Summary
And with that, we’ll be closing the blog for today.
Thanks as always for reading, and thanks to Matilda Boseley for running the whole thing for the first half of the day.
We’ll be back tomorrow with all the news as it happens.
Here’s what happened today:
- NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed that the state would extend its lockdown by another four weeks – but would lift restrictions on many construction sites outside of Covid hotspots.
- She also said a “singles bubble” would be introducd and that Year 12 students in hotspots would be able to return to school for face-to-face learning, and would be vaccinated with Pfizer.
- The state recorded one new death and 177 new locally acquired cases of Covid. Of those, 68 people were in the community during their infectious period and the isolation status of 62 cases remains under investigation.
- The federal government announced an extra $200 a week for people on welfare payments who had lost more than eight hours of work in the NSW lockdown.
- And it also lifted the maximum disaster payments up to $750 a week – the equivalent of jobkeeper previously.
- The prime minister, Scott Morrison, likened the vaccine take-up to “gold medal run” at the Olympics, but the treasurer Josh Frydenberg refused to say it was “a race”.
- Morrison also said the vaccine rollout will be essentially complete by the end of the year, and lockdowns will “become a thing of the past” by Christmas.
- Victoria recorded one new Covid case who was not in quarantine. The person was a traffic controller at the drive-through testing centre in Moonee Valley. There were eight other cases, who were in quarantine.
- Queensland recorded one local Covid-19 case, and 19 on a cargo ship.
- Queensland confirmed its border remains closed to Victoria and SA.
Updated
A man has been seriously injured by a shark in Western Australia, according to the state’s SharkSmart site.
“A male fisher has received injuries after being bitten by a Lemon shark at approximately 8.00 pm on Tuesday 27 July,” it said.
The site confirmed today that the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is “currently involved in assisting with a shark bite incident at Varanus Island near Onslow.”
Channel Nine is reporting that the man in his 30s has been seriously injured and is in Exmouth hospital. He is expected to be flown to Perth tonight.
Updated
NSW parliament won't sit in August
NSW parliament will likely not sit in August due to Sydney’s lockdown and the potential of regional MPs seeding coronavirus in their communities, AAP reports.
The Speaker of the lower house, Jonathan O’Dea, on Tuesday agreed to postpone August sitting dates after a request from Gladys Berejiklian.
That request followed chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant’s advice that both houses be deferred until at least September.
“In addition to the heightened risk of Covid-19 transmission in parliament itself, there is a risk of seeding Covid-19 to regional communities when MPs and staff return home,” Dr Chant said in a letter to health minister Brad Hazzard.
Updated
Mining giant Rio Tinto will return $US9.1 billion in dividends after recording its most profitable six months on the back of surging iron ore prices, AAP reports.
The world’s largest iron ore miner reported underlying earnings of $US12.2 billion ($A16.55 billion) for the six months ended 30 June, more than double from $US4.75 billion a year earlier.
The result was slightly ahead of analysts expectations for a $US12 billion profit.
Updated
And here’s the video of Scott Morrison comparing the vaccine take-up to a gold medal run at the Olympics earlier today:
Reviews of rapid Covid-19 tests in Australia have found markedly different results in their effectiveness, but experts say the New South Wales government’s decision to employ them in schools and essential workplaces will help to control the virus.
Michael McGowan has this story after NSW announced that rapid tests would be used during Sydney’s continuing lockdown.
Australia’s sharemarket has fallen from record highs yesterday, as a coronavirus lockdown extension for NSW dimmed the mood of investors, AAP reports.
The ASX200 on Wednesday had its biggest loss in more than a week and all share categories bar property were lower. Information technology shares fell most, by 2.13%, following losses on Wall Street.
A four-week extension for the lockdown in Sydney and surrounds will hamper plenty of businesses in the short term.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed lower by 52.1 points, or 0.7 %, to 7379.3.
Updated
Researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute have been awarded a prize for their work in sequencing the full Sars‐CoV‐2 virus last year, and then sharing it with the world within 24 hours.
The researchers isolated the virus from the first patient diagnosed with Covid-19 in Australia, and swiftly shared it with the world.
They have now been awarded with the Medical Journal of Australia’s national prize for excellence in medical research.
Their winning study is online and free to access.
The Peter Doherty Institute is a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Updated
The NT government has to pay out a $35m class action settlement to young people mistreated while in youth detention.
The amount of the historic settlement can be revealed today after the government this week failed in its federal court bid to suppress the figure.
Two applicants, Aaron Hyde and Dylan Jenkings, launched a class action in 2016, claiming they were assaulted, abused and falsely imprisoned while in youth detention facilities in Darwin and Alice Springs, and covers anyone who was mistreated while in an NT youth detention centre between August 2006 and November 2017.
“Only the people who have walked in my shoes know what we’ve been through,” Hyde said. “I hope this settlement leads to change to create a better system for the younger mob.”
It’s estimated about 1,200 young people could be eligible for a share of the compensation.
“No amount of money will undo the ongoing harm caused by these abuses, but it is an important acknowledgement of the pain caused to hundreds of young people,” Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Ben Slade said.
“While in detention, these young people were subjected to appalling treatment that included excessive force, handcuffing, strip searching and isolation in cells.
“These young people may have broken the law, but they did not deserve to be broken by the law.”
The NT government does not admit that officers acted illegally, but it has previously apologised for the way young people were treated in youth detention. A federal court hearing to approve the final settlement is scheduled for 8 November in Darwin.
Updated
ACOSS welcomes $200-a-week boost to welfare payments
The Australian Council of Social Service has welcomed the $200-a-week boost to welfare payments for people who’ve lost more than eight hours of work, but criticised the government for failing to provide help to others who need it.
Scott Morrison announced today the government would reverse a decision to exclude people in locked-down Sydney who are already on existing payments from receiving additional Covid supports.
The Australian Council of Social Service, chief executive, Dr Cassandra Goldie, said:
Thank you to everyone locked down and locked out of paid work - and our member organisations on the frontline - who have spoken out about why the government’s lockdown support must include people with the least.
It’s because of you that today the government has announced this welcome $200 weekly payment for people in lockdown on social security who have lost eight or more hours of paid work a week.
We will continue to urge the government to extend support to everyone struggling, especially those with the very least, who had less paid work or none, despite trying to find it.
The lockdown prevents everyone on social security payments from being able to find paid work – they all need this support.
Goldie accused the government of “abandoning those who need the support the most”. She said:
For all its talk of us all being in this together, the government is dividing communities by providing financial support to some and leaving others who have the least behind them facing destitution on $44 a day.
