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The Guardian - AU
National
Caitlin Cassidy and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

Victoria records third death and WA to offer Pfizer to over-12s – as it happened

What we learned today, Tuesday 14 September

With that, I think we’ll wrap up the blog for tonight.

Here were the top headlines today:

  • Australia’s first dose vaccination rate is now at 68.5%, with workplaces to begin rolling out Covid vaccines from mid-October.
  • The ACT’s lockdown has been extended for a further four weeks after the territory recorded 22 new local cases, 14 of which were linked. Year 12 students will return for term four.
  • NSW recorded 1,127 new local cases and sadly, two further deaths. It is still too early to tell if the curve is flattening, but the current trend is looking better.
  • Queensland recorded one new case, a 15-year-old student linked to the Sunnybank cluster.
  • The Pfizer vaccine will be available for all Western Australian residents over 12 from Monday.
  • Victoria recorded a third Covid death today, which will be included in tomorrow’s numbers. There were 445 new local cases in the state. Victoria is getting a $22m mental health package and a roadmap out of the pandemic on Sunday.
  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will jet off to the US later this month for the first time since president Joe Biden was inaugurated.
  • And housing prices are up. The housing prices in eight capital cities increased by 6.7% in the June quarter and 16.8% over the past 12 months.

Updated

The Victorian opposition is calling for Melbourne’s (sadly) empty MCG to be used as a vaccination hub to “celebrate” this year’s grand final.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy says the grand final public holiday, falling on Friday next week for Victorians, is the perfect opportunity to allow footy fans to be vaccinated in their team’s colours at their club home bases – and a means to soften the blow for Melbourne and Bulldogs fans unable to attend the final in Perth.

Demons fans would be vaccinated at either of their club’s training bases at Casey Fields or Gosch’s Paddock.

The Bulldogs would be jabbed at Whitten Oval.

Other club bases could also be involved in a one-day initiative that would “lift the spirit” of Victorians in lockdown.

Guy:

Victorians love their footy, and love showing off their colours at this time of year. Why not combine that with an opportunity to be vaccinated at your traditional home ground? This is a simple way to lift spirits and vaccination rates at the same time.

Updated

Foundation for Young Australians executive director of advocacy Lee Carnie is on the Drum tonight, discussing the impact of Covid lockdowns on youth.

They say underemployment, insecure housing and the end of jobkeeper and jobseeker have been particularly tough:

It’s really obvious that young people’s mental health has been severely impacted by Covid and restrictions. When you hear young people who need acute and chronic psychiatric care are being told they have to leave the residential facility that they’re in to make room for potential Covid cases, it really highlights how concerned I think young people are that their mental health concerns are not being taken seriously by governments.

I think young people are sick of politicians paying lip service, saying that they understand that it’s hard for young people that the mental health impacts are hard for young people, but young people want to see more than that. We want to see our governments investing funding into timely, accessible, tailored, safe mental health supports for everyone.

There are so many reasons why young people’s mental health is suffering right now and it’s not enough to add on some extra mental healthcare payments. We need to look at how we can prepare young people’s mental health from being exacerbated because of Covid restrictions and because there aren’t enough supports available to support the number of young people who are really struggling through this really difficult time.

Updated

NT remote education is ‘failing’ Indigenous students, with few able to pass basic writing tests, teachers say.

Less than 15% of NT students in remote Indigenous communities attend school four days a week, the Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages in the NT (ATESOL) says, and AAP reports.

Indigenous education policy consistently ignores the eight out of 10 students in remote communities that speak one of the more than 100 Aboriginal languages and dialects spoken in the NT.

ATESOL NT representative says the gap is “widening, not closing”:

Applying the same education policies to students who are culturally and linguistically different doesn’t result in equity.

She says NT students are routinely required to sit English Naplan tests, which they can’t understand.

As a result, they’re told to guess answers by colouring in the bubbles on the test pages.

Restricted secondary schooling options limit most remote Aboriginal secondary students to NT or interstate boarding schools after the community-based Employment Pathways program was terminated.

ATESOL NT said the territory had also routinely failed to employ qualified Aboriginal teachers, assistant teachers and English language teachers in remote schools.

According to ATESOL NT, just 14% of very remote Indigenous students attended school even four days a week in 2020, with numbers likely to have fallen further in 2021.

The NT education minister has been contacted for comment.

Updated

The ACT is still leading the way in vaccinations.

Tasmania is on track to reach the 80% Covid-19 vaccination milestone in early November, AAP reports.

The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, has reiterated his support for the national plan, in which restrictions will be eased incrementally when 70 and 80% of the population is fully vaccinated.

But he doubled down on saying any decision on opening the island state’s borders would be made on public health advice:

I’ve made it perfectly clear that in terms of opening up Tasmania, we will open it up when it’s safe to do so. We expect to be at around 80% double-dose vaccinated sometime in early November. The rest of the country has to do some heavy lifting to get there by that date. By the end of November we’ll have a clearer picture as to where the country is at and importantly what circumstances we can allow people back into Tasmania.

More than 49% of eligible Tasmanians have had both doses, placing the state behind only the ACT (52%).

Tasmanian businesses feeling the pinch from ongoing border closures have been given an extra $50m in state and federal government support.

The jointly funded grants package has been upped from $20m to $50m.

The Tasmanian government is also providing about $20m in relief by waiving charges including payroll tax, vehicle registration and Parks and Wildlife licence fees for some struggling operators.

Updated

Victoria records third Covid death today

Sad news coming out of Victoria.

There has been a third death linked to the Covid outbreak today, which is likely to be included in tomorrow’s official numbers.

The Australian Services Union has released a statement:

Martin ‘Marty’ Blight, a long-term employee of Serco Mill Park, a committed ASU member, a father, a friend to many, and a keen fisherman, died aged 46 on Monday 13 September 2021 in hospital.

Marty became unwell with coronavirus after his workplace was identified as a tier one site and he was subsequently identified as a close contact.

We know Marty’s death will be very hard for many of his family, friends, and colleagues to process.

The union has been speaking with Marty’s family directly and both the ASU and Marty’s family would like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible so that no one else has to go through the trauma of losing someone to Covid-19.

Our sympathy and our solidarity is with Marty’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.

If you are struggling or require assistance, reach out and ask for help – Lifeline is available on 131 114.

Updated

Victoria scraps VCAL in vocational education overhaul

Victoria is scrapping VCAL as part of an overhaul of vocational education for senior school students, AAP reports.

Under new legislation introduced to state parliament on Tuesday, the government will replace the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) with the Victorian Certificate of Education – Vocational Major.

The Foundation VCAL year will be replaced with the Victorian Pathways Certificate, from which students can choose VCE, entry-level vocational training or move into the workforce, to be introduced from 2023.

The education minister, James Merlino, says the vocational major will mean students can access more subjects, as well as doing work experience.

Merlino:

These reforms mean students will have better support and flexibility to study what they want, alongside key academic skills that will prepare them for the jobs of the future.

The government says the new program will be focused on students with additional needs, and vulnerable students at risk of leaving the school system.

Updated

Some news at Guardian Australia. We’re launching a weekly newsletter devoted to regional affairs.

Guardian Australia’s Rural Network is an Australia-wide project to build a network of writers who know and understand their regions.

Edited by Gabrielle Chan, the project reimagines rural coverage – steering away from stereotypes and cartoon visions of regional Australia.

Chan:

I want to hear from you – our audience of rural and regional readers, as well as metro readers with a keen interest in the people, places and spaces outside the city limits. We are nothing without you. We can’t be on every main street but we do hope you follow our content and engage with us, including via our Rural Network Facebook group.

Updated

The age discrimination commissioner and former health minister Kay Paterson is up on Afternoon Briefing chatting about a new report on ageism. Patricia Kervelas asks Paterson if she would have accepted a meeting with Pfizer if she were in Greg Hunt’s shoes

Karvelas:

This revelation that Pfizer wanted this meeting with the health minister, we know as a fact he didn’t take that meeting when it was requested – would you have taken the meeting when you were health minister at the time?

Paterson:

I don’t know but I was working 24 hours every day and I couldn’t take every meeting. I don’t think anybody realises the pressure that a national health minister is under.

I spoke to our chief medical officer sometimes six to eight times a day during SARS and to ask and say, you should have taken that phone call, I think is challenging. I think also we thought we had an answer in Queensland, it fell through, we were producing AstraZeneca at CSL here, people were saying, why are we taking from overseas when we have a product making here?

It’s all very easy to sit back and say you should have done this or that. I am not about to criticise anybody because I was in the thick of SARS, it didn’t turn out like this has but it could have and I appreciate just the challenge everyone is facing.

Updated

Orygen executive director Patrick McGorry is speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, discussing the $22 million mental health package announced by the Victorian government today. He says the mental health workforce is “exhausted”.

Patricia Karvelas:

You say young people in life-threatening situations are being turned away from emergency in everyday situations. That is really alarming if people are not getting the help they neen.

