With that, we’ll be closing the blog. What a day.
Thanks to Matilda Boseley for running the blog earlier today.
We’ll be back tomorrow morning to bring you all the news as it happens. Thanks for reading and stay safe.
Here’s what happened today:
- The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced vaccine targets for eased restrictions, saying that 70% of the adult population needed to be fully vaccinated before the country moved to ‘Phase B’, also known as ‘Stage two’ of the previously announced roadmap.
- Morrison said the states and the federal government had agreed to the target at national cabinet. The 70% target would need to be reached nationally, and then in any individual state, before restrictions could be eased.
- Under ‘Phase B’, vaccinated people will be placed under fewer restrictions, and there will also be a higher arrival cap for vaccinated returning Australians.
- 80% would be required to reach ‘Phase C’, and vaccinated residents will have no restrictions, vaccinated Australians will be allowed to leave the country, and there will not be “broad metropolitan lockdowns”.
- There is no vaccination target for the final phase, which involves the opening of the international border.
- Morrison refused to set a timeline for when these targets could be achieved.
- The WA premier, Mark McGowan, however said “lockdowns are still possible” under 70% vaccination, and said WA “reserves the right to lockdown” even at 80% vaccination.
- NSW recorded 170 local Covid-19 cases overnight, and non-urgent elective surgery will be postponed in Sydney from Monday. Emergency surgery and urgent elective surgery will continue unaffected.
- A man who was fined before attending last Saturday’s anti-lockdown protests in Sydney has tested positive for Covid-19, according to police.
- The NSW police minister, Mick Fuller, confirmed ADF personnel who are door-knocking in western Sydney do not have to be vaccinated.
- He also said 1,000 police officers will attend tomorrow’s Sydney anti-lockdown protest.
- There are currently 38,523 Australians abroad who wish to return home, 4,569 of whom are considered to be vulnerable.
- Queensland recorded one new local Covid-19 case – a high-school student who was in the community for three days while infectious, and not linked to any known cases.
- Victoria recorded three local Covid-19 cases, one of which was previously reported last night, and all three are linked and were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
Updated
McGowan says WA 'still reserves the right to lockdown' with 80% vaccination
The WA premier, Mark McGowan, was speaking earlier, and responded to Scott Morrison’s announcement that a 70% vaccination target would be required to move to the next stage of Australia’s exist from Covid.
He says that WA, and all the states and territories, agreed to the plan.
However, he notes that the plan means “lockdowns are still possible” and says WA “reserves the right to lockdown”, even if that 70% target is reached. He says WA could lockdown small areas even at 80% vaccination.
McGowan said:
“Lockdowns are still possible ... Under the 70% rule, lockdowns are still possible ... we all agree on that.
“Lockdowns, really, until we are all vaccinated, are the only thing that works”
Even at 80%, he says:
When we hit the 80% target, it would only be for unusual circumstances in specific locations.
We still reserve the right to lockdown in specific locations ... a country town, a local government area.”
He says he expects WA to reach 70% vaccination “late this year”.
Updated
And that concludes the press conference from Scott Morrison.
Morrison is asked if there are any concerns from Treasury about the country going back into a recession.
Earlier, the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said he expected the next quarter to be negative, given the lockdown in NSW. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Morrison says there were no concerns about a recession.
No. The consistent advice I’ve had from Treasury, and my discussions with the Reserve Bank is, Australia comes through the lockdown, Sydney comes through the lockdowns ... and then we expect the December quarter to recover strongly.
There is no fundamental problem with the economy in New South Wales or anywhere else.”
Updated
Morrison is asked whether it is “realistic” that Australia can reach 70%, “given the struggles of other countries”.
He says he believes we can.
I believe we can get there by the end of the year to 70%. The UK has got there. Israel has got there.”
He repeats his comments from yesterday that likened the vaccine take-up to the Olympics.
It’s done as a team effort. We are seeing our Olympians show that team spirit over there in Tokyo, and we will hit these targets with what I believe will be a gold medal run to the end of the year.”
He is also asked, if Australia misses the target, whether he will lose the election.
Morrison:
The last part I don’t even intend to respond to, because it has got nothing to do with vaccinating the country.”
Updated
Morrison has declined to say how long it will take to reach 70% vaccination.
He is asked if we will reach it by the end of the year.
“We’re not going to set timetables on it. I would hope so, but that is entirely up to how the nation responds to this challenge.”
He says it depends on “each and every one of us”.
Earlier he was asked whether at a rate of 200,000 a day, it would take three months to get to 70%.
He also refused to set a timeline.
“We get there when we get there.”
Morrison is asked:
You said there was a clear learning about the importance of short, sharp lockdowns in tackling Delta. Do you now regret applauding premier Gladys Berejiklian for resisting a lockdown last month when case numbers were rising?
Morrison says:
People were acting on the information they had. No-one has perfect hindsight over these issues. And the Delta strain is a strain that we’ve sought to understand and learn and react to and respond to.
We all humbly learn from these things.”
Morrison is asked:
Is there anything stopping individual states from taking a more conservative approach and even if the trigger is reached, delaying, going to the next stage and implementing slightly different measures?
He says that people in those states “would be very disappointed if they were held back”, but does not say the states must move to the next stage.
He adds: “There was certainly a good consensus today that this has to be a national plan and that we had to move together.”
No vaccination target for final stage, including opened international borders
Morrison says there is no vaccination target set for Australia to move to the final stage of the roadmap out of Covid. That final stage would have little to no restrictions, and would be “living” with Covid like any other infectious disease.
He says that the Doherty Institute did not recommend a target for this final stage.
“The final phase involves opening international borders, quarantine for high-risk inbound travel only ... living with Covid.”
He says: “Because once we get above the 80%, the scientific evidence shows that we’re largely then in a place where Covid can be managed consistent with other infectious diseases and of course, we don’t apply those types of restrictions to the flu or many other things like that.”
Updated
80% vaccination target needed to reach 'Phase C'
Under ‘Phase C’, previously known as ‘Stage three’, vaccinated residents will have no restrictions – and vaccinated Australians will be allow to leave the country.
Morrison also says: “You should not expect broad based metropolitan wide lockdowns in Phase C”.
Australia has to reach an 80% vaccination target for this stage.
Under this stage, there will be no cap on vaccinated returning Australians.
We will also increase the capped entry of student, economic and humanitarian visa holders.
We’ll extend the travel bubble for unrestricted travel to new candidate countries and as you know, we’re already working with Singapore to that end.”
Vaccinated people will have eased restrictions under 'Phase B'
Morrison confirms that once we get to ‘Phase B’, vaccinated people will be placed under fewer restrictions.
“The details of that are still to be worked through,” he says. “They are still to be determined.
“We’ve established a small working group involving the Northern Territory, Victoria and Tasmania, and they will lead the work on that process.
“So if you get vaccinated, there will be special rules that apply to you. Why? Because if you’re vaccinated, you present less of a public health risk. You are less likely to get the virus. You are less likely to transmit it.”
There will also be a higher arrival cap for vaccinated travellers (this was announced last month).
70% vaccination target needed to move to 'Phase B' of roadmap out of Covid
Morrison has just announced the vaccination target that is required to move to eased restrictions – under the four-stage plan he announced last month.
That target is 70% of eligible people – and that must include two doses (ie full vaccination).
He says states can only move to the next stage (“Phase B”) if the whole country reaches that average on a national level, and then that state itself also reaches 70%.
“All of Australia has to get there together on average,” he says.
We will get to the next phase when Australia reaches 70% of the eligible population who are double-dose vaccinated.”
So, it is like a two-key process. To get to that next phase, all of Australia has to get there together on average and then beyond that, each state or territory will pass into that second and third phase space when they reach those thresholds.”
The target needed for the next stage, “Phase C”, is 80%.
Updated
Morrison says the states have agreed that “no state ... is required to increase restrictions beyond where they are right now”.
He says we are still under phase 1 – suppression – of the four-phase roadmap he announced last month.
