What happened Friday, 3 September 2021
With that, we’ll end our live coverage for the day.
There was quite a bit of news today. Here were the headlines:
-An attack at a New Zealand supermarket was “a terrorist attack” by a “violent extremist” who follows Islamic State ideology and who had been under heavy surveillance by police, NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said.
-New South Wales has reported 1,431 new Covid cases while 12 people have died from the virus, as premier Gladys Berejiklian warned cases are likely to peak over the next fortnight.
-As Victoria recorded 208 new Covid cases, premier Daniel Andrews has warned that unvaccinated Victorians may be “locked out” of venues and events when the state reaches its targets for reopening.
-Australia’s vaccine program has received a boost, with a doubling of the number of Pfizer vaccines flowing into the country, after a ‘dose swap’ deal was secured with the UK.
-Australia’s deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has refused to say he accepts key findings of the latest global summary of climate science, declaring he won’t be “berated” or participate in a “kangaroo court”.
We’ll be back with all your news tomorrow.
From the whole Guardian Australia team, have a nice evening and a pleasant weekend.
Updated
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered officials to wage a tougher epidemic prevention campaign in “our style” after he turned down some foreign Covid-19 vaccines offered via the UN-backed immunisation program.
During a Politburo meeting on Thursday, Kim said officials must “bear in mind that tightening epidemic prevention is the task of paramount importance which must not be loosened even a moment”, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday.
KCNA said Kim “called for fully providing material and technical means necessary for strengthening epidemic prevention, enhancing the professional qualifications and roles of the officials in the field of epidemic prevention and further rounding off our style epidemic prevention system”.
Updated
Australia’s deputy prime minister has refused to say he accepts key findings of the latest global summary of climate science, declaring he won’t be “berated” or participate in a “kangaroo court”.
Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the junior Coalition party whose agreement will be needed if Australia is to take a more ambitious climate policy to the Glasgow conference in November, said he would not yield to “straight-out bullying”.
“I can say and think what I like,” he said on Friday.
Joyce, who was reinstated as leader of the Nationals in June, likened basic questions about climate science to a baptism where parents were required to “denounce Satan and all his works and deeds”.
Joyce did not rule out the Nationals doing a deal with Scott Morrison’s Liberal party to firmly commit to net zero emissions by 2050, but said: “In any deal, I don’t start by saying what I think it’s worth, I start by saying how much do you want it?”
Updated
New Covid case in Queensland
That potential new Covid case in Queensland I mentioned earlier has now been confirmed.
In a statement, Queensland Health said:
A four-year-old girl has tested positive today (3 September) to Covid-19.
The child attended The Boulevard Early Learning Centre – Mt Warren Park, 174 Mount Warren Blvd on Tuesday, 31 August and Wednesday, 1 September.
Children, staff and visitors to this centre should immediately come forward and get tested, then quarantine at home with their household members for 14 days regardless of a negative result.
This centre is also used for after school care by children who attend Windaroo state school.
All students, staff and visitors who attended Windaroo state school from Tuesday 31 August to Friday 3 September and their household members should quarantine for 14 days.
More information on the case will be available tomorrow.
📣 New #COVID19 case in SEQ
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) September 3, 2021
A four-year-old child has tested positive today (3 September) to COVID-19.
The child attended The Boulevard Early Learning Centre – Mt Warren Park, 174 Mount Warren Blvd this week.
Find out more: https://t.co/gurmQawYwf
The Courier Mail is reporting the four-year-old is a close contact of a Logan truck driver who triggered a Covid alert this week.
Updated
Here’s the state allocation of Pfizer doses from the UK and Singapore. @10NewsFirst pic.twitter.com/mFdAtP1OiS
— Chloe Bouras (@ChloeBouras) September 3, 2021
Prime minister Scott Morrison has condemned the “horrific” Auckland terrorist attack.
Morrison tweeted:
“Our thoughts are with all those affected. We stand with our Kiwi family in deploring all such violent acts designed to create fear and divide us. Kia kaha New Zealand.”
Australia condemns the horrific terrorist attack in Auckland. Our thoughts are with all those affected. We stand with our Kiwi family in deploring all such violent acts designed to create fear and divide us. Kia kaha New Zealand.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 3, 2021
There are reports of a new Covid case in Queensland.
The Courier Mail is reporting a four-year-old boy, who is a close contact of a Logan truck driver who triggered a Covid-19 alert, has tested positive this afternoon.
We’ll try to confirm this as soon as we can.
Updated
Australia’s vaccine program has received a boost, with a doubling of the number of Pfizer vaccines flowing into the country, after a “dose swap” deal was secured with the UK.
Scott Morrison says the deal will “break the back” of the September supply issues, with the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, agreeing to send 4m Pfizer doses to Australia, which will be distributed to the states and territories on a per capita basis.
The doses will leave the UK on Saturday to boost the September vaccine program, when 12 to 15-year-olds are included in the rollout. Australia will return the doses from its own supply at a later date.
Morrison said:
“I said I would leave no stone unturned and I can tell you I’ve been turning over some stones in recent times ... To ensure that we can progress the vaccination program as quickly as we possibly can. And it will now build on what is a very strong performance.”
Updated
Our thoughts are with New Zealand after the appalling terrorist attack in Auckland today. 🇦🇺 stands with 🇳🇿 against terrorism & wishes those injured in this attack a full recovery. @NanaiaMahuta @AusHCNZ
— Marise Payne (@MarisePayne) September 3, 2021
Eva Corlett and Tess McClure, my Guardian colleagues based in New Zealand, have updated their report on the Auckland attack.
You can read the latest here:
Tonga’s royal family has denied an allegation that the late King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV was involved in covering up the murder of Australian horse trainer George Brown almost four decades ago.
Brown’s incinerated body was found in a burnt out car in bushland near Sydney in 1984.
According to a report by Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper, police were given a statement last year alleging that late bookmaker Bill Waterhouse had hired two Tongan nationals to reclaim a down deposit that was paid to the 38-year-old Brown the week before to fix a race but that they “went too far and killed the trainer.”
The eight-page statement, also alleged the king had had the Tongans returned to Tonga.
Tonga’s royal family strongly rejected the allegations.
Read more:
Jacinda Ardern:
“We believe, and bear in mind that we’re still gathering information, we believe that the people who were injured were members of the public and not staff and the only firearms involved were those held by the police officers who shot the offender.”
Police also say that so far, they are not aware of any children injured in the attack.
The press conference has now ended.
Updated
Ardern, who has said she was personally aware of the suspect in this attack, said she was “absolutely gutted” because “we have been doing everything that we could” to monitor him.
She said the suspect was under “constant monitoring” up until the time he entered the supermarket.
Ardern said the suspect’s “interest in extremist ideology” had put him on a watchlist, but that “unfortunately” the man had not reached a threshold to have been put in prison because he hadn’t committed a criminal act that would have allowed him to be imprisoned.
Asked why he was allowed in the community, Ardern said “because by law we could not keep him in prison”. She said she hopes to release more details later on.
Updated
Ardern is asked if she has any concerns about retaliation attacks.
She said:
That’s not something that I can comment on, but I’ve been advised that our security level will remain at medium.”
With that I’m going to tap out and hand over to Elias Visontay who will take you through to the rest of the afternoon.
Ardern says the attack was carried out by a Sri Lankan national who had been present in New Zealand since October 2011 and came to the attention of law enforcement in October as a “supporter of ISIS ideology”.
