The day that was, Friday 13 August
That is where we will leave the live blog for Friday.
Here’s what made the news today:
- NSW reported a record 390 daily Covid-19 cases, as the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said people in NSW won’t enjoy “freedom all round” until 70% of adults are vaccinated, but the government is exploring extra freedoms for the vaccinated in the coming months.
- NSW recorded two deaths: an unvaccinated woman in her 40s who died at home in south-west Sydney, and a vaccinated Hunter man in his 90s in palliative care.
- Victoria recorded 15 new locally acquired cases, three of which are mystery cases, as the state set an ambitious target of getting one million Covid-19 vaccine doses into arms in five weeks.
- From Monday, the AstraZeneca vaccine will be available to Victorian adults at the 50 state vaccination hubs to help reach the goal.
- Canberra’s coronavirus outbreak has grown to six, with two new cases including the mystery infection of a high school student.
- Queensland reported seven new cases, all in isolation while infectious.
- Western Australia will demand arrivals from NSW prove they have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine under tough new arrangements.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison has said states will implement changes to protect employers from workplace safety action in workplaces where the vaccine is not mandatory. He said after national cabinet that governments will not make the vaccine mandatory anywhere except in high-risk workplaces such as aged care or hotel quarantine.
- 14.7m doses of the vaccine have been administered in Australia as of the end of Thursday, up a record 270,898. Across Australia, 52.81% of people over 16 have had one dose, while 28.61% are fully vaccinated.
Until tomorrow, stay safe.
Updated
The NSW government is reintroducing a code of conduct for commercial leasing to mandate rent relief for tenants impacted by Covid-19
A $40m hardship fund will be set up to provide a monthly grant of up to $3,000 to small commercial or retail landlords who provide rental waivers of at least the value of the grant, and any land tax relief they are eligible for.
Protections will be extended until 13 January, 2022 to protect cafes, restaurants, gyms and other small businesses for six months. It was due to expire next week.
It requires landlords to negotiate rent and provide rent relief in proportion with their tenant’s decline in turnover. At least 50% must be in the form of a waiver, and the balance a deferral for tenants with a turnover of up to $50m.
Evictions and lockouts are banned unless landlords have first renegotiated rent and attempted mediation.
The Australian Meat Industry Council reports that a survey found only 12% of its members have 60% or more of their workers fully vaccinated.
Around half of those vaccinations have been at hubs, with 25% are at a doctor. Only 11% have been on-site vaccinations.
AMIC CEO Patrick Hutchinson said the council was encouraging its workers to get vaccinated with whatever vaccine is available, but workers need to have confidence in the vaccine they are receiving due to the industry being classed as high risk. He noted there had been some hesitancy in the industry about AstraZeneca due to the changing health advice.
He said there was a challenge in going down the path of mandatory vaccination in the meat industry while there are supply issues and vaccine hesitancy, and while members feel they are not prioritised in the current rollout:
We are a 1B vaccination priority industry, yet nearly half of our members surveyed don’t believe they have been prioritised in this way by local health services.
Updated
From the daily Victorian health department update on Covid-19 viral fragments detected in waste water in the Shepparton and Lakes Entrance areas:
The detections are in the Shepparton and Lakes Entrance areas. These detections are significant as both areas do not have any active Covid-19 cases or current exposure sites.
The Shepparton catchment includes the suburbs Shepparton, Kialla and small parts of Shepparton North and Orrvale. Anyone who lives, works or have visited those areas from 9 to 11 August is urged to watch for the slightest symptoms of Covid-19 and to get tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop:
The Lakes Entrance catchment includes the local government areas of Lakes Entrance, Lake Bunga, Kalimna, Lake Tyres and the Lake Tyres Aboriginal Trust. Anyone who lives, works or have visited those areas in Lakes Entrance from 8 to 11 August is urged to watch for the slightest symptoms of Covid-19 and to get tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop:
In the past month in regional Victoria, positive readings for Covid-19 wastewater fragments have been detected in Bacchus Marsh, Benalla, Bendigo, Black Rock, Healesville, Koorlong, Somers and Wangaratta. Those in Benalla, Healesville and Wangaratta are not consistent with known cases and wastewater monitoring has been intensified with no further viral traces found to date.
There are also positive wastewater detections in metropolitan Melbourne in the Camberwell-Balwyn area and two adjacent catchments in the western suburbs including Tarneit, Truganina and Williams Landing. There have also been repeated recent wastewater detections in the Keysborough and Glenroy-Broadmeadows areas.
An independent inquiry will examine the effectiveness of mitigation efforts prior to the Wooroloo bushfire which destroyed 86 homes north of Perth, AAP reports.
The probe, announced by the state government on Friday, will be led by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council.
It will examine the bushfire response, fuel management and the effectiveness of public communications during the blaze.
The fire burnt through almost 11,000 hectares of bushlands, destroying 86 homes as well as livestock, sheds and machinery.
It coincided with a Covid-19 lockdown in Perth and surrounding regions.
Police last month arrested a 40-year-old man whose use of an angle grinder allegedly sparked the devastating blaze.
Daniel Gunter Preuss has been charged with failing to take due care while in charge of an ignition source and breaching a total fire ban.
He is due to return to Perth Magistrates Court in October.
Police do not believe the fire was deliberately lit. They allege the blaze started when Preuss used an angle grinder to remove a padlock on a sea container located on his Wooroloo property.
The breach of duty charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.
It took firefighters five days to contain the massive bushfire, which coincided with a lockdown in Perth and surrounding regions.
A further 195 homes were under threat at one stage but were saved by fire crews.
The cost of joint state government and commonwealth relief efforts has been put at least $18 million.
Victorian exposure sites added
Some more Victorian exposure sites.
Checked exposure sites lately? More have been published online at https://t.co/xojLvnrdjA
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) August 13, 2021
[1/15] pic.twitter.com/t0Xkz6mPQC
We also keep a list in the link below.
Updated
Ahh auto-subtitling to the rescue.
Good job Ken Behrens pic.twitter.com/lZ8w8Jnz4U
— arwon (@arwon) August 13, 2021
Here’s a bit more via AAP from WA premier Mark McGowan on the new requirement for people who have been in NSW to prove they’ve had at least one dose of the Covid vaccine from Tuesday next week:
Given what is happening in NSW, there’s no sign of the situation improving over coming weeks...These are tough measures but they are necessary to protect the state.
The situation in NSW is very serious and our hard border arrangements must reflect that and reduce the risk to Western Australians.
McGowan wouldn’t rule out keeping vaccine passports beyond that point if there were outbreaks in other states.
He said the tough new rules offered a template for other states to replicate.
“The legal advice is very clear that, based upon the advice of the chief health officer, this is entirely lawful,” he added.
NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are already subject to a hard border, denying entry to the vast majority of travellers.
McGowan said 61 approved travellers had arrived in Perth from NSW over the past two days and another 43 were due to arrive on Friday.
Scott Morrison described the Taliban’s advance in Afghanistan as concerning and upsetting.
The Guardian’s correspondents reported overnight that the US and UK were sending reinforcements to Kabul to help evacuate their diplomats, soldiers and citizens as well as thousands of Afghans who have worked with them. The Pentagon is also sending a thousand troops to Qatar to help the processing of interpreters and other former Afghan staff who have been granted special visas.