We will exit that stage once we hit a vaccination target, which he is yet to announce.
Updated
One in four people over 50 are fully vaccinated and 40% of those over 70. Of those over 70, 80% have had a first dose, he says.
Scott Morrison gives national cabinet update
Morrison is speaking now.
He says the commonwealth and the states have “agreed in principle the plan and the targets” for the roadmap out of Covid that he announced last month.
“Last month I outlined a pathway together with my national cabinet colleagues, a pathway that would take us to where we want to go.
“Tonight we’ve agreed in principle the plan that will get us there and the targets that will get us there.”
Updated
While we’re still waiting on Scott Morrison to speak shortly, the WA premier, Mark McGowan, is also scheduled to speak in about 10 minutes.
They may overlap – or McGowan may start a bit later. We’ll try to bring you the best of both as they happen.
south-west Sydney friends wanting to get vaccinated - the ballroom at Bankstown Sports Club has been converted into a mass vaccination hub, aiming to vaccinate 1,000 people a day with AstraZeneca. Walk-ins will be accepted. pic.twitter.com/VxBvUOnNqj
— Shane Bazzi (@shanebazzi) July 30, 2021
We expect to hear from Scott Morrison at 5.30pm AEST. That’s in about half an hour.
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 30, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new and updated venues of concern associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/nKrlbKtLjG
Non-urgent elective surgery to be postponed in Sydney
Non-urgent elective surgery in public hospitals will be postponed from Monday, NSW Health has just announced.
The decision affects greater Sydney – but not the Illawarra, Shoalhaven or Central Coast local health districts.
Emergency surgery and urgent elective surgery will continue unaffected.
NSW Health said in a statement:
Non-urgent elective surgery will be temporarily postponed at public hospitals in Greater Sydney, excluding the Illawarra Shoalhaven and Central Coast Local Health Districts, from Monday, 2 August.
This measure was previously implemented in March 2020 following a decision by National Cabinet, and will ensure the resources and capacity required for the Covid-19 response are maintained during the current outbreak.
All emergency surgery and urgent elective surgery will continue unaffected. There is currently sufficient ICU capacity for all patients who require intensive care, with more than 500 beds available throughout the system.
As part of its comprehensive planning for its pandemic response, NSW Health has the capacity to quadruple its current ICU capacity if required. There would also be ventilators available for each of these ICU beds.
Those waiting for non-urgent elective surgery impacted by the changes will be contacted and encouraged to reach out to their referring doctor should their condition in any way deteriorate, so they can be reviewed and re-prioritised to a more urgent category if required.
Postponing non-urgent surgery will support the state’s healthcare workers as they manage the demands of the Covid-19 response, providing increased capacity to support health services for the people of Greater Sydney.
NSW Health has a very integrated health system and local health districts and hospitals work together on a daily basis to ensure the optimal delivery of healthcare services. All local health districts have workforce surge plans ready to respond to the pandemic, in the event that cases of community transmission are identified locally.
Updated
We are still waiting for Scott Morrison to speak after today’s national cabinet meeting.
As we await news out of this afternoon’s national cabinet meeting, it’s worth mentioning that Peter Dutton has made a pretty direct appeal to people across Australia not to wait for Pfizer, arguing the Delta variant could spread quickly across the country.
The defence minister was asked during a doorstop on the Gold Coast today to respond to comments from one of the creators of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine that lives may be lost because of mixed messages in Australia over the vaccine (Prof Sarah Gilbert made the comments in an interview with the Nine newspapers and the ABC).
Dutton replied:
My response is that AstraZeneca is safe and people should have that vaccine as quickly as possible. As we are seeing in New South Wales the Delta strain can spread very quickly. You only need one or two super-spreader events before you lose control of this thing, and Delta is very different than the Alpha strain. It has a bigger impact on younger people, and if you are eligible for AstraZeneca get it today. Go and speak to your pharmacist or speak to your doctor, make sure that you get the vaccine today because if you think that you can wait and that this is not going to come to a place like Queensland or WA or to Victoria, it is going to. That’s the reality of it. We are a population where people move around each day; people coming home to Australia from overseas. We need to be realistic about that and you’re not going to have weeks to plan for this, as we’ve seen in New South Wales.”
Dutton added:
If you’re living in an area outside of New South Wales at the moment, look at what is happening. Don’t hesitate. Go and speak to your doctor, speak to your pharmacist, and if their advice is to get vaccinated – don’t listen to some of the rubbish online and to the extremists in this debate – listen to the doctors and be vaccinated as quickly as you can.”
While Dutton’s comments are broadly in line with what Scott Morrison has said (both have urged people to speak to their doctor or pharmacist in order to make an informed choice), the defence minister’s language is more direct.
Updated
Restrictions essential until Australia reaches 'extremely high rates' of vaccination
New modelling from the Burnet Institute suggests public health restrictions will remain essential for controlling Covid-19 until Australia achieves “extremely high rates of vaccination coverage”.
The institute modelled the effect of long-term control strategies on the Victorian population, finding that with high vaccine coverage, light restrictions – such as masks, optional working from home, and density limits – would be enough to control outbreaks of the Delta variant if introduced early enough.
“High vaccine coverage” was a vaccination rate of 95% in people aged 60 and older, and 70% in people 59 and younger.
The modelling assumed a vaccine efficacy of 80% in preventing infections, and noted that “additional restrictions on home visitors would be required if the vaccine was less effective … vaccine coverage was lower, or children under 12 were not eligible.”
A Grattan Institute report released yesterday recommended that Australia continue its zero Covid strategy until 80% of the population is vaccinated, predicting it could take until March if children are excluded from the vaccine rollout.
Updated
Shares in Origin Energy have tumbled as much as 10% this morning after it slashed the value of its assets, including Australia’s biggest coal-fired power plant, by more than $1.5bn as cheap power from renewables floods the national grid.
Origin announced the writedown and lower than expected earnings next year to the Australian Securities Exchange, before recovering slightly to be down about 7.85% about 12.45pm.
Ben Butler has the story:
Updated
Some fuller detail from NSW Health on the single bubble that begins tomorrow:
From 31 July a single-person ‘bubble’ will commence in which a person who lives with no other adult can nominate a nominated visitor who is permitted to visit the single person at their residence and/or travel with the person for exercise/outdoor recreation. Both people would be exempt from the current car-pooling prohibition and they do not have to wear a mask when doing so.
If the single person lives in one of the eight LGAs of concern, the nominated visitor must live within 5km of the single person. If the single person lives in Greater Sydney outside one of the eight LGAs, the nominated visitor must reside in Greater Sydney but cannot live in one of the eight LGAs.
A nominated visitor of a single person must be someone who has not been nominated as another person’s nominated visitor. Single people cannot change who their nominated visitor is.
NSW Health continues to urge everyone throughout NSW, to get tested immediately if they have even the mildest of cold-like symptoms. High rates of testing are critical to detecting transmission and prevent further spread of COVID-19 in the community.”
Updated
Head of home affairs likened to The Hollowmen after questions on international border re-opening
Keneally said the ministerial brief, obtained under FoI, was the first time she’d seen a notional 1 November 2021 international border reopening date nominated by government. She pressed the point of where that date came from.
Pezzullo:
Subject to undertaking that textual exegesis of the document that you’ve got in front of you, just to remind myself of the context of that fragment, it would almost certainly have been – well I can say assuredly to you that it would have been our internal planning guidance in relation to the deployment of a digital passenger declaration capability.”
He said that occurred prior to the Delta outbreaks. He and the ABF commissioner was planning on a “limited phased entry, were the government to direct us of course, of travellers based on a vaccine assurance”. He said closing the border was a “relatively brute force operation” whereas reopening was “more like a Swiss watch”.
Pressed on whether 1 November was still the notional target date for reopening the international border, or there was a different date for planning purposes, Pezzullo cited “the changing nature of the virus” and said he would “take on notice the amount I’m in a position to disclose to the committee on our ongoing planning efforts”.
