What we learned today, Thursday 7 January
We’re shutting up shop for the day. Thanks for reading. Here are today’s main developments:
- Prime minister Scott Morrison says Australia is on track to begin Covid-19 vaccination of high-priority groups in mid to late February.
- A Queensland hotel quarantine cleaner has tested positive to the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19. Her diagnosis has prompted health authorities to send aged care homes in parts of greater Brisbane into lockdown.
- Western Australian health authorities will investigate three separate breaches of personal protective equipment policy which occurred when medical staff moved a patient who had the UK strain of the virus from a quarantine hotel to hospital.
- Victoria and NSW both recorded no new cases of locally-acquired Covid-19 to 8pm on Wednesday, although NSW did record one new case in the northern beaches after the 8pm deadline that will be included in Friday’s figures.
You can keep up with the latest developments around the world in our global live blog here:
Updated
Queensland hotel quarantine cleaner contracts UK strain
The Queensland hotel quarantine cleaner who tested positive to Covid-19, as confirmed earlier, has contracted the UK strain of the virus.
The cleaner was working at a hotel that contained patients with the strain, which has been found to be more infectious than previous strains.
The positive case, a woman in her 20s, was infectious from 2 January before testing positive after showing symptoms on Wednesday.
Her diagnosis has prompted health authorities to send aged care homes in parts of greater Brisbane in to lockdown.
It comes after it was confirmed that a woman in Western Australia who travelled from the UK also has the new virus strain.
Updated
Well, that was quick. Emergency warning downgraded for that bushfire in Victoria’s high country, near Mount Buller. As you were (fire is still there and people should be cautious, but it’s under control).
A watch and act warning, the step down from emergency, has also been issued by VicEmergency for the same region, including Chapel Hill.
The Victorian high country is splendid this time of year, and therefore quite busy, so hopefully everyone stays safe.
This WATCH & ACT - BUSHFIRE has been issued for Boorolite, Chapel Hill, Howqua Hills, Merrijig.
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) January 7, 2021
There is a bushfire at Powers Rd, Merrijig (Mount Buller) that is not yet under control.
More details at https://t.co/4PMExNRDQx
We’ve got an emergency warning from Victorian authorities for a bushfire in the high country, near Mount Buller. People in Boorolite, Howqua Hills and Merrijig are being told to leave now, before it’s too late.
This EMERGENCY WARNING - BUSHFIRE has been issued for Boorolite, Howqua Hills, Merrijig.
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) January 7, 2021
There is a bushfire at Powers Rd, Merrijig (Mount Buller) that is not yet under control.
More details at https://t.co/kGgCmehiu9 pic.twitter.com/v660MxFa63
Mark McGowan warns against complacency after PPE breaches force three people to isolate
Well, the West Australian premier Mark McGowan is flabbergasted. He’s planning to investigate how, exactly, three separate breaches of wearing personal protective equipment occurred in the state.
The breaches occurred when a woman in her 80s from the UK, who had tested positive for Covid-19, was transferred from a quarantine hotel to hospital. The breaches resulted in a paramedic, a nurse, and a third person having to isolate.
This from an AAP report on McGowan’s media conference today:
“Clearly there is complacency and mistakes are creeping in,” the premier said. “I urge our health workforce, our security workforce, our cleaning workforce [to] continue to adhere to your training, continue to listen to the advice.”
McGowan praised frontline workers for their dedication during the pandemic but urged them to not get complacent.
“We’ve seen outbreaks occur around Australia and around the world through staff who work in quarantine hotels and those sorts of facilities,” he said. “We don’t want to see that happen here.”
McGowan said the health department had given him an “absolute assurance” there was no risk to public health as a result of the breaches. The woman arrived from the UK on 2 January already showing symptoms of the virus and later tested positive.
It was confirmed on Thursday she has the UK strain of the virus. She was initially placed in hotel quarantine, but her condition required a transfer on Tuesday to the Royal Perth hospital where she is stable.
Updated
If you’re thinking about dinner, think about how good a FREE dinner will taste when the NSW government starts handing out vouchers next month to assist businesses impacted by the pandemic. A story on that here by my colleague Josh Taylor:
WA department of fire and emergency services’ Sven Anderson, the incident controller for the Red Gully fire, is giving an update on the blaze and the weather conditions.
The fire has been burning for almost a week north of Perth.
He says the fire has been reasonably stationary for the past day and a half, but firefighters have been working around the clock to keep it within those containment lines.
A cool change has just started to arrive at the southern end of the fire which could test containment lines.
We’re confident of some of our containment lines, but with a significant wind change coming in today, that will put some pressure on containment lines that we haven’t actually had tested previously.
So we’re still saying to people, just be aware, we’re not out of the woods yet. Please don’t become complacent because of the lack of fire activity on that fire specifically.
There is still a lot of hotspots ... they could spot at any time and we could be chasing a running fire yet again.
Updated
Australian biosecurity and infectious disease experts are fairly complimentary of the government’s Covid-19 vaccine plan, released earlier today. Here’s what some of them had to say:
Prof Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity program at University of NSW’s Kirby Institute:
This is excellent news. The international border is the greatest threat to us, because of new mutations of the virus which may be 50-80% more transmissible than the current strain. One of these strains has become the main strain in the UK, and they are finding that the standard control measures such as social distancing are not working as well. If one of these strains takes off here, it may be more difficult to contain.
Prof Julie Leask, from the school of nursing and midwifery at the University of Sydney:
“The news that certain priority groups will get the vaccine early should be greeted with cautious welcome.
This is a large complex program which requires careful planning, coordination, a well-trained workforce and an informed public. There are important logistical issues to consider. High-quality immunisation service provision is just as important as high-quality vaccines.
Dr Andrew S. Flies, senior research fellow at the University of Tasmania:
While many countries are in the midst of chaotic responses to widespread Covid-19 infections, Australia is in the enviable position of trying to stamp regional outbreaks and maintain Covid-19 free zones in other areas. Maintaining Covid-19 free zones allows for a more normal life and economic activity. A primary threat to regions that have been Covid-free for many months is the incursion the SARS-CoV-2 virus from international travellers. The best weapons against Covid-19 remain social distancing and masks, but vaccines offer powerful disease prevention tools, particularly for workers at international arrival and quarantine locations.
CSIRO’s health and biosecurity director Dr Rob Grenfell:
This is a great step towards controlling Covid-19 in Australia. It’s important to note that while the logistics are being sped up, safety is remaining everyone’s top priority. We can be reassured by the approach that Australia’s independent Therapeutic Goods Administration is taking, as one of the most stringent regulatory agencies in the world.
Updated
NSW Health have added some new locations in Wentworthville and Avalon which were visited by a person with Covid-19 in the past week.
If you visited the ChemSave Day and Night Pharmacy in Wentworthville on 3 January between 10.40am – 10.50am or 9.30pm – 9.40pm you should get tested immediately and isolate until receiving a negative result.
People who visited the Avalon Woolworths and Chemist Warehouse at various times on 2, 3, 4 January should monitor for symptoms.
South Australia flags pre-flight testing for incoming international travellers
We have heard a fair bit about what Victoria plans to push at national cabinet tomorrow, but South Australian premier Steven Marshall also has something on the agenda: pre-flight Covid-19 testing for all incoming international travellers.
