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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Naaman Zhou (now) and Amy Remeikis(earlier)

Australia's deadliest day as Queensland closes border to NSW and ACT – as it happened

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Summary

And that is where we will leave the blog for today.

Here’s what happened:

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Amy Remeikis for helming it on this terrible day. Stay safe and we’ll be back tomorrow.

Updated

Scott Morrison has shown an “absence of leadership” in the Indo-Pacific region and needs to understand that “talking tough is not the same as being tough”, according to Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong.

In an interview with Sky News, Wong noted that China had become “more assertive and more nationalistic” and the United States under Donald Trump was “behaving differently to the way in which we have become accustomed to America behaving in the region”.

Australia needed to work with allied and aligned nations to support a stable and prosperous region in which sovereignty was respected, she said.

Wong was speaking after Morrison said in a speech that China and the US both had “a special responsibility” to uphold the common set of rules that build an international society. Addressing the Aspen Security Forum in the US by video link this morning, the prime minister argued the configuration of power in global politics had changed – and like-minded nations needed to act “more cohesively, more consistently, more often”.

Wong said Morrison’s remarks were consistent with what Labor had been saying “for some time”, but she added: “Leadership is more than a Zoom chat and leadership is more than giving speeches. If he’s serious about showing leadership in the region, then he has to actually deliver, deliver more than words.”

She cited Australia’s “short-sighted” cuts to health assistance to Indonesia and “an absence of leadership on climate change”. Wong also called on the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, to “step up more” and be more active and vocal in speaking publicly about Australia’s foreign policy, including the relationship with China.

Wong said she feared that “what we will see in the coming weeks and months and potentially years is a much more fragile south-east Asia” – an outcome that would be bad for Australia and bad for the region. She said Australia should act in partnership with other countries to avert that outcome. The leadership should include responses to the pandemic, economic recovery and climate change.

Updated

The vice-chancellor of UNSW has apologised after the university removed an article from its Twitter that quoted the Australian director of Human Rights Watch criticising China.

The ABC’s Leigh Sales has tested negative for Covid-19. The 7.30 host was tested yesterday after waking up with cold symptoms, and broadcast the show from within home isolation.

Scott Morrison has praised the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, for showing leadership during the pandemic.

We reported earlier today on this blog that the pair had agreed to a new Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership between the two countries, along with deeper cooperation on security issues. But Covid-19 was clearly the most pressing issue in the talks, given that there has been a recent rise in infections in PNG and Victoria.

According to a readout issued a short time ago by Morrison’s office, the two leaders reflected on “the devastating impacts of Covid-19 on their respective people and economies”. Morrison went on to commend Marape on “his leadership during the pandemic, especially his success suppressing community transmission and keeping it out of PNG’s remote villages”.

Marape - who visited Australia last year - was reported to have said he was sorry that last summer’s bushfires and now Covid-19 had prevented Morrison from being able to visit PNG this year. Marape was also reported to have thanked Australia for ongoing support and investment - including in the Coral Sea cable link - “especially at a time when Covid was affecting Australia’s own economy”.

Interestingly, Morrison said he was “very conscious of his responsibility in forums such as the G20 to speak up on behalf of our Pacific family and their needs”. The statement doesn’t mention climate change, but Pacific countries have repeatedly urged Australia to do more.

Last year Marape told the Guardian the region’s big countries had a responsibility to help the smaller island countries over the impact of climate change.

Some permitted worker letters starting to arrive in Melbourne:

Here is our full story on the job cuts at the University of Melbourne:

And here is a timely explainer of those childcare changes announced today and what they actually mean:

O’Neil says that the government’s childcare announcement today is “lopsided”.

She says it’s good that parents have some added surety, but it is a “terrible situation” for workers.

“Unfortunately, the announcement made today was very lopsided. It is support for employers in the industry without any guaranteed support for those early childhood educators who do the hard work of looking after our children.

“There is no requirement to give workers a minimum number of hours or in fact a minimum pay during that 6-week period. They have been cut off jobkeeper, they have been on jobkeeper, where they would have at least $1,500 a fortnight.

“The money goes to the employers, and the employers cannot sack workers under those conditions, but they are not obligated to give them more than one shift in the whole six-week period. Workers will be in a terrible situation. This isn’t a good enough response. They have done a job throughout the crisis and we should make sure they are reinstated to jobkeeper.”

Updated

O’Neil adds: “They are highly skilled, often long-term, committed, experienced workers. It won’t be good for the sector that we lose them.”

She also says that the ACTU is concerned about the economy, and the unemployment rate under Victoria’s extended lockdown.

“We are already on track to see unemployment at the formal figure, officially, at 10% by the end of the year. That was before the announcement of the hard lockdown here in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire. So we know those figures are going to be greater.”

The president of the ACTU, Michele O’Neil, is speaking now about Virgin’s job cuts announced today.

She says her first reaction is it is “a devastating decision”.

“It is never a good time to lose a job, but the thought of what it must be like tonight for those workers, wondering if it is going to be them and thinking about ... trying to find a job in the current circumstances.”

She adds that it is good news that Virgin will continue as an airline.

“We were very concerned when the company went into administration about the complete collapse of the airline. The fact that there is a plan, a buyer who is going to inject capital is good, but nothing takes away from the terrible circumstances for those 3,000 workers.”

She adds that “some if not all of these job losses could have been avoided” if the federal government had “adopted a different approach to how they dealt with the industry here in Australia”.

Updated

And Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos has some words for radio station 3AW.

And here’s Sutton himself having some fun with it:

The department of health has also just confirmed Sutton is going nowhere. He’s on a few days’ leave.

Updated

Sutton resignation reports are 'false'

Senior sources spoken to by Guardian Australia within the department of health and the premier’s office have told us that reports Victoria’s chief health officer has resigned are “false”.

Guardian Australia understands he is on leave, which has been misinterpreted by some as him having stood down. Guardian Australia also called the Victorian opposition, who say it’s not true.

Updated

Labor and The Greens have split from the Coalition over a plan to make it easier to ban mobile phones and perform strip searches in immigration detention.

The Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs legislation committee has just published its report on proposed changes to the Migration Act, which we covered here. Labor and the Greens filing dissenting reports, while the three Liberal senators endorsed the bill.

In response to concerns the bill could leave detainees without mobile phones, the Liberal senators recommended the government make arrangements that “ensure detainees have access to communication facilities that will reasonably meet their needs, and enable timely, and where appropriate, private contact with friends, family, and legal services”.

In their dissenting report, the Labor senators Kim Carr and Anthony Chisholm said the government should either withdraw the bill or “significantly amend” it to address concerns.

Those concerns included that it was too broad with “sweeping measures” that were not tailored to high-risk detainees.

“The government has failed to make a case for why this situation cannot be handled on a case by case basis or through existing legislation,” the dissenting report said.

They also said that the positive benefits of mobile phones to detainees and their welfare had been overlooked by the government, in favour of “generalised accusations of misuse”.

The Labor senators also suggested that the government should provide extra protections for staff in detention centres, and respond to reports and allegations of dangerous behaviour by some staff.

The Greens senator Nick McKim also dissented, describing the bill as “irredeemable”.

You can read the report here.

Updated

The Herald Sun’s Kieran Rooney says he has spoken to Sutton, who says he is “sticking around”.

Other reports say that Sutton is on leave until Friday – and that Daniel Andrews’s office has denied that he has resigned.

Vic CHO Brett Sutton steps down – reports

The Sky News host Kieran Gilbert is reporting that Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, has stood down. We have not confirmed this ourselves yet.

A few minutes ago, the deputy federal chief medical officer, Prof Michael Kidd, was asked about reports that Sutton would step down and he said he was not aware of it.

Updated

12 cases in Jewish Care aged care home in Melbourne

Jewish Care has confirmed it has a dozen cases of coronavirus at one of its homes in Melbourne suburb Windsor. From Jewish Care’s statement:

Regrettably, we have eleven elders and a staff member test positive to COVID-19 at our residential home in Windsor. Initially one elder and one staff member were diagnosed on Monday 3 August and the home went into a complete lockdown. Following immediate and initial testing of all elders, we now have a total of eleven elders that have returned a positive test.

Our eleven elders who have tested positive are currently stable and being cared for by our staff with clinical oversight from our Care Coordinator, the elder’s respective GPs and Alfred Health in-reach services. Although we know how serious this virus is for vulnerable people, we hope and pray that our Elders make a full recovery. Families are being kept up to date with regards to their condition”, Chief Executive Officer Bill Appleby said.

The facility is in “complete lockdown”, with all residents in gowns, masks and gloves, Jewish Care said. It was seeking urgent state and federal government assistance to deal with the situation.

Updated

The decision of the NSW government to force residents returning from Victoria to quarantine in hotels for 14 days was not a decision of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, Kidd says.

Gladys Berejiklian announced the rule today, and Kidd says that was not based on an AHPPC recommendation:

This was not a decision of the AHPPC, this is a decision of the New South Wales government ... Obviously it is up to each government to make determinations about what measures they think are most appropriate.

