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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Graham Readfearn, Calla Wahlquist, Josh Taylor and Amy Remeikis

Australian Covid-19 news: NRL announces it will restart play on 28 May – as it happened

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Closing Covid-19 summary for Wednesday

We’re closing our Covid-19 live coverage for the night. Thanks from me, Graham Readfearn, and from my colleagues Calla Wahlquist, Josh Taylor and Amy Remeikis who have been delivering live coverage here over the past 13 hours.

You can follow the Guardian’s global live coverage of the pandemic here.

Here’s a summary of today’s main stories:

  • Australia’s death toll from Covid-19 rose by two to 74. NSW health authorities confirmed this morning a man, 75, had died in St George hospital, and a woman, 80, had died in Gosford hospital.
  • By 3pm this afternoon, Australia had a total of 6,649 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 4,761 people recovered.
  • Wednesday was another day of very low cases numbers reported by states and territories. NSW reported the highest with five. Queensland had a second day with no new cases.
  • The energy minister, Angus Taylor, said Australia would stockpile $100m of fuel to take advantage of the plummeting global oil price.
  • The NRL said its season would restart on 28 May and teams would start training on 4 May.
  • The competition regulator gave retailers permission to collectively negotiate with landlords about rent during the coronavirus crisis.
  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics said retail turnover had gone up by 8.2% in March with strong sales across supermarkets and liquor retailing.
  • Sydney’s Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches will reopen from next Tuesday.

Thanks for being with us. We’ll be back with more live coverage tomorrow. Stay safe and stay sensible.

Updated

Terrible news on the crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway. Four on-duty police officers have died.

Read the full report here:

Updated

It’s Jimmy Barnes time again.

The rock legend has been releasing sweet musical treats from his lounge room. However, tonight he is playing the bagpipes (I’m joking, I love bagpipes).

South Australia is encouraging children to return to school for term 2, starting on Monday 27 April.

There’s been a major multi-vehicle crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway. The road is closed in both directions and police are telling people to avoid the route.

Police vehicles are reportedly involved, and there are unconfirmed reports the crash may have been fatal.

A little earlier this afternoon the NRL announced it would “definitely” resume its season on 28 May. The league says teams will start training from 4 May. But there are lots of unanswered questions over the announcement.

In a press conference, Wayne Pearce, the Balmain legend tasked with heading up the league’s grandly titled “Project Apollo” to get the season running again, said the NRL had achieved “a lot more clarity around the medical process and what those protocols are” and that “government authorities” were “very supportive” of their plans.

What he didn’t say was what those protocols were, and which government authorities the league has been talking to. Basically, who in the government has given the league sign-off to begin playing again?

I’ve been trying to find out this afternoon, with little joy.

We know that the NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, who is in charge of the state’s response to Covid-19, previously wrote to the NRL chairman Peter V’landys saying there was no legal obstacle for the NRL’s plans to resume playing despite strict public health orders.

That’s because the league was given an exemption under the original PHOs issued last month, and stopped playing matches voluntarily.

However in the letter Fuller also said the league would have to develop protocols to demonstrate it could resume safely. The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said something similar when she was asked about it last week.

So who has signed off on the protocols? NSW Health still hasn’t responded to my queries, and the NSW police seems to think there’s nothing to be signed off on.

Here’s what a spokeswoman told me:

As far as we are aware, there is nothing to be ‘signed-off’. The commissioner has stated previously that the letter was advice in response to their inquiry. I don’t have anything further to provide you.

Perhaps we’ll hear more from the NSW government later tonight or tomorrow, but it seems odd that neither the NRL nor the state government has explained who is in charge of making this decision.

The NRL is also still awaiting clearance from the federal and New Zealand governments for the New Zealand Warriors to arrive in Australia on May 3, a day before the rest of the competition resumes training.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has also previously said she would not look kindly on the three teams from her state travelling back and forth to NSW for matches.

Updated

Need a distraction from Covid-19? Bit of a night owl? Like shooting stars?

Well, if you’re still up at midnight and you can get a view of the skies to the northeast, you might catch the Lyrids meteor shower.

People have been seeing the Lyrids – debris from Comet Thatcher – for more than 2,700 years. The further north you are in Australia, the better your chances are of seeing them.

But you can look here to find out if you’ll be able to see them where you are.

Don’t go anywhere or do anything that the current movement restrictions wouldn’t allow you to do. Give your eyes a chance to get used to the dark and stare at the northeast sky.

Updated

Another interesting discussion arising from Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos’ press conference is the split between public and private health for elective surgery.

They’ve agreed to allow around 25% of elective surgeries to now take place from next week. That includes private hospitals, but the state government paid private hospitals to provide capacity to the public system in the event it is needed as a result of coronavirus.

In any case, it sounds now like people on the public wait list for elective surgeries could get preferential treatment over people waiting for surgery in the private hospital system because the state government bought capacity in the private system.

It will depend on the surgery, however. Mikakos noted that some of the procedures that will now be allowed, eg IVF or dental work, could still largely be happening in the private system.

When she was asked what the point was, then, of having private health insurance at a time like this when you’re not getting any benefit out of it, she said part of the government funding for the private sector was to keep the private hospitals running at this time.

Updated

Good evening. Graham Readfearn here taking you through the final hours of our live coronavirus coverage.

A quick check around the updates from states and territories today shows very low numbers of new cases of Covid-19 being reported.

There were no new cases reported by Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory or the ACT. New South Wales had five and South Australia and Tasmania both reported one new case each.

Victoria did record two new cases, but took two cases off as they were reclassified to other states. So that’s no net gain for Victoria.

Coronavirus has also affected the live cattle export trade out of northern Australia, with the two biggest markets, Indonesia and Vietnam, reporting the biggest price crash since 2011.

That crash was caused by the Four Corners exposé.

This is from ABC Rural:

The Indonesian feeder steer price out of Darwin, is sitting at around $2.60 a kilogram, which is well down on the record $4 a kilo that was paid just last month.

It means a 350-kilogram steer which last month was worth up to $1,400, is now valued at just over $900.

And with that, I’ll hand over to my colleague Graham Readfearn.

Stay well, and if you buy a new bike remember to only accelerate going out of a corner and not into one.

More than 40 Aboriginal people in Western Australia have tested positive to Covid-19, according to Prof Fiona Stanley from the Telethon Kids Institute.

Speaking to the Australian Academy of science, Stanley said:

At the moment there are probably over 40 cases of Aboriginal people that have been identified… all of them are either in cities or urban centres…

Stanley said Aboriginal people who test positive in remote communities have a lower chance of survival, because “there aren’t any respirators out there, no intensive care.”

It’s a long way. And to actually take someone by Royal Flying Doctor Service from a remote community to a centre when they’re very, very ill, may be a death sentence. So I think it would be devastating and the people who would die are the people who they want not to die most, the Elders, the older ones with the morbidities and so on.

Prof Fiona Stanley talks to the Australian Academy of Science about the impact of Covid-19 on Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.

Stanley said the lack of available health services for Aboriginal people would be “almost a joke if it wasn’t so very serious.” There are about 850,0000 Aboriginal people in Australia, of whom about 90,000 live in WA.

So the challenge is then, to really get the Aboriginal-controlled health services, who are all around the country, to get together and empower them so that we’ve got all the capacity to both prevent, monitor and then treat Aboriginal people who may develop COVID-19.

Stanley said the pandemic had “exposed our appalling inability to actually improve Aboriginal health outcomes” but she hoped it would lead to more Aboriginal people being trained as health professionals.

Aboriginal people, when given this training and education, have the capacity to implement it very effectively. It might actually end up that we have much better ways of working with Aboriginal people than we have in the past …

And I do think if we can give them a national voice, this is about the best example I can think of. If we can do this with Covid-19 guys, we could do this forever, you know? So the most important thing is to really give Aboriginal people a voice, and I mean power. I mean funding. I mean partnerships that give them the power and we’re the sort of people who just help along.”

Updated

Delighted, and slightly worried, that the Greens have agreed with my driving advice.

A mural of Ai Fen, one of the first doctors to raise the alarm about a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, has been painted in Melbourne by artist Amanda Newman.

A street art mural of Chinese doctor Ai Fen, by artist Amanda Newman, captured in Melbourne on 22 April.
A street art mural of Chinese doctor Ai Fen, by artist Amanda Newman, captured in Melbourne on 22 April. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

You may have noticed I misattributed an earlier press release from the office of Greens leader Adam Bandt to former Greens leader Richard Di Natale. Apologies, Adam.

Have you bought a bicycle since lockdown began?

You would not be alone. Bikes are, according to one bike retailer, “the new toilet paper”.

Grant Kaplan, manager of Giant Sydney, a bike store in Sydney, told Guardian Australia’s Justine Landis-Hanley:

We can’t keep up with sales. Literally the phone is ringing nonstop.

I have not panic bought a bike but I am monitoring an online horse auction so probably can’t talk.

The manager of a south Melbourne bike store told Justine:

Families are sick of walking everywhere as their form of exercise. The kids are home from school or being home-schooled. If you go to a football oval and there are lots of people already there, you can’t go on [due to social distancing measures].

But on your bike you are exercising and practicing social distancing.

Read the full story here.

ACCC allows retailers to collectively negotiate rents

The competition regulator has given retailers permission to collectively negotiate with landlords about rent during the coronavirus crisis.

With many shops closed, and those that do remain open hit by a dramatic fall in revenue as shoppers stay home, how much rent should — or can — be paid has become a major battleground between retailers and landlords.