Under his plan, if you don’t have a negative test result, you can’t board the flight. Marshall says he first raised this plan during last month’s national cabinet meeting.
“We are very concerned with what’s happening with the situation around the rest of the world,” he said, according to a report by the ABC.
“I think it’s absolutely critical that we do that pre-flight testing … we’ve been very keen to progress it again tomorrow at national cabinet.”
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull has criticised his successor, Scott Morrison, for his handling of the crisis in the US.
Turnbull told ABC TV:
When you look at things other leaders have said [Morrison’s response] does look a bit weak, a bit tepid. But it’s a judgment call, you don’t want to get drawn into a running commentary. But this is pretty special. This is a US president actively seeking to undermine the credibility of a democracy he’s supposed to be leading – this is right out there.
Asked if Morrison should return his Legion of Merit, Turnbull said the way such awards work is an inquiry is made as to whether a leader will accept it, and it’s a “pity” Morrison didn’t make a “tactful excuse” to not accept it.
“It’s always a bit fraught accepting honours from other countries, it’s a bit questionable.”
Turnbull said it would have been better if Morrison could “avoid having received it in the first place” but it seems the better course now is to “do nothing” – not hand the award back.
Updated
We’ve got some more detail in from Service NSW about the unexpected app outage that impacted on contact tracing throughout the state earlier today. The app is functioning again.
A statement from the Department of Customer Service confirmed there was an outage for two hours for some users, but that online check-in was still available via an online form.
Here’s the full statement:
This afternoon Service NSW App experienced an unexpected outage preventing some customers from checking in with the COVID Safe Check-in tool. The outage lasted for 2 hours and is now resolved.
It is vital that customer contact details are still collected digitally. In the event of an outage, customers and businesses are encouraged to use the Service NSW check-in webform for all check-ins.
The webform was not impacted by the outage.
Customers can access the webform by scanning the QR Code or businesses can display the Check-in webform on their own devices for customers to use.
Alternatively the customer record can be in the form of a spreadsheet or any other form of digital entry that can track customer check-ins and protects the privacy of your clientele.
If there are unexpected circumstances which prevent the use of electronic methods to collect contact details, any paper records must be entered into an electronic format such as a spreadsheet within 12 hours.
Service NSW apologises for any inconvenience caused by the outage and thanks customers for their understanding during this time.
Updated
The NSW police are more readily dishing out $200 fines for not wearing a mask. There were 12 issued yesterday, including to a bloke who was fined twice and said he wouldn’t be wearing a mask. Another said he wasn’t wearing one because he had a beard and it wouldn’t work.
NSW police also said in a statement released earlier this afternoon that more than 50 warnings were issued.
A reminder that in Victoria, where far more (and far more expensive) fines were handed out for breaches of Covid-19 restrictions, young people and Sudanese and Aboriginal people were overrepresented.
Updated
Optimism abounds on the Australian stock exchange, which has been rising all day with the benchmark ASX 200 index up by 1.84%.
Shares in major miner Rio Tinto are leading the charge, up by a whopping 7.78% at around 3.20pm, while Lynas Corporation, which digs up the rare earths used in things like smartphones, is up almost 7.6%.
The big banks are up by between 2% and 4% but there’s buoyancy across all sectors except technology, which has gone backwards.
The buying frenzy appears to be clogging up broker systems, with CBA’s Commsec platform warning it’s “experiencing very high call volumes and wait times are longer than usual”.
Quite an interesting little snippet out of a court report from AAP: a Victorian homicide case has been delayed because of the diversion of police resources to handle the pandemic.
Here’s that story in full:
Homicide detectives have been delayed in building a case in a Victorian murder investigation because of resources being diverted to hotel quarantine and border controls, according to prosecutors.
Three people charged with the murder of Victorian man Jarrad Lovison faced the magistrates court on Thursday, where prosecutors sought an extension to providing their legal teams with evidence.
Samantha Guillerme, 24, Jake Brown, 28 and Andrew Price, 47, are charged with murdering Lovison.
He disappeared from Newborough, a town bordering Moe, on 16 April last year. His body was found at Moondarra, about 30km north, on 23 May. Guillerme, Price and Brown all appeared by video link from prison during the hearing. Guillerme waved and blew kisses to her family, while the accused all wished each other a Merry Christmas.
Prosecutor Tim McCulloch asked for a committal mention, scheduled for Thursday, to be pushed back another six weeks. Police had been due to hand over their full brief of evidence against the trio on 1 December.
Part of the information had been provided but other parts were being affected by the diversion of police resources to support hotel quarantine and border control operations relating to Victoria’s coronavirus response, he said.
McCulloch said a significant volume of phone and listening device intercepts remained outstanding and could not yet be provided to the defence lawyers. It would take another month or two to transcribe that evidence and investigators would then need time to check it for accuracy.
Forensic statements on drug and firearm analysis were also outstanding and while some of the various phones seized by officers had their contents downloaded, others had not, he said. The court heard a new committal mention could not be held until 4 March at the earliest. Fresh applications for bail are expected to be heard before then.
The trio’s case will return to court on 8 February for a status update.
Updated
This is quite spectacular footage of Barron Falls, just north of Cairns, shared by the Queensland bureau of meteorology in the wake of Cyclone Imogen:
Barron Falls torrents tumble after #CycloneImogen system brought rainfall to Qld. Southeasterly wind surge moving thru SEQ will enhance rainfall for eastern parts in next 2-3 days as it merges w/ the tropical low. Thanks for vid Denali Wright. #QLDweather https://t.co/WfWdoZ2dIE pic.twitter.com/OgVHyblO8m
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 7, 2021
Here is our story on the news we brought you earlier about a Queensland quarantine hotel worker testing positive to Covid-19. By my colleague Naaman Zhou:
Multiple outlets are reporting an outage of the Services NSW app, which must be used by businesses in NSW as part of contact tracing requirements for customers. So not ideal...
I have asked Services NSW for more information. I am not expecting them to clarify whether it means contact tracing in NSW today is at a silver or bronze, rather than gold, standard.
#BREAKING: The Service NSW app, which must be used by businesses as part of their COVID Safe plans, is experiencing an OUTAGE - leaving customers unable to sign in and out of venues.
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) January 7, 2021
What it means for you: https://t.co/eGboKwFW2D#COVID19 #9News pic.twitter.com/2E0v5uafUq
The Morrison government has back-flipped on its guarantee that Covid-19 vaccines will be voluntary.
As recently as 3 December the health minister, Greg Hunt, said the vaccine rollout is “going to be voluntary”.
On Thursday, Scott Morrison said discussions at national cabinet “will include the necessity for state governments and territory governments to harmonise a national consistency in public health orders, which is the process by which any requirement to have a vaccine is made legal across Australia”.
Morrison said he had asked health secretary, Brendan Murphy, to work with counterparts to ensure “consistent standard of public health orders ... that relate to the administration of the vaccine and where if, in any cases, there is a requirement to have that vaccine – but that is a discussion still to be had with states and territories”.