Earlier today I asked the Defence media unit whether it had any update on Australian Defence Force involvement in such operations. I also asked whether the ADF was planning or involved in any specific similar actions to assist in the rescue of Afghan nationals who had assisted Australia.
A Defence spokesperson replied:
The Australian government is deeply concerned about the evolving situation in Afghanistan. We are working with the US on what is a very fluid situation.
Updated
National cabinet summary
Not a huge amount out of national cabinet but here’s what was interesting:
- States will make orders to prevent employers from facing action if there’s a Covid outbreak in their workplace where vaccination isn’t compulsory, but the PM has reiterated that, save for high-risk workplaces, the government will not make the vaccine mandatory.
- No decision has been made on a vaccination passport to allow those who are vaccinated to have more freedoms than those who are not.
- The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, said the NSW death rate had been lower despite the high case numbers due to the high vaccination rate among older Australians.
- The PM has argued NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is not deviating from the national plan to exit the pandemic when she talks about relaxing some lockdown restrictions once NSW reaches 50% of the population double-dose vaccinated.
Updated
For the final question, Morrison was asked about the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
He said Australia is “very concerned” about it. He said it was not surprising but very upsetting.
He says around 400 people were granted visas under our locally engaged employment program and have arrived already and settled in Australia, with more being processed.
He said Australia is liaising with the United States, and where necessary will use ADF personnel to secure safe passage of people out of Afghanistan to Australia.
Updated
Morrison also indicates there will not be a requirement for teachers to be vaccinated, despite many of the most recent outbreaks being centred around schools:
Because the general level of vaccination, we are seeking to achieve 70- 80% targets and I would hope that teachers of course were going get vaccinated. Of course I would hope you would and I would and everyone else would. We’re not running a mandatory vaccination program. We are not running one. In specific cases we may seek to do that for public-health reasons but otherwise, that is just not how we do things in Australia.
Updated
While arguing states will put in place orders that will protect employers from having action taken against them by an employee if there’s a Covid outbreak in a workplace without a vaccine mandate, Morrison reiterates the government will not require employers to force employees to get vaccinated except in limited industries:
In terms of others who may be wanting to do that, well the commonwealth government and state governments are not asking them to put those mandatory requirements on at all because it is not a mandatory program. By all means encourage them, of course. But a requirement for them to do it is only being done in very specific circumstances, quarantine workers, those who work in the aged care sector, those are the only areas where we have taken no steps and in quite specific circumstances in New South Wales presently, there is also an order that has been put in place there.
The commander of the Covid-19 taskforce, John Frewen, is asked by my colleague Paul Karp about the lagging vaccination rate among Indigenous Australians compared to the non-Indigenous population.
Frewen says it is something the taskforce is working on:
They are at first dose 28% and fully vaccinated around 14% across the nation. We have of course looked at these numbers in remote and regional areas as well as urban areas. They are behind the national rate at the moment and that is of course something we are focused on. Some communities are well ahead of others but we are working with the states and territories and we are looking very systematically at all communities and how we can best help bring them on-board.
Morrison adds Australia’s Indigenous population often live in some of the most remote parts of the country, but says the Aboriginal community controlled health services are doing the work to administer Pfizer vaccines in those communities:
The fact that these Aboriginal community controlled health services have been so successful working with those local communities to prevent wherever possible seeing Covid get into those communities has been absolutely extraordinary. It genuinely was at the outset, I believe the first meeting that we had as premiers and chief ministers ... we were most concerned about those communities.
It is a difficult area to get as many vaccines as we can build up. I want to thank church leaders and others who have been supporting those efforts in Indigenous communities, particularly where you have to address hesitancy. Getting information into the community is a coordinated effort. It’s a difficult job but very caring people getting about the job of meeting that.
Updated
Morrison won’t be drawn on former prime minister Tony Abbott’s idea for a royal commission into the Covid response:
Right now, to be honest, we are managing the pandemic right now, and this pandemic still has a long way to go. So I am sure at some time in the future there will be a time to talk about those reviews or whatever form they might take, but you know, right now, I am just focused on the response we need to make now, and I’m not going to be drawn into those things. There will be a time and a place to have those discussions and it is not now.
Updated
Morrison was asked about NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s comments that she hoped to ease a few restrictions when NSW gets to 50% double dose vaccinated. Morrison argued Berejiklian was talking about moving to Phase B (which is 70%), and the lockdown wouldn’t end with cases not suppressed.
Again, what the premier’s referring to is moving into Phase B. I know you know that, I just want to be very clear, that is not what be premier is referring to. The premier is seeking to manage the lockdown in New South Wales and I have spoken to the premier about this this week as well.
They are doing the necessary work to understand what easing of some restrictions might mean in the New South Wales context, and she certainly doesn’t want to see an escalation of cases or the virus not being suppressed, and the efforts to actually take those case numbers down, and I am quite certain, and I would certainly hope, they would not be seeking to ease restrictions that could give rise to that. And I think that should absolutely be the review of all other premiers and chief ministers, and I don’t believe that is what the premier of New South Wales would be seeking to do.
So she is taking good advice on what can be done to ensure that the lockdown that is in New South Wales, that people will be able to sustain themselves through that lockdown, because the lockdown is important, the lockdown is lifted when the lockdown works, and that is why it is so important to people, right across Sydney, to be complying with that lockdown.
Updated
Morrison would welcome vaccine mandate for truck drivers
Morrison says a new freight code for transport between the states should be finished soon, and he would welcome a requirement for truck drivers to be vaccinated:
We hope to conclude the second matter within a matter of days, between both transport ministers, but of course the premiers and myself, a number of states have already agreed to be upgrades on the freight code. Just seeking to simplify these testing arrangements, and yes, I do welcome the requirements for vaccination.
This is for people who are otherwise getting an exemption to come into Western Australia.... That is not unlike sorts of things we have been talking about for some time, where people are vaccinated, and an exemption has been granted, but the vaccination aids that exemption being given on public health grounds. So I think that is really consistent with what the national plan is seeking to achieve, and as I said last week, all premiers and chief ministers agreed to that.
Updated
The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says what worked in Victoria during its second outbreak will work in NSW this time to bring down case numbers, in addition to the vaccination rollout. He says people need to have hope and patience:
All of those things that were done in Victoria last year are being done in New South Wales this year and they will work. That requires people to listen and to take heed of what is being said every day by Premier Berejiklian and her public health staff, and all of those things need to be taken into account.
The thing we do have this year but we didn’t have last year is the vaccination rollout, and in terms of circuit breakers, Premier Berejiklian has mentioned already in her press conferences over the last couple of days, as has Dr Chant and her colleagues, about their vaccination strategy in south-west Sydney, in particular, targeted vaccination, vaccinating the year 12s, vaccinating apprentices and so on, and that is going ahead. Those things will work. People need to have hope and patience.
Morrison is asked whether NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian had provided a containment plan as requested by her Queensland counterpart. He says national cabinet was “a very positive and collegiate meeting”, and none of the leaders are complacent:
Particularly on issues that were further north, closer to the Queensland border, the premier of New South Wales was able to draw attention to the isolated nature of that particular case, particularly up north, which was that one male individual who breached the rules.
