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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Luke Henriques-Gomes (now) and Elias Visontay (earlier)

Hard border leads to massive queues as clusters found to be linked – as it happened

Kerry Chant and Gladys Berejiklian at Friday’s media conference
Kerry Chant (left) and Gladys Berejiklian at Friday’s media conference. Dr Chant says authorities still consider NSW as having three separate Covid clusters, despite a genomic link between cases in the northern beaches, Croydon and Wollongong. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

We’re going to leave it there for now. I hope you’ve had a relaxing first day of 2021. Of course, we all hope it’s the start of a better year.

Here are today’s headlines:

  • NSW recorded three new local cases, in Western Sydney. Investigations are ongoing. Authorities in NSW say the Croydon cluster in Sydney’s inner-west is linked to the northern beaches.
  • Victoria recorded five new cases in the past 24 hours, but these had already been revealed yesterday.
  • Victoria’s decision to impose a hard border to all of NSW from 11.59pm tonight led to massive queues at the border overnight. Queues are easing now, but authorities insist that anyone arriving at the border from tomorrow will be turned away. The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, was critical of the border closure.
  • A further two cases were confirmed among Victorian residents who visited the NSW south coast on holidays. Those cases will be recorded in tomorrow’s figures.
  • South Australia ramped up border checks to ensure any Victorians who have visited hotspots can be told to self-isolate for 14 days.
  • The Sydney Festival cancelled some events due to border closures.

We’ll see you tomorrow.

Updated

We have some further detail around the two positive cases linked to the Thai restaurant in Black Rock.

The “index case” linked to the pair tested positive about 5pm on 30 December.

The pair had been at the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant on 21 December. They then travelled to Lakes Entrance on 28 and 29 December, and travelled to Bega and Bermagui area.

They were contacted by Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services and informed they were close contacts of a positive case on 31 December. At the time, the pair were already in line to be tested in NSW, because they had seen media coverage about the outbreak.

The Victorian government says exposure sites will be provided later tonight.

Updated

Also from AAP:

Police have caught and charged a total of 340 alleged drink drivers in NSW between Christmas eve and 1 January.

South Australia ramps up Vic border checks

South Australia has increased screening of travellers from Victoria, with some to be asked to self-quarantine, in response to the Covid-19 cluster in Melbourne.

Anyone arriving at Adelaide Airport or travelling through the road border checkpoints at Yamba and Pinnaroo will now be questioned about possible links to coronavirus exposure sites identified by Victorian authorities, reports AAP.

If they have been to any of the locations, which include shopping centres, restaurants, and churches, they will be required to isolate for 14 days and get tested on day one, five and 12.

Victorians who have visited any of the locations in Melbourne and who are planning to travel to SA are also being asked not to come.

The tighter security follows a decision by authorities on Thursday to impose a hard border with NSW, preventing anyone from that state entering SA, in response to the virus clusters in Sydney.

Only returning residents, people permanently relocating and essential travellers are exempt from the new rules.

Returning residents or people relocating will still need to quarantine for 14 days and can only make that trip once.

A 100km buffer zone will be put in place on the SA-NSW border to allow cross-border residents free movement across the state line.

Updated

Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has issued its daily Covid statement.

As we reported earlier, there were five new community acquired cases: four of these cases are located in metropolitan Melbourne and one in regional Victoria in Leongatha.

There were 13,108 tests conducted yesterday.

DHHS says it has established two new testing sites at:

  • East Ringwood Reserve, 49A Mount Dandenong Road, East Ringwood – 9am to 5pm
  • Hallam Secondary College drive through – 2pm onwards

“Most testing sites are experiencing long delays and some will close temporarily to enable testing staff to get through the existing demand,” a statement said.

“There are some sites where the number of people in the queue has already reached the capacity of the site, and therefore, people will be referred to another testing site.”

A search is continuing for a man missing in bushland in the Canning Mills area, south-east of Perth.

Police say fears are held for the safety of Jason William Harding who has not been seen since 28 December, reports AAP.

On Thursday, his vehicle and other personal belongings were found abandoned, prompting a search for the 49-year-old.

It continued on Friday with local police using horses and drones to comb the area.

“Given where the vehicle was located, and the hot weather experienced in recent days, concerns are held for Mr Harding’s welfare,” police said in a statement.

They are keen to speak with anyone who may have seen or spoken to the missing man since Monday.

