That's it for today, thanks for reading
Here are the main stories for Wednesday, 7 July:
- New South Wales has extended the lockdown for another week, with premier Gladys Berejiklian expected to release more details on Thursday about the path out of lockdown. She also flagged that case numbers tomorrow were expected to be higher than the 27 recorded on Wednesday.
- Ten hospital staff on the Sunshine Coast have been placed into isolation after treating a Covid-positive patient who went into anaphylactic shock.
- Australia will send 2.5m AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Indonesia and provide oxygen and ventilators as the country battles record-high Covid cases.
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg held a meeting with the business sector to discuss the stuttering vaccination program.
- One new Covid-19 case was recorded in Queensland – the only case recorded in Australia outside NSW – as states and territories, including Victoria, the NT and the ACT announced an easing of restrictions.
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Swimmer Cate Campbell and basketball player Patty Mills are the flag bearers for the Tokyo Olympics:
Your #Tokyo2020 Australian Olympic Team Flag Bearers, @catecamp and @Patty_Mills! 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 💚 💛 #TokyoTogether pic.twitter.com/iRcLz1WT9C
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 7, 2021
Ten hospital workers in isolation after saving life of Covid patient
Ten hospital staff on the Sunshine Coast have been placed into isolation after treating – and apparently saving the life – of a Covid-positive patient who went into anaphylactic shock.
The healthcare workers, who did not have time to put on personal protective equipment, are all now in isolation.
The patient is believed to have had an adverse reaction to a contrast agent, which was injected prior to a planned MRI scan.
It is understood he was being taken from the Covid ward to a separate area of the hospital for the scan when he went into shock.
Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service acting chief executive Andrew McDonald told the Sunshine Coast Daily that staff “put their lives at risk” to provide life-saving treatment.
The man is now in a stable condition. Each of the 10 staff has been ordered into a 14-day quarantine.
“All areas involved in the incident have been Covid-cleaned,” McDonald said.
“Once again, the staff are to be commended for all they did to save this patient’s life.”
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Australia provides Covid-19 aid to Indonesia
Australia will send 2.5m AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Indonesia and will provide oxygen and ventilators as the country battles record-high Covid cases.
In response to growing calls to help Indonesia (as we reported this morning), the Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, announced a package of support tonight.
She said in a statement:
Australia stands with our close partner and neighbour Indonesia as it responds to a significant surge in COVID-19 cases. Today I spoke with my friend and counterpart, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, and confirmed immediate health support to Indonesia, in its response.”
The government says the package includes:
- $12m for oxygen-related and other medical equipment, including 1,000 ventilators; up to 700 oxygen concentrators; more than 170 oxygen cylinders and a range of consumables and other medical supplies.
- Over 40,000 rapid-antigen test kits.
- 2.5m AstraZeneca vaccine doses in 2021.
Payne said Australia would provide support to extend rapid testing capacity, maintain existing health services and assist with emergency medical facilities as Indonesia responded to growing case numbers.
Providing details of Scott Morrison’s announcement at the G7 summit last month to provide at least 20m Covid-19 vaccines for the Indo-Pacific region by mid-2022, Payne said 2.5m of these vaccine doses would be shared with Indonesia to support its national vaccine roll-out.
Indonesia reported yesterday a record daily high of more than 31,189 new coronavirus cases and 728 deaths, bringing the number of fatalities since the start of the pandemic to 61,868, but observers say the true numbers may be higher because of low testing rates.
Payne said the package built on “Australia’s strong support for Indonesia’s COVID-19 response to date” including the previously announced provision of a $1.5bn loan to support Indonesia’s COVID-19 response and economic resilience.
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Happy anniversary!
On this exact day last year Victoria recorded 191 new cases and greater Melbourne was sent into a 6 week lockdown, that didn’t end for 112 days.
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) July 7, 2021
Masks weren’t required and restrictions were stage 3. The Premier Daniel Andrews said a sense of complacency contributed to the spread
Telstra chief executive Andy Penn was at today’s business roundtable to discuss Covid-19 vaccination, and has sent a short statement on the meeting:
Ramping up COVID vaccination rates is what we need to get Australia through this pandemic and on the path to boosting safety and a stronger economy. The partnership between government and businesses through the National COVID Vaccine Taskforce is a welcome step to tackle this challenge and help stop the impact and spread of COVID.
At Telstra, we’ve encouraged everyone to consider getting the vaccine when it becomes available to them. If people have doubts, we encourage them to speak to their doctor. Like a number of our leadership team, I’ve shared my experience getting the jab and we’ll continue to share our positive stories. To further support our people we provide paid time off from work to get vaccinated. We also offer our people paid leave if they suffer any side-effects.
We have experience setting up a vaccination hub at our Innovation and Capability Centre in Bangalore. So far we’ve vaccinated close to 300 team members and their families, with more to come. We would consider a similar approach in Australia based on guidance from Lieutenant General John Frewen and our specialist health and safety team.
This is interesting: school principals in Victoria worried about staffing levels when class goes back next week because teachers have been holidaying in Queensland, meaning there could be restrictions on their movements once they return:
One principal told 3AW he still had three staff in Queensland.https://t.co/Xo9B0GKmlt
— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) July 7, 2021
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This time it looks like we’re going to get both!
Great to live in a country where the solution to every problem is the army or Bunnings
— Fiona Katauskas (@FionaKatauskas) July 7, 2021
An army lawyer and former major has offered to help process visa applications from Afghan translators wanting to come to Australia, AAP reports.
As the Taliban regains territory in Afghanistan, time is running out to bring hundreds of locals employed by Australian troops to safety.
The federal government is being urged to fast-track applications from Afghan interpreters, contractors and security guards who fear for their lives.
Glenn Kolomeitz, a former army officer who served in Afghanistan, wants to help with the paperwork.
He represents more than 100 Afghans trying to secure Australian visas and says the threat to his clients is imminent.
“We’ve seen some of our Afghan interpreters receive letters from the Taliban saying, ‘we’re about to kill you, prepare to die’,” Kolomeitz told ABC radio.
He said some of the paperwork had taken years to process and was not happening fast enough.
Kolomeitz said a program used by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was not helping people on the ground in Afghanistan.
“They need more assistance by people like us, like lawyers and others in our space, to help them work through this paperwork and make this happen quickly,” he said.
“We’re offering to help the government in this space and we’ve had no response to that offer to date.”
Liberal MP Phillip Thompson also served in Afghanistan.
He sympathises with Afghans employed by Australian troops but says the visa process is not straightforward.
“My heart goes out to everyone who is in Afghanistan right now with the Taliban regaining the momentum in certain parts, some places I’ve fought and where mates of mine have died,” Thompson told Sky News.
“But it’s not as clear cut as some people are trying to make out it is.”
More than 1400 Afghans including interpreters and their families have been granted visas since 2014, including a plane load of people in recent weeks.
Thompson said the application process needed to be robust, given Australian troops in Afghanistan were fighting against insurgents and terrorists.
“There has to be character assessments done because we were fighting in a war,” he said.
“If people have legitimate concern for their safety and their family, and they’ve been helping the Australian soldiers out and keeping us safe while we’ve been fighting in a war, then I’m in their corner and I will be in their corner helping them out.”
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The details of what might be included in the NSW Covid-19 roadmap are starting to trickle out:
Exclusive: The NSW government is considering making masks compulsory for high school students under a new, four-tier COVID-19 restriction strategy | @JordsBaker https://t.co/CJl8cByWsH
— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) July 7, 2021
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Some people REALLY want to go to Parliament House.
A Sydney man has been charged with trespass and breaking @ACTHealth directions after police were called to Federal Parliament because an individual was refusing to wear mask. He will face court tomorrow
— Andrew Greene (@AndrewBGreene) July 7, 2021
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A year of Covid-19 uncertainty has stopped many people from job hopping, while others have given up on finding a job because they can’t afford or access child care, AAP reports.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data on job mobility released on Wednesday showed 975,000 or 7.5 per cent of employed people changed jobs, the lowest annual job mobility rate on record.
Some 1.8 million people left or lost a job in the year to February 2021.
Almost 140,000 have given up looking for work because they can’t get affordable child care, overwhelmingly women.
“This should not be a barrier to anyone entering the workforce,” trade union leader Michele O’Neil said.
“It is critical that the federal government introduce free universal early childhood education and care.”
There were 2.2 million people who were not working but wanted to work, up from 2.1 million people a year earlier.
Job hopping remained highest for professionals, with 21 per cent managing to change jobs during the COVID-19 era.
“Job mobility in Australia has been generally trending down for decades and reached a new low during the first year of the pandemic,” ABS head labour statistician Bjorn Jarvis said.
Around 82,000 fewer people changed jobs than in the year before.
Jarvis said during the first year of the pandemic, people were more likely to change their industry than their occupation.
Workers were also more likely to change to a job with more hours than to a job with the same hours or fewer.
It was harder for men to switch jobs, with mobility down from 8.4 per cent to 7.5 per cent, compared with women at 7.8 per cent, up from 7.6 per cent.
Borders are closed to foreign workers, leading to job shortages and more demand in some sectors.
The occupation group winning the largest increase was accommodation and food services, with mobility now 17.1 per cent compared with 14.3 per cent before the pandemic.
Job mobility also increased for community and personal service workers, and was steady for clerical and administrative staff. Labourers were also more mobile.
But sales workers, and technicians and tradies, were less able to job hop.
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Here’s a snappy little video on the fairly odorous $660m car park fund scandal.
Colbeck went on to say that he would receive his second AstraZeneca vaccination next week and adhere to quarantine as “per requirements of all travellers returning to Australia” (fairly sure this doesn’t mean “all travellers” and he will be at home rather than in a hotel, but y’know).
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Sports minister Richard Colbeck will attend the Tokyo Olympics
Richard Colbeck has announced he will travel to Tokyo, a day after Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk came under fire for saying she would also be attending.