Updated

Kidd says he is not aware of reports that Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, is intending to step down.

He is then asked whether Australia is working to organise a deal to get supply of any eventual vaccine – or in fact if there ever will be one. Kidd says:

Australia has been reaching out to many of the vaccine developers both within Australia and also overseas to offer our support and also to ensure that once vaccines are available they will be available to our population.

He adds that for Australia to reopen its borders, that vaccine will need to be available all over the world:

We are aware that we may all be living with Covid-19 for many more months. This may even be years, until an effective and safe vaccine has been developed.

Updated

Kidd is asked about the Queensland government’s decision to close its borders to NSW and the ACT. He is asked if that means there is a second wave in these areas.

There are no active cases in the ACT. Kidd says:

The justification for including the ACT is obviously an issue for the Queensland government. The challenge, I imagine, is because of the open border between New South Wales and ACT. There is nothing at the moment to stop people from moving between those two jurisdictions.

But, he says the case numbers in NSW are “in the teens rather than continuing to rise and that is very encouraging”.

Updated

Michael Kidd adds that the death of a man in his 30s in Victoria is “a stark reminder” that Covid-19 can be “fatal to anyone at any age”.

An additional seven people are in intensive care compared with yesterday, and three additional people are on ventilators.

Kidd says there have been an additional 83 people who have been hospitalised with Covid-19, which includes many people who were moved to hospital from aged care.

Updated

Case numbers could go up in coming days, deputy CMO says

Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Michael Kidd is speaking now. He confirms that today was the second-worst day nationally for new Covid-19 cases, and recorded the highest number of deaths in a single day.

The total is “not a surprise”, he says, and could rise before it comes down:

The number of reported cases today is not a surprise and reinforces the importance of the stage-four restrictions in Melbourne and the expansion of the stage-three restrictions in the rest of Victoria.

I hope it won’t be the case, but it may be, that the numbers will go even higher over the coming days before they start to come down as a result of the impact of the restrictions and the changes in behaviour among the population.

Updated

The Australian Jewish News is reporting that 11 residents and one staff member at an aged care home in the Melbourne suburb of Windsor operated by Jewish Care have tested positive for coronavirus.

This follows an earlier positive test of a kitchen worker at another of Jewish Care’s homes, Gary Smorgon House in Caulfield. All 111 residents of that facility have been given the all-clear, Jewish Care says.

It locked down the Windsor home, which has about 100 residents, after a resident tested positive on Monday.

The organisation’s chief executive, Bill Appleby, said residents were being cared for by centre staff, their GPs and Austin Health staff, the AJN reported.

Jewish Care has been approached for comment.

Updated

Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here, taking over the blog. Thanks to Amy for running it all of today.

This just in from Luke Henriques-Gomes – much of the backlog of thousands of applications in Victoria for its $1,500 hardship payment has been cleared.

This came after the Department of Health and Human Services relinquished the administration of the grants. The Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions was quietly put on to the job last week.

Updated

There is a national Covid update coming up at 3.30pm, which Naaman Zhou will take you through.

Thank you for joining me and my migraine today, especially considering that it was filled with awful news. Take a moment to be extra kind to yourself, and those around you, if you can.

Take care of you. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Ax

Updated

Melbourne University to lay off 450 staff

The vice-chancellor of Melbourne University, Duncan Maskell, has just emailed all staff announcing that it expects to cut 450 jobs:

Extensive work conducted by our finance team shows that the most likely case is that we are facing a loss of revenue of nearly $1 billion over the next three years. Quite simply this clearly means that our current rate of expenditure is not sustainable. As a direct result of this dire financial outlook we have identified the need to reduce the size of our existing workforce in response to our changed circumstances. Based on the current financial estimates, we anticipate that we will lose approximately 450 continuing positions across the university in both the academic and professional workforce. I regret that this will mean that valued colleagues will be leaving the university, many before the end of this year.

Maskell gave a more specific breakdown of the losses, and explained that the university had already made savings:

Financially, the University predicts revenue losses of around $310 million in 2020, $385 million in 2021, and at the very least $230 million in 2022. This reduced revenue is expected to continue in subsequent years. We have managed through the initial phase of the pandemic by deferring capital expenditure, using available financial reserves, increasing our borrowing, tightly managing staff appointments, making savings in every faculty and division, and by Executives taking pay cuts and forgoing pay increases.

Nonetheless, the University will run at a significant financial loss in both 2020 and 2021. We will draw down around $350 million from our reserves to help manage the cash impact of this. We will significantly reduce capital expenditure, with $330 million already deferred in 2020, and we will borrow up to $600 million to assist with managing cashflow.

Given the predicted long-term nature of the reduction in revenue, and our volatile operating environment, these measures alone are insufficient to ensure a sustainable financial future for the institution. Accordingly, we must reduce our annual operating costs and ultimately resize our operations, to return the institution to a financially sustainable position on an ongoing basis. For 2021, we are predicting a revenue loss of $385 million. We can offset some of this with available reserves, but will need to find ongoing savings of $260 million against 2021 forward estimates, some of which will be in staffing costs.

Maskell committed to “minimise involuntary redundancies” and consult with the National Tertiary Education Union.

Updated

Labor’s Amanda Rishworth has responded to the government’s Victorian childcare package. She says jobkeeper for workers should have been included:

It is disappointing that the Morrison Government did not already have a plan in place for early education in the event of greater lockdown measures, considering we have been in this pandemic for five months now.

The Minister declared “job done” in June when he announced a snap-back to the old childcare system and ripped JobKeeper for the sector. Labor warned this was premature and ill-conceived, and the situation in Victoria has unfortunately proven those warnings correct.

The rushed measures announced for providers today are incredibly complex, and we are concerned services will be left deeply confused about how this package will ensure their viability.

Providers have been working overtime during this pandemic to provide education and care for children. Now on top of that, they must try and understand these new complex arrangements before childcare lockdown measures come into place tomorrow.

Many providers will be scratching their heads for days, if not weeks, to understand how much support they will be entitled to.

Labor is also concerned that the Minister revealed families can still be charged gap fees if they are directed to no longer attend early education during the lockdown period.

This is not good enough. It is incumbent on the Morrison Government to ensure families are not financially burdened for a service they are not able to receive.

There also remains confusion and concern about security of employment for early educators. The Government says there is an “employment guarantee”, but is very light on detail.

The Minister has many questions to answer – including whether it guarantees casuals will keep their jobs, and whether it guarantees pre-pandemic hours and income levels for educators.

Updated

WA has reported one new case of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours – a returned traveller who is in hotel quarantine.

Updated

The PMO has issued the transcript from the Ray Hadley interview.

It includes this take on Queensland’s border closure to NSW and the ACT.

Scott Morrison:

This was the same early on in the pandemic.

I mean, the reason we had so many cases in the first wave was because people came home.

It is that simple. And the quarantine arrangements were our first line of defence for returning Australians and we obviously shut the borders off to others who were coming to Australia, and that was critical in surviving and doing so well out of the first wave.

Now, we know what’s happened in Victoria. That’s a matter of public record about the quarantine issues there and what that’s meant as it sort of moves through Victoria. So I suppose the point I’d make about borders is that they’re not a substitute for having a strong public health response. And, you know, you can’t just put the border up and think, oh, well, we’ll be fine back here. We don’t have to social distance.

We don’t have to be careful about how we engage in workplaces. And, you know, we can all shake hands and hug up here. No, you can’t.

You’ve still got to do all those things. Your tracing capability, which I’ve got to say in Queensland, proved to be very, very effective. That’s what really, I think, protected them and particularly some aged care facilities in Queensland, and that was very well done.

I’m happy to commend the Queensland government on that. So I think you’ve got to realise there’s all these protections and one is not a substitute for the other.

Updated

I had a lot of lamb shank when I was growing up, because we were a below-average one-income family and meat is meat.

Besides, slowcooked, anything can be delicious.

Updated

The federal spin teams have been very, very quick to point out that “negative watch” doesn’t actually change anything, when the Australian economy has been hovering around here.

Updated

South Australians flock to coronavirus testing

AAP has more on the South Australian testing regime:

Thousands of people have flocked to Covid-19 testing facilities across South Australia, the rush prompted by the devastating surge of infections in Victoria and a worrying cluster of cases in Adelaide.

SA Pathology conducted a record 4,300 tests on Tuesday and the total number conducted in SA is likely to top 5,000 once the figures from private laboratories are included.

The number could be exceeded again on Wednesday with long queues evident at testing stations around Adelaide, including new sites in the city’s north and a second drive-through facility at Victoria Park, close to the city centre.

The rising concern in SA came after warnings were issued in relation to a cluster of cases centred on the inner-northern suburbs but also after one puzzling infection, involving a woman in her 20s, was declared a false positive.

SA Pathology microbiologist Ivan Bastian said extra resources, including more staff, were being deployed to handle the increasing demand for tests.

