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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Luke Henriques-Gomes and Justine Landis-Hanley (earlier)

Police and anti-lockdown protesters clash in Melbourne – as it happened

Victoria police clash with anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne
Victoria police clash with anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne. The state reported 535 new Covid cases and one death on Saturday while NSW recorded 1,331 cases and six deaths. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

What happened today, Saturday 18 September

We’ll leave it there for now. Before we do, here are today’s main developments.

  • As Victoria recorded 535 new cases, violent anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne ended in 235 arrests and 10 police officers injured, including three who remained in hospital. Authorities also reported one death from Covid-19.
  • New South Wales recorded 1,331 new cases and six deaths, while protests there were more subdued. Police said 32 arrests were made at anti-lockdown protests around the state.
  • The Australian Capital Territory recorded 15 new cases, while no new exposure sites were added.
  • Queensland recorded one new case, linked to an existing cluster and discovered in home quarantine.
  • In non-Covid news, France recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the United States after the Morrison government ditched its submarine deal with the French and signed the new Aukus military, which also includes the UK.

Thanks for joining us. See you tomorrow.

Updated

Galliott defended the police operation, which aimed to lock the protesters out of the city CBD.

Instead, the protesters gathered in Richmond.

It was a great preventative measure by shutting down the public transport system, as we did by enforcing the vehicle checkpoints kept all those people and the protesters out of the city. If we hadn’t done that, we could have had thousands in the city, and we appreciate there was a great disruption to the commuters.

Updated

Victoria police make 235 arrests, 10 officers injured at violent protest

Victoria police have confirmed they arrested 235 people at today’s violent anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne.

The Victoria police commander Mark Galliott says they arrested 193 people for breaching public health orders, while the remaining group were arrested for a range of offences including assaulting police, riotous behaviour, weapons and drug offences.

Ten police officers were injured in the protests, Galliott says. Six were taken to hospital and three remain there with injuries including torn muscles, broken bones and bruises.

Police say they had items including stones, bottles and other objects thrown at them.

Galliott says the protesters – “angry young males” – were there “simply to ... have a fight with the police”.

Updated

NSW police make 32 arrests made at protests

Planned anti-lockdown protests in Sydney have not eventuated as NSW surpassed 50,000 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, AAP reports.

Police swarmed the city on Saturday amid rumoured rallies in opposition to ongoing stay-at-home orders.

The operation arrested 32 people across the state, including 20 in Sydney, and 265 infringement notices were issued for a range of breaches including failing to wear a face mask.

“I’m pleased to see that common sense has prevailed and the vast majority of people have complied with the existing public health orders,” the police minister, David Elliott, said.

Some 1,700 officers were deployed across the state to manage the potential protests. At Byron Bay there were reports of about 250 people protesting in the streets, and 11 people were arrested.

“Today’s operation has been very successful. Our aim was to prevent the protest activity going ahead ... and if you have a look at the results you will see our actions have been well received by the public,” the police assistant commissioner, Peter Thurtell, said.

Updated

This is a very interesting piece from Lech Blaine – it’s an excerpt from his Quarterly Essay.

Updated

We’re expecting a press conference from Victoria police at 5pm.

Matilda is really, really, really happy skateparks have reopened in Melbourne.

Updated

The Morrison government has proposed scrapping recovery plans for almost 200 endangered species and habitats including the Tasmanian devil, the whale shark and the endangered glossy-black cockatoo populations on Kangaroo Island, one of the worst-affected areas in the 2019-20 bushfires.

Lisa Cox has more.

Australia has said it “notes with regret” France’s unprecedented decision to recall its ambassador over the scrapping of a submarine contract – part of the Aukus military deal that experts said could damage relations for years and have serious broader consequences.

More from Ben Doherty:

Updated

My colleague Natasha May has this interesting and worrying story about vaccination rates in some rural areas.

Australia administered 338,375 vaccines over the past 24 hours, the Department of Health says.

Hello everyone, and thanks again Justine. It’s Luke Henriques-Gomes here.

Here is what AAP says about the protests in Melbourne:

About 1,000 demonstrators have gathered in Richmond after the location of the protest was changed at the last minute to evade authorities.

