resources each and every year of government we have had the responsibility for these matters, Mr Speaker.

Updated

The ACCC boss, Rod Sims, has come out very strongly against Facebook:

Facebook’s threat today to prevent any sharing of news on its services in Australia is ill-timed and misconceived.

The draft media bargaining code aims to ensure Australian news businesses, including independent, community and regional media, can get a seat at the table for fair negotiations with Facebook and Google.

Facebook already pays some media for news content. The code simply aims to bring fairness and transparency to Facebook and Google’s relationships with Australian news media businesses.

We note that according to the University of Canberra’s 2020 Digital News Report, 39% of Australians use Facebook for general news, and 49% use Facebook for news about Covid-19.

As the ACCC and the government work to finalise the draft legislation, we hope all parties will engage in constructive discussions.

Updated

Good Dolly.

Michael McCormack just said something I agree with.

He acknowledged the Mallee MP Anne Webster for her courage.

That’s related to this story from Michael McGowan:

The rest is all very McCormack-esque, but broken clocks and all that.

Updated

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

The prime minister’s failed to listen to aged care residents, providers and even the royal commission he established. Isn’t counsel assisting the royal commission right to say, in direct response to the commonwealth’s evidence: “It’s difficult to learn a lesson if you don’t think there’s one to learn”? Why is the prime minister focused on a list of announcements instead of taking action to protect aged care residents? Is it the case that, if actions speak louder than words, the prime minister truly is the quietest Australian?

Morrison:

Glib lines, Mr Speaker, from the leader of the opposition ... What the government will do will respond to issues and questions raised by the royal commission by simply presenting to the royal commission the information and the facts as the government has presented here in this place as well. Mr Speaker, the $1.5bn in response that we’ve made already to the Covid – Mr Speaker, the Covid crisis that has impacted on this country – and the leader of the opposition interjects again ...

... Mr Speaker, aged care funding in Australia increases by more than $1bn every year and, on top of that, Mr Speaker, a further $1.5bn has specifically been provided to aid in the support of the response to the Covid pandemic. Mr Speaker, the leader of the opposition can assert many things. He can make many claims. But that doesn’t make them true, Mr Speaker, as the Australian people – as the Australian people have learnt about the Labor party when it comes ... and the truth – these are two things that elide them on these matters.

The issue of responding to the coronavirus challenge with aged care, Mr Speaker, is incredibly significant and incredibly important.

And we are applying ourselves to those challenges with the resources that are necessary and have been called upon, in particular, by the aged care sector.

In particular, with the extension of measures already put in place by this government, and extended again earlier this week in response to the request from the aged care sector as we’ve carefully considered where the state of the pandemic is up to. And we have made the decision to extend that support further because of the nature of the challenge that we face.

Updated

Aged care funding is going to come up again in this question time.

It has increased. Overall. Yes. But money has been taken out of some areas of aged care – including high level care, like for dementia patients – and put in other areas.

So it is moving money around, as well as increasing the overall pool.

Rick Morton, who has been covering this issue for some time, covers off the changes, briefly, here:

Updated

Question time begins

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

How is it that, after seven years of this Liberal government, a royal commission chooses the word “neglect” to describe the sector, a resident has ants crawling from open wounds, and over 450 have died from Covid-19?

Scott Morrison:

I thank the member for his question. The royal commission – which I initiated soon after becoming prime minister, Mr Speaker – was it designed to ensure that all in this place and some – like the leader of the opposition – have been in this place for quite some considerable time.

And the royal commission has observed, as have many outside the royal commission, Mr Speaker, that the challenges that we have in aged care are not the product of just one or two years, Mr Speaker. They are the product of 30 years of how policy has impacted on the aged care sector.*

Mr Speaker, it is important that, as we seek to address the issues that the royal commission will be, I’m sure, identifying – and as we, as I outlined to the House yesterday – have even since the royal commission, Mr Speaker, announced numerous measures which are being implemented and have been implemented and will continue to be implemented to address the very significant issues and challenges that are in aged care, the government, Mr Speaker, does not walk away from those challenges, and we have done everything we can to ensure that a light is shone upon, Mr Speaker, the challenges that are in the aged care sector.

And we back that up with the commitment that, during the Covid period alone, Mr Speaker, we have contributed an extra $1.5bn to address the critical needs that exist in that sector. Mr Speaker, every single death that has occurred as a result of Covid – or has otherwise occurred in the aged care sector, or where there has been, Mr Speaker, issues of neglect or where there has been issues of a failure to come up to standards by operators, be they public, private or not-for-profit – these are the challenges that we are addressing. And we will continue to address. And I invite the opposition to join us in the measures that we will put forward and continue to put forward to address these very significant issues.

*The Coalition has been in power for 22 of the last 30 years.

Updated

Over in the Labor caucus, the most interesting development was Labor has resolved its position on the grid reliability fund.

The government wants to redefine gas technology as low emissions technology as part of enabling the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to make investments in grid reliability.

Labor will make three amendments to the government’s proposal. The first will kill the redefinition of gas.

The second will remove a ministerial power allowing Angus Taylor to tell the CEFC they can look at investing in certain technologies.

The third will remove an allowance in the bill that any investments made through the grid reliability fund do not have to generate a rate of return. Currently CEFC investments do have to generate a rate of return. Labor will move the amendments.

If the government doesn’t accept them, Labor will vote against the bill.

It’s almost time for QT.

Sigh

Jobkeeper 2.0 legislation has passed the Senate with only minor government amendments.

There was a last-minute hiccup after independent Rex Patrick moved an amendment to prevent companies paying dividends from receiving jobkeeper.

Fellow independent Jacqui Lambie suggested taxpayer money as being “rorted into dividends” and expressed concern the wage subsidy program could continue for “years” if no vaccine is found.

Mathias Cormann rejected the view that paying dividends represented a “rorting” of the program and noted the bill only extends jobkeeper to March 2021.

Then Pauline Hanson accused the government of making “a huge mistake” of putting workers on the jobkeeper payment of $1,500 a fortnight, suggesting it had overpaid people who may have earned less previously.

“You’ve now set this precedent – people expect this high payment. They now don’t want to go back to work,” she said.

Hanson said that a jobkeeper payment of $1,200 a fortnight is not encouraging people to go to work – and proposed extending it only as far as November.

Despite the last-minute opposition – Patrick’s amendment was defeated on the voices, with only Hanson, Patrick and Lambie recording support for it – jobkeeper 2.0 passed on the voices, because Labor and the Coalition both supported it.

Updated

There were two contributions in the Coalition party room on vaping. Matt Canavan asked the health minister, Greg Hunt, what the process will be around new regulations from 1 January for people to obtain a prescription to vape – and specifically whether the regulations will come back to the Coalition party room.

Hunt was forced to delay the new procedure by six months after a backbench revolt. He replied that he will start consultations as early as Thursday, offering a briefing to any MPs who want it and give feedback to the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

I’ve heard from one participant who thought these briefings would be in lieu of the regulation returning to the party room, but another participant clearly recalls Hunt committing that the regulation would return to the party room after consultation.

Dr David Gillespie said he is keen to be part of the consultation and expressed his concerns about vaping.

Updated

The sound of silence

It being Tuesday, MPs in the major parties have met in their party/caucus rooms. Here’s a quick summary. One of the stand-out moments in the government meeting was the Liberal MP Craig Kelly treating colleagues to a literature review on hydroxychloroquine, which has become the MP’s latest crusade. Apparently the latest treatise attracted deafening silence. No one said a word in response.

Apart from Kelly’s monologue, the prime minister told colleagues governments had to be “dealers in hope” and the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, told colleagues tomorrow’s national accounts data would confirm the country was in recession, but the October budget would be about bringing people together.