“We need to get as many people tested as we can,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s been a great response by the South Australian public.”

Bastian said the occasional false positive was something to be expected given systems were “set at the breakpoint” to ensure they picked up the smallest traces of the virus.

The initial test had been conducted by a private laboratory but a second sample was taken after contact tracing proved difficult in tracking down where the woman might have come in contact with Covid-19.

The second SA Pathology result came back clearly negative, easing concerns of growing community transmission.

However, worries remain over the northern suburbs cluster, prompting calls for people who visited three businesses on certain days to self-isolate and get tested if they develop symptoms.

The alert applies to anyone who visited Fernwood Fitness Centre in Salisbury Downs at 6-8.30pm on August 1, Agha Juice House in Blair Athol at 5-7.30pm on July 31 and Najafi Carpet Gallery in Kilburn at 5-8pm on July 29.

It also extends to two schools and a suburban hotel but those people are not required to self-isolate unless they develop symptoms.

Another case of a woman in her 20s was linked to this cluster on Tuesday, which has taken the number of active infections in SA to nine.

Updated

Daniel Andrews given green light to speak about Victoria's bungled hotel quarantine program

That’s tomorrow’s questions done then.

Updated

ACT reports no new Covid-19 cases

There are no new cases in the ACT.

And South Australia has ramped up testing after four cases in recent days:

Updated

Despite the introduction of a six-week stage-four lockdown, the federal and Victorian governments have sidestepped questions on whether Victoria will need additional income support beyond the end of September.

Scott Morrison and Daniel Andrews have argued the changes to jobseeker and jobkeeper, which are scheduled to reduce on 25 September and 28 September respectively, will come into effect after stage four restrictions are set to end in Victoria.

But the federal government is likely to come under pressure to push back the changes to income support, which were announced before Victoria announced an unprecedented lockdown that has forced most businesses to close.

Unions are also unsatisfied with the federal government’s $1,500 disaster payment for Victorian workers, which it has badged as a paid pandemic leave scheme.

The secretary of Victorian Trades Hall Council, Luke Hilakari, said:

“We need to maintain jobseeker and jobkeeper at the current rates for as long as we need to ensure working families are not being plunged further into financial turmoil.

“In order to continue to fight this virus, we need two weeks’ paid pandemic leave that is paid at the rate of working people’s normal sick pay.

“Keeping money in the pockets of working people is the best ticket to our economic recovery.”

Updated

It’s all so clear.

Updated

I just want to know - do we still send gifts?

Are bilateral zoom meetings like when you can’t attend a wedding, but are close to the couple, so you send along a gift in your absence?

The Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry has been delayed. It was meant to report back next month, now it won’t report until November. At the earliest.

Updated

Still on that Christian Porter interview, it’s almost like there is an election coming up in Western Australian and the issue was not a popular one in a state which has been quite happy with the border closure (which was also became an issue for the LNP in Queensland, where residents (voters) were also largely happy with the border policy)

Q: Do you sort of stand by this claim that you are no more than a middle man? Because the government aren’t having it; the McGowan government aren’t having it. They’re saying that without your expert witness, without your evidence, Clive Palmer’s challenge would’ve fallen in a heap because it was so hopeless?

Porter: Well, we’re an intervener. We filed a notice of intervention and when this matter first started up, there was the West Australian issue.

There were applicants from Queensland; one of them was called Travel Essence, they had five applicants, small businesses, individuals. There is a standard form by which you intervene, but the nature of intervening is that there are two sides.

There’s the plaintiffs, of which there were multiple when this thing started. There’s the other side which were the state governments, who had the total border closure policies, and the commonwealth intervenes. We intervened assisting the court.

Now, we put a position that we thought that there was a high likelihood that the policies, as they were formulated originally, in the long run would be likely found to be unconstitutional. I’ve said that on your show a number of times and there’s no retreat from that fact. And I think that if this matter goes all the way, that could well be the likely outcome.

But that doesn’t mean that we’re cheerleading or barracking for either side. We’re before the court, assisting the court as an intervener, telling the court what we think to be the truth of the constitutional situation and I think something about the evidence needs to be understood here. There were multiple experts who produced a joint report and the nature of that report is to try and find the common ground, between all of the experts.

Experts from WA, experts from the commonwealth, experts from the plaintiff. And there was a joint report including evidence from the West Australian chief medical officer that the hard border closure to everywhere versus travel bubbles doesn’t make that much difference to the transmission of the disease.

Now that’s not our evidence, right? That was evidence in the joint report from Western Australia. So, where the state attorney general said last week that the case would already be over in WA, it would’ve won if we hadn’t been in it, I don’t think that’s being upfront. That’s not how this matter is proceeding or has proceeded or will proceed. Like they’re short of the plaintiff withdrawing, there is the real prospect that you
face a decision that goes against your policy.

Updated

Christian Porter addressed the issue of the commonwealth pulling out of Clive Palmer’s high court border case – a decision the PM made after Porter said he was pushing forward, during a chat with Perth radio 6PR this morning:

Well, I’m very sorry that the case was started in the first place. But I can’t wish it away. I have an obligation as the first law officer of the commonwealth to the court to tell the truth, to assist the court. I’ve got an obligation as a cabinet minister to protect all Australians and, obviously, I’m a local member of parliament. Sometimes finding the balance between those three positions means that you make yourself unpopular with all three of the people that you’re trying to help.

But I’m not sure that that balance could be struck any differently in the early stages of this. But, over the course of the weekend, I spoke at length with the prime minister. I think, ultimately; the decision for us was about the fact that being in the matter as an intervener was degrading our ability to act at the highest levels of cooperation with the Western Australian government. That is the federal government with West Australian government, to keep West Australians and all Australians safe.

Q: So, what’s the suggestion? That the McGowan government was so angry about your intervention in this, that it was threatening national cabinet solidarity or threatening efforts to fight the coronavirus?

Porter:

No, I’m not saying that there were any threats of any nature whatsoever. But, I mean, clearly, the McGowan government were very annoyed at the fact that we were an intervener in the matter.

And as I say, as was in the prime minister’s letter, the most important thing we thought, ultimately, in all the circumstances was to preserve the cooperative nature of the relationship which has been very, very successful so far.

The attorney general Christian Porter.
The attorney general Christian Porter. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

With Victoria recording 15 deaths today, we have hit the deadliest day for Australia so far.

With the news from Beruit, it’s just an awful day.

It’s OK if you are feeling a bit flat today. You’re in good company.

Updated

NSW police media has sent out this update:

A Victorian man who allegedly attempted to enter NSW using an invalid permit last night has been charged after police also located a knife, cash and drug paraphernalia in his vehicle.

Officers from Operation Border Closure were conducting permit checks at a checkpoint on Wodonga Place, South Albury, when they stopped a Holden Captiva about 6pm (Tuesday 4 August 2020).

Police spoke with the 36-year-old male driver who produced a permit but was unable to provide any documentation or evidence relating to the essential work he would be conducting in NSW.

When questioned further, the man allegedly became aggressive towards police and refused to cooperate.

It’s alleged the man wound his window up and attempted to drive off before officers were able to stop the vehicle, but the man refused to get out or comply with police directions.

After further officers came to assist, the man opened the driver’s door and was arrested.

During a subsequent search of the man and his vehicle, police located a knife, $1,600 cash and a bag containing items consistent with the supply of illicit drugs.

He was taken to Albury police station, where he was charged with not complying with noticed direction – Covid-19, goods in custody and having custody of a knife in a public place.

The Rutherglen man was granted strict conditional bail and returned to Victoria. He is due to appear at Albury local court on Monday 21 September 2020.

Police continue to appeal to the community to report suspected breaches of any ministerial direction or behaviour which may impact on the health and safety of the community.

Updated

Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah has just finished a press conference with print media – we’ll have a full wrap of the airline’s recovery plan, which involves cutting 3,000 of its 9,000-strong workforce, as soon as possible.

But on the issues of the day, border closures and government restrictions, Scurrah had a message for political leaders including prime minister Scott Morrison:

“I think all business leaders are looking for a plan and a plan that takes us through in multiple sets of circumstances, and that’s something we’d really like to see,” he said.

He said border closures hurt airlines, but he understood the perception that flying was a risk.

“I really think there is no doubt the economy has been very badly affected by the country’s response to Covid,” he said.

“I support the premiers’ response in recent times, but I really would like to see a longer-term plan.”

Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah arrives for a press conference in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah arrives for a press conference in Brisbane on Wednesday. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated

The NSW chief medical officer, Dr Kerry Chant, gives her update:

Clearly we’re most concerned about unlinked cases and we continue to have a couple of those cases that we have experienced over the last few days and that highlights the need for the community to continue to come forward.

The areas that I’m particularly urging the community to come forward is in south-western Sydney and western Sydney. The LGAs of Cumberland, Parramatta, Fairfield, Bankstown Liverpool and Campbelltown.