Asked whether this could mean that aged care workers or returning Australians could be required to get a vaccine, and how this squares with assurances it would be voluntary, Morrison said:
All I’ve said today is that is a discussion that needs to be had, so we will have that discussion ... It is voluntary. But that is an important discussion on the public health and safety that needs to be had with states and territories, who are responsible for public health.”
Morrison then accused the reporter of “over-interpreting” the fact the federal government had previously assured vaccines will be voluntary – and it now can’t/won’t because it’s up to the states, apparently.
Updated
We’re expecting an update on the situation with the Red Gully bushfire north of Perth around 5pm today, according to an alert just sent by WA fire and emergency services.
We’ll bring that to you then.
On that note, I’ll hand you over to Nino Bucci, who will take you through the afternoon.
Please stay safe, stay well, and I’ll see you in the morning.
Guardian reporter Paul Karp asked Morrison if he would condemn his own MP, George Christensen, for posting social media about “dodgy votes” following the November US election.
Morrison said:
Australia is a free country, there is such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue.
And then ended the press conference.
Scott Morrison has refused to condemn US president Donald Trump for inciting the events in DC today.
A reporter asked, does Donald Trump bear some responsibility for undermining democracy and inciting the invasion of the Capitol building?
Morrison:
I am not going to offer any more comment than the one I have already made on this issue.
He adds:
I noted the president’s comment this morning to tell people to go home peacefully, I hope that’s what people are doing.
He does not mention the top and tail of that message, which repeated the lie that the election had been “stolen” by the Democrats.
A reporter says in that same message, Trump said “we love you, you are special people”. Will Morrison comment on that?
No, he will not.
I have expressed my great concern and distress about what is happening in the US just as other leaders of other nations have and I concur with their view.
Updated
A very good question – at the moment there are difficulties just delivering fresh food to remote Indigenous communities. How will the government deliver the vaccine to those communities, especially given the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70C?
Prof Brendan Murphy says that they will “not be prioritising the use of a logistically difficult vaccine for that population”.
So, that means using AstraZeneca in remote communities, which is what Murphy outlined earlier.
Health minister Greg Hunt notes that rates of vaccination among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are higher than in the non-Indigenous population. He says they are working with the Aboriginal community-controlled health sector on a vaccination plan.
Updated
Scott Morrison was asked if he would be willing to get a vaccination live on television, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did, to boost public confidence. This question was asked by a journalist who said “I hate to be ungentlemanly, but I notice that your age bracket is in phase 2a”.
I think it’s important for public confidence for leaders around the country to do that ... it’s a discussion I’ll have with premiers but I think they would also be willing to do it.
Morrison was asked if he would get vaccinated earlier than the start of the phase 2 vaccine rollout, in order to show that public confidence. He says yes, they will, but not the whole cabinet – just himself and Greg Hunt to show confidence in the vaccine, but not the rest of them because they’re not in the highest risk category.
Morrison:
We will certainly line up for the televised jab, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Hunt adds:
None of us want to be queue jumpers but we have thought about it and come down on the public confidence side.
He said he had discussed the matter with Labor’s health spokesperson Chris Bowen and Labor’s leadership was also open to getting a public jab.
Updated
Prof Paul Kelly says the APHHC formally looked at the UK strain and looked at what, if anything, should be done differently before Christmas.
He says since then the committee has met daily, “and at every meeting we have discussed this issue”.
The AHPPC has commissioned a paper specifically on this issue, which will be discussed at national cabinet after going through the AHPPC process.
But he adds that the hotel quarantine system — that 14-day period — is long enough to cover the full incubation period of the UK strain.
Scott Morrison was asked if he had considered using defence facilities as hotel quarantine facilities to increase the capacity to bring Australians home from overseas.
He said that the best system was to continue using the hotel quarantine system, which is managed by the states. There are additional facilities in the NT at Howard Springs, and in Tasmania, to boost capacity.
A journalist asked what the federal government will do to ensure the vaccine is free and people are not charged consultation fees by their GP in an appointment scheduled to get the vaccine.
Health secretary Prof Brendan Murphy said:
We can guarantee that the vaccine will be free and it will be delivered free. We are working with the medical bodies around how that will be achieved but we do not want the cost to be any barrier to the delivery of the vaccine.
Updated
Morrison was asked if he had considered restricting travel from the UK.
He says that is being considered by the AHPPC at the moment and they will provide their recommendation to the federal government and state and territory first ministers tonight, for consideration at national cabinet tomorrow.
The Queensland government has added to its list of exposure sites, after the hotel quarantine worker tested positive.
These are the new potential exposure sites in Brisbane, after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive @callapilla https://t.co/Jx5ghlwVsK pic.twitter.com/HU8LCpdYWS
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 7, 2021
Questions now. Scott Morrison says that compared to other countries which have had successful suppression strategies – New Zealand, South Korea, Japan – Australia has not had a slow vaccine rollout. None of those nations have enacted emergency approval processes, like those used in the US, UK and Israel.
He is responding to a question challenging why the federal government had repeatedly said Australia was on the front foot when it came to vaccines, but the actual distribution will not begin until three months after the first countries began vaccinating.
Health minister Greg Hunt steps in, and says Australia has gone with a vaccine strategy of “underpromise and over-deliver”. Which is a good strategy for a small business but interesting when applied to public health.
Updated
Murphy says that over the second quarter of 2021, Australia will have vaccinated “a significant portion” of the population. That’s still mainly focusing on those first two priority groups.
He says:
The very last group that we might consider [vaccinating] is children. We know that children are at very low risk of getting Covid and transmitting Covid and the vaccine has not yet been thoroughly tested against children.
There will be vaccine hubs set up around Australia which only deliver one type of vaccine. That is to prevent confusion about which type of vaccine a person has been given, Murphy says, to ensure that people get two doses of the same vaccine.
A dose each of different vaccines will not cover you.
There will be 30 to 50 hubs set up around Australia to deliver the Pfizer vaccine, he says. The location of the hubs will be determined by state and territory governments.
Federal health department secretary, Prof Brendan Murphy, says that the first tranche of people to be vaccinated — that’s quarantine and border workers, frontline healthcare workers including aged and disability care workers, and people in aged and disability care — will be given the Pfizer vaccine in mid to late February, because it is the first vaccine that will be approved for use first.
When the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved the group of people to get the vaccine will be broadened, because Australia will manufacture it on-shore so have a guaranteed supply line.
In the second group will be elderly Australians (Murphy does not give an age bracket) and Indigenous Australians over the age of 55, as well as some other people in high-risk industries.
Updated
A quick update on the Victoria-New South Wales border situation.
Jeroen Weimar, Victoria’s Covid response commander, said earlier today that the state had granted “over 400 exemptions” to people stranded in New South Wales.
However, there were still “just over 4,000” exemptions to be processed. For context, the figures yesterday morning were that 295 exemptions had been processed, with 3,452 claims still outstanding.
An online portal has now been established for people to more easily apply for exemptions.
Weimar said:
We will continue to work through that today. We have literally hundreds of people who are now coming in to support both the call centre and the exemptions process... We will get to you, we are dealing obviously with the most urgent cases first.
Back in Canberra, health minister Greg Hunt is explaining why Australia is not rushing the coronavirus vaccine approval process.
