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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Josh Taylor and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

New Zealand to enter lockdown; Berejiklian fears substantial rise in cases – as it happened

What we learned today, Tuesday 17 August

That is where we will leave the live blog for Tuesday.

Here’s what made the news today:

  • NSW recorded 452 cases of Covid-19, and the death of a woman in her 70s. The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has warned the state should brace for a substantial rise in cases in coming weeks.
  • Fourteen ADF teams will be sent to Dubbo in western NSW amid rising concern about coronavirus infections in Indigenous communities.
  • Victoria reported 24 local cases, with 14 of those in quarantine during their infectious period. Four of the cases were linked to an illegal Caulfield North engagement party, with the total number of infections linked to the event at six.
  • The ACT reported 17 new local cases.
  • The Northern Territory reported no new cases on the second day of a three-day lockdown.
  • Queensland recorded one new case, who was in isolation while infectious.
  • New Zealand will lock down for three days after one case of community transmission was reported in Auckland. The Auckland lockdown will last seven days.
  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said it was a day of deep sadness for veterans of the Afghanistan war, as Australia seeks to secure the evacuation of Australians and allies on the ground. Afghan nationals in Australia will also not be forced back to Afghanistan while the security situation is dire.
  • Morrison has yet to decide whether the next sitting fortnight of parliament from Monday will go ahead.
  • 15.6m doses of the vaccine have now been administered in Australia, including a record 279,485 on Monday.

Until tomorrow, stay safe.

Updated

Australia’s former deputy chief medical officer making some pointed comments directed at Victoria, I believe.

Updated

Here’s a bit more on the cancellation of public transport night services on Friday and Saturday in Melbourne during curfew, via AAP.

Melburnians are currently banned from leaving their homes between 9pm and 5am under the extended sixth lockdown.

From this weekend, public transport will not run in the city between 1am and 5am on Saturday, and between 1am and 6am on Sunday, for the next two weeks to stop the spread of coronavirus and support Melbourne’s tightened lockdown.

However, it is unclear what this will mean for the city’s essential workers, with some relying on late night transport to get to work.

A state government spokeswoman said the normal timetable would continue to run “at all other times to ensure essential workers and those who must travel for a permitted reason can get where they need to go”.

“We’ve made sure the community is aware of these changes as early as possible – and we thank all Victorians for the part they’re playing to keep our community safe,” she said.

Updated

Sydney man jailed for breaching public health order

A “naive” south-western Sydney man who travelled more than 800km in breach of Covid-19 restrictions has been jailed, AAP reports.

Trong Duc Nguyen, 31, was arrested at Armidale railway station on Sunday after getting off a bus from Tenterfield.

The Cabramatta man had travelled from his home in the Fairfield local government area to the northern tablelands earlier that week by train via Newcastle.

His trip – which brought him within 20km of the Queensland border – was uncovered by police conducting daily checks on public transport passengers at Armidale.

The former personal trainer faced an Armidale court on Monday and pleaded guilty to breaching the public health order concerning travelling outside metropolitan Sydney.

The magistrate Roger Prowse immediately sentenced the Sydney man to two months in prison.

“He has been sentenced purely on breaching that public health act,” the NSW police acting Superintendent David Cooper said on Tuesday.

“That, to me, indicates the level of seriousness of the matter.”

Solicitor Peter Kemp denied his client acted out of malice but noted people in regional areas were “petrified” of catching Covid.

“(The behaviour) was not arrogant, it was not done maliciously,” he told AAP on Tuesday. “My client was quite naive and is sorry for what he did.”

The Fairfield local government area is a focal point of Sydney’s Covid-19 outbreak and the suburb of Cabramatta had 117 active cases on Tuesday, making it one of the most highly concentrated coronavirus postcodes in Sydney.

Armidale was placed into lockdown on 7 August after two cases were recorded in the community.

Two further cases have since been reported.

Updated

Just a minor correction on the New Zealand case – he was tested yesterday, not Saturday. The rest of the information regarding infectious period is correct.

Updated

The independent senator Jacqui Lambie says she will seek to set up a Senate inquiry into Australia’s role in Afghanistan when parliament returns:

We might be withdrawing our troops now, but who knows what’s going to happen down the track? We need to know what went wrong so we don’t keep repeating the same mistakes as the past.

Australia has been at war for 20 years, and in a matter of days we’re back to square one. We need to figure out how the choices we made got us to this point. We have to stop anything like this from happening again in the future.

She said Afghanistan vets were hurting today:

They’ve been through a lot of pain, a lot of work, to see the country they tried to save crumble to pieces. To those of you who are struggling with a lot of grief and disappointment right now: what’s happening is not your fault.

The ideals that you fought for were the right ideals. You fought to send girls to school. You fought to stamp out terrorism. You fought to give Afghanistan a democratic government. As Australian soldiers, you did what you were supposed to do. This failure does not rest on your shoulders.

Politicians are the ones who made the wrong calls in this war, time and time again.

Updated

Tasmania to reopen to Queensland

Tasmania is lifting border restrictions with Queensland but much of Australia’s mainland could remain shut out for some time, AAP reports.

The high-risk declarations for south-east Queensland and Cairns will no longer be in place from midnight on Tuesday, the Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, says.

People who have visited select high-risk venues in Queensland will still not be allowed entry.

Gutwein says a border closure with NSW will stay in place for the foreseeable future, while the travel ban on Victoria could be in place for up to a month.

The ACT and people who have been in Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory are also on Tasmania’s banned list amid coronavirus outbreaks.

“While we have no cases in Tasmania, we remain under constant threat,” Gutwein said.

Under the state’s high-risk border declarations, only essential workers and returning residents are allowed to enter, if they are granted a G2G pass.

Gutwein says those specific arrivals would now have to produce a negative Covid test before departing for Tasmania.

Tasmania has recorded just one case this year, a NSW traveller who tested positive earlier this month while in quarantine.

The state has handed out a handful of fines in recent times for people arriving in defiance of travel bans – a woman in her 70s was slugged $1,557 after coming from NSW.

“If you don’t follow the rules, we will catch you. You will be fined. If you come from a high-risk jurisdiction, you will be turned around,” Gutwein said.

The state’s public health director, Mark Veitch, says anyone driving through NSW to reach Tasmania will be considered high-risk and not allowed entry.

Updated

For those in northern Sydney in lockdown but seeing some smoke outside.

BHP confirms plans to merge oil and gas assets with Woodside

BHP has announced a 42% increase in profit off the back of high iron ore prices and confirmed it plans to merge its oil and gas assets with Woodside Petroleum.

The company says profit after tax rose to US$11.3bn and it will pay a record final dividend of US$2 a share.

It also plans to ditch its current structure, where separate UK and Australian companies operating together make up the group, in favour of a single, Australian company. However, it plans to retain its listing on the London stock exchange.

And it’s taken a US$1.2bn hit over the 2015 Samarco dam disaster, which continues to plague the miner.

Simplifying the company structure is to be done first, with the Woodside deal to follow, BHP says.

On the oil and gas spin out, BHP says it and Woodside “have entered into a merger commitment deed to combine their respective oil and gas portfolios by an all-stock merger”.

This will tip BHP’s $15-$20bn worth of oil and gas assets into the Woodside structure.

Once the deal is done “it is expected Woodside would be owned approximately 52% and 48% by existing Woodside and BHP shareholders respectively, and will remain listed on the Australian Securities Exchange”, BHP said.

“It will give our shareholders greater choice about how to weight their exposure to the different investment propositions of BHP and Petroleum via Woodside.”

(This is code for meaning that long-term investors who have any kind of green investment principles will be able to dump the stock.)

Updated

Victoria is stopping late-night public transport on Fridays and Saturdays during the lockdown period with curfew.

Raises questions about how shift workers will get home if they don’t have a car ...

Updated

'We only get one chance,' Ardern says as NZ goes into lockdown

New Zealand will go into a national lockdown after detecting one case of the Delta variant in the community today.

The entire country will be at alert level four - the country’s highest level of lockdown - for three days from midnight tonight, and the regions of Auckland and Coromandel for four to seven days.

This is likely the country’s first case of Delta in-community transmission.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said:

Delta has been called a game changer, and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.

The case is a 58-year-old male from Devonport, Auckland. He was tested on Monday the 16th, and had symptoms from Saturday the 14th, so the infectious period was considered to have started Thursday 12th. The couple traveled to the Coromandel region on Friday, then returned to Auckland on the 15th. Locations of interest are available on the Ministry of Health’s website.

Ardern said that New Zealand would not know if the case was Delta until its genome was sequenced - but that the government would be working under that assumption that it was Delta until informed otherwise.

“That has shaped all of the decisions we have made,” she said.

“We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours,” she said.

Updated

New Zealand to go into lockdown for three days after one community case

New Zealand will go into a three-day level 4 lockdown from midnight tonight after a community case was reported today.