It’s essential that we have high rates of testing across the state, but I would urge the communities in those local government areas to particularly with the most minimal of symptoms please come forward and get tested.

It is essential that we find any, as yet, undetected chains of transmission and break them. The earlier we can find a chain of transmission, the earlier we can stop it.

And I’d like to thank the community for turning out in such high numbers. But I’m actually asking you to redouble your efforts over the coming days to weeks so that we can be very confident that we have got containment of that cluster in that area.

Updated

The NSW premier continues:

But as we have been anticipating, we anticipate that the further lockdown in both greater Melbourne and regional Victoria will assist us in the numbers we’re dealing with.

In the last seven days stats I received, the vast majority of people coming through Sydney airport from Victoria are on forward travellers that are going either interstate or overseas.

But for those who are coming or returning home from Victoria, from Friday morning, so from midnight Friday, or Friday morning for convenience, any flights having those people will ensure that all returning travellers do that mandatory 14-day quarantine.

I can also advise the community that New South Wales will also make it more difficult to come to Sydney if you’re a Victorian based on your critical service requirement or if there’s a current provision which allows certain categories of people to come from Victoria to NSW and we are reviewing and look to tightening some of those definitions to make sure only those with absolutely necessary requirements, and of course the death of an immediate family member would be an example of a situation where we would allow obviously people to continue coming in to NSW.

The numbers have been quite low in the last seven days and quite manageable and I want to thank Health for maintaining that rigour.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Sydney on Wednesday.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Sydney on Wednesday. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian on the quarantine changes:

In view of the health advice, in view of the escalating situation in Victoria, the New South Wales government today has decided, based on the evolving health situation and the health advice, to ensure and require that every returning traveller from Victoria is in the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine when they get to Sydney Airport.

We are also mandating that no one can come to New South Wales outside of those border communities that’s defined in the public health orders, but for Sydney Airport.

We don’t want to see multiple places where returning travellers are coming. And we also feel, given the evolving situation in Victoria has been going on for some weeks, that, that people do that at their own expense.

There should be no difference from a NSW citizen coming back from an overseas destination in terms of the cost having to pay versus the cost of returning travellers from Victoria.

Jetstar passengers arrive in Sydney from Melbourne.
Jetstar passengers arrive in Sydney from Melbourne. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/EPA

Updated

NSW residents returning from Victoria must go to hotel quarantine for 14 days

Things do really move quickly in a pandemic – yesterday, the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard said this wasn’t necessary.

Updated

On the childcare rules (which will rely on parents being honest about care) Daniel Andrews provides this example for clarification:

I’ll give you my example, probably the easiest one. I would be – I have got a permit, I’m allowed to go to work.

Kath works part-time. Our kids are a bit older. Let’s assume they’re a little bit younger.

If she could, she could rearrange her work so she can look after our kids if they were younger for some of the week, but for some she couldn’t, then they could go to childcare for that, for less than they would otherwise go.

There would be a degree of discretion in this. It’s so difficult to write a rule book that takes into accounts of circumstances of hundreds of thousands of families.

They’re all different and we’re asking people to approach this with – in good faith and acknowledging it’s challenging, but if a permitted worker – if the difference of a permitted worker doing their work or not, is childcare, they can send their child to childcare or kinder.

I know it’s not simple, but – I think people probably appreciate given the, given that the point I just made about every family being fundamentally different in so many ways, everyone’s arrangements are unique, trying to have a rule book that covers if field is very, very tough.

Victoria premier Daniel Andrews.
Victoria premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media on Wednesday. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Updated

Victoria records youngest Australian Covid-19 death

Daniel Andrews says due to the wishes of the family he cannot release too many details on the 30(something)-year-old man, who had been diagnosed with Covid, and later died.

At 30(something), the man would be the youngest confirmed death in Australia. A 30-year-old man who died in Queensland and tested positive for Covid post-mortem, was later found not to have the virus.

Andrews:

I would just say that it shouldn’t have to get to a tragedy for people to acknowledge that this is a virus that affects everyone.

But if – if that’s what it takes, we’re terribly saddened by this, but hopefully no one misses that point: that this is something that’s not just of those who are frail and aged.

It can be deadly and it has been deadly here and around the world in people of all age groups and, indeed, people that are in otherwise good health.

I make no comment beyond the age and gender of that person and they were not a health worker. If we can give you more, then of course we will, but I think you’d understand that we have to be very guided, very much guided by the wishes of the family.

Updated

On meat processing plants, Daniel Andrews says it is a difficult balance:

Everyone is in a different position. We’re still working through that. We’ll get this workforce down to as low as we can. We think that’s going to finish up at about 66%, two-thirds. Two-thirds of what would be 100%. That’s what we’re chasing.

It may vary from workplace to workplace and there are discussions going on literally as I stand here now and there could even be variation. In fact, I think there will be variation between beef and lamb, poultry and seafood.

... We’re going to get these numbers down so across-the-board will be as close as we can to two-thirds of their normal output, two-thirds of what they would otherwise be doing, that’s what we’re going to try to achieve.

I can’t guarantee there won’t be a difference in approach. Obviously if you are – if you are providing our state with 3 million chickens we consume a week, then that will be a different – with the lifecycle, that will be a different set of challenges than a slaughterhouse that is – and meat processing centre that deals with beef where there is a longer lifecycle and the notion of having to wait a few weeks, so producing a few weeks later, processing a few weeks later than you otherwise would, that is an entirely different thing.

So I think what I’m really saying to you is: we’ll have more to say later this week and I think there will be different approaches based on different products. And that’s the product of lots of discussions with everybody across that industry.

Updated

Victoria’s death toll is now 162.

That’s 162 people.

And you have to prove that there is no one else in your household, who can look after your children:

What you need to do you need to establish that the person – the second guardian, the second person, is not capable of providing care and support to that child.

Again, there will be an element of trust in this. There is – it’s very difficult to try and enforce this level of detail, these level of personal decisions in every single household. I would simply say to people that if we see numbers unacceptably high numbers of child – of children in childcare or kinder and we believe that there are people who aren’t – not going to every effort to try to provide an alternative arrangement or change their own arrangement in their home to keep their child out of childcare, well, then I’ll have no choice but to look at these measures in the weeks – the weeks to come.

We’re trying to be as clear as we possibly can. It’s very difficult circumstance and I fully acknowledge that, but for those permitted workers where another person in the home cannot look after your children, you will be able to send your children to child care.

That is but a fraction of the overall number of kids who would be in childcare, I apologise for that, but that’s the only way to drive these numbers down.

Updated

The childcare permit will be done in the same way as the work permit, says Daniel Andrews:

It will be, and it will be as simple as it possibly can be. I will not be - well, I don’t think the work permit is a complex document, that’s quite simple as well, but this will be simply the person indicating that they are doing permitted work and also then attesting that there is no-one in their home that can look after the kids and then we’ll be able to go from there.

I might just add that I’m very grateful, obviously, just as we were in the first wave, very grateful to the Commonwealth government for the decisions that Minister Tehan has announced today in terms of providing support. So that that industry is there on the other side of this to get them through is very, very important.

There will be no grace periods for parents, either.

Daniel Andrews:

I’m not announcing any grace periods. This is unfortunately, we need to make these changes. We have tried to be as clear as we possibly can.

We know this will cause inconvenience and we know will be a real challenge for a lot of families, but what is an even greater challenge is if we don’t drive these numbers down and we finish up with these sorts of rules in place for much, much longer than they otherwise would be.

So I know it will be really, really challenging and as I said yesterday, I didn’t want to give false hope to people that there would be a large number of people who would normally use childcare that will not be able to.

No one’s pleased about that, but that is essential to limit movement and drive down the number of cases. Every single thing we do has to be based on that, both as individuals in the choices we make all the way through to the policy decisions that are made.

Updated

Permit needed for Melbourne childcare under new rules

You can only access childcare in Melbourne if you can attest there is no one in your household who can look after your children.

Daniel Andrews:

There will be many, many families who will not be able to access childcare as they normally would and that is essential to driving down movement, it is essential to driving down these numbers.

What I can say though is there will be a further permit system as simple as possible, a simple process, but if you are a permitted worker, regardless whether you are working in person or from home and you attest that there is no-one else in your household that can look after your children you will be able with that very simple permit to access childcare.

I know that that will mean that many people who have been using childcare and rely upon childcare will not be able to do that, these rules, I should stress, also apply to kinder and they will essentially apply to primary school students attending school and being under the, basically doing remote and flexible learning in a supervised environment outside their home.

I know this will cause significant concern and it will be very challenging for many families but if I were to simply greenlight the best part of a quarter of million kids going to and from childcare every day we will not drive these numbers down. These are very difficult decisions to make and I know they have direct impacts but just to be clear if you are a permitted worker, regardless of from home or in person doing that permitted work, if you attest through that simple permit process you have no one else to look after your children in your household you will be able to access childcare.