Pezzullo said the national cabinet endorsed a plan for a four-step approach to reopening outlined how work would be done “very gradually in a stepped way” towards reopening the international border. These would be based on conditions rather than pre-determined dates.
Labor committee chair Katy Gallagher: “So what is that date?”
Pezzullo: “It’s x, y and z.”
Lambie:
What is the reasoning at your status, you are not answering that question? You are getting paid more than enough and I do find it really disrespectful as a senator, you are not answering that question, let alone to the people of Australia. So at least give us a goddamn answer and a decent answer as to why you won’t give us that date.”
Pezzullo said he was working to the decisions of elected officials. The prime minister had set up a national cabinet:
“The national cabinet has decided to take a conditions rather than a date specific approach to the national plan to transition out of Covid … I have no directions or instructions from the Australian government nor a consensus from the national governments of Australia as to when those triggers will be, in date terms, realised.”
If the government no longer had a date, Gallagher said, it should be an easy question to answer.
Pezzullo: “I don’t want to be as blunt as that.”
Gallagher:
I feel like I’m in a Hollowmen episode, Mr Pezzullo ... We are getting frustrated with the unwillingness to provide simple information ... I just can’t see why it is a state secret.”
Updated
A correction on earlier tweet we put in the blog:
OK NSW police now say this man was stopped *before* attending the protest on Saturday. Have deleted the original Tweet, in which I said it he was stopped was *after* attending. Apologies etc. pic.twitter.com/vtcjq8O0LB
— Michael McGowan (@mmcgowan) July 30, 2021
Things have deteriorated at the Covid-19 committee hearing, with the Labor chair accusing the top home affairs official of acting like a character “in a Hollowmen episode” and with the independent senator Jacqui Lambie demanding that he “give us a goddamn answer”.
The exchange at the Senate hearing relates to vaccination rates and when the international border may reopen. It stems from a document that suggested that, as of the end of March, home affairs had been working towards a notional reopening date of 1 November.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally quoted from the incoming ministerial brief provided to the new minister for home affairs, Karen Andrews, in late March. In it, the department of home affairs secretary, Michael Pezzullo, said that in light of Australia’s vaccine rollout the future of international air passenger arrival caps would be discussed at national cabinet on 9 April.
When asked what he meant, Pezzullo said: “I’d have to remind myself as to the context of that sentence sitting within a larger paragraph. I don’t instantly recall.”
Keneally said that as of the end of March, only 600,000 Australians had been fully vaccinated, and asked: “Were you flagging a concern about the low vaccination rate?”
Pezzullo:
“No. No. I’ve got a distinct memory of that, because if I had been concerned I wouldn’t have just mentioned it en passant in a sentence in a brief. I would have raised it more forthrightly in various fora.”
Keneally persisted, saying she was just trying to understand what he meant by ‘in light of the vaccination rollout’.
Pezzullo:
Well if you’re asking me for a textual analysis of a document that’s gone forward under my signature, I’ll look at the text.”
He added that he would need to contextualise the meaning of that “fragment of a sentence” by reading the text.
Keneally pointed to another part of the same brief that said Australian Border Force and the department “are working closely with other relevant agencies for a notional 1 November 2021 reopening of the international border”. She asked where that date came from.
Pezzullo:
Well, again, it’s a fragment of a larger text. So I’ll look at the text and recall.”
Updated
More than 400 Australian children without a family group stranded overseas
There are 438 children outside a family group who are currently registered as wishing to return home to Australia from overseas.
This category has sometimes been described as unaccompanied minors, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are living alone. They may be staying with extended family.
The 438 figure includes 191 in India. Tony Sheehan of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said since the end of the temporary travel ban on 15 May, 84 such children have returned on facilitated commercial flights from India.
Updated
We reported earlier that of the 38,523 Australians currently registered as wishing to return home from abroad, 4,569 are considered to be vulnerable.
Officials now have provided the Covid-19 committee with a further breakdown of the location of many of these vulnerable Australians:
- India: 497 assessed as vulnerable
- UK: 1124
- US: 107
- Thailand: 102
- Pakistan: 126
- Philippines: 242
Tony Sheehan of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said he did not have the Indonesia data in front of him, but he believed there were about 350 people assessed as vulnerable out of the 780 registered as wishing to return home from Indonesia.
He said, subject to approvals, officials were working to arrange a facilitated flight to carry people from Denpasar to Howard Springs on 18 August. Officials were focused on vulnerable Australians in Indonesia.
Over the past week, Indonesia has reported more than 1,500 deaths a day, including a record 2,069 deaths on Tuesday, but the toll is feared to be higher, Reuters reported.
Updated
Man who may have attended anti-lockdown protest in Sydney tests positive for Covid-19
A man who was fined before* last Saturday’s anti-lockdown protests in Sydney has tested positive for Covid-19, according to police.
Police also allege he was not at home this morning.
OK NSW police now say this man was stopped *before* attending the protest on Saturday. Have deleted the original Tweet, in which I said it he was stopped was *after* attending. Apologies etc. pic.twitter.com/vtcjq8O0LB
— Michael McGowan (@mmcgowan) July 30, 2021
*This post initially said he was fined after the protest. It has been corrected to say he was fined before.
Updated
Supporters of refugees who are currently on hunger strike while in detention are gathering today at 5pm in Melbourne, outside the hospital where some of them are in for treatment.
Ten refugees, who were brought to Australia under Medevac, are on hunger strike while in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation. They have not eaten since 15 July, and are demanding an immediate release from detention.
Three of those hunger strikers are now in hospital. Another two have been hospitalised in recent days before being discharged and returned to detention.
Protesters are gathering outside the Northern hospital in the Melbourne suburb of Epping in solidarity today.
Updated
Returning Olympians will quarantine at Howard Springs
About 360 members of the Australian Olympic team in Tokyo will quarantine at the Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory, officials have confirmed.
During an exchange at the Senate’s Covid-19 committee, officials played down the idea that the group would displace other returning Australians.
When asked to break down the 18 flights expected to bring people to the Howard Springs facility in August, Dfat deputy secretary Tony Sheehan said two facilitated flights from Tokyo were organised by the Australian Olympic Committee. Those flights were bringing members of the Olympic party back to Australia, and Howard Springs had agreed to take them for the two weeks of quarantine.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally: “Are they displacing stranded Australians?”
Sheehan: “No … and they are of course returning Australians. They were being discussed previously before other flights were organised, so I think the Northern Territory has done an excellent job of ensuring that the use of Howard Springs will be maximised through the period.”
Photograph: Glenn Campbell/EPA
Updated
Hi all, it is Naaman Zhou with you now. A big round of applause for Matilda Boseley who has piloted the blog every morning this week through such truly unceasing news.
With that, I shall leave you for the day!
But don’t worry, the enchanted Naaman Zhou will be taking you through to the weekend.
The disparate nature of the QAnon conspiracy theory would make it difficult for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to investigate people who believe in the conspiracy theory for possible election interference, the Senate select committee on foreign interference on social media has heard.
Committee chair, Labor senator Jenny McAllister, asked PM&C’s first assistant secretary for national security, Lachlan Colquohoun, whether disinformation campaigns from people associated or aligned with the QAnon conspiracy theory would be considered foreign influence. Colquohoun said while all Five Eyes countries had investigated QAnon, it was not a group on its own:
That’s a deeply complicated question due to the nature of QAnon, noting that it’s not an organisation. It’s simply a group of conspiracy theorists, many of whom disagree with each other, and actually have countering the arguments which they say are QAnon-aligned.
I don’t know how I as the head of National Security Division could task an agency to look at the activities of QAnon writ large because QAnon is not an actual thing ... that said, the threat of people who associate themselves with QAnon has been investigated by five eyes intelligence communities for many years.
He said if foreign actors picked up and amplified misinformation propagated by people associated with QAnon, then that would be considered foreign influence.
Updated
Dfat reveals numbers of stranded Australians by country
The Covid-19 committee has turned to the issue of stranded Australians.