Youth Allowance is even less, at $36 a day. Most people’s rent alone is far more than $36 a day.
The Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the payment was a “step in the right direction” but still not enough.
Continuing to punish people on income support payments in the midst of a pandemic is twisted and cruel.
If we want people to be able to eat, clothe and pay their bills, they need a payment of at least $80 a day.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg has declined to describe the vaccination rollout as “a race”, but said “we’ve got to do it as quickly as possible”.
He is asked by the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas about the prime minister’s earlier comments today, where he likened the vaccination take-up to “a gold medal run” at the Olympics. Morrison of course previously said the vaccination rollout was “not a race”.
Karvelas: “So let’s settle this – is it a race?”
Frydenberg: “Well, I firmly believe the quicker we get people vaccinated the faster we get out of this crisis.”
Karvelas: “So it is a race?”
Frydenberg: “From here on, we’ve got to do it as quickly as possible.”
He adds that Australia had weathered the pandemic well compared with other countries.
“We’ve done well to avoid the fate of other nations in terms of loss of life ... Other countries have done it [vaccinations] faster than us but their circumstances have also been different.”
Updated
Frydenberg is asked: “The economy is forecast to contract in the September quarter ... should we be prepared for a recession?”
He says:
Seeing our two biggest states in lockdown over the quarter is going to have a significant economic impact. So I won’t be surprised if the September quarter comes in negative.
A definition of recession is when you have two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
That is something we will obviously do our best to avoid and the quickest way to avoid that ... is to see New South Wales get on top of this outbreak and to come out of lockdown.
Updated
Karvelas reminds Frydenberg that last during Victoria’s lockdown, he described it as “the biggest public policy failure by a state government in living memory”.
She asks him: “Is that now rivalled by what New South Wales is doing? Is that the new biggest public policy failure by a state government?”
Frydenberg replies:
Well, look, if you want to re-litigate the past, the facts are there for everyone to see.
The first thing to say is obviously more than 800 people tragically lost their lives in Victoria and ... we have gone through more than 200 days of lockdown, far more than any other state.
With respect to New South Wales’s lockdown, what you did see early on in the crisis was, and early on in the spread of the Delta virus in that state, you saw limo drivers who shouldn’t have been carrying around aviation workers, indeed, without a mask. And that is how the virus started to spread.
Updated
Frydenberg is asked: “Are you trying to repair your relationship with the Victorian government?”
He says: “Sure. I have made some pointed comments and so have they. But my heart is with the people of Victoria. As indeed it is with all Australians. My job as the national, the federal treasurer, is to deliver a stronger economy.”
Updated
Karvelas asks Frydenberg why people in Victoria or South Australia did not get this higher amount of $750 during any of the recent lockdowns.
“Victorians just went through a two-week lockdown, their fifth lockdown, but they didn’t get this level of payment. People are probably watching in Melbourne now, thinking why didn’t we get the higher payment?
Frydenberg says that the higher payment was due to the new extension to NSW’s lockdown.
“Today’s announcement came as a results of New South Wales extending its lockdown for another month,” he says.
“When Victoria went through the lockdown last year there was the jobkeeper program in place. We now have a more targeted, faster system of payments that are going out the door.”
But Karvelas says “there appears to be a double standard” because the new $750 payment is backdated to include day one of the NSW lockdown.
“That means Victorians and South Australians missed out,” she says. “That’s a fact”
Frydenberg: “It’s certainly providing necessary support for some tough weeks ahead.
Karvelas: “Not for Victorians or South Australians last week.”
Updated
The treasurer Josh Frydenberg is on the ABC now.
He is asked a similar question to what Scott Morrison was asked earlier today – the new payments for NSW residents under lockdown are the same as jobkeeper used to be.
Patricia Karvelas asks him: “Will you now concede that dumping jobkeeper was a mistake?
Frydenberg: “Ending jobkeeper when we did was the right decision. Jobkeeper did its job. More than 3.8 million people were supported by that program.
But the advice from Treasury was if we had continued it beyond the March quarter, it would have been distorting the labour market.”
Updated
South Australia will continue to take a tough stance on people returning from Sydney, despite SA reporting no new virus infections for the second day in a row, AAP reports.
The premier, Steven Marshall said his “heart goes out” to NSW and said the state government was mindful there are South Australians anxious to get home following the decision to close the border to everyone except essential travellers and those granted a special exemption.
“We’ve got to take a pretty tough stance on this one. Some of the stories are heartbreaking and I acknowledge that,” he said.
“But at the moment we’ve got to be very careful when we bring anybody back in from NSW.”
Marshall said SA would look at every case on an individual basis, with people wanting to return from holidays and others wanting to permanently relocate.
“Not everybody is going to get a yes and there will certainly be some very strong conditions on any exemptions that are granted at the moment,” he said.
Updated
NSW Health has issued a fuller statement on the announcement today that Pfizer vaccine doses will be given to year 12 students in the local government areas most affected by the current outbreak.
Pfizer doses are being redistributed to south-west and western Sydney due to the need to vaccinate Year 12 students in the LGAs most affected by the current Covid-19 outbreak and reduce the risk of the virus escaping into the regions from one of their household contacts, such as an authorised worker
Up to 40,000 Pfizer doses will be allocated from NSW Health’s rural and regional supply of Covid-19 vaccine to help Year 12 students in south west and western Sydney get back to school for face-to-face learning on 16 August.
The Pfizer doses will be sourced from supplies across rural and regional NSW to ensure no one area is impacted.
GPs continue to supply Pfizer vaccinations in regional NSW, and their supplies from the federal government are unaffected by this reallocation. AstraZeneca remains available from GPs, NSW Health clinics and a growing number of pharmacies.
NSW Health can assure those in regional NSW who have had a first Pfizer dose they will receive their second dose.
The growing outbreak of the Delta strain in Sydney is a major threat to our regional communities. Increasing the number of people who are vaccinated, even with their first dose, not only protects people from serious illness and death but also reduces the likelihood someone will acquire and spread the virus.
Anyone in rural and regional NSW with an existing booking at a NSW Health clinic who has not yet received their first Pfizer dose will be contacted as soon as possible if their booking is going to be impacted.
Updated
Matthew Canavan goes on Steve Bannon podcast
Nationals senator Matthew Canavan has appeared on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast.
Canavan, who was formerly the resources minister and is still a Queensland senator, said the pair discussed “the need to fight back against Chinese Communist party infiltration”.
This morning I was on Steve Bannon's War Room Pandemic to discuss why we need to fight back against Chinese Communist Party infiltration into our free society.https://t.co/G2oKlXIfRe
— Matthew Canavan (@mattjcan) July 28, 2021
Bannon had recently been banned from Twitter after he called for the beheading of Dr Anthony Fauci on his podcast.