McGorry:

The numbers haven’t changed, it has probably got a bit worse since the royal commission, something like three out of four young people are turned away per day from specialist mental health care. Some of them die, and if they don’t die their parents are frantic because they know they are in a life-threatening situation. That is what we need to address. Some of the other measures minister [James] Merlino mentioned, [like] surge funding for Headspace centres, but the problem is you cannot magic up the workforce.

He said money that has been allocated has been slow to reach services.

When it does reach services they are not geared up to recruit ... We are getting there, and it is going to take months and years to fix what was a broken system before, so they are doing what they can stop.

McGorry mentions a story Guardian Australia reported of a Sydney hospital having to turn away mental health patients:

Updated

Last week, Australia announced it will support a global push to waive intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines to allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured in developing nations.

The Morrison government’s change in stance followed months of pressure from human rights groups and foreign governments, with Australia’s reluctance to support the waiver even triggering protests outside Australia’s consulate in San Francisco.

Today, the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS council is meeting to discuss the waiver, and the aid and development groups that lobbied the Australian government to support the waiver are now calling on trade minister Dan Tehan to “put words into action”.

Patricia Ranald, director of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, said:

The Australian Government must now put words into action by working with other supportive countries to promote the passage of the waiver at the WTO TRIPS Council meeting today.

The waiver is needed urgently because WTO rules give pharmaceutical companies 20-year monopolies, meaning the supply and price of vaccines is controlled by a few companies who have already made billions from vaccines largely developed with public funds. Australia has felt the impact of these monopolies too, with both Pfizer and Moderna refusing to share intellectual property to allow local production in Australia.

We call on Minister Tehan to make a formal public statement of Australia’s support of the waiver and actively promote the waiver proposal to the few countries which are still blocking it.

You can read more about the waiver here:

Updated

An attempt to force the NSW parliament’s upper house to resume sitting amid the state’s Covid outbreak has failed, AAP’s Tiffanie Turnbull reports.

The Legislative Council was due to sit this week for the first time since June, but the government lobbied for the proceedings to be cancelled as it deemed the health risk it posed too high.

Parliament rules require a government minister to be present for proceedings and none would attend, the coalition’s leader in the upper house Damien Tudehope promised earlier this month.

But Labor members and the crossbench have argued the meetings, conducted in adherence with a strict Covid-safe plan - are essential to allow transparency and accountability during unprecedented times.

The house convened on Tuesday anyway, with the minimum number of representatives required in the chamber, and the rest tuning in online.

Within minutes, Nationals MP Trevor Khan rose to point out the absence of any minister in the house.

“Democracy is an essential service,” leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council Penny Sharpe told the chamber, as it debated the rule preventing it from resuming official business.

The Greens have argued if Bunnings can open safely, so should parliament.

Tudehope blasted the MPs, saying the government had been clear parliament would resume on October 12, to help curb the spread of Covid-19:

This is a political and selfish stunt, a move which only satisfies their own agenda and as a result puts parliamentary staff, their families and our communities at risk of transmitting COVID-19

Updated

Prime minister Scott Morrison will travel to Washington later this month, for the first time since US president Joe Biden took over office.

A number of tier 1 and tier 2 exposure sites in regional Victoria have been added this afternoon:

Updated

In lockdown and in need of a reminder of what it was like to dress up to leave the house?

Guardian Australia have broken down eight key moments from the Met Gala 2021, including an AOC dress that is causing quite a stir on the internet.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Met Gala 2021.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Met Gala 2021. Photograph: Stephen Lovekin/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Guardian Australia receives brief response from Gladys Berejiklian's office

Earlier today, ahead of the first NSW Covid press conference not featuring a government minister, Guardian Australia sent five questions to premier Gladys Berejiklian’s office. You can read the questions here.

We have now received a response from her office, with most questions going unanswered and the specifics of other questions not addressed. While questions were addressed to Berejiklian, the following responses are attributable to a NSW government spokeswoman.

Asked about OzSAGE modelling indicating ICU pressure and deaths could exceed the Burnet Institute modelling released last week, and whether her government would take the modelling into consideration when deciding on easing Covid restrictions, the spokeswoman said:

The NSW Government relies on modelling provided by NSW Health and National Cabinet. Different models can show different outcomes if they use different assumptions. Throughout the pandemic, people have modelled all sorts of outcomes. That is why it is important that the NSW Government follows the official health advice.

The spokeswoman did not provide a response when asked if targeted, stricter lockdowns of individual buildings were being considered to stop transmission in community housing in inner Sydney, nor did she provide a response to a question about vaccination rates among Sydney’s homeless population and strategies to avoid further outbreaks which have been seen in recent days. She referred these questions to NSW Health.

The spokeswoman also didn’t provide a response to a question about how the government plans to increase Indigenous vaccination rates and whether the government is concerned Indigenous vaccination rates could be below the state average once the 70% reopening milestone is reached.

She suggested Dr Jeremy McAnulty, the deputy chief health officer who cannot speak on behalf of government decision making, answered these questions at the update he fronted today.

When we asked Berejiklian why she won’t commit to easing more restrictions in LGAs of concern, given comments from their mayors that restrictions on outdoor recreation and curfews are punitive and comments from her health minister Brad Hazzard that outdoor settings present a lower transmission, the spokeswoman said:

The NSW government is always working with health at ways to ease the burden on citizens where it is safe to do so.

Last week, when defending her decision to abandon daily Covid updates, Berejiklian insisted “whenever I need to speak directly to the public, I absolutely will” and said that “accountability is something we live with 24/7”.

The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Updated

Don’t be surprised if Craig Kelly continues to slide into your DMs, as Clive Palmer has announced United Australia’s federal campaign will be “the most well-funded” of any party contesting the next election.

There has been little appetite from the major parties to change laws exempting unsolicited political messaging from current spam legislation, AAP reports.

Palmer called Tuesday’s press conference to “welcome” any legal action against Kelly brought by the TGA:

They never thought one of the minor parties would have the funds or resources to do that. They thought it was a great joke.

TGA head John Skerritt told the ABC he was getting advice from the Australian government’s solicitor as to whether an offence has been committed through the use of a Commonwealth logo.

Kelly’s text messages included a link to a website showing listings of “adverse event notifications” from Covid-19 vaccines.

Palmer believes legal action would allow him to subpoena Skerritt as well as health minister Greg Hunt, and said Kelly had “nothing to fear” from circulating the TGA’s report.

As well as the biggest war chest, Palmer said his party would have the most campaign workers and the most members leading into the next election.

Membership to the United Australia Party is free, and Palmer said 46,000 people had already joined including 20,000 from suburbs in Western Sydney.

Updated

Victoria's construction union won't back mandatory vaccines

Victoria’s construction union is not happy about mandatory vaccinations and says workers who don’t want to be vaccinated due to “genuine concerns” should be respected.

The state government has launched a four-week enforcement and vaccine program for the building sector and warns it might lose its exemption to keep working during Covid-19 lockdowns.

The sector is currently at 25% capacity.

Building sites account for about 13% of Victoria’s Covid-19 cases, with at least five new cases linked to building sites in Greenvale and Box Hill.

John Setka, the CFMEU’s Victorian state secretary for construction, told ABC radio the CFMEU is “pro-vaccine” but doesn’t support mandatory jabs.

I don’t support anything being compulsory. People have genuine health concerns. But I believe we should listen to the experts. There is some people with legitimate health concerns over being vaccinated and I think we’ve got to respect that.

Setka said the union was enforcing “the gold standard” at building sites.

Asked if the union would represent any workers stood down after declining to be vaccinated, he said: “We will take each case”.

CFMEU Victorian leader John Setka takes a Covid-19 test on a building site earlier this year.
CFMEU Victorian leader John Setka takes a Covid-19 test on a building site earlier this year. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Sydney lawyer Tu Le has told ABC radio the decision to parachute Kristina Keneally into the safe seat of Fowler at the next federal election is a “debacle” that highlights a lack of diversity in politics. Le, who had been backed by outgoing Labor MP Chris Hayes in the multicultural electorate, said:

We know it happens a lot of the time on both sides of politics but I think now people who couldn’t care less about politics are more engaged. They’re furious in fact. The public commentary about this clearly shows their rage.

I grew up, I live in this area and I fight for this area every day in my life as a community worker, as an advocate, an organiser and a lawyer.

Sydney lawyer Tu Le
Sydney lawyer Tu Le. Photograph: Supplied

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has hailed Kristina Keneally as a great migrant story and defended Labor’s credentials, pointing to his Italian surname and the party’s Senate leader Penny Wong as examples of diversity at the highest levels.

The Labor party has done an enormous amount for diversity. Kristina Keneally was born in the United States, came to Australia, and is another great Australian success story of a migrant who’s come here and became the New South Wales premier.

Nyadol Nyuon has a different take:

Updated

There are reports positive Covid-19 cases have visited three venues within the Queensland-NSW border bubble zone, which reopened yesterday.