Tony Sheehan, a deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, says there are currently 38,523 Australians registered with the department as seeking to return home from abroad.
He adds an extra nugget of detail:
Of those, 6,039 have told us they don’t wish to return until the 4th quarter.
That means October, November or December this year. Labor’s Kristina Keneally asks about this 4th quarter number, which hasn’t previously been reported when Dfat gave updates on the tally of stranded Australians.
Sheehan said periodic reviews had added questions for Australians so they could give Dfat more information, and not everyone wished to return immediately.
Of the 38,523 Australians currently registered as wishing to return home from abroad, 4,569 are considered to be vulnerable.
Sheehan has also provided a breakdown of some of the top countries in which there are stranded Australians:
- India 10,268
- UK 6,405
- US 2440
- Thailand 1078
- Pakistan 1018
- Philippines 994
- Indonesia 780 (including 95 who have said don’t want to return until fourth quarter)
Updated
A much more polite 12.31 pm release of the ACT numbers today. Giving the dark NSW pressers a little breathing time.
Zero, to no one’s surprise!
ACT COVID-19 update (30 July 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) July 30, 2021
▪️ Cases today: 0
▪️ Active cases: 0
▪️ Total cases: 124
▪️ Recovered: 121
▪️ Lives lost: 3
▪️ Test results (past 24 hours): 1,011
▪️ Negative tests: 268,290
▪️ Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 134,095
ℹ️ https://t.co/2rCcWDk4wl pic.twitter.com/bSaK4IkvRD
A local mayor has entered territory no state or federal politician has ventured after apologising for the blackbirding practices that helped build Queensland’s sugarcane industry, reports Nick Gibbs from AAP.
Bundaberg mayor Jack Dempsey said at a ceremony on Friday morning that the practice of “forcing indentured labour into Queensland cane fields was equivalent to slavery and abhorrent”.
Today I wish to extend a sincere apology on behalf of the Bundaberg region community for the abuse which occurred in ‘blackbirding’ people from Vanuatu and other Pacific Islands to work in the Queensland sugarcane industry ...
Our sugarcane industry was built on the backs of Pacific Island labour, along with much of our infrastructure such as rock walls, which are still visible today.
His formal apology to the region’s South Sea Islander community coincides with Vanuatu’s independence day and comes as Bundaberg Regional Council enters a sister city agreement with Luganville in the Pacific Island nation.
I sincerely regret the pain caused to families and communities in Vanuatu and other Island nations ...
Saying sorry is necessary for healing and to move forward in friendship. Our industries today rely on voluntary seasonal labour. This must always be a relationship based on respect, courtesy, fairness and trust.
Dempsey said the colonial era “wasn’t kind” to Vanuatu, stating its islands were exploited for their natural and human resources since the Spanish arrived on the Island of Santo in the 1600s.
The British colony of Queensland was one of the exploiters in the 1800s and this continued into the early years of the Australian Federation ...
I’m referring to the practice of employing indentured labour in the canefields.
The historic apology comes after prime minister Scott Morrison drew widespread criticism after stating “there was no slavery in Australia” during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement last year.
Morrison said his comments were about how NSW was settled on principles which included that the colony was not to have slavery.
“My comments were not intended to give offence and if they did, I deeply regret that and apologise for that,” he said at the time.
He acknowledged “all sorts of hideous practices” had been waged against Indigenous people.
In Australia we know we have had problems in our past. We have acknowledged those.
Updated
Christmas Island is not an option as a quarantine site for Australians returning from abroad because of its distance from a tertiary-level hospital, the Senate’s Covid-19 committee has been told.
The committee has been looking into any progress towards setting up new quarantine sites in addition state-run hotel quarantine.
Senator Jacqui Lambie asked about Christmas Island. Alison Frame, a deputy secretary at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, said officials had looked at Christmas Island but it did not meet the national criteria of being close to an international airport and most importantly proximity to a tertiary hospital.
Lambie:
Why is it good enough to put refugees over there for years on end … but you can’t bring our own travellers back?
Frame:
I’m saying, senator, that the specific medical needs of people who come back at higher risk of having Covid require additional considerations about proximity to a tertiary hospital.
The committee has also been told there are currently 1,279 people accommodated at the Howard Springs quarantine facility in the Northern Territory, although that number is likely to ramp up in August due to the scheduling of repatriation flights.
Officials explained that while 2,000 was the absolute maximum capacity, it was practically difficult to reach that level, because the facility was divided into “neighbourhoods”. Each neighbourhood held arrivals from a different repatriation flight, and any spare accommodation in that neighbourhood was not filled by subsequent arrivals.
Updated
Just jumping back to the federal government’s committee on foreign influence on social media for a second.
The prime minister’s office sat on responses to committee questions about the government’s review of social media app TikTok for six months, the Senate select committee on foreign influence on social media has heard.
In July 2020, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, told 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell the government was looking at TikTok “very closely” given its ties to China, and then in August said there was “no evidence” to suggest that “there is any misuse of any people’s data that has occurred, at least from an Australian perspective”.
In October, the Senate committee asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet how many reviews had been conducted into TikTok, which the department only responded to over nine months later, on Thursday, ahead of appearing before the committee on Friday.
PM&C first assistant secretary for national security Lachlan Colquhoun told the committee the long delay had been due to awaiting clearance from the prime minister’s office, since January this year. He said the PM’s office had asked for minor amendments to the responses:
I can tell you though that the prime minister’s office did ask for some very minor amendments to be made to actually make the answers more fulsome that was done yesterday.
Colquhoun said he was aware of two reviews into TikTok that had been undertaken by the Australian government, one by Australian Signals Directorate in mid-2020, and another internal review of its use by the Department of Home Affairs. Both reviews had already been publicly reported.
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🥇 “I’m so proud of you!” Cate Campbell to Emma McKeon 🥰🥰 #tokyo2020
— Mikey Nicholson (@Mikey_Nicholson) July 30, 2021
Australia has just scored a gold and a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle!
They were won by Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell respectively.
Full details in the Guardian Olympic live blog:
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Federal court finds against Qantas outsourcing
Qantas’ decision to outsource 2,000 of its ground-handling jobs was in part driven by the fact that many of the workers were union members with stronger bargaining capabilities, the federal court has ruled.
In a partial victory for the Transport Workers’ Union’s challenge of Qantas’ decision, Justice Michael Lee said it was difficult to establish the motivations behind the outsourcing decision, but that he was not convinced by the airline’s evidence that the decision was not in some way made to limit workers taking industrial action.
The judgment noted that the TWU argued the airline took advantage of a “vanishing window of opportunity to rid itself of the influence of the Union” presented by the Covid pandemic.
It is unclear what impact the judgment will have on the workers, with the TWU and Qantas set to argue how the matter should proceed.
While Lee said the legal action was not a “test case” on outsourcing, the TWU’s national secretary, Michael Kaine, heralded the decision as a “watershed moment for workers in Australia” .
Kaine said:
The federal court has ruled that workers cannot be bypassed by employers like Qantas which want to drive down wages and conditions. This ruling calls a halt to shifting responsibility for workers and outsourcing them onto third parties on a low cost, take-it or leave-it contract.
Workers whose lives have been put into turmoil after being kicked out of work will be expecting their jobs as soon as possible and we will be seeking meetings with Qantas to ensure this happens.
Senior Qantas management have serious questions to answer after this judgment. The judge made clear that Qantas targeted its ground workers for outsourcing because they were united to fight for decent standards at the airline.
Qantas has been contacted for comment. It has previously maintained the outsourcing measure was a necessary financial measure that could save it $100m anually.
While Qantas claims to have lost $2.7bn last year, the TWU has called for greater federal government involvement in the airline’s operations as it remains on track to receive $2bn in government support during the pandemic.
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No requirement for ADF door knockers to be vaccinated
NSW police minister Mick Fuller confirmed earlier in the press conference that it is not a requirement for the ADF personal that will be door-knocking Covid-19 positive people’s homes to ensure isolation compliance to be vaccinated.