Auckland’s lockdown is set to go for a week.

We will have more on this shortly.

Updated

In good news, no new cases in SA, and a man in his 20s who was in the ICU is now in a stable condition.

Quite a few new exposure sites in St Kilda published today.

Victorian Reason Party leader Fiona Patten has called for a reintroduction of Victoria’s live music venues program in the wake of the latest lockdown, noting venues are struggling with huge debts, and can’t claim on existing support packages designed for food venues, or one-off gigs that were cancelled:

Until we can safely have live music back, the government must support the industry. I’m not sure who thinks money for one cancelled gig is anywhere near enough.

We need a simple process that recognises the gig culture of Melbourne, live music venues don’t host one event in a month, they do four or five a-week.

The arts need state and federal government support until we can gather safely again - it’s as simple as that.

If that means support them until November, support them until November.

Fiona Patten
‘The arts need state and federal government support until we can gather safely again,’ Fiona Patten says. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Sporting goods retail chain Decathlon has been ordered to pay $1.5 million after it sold inflatable pools and basketball hoops without the required warning labels in a “careless” breach of Australian consumer law, AAP reports.

France-based Decathlon’s Australian stores between 2016 and 2019 sold several models of basketball rings and pools that were missing safety labelling, consumer warnings or instructions required by the safety standards.

In Federal Court proceedings, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission argued the company had recklessly disregarded the relevant standards and it had failed to adequately respond to the concerns raised by the federal watchdog on several occasions over 18 months.

Handing down a judgment on Tuesday, Justice John Nicholas said the company’s conduct was not reckless but was careless.

“Many of the non-compliant products were being supplied for months, in some cases more than a year, after the ACCC contacted Decathlon,” he said.

The pools were missing warnings such as “children have drowned in portable swimming pools”, “ensure active adult supervision at all times” and “pool fencing laws apply to this pool”.

Meanwhile, the basketball rings did not warn users not to attach the products to brick walls, which can collapse when people perform slam dunks.

At least four people have been killed after the structure supporting a basketball ring collapsed on top of them in the past 25 years.

The company’s chief executive said an error in the chain’s global ordering system problem allowed the products to be distributed for Australian stores despite the system flagging them as non-compliant.

But Nicholas said Decathlon from its launch in 2016 until early 2020 had no adequate processes in place to ensure that the products it intended to sell complied with consumer law.

However, the number of non-compliant products sold in Australia was small, the profit from the sales - about $35,000 - was modest, and there is no evidence anyone suffered any injury, loss or damage as a result.

Updated

That protest NSW police are warning people not to attend seems to be national. I can see some similar promotions for one in Melbourne, too.

Updated

NSW police have told people to stay home after reports of yet another protest this weekend.

Another one, it seems.

Updated

Traffic builds at NT-South Australia checkpoint after border tightened

Traffic is banked up for about two kilometres at a police checkpoint for people coming from the Northern Territory into South Australia, AAP reports.

In response to a local Covid-19 case in the NT, South Australia has closed its border to anyone coming from the Darwin or Katherine regions unless they are returning residents and essential travellers.

If allowed in, they will still have to quarantine for 14 days and get tested for the virus three times.

People from other parts of the territory can come to SA but must get tested three times and isolate until they receive their first negative result.

Police said on Tuesday the new measures had prompted a surge in traffic approaching a checkpoint set up at Marla in the state’s north.

“There are currently large delays with a line up approximately two kilometres long as vehicles approach the checking station,” they said in a statement.

“Drivers are asked to exercise caution and prioritise safety when approaching Marla by activating hazard lights.”

To assist in processing arrivals, travellers have been asked to ensure they complete an online cross-border form and have some identification ready when they approach the checkpoint.

Updated

Minister for the NDIS, Linda Reynolds, says National Disability Insurance Scheme providers in Sydney Covid-19 hotspots will get relief payments from the National Disability Insurance Agency:

This financial assistance will help providers cover additional costs, such as overtime hours when a worker is forced to undergo a mandatory Covid test and they need to call on another worker at late notice.

The temporary measure aims to ensure the disability workforce continues to meet the needs of all NDIS participants.

In light of the public health orders in place in parts of Sydney, many disability workers are facing additional requirements to move across the city.

I’ve heard from the sector that following these requirements can lead to increased costs for providers and in turn could present challenges for some providers to continue to ensure they have appropriate workforce available to support NDIS participants.

This payment will assist NDIS providers to continue to operate as usual, and NDIS participants can feel safe in the knowledge they will continue to have their disability-related supports met.

In addition, NDIS participants who need additional support from a provider to isolate at home due to a Covid infection or being a close contact can now get up to $1,200 per day per eligible participant.

Updated

Labor leader Anthony Albanese held a press conference before the PM’s but I didn’t get the chance to bring you some of those comments.

On Afghanistan, he says Australia has a moral obligation to help those in Afghanistan who helped us:

There were terrible scenes on our televisions last night from Kabul. They were heartbreaking scenes indeed. And many Australians would have found it extremely difficult. My thoughts are particularly with the families of the 41 defence personnel who gave their lives serving Australia in Afghanistan. Their families will be doing it really tough.

My thoughts are also with all of our veterans and their families at this difficult time. I’ve encouraged the government to give whatever support is needed to reach out to our veterans’ communities through their organisations to make sure that they’re given every support that’s required.

It is also, of course, a difficult time for the Australian Afghan community, many of whom, of course, have loved ones back in their original homeland. Australia has a moral obligation to assist those who helped us. But it’s more than a moral obligation. It’s a matter of our national security. It’s absolutely vital that Australia sends a message to the world that when others help us, we will help them in return, we will stand by them in their time of need. And I have encouraged the government to do whatever it can to bring these people who assisted us to Australia.

He said Australia’s current humanitarian intake is not being filled, but also suggests there could be another visa for vulnerable people in Afghanistan to come to Australia.

On Covid, he says more needs to be done to get the vaccination rate in Australia up, and notes as the PM marks his third anniversary of being prime minister next week, his response to everything is always too slow:

Scott Morrison is characterised by always responding too little, too late. He waits until there’s an absolute crisis before he acknowledges there’s an issue, and then blames someone else. The fact is that this government needs to accept responsibility for its actions. It needs to be much more proactive in getting things done and governing in the interests of the country.

Anthony Albanese
‘It’s absolutely vital that Australia sends a message to the world that when others help us, we will help them in return, we will stand by them in their time of need,’ Anthony Albanese said. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

A Covid-19 positive Newcastle man who’s accused of hosting numerous parties last month in defiance of NSW health orders will have to explain himself in court, AAP reports.

Police say the 22-year-old man hosted a number of large gatherings at a home at Shortland, on three separate nights from July 28 to 30.

Two women, aged 21 and 20, have previously been issued court attendance notices for attending the gatherings and remain before the courts.

All three people have since tested positive to Covid-19 and are now isolating, with the man due in Newcastle Local Court on September 28.

A further three people - two men aged 21 and 26, and a 20-year-old woman - were issued with $1000 penalty infringement notices for attending the gatherings as police work on identifying other guests.

Updated

Top Vic cop 'regrets' naming Melbourne pub, which was closed during illegal gathering

Victoria’s top cop regrets naming a Melbourne pub as the site where dozens of people congregated on the street in breach of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, AAP reports.

The Peacock Hotel in Northcote was vandalised and targeted with abusive Google reviews after it was identified by Chief Commissioner Shane Patton and media as the location of an illegal street gathering on Sunday afternoon.

“STAY HOME YUPPIE BASTARDS,” graffiti on the front of the venue read on Tuesday morning before it was removed.

The pub’s owner, Andrew Gilbert, told AAP on Monday it had been closed for the entire sixth lockdown and he was unaware a crowd had come together to listen to music being played at an apartment opposite the venue.

Although he never said the pub was behind the event, Patton admitted some may have misconstrued his “ambiguous” public comments.

“I’m sorry there was that misinterpretation. That venue wasn’t serving any of the alcohol or any of the food involved. It was used as a reference point,” he told reporters.

“Could I or should I have been clearer with my language? Yes. So I do regret that.”

Gilbert said he accepted the apology “to a degree”.

“Have someone do a little bit of research before you name drop a certain business that’s doing it hard and is closed,” he told 3AW.

People are no longer allowed to remove their masks to drink takeaway alcohol from venues after police handed out up to 100 fines at the weekend, including at a takeaway-drink pub crawl in Richmond and the 200-person street party in Northcote.

Updated

No decision on federal parliament sitting yet

Morrison ended the press conference by stating no decision on any change to the parliamentary sitting calendar has yet been made, and it is being worked through.

He says enough MPs stayed in Canberra this week to ensure there will be a quorum should parliament sit next week:

We’ll continue to work through those issues. When we have made a decision we’ll advise accordingly.