He says the focus is on ensuring vaccine safety, not just for its own sake but because “safety leads to confidence, and confidence leads to higher vaccine take-up”.
He points out that rates of vaccine take-up in the US and UK have been lower than anticipated despite the overwhelming threat of coronavirus in those countries.
Queensland hotel quarantine cleaner worked at hotel with UK strain
Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, has said there are four cases of Covid among returned travellers at the hotel the woman worked at, the Grand Chancellor, and that one of the people “definitely” had the new UK strain.
A casual cleaner at the hotel tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday.
Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk has also confirmed that the border with greater Sydney will remain closed until at least the end of January.
She said:
You will not be allowed to come to Queensland. This will be reviewed at the end of the month.
She also said earlier that the hotel quarantine cleaner “did everything right”.
She developed symptoms yesterday and was tested yesterday.
Young said it was still too early to say whether the Brisbane cricket Test should have its capacity limited or called off.
We’ve had one case.
Updated
Earlier, Morrison said vaccination in 2021 was a key component of how Australia was dealing with the pandemic.
“We have been dealing with this in a very Australian way,” he said.
Morrison said over the past year, he had probably had more discussions with overseas leaders than for a very long time.
While Australia was mindful of lessons from overseas, he said that “Australian has been making its own way through this and tailing its response” to its own conditions. He said Australia had had great success in combating Covid-19 in comparison to other countries.
He said he found it “incredibly sobering” to reflect on the fact that there were “more deaths in one day in many jurisdictions than Australia has experienced in the last year”.
Updated
Back to Scott Morrison’s press conference, he said the vaccination of the Australian population will occur in five stages.
The first stage is “the most necessary ring of containment and protection for the Australian population”.
Quarantine and border officials, frontline health workers including aged care and disability care workers, as well as residents in aged and disability care, will be vaccinated first.
Morrison said:
Vaccination is not a silver bullet … Covid-safe practices do not end, they continue. Covid-safe practices will be a 2021 lived experience. It will still be a fight over the course of 2021 but this will add a very significant further defence and offence I should in combating the virus around the world.
He said there was still a lot to be learned about the vaccines.
Updated
Queensland hotel quarantine worker tests positive to Covid-19
A Queensland hotel quarantine worker has tested positive for coronavirus – sparking a call for testing across Brisbane’s southern suburbs.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk just confirmed that a cleaner at a Brisbane quarantine hotel has tested positive at the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
The woman lives in Algester, in Brisbane’s south. Anyone in Brisbane, especially in the suburbs of Algester, Sunnybank Hills and Calamvale should get tested if they develop symptoms.
A suite of potential exposure sites has been declared by the state’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, including a Woolworths in Calamvale central shopping centre, and a train from Altandi station to Roma St, and a train from Central to Altandi station on 2 January, and a Coles in Sunnybank Hills on 5 January.
Young said her infectious period was from the 2 January onwards – and the worker did one shift at the hotel on that day.
Updated
Vaccination of high priority groups to begin in Australia in mid-to-late February
Morrison says that Australia is on track to begin vaccination of high priority groups in Australia in mid-to-late February.
Starting with the approval of the Pfizer vaccine, which he said should be done by the end of January.
The AstraZeneca approval process should be completed in February, Morrison says, but he hasn’t got a tighter timeline than that.
Pfizer does not send the vaccine until after it is approved for use, and it takes two weeks to dispatch after approval. Then there’s another week for batch testing. So that’s how you get to February from a late January approval.
Updated
Morrison:
Our officials have been moving swiftly and safely to introduce the vaccine in Australia as soon as is safely possible. Doing that is critical to public confidence in the vaccine. We have set out cautious timetables … but behind the scenes the officials you see here have led a process … to ensure we are seeking to better those timetables. We don’t want to make promises that we can’t keep – that is incredibly important.
Updated
Morrison says he does not want to make a promise around the timeline for delivering public vaccinations “that we can’t keep”.
Those timetables will be made available when they are ready, he says.
There have been no delays in this process... it is moving considerably faster than the normal vaccination approval process in Australia but without skipping a step, without cutting a corner.
On vaccination, Morrison says:
The vaccination in 2021 is a key component obviously of how we are dealing with the pandemic here in Australia. Throughout the course of dealing with this pandemic, we have been dealing with this in a very Australian way.
But he adds “of course we are mindful of the experience in other jurisdictions”.
He adds:
Australia has been making its own way through this and we have been tailoring our response to our conditions, our experiences, and our needs, and we have had great success with this.
He points out that some countries in the world are now experiencing more deaths in one day from Covid-19 than Australia has experienced in the past year.
This is a very long way to say: we will take longer to vaccinate here.
Morrison says:
Our officials have been moving swiftly and safely to introduce the vaccine here in Australia as soon as is safely possible. [Emphasis his.]
Updated
Morrison has now moved to talk about tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting and the coronavirus pandemic in Australia. He says Australia is “still winning, but has not yet won”, the fight against Covid-19.
He starts by talking about the vaccine rollout.
Updated
Australia has upgraded its travel advice to the US in response to upheaval in DC
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking now in Canberra. He says that in response to the incident in the US today, and the breach of the Capitol building, Australia has updated its travel advice. It was already at “do not travel” due to Covid-19.
Morrison added:
We hope for a peaceful and stable transition of government to the new administration elected by the American people.
Updated
An ACT politician is in quarantine in Western Australia after accidentally breaching border rules, the ABC has reported.
ACT Liberal MLA Mark Paton travelled from Canberra to regional WA on Monday to visit his mother, despite having been in NSW in the past 14 days. He said on Facebook:
“I feel pretty stupid. I take Covid very seriously, and am very sorry for this oversight.
Updated
Labor leader Anthony Albanese was asked about the incidents in Washington during a press conference he gave in the Blue Mountains this morning, about the failures of the NBN.
He said:
Well, what’s unfolding in Washington is a tragedy for the great democracy that is the United States of America. There is no doubt that both the words and actions of Donald Trump have encouraged this activity. It is of real concern. And all those who are supporters of democracy need to speak out in favour of it. Democracy is precious. It shouldn’t be taken for granted. It should be defended anywhere in the world. And I note President-elect Joe Biden’s very strong comments this morning.
And I do note that Donald Trump made his statement about how people should go home. That’s good. But he also repeated some of the mistruths which are there, which have also been repeated by some in the Australian media, that somehow this is an illegitimate result. I’ve been a part of elections. And you win or you lose. You accept democratic outcomes. That’s a really important part of what makes our democratic principles and values which need to be upheld by all of us around the world. So we look towards the United States. It is our most important ally. I’m sure that the institutions of the United States will remain strong. And we’ll get through this because we simply can’t have circumstances whereby you have effectively an insurrection which is about overturning democratic processes which have taken place in the United States which have seen Joe Biden elected as the President of the United States.
Albanese said the Australian government “ should be making strong statements in support of democratic values”.
That means supporting the US presidential election result and the senate run-offs in Georgia.
But quite frankly, I think Australians and Americans will be very shocked to see people occupying the Capitol Building, occupying offices, including that of the Speaker, ransacking and destroying the equipment and breaking through windows. The photographs of people carrying out the Speaker’s lectern are, quite frankly, just extraordinary. And the strongest action should be taken in support of the rule of law against those who are breaking the law at the moment with this attempted insurrection in Washington DC.