Liberal MP wants end to northern beaches lockdown

The federal Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who represents part of the northern beaches, says the lockdown in the area should end.

Updated

A teenager is in hospital after a New Year’s Eve knife attack near Geelong, while another man has life-threatening injuries after a party was gatecrashed in Melbourne’s south-east.

A 48-year-old man was airlifted to hospital with critical injuries after the incident in Cranbourne West, while two other men, aged 41 and 30, suffered serious injuries.

More than a dozen serious assaults were reported to police overnight, but police deputy commissioner Rick Nugent said it was the quietest year the force had seen in a long time, reports AAP.

The threat of coronavirus transmission was a reality check for people, with many deciding to celebrate at home this year.

Nugent said:

I noticed a shift, and understandably so from what we’ve been through – no one wants to go through that again.

As always there are a small number of people who do the wrong thing and this year was no different.

A 16-year-old boy was the victim of a knife attack in Ocean Grove and was taken to hospital in Geelong.

One person had been arrested over that incident, while four people were arrested over the Cranbourne West assaults, he said.

Illegal fireworks were also a problem for police, with 10 incidents reported and three people arrested.

Two people suffered hand and face injuries after setting off fireworks in Lorne, and another two suffered similar injuries in Gippsland.

Nugent said:

No matter how many times you say it, we just continue to see the injuries. That’s the sad part.

A dance party in St Kilda attracted more than 100 people at one point, but crowds quickly dispersed when police arrived.

Seventeen people were arrested across the state overnight for being drunk in public, while 25 were arrested for drug offences and five for weapons offences.

Deputy commissioner Rick Nugent
Deputy commissioner Rick Nugent: ‘As always there are a small number of people who do the wrong thing.’ Photograph: Speed Media/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

This looks ominous, Melbourne.

A man has has been found dead after going for a swim in a river north of Brisbane early on New Year’s Day.

Police discovered the 20-year-old man’s body about 80 metres away from where he was last seen swimming in the Mary River near Gympie just after midnight, AAP reports.

A group of people were shining headlights on the water near their campground and say they saw the man, who then disappeared.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service deployed three swift-water rescue crews, but were unable to locate him.

Divers and State Emergency Service personnel also helped search for the man.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

The Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has commented on the change to the national anthem.

Here is part of her statement:

Changing of the lyrics in Australia’s national anthem is a small but important step in bringing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together.

This change, and PM Morrison’s explanatory statement, indicates that the government is grappling with the issues that alienate Aboriginal people from the rest of Australia. They should be congratulated for doing so.

Importantly it recognises that Australia is not ‘young’ but home to the oldest continuing living culture in the world. Now when Australians sing the anthem, it is in the knowledge that the history of this country extends hundreds of generations before invasion and federation.

While it is an important step, it is only a symbolic one. You don’t bring this country together by changing one word in our national anthem. I urge PM Morrison not to stop here but take the nation on the far more important step of striking a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

Two more cases in Victoria

We have confirmed two new cases in Victoria: they are close contacts of positive cases from Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in Black Rock.

NSW authorities mentioned earlier in their press conference that there were two people who had entered NSW from Victoria and had since tested positive.

These are the two positive cases. The pair are back in Victoria isolating.

They had been on a trip to NSW when they were notified that they were primary close contacts of the cases from the Thai restaurant. They went on to test positive.

NSW authorities said this morning the pair had been in Bermagui and Eden on 30 December and 31 December. Both areas have now been listed as hotspots.

The Victorian government says they were will be handling the cases, including contact tracing. It says there is currently no suggestion the pair did anything wrong.

They will release further details later today.

Updated

What has happened so far

Hi everyone, Luke Henriques-Gomes here. Thanks to Elias for his work this morning. I’ll be with you for the next short while.

I might start with a quick recap of today’s events.

  • NSW recorded three new local cases, in Western Sydney. Investigations are ongoing.
  • Victoria recorded five new cases in the past 24 hours, but these had already been revealed yesterday.
  • Victoria’s decision to impose a hard border to all of NSW from 11.59pm tonight led to massive queues at the border overnight. People will be turned back from tomorrow.
  • The Sydney festival cancelled some events due to border closures.

Updated

That’s it from me, Elias Visontay. I hope your 2021 has been pleasant so far.