There have been minor scuffles as well as a violent confrontation involving a handful of protesters.

Some 2,000 officers were deployed at road checkpoints and barricades, and on roving patrols, to try to stop the rally going ahead in breach of public health orders.

The city’s CBD became a no-go zone ahead of Saturday’s unrest, with most public transport to and from the precinct suspended and a “ring of steel” erected around its fringe.

The partial shutdown was made at the request of police after 4,000 people attended a violent anti-lockdown action on 21 August.

Updated

I’m going to pass the blog back to my wonderful colleague, Luke Henriques-Gomes. Stay well, everyone!

Some further information about the 15 new cases in the ACT today.

This brings the ACT’s total cases for the current outbreak to 601. Of these, 364 have recovered, and 237 are still active cases.

Eight people are in hospital, the youngest of whom is aged 12. And one patient is in intensive care.

Despite recording new cases, chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said no new exposures sites were added overnight to the list of over 300 locations.

Updated

Sydney anti-lockdown protests appear to have been largely thwarted by NSW police.

ABC reports that a handful of people have been arrested at the site of an anti-lockdown protest in Sydney Park, and protesters were outnumbered by law enforcement.

Between 200 and 300 people were also protesting lockdown restrictions in Byron Bay today.

Updated

Victoria’s anti-lockdown protesters are still marching on Bridge Road in Richmond.

Traffic was reportedly backed up across the bridge, and protesters were coming from the Hawthorn side of the bridge.

Updated

I’m going to pass you back to my excellent colleague Justine Landis-Hanley. Bye for now.

Updated

The anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne have turned violent, with demonstrators overwhelming police in this footage from the Age’s David Estcourt.

Flares and an arrest on Bridge Road in Richmond, reports the Age’s David Estcourt.

Updated

Live footage shows protesters rushing through the McDonald’s car park on Bridge Road to what appears to be Palmer Street in Richmond.

Protesters can be seen running, as police chase people down the street.

Updated

Police have arrived at Bridge Road. They can be seen chasing after and clashing with protesters.

Footage shows police tackling some protesters to the ground, and spraying pepper spray at others.

Updated

Circling back to the ACT press conference, the chief minister, Andrew Barr, has been asked about new modelling and information about healthcare system capacities, released to national cabinet yesterday, that shows the risk of easing lockdown restrictions too soon.

Barr says the modelling shows that even if 70% of the population is double-dosed, partial efficacy of the test, trace, isolate and quarantine (TTIQ) system, and low-level public health measures, “we would be up for a couple of thousand cases a day”:

Around 10% would require hospitalisation, and a smaller amount the ICU. If we got to a situation where daily cases numbers are like Sydney, that would be a real problem. We can’t let that happen, and it won’t.

Barr says he doesn’t want to pass judgment on the NSW government’s decision to ease restrictions despite more than 1,000 daily Covid-19 cases, but says “you could not walk away from yesterday’s briefings on health systems and the Doherty Institute’s modelling to think it is prudent at 70% to be doing radical things”.

“Opening everything up at 70% is not prudent – very clear advice provided to us yesterday,” he says.

Updated

Live footage from the protests being streamed to Facebook shows protesters appear to be reconvening on Bridge Road, Richmond after escaping police via a residential side gate.

They are near the Officeworks on Bridge Road.

Protesters can be heard yelling “stay together, group up”.

Updated

The protesters have broken out into what appears to be chants of “you serve us”, referring to police who have effectively blocked them into one small area.

Some protesters can also be seen escaping the police barricade via a residential side gate, screaming to the rest of the protestors “this way”. People start screaming and running from the police. They emerge onto Bridge Road, Richmond.

The man filming live can be heard saying police have been “outsmarted once more”.

Updated

Victoria unhappy about new Pfizer delays

Martin Foley says that states and territories have been advised by the commonwealth there will be delays in Pfizer supply next month. That news came at national cabinet yesterday.

I think all states and territories received the information that we didn’t want to hear that October allocations will be less than September.

Asked if he is frustrated, Foley says simply, “yes”.

Updated

Back at the press conference, when will Victoria’s long-awaited “road map” press conference be held tomorrow? Martin Foley says he doesn’t know and it’s not up to him.

More from the protest.