He said “the institutions of the United States will come through this”.
Updated
ASX200 up 1.52% in the wake of US unrest
The seat of US parliamentary democracy has been looted by rioters and a coronavirus pandemic is out of control across America, the UK and much of Europe, so of course the Australian stockmarket rose this morning.
At about midday the benchmark ASX200 index was up 1.52%, shrugging off losses incurred yesterday after Democratic candidates won two senate seats in the US state of Georgia to give the party control of the chamber.
The two big iron ore miners, Rio Tinto and BHP, were among stocks to surge this morning, propelled upwards by an iron ore price that remains at record highs of more than US$160 a tonne despite ongoing trade tension between Australia and the companies’ biggest customer, China.
At lunchtime, BHP was up 4.6% and Rio rose 4.8%.
But there were gains across the board, with banks, finance groups, building materials suppliers and retailers enjoying a good morning.
Even News Corp, which has had an awful year, felt the sunlight, with its stock jumping more than 4.5%.
Information technology stocks were the only real losers, with accounting software group Xero leading a small pack of digital dogs downwards by shedding 4.39%
Some very interesting charts here, showing rates of testing in Victoria and NSW in the outbreaks in December/January, compared to those at the start of the second wave in July.
Testing trends in VIC and NSW compared to their previous outbreaks in June and July 2020. See the full report here: https://t.co/iPydL9Tq1k#COVID19Aus #covidnsw #CovidVic pic.twitter.com/qhAGY1kHDw
— Dr Behrooz Hassani-M (@behrooz_hm) January 7, 2021
Before we hear from Scott Morrison, another reminder that you can follow our live coverage of what’s happening in the US here:
I understand the Queensland chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, will be giving a press conference in the next hour and is expected to provide more detail about the reported hotel quarantine breach.
It may clash with the prime minister but we’ll bring it to you.
Queensland hotel quarantine worker tests positive to Covid – report
We are seeking to verify reports that a person who works in Queensland’s hotel quarantine system has tested positive to Covid-19.
Updated
In Melbourne again, the acting chief health officer, Prof Allen Cheng, said he remains “pretty concerned” about the situation in Victoria, particularly while the upstream chain of transmission for the Vermont South case – the guy who went to the MCG – is not known.
Whether it is someone who has come from Avalon and that is the person who has infected him or whether it is from the Black Rock, it’s impossible to say, it’s just the same strain.
Updated
NSW acting premier says SCG has been 'de-risked', but driving licences not being checked
Back in NSW, the acting premier, John Barilaro, has said the SCG has been “de-risked” as the Sydney Test starts today – and announced similar restrictions for upcoming A-League matches.
Barilaro said the restrictions, which includes a limited capacity of 10,000, mandatory mask wearing, fines, and a ban on people from certain suburbs from attending had “de-risked” the SCG.
The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said people would not be required to show their driving licence to enter the stadium, as he did not want delays in lines “holding people up” and preventing social distancing.
Barilaro said that similar restrictions would also be put in place for upcoming A-League games, including a fixture in Newcastle.
Those sort of requirements including the 25% cap will apply to those games.
We want to ensure we put on sporting events across the state that are safe to the public, but we also know these events are important to the economy and we believe we can do it in the best Covid way.
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Daniel Andrews says he has spent his annual leave at home, and cancelled a planned trip to the coast. He was due to come back on the 20th.
Look, to be honest, Cath says to me last night ‘you’re on the phone 20 hours a day, you should just go back’.
We haven’t been anywhere, I’ve been at home, 25 minutes from here ... but that’s the situation, I’m back.
Updated
Prime minister Scott Morrison has now moved his press conference back to 12.15pm.
Daniel Andrews has been making some pretty strong statements defending the hard border with NSW.
He says he does not care if it is a popular decision (although it has been reasonably popular among some voters).
I cannot have a situation where there is a pathway home for you and you bring the virus with you.
A reporter then asks if Andrews will release the public health advice. He says asking for that is a red herring, because chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton spoke at the press conference about the border closing.
Andrews says that “if there’s a piece of paper we can get you” he is happy to do that, but says:
The mere presence of either the acting chief health officer or the chief health officer himself at any of these announcements should put to bed any nonsense that what we’re doing is not on the public health advice.
Updated
Andrews was asked whether it was confusing that some people were told they did not have to isolate after getting a test. He said:
Not everyone who gets tested has to isolate. There are different frameworks and different advised provided to people based on the different circumstances ... in general terms if you go and get a test [you] isolate until you get your result, unless you are given specific instructions to the contrary.
If you are not given those instructions not to isolate, then, isolate until you get your result, Andrews says.
In most cases, people who get a test will have to isolate because they will be prompted to get a test either because they have symptoms or because they were at an exposure site – so isolation is required.
Updated
Tram drivers who were working the MCG route on 27 December have been asked to get a test, but they have not been asked to self-isolate unless they are symptomatic, Daniel Andrews has said.
It’s precautionary screening.
Meanwhile, the official Australian Labor party Twitter account has tweeted a photo of Scott Morrison and Donald Trump together.
It's the company you keep. pic.twitter.com/nAOaNWnMSF
— Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) January 6, 2021
This is presented as a gotcha, but it is not at all unusual that two elected leaders of allied nations would take a photo together, as immigration minister Alex Hawke said.
It’s what every Australian PM has done, regardless of party or issues: work with each US administration for Australia’s national interest with our key ally. Poor form from @AustralianLabor @AlboMP https://t.co/o5Xb1YqWll
— Alex Hawke MP (@AlexHawkeMP) January 6, 2021
Updated
Prime minister Scott Morrison to hold a press conference at 12pm
The prime minister’s office has confirmed Scott Morrison will address reporters in Canberra at noon ADET.
Andrews said Gladys Berejiklian will be at national cabinet tomorrow, confirming that she is also coming back from leave.
He said he is confident national cabinet will adopt the pre-flight testing requirements put forward by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
Updated
A reporter asks Andrews if he has been frustrated by the way the outbreak has been managed in NSW.
He says:
I am not here to comment on other states, I am much more about putting forward a positive plan and the positive plan is I think we should be testing everyone who works in our hotel quarantine system around the country. And again I’m not looking backwards, I’m looking forwards ... it’s in the context of a hyper-infectious strain of the virus coming out of the UK.
Victoria knows how easy it is for an outbreak to spring from a breach in hotel quarantine protocol better than any other state. This new system Andrews is talking about was introduced off the back off the months-long inquiry into that breach, which sparked the second wave.
Andrews said the possibility of another breach of quarantine was “not an if, it’s a when. Are you doing enough to ensure the virus has the smallest jump on you. It has a head start of the smallest amount of time?”
He then said he would not apologise for the decisions he has made in Victoria.
I won’t proxy off the protection of Victorians to the decisions made in another state.
Updated
NSW reports one new case in the northern beaches
NSW acting premier John Barilaro has been holding a press conference at the same time as the Victorian press conference.
As reported earlier, NSW reported zero locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. But authorities have flagged one new case in the northern beaches, which will be reported in tomorrow’s numbers.