Updated

This afternoon’s treat is breaking images of baby meerkats:

AAP’s Hannah Ryan reports the three baby meerkats emerged from their den at the Dubbo zoo after being born to parents Midra and Howell on August 16.

The zoo is closed because of stay-at-home orders, as is its harbourside Sydney counterpart.

But Taronga has pledged to provide regular updates on the new meerkats’ progress on social media.

Meerkat pups stay in a den for the first weeks of life until they open their eyes and become stronger.

The meerkats are due to be vaccinated soon and will get their first jab at three weeks.

Updated

The Morrison government’s climate policy may harm Australia’s ability to push for its own priorities with its top security ally the US when senior ministers meet in Washington this week, analysts say.

Marise Payne and Peter Dutton will meet with the US secretary of state and defence secretary for Thursday’s face-to-face “Ausmin” talks – the first during the Biden administration. The talks are tipped to result in an expansion of the rotational presence of US Marines in Darwin.

Payne and Dutton will likely be asking the Biden administration to maintain a strong US focus on the Indo-Pacific and to support Australia against “economic coercion” from China, according to experts from the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Australia is also seeking defence industry cooperation.

Susannah Patton, a research fellow at the US Studies Centre, told a webinar today that the US priorities would include securing support for the Biden administration’s approaches to China and agreement on a clear statement on the need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. That, she said, was “part of a broader administration effort to shore up deterrence against Beijing”.

Patton said climate change would be another priority for the US, with the Biden administration “looking to pull every lever that it has to address climate change”. The gap between the US and Australia on climate policy was “an unfortunate perception that Australia should be looking to change”:

Patton:

Our position on climate change arguably makes us a less attractive partner and perhaps gives us less standing to push for our own asks that we would have of the US. And, moreover, a failure to address climate change within the alliance context also risks undermining public perceptions of the alliance, because we know that climate change is an important priority especially for younger generations.

Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne speaks during a meeting with South Korean counterparts in Seoul on Monday
Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne speaks during a meeting with South Korean counterparts in Seoul on Monday. Payne and Peter Dutton will meet with US officials later this week. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

Hunt says home quarantine may be expanded to be rolled out for international travellers as well as interstate residents as technology improves.

He says the SA government’s home quarantine app has been a “breakthrough”.

The app uses facial recognition and GPS tracking to confirm a person’s location while they isolate.

Updated

Australia’s chief nursing and midwifery officer Alison McMillan is providing an update on the expansion of the vaccine rollout to 12- to 15-year-olds.

Yesterday, 12,000 doses were administered to the 12 to 15-year-old age group:

We know that 59,000 have been administered now to 12- to 15-year-olds across the country. As we’re seeing, as we call it, the epidemiological curve shift, we know a large proportion of our older generations have had two doses. We’re seeing the cases increasingly in younger age groups and that brings the 12- to 15-year-olds now, as I say, eligible to book. It is of course the parents who need to make that booking on behalf of the children. And we encourage them to do that as soon as possible.

Updated

The vaccine rollout is also ramping up in Melbourne hotspots.

Australia's first-dose vaccination rate at 68.5%

More than 14.1 million Australians have now received at least a first Covid vaccine dose, which is 68.5% of the eligible population.

Less than 400,000 more Australians need to get their initial jab to put Australia beyond the 70% first dose rate.

People line up at a Covid-19 pop-up vaccination clinic at Ashfield in Sydney.
People line up at a Covid-19 pop-up vaccination clinic at Ashfield in Sydney. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Updated

Vaccines to be administered at some workplaces from October, Greg Hunt says

Hunt is announcing the expansion of the vaccine rollout to workplaces.

The first vaccines to be administered at workplaces should be rolled out in the first half of October:

Today, operation Covid shield has opened up workplace vaccinations through what’s called a request for tender, a request for applications. And that will now be open on a continuous basis from now until December. And it’s looking to have the first of those vaccinations occur in the coming weeks, in the first half of October. And so, this is an important step forward. It’s a request inviting applications and Operation Covid Shield will move continuously through assessing those and commencing in the coming weeks.

Hunt says 23 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been delivered nationwide.

There have been 276,000 vaccinations administered in the past 24 hours, an increase of 17,000 on the past week.

Updated

Health minister Greg Hunt has stepped up to provide a vaccine update.

While we’re talking numbers, the RBA governor Philip Lowe says the Delta variant is a significant setback for the economy, but growth will be stronger next year, AAP’s Colin Brinsden reports.

Lowe says the impact of lockdowns in Australia’s major cities will result in a major economic contraction in the September quarter:

It is likely to be at least two per cent, and possibly significantly larger than this. This is a major setback, but it is likely to be only temporary. We expect the economy to be growing again in the December quarter, with the recovery continuing into 2022.

He expects economic activity to be back on its pre-Delta track by the second half of next year.

But it wouldn’t be surprising to see the unemployment rate in the “high fives” for a short period of time.

The jobless rate had fallen to a 13-year low of 4.6 per cent in July.

Against this backdrop, Lower said the RBA’s monetary policy package was working, by keeping funding costs and lending rates low across the economy.

At last week’s monthly board meeting, the central bank went ahead with reducing the amount of bonds it purchases each week to keep borrowing rates low to $4 billion rather than $5 billion.

It will review this program in February rather than November as earlier announced.

A woman crosses the tram tracks on a quiet Bourke Street during Melbourne’s lockdown.
A woman crosses the tram tracks on a quiet Bourke Street during Melbourne’s lockdown. Photograph: Michael Currie/Speed Media/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

The average price of a residential dwelling in Australia is now $835,700, new ABS figures show.

A year ago it was $678,500.

Updated

After NSW ministers skipped the state’s 11am Covid press conference, which is now being handled by health officials, they are also expected to be absent from today’s NSW upper house sitting.

Their absence means the 2.15pm scheduled sitting will fold — at least that’s the prediction of Labor, Greens and minor parties.

The Legislative Council, as it is known, was due to sit with a Covid-safe quorum of around eight in the chamber. But it’s widely predicted the sitting will be brief because under standing order 34 there must be a government minister present for the sitting to proceed.

The premier Gladys Berejiklian has said in her view parliament should reconvene on 12 October.

NSW parliament hasn’t sat since 23 June when it was dissolved due to a minister contracting Covid, prompting an emergency shut down.

Instead there is likely to be a loud and raucous debate about the importance of democracy and whether the parliament can sit safely before it ends with an inevitable shutdown.

The Greens MP David Shoebridge:

SO (standing order) 34 was introduced to increase the authority of the upper house to ensure that questions could be asked to ministers in that chamber.

It certainly wasn’t intended to be a veto on democracy.

The upper house decided not to sit last week so it could finalise its CovidsSafety plan. That’s now been done, so Shoebridge questions why the government is refusing to sit.

Updated

Today's Covid case numbers

Now the press conferences are wrapping up, here’s a rundown of what we know:

  • The ACT lockdown will be extended for four weeks after the territory recorded 22 new local Covid cases, including 14 linked cases. Only two of today’s cases were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
  • Victoria reported 445 new local cases, 129 of which were linked. Tragically, there have been two deaths, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 80s. A roadmap out of lockdown will be announced on Sunday.
  • NSW has recorded 1,127 new local Covid-19 cases and sadly, two further deaths. It is still too early to tell if the curve is flattening, but the current trend is looking better. It was the first press conference without premier Gladys Berejiklian.
  • Queensland recorded one new case, a 15-year-old student linked to the Sunnybank cluster.
  • The Pfizer vaccine will be available for all WA residents over 12 from Monday. There have been no cases in WA or SA.
  • And there have been 15 new local cases in New Zealand, all detected in Auckland.

Updated

All WA residents over 12 to be eligible for Pfizer vaccine

The WA premier Mark McGowan is speaking now.

WA is offering Pfizer vaccines to everyone aged over 12 from Monday, September 20.

He says hundreds of Pfizer appointments are available at state-run clinics.

People aged 60 and over who have already had a first dose of AstraZeneca should still have their second dose as planned:

Different vaccines cannot be mixed. I would just repeat. If you have had a first dose of AstraZeneca, do not try to get a second dose of Pfizer or some other form of vaccine. You should stay and get your second dose of AstraZeneca.

This is our way out of the pandemic. Do it for yourself, for your family, and for your community.

A health care worker fills a syringe with the Pfizer vaccine at the vaccination centre at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
A health care worker fills a syringe with the Pfizer vaccine at the vaccination centre at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

New Zealand records 15 new local cases

All of today’s new cases were detected in Auckland.

Updated

Mining company Kepco loses second appeal over Bylong Valley coal project in NSW

The NSW court of appeal has upheld a decision to reject an underground and open-cut coalmine in the state’s Bylong Valley.

The court dismissed South Korean miner Kepco’s appeal on Tuesday morning, finding that the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) acted lawfully when it refused the proposed mine almost two years ago.

An earlier appeal by Kepco in the NSW Land and Environment Court had also resulted in the decision being upheld.