Updated
NSW Health has released a list of the latest venues of concern:
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 28, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new and updated venues of concern associated with confirmed cases of COVID‑19. pic.twitter.com/pbO0X647q3
Australian Federal Police investigators could help their state counterparts deal with any online organisers of last weekend’s violent anti-lockdown protests, AAP reports.
AFP chief Reece Kershaw told the National Press Club on Wednesday the investigation into the rallies was the responsibility of state police agencies. But he said the AFP would provide support if requested.
“As far as the federal aspect goes, there are some other probably fake sites going on and other things and we actually do that in a joined way with the state jurisdiction, wherever that is hosted,” he said.
“So rest assured we are called when there is a commonwealth nexus or federal aspect to a state crime. So, that is our jurisdiction, otherwise we don’t have jurisdiction.”
Guardian Australia previously reported that a German-based conspiracy group helped drive Saturday’s protests.
Asked whether conspiracy sites were being monitored, Kershaw said: “Some of that would be between myself and the intelligence agencies and we rely on them to alert us when there is an attack plan being coordinated online and they refer that to us.”
“We have good mechanisms to monitor those groups ... It wasn’t really organised by a central group, so that makes it difficult.”
Updated
Queensland Health will wait on a report from the NRL over James Roberts’s quarantine breach before determining what impact it has on the game’s future in the state, AAP reports.
Dr Jeannette Young, the chief health officer, had warned last week she was close to revoking the NRL’s exemption to play on amid a string of breaches since the start of the Sydney outbreak.
Young said she had contacted the NRL over an incident where Roberts wandered onto his hotel balcony .
“I wrote to the NRL last night and I’m waiting on a response as to what actually occurred,” she said on Wednesday. “Once I get that information then I’ll make a determination.”
Pressed further on what it could mean for the game, Young said: “I’d like to wait until I see a response from the NRL before I make a decision.”
Roberts is quarantining with families of NRL players on the Gold Coast, after being bumped out of the Tigers bubble when he became a contact of a positive case.
That was not through a breach of the game’s tight rules, but rather came while shopping for essentials while still in Sydney earlier this month.
The Tigers had left a spot in their hub open for him to enter. However, he was forced into a two-week quarantine on entering Queensland first.
Players’ families were ordered to stay inside their hotel rooms after footage emerged of them passing food between balconies on arrival to Queensland last week.
They were then ordered to tape their balcony doors shut over the weekend and send photo proof of it to Queensland Health. But photos of Roberts on his hotel balcony in his underwear emerged on Tuesday, prompting an investigation.
The former NSW State of Origin centre has battled mental health issues and is said to have been struggling with the conditions of the hard lockdown.
“The NRL has today reported a breach of the current balcony directive to Queensland Health by Wests Tigers player James Roberts,” the Tigers said in a statement.
“The NRL and Wests Tigers are providing James with additional wellbeing support to assist him in coping with quarantine and will continue to work closely with Queensland Health.”
Updated
Jacinda Ardern has received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, AAP reports.
The New Zealand prime minister is now fully vaccinated.
“It was fine. Really, really easy,” she said.
New Zealand ranks 125th in the world for vaccines administered per capita; running well behind the global average.
Just over 21 per cent of New Zealanders have had at least one jab. Ms Ardern was roughly the 700,000th Kiwi to receive their second.
Updated
Victorian builders have welcomed the $85m business hardship fund announced by the state and federal governments today, saying it will help fill a gap in support that left indoor renovators out in the cold.
As we reported this morning, Master Builders Victoria wrote to Victorian premier Daniel Andrews seeking a guarantee builders doing indoors renovations, who had been excluded from support in the past two lockdowns, would get money in any future ones.
In a statement issued this afternoon, MBV said:
MBV CEO Rebecca Casson welcomed the Commonwealth and Victorian Government’s new COVID hardship fund. The $85 million fund will be established to support small businesses who have not been eligible under existing business support funds.
Small businesses with a payroll of up to $10 million who have experienced a 70 per cent or greater reduction in revenue will be eligible for grants of up to $5,000.
Updated
Morrison is also asked an important question about whether his office intervened to help “sign deals” with pharmaceutical companies after frustration was expressed with the health department.
He replies: “That just sounds like a lot of chatter in Canberra to me ... I am not really sure where that came from but it sounds like somebody just having a bit of a natter over a coffee to me.”
He says the PM’s office works with the health department as well as with many other departments.
Updated
Scott Morrison likens vaccine take-up to 'gold medal run' at the Olympics
The prime minister says “the supplies are there” for people to be vaccinated.
“All of Australia, like our Olympians, we go for gold on getting those vaccination rates where we need to go,” he says.
“Because these supplies is there, the distribution is there, pharmacists, GPs, clinics, and we make a gold medal run all the way to the end of this year.”
“I know every Australian has that Olympian spirit in them, and I have great confidence that we will beat this, Australia”.
Updated
An important clarification – people who are eligible for the new $200 a week additional payment (those who have lost work while on a welfare payment like the pension, youth allowance or jobseeker) will be paid from week 1 of the lockdown.
Earlier, the prime minister said he does not care whether the NSW government or the federal government gets the credit for this payment.
“Whoever wants to take the credit for this payment, knock yourself out ... Whoever wants to take the credit for this payment, knock yourself out.”
Updated
Morrison is asked: “Why are younger Australians not listening to you when they are being told that they can get the AstraZeneca vaccine if they want to?”
He replies: “They are listening and they are getting vaccinated and they are doing it in the tens of thousands.
“As you recall, I have been pushing this for a long time. I was talking about it back in June. I was criticised quite strongly at the time for even floating the idea.”
Vaccine rollout will be complete by Christmas, Morrison says
Morrison says that he believes the vaccine rollout will be essentially complete by the end of the year.
“By the end of the year we will be in that position, where everybody who has had the opportunity will have had it,” he says.
This means lockdowns will “become a thing of the past” by Christmas, he says.
“I would expect by Christmas that we would be seeing a very different Australia to what we are seeing now ... lockdowns become a thing of the past when you are at that level.
“That gets us a roadmap to Christmas, I think, which means we will be living life different at Christmas than we are now.”
He also commended the NSW government for setting up AstraZeneca walk-in clinics, and said other states should do the same.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine is a safe vaccine, an effective vaccine, it has saved lives all around the world.
“It is the most recognised vaccine in the world, by all countries, particularly when they are looking at people travelling. It is more recognised even than Pfizer.”