The quiet streets of Canberra during Covid-19 lockdown
The quiet streets of Canberra during Covid-19 lockdown. Photograph: Gary Ramage/Getty Images

Updated

There were a couple of questions around the issue of making sure regional areas get their vaccination rates up as high as metro areas, so we don’t end up in a situation where most people in larger cities in Australia are vaccinated to get to the 70 and 80% targets, while there are lower rates in places in western NSW - where vaccination rates are currently between 10% and 19% fully vaccinated.

Morrison notes it is “challenging” but points to the federal government deploying ADF vaccination teams in western NSW.

Wyatt says part of the reason for low rates is choice, and says vaccination rates are increasing as people get the message:

Part of it is choice. Some people have made choices because they’ve become fearful of adverse effects. But they are now focusing on getting vaccinated. That’s why the vaccination rates have increased substantially. We’re seeing this right across the country. A community, 80% are vaccinated, Palm Island ... Torres Strait Islander regional area. People are now believing that it is time for them to take the proactive action and the elders and the leaders are ensuring that the message is [clear].

Updated

Morrison is asked why it took until August to send 250 personnel to Afghanistan, given Australia knew the situation was deteriorating in May, and also whether any of those personnel are connected to the Brereton inquiry.

On the latter, he suggested asking the question was a “slur”:

These are 250 Australians answering the call of their government to go and help Australians in need, and you’re questioning their integrity. I find that quite surprising. They’re going there to help their fellow Australians and to help Afghans citizens who will be coming to live here in Australia.

They are going to do their service in our uniform and in our name. I respect it and I would ask others to respect it also and not to cast slurs against their integrity.

The second point I’d make is this. They have been asked to go there under this operation to support the mission we’re currently engaged in. And that mission involves a situation on the ground in Kabul which is very distressing, very fluid, and, of course, if it should be needed, Australians to be going in to support the efforts of our mission in the days ahead, then of course we have that – we have that option available to us by people being pre-positioned, but I thank them for their service. Thank you to those 250 that have left from Townsville, I want to thank their families as they farewelled them off to their service and I can assure you I honour each and every single one of you.

Updated

Morrison won’t comment on whether Australia will take in more refugees from Afghanistan as part of an increase in our humanitarian intake, especially given the budget reduces the total intake by 5,000 to 13,750. He notes 430 have arrived since April, but says the focus at the moment is on what is happening in Kabul:

Right now I’m focused on the very desperate situation that exists in Kabul right now, and making sure that the operations that we are mounting are successful, that those Australians who are involved in those operations are doing it in a way which is both protective of their safety but also getting the mission done. So the government is very focused on that right now. That is the operational priority right at this moment.

There are many other issues, you’re right, that need to be then considered as we go forward and they will be. But right now we’re looking to make sure those operations.

Updated

A question to the PM on Afghanistan: “On Sunday you said as a matter of principle Australia will always fight for freedom. With the Taliban in control of Kabul, at least one of them boasting about being a former inhabitant of Guantanamo Bay, how do you tell a young girl in Afghanistan ... a girl as young as your daughters, this is what freedom looks like?

Morrison:

Australians have been there for 20 years, and for 20 years, we’ve been able to seek to protect a generation. Australia doesn’t act alone in these efforts. And the sad truth is that with the decisions that have been taken that is not something that Australia can continue to do.

Australia has exerted every effort to help the people of Afghanistan over these last 20 years. We have lost 41 of our own in that great cause. And I can say that Australia has done all within its power, all within our power, to get safety for the people of Afghanistan and what we see now is heartbreaking.

Updated

Paul Kelly says 99% of NSW Covid cases were not fully vaccinated, based on large sample

The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says based on data from around 6,000 cases from the NSW outbreak, 99% of the cases were not fully vaccinated.

A total of 3% were partially vaccinated, while another 4% were diagnosed within three weeks of receiving their first dose.

Kelly said:

The key message here is go and get vaccinated, particularly if you’re in the older age group but, as minister Wyatt has mentioned, but everyone.

Vaccination is available. Right now. In many places very close to you.

He said no fully vaccinated cases have required admission to the ICU, but noted one death of a 91-year-old man who was fully vaccinated:

I believe there might have been two now, but there’s very few of the cases that have been diagnosed have been fully vaccinated and died. So it is a protection. It is hope. It’s our way out of this crisis.

Updated

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, says he is really pleased with vaccination rates among Indigenous Australians - 30% first dose (169,000), and 15% both doses (69,000). But he notes there are challenges:

What they’re seeing through media and they’re saying stay at home. Wash your hands. Whilst we have cultural considerations, they’re making sure that they distance, and whilst the numbers are increasing, they remain optimistic that they will arrest it. I was impressed with some of the local messages that are coming out from elders and leaders at the community level.

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, at Tuesday’s press conference
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, at Tuesday’s press conference. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

ADF vaccination teams to go to western NSW

The health minister, Greg Hunt, says the second flight of the Polish Pfizer doses is due to land this afternoon with 450,000 doses. He says it is “a real cause of hope” and notes there are 2m vaccines currently in the field.

He says the federal government has agreed to provide five Australian Defence Force vaccination teams to help with the outbreak in western NSW:

Each team will have up to 14 members, and will arrive in western NSW from tomorrow.

These teams will be made of up to 14 members, as I mentioned, which will include medics, nurses, logisticians, a clinical lead, and they’ll be hubbed out of Dubbo and they will work across the area.

They’ll support vaccination but where swabbing or other activities are required they’re highly mobile, highly flexible and highly trained. In addition to that, the first Ausmat team is expected to be dispatched within 48 hours.

The government has also made available 10,000 masks in the remote western NSW communities.

A record 270,000 vaccine doses administered in a day, Morrison says

Morrison then turns to the Covid pandemic.

He says Australia had a record day of over 270,000 doses in a single day, almost 200 doses per minute:

Just think about that. In the brief time I’ve been speaking here, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of doses going through getting us one step closer with every single dose.

In the past seven days here in Australia, as a share of our population, it beats any seven-day period in the United Kingdom over their entire vaccination program. That’s what you are achieving right now Australia, and taking us forward to the next phase as we look forward to the 70% and 80% vaccination rates being achieved.

The quieter achievers, 8,000 GPs and pharmacists, the silent success they’re engaged in everyday. They’re doing the overwhelming majority of the vaccine doses across the country.

He says every state and territory bar WA has gone above 25% double dose, and this week one in two Australians will have received their first dose of the vaccine.

Updated

'Today is a day of deep sadness', Morrison says

Morrison describes the situation in Afghanistan as “torrid” and speaks to veterans of the Afghanistan war directly, noting they will be feeling sensitive today:

To the men and woman of our ADF and Australia’s veterans, I know today is a day of sadness and reflection for our Afghanistan veterans. It’s a time of deep and uncomfortable questioning, and that is only right.

We shouldn’t hide from it. The scenes from Kabul have been absolutely heartbreaking. It’s a sobering day for everyone and particularly those who have given so much over the past 20 years and most notably those 41 who were lost.

I know the overriding concern of the veterans I have spoken to has been for us to protect those who worked alongside us in Afghanistan. That worked alongside you. 1800 have already been brought to Australia, 430 just since April of this year, and more will come. I want you to know that we will continue to do everything we can for those who have with us, as we have to this day.

Morrison says he wishes the outcome today was different, and says today we remember the tens of thousands of Australians and their families who made extraordinary sacrifices in Afghanistan:

Those who went didn’t get to decide where they went or cause that they were asked to serve. They went because they’d signed on to serve their country. They’d signed on to be the professionals soldiers, passionate about their country, to serve under their flag and in the name of Australia.

Sacrifices that will always be honoured and always remembered. It was a mission that was about stopping a murderous ideology being exported around the world. For two decades that ideology has been contained. As have the mass casualty attacks of those times. A generation of Taliban leadership was wiped out because of that violence and time will tell if the lesson of that history has been learned. I know some veterans of the conflict are questioning these efforts. I understand that. I truly do.

He says the uniform the ADF wear has “always been about keeping Australia and Australians safe”.

There is no more decent and good purpose than being willing to serve the country that you love. It doesn’t mean history’s currents always run our way. I wish it did. But, sadly, it doesn’t. But it doesn’t matter which battle, which conflict, in where our uniform has been worn, we honour all who step up in our name.

He then urges veterans to keep talking, and seek support services if they need.

Updated

As my colleague, Daniel Hurst, flagged earlier, the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, has announced no Afghan visa holder in Australia will be asked to return to Afghanistan while the security situation there remains dire:

Afghan citizens currently in Australia on temporary visas will be supported by the Australian government.

The Australian government has granted more than 8,500 visas to Afghans under Australia’s humanitarian program since 2013.

This includes over 1,800 visas to Afghan Locally Engaged Employees and their families at risk of harm due to their employment in support of Australia’s mission in Afghanistan.

Since 15 April 2021, the Australian government has granted over 640 visas to Afghan LEE and their families with more than 430 people having arrived in Australia since that date.