The IPC refused development approval for the project in 2019 citing the unacceptable impact the mine would have on farming land and the environment – including through greenhouse gas emissions – as well as the costs to future generations.

Kepco appealed against the decision and a community group, the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, successfully argued to join the case and defend the IPC’s ruling, after the commission itself declined to take an active role in proceedings.

Rana Koroglu, managing lawyer at the Environmental Defenders Office, which represented the alliance, said it was time for the company to walk away from the project:

The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report delivered a ‘code red’ for humanity on climate. It’s clear we cannot afford to develop more greenfield coal mines at a time when the world needs to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Koroglu said witnesses had presented compelling scientific evidence to the IPC before it reached its decision in 2019 that showed the mine was not in the public interest:

Two subsequent appeals have thoroughly tested and supported the IPC’s decision to refuse the mine.

Comment has been sought from Kepco.

A community group in the Bylong Valley had opposed the proposed coalmine.
A community group in the Bylong Valley had opposed the proposed coalmine. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Updated

Some good news has come out of Victoria for pets and pet owners.

Pet grooming is back in metropolitan Melbourne.

The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews:

Outdoor, contactless pet grooming will now be permitted in metro Melbourne. Grooming is important for the welfare of our furry friends - it helps prevent skin irritations and matting which can lead to more serious problems - especially as the weather heats up.

Updated

There’s no certainty yet on whether ACT residents will be jetting across the border come Christmas time.

Reporter:

Do you anticipate ACT residents will be able to travel interstate by Christmas time?

Andrew Barr:

Based of course on the decisions of the other jurisdictions –I don’t control the borders of Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, Northern Territory, et cetera. But we would hope so.

Updated

The ACT chief minister Andrew Barr says Canberra has had similar difficulties to Melbourne and Sydney with Covid spreading into more vulnerable communities.

Reporter:

Given the restrictions most Canberrans have been living under for a month now, why is is it that you cannot track down these cases?

Andrew Barr:

There are a variety of reasons. Many people are essential workers who don’t know that they are infectious in the community until they develop symptoms, which is often three or four days after they have been infectious in the community.

We have also experienced through our outbreak the virus spreading into many vulnerable communities. This is the same experience that New South Wales and Victoria have had in their outbreaks. It proves once and for all that Canberra is not some elite white-collar public sector city, that it is very diverse and has people from all backgrounds and all socioeconomic status, and so there has been the same sorts of challenges in our jurisdiction in terms of where the virus has spread as has been experienced in Sydney and Melbourne.

Updated

Eight separate introductions of virus into ACT

Kerryn Coleman says there appears to have been eight separate introductions of the Covid-19 Delta variant into the ACT since its outbreak began.

Some of these are the result of individuals with exemptions coming in, doing the right thing and abiding by our necessary quarantine requirements, which is great.

But half or three of these have led to transmission within our community. With two of these only occurring in the last 48 hours. And I think what this does is it just highlights the current status around Australia. That it highlights there is an ongoing threat or an ongoing risk of introduction of Covid into the ACT community.

Updated

The ACT chief health officer Kerryn Coleman has provided some clarity on why stay-at-home orders in the territory needed to be extended. There are concerns over unknown chains of transmission in the community.

Coleman:

Following a rapid increase in the number of cases at the very start of the outbreak, which is what we normally do see, our numbers do appear reasonably steady, although they are fluctuating on a day-to-day basis and because we are a small jurisdiction, this fluctuation can sometimes appear quite large. It is important to note, though, that [for] approximately 50 cases, we do not know the contact or source of their infection. And concerningly over half, around 28 of these cases, have been notified within the last two weeks, so that number is not decreasing, which is what we would like to see.

These unknown cases suggest potential unidentified chains of transmission in the community, and, therefore, posing an increased risk, especially for those in our community who are yet to be vaccinated. Public health social measures such as restricting movement within the community is actually the only way that we can reduce the risk of these unidentified transmission chains causing further infections in the absence of high levels of vaccination coverage. And I know that many of you have been interested in our effective reproductive rate, which we have just managed to hold around one. So the estimate from the modelling we have access to is 0.96 but with the uncertainty around that, it is around one. This is therefore very reliant on us maintaining our effective control measures.

The Canberra Shopping Centre during lockdown
The Canberra Shopping Centre during lockdown. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

Updated

Back to the ACT – here’s a detailed summary of today’s case numbers:

And their vaccination status:

Updated

Still in Victoria, and the deputy premier and education minister James Merlino has dismissed the opposition’s proposal to get kids back into the classroom – with options like school bubbles on the table – as “flying in the face” of public health advice.

Merlino:

I won’t spend much time on the opposition. There are elements of their so-called plan that flies in the face of public health advice. And other elements such as the bubble, which is an impossible premise. For goodness sake, we’ve got secondary schools of 1,500, 2,000, 3,000 students. Students don’t live at school. So a big secondary school, 2,000 students, all of their families, you know, their parents, their siblings, all the teachers, all the staff, and their families, I mean, it’s just a ridiculous idea. From an opposition that doesn’t have much regard for education.

Updated

Many thanks to Matilda Boseley for guiding us through this morning’s news. I will be with you for the rest of the afternoon. Let’s go!

With that, I shall hand you over to the amazing Caitlin Cassidy who will bring you all the updates (Covid-19 or otherwise) for the afternoon.

See you tomorrow!

Updated

Vic deputy premier criticises 'irresponsible' principal at centre of Fitzroy school outbreak

Jumping back to the Victorian press conference and the deputy premier and education minister James Merlino has been asked about the Fitzroy Community School at the centre of a Covid-19 outbreak.

The school’s principal will be questioned amid claims it was operating at full capacity despite tough lockdown restrictions. While speaking to Nine News, he denied encouraging students to attend during lockdown, but said the way he could have been “perceived to have ... offered full classroom teaching to all those who came on site” as well as remote learning.

The health department on Monday night said 29 students and staff had contracted the virus, while there were 82 close contacts associated with the outbreak.

Merlino on Tuesday slammed the school, suggesting the principal was “irresponsible”:

A couple of things on that particular school. There is an investigation by the Department of Health, there’s also the Victorian regulation and qualifications authority, the VRQA, also following this up.

I will just make this point. We’ve got more than 2,200 schools in Victoria. That’s more than one million students. Imagine, imagine if every single principal was as irresponsible as this one. Imagine that. Imagine the case numbers, imagine the hospitalisations, if every single principal was as irresponsible as this one.

The Fitzroy Community School is the source of a Covid-19 outbreak with at least 29 cases among staff and children.
The Fitzroy Community School is the source of a Covid-19 outbreak with at least 29 cases among staff and children. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/EPA

Updated

Year 12 students in the ACT will return to campus for term four

The ACT education minister, Yvette Berry, has confirmed in a statement that year 12 students will return to campus from term four, with year 11 following shortly afterwards.

All year 12 students, as well teachers and school staff, will have had the opportunity for priority vaccination before they return.

Year 11 students will return to on-campus learning from week 3 (Monday 18 October), as long as health conditions allow. This will allow them to complete course work and assessments that contribute to their senior secondary certificate.

At this stage, based on the advice of the ACT chief health officer, ACT students from preschool to year 10 will continue remote learning for at least the first four weeks of term 4. We have seen through the current outbreak the potential for the Delta variant to spread through school-aged children.

Importantly, all schools will remain open for vulnerable students and for families who can’t have their children at home because of their work. Specialist schools will also remain open.

The ACT education minister and deputy chief minister Yvette Berry.
The ACT education minister and deputy chief minister Yvette Berry. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

Updated

With the news of an extended lockdown, the ACT has announced several new financial support measures.

These include an additional one-off $200 increase in the utility concession payment, bringing it to $1,000 for 2021-22 financial year.

In a statement, Barr said this was aimed at supporting “the most vulnerable in our community”.

In addition to the $100 increase already announced in June, this will mean that the utilities concession for 31,000 eligible households in Canberra will increase from $700 to $1,000 from last financial year to this financial year. The estimated cost of the utilities concession to the ACT government in 2021-22 will be $31m.

The ACT government will also extend land tax and commercial rates relief to landlords who provide rent relief to their tenants through to the end of the year.

Commercial landlords who offer rent relief may be eligible for a commercial rates credit of up to $10,000 (increased from $5,000) at an estimated total cost of $5.5m.

Residential landlords providing rent relief will be eligible for a credit on their residential land tax of up to $100 per week to share the cost of passing rent relief on to tenants – now extended out to 31 December 2021 at an estimated total cost of $2.2m.

Further, the ACT government will waive rent payments until 31 December 2021 for any business and community sector tenants of government-owned properties that have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Updated

Here is more from ACT chief minister Andrew Barr’s statement about extending the ACT lockdown.

We are still recording cases where the source of transmission is unknown, and cases where people have been infectious in the community.

Based on the public health risk that remains in the Territory and in our region, the chief health officer has recommended to the government that the ACT lockdown should be extended for a four-week period until Friday 15 October, with some minor amendments to the public health directions.