But many of the other outbreaks in other parts of the state were not towards Queensland, but equally, the premier was able to go through the steps that were being taken in New South Wales to address the outbreak, that is what those meetings do. They provide the opportunity for those matters to be directly raised and addressed, and I’ve got to say, they were raised in a good spirit, a good-faith way, and the premiers are seeking to work together to best support each other to get through what is a very difficult time.
The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says the Queensland outbreak is now “definitely under control” while the Victorian outbreak is “coming under control” with more and more cases isolating while infectious.
For the ACT, he says the territory has very few cases, but hasn’t had local cases for more than a year, so it is new and the ACT is learning from other states and territories.
For NSW, he noted that while case numbers were still quite high, the death rate had not been anywhere near what Victoria experienced in its second wave last year. He puts this down to high vaccination rates among older age groups:
The terrible death rate has not been replicated this year, in terms of deaths. That is mostly because our oldest population, including those in aged care are largely protected by vaccination.”
Updated
Morrison said national cabinet discussed mandating vaccination in some businesses, noting some companies were concerned about legal action if employees became infected in workplaces where mandatory vaccination was not required.
He said that would be on the basis of state health and safety laws, and the states can provide a statement of regulation intent that a business that does not mandate is not in breach of workplace health and safety laws:
So a protection can be provided to businesses through that process that may be concerned that by not putting on a mandatory requirement that they might otherwise be liable for any action that might be brought against them. That is an understandable point that business is making. We do not have a mandatory vaccination program. It is free and it is not mandatory. Businesses are encouraging their employees around the country to get vaccinated, as they should, as the government is, as all governments are but the issue of mandatory vaccinations have been put in place in a very select group of sectors.
Updated
Morrison has run through how much has been paid out in Covid disaster payments for people in lockdowns who have lost hours.
- In total: $2.256bn
- $1bn in NSW to 762,879 people
- $260m in Victoria to 252,843 people
- $98.7m to people in Queensland (didn’t catch the number here)
- $45m in South Australia to 80,669 people
He notes support for businesses in non-lockdown states are being worked through on a state-by-state basis because the lockdowns in states like NSW and Victoria have flow-on effects to states like Tasmania.
No decision on vaccine passport
Morrison noted the work Victoria, Tasmania and the NT are doing on vaccine passports (he didn’t call them that) but noted no decision had been made on whether to use them:
It is looking at the exemption arrangements for vaccinated persons in Australia. This is done on the basis of public health knowledge that if you are vaccinated you present less of a public risk to yourself and to others around you, your work colleagues, your community and so if people present less of a health risk, then it only stands to reason that you would have different arrangements. We are continuing to work through that. No decisions on that yet. As you know, they will take place when we reach those 70% marks and we are making great progress towards that but that work will continue to be done, including the tools that will be necessary to support those arrangements by states and territories.
The PM is going through the various vax rates across Australia. You can find all that data below.
PM press conference begins
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is speaking after national cabinet met this afternoon.
Morrison says “suppress and vaccinate” continues to be the national plan to combat Covid-19 in Australia.
He says Australians are charting the course out of Covid-19 by going out and getting vaccinated.
He says now one in four eligible Australians are now vaccinated, compared to 11.6% a month ago (so 14% or so in a month).
He says NSW is just about at 50% of first doses.
There were one million doses administered in just four days, he says.
“You’re doing a great job, Australia. Keep going,” Morrison says.
The federal and Queensland governments have agreed on a 50/50 funding deal to increase the Queensland Covid-19 business support grants from $260m to $600m.
The grants are available for businesses that have had a decline in turnover of more than 30%. Non-employing sole-traders can get one-off $1,000 grants, while other businesses can get one-off grants between $5,000 and $25,000 depending on their size.
The grants program will be open to businesses across Queensland from Monday 16 August.
Updated
The PM’s post-national cabinet press conference will be at 3.30pm AEST.
The ACT has just added a bunch of exposure sites for those keeping track of it.
Updated
Labor MP for Blaxland in Sydney’s west, Jason Clare, spoke earlier today about the need for expanding vaccine hubs in the western suburbs. He said people are being turned away at the hubs, and pharmacies are overwhelmed:
This week, 120 people in my local community in Bankstown got turned away from a local vaccination hub because there wasn’t enough medical staff to vaccinate. My local community’s dangerously exposed. It’s the epicentre of this outbreak. There’s lots of people who are desperate to get the jab and we had to turn away 120 people because there wasn’t enough doctors and nurses to vaccinate them. That’s crazy. We can’t let that keep happening. If there’s a shortage of doctors and nurses to give people the jab, then we need to find other people and bring them in to help make sure that we can vaccinate our community as fast as possible.
I spoke to a pharmacist in my local community today. Our pharmacists are doing a fantastic job but they’re quickly being overwhelmed. She told me she’s got a waiting list of hundreds and hundreds of people who want to get vaccinated, but it’s going to take her a month to get through all of them. And we don’t have a month to wait.
Australia's PPE and chemical supply chains found to be vulnerable
Australia is vulnerable to disruptions in supplies of chemicals to make medicines and personal protective equipment used in the fight against Covid-19, a new report shows, AAP reports.
The Productivity Commission on Friday released a major report into vulnerable supply chains.
Supply chains are considered vulnerable when they are likely to be disrupted by such things as trade wars, natural disasters, financial crises, pandemics and cyber attacks as well as choke points at ports or tight clustering of supply.
The report found many imports classed as “vulnerable” were not essential or critical to the wellbeing of Australians, such as toys, swimwear, sparkling wine and Christmas decorations.
But a number of inputs into essential goods and services were considered at risk.
“A supply shock to imports of chemicals used in water treatment or the production of pharmaceuticals could have severe short-term impacts on supply chains (if no substitutes are available and no reallocation of existing supplies is possible),” the report said.
It also found that supplies of face shields, isolation gowns, aprons, and surgical cloths used in health industries – which have been in high demand during the pandemic – were vulnerable.
The commission said most vulnerable imports (68%) came from China, including personal protective equipment and chemical and metal products.
The United States and India were the next largest suppliers of vulnerable imports.
The report called for more work to be done on which vulnerable imports are critical to Australia’s essential industries and what substitute products could be used in the event of a disruption.
Updated
Victorian Reason Party MP Fiona Patten, who had been pursuing the decriminalisation of sex work in the state, has welcomed the Victorian government’s announcement:
These changes will allow [sex workers] to make a true profession out of their work – to pay tax, demand better conditions and be more open with their friends and family about what they do.
Victoria’s law is finally coming into line with many other jurisdictions. NSW did this as long ago as 1995.
Updated
Another record day of vaccinations.
46.65% of people 16+ have had at least one dose, and 25.02% have had two doses.
Breaking: another new record for vaccinations in Australia, with 270,898 doses administered in 24 hours. We're now at 14.74m doses nationally. Now 46.65 per cent of adults 16+ have had at least one dose and 25.02 per cent have had two doses.
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) August 13, 2021
A 55-year-old man has been stabbed to death in Sydney’s inner west, with a large stretch of Marrickville Road shut off, AAP reports.
The victim was stabbed in the upper body just after midday on Friday and died at the scene.
A police operation was under way at a property on Denison Road in Dulwich Hill, while Marrickville Road is closed off between Wardell and Livingstone Roads.
A 62-year-old man was arrested at the Dulwich Hill site.
He has been taken to hospital under police guard and is yet to be charged.
Updated
Just a bit more on the decriminalisation of sex work in Victoria.