I’ll be handing the blog over to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes, who will take you through the next part of the afternoon.

Earlier, Scott Morrison made a point of foreshadowing his plans to take leave at the end of next week.

That is a marked contrast from a year ago when he did not announce his holiday plans and when his office initially denied rumours of a Hawaii holiday - something that became a story as the bushfire crisis worsened. (Morrison later issued a statement saying he deeply regretted “any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time”.)

In today’s press conference, Morrison was very clear about his plans:

At the end of next week, from the following weekend I will be taking a week’s leave. The acting prime minister will be the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, and he will continue in that role over the course of the week.

Updated

Sydney festival cancels events due to border closures

The snap closure of state borders and re-imposition of mandatory quarantine periods for interstate travellers has had an immediate impact on Sydney festival 2021.

Three productions have already been dropped from the schedule.

The multi-lingual family show Hide the Dog – a world premiere production – has cancelled its season at the Seymour Centre.

Brisbane’s Orava Quartet is unable to proceed with its classical music concerts at Vaucluse House and Sydney Town Hall, and Adelaide-based physical theatre company Gravity & Other Myths has cancelled The Pulse, which was to open the Sydney festival’s pop-up outdoor Headland stage at Barangaroo from 6 to 10 January.

The first performance at the Headland will now be by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on 12 January.

All ticket holders are being informed of the cancellation via email.

Brisbane company Circa’s two shows, Humans 2.0 and A Bee Story, are unaffected, according to a Sydney festival spokesperson, as the company has a post-festival two-week season of its Peepshow at the Sydney Opera House opening 2 February.

While other cancellations are possible in coming days as the logistics of moving interstate become more difficult, the greater bulk of the Sydney festival program is devoted to works produced in New South Wales and will be unaffected by the recent spate of border closures.

Sydney festival is adhering to strict audience limits due to Covid-19. Audiences are asked to wear a mask for all performances.

Physical theatre company Gravity and Other Myths
Gravity and Other Myths: the Adelaide company’s show The Pulse has been dropped from the 2021 Sydney festival because of state border closures. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Updated

The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, will welcome the change to the anthem when he fronts the media in Sydney later today.

Albanese will be joined by the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, at a doorstop at 12.20pm AEDT.

It’s understood Albanese will welcome Scott Morrison’s decision to change “young and free” to “one and free” in Advance Australia Fair.

Albanese has previously described the reference to “young” as jarring, saying last year:

We are a country that should be proud of the fact that we have the oldest, continuous civilisation on the planet right here with First Nations people.

Albanese is also expected to criticise the government for proceeding with new year cuts to the jobseeker and jobkeeper payments.

Updated

Morrison was asked whether he was frustrated at the progress in the independent international inquiry into the handling of Covid-19 and whether he had any regrets about the way Australia led the calls for it. He said:

No, we’re patient and we continue to monitor the progress of that inquiry closely and support its swift conclusion.

Morrison said he was optimistic and hopeful about better relations with China this year, but that would begin with ministerial and leader-level talks that Australia would continue to pursue.

He pointedly said there was no obstacle to such talks at the Australian end.

For more background on how Australia is monitoring the global Covid inquiry, and its push for it to remain “independent” and “robust”, see my story from earlier this week:

Updated

Morrison: 'I would love to go' to the cricket in Sydney

Scott Morrison said he would “love to” attend the Sydney cricket test next week, but noted ACT border rules requiring arrivals from Sydney to quarantine mean he is unlikely to be in Sydney.

The prime minister was asked if he would attend given chief medical officer Paul Kelly earlier this week said he wouldn’t take his family out of fear of coronavirus transmission.

Morrison said:

I have great confidence in decisions the New South Wales government are making in relation to these matters and they’ll be following the medical advice. That’s how you manage those issues. And what level of crowd they decide is appropriate for the public event, I am sure will be based on the health advice. And so, on that basis, I’m comfortable with those decisions.

If I happen to be in Sydney – I think that would be unlikely, given I suspect where the ACT’s position will be over the course of the next week – if I was in Sydney, I would love to go there and sing the national anthem in the new form.

I don’t think the girls [his daughters] want to go to the cricket. If they will want to come, they can come with me.

Updated

On vaccines and whether Australia has moved fast enough, Scott Morrison said “there will be no short cuts”.

The standards must be maintained and upheld for the vaccine to be successful. Australians need to have confidence in it.