In a media release issued today, Colbeck says:
This is an exciting time for Australian sport – securing the 2032 Games for Brisbane and Queensland will ensure Australia’s momentum as a host of international sporting events is maintained for years to come.
We know what this means for sport fans and our aspiring athletes but economically it represents a boost to the tune of billions of dollars and will provide a framework to help the Sunshine State – and the rest of Australia – as we navigate our way out of the pandemic.
The economic and social benefits is estimated at around $8.1 billion for Queensland and $17.6 billion for Australia.
The 2032 Games are projected to create some 120,000 jobs for Australia, including 90,000 jobs for Queensland.
The successful bid will also reinforce the work that has been achieved so far by all bid partners and highlights what can be achieved when all levels of government work together and provide an aspirational target for a generation of young Australians watching the 2020 Games.
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At her press conference announcing 27 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, and a one-week extension of the Sydney lockdown, the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, told reporters it was “absolutely our intention” for restrictions to lift on 16 July.
It was a revealing moment of honesty. For a government that has until now banked enormous community goodwill off its ability to handle new Covid outbreaks without subjecting NSW residents to the kind of restrictions that became the default response in other states, that word – intention – hammered home both the seriousness of the situation and the incredible challenges for political leaders trying to control this virus.
NSW health confirm new venues of concern
NSW health has confirmed there was transmission of Covid-19 at Club Marconi in Bossley Park, a suburb of western Sydney.
Other new venues of concern have been identified, including Ashfield Bunnings and a Dan Murphy’s in Strathfield South.
Australia’s new limits on international travel appear to be the harshest since restrictions on incoming passengers were introduced, according to a Guardian Australia analysis.
The limit on the number of international arrivals coming into Australia via commercial flights, the so-called “passenger cap”, will be halved from 14 July over concerns from some state premiers around the Delta variant of Covid-19.
NSW police fined 75 people for breaching Covid-19 laws yesterday, including a barber in Liverpool and the bloke whose hair he was cutting. They both copped $1000 fines.
Of the 75 fines issued, 37 were $200 infringements for failing to wear a fitted face covering.
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One of Joe Biden’s most senior advisers says China is trying to “cut Australia out of the herd” but the diplomatic freeze and targeting of Australian exporters is only driving Canberra to deepen its ties with Washington.
Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, raised doubts about any imminent improvement in the relationship between China and Australia, saying he saw “a harshness” in Beijing’s approach “that appears unyielding”.
Australian Human Rights Commission criticises halving of arrivals cap
The Australian Human Rights Commission says “urgent steps” must be taken to enable more Australians to travel home from overseas.
A statement on Australia's international arrival caps from Human Rights Commissioner @esantow: pic.twitter.com/YhApztVXOb
— Australian Human Rights Commission (@AusHumanRights) July 6, 2021
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Newcastle will host game three of the State of Origin series after the ARL Commission approved the relocation of the game away from ANZ Stadium due to Sydney’s Covid-19 outbreak. The 14 July dead rubber will be played in front of a 75% capacity crowd – up to 20,000 fans – at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Fans from locked-down Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour, are prohibited from buying tickets. Those from the affected areas who had already purchased tickets to the scheduled game at ANZ Stadium will be automatically refunded.
It is the first time the Hunter region has hosted an Origin match and the second new venue this series after game one was played in Townsville.
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Doctors across western Sydney have said their patients are “confused” and “frustrated” by conflicting advice from state and federal governments on the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
They also say that authorities need to present a more unified position on the vaccine, improve the speed of the rollout, and communicate health advice in different languages to better combat vaccine hesitancy in the region.
Dr Hani Bittar, from the Richmond Road Family Practice in Glendenning, told Guardian Australia that members of his local community were confused and hesitant about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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Australia’s education standards regulator has launched action in the federal court seeking to block Australian students from accessing an alleged academic cheating website.
In the first court case of its kind under new laws passed in 2020, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is seeking to force 51 internet service providers in Australia to block access to Assignmenthelp4you.com.
The website boasts it can provide online tutoring and exam preparation, but also assignment writing “for students who are unfamiliar of writing university and academic assignments”. It talks about Australia being one of the company’s key markets of operation.
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This research from the Burnet Institute on Covid-19 leaks from hotel quarantine looks interesting. Top line: 1 in 41 positive cases in hotel quarantine since May has resulted in a breach. That compares to 1 in 106 before then.
1 in 41 infected cases in 🇦🇺 #COVID19 hotel quarantine since 1 May 2021 has resulted in a breach. Compares to 1 in 106 before then#DeltaVariant is far more infectious and needs to be treated as such with national hotel quarantine standards. Full analysis: https://t.co/ag3wmNewpP pic.twitter.com/GvR8xhhj1B
— Burnet Institute (@BurnetInstitute) July 7, 2021
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Speaking of treasurer Josh Frydenberg, here’s a wrap from AAP on the business-related events of the day. It contains more slightly odd attacks from Labor, with Richard Marles saying the government is “continually playing catch-up footy. They are behind the eight ball all the time”. Marles has gone for a knockout and missed the green with these mixed sport metaphors.
The treasurer Josh Frydenberg has rejected claims the Morrison government dragged its feet on involving big business in the coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Chief executives from Coles, Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Wesfarmers, Virgin and Qantas met virtually with Frydenberg on Tuesday.
Businesses could join the rollout in September or October if increased Pfizer supplies allow the sluggish program to be expanded.
Wesfarmers - which owns Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks - offered its sites for mass vaccination hubs, while major miners want to promote immunisation in remote Indigenous communities.
Companies at the meeting agreed to write to workers stressing the importance of being vaccinated.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said the talks should have happened in July last year.
“Once again, you see this government continually playing catch-up footy. They are behind the eight ball all the time,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
He said the government spent too much time congratulating itself instead of securing vaccine supplies, putting the brakes on the rollout.
Frydenberg said it was the first of many similar meetings but dismissed suggestions consultations with industry took too long.
“We have been engaged with them from day one, including through this vaccine rollout,” he said.
“As more supply comes on board, businesses can play a greater role. Of course their advocacy about the importance of getting the jab is going to be vital.”
Vaccine incentives were also raised at the meeting with airlines interested in providing sweeteners to frequent flyers who receive their jabs.
“It’s more than a snag at Bunnings that we’re talking about as our potential opportunities for incentives but the timing of those incentives are very important,” Frydenberg said.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said businesses who already offer staff flu jabs could expand their services to coronavirus vaccines.
“We believe business can play a huge role in supercharging the vaccine when the supply arrives,” she said.
“Let’s use the resources of corporate Australia and institutions like universities who are very big institutions to get this done as fast as we can.”
Australian Industry Group boss Innes Willox said airports, shopping centres, industrial parks, clubs and pubs were vaccination site options.
But he wants legal protections for businesses, similar to indemnities offered to doctors and pharmaceutical companies.
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We have posted a fair bit of the treasurer Josh Frydenberg today, but have not formally acknowledged his fully vaccinated status.
COVID-19 vaccination #2 - ✅
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) July 6, 2021
Last week was a record week for #COVID19 vaccinations, with over 880,000 Aussies getting their jab.
The more Australians vaccinated, the sooner we’ll be able to live differently. Keep rolling up those sleeves, Australia! pic.twitter.com/elxPvqrDco
Updated
The international Covid-19 news blog is over here, if you want to feel better about Australia’s situation.
Here is a clip of NSW health minister Brad Hazzard tersely answering a question about the accidental vaccination of private schoolboys.
The Australian is reporting that the NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet “vehemently opposed” extending lockdown in Greater Sydney, saying the state had to “readjust its thinking” in relation to Covid-19.
EXCLUSIVE: Dominic Perrottet vehemently opposed the move signed off at the state’s crisis cabinet meeting, saying it was time the state adjusted its thinking to Covid-19. https://t.co/kaHg58T625
— The Australian (@australian) July 7, 2021
Updated
NT restrictions to ease on Friday
Restrictions are set to lift in the Northern Territory on Friday, AAP reports.
Face masks and Covid-19 social distancing health rules are set to be eased in Darwin and Alice Springs.
Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner says it’s a “bittersweet” moment after an outbreak linked to a Newmont mine in central Australia was brought under control.
“The lockdown worked. We trapped the virus and we made sure it wasn’t community spread,” he told Mix FM in Darwin on Wednesday.
“Territorians have been magnificent. Things are looking good. I think we’re absolutely on track (to lift restrictions) on Friday.”
But the chief, as he’s known in the NT, said it had come at a cost to many casual workers and small businesses.
Many were unable to work during a five-day lockdown that ended on Friday, he said.
“It’s bittersweet that we’ve got to where we’ve got to. We’re safe because a lot of people made sacrifices.”
Other health restrictions to be relaxed on Friday include a 10-person limit on the number of people permitted at private residences.
Patrons won’t be required to sit down at hospitality venues while indoor exercise venues, such as gyms, and markets will reopen.
It comes as NT Health opens a new COVID-19 vaccination centre in the Darwin suburb of Marrara.
The centre will be open for extended hours and on weekends if enough Pfizer vaccine is available.
Pharmacist in charge of the NT’s rollout, Bhavini Patel, says the territory has about 7000 doses available for July and August with the federal government promising more from September.
The new centre can handle 120 clients per day with 2000 appointments already booked in.
Priority will be given to Indigenous Australians, people aged 40 to 59 years, people who meet the Phase 1A and 1B criteria and people aged 16 to 39 years with a medical condition.
Health, quarantine, aged care, disability, high-risk industry and border workers will also be eligible, along with people with an exemption to travel overseas
More than 40 per cent of Territorians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
That’s about 100,000 people out of the NT’s 246,561 residents, with about 16 per cent or 30,000 people given their second dose and fully vaccinated.
“We hope to get most Territorians vaccinated either by the end of the year or early next year depending on supply,” Dr Patel said.
The virus outbreak at Newmont’s Granites Mine, about 540km northwest of Alice Springs, started on June 26 and led to 18 people becoming infected across Australia.