There was another discussion about problems associated with border restrictions, and the party room approved legislation allowing the government to cancel agreements between state governments and foreign powers, and universities and foreign powers.

I’ll send a post on the Labor meeting shortly.

Updated

And it is done.

Updated

The head of Australian Signals Directorate, Rachel Noble, has been talking about how the intelligence can maintain its “edge” over foreign adversaries.

During a question-and-answer session at the Australian National University, Noble said it was important to find “the right people to employ in ASD and continue to value diversity”.

One of our most extraordinary cyber offensive operators didn’t finish year 12 and was a hairdresser. We are open to every kind of person with any background and it’s the imagination that makes the difference.

Prof Rory Medcalf said he had always believed hairdressers were good intelligence collectors. Noble replied:

I think there’s a little hint in there that being really clever in those sort of operations is in understanding how people think and being interested in people, and hairdressers are wonderful at that. They’re wonderful at making conversation with anyone who sits in the chair … you do feel like you can trust them.

Updated

Daniel Hurst is listening to the ANU talk with Australian Signals Directorate chief Rachel Noble. He tells me that the Australian Signals Directorate is looking to recruit hairdressers, because they are so good at getting information.

I swear to Dolly, if hairdressers start narking, it will be the end of civilisation. THE END.

Updated

There is quite a bit to play out in this Facebook/Google battle.

Updated

Bit of an in-house message, but one which you will see the results of – Mike Bowers wants to know if any of the MPs in Parliament House at the moment have a mask they want to show off.

He has set up the studio – so let him know if you have a mask with a message you want to record for posterity.

Bob Katter and his crocodile mask.
Bob Katter and his crocodile mask. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Sydney CBD cluster grows to 41 cases

NSW Health has put out its official data for the day.

Of the 13 new cases to 8pm last night:

  • Two are returned travellers in hotel quarantine
  • Eleven are locally acquired and linked to a known case or cluster

Seven new cases are linked to the August CBD cluster. Of these:

  • Two work at Reddam Early Learning Centre Lindfield
  • One visited Tattersalls City Gym
  • Two are household contacts of previous cases
  • Two are close contacts of previous cases.

There is now a total of 41 cases associated with the CBD cluster. One new case is linked to cases at the Liverpool Hospital.

Three new cases attend St Paul’s Catholic College Greystanes. All year 10 students at St Paul’s Greystanes have been identified as close contacts and directed to get tested and isolate for 14 days. The school will remain closed for onsite learning while contact tracing is under way. The source of the original case at St Paul’s is still under investigation.

As two more staff at Reddam Early Learning Centre Lindfield have now tested positive, all staff and children who attended the centre have been declared as close contacts and instructed to get tested and isolate for 14 days. The centre remains closed.

NSW Health is treating 73 Covid-19 cases, including six in intensive care and three who are ventilated. Eighty-six per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.

Updated

Senators Bridget McKenzie and Perin Davey will be holding a press conference to talk about the NSW-Victoria border changes.

Updated

Peter Lewis, director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology, has responded to Facebook’s threat to ban Australians from posting news:

Facebook has a pattern of behaviour of treating democracy with this sort of contempt.

Rather than working with the federal government to give effect to the ACCC to build a sustainable model for the Australian media, Facebook is threatening to block it from its platform.

This has been the consistent response by Big Tech where democratically elected governments have sought to protect the interests of their citizens.

This builds on Facebook’s refusal to ensure truth in political advertising or proactively moderate divisive and destructive content on its site.

In fact, if they follow through on this threat Facebook will be removing trusted journalism from its site, allowing disinformation and conspiracy theories to flourish.

As a big advertising company, Facebook would do well to realise its success is only as strong as its network of users.

Bullying their elected representatives seems a strange way to build long-term trust.

Google and Facebook’s aggressive response to regulation reinforces why a countervailing media is so vital for Australian democracy.

Updated

There have been some suggestions that a case-per-population measure be used for the hotspot definition, which would put Victoria and NSW on similar footing, but be somewhat different for the smaller states and territories.

But still, a hotspot definition relies on the states giving up powers, and if there is one thing this country should have learned since federation, is that the states do not like to give up powers.

Scott Morrison has been pushing for a “hotspot” definition for quite some time – he wants an agreed-upon definition, which would lead to border closures, and lockdowns, rather than the states just deciding themselves what a hotspot is.

Daniel Andrews points to some of the issues with that proposal, which the national cabinet is currently chewing over:

There are some issues around getting a clinically agreed set of terms. So properly defining what a hotspot might be – that’s something, I think, that national cabinet will look at.

Certainly AHPPC and then the health experts will look at that, I think.

And then there is a really – there’s an important process to make sure that everybody’s got the most complete picture of how much virus is in, whether it be in a given suburb, a given postcode, whether it’s the – these kind of bubbles, whether it’s ... 40km, 50km, whatever it might be.

We’re always happy to try to do more to provide a more complete picture, which we would want from the other states today. That’s an orderly process.

Updated

Daniel Andrews:

What I want is for Victorians in Victoria at the very least to have as normal a Christmas Day as possible.

That won’t be possible, no chance that will happen, if we try to open up everything, too much too quickly.

That will just mean that this will be out of control, again. I go back to the point I’ve made a few times today, and yesterday, and I’ll keep making it, because it’s what’s driving my thinking, our approach and the strategy.

Victorians have given a lot. Victorians have sacrificed a lot. They’ve made an enormous contribution, and that pain, that hard work has to count for something.

That doesn’t include open up three, four weeks of sunshine, and then by Christmas time, we’re all back in again because we’ve lost control of this virus.

It’s silent. It’s wicked. It is so rapidly moving, so highly infectious that unless you’ve properly defeated the second wave and then you open up cautiously, gradually, then you can be certain that we’ll be back in really challenging circumstances again.

That’s not what we want.

Daniel Andrews lets drop in this answer on border closures that he had a “lengthy conversation” with Scott Morrison last night:

I had a text from Gladys [Berejiklian] this morning confirming that 50km border bubble into New South Wales.

I thank her for that and I thank her government for the very constructive way in which we’ve worked with them to try and make a very challenging set of circumstances just a little bit easier.

That’ll be welcome news to many in border communities and, while I’m at it, can I also thank [SA] Premier [Steven] Marshall for the constructive way in which we’ve been engaging with him too. I’m not being critical, it is very difficult on community borders, but I understand where those other borders are coming from.

The best way to get those borders open again is to drive these numbers down. That means every single person who has mild symptoms coming forward and getting tests.

That is absolutely essential. [In] my lengthy conversation with the prime minister last night, borders were a central feature of that. We all want to be in a some summer time, come Christmas time, we have freedom of movement.

That might be about testing before you travel, all sorts of possible things, when you have low case numbers – that’ll be something that national cabinet will talk about on Friday.

But the greatest contribution we can make to get borders open across the country is to continue to drive these numbers down as low as we can, and that’s what we’re doing.

And, might I say, not opening up too much too soon and by Christmas time, instead of a long-term, stable and safe Covid normal, we have the place locked up again.

We cannot do that.

Updated

Martin Pakula is also not worried about WA stealing the grand final away (in non-Covid circumstances).

Well, I really don’t think that a foot in the door is a thing we need to be concerned about.

The fact is the game is contracted to be played at the MCG for the next 37 years and in the absence of a global pandemic that upends that contractual arrangement, potentially, the game will be played at the MCG for the next 37 years.

I give [WA] Premier McGowan full marks for endeavour but the fact is the AFL, the Victorian state government and the MCG have reached an agreement and that agreement is the building block of the grand final situation until 2057 at least.