The changes will mean sex workers will have access to the same rights as any other employee in Victoria, and sex work will be regulated through standard business laws.
The state government will implement the reforms over the next two years with the aim of increasing safety, reducing stigma, and improving access to government health and justice services.
The offences and criminal penalties will be removed, and the Sex Work Act 1994 will be repealed.
Criminal offences to protect children and workers from coercion and address other forms of non-consensual sex work will continue to be enforced by state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Victoria has been a bit of an outlier in criminalising sex work – NSW decriminalised sex work in 1995.
The Victorian minister for consumer affairs, Melissa Horne, said:
Every Victorian deserves to feel safe in their place of work – decriminalisation will ensure that sex work is safe work and go a long way towards breaking down the stigma sex workers continue to experience.
Updated
Victoria set to decriminalise sex work
Victoria is set to decriminalise sex work.
Sex work is set to be decriminalised in Victoria. More @AAPNewswire
— Benita Kolovos (@benitakolovos) August 13, 2021
Updated
An international traveller who absconded from a quarantine hotel in Adelaide spent several hours in the city, sparking a Covid-19 scare and a major investigation, AAP reports.
However, police say the man, who left the hotel about 10pm on Thursday, has tested negative for the virus and there is no threat to the wider community.
He had arrived in Adelaide on 3 August and was immediately taken to the Grand Chancellor Hotel to complete two weeks in mandatory isolation.
He tested negative for Covid-19 on days one, five and nine.
Police said it had been determined the man had been in the Adelaide CBD for about eight hours and returned voluntarily to the hotel about 6am on Friday.
Police commissioner Grant Stevens said it was disappointing the hotel breach had occurred despite robust security arrangements
“There have been about 22,000 guests in our medi-hotel program throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and this is the first time we have seen such a breach,” he said.
“I would like to reiterate that there is no known risk to the community, and South Australians should not be alarmed.”
Stevens said a senior officer had been assigned to investigate the breach and a report was expected in the coming days.
“Action against this man regarding the breach of quarantine conditions will be addressed as a part of the investigation,” he said.
“We will continue to work to maintain the high standard of security in our medi-hotels and will implement any identified changes to restrict future similar breaches of security.”
Updated
More charges have been laid against Sydney residents accused of travelling to regional NSW in breach of Covid health restrictions, AAP reports.
Charges have been laid against two Covid-positive women, aged 20 and 21, for travelling from Sydney to the Hunter without a reasonable excuse.
The pair was charged with breaching NSW’s public health orders by travelling to the Newcastle area around two weeks ago.
Police allege the women were directed to return to Sydney but failed to leave the area. Both women have since tested positive to Covid-19.
The 20-year-old is due to face Mount Druitt Local Court on September 29, while the 21-year-old will appear at Hornsby Local Court on the same day.
Five new cases were on Friday reported in the Hunter New England area.
Updated
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has written to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to call for ADF personnel to use their logistics capabilities to set up vaccine hubs in Western Sydney.
We need to desperately get jabs into arms in Western Sydney.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) August 13, 2021
I wrote to the Prime Minister with a request to open up more vaccination hubs by using the logistics and medical expertise of the ADF. pic.twitter.com/4gY6DFm2OU
WA government tightens border rules
The WA government has now upgraded its “high risk” category for Covid hotspots, and introduced a new “extreme risk category”.
In addition to 14 days of self-quarantine and testing for high risk, people flying from a high risk area will also need to show proof of a negative PCR test in the 72 hours prior to departure, and proof of receipt of at least one Covid-19 vaccine where eligible.
Under the extreme category, the only exceptions to quarantine will be commonwealth, state and specialist functions.
The trigger for high risk categories will be an average of 50 new community cases per day, and the trigger point for extreme risk will be an average of 500 new community cases per day.
The rules for NSW will be adjusted so that people who recently left WA, have roots in WA and a legitimate right to return, will be able to return subject to the quarantine restrictions and required evidence.
WA premier Mark McGowan said:
The Covid-19 Delta variant is wreaking havoc in New South Wales and I extend WA’s sympathies to everyone as they battle to bring various outbreaks under control.
The health advice is clear in that the Delta strain is significantly more contagious than previous strains of Covid-19 and there is emerging evidence that it leads to more severe outcomes.
We only have to look to NSW to see the devastation that this strain can cause in people and to the economy.
Updated
ACT Chief Police Officer won't say if police are investigating a breach of COVID-19 restrictions linked to the first case in Canberra. He only says a lot of inquiries are under way and warns against "a kangaroo court", including on social media.
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) August 13, 2021
More from the ACT press conference on the first case that sparked the week-long lockdown.
We are looking to hear from people from across Australia on how Covid has affected them with millions in lockdown on the east coast of Australia and thousands of active cases at the moment.
You can provide your story and details in the link below.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has done what far too many people in lockdown have done before him – started a podcast. My colleague Paul Karp has listened to the first episode.
Updated
Here are some graphs on the NSW Covid cases and by isolation status from my colleague Josh Nicholas.
Updated
Ahead of national cabinet this afternoon, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Business Council of Australia have released a joint statement saying that for the majority of workplaces, the vaccine should continue to be voluntary, but recognising that it may be required in high-risk workplaces:
Unions and business are committed to working cooperatively with governments to keep workplaces safe and to achieve the highest possible rates of vaccination though building confidence in the vaccination program and supporting workers to get vaccinated.
The ACTU and the BCA acknowledge that the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccination policy is that it should be free and voluntary. We believe that for the overwhelming majority of Australians your work or workplace should not fundamentally alter the voluntary nature of vaccination.
Employers and unions recognise that for a small number of high-risk workplaces there may be a need for all workers in a workplace to be vaccinated to protect community health and safety. These are serious decisions that should not be left to individual employers and should only be made following public health advice based on risk and medical evidence.
The ACTU and the BCA call on governments and the national cabinet to support this position and ensure that where mandatory vaccination requirements are necessary they are implemented through the use of nationally consistent public health orders.
Updated
And with that, I will hand over the blog to the excellent Josh Taylor who will take you through the afternoon’s news. Thank you for reading, and please stay safe wherever you are.
Barr is back on the podium and has confirmed that Covid-zero is the goal for the capital, saying it is achievable:
We want to see no additional community transmission. We want to go back to zero – that is the objective through this process. We want all new identified cases to have been in quarantine for the entire infectious period.
That is consistent with the best practice that we have seen in other jurisdictions. It is achievable, it has been done in Queensland and in Victoria. We believe that is an appropriate response for the ACT.
Updated
Stephen-Smith has been speaking about the challenges facing the testing network in the ACT, saying some of the staff at testing sites had stayed back until close to midnight last night, and that all states struggle with stepping up testing capacity at the onset of an outbreak:
I want to apologise to those people who were sent home from the epic testing site yesterday evening. We did think when we closed the gates that the team would be able to get through everybody who was already on site yesterday evening.
But it became apparent that that was not going to be possible. The team did work through until about midnight, the last swab was taken just before midnight last night and the team worked well beyond that to close down the site.
So I do want to remind people that our team out there doing the testing are human and there is not an infinite number of them. And at short notice it is hard to get a whole enormous surge workforce in but we will continue to increase testing capacity today. I want to thank the team very much for the work that was done yesterday to set up the Brindabella testing site ahead of what we had scheduled.