Some retailers, including Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments group, have unilaterally stopped paying rent while their shops are closed.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it has authorised the Australian Retail Association and its members to negotiate rents collectively and to:

...share information relevant to the negotiations including in relation to requests by landlords for certain information as part of considering and negotiating support to be provided in the context of Covid-19.

Said ACCC chairman Rod Sims:

We see a clear public benefit in allowing retailers to work together in the negotiations with landlords as it will help those tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during this pandemic to reach a fair outcome.

It’s the latest in a series of authorisations issued by the ACCC allowing conduct that would normally be against the law because it was anti-competitive.

NRL to restart play on 28 May

The NRL has confirmed it will resume its 2020 season on 28 May.

Australian Rugby League commissioner Wayne Pearce said the league had the green light from government (presumably the NSW government) to restart its season on 28 May, with training to begin from 4 May. That’s Monday week — one week before the four week deadline, set by the national cabinet as the date at which social distancing laws will be reviewed.

Pearce said:

What we achieved today was a lot more clarity around the medical process and what those protocols are. We clarified that May 28 is a definite and also confirmed that May 4 is the resumption date for training.

He says that “everyone is supportive of what we’re doing. Everyone is unified into getting back on the field.”

It’s still not exactly clear how this would work. The New Zealand Warriors, for example, might not be able to participate, and teams based outside of NSW “would have to come into camp in NSW,” Pearce said.

We are working with the government authorities to get them over here and get them [the Warriors] through a quarantine period and have them ready with the other teams for the start of the competition.

Pearce said governments were “very supportive”.

The government authorities that we are speaking to are very supportive of what we’re looking to do because we are actually looking to hold ourselves to very high standards, and that will certainly exceed what community expectations are.

The Greens have put their support behind the RBA’s call for tax reform.

In a statement, Adam Bandt says major tax reform should be geared at creating a carbon-free economy. So: no tax breaks for polluters, tax incentives for research and development. This ties back to the party’s rhetoric around the Green New Deal, which I continue to dislike as a slogan because it feels very American.

Anyway. Bandt says:

You don’t accelerate out of a corner. [Editor’s note: you can, just wait until you can see your trailer in both mirrors.] The government is flagging an era of aggressive deregulation, but that will only prolong the pain and leave us poorly-equipped to deal with future economic shocks.

Bandt says the recession following the coronavirus will disproportionately affect young people, and that needs to be kept in mind when designing the reforms.

The Greens will block any attempts to drive through massive tax cuts and further strip away protections for workers and the environment. We hope the government will instead accept the Greens’ call for targeted measures to support R&D, help manufacturing and lift wages.

Updated

On the matter of Scott Morrison speaking to Donald Trump, Albanese says it is “not a bad thing that people talk” but that he hopes Morrison did not take the advice given to and by Trump about how to manage the coronavirus.

Albanese:

I think that here in Australia we’re doing much better than the US, and that’s because people are taking — are NOT taking an opportunistic view of this crisis. People are listening to the health experts. I hope that leaders around the world do that.

I think Morrison would probably agree with that.

What about Morrison’s push that the World Health Organization be allowed to enter a country without invitation, to trace the origin of an outbreak?

Well, I support what Scott Morrison has said … the World Health Organization is the only body that you could foresee being in a position to do this, which is why the decision by the United States – and I wonder whether Scott Morrison raised this with Donald Trump – to withdraw funding is a very short-sighted decision indeed.

We understand the WHO would have been discussed in that phone call.

Updated

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has been on ABC News speaking to Patricia Karvelas. Firstly, he says that having an additional fuel supply stored in the United States, as Angus Taylor set out earlier, is not useful because “the United States isn’t New Zealand”.

“I mean, it’s not next-door,” Albanese says. Fair enough, no dispute there.

Next topic: what about the suggestion from RBA governor Philip Lowe that Australia would need tax and industrial relations reform to get the economy moving again, is that something Labor would support?

Albanese says this is “hypothetical”.

It is a hypothetical, Parliament is not even sitting. We will work on specific proposals. What I have said is theGovernment has doubled the debt prior to the current crisis and now we have substantial levels of debt and that that is an issue that the Government has to come to terms wit and has to come up with some plans.

Could that include corporate tax cuts?

Albanese says a lot of companies “aren’t going to be paying a whole lot of corporate tax cut in the coming year,” presumably because they won’t be making a profit.

What about franking credits?

We’ve said we won’t go to the election with the same policy we took to the last election. We have not changed that view.

What if the government introduces that policy?

That would be a matter for the Government.

Updated

Hello, it’s Calla Wahlquist taking over from Josh Taylor.

In case you were ticking these events off on your apocalyptic bingo card, there is a locust plague in western New South Wales.

It’s only a low-density plague at the moment but Robynne Wells-Budde, a senior biosecurity officer at the NSW Department of Primary Industries, told the ABC: “Even a low-density swarm has the potential to grow into something much bigger”.

So that’s drought, fire, flood, a pandemic, and a plague of locusts, all in the past 12 months.

Updated

SA premier Steven Marshall says there have been 10,000 tests for coronavirus in the state in the past two weeks.

People who test negative are now being informed via text message.

But still, no restrictions being eased, Marshall says.

“There will be no lifting of restrictions today in South Australia. We will still be sticking to the time frame put in place by the prime minister. There is another national cabinet meeting, which will meet on Friday, but I don’t envisage there will be any further changes to the restrictions in South Australia.”

New South Wales has also told me that opt-in for the app is their preference.

“The NSW government is supportive of a national approach to contract tracing technology that is opt-in and subject to rigorous security and privacy settings,” minister for customer service Victor Dominello said.

“The development and rollout of the app is the federal government’s responsibility. Decisions around easing of restrictions will be made based on advice and evidence from experts.”

Updated

The NSW inquiry into the Ruby Princess fiasco has just adjourned for the day.

Just before it finished, we heard from Sebastiano Azzarelli, the ship’s staff captain, who was effectively second in command.

Azzarelli came aboard the Ruby Princess on February 18 in Auckland.

He confirmed he was present for a phone call from the ship’s bridge to the Sydney vessel traffic services (VTS) in the early moments of 19 March, as the ship pulled into Sydney harbour.

The call was used to explain the medical disembarkations that had been ordered.

“I remember VTS called the bridge looking for [the Maritime Arrivals Reporting System] declaration, which we do not have that information,” Azzarelli said.

The ship’s doctor, Dr Ilse Von Watzdorf, was also present for the call. Earlier in the inquiry, von Watzdorf said the disembarkations were for two patients with a heart condition and nerve damage.

They had no clear and obvious signs of Covid-19, she said. Azzarelli told the inquiry he could not remember what reasons were given to VTS for the medical disembarkation.

On arrival, other passengers were allowed to disembark before their Covid-19 tests were returned.

The inquiry will resume tomorrow morning.

Updated

Kelly reveals the government has undertaken research via surveys and focus groups that show “quite a lot of support” for the contact tracing app.

“As I said, there’s essentially three groups. There are people quite reasonably concerned about privacy concerns and other matters. For some people that, is a complete gamebreaker and they are not going to consider downloading it. Others when explained what the limitations of the app are and the privacy and data security and so forth, element which is are absolutely crucial to it, are persuaded towards the other group who are happy to do their part.

He wouldn’t say whether their research showed 40% of people will use the app.

“Anything more than zero is going to be useful. Obviously, the higher the number, the better. Whether we get to 40% or higher or lower, that remains to be seen. I think this is completely voluntary. It will depend on how many people take up the app.

He again reiterates it will be key to contact tracing and easing restrictions even though Victoria has said it won’t be.

“It’s important because if we can really get on top of that, it will allow us much more leeway to change the social distancing measures, which I’m sure we all want to see happen.”

He said more information about the app would be released later this week.

Was the advice to stop cruise ships too slow? Kelly says it’s easy to judge in hindsight, and there are so many ships and thousands of people on them.

“We made a decision very early in the epidemic in Australia about limiting cruise ship arrivals into Australia. We have allowed cruise ships to come for two main reasons. One, to allow Australians to come home, but also for ships that have demonstrated that they are in distress from Covid-19 or other reasons have docked. And we’ve seen what that has led to. So, in terms of cruise ships, we said very early on – and there was very specific advice given to Australians about cruise ships as early as mid-March – that people should reconsider whether they should go on cruise ships as part of the advice that came from the prime minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as I recall. So, we’ve been clear in our advice. Most people have taken that on board. There are only two cruise ships still in Australian waters, and none of those have passengers on them.”

Updated

Given there are fewer cases there, could regional and remote areas open up sooner and act as test cases for the rest of the country? Best to wait and see, Kelly says.

“We do know that remote areas, regional areas, and rural areas of Australia have less capability to cope with a large outbreak in terms of health facilities, for example, or even public health facilities to investigate such outbreaks. So, I think it’s reasonable for us to wait a bit longer to really protect those healthcare assets in those places and to protect the communities in our rural, remote and regional areas.”

Updated

Aged care minister Richard Colbeck has put out this information on what the federal government is doing for the Newmarch aged care centre in Sydney, given the large number of cases of coronavirus at the facility:

The department has activated and is funding a surge workforce to support Anglicare, including:

• Access to staff through the Mable platform;

• Deployment of an emergency response team through Aspen, including a First Nurse Responder to assess the staffing requirements, registered Nurses, allied health professionals and personal care workers.