We’re being meticulous about this, because that’s what Australians deserve, and it’s important from a public health point of view in ensuring public confidence in the way the vaccine is distributed.

Paul Kelly added:

There’s not a single major regulator in the world that has given full approval for any vaccine at the moment. There have been particular emergency use authorisations in several countries, in Europe, in the UK, and the US in particular, but they’re in an extremely difficult and different situation in relation to this pandemic compared to Australia ... They’re very different situations.

Updated

Scott Morrison is asked about states and territories’ changing border rules, and whether he wants to reboot the roadmap to reopening the country.

We are moving towards a vaccine in the new year and I think that will obviously change the parameters for everybody, but that will take some time as we move through its distribution across the community.

I think we have to keep reminding ourselves that there is no simple easy way of this all being fixed – it is a global pandemic and that means that there will be frustrations from time to time. They are disruptive and they can put long-held plans at bay and it can be very disappointing.

I would hope that as quickly as the states have looked to put things in place, they would move as quickly once the risk subsides. We saw that most cases after the Adelaide outbreak which was able to have been gotten on top of very quickly. We saw these, more promptly, when there was the significant Victorian outbreak, and the New South Wales border was not closed for some time after that was done.

Morrison mentioned the Northern Territory as a good model for border rules:

This is why I hold out the Northern Territory is a very good model. They declare a hotspot and it goes on and then it comes off. And I think that is a very good model and it has been my consistent view over these many months of the pandemic.

Updated

Scott Morrison is asked to sing the new version of the national anthem, along with Paul Kelly (the professor).

Morrison refused, saying:

I think singing by prime ministers is the same as public exercise by prime ministers. It is best done in private.

I will leave the singing to Tina Arena and others much better.

Earlier, he said of the word change:

This is a simple change. I think it is a change that is very much in accordance with where Australians feel about these things.

It is not pretending to be anything more than it is... I think it has been well-received the country. There will be those who say it doesn’t go far enough and those who think it goes too far. That is democracy.

Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison: deferring to Tina Arena. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Scott Morrison is asked if he can understand why not all Australians might feel “one and free” right now given restrictions on movement.

The prime minister said he understood the frustration associated with the border disruptions, but that “we are dealing with a pandemic”.

That hasn’t changed, but it doesn’t change who we are as Australians.

These changes have been put in place by states for public health reasons and that is their purpose, not to divide Australia but to, in their decisions, seek to keep Australians safe.

As much as we would like there to be greater consistency across all of these things, we must respect their jurisdictional authority because they are ultimately responsible for what would happen in their state if there were to be an outbreak in their state.

As prime minister, I do respect that. I can have whatever view I may wish to have but ultimately they are responsible for those things that I have to respect the authority.

Updated

Chief medical officer, professor Paul Kelly, said he is “very encouraged by what has happened in New South Wales over the last couple of weeks”.

That news today that there is a definite genomic link between all of those clusters that they have seen in Wollongong, in Croydon and the Northern Beaches, as well as other parts of Sydney.”

It’s only 11 cases yesterday confirmed in Australia (yesterday). There were over 50,000 confirmed cases in the UK yesterday and when we think about our experience here in Australia through 2020, although it has been so difficult, it is so different from the rest of the world...we should really remember how well we have done as a nation.”

Morrison said today’s Covid-19 numbers from New South Wales and Victoria are “encouraging”.

I want to thank people particularly in New South Wales but also for the people of Victoria for their response to the public health messaging and the controls that have been put in place. Especially those coming forward for testing. The record numbers we have seen come forward for testing has been extraordinary and enormously helpful for those who are doing the job to keep Australian safe both in those areas and for the benefit of the other parts of the country.

And in Victoria, we are seeing already, I think, the results of the strengthening of their tracing systems that have been put in place over many months and it has been good to see how that has swung into gear over the course of the last 24 hours or so or longer. And we are seeing them getting on top of that information very quickly which is assisting them in managing this most recent outbreak in Victoria.”

Morrison also said he will remain in Canberra for the foreseeable future given current border restrictions that would force him to quarantine if he returned to the ACT from NSW. He also said he will take a week of leave this month.

At the end of next week, from the following weekend I will be taking a week’s leave. The acting prime minister, will be the deputy prime minister Michael McCormack and he will continue in that role over the course of the week.”