Updated

But Martin Pakula thinks the Melbourne Cup will go ahead. In Melbourne.

Pakula:

I make the point that the AFL grand final is just one of a range of really significant sporting events that are scheduled to be in Melbourne over the next few months.

I mean, we’ve got the Spring Racing Carnival. We’ve got the Boxing Day Test, the Australian Open, the Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the NBL season, all really important events to Victoria, all conversations we’re having in an ongoing sense and I’m confident about all of those events occurring here.

The grand final, look, it may well be that by the time the grand final is played, our case numbers here in Victoria are extremely low ... Unfortunately, we can’t wait until late October for the AFL to make a decision about where that will be. So that’s a limiting factor for us.

If we were able to make a decision on 23 October about where the game might be on 24 October, you might be in a different space other than for the fact that arrangements have to be put in place very, very soon. I never give up hope until things are done but it is a difficult proposition.

Updated

Martin Pakula is also the sports minister, so he is asked about the AFL grand final.

A decision on where it will be made is due very soon.

Pakula:

I’m not certain it will be today. I think it will be in the next 48 hours. The AFL and myself and my department are in ongoing discussions. I’d expect to have a conversation with [the AFL chief executive] Gillon [McLachlan] this afternoon.

But I’m not going to conduct those discussions or those negotiations in the public domain. I think you’d understand that. So, we’re looking for the best possible deal for Victoria, in the event that the grand final goes elsewhere.

But we’re still having those discussions with the AFL and we would expect that they’d be resolved in the next couple of days.

Updated

Daniel Andrews on how Victoria will reopen once restrictions begin to lift:

This has been a very, very terrible year. We still have a way to go. But unless we find it in ourselves to stay the course on this, then 2021 won’t be much better.

I am determined to make sure that we can have a long-term, safe and stable Covid normal throughout 21 until we get a stable fix to this, which is a vaccine, but that will be a considerable task, to manufacture it.

All of that is still some way off. The only option the only option – unless you’re willing to simply fritter away all the pain and effort, all the amazing work Victorians have done, [and] I’m not prepared to do that – it must be done properly.

It will be frustrating. We won’t be able to open everything on the same day. We just can’t do that. I don’t think Victorians want all that they have given, all that they have achieved to count for nothing. They want it to mean something.

What it can ultimately mean is a long-term Covid normal that we can properly defend against this virus. It is not going to go away completely. There will still be cases, there will still be outbreaks. That’s why these weeks and months ahead are so, so important.

Updated

So Queensland said a Covid-positive person from Victorian flew into Queensland on a Jetstar flight (they are in quarantine).

Queensland said it was alerted by Victorian authorities that the person was positive.

Brett Sutton, though, says no:

I know there has been media reporting on this case this morning, but we have no information on a suspected infectious person getting on a flight. Without [identifying data] there is no infectious person getting on a flight to Queensland.

So either there has been a miscommunication, or the person had previously tested positive (but not necessarily in the last 48 hours or so).

Updated

What will the two different roadmaps look like for Melbourne and the regions?

Daniel Andrews:

On the basis that the virus is presenting in very different ways and at very different levels in regional Victoria compared to metro Melbourne, there may be some things allowed in regional Victoria that won’t yet be allowed in metro Melbourne.

There’ll be a series of rules, a series of phases that will be different, because the virus is different in regional Victoria.

Today is not the day to speculate or go into that detail but I did want to confirm for all regional Victorians there’ll be a different roadmap announced on Sunday.

That’s a number of stages.

It’s about giving people a clear sense of it in the first instance. We’ll have to add to that and fill in some of the detail around that, not based on what we hope but on what the data tells us as we get case numbers each day, each week, right throughout the year.

I made the point yesterday and I make it again – we had a very different Mother’s Day. We’ll have a very different Father’s Day. We have to stay the course on this so we’ll have as close to normal a Christmas Day as possible.

All the sacrifice, the hard work that we have done, that has to count for something. That’s why getting this right, not opening up too much too fast but, instead, doing it in a gradual, slow, steady, cautious, however you want to term it, but in a safe way, that is how we will find a Covid normal that we can lock in for a long period of time.

That essentially says that all the hard work and the pain, that the massive effort that Victorians have put in counts for something. It counts for a steady set of arrangements, a steady set of rules, a Covid normal that we can actually maintain, a Covid normal that we can defend against this virus.

But you’ll never get to that position and, in fact, you’ll just fritter away all the good work that Victorians have done, if you don’t properly defeat the second wave. And not just pretend you’ve done it but actually do it. That’s why very low numbers, and those low numbers being locked in for a period of time – not one day at a low number but a clear pattern – that’s what’s essential.

Updated

Not unexpected, but still sigh-worthy for this little locked out duck – there will be no spring fling in Queensland this September for jurisdictions Queensland has declared to be a hotspot – which includes Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.

In short, there will be no border changes this month – the Queensland border looks like staying locked until at least October. And probably beyond, if Queensland sticks to “no community transmission” as its rule.

Annastacia Palaszczuk:

We said we would review at the end of the each month and there has been no advice from the chief health officer to change what we are doing ... I’ll tell you what we’re looking for – to keep Queenslanders safe, that’s what we’re looking for.

Updated

Just for context

NSW police have released the detail on their recent social distancing restriction fines:

Two people were charged and eight penalty infringement notices (PINs) were issued yesterday in relation to various breaches of public health orders across NSW in recent days.

Just before 7pm on Monday 17 August 2020, officers attached to Operation Border Control stopped four vehicles driving in convoy at a border checkpoint on the Murray Valley Highway, Euston.

Police spoke with the occupants – 10 Malaysian nationals, including a 28-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman – all of whom presented Victorian border resident permits and advised they planned to drive to Coffs Harbour to find work as fruit pickers.

After advising the group their permits did not allow for travel beyond the border zone and that they would be required to fly into Sydney and quarantine in hotel before they could continue north, the group was refused entry and directed to return to Victoria.

Last Thursday (27 August 2020), officers from Coffs/Clarence Police District received information that the 26-year-old woman had presented at Coffs Harbour Hospital to give birth in company with the 28-year-old man, and it was suspected they crossed the border unlawfully.

Police spoke with the pair after she was discharged from hospital yesterday (Monday 31 August 2020), and it was established they crossed at a different location on the border resident permit.

The pair was issued court attendance notices for not comply with noticed direction re s 7/8/9 - Covid-19. They are both due to appear at Coffs Harbour Local Court on Monday 14 September 2020.

Inquiries into the incident are continuing.

Updated

The bells have rung, meaning the parliament sitting has begun.

First up in the Senate – the jobkeeper legislation.

Updated

Meanwhile, it looks like the people who print the money will be giving some of that money away.

From the Royal Australian Mint:

2020 has been a tumultuous year for Australia, seeing almost one in five Aussies digging deeper than ever in times of crisis. Still one in five say [that] events over the last 12 months has meant they’ll still require some degree of charitable aid. With that in mind and ahead of International Day of Charity, the Mint will be launching a world-first initiative to help give back to those who need it most.

Updated

The National Accounts will be out tomorrow.

So this is worth taking a look at: imports have fallen more than exports:

And more people are building:

Updated

So is Melbourne headed for fewer than 10 cases a day?

(Single figures is considered having Covid under control – it lets the contact tracers lock down potential further cases.)

Prof Sutton:

Look, I don’t know where we’ll be. We are heading down to low cases. I doubt that they’ll be under 10 but it really does depend on people stepping up, getting tested, us identifying those cases. If we know where every case in Victoria is today, we could end it in a week.

Part of the challenge is that we don’t know. There are always a proportion of people who haven’t tested and continue to transmit, or who have tested and haven’t isolated immediately. That’s our challenge and that’s stuff that I can’t control in its entirety.