That will mean a very substantial reduction, we are doing the numbers on a full compliment and a smaller number and we will come back to you on that once we have tallied it up but it is a massive reduction and I apologise to those families because childcare is not there but there is no alternative.

Updated

The Victorian premier provides a breakdown of the case numbers:

725 new cases and 164 of those are linked to outbreaks of complex cases and 561 under investigation.

The number of people in hospital has increased primarily but not only because of transfers from aged care and a lot of those transfers are not for clinical, not because they’re sick but because of infection control reasons.

But they’re all important and taking someone from an aged care, this is their home and obviously very disruptive for residents.

Updated

Premier clarifies rules around visiting a partner who lives in a separate household

To clarify some issues, Dan Andrews says:

I just want to, by way of example, just to go to one issue that’s been raised with me: intimate partners can visit each other but when you are with your partner, or they are with you, depending on which home you are visiting, that is essentially your home and the rules apply to you as if you both lived in that premises.

So, if you, at 8pm, are at your partner’s house, then the curfew applies to you from that home. If you are out 4pm in the afternoon, if you are visiting your partner, the rules around only going shopping once a day, no further than 5km away, that applies to you.

Exercise, once a day, no more than 5km from that premises, that applies to you. I think that is as simple and as easy as we can make this.

I would appeal to people, it is important to have the ability to see your partner, but the rules have to apply wherever you have. You essentially have two homes and for the purposes when you’re in either of those the rules apply to you from that point. And police will enforce this.

They’ll be fair and reasonable, but I think that’s just a common-sense, if there was a need to clarify, hopefully that has done it.

Updated

Non-urgent surgery on hold in Victoria

Elective surgery is also on hold:

Daniel Andrews:

I can also announce today that elective surgery other than for category one patients and the most urgent of category 2 patients, that clinical decisions and need will be determined by doctors and others, all surgery beyond category one and the most urgent category two in regional Victoria will be put on hold until further notice.

We can’t have a situation where we are making the sickest patients wait longer because we are treating wholly worthy and important conditions, but not necessarily time-critical conditions.

We can’t put those ahead of people who need that urgent care.

The sickest patients must get treated quickest. That is always a principle that our public and indeed private hospitals work under.

This is a regrettable decision but it is very important one in order to preserve sufficient capacity in our entire health system. City and country, public and private.

No one enjoys particularly a government that’s done more elective surgery than any government in the history of the state, I don’t enjoy having to make these decisions but in terms of keeping patients safe and hospital workers safe and preserving sufficient capacity so that we’re planning for what might be needed – we hope not needed – but things that might be needed we need to mirror the restrictions that applied in Melbourne for a few weeks now in regional Victoria as well.

Just finally, and again, I hope this is an example that shows you we are always happy to work through issues and provide clarity where we can.

I am sure there will be many, many questions today about individual settings.

Updated

Victoria announces 15 more deaths and 725 new Covid-19 cases

Daniel Andrews is holding his press conference, confirming the 725 new cases – and 15 deaths.

I’m very sorry to have to report that the total number of fatalities due to this global pandemic is now 162 Victorians, that is 15 more since our last update.

I’ll provide you as much detail as I can. One male in his 30s, three males and one female in their 70s, three males, three females in their 80s. Three males, one female in their 90s.

Of those 15 cases, 12 can be linked to aged care. If we can provide further information to you, then, of course, we will subject to privacy and obviously prioritising the grief and loss that those families will be experiencing.

Can I send my heartfelt condolences and sympathies to each of those families. This will be a terrible time and any and all support we can provide to you we will and we are with you in this very difficult time.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Updated

Scott Morrison has called in to the Ray Hadley program on 2GB.

They begin with the blast in Beirut. There is no new information, but Morrison notes, correctly: “2020 has been quite a shocker.”

Hadley then delivers an incomprehensible preamble to the pandemic update which I’ll summarise as Daniel Andrews is bad and Annastacia Palaszczuk is good.

Hadley then diverts to Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten, who are bad like Andrews, because they are criticising things. Why are they doing this, Hadley wonders?

The prime minister could just state the obvious: oppositions ask questions, the hint is in the job description, but instead Morrison notes, mildly irritated: “Politics. It’s that simple, that’s why I ignore it.”

The prime minister says the media will ask questions, but he thinks politicians with nothing constructive to say should just be quiet and leave it to people running things to get on with the job.

Then Hadley wonders whether Palaszczuk might be bad for shutting the border with ACT and NSW this morning. Morrison is distinctly unimpressed with the Queensland premier.

He says he will leave it to her to “explain the medical advice on which it’s based”.

Morrison thinks governments have to be transparent about medical advice.

Hadley then persists with the Queensland premier being not that bad, because “six Queenslanders have put Queensland into lockdown”.

Morrison notes that shutting borders is not a substitute for a strong public health response to Covid. Hadley then wonders if the PM is frustrated by numbskull behaviour, which seems a slightly leading question.

Hadley then narrows the field. Is the PM worried about people expressing stupid opinions? It’s hard to know who is stupid in this homily, given stupid people keep appearing and disappearing, but the prime minister dead bats, sensing the newsbreak is close.

“I think everyone feels frustrated, but they didn’t elect me to feel frustrated,” Morrison says.

“We’ve got to push through it and get through it”.

Updated

There is a national Covid update today as well – Professor Michael Kidd will take that at 3.30pm.

Updated

It’s been a busy news day, but we now have some details out of the virtual summit between Scott Morrison and his counterpart in Papua New Guinea, James Marape.

For starters, Australia and PNG plan to negotiate a bilateral security treaty, paving the way for expanded cooperation on defence matters.

It is understood the treaty will also provide a framework for existing security cooperation and is intended to send a signal of the “enduring bond and partnership” between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the Australian government is set to increase by $6.5m the amount spent on Australia’s Defence Cooperation Program in PNG this financial year. It’s a program that aims to help build the capacity of Australia’s international partners and build the relationships that allow countries to work together on common security challenges.

The agreements go beyond security. A new Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership between Australia and PNG also aims to increase trade and investment opportunities and promote economic growth, governance, people-to-people and institutional links, social and human development and regional and multilateral cooperation.

Australia has also pledged to provide funding through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific to build the Markham Valley Solar Project, understood to be one of the largest solar plants of its kind in the Pacific. There’s also $45m in cash over six years towards technical and vocational education and training programs in PNG.

The leaders also discussed the Covid-19 situation, with Australia reaffirming its preparedness to help PNG with the response by sending an Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) – something that was announced last week. The first such team landed in PNG yesterday. PNG has been dealing with a significant increase in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.

Updated

The reason that caught my attention is because the man flew from Kabul to Sydney to the Sunshine Coast.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has said when he landed in Queensland on Friday, he had an exemption provided by the NSW authorities and a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade letter.

So I am not sure it was entirely a decision made by Queensland.

Updated

Katharine Murphy is listening to Scott Morrison on Ray Hadley so you don’t have to, because she is an angel.

But this bit caught my attention: asked about Queensland’s border closure to NSW and the ACT (Victoria already has been barred), Morrison says:

These decisions should be driven by [medical] advice and nothing else and there should be transparency around that.

I mean, the arrangements between New South Wales and Victoria came as a result of very open discussion between Gladys Berejiklian and Dan Andrews and myself and then that then flowed on to well how are we going to manage things on the borders which has actually been quite difficult in a lot of those border towns and not without some frustrations.

So, I mean what happened there was this incident of a returning diplomat – whether he was a diplomat he was a contractor, a security contractor.

So what the management was is diplomats are returning into Australia, where they could go directly into a private vehicle and they’re going to Canberra, and transfer immediately and commit to self-isolation in their residence.

Then what happened was this: Queensland gave an exemption for [the person] to get on a plane out of, out of the Sunshine Coast and go to Toowoomba but that well that’s got nothing to do with any of our arrangements.

That’s just what happened, I’ll leave it to Queensland to, you know, to put what they think is necessary in place, but I think we’ve always got to be transparent about what the medical advice is because obviously when you put restrictions in place they, they have a very real economic impact.

Updated

Former prime minister and Beyond Blue chair, Julia Gillard, is speaking on an Australia Institute webinar about the mental health challenges of Covid-19 and the need to “build back better” with early intervention supports.

Gillard spoke about a number of upsides relating to the pandemic, including “a lesson - right around the world - that government does matter” and that “expertise matters”.

She said:”We’ve been in an era in climate discussion with climate change skepticism – but not just in climate – there has been a reaction against expertise, ‘why do we have to listen to them, they have all these qualifications but isn’t it just commonsense’. Yet here we are, and we’re hanging off every word from chief medical officers and infectious disease specialists. It shows: expertise matters.”

But Gillard said she is concerned about some “cross-cutting trends”:

“In a global crisis, none of us are safe until we’re all safe. As long as Covid is anywhere, there is still the potential for harm to the planet and our own communities. I am worried this crisis is going to feed nationalism, a retreat into each country behind country walls, and less engagement in the world. We might see a scramble in who gets vaccines when they are available rather than a fair global [distribution], and entrenching nationalism in a counterproductive way.”