Ardern:
It was carried out by an individual, not by faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity. But an individual person who was gripped by ideology that is not supported here, by anyone or any community. He alone carries the responsibility for these at. That’s the way judgement falls.
During questions Ardern says she was personally aware of the man.
Updated
Ardern hands over to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster briefly who explains that the attacker was “under heavy surveillance as a consequence of concern about his ideology”.
The man was under surveillance by police and an eight-person tactical group, but police thought he was heading on a routine shopping run when the attack took place.
Coster:
“The reality is that when you are surveilling someone on a 24/7 basis, it is not possible to be immediately next to them at all times. The staff intervened as quickly as they could and they prevented further injury in what was a terrifying situation.”
Updated
Jacinda Ardern says three were seriously injured:
“This was a violent attack, senseless and I’m so sorry it happened. The attack began at 2:40pm and was undertaken by an individual who was a known threat to New Zealand. The individual was under constant monitoring and it was the police surveillance team and the special tactics group who were part of that monitoring and surveillance that shot and killed him within, I’m told, the space of roughly 60 seconds of the attack starting.”
Information coming now on the individual who carried out the attack in New Zealand.
New Zealand's PM says the terrorist who stabbed several people at an Auckland shopping mall "was a supporter of ISIS ideology" https://t.co/4mzV7BVcpH
— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) September 3, 2021
More detail coming from the Jacinda Ardern’s press conference shortly.
On the situation in New Zealand, here’s AAP with more:
A man has injured six people in a frenzied stabbing attack at an Auckland supermarket before he was shot and killed by New Zealand police.
Heavily armed officers remain at Lynnmall following the attack at a Countdown supermarket in New Lynn, a south-west suburb of Auckland, on Friday afternoon.
St John say three patients are in a critical condition at Auckland City hospital.
A further three patients – one in a serious condition and two in moderate conditions – have also been taken to hospitals across Auckland.
Police said a man entered the supermarket and injured multiple people, before he was located and shot by police.
The man died at the scene, according to police.
The attack is New Zealand’s second supermarket stabbing this year, after a May incident at a Countdown store in Dunedin, which left four people injured.
Updated
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has confirmed the mass stabbing incident in Auckland was a terrorist attack:
Breaking: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says this afternoon's attack at an Auckland supermarket was terrorism undertaken by a known threat to New Zealand.
— Ben McKay (@benmackey) September 3, 2021
"A violent extremist undertook a terrorist attack"
More details as we have them.
Updated
Qantas preparing for return of international travel
Qantas has announced that with the vaccination rate rising it is preparing for international travel to resume.
Should current projections hold true the company hopes international travel will resume on its Qantas and Jetstar fleets along the following routes:
- From mid-December 2021 – between Australia and Fiji, Singapore, the US, Japan, UK and Canada.
- From mid-December 2021 – between Australia and New Zealand in line with the anticipated restart of the trans-Tasman travel bubble.
- From mid-February 2022 – between Australia and Hong Kong.
- From April 2022 onwards – flights between Australia and cities including Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Johannesburg.
Before anyone gets excited about the prospect of an international holiday, the company stressed that this is subject to government and regulatory approval over the next few months.
Updated
I just want to circle back briefly to the ACT press conference from earlier, as my colleague Paul Karp has reported that the chief minister, Andrew Barr, had some spicy comments on chatter about opening up the country once it hits a vaccination rate of 70%.
And spicy they were.
Asked about expected outcomes from today’s national cabinet meeting, Barr said he hoped it would “put an end to the madness of media commentary and federal politicians’ commentary about 70% being an acceptable number at which you can open up the country”:
We have the latest Doherty modelling. That’s updated for thousands and thousands of case numbers and that points to an uncontrollable outbreak that is not safe at 70% [...] So adherence to the national plan, recognition that the Doherty modelling no longer supports anything crazy happening at 70%, would be a really good outcome out of today’s national cabinet meeting.
Barr said a vaccination rate of 80% was the target – if not more.
Updated
Concerning news out of New Zealand just now. From AAP:
New Zealand police say a man who injured multiple people at an Auckland supermarket has been shot and killed.
On Friday afternoon, video emerged on people fleeing a Countdown supermarket in New Lynn, a south-west suburb of Auckland.
Details are yet to be confirmed, but police said a man entered the supermarket and injured multiple people, with at least one person suffering a stab wound.
Attending officers located and shot the man, who died at the scene.
Updated
Meanwhile, the UK high commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, has this to say about the Pfizer-swapped deal announced today:
It is our privilege to be able to support our great friends Australia through the sharing of 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, accelerating Australia’s vaccine rollout. Our own vaccine rollout has set the UK on the path to a return to normality as we learn to live with Covid by maximising our protection against the virus through vaccination. We are delighted to be able to support Australia’s progress in protecting against Covid. The maxim none of us are safe till all of us are safe is not border limited, and our fightback against Covid is and continues to be, a global effort, and one we will play our part in delivering.
Updated
Across the pond, New Zealand has some good news on attempts to control Delta with just 28 new cases and a “clear downwards trend”.
From AAP:
Evidence of a clear downwards trend is emerging, with 75 cases reported on Wednesday, 49 on Thursday and 28 on Friday.
Director of public health Caroline McElnay said she was encouraged by Friday’s fall, which comes on day 17 of a national lockdown.
The figure is the lowest daily case number for 12 days.
Deputy prime minister Grant Robertson agreed with McElnay that “these results are encouraging” but stressed the need to stick to Covid-19 restrictions.
“These results are encouraging but the job is not yet done,” he said.
Updated
And while Victoria was busy getting its latest pandemic update, Barnaby Joyce has been giving a speech to the National Press Club where he made an announcement of significant interest to the employees of the North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority:
Barnaby Joyce, conducting a National Press Club speech from the Blue Room of Parliament House, announces "the North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority currently based here in Canberra is moving to North Queensland" (to Bowen) #NPC
— Daniel Hurst (@danielhurstbne) September 3, 2021
Updated
And with that the Victorian press conference has wrapped – which gives me a chance to say: hello! I’ve just taken over the blog machine, and now I’m situated I’ll be running this thing through the early part over the afternoon.
If you see something you think I should be talking about, you can find me on Twitter @RoyceRk2.
Updated
Victoria Covid update summary
The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is off to make this afternoon’s national cabinet meeting.
There have been 208 new locally acquired cases detected overnight, and one case detected in hotel quarantine.
There has been one further death, a man in his 60s, with 64 Victorians hospitalised including 60 people in intensive care and 11 requiring ventilation.
There are still 50,000 AstraZeneca vaccine appointments available over the next three weeks, with the wait time to be fully dosed with AZ halved from 12 weeks down to six.
Victoria is also more than half way to its target of one million jabs in five weeks, with 589,282 doses have been administered.
And no reopening date has been flagged for schools, but we have received more detail on the Victorian government’s plan to administer at least one jab to all year 12s in the lead up to final exams.
The priority program will begin from next Tuesday and run until 17 September, with a number of pop-up hubs to be established at school sites.
Updated
Good news for regional Victoria.
Q: Do you anticipate extinguishing the outbreak in Shepparton?
Jeroen Weimar:
Absolutely. People in Shepparton are isolated, and provided people play by the rules, we can get this under control.
Just one exposure site has been listed in Shepparton since Tuesday – Nedal Syrian kebab shop which has become a Tier 1 site on 23, 24, and 25 August, and arguably slings the best falafel in the Goulburn Valley.