Updated

Prof Brett Sutton continues:

They’re positive signs, no question. But holding the course with low numbers is just the thing that we need to do to stop it all bouncing back or to stop chains of transmission continuing undetected within the community.

Which means that if we go to easing, if we’re not aware of hidden cases because people have not come forward for testing, they will persist and then accelerate, as we ease restrictions, as we increase allowances for people to interact with others. If there are mystery chains of transmission, just like mystery cases, they will accelerate and potentially explode.

And if we only detect them when they’re large outbreaks, it means there’s more community transmission out there and even though we can identify and get on top of outbreaks, it does become really challenging if there’s widespread community transmission.

That’s a challenge across the world. That’s what New South Wales has been successfully battling but for two months of intensive contact tracing so the very best thing that we can do is to drive these numbers down to the lowest possible level so we don’t have to deal with chains of transmission that are unidentified, so they are literally not there in the community.

That protects our aged care workforce. It protects our healthcare workforce and it protects everyone across the community.

Updated

The chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, is up.

He wants people to step up their testing. It’s not just flu symptoms – changes to taste and smell and headaches can mean a Covid infection as well.

Sutton:

So 70 new cases today. That’s an overall increase of 58 with the reclassifications numbering 12. We’re certainly on the right pathway here. Cases continue to be driven down because of everything that everyone is doing, because of the restrictions in place.

I said yesterday we had to hold the course. These are low numbers. It can cause complacency for people who think they don’t need to test but testing is the pathway to drive numbers down.

If we don’t know that there are cases in the community, if we can’t identify people and they’re not aware themselves, then they’re going to put their close family and other close contact at risk.

Obviously, we’re reducing the number of close contact that people have in the workplace, out in the community, but everyone still has close contact and if you’re a positive case and you’re not being tested and you’re not isolating because of that positive test coming back to you, this virus will continue to spread. Fifty-eight is a good number but not one that we can guarantee will continue to go down until we can get those testing numbers at an appropriate level.

Updated

The state’s jobs minister, Martin Pakula, says there are nine meetings happening today, across a range of industries, as the Victorian government consults on what the roadmap should look like.

Pakula:

There are nine different consultations occurring today, one for the construction sector, one for creative sport and tourism, one for manufacturing, one for community organisations, one for agriculture, one for retail, one for professional services, one for transport and freight, and one for food and grocery and at all those consultations, representatives of my department, my private office, will be meeting with organisations that represent those sectors to talk about their imperatives, to talk about some of the government’s thinking and to ensure that we have the best intelligence from industry to feedback into the discussions that we’re having with the Department of Health and Human Services and within the government more generally about the road out of restrictions.

I should say that those consultations that began last night really are not the beginning of a process, you know, we’re already partway through a whole range of discussions that I’ve been having in the last week or two, sometimes at our initiative, sometimes at the initiative of organisations.

But, you know, for example, over the last week there’s been discussions with the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, with the AIG, with the Master Builders and the Property Council and the Housing Industry Association and a range of other organisations so that we can get a deeper understanding of the issues confronting their members, so we can get a deeper understanding of what the imperatives for those industries are as we come out of restrictions. I think it’s fair to say that the overwhelming view of those groups so far is the need for certainty and the need to ensure that as we ease restrictions we head in one direction, rather than out and back again.

Updated

Consultations with business and industry groups began last night.

Daniel Andrews says the roadmap out of stage four is slowly being formed:

But with a full week’s additional data and the practical and really important input in a very contemporary sense from workers, from business, from community groups, we on Sunday will be able to give people a clearer sense of what the phases to come look like, what the weeks and months to come look like.

And ultimately, this is all about making sure that the sacrifice, the pain, the amazing work that Victorians have done counts for something.

It’s no good doing this too fast, opening up too much, too quickly, only to be open for just a few weeks and back in lockdown by Christmas time.

We don’t want that. We want to do everything we can to avoid that.

So it’s about a steady and safe easing out of these rules and then finding a normal that we can lock in for many, many months.

Not, of course, to in any way confuse people, there will be further cases, there will be further outbreaks, but if we can drive these numbers down to the lowest possible level and then set in, lock in, a set of rules, that are as open as possible, that’s exactly what we have to achieve and that’s exactly what we will do

Victoria to get two roadmaps - one for Melbourne, one for regional Victoria

It looks like regional Victoria will be seeing restrictions lifted at a much quicker timetable than Melbourne, which makes sense, given the differences in case numbers.

Daniel Andrews:

Given the low number of cases in regional Victoria and the fact that our strategy there has been very successful, only due to the work that each and every country Victorian is doing, we can today announce that on Sunday we’ll speak about two roadmaps towards opening up, one for metropolitan Melbourne and a second roadmap that may have different components for regional Victoria.

That will be based on case numbers. It will be based on the science, the evidence and the best of medical advice.

But we believe that given the low case numbers, it will be possible for us to have different settings in regional Victoria, and a different timeline and roadmap compared to what will be essential in metropolitan Melbourne, given the different places in terms of the number of positive cases, the chains of transmission. The challenge is different in metropolitan Melbourne than it is in regional Victoria.

We will always make sure the rules are as simple and logical as they can. That’s not easy but we’re confident we can strike that balance.

Updated

On the total number of cases, Daniel Andrews says:

There are 2,519 active cases across the state. That number, too, continues to fall.

The regional-metro split – there are now 139 active cases in regional Victoria, those postcodes covered – local government areas that are covered under stage 3 restrictions. It’s not so long ago that we had, I think, we topped out at 512 cases, so that has steadily fallen and we’ll come to what that means for the road map out in just a moment.

The three communities of most concern to us: Geelong, 50 active cases, two new case; Bendigo has no new case; and Ballarat has no new cases.

Hargreaves Mall in Bendigo, where a handful of stores remain open despite the lack of customers.
Hargreaves Mall in Bendigo, where a handful of stores remain open despite the lack of customers. Photograph: Speed Media/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Daniel Andrews press conference

Daniel Andrews:

I’m sad to have to update you that there are 570 Victorians who have lost their life because of this global pandemic.

That’s an increase of five since yesterday’s report. Two of those five deaths, I’m briefed, occurred prior to yesterday.

But we are in a position to have to sadly update you on five additional deaths.

They are two females in their 70s, two females in their 80s and one female in her 90s. We, of course, send our condolences and best wishes, our prayers and support, to those five families.

This will be an incredibly difficult time for them. All of those deaths are linked to outbreaks in aged care settings.

There are 421 Victorians in hospital, 20 of those are receiving intensive care and seven of those 20 are on a ventilator.

A total of 2,235,040 test results have been received since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of 10,153 since yesterday.

I’ll just again take this opportunity to thank each and every Victorian who has come forward to get a test.

But, again, I urge Victorians – there are few things, perhaps none more important than coming forward and getting tested, even if you have the mildest of symptoms, as soon as those symptoms begin and then, of course, staying at home to wait for your test result. Test results are now being processed faster than ever, with many test results being received the same day, certainly within a 24-hour period.

So any symptoms whatsoever, please come forward. It doesn’t matter where you live, doesn’t matter your circumstances, please come forward and visit one of those 190 test sites. If you have symptoms and want to get tested but can’t get to one of those sites, we will come to you.

Updated

This was something quite a few people in Labor were pushing for, so looks like that group has had a win:

Updated

The NSW premier is asked about what is happening with conversations north of the border, and well, apparently there is a bit of “you can’t sit with us” happening between Annastacia Palaszczuk and Gladys Berejiklian.

Berejiklian:

I think it’s important for all of us as leaders, no matter what political background we have, to work together for the benefit of local communities.