Updated
Earlier, Morrison also said the government would be increasing the maximum payment of $600 to $750, and will be increasing the payment for less than 20 hours of work lost from $375 to $450.
Morrison is told that this new payment takes it to the original level of jobkeeper and he is asked “ why not reintroduce jobkeeper?”
He says: “Because it is not the right solution for the problems we have now. What we are doing now is faster, it is more effective, it is more targeted.”
He says jobkeeper was national and “did not have that flexibility, that agility”.
“What we need now is focused effort where the need is right now, and so it can be turned on and off to the extent that we have outbreaks that occur.
“You don’t play last year’s grand final this year”.
He says this model will now be applied to all potential future lockdowns.
Updated
Extra $200 payment for welfare recipients in NSW who have lost work
Morrison is also announcing what we previously reported – that the federal government is co-funding business support payments in NSW until at least 2 August.
He also says the government will be offering an additional payment to people on welfare who have “lost more than eight hours of work” a week. That will come to $200 a week.
That $200 comes up on top of existing jobseeker, youth allowance, or pension payments and similar.
“In the case of somebody who is on a full jobseeker rate, they are getting just over about $315 a week. So that $200 comes on top of that,” Morrison says.
“It does not in any way undermine the supports payments they are getting,” he adds.
Updated
Morrison says that the federal government “has the back” of NSW.
“I want to assure you of, as you’ve already heard from the premier and the treasurer of New South Wales, that the commonwealth government has your back, just as we’ve had the back of Australians all through this crisis.”
He says that the lockdown will end, and that “our economy can roar back on the other side”.
Earlier, he also said the “exploits” of our Olympians will also “bring them some measure of cheer”.
Updated
Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking
Morrison says he will address the continuing lockdown in Sydney – but first he offers “congratulations again to Ariarne Titmus. She is the absolute queen of the pool.”
He also congratulates Kaylee McKeown, and the mens and womens rowing teams.
Updated
Inflation stronger than expected
Hi everyone, it’s Naaman Zhou here, taking over the blog. Thanks again to Matilda Boseley for covering everything earlier today.
Inflation figures are out – and the Consumer Price Index has risen 0.8% in the June quarter.
That means the CPI has now risen 3.8% over the past year.
For contrast, the federal budget forecast inflation to be 0.3% across the 2019-20 financial year and 3.5% in the 2021-22 financial year.
1/3: #Inflation - Australian consumer prices have risen by a stronger-than-expected 0.8% in the June quarter (compared to the previous qtr).
— David Chau (@ChauDave) July 28, 2021
Inflation has jumped 3.8% since the same period last year, according to the latest figures from the ABS ...#economy #CPI
Updated
VIC also scores additional federal support
Oh, before I go, Victoria will also receive additional federal support, with the commonwealth government announcing a 50/50 spilt with the state on a new $400m rescue package.
New support coming for Victorian businesses – $400m in support with funding to be split 50/50 between the Commonwealth and Victorian Government. Includes a new $85m hardship fund and $156m business continuity fund (per statement from @ScottMorrisonMP)#auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) July 28, 2021
Updated
OK kiddos, that’s all from me today. Be nice to uncle Naaman Zhou as he brings you the news while I’m away.
Don’t worry, I’ll be back on the blog when you wake up tomorrow.
Love you! Bye!
Updated
Head up!
Sydney people looking for vaccines: Bourke Street Clinic in Surry Hills just sent a mass text saying they have new Astra appointments, if you're looking! #covid19nsw
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) July 28, 2021
Now you might have missed it with all those press conferences going on but Australia has managed to score another two gold medals, bringing today’s tally to three and our total to six.
First, the Australian men’s rowing team took out the men’s four final, with Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alexander Hill manning the oars.
SCENES at the Loxton North Football Club after local boy Alex Hill and the men’s fours brought home gold for Australia #Tokyo2020 @abcnews @abcsport pic.twitter.com/8s7rGT30ad
— Sam Bradbrook (@Sambradbrook) July 28, 2021
Then Ariarne Titmus scored another gold 200m freestyle, leaving reigning champion USA’s Katie Ledecky in her dust once again.
Day four working from hotel quarantine. Paused to watch Ariarne's epic win - how good was that 👏 #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/h5J95BbGTP
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 28, 2021
For all the updates check out the Guardian’s Olympics live blog, which is seeming much cheerier than this one!
Updated
Changes to NSW lockdown laws
Okay so much to get through. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of what’s come out of this NSW lockdown announcement:
Lockdown:
- Lockdown will be extended for four weeks.
- This includes both greater Sydney and regional communities that are currently in lockdown.
- In non-locked down regional NSW rules remain the same.
Hotspot LGAs:
- Three local government areas, Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown, have been added to the hotspot list, where the harshest restrictions are in place.
- The eight hotspot LGAs are now Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool Cumberland, Blacktown Parramatta, Georges River, and Campbelltown.
- For those that live in these LGAs, only permitted essential workers can leave their LGA for work and must get a Covid-19 test every three days.
- HOWEVER, testing restrictions have eased in Fairfield, and now only healthcare and aged care workers who leave the LGA must get tested every day.
Schooling:
- Year 12 students will resume face-to-face learning on 16 August.
- The NSW government will be diverting Pfizer doses from regional areas to vaccinate all year 12 students in the eight hotspot LGAs.
- Rapid antigen testing may also be employed to keep classrooms Covid-19 free, although they are not as accurate as PRC testing.
- All other year levels will continue remote learning until the end of the four week period.
Construction:
- “Non-occupied construction” will be allowed to restart in greater Sydney, excluding those eight hotspot LGAs.
- These construction sites must have Covid safety plans.
- More details on what is or isn’t allowed will be released today.
- Outside the hotspot LGAs, people will now be allowed to have tradespeople come to their home as long as it is “contactless” and they do not directly interact with those in the household.
Singles bubble:
- Those in lockdown who live alone can now nominate a person who is allowed to come their home.
- It’s not required that that person must also live alone, but it must be the same person for the entire four weeks.
- If you live outside the hotspot LGAs your singles bubble buddy cannot live inside them.
- If you live inside the hotspot LGAs, your singles bubble buddy must live within 10km.
And that’s the long and short of the rule changes.
Updated
New support package a 'marked improvement', says NSW treasurer
NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet has been asked if he is content with the new federal support package. He has been campaigning for the return of jobkeeper for weeks, including publishing an opinion piece on the matter as recently as yesterday afternoon.
I think it is a marked improvement of where we were.
Ultimately, it is the outcome that matters. We want extra support for individuals who are doing it tough and one support for those who are on current income benefits from the commonwealth. They shouldn’t be excluded.