Updated
Q: Is Victoria no longer reporting the number of cases in isolation?
Yesterday and today there was no breakdown of how many cases had been in hard quarantine throughout their infectious period.
Jeroen Weimar doesn’t really answer the question.
Our focus at the moment, we are undertaking interviews with all 208 cases since yesterday, those conversations continue until today.
Q: As for the number of active mystery cases?
I can come back to you with that tomorrow.
Updated
So, with that, I will hand over the blog to the ever-capable Royce Kurmelovs. Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend.
Q: If we are talking about events only for the vaccinated, are we also looking at stepping up mandatory vaccines in our health care system, particularly hearing today there is hesitation amongst paramedics?
Daniel Andrews:
We will have an economy that operates much more fully for the vaccinated. It may be that we need to make (the vaccine) mandatory in a number of areas. I would not want anyone, there’s a bit of a disagreement between the doctors and the paramedics union, that there is any hesitancy about ambos at all. They will be getting vaccinated just as quickly as they can. Some people do have mild issues the day after they get vaccinated, they might be a bit under the weather, these are things that have to be balanced.
The mandating is just about the last push to get everyone there. Our paramedics are doing an amazing job, I do not think there is any hesitancy whatsoever.
Updated
Now, it’s time for some graphs.
On NSW numbers:
And Victorian case numbers:
Daniel Andrews flagged earlier announcements on the expansion of the vaccination workforce would be made in the coming days to open up more appointments as supply rolls in.
Some more details on that from Jeroen Weimar:
With the support of our health services, we are broadening out our staff who are already medically trained, clinically aware, giving them the additional skills so they can provide safe and effective vaccination. They will come on board over the weeks and months ahead. This is about scaling up the program that we see coming along, that is giving us the ability to step up, right now we are doing 230,000 vaccinations a week in a state clinic. With more supply becoming available we will step that up as much as necessary, using these additional workforces to sustain that. So we can get people vaccinated as quickly and safely as possible.
Updated
Ok, and that brings to an end Morrison’s presser, which he ends with a shoutout:
Thanks, Boris Johnson. I owe you a beer.
Indeed.
Ok, well then. The PM is asked if he would envisage the international border opening when the country reaches 80%, even if some states don’t want to/aren’t open.
One worded answer: Yes
The national plan sets out that clearly.
The PM is then asked if he will seek assurances from premier Palaszczuk if she will stick to said plan:
Let me be clear, because I understand someone today said we should be vaccinating under 12s and preparing for vaccinating under 12s.
There is not a country in the world that has approved a vaccine for under 12s. To hear that that was something that is about to happen or should be happening now, I don’t think it’s very responsible.
As you’ve heard from Professor Kelly, the vaccine program goes across the population from 12 and above but I think I said last week at the press conference that we will make public the numbers of 12 to 15-year-olds who are vaccinated in the same way we do for the rest of the population so there is transparency.
Updated
Q: Would you consider financial incentives to encourage people to get AstraZeneca?
Daniel Andrews:
At this stage, the greatest incentive is freedom. You will be able to participate in an economy, go to the pub, the cinema, to a sporting event. Things that an unvaccinated person will not be able to do. You will have freedoms that others will not have. They will be locked out of a whole range of venues because they could be vaccinated and they have chosen not to. That is the greatest incentive, to get our freedoms. But also not just those personal things, it is also the greatest incentive to make sure that our ICU nurses and doctors, all the heroes in our health system have just a little bit easier task.
Updated
The PM gets fired up after being asked a question about the Taliban saying that 40 Australian soldiers died in vain:
It is sickening and untrue but I’m not surprised about a dishonourable statement from the Taliban.
That’s what I’d say about that. They should know that the world is watching them. They expect them to live up to the statements they have made.
As we continue to seek to have people brought to this country to start a new home, for themselves and their families, and so many others US and Canada, UK, and other partners, we expect them to honour those things. Those sorts of comments dishonour that trust. Trust matters.
Q: Can you give us an indication of how bad this is going to get?
Daniel Andrews:
What we have seen in recent days, we have to do everything we can as a community to stop that doubling and that means that no one out there in the community should read into the fact we have been frank and honest, that we are not going to be driving this down to zero, that does not mean the rules are not ongoing.
In some respect we have to try even harder and I know that Victorians are giving so much and I am deeply grateful and proud of that but this is not a time to make a judgement that the rules are for someone else and that you can go and visit, all those sorts of things that we have seen. We are going to see cases rise. The maps of this is undeniable but we have to slow the rate of increase. We need to see them go up as modestly and slowly as possible.
Updated
There is growing concern over transmission in essential workplaces.
Jeroen Weimar:
A number of workplaces have given us concern in recent days. If we look at construction sites that we are working on now, at Box Hill we have found 20 cases. That is not an isolated case. Out in the west at a distribution centre, we found four cases. They are critical for putting food on our shelves every day. And in the St Kilda, 17 cases positive in a call centre. They are providing essential goods and services that keep everyone going, but if you are an employer, check your Covid safe plan and make sure you’re doing everything you need to keep your workplace safe and your business safe because now we are at a level of transmission that you cannot trust people coming in are okay. We need to ensure they come forward and get tested to minimise the risk of infection at the remaining workplaces open.
Updated
Both Kelly and Morrison were asked about misinformation spreading in regional communities, and both stressed the need to engage with community leaders:
Kelly:
We need to work on that, in Wilcannia, for example, we are going door-to-door to have conversations with people and offer the vaccine but there are a range of other materials we are working with Indigenous leaders with.
Morrison:
It is to be directly done with Indigenous elders and the minister has been pursuing that but it is difficult and challenging. Covid isn’t easy. It doesn’t have several solutions. Not everything happens the way you’d like. So you’ve got to adjust and adapt. It’s watching get more doses, go and adjust your plans. In Indigenous communities, it is really tough. We are committed to achieving it.
Updated
Victoria’s Covid response commander Jeroen Weimar is up.
There are 64 Victorians being treated in hospital with Covid, including 60 people in intensive care and 11 on a ventilator.
Just under a third of those hospitalised are aged under 40.
There have been just two further cases reported on day 13 testing in Shepparton. Thousands of greater Shepparton primary close contacts are due to be released from 14 days of isolation after receiving their test results.
There is a growing outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, with 48 cases detected overnight, as well as positive wastewater testing in Melbourne’s south and south-east.
Jeroen Weimar:
I want to thank everybody, if you have made a decision to come forward and get tested, we are so grateful you are part of the 48,500 people coming forward for testing and we are finding whole households with multiple people who are ill with coronavirus. The entire household infected. We are finding cases when we first find people with coronavirus, they going straight into hospital and we are finding isolated cases coming into emergency department and being diagnosed with Covid in the ward.
Updated
So the PM has outlined a little more of the deal with the UK, saying the doses will need to be returned in December, and that the deal reflected the relationship between the two countries:
At the end of the day, this is a good deal from Britain and a good deal for Australia. And it is a good deal because it makes the most of the doses that they have now, which we need. And the doses that we will have later that they will need.
And so this supports their program when it comes to boosters and other things of that nature, it supports our program now. So this is just a good deal and it’s a good deal between mates.
No fully vaccinated people in Victorian hospitals, Andrews says
Don’t wait for the Polish or Singaporean jabs to get vaxxed.