Morrison again emphasises that the change from “young and free” to “one and free” is not a radical one.

It’s a message that appears pitched at some conservatives who may be uneasy about the change:

It’s a change for all Australians, and I’ve already been encouraged by the strong response from Australians right across the country, Indigenous, not Indigenous, people of all different backgrounds, people of all different political views.

I think that it very much sits in the mainstream of where Australia would like us to go and I think it’s a great way to start the New Year.”

He turns to the Covid developments.

Updated

Scott Morrison is addressing reporters at Parliament House alongside the chief health officer, Prof Paul Kelly.

The prime minister begins by talking about the anthem change, saying: “How good is Australia?”

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian is asked about changes to restrictions.

She said:

We always rely on the health advice, but if we get to a stage or if we feel that there is too many cases that are completely unlinked or unrelated or something pops out unexpectedly, it does cause concern and of course we will adjust our settings if that’s the case, but in New SouthWales we make sure that we adjust our settings based on the health advice, based on the rates of testing, based on whether we can establish links, so there’s a number of things we look at, a number of things we do.

From where we were a couple of weeks ago when the cluster was at quite large numbers to where we are today, the strategy in place is, we feel, working. However we are always concerned when cases pop up which we can’t establish a link for at this stage and that’s why those cases in Western Sydney are a big concern for us.”

Gladys Berejiklian is asked if there are enough contact tracers in NSW given the current caseload.

She said “it is not the quantity necessarily but it is how good people are at the job”.

We have had one or two people who had major breakthroughs at the right time and found those crossovers, so it’s not just the number of people you have on the job, but it’s how great they are at their job and we are lucky in New South Wales that we got a number of people who are very good at this.”

Updated

From that Victorian update:

Kerry Chant also said authorities still considered the state as having three separate clusters, despite a genomic link between the coronavirus strain in the northern beaches, Croydon and Wollongong clusters.

This is because they have not confirmed transmission events between the clusters.

Chant said that as cases turned up across Sydney, “we would progressively expect the risk in the Northern Beaches to be rapidly declining”.

Updated

Kerry Chant has spoken about two Victorians who authorities believe have brought Covid-19 into NSW.

Two cases travelled to New South Wales from Victoria on 30 December 2020. They had dinner at the Great Southern Hotel in Eden from 5pm to 6.30pm and the venue has been contacted and contact tracing is under way in relation to that venue.

We are asking people to get tested and isolate and public health will provide further updated advice as we understand the nature of exposures that occurred at that venue.

Chant also said the cases ate at Bermi’s cafe in Bermagui from 9pm to 10pm on 31 December.

Updated

Mick Willing, the NSW police assistant commissioner, said police were generally pleased with how Sydneysiders complied with New Year’s Eve restrictions.

He said:

Five infringements were issued to commercial premises in relation to Covid breaches and seven to individuals. There are a number of matters that are currently under investigation in leading further breaches that were potentially committed by commercial premises and a larger Airbnb party in the Hills district that may see up to 30 infringement notices issued

I conclude by saying that we are generally pleased by the way that Sydneysiders and those in the regional areas saw in the new year.

Updated

Sydney's Covid clusters linked

Kerry Chant said that genomic sequencing of cases from the Croydon cluster show the virus strain is linked to the northern beaches.

The genomic sequencing result came back late yesterday, and what that showed is the Croydon cluster is linked to the Avalon cluster, and the two cases recorded in Wollongong are also linked to the Avalon cluster.

So all those cases are linked, and investigations and contact tracing are trying to establish the epidemiological links.

Chant also a new venue of concern in Wollongong has been visited by confirmed cases.

Anyone who attended the Swallowed Anchor at 156/160 Crown St, Wollongong, at any time of the day on Saturday 19 December must get tested immediately and self-isolate until they receive further advice from NSW Health.

Updated

New South Wales chief health officer Kerry Chant said none of the three new cases were linked to the northern beaches cluster.

However, she said the cluster now numbered 146, after two previously unlinked cases were linked to the cluster yesterday.

Chant also urged residents of western Sydney to get tested, specifically Greystanes, Auburn, Berala and Lidcombe.

Updated

NSW records three new local Covid-19 cases

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced three new cases from 32,010 tests conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday night.

Two new locally acquired cases are from western Sydney – a man in his 40s and a man in his 20s – and investigations are ongoing into the source of their infections.