There have been no new cases since Friday.
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Tasmania’s Labor opposition has re-elected Rebecca White as leader after David O’Byrne stepped down following sexual harassment allegations, AAP report.
White was elected unopposed at a party caucus meeting on Wednesday, with Anita Dow remaining as deputy.
White had stepped down from the role in the wake of Labor’s third straight state election defeat in May.
O’Byrne, who was elected as leader last month, formally resigned from the position at Wednesday’s meeting.
He has been accused of sending inappropriate messages to, and kissing, a junior female employee of a union he worked for more than a decade ago.
He has admitted to the conduct, saying he thought it was consensual at the time but now understands it was not.
The Labor party is investigating the woman’s complaint.
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Clive says Folau will play for the Southport Tigers after all. I didn’t realise he played for the Tigers? Anyone got an old pic?
Israel Folau to debut for Southport Tigers on Saturday
— Clive Palmer (@CliveFPalmer) July 7, 2021
Rugby league star Israel Folau will make his long-awaited return to the game on the Gold Coast this Saturday, July 10, after an extensive campaign by businessman Clive Palmer.
Well, you can all stop reading the news. Nothing will top this story today: Jethro the dog has become seriously ill after “eating a meth-head’s faeces”, the Adelaide Advertiser reports.
Jethro, a six-year-old Kelpie-cross, was being walked by his owner, Mallory Webber, through Anstey Hill recreation park, north-east of the city, on Sunday when he sniffed out the brown deposit on the side of the path and began to eat it.
Ms Webber said her pooch often liked to eat kangaroo dung when on walks but “he was chowing down on this poo and it wasn’t kangaroo and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, stop, it’s disgusting’”.
A few hours later, after she took Jethro home, he began to behave “really weird”.
Jethro later tested positive to methamphetamine and cannabis at the vet, the Advertiser reports.
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And on financial support for businesses impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns, shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says:
If only Josh Frydenberg was as quick to introduce the vaccine around Australia as he was to rule out additional support for workers and small businesses doing it tough as a consequence of the Morrison government’s incompetence. We don’t want to see the Morrison government make the same mistake in Sydney that they made in Melbourne which was too little, too late and too narrow with hundreds of thousands of dollars lost [to] the Australian economy.
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Here’s Chalmers in context:
This is team Australia, and the captain has gone missing. What we saw today was another elaborate blame shifting exercise from a government desperate to avoid responsibility. The problem wasn’t a lack of business input. The problem is a lack of vaccines, of quarantine and leadership.
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Blimey, now he says Morrison is holding people hostage?! This is an elaborate plot.
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Jim Chalmers informs us that Scott Morrison has gone missing. Hope he’s called the police?
Stranded Australians bracing for their flights home to be cancelled are furious at the prospect of having to join the bottom of the queue for government assistance to return. It comes as international airlines are told they can only allow as few as five passengers on to their planes to comply with Australia’s soon to be halved arrival cap.
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Face masks will no longer be required indoors in the ACT from Friday night. Cheers to keen blog consumer who tweeted me about this.
Liberty Victoria has awarded its 2021 Empty Chair Award to all refugees and asylum seekers in on and off-shore detention.
Established in 2016, the award is presented to a person deemed worthy of the Voltaire or Young Voltaire Human Rights Award, but who is unable to receive the award because of the consequences of their exercise of or advocacy for human rights, free speech, or civil liberties.
Former recipients include Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery, and refugees formerly held by Australia on Manus Island, journalist Behrouz Boochani, and cartoonist Ali Dorani, known as Eaten Fish.
Liberty Victoria said: “Australian immigration detention policies and practices meant that refugees and asylum seekers who have fled persecution and torture in their own countries continue to be dehumanised and detained, having to wait years to have their claims determined.
“Ongoing and indefinite immigration detention is a fundamental breach of refugee and asylum seekers’ human rights.”
Several individual refugees and asylum seekers were nominated for the 2021 Empty Chair award. Liberty Victoria chose to give the award collectively.
“They have shown moral leadership and political resistance, working together in protests from remote islands, hotel prisons, immigration detention facilities, and more recently for those who have been released, by taking the extraordinarily brave act of speaking out from in front of the buildings in which they were formerly detained.”
The president of Liberty Victoria, Julia Kretzenbacher, said there was “a real bravery in people speaking out from on- and offshore detention or locked up in hotel rooms”.
“There are so many people speaking out about the difficult circumstances they are in and the human rights abuses they are suffering from, we wanted to recognise the cohort as a whole rather than individuals.”
On behalf of refugees and asylum seekers in on- and offshore detention, the award will be accepted by Mostafar ‘Moz’ Azimitibar - previously held on Manus Island and in detention in Australia - and former Socceroo and refugee advocate Craig Foster.
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Calls for financial support for businesses in Greater Sydney are getting louder, AAP reports.
Sydney’s hospitality, entertainment and travel businesses are “devastated” by the extension of lockdown by an extra week, as they seek more financial support.
Pubs, restaurants, gyms, nightclubs, and other venues will remain closed in Greater Sydney, including Wollongong, Shellharbour and the Central Coast, until at least July 16, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Wednesday.
The five million plus people living in those areas have been told to stay home for a third week, unless it’s necessary to leave.
Australian Hotels Association NSW CEO John Whelan said the sector needed more certainty and support.
“The lockdown extension is devastating news for more than 50,000 Greater Sydney-based staff who are out of work for another week, as well as the broader NSW hotel industry which has operated under restricted trading conditions for more than 15 months and counting,” Whelan said in a statement.
“Our staff have rent and bills to pay. Many are not eligible for government support and a third week with no work really hits hard.”
Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson said the occupancy rates of hotels in Sydney were less than two per cent, while their owners have to continue to pay bills.
“This is another blow to an already dire situation,” Johnson said.
“Hotels are losing millions of dollars each week and have little support to keep paying the bills and to keep paying staff.”
NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet last week announced that small businesses who suffered during the lockdown would be eligible for grants of up to $10,000.
Berejiklian on Wednesday refused to say whether that assistance would be ramped up in light of the longer lockdown.
“There’s always opportunities for us to consider what more we can do,” she said.
“I know and appreciate how difficult it is and the NSW government has already contributed billions towards our economy over and above what we anticipated to support everybody during Covid, whether it is various measures, direct grants or our measures we have undertaken.”
She flagged that Perrottet had been in contact with his federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg over the issue and they were “considering all those options”.
However, Frydenberg earlier indicated affected workers would not be getting any more support.
“Not at this stage,” he told the Seven Network.
“There are two payments, the $500 and $325 payment, depending on the number of hours a week that have been lost for a person who has been subject to these lockdowns that have gone for longer than a week.”
Meanwhile, the NSW government has been criticised for extending the lockdown beyond Sydney, despite no cases being recorded in some parts of the state.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward, who sits on the crossbench after quitting the government earlier this year, said there was no evidence to support the lockdown continuing in the Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas.
“It makes no sense to limit individual liberty, damage business and cause hardship for families when there is no overriding and greater public health reason for doing so,” he said in a statement.
Whelan also criticised the persistent restriction in regional NSW, where masks are mandatory and there are limits on the number of people allowed in venues.
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A refugee hunger strike at a Melbourne detention centre has ended after 17 days.
Just in case you missed it:
⚠️Public Health Order – stay at home order and restrictions extended⚠️Restrictions currently in place across both Greater Sydney including the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour and regional NSW will remain in place until 11:59pm on Friday, 16 July. pic.twitter.com/3wKKPjjIBn
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 7, 2021
Must admit I’d missed this story, but seems fairly significant: Australia’s mining industry says it will take action to eliminate sexual harassment amid a spate of sexual assault allegations, AAP reports.
Several women have come forward to police in recent weeks detailing claims of assaults on major mining sites in Western Australia.
Industry executives and political leaders have backed calls for a state parliamentary inquiry into the safety of female mining workers.
The Minerals Council of Australia on Wednesday released a national industry code on eliminating sexual harassment, emphasising that all employee allegations must be treated seriously, confidentially and sensitively.
Member companies are required under the code to provide alternative working arrangements to assist victims, facilitate access to support services and take reasonable steps to protect individuals from “victimisation or reprisals”.
Criminal conduct must be referred to authorities and outcomes of completed investigations communicated in a timely manner.
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Found this interesting though not at all surprising from Jacinda Ardern: the Kiwis won’t risk the UK-style of living with Covid.
Afternoon all, hope you’re well. I’ve just had some salmon I cooked in my dishwasher for lunch. Not really.
Who amongst us has not cooked salmon in the dishwasher https://t.co/3lqBF9RLuw
— Tom Cowie 🐄 (@tom_cowie) July 7, 2021
With that, I shall hang up my blogging hat for the day and hand you over the unstoppable Nino Bucci.
See you bright and early tomorrow!
And Frydenberg has closed out this press conference with a question about comments by senior White House official Kurt Campbell that tensions between China and Australia aren’t going to end any time soon:
We are living with a different China than what we have seen in years prior. The China under Xi Jinping is very different to the China that John Howard had to deal with.
I remember when the president of the United States and the president of China were here. Gone are those days.
There is a lot more strategic competition in the world and China has been a lot more assertive in not just its diplomacy but also in its other positions. We have seen across a range of issues the consequences of that assertiveness...
All of that being said, China remains a very important economic partner for Australia. They have made no secret for the fact that our exports are not all making their way to China, barley, wine, coal. What is making its way to China because they need it most is iron ore. The price of iron or is at near record highs. And that is providing significant revenue into our economy both at a state and federal level.
But we will not put economic interests first, we will put the broader national interest first and that means standing with a very clear and consistent sense of where our national interest is and that is what we have done under prime minister Morrison.