Daniel Andrews says nobody in hospital in Victoria has received two doses of a vaccine:
Go online right now, take one of those 50,000 AstraZeneca appointments, do not wait for whatever announcements are made next week, do not wait for the lot of Singaporean or Polish vaccine trade up, or a subdeal that might be done with the UK, but will all be good but it is uncertain. What is certain is that a 50,000 appointments in your name together so one of them today. Under six weeks later you can get your second dose, you can be fully protected. There is no one at hospital at the moment on a ventilator who has been double dose vaccinated in our state.
Updated
Next up, the PM is asked about his discussions with US president Joe Biden, and gave a summary of their conversation on Afghanistan:
I thanked the president and the people of the United States for their partnership in assisting our evacuation of over 4,100 people from Kabul.
And the 13 United States soldiers who lost their lives, assisting us in that effort and to extend our sympathies and condolences to their families, and the president after our call is actually going to meet, I understand, with some of those who were injured in the attacks.
And I asked him to pass on our thanks to them and their families. The next stage of course with Afghanistan is the humanitarian effort and for us to be able to take people through official humanitarian channels and we discussed that, about how we can be working together to achieve what we want to continue to achieve, provide people with that opportunity who are in Afghanistan, take up those humanitarian pathways to ensure the cooperation of the Taliban regime to facilitate that and we expect them to do that.
The world is watching the Taliban and we expect them to hold what they said to our partners and allies in the United States to facilitate that safe movement of their own people seeking to take up those humanitarian pathways.
Updated
back of the envelope: Greg Hunt just said 10M doses will be available this month.
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) September 3, 2021
There are about 8M people over 16 yet to get even a single dose.
If even half those people can get their first dose this month, we'll have a national 16+ 1st dose coverage of 80% by October
So, asked to provide a date for when the modelling predicts the country will hit 70% of vaccination and the PM says “we get closer everyday”.
A range of people will give forecast on this and I’m not about to do that, but I know the rates of vaccination that we are seeing means that we’re getting closer every single day and that’s what’s important.
See, we have not set a date, there is no magic in a day. There is no health protection in a day. What there is protection in is having reached the level of vaccination in the community, double dose at 70%, unchanged by the work of the Doherty Institute, and at 80%.
And then combining that with the appropriate well-calibrated social measures and the testing and tracing that is done in those environments to give the broader protection. That’s where the protection is.
Updated
Victoria to trial home quarantine to bring back stranded residents
Victoria to trial home quarantine to get stranded residents home.
Daniel Andrews:
I agreed with the prime minister on Wednesday, as I think New South Wales have agreed also, to run a home-based quarantine pilot in Victoria. I think technology will be an important part of it, and there has been a lot of work going on about which technology is best.
I am not announcing this today, but as way of example, and I think it is only fair, because as I’ve said you 70 times, if we are doing the work that is fair that you know about it. I think one of the ways in which we will get those Victorians who are stranded in NSW is potentially home-based quarantine with use of technology coupled with testing.
Updated
Ok, we are into questions with the PM, and first question is predictably about the Doherty Institute’s modelling.
The journalist asked if it was true, as the Queensland premier implied, that children would be at risk under the plan, and the PM characterised that as a “misreading” of the modelling:
I think it would be a misreading of the Doherty Institute analysis and I think it would be a good opportunity for her to pursue that with Professor McVernon today...
There are a range of scenarios presented and as you follow the national plan, what you do is you reduce those outcomes to significantly much lower levels. So the worst-case scenario is not the plan. That is not the plan. What is the plan is the better case scenario, which sees you take actions, which has always been part of the national plan. It isn’t just vaccination.
Public health, social measures, the things like distancing and things like that, washing your hands, doesn’t stop when we get 70%. People don’t stop getting vaccinated when you hit 70% or 80%. It keeps going up and you keep having other sensible, common sense precautions in place.
If you do none those things, of course you put the community at great risk. That’s not what the national plan suggests and to suggest that is what the national plan is, that would be a complete misreading it.
Updated
The unvaccinated may be locked out of sporting events, pubs when Victoria reaches 80% targets:
Daniel Andrews:
I had a very lengthy, and a a good discussion with the prime minister on Wednesday evening about a number of different things, a lot of the things that we agree that I stressed with him is the notion that at 70% likely 80% double dose, we will have opportunities to open a part of the Victorian economy to those who have been vaccinated.
To put it another way, when we get to those vaccination double dose thresholds, as part of the national plan, the notion of a locking out of the whole community is far less relevant.
What will become a bigger part of our response is a lockout of many venues for those who are not vaccinated. That might seem a bit harsh, but I’ve said this before and I will make the point again, I am not going to lock the whole state down to protect people who wouldn’t protect themselves.
Yes, there is some supply issues with vaccine at the moment, but by the time we get to 70 or 80%, everybody would have been given an opportunity to do so, so I think if you are not vaccinated, and you could be, the chances of you booking a ticket at a sporting event, going to a pub, going to different places, will be very limited.
Updated
The PM is clearly feeling very quippy today:
"This means from Downing Street to Down Under, we are doubling down on what Pfizer doses are here in Australia this month" #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) September 3, 2021
The PM is still going, now congratulating professor Paul Kelly for being named “father of the year”:
By the way congratulations father of the year Professor Murphy, I think he has often been seen as the father figure in many ways from this platform, I hope I have not broken some secret here! But anyway, if I have, there you go! Congratulations, Professor Murphy, father of the year.
Congratulations Professor Murphy?
Updated
Daniel Andrews is providing some clarity on the priority of ensuring year 12 students have had at least their first vaccine in the lead-up to end of year exams:
In terms of final year school blitz, the year 12 vaccinations we announced earlier in the week, that priority program begins from next Tuesday until 17 September, that Friday and this is about making sure senior students sitting as year 12 exams have at least one dose as they head into that exam period.
They will be part of that process. Schools will reach out to year 12 students and indeed year 11 setting year 12 exams so doing year 12 subjects. The best way is not to do this from the centre but from a local specialised communication from a local level and that is how it will work.
Schools will reach out to those senior students and have that discussion about making bookings and about getting through as part of that lease.
They will have priority access to appointments and priority treatment when they turn up at a state clinic.
Those bookings, those appointments will be able to be made from Monday 6 September. We think it will be around 50,000 priority appointments that we will need to have booked and processed and we are confident we will be able to do that.
There will also be a number of hubs to give you a couple of examples, Gladstone Park secondary college, Roxborough College in Point Cook, secondary colleges in Wyndham, Lakeview senior college, and Dandenong High School. This is about bolstering our current vaccination network and making sure we have got an extra point, as the commonwealth call them points of presence, where people can go get their vaccination as a priority group.
More clarity on when, and how students will back to school will come in the coming days.
Andrews says testing and improving ventilation in classrooms will be key to reducing the risk of transmission, as well as increasing outdoor learning spaces.
Updated
The PM is referring to the doses as “4m doses of hope”. Make of that what you will.
Updated
The PM has celebrated the different vaccination marks the country has hit recently, and said he wouldn’t leave any stone unturned and “I can tell you I’ve been turning over some stones in recent times”:
To ensure that we can progress the vaccination program as quickly as we possibly can. And it will now build on what is a very strong performance. We are now at the point where 80% of over 50s have had their first dose. 80% of over 50s drawing through to a second dose in the weeks ahead. 20.3m doses now having been delivered. More than 10m of those have been AstraZeneca, I want to stress.