We made that case and the constructive discussions from you that I have had with the prime minister and federal treasurer has landed this support package in the right place. This would be the end. The reality is the pandemic is evolving but, as another generation evolves, so will our financial support.
Updated
New federal support payments for NSW in lockdown
The federal government has announced new co-funded financial assistance packages for NSW, with up to $100,000 a week being made available for larger businesses.
As flagged by Berejiklian in today’s press conference, the federal government has agreed to co-fund an expansion of the Covid-19 Business Support Payment in NSW until at least 2 August while greater Sydney is in lockdown.
Under the expanded payment, eligible entities, which include not-for-profits, will now receive payments of between $1,500 and $100,000 per week based on the level of their payroll, with the maximum turnover threshold increased from $50 million to $250 million. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the funding would go to businesses to ensure they remained viable to drive the “recovery on the other side”.
Whether you’re a worker who has lost their income or a business that’s suffering, even more help is on the way.
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said the payment could benefit up to 1,900 more businesses that were employing around 300,000 people.
The expansion of the NSW Covid-19 Business Payment remains consistent with the approach we have taken throughout the pandemic in delivering temporary, targeted and proportionate economic support.
The payment is based on 40% of payroll for businesses that have suffered a 30% or more decline in turnover, and is conditional on businesses maintaining their headcount of permanent and long term casual employees.
This means businesses cannot take “active steps to terminate their employment”.
For non-employing businesses, such as sole traders, the payment will remain set at $1,000 per week.
The government said that the expanded payment would cover more than 400,000 businesses employing 3.3 million workers in NSW, subject to eligibility.
The payment will also provide more substantial support for businesses to cover unavoidable costs such as rent, insurance and maintenance as well as employee costs during an extended lockdown.
It will be backdated to July 18 - when the program first started.
The federal government said that workers who had lost hours would continue to receive disaster payments. More than $411 million in disaster payments have so far been paid out for 812,000 claims.
Updated
Victoria press conference:
Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, says there will be three days max for potential exposure sites for the testing site traffic controller considering he was tested on the day he became infectious, plus the two days before. Any exposure sites will be released after the interview with the man has been completed.
He has also clarified that while people are not allowed to have guests in their home for the next couple of weeks out of lockdown, the same single person bubble rule for lockdown continues to apply.
He said household transmission was too risky at this stage, so people should make plans to meet outside or in restaurants or cafes:
If you want to see friends and family, you can, but please do so outdoors in a public space in a group of up to 10 people, or join them at a venue that can operate like a restaurant or a cafe.
3,400 primary close contacts who were isolating in Victoria were cleared on Tuesday, meaning over 11,000 over the 40,000 close contacts have now been cleared. The number of primary close contacts still isolating is now under 20,000.
Updated
Reporter:
To take Pfizer off the regions is a tough call. How many vaccines will be redirected and essentially we are putting students who are sitting the HSC above people aged 40 to 60, [those more] likely to die of Covid-19, and the other most vulnerable.
Berejiklian:
In an epidemic you have to make difficult decisions, and as the deputy premier said, can I thank rural and regional New South Wales for the enormous role they have played in keeping the virus out of their communities, but also please note health advice has changed in relation to AstraZeneca.
In the bush, the biggest challenge that we have is making points of access available for people who live long distances from a health clinic or somewhere where the vaccine is provided.
That is why we have signed up pharmacist and why we have increased access points to NSW Health website there are more than 100 sites now across rural and regional NSW. What a lot of regional pharmacies being stood up.
Please note the access points for the vaccine have increased and it is really just putting a pause for a few weeks on some people in the bush who want to get the Pfizer because the health advice has changed.
Updated
Hmmm not a totally straight answer there from Chant, so the reporter tries again.
Reporter:
[Did] you provide advice that construction will resume on Saturday or was that not the advice?
Chant:
There is a range of advice I provide and I’m very clear that we are on a course to get through this epidemic.
I want to go back to the comment about lockdowns and lockdowns not working. Lockdowns need to take some time. To some extent, as the premier has indicated, we have had some superspreader events. Those superspreader events, as the premier indicated, about 50 people potentially exposed through an event.
A large number of those are positive but they themselves had a set of ripples with further transmission to their households. So every time we get a new household, it does trigger that transmission.
Therefore, the key issue is that everyone in a household to really limit your time outside because even if you get that household transmission, and no one in that household has that very long at the shops or any other permitted activity, we have really broken the chain of transmission.
OK, once again not a clear answer, but it seems that Chant is more concerned about household contacts than construction.
Updated
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has been asked if she is truly comfortable with construction restarting in greater Sydney.
I really understand the community are fatigued and I think businesses are fatigued. All of us would have liked a different position at this time so I think they are some of the challenges we are dealing with.
We are recognising that the people of south-western Sydney and western Sydney keep our businesses, keep our city functioning.
I’ve got to say, how critical the workers of south-western Sydney and western Sydney are deferred and production, factories, logistics, cleaning, all those things. We are continuing to see cases of workplace transmission in those settings in those critical industries.
We are also seeing them take those infections are back to their households and setting of other chains of infection. One thing we can do as individuals is stay within our family unit because if we have not had any further interactions with anyone else, that limits the transmission.
My advice is to do all we can as a community to adhere to the public health orders and I’m also very pleased that we are strengthening a number of movements in relation to the new designated areas in order to add additional control.
Updated
In extremely exciting news we may be not last in the OECD any more - there's a one day difference but we may have already overtaken South Korea - their increase in vaccination rate has really slumped (ignore NZ data is 7 days out of date) https://t.co/JCJg82gaOM pic.twitter.com/2sqOc07lS3
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) July 28, 2021
NT government reaches $35m settlement with former youth detainees
The ABC is reporting that the Northern Territory government has reached a $35m settlement with young people who alleged mistreatment in detention centres in the territory.
I’ll bring you more as soon as I can.
Huge news: NT Government reaches $35 million settlement with young people who alleged mistreatment in detention. Announced on eve of five-year anniversary of horrific images emerging of children in spit hoods and deprived of running water and sunlight in isolation.
— Bridget Brennan (@bridgeyb) July 28, 2021
Updated
Victoria press conference:
Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said the contact tracing interview on the person who worked at the testing centre and tested positive was still under way, and it was too early to say if transmission happened at the testing site.
The staff member was wearing a tier two PPE mask when dealing with the public:
Very early days in terms of understanding exactly what’s happened but, you know, as any critical incident if you like we would go through a rigorous process of understanding what’s happened, what it might inform.
He said there was no surveillance testing at testing centres, only when staff were symptomatic, but all staff were offered vaccinations.
Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, has pleaded with Victorians to ensure they are checking in using the Service Vic app now that the state’s fifth lockdown has come to an end. He says it was crucial in identifying contacts that helped the state tackle the Delta variant outbreak:
A couple of weeks ago, Victoria had the single biggest day for check-ins, in terms of its data, 5.6 million check-ins were recorded on the Service Vic app on 5 July, that data was just so critical for our contact traces to do both. For three rings, a person who was positive, their close contacts, and their secondary contacts that information in real time, readily available, so quickly, allowed us to have a situation where throughout the course of the last two weeks, we’ve had no mystery cases.
Updated
Now you might be asking yourself “Why will this lockdown be any different if the last five weeks of lockdown have stopped numbers from growing?”
Well, it’s a good question and one that reporters at the press conference had to. Here is Berejiklian’s answer:
I’ll be clear about a couple of points. Firstly, had [we] not gone into lockdown, it is absolutely no doubt, no doubt we would have had thousands and thousands of cases today but also many more deaths. That is something we need to continue to prevent. First and foremost, and know wear this responsibility very heavily on anyone in my position would.
Keeping our communities safe and keeping our committee out of hospital remains our number one community priority. We would have had thousands and thousands of cases if we hadn’t taken that action...
The second point is having an extra concentration and adding in those extra LGAs where that authorised list of workers is very short, we now have eight LGAs, the most highly populated parts of our community in greater Sydney, not able to leave their home for work unless they are categorised as a very critical worker. That localised, targeted response is what we hope will have the desired effect.* Having fewer people mobile from those communities we know the virus is circulating.
*A reminder that a localised, targeted response very much did not work in Melbourne last year and seemingly hasn’t worked in NSW so far either since one hotspot LGA has now become eight.
Updated
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has once again brought up this large funeral event in Pendle Hill which has already been linked to the death of a woman in her 80s.
She says nearly all of the 50 attendees have now contracted the virus.
I do not want to dwell on this example but I need to give the statistics. The reason why we have to contain funerals to 10 people is because of how contagious this virus is.
That funeral held at Pendle Hill, 50 people attended, 45 people now have the virus out of those 50. Forty-five.
And just to ring home that you might think you are doing your grandmother or your aunt a favour by dropping in and giving them food or going into say hello, but that could be that death sentence.
Do not do it. I do not want to dwell on that one example but it is a stark example. When people think they are supporting one another, but now 45 to 50 people now have the virus.
Please, do not move among households. Doesn’t matter if it is your brother, your sister, your grandmother, you could be passing on the virus and really causing serious illness to those closest to you and I cannot stress that enough.
Updated
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was disturbed to see workplaces not complying with physical distancing rules.
She was asked if she believes it’s possible to get to zero new cases active in the community by the end of this four-week lockdown extension.
That is our intention but we have seen how we have struggled to reduce the number of infectious in the community and that is apparent. If we want to live freely while vaccination rates remain rather low, that is the one target we need to stick to.
I am hopeful of a couple of things, firstly. But the public will heed the ongoing messages we have provided about what the greatest risks are. Household contact and I was so disturbed when I saw images today publicly made available of workplaces not even wearing masks indoors or not even complying to the health orders. This cannot happen.
Compliance will feature strongly in the next four months. Whether in workplaces, other places of presence, compliance is so critical for us to be able to reduce infectious people in the community and that has to remain out of it.
Updated
Here is the breakdown of NSW cases by isolation status.
Very high number of cases with unknown isolation status today in the NSW Covid update https://t.co/3uItt4jCZA @MatildaBoseley pic.twitter.com/Vp8HsOljwI
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) July 28, 2021
Single bubbles now allowed in greater Sydney
Just doubling back for a second, the premier has also announced the introduction of singles bubbles, which has been a feature of Victorian lockdowns for some time.
I am also pleased to confirm that we appreciate what a stress it has been, especially people doing the right thing [while] living by themselves.
So in relation to the singles buddy system or singles bubble, if you have been living by yourself, you are allowed to nominate one person that is allowed to visit you but it has to be the same person.
But there are slightly different rules for those in the eight hotspot LGAs.
So it can be a family member, a member of another household but it has to be one person and it has to be outside of those eight local government areas.
If you are within those areas it has to be within those areas and within a 10km distance.
You can nominate one person but it has to be the same person. You cannot have a different person every day. You have to nominate the one person that is your buddy or is part of your singles bubble for the next four weeks to make sure that we do not spread the virus.
Updated
Victoria records one new, non-quarantined Covid case
Victoria press conference.
A traffic controller at the drive-through testing centre in Moonee Valley racecourse has tested positive, with no link to other cases. The new case of community transmission is on top of the eight other cases reported on Wednesday.
Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, said it was still early on since it was confirmed, but work was under way to determine the link and close contacts.
Prior to their tests on Monday... they worked at least two days while infectious. We do believe that there will be minimal risk to those at the site at the testing centre... However, the site has been closed. All the staff who have worked on the same shifts have been sent home to isolate him to be followed up, and our pathology team, identifying, in fact, if there were any positive cases, who went through that testing centre.
He said as more information comes through, it will be provided through the health department in the usual way.
Updated
NSW year 12 students will be vaccinated in hotspot LGAs
Berejiklian has announced that Pfizer doses will be diverted from regional NSW to vaccinate year 12 students in the eight hotspot LGA’s.
Year 12 students will restart face-to-face learning from 16 August while the rest of the student population will learn from home until at least the end of August.
For the next four weeks, children would continue to need to be homeschooled, except for year 12 and our intention is that [classroom] learning recommences in two weeks time on Monday the 16 August.
But I want to be clear, that is based on the fact that within those eight local government areas the NSW government will be vaccinating students 16-18 years of age. So year 12 students because the Pfizer vaccine is allowed in young adults or adolescents so for year 12 students in those LGA’s we will start a vaccination program.
I want to stress that while we have not been given extra doses of the vaccine from any other government, state or federal government. I want to thank in advance regional NSW where we will take some Pfizer vaccines given the changing health advice around AstraZeneca and make sure that year 12 students in those local government areas of concern are provided with the vaccine.
We do not want students coming face-to-face learning, getting the virus taking it home to their families that is why we will start a vaccination program and I want to thank in advance New South Wales Health and education for their help.
Teachers can now take the AstraZeneca vaccine based on health advice. Of course, education and health will have more to say about that moving forward but our intention is that year 12 learning recommence face-to-face on Monday the 16 August; we wanted to provide that certainty to the community.
Updated
The Prairiewood Youth and Community Centre in the Fairfield LGA will now be open for AstraZeneca vaccine walk-ins, Chant has announced.