Australia has supported local staff who supported us in Afghanistan via the LEE program, commenced in 2013. The Australian Government is processing applications from Afghan LEE at the highest priority.

Australia will continue to meet our international humanitarian obligations with our generous humanitarian and resettlement program which is flexible and available to address crises in our region.

PM press conference starts

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is speaking now from Canberra.

He first addresses Australia’s response in Afghanistan.

He says plans are in place but will not go into those:

As I said earlier, on Sunday, I don’t propose to go into any of the details of those plans at this point. But I do intend at the appropriate moment to stand before you again and update you on the progress of those operations.

I want to thank all of those who have been working tirelessly to ensure that we can put these plans safely in place, to make sure that we can follow through, not just on the care that we have provided to citizens in these situations but, of course, the many Afghan nationals who will be making Australia their home.

Already, 430 Afghan nationals who have worked with Australia are already here in Australia with their families and they have come here since April.

CBA's 'working assumption' is lockdown for Sydney until mid-November

The Reserve Bank’s economic forecasts are too optimistic because they assume Sydney’s lockdown will be over by the end of next month, economists at Australia’s biggest bank say.

In a note commenting on the minutes of the RBA board meeting last month, which were released this morning, CBA senior economist Kristina Clifton says that “these assumptions look more and more optimistic as time goes on”.

“It has been our working assumption that the Greater Sydney lockdown won’t ease until mid November when a large proportion of the population is vaccinated,” she said.

The RBA is relying on its forecasts when it says it will start reducing its purchases of bonds from banks – a program that pumps cash into the economy – from next month.

But the longer the lockdown goes, the more economic growth in the final quarter of the year is threatened. Many economists say a technical recession – two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP – is unlikely as long as Sydney opens up sometime before the end of the year.

This is because even a small increase in GDP would represent a bounce back from the September quarter, which is expected to be negative.

None of this is much comfort to people already experiencing economic pain due to the shutdown and limited financial support from the government – arguments about whether or not it’s technically a recession don’t mean much to them.

Updated

The Victorian press conference is still going.

Premier Daniel Andrews was just asked if the state government would step in and vaccinate the private aged care workforce. He says that private aged care workers can get vaccinated at state hubs – but he says it is not the state government’s place to take over that vaccination problem.

He added that during the serious aged care outbreaks in Melbourne last year, the private aged care sector indicated it was not willing to listen to the state government.

Andrews said:

I’m not going to assume responsibility for a sector that I don’t fund, that I don’t regulate, and where some of whom indicated last year that they weren’t prepared to listen to, well, anybody, let alone a government they have no relationship with.

He added:

There is also a case for the funder of that sector to say hey your funding is dependent on getting people through that program and, by the way, that’s going to cause some staffing issues, here’s some backfill.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

The prime minister will be holding a press conference at 1.30pm AEST.

New community transmission in New Zealand

New Zealand has a new case of Covid transmission in the community, ministry of health officials have confirmed. It is being investigated by health officials.

No link between the case and the border or managed isolation has been established so far.

New Zealand has not had a case of transmission in the community since February 2021.

The ministry of health said: “New Zealanders are reminded of the basic public health measures of mask wearing and hand washing.

“In particular anyone in Auckland catching public transport this afternoon or who cannot socially distance in public spaces should wear a mask as a precaution.”

The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern.
The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Updated

NT reports no new cases

The Northern Territory has announced no new cases of Covid-19 overnight, from over 1,800 tests.

NT chief minister Michael Gunner says another test of the positive case yesterday showed he was more infectious than his first test, which shows it was detected early.

The taxi driver has been transferred to quarantine in Howard Springs. An Uber driver is also in Howard Springs and both have tested negative. The 10 people who he drove after the positive case are being tested, and are classified as close contact.

Of the 32 people on his flight, 25 are still in the NT and are being tested and isolating.

There are 99 people identified as close contacts across exposure sites in the NT, and are being tracked down.

He said there are between 200 and 250 casual contacts at the Woolworths in Katherine.

Gunner said it was now a “waiting game”:

We believe we’ve done everything we can to track the virus. We need to wait and see what this tests come back as. The wastewater from Darwin is being tested today and we’ll get the results tomorrow.

The Katherine wastewater is being collected today. Normally they’d not be back until Thursday. We are are trying to get those results back sooner and I’m confident we can do that. We’ll keep tracing the people we haven’t contacted. On the contact tracing efforts, the team are doing an incredible job.

Downtown Darwin after the city went into lockdown.
Downtown Darwin after the city went into lockdown. Photograph: Aaron Bunch/AAP

Updated

Australia to announce moratorium on removals of Afghan nationals

The Morrison government is poised to announce a moratorium on removals of Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan when their visas expire.

The government is set to announce that no Afghan visa holder will be asked to return to Afghanistan while the situation in the country remains dire.

The move is in line with comments by the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, on the ABC this morning that “all the Afghan citizens who are currently in Australia on a temporary visa will be supported by the Australian government and no Afghan visa holder will be asked to return to Afghanistan at this stage”.

Guardian Australia understands the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, will announce the details later today. The moratorium on removals will be tied to the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan. The government is not expected to grant blanket permanent visas or citizenship to those currently holding temporary visas.

As we reported on Saturday, human rights and refugee groups have been calling on the government to give greater assurance to Afghan nationals, noting that the government had told Myanmar nationals they would be able to stay after the February military coup there.

Updated

With that, I shall hand you over to Josh Taylor.

I’ll see you all bright and early tomorrow morning!

Updated

Dubbo abattoir closed as a precaution

Covid spread in Dubbo in the central west of New South Wales has triggered the closure of a significant abattoir in the region.

Fletcher International Exports, one of Australia’s largest meat processing facilities, is closing its facility in Dubbo for one week, and will aim to vaccinate its staff during this time. The closure is precautionary, with no cases having worked in the plant.

As of Tuesday, there have been more than 100 Covid cases in the area.
Roger Fletcher, owner of the abattoir, told Dubbo’s the Daily Liberal.

We have no cases of Covid in our plant but there are some of our people who are close contacts and others who have had casual contact. The last thing we want is to have Covid in our facility.

It was the common sense thing to do. We have got to look after our people. We have a responsibility to our community. After all, we are the largest employer in Dubbo.

In farmers’ parlance we are closing the gate before the horses get out.

The abattoir’s closure was voluntary, in contrast to strict reduced workforce ratios for meat processing facilities introduced by the Victorian government during its second wave lockdown in 2020, when the industry workplaces were considered super spreaders of Covid.

Updated

No local Covid-19 cases recorded in NT's official Tuesday numbers

Updated

South Australia has shut their border to Darwin after the state recorded one local case yesterday.

Updated

Victorian press conference:

There is some good news out of the Melbourne outbreak. It has been almost 14 days since the Al-Taqwa exposure site and that community of more than 3,000 people has been isolating this whole time. Their day 13 tests are coming up.

So within 48 hours, Kate Matson says, “we should be clearing the bulk of Al-Taqwa”.

The amorphic St Kilda cluster is now the biggest worry.

All but two of the party guests have now returned a Covid-19 test result, and those two results are expected any hour now.

Matson says they have not been able to find any link between the mystery cases in St Kilda and urges anyone who has any symptoms, or was at an exposure site, or was near an exposure site or near someone who was at an exposure site, to get tested.

We haven’t found one area of the mystery cases all being in one place. We would have linked them together as a cluster if we could. This is unlinked and we are worried and don’t want it to grow. We don’t want a cluster of epic proportions in St Kilda. We ask people to come forward to test.

And on that St Kilda cluster: the Coles at Balaclava has now been upgraded to a tier-one site for Friday 13 August, between 12.45pm and 4.20pm.

Updated

Reporter:

There were, as you mentioned, many close contacts on construction sites. Would you look at things like priority testing as they have done up in Sydney?

Barr:

We continue to focus on the most immediate priorities in the testing program. But if the lockdown works to the extent that we’re not getting lots and lots of new close contact, the further we go into the lockdown, and that will enable us to have some much more targeted industry-specific responses.

Updated

ACT press conference:

Barr has been asked if he considered imposing a 5km or 10km travel limit as is in place in the Victorian and NSW lockdowns.

Movement has been pretty good. The available data is demonstrating the people are being pretty good in terms of staying within their local areas.

So we didn’t consider that today. It it still remains a potential measure that we could take, but we don’t believe necessary today.

The issue that we’re particularly focusing on is around that too many people gathering too close to each other in a couple of retail settings.

Updated

Three more cases connected to Melbourne engagement party

Victorian press conference:

Three more people who attended that engagement party in Caulfield North have tested positive to Covid-19, bringing the total number of people who were either positive at the party or caught it at the party to six.

A person who acts as a carer for one of the Covid-positive party guests has also tested positive, bringing the cluster to seven.