Updated

Here we can see more photos from the Melbourne protest. In this one, you can see the wall that police officers formed to corral the protesters.

Aerial footage also shows the size of the protest, and police running to form a blockade.

You can see that most of the protesters are not wearing masks, standing close together and chanting “no more lockdown”.

Updated

We are seeing photos of Melbourne’s protesters. Some are reportedly
sitting on the ground as police close in on them.

They were reportedly marching while chanting “no more lockdown”, “sack Dan Andrews” and “free our children”.

Aerial footage also shows that Victoria police have separated the protesters into two groups, and penned them into a street, basically putting the actual marching to an end.

Updated

Kate Matson is asked about plans to notify people by text message first that they’ve tested positive, before following up with a text message.

We’re already sending some text messages ... We do expect that that initial notification, some point, possibly this week, towards the end of this week, I would expect the first notification to be by text message so that people know what they need to do as soon as we have that notification.

Updated

Back to the unfolding protests in Melbourne, there were earlier reports that anti-lockdown protesters had gathered in Richmond to avoid police checkpoints aimed at keeping them out of the Melbourne CBD.

Footage of these protesters shows them marching on the streets, most of them not wearing masks.

Updated

Martin Foley says due to a high level of non-compliance in the construction sector:

We can’t rule out taking further action against the construction sector to keep them safe.

Construction workers protested yesterday over rules that prohibited them from meeting in lunch rooms, a step the government says is aimed at limiting spread on work sites.

Updated

Police chase anti-lockdown protesters through Richmond

Meanwhile, Victoria police are chasing anti-lockdown protesters through the suburb of Richmond in Melbourne.

Footage also shows police forming barricades of officers and marching through the streets, trying to corral the protesters breaching stay-at-home orders.

Protestors were photographed marching down Burnley Street.

Updated

Foley is asked when the government expects Victoria will hit 70% double doses. Daniel Andrews has said it was expected by 26 October. Is there an update?

Foley says it’s in “all of our hands, actually it’s also in the commonwealth government’s hands to get us more vaccines”.

Updated

Asked if contact tracers are now overwhelmed, Martin Foley acknowledges that “dealing with several thousand active cases is more challenging than dealing with single or double digit numbers”.

Updated

Matson says the department is starting to send text messages first to advise a person they’ve tested positive:

We do expect that as case numbers rise throughout this week that we’ll be changing and adapting those processes further.

We do expect later this week to be sending text messages to all confirmed cases so that we get that advice to you as soon as possible. We will also be moving to make phone calls first based on risk.

Updated

Kate Matson, of Victoria’s Department of Health, says there were 295 new cases in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Sixty-two of those are in Craigieburn, which is “the most serious situation in terms of case numbers”.

In the west there were 183 new cases. There were 16 cases in Hoppers Crossing and 11 in Truganina.

There were also new cases in the south-east, particularly in Dandenong.

Matson says authorities are also concerned about the 15 new cases in regional Victoria. Two of those are household contacts of previously known cases in Ballarat.

A new case has been reported in Moorabool shire. Four new cases were recorded in Geelong. Five cases were recorded in Mitchell shire, on the fringe of Melbourne.

There were also two cases in the Macedon Ranges.

Updated

Back in Melbourne, Martin Foley says there will be new vaccination pop-ups in Fawkner, supporting local schools. This is part of vaccine blitz in Melbourne’s north, where cases are highest.

He notes a new pop-up at Mount Ridley College in Craigieburn has opened today.

Updated

Just switching back to the ACT: 81.2% of the eligible population have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 56.1% are fully vaccinated.

Also, the ACT chief health officer, Kerryn Coleman, ended her portion of the update by reading a poem one student wrote about the territory’s healthcare workers, reminding us that they are too pure for this world.

Updated

Foley says it was another daily vaccination record in the state hubs – 45,537 vaccines were administered yesterday. It means 71% of Victorians aged 16 and over had had their first jab.

We still have 5,427 AstraZeneca appointments and 8,174 first dose Pfizer appointments available right now over the coming days.

Updated

Foley says 207 people are in hospital with Covid, 56 are in intensive care and 40 are on a ventilator.

Of the cases who were in hospital yesterday, 87% were not vaccinated at all, 12% were partially vaccinated and two people were fully vaccinated.