New venues were also added to the list of potential exposure sites in Wentworthville in western Sydney, and NSW Health have opened up new a testing site in the suburb.
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said the result of zero cases today was not a reprieve.
He said people had to stay vigilant, as the virus can circulate in people with very low symptoms. Anyone with even mild symptoms has been asked to get tested.
A zero day is always good but we have got a long way to go in running this outbreak or these outbreaks to ground.
Back in Melbourne, Victoria’s head of coronavirus testing, Jeroen Weimar, has added the Zara store at Chadstone to the list of exposure sites during the boxing day sales.
Anyone who was at Zara in Chadstone from 6am to 1.30pm on 26 December.
The other stores at Chadstone listed as potential exposure sites are Culture Kings, Huffer, JD Sports, Jay Jays, H&M, Uniqlo, Myer, Superdry, Footlocker and Dumplings Plus.
Anyone at any of the above stores on Boxing Day is urged to get tested and self-isolate until they get a negative result.
NSW has recorded no new local cases of Covid-19
NSW has also recorded no new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 today, and six in hotel quarantine.
There were 27,879 tests reported to 8pm last night, lower than the previous day’s total of 32,667.
Updated
Andrews says the hard border with NSW will remain in place for as long as it needs to remain in place, and not longer.
He said it was “uncomfortable” for people to “have their plans disrupted” by the border closure or to wait in a queue in the border, but said:
That discomfort, that inconvenience, is nothing to this virus getting away from us and us having go go back into a situation where there are widespread restrictions in our city and in our state.
He said he would not be swayed by people “clamouring” for the border rules to change.
Updated
Andrews said the Vermont South case – which is the man who tested positive about a week after attending the Boxing Day sales at Chadstone and the second day of the Boxing Day test at the MCG – has been genomically linked to the northern beaches outbreak.
That is virus that has come from Sydney, I can’t pinpoint for you exactly how.
Updated
Daniel Andrews said he had come back from leave to go to the national cabinet meeting tomorrow, which as mentioned earlier can only be attended by first ministers – if the premier’s off then a state is not represented.
He said he wanted to make sure that thing that Victoria has overhauled as part of its hotel quarantine system became part of the national coronavirus response. That includes pre-flight testing, testing of all flight crew, and daily or at least very very regular testing of everyone who works in hotel quarantine.
We believe that the way that hotel quarantine staff are tested daily is exactly the right thing to do and that’s something we’ll raise at national cabinet tomorrow ... there needs to be a comprehensive strategy to manage this risk. You’ll never make it risk-free ... but there needs to be steps that are taken at each point to ensure that this super-infectious strain of the virus does not get into the Victorian community and into the Australian community.
He said that doing so meant that “not if but when the virus does end up getting in the hotel quarantine system, this virus will have a one-day jump on us”.
We will never make it risk-free but we will all have greater peace of mind and greater confidence that we are doing everything possible if all of those potential points of transmission, potential breach points, are tested daily ... then the virus only has a one-day jump on us. If you’re doing that then the northern beaches doesn’t happen and therefore what’s happening in Melbourne doesn’t happen.
He then said the outbreak could happen anywhere.
A problem in Sydney is a problem for the nation, a problem in Melbourne is a problem for the nation. We’re all in it together.
Updated
Andrews says:
To do so many tests and have no new cases is a testament to the coronavirus detective work that is being done by our team and the partnership that we have with the Victorian community,.
He says there are “the better part of 2,000, 2,500 people” who are currently in isolation as close contacts.
They are doing their iso to protect all of us ... it’s no small thing to spend these holiday weeks locked up at home but it is incredibly important to observe that isolation period.
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking now
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is back from leave and speaking now in Melbourne.
He starts by saying he is deeply grateful to the more than 32,000 Victorians who got a test yesterday. That’s the fourth day in a row over 30,000.
Waiting times are right down, they are around an hour, an hour and a half a most, that’s what we’re hearing, and you get your results back in 24 hours.
You can follow our global coverage of the coronavirus crisis here:
The safety messages at the SCG have been playing on repeat.
I’ve been standing next to this automated message at the @scg for 3 hours pic.twitter.com/NEQ2G1Pt1q
— Ruby Cornish (@rubycornish) January 6, 2021
If you are interested in the third test, and safely staying away, you can follow the match live here:
Apologies, I said Daniel Andrews would speak at 10.15am — it’s 10.45am.
The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will be on the agenda at the national cabinet meeting tomorrow. The government had set a target of administering the first vaccines in Australia in late March, but has now brought that forward by a month.
From AAP:
Australia will be among the first countries to conditionally approve the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19. It’s one of four vaccinations the government has purchased.
Health minister Greg Hunt has set an October target for broad community vaccination.
Frontline workers including those involved in hotel quarantine and border control, health workers and aged care residents would be included in the first round of the rollout.
We are standing by to hear from Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, who was scheduled to speak at 10.15am.
He is a bit delayed. There is, as I’m sure you know, a bit on.
If you want to follow our live coverage of what’s happening in the US, it’s here:
People travelling to Tasmania will be allowed to take their car on the TT-Line for free under a $6m tourism package from the federal government.
The free car travel will kick in from 1 March and run to 30 June. Tasmania currently has some travel restrictions in place with Victoria, which is where the Sprit of Tasmania departs the mainland. It’s limited to people who have been at an exposure site, listed here. Hopefully there won’t be any travel restrictions in place by March.
Deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said on Thursday:
Covid-19 has significantly affected tourism in Tasmania and the number of passenger vehicles travelling across Bass Strait.
Australians can take their car or motorbike to the Apple Isle at zero cost and discover everything this beautiful state has to offer – a win-win for both Tasmanians and visitors looking to discover more of what the island has to offer.
Booking on the Spirit of Tasmania have dropped 85% since the pandemic began.
I am kind of surprised that fall is not greater – Tasmania has had border restrictions in place with Victoria for most of the last 10 months.
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is back from annual leave and will hold a press conference with the health minister, Martin Foley, as well as the deputy chief health officer at 10.15am today.
Scott Morrison issues statement on the US: 'We condemn these acts of violence'
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has tweeted a statement about the insurrection of the US Capitol building.
He says:
We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of Government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.
Very distressing scenes at the US Congress. We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of Government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) January 6, 2021
Updated
The RSPCA in Tasmania says it is “deeply saddened” by the death of a horse at the Devonport Cup, which was held in north-west Tasmania yesterday.
The gelding, called Douglass, was euthanaised after he crashed into the barrier during race three, just 100m from the finish line.
RSPCA Tasmania chief executive Jan Davis said:
We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of yet another horse on a Tasmanian racecourse. During this difficult time, the RSPCA extends sincere sympathies to those who contributed to Douglas’s care.
The frequency of catastrophic injury in horse races is of grave concern to the RSPCA – and to all Tasmanians who care for animals.
On average, at least two horses die every week on Australian racecourses, so the sad fact is that this death was a tragic but hardly unforeseeable outcome.
Davis said the incident highlighted the need for the racing industry to work with the RSPCA and other stakeholders to improve animal welfare outcomes.
Whenever there is an adverse outcome for an animal, as there was in this race, our expectation is that there will be a comprehensive review to identify ways to avoid injury or trauma to racehorses in the future.