Lucky for me, I have Daniel Hurst to translate that announcement for you:

To be clear, because I know you all love clarity, and yes, it is needed – the gap payment here is the difference between the fee charged by childcare services and the amount subsidised by the government.

Updated

You know what would make that easier? Having parliament sit so you can pass a bill which would close that loophole.

Daniel Hurst asks Dan Tehan whether or not the government can do anything about childcare providers who pass on the gap payment, even though parents can’t use the centres.

In a word, there is nothing the government can do in that situation. You could be charged, even though you are legally not allowed to use the service.

Tehan:

No, we cannot by law compel services to waive the gap fee. But what we are doing, through the mechanisms we’re putting in place, is doing everything we can to encourage services to waive the gap fee where parents are required to stay at home. And once again, all the consultation we’ve had with the sector, that the sector is committed to be ensuring that services and providers are waiving the gap fee.

Now, we always get an outlier, that is possible, but what we are doing is encouraging centres to be waiving the gap fee. And it’s in their interests to do so because it means they maintain enrolments and by maintaining enrolments when we come out of the pandemic, obviously, there are children then who will come back into their centres and they can provide that care and get the income that they need.

Updated

Scott Morrison’s team has announced he will be talking to Ray Hadley at 11.30.

Updated

But it will be up to the providers whether or not the gap payment is passed on to parents.

Dan Tehan:

Ultimately the decision to waive the gap fee is up to the provider themselves. But what this package does is incentivise providers to waive the gap fee. Because what that means is enrolments will stay strong, they will also get access to the childcare subsidy and also to that additional 5% top-up payment. As I’ve said, that should give, on average, all centres revenue of between 80% to 85% based on that pre-Covid fortnight period.

Updated

So making sense of that – Melbourne parents with children in childcare, you will have an extra 30 days of allowable absences (on top of the existing days) which will come at no cost.

You can keep your child enrolled in the centre – at no cost – if the provider agrees not to pass the gap payment on.

The second part of the announcement, as with many Dan Tehan announcements, needs the written statement to make sense, methinks.

It looks like childcare providers will be getting top-up payments from the government, but I am unsure of the detail of that.

Updated

Dan Tehan moves on to regions outside Melbourne:

Now, for regional and rural Victoria, we will also be putting in place the same arrangements for outside school-hours care that we did for metropolitan Melbourne and for the Mitchell Shire.

So, they will get access to those provisions which were provided for metropolitan Melbourne and for Mitchell Shire.

Now, for Melbourne providers, what we will be doing is we will be providing them with a top-up payment of 5% on top of the 25% transition payment that they are already receiving.

We will also be putting in place for those services who have an average child care subsidy rate of less than 50% who see a reduction in their enrolments or, sorry, a reduction in their attendance, to below 30%, they will get top-up payments between 10% and 25%.

What this means overall, is that services, on average, will be getting revenue based on the pre-Covid fortnight, on average, between 80 to 85%.

Updated

Extra childcare absence days for Melbourne, providers asked not to charge parents

Dan Tehan announces an extra 30 days allowable absences for children in Melbourne, where childcare centres are closed to all but essential workers:

What we are announcing today is the following: For all Victorian parents, for all Victorian families, you will be getting an extra 30 days of allowable absences.

So, that means if you’re not in a position to be able to send your child to care, you can use those absences, providers can waive the gap fee so there will be no cost to you for keeping your child enrolled while you can’t access child care for the next 30 days.

So that’s 30 days, additional allowable absences, on the already, on top of the 42 days we’ve already allocated for that.

So, that means parents who have to keep their children at home can do so and can do so without cost because we’re asking providers to waive the gap fee.

And I would say to parents, please, keep your children enrolled. It won’t cost you anything to do so. But it means, as we come out of this pandemic, those positions will be there for you at your child care centre, so once you go back to work, the positions there, it’s available to you and it means it will be much more seamless for you to be able to get back to work once we’ve got through this pandemic.

Updated

NSW Health has reported one case of Covid which so far has an unknown source (community transmission)

Of the 12 new cases reported to 8pm last night:

  • one is a traveller in hotel quarantine
  • 10 were locally acquired linked to known cases including:
  • two cases linked to the Thai Rock restaurant in Wetherill Park
  • two cases linked to the Apollo restaurant in Potts Point
  • six cases associated with the funeral gatherings cluster
  • one is locally acquired with unknown source

NSW Health can advise a previously reported case attended Kids Learning Academy in Busby while infectious on 29 July. The case is a child of a previously reported case, linked with Mounties in Mount Pritchard. The centre is closed for deep cleaning while contact tracing is under way.

As advised yesterday, two cases reported in today’s numbers attended Greenway Park public school. A previously reported case attended Bonnyrigg high school. Both schools reopened for on-site learning today. Contact tracing continues and all close contacts are in self-isolation.

Updated

The Victorian childcare announcement, following the announcement of a forthcoming announcement, is going really well.

Money is very cheap at the moment (and foreseeable future) if you are a government running an economy with a AAA credit rating.

Twelve new cases in NSW

NSW has recorded 12 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Updated

We don’t know when we will hear from Daniel Andrews today.

It will be after Dan Tehan announces the childcare changes (which is coming up) but as a general rule, the later the press conference, the worse the news.

The Australian is reporting one of the deaths in Victoria in the past 24 hours was a person in their 30s.

We have no information on the latest deaths (gosh that is an awful sentence to write) - while the case numbers have been released ahead of time, the deaths are being reported during the official press conference.

It’s amazing how time moves in a pandemic.

Victorian childcare providers and users should find out what the plan is for the industry in that state in the next hour, following the closure of centres to all but the children of essential workers.

Bill Shorten says it shouldn’t need a new scheme, given jobkeeper is already in place:

We can’t wind back the supports which were put in place for the pandemic when Victoria’s still going through the pain. It’s a sad day in Melbourne today.

We’ve got this ... I sometimes feel, and you’ll excuse the degree of frustration, but it’s our small businesses who are doing it hard.

It’s our people who are doing it hard. But I sometimes feel like the government makes a decision to wind something back and then it’s rushing together something with an ice-cream stick, some sticky tape and a rubber band and doing something separate for childcare.

Early year educators are workers. Why not just keep it in the one scheme – jobkeeper? Why create more work for yourself? Why do the small businesses have to have new paperwork?

Updated

Marise Payne called in to Sydney radio 2GB this morning to talk about the Beirut blast:

Tragically, we have lost one Australian. We are not going into the details of that at the moment, while we work with family and consular authorities to support them. And we are very, very sorry about that and convey our sympathy to the family and friends of that Australian. But … the size of this event, the size of the explosion, and its impact, is going to have caused a very significant number of fatalities. So we will work closely with local authorities to establish the extent of the impact on Australians … The prime minister has said this morning, we think there are usually around 20,000 Australians, including dual nationals in Lebanon, at any one time. That figure may have been impacted by movements related to Covid-19, but it’s still a very considerable figure and our team has been working very hard to support them.

On the Australian embassy she said:

The Australian embassy has been considerably impacted. We had, I am advised by the ambassador, about 95% of our windows blown out by the impact. A number of staff have received glass injuries. They are being supported and looked after. Thankfully none of those injuries is very serious. But, of course, it’s a shocking and terrifying incident to be dealing with and I really send our thoughts to our teams who are on the ground in Beirut, including Ambassador Rebekah Grindlay.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian says NSW is halfway through it’s “critical” stage triggered by the Victorian outbreak, but warns that there is no such thing as an iron-clad border closure:

There are lots of rules we have in place at the moment which relies on people doing the right thing.

No border, unfortunately, is inpenetrable.

We could be as tough as we like, but our experience is that some people can get through without the best motives at times, and that’s why we have to be on high alert.

If there’s more we need to do, of course we will. NSW has always been proactive and made sure that we’ve been ahead of what we needed to do, and that goes for any of the existing practice.

I always say to our citizens, please know the health advice is always evolving. We respond according to the risk, according to the state of the pandemic in NSW. And according to what’s going on with the virus. And every day we’re learning, every day we’re assessing. Every day I’m getting advice from Health and police on what to do or what not to do. That will continue.

The situation in NSW is stable, and of course, we want to keep it that way. And reduce the incidents of community transmission.

Positively, Health has been able to link most of them. Although there were a few unknown cases earlier in the week, which Health has been able to track to existing clusters. We need everybody to do the right thing.

Updated

Today is a really blah day on a lot of fronts – there has been a lot of awfulness.

So if you are feeling a bit low, you’re not alone. Be extra kind to yourself and those around you today. And eat all the things.

Updated

Reports Victoria has recorded 725 new Covid cases

The Victorian reports are coming in ahead of the press conference (as is normal these days)

Dan Tehan will make the Victorian childcare announcement at 11am.

This comes after yesterday, when he announced he would be making the announcement the following day.