Updated
Here is a bit more detail on those comments Victorian premier Daniel Andrews made earlier about developing vaccine passports on behalf of national cabinet. He said:
Well I stand by the national plan [on vaccine targets] that we had quite a bit to deal with [while] writing and drafting. We made a very significant effort to be an active part of that process, and actually we’ve been commissioned to do some further work together with Tasmania and the Northern Territory around vaccine passports and what being vaccinated means for your freedom and what not being vaccinated might mean from a rules point of view.
He continued:
It’s really tough to be, you know, talking to people about how they must get vaccinated and all the consequences of not getting vaccinated when there isn’t enough supply. That is going to shift and then supply will no longer be a barrier. In other words, everyone will have been able to participate in that commonwealth vaccine program.
And then:
When we get to 80% [vaccine coverage], then the rules change, the game changes. It’s a very different set of circumstances, it’s a different challenge. But we won’t stop at 80. We want to go as high as we possibly can because to be unvaccinated once we open up will be a really dangerous place to be. Look at Florida. Look at Texas. Look at so many parts of the world where there is a second pandemic, a third, fourth, fifth wave amongst the unvaccinated and they are getting terribly, terribly ill. That means we want to work very hard to get as many people vaccinated as possible because Delta spreads fast. And no one wants to get Delta.
Updated
A student at Gold Creek School has tested positive today, so will be included in the ACT case numbers tomorrow, with health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith saying authorities have not identified any links to the case.
We have not identified links for this case at this point in time so no known travel history or identified link to exposure cases.
While interviewing is progressing with the school student, what I can tell you at this stage is the student was infectious and looks to have been at school from Monday the ninth to Wednesday the 11th of August. We have been planning for this.
We are communicating very closely with the school community so we will be treating all staff, students and visitors who were at the Gold Creek School from Monday the ninth to Wednesday the 11th as close contacts.
Updated
Barr is urging people to stay at home and for people to avoid congregating at shopping centres, where supermarkets will remain open during the lockdown.
He also referred to a “bubble buddy” system, where if you live alone, you can identify one other person you can see. Otherwise, it’s all about staying at home.
Stay at home. Do the right thing by yourself, your family and this community. Together we will be able to get through this if everyone does the right thing.
Updated
Barr has acknowledged the long waiting times at testing sites throughout the state, and has asked people who have been contacted by ACT Health as close or casual contacts to come forward as a priority for testing:
We will be expanding testing capacity, hours of operations and the number of people that each existing testing centre can manage in a day, but yesterday was our record number of tests. We expect today will be even busier and we have additional testing capacity.
So please, if you do not have symptoms and you are not an identified close contact, you do not need to be tested today. Please, stay at home. There will be an opportunity to be tested in the days ahead but the priority right now is to test those people whom ACT Health have contacted.
This is important so that we can identify the close contacts, whether they are positive or negative, and get further information to our contact traces around potential additional exposure sites.
Updated
The ACT has recorded two new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to six. It has identified 1,862 close contacts and that number will grow.
There are more casual contacts. There were more than 2,000 tests yesterday and results have been received on about 1,330 of them.
Chief minister Andrew Barr is addressing the media now.
Updated
ACT records two new cases
The capital has recorded two new cases today, with chief minister Andrew Barr saying there were more than 2,000 tests conducted yesterday.
Updated
The NSW presser is wrapping up, but the final topic of discussion is how exactly tightening of restrictions will help police in enforcing health orders.
NSW police deputy commissioner Mick Willing told reporters, without giving any specifics, that officers welcome any new powers.
What is frustrating for us is the small minority that are breaching those orders. We’ll be alleging that in both of the circumstances this morning the people involved knew exactly what they were doing.
They knew they were breaching the health orders. What we need is 100% compliance across the board with community members, not 90% or 95%, but 100% of people complying with public borders.
At the end of the day any additional measures that would help us enforce the health orders will be welcome. Police are frustrated at the moment with a small minority that are out there breaching the health orders.
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says the state government is working with the Northern Territory and Tasmanian governments to draft a vaccine passport system for national cabinet.
Andrews also defended the national vaccine targets, saying Victoria “had quite a bit to do with writing and drafting” the plan.
He dismissed criticism of the NSW government for signalling that it would ease some restrictions after it hits a target of 50% of the population having their first dose, saying the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian was an “enthusiastic supporter” of the national plan.
“Every government has signed up to the national plan. Whether some restrictions can be eased in Sydney at a point in time, that’s a matter for the NSW government ... Rules can change at any time, that doesn’t mean that lockdown is over.”
But he stressed that the Doherty Institute modelling, which is the basis of the 80% target, was based on there being a very low number of active cases in the community. If there is 80% vaccination and very low case numbers, then there are options other than lockdown.
“Sadly, when you’ve got thousands of active cases and hundreds of cases every day, you don’t have those options. You just don’t ... That’s why we’re in lockdown now.”
Andrews has urged people to get vaccinated for their own health, for their families’ health, to protect their community and so they are able to see loved ones. There are a million reasons to get vaccinated, he says. A million reasons, a million jabs by the end of September – that’s the campaign.
He tweeted that he is getting vaccinated so he can visit his mother, who lives in Wangaratta.
There's a million reasons to get vaccinated - but for me, it's Mum.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) August 13, 2021
She still lives out in Wang, not far from where I grew up.
I love her, and I think about her every day.
Even if this pandemic means I can't see her as much as I'd like, I still want to know that she's safe. pic.twitter.com/euOFuw9xlN
“I can’t go and visit her at the moment because I live in Melbourne and she doesn’t. I’ve got vaccinated not just for my health but so I can spend time with the people I love the most.”
Victorian authorities have stressed that there are now plenty of appointments available for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca in state-run hubs.
Updated
The NSW premier has been asked if it’s realistic to be aiming to lift restrictions in September, and she gave a longwinded answer that I have attempted to summarise:
I want to make very clear that what we want to achieve in September and October is provide some opportunities for people to have an extra thing they can do, which they currently can’t do today. I don’t want to give the impression that it will be freedom all round.
It will not be freedom all round until it is 70% [of people having had] double doses [of the vaccine], at least, and 80% is when we learn to live with Covid.
Having said that, I think all of us have got to come to terms with what living with Covid means. Once you get 80% of double doses – it essentially means whoever isn’t vaccinated, and whoever chooses not to be vaccinated by that point, because by that point everybody will have had the opportunity to be offered the vaccine – living with Covid is very different to what we’re doing now.
At the moment we are trying to get the numbers down as much as we can, trying to make sure that the case numbers don’t accelerate exponentially. It is very, very concerning when you see the case numbers going up. I want to make very clear that the Doherty report says you have to get to 70% of double doses before you can really start living freely, and then 80% of double doses before you can actually live with Covid. We support that.
Updated
New wall, new jacket. pic.twitter.com/tq8ZuqxZIP
— Dougal Beatty (@DougalBeatty) August 13, 2021
Victoria’s chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton has run through the 15 new cases reported in Victoria today.
Four of the cases are linked to Al-Taqwa College. One is a student, three are household contacts.
Two are household contacts of different football players linked back to the Newport Football Club.
One is a household contact of someone who works at the Caroline Springs shopping centre.
One is a household contact of the City of Melbourne cluster.
One is a household contact of an inner-north case announced yesterday.