Updated
Lieutenant General John Frewen is here as well by the way! Here is what he has to say about the role business, and especially workplace vaccinations, will play:
Commonwealth GPs and hubs, and state and territory clinics will remain the backbone of the plan. But I think as we get especially into those later months of October, November, December, the supply we will have, it will be really important for people to have a more diverse range of ways to access the vaccine.
It will give us greater flexibility. It will give us greater choice and greater convenience. Later in the year, we will have additional vaccines, we will have Moderna coming online as well.
If we look at the plan, there is a strong backbone based on commonwealth, GPs and state hubs. These will be additional options and I think later in the year the more convenient and flexibility we can offer people will enhance this.
Updated
Frydenberg:
We are rolling out the vaccine as fast as we can*.
The good news is that 8.5 million doses have already been delivered.
On Monday we saw a record number being delivered across the country.
If you look at the first million doses, it was delivered in 45 days*. The last million doses was delivered in nine days.
We have dramatically reduced the time in which we are getting large numbers of the vaccine out to as many people as possible. And with that vaccine rollout, there have been challenges.
And some of those challenges have been forced* upon us, for example the aged cohort in which the AstraZeneca is available to us. With respect to lockdowns, they cost the economy. There is no secret in that.
*We know you are, that is the problem.
*But it shouldn’t have been. Again, that is the problem.
*Hmmmmmm
Updated
Frydenberg has been asked if the reason we seem to be at the back of the vaccine queue is that we are not offering to pay enough for Pfizer and Moderna.
I don’t think it is an issue of paying enough, as you know we have put more than $7 billion to work in terms of the vaccine distribution as well as the acquisition of the vaccine.
With Australia’s position, having very successfully, compared to many other countries, suppressed the virus, we did not receive as much as other countries in more emergency situations.
But we know the supply is coming online in very significant quantities.
Updated
No jobkeeper for NSW, Frydenberg says
We heard just before that the NSW treasurer had written to his federal counterpart to request additional financial support for citizens in lockdown.
Frydenberg has confirmed the request was for jobkeeper to be reinstated, and he has answered it with a firm “no”.
The treasurer of New South Wales has written to me asking for the reinstatement of jobKeeper. We are not bringing back jobkeeper.
That was an emergency support payment that we introduced at the height of the pandemic. We then extended it beyond the initial six months to 12 months. We brought in a tiered payment to take into account the number of hours worked and that jobseeker payment played a very important part in our economic recovery, particularly in keeping the formal connection between employers and employees.
Updated
Vaccine incentives on the cards for later in the year
The treasurer has flagged there may be plans for a range of vaccine incentives once supply ramps up.
Frydenberg:
There was extensive discussion about [incentives] but it also goes to how quickly we get the additional supply online as to when those incentives are best put to effect.
But yes, a number of businesses raised very interesting and exciting ideas about how they can put their resources to work.
I mean, airlines, free frequent flyer points and other benefits for example. I think it is more than a snag at Bunnings that we are talking about as our potential opportunity for incentives but the timing mark of those incentives are very important.
Updated
OK, but has anything concrete actually come out of this meeting today?
It’s a little unclear – here is what Frydenberg has to say:
It was agreed by all members present that businesses will write to all the workers about the importance of being vaccinated. And in some cases will reach out to the customer base ...
For example, Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, talked about how he has 13 million frequent flyers and over 22,000 workers.
We [spoke to] the minerals council, [about] how their businesses, their members, reach out into Indigenous communities in the remotest parts of Australia and how they are willing to work with us to get that message [out] about how important it is to vaccinate.*
There were many offers of premises for vaccinations being rolled out including from Wesfarmers that raise the opportunities that could be provided at the local Bunnings or Officeworks. There was extensive discussion about a whole range of issues.
*Ummmmmmmmm ... I’m pretty sure the federal government is already providing funding really great community-based, culturally sensitive health services in remote communities. Why do we need mining corporations to get the word out?
Updated
Frydenberg:
We have about 300,000 mRNA Pfizer vaccines coming in each week which will increase to around 600 to 700,000 by the end of July and into August and the expectation is around 2 million by October.
This is where the involvement of the Australian business community will be so important.
Frydenberg:
Last year we partner with the business community to provide rent relief, mortgage relief to millions of Australians as well as to ensure our supply chains were resilient when states went into lockdown and when the pandemic was at it speak.
The support of the business community has been extremely important in Australia’s strong economic recovery. A recovery which has seen the unemployment rate come down to 5.1% ...
It has seen economic growth faster than even the most optimistic expectations of the Treasury and the Reserve Bank and which has seen Australia ahead of any advanced economy around the world. We have more people in work today than before the pandemic and our economy bigger today than before the pandemic.
But today’s cooperation with the business community came as we moved into a new phase of our Covid response. And in particular, the acceleration of the rollout of the vaccine.
Updated
Oh my gosh, no rest for the wicked. The federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has stepped up for a press conference talking about his meeting with the business sector to discuss ways they can help accelerate the vaccine rollout.
Come on ACT, do you have to rub NSW’s nose in it right at this very moment!
(Yes, I know they publish at this time every day, but you have to admit this is pretty cruelly funny.)
ACT COVID-19 update (7 July 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) July 7, 2021
▪️ Cases today: 0
▪️ Active cases: 0
▪️ Total cases: 124
▪️ Recovered: 121
▪️ Lives lost: 3
▪️ Test results (past 24 hours): 812
▪️ Negative tests: 245,914
▪️ Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 94,157
ℹ️ https://t.co/YGW9pOHG3e pic.twitter.com/WsgKBIuHtK
Sorry, I simply can not move on from this.
This was a legitimate question. It’s of legitimate public interest to know.
This plays into the deep fear that we have all had from the very start of the pandemic - that the affluent and powerful would end up safer and better protected by the government than the rest of us.
It’s extraordinarily reasonable that journalists should try and get to the bottom of what happened here. The story isn’t even 24 hours old.
We do not need to move on from this.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard responds to a question about the 160 Sydney private school boys getting access to Pfizer jabs before vulnerable citizens.
— Josh Bavas (@JoshBavas) July 7, 2021
"There was a mistake and so what? It's happened out of a million vaccinations, move on." pic.twitter.com/wKDtGjMvmE
Updated
Berejiklian:
We are entering a critical period and I appreciate many people will have an opinion on what the government is or isn’t doing and what we should be doing, but I know that we have the best health experts on the planet, and I don’t say that lightly or in a biased way ...
This is the point I really want to get across: if we follow the advice, we will all be OK, and the New South Wales government is here to support those who may not feel that they can cope in the next 10 days.
Please know that we only made this decision yesterday. We’ve announced it this morning and we will now look at opportunities for us to continue to support the community.
Thank you very much.
Updated
And here are some closing statements from Berejiklian:
I think we are at our best when we are faced with the most difficult of circumstances and I had a sense, as did many that are close to New South Wales’s daily battle with the pandemic, that we were entering a very scary period of the virus and that’s definitely the case.
My sense is that a lot of people are doing it tough but the vast majority of our citizens appreciate that if we do the hard yards now, it’s better for all of us in the next months ahead.
And please don’t think we haven’t thought about what this means for individuals, for people living on their own, for people who don’t have a lot of support around them, for parents having to juggle working from home and remote learning for a week, for people who are trying to run and keep their small businesses going, for people who need to keep larger businesses going and also for people like casual workers who obviously rely on those members so we hear how tough our citizens are doing it.
But we also appreciate that this pandemic has been catastrophic on its scale globally. It’s been catastrophic on its scale economically around the world. Here in New South Wales, to date, we’ve weathered the storm reasonably well.
Updated
OK, I’m still in shock from that, but here is what Hazzard said when asked what would happen if lockdowns fail to fully stop Delta Covid-19 transmission.
I think at some stage, if the individuals that we need don’t hear Dr Chant’s message and don’t respond, then at some point we’re going to move to a stage where we’re going to have to accept that the virus has a life which will continue in the community.
But we’re trying damned hard at the moment to make sure that we can use every effort to suppress that virus, and right now is a critical time. We’ve used that expression a number of times, but I can’t tell you, as health minister, just how critical it is at the moment, particularly for the community in south-west Sydney, Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool to understand that your individual actions may well determine the future of this virus in our community.
Updated
'Move on!' Hazzard snaps at private school vaccination questions
Oh my good lord! Health minister Brad Hazzard has taken a ... different approach on the topic of private school students getting priority access to Pfizer vaccinations.
Reporter:
Minister Hazzard, how damaging is it for the public’s perception of the state government’s vaccine rollout that New South Wales Health, your department, accidentally vaccinated 160 Joeys boys, and how embarrassed ...
Hazzard:
What I find more embarrassing is that you would make that sort of question and accusation against frontline health staff who work their butts off and will have tomorrow achieved one million vaccinations in arms.
You know what? The school intended it well. There was a mistake and so what? It’s happened. Out of a million vaccinations. Move on!
No mate, I don’t think I will.
Updated
NSW health not aware of any other private school cohorts vaccinated with Pfizer
The chief health officer has apologised once again for NSW health “accidentally” administering Pfizer vaccine doses to 163 year 12 students from the affluent St Joseph’s private school.
She said this was the only case of private school student cohorts getting priority access to Pfizer, while still technically ineligible.
Chant:
So clearly there was an error and I can understand the concern and sympathise with the anger in the community about that occurrence because as we know, I’ve said repeatedly that the vaccine needs to be administered to those most at risk and that’s the elderly and people in those aged care workers and health care workers.
That was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, a misstep.
Sydney local health direct have apologised for that.
Certainly it’s the only case we are aware of in that regard.
I apologise. I know my colleagues in Sydney local health direct have expressed that publicly in a media statement.
You can read more about that story below:
These new cases in Sydney’s south-west aren’t actually connected with that super-spreading party in the south-west from earlier in the outbreak.
Chant:
This is why this disease is so hard because you’re always looking backwards. And what is clear is that there’s a chain of transmission.