That’ll make everything better

ACT given no warning of Qld 'hotspot' declaration

I’ve just had a quick chat with the office of the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, about the Queensland border closure.

The ACT was given no warning whatsoever about the decision. Barr’s office described it as “disappointing”.

“It’s disappointing, but obviously each state and territory has to deal with this as they see fit,” a spokesman said.

Queensland has justified shutting its borders to ACT residents by saying it had “intelligence” that Sydney residents were travelling to Canberra and flying to the state to avoid travel restrictions.

That would, you think, be immediately obvious to authorities by the address listed on the traveller’s driver’s licence or identification.

Updated

As a side note, federal parliament was cancelled this sitting because of the Victorian situation.

There is meant to be another sitting from the 24th – looks like Queensland MPs, if it indeed goes ahead – will need to spend another two weeks quarantining on their return.

Will they have to pay for the mandatory hotel quarantine?

Updated

Yes, there are very valid public health reasons for Queensland to make the decision to close the border.

But the pull quotes in these tweets are all about the October election.

Updated

The main union at Virgin Australia, the Transport Workers Union, has welcomed the airline’s post-administration plans, despite the loss of 3,000 jobs.

Unions had feared a new operator would adopt an absolute bare-bones model, reducing the airline to a super-budget affair with extremely limited routes.

“Today will be a difficult day for Virgin workers and we will support them in the days and weeks ahead as details emerge on job losses,” TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said.

“This has not been an easy process and Virgin workers have worked hard to ensure that instead of going down the route of a low-cost model where more jobs might have gone, Virgin will be able to retain its place in the market and hold onto the vital experience and skills of many of its workers.”

Kaine repeated his call for federal government help for the aviation sector, which has been devastated by coronavirus restrictions and is facing further pain from Victoria’s strict lockdown.

Updated

Now back to that other breaking news - Virgin’s plans under Bain Capital:

Under new owners Bain Capital, Virgin will fly only narrowbody Boeing 737s, the company told the stock exchange.

Frequent flyer scheme Velocity is to continue.

Chief executive Paul Scurrah:

Demand for domestic and short-haul international travel is likely to take at least three years to return to pre-Covid-19 levels, with the real chance it could be longer, which means as a business we must make changes to ensure the Virgin Australia Group is successful in this new world.

In a country as big as Australia, strong competitive airlines are critical in helping restore the economy, which is why in the face of the worst crisis our industry has ever seen, a well-capitalised Virgin Australia Group with a solid and sustainable future is a great outcome for Australians and the nation’s economy.

Even when we do see a return to pre-Covid-19 levels of travel, successful airlines will be influenced by demand and look very different than the way they did previously, requiring long-term capital, a lower cost base and be more focused on providing exceptional experiences through a combination of great people and world-class technologies.

Updated

Queensland border closure

So to update you on that, Queensland is shutting its border to the rest of the east coast from 1am August 8.

Victoria is already barred.

From Saturday, you can not enter Queensland if you are from NSW or the ACT.

While the ACT has no cases of Covid-19, the deputy premier says there is evidence people from NSW hotspots are flying into Queensland from Canberra.

The border closure will be reviewed at the end of the month.

There are no problems leaving Queensland to return to the ACT or NSW

Queensland’s deputy premier and health minister, Steven Miles, says there is evidence people have been crossing into the ACT from NSW and flying to Queensland from Canberra to get around the border restrictions with greater Sydney:

Here in Queensland, we went 63 days with no community transmission, more than two months with no community transmission, but that all changed seven days ago.

A lot can change in a week, and we’ve seen in other states how it only ... It can only take one case to see a widespread outbreak. That week, we’ve had nine cases here in Queensland.

Two travellers from Victoria, three cases of local transmission, two Queenslanders who travelled to Sydney and one returning Queenslander via Sydney as well as that one case today and we don’t yet know the source of their infection.

Those cases have placed an enormous burden on our health system.

We’ve done 85,000 tests in that week – 84,795 tests. We’ve contact-traced thousands of Queenslanders.

Many are now in quarantine. We have seen people go to great lengths to avoid our border lockdown. People have been dishonest, people trying to deceive our police.

People lying on their border passes and not just in the border but around the state. People in Cairns, Townsville, Gympie – police have now served more than a dozen notices to appear in court.

Over that week also Victoria has declared a state of emergency. Masks are now mandatory. There’s a curfew in the city. New South Wales is on high alert and we’ve seen cases there creeping north of the city.

It is clear now that Australia is experiencing a second wave of Covid-19 and we cannot afford to have that second wave here in Queensland. There is also intelligence to suggest that some people are flying via the ACT in order to avoid our hot spots lockdown.

Here in Queensland, our economy has just started getting back on its feet. Our plan to unite and recover and get people back into jobs is just starting to work. We’ve eased restrictions. Businesses are open again. People are back at work. We cannot afford to risk that progress. We cannot afford to risk the opportunity to unite and recover.

Updated

The Queensland premier continues:

It’s also very important that Queenslanders stay in Queensland. Now is not the time to travel to New South Wales.

Now is not the time to travel to Victoria. And I will not risk the safety of Queenslanders.

And I will not risk our economy. We have seen that Victoria is not getting better, and we’re not going to wait for New South Wales to get worse. We need to act.

And we have taken the decisive decision to act. I said I will not hesitate, and today is the day.

Today is the day that I say to Queenslanders, “We have listened to you. We are concerned about what is happening in the southern states. And today is the day that we say we are putting Queenslanders first.”

(One would hope that the Queensland premier always puts Queenslanders first, but there is an election in a couple of months, and soundbites are more important than ever at the moment)

Annastacia Palaszczuk:

As we know, there have been a large number of active cases in Victoria, and we are continuing to see cases in New South Wales. This is a very concerning situation.

It’s a very concerning situation that we are seeing – the lockdown happening in Victoria, and the huge impact that that is having on the economy. And our hearts go out to Victoria.

We know they’ll get through this together, and we will continue to monitor what’s happening down there. But the impacts on the economy are really large.

We’ve seen construction reduced down to 25%. We’ve seen impacts on retail.

We’ve seen impacts on the way people live their lifestyle and the shutdown of cafes and restaurants. And of course, in New South Wales, we are continuing to see cases hatch each day, and this is of great concern to Queensland.

I can confirm that yesterday members of the Queensland Disaster Management Group met extensively and we have also met extensively again this morning.

I can now confirm that our chief health officer is declaring New South Wales and the ACT a hot spot. This will take immediate effect from Saturday, 1am. And this is the right thing to do. I know it’s going to be tough on Queenslanders.

But your health comes first. Your health comes first. We need to protect not only our health, we need to protect the families, we need to protect our economy.

We’ve seen what’s happened in Victoria. We don’t want to see that happening here. Businesses have said to me, loudly and clearly, that they do not want to go backwards.

They want to stay where they are. And we need Queenslanders supporting Queenslanders.

Updated

Queensland has reported one new case of Covid in the last 24 hours – a 68-year-old woman from west Morton.

Authorities are still investigating how she contracted the virus.

Updated

The border closure will be reviewed at the end of August

Queensland closing borders to NSW and ACT

Queensland has decided to close its borders to all residents of NSW and the ACT from August 8

3000 jobs to go at Virgin Australia, Tiger Australia 'discontinued'

Virgin Australia has made a statement to the ASX outlining plan to “focus on core strengths” and “re-establish itself as an iconic Australian airline”.

•Focus on delivering exceptional experiences at great value with Virgin Australia’s core domestic and short-haul international business

•Virgin Australia to provide customers with the value of travel credits post administration with validity dates extended for bookings made prior to administration

•Resetting Virgin Australia to meet lower global and Australian demand, including:

Reduction in cost base to meet sector uncertainty and COVID-19 market conditions

Securing approximately 6,000 jobs when the market recovers with 3,000 roles impacted

Simplified all-Boeing 737 mainline fleet and the retention of the regional and charter fleet, but removing ATR, Boeing 777, Airbus A330 and Tigerair Airbus A320 aircraft types

Long-haul international flying important part of plan but suspended until global travel market recoverso

Tigerair Australia brand discontinued with Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and necessary support maintained to provide option for ultra-low-cost operations when market recovers

Continued commitment to regional and charter flying.

We are hearing more about Bain Capital’s plans for Virgin Australia

Scott Morrison also appeared on the Nine Network where he had this hard hitting exchange about the industry situation in Victoria, given the lockdowns.

Karl Stefanovic: And the reality is that many Victorian businesses are going into a coma and some just won’t make it out. I mean, Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott, as you would know, says the Victorian government has left businesses concerned, confused and frustrated. He said scaling down construction was deeply problematic. This is startling and a brutal assessment. No one wants to play the blame game here, PM, as you would know. But those criticisms raise some serious questions. And it seems like this morning you’re asking some of those same questions of the Victorian government?