I want to continue to encourage everyone to go and continue getting their AstraZeneca jabs, particularly those who are over the age of 60, it is the recommended vaccine for over 60s and I would encourage you to go get your second dose as well and let’s keep this going, Australia.
Updated
The PM has said the doses are on the tarmac, and will leave the UK tomorrow:
This means from Downing Street to down under, we are doubling down on what the Pfizer doses are here in Australia this month.
This will enable us to bring forward significantly the opportunity for Australia to open up again under the national plan. The bringing forward of these doses I think should be a great cause for hope right around the country. The doses will be distributed across the states and territories on a per capita basis so they can all get on with it.
Whether it is at the GP clinics, with the GPs, or in the state based hubs, they will be able to move forward and see these doses get into arms and get Australians back to where we want to be, living with this virus, as soon as we possibly can.
Updated
Young people want to get vaccinated, is today’s message.
Daniel Andrews is urging Victorians to book in and get vaccinated with the wait time between the second AstraZeneca vaccine reduced from 12 weeks down to six.
There are 50,000 appointments still available:
No doubt linked to the fact we have brought on expert advice the AstraZeneca interval down to six weeks, we had significant bookings. I will give you an age breakdown. 18-29: 5,707, 30-39: 5,082, 40-49: 298. 500 in the 50-59 age bracket. Under 2,000 in 60-69 and some 620 bookings in 70 plus. Putting it another way, on that single day, one of our biggest ever single days of bookings for AstraZeneca, three in four was for someone under 40.
This is a choice being made by hundreds of thousands of Victorians. What that means is that literally millions of Victorians will be double dosed vaccinated with AstraZeneca. It is safe, it works, it is available right now and that means the many subject to a conversation with a doctor, pharmacist or a senior nurse, at a vaccine hub, it is the best vaccine for you.
Updated
PM announces Pfizer swap deal with UK
Prime minister Scott Morrison has stepped up and announced (as was tweeted) a Pfizer swap deal with the UK which will see 4m doses arrive in Australia over the course of the next few weeks.
Updated
Victoria is edging closer to 70% vaccination targets, when modest changes to restrictions can be made.
Daniel Andrews:
We are still obviously a number of days away from being at that milestone we talked about the other day of 70% single dose but every vaccine administered today and every person who makes an appointment with a sense of urgency brings the day that we get to 70% first dose, it brings us closer so the more people we vaccinate faster, the quicker we get to 70%. The quicker we get to 70%, the more vaccinations undertaken, the more we will be able to make those changes announced the other day.
Noting it was a modest list because it was considered safe by the chief health officer. But there may be things like outdoors which will be looked at. The more people that get vaccinated, the quicker we get to the markup. That is the point I’m making.
Updated
So, the prime minister is expected up in the coming minutes, and with that in mind, the Seven News political editor, Mark Riley, has tweeted that 4m more Pfizer doses are on the way:
EXCLUSIVE: About 4 million additional Pfizer doses to arrive in Australia within days after vaccine swap deal signed with UK #7News
— Mark Riley (@Riley7News) September 3, 2021
Updated
The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking now, announcing there have been 209 new locally acquired cases overnight – including one returned traveller we didn’t hear about this morning.
Ninety-six of today’s cases have been linked to known outbreaks, with the source of 112 cases still under investigation.
It is not yet clear how many cases have been in isolation throughout their infectious period.
There has been one further Covid related death, a man in his 60s, his vaccination status unknown.
There are now 1,180 active cases across the state including four cases in hotel quarantine.
It was another big day for tests yesterday with over 48,000 tests administered in the past 24 hours, including 6,000 day 13 tests in the regional city of Shepparton.
Updated
The NSW press conference has come to an end, but not before Berejiklian said that annual Covid vaccine boosters will likely be implemented:
We are going to have to do that every year.
Once a year we are all going to have to go and get our shot but it will be a normalised process and most people will get it through a workplace or GP, much in the same way you get the flu shot.
Updated
ACT records 18 new cases
The ACT has recorded 18 new cases today, with 13 linked to previous cases and five under investigation.
Only three of the cases were in quarantine for their full infectious period.
Updated
So contact tracing feels like the theme of today’s NSW press conference, with the premier saying the system will move to a “self-monitoring” system.
The premier was asked about the long delays that some had seen in getting responses from health authorities, and Berejiklian said NSW Health had moved to a text message system to ease some of the strain:
Without giving away anybody’s private circumstances, some people who are very sick aren’t getting a test until right at the last minute...The job of our contact tracers is made easier if people get tested as soon as they think they may have been exposed.
But I want to make sure every citizen knows we will account for every type of circumstance. We don’t want anyone to feel excluded, quite the opposite. Our plans are based on inclusiveness to make sure everyone feels safe and part of the system. Of course we will also make adjustments for people who may not have access to technology in the way that others do.
Berejiklian said there would be a “transition” to contact tracing with large case numbers:
Obviously there will be a transition.
We have already started transitioning as Dr Chant and Dr Gale have spoken about, we are advising people by text message to make sure they get the message as soon as possible if they test positive so we are using technology in an efficient way to make sure people get the message as quickly as possible.
We have started the transition but in earnest the technology does not kick in in earnest across the board until we hit that 70% double vaccination rate.
It is a process of transition and starting to make the system quicker, more efficient, and future proof because remember we are going to get to a state in October and November where we have the settings in place to live with Covid indefinitely until the virus leaves the planet, especially the Delta strain.
Updated
And the press conferences are flying in, with the Victorian update due at 11:45am.
Now, Nationals leader John Barilaro is asked about misinformation creeping into communities in western NSW, which the deputy premier responded by saying there was a need to “sell the message better”:
I don’t think that is just Indigenous communities, it is happening across regional and rural NSW, across Australia and the globe.
There is a lot of misinformation across the internet and the debate between AstraZeneca and Pfizer, AstraZeneca is abundant. It is coming through in those communities and I have spoken to a couple of people from there who have told me there is a reluctance.
We have to use locals to sell that message better. Having access points, having the ADF or Royal Flying Doctors or health units and walk-in clinics makes it easier to explain and I think there was an example where there were Aboriginal people who were fearful but ended up getting vaccinated and they become ambassadors in one way for us to keep making sure that people get vaccinated.
But there is hesitancy and reluctance across many communities. Get off social media, the truth isn’t there. I listen to the health experts and the health experts are saying that AstraZeneca that we have an abundant supply is safe.
Updated
The Prime Minister will hold a press conference at 12PM, APH #auspol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) September 3, 2021
Ok, another interesting question and follow up, this time about how contact tracing will look as case numbers continue to climb.
A journalist has asked about if contact tracing has become dependent on businesses to help get people aware they need to self isolate, and if we might see, as happened in the UK, a “pingdemic”, where thousands are asked to isolate.
The premier said contract tracers are not stretched, but conceded that things will change as numbers climb:
Obviously when we get to 70% double dose, there will be a transition as to how we handle a lot of things. When we have the adult population vaccinated it means we do things differently.
Let me assure you our contact traces are on the job, they are doing incredibly well given the circumstances and again, when you look at the number of cases we have and how many days we are into the pandemic.
I just want to assure people how our systems are holding up, how we put planning in place for a long time that we know this will be the most difficult period of time for all of our frontline health workers, and for many of them they are already feeling it.
I’m not suggesting there won’t be bad days, I’m not suggesting there won’t be examples where people won’t feel let down. Let’s face it, this happens even when the system is not in a pandemic. We have one of the best health systems in the world but no system is perfect and every system is subject to a number of challenges.