I mean absolutely. Absolutely. And certainly if I was closing, you know – I don’t think the public has appetite, and I certainly don’t have appetite for any public bickering, but I think it’s really important for us to be talking to each other, and certainly keeping each other informed.

I know that my office and Premier Andrews’s office are in constant contact to make sure each of us are aware of what’s going on because any decision he takes affects my communities and vice versa.

So I think it’s really important to keep those lines of communication open. But it also gives us confidence. If we’re sharing information, if we’re, you know, trying to help each other out.

Updated

Oh, apparently the local mayors were left out of the meet and greet.

Gladys Berejiklian says today was about thanking frontline workers.

There is a lot of “we hear you, we see you, we feel you” in this press conference.

Gladys Berejiklian:

Please know we appreciate deeply that the state border doesn’t really exist here.

You are one community and I acknowledge everybody who has reminded the government of that day in and day out and we’ve tried to respond, acknowledging that very important factor, which I think is unique to all of Australia.

If you look around Australia, I don’t think there’s a border where the communities feel as one as much as here.

I don’t think there are two states that have had as much to do with each other for the last century as New South Wales and Victoria.

And that’s why it has been a very difficult decision, a difficult process, and I want to really thank everybody for their patience and acknowledge your frustration and angst and also say that I think it’s completely justified, completely justified, because if I was in your shoes and something changed overnight which was going to impact my life, I would feel let down and disheartened and concerned, so I completely empathise with what many people in our communities have felt.

Updated

And then Queensland gets a hit.

Gladys Berejiklian says she has not had a conversation with Annastacia Palaszczuk on the Queensland border closure:

I don’t begrudge the Victorian government because obviously they’ve been in crisis management mode and perhaps we’re not top of the list in terms of what they need to address but we’re starting to see a better flow of information.

Case numbers are coming down in Victoria.

We’re seeing a better flow of information on what’s happening in the border communities and as a result, we can move forward with Friday’s announcement and, again, my heart goes out to anybody, including our frontline workers.

Many community members have been at the forefront and brunt of community frustration.

When you’ve been a community leader for a long time and then have you to implement a policy you know will be received under difficult circumstances, it’s a difficult situation, and please know that I hope my visit today is a sign about how much I care about this community, how much I care about our border communities.

We are in all this together and that’s why before my government took the decision to close the border, I consulted with the Victorian premier, I consulted with the prime minister. We came to the mutual conclusion that this was the best thing to do all round and I have to say it’s a different approach to what I’ve experienced on our northern border when I’ve still not had a conversation on the northern border, but certainly, certainly down here I’ve felt that even though it’s been difficult for many members of the community, that we have tried to make the process as easy as possible and I hope the decision from Friday will make a positive difference for people.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian then throws Victoria into the mix:

I also want to add – and I don’t make this as a criticism, but I just want people to appreciate where we’re coming from is it has been difficult for us to get information on the other side of the border about rates of testing, community transmission and that has, in part, led to our angst about how we can move forward.

It’s really important for us to understand what’s happening on the other side of the border and I know my counterpart, Premier Andrews, is going through a difficult time, but pleasingly the numbers are coming down and that gives us greater confidence in relation to what’s happening alongside the border communities south of the border.

Unlike our side of the border, we know that if we have any suspected cases or contact tracing or testing, we’re able to jump on to it straightaway.

We don’t have that level of confidence on the other side, only because we’re not in charge of the system on the other side and therefore we have to make sure we’re not introducing unnecessary risk into our regional communities here in New South Wales.

We’ve also made sure that we’ve supported the Victorian government in any way we can because the risk ... to our border communities is greatly reduced when the number of cases in Victoria come down and we want that to be sustainable and we hope once restrictions in Victoria are eased, they’re able to main Thane that low level of cases because that will ensure we don’t need to leave the border open a single day more than we have to.

That is our aim. I was very hesitant in closing the border but we won’t be hesitant ... We won’t leave it a day longer than we need to, but we have to make sure it’s the right thing to do at the right time and it’s in order to make sure we’re keeping the community safe. I’d rather be having this conversation with you today rather than having a conversation about why there are hundreds of cases in regional New South Wales because of what’s happening in Victoria.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian makes a point of taking the blame for the NSW side of the border angst – at least when it comes to the timing of it all.

Pandemics are far from perfection when it comes to having to make decisions quickly and can I tell you, hand on heart, that one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made personally and the government’s made during this pandemic has been closing the New South Wales-Victorian border?

It was a decision of last resort and, in fact, I remember getting heavily criticised for not moving earlier and one of the main reasons we didn’t move earlier was because we knew the disruption and angst it would cause people in the border communities.

For all of you – you don’t see yourselves as a state border, as two communities, but one. And I deeply appreciate what that government decision has resulted in in terms of disruption and angst felt by many and I want to say how deeply I regret everybody’s challenges during this time, but please know you’re not alone.

We’ve had many people on both sides of the border, within the border communities, and outside the border communities, who have been deeply impacted by the pandemic and as the Victorian numbers continue to decline, that gives us greater confidence to ease restrictions and to listen to the concerns raised by border communities. Can I, on this occasion, thank a number of community leaders for their support.

Firstly, to my parliamentary colleague Justin Clancy, who has been outstanding. Please know that he has very much been on the side of his community and raised with me – almost initially on a daily basis but certainly at least every couple of days through direct phone calls, meetings and other forms of communication the concerns expressed by his community, especially when the initial 50km zone was reduced and the impacts it had.

I regret deeply the fact that the community wasn’t prepared for what we had to do at that time and I want to assure everybody that Justin Clancy, until this point in time, has been outstanding and any frustration people feel should be against me and nobody else. I’m the leader and the buck stops with me and I want people to appreciate that every decision we take is in the interests of our citizens.

The alternative to what we did could have resulted in high rates of infection in rural and regional New South Wales, not just on the border communities, but throughout the state. We have had a few close calls in respect to the virus seeping into or seeding into regional communities and border communities, but our health officials have done an outstanding job in contact tracing.

I also wanted to acknowledge Justin’s colleague on the other side of the border, Mr Tilly, for his advocacy and I know his community is equally anxious about the changes that have occurred.

Updated

NSW records 13 new Covid cases

NSW has recorded 13 new diagnoses of Covid in the last 24 hours – two are in hotel quarantine.

Updated

Incoming Greens senator, Lidia Thorpe, the replacement for Victorian senator and former leader Richard Di Natale, joined the party room (remotely) today. Victorian parliament will confirm Thorpe as the replacement this Friday, meaning she’ll be sworn in in budget week in October.

The Greens are currently trying to lobby the crossbench to refer two government bills to inquiries: the EPBC Act changes and the Jobs Ready Graduate package.

Both of those will require Labor, the Greens, Stirling Griff, Rex Patrick and Jacqui Lambie to stick together or risk watching them sail through with Coalition, PHON plus one more vote enough to pass them.

Their other projects are:

  • A private members bill for 14 days paid pandemic leave – possibly to be debated on Wednesday or Thursday; and
  • Amendments to the jobkeeper 2.0 legislation
The new Greens senator for Victoria, Lidia Thorpe.
The new Greens senator for Victoria, Lidia Thorpe. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP

Updated

Daniel Andrews will be getting his state of emergency declaration extension on the numbers here.

Updated

Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference at 11.30am today.

It’s with the jobs minister, Martin Pakula.

The roadmap is being sketched out.

Here is that exchange between Simon Birmingham and Fran Kelly on ABC radio this morning, about Cheng Lei:

Kelly: The government was – our government was notified on 14 August I understand, that Cheng Lei had been arrested. Has the government been told why she’s been detained?