Two new cases are linked to Glenroy West Primary School, one student and one household contact.
One is a household contact of an existing case in Glenroy.
Then there are the three cases that have not yet been linked. They are:
- A delivery driver in Wyndham Vale, whose work is limited to Victoria
- A person in Roxborough Park, with some links to an existing school outbreak that are still being investigated
- A case in Middle Park that is the cause of the South Melbourne Market exposure points, which is still being investigated
Updated
So, NSW health minister Brad Hazzard was asked about whether the health network in western NSW is able to cope with the pressure it is currently under:
Obviously there is a big challenge in north-western NSW because the townships and towns we’re talking about are principally places like Walgett. Walgett has about 3,500 people generally in town and the broader area out there is about 6,000-6,500 people.
Obviously the medical facilities are much smaller than you would expect to find in a major city like Sydney. There is an Aboriginal medical service there which does excellent work, a very large building with a reasonable number of staff.
They manage in normal times but trying to manage if there is a major outbreak with a one-in-100-year virus is going to be a challenge for them.
So the night before last I wrote to [federal health] minister [Greg] Hunt and pointed out the Aboriginal community of course.
And I pointed out to him on behalf of the state government that we would need them to step in and do work that they said they would be doing much earlier and that is to try and vaccinate as many people and provide support.
But is it a serious issue for the local community? It is, very much so. The ICU in a hospital in a place like that is nowhere near what we would expect in Sydney.
That is why the entire NSW health service is on high alert and is asking the community up there to definitely stay at home.
Updated
Victoria will offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone over the age of 18 at all of its 50 state-run vaccine hubs as part of a push to administer 1m doses in the next five weeks.
Victoria opened up AstraZeneca bookings to people aged 18-39 at nine of its state vaccine hubs on Monday, and more than 10,000 people in those age groups have since received their first jab. The other hubs and the new drive-through clinics will be open to 18-39-year-olds from Monday.
Premier Daniel Andrew says Victoria had its biggest day of administered vaccines yesterday, with 27,427 vaccines delivered at state clinics alone, and said he aims to get to 60% of people having had their first dose by the end of September. That’s just through the state-run clinics – GPs and pharmacies are expected to deliver more doses on top of that.
Andrews said:
The quicker we get to 70%, the quicker we get to 80%, and then we’re in a very different world. One where lockdowns are not a part of the daily response.
Andrews said they had been “overwhelmed” with bookings from younger age groups, and repeated his comments from earlier in the week that people are not hesitant, they just couldn’t access the vaccine previously.
I think that particularly younger people are keen to get the best vaccine they can and the best vaccine they can get, as the chief health officer reminds us, is the one that is available today.
But he urged those in older age groups to get vaccinated if they have not yet done so.
Can I just send a shout-out to people in their 50s and 60s. I don’t know if we’re necessarily seeing the same level of interest in people coming forward and getting their first or their second jab – that’s very important, completing that process.
There are currently 275,000 available vaccine appointments in the system in Victoria, vaccine response coordinator Naomi Bromley said.
Updated
Well then. We just got a pretty fiery response from the premier, after she was asked about ongoing confusion around evolving health orders.
Berejiklian instead dismissed the question, saying the issue was more that people were taking advantage of the confusion to do what they wanted:
It is pretty obvious to us and pretty obvious from the feedback we get from police, that people use the health orders as an excuse to do the wrong thing. People are saying, ‘oh, I didn’t know this was this, or that was that’. Most of the time that is not true ... Can I make this very clear: police are doing an incredible job in terms of compliance but let’s not pretend that people are doing the right thing.
People [are] knowingly doing the wrong thing and pretending it is because they did not understand. We have been very clear about what the rules are.
People know the basic rules ... I get updates from deputy commissioner [Gary] Worboys all the time. Some streets are absolutely bare, there is no one around. The vast majority of people are doing the right thing.
Updated
A great question from the press to Berejiklian, about whether it would be unfair if communities with a higher vaccination rate would be able to enjoy eased restrictions, keeping in mind that that would mainly benefit richer Sydney suburbs.
Berejiklian had this to say:
Please know we are pouring so many additional resources into those communities that are experiencing higher case numbers.
We are also making sure we have the additional pop-up clinics, social services. Please know we are doing everything we can to support communities going through that difficult time. But we do also know that we are all connected. We do also know that when one part of our great state is going through a particularly difficult time, it impacts on all of us and we cannot afford setbacks.
We also can’t afford to leave communities behind, quite the contrary. We are working very hard to make sure to put resources in those areas [where they] are needed and that is why those extra 100,000 vaccines to essential workers gives me a degree of comfort because it is very targeted, it is targeted to the young people that are still having to move around from those communities because of their jobs.
If we get to them next week, we think that will have a positive impact in reducing the spread but also, importantly, and again I know it is horrible every time you talk about a death, but that is what we need to prevent. We need to prevent people ending up in hospital and we need to prevent people dying.
Updated
Dubbo has recorded 25 new cases, a worrying development in regional NSW, with Gale saying the government was working to best support communities in the west of the state:
We are concerned about western NSW, and why we are asking the residents of western NSW and those LGAs that have been named, where stay-at-home orders are in place, to really follow the public health advice, do stay home, don’t have visitors to your household, only leave your household if you have a reasonable excuse, and please come forward for testing if you have the mildest of symptoms.
There are considerable efforts going on locally from NSW Health and partners including the federal government to support the response in western NSW.
We are particularly aware that we see a large proportion of the population in that part of NSW being Aboriginal communities. We are particularly conscious of being able to best support our Aboriginal communities during this time.
Updated
Virus detected in wastewater in Bathurst, Parkes and Bourke
NSW Health’s Dr Maryanne Gale has confirmed that the virus has been detected in sewage in the Bathurst region, in Parkes and in Bourke. She said the situation in western NSW was “evolving”:
The sewage detection, there has been Covid-19 detected in the Bathurst region, in Parkes and Bourke. We encourage all the community in western NSW two please note the stay-at-home orders, stay within your household, don’t go out, unless with reasonable excuses, please seek testing and please get vaccinated as soon as you have an opportunity to do so.
Updated
Berejiklian has said that, in a “conservative” projection, NSW will hit 70% double doses by the end of October and 80% by mid November.
So far we are doing very well, I think we’re up to 4.7m-4.8m [doses] by the end of today, in terms of jabs. Hopefully we will get to 5m in early next week and then sprinted towards 6m by the end of August.
We are looking forward to hitting those milestones because we know that the more of us, higher percentage of us, that are vaccinated, the opportunities we have in the future and the greater opportunities we have to live more freely and safely.
Updated
We’re talking vaccinations now, with the premier saying that 105,000 people got the vaccine yesterday, and that by the end of the day, 15,000 HSC students will have received their jab.
I want to thank them all the coming forward and getting the jab. It means they can sit safely for the examinations later in the year.
Updated
Berejiklian is talking LGAs now, mentioning that the outbreak in western Sydney remains the main “challenges” but saying she was concerned by rising case numbers in Mt Druitt and Blacktown:
The main challenges remain western Sydney and south-western Sydney. While again we have seen ongoing stabilisation in Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown, [the area] still has the highest number of cases. But we have seen a stabilisation, and cases are not going the way they were in the last few weeks, which is a positive.