• Commonwealth facilitation of a roster of general practitioners to provide continuity of care for all residents.

“The government has provided and is fast-tracking access to personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure the safety of residents and staff,” Colbeck said.

The federal government has also provided a suite of training for all aged care workers covering outbreak management procedures, when and how to use PPE and infection control and provider Anglicare is ensuring all their staff at Newmarch have completed this training.

Updated

Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly is holding a press conference.

Since 3pm yesterday afternoon, there are only four new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 6,649 across Australia.

“We’re doing well in terms of flattening the curve.”

He says that is key to easing restrictions.

I just got back from a press conference held by Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos.

I’ve been trying to establish whether state and territory governments will require people to be downloading and using the federal government’s contact tracing app in order for restrictions to be eased.

Mikakos told me that no, Victoria will not make it a requirement for easing restrictions, nor will Victoria need a proportion of the population using the app before it will consider easing restrictions.

“We won’t be compelling people to use that app,” she said.

“This is a proposal that the federal government has taken to the national cabinet to encourage Australians to utilise the contact tracing app. I think it has some merit, personally I will download the app. I have no qualms about using the app but I do think it is important that reassurances are given to the community about how their privacy will be protected and how the app will be working.”

Importantly, she said Victoria “won’t be setting any preconditions” on uptake of the app, but preconditions would be set up around other factors, such as more testing, more tracing, and response activity if there is an outbreak in a particular area.

“But that work will be done regardless of the success or otherwise of this new application,” she said.

That is in contrast to prime minister Scott Morrison who indicated 40% of the population would need to be using the app as we begin to ease restrictions.

Updated

Deputy chief medical officer professor Paul Kelly is about to give the national update, but from the numbers we have heard so far today, it is looking good.

Josh Taylor will take you through that. Thank you so much for joining us once again, and for welcoming me back. Winter lurgies will find a way to get you, if they can, so keep washing your hands and stay safe. I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, as always, take care of you.

Updated

Reinforcing just how non-existent retail trade outside supermarkets is going to be for the next month or so, department store Myer has just extended the closure of its outlets to at least 11 May.

They were closed on 29 March.

Myer said the vast majority of its staff remained stood down but it has applied for the jobkeeper scheme.

AAP has some NRL news:

The NSW Rugby League plans to resume its grassroots competition seasons in July, but the NRL’s reserve grade competition will remain cancelled due to the coronavirus.

NSWRL boss Dave Trodden confirmed on Wednesday it was working towards resuming the Ron Massey Cup, Sydney Shield and women’s premiership on July 18.

Players will be able to return to training from the start of July, with the comeback to be rubber stamped on June 1, depending on state government approval.

The development will also include all park football, ranging from under-6s to open age with 100,000 participants involved.

But the top-tier competitions, including NSW Cup, Jersey Flegg, Harold Matthews, SG Ball and Tarsha Gale Cup will not come back.

It’s thought the cost of running what effectively would have been a 10-week season was far too great.

The decision will also take a strain off NRL clubs, who had already accounted for the reserve grade competitions not returning in 2020.

Bondi beach to reopen to swimmers and surfers

Waverley Mayor Paula Masselos has addressed media this afternoon to discuss plans to open the water at Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beach.

She has emphasised that people will not be allowed to exercise on the sand. There will be fences erected on the beach, tunnelling swimmers and surfers into and out of the water.

“If people are not going to be respecting the current rules, and they’re not going to be taking instruction ... they will be asked to leave,” she said.

“I really wanted to ensure that we don’t have to close this down. I’m asking people, please abide by the social distancing requirements. If you do come and see that the corridors are really busy or there is a line, please, leave and come back another time.”

Bondi and Bronte beaches will be opened to surfers and ocean swimmers, while Tamarama will only be open to surfers due to dangerous conditions.

The water will be opened next Tuesday after the NSW school holidays have ended.

Updated

You’ll be hearing these words a lot more often:

A new hotline has been set up for older Australians, who might need some extra advice, or just have some questions, about Covid-19 and their care:

Council on the Ageing (Cota) Australia, National Seniors Australia, Older Persons Advocacy Network (Opan) and Dementia Australia have banded together, supported by the commonwealth government, to create the National Covid Older Persons Information Line. Older people and carers are encouraged to call 1800 171 866 to speak to friendly, specially trained staff from a senior’s advocacy organisation.

Opan CEO Craig Gear said the hotline will provide particular support to those accessing aged care services who are disproportionately impacted by health precautions and restrictions.

Updated

And then on the flip side, Citibank reports:

  • But we suspect there were large falls in other areas of retails sales. The ABS reported declines but not the magnitude in cafes, restaurants and take away food services, clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing and department stores. We calculated an average 16% decline across all these categories in March.

  • There will be serious payback in April. April will be the first month where retail trade was fully covered by the closure or rapid scaling down of non-essential businesses and social distancing. We expect to see the largest decline ever recorded in the monthly retail trade data.

  • We expect final household consumption to fall by 14% in real terms in Q2, contributing -7.4pps to Q2 GDP growth.

  • This forecast is roughly consistent with analysis provided by the RBA governor yesterday.

  • Yesterday, he talked of a 20% decline in aggregate hours worked in the first half of 2020. Using his 20% estimate, our modelling coefficients on hours worked to wages and nominal consumption imply a 15% decline in national accounts based household spending by mid-year.

    • Updated

    Citibank’s economists have taken a look at the ABS’s retail spending figures for March.

    They have some thoughts:

  • In dollar terms, the increase in spending in March is equivalent to the previous 42 months combined. Total spending in March exceeded $AU30bn, $AU2.3bn higher than total spending in February.

  • Adding up all the previous monthly changes shows that household effectively spent the sum total of the previous 42 months’ gain in retail trade in March.

  • It is therefore no wonder that supermarkets were running out of stock of some items.

  • Not surprisingly, food and toiletry retailing led the charge in the month … up by 24%. Supermarkets reported a 22% increase in perishable groceries and a 36% increase in all other grocery items.

  • Turnover for toilet paper, flour, rice and pasta doubled. Turnover for canned food, medicinal products and cleaning goods increased by more than 50%. The ABS also reported that the peak in supermarket spending was mid-month, before levelling off at the end of the month.

  • But electrical products also jumped as people rushed to set up home offices. Although the preliminary retail trade release did not provide the numbers, the ABS reported that electrical, hardware and other retailing sales increased in March. This would likely have been from workers quickly requiring home office set-ups to comply with work from home directives from various employers and government-mandated physical distancing requirements.

    • Updated

    WA premier Mark McGowan:

    We now have 451 people who have recovered. This is an increase of eight recoveries since yesterday, and that means we now have only 88 active cases in Western Australia of Covid-19.

    That means 88 people, who are currently infected with Covid-19, who are either quarantined in a hotel, at home, or for those who are in a hospital bed. In total, 25 people are in hospital across the state after one person was discharged yesterday.

    Of that 25 people, five are in intensive care.

    These are all very encouraging numbers for Western Australia, but, in particular, a zero result again is just a great piece of news for our state and shows what we have been doing has been working.

    Updated

    Western Australia has also recorded no new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

    The ATO has deferred payments and lodgements, as part of the Covid response.

    From Michael Sukkar:

    The Morrison government welcomes the decision of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to ease the burden on tax professionals during this difficult time by providing a short-term blanket deferral for a number of lodgement and payment obligations.

    These lodgement deferrals will be automatically applied, and tax professionals with clients in bushfire-affected areas will continue to have the benefit of deferrals already in place as announced by the ATO on 20 January 2020.

    Bushfire-affected clients will have their payment due date aligned with the same due date as the blanket deferral giving these taxpayers additional time to pay.

    The ATO has also indicated that tax professionals will not be adversely affected if their lodgement performance does not meet the 85% performance benchmark during this time. I thank the ATO for providing this assistance to tax practitioners and for taking commonsense steps that will ease the burden on them at this time.

    Further information can be found on the ATO’s webpage at: www.ato.gov.au/General/COVID-19/Support-for-tax-professionals/

    Updated

    A crew member on the Ruby Princess had a temperature of 39.2C, but had tested negative for influenza A and B, on the day that 2,700 passengers disembarked in Sydney, the special commission into the cruise ship has heard.

    According to the ship’s internal “human health” report and logs, revealed in the special commission, 128 people had also become ill in the 14 days before it docked on March 18, and 24 had temperatures above 38C.

    The commissioner, Bret Walker SC, is questioning the ship’s senior doctor, Dr Ilse Von Watzdorf today.

    He asks, of that crew member with a 39.2C fever, “does that amount to that crew member showing symptoms of Covid-19?”

    “Yes,” says Von Watzdorf. “Those symptoms are potential Covid-19.”

    Updated

    Strangely, Christian Porter has also discovered that talking with the union movement, instead of treating employee representatives as organisations which need to be crushed, can actually lead to better outcomes for everyone.

    Who. Knew.

    From that same interview, on the subject of industrial reform:

    ... I think we’ve established a more cooperative approach with the ACTU, certainly not to say that we agree on everything, far from it.

    But I think that what we have is an opportunity to actually sit down with the leadership of the union movement in the near future and talk about the things that they think are going to produce the most jobs and the most wages growth and upward pressure on employment.

    And for us to nominate the things that we think will achieve that and to try and sort through where there’s agreement and compromises can be reached.