A mid-point review of the directions will be conducted after two weeks.

Our priority over the next four weeks will be to vaccinate as many people as possible. At least 48,769 Canberrans will receive their first vaccination dose at an ACT Government clinic, and 35,475 will become fully vaccinated. Many more people will get vaccinated through the primary health network over this time period.

When looking to ease restrictions, we will consider:

  • Vaccination rates both locally and nationally
  • The levels of community transmission
  • Our ability to continue high level test, trace, isolate and quarantine responses
  • How well the community and businesses are complying with public health directions
  • Our health system capacity

Updated

ACT lockdown extended by four weeks

The ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, has announced a four week extension to the lockdown, to Friday 15thof October. There are minor amendments to public health directions this weekend.

These include more use of click and collect, limited private real estate inspections, and limited outdoor activities including social golf and tennis.

A mid point review will follow in two weeks time.

Housing prices up 6.7% in June quarter

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the latest housing price stats, showing the cost of a dwelling in the eight capital cities increased by 6.7% in the June quarter and 16.8% over the past 12 months.

There’s variation across the eight cities – but they’re all up.

The ABS said:

Capital city Residential Property Price Indexes

  • rose in Sydney (+8.1%), Melbourne (+6.1%), Brisbane (+5.7%), Perth (+4.8%), Adelaide (+5.3%), Canberra (+8.2%), Hobart (+6.3%), and Darwin (+4.6%), this quarter.
  • rose in Sydney (+19.3%), Canberra (+19.1%), Hobart (+17.7%), Melbourne (+15.0%), Perth (+15.0%), Brisbane (+14.6%), Adelaide (+14.2%), and Darwin (+12.8%), over the last twelve months.

Updated

ACT has recorded 22 local Covid-19 cases

The Australian Capital Territory has recorded 22 local Covid-19 cases, only two were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.

Updated

“Hey Siri, could you show me an example of ‘missing the point’?”

Maston has also laid out Victoria’s regional Covid-19 cases:

We have three new regional cases today. The train driver in the Surf Coast, related to V/Line that I already mentioned.

A case in Ballarat who is a construction worker and works in Melbourne.

And a case in the Mitchell shire, who works in one of the suburbs of concern I have listed.

Pleasingly, for the second day in a row, no further cases in Shepparton.

Updated

Matson has confirmed the Covid-19 positive Victorian man in his 20s who died in the last 24 hours died at home and was not a case the state was aware of previously.

The death of the gentleman in his 20s is extraordinarily sad. And we do pass on our sympathies to his loved ones. We have very little information with respect to that gentleman.

Unfortunately, we are aware he died of Covid during to post-mortem analysis. He wasn’t a case we were aware of. We’re getting information from the coroner ongoing to try to provide support to this family.

A post-mortem I believe is under way. However initial information from the Victorian institute of forensic medicine is the diagnosis will be Covid.

Strong indications it is Covid. From the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. So we’re classifying it as a Covid death. If further investigations recover anything else, we’ll reclassify. But that’s the indication we have at the moment.

Updated

Victoria announces new mental health support package

The $22m mental health package being announced today will fund 20 pop-up clinics across Melbourne and regional Victoria that will be staffed with 90 clinicians to provide 93,000 hours of care, mental health minister James Merlino says.

There will also be funding for specific programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, for parents and carers of children suffering from anxiety, for the Royal Children’s Hospital, Vic Health, and LGBTIQ+ community organisations.

Merlino said:

We know throughout this pandemic over the last 19 months, some Victorians have been really struggling, whether that’s through isolation, whether it’s financial stress, whether it’s illness and indeed ... loss of a loved one, via Covid, this has been an incredibly difficult, unprecedented time, and many Victorians are struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.

This has been exacerbated by a mental health system that we know is broken.

Updated

The Victorian outbreak is increasingly focused in the state’s northern and western suburbs, which tend to have a lower socioeconomic status and a higher culturally and linguistically diverse population.

Kate Matson from Victoria’s health department is given us the stats now:

74% of today’s cases are in the northern suburbs, including 175 in the LGA of Hume, 64 in Moreland, 36 in Whittlesea.

In the western suburbs, we have seen 38 in Wyndham, 16 in Melton, 14 in Brimbank, 15 in Hobsons Bay, and in the south-east, six in Casey, five in greater Dandenong, five in Port Phillip and four in Glen Eira.

We’re particularly concerned about certain postcodes and suburbs in the north-west. I will go through those now. In you live or work in these suburbs because we have even seen some of our regional cases, where people live in the regions, but may work in these areas, please be extra vigilant. And really, do get tested at your first sign of symptoms.

  • 3064 Roxburgh Park and Craigieburn.
  • 3047, Broadmeadows, Dallas, and Jacana.
  • 3048, Coolaroo and Meadow Heights.
  • 3061, Campbellfield.
  • 3059 Greenvale.
  • 3046, Glenroy, Hadfield and Oak Park.
  • 3060, Fawkner.
  • 3029, Hoppers Crossing, Truganina and Tarneit.
  • And 3025, Altona East, Altona Gate, and Altona North.

So, please, those 10 suburbs are where we’re seeing the vast majority of our cases in the LGAs I outlined before.

Updated

Here are the Victorian hospitalisation numbers. Previously there were no fully vaccinated people requiring hospitalisation, but it seems that has changed.

Merlino:

Sadly, 158 people are currently in hospital with Covid-19. Forty-five are in ICU. And 23 are on a ventilator.

Of those cases who were in hospital yesterday, 91%were not vaccinated, 8% were partially vaccinated and just one person was fully vaccinated.

Updated

Victorian deputy premier James Merlino says Victoria is close to hitting 70% of the over-16 population receiving at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

In terms of tests and vaccines, 36,000 vaccines were administered at their state hubs yesterday and we hope to come very close to meeting our 1 million dose target tomorrow.

We have 36,000 shots to go to reach our target of 1 million doses.

We’re also inching closer towards the 70% first dose target. With almost 67.5% of Victorians aged 16 and over having one shot.

Updated

Victorian press conference:

A man in his 20s has died of Covid-19 in Victoria.

Mental health minister James Merlino, who is announcing a $22.1m package for mental health services as well as giving the pandemic update, says the man in Hume and a woman in her 80s from Brimbank died yesterday.

He said:

We extend our sympathies to the families of both those Victorians, very, very sad. We now have 3,799 active cases. 85% of all active cases are under the age of 50. 563 are aged under nine. 647 are aged 10 to 19. 906 aged in their 20s. 683 aged in their 30s.

Updated

Questions for Gladys Berejiklian

Just a reminder these are the questions Guardian Australia would have liked to ask the premier if she had attended the press conference.

1. OzSAGE, a new scientific group made up of prominent epidemiologists, have released modelling of the NSW outbreak that indicates ICU pressure and deaths could exceed the Burnet Institute modelling released last week. Is the NSW government concerned by this new modelling, and will it take the modelling into consideration to tweak the 70% roadmap/when formulating the 80% double dose freedoms?

2. What is the vaccination rate among NSW’s Indigenous populations? What strategies is the government pursuing to reach this community in urban and remote settings, and is there a concern Indigenous vaccination rates could be below the state average once the 70% milestone is reached?

3. How is transmission occurring in outbreaks within community housing in the Inner West and City of Sydney LGAs? Are there concerns the virus is spreading between units, and are authorities considering targeting more individual buildings for stricter lockdown?

4. What is being done to vaccinate the homeless population in Sydney after the outbreak at Frederic House facility in Waterloo, and what are the vaccination rates among the homeless in inner Sydney?

5. Western Sydney mayors and MPs say restrictions on outdoor recreation in LGAs of concern and curfews are punitive and don’t make sense. Health minister Brad Hazzard has also said outdoor settings present a lower transmission risk. Why won’t you commit to easing more of these types of restrictions?

Updated

Tasmanian health secretary wants 90% vaccination before borders are relaxed

Welp! It doesn’t look like NSW or Victorian residents will be visiting Tasmania anytime in the near future, with the secretary of health recommending a 90% double vaccination rate before borders come down.

Back to NSW and the deputy secretary of the ministry of health, Susan Pearce, has been asked about the eight-week interval people who received the Polish Pfizer vaccine were asked to wait before getting their second dose.

Reporter:

Now that we’ve got UK Pfizer on board and Pfizer from Singapore too, right, can they bring forward that second dose knowing they’ll need to be double vaccinated to get some freedoms?

Pearce:

The Polish Pfizer had a longer time interval. That was in order for us to get those first doses into as many people as possible at the time and we succeeded in doing that. What we continued to do was keep vaccinating everybody who already had a booking.

With respect to UK Pfizer amount and the Singapore amount, the amounts we have received so far are not sufficient for us to do those second doses yet. Our information from the commonwealth at the moment is that we can expect to receive more of our share, our per capita share n October, which will allow us to do the second doses. At this stage, that remains on track to do as we said.