Chant has been asked if she is worried this could create an infection risk.
Police and defence will follow occupational health and safety requirements.
Clearly, we are wanting to ascertain that people are at home. Procedures will be put in place to ensure staff are appropriate personal protective equipment and don’t actually enter the house.
We’re not talking about police or defence personnel entering the house, we’re talking about an assurance someone is actually home and precautions that people are wearing masks and distance.
You don’t need to be very close to the front door of the premises to actually identify.
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Chant has been asked if she will consider recommending the TGA approve the use of at- home Covid-19 tests. These have been used widely overseas, but many have questioned the accuracy of the results.
Obviously I would be keen that the TGA, local appropriate bodies, looks at the evidence. And looks at the local context. At this time, we want to use all tools available to us.
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And here is the breakdown of today’s NSW cases by isolation status.
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Google says there is no indication any foreign influence operations it has stopped were targeted at Australia.
While Facebook this morning said it had found four operations targeting countries including Australia since 2017, Google’s director of law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado, told the Senate select committee on foreign influence on social media that Google had not found any campaigns targeting Australia:
As of May 2021 We have disabled influence campaigns around the world and originating from China, Russia, Iran, Egypt, India, Serbia, Indonesia, Ecuador, among others.
Significantly, we have not found any indication that these influence operations targeted Australia, but we remain vigilant and ensure the resources are scaled up during periods of heightened concern, including, of course, around elections.
Salgado said globally a big campaign out of China is seeking to push the view that China’s response to Covid-19 is superior to the US:
A group that we’ve identified and have published about comes out of China, it’s mostly very spammy content, mostly intended to amplify that the way the Chinese are addressing Covid is superior, and the way that the United States is addressing it is not. It doesn’t appear on our networks to have very much visibility, it’s not very effective or gaining traction, but it is voluminous and we take it down as we as it comes up and then we report on it.
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Questions have turned once again to this extremely tragic situation where families have attempted to get help for their Covid-19 infected relative too late, in some cases when they have already died.
Reporter:
We’ve heard that people are presenting to hospital when it’s too late. Why is that? Is it because people are scared if they present to health authorities they will be taken away from their families?
Chant:
I think we haven’t had the opportunity [to discuss that with them yet].
I’m just struck by the tragedy of it, that we’ve had a number of people that are presented to hospital severely unwell and sometimes dead.
I just think that people need to know that, with Covid, you can deteriorate quite quickly.
I would say that our health services are among the best in the world. We do provide good care. There shouldn’t be any barriers to people ringing an ambulance, coming to healthcare, getting tested. We have great health resources.
I want to reassure the community will be treated with dignity and respect. Obviously, there will be infection control, procedures put around you to keep staff safe. But we also will accommodate your needs and your wishes. So please do not have any hesitation in seeking care and testing.
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Berejiklian says the state’s weekly vaccination capacity is steadily increasing.
Our capacity is gone from about 60,000 a week and we will be getting around up to 350,000 a week by the way we’re going in of all the mass hubs.
We also want to take the jabs to the community in south-western Sydney and western Sydney.
We are really keen to make sure we make things happen and I will have further things to say about that this week.
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Back to the student vaccinations for a second, Gladys Berekijlian says the vaccination hub will be available for AstraZeneca doses after the 20,000 year 12s have got their Pfizer jabs.
We are keen, in those eight local government areas of concern, to get year 12 face-to-face from the 16 August and that’s why I’m pleased to say we’ve moved heaven and Earth to get what’s available from the 9 August.
During that week, we will be vaccinating around 19,200 HSC students in those eight local government areas.
And after that time, that arena will be available to provide maximum AstraZeneca jabs every day, and will be able to deal with whoever wants to book into that system because the capacity is there, increasing our capacity every week, but what I can’t control is the number of doses we get.
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NSW has enlisted the help of the ADF to patrol the streets and enforce lockdown compliance in the eight hotspot LGA’s in Syndey’s south-west.
This area has a high population of people who are immigrants and refugees, including many who have travelled to Australia to escape war-torn countries.
A reporter has asked the premier if she is concerned that putting troops on the streets of these communities could “backfire”.
Berejiklian:
It’s sensitive but we’re working through the ADF with the bushfires and floods and they have been involved in hotel quarantine and other parts of the state so this is just an extension of our compliance ... we have thousands and thousands of close contacts and can’t afford to have at least one of them out there in the community in case they have the virus.
People while infectious can cause a spiral, a ripple effect which causes a major setback. That’s why I’m so strongly appealing to everybody, please don’t go to the protest activity tomorrow, it’s going to prolong the pain for all of us. Surely care about your loved ones. Don’t give them a death sentence.
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Hmmmm we haven’t heard about shortages of AstraZeneca vaccine doses in a little while, but Hazzard has just been asked about a rural pharmacist who was only given 200 jabs’ worth of AZ and has been told he won’t be receiving more until 13 August.
The health minister says this is dependent on supply from the federal government.
Hazzard:
Let me make it clear, the NSW government is absolutely thankful for the pharmacists out offering the vaccines to that local residents ... but the bottom line is, the federal government has to step up and give us more vaccines here in NSW.
The premier made the point earlier, there is a certain allocation they have talked about giving us over the next few months.
My strong message is the vaccines are needed now and we need to get them out. We are seeing a lot more people who are very willing to get the vaccine because they are seeing the horrors of what can happen in the community.
I want to say thank you to the pharmacists, thank you to the GP’s, and all the health staff, but we need more vaccines.
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Covid-19 positive people have died before NSW was aware of their case, health minister says
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard has reiterated the message that those with symptoms should come forward early, saying there have been scenarios where people have died from Covid-19 before NSW Health was aware of their situation.
Very sadly, we are seeing more families coming in with a family member who is presenting not alive but dead. That is a terrible situation.
We are hearing some families, particularly in south-west Sydney and western Sydney, are staying at home when they have symptoms and not coming out and getting tested.
Can I say to those families, our government, the NSW government, is perhaps not like the government that you have lived under overseas. We are here to support you and our health system is here to support you.
If you have any symptoms at all, please, come and get tested. If someone is sick, bring them to the hospital. Preferably, ring ahead and bring them in.
We are there to help you. Do not sit at home and worry about the fact you have done anything wrong. We want you to be looked after and we will look after you. Come forward, please.
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Guardian Australia’s Anne Davies has asked if more needs to be done to ensure household contacts of cases are aware of their requirements to isolate and to ensure families have adequate support to quarantine.
Chant:
A series of supports of been put in place. The special health accommodation which has been in place for a long time as part of our response has stood up additional capacity.
That is because many people in the area cannot effectively isolate ... A lot of contacts and cases in specific accommodation and the advantage is those individuals be provided with care and closely monitored.
In terms of other cases, they are contacted and linked to cases ... each of the local health districts has a clinical care team that reaches out and checks on the welfare of individuals and follow them up clinically and can link to the local emergency arrangements around other welfare considerations.
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Reporter:
Given the huge numbers we have seen over the past few days, would you still be looking at the case numbers and thinking there is a higher chance that some of these numbers potentially were contracting the disease at the protest?
Chant:
We’re looking at aspects that can be driving it. The intelligence I’ve given you every day are the areas we are concerned with. We have seen transmission associated with a number of shops in the Campsie facility and there was action to close out the Campsie Mall but what we are highlighting is to give people messages they can act on.
When you go and pick up your coffee ... make sure you do not walk into the shop if there are few people queueing. Queueing outdoors is much safer.
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An infected person may have attended anti-lockdown protests, NSW CHO says
It’s a little confusing but Chant has confirmed someone who at least planned on attending last week’s anti-lockdown protest has since been diagnosed with Covid-19.
If investigations reveal they did in fact attend, they would have been infectious while in the crowds.
Chant:
I am not aware of any cases that have arisen from the protest but many people may choose not to disclose that.
In terms of the protest, we have not seen any documented numbers but we are following up one person to ascertain whether they actually had made it to the protest.