But the health experts have asked me to highlight Blacktown and Mt Druitt as areas of concern, and adjoining areas.
Unfortunately, also around the Dubbo region, Dubbo in western NSW is becoming a big challenge healthwise with 25 cases overnight, and of course the NSW government has been liaising with our federal colleagues as well to make sure that we get support to those communities in western NSW, in far-western NSW, and what we may need to do further in that area is being considered during the day today.
Updated
NSW records 390 cases, two deaths
NSW has posted the worst day in the pandemic again, this time recording 390 locally acquired Covid cases.
Berejiklian said at least 60 of those cases have been infectious in community.
Updated
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has stepped up for the press conference.
Updated
Canberrans are reporting huge problems at testing sites across the territory, with some having to wait more than six hours on Thursday before being turned away.
The ACT is relying on three main sites for testing, two of which are drive-through only. All three are hard to reach without a car and there is no walk-in testing clinic anywhere near the CBD.
Long queues of cars appeared quickly at the two drive-through centres after the ACT announced its five-day lockdown on Thursday, and ACT Health quickly warned of delays.
There are currently long wait times at our COVID-19 testing clinics. We will not be accepting any new arrivals at our Weston Creek or EPIC Testing Clinics tonight. If you are currently in the queue you will get tested. pic.twitter.com/rAZL78i0sK
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) August 12, 2021
Those already in the queue were assured they would be tested and not turned away.
That was not the experience of many, including Canberran Tamara Zacharias, who drove to the testing site at Exhibition Park, in the industrial suburb of Mitchell, after experiencing symptoms.
No they have just turned people away who have been in line for over 9 hours. Line didnt move for hours then told to leave
— Kate Antilles (@AntillesKate) August 12, 2021
By the time she arrived at 2.30pm, cars were already backed up out of the testing site and on to one of the city’s main roads. Cars were directed to park in a large field, and they sat, not moving, for hours, without any further communication.
I probably would have been able to make a judgment call and just left myself, but because they’d posted in their Facebook group, ‘we’re turning away people now, those who are there will be seen’, I just thought, ‘alright, I’ll stick it out’.
After six hours of waiting, she was told she would not be tested and to go home.
The queues sound just as bad this morning. One woman told the Guardian she had been there for three hours without speaking to anyone.
We have been here since 6.30 and haven’t spoken to a single person, there is no updates or way to contact anyone at [the Exhibition Park testing centre].
Updated
We have a new presser banner in Victoria!
We have a new banner... #springst pic.twitter.com/qdEj1Sr24l
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) August 13, 2021
All about finding the joy in little things.
So, we have three (yes, three) press conferences due at 11am: NSW, Tasmania and Victoria. Brilliant synergy from state officials there.
Luckily, the ACT update is due at midday, so there’s some space there thankfully.
Updated
The Fair Work Ombudsman has issued fresh advice about the circumstances in which employers might be able to require staff to be vaccinated.
The FWO declared it was “more likely” to be reasonable to require vaccination for tier one work, where staff are in contact with people at risk from coronavirus, such as airline workers, or in tier two, where they work with vulnerable people, such as aged care.
Tier three work, where there is interaction with the public, may allow employers to require vaccination but this is more likely if there is community transmission.
Now unions and employer groups are engaged in a war of claim and counter-claim about what the advice means.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus told ABC News Breakfast the advice meant only employers covered by public health orders should require vaccines and for everyone else there was “no clear right” to do so.
Innes Willox, the chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, has countered:
The FWO advice deals with circumstances where a public health order is not in place and where an employer who wishes to mandate vaccinations needs to rely on their common law right to issue a “lawful and reasonable direction” to employees.
Naturally, the FWO advises that before an employer issues a direction to an employee to be vaccinated, the employer needs to consider whether the direction would be “lawful and reasonable” in the context of the specific business, the employee and the risk of COVID-19 inflections.
The ACTU’s creative claim ... is complete nonsense. What employers and employees need now is clear information and advice, not misinformation.
Updated
In Canberra ACT health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, says 3,000 close contacts have now been identified from the long list of exposure sites released on Thursday.
Stephen-Smith has told local radio that genomic sequencing is still being undertaken to try to work out the origins of the outbreak. Chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said on Thursday she suspected it was the Delta strain from the Sydney outbreak but had no confirmation.
The minister is expecting the results of the genomic testing back this afternoon.
The ACT has recorded four cases but is expecting more today.
Late yesterday the Australian National University announced that all students in eight of its campus colleges had been told to isolate after close contacts of a Covid-19 case were identified.
The first case sparked the listing of exposure sites at popular Canberra bars and nightclubs, a church and various shopping centres last weekend.
We are expecting to hear from the chief minister Andrew Barr at midday.
Updated
Queensland has hit 23.07% double vaccinations, with health minister Yvette D’Ath saying the numbers are going up everyday, which is great news.
Updated
Queensland places restrictions on arrivals from ACT
Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has announced tougher restrictions on anyone who has been in the ACT since 9 August, saying they will need to quarantine immediately. As of 1am on Saturday, anyone who arrives from the ACT will go into hotel quarantine:
The ACT was one of the last places in our country that people from Queensland could easily travel to and from. If you think, we’ve had restrictions on other states and other states have had restrictions on us. So, really, I think there have been a lot of travellers going to the ACT. So I’d ask anyone who’s been to the ACT in the last two weeks to just check our website for any exposure venues in the ACT and contact us if you have been to those exposure venues.
And anyone who’s been there since 9 August, please, it’s really, really important that you stay home and quarantine. That’s critical.
Updated
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’s “very concerned” about what’s going on in NSW:
Of course, we’re still monitoring the situation in New South Wales. Of course, this will be discussed at national cabinet today. I think, from our point of view, from Queensland’s point of view, we are very concerned – as I said yesterday – about how the clusters are continuing to expand. I think we would need to hear very clearly from New South Wales what their clear plan is for containment.
The last thing we want to see is this virus spread north, the virus spread south, and spread across the nation. So, it’s absolutely imperative that New South Wales contains this virus. We wish them all the very best.
Updated
Queensland records seven new local cases
Queensland has reported seven new locally acquired cases today, all linked to the Indooroopilly cluster.
Seven others were in hotel quarantine.
Updated
And we now have Victoria’s case numbers visualised for us, including the number of cases and their isolation status:
Next is the trend in local and overseas-related transmission of Covid-19 in Victoria:
We are expecting an update from Queensland in about five minutes.
Updated
#BREAKING Non-urgent elective surgery is being postponed at Dubbo Base Hospital from Monday
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) August 12, 2021
The Attorney General’s Department has revealed that the Morrison government’s intervention in Clive Palmer’s case challenging the Western Australian border ban cost more than $1m. The costs included:
- $771,685 to solicitors in the Australian Government Solicitors’ office
- $138,975 to external counsel
- $66,805 on the commonwealth’s expert witnesses
- $5,000 on travel
- $7,430 on accommodation for lawyers
- $530 on “working lunches” for the commonwealth’s team of six lawyers
The federal government eventually withdrew from the case after public pressure from WA premier Mark McGowan.
As a result of its in-one-minute, out-the-next approach, the commonwealth was ordered to pay costs including $40,995 to Palmer, $22,000 to the WA government, and $2,904 to Queensland.