Updated

Man aged in his 20s among Victoria's two Covid-19 deaths

I’ll be bringing you more Victorian updates soon, but we have just learnt the age breakdown of that state’s two Covid-19 deaths.

Updated

Reporter:

There are some suburbs within the City of Sydney recording high numbers of cases, places like Redfern and Waterloo.

Why has [NSW] Health not recommended they enter the sort of restrictions that, say, have happened in Penrith, where certain suburbs have been declared an area of concern?

McAnulty:

Again, we look at this on a daily basis and the team that does that looks at numbers of cases and other factors such as immunisation, movements in the communities and so on.

That’s on a daily review and that could change any time so I’ll leave that to the team doing that to make those assessments, but certainly it’s very much based on health need to declare a place.

Reporter:

What is the rate of reproduction now? Has it at all dropped?

McAnulty:

It’s a little bit early to know, because we do like to see, as I mentioned, we’ve just had a weekend and that can mess up how many people get tested. There may be a factor of the weather in terms of influencing whether people get tested or not. So we’d like to see a few more days before we can have confidence about whether there is a trend. We have seen in the past, you know, three days of flattening and then it jumps up again. So we need to be cautious in drawing any [conclusions].

[The reproduction rate] as been a little bit over 1 and that’s why we’ve seen 1.2, and that’s why we’ve seen cases increasing, but when it gets to 1, that means it’s flattening and when it gets below 1, that means it’s climbing so it depends where you are in the state.

In some cases where we’ve seen increases such as in the Illawarra and Central Coast in the several days ago, it was certainly above one but where we’re seeing a decline, it falls below one.

Updated

McAnulty has been asked about the shifting focus of contact tracing (and by “shifting focus” I mean “NSW Health not really contact tracing that much for just general Syndey cases anymore”.)

Here is what he had to say:

We’re prioritising contact tracing to those areas we’re most concerned about, regional areas and places we know are higher risk for transmission in certain workplaces, and in places where people congregate, such as aged care facilities, group homes and places where we know there’s been transmission.

So QR codes remain a really important part of that, to identify people who fit in those categories and also when we identify locations, where there has been transmission over and above those areas, to make sure we get onto those cases and contact.

Updated

Speaking of being cautiously excited about the potential flattening of the NSW curve, have a look at the literal curve!

'Still too early to say' if NSW is flattening the curve, health department says

McAnulty says it’s still too early to say if NSW is past the peak of the pandemic, but says he is excited to see the trend in the last few days.

It’s too early to know if we’re flattening the curve, but we’re seeing, pleasingly so far, that cases haven’t been increasing as fast as they have been, but there may be an effect of the weekend.

We’ll look to see what’s happening throughout the rest of this week to know how we’re going.

Updated

Here is the breakdown of cases in the NSW regions:

McAnulty:

In terms of regional cases, we’re seeing in western New South Wales there have been 14 new cases of Covid reported to 8pm last night, bringing the total number in the OHD to 992.

In far west, five cases were reported to 8pm last night including one in Broken Hill and one in Wilcannia, bringing the total number of cases in Far West to 167.

In Illawarra, we saw a jump in cases over the weekend, but 17 cases reported yesterday, bringing the total number of cases there to 412 for the outbreak.

In the Hunter, 14 new cases were identified to 8:00 last night, bringing their total to 324.

The Central Coast, nine new cases were identified, bringing their total to 278.

And in southern New South Wales four new cases were reported bringing their total to 27, including a case in Yass.

McAnulty:

We’ve had some further sewage detections as part of our ongoing sewerage surveillance program in New South Wales, including at Young, where we have no known cases. Young is in the Murrumbidgee local health district.

There’s been no cases reported in Young so would just urging everybody in that community or who has been in that community to come forward for testing with even the mildest of symptoms, so if there are cases there in the community, we can identify those quickly.

Here are the details on hospitalisations and deaths.

McAnulty:

In terms of hospitalisation, there are currently 1,253 patients with Covid-19 admitted to hospital in New South Wales with 231 people in intensive care and 104 who require ventilation.

Sadly, there’s been two deaths with people from Covid reported yesterday.

A woman from her 80s from western Sydney who died at Ryde Hospital. She had received one dose of Covid vaccine and had underlying health conditions.

And a man in his 50s from Western Sydney died at concourt Hospital. He had received one dose of Covid vaccine just three days before being tested positive for Covid and he did not have underlying conditions.

We extend our sincere sympathies for the loved ones and friends of these two people, who have sadly died.

NSW records 1,127 local Covid-19 cases and two deaths

No Gladys Berejiklian today, but NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty is speaking now and has confirmed the state has recorded local Covid-19 cases.

A slight decrease from yesterday.

Tragically two people infected with Covid-19 have also died.

Questions we would have liked to ask the NSW premier

Today will be the first day that no New South Wales government minister will front the daily Covid update.

Instead, the deputy chief health officer, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, will speak about new cases at 11am. However, as a health bureaucrat, McAnulty is unable to answer specific questions on behalf of the government.

In lieu of being able to ask these questions in person, Guardian Australia has sent the following questions to Gladys Berejiklian’s media team:

1. OzSAGE, a new scientific group made up of prominent epidemiologists, have released modelling of the NSW outbreak that indicates ICU pressure and deaths could exceed the Burnet Institute modelling released last week. Is the NSW government concerned by this new modelling, and will it take the modelling into consideration to tweak the 70% roadmap/when formulating the 80% double dose freedoms?

2. What is the vaccination rate among NSW’s Indigenous populations? What strategies is the government pursuing to reach this community in urban and remote settings, and is there a concern Indigenous vaccination rates could be below the state average once the 70% milestone is reached?

3. How is transmission occurring in outbreaks within community housing in the Inner West and City of Sydney LGAs? Are there concerns the virus is spreading between units, and are authorities considering targeting more individual buildings for stricter lockdown?

4. What is being done to vaccinate the homeless population in Sydney after the outbreak at Frederic House facility in Waterloo, and what are the vaccination rates among the homeless in inner Sydney?

5. Western Sydney mayors and MPs say restrictions on outdoor recreation in LGAs of concern and curfews are punitive and don’t make sense. Health minister Brad Hazzard has also said outdoor settings present a lower transmission risk. Why won’t you commit to easing more of these types of restrictions?

We’ll keep you updated when we hear back.

Updated

The new Victorian opposition is out and about, calling for kids to return to school. (Which is an interesting hill to die on today, given the state is currently grappling to contain a school-based outbreak.)

OK, we are just standing by for the NSW press conference at 11am, which looks like it will be the first without premier Gladys Berejiklian, the chief health officer or health minister.

Also, just after that, we will be hearing from the Victorian leaders at 11.15am.

I’ll bring you updates from both here on the blog! Stay tuned!

Updated

The Australian privacy commissioner, Angelene Falk has said she is concerned the new Rayban Wayfarer-style smart glasses developed with Facebook that include a camera, microphone and a speaker, could covertly collect personal information about Australians without their consent.

Falk said inquiries are being made with Facebook about the glasses:

I am concerned about products that have the potential to covertly collect personal and sensitive information about Australians without their awareness or consent. While we have become accustomed to people using smart phones to take images in public places, photographing or filming people through a camera located in sunglasses can more easily occur without being obvious. It’s not clear what steps Facebook has taken to mitigate the impact on Australians’ privacy.

We are making enquiries with Facebook, including to determine whether Facebook has conducted a privacy impact assessment. We are also consulting with other international data privacy regulators.

Falk said companies need to take into account their privacy obligations and community expectations when developing new products and technologies, and said she has recommended the Privacy Act be strengthened to include a new cause of action so people can take actions in court for serious invasions of privacy.

Updated

Federal policies not to blame for house prices: Treasury

At the housing affordability hearing, Treasury officials have been asked several times by mostly Labor MPs whether federal government policies are adding to housing demand and price increases.

John Swieringa, the assistant secretary of Treasury’s social policy division, conceded that while some policies could be described as “demand-side” policies and that first principles would suggest “supply-side” policies might be better, they do nevertheless assist affordability.

Swieringa said that with interest rates declining over 30-35 years it has become easier to service a loan, but property prices have gone up meaning the size of a deposit has increased, and this can often be the “pinch point for affordability”. So policies such as the first home loan guarantee and first home super saver “assist with getting over that threshold”.

Incentives may “pull forward demand but also entice more supply”, he said, citing policies such as HomeBuilder grants, which are mostly for new dwellings. He said these are the sorts of levers the federal government can pull, whereas states and councils tend to have more control over supply side factors like zoning.

Swieringa also distinguished between the affordability of home ownership and housing – noting that although houses might get more expensive due to investor activity, investors can help drive down rents.

Those two prices don’t always move in the same direction ... so the affordability of buying doesn’t give the full picture.

Geoff Francis, the assistant secretary for the direct tax, said that policies like negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions remain “unchanged for decades” so they may have had a short-term impact on prices, they haven’t driven unaffordability over the long run.