Updated
New Zealand records 28 new Covid cases
New Zealand has reported 28 new cases of coronavirus in the community, bringing the total in the outbreak to 764. That is 21 fewer cases than reported on Thursday.
There are 43 people in hospital, including nine in ICU, and three on ventilation machines.
Health officials have now identified 37,620 individual close contacts of Covid-19 cases. Of those, 84% have been followed up and 87% have had at least one test. There are 261 locations of interest.
The deputy prime minister Grant Robertson updated the nation at the daily Covid-19 briefing.
These results are encouraging, but the job is not done. We must continue to be vigilant and get on top of this outbreak.
Robertson also provided an update about the Covid-19 positive man, who absconded from quarantine in Auckland on Thursday.
CCTV footage showed the man had walked home, during the night, Robertson said.
We can confirm there are no locations of interest and as far as we can ascertain, no contact with any person.
There was no risk to public safety during this incident, however it is clearly a regrettable incident and one that is now being thoroughly investigated.
Updated
So the premier was asked again to provide her modelling, and again she has declined to provide it, and to provide a straight answer.
In a long winded answer, that included repeating that the state will need to do things “differently” but that everything happening was essentially part of the plan?
Here’s what she had to say:
Already, it has been on the public record that at any given time you have between five and 600 ICU beds but we had worked on doubling and tripling that number. In fact, tripling that number including staff ... We don’t intend to use every single bed that is available in our plan, let me make that clear, but we want people to know that no matter what the numbers do in the next few weeks, no matter how high or scary the numbers seem that our system, yes it will be stretched and technically they will be different procedures put in place, you may not go to the hospital that is most close to their home, they may be taken to another hospital.
Because some hospitals have a lot of capacity, I shouldn’t say a lot, but many hospitals have capacity now that is not being used whereas we know that some hospitals in south-western and western Sydney in particular are carrying the burden because that is where the caseloads are at the moment. We will need to do things differently but that has already been planned for.
When you get the daily stories about every procedure – including at the worst of times when what is known in an intensive care ward will be expanded into other parts of the hospital. But that is all planned for. Just because you hear about something done differently, I don’t want people to be concerned by that because that is what is in our pandemic plan.
Next week, which is why we are releasing all this information, we will have clinicians, health experts, explaining all this to the community, making it all publicly available online so that everybody can feel assured that if they need intensive care, we don’t want it to come to that.
Updated
So, first question out the door is about what numbers will look like at the peak of this outbreak, and how that will affect hospitals and patients in the ICU.
There are almost 1,000 people in hospital with Covid in NSW, with 160 people in intensive care and 63 needing ventilation.
Berejiklian stuck to her messaging though:
What we will do next week is provide you with the information we have at that time. That is dependent on the fact that everyone does the right thing and they follow the settings. We are pleased to provide that information next week in conjunction with our plans for how we have quadrupled our ventilators and increased our ICU capacity and what plans are in place to make sure everyone has a degree of confidence that I have that our system has been working at it for 18 months.
I want to make very clear that every day there are models that are presented from within the experts we have in NSW but also externally from non-government organisations. And nobody is going to get the exact figure right, no one is going to get the exact day right.
I don’t mean to be glib when I say this but in a few months’
time, we will look back and realise how worse the situation could have been in NSW.
Updated
The 12 deaths include:
- An unvaccinated woman in her 30s from south-western Sydney who died at home on 1 September after being tested on 31 August.
- A man in his 70s from south-eastern Sydney, who died at St George hospital, he was a resident of St George aged care facility in Bexley where he acquired his infection.
- A woman in her 80s from south-western Sydney.
- A man in his 80s from south-western Sydney.
- Two men in their 70s from south-western Sydney.
- Three women in their 70s from south-western Sydney.
- A man in his 70s from Sydney’s north who died at Hornsby hospital.
- A woman in her 60s from south-western Sydney.
- A man in his 90s from the Blue Mountains died at the Hawkesbury Living aged care facility.
Updated
Berejiklian has said she’s also in conversation with the PM on vaccine supply, especially in light of the arrival of 500,000 doses from Singapore:
I’ve been having ongoing stations with the prime minister about more vaccines. What we have demonstrated in New South Wales is that almost everybody is keen to get vaccinated and what has been a challenge for us is supply, getting the number of vaccines from the commonwealth so we can encourage all of our citizens to get vaccinated whether it is through our wonderful GP network, thank you to all of the GPs, through our pharmacies, thank you to all the pharmacists who stood up in a short amount of time and are now providing vaccines and of course NSW Health who have been outstanding in providing those mass vaccination hubs, also going out to communities and the outreaching to those most vulnerable to make sure that all of our communities are covered.
So any additional supply will be welcome and I know the prime minister as I speak to him regularly on this issue, is working day and night to get more vaccines to Australians and obviously NSW will receive our share of those vaccines.
Updated
So Berejiklian has marked the new record by warning that numbers are due to get worse:
In terms of hospitalisation in ICU beds, there is often a week or two week lag.
It means that the highest number of people in our intensive care wards are likely to present during the month of October. That is why we will be able to present in very good detail next week on all the preparation work that has been happening in the last 18 months to make sure that everyone can feel confident if they do need those services that they will get the best care possible on the planet as far as Covid and intensive care is concerned. We hope it doesn’t get to that.
The next fortnight is likely to be our worst in terms of the number of cases, but as I have said it is not the number of cases we need to be focusing on but how many of those cases are up in our intensive care wards and hospitals and how many people we can have vaccinated as quickly as possible.
Updated
NSW records 1,431 new cases and 12 deaths
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has just stepped up, and announced a new record for daily cases, at 1,431 cases.
She also announced 12 deaths to 8pm last night, another daily record.
Updated
We are, of course, on standby for the Covid update from NSW, which is due in just over 5 minutes.
We have more on the phone call between the US president and the prime minister, this time from the other side.
The White House has released a (very succinct) readout of the conversation:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with prime minister Scott Morrison of Australia. Together they celebrated the 70th anniversary of the US alliance with Australia. The president expressed appreciation for the close coordination with Australia on Afghanistan and affirmed plans for an in-person Quad Leaders Summit later this fall.
A lovely way to start the day, I’m sure.
Updated
The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Prof John Skerritt, has explained to Senate estimates on Friday why rapid antigen testing for Covid-19 is not widely available in Australia yet.
He said there were several factors. Firstly, there is currently no way within state and territory jurisdictions to get people who test positive via a rapid test into the system in the way they are with PCR tests. It requires employers or others who conduct the test to inform authorities.
It’s also illegal in two states to use the rapid tests as screening tests at the moment, he said. So it will require some regulatory changes.
Another issue is the home kits do not explain simply and clearly how to do the tests as rapid home kit tests for HIV currently do, and currently the rapid tests are only sold in commercial quantities of hundreds, so the manufacturers will need to develop new products to sell to the general public in the meantime.
Officials indicated trials of rapid tests would be conducted in clinics in NSW LGAs of concern.