    So, you know, so the only thing that we can safely say is that there are, you know, they’re going to be changes in a whole range of areas and if we don’t make the most of the potential for change, then we won’t make the most of what our economy can be.

    Updated

    For the record, there were ‘massive pressures’ on wage growth in Australia, BEFORE the pandemic. And by massive pressure, I mean wages had no growth.

    But here is Christian Porter speaking to Perth radio 6PR this morning on the economy on the other side of these most recent restrictions:

    Without committing to any particular changes in any particular areas, it’s quite clear that the post Covid-19 economy is going to be a very different structural beast to the pre Covid-19 economy and we’re going to have to look at what are rationally the best ways to move out of this period of shutdown and reanimate the economy as quickly as possible and to try and take advantages for our country and our economy and our construction and mining and manufacturing and retail sectors that might be presented by virtue of the fact that we have handled the health response as well as any country on earth.

    So there will be challenges and difficulties but there will also be opportunities and it would make sense for any government to consider how to make the most of those opportunities.

    I mean, you know, one of the things that has been said at the Reserve Bank Governor Board is that there will be certain things like wages growth which are going to have real pressures on it because of this terrible experience we’ve had with Covid-19.

    Updated

    But given the fuel won’t be kept in Australia, and, in the case of a conflict, or a supply chain break (which is the point of having an emergency strategic fuel reserve in the first place) what is the point?

    If something happened, Australia’s emergency fuel supply would be sitting in the US. Not exactly handy.

    Angus Taylor says its a step-by-step process:

    The point I have been making all along is now is the time to start building the reserve, because we can do that in a way – let me finish.

    We can do that in a way which is attractive to taxpayers. That’s the point.

    Now, over time, do we want more of that to be onshore? Of course we do. Of course we do. It is better to have it located in Australia than anywhere else in the world.

    But let’s take the opportunity as it arises. That’s exactly what we are doing. Right here and now. And, of course, there are many, many scenarios – many possible disruptions – where having fuel in your supply chain will help enormously.

    There are some extreme scenarios you have described where it’s important to have enough fuel locally as well. And we’re conscious of that, which is why those discussions with the refiners, with the local industry to make sure we have enough storage here in Australia are an important part of the work we’re doing right now.

    Updated

    Australian government to purchase $100m of fuel for stockpile

    It’s not just commuters who are buying up if you are lucky enough to live somewhere the fuel price drop has been passed along to the bowser – the Australian government is using the price war to finally do something about Australia’s own fuel reserve. It just won’t be kept in Australia as yet, because Angus Taylor says we have no where to keep it.

    Taylor:

    Now is the time to buy fuel. We are doing that. Now it is true, as I have already said, that we want to make sure there’s enough storage in Australia to keep enough fuel domestically, as well as across the international supply chain, and we are beginning those discussions - began those discussions some time back and they will – they will – continue. But the important point here is just as it is a great time for consumers to be out buying fuel, at less than $1 a litre in many locations, so too the Australian government is taking advantage of these historically low prices.

    Updated


    China’s northeastern border province of Heilongjiang on Tuesday reported seven new locally transmitted coronavirus cases and one imported case – a Chinese national returning from Russia – prompting authorities to issue more restrictions.
    In Harbin, the capital of the province and where the seven new cases were reported, authorities said only local residents may enter their residential compounds. More screenings would be implemented at airports, train stations and highways. Those living in residential buildings where there have been confirmed or suspicious cases must also quarantine for 14 days. Anyone arriving from outside the city must be quarantined.

    While the number of imported infections has levelled off in China, the border region has become a risk to the country’s recovery. The province of Heilongjiang has reported a total of 537 locally transmitted cases and 119 imported cases, mostly Chinese nationals returning from Russia. In the border town of Suifenhe, residents have been ordered to stay at home, with only one person from each household permitted to leave every three days to get supplies.

    Neighbouring provinces, including Jilin and Liaoning, have started to require quarantines and several rounds of tests for anyone travelling from the cities of Harbin or Mudanjiang in Heilongjjiang.

    Updated

    Covid Senate committee to hold its first public meeting

    The select Senate committee, chaired by Labor’s Katy Gallagher with the Liberal senator James Paterson as deputy, which has been established to check the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic (which will hopefully include how those on a disability support pension have been left off the Covid relief payments) will hold its first public hearing on Thursday:

    The Committee has resolved to focus on the Australian government’s health and economic response in the initial hearings.

    The chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy has agreed to appear before the Committee this week along with key representatives of the Department of Health.

    The hearing will be held between 10am and 1pm on and will be broadcast publicly.

    Chair, Senator Katy Gallagher will attend the hearing in Parliament House along with Dr Murphy while other committee members will attend via either video conference or teleconference.

    The committee has also agreed to hold hearings twice a week during the initial stages of the inquiry, beginning next week.

    Updated

    The ACT joins the jurisdictions with another day of no new cases:



    There have been no new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the ACT in the past 24 hours. The ACT’s total is still 104.

    A total of 93 cases have recovered from Covid-19 and have been released from self-isolation.

    There is currently one (1) Covid-19 patient in the Canberra Hospital. The remainder are isolating at home with ACT Health support.

    The ACT has recorded three (3) deaths.

    The number of negative tests in the ACT is now 7152.

    Updated

    Malcolm Turnbull finishes his virtual address.

    Malcolm Turnbull finishes his virtual press club appearance by repeating his call for teachers to be both paid, and respected more.

    He writes in his book about the great teachers he had growing up, and how they influenced him. His daughter Daisy is a very passionate teacher, who has written at length about some of the challenges in modern teaching, including the rewards, most recently, how teachers pivoted to online teaching – and all the extra work being done to keep worried and stressed students connected with their school community.

    Turnbull, the prime minister, says the pandemic has revealed a lot about who keeps our communities standing – and its not the millionaires or (not that they should exist) billionaires:

    You know, teachers, we don’t esteem them enough.

    And, you know, frankly, I think they are, just like the nurses and doctors in the frontline in the health care system, teachers are on the frontline in the course of this pandemic, too, because they’re, [supporting the frontline] even in the jurisdictions where the classrooms are diminished.

    Teachers are still there in front of classes, obviously, making sure that kids get the attention they need.

    And, you know, I think they ... I think they’ve provided huge agility.

    ... It’s not an easy thing to do. And they’ve pivoted to do that and adapted very, very quickly.

    So, you know, I’m very happy to give a shout out to Australia’s teachers.

    Updated

    How should Australia handle China, following the pandemic?

    Malcolm Turnbull:

    The question of what should be the reaction to the coronavirus vis-a-vis China, really depends on what the facts are and the extent to which China has been transparent.

    There are obviously very big concerns about that. It is hardly in the nature of an authoritarian regime to be open and transparent.

    And there are big issues about how long it was before this virus was, you know, was jumped on and recognised by the authorities in China.

    But that will all depend on the facts. But it’s certainly, you know ... What we ... a global community, all of us, all of us human beings on this planet, we have a vested interest in this area of viruses in a globalised world.

    We have a vested interest in all countries being rigorously transparent about information of every ... whether it is scientific, medical, epidemiological about these viruses, because the sooner you know what’s going on, the sooner you know what treatments work, what don’t, you know, sooner you have the biological information on the particular, you know, virus or pathogen, the better you are.

    So this is where we’ve got to ... this is where secrecy, lack of transparency, lack of accountability, which is obviously second nature to all governments, but most of all to authoritarian governments, is actually a big threat.

    So, you know, this is one area where you may want to keep your missiles secret, but as far as viruses are concerned and pandemics and, you know, the more open, the earlier, more open and more accountable and transparent you are, the better for all of our sakes.

    Updated

    We know that the election promises and the economic settings the Coalition had in place before the pandemic won’t be around for much longer. But what should they do?

    First and foremost, Malcolm Turnbull says, don’t test out any of their ideas in the media (something his government struggled with and obviously a lesson Turnbull believes to have been hard learned).

    Well, what I’d advise them to do is to look at options very carefully and do so without frontrunning them in the media, because if you start thought bubbling these things in the media, they’ll get picked off one by one.

    You’ve got to really ... you’ve got to assess, you know, how you’re going to generate the additional revenue you need.

    The problem with increasing taxes generally is that they are a brake on the economy. So you’ve got to find, as I discuss in my book ... there’s a lot in my book about tax reform and tax measures.

    Hopefully it’s reasonably lively. It’s aimed to be. But, you know, the goal should be to reduce or eliminate inefficient taxes and replace them with more efficient taxes.

    And I think, yeah... This is a crisis, right? And, you know, it was Rahm Emanuel the mayor of Chicago, former Obama chief of staff, who said, “You should never waste a crisis.”

    Well, this is it. This is a crisis of unprecedented scale. And I think governments everywhere are going to have to look at it and take the opportunity to say to their public, their voters, “We have to do some extraordinary things here in order to meet this, ‘the economic consequences of this pandemic’.

    And that will involve, no doubt, tax reforms, which you’ve got to make sure, particularly for an open economy like Australia in a very competitive world, which will become more competitive, you’ve got to make sure that your tax reforms do not stifle economic activity and investment, because otherwise, you know, it becomes counterproductive.

    Updated

    Why do we hear “listen to the experts” when it comes to the pandemic, but not climate change?

    Malcolm Turnbull thinks it is because people getting sick is something very immediate and very visible:

    I think it’s because of the immediacy. You know, there’s nothing so real and confronting as people getting sick right in the here and now before your eyes and dying right here and now before your eyes.