He also noted that owner-occupied housing is “one of the most tax preferred” forms of investment, with no capital gains tax, while investors pay capital gains tax and tax on their rental income.

Updated

Australian employees will soon be able to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at their workplace, reports Andrew Brown from AAP.

Providers of the Covid-19 vaccine will now be able to apply for accreditation to deliver the vaccine at workplaces, much like the annual flu vaccine.

Pfizer and Moderna will be the main vaccines delivered through workplaces, but AstraZeneca will be ordered if needed.

The health minister, Greg Hunt, said the workplace vaccines would be part of stage three of the national Covid Shield campaign.

This program will make it even easier for people to get vaccinated, while recognising the eagerness of businesses to help.

It will allow Australia to further increase the overall size of the Covid-19 vaccination workforce, and to use many offers of assistance from vaccination administrators and Australia’s business community.

Businesses are not allowed to seek payments from patients to administer the vaccine.

The workplace vaccine rollouts come amid calls for businesses to mandate employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox told Nine Network that businesses had a key role to play in the pandemic response.

In the end, businesses are responsible for health and safety.

They are also responsible for who comes into their business or who works in their business.

Each business is going to tackle this different unless they are told that they’re in aged care or childcare or healthcare, that it is mandatory.

More than two-thirds of Australians aged over 16 have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine, while more than 42% are fully vaccinated.

Updated

More from that Queensland press conference.

Looks like NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian or the health minister won’t be fronting the 11 am press conference today.

A majority of Australians would be comfortable with venues requiring patrons to be vaccinated as a condition of entry, and for jabs to be mandatory in a range of employment and leisure settings, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

The latest survey of 1,100 respondents also indicates that only 26% understand and approve of the four-phase plan to reopen Australia once vaccination rates rise to 70 and 80% of adults – with 54% either saying they don’t understand the plan to wind back restrictions, or they do understand it but lack confidence in it.

The new poll shows mandatory vaccinations are supported for Australia’s health and disability care workers (83% and 82% of respondents approve). A further 77% of respondents think vaccines should be compulsory for airline travellers, and 74% think teachers and teacher’s aides should be inoculated before working at schools.

You can read the full report below:

Now, speaking about the Labor factional dramas playing out in the seat of Fowler, party leader Anthony Albanese has been asked about it this morning.

What we’ve done is make a huge difference on cultural diversity. Look at the make-up of our parliament and you not only have us heading towards 50% gender equality, but you have a very diverse representation, whether it be First Nations people, whether it be people who were born overseas, whether it be people from all over, all over Australia in our state and national parliaments, we have very diverse representation, including at senior levels and at the most senior levels, the leader of the House of Representatives is someone called Albanese and the leader in the Senate is someone called Wong.

Reporter:

Are you not concerned that people like [Tu Le] will be put off and disappointed by how she’s been sidelined by Labor?

Albanese:

Not at all. The truth is that Kristina Keneally is a former premier of New South Wales, is the deputy leader in the Senate and is a valued member of the team and Kristina Keneally will make an outstanding contribution to the House of Representatives as she has to the Senate and so from time to time, in terms of a competitive environment, in terms of politics, this occurs.

But Tu Le, I think, will have an outstanding future. I think she’s an articulate, very talented, passionate advocate for her community and for the cause of Labor and I certainly hope that she hangs in there and she will have a bright future.

Updated

The amazing Josh Nicholas has delivered us today’s Victorian Covid-19 case number graph.

Housing demand tapering off after record growth: Treasury

The House of Representatives tax and revenue committee is hearing from Treasury officials about housing affordability, at a time of record high price growth.

The chair, Liberal MP Jason Falinski, gave a long opening statement setting out that people under 40 are “less likely to own a home than at any time in our history” since 1947.

Falinski has been criticised in the media for recent comments suggesting affordable housing paradoxically increases prices (by reducing investment and supply). In Tuesday’s hearing he hit out at “the usual vested interests” for “ill-formed” criticisms. Falinski promised the inquiry will remove the “guardians” keeping others out of the housing debate, suggesting that “no idea is off limit and no question too stupid” to get to the bottom of housing unaffordability.

John Swieringa, the assistant secretary of Treasury’s social policy division, said there are a number of factors driving demand including: rapid population growth (before the pandemic); structural decline in interest rates over decades; and the effect of financial deregulation in the 1980s.

Crystal Ossolinski, the director of domestic demand in the macroeconomic group, said that housing supply tends to be inelastic because it takes a “very long time to build”, one year for a house or two to three years for medium density housing.

Ossolinski said there had been “strong demand” during Covid-19 which was surprising and unexpected. This reflected “changes in preferences” and reduced consumer spending elsewhere in the economy - which meant people wanted bigger houses because they were spending more time at home.

Ossolinski suggests that “demand factors are tapering off” because there will be no more interest rate cuts and population growth has stalled while migration has been paused during the pandemic.

Updated

This is interesting, ABC is reporting that part of the issue with Victoria’s overinflated Indigenous vaccination numbers is due to the system defaulting people’s answers to “yes” if they left the “do you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander” question blank.

Victoria records 445 local Covid-19 cases and two deaths

The Victorian numbers are here. 445 new cases, just 129 are linked so far.

Unfortunately, the state has also recorded two Covid-19 deaths.

Updated

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young says she believes the Sunnybank college cluster is under control, the most recent case having been in home quarantine for their entire quarantine period.

Excellent news and thank you very much to those 1,000 families. I’m sure it is tough spending two weeks in quarantine.

So we had that one new case, another child who attends the same school, so it’s not surprising, and they’ll be then managed, and their family, of course, so this is very good news.

Looks like, due to the fantastic contact tracing work, and the superb work done by that families, that we’ve managed to get this outbreak controlled so quickly.

Updated

It’s 9.09 am! Where are the Victorian numbers!

Queensland records one new local Covid-19 case

Queensland has recorded another local Covid-19 case, luckily in home quarantine.

The case is linked to the Sunnybank cluster.

So, Australian agriculture is doing well – surprisingly well! In fact, Australia’s farm production is tipped to smash records with a bumper crop fuelling a major rise to $73bn.

The federal government’s agriculture forecaster Abares on Tuesday released its latest commodity report which predicts the value surge in 2021/22.

But there is one small problem, because of border restrictions, we don’t have enough workers in the country to pull those crops out of the ground.

Federal agriculture minister David Littleproud was chatting with ABC earlier about this issue and placed the blame squarely at the feet of the states.

That’s the biggest constraint we’re seeing on agriculture as we move forward. We found 27,000 men and women from 10 Pacific nations. We brought in 10,000 of those. We announced the ag visa. It’s ready to commence on 30 September. Bilaterals have already started with a number of countries to try and open up those.

But the biggest constraint is the states adopting a quarantine arrangement in addition to their caps to bring those workers in. And at national cabinet last year, the premiers all agreed the simplest way to do that was for their chief health officer and them to write to the prime minister and we would simply sign the visas. Sadly, some states have done a good job, others have lagged.

South Australia has not only created its own quarantine facility, but he have done in country quarantine in Vanuatu. Don’t be the hand brake on agriculture. It’s the biggest structural change to the workforce because we’re giving a pathway to permanent residency.

Updated

Here is a little blog treat to get you through the morning! (Unless you are presenter Tony Armstrong, in which case this is just compounding your pain.)

We are just standing by now for the Victorian Covid-19 numbers, which are usually released around this time.

The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, says Australia has made recent attempts for high-level talks with China, but without success.

At a press event in Seoul last night, Payne was asked about differences between Australia and South Korea’s approach to China. A journalist suggested that the Australian government was “standing against China”.

Payne said she did not agree with the characterisation of the Australia-China relationship, although she acknowledged that South Korea and Australia had “their own policies on China and their own approach to managing relations”. She said Australia sought a constructive relationship with China and placed “a great deal of importance on the relationship”.

“Indeed I can affirm that we would certainly be very open to constructive dialogue with China and senior representatives of the government. We have made a number of offers on many occasions to do so recently but they have not been taken up.”

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, was also asked after the 2+2 meeting in Seoul whether his language about China’s actions was stronger than that of his South Korean counterpart. Dutton said his job as Australia’s defence minister was “to put our case strongly”, adding that “Australia wants nothing more in our region than prevailing peace”.

Updated

A plan to fast-track vaccinations in dozens of Indigenous communities has been unveiled by the Australian government’s Covid vaccine taskforce, with an extra $7.7m in funding to help boost take-up rates and address hesitancy and misinformation.

It comes as health authorities were on Monday forced to correct official figures that had incorrectly doubled vaccination rates for Indigenous Victorians.

According to Australian Immunisation Register data, an extra 26,000 people had wrongly been classified as being Indigenous as a “result of the software used in Victorian clinics wrongly assigning Indigenous status to patients”.

“The total number of vaccinations delivered in Victoria is accurate, this correction was only limited to a person’s Indigenous status,” a health department spokesperson said.