The Tasmanian community expects the racing industry to make every effort to minimise the risk to horses, so these processes must be public, transparent and timely.
Updated
Back in Australia now, an emergency warning remains in place for the Red Gully fire north of Perth in Western Australia.
Residents in Ocean Drive, Ocean Farms Estate, and Seaview Park have been told to immediately enact their bushfire safety plan, and been told it may be too late for them to leave safely.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA has issued this message:
Wind changes have the potential to rapidly escalate fire behaviour. Very hot and dry weather conditions are forecast for the next three days. These conditions will test containment lines and potentially put coastal communities at risk. Residents of Ocean Farms Estate and Seaview Park need to remain on high alert and enact their bushfire survival plan now. If you plan to leave, leave now if safe to do so via Indian Ocean Drive in a southerly direction. Your life may be in danger if you stay.
Please note a community meeting will be held at 11am today, Thursday 7 January at Guilderton Country Club, Wedge Street, Guilderton.
AAP has reported that firefighters have slowed the spread of the bushfire, which began on Saturday and has now burned through 9,500ha, with a perimeter of more than 100km.
AAP reported:
Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said the efforts of ground crews and aerial support on Wednesday managed to halt the western flank of the fire about 3km from Ocean Farms Estate.
But he said there was still a considerable amount of work to be done in the face of more hot, dry and windy conditions in the days ahead.
“The next two or three days are going to be particularly challenging for fire services,” he said.
“These conditions are not something we’ve seen for the last two or three years.
“There hasn’t been that typical strong easterly weather that we’ve been experiencing the last four days with gusts of up to 80km/hour.
“It makes it incredibly difficult for firefighters. Not only is it not safe to put firefighters at the head of the fire in those types of circumstances but it’s also incredibly difficult once fire hops over, to be able to get around and put it out.”
There have been no reports of homes being lost, but pine plantations, olive groves and some sheds are believed to have been damaged.
About 200 firefighters are battling the blaze with strong aerial support, including two of the large air tankers flown in from Victoria.
Updated
Turnbull and Rudd condemn 'mob' violence at US Capitol
Two former Australian prime ministers have made statements on Twitter condemning the insurrection of the Capitol building.
It’s the two you’d expect.
Malcolm Turnbull said: “Today’s mob violence at the Capitol is the culmination of Trump’s sustained assault on American democracy.”
Today’s mob violence at the Capitol is the culmination of Trump’s sustained assault on American democracy. The President should call on the mob he incited to disperse and go home. And Trump’s supporters in the GOP and the media should reflect on what they have enabled. https://t.co/UjemsmW6bJ
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) January 6, 2021
Kevin Rudd said the incident was “a physical attack on the institutions of democracy by a far right mob”.
This is a physical attack on the institutions of democracy by a far right mob.All because of extremist statements by political leaders attacking the legal results of a democratic election,echoed faithfully by a cancerous far right media.This affects us all https://t.co/qIuTvrzYqE
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) January 6, 2021
The current Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has not made a statement. He hasn’t tweeted at all since 1 January.
A reminder that you can follow our live coverage of events in the US here:
Updated
I don’t think this will get much traction today, given *gestures broadly* the world, Anthony Albanese is due to speak today about the national broadband network. Specifically, the fact that it’s not very good.
In a statement, the Labor leader said the NBN was “acting as a hand break on national productivity and making it more difficult for Australians to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic”.
Which is true but also, not new. He says Australia’s broadband speeds are now 60th in the world, according to the the latest figures from the Speedtest Global Index.
Albanese will visit the Blue Mountains today, where NBN connector boxes have been impacted by storms and where mobile phone coverage is patchy at best. Macquarie MP Susan Templeman said:
Some people have lost up to six boxes in a row. They’ve started asking for a spare … This makes it pretty much impossible for people to work from home or run a small business. It’s also dangerous during the bushfire season.
Updated
Speaking of that national cabinet meeting, acting NSW premier John Barilaro will not be allowed to sub in. He told the ABC:
No, I won’t be. There is a standing arrangement that it is first ministers and, when premiers aren’t in, no one subs in.
So, we’re assuming Gladys Berejiklian will return from holidays early to attend that meeting.
On the Sydney Test, Barilaro was asked why he considers it safe for people in Sydney to attend the third Test today after he had advised people in regional areas – his constituents – to stay away. He told ABC News Breakfast’s Madeleine Morris:
Look, Madeleine, the issue here isn’t about risk. There is risk every day with everything that we do. It is about balancing that risk against the benefits to tourism, the benefits to holding such a significant event on the calendar in New South Wales which is the Test in relation to the psychology and the health of the citizens of New South Wales.
Our message to rural and regional New South Wales was if you can avoid it, please do. But if you have got plans to come, then you will abide by the rules in place. This isn’t about keeping rural and regional people protected and not Sydneysiders. I had the opportunity to go at the and walk through the grounds with the management team and I can clearly say that we’ve got avenue there that can hold tens of thousands of people, we have got 25% of that capacity. We have got everything in place to minimise the spread and after yesterday what occurred at the MCG, we made that final decision about mask wearing throughout the day.
This is different to other events. People have been comparing this to the NRL or to soccer or football. The difference is a 90-minute event versus an all-day event. We have decided to go down this path and we will be making changes right up to the day and right up to the first ball being bowled and we’re comfortable that we’ve managed to risk all off, expert advice from Dr Kerry Chant and her team.
This is very “you could get hit by a car tomorrow” energy – interesting in a public health message.
Updated
Labor’s immigration spokesperson Kristina Keneally has called on the Morrison government to fully implement the recommendations of the Halton review into hotel quarantine. (Remember that? You can read our report on it here and the full report here.)
Her comments come after Scott Morrison, after days of saying Australia did not need to require travellers from the UK to get a Covid-19 test before they get on a plane, told News Corp that travellers will be required to show a pre-flight negative Covid-19 test. The change will be discussed at a last-minute national cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Keneally said the federal government had passed responsibility for managing hotel quarantine to the states and, if he had listened to the Halton review Australia would have a nationally controlled quarantine system which would provide Australians stuck overseas with a swifter path home.
Jane Halton told the PM back in August, September and October how to improve quarantine - including pre-testing passengers.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) January 6, 2021
You can read it on page 30 of her report. @ScottMorrisonMP ignored her then, it’s good he’s finally listened now. https://t.co/Zheo4AoOkT
If 🇦🇺 had a national border security quarantine plan, the #strandedAussies would have been home by Christmas and we would have been able to adapt to new challenges like the UK strain of COVID-19.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) January 6, 2021
Instead, 40,000 Aussies are still stranded & we must find a way to#BringThemHome
Managing our borders is tough. But, @ScottMorrisonMP has been missing in action for too long.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) January 6, 2021
Australia needs a national border security quarantine plan - guided by Jane Halton’s expert review and medical advice.
Our safety and our economy depends on it.
Updated
Victoria has recorded no new cases of Covid-19
Victoria has recorded no new cases of Covid-19. No new locally acquired cases, no new cases in hotel quarantine. It’s a doughnut day, folks.
This is off the back of 32,767 tests again yesterday – a very strong testing number and a strong result.
There are 38 active cases in the state.