I think I’d indicated to you before and why we actually advised the government about the need for lockdown is when there was a chain of transmission which was uncovered which then indicated that the transmission chain had deep roots and it had been extending into south-western and western Sydney.
Look, we’re still doing the mapping of all of those linked cases but it doesn’t link to the West Hoxton Park birthday party. There are other links to other clusters.
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant has stepped in again to shed a little more light on the situation in Sydney’s south-west.
We know that at the moment it does appear to be predominantly across social groups or connected households, but some of those connections are loose and what we need to do is work on establishing the degree of those connections and then do a ring of testing around those connected individuals to make sure that there’s been no further escape into the broader community transmission.
Because of that, we really do not want people to be moving about. We want to reduce mobility in and out of those local government areas and we would prefer that people basically stay at home if at all possible, minimise your movements ...
I don’t think any young person in south-western Sydney wants to be the cause of an illness or death in their elderly grandparents. I don’t think anyone wants to knowingly spread. I don’t think that’s the starting point. I just think sometimes as we go about, we haven’t communicated effectively that the level of risk.
Updated
Berejiklian has defended her decision not to institute a harder lockdown like the ones we saw in Melbourne with 5km travel limits and outdoor mask mandates.
The premier says these kinds of measures wouldn’t have prevented most of the transmissions NSW is now seeing.
The reason why we’ve extended the lockdown is because of a number of cases still infectious in the community and we extended the lockdown to give us the best chance of not having another lockdown.
But it’s very difficult to define because a lot of the people who have got the virus since the lockdown began have been twofold.
Firstly, literally essential workers going to work with symptoms or household members mingling with people they shouldn’t be mingling with and spreading the virus.
So what we do know is two things: if you have the mildest of symptoms, stay home. Don’t go to work. Don’t leave the house. Unless you need to get tested, and then stay home. Second of all, do the right thing.
Updated
Just a reminder that if you are having a particularly hard time with today’s news, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 at any time of the day.
Now the premier somewhat ominously mentioned before that “further measures” could be taken in order to quell the spread of the virus in the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool LGAs.
But what exactly did she mean? Well, she has just been asked to clarify:
Oh, look, [NSW] Health will consider that advice but a next step could be limiting even further movement through the health orders.
At the moment, obviously, we have broad rules as to why people are allowed to leave the house and allowed to exercise, but if we need to, [NSW] Health may provide advice on further restriction of movement in those communities. But that’s yet to be determined.
I only foreshadow that to highlight how concerned Health is and how concerned we are about those three geographic locations and the way the virus is spreading. Clearly there is a transfer between linked households – so people are visiting other households when that’s not what they should do.
But I stress this – no one is going to get into trouble. We’d much prefer people came forward and tell us everything they know. That is our first rule of law always, is to make sure that we provide a safe way for people to tell us the truth.
Updated
Reporter:
Do you stand by your statement that nobody should be worried about their financial circumstances? We’re hearing stories about business owners who are contemplating suicide.
Berejiklian:
I appreciate more than most, having lived with this every day, the pressures it puts on people, even speaking to people who’ve had to do 14 days in isolation.
Mental health for many of our citizens is a big issue at the moment, especially for businesses who are trying to stay afloat, and if we need to do more, of course, we will.
If these topics are difficult for you, please remember you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Updated
Oooft! The premier is getting a grilling from one of the reporters at the press conference, who takes issue with only $10,000 being offered to businesses damaged by the lockdown.
Reporter:
The platitudes around business are fine but that is what they see it as – platitudes. The most you are offering business so far in New South Wales is $10,000 cash and you are mandating that they shut. Should you be doing more?
Berejiklian:
There is always opportunities for us to consider what more we can do and I can confirm our state treasurer has been in touch with his counterpart at a federal level, we are considering all those options. I know and appreciate how difficult it is and the NSW government has already contributed billions towards our economy over and above what we anticipated to support everybody during Covid, whether it is various measures, direct grants or our measures we have undertaken.
Reporter:
Right now ultimately business there are some that won’t come back after these three weeks and there are employees right now who aren’t earning a wage and the best you are doing is $10,000 cash, that is nowhere near enough?
Berejiklian:
I’m sorry, in terms of individuals, the commonwealth is offering ...
Reporter:
That is $350. That doesn’t pay rent in Sydney.
Berejiklian:
That is why our treasurer has been in touch with his federal counterpart to have a conversation about those matters.
Updated
Oh, also fun news for tomorrow! The NSW roadmap out of lockdown is coming!
(As a Melbourne lockdown veteran, I love a good roadmap. The states never stick to them, but boy, are they fun!)
Berejiklian:
I do also want to foreshadow the New South Wales government in the next few days will be putting forward a specific plan that shows what life will look like the day that we exit the lockdown and also what life looks like a few weeks after that time.
So we want to provide certainty to businesses. We know businesses have to plan ahead when they are taking bookings, when they are ordering perishable items.
Berejiklian has been asked why, if the Delta variant is such a “game-changer” she didn’t lock down harder and sooner.
I’m happy for commentators to say what they wish but what the New South Wales government does is rely on the health advice.
We received advice on an hourly, on a daily basis, and we need to respond quickly when we get advice which causes us to ask the community to do major things, major disruptions in their life such as a lockdown.
We also base our conditions on the health advice. The health advice gives us information at a point in time and it is important to note that the cases we are seeing today are a reflection of what may have happened a week ago or five or six days ago so that is why it is really important for all of us to stick together and do the right thing.
Updated
OK, the chief health officer has provided some more specific details on which suburbs the NSW health department are most acutely worried about.
Chant:
So the areas that we are particularly concerned about are Bossley Park, Smithfield, Fairfield, West Hoxton, Bass Hill, St Johns Park, Canning Vale, Greenfield Park ...
But in those communities, we are asking you to just redouble your efforts. Please stay at home. So if you are in those local government areas of Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown, please stay at home.
Do not visit loved ones. Try and engage through digital means. Try and avoid any unnecessary contact with other additional households and please limit your movements into any indoor environments. So only have one person go and get the shopping. As the premier has indicated, if you have got enough food, don’t leave the house at this time.
Updated
There are also some more exposure sites of concern.
Chant:
I want to call out some venues of concern, the Commonwealth Bank at Roselands, two cases linked to that Commonwealth Bank in Roselands.
If you were a customer at the Commonwealth Bank at Roselands on Monday 28 June 8am to 5pm, hopefully, we have already reached out to you but if you haven’t received that advice and you were there during those hours you are a close contact.
Similarly, on Tuesday 29 June from 8am to 5pm and Wednesday 30 June from 8am to 3pm.
More than a dozen NSW residents under 55 in hospital with Covid
More than a dozen NSW residents under the age of 55 are in hospital with Covid-19 at the moment. Chant confirmed one of the most critical patients, in the ICU ward, is in their 30s.
Currently, we have 37 Covid patients admitted to hospital and of these patients, there are seven people in ICU, two of whom are ventilated.
Now this is in the context where New South Wales Health also provides excellent home assessment and care. So the fact that 37 patients have been admitted to hospital should indicate to the community the fact that Covid, including the Delta strain, is not a mild disease. It can be mild in some but for many it can lead to hospitalisation and death ...
Of that total 37, 14 are under the age of 55, which should dispel the myth that this is something that only impacts on the elderly. Of those, eight are under the age of 35.
Again, dispelling that myth that it only leads to hospitalisation for the elderly. Of the seven people in ICU, one is in their 30s. A bit of a wake-up call to young people. One in their 50s, two in their 60s and three in their 70s.
Updated
Here is chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant with the details of those 27 local cases.
New South Wales recorded 27 locally acquired cases of Covid in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. Eighteen of the locally acquired cases are linked to a known case or cluster, 11 are close contacts and seven are household contacts of previously confirmed cases.
As the premier has indicated, unfortunately we still are seeing a number of cases arise where they’re infectious in the community for part or all of their infectious period. So only 13 of the cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period.
Seven cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period and seven cases were infectious in the community.
Updated
Cases surge in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool
The premier has urged residents in three local government areas of Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool not to leave the house after case numbers in those communities rose sharply overnight.
Berejiklian:
We have seen the main cases move from the south-east, pretty much all of the cases we are seeing from south-eastern Sydney are now in isolation. So we are pretty confident the virus isn’t spreading in that community but we have seen overnight some concerning statistics on what is happening in the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool council areas.
Can I say to the communities in those areas, many have a similar background to me, please don’t mingle with family ... don’t think it is OK to visit your cousins or have sleepovers.
Please, in those three local government areas limit your movement. The New South Wales government doesn’t want to go to the next stage but we are even considering if there are any further actions we need to take in those three local government areas ...
The key message in the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool local government areas is please do not leave the house. Please do not leave the house.
I am pretty certain that all of us have stocked up on groceries for the next month or so ... Please avoid leaving the house, avoid going to indoor areas, avoid any activity unless it is absolutely necessary, especially in those three local government areas.
Updated
NSW case numbers expected to grow tomorrow
Berejiklian:
I can foreshadow overnight that we’ve had a number of cases, more than we would like to have seen, so I’m anticipating that tomorrow’s number will be higher than what we have seen today but they are at the moment concentrated in three local government areas.
And, as expected, Sydney (and surrounding) schools will move to at-home learning, while regional students can head back to the classroom.
Berejiklian:
Now in relation to schools, obviously schools outside of the greater Sydney region, schools in the regions, will resume face-to-face learning from next week which is a great result and we’re really pleased that there hasn’t been any instances of the virus in regional New South Wales ...
In relation to greater Sydney, the reason why we took the decision around schools not resuming face-to-face learning next week is not because schools aren’t a safe place, they are a safe place, but what we really need to do in greater Sydney is reduce mobility.
We need to stop literally hundred of thousand of adults moving around and interacting with each other inadvertently as they drop kids off, pick kids up at those usual times and whilst the virus is more contagious in children, or this strain is, than we have seen previous strains, our main concern is too many people being mobile at the same time and having those interactions.