Police did turn that person away and issued an infringement to them. We are currently working with police operationally to locate that person and determine whether they actually did subsequently attend the protest.
There will be a public health response should that eventuate. We are working hand in glove with police to resolve that issue.
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Covid-19 positive man attended worksite, NSW police say
NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller says a young man allegedly knowingly attended a worksite after testing positive to Covid-19.
An example this morning, a Covid compliance check, young man who was Covid positive was out of the house and he had gone to work on a building site.
That sort of behaviour is exactly why we need strong health orders, law enforcement and defence, getting the highest level of compliance. One person could spread the virus. All the workers [could] go home and spread it to their families so, again, just one example of why we need to ensure is compliance checks.
We still issued infringements overnight, over 300, half of those, with people not wearing masks, that was across New South Wales. At that one example. But we continue to show strength in enforcing health orders.
Reporter:
Has the building site been shut down?
Fuller:
This was half an hour before the press conference but of course there is a whole range of issues, police will be going to job site, working with contact tracing, it is just an example.
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Fuller says this weekend’s protest is not expected to attract the same numbers as last weekend’s.
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1,000 police officers will attend tomorrow's Sydney anti-lockdown protest
Police commissioner Mick Fuller has joined the premier’s pleas for people to stay home on Saturday and not join an anti-lockdown protest.
Ladies and gents, reiterating the concerns, please don’t come into Sydney tomorrow to protest. If you do, you will be met by up to 1,000 police who will be ready to deal with you, whether that be via the health orders or other laws.
We know that this is such an important time for New South Wales in terms of winning the battle against the virus and coming into town to protest is not the answer. If you think you can [split] from that and protest somewhere else in greater Sydney, that force will be mobile and will be waiting to you. You have been given plenty of warnings.
The strike force from last week locked up over 60 individuals and issued over 200 infringements and that will continue so, if you turn up, you can expect the same sense of force.
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NSW will vaccinate 20,000 year 12 students over five days, premier says
Berejiklian has announced an ambitious plan to vaccinate year 12 students from the eight hotspot LGAs from early August.
I’m pleased to say that from the 9 August Qdos Bank Arena will be available to vaccinate our students in those areas of concern so there are about 20,000 students will be getting them done from the Monday to Friday, getting all those jabs in of those high school students doing year 12 in those eight local government areas of concern and pleasingly. once we’ve jabbed the year 12 students in that week, after that point, it will become another mass vaccination hub.
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Chant has urged people to get tested for Covid-19 and contact the health department for hospital care earlier, saying waiting can reduce the chance of a good health outcome.
Tragically, we’ve seen people present very late for care. When people present late, we haven’t got the opportunity to provide them with the great care that our health services can provide, stop outcomes that can be much poorer.
My key messages, don’t delay getting tested. Get tested, as with Covid, you can deteriorate very quickly. Just please, never be fearful of coming to a health services for care.
We have great health services, and provide incredibly good care.
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Nearly 60 people in ICU with Covid-19, Kerry Chant says
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has stepped up with the daily hospitalisation numbers.
There are 187 Covid cases in hospital with 58 in intensive care, 24 required ventilation.
I think this underscores the severity of Covid. It is critical that we continue to follow the help advice and work together to see these numbers drop.
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NSW premier urges people not to protest tomorrow
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged people not to consider attending an anti-lockdown protest planned for tomorrow, saying they may be giving their loved ones “a death sentence”.
Can I please warn against anybody taking up illegal activity and protesting tomorrow.
Your actions will hurt, forget about the rest of us, but you could be taking the disease home and passing it on to your parents, your siblings, your brothers and sisters or anybody you might have limited contact with.
Do not give those you love the most a death sentence. This Delta strain is contagious, it’s deadly and it’s affecting people of all ages, but we also know NSW, that alongside these restrictions, our biggest weapon against the virus is vaccination.
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Berejiklian:
Obviously, today’s number is considerably less than yesterday but don’t assume it will be back up tomorrow because while there are so many pictures in the community, we expect to see those numbers bounce around in what we do need is not just the stabilisation but of course, for the numbers to go down.
NSW records 170 local Covid-19 cases overnight
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now and has announced a significant drop in cases from yesterday’s total.
To 8pm last night, we had 170 cases in the community. Unfortunately at least 42 of those were infectious for the time. And obviously that is the number we need to see come down.
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We are just standing by for the NSW daily Covid-19 update.
Facebook says they are better equipped to prevent foreign influence campaigns in lead-up to next federal election
Facebook has admitted it did not act fast enough on foreign influence campaigns on its platform in the lead-up to the 2016 US election, but has said Australia is in a better place for our upcoming federal election.
At a Senate select committee hearing on foreign influence on social media on Friday, Facebook’s global head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, was asked a question by Labor senator Jenny McAllister about the new book An Ugly Truth, which details allegations that Facebook sat on information it knew about foreign interference on its platform in the lead up to the US 2016 election.
He said it wasn’t just Facebook that was too slow to react in 2016, but everyone. He said it has since improved:
In 2018, working together with partners and industry and based on a tip from law enforcement we found and removed Russian operations targeting the United States days in advance of the vote. And in 2020, we removed 16 total networks, coming from Iran, Russia, one from China, and a number from within the United States that were targeting public debate of the 20 elections months in advance and some even more than a year in advance, and so that progression, I think is an encouraging sign, we have to be very self-aware that the threat actors in this space.
They don’t give up, and they innovate. We know that they’re trying new techniques we’ve seen them evolve their techniques multiple times and I’ve had to move quickly to stay ahead of them.
He said Facebook was now working with authorities in Australia to secure the federal election to be held before the end of May next year:
We also have had very positive and collaborative relationships and work with your law enforcement partners, those are both really encouraging. I think we’ve started and have very steady work with your elections integrity teams, and I’m looking forward to doing a lot more of that in the lead up to the election.
So what I would say is I think you’re in good shape. But of course, the caveat that I would always offer as the security guy is, we know that the threat actors are continuing to innovate, so we always have to be sort of improving and thinking ahead what’s coming next.
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We’ve learned more detail this morning about the Covid cases that sent Brisbane into lockdown in March this year.
It appears Queensland health authorities did not fully understand at the time – but have subsequently learned – the significant risk of airborne Covid transmission.
The infections were contracted on Ward 5D of the Princess Alexandra hospital in Brisbane, which was being used to treat Covid patients.
Dr Peter Bristow, the chief executive of Queensland Metro South Health, told Queensland budget estimates that – at that point – there were 10 Covid-positive patients on the ward but only four were accommodated in “negative pressure” rooms, which are designed to prevent the spread of infection.
Patients were being managed in normal pressure rooms. That was consistent with national standards at that time.
It’s important to understand that early in [the pandemic] ... it was thought the virus was transmitted [by other means] rather than aerosol particles. This was in March, patients were being managed in single rooms.
Flux in and out of a single room can result in transmission. That was the mechanism [for the infections at Princess Alexandra hospital].
Bristow also said there were patients with other infectious diseases in a section of Ward 5D at the same time.
Ward 5D was subsequently closed, but has now been partially reopened. Bristow said the government was in the process of converting all rooms to negative-pressure rooms and that work was expected to be complete next month.
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All IGA truck drivers and supermarket staff are now being vaccinated, so they can safely service regional towns across NSW @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/VR7lw0vDkY
— Isabelle Mullen (@ijmullen) July 29, 2021
Worryingly there are still several Covid-19 positive wastewater detections in the suburbs of Melbourne.
Foley:
There is still evidence of transmission out there in the community, and we need to continue to follow the public health rules to make sure that we can stay open, and stay safe.
In this regard, we have had wastewater detection is in both the east and west of Melbourne in recent times. There was a follow-up detection in Camberwell or samples taken between the 26th and 29th.
If you are in the Camberwell area and you show even the slightest signs of Covid, please come forward and get tested.
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The number of active cases in Victoria is dropping, Foley says:
We are now starting to see some cases be cleared, and we are now down to 200 active cases across all of Victoria.