The third new locally acquired case – a man in his 20s also from western Sydney – is a close contact of one of these cases.

Updated

Weimar said there were now 170 close contacts of confirmed cases in Victoria, and “hundreds” of secondary contacts who would also be asked to get tested and self-isolate.

He also said a transmission event had occurred at the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in Black Rock.

The virus was transferred between people sitting at adjacent tables at the restaurant.

Updated

Jeroen Weimar said Victoria would introduce a transit permit to allow Victorians in Queensland and other jurisdictions to drive through New South Wales when returning to Victoria.

He also warned he was expecting more long queues at the NSW border tonight, as Victorians have their last chance to return home from NSW. He said:

With regards to the border closure, my thanks to the literally thousands of people who started packing up and returning to Victoria. I know we saw some very long waiting times in queues at border crossings last night and during the early hours of this morning and I have had conversations with colleagues to assess how things were going with the waiting times of around two and a half hours.

We continue to make good operation decisions on the ground for the health and safety of people. We are confident, based on all the checks we have undertaken, that Victorians are presenting at border checks with the correct permits and information.

We are expecting another very busy day today at the border, as the minister has said. The border to NSW will shut at 11.59pm tonight.

Anybody in the queue at that time will be allowed to go through but that does not extend to people tomorrow morning. If you’re in NSW and you want to be back in Victoria, you need to leave now. Please prepare for a lengthy wait at the border, so make sure you have fuel, water, food and whatever you need to isolate safely when you get home.

We have been talking about this Sydney closure cluster for over two weeks now and warning about the risks of getting stranded on the wrong side of the border for a number of days, so we will ask you to ensure that today you need to be where you intend to stay.

If you intend to stay in NSW, that is absolutely fine. If you intend to return to your home in Victoria, you need to get home now and make sure you have everything you need to self isolate.

We will be making arrangements after tomorrow for people who need to transit from NSW to other states – travellers from Queensland, for example, there will be transit permits available.

Updated

Victoria’s Covid-19 commander, Jeroen Weimar, said there had been “some shifts in our understanding” of the state’s outbreak.

He said a closer link had been identified between the Mitcham and Mentone cases centred on the Thai restaurant Smile Buffalo.

Weimar also urged anybody who had been to the following locations at the times indicated on the DHHS website to get tested and isolate for 14 days and contact authorities.

  • The Black Rock Cafe
  • Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant at Black Rock
  • Royal Brighton yacht club
  • Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic Church
  • Village Cinema, Glen Waverley

Updated

Foley also clarifies the indoor mask mandate for some activities:

From 5pm yesterday, our rules for mandatory mask wearing came in and I confirm as part of these, for those Victorians undertaking beauty services in the coming days, you must wear your mask in all indoor spaces.

However, masks can be removed if you are receiving a service where it is not practical for you to receive that service while wearing a mask – for example if you are receiving a facial.

For gyms, it is the same rule. You must wear your masks in all indoor spaces, however if you are engaged in any indoor strenuous physical activity and the gym, you can remove that mask – for example jogging, running, cycling.

Updated

Victorian health minister Martin Foley is speaking now.

He said the five cases reported yesterday were detected from 13,108 tests. So far there had been nine locally acquired cases recorded in Victoria this week.

“The New South Wales link is still our primary line of investigation for this outbreak,” Foley said. He expected genomic sequencing data on the new cases to become available “very shortly”.

He said:

We have seen reports overnight of long lines at border entrances and we have seen Victorians understandably frustrated by that ... Victorian police and SES volunteers are working as hard as they can to move people through border checkpoints as quickly and as safely as possible.

We ask all motorists to be prepared for delays again and to be patient.

Updated

There are a few press conferences scheduled for this morning.

At 10.30am there will be a Victorian coronavirus update.

And at 11am New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian will speak in Sydney.

I’ll be bringing you updates from them both here.

Updated

No new coronavirus cases in Victoria

Victoria’s Covid-19 commander, Jeroen Weimar, has told ABC Radio that Victoria has not detected any new cases since yesterday afternoon.

However, the five cases recorded earlier on Thursday, and previously announced by authorities, will go into the daily number that is announced at Victoria’s coronavirus update on Friday.

Updated

New South Wales health authorities have alerted to venues of coronavirus concern across the state.