Of the 21 other cases announced today which have been linked to known outbreaks, three are linked to the Al Taqwa College, nine are linked to Glenroy West Primary School, two are linked to 480 Lygon Street, and three are linked to the Newport football club cluster.

The three unknown cases are two people who live in St Kilda and one person who lives in the City of Melbourne, who is linked to one of the St Kilda cases.

Kate Matson, the deputy secretary of the Victorian health department, said there had now been five mystery cases in people who live or work in the St Kilda area, and she was concerned there were more cases they did not know about.

If you are in the City of Glen Ira and City of Port Phillip, please come out for testing. We are not seeing testing rates high enough and we are concerned that there are cases here that we do not yet know about.

These cases got the virus from somewhere, the virus is circulating in those geographic areas of Melbourne. If you look at the exposure site map on our website, you can see 50-odd exposure sites running from South Melbourne, down the bay, down to Brighton.

These cases aren’t linked by age, they’re not linked by faith. They aren’t all in the same book club. They are not all in the same footy club. The only thing they share is geographic proximity. They might live or work in the City of Glen Ira or the City of Port Phillip. They have different types of jobs, some are employed, some are in office jobs, some are in blue-collar employment. There is nothing linking these cases other than geography, which is why we do ask that testing rates increase in that area.

Updated

Victorian leaders condemn antisemitic backlash to allegedly illegal engagement party

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has condemned antisemitic comments made in response to an engagement party in Melbourne last week, which he named yesterday as one of the events that prompted a tightening of the lockdown rules.

Royal Melbourne hospital sacked a worker today who had allegedly made antisemitic comments on a post about the party.

Andrews said:

Antisemitism is unacceptable and evil and we have a zero tolerance to that in our state. The event that we spoke about at some length yesterday was not a function of being Jewish. It was a stupid function, it was an illegal function ... nothing to do with being Jewish.

He added:

We called out some bad behaviour yesterday. We didn’t call out a community because that would be unacceptable and wrong.

The Victorian chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, also condemned some of the comments about the party.

How horrified I was to see antisemitic hate directed at the community overnight. It’s profoundly wrong.

I also want to flag that it is profoundly destructive to the public health response – hate directed at any group ... we have seen it with Islamophobia.

The reality is communities are focused on protecting themselves, their families, and those around them and we should recognise that. There are many, many, many Victorians who are working so hard to do the right thing. It is incredibly destructive to vilify individuals.

Updated

Now over to that aged care facility that was caught up in the ACT outbreak yesterday when a staff member tested positive after working while potentially infectious.

Coleman:

Just an update on the outbreak at the Greenways Views Village, which does remain in lockdown. The good news is that, at this time, no further cases have been identified connected to this outbreak.

Yesterday, we tested all residents and every staff member on site at the village but we continue to access all additional staff so we’re prioritising those as they come forward.

Please note it is still early in the outbreak and we may still see cases, but it’s excellent news that we have none to date.

Our Covid-19 response team remains on site at this time to assist the village support residents and staff.

Updated

Coleman says there are now at least six public sites in the ACT with confirmed transmission of the virus.

We’ve now identified at least six sites at which transmission has occurred. So yesterday we discussed Fiction night club and Downer Community Centre.

We also have transmission now confirmed at the Assembly Bar as well as at the Lenback Jaguar Land Rover dealership site. Furthermore, at Gold Creek School, there are cases coming out of that as well as Lyneham high school.

So we definitely are seeing transmission from these exposure sites and I’d like to re-emphasise the importance of the quarantine requirement of our directions.

Updated

Coleman:

Included in the new cases today are three cases who were unknowingly infectious when they attended both the Bruce and Reid campuses of the Canberra Institute for Technology.

As these cases visited several buildings across the two campuses, there are multiple exposure locations connected to the CIT campuses.

Updated

The list of ACT exposure sites is likely to grow to more than 100, Coleman says.

Our list of self-identified close contacts has also grown as we expected it to. [We] thank you again to all of those people who continue to be in quarantine. We also have now over 80 exposure locations listed in the ACT.

When I was monitoring NSW exposure locations and Victoria locations, I was hoping we would never be in that position, but we’ll reach 100 locations, probably tomorrow or the next day. So please keep an eye out for those.

Updated

Three mystery cases in ACT, says CHO

ACT’s chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, confirms three of today’s cases have yet to be linked to known clusters.

We’ve recorded 17 new Covid-19 cases. This brings the total active cases associated with this outbreak to 45 of our new cases today.

We do know that three are unlinked at this stage. We’ll be going into our more intensive case investigation interviews and doing our detective work for these three cases this afternoon.

Ten we know are linked to the known case through some mechanism and four are extremely new cases that just came through overnight, so they’re prioritised this morning for follow-up.

Updated

Support payments for locked down ACT residents

Barr:

There will be, however, be expanded financial support, financial support for individuals – workers who have lost hours through an extension of the Covid disaster payment arrangements.

I want to thank treasurer Josh Frydenberg and his team for working so constructively with my team and the ACT government to make that possible.

There will also be extensions to the business support grants that the ACT government is offering, as well as the Covid support schemes that are being delivered in a 50/50 partnership between the ACT government and the commonwealth government.

So business support grants under that partnership scheme will be extended and provide support of up to $10,000 for employing businesses and $4,000 for non-employing businesses. There is also an overarching ACT government small business hardship scheme.

Information on all of these new payments will be put online shortly.

Updated

Barr says construction will not restart today:

Construction work will remain largely a prohibited activity for the next few days. Sadly, there are thousands of people in this industry caught up as close contacts.

We are, though, reviewing our public health measures every single day and, when it is safe to make changes, we will. But today is not that day. We are working on Covid-safe transition plans for the construction industry and for other businesses, and this does also include arrangements to safely allow for online ordering and delivery and click-and-collect services.

So it will have those transition plans in place but, again, today is not the day to be easing restrictions and so we won’t be.

Updated

Barr is going into more detail about exactly what the next two weeks of ACT lockdown will look like.

Today, we indicated that we provide some further information on our lockdown settings.

Non-essential businesses, including non-essential retail, will continue to stay closed.

Face masks must be worn by people aged 12 years or older when they’re outside of the home.

Regrettably, we need to strengthen our compliance in relation to essential businesses that remain open, so if I can repeat again, browsing at a hardware store is not an essential activity. It doesn’t help. All it does is increase the likelihood of the virus transmitting between people.

If you need to go to the hardware store, get in and get out quickly. Most people shouldn’t need to go to the hardware store today, tomorrow or for the rest of the week.

Barr:

At this stage, none of the 45 cases are hospitalised and that is welcome news at this point in time. We are, of course, though, very early in this outbreak.

Our case numbers are going to continue to grow. The last two days have been two of the biggest days ever for the ACT in terms of new cases during the pandemic. That’s why we extended the lockdown yesterday.

ACT records 17 new local Covid-19 cases

Chief minister Andrew Barr is speaking now, and sounds fairly grim.

He has confirmed 17 new cases in the territory, bringing the cluster’s total up to 45.

Updated

OK, I’m going to swap over the ACT press conference now.

Updated

Victoria press conference:

Updated

Some news from Victoria and their state parliament situation:

Berejiklian has been asked for more specifics on what she means by “life will be much freer” once vaccine targets are met.

I’ve been asked the question a few times, as has Dr Chant. And we’ve tasked her to consider if people are completely vaccinated, what low-risk activity can we provide once we get to 6 million jabs during September and October? She is considering her advice. I want to make that very clear*.

So I have always set ourselves a target of getting to 6 million jabs by the end of August and I’m so pleased that we’re going to get there, with a bit of room to spare as well, fingers crossed, but that will mean that we can consider opportunities for people who are fully vaccinated in September and October.

And I’ll be able to convey that as soon as we get closer to that August 28 day and as soon as we know where things are at in terms of case numbers and areas of concern.

* Takes a sip of coffee every time Berejiklian wants to make something “very clear”.

Updated

Hazzard has defended the situation at Westmead hospital, where ambulances were queued outside and health staff were required to treat some people in the vehicles.

The health minister said this was not uncommon and was ultimately unavoidable during high-pressure periods.

Again, in urgent times – it also happens during flu seasons – there are times when doctors ... our medical and nursing staff, will come out because there might be cases that are blocking an emergency department.

That is not unusual. It happens in every system across the world.

Desirably, if you had less issues happening, patients would be moved straight in. But they still get world-class care from our amazing physicians and nurses.

So I don’t think anybody needs to have undue concern about that. But also recognise again we’re in the middle of a pandemic. There are people coming into the hospital and putting that additional pressure.

Updated

Questions have turned to the strain on hospital capacity in greater Syndey.

Health minister Brad Hazzard has conceded resources are tight:

There’s no question that the hospital system is under enormous pressure across NSW, which is why we’ve had to take some measures that we’ve talked about in the past, so easing back on some of the less urgent elective surgery.

If you just take a look at, say, the St George situation, that was a case where we had a long-term cancer patient who became symptomatic and has tested positive for Covid.