Birmingham: Fran, I don’t have any details that I can provide on that matter. We did have consular access with Ms Cheng on 27 August through virtual and video means. We’ve been obviously in contact with her family who, as you would have seen, have issued a statement acknowledging that they are doing everything they can to support Cheng Lei and her welfare, that they acknowledge the process that is underway, and they’ve asked for both privacy and restraint in relation to commentary on these matters. And we will continue to do what we can to support Ms Cheng and her family through what must be difficult and trying times.

Kelly: Absolutely. Australian officials have had consular access to her as you mentioned by video link. How is she? And do we know where she’s been detained?

Birmingham: Fran, I understand that we have some of those details. As I said, we though, will be restrained in what we say publicly out of acknowledgement for the process, the family, and we simply hope that these matters can be dealt with according to proper process and as expeditiously as possible.

Kelly: What is proper process? Because the ABC reports that Cheng Lei has not been charged, she’s being held under what’s known as residential surveillance which means you can be detained and questioned for up to six months with no access to lawyers. Is that acceptable to the Australian government? That such an arbitrary attention can occur to – detention can occurred on Australian citizens?

Birmingham: China’s systems are obviously very, very different to our systems, and we have to acknowledge that. And those risks that Australians face when they travel overseas – a risk that we often point out in relation to many, many different countries that are different compared with if they were operating in Australia. We don’t see the same legal system, but ultimately there is a process there, we will provide whatever assistance we can. The family, I know, are working to try to provide legal advice and assistance as well, and we will give them whatever support we can as well.

Kelly: Do you think Cheng Lei is a pawn in a worsening relationship between China and Australia?

Birmingham: Nothing would be particularly helpful for me to try to draw that link, Fran. Cheng Lei is an Australian, a journalist who has been working in China for some period of time. I’ve actually met her and been interviewed by her while overseas myself. I feel for her family very much at this point in time, and it’s why we will do what we can to assist her, as we would and have any Australian in these sorts of circumstances. There is a long history of different consular cases and points of difficulty that we’ve seen over the years, and so we shouldn’t see this as a first or a one off. But obviously it’s concerning for her family, and we will provide the assistance that we can.

The Australian government was notified in mid-August that Australian citizen and CGTN news anchor Cheng Lei was being detained in China.
The Australian government was notified in mid-August that Australian citizen and CGTN news anchor Cheng Lei was being detained in China. Photograph: CGTN

Updated

All eyes on Jacqui Lambie

Morning all. As Amy flagged earlier, Labor is planning to vote against government legislation allowing the minister to prohibit items, like mobile phones, in immigration detention.

That vote is likely in the House this afternoon. The proposal will then go to the Senate. As things stand right now, the government doesn’t have the numbers to get this through, so the legislation has dropped down today’s batting order in the Senate.

Stirling Griff from Centre Alliance is opposed. “100%” he tells me.

Rex Patrick is also opposed. He tells me: “Immigration detention serves an administrative purpose, not a punitive purpose. In these circumstances the restrictions on detainee rights must be reasonable and proportionate.

“The government already has powers to deal with items of a criminal nature, or of concern, and with detainees breaking the law”.

So the Senate numbers make Jacqui Lambie the critical vote. Lambie’s office tells me she’s sceptical about the legislation, but is keeping an open mind.

Presumably the government has slowed down consideration this afternoon in an effort to get Lambie over the line.

Her office is being lobbied heavily by refugee advocates. As they say in the classics: watch this space.

Senator Jacqui Lambie.
Senator Jacqui Lambie. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

I imagine this is the consequence of when Liberal upper house MPs, Bernie Finn and Craig Ondarchie, asked to be excused from a Good Friday vote for “religious reasons” – and given a pair – meaning two government MPs were dismissed from the vote to even it out – and then showed up to vote, thereby defeating the government.

Updated

74% of Australians want a national integrity commission, poll shows

Almost 75% of Australians support the establishment of a national integrity commission this year, new polling shows. The Australia Institute has just released polling conducted in June on the establishment of a federal integrity commission.

The results, broadly in line with previous polling, show strong support for such a body. Support was recorded among 74% of Australians. Only 7% opposed. The support was seen across all parties, and was 77% for both Coalition and Labor voters. Surprisingly, support was lower among Greens voters at 69% of voters.

The federal government has so far not moved to introduce draft legislation for its model of a federal integrity commission.

The attorney general Christian Porter said nine months ago that the draft legislation for its Commonwealth Integrity Commission would be released shortly.

It has been 20 months since the government’s consultation paper was first released.

Most recently, Porter said the Covid-19 response had delayed further action on the commission. Independent MP Helen Haines is planning to today flag an intention to introduce a bill to the lower house to establish a stronger anti-corruption body, called the Australian Federal Integrity Commission (AFIC).

Haines’ commission will be supplemented by other integrity measures.

Former Victorian judge David Harper, QC, said the Haines’ initiative improves the numerous failings of the federal government’s body, bringing with it a broad jurisdiction, stronger investigative powers, and an ability to hold fair public hearings.

“The Australian Federal Integrity Commission bill package named by Dr Haines in the House today signals to parliament the importance of bringing those principles to reality,” Harper said.

The Australia Institute’s polling used a representative sample of 1,012 people. The margin of error is 3.1%.

Updated

Facebook threatens to block Australians from sharing news in battle over landmark media law

Facebook is starting to get real pushy about the proposed legislation which would make internet giants like Facebook and Google pay for the news it publishes:

This statement is not playing around:

The ACCC presumes that Facebook benefits most in its relationship with publishers, when in fact the reverse is true. News represents a fraction of what people see in their News Feed and is not a significant source of revenue for us. Still, we recognize that news provides a vitally important role in society and democracy, which is why we offer free tools and training to help media companies reach an audience many times larger than they have previously.

News organisations in Australia and elsewhere choose to post news on Facebook for this precise reason, and they encourage readers to share news across social platforms to increase readership of their stories. This in turn allows them to sell more subscriptions and advertising. Over the first five months of 2020 we sent 2.3 billion clicks from Facebook’s News Feed back to Australian news websites at no charge – additional traffic worth an estimated $200 million AUD to Australian publishers.

We already invest millions of dollars in Australian news businesses and, during discussions over this legislation, we offered to invest millions more. We had also hoped to bring Facebook News to Australia, a feature on our platform exclusively for news, where we pay publishers for their content. Since it launched last year in the US, publishers we partner with have seen the benefit of additional traffic and new audiences.

But these proposals were overlooked. Instead, we are left with a choice of either removing news entirely or accepting a system that lets publishers charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits. Unfortunately, no business can operate that way.

Facebook products and services in Australia that allow family and friends to connect will not be impacted by this decision. Our global commitment to quality news around the world will not change either. And we will continue to work with governments and regulators who rightly hold our feet to the fire. But successful regulation, like the best journalism, will be grounded in and built on facts. In this instance, it is not.

Updated

Ged Kearney spoke out against the mobile phone ban legislation in the parliament yesterday:

My community of Cooper regularly tell me how sickened and saddened they are to be governed by a party who continues with the cruel policy of indefinite detention. I don’t doubt the desire to silence these brave refugees also lies at the heart of this bill. I don’t doubt that there is a desire to silence these brave refugees.

No one is capable of enduring the torture of indefinite detention.

Again, the ASRC: Continued detention of these refugees, many with histories of trauma, is used as collective punishment for them having attempted to exercise their right to seek Australia’s protection more than seven years ago.

After up to seven years on Manus or Nauru, the men at the Mantra have been confined to cramped hotel rooms for more than 12 months. They’re unable to go outside except for sparse rostered visits to closed detention facilities to exercise.

The Covid outbreak has been extremely stressful, and many are rapidly deteriorating in terms of mental and physical health. I wrote to the minister back in April requesting that he consider community detention as a way to minimise the risk of a Covid outbreak.