Here is Guardian Australia’s up-to-date list of all of the venues:

Updated

In case you missed it earlier, the Morrison government has tweaked a reference to the country being “young and free” in the national anthem, amid concerns the previous wording overlooks the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that stretches back tens of thousands of years.

The line has been changed to “we are one and free”.

Updated

Whether it was protecting his hero Don Bradman’s name from exploitation or preventing same-sex couples from accessing IVF, John Howard often injected much of his own values into policymaking during 2000.

The 2000 cabinet papers released on Friday by the National Archives of Australia reveal a number of captain’s calls that were quintessentially Howard.

Among them was the then-prime minister’s decision to take an unprecedented step toward protecting Bradman’s name using the corporations law.

At the time, the Australian cricketing great had taken legal action against companies trying to register his name. In Adelaide he was fighting an adult bookshop on the newly named Sir Donald Bradman Drive from trying to rename itself as “Erotica on Bradman”.

Howard, Bradman’s No 1 fan, stepped in to propose an amendment to the corporations law to put the matter beyond doubt.

Then-prime minister John Howard in November 1999
Then-prime minister John Howard in November 1999. Photograph: Rob Griffith/AP

Updated

Here’s a gallery of events marking the new year in Australia and New Zealand.

Police on horseback on a nearly deserted Opera House forecourt before the Sydney Harbour fireworks display.
Police on horseback on a nearly deserted Opera House forecourt before the Sydney Harbour fireworks display at midnight. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
The new year’s fireworks and Opera House forecourt during the celebrations
The new year’s fireworks and Opera House forecourt during the celebrations. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

Updated

I’ve had a few questions this morning on what Victoria’s border closure means for people in the Australian Capital Territory.

The ACT is still considered a green zone in Victoria, and as was touched on during a press conference yesterday, you can still drive from the ACT to Victoria and enter without isolation. You will need a border permit.

You can also drive from the ACT and Queensland to South Australia, via NSW, provided you take a direct route and don’t make unnecessary stops.

SA police commissioner Grant Stevens said:

You can’t stop in a township and go for a tour of the town or avail yourself of other facilitates that are not essential to your travel between Queensland and South Australia, or the ACT and South Australia.

Updated

Australia's 2020 road toll almost 1,100

Nearly 1,100 people were killed on Australia’s roads in 2020, reports AAP.

The preliminary figure is only slightly less than the previous year, despite much of the country being in Covid-19 lockdown for consecutive months of 2020.

Lives were lost in every state and territory, with New South Wales leading the toll with 296 fatalities up to 30 December. Queensland was just behind, with 265 deaths in the period up to 20 December and Victoria recorded 212 deaths up to 30 December.

The NSW figure of 296 fatalities for the calendar year to date was down from 351 deaths at the same time the previous year. Most of those killed in NSW were drivers and were male. The 26- to 39-year-old age group made up most of the deaths.

In the period up to 20 December in Queensland, there were 265 fatalities from 239 crashes in 2020. Most were drivers.

According to the state’s Transport and Main Roads, this year’s 265 deaths are up 21% or 46 more fatalities than the same period in 2019 and up 12.7% on the previous five-year average for the same period.

This is despite the Covid-19 lockdown keeping motorists off the road for great chunks of the year. Queensland’s preliminary figures show 20% of the fatalities involved speeding and 20 per cent involved drink drivers or riders.

Victoria was one of the states where the road toll this year fell when compared to the previous year. According to the Transport Accident Commission, 212 lives were lost in the calendar year to midnight 30 December. This is down 20% from the 265 deaths in the same period last year.

Victoria has had the harshest pandemic lockdown of all states and this may account for the drop in road deaths. The majority of those killed on Victorian roads were males and most were drivers.

In the year to 23 December, there were 154 lives lost in Western Australia, compared with 161 in 2019. In the same period in Northern Territory, 32 have been killed on the roads compared with 35 last year.

The Australian Capital Territory has recorded seven deaths and to November there were 37 deaths in Tasmania, which is up on the previous year. In South Australia, in the period to 30 December, the number of road deaths was 96, down from 114 the previous year.

The Australian national road toll for 2019 was 1188. Final road toll figures for 2020 are expected to be released in January.

Updated

More from the New South Wales-Victoria border:

Gabrielle Dolan was travelling back to Victoria from a holiday at Bermagui on the NSW coast. She told Guardian Australia that “after waiting five hours, everyone was just waved through”.