Updated
The prime minister is tweeting today, this time about his “warm” chat with US president Joe Biden to mark the anniversary of the Anzus treaty, confirming for all that the treaty is significant:
A warm chat with @POTUS today to mark our ANZUS anniversary, discuss next steps on Afghanistan and our partnership in the Indo-Pacific. I conveyed our sympathies for the impact of Hurricane Ida and the New York floods. pic.twitter.com/HzLRlDVwFU
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 3, 2021
I also expressed our deep appreciation of US support for our evacuation operations at Kabul, and our sincere condolences for the 13 US soldiers killed in Kabul.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 3, 2021
We agreed on the significance of US-Australia ties in this ANZUS anniversary year, and the need to build further on that cooperation with other allies and partners in the region.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 3, 2021
We acknowledged the importance & sacrifice of our shared 20-year contribution in Afghanistan & need for our ongoing humanitarian cooperation. Our great alliance & mateship will keep contributing to security & prosperity in the Indo-Pacific & a world order that favours freedom.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 3, 2021
Updated
So the Queensland presser ended on quite the heated moment, where CHO Jeanette Young said she was “quite upset” at a question from a reporter asking how many deaths she would be “comfortable with”:
Come on, can you please remember who I am? I stand up here every day, I went into medicine to save lives.
I’m not comfortable with any deaths that are preventable, so that’s why I want every single Queenslander to be vaccinated, because that is the best protection.
That’s why I’ve spent the last 19 months doing everything I can, and thank goodness I work with a premier that we have here and a cabinet, to stop the virus from coming into Queensland.
I’m not making political decisions. I am making ... No, sorry, you’ve got me quite upset now.
I do not want to see any death of a Queenslander that is preventable, whether it be due to smoking, due to obesity, due to high alcohol intake, due to accidents that could have been prevented, due to road trauma. I could go on. That is what I have spent the last 16 years of my life working on.
Updated
Just a bit more on the surge plan being taken to national cabinet today to help boost vaccination rates among Australia’s Indigenous population, Lt Gen John Frewen said they’ve analysed where the gap is largest from the national average on vaccination, and have found 20 non-remote and 10 remote communities with big gaps in the vaccination rate.
They’ll target those areas over the next four weeks with state and federally led Indigenous health services seeking to get community engagement and vaccination teams. They’ll be working with senior community leaders and an Indigenous communications firm to develop a specific communications strategy tailored to each community, involving the community elders, and making sure the message is being delivered correctly to overcome vaccine hesitancy.
The size of the communities range from the tens of thousands in non-remote areas, to the hundreds in remote areas.
It all depends on what comes out of national cabinet later today, but that’s the plan the PM and the state leaders are being presented.
Updated
Palaszczuk has stood by her comments earlier this week about research around how Covid affects children, saying she “stands by what I believe in”.
Palaszczuk had suggested Queensland would maintain strict restrictions because children under 12 didn’t yet have an opportunity to be vaccinated.
I’m asking very simple questions here of Scott Morrison and from the national cabinet.
It’s not about being against our national plan ... Queensland is doing everything that is part of that national plan.
Let’s have an educated conversation about these issues. Rather than attacks, let’s have a conversation.
The premier was asked more about the national reopening plan, and her contention about children, but she stuck to her guns.
What I said and what I maintain, is at the beginning of this pandemic we were very concerned about the elderly. Because they were unvaccinated. So what did we do? We put a lot of effort into getting our aged care, our seniors vaccinated, and that was a priority. Now what we are seeing other evidence that is happening in the US, where it is the pandemic of the unvaccinated.
A lot more children are presenting with Covid, and a lot more children are ending up in ICU. I do not want to have that happen here.
That is why I’m saying very clearly and there was actually some trials happening out with some of the pharmaceutical companies over their four children, so what I’m saying is, let’s have a conversation about it, and the prime minister himself national cabinet, they agreed to go do some more work.
Updated
In the meantime, Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid has been tweeting about the “lazy planning” that has now led to questions around the capacity of health systems to deal with the country opening up at 80% vaccinated:
Stopping surgery and other care was necessary in 2020 in a crisis. But there is no excuse for lazy planning now. If we can’t open up without decimating ordinary health care maybe we need more than 80% of our population vaccinated?
— AMA President (@amapresident) September 2, 2021
Once in our population, COVID isn’t going anywhere, so the impact on hospitals and health care will be sustained. We need a health system that can still provide normal care to everyone, otherwise we will pay the price in lives lost for years to come.
— AMA President (@amapresident) September 2, 2021
If closing private and public hospitals for surgery and other care is our plan for living with #covid then I suggest to @GregHuntMP and national cabinet that they need to go back to the drawing board. A planned reopening needs a modeled funded and realistic plan for healthcare.
— AMA President (@amapresident) September 2, 2021
Updated
The head of the federal health department, Prof Brendan Murphy has responded to this tweet from the AMA president regarding reports today that the private hospital system will be utilised to cope with Covid-19 cases in the future.
If closing private and public hospitals for surgery and other care is our plan for living with #covid then I suggest to @GregHuntMP and national cabinet that they need to go back to the drawing board. A planned reopening needs a modeled funded and realistic plan for healthcare.
— AMA President (@amapresident) September 2, 2021
Murphy said the plan for “living with Covid” does not depend on private hospitals stopping elective surgery.
In fact the plan for living with Covid, specifically we’re working with states and territories to to work on a plan where we can live with low level Covid and continue elective surgery and continue to provide general health care.
Clearly there are surge plans for a circumstance, such as we’re seeing in Sydney, which we would not expect to see necessarily in other states, if a fully vaccinated population, when you start to open up.
He is arguing that transmissions and hospitalisations will be lower once the population is fully vaccinated, so it would be different to what is being seen today. He said he was happy to speak to the AMA “correcting any misinformation” he may have heard.
Murphy also said it is too early to say when Victoria’s hospitalisations from the current outbreak will peak, with NSW’s hospitalisations from the current outbreak tipped to peak in October.
Updated
Ok well, deputy premier Stephen Miles has come out swinging.
Well yesterday Scott Morrison had six members of his team out attacking Queensland, our border restrictions and our premier.
Miles goes on to attack federal politicians for questioning his state’s approach:
We haven’t seen a pile on like that since before the state election last year. Not one of them mentioned the outbreak in Sydney. It’s as though Queenslanders are somehow responsible for the NSW outbreak. It’s clear the prime minister has both his eyes on his own election and no eyes on the outbreak ripping through Sydney right now.
We are committed to the national plan. In fact in some ways, we’re one of the few states complying with the national plan.
Updated
The Queensland premier and chief health officer Jeannette Young have begun the press conference urging people to get vaccinated as a means of protecting the state from future outbreaks, especially while there are no cases in the state.
Updated
Queensland records no new cases
Queensland records zero new cases today:
Friday 3 September – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) September 2, 2021
0 new cases.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/RUmdlytVB1
Updated
The head of the federal government’s covid vaccine rollout taskforce, Lt Gen John Frewen, will present plans to speed up the vaccination of the Indigenous population in Australia to national cabinet on Friday, he told a Senate estimates committee.
Currently 39.8% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population have had one dose, with 21.86% fully vaccinated, he said.
Nationally, the overall vaccination rate is currently at 61% having at least one dose, with 37% having two doses, with 20 million jabs administered.
Among NDIS workers, 64.2% have had one dose, and 45.3% have had two doses. Among NDIS participants in shared accommodation, 70.4% have been had one dose, and 57.9% have had two doses.
So we are on standby for the press conference from Queensland, which is due to start in around five minutes.
Sticking with today’s theme, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian was on 2GB earlier this morning and said that the NSW’s plan to manage an anticipated rise in Covid cases in ICU will be released next week.