There are still six people in hospital for Covid-19 related illness in the state, two of those people are in the ICU.
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Victorian health minister Martin Foley is speaking now.
Pleasingly, all three of the community cases today are linked to the existing outbreak, and have been isolating throughout the course of their infectious period. One of those cases is a household contact of a student at Bacchus Marsh.
The second is a close contact of the apartments in Richmond. This case lives on the same floor as the other three previous cases in that building, and has also been in hotel quarantine throughout the course of their infectious period.
And the third and final case for today is a staff member of Trinity Grammar. They have also been in quarantine for the entire period of their infectious period, and that was actually in Phillip Island, thereby explaining the wastewater detection in that part of Victoria earlier in the week.
It’s whale watching season my friends!
Incredible footage captured by Tom Hanson in #Warrnambool as surfers and whales share the water at Logan’s Beach 🐋
— Kyra Gillespie (@kyra_gillespie) July 30, 2021
It’s the peak season for #whale migration with tens of thousands of the great ocean dwellers on the move to warmer waters. pic.twitter.com/qdbkGwrl4g
By the way, we will be hearing from the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, at 10.30am for the daily Covid-19 update.
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Lots of reports flying around this morning about the NSW numbers.
You might have seen earlier that Sky News was reporting a lower total than yesterday (I didn’t put it on the blog, but it’s been everywhere.)
Well, it’s worth noting this reporter’s advice has now changed.
Looks like we might just have to wait and see! Only 45 minutes until we know the numbers for sure when NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian stands up for her daily Covid-19 update.
Re my earlier tweet NSW numbers lower. Updated info suggests that’s not the case
— Andrew Clennell (@aclennell) July 30, 2021
Some wild fashion choices at the Queensland budget estimates this morning.
Big day at budget estimates - Shadow Health Min @Ros_Bates_MP comes out biting 🦈 @10NewsFirstQLD pic.twitter.com/5eHfCRmh1m
— Clare Barnes (@ClareBarnes_10) July 29, 2021
Here is your daily breakdown of cases by isolation status, this time for Victoria
Apart from a couple still under investigation, Victoria trending in the right direction on wild cases pic.twitter.com/XP5ahPaMLl
— Josh Nicholas (@joshcnicholas) July 29, 2021
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Nurses urge government to let them play a larger role in vaccine rollout
A coalition of nursing organisations say all Australians could have a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine within nine weeks if the government let nurses play a greater role in the rollout.
Seven nursing peak groups, including the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association, the Australian College of Nursing Practitioners and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, say nurses have been sidelined so far in the rollout.
In a statement, the coalition said:
The coalition of peak nursing organisations is ready to immediately support government efforts to identify and recruit nurses and operationalise a nurse-practitioner-led response to the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out.
The nursing groups have proposed setting up 250 “vaccine strike teams” across the country, servicing stadiums, nursing homes, convention centres, and rural and remote areas. The teams would be led by a nurse practitioner with 10 nurses and three administrative staff, and each nurse would have capacity to vaccinate 15 patients per hour. That would allow about 300,000 patients to be vaccinated on a normal, eight hour day, and 1.5m patients vaccinated in each working week.
At that rate, the nursing coalition says the entire Australian population would have a first dose in 8.9 weeks, and a second dose in roughly 10.8 weeks, depending on the varying interval periods for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.
We have the nurses, we have the expertise. Include us in your rollout Minister Hunt and we will provide your solution.
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It’s not Australian news but I think you all deserve to see this video of UK prime minister Boris Johnson failing to open an umbrella.
I love mr bean pic.twitter.com/sTimCIgUrI
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 29, 2021
Australia’s most senior government ministers have mixed views about whether the nation could fall into a second recession, reports Daniel McCulloch from AAP.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned a return to recession could be coming if the Greater Sydney lockdown failed to contain the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
Defence minister Peter Dutton, who is also a member of the federal budget razor gang, is more optimistic.
Dutton replied “I don’t think so” when asked whether Australia was heading towards another recession.
“The underpinning of the Australian economy is pretty strong,” he told the Nine Network on Friday.
Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles is hopeful the nation does not slide into an economic slump.
But the lockdown in Sydney is having a major impact on the economy.
It’s obviously our largest city, the lockdown is affecting those in Sydney, but it’s also affecting the whole country’s economy, so our fingers are crossed that we get through this.
But the point is until we get that level of vaccination up, until we get past being the land of the lockdown, we can’t be certain what the economic future is going to be.
The nation bounced back strongly after last year’s lockdowns but there are fears it could be harder to recover from Sydney’s restrictions.
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You better not have forgotten that between all the dark Covid-19 news in Australia, there are some Aussies absolutely smashing it overseas at the Olympics.
If you want to stay up to date on that, check out the Guardian’s Toyko games live blog with Tom Lutz.
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The public health orders needed to enforce the vaccine mandate on aged care workers in Australia have still not been made and no risk assessment on the potential disruption to care has been completed, more than a month after the prime minister Scott Morrison announced the policy.
The government’s vaccination of aged care workers has been plagued by delays, failures and confusion, despite the workforce being included in the highest priority phase of the rollout.
Last week, Guardian Australia revealed that just one in four aged care workers were fully vaccinated while 43% had received their first dose.
In a bid to boost vaccination rates, Morrison announced in June that workers would be required to have a first dose by mid-September or face exclusion from the sector.
You can read the full report below:
Home affairs minister Karen Andrews has urged people to speak up about human trafficking in Australia, saying authorities have the criminals responsible in their sights, reports AAP.
Sadly, young women and children are the most vulnerable to being trafficked – but help is available, and the Australian federal police have had several notable successes freeing victims and bringing offenders to justice.
Friday marks the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and the federal government has said in a statement that it has had “another successful year of combating this despicable crime”.
The AFP said in March that they had found a 26-year-old Indonesian woman in Sydney who had been held against her will and was subjected to forced labour for nearly six years, with authorities confiscating two properties of the perpetrators in response.
In January, a 29-year-old NSW man was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment for forcing a woman and her child to travel to India – the first Australian conviction for an “exit human trafficking offence”.
AFP Commander Hilda Sirec released a statement following the conviction:
Human trafficking is not often discussed or even considered to be an issue in Australian society.
It is often unreported but the reality is that Australia is not immune to human trafficking and victims in our communities are suffering in silence.
Andrews said Australia would continue to bring charges against people smugglers and human traffickers.
Today, my message is simple: raise your voice on this important issue, educate yourself and others about this serious crime and the impact it has on victims, and ask for help if you need it.
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Labor has asked the Morrison government to explain why a Great Barrier Reef-focused charity received jobkeeper despite still having hundreds of millions of dollars remaining from a nearly $500m grant it received three years ago.
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which expanded from six to 38 fulltime staff after accepting a $443m grant that it did not request from the Turnbull government in 2018, confirmed it received about $351,000 in jobkeeper payments in the 2019-20 financial year.
It received another $50,000 from a federal program to boost cashflow for small and medium-sized businesses and not-for-profit organisations during the pandemic.
Labor wrote to the federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, asking him to confirm and justify the payments after they were reported in the Australian Financial Review.
You can read the full report below:
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Victoria records two local Covid-19 cases, all in quarantine
Victoria has recorded three local Covid-19 cases, one of which was previously reported last night.
All three are linked to known outbreaks and were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
Reported yesterday: 3 new local cases and 0 new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 29, 2021
- 19,136 vaccine doses were administered
- 43,542 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/aN9kHFMmcY
Updated
Thousands of police officers and hundreds of troops will be deployed across greater Sydney to help enforce new rules in eight hotspot local government areas as New South Wales desperately tries to curb growing Covid case numbers that have jumped sharply to a daily record of 239.
Two more people have died – a woman in her 90s and man in his 80s, both from south-west Sydney – taking the death toll for the outbreak to 13.
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, warned on Thursday that because at least 66 of the cases were infectious in the community, the numbers were expected to rise further.
She denied the NSW lockdown was failing or that tougher rules were needed Sydney-wide.