Martin Foley, the Victorian health minister, has started speaking in Melbourne.

Foley confirms a woman in her 70s from the greater Shepparton region has died from Covid-19.

Updated

Thanks Justine, and hello to you all. It’s Luke Henriques-Gomes here. We’re awaiting a Covid-19 update from Victoria. That’s due to kick off about midday, so I’ll bring that to you live as soon as it begins.

Updated

With that, I will hand the blog over to the brilliant Luke Henriques-Gomes.

The ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, is providing the territory’s Covid-19 update.

Of the 15 new cases, seven are linked and only two were in quarantine for their entire infectious period. At least seven were infectious while in the community.

Eight people are in hospital.

Updated

ACT records 15 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases

The ACT has recorded 15 new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases, bringing the territory’s total active cases to 237.

Updated

The rise in unlinked cases is ... not great to see.

Updated

By Friday, there were a total of 1,646 cases in the City of Hume, more than a third of all infections in Melbourne. Meanwhile vaccination rates are among the lowest in Victoria.

Community leaders are heartened by the recent surge in vaccinations, but they are frustrated too, saying their warnings were not taken seriously until it was too late.

Read about the local grassroots solutions being used to boost jab rates and care for those in need in Hume:

Updated

NSW Health has also detected fragments of the virus in the wastewater in Byron Bay, Wardell, Eden, Balranald treatment plant, and Griffith.

In better news for NSW, 81.2% of the eligible population have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 50.6% are fully vaccinated.

Updated

NSW also sadly recorded six Covid-related deaths: four women and two men from western and south-western Sydney.

This includes one person in their 40s, one person in their 60s, two people in their 70s, and two people in their 80s.

Three of the six people who died were not vaccinated. The remaining three had received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

One person, a man in his 70s from western Sydney, acquired his infection overseas.

Updated

Here is what we know about the 1,331 new Covid-19 cases in NSW.

Of these cases:

  • 400 are from South Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD)
  • 326 are from Western Sydney LHD
  • 164 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD
  • 160 are from Sydney LHD
  • 75 are from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD
  • 47 are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD
  • 40 are from Northern Sydney LHD
  • 30 are from Hunter New England LHD
  • 29 are from Central Coast LHD,
  • 17 are from Western NSW LHD
  • 8 are from Southern NSW LHD
  • 6 are from Far West LHD, four are from Murrumbidgee LHD
  • 8 are in correctional settings
  • 17 cases are yet to be assigned to an LHD

These cases bring the total since the start of this outbreak to 45,085.

Updated

NSW isn’t hosting a press conference today.

Instead NSW Health’s Jeremy McAnulty is providing an update via NSW Health’s Facebook page. You can watch here.

I’ll share what information we have.

NSW records 1,331 new cases and six deaths

NSW has recorded 1,331 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, and six deaths.

A spokesperson for the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, has provided a response to France recalling its Australian and US ambassadors:

We note with regret France’s decision to recall its ambassador to Australia for consultations following the decision on the Attack class project.

Australia understands France’s deep disappointment with our decision, which was taken in accordance with our clear and communicated national security interests.

Australia values its relationship with France, which is an important partner and a vital contributor to stability, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. This will not change.

Payne’s spokesperson added that Australia and France share many issues of interest and “we look forward to engaging with France again”.

Marise Payne speaks during a news conference with Peter Dutton, US secretary of state Antony Blinken, and US defense secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington on Thursday
Marise Payne speaks during a news conference with Peter Dutton, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and US defense secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington on Thursday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Updated

Labor’s shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, was just speaking to reporters at a press conference in Melbourne.

He addressed the news that France has recalled its Australian and US ambassadors, following the announcement of the Aukus deal to provide us with nuclear-powered submarines.

Dreyfus:

The impact on our relationship with France is a concern, particularly as a country with important interests in our region. The French were blindsided by this decision and Mr Morrison should have done much more to protect the relationship.

The Morrison-Joyce government needs to explain what it is going to do to fix this important relationship.

Updated

Jeremy McAnulty to give NSW update

ABC is reporting that there will be no NSW Covid-19 press conference today.

Instead, NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty will provide the today’s update via live stream, via the NSW Health Facebook page.