    This is, you know, this is a very harsh, immediate reality.

    There’s always been the sense with climate change that it’s something for others to worry about.

    So that’s why it’s been such a moral issue, because the, you know, the proposition has been that this generation, my generation, for example, should pay a price to reduce emissions, to ensure that future generations do not suffer the worst consequences of global warming.

    Well, it’s kind of caught up with us now. We’re starting to see terrible consequences of global warming right now, you know, more fires, more droughts, more unpredictable rainfall, erratic rainfall and so forth.

    Updated

    Sabra Lane, who is the president of the national press club, asks about his points on the Ruby Princess:

    I think it’ll be very interesting to find out what actually happened. You know, Bret Walker, QC, is doing an inquiry into it that the state government here in Sydney has set up.

    I think it’s bizarre or, you know, difficult to understand how that ship ... you know, how those events occurred, Sabra.

    I think everyone knows that. But actually, how it happened, why it happened, who said what to whom remains to be seen.

    And on Donald Trump’s response:

    I think I have stopped being surprised by President Trump. He is ... a very unorthodox operator.

    There’s never been a president like him. And the response to the crisis in the United States has been very controversial.

    It’s been ... it appears to have been inconsistent. And they’re facing some terrible challenges there.

    But, you know, Donald Trump is a ... very, very unorthodox president. And you have to expect the unexpected from him.

    Updated

    What does Malcolm Turnbull think about Scott Morrison’s response to the pandemic?

    I think Scott Morrison as PM and working with the premiers and chief ministers has done very well in managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Look, there’s obviously been ... people were concerned about mixed messaging earlier, but this is an unprecedented event.

    It is uncharted waters. You know, you’ve got to hold the government accountable.

    And that’s your job as journalists in particular. But equally, you’ve got to recognise that there isn’t a rulebook there that tells you exactly what to do.

    There isn’t a book of precedence. The only sort of glaring mistake that was made and it was not made exclusively by the Australian government, or Australian governments, was made around the world, was I think there should have been a shut down of the cruise ship industry from early February when the Diamond Princess contagion was detected off Tokyo.

    But, you know, there was no ... I’m not aware of any country in the world that moved on that.

    So that’s not a specific criticism of the Australian governments. But, you know, when you look back at it, you look back at the particular vectors of contagion, those cruise ships were, you know, they were in a league of their own because they combined an ideal environment for contagion, plus a very vulnerable demographic in terms of the typical age of their passengers.

    Updated

    For the record, Paul Kelly disputed Malcolm Turnbull’s recollection of their conversation, which he called “colourful” but unbalanced:

    Does Malcolm Turnbull have a solution to what he (and Kevin Rudd) have described as News Corp’s influence over Australia’s politics?

    Look, one doesn’t readily come to hand. It is a reality that News Corporation ... you know, News Corporation, Murdoch’s company, is really more like a political organisation that employs a lot of journalists than a conventional news operation.

    They defend their friends. They attack their enemies. They attack their friends’ enemies. They don’t hold their friends to account.

    It is ... it’s very partisan and has become more and more and more so.

    I mean, you look ... Well, you can see the criticism that Paul Kelly made of news that I’ve recounted in the book, one of our most distinguished journalists and historians.

    There are other criticisms there. David Crowe made similar points about why he left the Australian.

    But you’ve got Murdoch himself, Rupert Murdoch himself in discussion with me, acknowledging that Paul Whittaker, who was then the editor of the Australian, now in charge of Sky News, subscribed to the Abbott agenda, which was to bring down my government ... and with a view to ... with the expectation that we would lose office and that Abbott would come back in opposition as leader.

    Now, that’s crazy stuff.

    You know, just describing it seems crazy, but you have Rupert Murdoch himself acknowledging that Whittaker was on that agenda. And you don’t have to... I mean, I don’t think Rupert was mistaken.

    You’ve only got to see the lines that were being taken in the NewsCorp newspapers.

    Updated

    Has Australia’s 29th prime minister heard from anyone who he talks about in his book, who are not happy with having their messages shared?

    I haven’t heard from them, no. But I haven’t heard from many of them for a long time.

    Would Malcolm Turnbull still recommend people get into politics, given his experience?

    He says if it is a calling, then you do what you have to to answer it.

    But he says it has obviously changed:

    People used to talk about the 24-hour news cycle as though that was indecently hasty. Nowadays, what is it?

    A 24-second news cycle, a 60-second news cycle? So, you know, it’s a different world. And there’s a pursuit.

    You know, there’s a passage in my book where I was ... Lucy and I were chased down a flight of stairs by a press gallery pack of journalists and cameramen.

    And I was seeing, you know, familiar faces seeming to be transformed. They were like wild animals, you know, baying for blood, jostling each other, they nearly knocked Lucy down the stairs. Like, I caught her, literally.

    So, you know, it’s become a very aggressive environment, I think, the media environment. And that’s ... You know, the rise of social media, of course, hasn’t helped that.

    Updated

    Malcolm Turnbull is the guest of a special virtual national press club.

    Asked about the legacy of writing his memoir, A Bigger Picture, the former PM says he was telling his story, including his experience with depression, and believes it is an important story to tell:

    It’s part of my story, Sabra [Lane]. It’s part of my story. So it is a reality. It was a very big, significant episode in my life. And I think there is a benefit in writing about it, because I think if people of high profile that, you know, lots of people go through ... through the media and politics, they see someone like me who says, ‘Right, I had this depressive episode. I was able to deal with it and overcome it,’ that gives a lot of other people encouragement, both to acknowledge the problems they may have and also to deal with them. I’ve had a lot of very positive feedback and thanks for being so open about this.

    Updated

    The G20 chats continue.

    Scott Morrison has also spoken to Angela Merkel.

    The German leader and PM obviously had a lot to say about each country’s response to Covid-19 when it came to both health and the economy. The pair also discussed the impact on other EU members.

    The need for caution in easing movement and physical restrictions was discussed, as well as what each nation could do when it came to repatriations (there are still citizens stranded all over the world, who are unable to get home because of travel restrictions).

    Of course trade was also discussed, as both leaders eye life after the immediate lockdowns and Australia is still in free trade agreements negotiations with a post-Brexit EU.

    Following Merkel was a conversation with Emmanuel Macron over much the same things, but the Pacific was also spoken about, given France’s interests in the region.



    Updated

    Deputy chief medical officer, professor Paul Kelly will give the national update at 3.15pm today.

    The crew from the Ruby Princess are being repatriated, but the debate over who is to blame for the cruise ship passengers being allowed to disperse into the community, without forced quarantine, given there were reportedly Covid-19 symptoms onboard, continues.

    Updated

    Queensland is releasing its Covid-19 information on a new site, which will include:

    • Total Queensland cases
    • Total samples tested
    • New Covid-19 cases recorded in Queenslander over the past 24 hours
    • Active cases
    • Recovered cases
    • Age and gender of confirmed cases
    • Cases by local government area and source of infection
    • Covid-19 mapping and cumulative graphs
    • Self-quarantine statistics

    You’ll find all that information, here.

    Updated

    So much of Australia’s political “tactics” are grounded in what operatives thought was groundbreaking while at university.

    We just see the same guff played out time and time and time again. Except now, they actually have positions of power. Malcolm Farr has the latest in the most recent round of ridiculousness:

    Updated

    There is a reason most jurisdictions are looking to reopen schools in the next six weeks or so.

    Updated

    And the official report on the latest bilateral chat is out:

    A little more on the ABS analysis of the March retail figures

    Cricket Australia is the latest sporting body to have holes in its finances exposed by the pandemic.

    As Sam Perry reports the sport has already lost $20m despite having all but completed the southern hemisphere season, and if India don’t tour this coming summer, it could lose $100m.

    Updated

    The restrictions may be relaxed, but we know the economy is not going to “snap back”, something the prime minister admitted last week.

    And as Paul Karp has previously pointed out, employers are not going to want to deal with the applications – given their business won’t be “back on track” either.

    As Paul Karp reports:

    The Greens’ Rachel Siewert had asked the government to suspend mutual obligation requirements for jobseekers for six months.

    After Michaelia Cash and Anne Ruston extended the suspension to 22 May, they have written back to the Greens, linking the new date to the prime minister suggesting on 16 April that a further four weeks of Covid-19 restrictions will be required.

    All this tends to suggest that the rolling suspension of mutual obligation seems designed so that obligations to apply for jobs and work for the dole will “snap back” as soon as movement restrictions are lifted and businesses are back open.

    Updated

    This is very welcome news

    Further to the Donald Trump chat this morning with Scott Morrison, John Hopkins has updated the US cases:

    The Actuaries Institute has prepared an exit strategy report, on what its researchers think needs to happen to as restrictions relax, but a vaccine remains elusive.

    You can find the whole report here, but the conclusions are:

    · Recognition that there are no risk-free options, and that one-dimensional strategies which fight the virus without reference to the economic implications will kill more people from poverty and mental health issues than they save from the virus. The approach needs a careful balance between expanding economic activity and preventing the virus spreading exponentially.

    · Phased introduction – perhaps by geographical region; starting with schools due to the low levels of health risk to younger people and the double-whammy of disrupted education for children and disrupted work for parents if schools are closed or only notionally open.

    · A plan to deal rapidly with localised outbreaks by identifying, quarantining and testing people who may have been exposed to infection.

    · A plan to lockdown again (perhaps by region) if the strategy does not work. Acknowledgement that some people will not follow the rules – so some high-risk people will be exposed by having contact with (say) family members.