There were 0 cases notified to the department in the past 24 hours. This includes 0 locally acquired and 0 in hotel quarantine. 32,767 test results were received. Thanks - #EveryTestHelps. More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/nB69ayAC4Z
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 6, 2021
Updated
US president-elect Joe Biden has just been speaking on the insurrection of the Capitol building in DC. You can read our live coverage of this story here, but I thought it was important to bring you a bit of it.
Biden called on Donald Trump to get on live TV and call his supporters into line:
The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect true America. They do not represent who we are. What we’re seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to the lawlessness. This is not decent, it is disorder, it is chaos. It borders on sedition and it must end now.
I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward. You heard me say before in a different context. The words of a president matter no matter how good or bad that president is. At the best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite. Therefore, I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfil his oath and defend the constitution and demand an end to this siege.
To storm the Capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, the floor of the United States Senate, rummaging through desks on the House of Representatives, threatening the safety of dually elected officials, it is not protest, it is insurrection. The world is watching.Like so many other Americans, I’m generally shocked and saddened that our nation so long the beacon of light and hope for democracy has come to such a dark moment.
Updated
The Australian War Memorial has painted over the words “For we are young and free”, which were written on the signs out the front of the building. If you look closely at the photos below, from Mike Bowers, you can still see the words.
The line from Advance Australia Fair was changed to “for we are one and free” on 1 January, in a reconciliation attempt that has been pretty universally rejected by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people outside Parliament House.
This is what the sign used to look like.
Updated
Labor calls for the creation of a national aerial firefighting fleet
Labor has renewed its calls for the government to begin spending a $4bn emergency response fund and create a national aerial firefighting fleet.
As Western Australia battles three major fires and La Niña conditions raise the risk of cyclones in north Queensland, Anthony Albanese has written to Scott Morrison calling on him to improve disaster preparedness.
Albanese wrote that Queensland and New South Wales are already experiencing “hail storms, cyclonic winds and beach erosion” while there have been dozens of fires across Australia including at Queensland’s Fraser Island.
The Labor leader noted he had written to Morrison ahead of the 2019-20 bushfire season, and in both letters had argued “the effects of climate change mean that Australia is entering uncharted territory”:
We cannot continue to rely on what we have done previously. Sadly, I do not believe Australia is adequately prepared for another natural disaster season, and I am not alone in this opinion.
The CEO of Suncorp, Steve Johnston, has warned that: “Our nation is no better placed to withstand the impacts of extreme weather than we were last year.”
The Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, the group of 35 former fire chiefs that tried to warn the federal government before the 2019-20 bushfire season, have once again voiced concerns that Australia is not adequately prepared.
Although Morrison recovered politically from his infamous Hawaii holiday and other missteps during the 2019-20 summer bushfires, Labor made hay on the issue of emergency management throughout 2020 – including to win the Eden-Monaro byelection.
The Morrison government supported the majority of recommendations from the bushfire royal commission, released in October, but it merely “noted” without adopting the call for a national aerial firefighting fleet, citing a desire not to duplicate the states’ firefighting functions.
The $4bn emergency response fund was created in October 2019, setting up an endowment intended to pay out up to $150m a year for emergency response and recovery and $50m for mitigation.
Labor criticised the government throughout 2020 for failing to spend any of the fund, which the Coalition explained was because it had set up a separate $2bn fund for bushfire recovery.
On 11 December emergency services minister David Littleproud announced the allocation of $50m for a national flood mitigation infrastructure fund to be carved from the $4bn emergency response fund.
Updated
NSW south coast venues added to Covid hotspots
The new exposure sites announced by NSW Health last night include two venues on the NSW south coast.
They are:
- The Nostalgia Factor Shop at Kangaroo Valley on 27 December from 11.20am to 11.30am
- Taj Indian Restaurant at Huskisson on 27 December from 4.45pm to 5.20pm.
Anyone who attended either venue is asked to monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they occur, self-isolating until you get a negative result.
NSW Health has also updated its advice for anyone who played a social cricket match at the Ollie Webb Cricket Ground in Parramatta on 28 December from 7.30am to 11am. You are now being told to get tested immediately and self-isolate for the full 14 days, regardless of the result.
Anyone who was in the grandstand at the Ollie Webb Cricket Ground during that time has been told to immediately get tested and self-isolate until you get a negative result.
They have also updated the advice for people at Saravanaa Bhavan in Parramatta from 9.50am to 10.50am on 28 December, the Ariah Room of Merrylands RSL from 4pm to 4.55pm on 28 December, the smoking and gaming room of same from 4.55pm to 5.15pm, and the sports lounge of same from 5.15pm to 6pm.
Anyone who was at the above venues has been told to get tested and self-isolate until they get a negative result.
Anyone who was at any other area of Merrylands RSL on the evening of the 28th has been told to monitor for symptoms and, if they appear, isolate and get tested, and remain isolated until get a negative result.
Updated
Good morning,
Firstly, if you’re interested in live coverage of the storming of the US Capitol building today, you can follow that here.
In Australia, national cabinet will hold a special meeting tomorrow to discuss stronger precautions surrounding international travellers and hotel quarantine in an attempt to stop stronger variants of Covid-19 reaching the country.
Scott Morrison had played down the need for a national cabinet meeting to discuss the UK variant earlier this week but premiers and chief ministers have pushed it. Yesterday the prime minister said the meeting would be held to discuss the “end-to-end international travel processes”, adding it was “particularly in the context of the UK strain”.
Speaking of hotel quarantine, there has been another breach of the system, this time in Western Australia. Three WA residents have been put into hotel quarantine after they reportedly failed to wear the correct PPE when helping an elderly woman who had travelled from the UK. The woman, in her 80s, was takaen to hospital on Tuesday. The ABC reported that a nurse who attended the woman in hotel quarantine and an ambulance officer who transported her to hospital were not wearing the correct PPE, and nor was an airport worker who helped her disembark her flight. All three are now in hotel quarantine and the woman is being tested to see if she carries the new UK variant.
WA Department of Health acting director general Dr James Williamson told the ABC:
These breaches are inexcusable and we’re very disappointed. The health and wellbeing of the WA community is the number one priority for the state and there’s no room for complacency in the fight against Covid-19.
The Sydney coronavirus outbreak appears to have travelled to the NSW south coast, with two south coast venues added to the exposure list overnight. They are a shop in Kangaroo Valley and a restaurant in Huskisson, both near the town of Berry. I’ll bring you the details on those sites shortly.
In Sydney, the third Test will start at the SCG today, with the stadium at 25% capacity. Spectators have been ordered to wear face masks while on public transport and while at the ground, except while eating and drinking. The Australian Medical Association has repeatedly said the Test should not go ahead.
Meanwhile, in Melbourne, thousands of people who attended day two of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, and Boxing Day sales at Chadstone shopping centre, are expected to line up for Covid-19 tests again today in an attempt to identify the source of the state’s first mystery case in several months.
And keeping in Victoria, the government is unlikely to lift its border restrictions with NSW until the end of the month, with health minister Martin Foley telling reporters it is a necessary defence against a “fast-moving, silent virus that pays no respect to interstate borders”.
Let’s crack on. If I miss something, you can reach me on Twitter at @callapilla or email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com.
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