That caused, obviously, further testing of patients in that ward. The person who was in the room with that particular patient was also positive.

And they found another two cases across the ward and there was a nurse unit manager and a junior medical officer who were also positive. The result of that just in that one fairly small case has taken out 80 Health staff for the 14 days’ quarantine. I think that’s fairly indicative.

Updated

McAnulty didn’t give a huge amount of detail, but it appears a funeral in the state’s far west has been linked to the transmission of the virus. It’s unclear if the event took place before or after the whole state snapped into lockdown on Saturday.

Reporter:

I understand [there are] two cases that tested positive after they went to a funeral in south-western Sydney near Broken Hill. Do you have any more details on that? I think they left the area. In south-west Sydney?

McAnulty:

Right. So there has been a funeral event in far western New South Wales that we’re following up. That work is still under way to investigate the circumstances.

Updated

Now on to the Canterbury hospital cluster.

McAnulty:

At Canterbury hospital, a ward has been closed in light of transmission. Remembering these places, the staff are really concerned that they’re keeping patients safe so they’re taking all the actions they can to work with patients, follow contact tracing and health advice and making sure that their patients are safe.

I can’t comment on staffing at those facilities but throughout NSW Health we’ve got good processes for assessing which staff are at risk and how the [health districts] can work together as a network to make sure that the sufficient staff are in place.

Updated

Six people infected in St George hospital cluster

McAnulty says:

At St George hospital, there has been transmission.

Four in-patients and two staff members have been identified as testing positive for Covid.

There’s 21 patients in the wards that have been tested and in isolation. No further cases have been identified to date.

Updated

McAnulty confirmed that this happened in the last couple of days ... which, like, would have been nice to know about to be honest.

Updated

McAnulty:

What we’ve learned is where the infection is most likely to spread. That’s why we’re focusing on those areas and we’ve learned that people get lost in the detail when we put up venues that we don’t think are risk places on the website or in the media. So we’re really trying to focus the public’s attention on those where we believe there’s a true risk.

Reporter:

Let’s be clear. NSW Health has stopped putting sites on the list of potential exposure sites, you’ve stopped putting locations that have been visited by cases because there are too many locations. When did that first happen?

McAnulty:

We continue to, in places outside metropolitan Sydney or areas where we haven’t seen large numbers of cases, such as regional Sydney, regional parts of the state, Newcastle, Central Coast, Wollongong. We continue to put even the tiniest risk venues on the website. In those areas in the metropolitan area where we know that there are many, many places that cases have gone but little risk, we’re deliberately focusing on places I’ve mentioned.

Updated

OK! We might have an answer to the “why are there barely any new contact tracing locations in greater Syndey” mystery!

But the answer isn’t actually that encouraging.

Reporter:

We’re seeing very few close contact and casual contact locations in western and south-western Sydney despite the explosion of cases. Is there a different approach NSW Health is pursuing?

McAnulty:

Yeah, there is. We’ve got a lot of experience from last year’s epidemic and this year’s Delta epidemic of what the risk settings are for people to get transmission of infection from Covid and so the information is that, from talking to cases and looking at contacts and who is getting infected, that the highest risk is your household. The next highest risk is people visiting a household where there’s a case.

So we’re still seeing people perhaps inadvertently, or not realising that it’s such a dangerous thing to do, visiting someone’s household where there is a case. The next most concerning place for transmission is a workplace.

We’re seeing, as we’ve reported many times, workplaces, particularly factories, manufacturing, where you’ve got a lot of people in the workplace and that’s why it’s so important to make sure each workplace has a good Covid safety plan.

So we know there are quite low-risk settings that we just don’t see very much transmission at all in, and that’s such as supermarkets, shopping centres and so on. So we’re now deliberately prioritising in the metropolitan area venues or places where people have been in households, in other households, not their own, in workplaces, and high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities, educational settings, including childcare settings.

Updated

Court throws out Victoria lockdown challenge

The Victorian supreme court has rejected a challenge against the public health orders enacting Victoria’s second wave lockdown.

On 13 September 2020 Kerry Cotterill received an infringement notice for allegedly breaching the orders by carrying a political sign of Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ face with the message “Toot to Boot” and “Ban Dan” written on her face mask.

Cotterill said she was out exercising, which was within the rules, and demonstrating, which was not. She argued the health orders breached the implied freedom of political communication in the constitution.

On Tuesday, Justice Richard Niall dismissed her case. He found the Public Health and Wellbeing Act was valid insofar as it burdened political communication due to the “legitimate purpose” of preventing the spread of coronavirus.

Niall said Cotterill’s case had a “false premise” that the public health orders themselves had to be consistent with the implied freedom and, even if that were correct, he would reject the challenge.

That is because stay-at-home orders were “consistent with the maintenance of constitutional government”, “rationally connected” to the public health purpose and alternatives were not equally effective and compelling.

This is the latest in a long list of defeats of challenges to coronavirus restrictions – including one that went to the high court arguing the constitution also includes an implied freedom of movement.

Updated

By the way, Victoria can expect an update in about 10 minutes with premier Daniel Andrews stepping up at 11.30am (AEST).

But it isn’t all punishment, here is Woyboys on the good work the officers have been doing as well.

There was an incident at Villawood where ADF and police went to that home to check on the welfare of people and the fact that a gentleman in the home was actually there. After some inquiries, it was found his pregnant wife and children were feeling unwell and the whole family on the back of the welfare and compliance visit were transported by NSW Ambulance to hospital.

Updated

And here is the tough love section of the press conference. Deputy police commissioner Gary Worboys is up to tell us about rule breakers.

Our welfare and compliance teams, Australian Defence Force and NSW police, working together on the back of contact tracing information, went to a home in south-west Sydney yesterday morning and found a person that should be there wasn’t there.

They made a number of inquiries and, not that long after, that person returned to the front of the house in a motor vehicle. That person was spoken to by police and ADF issued a penalty infringement notice.

He stated he’d hopped in his car and went out for some fresh air and hadn’t been anywhere else but the point is that if you are going to behave like this, yesterday over 2,300 houses visited, if you’re going to behave like this, if you’re going to step outside the health orders, you will be checked on and you will get an infringement notice and that person will continue to be checked on to make sure they comply.

Updated

New Covid-19 case in Broken Hill

McAnulty says there has been a new confirmed Covid-19 case in Broken Hill and a positive sewage detection in Lennox Head in the state’s north.

In terms of western NSW, we’ve seen 18 new cases to 8pm last night. This brings the total number of cases to 116, which is very concerning. The local health district is working hard with the community to find cases, increase testing rates and make sure contact are isolating and getting tested.

In Hunter New England we’ve had 10 new cases, bringing the total number of cases there to 130.

We’ve had one case reported in Broken Hill overnight. This is a person who lives in the far west health district. The person has been infectious for some days and has been in Broken Hill and Wilcannia. Contact tracing is under way and identified contact are being tested and isolating and that work is continuing to identify the potential source of that infection.

We’ve also had sewage detection in the last few days go off in test positive for fragments of the virus that causes Covid in Lennox Head sewage treatment plant.

Although we have no known cases there, we are concerned there may be undetected cases in the community. Please, please, come forward for testing if you’ve been in, or live in, Lennox Head, if you’ve got the mildest of symptoms.

Updated

Here is NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty with the details of today’s cases.

There were 452 locally acquired cases of Covid-19 reported in NSW to the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

There were two overseas acquired cases in that period. A record 151,767 tests were reported yesterday.

In terms of hospitalisation, we’re continuing to see large numbers of people in hospital. Currently, 447 people with Covid have been admitted to hospital. Sixty-nine of those are in intensive care and 24 require ventilation. This is a serious disease, including in young people.

Sadly, as the premier mentioned, we have to report the death of a woman in her 70s from western Sydney at Westmead hospital yesterday. We understand she was diagnosed on 29 July and was unvaccinated.

Updated

Berejiklian:

We gave an undertaking that in September and October, which will be our most difficult months ... and October, until we get to 70% double dose, the challenge for us as a team and a government in NSW will be how can we keep our citizenships safe and as free as possible during those difficult months.

And once we get to 6 million jabs, we’ll be able to consider opportunities for how – what we might be able to do in September and October that we can’t currently do. I want to make that very clear.

Does it mean we’ll live completely freely? No. But does it mean we’ll live more freely than we do today? Absolutely.

So please feel encouraged to get vaccinated.

Updated

NSW life will be 'much freer' when vaccination goals reached

Berejiklian has promised that life will be “much freer” when vaccination rates reach 70% or 80%.

This is probably the firmest she has been so far on this point.

Obviously, obviously we’re keen to make sure we hit the 70% double dose and 80% double-dose targets. Now, as this stage, those targets will be met at the end of October for 70% double dose and mid-November for 80% double dose.