    · Acknowledgement that mild or asymptomatic cases could lead to further breakouts.

    · Full testing within regions to ensure local elimination – as done in the north Italian town of Vo. While this could be viewed as intrusive, it is far less intrusive than requiring people to give up their livelihoods.

    · Recognition that frequent heavy exposure kills healthy people – so we need to minimise people needing hospital care.

    We will maintain:

    Closed borders – we could have travel between cleared countries in time, perhaps starting with New Zealand.

    Limited travel between regions until they are all clear or reliable tests can be carried out before travel and at points of entry.

    The risk of going early is still large but it could be managed progressively – but the risk of staying out longer will be crippling for the economy. The further risk of staying out longer once community-transmitted cases have reduced to very low levels is that the community will simply stop complying.

    Updated

    All of that toilet paper hoarding had to have some impact.

    The ABS has the receipts – we spent more in March then we did before the GST came into effect:

    Australian retail turnover rose 8.2% in March 2020, seasonally adjusted, according to preliminary retail trade figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

    This is the strongest seasonally adjusted rise ever published in the Retail Trade publication, surpassing an increase of 8.1% in June 2000 when households brought forward expenditure ahead of the GST implementation.

    These preliminary figures, which will be subject to revision with the final monthly estimate published 6 May, 2020 in Retail Trade, Australia (Cat no 8501.0), indicate unprecedented demand in March in the food retailing industry, with strong sales across supermarkets, liquor retailing and other specialised food.

    Updated

    Scott Morrison speaks to Donald Trump

    The prime minister has had a chat to the United States president this morning.

    As you would expect, coronavirus dominated the talks, which included the health response, and how to get each country’s economy back up and running.

    Transparency is also understood to have been on the agenda, which would have included the World Health Organisation response and communication on the pandemic.

    The talks are part of the regular check-in the G20 leaders are having with each other, which also includes the more vulnerable nations around them, which, in Australia’s case, includes the Pacific.

    Updated

    Queensland Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, took to Twitter to warn that new residential tenancy laws being voted on in state parliament tonight will incidentally create new grounds for a landlord to evict a tenant.

    Instead of passing a moratorium on all evictions, the legislation will only outlaw evictions for tenants that can prove their income has been affected by Covid-19.

    But Berkman says the laws will also make it legal to evict a tenant on a fixed-term lease if they want to sell that property with vacant possession, something landlords can’t do at the moment.

    Updated

    The Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein was just talking about the temporary visa holders which have largely been left without help during this crisis.

    They are not the only group who have been left stranded by this in Australia though. Asylum seekers, many of whom have no option to return home for fear of their lives, are stuck in Australia with no jobs, no government safety net and no family.

    Updated

    The lockdown in Tasmania’s north-west coast, which was put in place after an outbreak in two hospitals in the region, will be relaxed on Sunday, which is the end of the two-week quarantine period.

    There has been one new case of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

    Updated

    On tenancy agreements, Peter Gutwein says:

    For clarity, today, we’ll also be issuing a notice to freeze residential rent increases as well for this period through to June 30, and this will mean that rent increases can’t occur.

    The orders will be reviewed prior to June 30, and will be extended in line with the emergency period if required at that time.

    But I want to, again, remind all tenants, both commercial and residential, that rents should be paid unless your financial circumstances have been severely impacted by Covid-19. This is not a passport not to pay rent.

    And I’d also, again, remind you that your lease can still be terminated for criminal damage or other breaches of the lease.

    Updated

    The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein says a lot of temporary visa holders have been left out of the federal government assistance measures, which he wants to address:

    Firstly, we’re going to immediately extend the eligibility for the isolation pandemic support, which is there for people who are placed into temporary self-isolation or quarantine.

    If a temporary visa holder can demonstrate genuine financial hardship, they’ll be provided with an immediate payment of $250, and up to $1,000 for their family.

    Secondly, we’ll also be increasing the funding available to non-government organisations to provide additional emergency relief and assistance targeted at this cohort in our community.

    Thirdly, whilst many of these visa holders will be unable to return to their home country due to border restrictions, and I want to make that point. There are many people that have been living and working in Tasmania that are not in a position where they can return to Italy or to Spain or to New York, or to other parts of Europe, or to the UK because of the travel restrictions. And therefore, we need to ensure that we can provide some support. But for those that can return, the third part of our step will be that we’ll work with them to provide travel advice, but also if necessary, to provide some financial support to help them get home.

    Fourthly, we’ll work with industry sectors, for employers who want to retain their employees because of their specialist skills in the state. Importantly for when their business is able to start up again in coming months, and be able to ensure that we have those skills that we need here in the state for when that startup may occur.

    Updated

    It has been floating around again for a while, but this morning Josh Frydenberg put company tax cuts firmly back on the table.

    Business Council of Australia chief executive, Jennifer Westacott told Sky News’s Laura Jayes they were absolutely needed (but she would say that, wouldn’t she).

    We’re trying to solve business investment, which was low before this terrible crisis. It’s business investment that drives productivity which drives higher wages. So that’s the problem, let’s frame that up first. Look I think it is important for us to put it back on the table but along with other tax reform. It’s not the only thing that needs to be done. It’s important that we look at the state taxes, the productivity sapping stamp duty taxes, payroll tax. It is interesting how much payroll tax has been deferred.

    The whole question of the right configuration of the state taxes. Whether or not we bring forward those other income tax cuts. So it’s not just company taxes but it is important we have a competitive company tax rate. To the treasurer’s point, we’re not asking, in the Business Council, for us to have the lowest rate, we’re simply asking for a competitive rate, so that we can be a magnet for investment in this country.

    Because we already have so many advantages, but we have one disadvantage which is a tax rate that is so much higher than everywhere else in the world. As you and I have talked about many times, at the height of this debate, 63% of Australians supported lowering the corporate tax rate. It was people in this building, in Parliament House, who didn’t see this as something that was in the national interest.

    And we would be in a much better starting position on recovery if we had that 25% rate. So I think we have to put it back on the table. I think we have to stop the ideological wars about it. I think we have to be willing to have a conversation not just about that tax but about the whole tax system or as much of the tax system as we have the stomach to do reform on to make us a country that rewards innovation and incentive.

    And obviously puts money into the pockets of Australians.

    Updated

    In case you haven’t seen this as yet, or cried today, I am giving this another run, because we all need a bit of heartbreakingly lovely in our lives.

    Updated

    A group of friends who gathered at one of their homes to play video games are among 95 people to be issued with a $1,600 on-the-spot fine for allegedly breaching Victoria’s social distancing laws in the past 24 hours.

    Police in Victoria said they also fined three people who, they claim, “booked a short stay accommodation so they could hand out and take drugs”, as well as two people who were stopped in a car in Box Hill.

    As we have seen in a number of these cases in recent weeks, police allege another offence was being committed at the same time – the driver of that car in Box Hill was unlicensed, the passenger was apparently brandishing a weapon.

    The social distancing laws give police another reason to stop people and question their movements.

    As Michael McGowan reported yesterday, a number of people fined in Victoria say the police were “intimidating” or “aggressive” and the laws were confusing.

    But police have the discretionary power to issue on-the-spot fines and question people’s movements, and they are using that power.

    Updated

    Job-seeking mutual obligations suspension extended

    The first suspension was always going to be too short:

    The lifting of mutual obligations will continue until 22 May 2020 as a result of the impact of Covid-19.

    During this time employment services remain open and available to support jobseekers to prepare for and find available jobs.

    The government has a strong expectation that jobseekers will continue to work positively with their employment service provider and take advantage of all the support that is available.

    To further assist jobseekers to prepare for and move quickly back into work, the Morrison government is also bringing forward the Employment Fund credit for the most job-ready jobseekers to be available immediately, rather than after 13 weeks, which is currently the case.

    This change will apply to jobseekers who commence in jobactive from 4 May 2020.

    The Employment Fund can be used by employment service providers to purchase work-related items including licences, equipment, training or qualifications to ensure workers are prepared and able to take up critical roles in the economy.

    These arrangements by the Morrison government continue to support Australians through the challenges presented by Covid-19 and will be continually reviewed.

    Updated

    A few people have asked about the Newmarch House employee.

    She was asymptomatic, meaning she was not showing any symptoms, when she went to work. She felt fine, but was tested after learning a contact of hers had been diagnosed with the virus.

    The NSW Department of Health have been in contact with the woman and have reported she is “understandably distraught” over the situation.

    Aged care workers in NSW are encouraged to get tested for the virus, given the danger it poses for the elderly.

    Updated

    Anglicare Sydney CEO Grant Millard has told the ABC the aged care sector has been in the eye of the storm of Covid-19.

    It’s Newmarch centre, in western Sydney, has more than 40 cases of the virus after an employee unknowingly went to work while infected.

    Three residents, who had been diagnosed with Covid-19, have died.

    Millard:

    We have a number of seriously ill people with Covid-19 at the moment.

    We feel well-supported by NSW Health. We have an infectious diseases specialist who’s actually there on site helping us.

    It’s been a massive challenge to deal with the workforce requirements, to have adequate RNs and carers in this situation.

    We’ve had, I guess, the tragic results of having not only deaths of residents, but a number of our carers have been taken offline because they’ve been either in close contact or they have had positive results themselves.

    So, over 55 staff at the moment of ours are just totally taken out of the equation.

    And we’re really scratching around to have adequate staff there.