Updated
NSW records 11th Covid-19 death in outbreak.
Here is NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant:
177 locally acquired cases recorded to 8pm last night. It is pleasing to see those high testing levels of 95,532 tests...
Sadly, we have had a death overnight [at the Liverpool hospital], a woman in her 90s. It was not related to the Liverpool [hospital] outbreak we discussed previously, but this is the 11th Covid death related to the current outbreak.
She was not vaccinated and tested positive on July 24.
There are currently 165 Covid cases admitted to hospital, 56 people in intensive care, 22 requiring ventilation.
Updated
Those on welfare support now eligible for federal disaster payments, NSW premier says
I mentioned we were expecting the commonwealth to announce additional financial assistance for greater Syndey later today.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has given us a sneak peek into this, including the expansion to include those already on other government support payments such as jobseeker and Youth Allowance, at least to some degree.
It was made clear to us some weeks ago that jobkeeper was off the table, notwithstanding that can I say we fought for our citizens and we have received additional funding support from the commonwealth and I do want to thank the prime minister and the federal treasurer providing that extra support ...
Please note that it involves extra payment for disaster payment so if you are out of work, you will get extra dollars every week and only need to apply once. Every week the money will go automatically to your account. If you are out of work or have reduced hours, please do not worry, you will get that weekly payment.
The additional category of people to get assistance at those on some kind of payment from the commonwealth but not enough to keep them going so that gap will also be close.
People in existing allowances will also get a top-up to make sure you keep going during the next month. Businesses will also get extra support and I will allow the treasurer to make those details.
But Berejiklian is clear that this didn’t come easy.
Please, know we fought for these extra payments and I am glad they are here and I do say they will keep us going. People should not feel stressed about their financial position. We certainly do not want people joining the unemployment queue, quite the contrary.
We want people to rely on these payments for the next four weeks, whether you are a business, an individual or someone to get a part payment already, please know you will be supported during this time and the prime minister will make a formal announcement about this in the next few hours and again I want to thank him and the treasurer listening.
Updated
Greater Sydney construction will restart outside of hotspot LGAs
As expected, Berejiklian has confirmed construction can restart in some capacity in greater Sydney, but only outside the eight hotspot LGAs listed below.
In relation to non-occupied construction, so outside of those eight local government areas we will allow non-occupied construction and I want to thank the deputy premier and the treasurer for working with stakeholders to make sure those Covid safety plans are in place.
But I want to stress that no construction activity can or will occur in those eight local government areas but outside those areas, non- occupied construction can proceed and the government has worked with industry and with the input of health advice to make sure safety plans are in place but it is one thing to have those plans and another thing to make sure you stick by those plans and I want to make that very clear.
Outside of those eight local government areas we will also allow limited activity for contactless tradesmen, if they can come to a premise without having contact with anybody, that would be allowable and again with those details will be made available today stakeholders and community.
Updated
This easing of test requirements does not apply to the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA however.
Berejiklian:
For the Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas we want to make sure every single worker that leaves that area is tested every three days because Canterbury-Bankstown has now become the central spot where most cases are generated.
Updated
Hardest lockdown extended to three Sydney LGAs
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that the hardest lockdown conditions – which mean that only permitted workers will be allowed to leave their local government area for work – will be extended to Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown LGAs.
They join the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Cumberland and Blacktown LGAs.
The premier has also announced restrictions will be slightly eased in Fairfield, with only aged care and healthcare workers leaving the LGA for work now required to get tested every three days.
Updated
OK and here are the numbers for the cases in isolation.
Forty-six fully out in the community, 22 in the community for part of the time and a whopping 62 still under investigation.
That’s 68 who were out and about for at least some time while infectious.
Forty-seven cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and 22 cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period. Forty-six cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 62 cases remains under investigation.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 28, 2021
Updated
NSW records 177 local Covid-19 cases, lockdown extended for four weeks
Gladys Berejiklian has announced the lockdown for greater Sydney and all locked down regional areas will be extended for another four weeks.
The state also recorded 177 local Covid-19 cases overnight, at least 46 active in the community.
Updated
The Australian woman’s rowing team have just won gold! That’s four golds, all from the ladies of Australia!
In a shock to very few, Aussie women are carrying the country. You beauty!#Olympics
— Charles Croucher (@ccroucher9) July 28, 2021
We are about to dive into Covid-19 press conference, but check out all the updates on the Olympic live blog.
We are just standing by now to hear from NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian with the daily Covid-19 numbers.
Gosh darn it Victoria!
11.15am for the Vic #covid19 update today with @MartinFoleyMP @VictorianCHO and @VicGovDH Dep Sec Kate Matson. @10NewsFirstMelb #springst
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) July 28, 2021
Reckon I’ll primarily be taking NSW updates today, but will bring you the headlines from this Victorian Covid-19 update today as well.
Updated
Cable car over Hobart organ pipes scrapped by council
A proposal for a cable car over the famous organ pipes of Hobart’s kunanyi/Mount Wellington, and a restaurant and other commercial development on the summit, has been knocked back by Hobart city council in a vote late last night.
Councillors voted 9-3 against the proposal, accepting independent planning advice that it would diminish the mountain’s tourism, recreational, cultural and landscape values.
The proposal, first mooted more than three decades ago, has been bitterly contested. Several councillors told the meeting it was the biggest issue they have faced in their time representing the community.
The rejected plan included three towers and a base station in South Hobart and a new building with a maximum height of more than 11 metres to house a restaurant and cafe at the pinnacle.
The proponents, the Mount Wellington Cableway Company, said it would consider an appeal. Opponents said it should be the end of “the attempt to privatise publicly owned, reserved land and bring mass tourism to the mountain”, which overlooks the Tasmanian capital.
Some councillors told the more than five-hour meeting they were not necessarily opposed to a cable car but believed the proposal before them should not go ahead. Objections included the scale of the development, the proposed path over the most visually striking part of the mountain and failure to address Indigenous heritage concerns.
Updated
My focus will almost entirely be on the Australian Covid-19 situation today, but if you are keen to keep up to date with the Aussies currently competing in Tokyo you can check out the Guardian Australia Olympic live blog here!
But also, don’t leave me! Just open a second tab!
Buckle in my NSW readers. We will learn the future of the greater Syndey lockdown in just under half an hour.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to extend the lockdown of Sydney and surrounds until the end of August.
But on the upside, the prime minister is expected to announce extra federal financial support later in the day (going finance minister Simon Birmingham’s somewhat vague comments this morning.)