There are also concerns that phone and internet reception added to the delays at the border.

Vehicles queue as police check entry permits to Victoria from NSW at Mallacoota
Police check entry permits to Victoria from NSW at Mallacoota on Thursday. Photograph: Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Updated

The trade minister, Dan Tehan, says Australia’s existing network of free trade agreements will deliver another round of tariff cuts from today.

Tehan has issued a New Year’s Day statement promoting the benefits that will flow to Australian farmers and export businesses when trade barriers are reduced.

The upbeat comments about trading opportunities follow a year in which Australian exporters have been unsettled by tensions in the relationship with China, Australia’s top trading partner.

Tehan said Australia was a trading nation and its high-quality products were in demand globally.

“Reducing trade barriers will boost export opportunities for Australian farmers and businesses in key export markets which translates to more jobs and economic growth in Australia.”

Trade negotiators often use 1 January as a start date for rounds of tariff reductions in free trade agreements. Here are the highlights in pre-scheduled tariff cuts, according to Tehan:

Australian fresh or chilled beef exporters will benefit from further cuts to Canadian tariffs in 2021 under the comprehensive and progressive agreement for Trans-Pacific partnership. The value of fresh or chilled beef exports to Canada increased by 92% to reach $33m in 2019-20.

Tariff reductions on Australian sheep and goat meat exports under our bilateral free trade agreement with Korea helped increase those exports by eight per cent, to reach $169m in 2019-20. Starting today, tariffs on these products will be cut from 6.7 to 4.5 per cent.

Under our bilateral free trade agreement with Indonesia, Australian honey exporters will benefit from tariffs being cut from 3.25 to 3% in 2021. Australian honey exports to Indonesia increased by 191% to reach $808,000 in 2019-20.

Updated

For anyone frustrated that La Niña means we don’t have as warm a New Year’s Day, at least it’s not -33C anywhere in Australia today.

Updated

Health authorities in Victoria will ramp up sewage analysis after an “unexpected” detection of Covid-19 fragments in wastewater samples taken from Lakes Entrance.

A Victorian Department of Health and Human Services statement said the viral fragments were detected in a sample of wastewater taken from the inlet to the Lakes Entrance wastewater treatment plant on 29 December.

Lakes Entrance is about 320km east of Melbourne.

The statement said:

The DHHS is urging anyone in the Lakes Entrance area with any coronavirus (Covid-19) symptoms, no matter how mild, to get tested and stay home until they receive their result.

There will be an increase in wastewater samples taken from Lakes Entrance following the unexpected result.

Bairnsdale Regional Health Services’ drive-through testing site is open from 9am to 5pm on New Year’s Day and over the weekend.

Updated

Here’s a picture of the situation on the New South Wales-Victoria border from a few hours ago.

Updated

Welcome to 2021

Happy new year, and welcome to the Australia news live blog for 1 January. Fingers crossed we have better news to bring you in 2021. I’m Elias Visontay. Here’s what’s making news this morning.

  • As Sydney and Melbourne welcomed in the new year while complying with strict gathering restrictions, there was chaos on the New South Wales-Victoria border. Victorians rushing back to their home state before midnight to avoid a mandatory 14-day home quarantine were forced to negotiate a reportedly hours-long queue.
  • Newly released cabinet papers from 2000 reveal a government preoccupied with the GST, carbon emissions and returning the country to John Howard’s ideal.
  • The Australian government has tweaked a reference to the country being “young and free” in the national anthem, amid concerns the previous wording overlooks the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that stretches back tens of thousands of years. The line has been changed to “we are one and free”.
  • NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is under increasing pressure over standing by her decision not to make masks mandatory, after her state announced 10 new cases, with authorities yet to confirm the source of transmission behind the growing Croydon cluster.
  • Eight cases of community transmission of Covid-19 in Victoria, which prompted the state government to swiftly close the border with NSW and introduce new restrictions hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations, are believed to be linked back to a returned traveller from Sydney.
  • Australia is planning to build Antarctica’s biggest infrastructure project: a new airport and runway that would increase the human footprint in the world’s greatest wilderness by an estimated 40%.

If you want to get in touch, please send me an email at elias.visontay@theguardian.com or get in touch via Twitter @eliasvisontay.

Updated

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