Updated

NSW police are out in force today to thwart anti-lockdown protests planned for Sydney, and it appears to be disrupting traffic.

Live Traffic Sydney has tweeted heavy traffic and delays due to police operations on a number of roads.

Suburbs where traffic is reportedly affected include: St Leonards, Rozelle, Cammeray, Paddington, St Peters, Mascot, Enmore, Alexandria, Enmore, Annandale, Zetland, Redfern, Lilyfield, and Tempe.

Basically it seems that, if you can, try to avoid travelling anywhere around the city by car or bus today.

Updated

Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne has responded to France’s decision to recall its ambassadors to Australia and US.

The Agence France-Presse has reported that:

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, in Washington, said she understood the “disappointment” in Paris and hoped to work with France to ensure it understands “the value we place on the bilateral relationship and the work that we want to continue to do together”.

More on Queensland’s Covid-19 update today:

Young has also provided more information about Queensland’s new case, linked to the existing Sunnybank cluster.

Young said she thought that Queensland would have to go into another lockdown when the Sunnybank cluster first emerged, but that the original infected family provided so much information about their whereabouts and contacts that authorities were able to make sure everyone went into isolation quickly.

Young said that the new case is a close contact - not. a household contact - of the family, and was in quarantine for their entire infectious period.

“We know if we hadn’t been able to do that with all of these cases, we’d have had a major outbreak,” Young said.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says that authorities are seeing huge demand for walk-in vaccination clinics, and that from this weekend onwards there will be state-run walk-in clinics operating.

D’Arth says that 25,168 vaccines were administered yesterday, meaning that 58.75% of eligible Queenslanders who have had their first dose.

She adds that 40.54%of eligible Queenslanders that are fully vaccinated.

Can I give a shoutout to Queenslanders - we asked you to roll up. We asked you to come and get vaccinate ad you have absolutely come out in numbers. We are so proud of being Queenslanders, to see the roll up today, says that people want to get vaccinated. They want to keep themselves safe, their loved ones safe. They also want to protect our lifestyle and the great wonderful local economy that we have right now in Queensland.

So my message is this - for 18 months now, we have done the hard yards. We’ve had lockdowns. We’ve had restrictions. We’ve done all of this to get to this moment, and that is to get vaccinated. We said we’re going to have to keep doing this until every Queenslander who is eligible can be offered a vaccine. So it’s not over yet. But the quicker we get vaccinated, the quicker we can make sure that we can stay safe and we can open up our economy.

Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath is providing more information about that new positive case at a press conference.

She says that the person who has tested positive was in quarantine for their entire infectious period.

Updated

Queensland records one new Covid case

Queensland has recorded one new locally-acquired Covid-19 case, linked to an existing cluster. This brings the state’s total to 29 active cases.

Updated

Our friends at the AAP are reporting that Australian Defence Force troops will help patrol the ACT border in the coming days in an attempt to stop people illegally coming into Canberra from NSW.

AAP:

The deployment comes after the ACT recorded one of its highest daily tallies of new Covid numbers, with 30 cases announced on Friday.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the ADF would be used for the first time along the border after multiple reports of COVID-19 coming into Canberra from interstate.

With Saturday marking the first day of the school holidays, there will also be additional police patrols at major entry points to the ACT.

“It’s a timely reminder that you cannot travel anywhere for a holiday,” Mr Barr said on Friday.

“You cannot leave the ACT unless you have an essential reason.”

ACT Health said more than 80 per cent of Canberrans aged over 16 have received at least their first vaccine dose, making it the second jurisdiction after NSW to reach the milestone.

Health figures also showed more than 55 per cent of over-16s in the ACT are fully vaccinated, which is the highest of any state or territory.

Just over 52 per cent of ACT residents who are 12 and older had received two doses.

Friday’s total of 30 new cases was the second-highest number of COVID infections in a single day for the territory.

The ACT’s chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said while the number of new cases was high, it did not indicate an upward trend.

There are now eight Covid-19 cases in hospitals in Canberra, one of them in intensive care and on a ventilator.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters on Friday that ACT hospitals were well prepared to handle a potential rise in COVID-related admissions, should there be a surge once lockdown restrictions are eased.