    Today we’re happy we’ve got a good number of RNs, a little short on carers.

    We have been reaching out to agencies locally. And the federal government has been seeking to assist us as well.

    It’s been late to sort of get some of those resources to play, but speaking with the Aged Care Quality Safety Commission and the minister, Richard Colbeck, we’re confident, but it’s incredibly challenging at the moment.

    It’s a tough environment, some seriously ill people. And just doing the normal things of caring for people’s needs on a day-to-day basis, it’s a particular demand for us at this time.



    Updated

    Victorian houseprices predicted to fall by 9%

    Tim Pallas, the Victorian treasurer, has released some details on Victoria’s economic modelling:

    What we have been able to do is produce data that shows that something like 270,000 jobs will be lost, peaking at a height in the September quarter of about 11% unemployment. Now, that is essentially twice the level of the unemployment that we’re currently experiencing.

    What we will also see is that gross state product, the size of the Victorian economy will not be as big as we’d anticipated it would be.

    Victoria’s economy is about a $455bn proposition. For the first six months of this year, we had anticipated to see the economy be about the size of $226bn.

    Now that number will be $194bn. So, we’ve seen a very substantial reduction in terms of the size of the Victorian economy as a consequence of the measures that are necessary to preserve public wellbeing.

    Property prices also will fall by about 9% by the end of this calendar year.

    Updated

    Update on new cases in the past 24 hours

    Queensland – 0

    NSW - five

    Victoria - 2

    The Victorian premier has once again warned that there will be no quick rush to remove the restrictions:

    In too many places around the world, where they thought they had this under control, they eased off restrictions only to then have to employ even tougher lockdowns after that.

    If we keep this performance going, though, if people keep doing the right thing, if people have that same sense of urgency and give this the importance that it absolutely deserves, and demands, then we will have options in a few weeks’ time, and we will be able to look very carefully at those options.

    Let’s not give back all the progress we’ve made. Let’s certainly not close off those options by thinking that this is over. And that relative stability in our case numbers means we can go back to normal. We simply can’t.

    We’ve all gotta keep following the rules so that in a few weeks’ time we’ve got some options to ease some of these measures.

    But I do again – I’m happy to try and give people that very real sense of hope, because there is hope here, but at the same time I don’t want to be making promises that can’t be kept.

    And I certainly don’t want to be sending a message to any Victorian that is over.

    This is going to run for months. And the recovery will take years.

    Updated

    Dan Andrews is giving Victoria’s update:

    I can confirm that there are 1,336 cases of coronavirus in Victoria. That is the same total as yesterday, but there are, in fact, two new cases.

    Two have been removed on the basis that they have been added to interstate tallies.

    That’s where they tested positive.

    As you know, these numbers do jump around a little bit from day to day, and there are sometimes a few little corrections that are made.

    There are 29 people in hospital, including 12 in intensive care. There have been 88,000 tests completed over this global pandemic here in Victoria, which is a really significant increase in the total amount of testing that we have been doing. And that is why there’s reason for such confidence in these numbers. More testing, yet very, very stable results.

    If we continue to see these results, then we would have options that would be denied to us if we didn’t have this virus fundamentally under control.

    Updated

    This has been an issue which has been bubbling along since the childcare subsidy was announced.

    There have been reports of childcare centres struggling to stay open under the plan, because of cut incomes.

    Amanda Rishworth has released this statement:

    Labor is deeply concerned by reports that the Morrison government’s childcare changes have resulted in many families being forced to give up work or reduce hours as they are unable to access the care they require.

    Examples are emerging where, as a result of government changes, early learning providers are having to reduce staff, cut opening hours, deny care to new families or cancel existing enrolments to remain financially viable.

    The government’s changes restrict providers to 50% of their revenue as of the beginning of March and, if eligible, jobkeeper payments. As a result many providers no longer have the financial capacity to take new enrolments or allow parents to increase their hours.

    Updated

    Canberra has still not seen much flow-on effect on petrol prices, despite the falling price of oil. It’s not alone, and the ACCC wants Australian retailers to address it:

    Petrol retailers should not use the current pandemic to further increase profits, which the latest ACCC petrol industry report shows have risen in recent years, and should pass on the full benefit of falling oil prices to motorists, the ACCC has said.

    Weekly average international crude oil prices have decreased by around US$ 50 per barrel since the beginning of the year and this has largely flowed through to Australian wholesale petrol prices, which have decreased by around 50 cents per litre (cpl) in the same period.

    Over the same period, seven-day rolling average petrol prices across the five largest cities (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth) have decreased by around 45 cpl. These cities have regular petrol price cycles, which makes it difficult to assess the exact flow through of falls in international crude oil and refined petrol prices in the short term.

    “The drop in the crude oil price is good news for the Australian motorists. At this time the Australian economy needs all the assistance it can get, and lower world crude oil prices are one of the few positives from current world events,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

    “In the larger Australian capital cities, petrol retailers took too long to pass on the savings from the rapid drop in international oil prices, and this did not reflect well on them.”

    In Hobart, Canberra and Darwin as well as many regional locations, retail prices have been much slower to come down and the extent of the falls has varied widely.

    Updated

    The future of Virgin airlines in Australia continues to stoke a pre-Covid tit for tat between the major parties.

    Bill Shorten was happy to stand in Melbourne’s cold pre-winter dark morning to chat about it with the ABC:

    At the end of the day, it’s about the taxpayer, and it’s about Australians. Is that you can either fork out the money and pay for 10,000 or 15,000 people on the dole, or you could see an underwriting of a convertible note or a loan, which provides some equity, which then eventually the gGovernment can recoup.

    So, really when you stop to think about it and get beyond the simple headlines of saying, “Is it a foreign airline?”

    Even though there are tens of thousands of local jobs, is it something that government should be just providing money for?

    There’s a big difference between paying people unemployment benefits and providing support which allows investors the certainty to make sure that we have two major airlines – Qantas and Virgin – with sustainable jobs, high-skilled jobs, here in Australia.

    Because if we don’t rescue Virgin in some form, what will happen is that, sooner or later, a foreign airline will come in. And who knows, there could be foreign crews flying over Australian air and sky, with foreign pay and conditions.

    So at the end of the day, this is about keeping skilled jobs, this is about making investments where perhaps the taxpayer doesn’t ultimately foot the entire bill.

    So I think there’s a deal to be done in voluntary administration, but I tell you what, for the regions, for our tourism, for low fares, and for the taxpayer not having to pay the massive costs if tens of thousands of people just lose their jobs, I think a deal should be done. And I think it’s possible to be done.

    Josh Frydenberg then weighed in.

    Updated

    If you visit Coles or Woolworths online, you will probably find that many of the delivery restrictions have been loosened.

    The community shopping hour is still in place though.

    Also, there no longer seems to be a problem finding toilet paper*.

    *A sentence I could never have predicted I’d be writing in a news blog

    Updated

    And Josh Taylor has had a chat to the podcast team about the tracing app the government wants you to download.

    Updated

    Our very clever colleagues, Nick Evershed and Andy Ball have created this explainer of how coronavirus spreads across a population:

    While Australia has been focused on the Ruby Princess and its crew, it’s been easy to forget there are a bunch of Australians stranded on other cruise ships, which they helped crew, all over the world.

    AAP has an update on the efforts to repatriate some of those Australians, who are sitting off the US:

    The more than 100 Australian crew members stranded for weeks on cruise ships off the US coast following tough Trump administration coronavirus restrictions may finally be rescued.

    The Australian government announced on Tuesday Australian crew may be allowed to join UK and European crew and be flown or take a cruise ship to England.

    The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is currently aware of 128 Australian crew on 57 ships.

    Australian officials are “optimistic” a good number of Australian crew will be able to disembark before the end of this month.

    Updated

    'No reason' to stop visits to aged care homes

    Queensland’s chief medical officer, Dr Jeanette Young, told a press conference this morning that as long as physical distancing restrictions were maintained, and unwell people stayed away, there was no reason to stop visits to aged care homes.

    In NSW, the chief medical officer, Dr Kerry Chant, who is dealing with another outbreak at an aged care home after an employee unknowingly worked while ill, is once again encouraging all aged care workers to get tested.

    Updated

    This morning the deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth said people could keep their loved ones, and those around them safe, while also ensuring they remained in contact:

    I have some personal experience in this, having had my father in an aged care facility up until he passed away. And it’s so critical to be able to visit people for mental health reasons. And, you know, elderly Australians will get depressed and they will have all sorts of mental health effects and health effects from not having visitors.

    So, the medical advice has always been that visitors are allowed, in limited numbers. But please, if you are visiting someone in an elderly – an elderly relative, do not go if you have any hint of respiratory symptoms – coughs, sore throat, unwell, “I’m feeling a bit like I’ve got a lurgy” – do not go into an aged care facility.

    But if you are well, I would urge all aged care providers to allow visitors because it’s so important for the health of your residents.

    Updated

    With the transmission rate in Australia sitting at about 1% and while testing rates have stayed high, authorities are stepping away from blocking visits to aged care homes.

    Yesterday Scott Morrison said:

    There is great concern that the isolation of elderly people in residential care facilities where they have been prevented from having any visits, from loved ones and support people, is not good for their wellbeing, is not good for their health and so the national cabinet agreed that there needs to be a strong reminder that the national cabinet decision was to not shut people off or to lock them away in their rooms.

    That was never the recommendation or the advice of the national cabinet.