So it is really, really important for people to reduce their mobility.
Updated
Berejiklian:
Now the reason for this is as we’ve been saying, this Delta strain is a game-changer. It is extremely transmissible and more contagious than any other form of the virus that we’ve seen.
The reason why the New South Wales government has taken this position is because we don’t want to be in a situation where we are constantly having to move between lockdown, no lockdown, lockdown, no lockdown. What we want to do is give us our best chance of making sure this is the only lockdown we have until the vast majority of our citizens are vaccinated.
We know the vaccine is the key to our freedom. The vaccine is key to saving lives and keeping the economy open. We appreciate and understand the stress this means for individuals, for families and, of course, for businesses. But what would be far worse is being in a situation where you have to live in and out of lockdown until that period of time when we have the vaccine available to us.
That is not a way to live and we want to give our citizens the best chance of staying safe and healthy but also making sure our businesses survive and thrive moving forward until that vaccination period is upon us. That is the context why we made this decision.
Updated
NSW premier confirms greater Sydney lockdown will be extended by a week
NSW Gladys Berejiklian says only 13 of the 27 new local cases were in isolation for all of their infectious period.
Overnight New South Wales had 27 cases of community transmission. Unfortunately, only 13 of those were already in isolation. Seven were in isolation for part of their infectious period and seven, we understand, were in isolation for all of their infectious period.
Now they are the numbers we are looking at when it comes to determining the length of the lockdown. That is why the NSW government, based on the health advice, which is our key indicator, made the difficult decision to announce the extension of the lockdown and the existing restrictions in the regions for one week further until Friday midnight, 16 July.
Updated
NSW records 27 local Covid-19 cases overnight
NSW recorded 27 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/pUprrXHpRE
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 7, 2021
We are just standing by now for NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to step up and almost certainly announce that the greater Sydney lockdown will be extended for an additional week.
Fan of skulling a cold one while standing at the bar? Well, if you are in Victoria, you are in luck!
Health Minister Martin Foley confirms “vertical consumption” can resume from 11:59pm on Thursday. Density limit of 1 person per 2sqm applies.
— Benita Kolovos 🐯 (@benitakolovos) July 7, 2021
We are now hearing from Assoc Prof Deb Freedman, who is one of Victoria’s new deputy chief health officers.
She says the ADF found four people who recently travelled to Victoria from orange and red zones were not complying with isolation orders yesterday.
We know that yesterday there were over 400 red zone permits and over 3,000 orange zone permits in the system for people arriving and we’re continuing to review our travel permit settings daily based on changing epidemiology ...
Our engagement teams that are supported by defence personnel made 365 visits yesterday. Unfortunately, the majority of these permit holders were doing the right thing. We know that 354 of these people were from New South Wales. We did identify a small number – four people – that were intentionally not isolating and our tapes do investigate those and refer them to the authorities where appropriate.
Updated
Here are all the details from the man himself, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Restrictions are changing from 11:59pm on Thursday 8 July.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) July 7, 2021
Accessible versions of these documents will be available shortly from https://t.co/dGpPnSTHLS pic.twitter.com/yX4p8bQk2p
So these new settings will be in place for at least the next two weeks (provided there are no outbreaks).
Foley:
Crowd numbers will also be able to increase at public events. Outdoor stadiums can increase up to 75% of their capacity, up to 40,000 people as a cap.
Indoor stadiums can open to 75% of their capacity, up to a 7,500 person cap.
Theatres will also be able to open to 75% of their capacity, up to a cap of 2,000 people.
Foley:
So the good news is that from 11:59 pm tomorrow, Thursday, 8 July, restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne will be brought into line with those of regional Victoria. All Covid-safe settings will apply consistently right across the state.
Masks will continue to be required indoors and in public-facing settings unless an exemption applies but they will no longer be required at schools for students and staff and they will no longer be required at workplaces, particularly if you don’t interact with the public ...
Masks will still be required if your role sees you interacting with the general public, for example, if you serve customers in a retail setting.
As part of these changes, a range of venues right across Melbourne will now be able to apply the same density limits – freed up density limits – that apply in regional Victoria. This further opens workplaces, including entertainment, retail, hospitality, gyms, physical recreation, community facilities, creative spaces, galleries, places of worship and more. The limit will be one person per two square metres, provided that in some cases Covid check-in marshals are on site just to make sure that people check-in every time, everywhere.
Dancefloors will also be allowed with a Covid check-in marshal but no more than 50 people on the dancefloor at any one time. We will keep the limit on private gatherings in place with up to 15 people able to attend a home per day.
Updated
Dancefloors are back and stadiums and theatres can have up to 75% capacity.
But here is the catch: the indoor guest limits of 15 people per day remain.
Here is Foley now:
The good news is that the position here in Victoria is stable. That means that we can ease our restrictions further.
But with the slower-than-forecasted rollout of the commonwealth vaccination program and the reduction in travel caps yet to take effect from the national cabinet decision and the outbreaks in interstate jurisdictions to our north, all mean that our public health experts have urged us and recommended that we continue to act carefully and cautiously as we move out of those restrictions.
Updated
Victoria to ease Covid-19 restrictions from 11.59pm Thursday
Victoria health minister Martin Foley is speaking in the next few minutes and a statement handed out to reporters show that from Friday, Melbourne’s restrictions will be brought in line with regional Victoria.
Masks will still be mandatory indoors but a number of density limits will be increased.
Full statement below:
Updated
As few as five passengers allowed on some international flights to Australia
International airlines have been told they can only allow as few as five passengers onto their planes to comply with Australia’s soon to be halved arrival cap.
Airlines have even been allocated zero passenger allowances for some flights, meaning they will have to fly empty planes into Australia, the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia has told Guardian Australia.
Airlines flying zero passenger flights will have to rely on carrying cargo and outbound passengers to make the routes financially sustainable, however some are expected to halt services to Australia entirely as a result of the new caps.
Rather than cleanly halving the number of passengers each flight can carry, the new passenger limits, which airlines must comply with by 14 July, appear to incentivise airlines decreasing route frequency to allow them to group their passenger allowances into fewer, more financially sustainable flights.
One third of all flights into Sydney have been given zero passenger allocations, while the remainder will only be allowed to carry between 25-26 passengers. Sydney’s weekly flight cap will be halved to 1505 from 14 July – the largest of any airport.
Between 14 July and the end of August, a handful of flights into Melbourne will be cut to zero, with most flights limited to 11 to 13 passengers. Across Brisbane and Perth, passenger limits vary from as few as five passengers per flight, up to 12 passengers per flights for airlines that adjust their frequencies.
In the days since national cabinet decided on Friday to cut Australia’s weekly quarantine intake from 6,070 to 3,035 – a lower intake than when the initial cap of 4,000 was first introduced last July – prices for remaining seats into Australia have skyrocketed.
Given a recent surge in exemptions granted to exit Australia, the sudden halving of the caps is likely to leave Australians who have travelled urgently for compassionate reasons stranded without access to flights home.
Updated
Wednesday 7 July – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 7, 2021
One new case recorded overnight, locally acquired and detected in home quarantine.
The case is linked to the Alpha cluster.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/keWqqHtLhp
We are also waiting to hear from Victoria in about 20 minutes where the state government are expected to ease restrictions.
The state has now gone a full week without any cases of community transmission.
But come on Queenslanders, don’t get too relaxed too fast. Young wants you to know that you aren’t out of the woods yet and masks in many regions are still mandatory.
Young:
It is really encouraging to see these results and to see us coming through. But it’s a little bit too early to relax quite yet.
So we to need to maintain those restrictions that we have in place, so please – wearing masks, I know they’re really uncomfortable, don’t know about you, but my glasses continually fog up, but they’re so important.
Updated
Queensland leaders are really driving home the point that they do not have enough Pfizer doses to keep giving new nonessential people the first jab.
Health minister Yvette D’Ath:
In relation to our vaccination community hubs, I just ask the public to be patient. Yes, we are making it clear that the only walk-ins we’ll take are people who are going for their second dose or are a frontline worker.
We have to do this until the commonwealth provides more vaccine supply.
We have heard some incidents where people have been abusive to staff because they’re not allowing general walk-ins, but we can’t do this until the commonwealth provides more vaccine supply. So please be patient. Be respectful. We want everyone to get vaccinated. And when we have enough vaccine, we will make sure every Queenslander who wants to be vaccinated can get vaccinated.
Updated
Here is chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young with a few extra details on that case.
Excellent news today. One new case, and that was picked up in someone who was in home quarantine for their entire infectious period.
They’re asymptomatic and they’ve been in home quarantine. They live in the same household as those two cases that I announced a couple of days ago from Tarragindi. So that is very good news.
Excellent testing numbers again, so thank you. Please keep that up. If we could just keep up every single time someone develops symptoms that they immediately come forward and get tested so we can find any outbreaks right at the start - that’s extremely important. Thank you.
That’s her whole statement! Everyone is keeping it short and sharp today.
Updated
Queensland records one local Covid-19 case overnight
The premier has started the presser with some “really good news”.
Palaszczuk:
We’ve only got one new case. It’s locally acquired. But it is a close contact of the two known cases that were in Tarragindi. So that’s fantastic news.
And has been detected in home quarantine, so I think Queenslanders should be extremely happy with that news.
Updated
The online petition urging the Australian Border Force to deny Annastacia Palaszczuk an exemption to leave Australia to attend the Tokyo Olympics, has now reached more than 62,000 signatures, nearly tripling since I checked yesterday.
Updated
Speaking of Annastacia Palaszczuk, we are about to get an update on Queensland’s Covid-19 numbers when she steps up for a press conference in the next few minutes.
Ooooft! Remember all that controversy about the Queensland premier campaigning to have international traveller numbers slashed because people were making unnecessary trips out of the country while also planning to head to Tokyo for the Olympics in a couple of weeks?
Well, it’s not just people online that are upset about this by the looks of things. Now federal home affairs minister Karen Andrews has taken a crack.