Mr Barr raised the subject of hospital capacity with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, along with fellow state and territory leaders, at Friday’s national cabinet meeting.

NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said on Friday that anyone considering protesting in Sydney needed to “take a good hard look at themselves”.

“There is no doubt that these protests are a risk to public health – for the community, for police as well as for the individual health of the protesters themselves,” Mr Elliott said.

There has been a lot of focus this morning on Victoria Police’s efforts to thwart anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne’s CBD, and NSW Police are also out in force today trying to do the same in Sydney.

ABC Breakfast also asked Jason Falinski whether he has more information about how much cancelling our submarine deal with France, and this new partnership with the US and UK will cost us.

He said that he doesn’t have more information.

Falinski:

What we announced this week is it will be an 18 month process, where we will be developing the technology and the development roadmap for that, we know that it will be somewhere in the vicinity of $90 billion, so it is a replacement of the current contract we have. What the exact figure will be will be determined by what the technology roadmap involves.

Indonesia appears to have cancelled the visit by prime minister Scott Morrison on his return journey fromWashington, DC, next week, on account of Australia’s pact with the US and UK.

ABC Breakfast has also asked Labor MP Andrew Giles whether Australia has botched its relations with its allies over this deal?

We need to hear a lot more from the prime minister and Foreign Minister Payne about this. The reaction of France is something we have to take very seriously. France is not only a long-standing ally but it is a very significant partner in the Pacific. Indonesia of course is our nearest neighbour and absolutely vital partner. So we do need to understand while of course Labor welcomes the strategic opportunities that this expanded partnership, this has got to be in addition to those existing partnerships, not at the cost of them. It is really important that we get a clear message from the government as to what is going on here.

Updated

Federal Liberal mp Jason Falinski is on ABC Breakfast this morning. He’s ben asked whether Australia’s Aukus deal to deliver nuclear-powered submarines was made without considering Australia’s ties to France?

(in case you missed it: the French ambassadors to Australia and UK have been recalled under President Emmanuel Macron’s orders because they are not happy with what Australia has done).

Falinski:

This deal was made with one consideration in mind, and that is the safety and security of Australia and its people. The French are about to go through an election season, there is no doubt that this is what the French government needed to do in terms of sending a signal to their people that they are standing up for the interests of French and French companies, France, sorry, and so that is important. But the Australian government is driven by other considerations, primarily, and is the first obligation of any government to ensure the safety and security of the people of Australia.

Updated

It looks like it is going to be hard to travel by car around Melbourne’s CBD today.

Channel Seven have footage of long queues of cars waiting at police checkpoints around the city.

Victoria police have also shut down public transport in and around the city from 8am-2pm today. There are limited shuttle buses for authorised workers with permits.

Updated

The Greens appear to have marked treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s electorate of Kooyong as a key seat at the next federal election.

In better news for Victoria (we need to focus on the positives too), 45,537 vaccines were administered yesterday. That means over 70% of the eligible population have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Updated

Unfortunately, of the new 535 local cases, only 62 have so far been linked to known cases and outbreaks.

Victoria records 535 new Covid cases and one death

Victoria has recorded 535 new locally acquired cases and one death.

Updated

Our friends at AAP have more information on the NSW home-quarantine program and how it could help more Australians stuck overseas, return home.

AAP:

Stranded Australians could be home in time for Christmas, if a NSW home-quarantine pilot program, set to begin within weeks, proves successful.

The test run, announced by the state government on Friday, involves 175 vaccinated people quarantining at home for seven days, monitored by geolocation and facial-recognition technology.

If successful, it is expected the NSW government would move to rapidly scale-up the program to allow many more international arrivals.

Hotel quarantine arrangements would remain for unvaccinated people under the plan.

There are more than 40,000 Australians stranded overseas due to border closures, and Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Friday she hoped many of them could be home for Christmas.

The Business Council of Australia has welcomed the plan, saying the nation needs to get rid of bottlenecks, such as hotel quarantine, that stop Australians returning home and prevent skilled workers entering the country.

“We urge all state and territory leaders to follow the NSW example, put the nation first and start planning to re-join the rest of the world,” BCA Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott said in a statement.