    The advice, I think, was very clear about ensuring that there could be visits of two a day – close relatives and support people – this would be undertaken in the resident’s rooms but otherwise residents would be able to be in other parts of the facility, they could sit in common rooms, they could sit in outdoor areas of these facilities and we would like as many freedoms to be extended to residents in aged care facilities as is possible and there is no recommendation from the medical expert panel that they should be confined in that way.

    Where further restrictions should be put in place in aged care facilities is where you may have an outbreak in that facility or indeed an outbreak in the area in which the facility is located. So there are exceptional circumstances where further restrictions might be placed on people living in residential aged care facilities in terms of access to visitors.

    But those additional restrictions are the exception, they are not the rule, and we think it is a good thing for people to have those visits in accordance with those screening procedures and other things that are necessary to protect elderly residents in those situations.

    It shouldn’t be done out of the convenience of isolation in terms of how these facilities are run, it should always be done always only in the interests of the care of those who are living in those facilities.

    Updated

    Queensland reports no new infections

    Queensland has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

    Great news.

    Updated

    Australia has undertaken the suppression method in response this pandemic. Lately though, as cases continue to drop, the word “elimination” has started to drip into press conferences. Scott Morrison has said elimination may be one of the side-effects of the suppression strategy.

    Dr Nick Coatsworth says he is sticking with “suppression”.

    I’m using the word “suppression” and I’ll tell you why I’m doing that. The problem with using words like “elimination” and “eradication” is that we are a non-immune population. So, you have to be so sure that you’ve got to that point that you would need to extend your restrictions for so long to get to that point, that I think that that would, you know, lead to Australians having to be under social restrictions for too long to get there. That’s an honest view. If, in the process of suppressing, we get to the point of eradication, then that would be a magnificent outcome. But we must continue to build capacity and we must continue to contain the virus, and remember that we’re not immune from it. So, the word that – the strategy that we’re using is to “suppress” Covid-19 until there’s a vaccine.

    Updated

    The deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth has had a chat to the ABC this morning about loosening restrictions around Australia.

    11 May is the date circled in the calendar at the moment. If the rate of infection stays at where it is (about 1%), then restrictions will be stepped back.

    What does that look like? DCoatsworth isn’t entirely sure as yet:

    All sorts of considerations are on the table. Easing social restrictions would, by definition, mean that some of those numbers could change. It does depend, of course, as you have said in your questions, what happens in the next three weeks. But all range of options are on the table.

    Businesses and individuals need to prepare, though, that physical distance from one another will need to keep going. Great hand hygiene and cough etiquette will need to keep going, because we won’t have a vaccine. So, whilst some restrictions may be lifted, the way we behave has to stay the same.

    Updated

    Bondi beach to be reopened to swimmers on weekdays

    Last night the Waverly council voted to open the water at Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches from Tuesday next week, but congregating on the sand or sunbathing will still be strictly off limits.

    There will also be restrictions on when Sydneysiders can access the water. The beach will only open on weekdays between certain times and fences will be erected to guide swimmers and surfers in and out of the water. The council may also limit numbers during busier times.

    The move comes after the council area to the south, Randwick, opened its water and sand to allow people to exercise on the beach.

    Waverley’s mayor, Paula Masselos, previously said previous that allowing people on the sand at Bondi wasn’t an option as the area remains the most heavily infected in NSW.

    Updated

    Josh Frydenberg has also, for about the third time this month, ruled out raising the GST to address Australia’s coming economic grief as part of his ABC interview this morning:

    What we do have a plan for is obviously lower taxes and that’s been our track record.”

    Ruby Princess ordered to leave tomorrow

    The NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, offers this update on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which is still docked off Port Kembla:

    Yesterday 57 crew members were escorted off the ship and a number have already flown home. Over the next three days, the balance of that 57 will be repatriated back to their home countries.

    The commissioner of Border Force has written to Carnival and directed that the Ruby Princess leaves Australian waters from this Thursday. So, from NSW police perspective, we are still working to that date.

    There are a number of other potential crew members who may be repatriated. We are waiting for information from either Carnival or other consulates in terms of absolutely fixed travel arrangements for those individuals.

    There’s around 40 crew members who are corona-positive that Health are monitoring closely, and we’ll continue to work with Health between now and Thursday to bring any crew members off the ship who require urgent medical treatment.

    Updated

    Five people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours in NSW.

    Updated

    Gladys Berejiklian has also spoken about the changes to Anzac Day this year under physical distancing rules:

    As many of you know, the dawn service from Canberra, which the prime minister is leading, will occur and will be televised.

    New South Wales will also have our own service at 10am, and we do encourage families to participate together, to use that time to watch the livestream service, but also to take the opportunity to reflect, to contemplate, to thank.

    And, more than ever, to put ourselves in the situation of those who have sacrificed for the freedom and liberty of all of us.

    And I think this Anzac Day more than others we’ll be able to really, really soak the significance of this momentous day.

    And I want to thank the RSL community, especially those communities in rural and regional areas, who are used to going to their local memorial park or the memorial place of respect and worship, but unfortunately this year all of us have to do things differently.

    We can’t turn up to the dawn service, we can’t turn up to marches, we can’t turn up to those regular things we do. But what we can do is still honour our servicemen and women, past and present, we can still acknowledge those in our family who have served, and, of course, support the RSL in their efforts in making sure everybody appreciates the significance of Anzac Day this year, although it will be done in different circumstances.

    Updated

    Australia’s death toll now stands at 74.

    NSW reports two more deaths

    The NSW chief medical officer, Dr Kerry Chant, says two more people have died after contracting Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. That is on top of the Newmarch House resident who died late yesterday. She said:

    There have been 33 deaths in New South Wales up until 8pm on the 21st, with three deaths in that 24-hour reporting period.

    There are currently 231 Covid cases being treated by NSW Health, and this includes 20 people being treated in intensive care units, with 16 of those requiring ventilators.

    The three further deaths relate to a 75-year-old gentleman who passed away in St George hospital and was a household contact of a known case.

    An 80-year-old woman, who passed away in Gosford hospital with pre-existing medical conditions, who was part of a Gosford hospital cluster.

    And a 92-year-old woman who was a resident of the Anglicare Newmarch House at Caddens, and who is the third death in that facility.

    Updated

    Malcolm Turnbull is the guest at the National Press Club today – a special, socially distant edition.

    He has recorded his address and reporters have recorded their questions to ask him.

    You’ll not only hear more from his book (which is a good read, for those wondering) but you’ll also get his views on what’s coming for Australia as it navigates public health and an economy through a pandemic, without a vaccine.

    Updated

    Last week, speaking to Neil Mitchell on Melbourne radio 3AW, Scott Morrison was asked if it was “business as usual” with China. The prime minister answered:

    Well, look, we’ve always been vigilant about these things, but at the same time, we’ve continued to pursue a productive, comprehensive strategic partnership with China. But we have an eyes-wide-open relationship.

    Updated

    Back on that interview with Josh Frydenberg on ABC Breakfast, it ended with him being asked if he trusted China.

    That’s going to be a question that pops up time and time again.

    Frydenberg deliberately didn’t answer it:

    Well, I happily engage with China constructively ...

    Host: That wasn’t the question. Do you trust China, Josh Frydenberg?

    Frydenberg:

    Well, it’s not a question of trusting them. It’s a question of can we work with them, and we do, and we do so constructively. And we do so in Australia’s national interest. They’re a country of more than a billion people. They’re in our region, they’re our No 1 trading partner. Many Australian livelihoods and many Australian jobs rely on those strong trading relationships with China. We don’t want to move away from that. What we want to do is obviously defend Australia’s national interest in whatever realm that is, and we’ll continue to do so.

    Updated

    Good morning

    Bondi is back. Almost.

    In the first stage of whatever the new normal is that we are all walking into, Waverley council last night voted to reopen Sydney’s most famous beach, along with Bronte and Tamarama.

    The beaches were closed as part of strict physical distancing rules, after people kept flocking to the ocean. From next Tuesday people will be allowed back into the water. But only on weekdays and there is to be no chilling on the sand.

    Council rangers will manage “surf and go” and “swim and go” entrances, and the council has vowed to close the beaches again if the rules aren’t adhered to.

    Still. It is something.

    Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has once again had to announce that it has found no evidence coronavirus came from a lab, pointing to its origins as most likely starting from animals. It hasn’t worked out how it came to be transmitted to humans as yet, but is pushing back, again, against the neverending speculation it was created.

    Closer to home, and Josh Frydenberg has defended Peter Dutton against the Chinese embassy’s criticisms.

    Dutton returned to work after a month off, after he contracted Covid-19 in the States, by calling for greater transparency from China about the coronavirus. Beijing, through its embassy, claimed Dutton was receiving instructions from Washington.

    Scott Morrison has since suggested a global inquiry needs to be held into the origins of coronavirus.

    Speaking to the ABC this morning, Frydenberg said Australia would defend its national interest.

    I think they’re unwanted and unjustified comments. And what is clear is that we maintain a good relationship at the commercial level with China. They’re our largest trading partner and we want that to continue.

    We obviously have some differences from time to time on the political and strategic levels. But, like with many countries, we make those points clear. But ultimately Peter Dutton’s role, the prime minister’s role, my role, and all our colleagues’ roles, is to defend the Australian national interest, and that’s what we’ll continue to do, and we’ll speak up about it as required.

    We’ll have all of that and more as the day unfolds. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.

    Ready?

    Updated

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