It’s the absolute hypocrisy that is really getting right up the nose with Queenslanders at the moment, and I hope she understands that people don’t support her cuts to quarantine caps.
MP Karen Andrews on Qld Premier's Tokyo Olympics trip:
— Eden Gillespie (@edengillespie) July 6, 2021
"It's the absolute hypocrisy that is really getting right up the nose with Queenslanders at the moment, and I hope she understands that people don't support her cuts to quarantine caps."
Victoria waiting for 'Covid-normal' restrictions announcement
After recording the first full week of no Covid-19 community transmission since the fourth lockdown, Victorians are now waiting for an announcement today on the state’s next step towards “Covid-normal” rules.
A set of moderate restrictions have been in place for the past fortnight, including mandatory indoor masks and a 75% office workplace cap. Business groups have been lobbying for both measures to be scrapped, encouraging more Melbourne workers to return to the CBD, reports AAP.
Earlier this week, acting chief health officer Dan O’Brien described masks as a “safety blanket” but said the public health team would review the mandate.
Larger crowds at sports stadiums and theatres are also on the cards after planned capacity increases were delayed last week due to unfolding outbreaks across the country.
The sports minister Martin Pakula said on Tuesday he hoped to see many thousands of AFL fans at Saturday’s clash between Carlton and Geelong.
It would be a welcome boost for Victoria’s struggling major events industry after the state government confirmed the cancellation of this year’s Australian Grand Prix and MotoGP.
Pakula said last week’s national cabinet decision to halve international returned travellers* and lagging community vaccination rates made it unfeasible to host both events later this year.
He said he is confident those issues will be alleviated by 2022, allowing the Australian Open and Formula One race to go ahead in Melbourne.
*Which Victoria was a prime advocate for by the way.
Updated
The aged care royal commissioner Lynelle Briggs says she is “shocked and dismayed” by revelations that two-thirds of aged care workers at the SummitCare aged care home at Baulkham Hills were unvaccinated.
[I was] left asking myself well what’s happened here? Has this been a mistake amongst officials? Was it a response to insufficient vaccines? Or was it deliberate, in which case it’s a scandal? Either way something serious must be done about it and it must be done quickly.
Briggs has called for the federal government to urgently vaccinate the workforce, saying the best approach is to send in-reach teams to their places of work to administer the jabs. That approach was originally part of the rollout plan, but the government abandoned it, and subsequent efforts to vaccinate the workforce have been marred by confusion and failure.
Briggs:
I think the government’s decision to make vaccination mandatory is a really important first step. But more important is to get vaccines into the arms of aged care workers really, really quickly. You can do that by a number of means, the most efficient will of course be delivery at people’s place of work ... they must get vaccinated and vaccinated quickly.
The main nursing union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, has also called for an in-reach vaccination blitz of aged care workers. The ANMF said the commonwealth should fund the states to administer it.
Aged care workers were included as part of the highest priority cohort, phase 1A, which was initially supposed to be completed by Easter.
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It’s the one-year anniversary today of Melbourne going into lockdown.
No one knew back then, but that lockdown would end up lasting more than 100 days.
Little did we know what we were in for this time last year! https://t.co/0xI5W3P2xe
— Benita Kolovos 🐯 (@benitakolovos) July 6, 2021
Updated
When did this man have time to get vaccinated this morning! I swear he hasn’t left my TV screen for more than five minutes!
COVID-19 vaccination #2 - ✅
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) July 6, 2021
Last week was a record week for #COVID19 vaccinations, with over 880,000 Aussies getting their jab.
The more Australians vaccinated, the sooner we’ll be able to live differently. Keep rolling up those sleeves, Australia! pic.twitter.com/elxPvqrDco
Queensland authorities are investigating whether the layout or air conditioning system in a Brisbane quarantine hotel caused the Covid infection of a mineworker, whose nine-hour stopover triggered lockdowns in the Northern Territory and health alerts across the country.
As the Queensland government continues to raise concern about the capacity of hotels for returning international travellers and the need for purpose-built quarantine facilities, the state’s health department says it is assessing whether “environmental or engineering factors” contributed to virus transmission on the fifth floor of the Novotel Brisbane airport.
The deputy premier, Steven Miles, told Guardian Australia that “weaknesses” in the hotel quarantine system created virus transmission risks.
Public health experts have explained the risks of hotel quarantine, including positive pressure rooms, inadequate ventilation systems and hallways and shared spaces that don’t have ventilation at all...
The fact is, hotel quarantine wasn’t designed to last the long haul.
You can read the full exclusive report below:
I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I would die for all of these dogs.
Our boy Zack deliberately sits himself in water after he’s got too hot chasing his ball!! pic.twitter.com/JBvRpkSb30
— Paul (@pogwolves) July 6, 2021
DID SOMEONE SAY NEW DOG OUTFITS pic.twitter.com/fmO19QrvBa
— Patrick O'Duffy (@patrickoduffy) July 6, 2021
I got my dogs new outfits a few days ago.https://t.co/3xnC1ah0Hv
— Sarah Hartree (@sarahartree) July 6, 2021
Keep the joy coming on Twitter! @MatildaBoseley
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Oh! Speaking of, here is that clip!
NSW is set to extend its lockdown, as the federal government holds more talks on how to speed up the vaccine rollout. @tanya_plibersek tells @mjrowland68 "everything needs to be on the table" when it comes to accelerating the program. pic.twitter.com/Q6Dmx1FeoJ
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) July 6, 2021
Shadow federal education minister, Tanya Plibersek, has been out and about this morning discussing the extension of the greater Sydney lockdown, and the city’s subsequent move to at least one week of at-home learning.
She has pinned the cause of the lockdown on the sluggish vaccine rollout and was asked to explain what Labor would do differently.
I think everything needs to be on the table. I can’t believe this is the first time the government is having conversations with business leaders about workplace vaccinations.
We saw yesterday the local government workers have been given leave to get vaccinated if they are in the frontline positions. We have heard calls for pharmacists and others to be included in the vaccination rollout. All of this has to be on the table.
And it is frankly incredible that we are still having these conversations, with 7%* of our total population vaccinated.
You look overseas and you have well over half the population vaccinated, in comparable countries. We have a strong health system. We have a willing population. And we are at the bottom of the pack, internationally for vaccination rates. It beggars belief.
*In fairness, it’s like 9% now.
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OK, it’s time for my favourite recurring blog segment called “Annastacia Palaszczuk why are your graphic design choices so chaotic”, where we talk about the Australian premier with the least aesthetic Twitter feed I’ve ever seen.
Today we have a stock image of masks, no less than three different fonts and four different sizes of text. The only content is a truly unoriginal “wear your mask” slogan and yet it’s got the premier’s name down the bottom, claiming the idea in some way.
I support the message, but I do not support the aggressive misuse of a “Canva Premium” account.
SIP!
While most Queenslanders are doing the right thing, we're still seeing some people out and about without masks on.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 6, 2021
Wearing masks helps limit the spread of COVID-19 and the highly contagious variants.
Please keep it up and stay safe, Queensland. pic.twitter.com/tiBPltddKi
Updated
Covid-infected contractor reportedly worked at Sydney Opera House for six days
A subcontractor at the Sydney Opera House has reportedly tested positive to Covid-19 after working six days while potentially infectious.
A spokesperson for the Sydney Opera House told news.com.au the health department informed the company that the subcontractor who worked between July 1 and 6 had returned a positive swab.
NSW Health is currently undertaking its investigations, and the Opera House is taking all necessary steps in line with its Covid Safety Plan ...
In line with the current stay-at-home orders, the building has been closed to the public since Saturday June 26.
I’ll rustle up some more details for you now, but news.com.au reports that NSW police told them there were no Covid-related breaches associated with the Opera House.
Updated
So I asked people to send me their best jokes and joy on Twitter because we all (especially Sydney readers) deserve a little extra happiness this morning.
I’ll be littering in the tweets as we go along, and to start here is Anita’s puppy who has discovered the joys of puddles.
My puppy sat down unexpectedly in a puddle. Ok it’s not news but it was a big deal in her life. pic.twitter.com/KV353BR4UD
— Anita (@Anita__Stubbs) July 6, 2021
Send me your puppies, memes and more on Twitter, @MatildaBoseley.
Here is an article that is causing a bit of a stir on the internet this morning, asking the question: is it time to give up caffeine?
The answer is, obviously, no. But you can read it anyway and make up your own mind!
Updated
No new Covid-19 cases in Victoria
Did someone say triple doughnuts!
No new Covid-19 whatsoever in Victoria today.
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 6, 2021
- 15,784 vaccine doses were administered
- 27,498 test results were received.
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/KGNQ9hl90n
Oh, by the way, the former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett was on ABC News Breakfast just before, expressing his profound disappointment that the grand prix has been cancelled:
Originally the 2021 Formula One race was delayed from March to November in the hopes that the vaccination rollout would have paved the way to hold the global event in the second half of the year. But, alas, it wasn’t to be!
It was stupid scheduling the grand prix for November. That is two weeks after our spring racing carnival and these major events require corporate Australia’s sponsorship. There is no way corporate Australia was going to be able to afford and get benefit from two major events, one after the other.
It would have been better to postpone it until its regular spot early next year in March or April*. But it is just profoundly disappointing that everyone says, “Let’s come out of this pandemic, let’s give and return economic activity. Let’s give people something to enjoy,” and yet here we are again shrinking. Victoria is literally shrinking within its own community. It is profoundly disappointing.
*Isn’t that kinda what they are doing now though?
The former Vic premier @jeff_kennett tells @BreakfastNews that Victoria is 'shrinking' - he's profoundly disappointed that the Grand Prix has been cancelled but says it shouldn't have been rescheduled for November in the first place
— Lisa Millar (@LisaMillar) July 6, 2021
This “Victoria is shrinking” thing is a very popular sentiment among conservatives in the state but it’s unclear what exactly this means, and what significant stats there are to back this up.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg flags possibility authorities will bring in vaccination passports
Hmmm, this is interesting. Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has touched on the possibility of vaccination passports while speaking on Sunrise this morning.