Updated

Speaking of Twitter, you can send me your questions/tips/memes/tweets @justinel_h.

Updated

All eyes (ie, both my eyes) are on the Victoria Department of Health’s Twitter account for today’s Covid-19 case numbers.

On Friday, Victoria reported 510 locally acquired Covid-19 cases and one death.

Construction workers in Melbourne also staged a sit-in protest yesterday, blocking a number of streets in protest against a number of new rules on the industry. These include closing tea rooms, mandating vaccines for workers, and preventing construction workers from leaving metropolitan Melbourne.

Updated

The first doses of the Moderna vaccine have arrived in Sydney from Europe!

It’s the first of two flights bringing 1 million doses of the vaccine into the country.

A supplied image shows airport workers offloading pallets of UK Pfizer vaccination doses from a flight that arrived in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, September 5, 2021. Nearly half-a-million Pfizer doses have touched down in Sydney as part of a vaccine swap with the UK, as Australia works to ramp up its jab rollout. (AAP Image/Pool, James D Morgan) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Airport workers unload pallets of the first shipment of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination as it arrives in Australia on Emirates flight EK414 at Sydney airport on Friday night. Photograph: James D Morgan/AAP
Nearly 500,000 Pfizer doses have touched down in Sydney as part of a vaccine swap with the UK.
Nearly 500,000 Pfizer doses have touched down in Sydney as part of a vaccine swap with the UK. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
A freight terminal worker checks over containers carrying the first shipment of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination.
A freight terminal worker checks over containers carrying the first shipment of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

The news is coming in fast this morning.

France has recalled its ambassadors to the the US and Australia for consultations in the wake of Australia’s deal with the US and UK to produce nuclear-powered submarines.

Canberra’s announcement came with the surprise decision to cancel a $90b contract for French-built submarines.

The French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said the order to bring the ambassadors back to Paris “immediately” was made at the request of the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

“This exceptional decision is justified because of the exceptional seriousness of the announcements made on 15 September by Australia and the United States,” Le Drian said in a statement late on Friday.

Le Drian had already described the trilateral Aukus security pact – including the submarine deal – as a “stab in the back”.

The Melbourne CBD will be turned into a no-go zone for Saturday’s planned anti-lockdown rally, with most public transport to and from the city suspended between 8am-2pm and a “ring of steel” around its fringe.

Some 2,000 officers will be deployed during Saturday’s operation, which will involve road checkpoints, barricades and roving patrols. The partial public transport shutdown was made at the request of police after 4,000 people attended a violent anti-lockdown protest on 21 August.

Authorised workers and those with Covid-19 vaccination bookings at two city-based hubs will need to show proof to board limited buses and pass through checkpoints from 8am to 2pm.

Chief commissioner Shane Patton said it was the biggest Victoria police operation since the 2000 World Economic Forum was held in Melbourne. Organisers have flagged the protest will be moved, with a new location set to be revealed on Saturday morning.

NSW Police have also mobilised to quash any anti-lockdown protests in Sydney today.

NSW police minister David Elliott said on Friday that anyone considering protesting in Sydney needed to “take a good hard look at themselves”.

“There is no doubt that these protests are a risk to public health – for the community, for police as well as for the individual health of the protesters themselves.”

Updated

Good morning, it’s Justine Landis-Hanley here.

All eyes are on Melbourne today as Victoria police embarks on its biggest operation in two decades to quash an anti-lockdown protest planned for Melbourne.

But first, let’s recap what happened yesterday:

  • NSW recorded 1,284 new Covid cases and 12 deaths on Friday, while Victoria recorded 510 new cases and one death. The ACT recorded 30 new cases and Queensland one new case.
  • Melbourne and Ballarat residents have awoken to modestly eased Covid-19 restrictions on Saturday after reaching 70% first-dose vaccination coverage across Victoria’s eligible population. People can now also meet with one person from another household for a picnic (vaccinated people can have a picnic with up to five vaccinated people from two households, plus dependents). Outdoor exercise time has doubled, and the travel limited has expanded to 10km.
  • NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Friday that the state would trial a home-quarantine system for fully vaccinated returning travellers. The test run involves 175 vaccinated people quarantining at home for seven days, monitored by geolocation and facial-recognition technology.

Updated

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