The UNHCR, lawyers and public health officials made similar requests. The government’s response to the risk of a Covid outbreak is to threaten the men with a move to over 3,000km away, to Yongah Hill, where they will lose access to their caseworkers, legal representation and community supports.

All the while, they are facing the prospect of losing access to their phones – their one connection to the outside world.

I genuinely fear what the passing of this legislation will do to the refugees. So I end with a plea to those who sit opposite. The people affected by this bill have been through enough. Many have escaped war, famine and other horrors and have spent much of the last seven years detained by this government.

This government has the power to drop this bill. It has the power to release refugees, where appropriate, into community detention.

It can make sure that refugees and people seeking asylum have access to medical treatment, and, most importantly, it has the power to resettle these people in safe, permanent homes. They must do this. They must act justly and with humanity.

Updated

Looks like Labor is getting bolshie all over the place

The jobkeeper legislation is in the Senate today.

Updated

This is code for diplomatic back channels are working furiously.

Updated

You have probably been hearing a lot about the “traffic light” system Daniel Andrews mentioned might be in the mix for Victoria’s “roadmap” out of Covid restrictions.

So what does it mean?

It started in Europe, where countries like Hungary opened up with a red, amber, yellow and green light system for businesses and spaces.

It alters slightly, but generally:

  • Red means no go – closed
  • Orange/amber means heavy restrictions – caution
  • Yellow means restricted/strong social distance measures in place
  • Green – Covid-safe open, normal social distancing measures apply

The idea is visuals will help everyone understand what is what, no matter where they go.

Updated

The party room meetings are under way at Parliament House.

We’ll let you know if anything interesting comes out of them.

The sitting will begin at 12.

Updated

There we go.

Updated

Keep an eye on this one.

Updated

The second case in Queensland is a 37-year-old nurse from Ipswich hospital who was working with Covid patients.

He had no symptoms other than abdominal pain – which is a rare symptom for Covid – but it turned out that yes, he had it.

So he is also in isolation. The Queensland health minister (and yes, he is also the deputy premier), Steven Miles, said the health worker had been taking precautions:

This underlines how we can all do the right thing by monitoring our health and if we have any symptoms at all that are of any cause for concern, we can go and get tested – so we thank him very much for that.

Updated

Back to Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk says a Victorian man who tested positive for Covid has been apprehended by police after travelling to Queensland by plane.

The 48-year-old man arrived on JQ560 at 9.19pm – people who were on the flight are being contacted.

He has been placed in quarantine after he was identified as coming from a hotspot. Victorian authorities then contacted Queensland and said he had previously tested positive, so now they are working out whether a crime has been committed.

Updated

The Senate voted last night on a series of amendments to the jobkeeper 2.0 legislation but the government won narrowly on all counts.

Labor’s plans to prevent legacy employers retaining industrial relations flexibility was defeated, as was the attempt to put in an extra safeguard so employers couldn’t cut workers’ hours so far that their wages would be lower than jobkeeper.

The Greens almost had the numbers for a bid to give the Fair Work Commission powers to oversee disputes about jobkeeper eligibility – but it was blocked 24-all.
Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts were absent but paired with the government for the votes.

Jacqui Lambie and Rex Patrick voted with Labor and the Greens. Stirling Griff voted mostly with the Coalition, but against them on the question of FWC oversight.

There are a few more amendments to vote on, including the Greens’ attempt to prevent a lower payment rate for part-time workers. But given that Labor has said it will vote through the bill without amendment, it looks like a foregone conclusion.

Hanson was on Sky News last night making some cryptic remarks a little bit critical of people on welfare:

Jobkeeper and jobseeker is a way of life – [people think] ‘I don’t need to work, I’m making more money than I made beforehand’ ... If you’re offered a job – I suggest you’d better take it.

Hanson also warned about early access to superannuation:

When people have asked for a loan, banks have asked if you’ve accessed your super. We’ve had 1.4 million who have accessed their super, you’d better think twice because you won’t get a loan from the banks [if you do]. There is so much hardship as we come out of this because we’ve propped up everyone – we can’t keep doing it.

Updated

Queensland reports two new cases of Covid-19

Queensland has recorded two new cases of Covid in the last 24 hours.

One is a student at Staines Memorial college at Redbank Plains – a close contact of a student who had tested positive. The school is closed for two weeks for deep cleaning.

Updated

Simon Birmingham:

Cheng Lei is an Australian, a journalist, who has been working in China for some period of time. I’ve actually met her and been interviewed by her while overseas myself.

I feel for her family very much at this point in time and it’s why we will do what we can to assist her, as we would, and have, any Australian in these sorts of circumstances. There is a long history of different consular cases and points of difficulty that we’ve seen over the years. We shouldn’t see this as a first or a one-off, but obviously it’s concerning for her family and we will provide the assistance that we can.

Updated

Victoria records 70 new cases, five deaths

I think this is the lowest case number since July.

Helen Haines is hosting a press conference with the crossbench at 9am as the group continues to push for a national integrity commission.

She wants to introduce a package of bills – one for a federal integrity commission and one setting out commonwealth parliamentary standards.

The government had promised a federal integrity commission, of a sort. It wants to keep it and any proceedings connected to anyone under investigation completely under wraps until the end of any court case – as long as it ends in conviction – but there has not been any movement on the legislation in months.

Updated

This is noteworthy as it is one of the few times Labor has voted no on legislation this parliamentary term.

Updated

Yes, I know I wrote “porn” instead of “pawn” a little earlier (I have an old brain injury which means that when I am tired I sometimes substitute words which sound the same or rhyme, which makes my speech interesting as well) but it has been fixed – you might need to refresh your browser if you are still seeing it.

Updated

The government is pushing through legislation today, which would make mobile phones a “prohibited” item inside Australia’s immigration detention centres.

Those phones are a lifeline for refugee and asylum seekers detained within our immigration detention centres. And without them we wouldn’t know what was happening inside. The government says it wants to ban phones as it claims they are being used to try to organise escape attempts and facilitate organised criminal activity.

Advocates say they are the only contact many inmates, who are on the edge, have to the outside world.

The bill would also make it easier for guards to conduct searches, including strip-searches.

The parliament passed a similar bill in late September 2017 but it lapsed when the parliament was dissolved in 2019. In 2018 the federal court ordered the ADF ban on phones was unlawful, so here we are again.

The bill will pass the House, where the government has the numbers, but the Senate is going to be more tricky. Labor will be voting against the legislation – which is the first time in ages Labor has voted against legislation in the parliament, what with the pandemic and all.

So that makes the Senate numbers interesting. The Greens are against it. Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff (formerly Centre Alliance, now independent) are unknowns, and Jacqui Lambie will play a key role as well.

Stay tuned.

Updated

The Victorian aged care response centre has put out its latest data:

  • For the first time since the Response Centre began operating there is only 1 facility categorised as high risk. This is a significant milestone in the stabilisation of aged care facilities in Victoria.
  • There were 13 facilities in the Response Centre’s ‘high risk’ category in early August when the Centre first began operating.
  • Over the past week the number of facilities with outbreaks has dropped by 21.
  • The total number of aged care outbreaks since 1 Jan 2020 is 163. Last week there were 126 facilities with outbreaks. There are 105 which are currently active.
  • There are currently 1,209 active cases in aged care in Victoria.
  • There have been a cumulative total of 3,997 cases in aged care in Victoria.
    • 1,787 residents
    • 1,719 staff
    • 491 close contacts which are neither staff nor residents of the facility
  • Total number of deaths associated with aged care outbreaks in Victoria is 420.
    • There were an additional 38 reported deaths on 31 August 2020, of which 27 happened prior to 29 August 2020.
  • Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have visited a total of 252 aged care facilities to date.
  • The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has conducted 6 ‘spot checks’ on facilities on 31 August 20, bringing the total number of checks conducted to 118.