“Quality assurance processes on Covid-19 vaccination data have not identified this discrepancy in other jurisdictions.”

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Casinos operator Crown is considering a ‘no jab, no entry’ policy for patrons as it pushes for its 20,000 staff across Australia to get fully vaccinated, reports AAP.

The gaming group is consulting with its workers and other stakeholder groups about the Covid-19 vaccination policy, which will affect visitors and workers.

It cited a survey of Crown employees in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth conducted last week showing 63 per cent supported the idea of a mandatory vaccination policy in the hospitality sector.

Crown Resorts and Crown Melbourne boss Steve McCann said while it had been urging workers to get vaccinated for a while it was time to be more “proactive”.

As such a significant hospitality employer in Australia with resorts that hosted over 30 million visits a year pre-COVID, we need to take measures to help keep people safe...

That starts with our employees but also extends to our guests and the broader community.

This is about protecting every Australian.

Crown is just one of a number of Australian companies - such as Qantas, Virgin Australia, Telstra and SPC - heading down the mandatory vaccination route.

But the issue is fraught for businesses, Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox warned, given they are going it alone without any federal government or regulatory backup.

All of this is just being left up to individual business owners and operators...

But in the end, businesses are responsible for health and safety.

They are also responsible for who comes into their business or who works in their business.

So businesses are going to have to make and are making their own decisions around things like rapid testing, around vaccine passports, around mandatory vaccines or not.

Speaking of that White House release confirming Morrison will be heading to the US for the Quad leaders meeting, here is what Morrison said about the trip last week.

We are expecting for the next face-to-face meeting of the Quad to be held in Washington later this month and we’re still awaiting final details of that and I’ll look forward to be in Washington to be part of those discussions with my counterparts from India, Japan and the United States.

Updated

Australia, South Korea to increase joint military exercises

Australia and South Korea have committed to increase joint military exercises after Marise Payne and Peter Dutton met with their counterparts in Seoul.

They have also voiced concerns about North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and urged Kim Jong-un’s regime to “engage in meaningful dialogue without preconditions”. The comments follow North Korea’s declaration that it had carried out successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend.

Australia’s foreign minister and the defence minister have been in South Korea on the third leg of their international travel (they started with Indonesia and India; they are off to the US next).

After a “2+2” meeting with South Korea’s foreign affairs minister, Chung Eui-yong, and defence minister Suh Wook, they issued a joint statement describing the two countries as “natural partners with shared strategic interests”. Australia and South Korea would “seek to shape a region where states cooperate on shared interests and resolve disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law”.

The statement said the four ministers also “exchanged views about developments in the South China Sea and reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea”.

South Korea participated in this year’s Talisman Sabre exercise in Queensland, and the joint statement said the two countries “looked forward to building upon this in future iterations”.

Dutton and Suh also agreed to “increase joint exercises, training, port calls and aircraft visits”, a move aimed at improving mutual understanding and building solid people-to-people links between the defence forces.

Updated

Hmmm, from the looks of this White House press release, it seems prime minister Scott Morrison might be dashing off across the pond next week for the Quad Leaders meeting.

Queensland police are preparing to begin trials of an artificial intelligence system to identify high-risk domestic violence offenders, and officers intend to use the data to “knock on doors” before serious escalation.

The “actuarial tool” uses data from the police Qprime computer system to develop a risk assessment of all potential domestic and family violence offenders.

The algorithm has been in development for about three years and practical trials will begin in some police districts before the end of 2021.

“With these perpetrators, we will not wait for a triple-zero phone call and for a domestic and family violence incident to reach the point of crisis,” acting Supt Ben Martain said.

You can read the full report below:

Le was asked if she believes the Kristina Keneally controversy will affect votes in the safe Labor seat.

I would hope not, but I think from what I’m hearing, and all the people that have reached out to me about this issue, they’ve said ‘you know I normally don’t really care, and I think it’s all the same, people in politics. Anyway, but now hearing you speak out, it’s built a fire in my belly and I can’t just sit back and let it happen, because if we accept it we have to live with it.’

So I think we need to be very careful. And I think that the bottom line is that our party right now doesn’t reflect the communities we seek to represent.

Like we all say, we can do better.

Updated

Le says she still believes the Labor party is committed to diversity but said the Folwer affair was a missed opportunity.

The Labor party is a party committed to equality, and I have to acknowledge that the affirmative action policy is a clear example of how the Labor has done so well in gender diversity.

Fowler, it’s one of the most multicultural electorates in Australia. It’s about three-quarters migrants and refugees. So having a diverse representation from the local community I would think just makes sense.

I think we should, we need to prioritise better representations. I don’t think that we should miss the opportunity to do that. And I think, if we can, as a party, commit to better representation of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, then we can be that party that is reflective of the communities of Australia and the very diverse, communities of Australia, and hopefully, that will increase our electoral chances too, especially in New South Wales.

Updated

Tu Le learnt of Kristina Keneally's bid for Fowler via media reports

You might remember yesterday there was lots of talk about Labor senator Kristina Keneally moving from the Senate to the safe lower house seat of Fowler, at the expense of the community candidate, Vietnamese Australian lawyer Tu Le.

This has raised all kinds of questions about how legitimate the Labor party’s commitment to representing multicultural communities is.

Le says she found out Keneally would run for the seat via the media rather than the party.

Well, it all happened very quickly so I’ve had a bit of a whirlwind of a week, and I actually found out from the media.

I think it was Wednesday night when the first article came out so I hadn’t been contacted by anyone at that. And I think I made my intentions pretty clear earlier this year that I intended hat in the ring, and just to have a chance, you know to nominate for preselection, and particularly on the back of the current member Chris Hayes retiring and installing his full support behind me.

That was pretty disappointing. I’m just hearing it all on the media and the news, like everybody else.

Updated

Halton:

I would compliment the South Australian government for the work they’ve done, including developing a very good piece of technology ... this is an app which includes very specific geolocation but also enables them to connect the person into health records and that sort of thing.

What we know from overseas is that, in a number of countries, you may have to be isolated for a period waiting for a negative test, but it depends on your risk.

And we also know that if you’re double vaccinated, it may well be the case that you need a shorter period. That you might have to isolate when you arrive, but not necessarily 14 days.

All of those things are on the table but we need to make sure we’ve got the evidence because as we know what health authorities are trying to do is trying to manage the risk in the community, in order that we can keep pressure off hospitals and particularly ICU. So there is a bit of work to go yet on all of those data points.

Updated

It’s time to talk about home quarantine, which the prime minister has been spruiking as the future of international travel (at least in the near to medium future).

Jane Halton, the former head of the federal health department, has been tasked to audit the home quarantine system and figure out how to make it international traveller ready.

She says Australia has already had significant success using this system when isolating interstate travellers.

We will want a variety of kinds of quarantine going forward including home quarantine for those people who can quarantine at home. I do think it’s important to keep that in perspective, that won’t be an option for everybody, but for many people, the possibility of quarantining at home will be real, and I think it’s something that we’ll be looking to make pretty widely available.

We’ve already got people in-home quarantine. Interestingly, in Tasmania, right now, there are more people doing home quarantine than there are people doing hotel quarantine ... Most of those are domestic travellers but, of course, some of those domestic travellers have come from places where there’s a lot of Covid in the community so the distinction becomes a little meaningless when you’re talking about people travelling from places with Covid.

Updated

Defence and intelligence chiefs warned the Australian government multiple times in April the situation in Afghanistan could become dangerous enough to force the closure of the embassy, it has been revealed.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had been in talks with the Department of Defence since January 2021 about the “deteriorating security situation”, but the warnings about the diplomatic mission in Kabul were made shortly after the US announced plans to withdraw from Afghanistan.

The new timeline has sparked fresh claims the government should have moved more quickly to remove former interpreters and guards from the country which fell to the Taliban in August.

You can read the full report below:

Good morning everyone and welcome to Tuesday!

It’s Matilda Boseley here ready to shepherd you through the day’s news.

Just three days after coming out of lockdown, the Yass Valley council area in regional New South Wales is heading straight back in after a positive Covid-19 case was detected.

In a statement, NSW Health said that urgent contact tracing is underway:

Following updated health advice from the chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant about the growing risk to the community, stay-at-home orders will apply to all people who live in the Yass Valley council area or have been there on or after Thursday 9 September.

Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason.

Elsewhere in NSW today, the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will meet with the mayors from the 12 Greater Sydney local governments of concern. This comes after the group’s requests to sit down with her several weeks ago were snubbed, and concern grows for the perceived inequity between the city’s east and west.

In a Facebook post, Canterbury Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour said he was contacted by Berejiklian’s office shortly after appearing on TV on Monday.

Some pleasing news this morning that NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has agreed to meet myself and other mayors to discuss the current Covid crisis.

As you all know I have been trying for weeks to meet with her to raise issues ranging from curfews, to more vaccines and financial support.

OK, there is a lot going on, so with that, why don’t we jump into the day.

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