Updated
Huge queues at the drive-through testing site in Mitchell this morning after 4 confirmed cases of Covid in Canberra. Apparently people started queuing around 4-5am #covidact @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/NFuq967M5Q
— Fiona Willan (@Fi_Willan) August 12, 2021
The SMH is reporting that a positive case attended the year 12 vaccination hub at the Qudos Arena on Tuesday.
NSW Health has sent a message to attendees, saying the positive case was at the hub between 2.40pm and 4.20pm.
Everyone at the hub at that time is advised to isolate until they get a negative result.
Nearly 3,500 students attended the hub on Tuesday as part of a push to get year 12 students from hotspots vaccinated.
Updated
Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne has marked the anniversary of Australian journalist Cheng Lei’s detention in China by saying the government remains “seriously concerned” for her wellbeing.
Payne specifically called for “basic standards of justice” and transparency into Lei’s detention, and said officials regularly visit her:
The Australian Government remains seriously concerned about Ms Cheng’s detention and welfare and has regularly raised these issues at senior levels.
We are particularly concerned that one year into her detention, there remains a lack of transparency about the reasons for Ms Cheng’s detention.
We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms.
The Australian Government is providing consular assistance to Ms Cheng and her family. Our officials have visited her regularly, most recently on 26 July.
Our thoughts remain with Ms Cheng and her family during this difficult period.
Updated
Victoria records 15 new cases
Victoria has recorded 15 new locally acquired cases today, 11 of which are linked to the current outbreaks, with four mystery cases.
Eight of the 15 were in quarantine throughout their infectious period.
Reported yesterday: 15 new local cases and 0 new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) August 12, 2021
- 27,427 vaccine doses were administered
- 40,737 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/r5bmxogqNl
Updated
There are concerns the NSW public transport network may be disrupted, as hundreds of workers are forced into isolation as close or casual contacts.
Five hundred and sixty public transport workers are isolating, leaving the network exposed to delays and disruptions.
Transport minister Andrew Constance told the SMH that he was preparing for potential closures of depots and workplaces:
The community should be prepared for bus depots and workforces to be put into close or casual contacts, which can have a major impact on the delivery of services. We apologise for that, but that’s the cold hard reality.
Updated
NSW Health has updated its list of venues and transport routes of concern to include sites in Harris Park, Marrickville, St Marys and Byron Bay.
Authorities have also listed a series of sites in Dubbo, including a McDonald’s, a Bunnings, a Dan Murphy’s, a gym and a sporting club.
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – NEW VENUES AND TRANSPORT ROUTES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 12, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of new venues of concern across NSW, as well as bus routes in Sydney, which are associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/aAmYoRiEqg
Updated
We are expecting a Covid update from ACT at midday.
I just want to return to Andrew Barr’s appearance on RN this morning, and specifically to focus on his comments on NSW.
Asked what he thought of images of roads packed with people supposedly fleeing Canberra for “holiday homes”, Barr said:
I’m embarrassed by that behaviour, frankly. I know the regional area of New South Wales will be horrified at that thought.
I imagine the response from people on the New South Wales south coast on seeing a lot of ACT number plates will be outrage.
I don’t want this to become an ACT/New South Wales thing. There are many Canberrans who are very upset that the virus got here in the first place and they presume it’s come from Sydney.
He was also asked if he thought NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian should have locked down harder and faster:
With the benefit of hindsight I would hope that there would be a different approach but it is what it is now. It is really what happens from here that is the most important thing.
I’ve got plenty of views on what others have done but it is best I keep them to myself and to focus right now on what is important for my community and that is to ensure we get on top of this outbreak.
He said it would be “insane” to open up NSW at 50% vaccination rates but he didn’t think that was what Berejiklian was aiming for:
It worries me that there is this speculation and suggestion in the media that that is what is going on. That has got to have come from somewhere, someone has been backgrounding and it is really really concerning and alarming.
Updated
Last night federal health minister Greg Hunt announced that the government will be sending additional vaccines and support to the regional NSW LGAs facing an outbreak.
Hunt said the delivery was expected to arrive today and includes 4,800 vaccines for use across GPs’ and vaccination clinics, and 2,880 vaccines for use in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services.
The government said it was working with the NSW government to support communities in those areas affected, which include the shires of Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narromine, Walgett and Warren:
This is a whole-of-government effort to support these communities and ensure that people can be protected through vaccination, while also having access to additional health support and testing services
We are also ready to provide additional AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for general community vaccinations.
Updated
Son of Sydney man who travelled to Byron Bay also charged
A second man has been charged with leaving Sydney and visiting Byron Bay, prompting a lockdown in NSW’s northern rivers region.
Zoran Radovanovic, 52, was earlier this week charged with breaching public health orders after allegedly visiting Byron Bay last month without a reasonable excuse and circulating in the area.
Radovanovic subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and is now in hospital in Lismore. He’ll appear in court on 13 September.
The incident this week plunged Byron Bay and surrounds into a seven-day lockdown, with various exposure sites listed by NSW Health.
NSW Police on Friday said officers had arrested a second man, aged 19, on charges of failing to comply with public health orders.
The 19-year-old was allegedly in the company of Radovanovic.
He will appear at Byron Bay local court on 27 September.
Updated
ACT chief minister Andrew Barr was on the ABC’s RN Breakfast show and said he was “comfortable” that the capital can manage the outbreak as it is, but the health system would be “swamped” if numbers approached NSW’s daily case numbers:
I hope that the immediate and significant measures prevent us from going down the path we’ve seen so tragically unfold 300km up the road.
He said he expected more cases but authorities did not know how the virus got into the ACT.
The issue for us now will be can we ensure, as our testing and contact tracing goes forward, that we can keep the new cases in isolation and out of the community. Having a lockdown buys us some time.
Finally, Barr was asked what he thought of NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian flagging potential easing of restrictions once NSW reaches 70% vaccination rates:
It’s very clear in the national cabinet position and the view of the majority of states and territories that once we reach that 70% vaccination level, there is a gentle step forward – but it is a gentle step forward, it is not a free-for-all.
What I hear inside the national cabinet room gives me a greater degree of comfort that New South Wales are going to take a responsible path here.
Updated
In addition to the Covid updates we’re expecting from state premiers, we also have a national cabinet meeting to look forward to.
With parts of NSW, Queensland, the ACT and Victoria all under lockdown, the spotlight will be on vaccination rates and the race to 70%.
Updated
Good morning everyone, Mostafa Rachwani here to bring you this morning’s news.
We begin in Canberra, which is waking up to its first full day of lockdown in more than a year, joining Sydney and Melbourne. The capital went into lockdown after recording four new positive cases yesterday.
Hundreds of students at the Australian National University have been deemed close contacts, with students across eight residence halls now in isolation.
The resulting restrictions have thrown parliamentary sittings into limbo – we’ll bring you all the updates as they come in.
In Sydney, three more LGAs – Bayside, Burwood and Strathfield – were put under tighter restrictions, after NSW again recorded more than 300 cases.
The ongoing outbreak has left the hospital network under “significant strain”.
In Melbourne, mystery cases continue to flummox authorities, with health authorities racing to find the source of a cluster of cases, after recording 21 yesterday.
And Queensland recorded 10 new cases yesterday, with the premier warning residents not to travel to NSW and risk spreading the Delta variant.
Stay tuned throughout the morning for Covid updates from states across the country.
Updated