Morrison: Well, we’ve been putting these issues directly to Victoria, and I think it’s best that I just put it that way. I know also industry. I know that the Treasurer, our Treasurer last night, Josh Frydenberg, was having hook-ups with a lot of industry players. Those issues are being relayed directly on to the Victorian Treasurer, Tim Pallas.

Stefanovic: Are they listening?

Morrison: We’re working closely with the Victorian government. But these are very real issues and we’ll look to see their responses. I mean, these issues are being raised directly. Some of them are very urgent, particularly around distribution centres. The issues around major construction projects, there’s some serious issues raised there and we’ll be relaying those further on today. I know the Premier was working on these last night. I know that for a fact. And so it’s important that they get these restrictions right. They’ve brought them in and we need to make sure they’re as practical as possible and that’s why we’ve moved so quickly on the childcare. I mean, that’s something we can do something directly about and straight after those announcements, I spoke to Dan Tehan, the Education Minister, and I said, get on it, mate. We need to move on this very quickly and I’m pleased that he was able to do that and I got the email at about eleven o’clock last night.

Stefanovic: Sounds to me like you’re all over the Victorian government like white on rice this morning.

Scott Morrison was also asked about this while on the Seven Network - particularly about the federal government not being informed of an outbreak at St Basil’s. Murph covered this off yesterday.

Morrison:

There have been delays in us being made aware through the testing program in a number of facilities, and that has obviously contributed to the problems that we’ve had.

There’s also been the issues of the immediate stand-down of staff, which has also significantly exacerbated the ability of these facilities to provide that continuity of care. Over the course of just over the last week after I returned from Queensland, the Aged Care Response Centre in Victoria has done an extraordinary job. We’ve got a watch list of facilities that we’re reviewing every single day and every single evening.

We’ve been able to take people out of facilities and put them in hospitals. We’ve been able to get access to staff. Now, continuing to get access to staff in aged care is a real challenge. But I do want to express my sincere condolences to the families and apologies, frankly, to those families in those centres that were most severely and acutely affected.

And it was, they were unacceptable outcomes. But what I can say, is there’s over 430 aged care facilities in Melbourne and what we’ve had is some horrible outcomes in a couple. There’s been about half a dozen that have been in an acute sense. But the balance, even those with COVID cases, have been managing very well. And the aged care response centre that we put in place working with the Victorian government, ADF, AUSMAT teams, others, that is making a big difference to stabilise the situation.



You do have to wonder though, whether anyone will actually pay those fines. There is no evidence increased penalties work, when it comes to compliance. What it does do though, is give politicians something to say when people ask what they are doing about it

Scott Morrison was also asked about the 800 people diagnosed with Covid-19, who were not home when compliance checkers came by their residences in Victoria, while chatting to Sunrise this morning:

Well it’s disappointing. The work that is being done by the Australian defence force, which has been another big part of our effort in Victoria with the tracing and tracking down of those in isolation, it’s ADF offices out there with Victorian police and other knocking on doors and around 25%, is the advice I have had consistently, is where they’re finding people not at home. That’s just not on. Now today, obviously, with the lockdowns as they come into effect, we hope to see much greater compliance and, frankly, I welcome and urge the premier and I’m pleased that he was going down this path that there would be further fines. So there is the financial support for you to stay home in isolation. But if you refuse to do that, well obviously, you will get hit by a fine and I think that is pretty fair under circumstances.

Updated

The Victorian government webpage that allows employers to download permitted worker permit forms has crashed this morning, less than a day before citywide workplace lockdowns begin.

The site crashed somewhere between 8 and 8.30 am possible due to heavy traffic from Melburnians.

The permits are only for workers in permitted industries that are allowed to stay open during stage four, such as meat workers, supermarket employees and emergency workers.

It’s the responsibility of the employer to supply permits for all their on-site workers, and significant penalties of up to $19,826 (for individuals) and $99,132 (for businesses) who issue worker permits to employees who do not meet the requirements or who otherwise breach the workplace covid restrictions.

These permits are required from 11.59pm.

It’s understood health care workers and police are able to use their work ID in lieu of a permit.

Updated

“You’re on mute” may as well be the motto of 2020.

(Along with please scream in your heart)

Updated

Looks like the Victorian workers permit site is having a bit of trouble keeping up with the load – it is currently down.

Updated

Anyways, if you are a person who actually cares about more than your own “god-given individual rights”, here is how you wear a mask.

Updated

Scott Morrison was asked about the so-called “sovereign citizens” while speaking to Channel Seven this morning.

There are plenty of names for the IT’S MY HUMAN RIGHT NOT TO WEAR A MASK brigade, but my bosses wouldn’t let me publish them here.

Anyways, despite some on his backbench wading dangerously close to these waters, Morrison had a message for the “sovereigns” among us:

Get real is my message. Get real. This is a difficult time for everybody, I know people are angry and frustrated. There’s been a lot of confusion and still to be worked out on some of these restrictions, particularly in relation to supplies.

We are working with the Victorian government on the supermarket sector as well, and distribution issues, many issues raised with the Victorian government. I hope they are addressed.

For everyone else, I noticed that. We have to get through this, we have to make sure this work. What we don’t need as those of the special incidents we saw with that attack, but assault on a police officer just doing their job.

People are doing their job, seeking to have these arrangements followed and complied with. It is not unreasonable to wear a mask, not unreasonable to do the most basic things around distancing. Another toughest stuff because you can’t go to work, but the stuff is to close your business, the stuff is to close your business, the toughest as for your kids to not be able to go to school. It is tough. That is why we are providing the scale support we are.

Updated

Queensland is up first today, again – 9am for that state’s update.

Updated

Meanwhile, climate change hasn’t gone anywhere, even if it is not getting all the attention it deserves.

Daniel Andrews said you can’t have someone come over and mow your lawn during the hard lockdown.

But the Jim from Jim’s Mowing, Jim Penman, has his own interpretation of the rules.

You can find the work permit application here

To issue a worker permit, employers will need:

  • name, ABN, company address and trading name
  • the name and date of birth of the employee
  • the employee’s regular hours and place of work
  • to meet all eligibility criteria, including that the business is a permitted activity
  • to meet all relevant legal obligations
  • to have a Covid-safe plan in place
  • to authorise a person or people to issue the worker permit.

How to issue a worker permit

Each employee required to be on site must receive an individual worker permit with the required details.

Employers must:

  1. Download the template from this page and fill it out.
    • Employers must use this template for all worker permits issued under this scheme.
  2. Sign the worker permit. You can print and sign or sign it electronically.
    • Businesses must get an authorised person to sign the worker permit. This person might be the CEO, a HR manager, an operations manager or anyone else that is suitable.
    • They must be accountable for the details they provide.
    • They may be contacted by Victoria police or other enforcement agencies to confirm the details.
  3. Ask the employee to sign the worker permit. They can print and sign or sign electronically.
    • You can email or text the worker permit to your employee.
    • An employee may travel to work without a worker permit once to get their first permit.

Updated

From midnight, Melbourne’s new workplace restrictions come into force:

From 11:59pm Wednesday 5 August, workplaces in Melbourne must be closed unless:

  • the workplace is part of a permitted activity, or
  • all employees are working from home.

From 11:59pm on Wednesday 5 August, employers that require their staff to attend a work site must issue a worker permit to their employees – this is the employer’s responsibility.

Penalties of up to $19,826 (for individuals) and $99,132 (for businesses) will apply to employers who issue worker permits to employees who do not meet the requirements of the worker permit scheme or who otherwise breach the scheme requirements.

There will also be on-the-spot fines of up to $1,652 (for individuals) and up to $9,913 (for businesses) for anyone who breaches the scheme requirements. This includes employers, and employees who do not carry their worker permit when travelling to and from work.

One of Scott Morrison’s engagements this morning was the Aspen Security Forum Digital Initiative Virtual Address (he also did Sunrise and Today, but not ABC News Breakfast).

At last count, it doesn’t seem like too many people tuned in.

Updated

Night two of the Melbourne curfew.

Updated

At least 50 people are confirmed to have died in the Beirut harbour explosion. You can follow our live coverage of the aftermath here.

Updated

One Australian killed in Beirut blast

The images coming out of Lebanon this morning (our time) have been absolutely heartbreaking.

Updated

Good morning

Victoria’s biggest on-the-spot fine comes into force today, with people who break isolation rules facing up to $20,000 in fines ($5,000 on the spot).

Outdoor exercise for those who have been diagnosed with Covid-19, designated a close contact or ordered into isolation, is now also banned.

Work permits are coming in for those essential workers who are allowed out of the house (we should have more information on that soon) and we should actually get an answer on what happens in regards to childcare in Victoria today.

Not surprisingly, some people are having trouble coping with all that is going on.

Mental health will be one of the focuses moving forward. Daniel Andrews has promised more support. Across the nation, the number of mental health plan appointments has also increased.

Scott Morrison has been out and about this morning on the interview train.

We’ll bring you that, and everything else which happens today. You have Amy Remeikis for most of the day.

Ready?

Updated

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