Host David Koch:
If I want to travel to Africa have to get yellow fever or you won’t let me back in, or to South America. How is it any different with this vaccination?
Frydenberg:
This is where the talk of the vaccination passport comes from ...
You won’t be subject to the same restrictions if you’ve had that vaccination, and I think that’s an opportunity for us going forward is certainly the prime minister has raised that and [the passports] are one of the options and one of the processes that we are working to right now.
Updated
Australia is demanding that world heritage experts carry out a monitoring mission to the Great Barrier Reef before an international committee decides if it should be placed on a list of global sites in danger.
The Australian government on Monday night briefed international ambassadors and Paris-based delegates to Unesco as part of lobbying efforts to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the in-danger list.
Australia’s ambassador to Unesco told the briefing the integrity of the entire world heritage system – which identifies places of significance to humanity – could be compromised if the 21-country committee placed the reef on the list when it meets later in July.
The Morrison government is also inviting foreign diplomats to visit the 2,300km reef, off Queensland’s coast, before the meeting.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
In less Covid-centric news Telstra is refunding more than $25m to customers after a regulator found it failed to inform almost 50,000 people that the maximum speeds advertised in their internet plans weren’t attainable.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has announced it is issuing the telecommunications giant with a remedial direction, reports AAP.
An Acma investigation found between September 2018 and October 2020 Telstra failed to suitably notify up to 49,092 customers of their under-performing internet speeds and plan options.
Under Acma rules, telecommunication companies must verify maximum internet speeds and notify customers when speeds cannot meet those advertised in their plan. In those circumstances, customers are entitled to move to a lower speed tier plan at a cheaper price or exit the contract without cost.
Acma chair Nerida O’Loughlin released a statement this morning.
The ACMA is very concerned with this conduct as these customers have been paying for a level of service they were not receiving ...
Telstra denied these customers the opportunity to downgrade their plan or exit their contract.
The Acma expects Telstra to dish out around $25m in refunds. That figure includes other cases not included in the watchdog investigation.
Updated
Speaking of the Sydney lockdown, there remain a number of concerning clusters, including 10 cases linked to the SummitCare nursing home in Baulkham Hills.
Six residents have tested positive and four staff. The latest worker tested positive on Tuesday night but had been in isolation since 1 July, a SummitCare spokesperson said.
If you want the full breakdown on what to expect the next week of Sydney life to look like, check out Nino Bucci’s story below:
Updated
This is a shameless self-promotion but remember yesterday and Monday when the NSW health minister Brad Hazzard kept saying that the vaccine rollout was like “the Hunger Games”?
Now, I don’t believe he has actually read the book, but I decided to take him at his word and work out if this is the Hunger Games, who is Katniss, who is Peeta, and most importantly, who is the tyrannical dictator, President Snow?
Spoiler alert:
There is no denying that, in this scenario, Scott Morrison is Snow. He is the leader of our great nation of Panem (Australia), and you can’t deny that visiting the gravestone of his ancestors in the UK during a side trip from the G7 while stranded Australians can’t even get a flight home to say goodbye to their dying parents has a real privileged “Capitol” energy to it. Snow is also known for getting rid of his political adversaries, and Morrison did come to power after ousting Turnbull in the Liberal spill. Also, they have the same colour hair. It just works.
Check it out below:
Updated
Now you might think, given the hardship and suffering that millions of NSW residents are going through this morning that we could maybe let the whole Sydney v Melbourne battle rest for a day.
But no, Josh Frydenberg is keen to make it clear that, yeah “Berejiklian has to lockdown, but at least she isn’t as bad as Andrews”. (He is a Liberal first, a Victorian second.)
He just spoke to ABC radio:
The experience of Victoria and New South Wales is like chalk and cheese.
If you want to talk about the length of lockdown. In Victoria, it’s been more than 150 days, and it’s been less than 50 days across parts of New South Wales ...
Kids have been kicked out of school in Victoria for more than 21 weeks, whereas just 29 days in New South Wales.
So there have been very significant differences between the experience in Melbourne, and the experience in Sydney, and I think that reflects differences in the way the outbreaks occurred.
[In Melbourne] the major lockdown, was the quarantine failure, and then the state government had a review and the review found that no one had made a decision, quite bizarrely.
But in terms of what has recently happened in New South Wales, obviously, this is a result of the most recent Delta variant* which is more contagious. But if any state premier has shown their ability to get on top of this virus quickly, even when there are outbreaks, is that as Berejiklian, so I’ll back and her ability and his state’s ability to get on top of this virus, although it is more contagious.
*Dude! What!? It was at least partially the result of lax health rules around mask wearing, Covid-19 testing and vaccination of staff who work with international travellers! If anything the NSW lockdown is MORE directly linked to government mistakes than Victoria.
Updated
Now, the treasurer is out and about this morning because he and John Frewen, who leads the vaccine taskforce, will meet business leaders today to discuss how to boost the vaccine rollout with the help of the business sector.
Employees could start receiving coronavirus vaccinations at work within months under a push to include businesses, with major companies putting their hands up to administer jabs using workplace flu vaccination schemes already in place.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was speaking about this on the Today show, Sky News, ABC Radio, basically everywhere (he really is making the rounds):
The Morrison government has been working very closely with the business community right from day one of this pandemic*. As you remember, last year we were able to achieve a break for mortgage repayments, for hundreds of thousands of Australian households. Also, we got rent relief.
That was through a partnership with the business community and it’s been very important for building our momentum for our economic recovery.
We’re now in another stage, our next stage of the recovery plan, with the vaccine rollout and engaging business, as we will today, is a really good opportunity to share ideas but also to work cooperatively in areas like logistics, transport, premises, communication as well as community engagement. And all those things where businesses bring a lot of resources to the table.
*I wish you got closer with the “purpose-built quarantine facility” sector of the business community, to be honest.
Updated
I hear you ask, “But, when are we going to start ‘living with Covid’”, like everyone keeps talking about.
Well, lucky for you, Josh Frydenberg has the answer! (Well, he has words that kinda sound like an answer, and really in politics isn’t that the same thing?):
That’s exactly the work the Doherty Institute has been tasked to do by national cabinet.
I want to underline how important it was last week by national cabinet of a four-stage plan of learning to live with the virus. As we move from the suppression phase to the prevention phase of serious illness, hospital hiation, and, indeed, fatalities, that’s what our goal and that means changes to the way quarantine and the vaccination rollout and the caps for inbound travellers, all of those things will change over time.
And the Doherty Institute is working on precisely those details through extensive scientific modelling. That work will come back to the national cabinet and subsequent decisions will be taken but it is very important we stick to the roadmap as laid out by the prime minister last week*.
*OK, but how exactly do you “follow” a roadmap that has no timelines or targets?
Updated
But don’t think that favouritism is going to tempt the federal treasurer into bringing back jobkeeper. He was just asked about it, and the answer is pretty clear:
I do remind you ... that across the economy, we’ve seen the unemployment rate fall to 5. 1%.
We saw in the month of May 115,000 new jobs being created. We, ahead of any other advanced economy in the world, have seen more people in work today than before the pandemic began, and our economy is bigger today ...
We’ve put in place additional support in the budget in the expectation that there would be further lockdowns and outbreaks. More than $41bn in direct economic support ...
The government has contributed around twice what the states and territories have committed combined. We’ve done the bulk of the heavy lifting and we’ll continue to provide that support right to the end of the pandemic.
Updated
Now I thought parents weren’t supposed to play favourites?
What, you’re telling me that doesn’t apply to the relationship between federal and state governments? Well good, because the treasurer just told the Today show that Gladys Berejiklian was his favourite.
Josh Frydenberg was asked what he thought about the NSW premier likely extending the greater Sydney lockdown for a week:
I back Gladys Berejiklian, out of all the premiers she’s been very effective in what she has been able to achieve even when there are [setbacks].
It is difficult, obviously, and there are challenges posed by the new Delta variant. Obvious it is a hit to the economy as well whenever we see restrictions like we see in NSW and recently in Victoria and Queensland. But this is what the challenges before us are about and that’s why rolling out the vaccine is our priority.
Updated
Pfizer supply to double by end of July: federal treasurer says
Weekly Pfizer supplies will double by the end of the month, says federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
He is speaking on the Today show now:
We have agreements for that supply to come online. Right now we’re getting 300,000 a week. By the end of this month, it is expected to get to 600,000 a week.
And by October, 2m doses of the Pfizer vaccine or mRNA vaccines a week. That’s going to help speed up the rollout, which has already seen more than 8.3m jabs being delivered.
Importantly, the most vulnerable cohorts like the over-70s have seen more than 80% receive the jab. We are rolling out the vaccine as quickly as possible. And bringing businesses to the table today will be very helpful in that regard.
Updated
Good morning to you all, it’s Matilda Boseley here and there is a lot happening this Wednesday morning, so let’s jump in.
We are expecting the NSW government to confirm the greater Sydney lockdown will be extended by a week as the state’s case numbers refuse to drop into the single digits.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian flagged yesterday that Sydneysiders would find out today “what next week looks like” and vowed to do what it takes to ensure this lockdown would be the last (before widespread vaccination is achieved).
It’s believed the state government has decided to extend the two-week lockdown on greater Sydney, Wollongong, Shellharbour, Blue Mountains and the Central Coast, which was due to end on Friday, by another week until 11.59pm on 16 July, but we won’t technically find out for sure until the leader’s regular press conference at 11am AEST.
This also means school students in the lockdown area will be learning from home for the first week of term three, although children of essential workers will be able to attend schools, as has happened in earlier lockdowns.
Students outside those regions should be able to go back to school.
There’s lots to get through so why don’t we jump into the day. If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.
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