She said there were between 1,500 and 1,600 ICU beds available, and repeated her message that September and October will be the worst months in terms of hospitalisations:
If we’d had our vaccination rates up, with the number of cases now, you wouldn’t be seeing so many people end up in hospital.
But because we started off a couple of months ago when the outbreak started, with a very low rate of vaccination, it meant that subsequently people who got the disease and weren’t vaccinated had a greater chance of ending up in hospital, and that includes people across all ages.
Our expert clinicians ... our people who work in emergency departments, our specialists have come together to put forward the plan.
Our experts will be detailing our plan early next week, putting it up on the website, making it publicly available, so that every citizen feels comfortable that not only have we done the work and the planning, but have the resources to take care of our public.
Whether it means increasing the space that’s defined as intensive care, if it means doing things a little bit differently or if it means putting patients in hospitals outside of the area in which they live, that’s all part of the plan.
Updated
We have moved on from politicians on TV to politicians on radio. This time, Queensland’s deputy premier, Steven Miles, has backed his government’s approach to the national reopening plan.
He said on Radio National’s breakfast program that the state has “never wavered” from the agreed plan, but also said the prime minister was spruiking a “simplified” version:
That was a commitment to the actual plan – not the simplified version of the plan that the prime minister now talks about.
Nowhere in the Doherty research does it say that at 70% Covid goes away, and that’s almost what he’s started implying here.
The research says that at 70% you need [fewer] restrictions and at 80%, things like lockdowns become quite rare and can be targeted and that’s very much our position – that’s been our position all along.
Miles went on to say that national cabinet needed to come to a decision on how many people will die:
That’s what the modelling does. The modelling calculates how many people die under each scenario and that’s the challenging decision that our leaders need to make.
Certainly at 80% we’ll need [fewer] restrictions but the Doherty research itself doesn’t go to border restrictions.
We have to make decisions based on the situation in NSW, the relative situation here in Queensland, the vaccination rate in both locations, as well as the effectiveness of our other public health measures.
Updated
We have out first presser announcement today.
Queensland will be first out the gates at 9.45am.
NSW will likely follow at 11am.
We are still waiting to hear from ACT and Victoria, but they’ll likely be around 11am in any case.
Updated
NSW Police have released a statement saying they have fined a construction site owner and workers in Sydney’s east.
Officers temporarily shut down a construction site in Waverly, and issued over $13,000 in fines after finding multiple breaches of health orders.
Police came across three construction workers in Bronte ysteday, and fined them for not wearing masks.
“After it was established that the men were from Local Government Areas of concern, police requested to see the men’s permits for leaving their areas and evidence of one dose of vaccine,” they said in a statement.
“None were able to produce a permit, and two were unable to provide evidence of a COVID-19 vaccine. They all told police they were unaware of the requirements under the Public Health Orders.”
Although that reads as a pretty damning, but I am inclined to believe they didn’t know, there are many people who don’t follow the news and can’t keep up with the changing rules.
But I digress. Police say they also fined the owner for not following covid protocols, and he also told them he was “unaware of his obligations”, including ensuring the compliance of his employees.
He was fined $10,000 and the two employees were fined $1,500 each, for failing to comply with Covid directions and for not wearing a mask.
Victoria records 208 cases, one death
Victoria has recorded 208 new locally acquired cases and one death today.
Of the 208 cases, 96 are linked to known cases. We expect to hear more from the states press conference later today.
Reported yesterday: 208 new local cases and 1 case acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) September 2, 2021
- 33,511 vaccines administered
- 48,572 test results received
- Sadly, 1 person with COVID-19 has died
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W
[1/2] pic.twitter.com/ATJElwPMH3
Updated
More politicians on TV!
This time, it is ex-federal treasurer, and current national Labor party president Wayne Swan, who was on the Today show earlier, talking about whether Labor leader Anthony Albanese was in a difficult position as Labor premiers push back against the national reopening plane.
Swan thought Albanese could manage the difficult position:
I think [Albanese] can [juggle both perspectives] and the reason is fairly simple.
There is a lot of exaggeration about what Doherty does say and doesn’t say.
With 80% vaccination rates, for example – and we are still a long way from that – you will still have 40,000 infections per day. You will have 760 deaths a year.
The real question here is, what are the conditions in which we open up? When is it safe?
And of course there is a lot of spin put on Doherty. It is an important piece of work and I recommend people read it, but it doesn’t say what [health minister] Greg Hunt and the prime minister are saying it says.
Premier Palaszczuk, Premier McGowan and Anthony Albanese and so on have got a very legitimate case to point out that if you open up the wrong way, if you open up too quickly, the risks are far higher.
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Wiley Park public school, in Sydney’s south-west, has been closed after a community member at the school tested positive.
The Department of Education has asked all staff and students to isolate as the school is cleaned.
The school joins Hampden Park Public School and Werrington Public School in the city’s west, who have all been closed for the same reason today.
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Also making the rounds this morning is finance minister Simon Birmingham, who was on the Today show, saying some leaders are misrepresenting the national reopening plan.
Essentially, he said that it wasn’t about opening up at 70% and letting it rip, but about a careful reopening:
It doesn’t say open up at 70% and nothing happens from there.
It says you talk a cautious, careful, staged approach. We don’t want to encourage states to do things that are reckless at the 70% mark.
We want to make sure everyone takes a careful approach. That’s why there are 70% and 80% thresholds in place. That’s why we are opening up to kids from 12 to 15 and to be able to get them vaccinated.
[The Queensland premier] is, I think, focusing on the fear side, rather than on the factual, calm analysis that needs to be undertaken on educating the population.
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So, we begin with the nation’s deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, saying Western Australia and Queensland could become “hermit kingdoms” in their approach to border closures.
Joyce was on ABC News breakfast and was asked about the fears both states have of Covid seeping through their borders, and he said it was “not possible” to maintain the border restrictions:
Will you just stay locked up forever? Do you isolate yourself from the world? That it? Do you become a hermit kingdom all of your own in the south Pacific? It’s not possible. People want their right to travel and want their right to go between states. I’m sure people in the Gold Coast in the tourism industry will be pulling their hair out to say that, well, you just completely rearranged our economy.
It comes down to the vaccination effort. Everybody is on a unity ticket on that front, right, and there is a fair way to go before we reach 70%.
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Good morning everyone, Mostafa Rachwani with you this morning, on what I’m sure will be another hectic day.
We begin in New South Wales, which saw the arrival of 500,000 Pfizer doses from Singapore, as part of a “vaccine swap deal”. The doses are due to expire soon, so will be rolled out quickly across the country.
NSW yesterday recorded 1,288 cases, with premier Gladys Berejiklian saying “people will die” when the state reopens, as it crossed the 70% first-dose mark.
But that reopening plan, based on the Doherty Institute’s modelling, is being fractured, as Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, warned yesterday that children could be at risk if state borders reopen.
Palaszczuk said she expected the Doherty Institute to provide updated modelling, with ACT’s chief minister, Andrew Barr backing the call for more modelling. The ACT recorded 12 new cases yesterday.
In Victoria, wait time for the second dose of AstraZeneca has been halved, as the state continues to battle a growing outbreak, recording 176 new cases yesterday.
In federal politics, Pauline Hanson is in hot water again after she claimed to have the federal government’s blessing to announce an $8m grant for a Rockhampton hospice, instead of the Nationals.
Tune in as we bring you the coverage of the rolling press conferences as they come today, with NSW likely to be at 11am, and the rest of the states there or thereabouts.
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