Updated

Anthony Albanese was asked about the border closures while on Brisbane radio 4BC this morning:

I think that the premiers have to act on medical advice and Annastacia Palaszczuk is doing that. If you look at the outcome for Queenslanders, it is pretty good. There does need to be, of course, some common sense and some application of exemptions and those issues need to be dealt with. That should have been coordinated, frankly, by the so-called national cabinet. I do wonder why it is that the prime minister pretends he has no say in the decisions in national cabinet.

And the other issue, of course, is our international borders. So many Aussies who are cannot get home. And that is directly a federal government responsibility. And that needs to be dealt with.

Updated

Simon Birmingham also spoke about the Australian journalist Cheng Lei being detained in China. Cheng is a high-profile anchor for a state-run China TV network, who has been held by the government without charges or arrest.

Fran Kelly asked Birmingham whether Cheng had become a pawn in the diplomatic tussle between China and Australia.

He chose his words very, very carefully.

“Nothing would be particularly helpful to try and draw that [conclusion],” he said, while going on to say consular assistance was being provided.

Updated

Annastacia Palaszczuk will hold her press conference at 9am.

The good Queensland senator helpfully tagged a few journalists to see his brilliance here (your correspondent was not among them).

The superannuation guarantee came in at 1991. Labor lost government in 1996. So, actually, people did get a say on it.

This is exactly what a spy boss would say, isn’t it.

From Daniel Hurst:

The head of the Australian Signals Directorate is attempting to assure people the intelligence agency is not seeking the power to conduct mass community surveillance, while also declaring that “not all Australians are the good guys”.

With the government planning new laws which would allow the ASD to help federal police target alleged Australian criminals, Rachel Noble will use a speech on Tuesday to say her agency does have “very intrusive capabilities”, which means a degree of transparency is important to maintain the trust of the Australian people.

Noble, the ASD director general, will tell an audience at the Australian National University that the “threat to our way of life is more real today than at any time I have known in my career”.

She will say her agency’s focus remains on foreign intelligence and it is a matter for the domestic spy agency Asio “to concern itself with Australians who may pose a threat to our way of life”.

Simon Birmingham just had a chat to Fran Kelly on ABC radio.

The Queensland border closure came up and why the federal government wasn’t using the Security Act to manage movement of people around the country

Indeed, in relation to Victoria, we have been very supportive of the measures to ensure we quarantine Victoria from the rest of the nation to stop the spread there of Covid19.

What I would urge the state and territory leaders to do, is not be closed minded and not to shut down and instead to engage in an evidence based approach of looking at how hotspots can be used, as a means to facilitate greater movement of people across Australia, without jeopardising health outcomes, and this is something other countries have done (in developing these hotspot approaches)

I find it incredible disappointing that a premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk would be so closed minded, to even looking at the evidence, rule it out before she has seen it.

What that is doing is jeopardising jobs, livelihoods...and that will continue to be lost if we have this approach from the state and territory leaders, in some cases, simply maintain border closures, indefinitely, with a blanket approach rather than the evidence, and working constructively, as they should, and to develop a hotspot definition to give you greater confidence and saving jobs and livelihoods for their fellow Australians.

A new poll has found strong support for reform of Australia’s early childhood education sector, with two-thirds backing the idea of a universal system accessible to all that forms part of the public education system.

The finding was released this morning as part of a campaign calling on the federal government to invest in universally accessible, high-quality early education “delivered by a skilled and supported workforce”.

The Thrive by Five campaign – an initiative of the Minderoo Foundation, founded by Andrew and Nicola Forrest – has placed open letters to the federal government in major newspapers today. The letter says the pandemic has exposed the system’s frailties and flaws, as it has had to be bailed out twice. Among supporters of the open letter are Fiona Stanley, Julie Bishop, Jay Weatherill and the ACTU president, Michele O’Neil.

An Essential Research poll of 2,036 respondents commissioned by the campaign found 65% agreed with the statement that Australia needed to develop a universal, optional system of early childhood education that is accessible to everyone and make it part of our public education system, while 10% disagreed.

About seven in 10 respondents (71%) agreed that “many families don’t send their children to childcare, or limit how long they send them to childcare, because of the cost” while 8% disagreed.

The poll was conducted online from 20 to 30 August and has a margin of error of 2.2%.

Updated

Cool, cool, cool

Obviously there have been a lot of column inches spewed out on this issue from the usual suspects (*waves*) but, given that medical experts have found it is no more effective than other treatments and can actually cause more harm, I don’t actually get the obsession.

Picking something up just because Trump likes it is no way to live your life.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian is headed to Albury today, where she will announce a 50km buffer zone for border residents to help them go about their “daily life”.

It is not known what the “daily life” exemptions are just yet but we should find out soon.

It’s been about two months since the hard border closure. The new 50km border permit should be available from Friday.

Updated

Labor is calling on the government to provide more information about its plan to give the foreign affairs minister the power to cancel agreements with foreign governments deemed to go against the national interest.

There is disquiet within Labor ranks of the potential reach of that new measure, as Guardian Australia reported overnight. Deals reached by universities, state and territory governments and councils will be covered by the bill, which is expected to be introduced into parliament this week.

Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, wrote to the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, on Friday asking to see the draft bill. Late last night Wong called on Scott Morrison to provide the details:

We are all in the dark about what the legislation will do – all we have from Scott Morrison is headlines ... It’s a pattern we’ve seen from him before – make an announcement, get a headline without any substance to deliver. Meanwhile, all those who have existing agreements that might be cancelled are desperately trying to understand what’s going on.

Labor signalled last week that it was likely to support the new power, although it would look at the bill to ensure it was “workable”.

On Monday the Victorian Labor senator Kim Carr told Guardian Australia the party should be cautious about the government’s legislation on university agreements because he saw it as part of “a half-baked campaign against our scientists and researchers for partisan political reasons”.

Graham Perrett, Labor’s assistant education and training spokesman, said universities felt they were in the government’s crosshairs and he believed there was “a lot of cheap politics in this … with a little soupçon of xenophobia thrown in”.

Morrison has said the new powers are aimed at protecting “Australia’s national sovereign interest” rather than being directed against China or any other country.

Updated

Good morning

It’s day two of the second sitting week and you get the feeling that tensions are running a little high in the corridors of APH.

Yesterday, the sitting was suspended in the House because there wasn’t a quorum (not enough government MPs in the chamber) and that went on for *ages*. Obviously it is a socially distanced sitting, which means not everyone is here, but the numbers in the chamber have also been dropped, so it’s not as if you have to get everyone there.

Parliament won’t sit until 5 October after this, which is when the budget will be handed down, so there isn’t too many sitting days left in the year (you can remind me of that when I am chained to my desk for the intense October to December sitting period).

Meanwhile, tensions with and about China continue to simmer.

Last night the foreign minister, Marise Payne, confirmed that the Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who works for the state-run China Global Television Network, had been detained.

The reasons as to why Cheng has been held are not yet apparent.

Closer to home, Gladys Berejiklian will announce changes to the NSW-Victorian border closure which should make life easier for border communities in Albury-Wondonga.

Covid cases are under control and falling in regional Victoria, which has lowered the temperature somewhat. Communities within 50km of the border should have their movements freed up.

We are another day closer to learning Melbourne’s roadmap out of restrictions, which is also good news.

Also – happy first day of spring!

We’ll bring you all the news as it happens. You have Amy Remeikis with you today.

Ready?

Updated

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