I want to make this very, very important point – life will be much freer than what it is today once we get to 70% and 80%. It doesn’t mean we’ll be completely free. It doesn’t mean that we will let’s let the virus be rampant in the community no matter our number of cases, but it will be freer than it is today. I really want to stress that point.

Updated

The premier has listed the suburbs of most concern.

In relation to the suburbs of concern, obviously in greater Sydney, south-west and west Sydney remain generators of most cases.

In particular, we want to call out the following seven suburbs and we ask everybody in those suburbs to be especially careful, not to leave home unless you have to and please come forward for vaccination – Blacktown, Seven Hills, Merrylands, Guildford, Auburn, Bankstown and Greenacre.

In regional NSW, western NSW remains of enormous concern around West Dubbo, Walgett and also in Burke and of course there are extra supports being September to western NSW to make sure we get on top of the cases there.

Updated

Berejiklian:

We had 452 cases of community transmission and we know that at least 50 of those would be infectious in the community, with a number of cases still under investigation.

Tragically, overnight we had the death of a female in her late 70s at Westmead hospital who was unvaccinated, and we extend our deepest condolences to her loved ones.

Updated

Of today’s cases, just 101 were in isolation throughout their entire infectious period.

Twenty-four were in isolation for part of their infectious period.

At least 30 were infectious in the community, and 297 are still under investigation.

Updated

NSW records 452 local Covid-19 cases and one death

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now.

The Royal Melbourne hospital has removed a support staff member after they publicly made a “disgraceful anti-semitic comment on Facebook”.

This was in relation to video posted online of an allegedly illegal engagement party held in the St Kilda East area of Melbourne.

The gathering has been condemned by the Victorian premier, who said the family group made “shitty choices”. However, he warned the public not to use this event as an excuse to spread racial hatred.

Updated

We are now just waiting for NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to step up for the daily Covid-19 press conference where we learn the state’s daily numbers.

We are expecting that in about 10 minutes, so stay tuned.

Sydney radio station 2GB is reporting a staff member from the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Syndey has tested positive to Covid-19 and may have been infectious while working.

Updated

Guardian Australia’s Anne Davies writes:

If you find the daily 11am press conferences from Gladys Berejiklian frustrating, there’s a simple reason. After the headline numbers on cases and deaths, it’s practically a fact-free zone, with the next 45 minutes often filled with confusing messages and slogans.

Over the past week, as the cases have spiralled towards the heights reached during Victoria’s second wave in 2020, the messaging has lurched from “just get vaccinated” to “when we hit 6m jabs we can live more freely” to Monday’s brutal reality check.

For the first time, Berejiklian acknowledged what she has previously brushed off. Getting case numbers down to as close to zero as possible in NSW means getting them down to a handful of cases a day – and that is months away, if it’s possible at all.

For the first time, Berejiklian said on Monday that the Doherty Institute modelling for opening up – when 70% or 80% of the adult population was vaccinated – is based on having about 30 cases at that time.

You can read her full piece below:

Updated

The ACT is ramping up testing and vaccinations as the number of exposure sites rise across the national capital, reports Paul Osborne from AAP.

With 28 Covid-19 cases confirmed so far, the number of exposure sites has risen to more than 100.

Canberra Institute of Technology campuses in Reid and Bruce are among the new sites, after three people tested positive.

ACT health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the number of tests over the past five days had risen from 1,000 a day to 5,700 – proportionally more than were being rolled out in NSW.

A new testing site is set to start in Kambah, in the city’s south.

The number of cases is expected to rise, with Stephen-Smith saying some “very large exposure sites” had been added to the list.

Updated

Queensland records one new local Covid-19 case

And here are the Queensland numbers!

The sunshine state has recorded one local Covid-19 case, but they were safely tucked away in home quarantine.

Queensland is moving the EKKA public holiday, which was cancelled due to Covid-19 lockdowns, is being moved to 29 October.

In case you didn’t believe me about NSW being at 11am (AEST).

The press conference doom hour is starting to form this morning.

We will have NSW at 11am (AEST) and now ACT at 11.45am (AEST).

Fingers crossed Victoria and the NT decide to take a long lunch!

Earlier, Australia’s shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, called on the Australian government to use unallocated humanitarian visa places to bring Afghan activists and women in danger to Australia.

Wong called for “pathways for existing temporary protection visa holders to remain in Australia”.

She noted that the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, has said they won’t be asked to return to Afghanistan “at this stage”, but Wong said it was time to “dispense with the fiction people are likely to be able to return” – ie to let them stay in Australia permanently.

Updated

Oh great. This is just what Australia needs right now. The return of the mouse plague. Whoop!

Updated

Just jumping back to the new Melbourne curfew, Victorian police commissioner Shane Patton has been making it clear this morning that this was a decision that came from the health department, not at the request of the police force.

'Several hundred' still need to be evacuated from Afghanistan, foreign affairs minister says

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, has confirmed that Australia is still working to evacuate “several hundred more” locally engaged staff, Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families from Afghanistan.

Some 1,300 have been brought to Australia since 2013 including 400 since April – but the Australian government has been criticised for being too slow to help the rest.

Payne said Australia is working with the US, which is trying to secure Kabul’s airport, and the first Australian Defence Force flight is en route. But, asked if everyone will make it out, Payne replied that it is an “extraordinarily difficult situation” due to “security issues and the lack of arrangements on the ground”.

Regarding the 4,200 Afghans in Australia on temporary visas and 53 in immigration detention, Payne told ABC’s AM:

All the Afghans in Australia on temporary visas will be supported by the Australian government and no Afghan visa-holder will be asked to return to Afghanistan at this stage. And that is something we’ve discussed as a government.

Updated

Scenes from the ACT.

I’m trying to track down the interview with the Northern Territory health minister where she says she isn’t aware of any additional Covid cases so far this morning. (Although obviously, this can still change before today’s press conference.)

So far territory health authorities have identified 300 contacts of the infected traveller. Sixty people are considered to be close contacts.

Updated

The Australian government has been accused of waiting far too long to organise a military evacuation mission to Afghanistan as it sends 250 defence force personnel to the region in a last-ditch bid to help people flee the Taliban.

Amid shock at the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the Australian government promised to “continue to work with key partners in the days ahead” to seek the safe passage of more than 130 Australians in the country, along with Afghan nationals who worked alongside its troops and diplomats, and humanitarian visa holders.

After chaotic scenes at Kabul’s international airport, one of the few places not under Taliban control, the Australian government updated its travel advice, telling citizens they should “not go to the airport unless told by the Australian government”.

Afghan nationals who previously worked at the Australian embassy are in hiding across the captured capital, fearful of the retribution of a resurgent Taliban. Supporters of the former workers say they are fast losing trust in the Australian government.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

New ACT school campus reportedly records Covid-19 case

The ABC is reporting that the Chapman primary after school care program in the ACT has recorded a positive case.

According to an email that appears to have been sent to parents, a staff member was potentially infectious while working in the building on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

I’ll bring you more details as soon as I can.

Updated

Once the press conference doom hour starts, this blog will be mostly focusing on the Australia Covid-19 situation but if you want to stay up to date on Afghanistan you can check out our dedicated live blog, captained by Helen Sullivan, below.

(But like just open it in a different tab, don’t leave me completely!)

Updated

Two-thirds of parents are concerned that lockdowns are affecting the mental health of their children, with half worried about emerging behavioural problems, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

The survey of 1,100 people has also found strong support for the government to indemnify employers who provide Covid-19 vaccinations to their employees through workplace vaccination programs – something that is being pushed by business but which the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has ruled out.

With New South Wales in its eighth week of lockdown, and Victoria and the ACT both hit with a two-week extension on Monday, the latest snapshot of national sentiment reveals ongoing resilience among the adult population but growing concern about the impact of lockdowns on children.

Delta outbreaks across the country have forced more than 16 million Australians into lockdown and the Essential survey suggests 65% of people are worried about the effect on the mental wellbeing of their children – a six percentage point rise compared to a month ago.

You can read the full report below:

And here is the tend line based on that seven-day rolling average.

Here is a breakdown of Victoria’s cases based on isolation status from the fantastic Josh Nicholas.

EPA probed over Victorian tunnel toxic soil dumping sites

An independent investigation has been launched into Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority over its decisions to approve sites for dumping contaminated soil from the troubled West Gate Tunnel project.

Victorian ombudsman Deborah Glass said her office was probing the EPA’s decision-making, after receiving community complaints about proposed sites to accept tonnes of the PFAS-contaminated spoil, reports Callum Godde from AAP.

The EPA initially approved environment management plans for three sites, but revoked the decisions when community groups took it to the supreme court.

New environment management plans were submitted for the same three sites this year before the tunnel’s builders, CPB Contractors and John Holland, picked Hi-Quality in Bulla as its preferred site for the soil in June.

The other sites considered were operated by Maddingley Brown Coal Pty Ltd in Bacchus Marsh and Cleanaway Operations Pty Ltd in Ravenhall.