You can read the full report from Anne Davies and Sarah Martin below:
Friday 30 July – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 29, 2021
1 new locally acquired case recorded in Queensland overnight.
1 new overseas acquired case, detected in hotel quarantine.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/FpsMIO1plm
Young says there will likely be most cases to come from the backpacker who tested positive to the Alpha variant of Covid-19 two days ago.
I’m comfortable that we’re doing what’s needed, we will just have to see what happens over the next few days. Remembering that’s an alpha variant and so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get cases.
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Young:
So this 17-year-old young woman attends the Indooroopilly state high [school].
As soon as we became aware of the case, the Public Health Unit contacted the school. In fact, I think that was a bit after midnight they did that, and the school was so proactive immediately that all of their students know that they would not be coming to school today.
The school has been closed today, so they can begin cleaning and also so we can go and contact trace and work out which students need to go into 14 days, quarantine.
Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young says she is concerned that this school student Covid-19 case does not yet have any clear source.
So one new community-acquired case, which is quite concerning, because I’m struggling to understand how she’s acquired it.
So we’ll have to wait until we get whole genome sequencing results back later today to be able to work out from where she’s got this.
We do know that we have had 13 incursions of the virus into Queensland over the last six weeks and we know that in any particular outbreak, someone can get infected, not have symptoms and then spread the virus to someone else, which is why it’s critically important that we all remain very, very cautious until the vast majority of people have been able to be vaccinated.
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Queensland student in the community for three days while infectious
Taking you to this Queensland press conference now.
Health minister Yvette D’ath:
This case is very new as far as the information we have, so my message to everyone is please keep an eye out on social media and the Queensland Covid website today, as more information becomes available.
What we do know is that it is a 17-year-old female. She’s a student at Indooroopilly state high school. She became unwell yesterday and went and got tested and overnight her result has come back positive.
We are testing her family members. It’s a family of five ... She’s been in the community for three days and at school for two days, so I understand the school has already notified families and have closed down for a deep clean.
There is very little more information at this stage. We need to still identify exposure sites. At this point, we understand the family hasn’t travelled anywhere and we’re still to get genomic sequencing to find out what variant it is and also whether it’s linked to any other cases in Queensland or Australia.
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#BREAKING: A student at Indooroopilly SHS has tested positive to COVID19.
— Reece D'Alessandro (@R_DAlessandro9) July 29, 2021
The school is closed for a deep clean today. @TheTodayShow @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/naBpm1Jqw2
We are just standing by now for an early morning Queensland press conference after a student at Indooroopilly State High School tested positive to Covid-19.
I’ll bring you all the updates here on the blog.
This afternoon, national cabinet is meeting to consider modelling from the Doherty Institute, which will outline possible vaccination targets and the health consequences of easing restrictions at certain levels.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, had said the modelling will be made public after national cabinet has agreed on the “roadmap” to reopening, but he does not think today’s meeting will finalise the plan.
He says he is hopeful that, by Christmas time, vaccination rates will be high enough to see lockdowns as a “thing of the past.”
State and territory leaders will also consider recommendations from the panel of state chief health officers who last night held an emergency meeting to consider how the other states and the commonwealth could further assist NSW in getting on top of the Delta outbreak.
Other issues on the agenda include an epidemiology update, consideration of a freight movement code and the latest on the vaccine rollout.
The state and territory leaders will also discuss the latest iteration of federal financial assistance, which was boosted last week and has been modified four times since jobkeeper was dumped last year.
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Pockets of western Sydney have had to obey tougher restrictions than the rest of Sydney under lockdown, but the authorities risk creating resentment if targeted rules are enforced without presenting health advice justifying them.
A new daily record of 239 cases was announced on Thursday, along with tightened restrictions targeted at eight local government areas (LGAs) – Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, Campbelltown and Georges River.
Masks must be worn outdoors in these areas and a 5km travel limit has been established, in addition to existing restrictions and testing requirements that are stricter than rules for the rest of the city.
Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue executive director Adam Leto said that the new rules for the eight LGAs could risk generating frustration as the rest of Sydney’s restrictions are more relaxed.
Leto told the Guardian:
My sense is there’s a little bit of resentment growing in the region. I think the government is justified in identifying hotspots and in making the necessary calls...but I’m not too sure what the driver is behind the outdoor masks, because we haven’t heard that outdoors is a transmission risk.
If there’s a good reason for it, the government should make it clear why. Otherwise they should apply them across Sydney. If it’s good for us, why not for them.
Regarding compliance with restrictions and police measures to enforce the lockdown, Leto said more needed to be done by the government to ensure some communities in western Sydney understood the rules and vaccination information.
“Some in these communities are not always tuning in to TV, or looking at the internet. More needs to be communicated at the coalface,” Leto said.
Morrison reportedly agrees eventually business should be able to refuse service to unvaccinated people
This is interesting, you know I mentioned that virtual town hall that Scott Morrison held last night?
Well, the Daily Mail appears to have been sent a recording of a section of the event where the prime minister appears to says he believes restaurants, cafes and other venues should eventually be allowed to choose only to open to vaccinated patrons.
In fairness, it’s a little hard to tell the exact context as the audio clip doesn’t include the question, but the Daily Mail reports that a constituent said he was frustrated that he was in lockdown “despite answering the call to get vaccinated many months ago”.
He posited that more Australians would get the jab if businesses were allowed to open to fully vaccinated patrons only.
Here is Morrison’s reply:
Until the overall vaccination rates are higher than they are now – even vaccinated people moving around – because while vaccination certainly reduces the risk of catching Covid and transmitting it – there is still the ability to catch it and pass it on.
When we get our vaccination levels a lot higher – I agree with you – and I think there should be those advantages to those who have done that, and taken the opportunity, and made sure – because if you’re vaccinated, you’re less of a public health risk than ... someone who was unvaccinated in the community.
And I think the time will come where exactly what you’re suggesting, should be, should be able to be achieved, but for right now – that and having cafes open and people living around and doing all that, there will be unvaccinated people who will still go. I’d like to say that they won’t, but it will happen. That’s what we’re seeing in many other countries at the moment.
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Queensland student reportedly tests positive
OK, so the ABC is reporting that a student at Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane’s west has tested positive to Covid-19 overnight, shutting down the campus for deep cleaning.
Queensland health authorities are due to hold a press conference this morning where we should find out more.
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NSW Police Commissioner tells @sallyjsara the army will be assisting police on patrols and checks during the lockdown, but won't carry weapons or have their own powers.
— Anna Henderson (@annajhenderson) July 29, 2021
Good morning all and thank God it’s Friday (although it must be said the coronavirus doesn’t always adhere to the five-day work week).
It’s Matilda Boseley here and there is so much news happening this morning.
First up, the military will on Monday join NSW police in the eight worst-hit Sydney local government areas to ensure the 2 million residents are complying with tough lockdown restrictions.
The 300 troops will help patrol the street of south-west Sydney, which has a high immigrant and refugee population, but the defence minister, Peter Dutton, has urged people not to be intimidated.
Police have also been given increased powers, and are now able to shut down workplaces not complying with lockdown laws, and penalties from breaching the city’s mask mandates have more than doubled to $500.
Speaking of masks, those in the eight hotspot suburbs must wear masks in all public indoor and outdoor settings and can only travel 5km from home.
Zooming out to the whole of Australia, Scott Morrison will present state and territory leaders with a set of “magic numbers” that will lay out just how many Australians will need to be vaccinated before lockdowns become a thing of the past.
Earlier in the year the prime minister revealed the government had commissioned the Doherty Institute (an infectious disease research hub in Melbourne) to create modelling laying out how vaccines could help Australia emerge from the pandemic.
Morrison spoke about the modelling at a virtual town hall meeting with residents of his electorate in Sydney last night. He said he would be presenting the numbers (which have not been publicly released) to the state leaders today.
It might take us a few meetings to get there [but] we’ll be setting the targets that gets us to the next level.
OK, with that, why don’t we jump into the day.
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