Glass said she was concerned “deficiencies” in the EPA decisions could have gone unidentified without the actions of community groups.

The community deserves to know if correct processes were followed when it came to deciding where tonnes of spoil could be disposed of, especially given the proximity to homes ...

I am aware of the strength of some community feeling in this matter and it is important I make clear that this investigation cannot stop the construction of the West Gate Tunnel.

Nor can the ombudsman make binding orders about where the spoil should go.

Transurban, the state government’s partner in the project, earlier this month advised shareholders the $6.7bn project will cost $3.3bn more than expected, and that a “reliable time frame” for completion could not be provided.

The project, billed as an alternative to the city’s congested West Gate Bridge, was originally scheduled for completion in 2022 but has been plagued since the discovery of the contaminated soil.

Glass is seeking submissions from identified community groups.

The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of 2021, with the ombudsman to report to parliament and the public on her findings.

Updated

Victoria records 24 local Covid-19 cases

Victoria has recorded 24 local Covid-19 cases today, a slight increase from yesterday’s 22.

Fourteen of these were in isolation for their entire infectious period, and three are not yet linked to known outbreaks.

Updated

The New South Wales Coalition environment minister has urged voters concerned about the climate crisis to “send a message to all leaders” at the ballot box, and – in a pointed reference to his federal colleagues – warned it is a “cop-out” for politicians to say it is up to others to fix the problem.

In speaking notes released ahead of a speech to be delivered on Tuesday, Matt Kean said the country needed to move “beyond a politics focused on vested interests”, and that every Australian should consider the ramifications of how they voted and take responsibility for “remaking our politics”.

“It is our responsibility when we purchase things for our homes, when we choose where to invest our superannuation, when we decide who we bank with, and when we decide how to vote at the ballot box,” he said in a speech to be delivered at the Better Futures Forum.

“We need to send a message to all leaders, in every part of our society, that failing to deliver on the promise of what we can be is not an option.

You can read the full report below:

In case you were wondering about the challenges I’ve overcome to bring you the news updates today.

Defence minister Peter Dutton spoke more about the issues facing getting an evacuation plane into Kabul on the Today show.

It seems that it’s the swarms of desperate people flooding on to the tarmac and the general chaos at the airport, rather than threats from the Taliban, that is the main obstacle.

These are terrible scenes. There needs to be order restored to the airport so that there can be safe passage of planes in and out and so that we have the ability to move people whether they’re Australian citizens or American citizens, Canadians, New Zealanders, in and out of that airport.

So, it’s in a state of flux at the moment. We’d need to see order restored. Hopefully, that takes place sooner than later ...

We’ll work through the planning we have in place. Last week I authorised the Australian defence force to make those plans and to pre-deploy equipment, as well as troops and some of that, is in place and some of that is en route.

But we won’t be landing into Kabul in these circumstances.

Obviously, we have a base close by, which is safe and secure in the UAE. That’s where we’ll stage from, but we’ll work with the Americans and others, including the Turks, etcetera, to make a very difficult, a tragic situation, as best as it can be.

Updated

The “vast majority” of Covid cases in western New South Wales are among Aboriginal people, and 40% are in largely unvaccinated Aboriginal children aged between 10 and 19 years old, according to the western NSW local health district.

There have been 35 new cases confirmed in Dubbo, and one new case in Bourke, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 98.

“This is a really serious warning for parents and kids everywhere at the moment. Please stay at home. We know that Covid is spreading both in schools to some degree, [and] in a larger degree in the community, and so please, this is a time of protecting our most precious kids, in our communities,” the chief executive of the western NSW LHD, Scott McLachlan, said.

Several thousand Pfizer vaccination doses have arrived for distribution in the region, and plans are under way to expand vaccination hubs and testing centres, McLachlan said, but the workforce is “stretched”.

You can read the full report below:

Just back to that comment from Dutton for a second about it not being safe for Australia to land a plane in Kabul to evacuate nationals who helped our troops.

It’s worth noting that according to Reuters, the first of three German evacuation planes sent to Afghanistan have just landed in Kabul.

Updated

Labor’s shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has spoken to Radio National, expressing hope that Australia’s evacuation from Afghanistan will work.

Wong said:

I fear it is too little too late. We have been calling for months and weeks now for people to be evacuated. For Australia to ensure those who helped us particularly can come to Australia. We’ve seen calls from former prime ministers, Labor, veterans. And it now seems we are reliant on a last-minute and high-risk operation.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has been briefed on the evacuation. Wong said she was “fully supportive” of the government’s efforts, but wouldn’t say if Australia has places reserved on US evacuation flights.

Updated

Lastly, the defence minister was asked about the status of Afghan nationals who helped Australian troops throughout the last 20 years, such as translators and contractors, whose lives are now in extreme danger under Taliban rule.

But Peter Dutton says the Australian airforce is currently unable to land a plane in Kabul to get our people out.

Dutton:

I am happy we have taken the advice of the military planners, because since April we have really ramped up the issue of visas, we have had 430 people arrive in the country since April. We have had a – 1,800 over the course of the last eight years. The numbers have ramped up.

Sunrise host David Koch:

Are they all out?

Dutton:

Some have applied to Canada and Europe, but it is uncertain as to whether they have taken those offers, or whether they need our assistance.

We will do everything we can to get them out. We have assets in place in the Middle East at the moment. We have a base in the UAE. We will do whatever we can when it is safe for people to land there to do the uplift we are planning on doing.

Updated

Dutton has been asked what his view was of the Afghan armed forces who, following directions from the (now ousted) government chose not to fight to defend the capital of Kabul.

We are seeing the scenes we are now as a result. When you have training and investments being made into equipment, and they abandoned their post, that is disappointing and it is tragic.

Though it is the reality of what has happened in Afghanistan and, again we should be proud of the men and women in Afghanistan. We cannot forget what they have done in our name.

The defence minister is asked if he believes the Taliban has changed in the 20 years since they were in power.

The eye of the world is on them now. They are claiming [they have] changed and their approach will be different, but I think the priority now is to get foreign troops out of the country and we obviously want to get Australian citizens out as quickly as we can.

There are some who remain working in NGOs or contractors there. We took a decision on the advice of our military a couple of months ago to get out early, which we have done, but we still want to provide assistance.

Updated

Obviously, one of the biggest things happening today is the unfolding situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have taken the capital Kabul and declared themselves the new government after coalition troops withdrew after 20 years.

Australia’s defence minister Peter Dutton has told Sunrise this morning that he agreed with US president Biden that it must ultimately be up to Afghan citizens to fight this battle and determine their own future.

He defended Australia’s choice to enter the Afghanistan war in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

We went into Afghanistan for the right reasons. We had an attack in New York where thousands of people died ... because of the service of our troops and because of the Americans and Canadians, the Brits and New Zealanders and others, we haven’t had a major terrorist attack in a country over the course of 20 years.

We should be incredibly proud of the service of our personnel as a result.

You can follow the Guardian’s Afghanistan liveblog here:

Updated

Good morning everyone, it’s been a massive week and it’s only Tuesday, but lucky the Guardian live blog is here. It’s Matilda Boseley on deck today, ready to take you through all the morning’s news.

Australian states and territories are on edge today as Covid case numbers around the country continue to rise.

Residents in greater Darwin and the town of Katherine are starting their first full day in lockdown amid fears of a Delta outbreak. About 150,000 people were plunged into a 72-hour lockdown at midday on Monday after an infected US traveller spent four days in the community.

NSW and Victoria have both ramped up their police operations after recording 478 and 22 cases on Monday respectively. Police have been directed to issue fines to lockdown rule-breakers as the default, and only give out warnings in rare circumstances.

Australian defence force personnel assist people as they check into the Qudos Bank Arena vaccination centre on Monday.
Australian defence force personnel assist people as they check into the Qudos Bank Arena vaccination centre on Monday. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/EPA

In Melbourne, the government has reinstated many of the hardline stage four restrictions that were present during last year’s second wave, including a curfew between 9pm and 5am, and have extended the city’s sixth lockdown for two weeks.

ACT residents were rocked yesterday by the news of 19 new locally acquired cases, prompting the chief minister, Andrew Barr, to extend lockdown by two weeks and throwing the next federal parliament sitting week into doubt.

New cases included an aged care worker – the first such case in the ACT since the pandemic began – and a high school student.

The federal parliament is due to return next Monday, but Barr wants prime minister Scott Morrison to reconsider.

They need to consider the urgency of a federal parliamentary sitting and whether it is required ...

My preference would be that they don’t unless they absolutely have to. And if they did, it would need to be a very minimal sitting and absolutely Covid-safe.

But my starting point would be now is probably not the time for the federal parliament to return.

Oh, and WA, SA, Tasmania and Queensland are just chilling out. (Fingers crossed it stay that way.)

With that, why don’t we jump into the day.

Updated

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