One thing the finance minister was clear on was this will not be the reintroduction of Jobkeeper.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant and NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Willing will provide an update on COVID-19 at 11:00am #nswpol #COVID19Aus
— Political Alert (@political_alert) July 27, 2021
Good news for mental health in Gympie.
The federal government has allocated an additional $4m to the Headspace centre in the regional town.
Today we announced an extra $4 million to @headspace_aus Gympie.
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) July 28, 2021
A well-needed upgrade for an incredibly valuable resource to the region.
Local member Llew O'Brien couldn't make it, but he has been a strong voice for this project and I wish him a speedy recovery. 🏍️🏍️ pic.twitter.com/NfLaD6wtsz
I mean, $4m isn’t earth-shattering but at least it’s equal to the $4m given to Opera Australia yesterday!
Updated
Unsurprisingly, federal Labor has jumped on the news that there has been yet another breach of hotel quarantine.
We all seemed to stop talking about the purpose-built quarantine facility issue for a while there with everything going on in greater Sydney, but maybe this will ignite that debate again:
Another day, another breach of hotel quarantine - the 28th! Quarantine is the responsibility of the Prime Minister. He's been sitting on his hands instead of building purpose built quarantine facilities. Hotels are built for tourists not medical quarantine!
— Mark Butler MP (@Mark_Butler_MP) July 28, 2021
Updated
In the Senate, an inquiry is examining plans to frack the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory. Opening up the region to oil and gas companies is part of the Morrison government’s planned “gas-led recovery”.
Former Darwin lord mayor and Protect Country Alliance spokesman Graeme Sawyer has just given evidence of the close links between key government figures and the fracking industry:
A former NT chief minister is now a consultant for the oil and gas industry, key government senior staff are people from the industry, and key people from the bureaucracy and advisory positions leave to work in the industry.
The revolving door is in full operation in the NT.
He said the industry had captured governments and exerted influence through donations and lobbying:
There is no benefit to the Northern Territory from this process. It is a complete farce.
Sawyer told the committee that there was no informed consent from traditional owners in the area:
There is no informed consent about fracking and the family groups that I have spoken to at length have recently reinforced their opposition at a meeting in Darwin in June. There was about 45 traditional owners there and I’d really encourage you to talk to them in detail about that notion of informed consent.
The inquiry, chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, will also hear from Empire Energy, a company that was awarded a commonwealth grant to explore the basin.
Updated
Queensland vaccination rates to slow in August despite 'boost' announced by commonwealth
Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath says the state is still going to need to slow its vaccination program in August despite the commonwealth spruiking an increase in Pfizer supplies.
I’m not 100% sure how the maths works for this, but here is what the health minister had to say:
The premier has already said that we should be able to open up when every single Queenslander has access to the vaccine. Every single Queenslander. Now, I don’t know, as the health minister standing here today, what date that is going to be.
The commonwealth has announced that they’re getting millions more vaccines in 2022 and 2023. That’s great, but we want our economy to open up before then.
So when are we going to get enough vaccines in this country that we can have every single Queenslander being able to put their hand up and say, ‘I want to get vaccinated?’ Because I know for August, we are getting around 181,5000 vaccines each week for August.
Now we were vaccinating almost 100,000 doses only four weeks ago.
Even with the supply we’re going to each week in August, we’re not going to be able to vaccinate at the rate that we were four weeks ago. We’re still going have to slow down and tell people that their bookings are going to be October, November, December.
So I’m asking the commonwealth, do absolutely everything possible for you to try to source more vaccines from overseas into the country. Not 2022, not 2023, but now.
The risk factors have changed, the variant has changed. We can see the dangerous nature and how contagious Delta variant is now that more children are at risk as well.
Updated
Nearly $10,000 in fines for Covid-positive man who allegedly entered Queensland illegally
A representative from Queensland police (sorry, I didn’t catch who it was) also had an update on the NSW man who allegedly illegally entered Queensland, despite being a close contact of a known Sydney case, and a flight attendant who caught the virus after she picked him up from Ballina airport and drove him over the border:
We’ve taken action in relation to the investigation into the people that have travelled from Ballina. A flight attendant and her associate.
And it’s very disappointing the behaviour we’ve seen in that it’s shown no regard for our community. So we took enforcement action on the flight attendant has been fined $4,135 for assisting the male person to inappropriately come up across the border without a pass.
So he has been fined for that aspect for not having the pass, also for inappropriately using someone else’s QR code in checking in some way, which is an offence. And finally, not putting on, well, not wearing a mask when positive with Covid ...
He [allegedly] refused to work with police, so that’s another [thing] so a total of $9,648 of fines for that person.
Updated
Queensland's border remains closed to Victoria and SA
Queensland leaders have confirmed that the border will remain closed to Victoria and South Australia despite the states coming out of hard lockdown.
Returning Queensland residents from these states will be allowed to quarantine at home rather than in a hotel facility.
Health minister Yvette D’Ath:
We can announce today, based on the decisions made by the Victorian government and the South Australian government yesterday to lift their lockdown but to continue to have a very high level of restrictions in those states, that we will continue to declare Victoria and South Australia as hotspots, which will mean that there are only certain eligible people to come to Queensland. So those who are are Queensland residents returning to Queensland, or those people who have applied for and been granted an exemption, including particular special workers.
From 1pm on Friday we will allow these people to quarantine at home instead of hotel quarantine. With all the home quarantine, with very significant compliance and enforcement of compliance, and if anyone is found to be in breach of that, not only can they be fined but also can be required to go into hotel quarantine.
For those people who are already allowed to come into Queensland from 1am Friday, you must have a suitable residence to quarantine in so if you were going into a hotel somewhere outside of hotel quarantine, that would not be a suitable residence, must have a home or appropriate residence and we will allow for you to home quarantine.
Updated
Oh wow, it’s hailing pretty hard here in Melbourne!
This news is brought to you not through the Bureau of Meteorology but instead from me looking out my window.
Young has warned that the close contacts of the infected backpacker could have travelled “anywhere in the state” by now, warning all Queensland residents to be on high alert:
The second issue is that we have a gentleman who was in hotel quarantine at the Quest hotel in Brisbane. He left hotel quarantine after three negative tests, then subsequently became unwell so went to the Royal Brisbane women’s hospital emergency department where he was tested late on Monday night.
The test came back positive so he has been infectious in the community since 22 July. He has been staying at the backpackers hotel on Roma Street, so we will now go and trace the people in the backpackers and others that the gentleman has been in contact with.
Now, this is the 13th incursion of the virus into the community in Queensland over the last six weeks. So it is becoming increasingly concerning we are having these repeated incursions of the virus into Queensland ...
It doesn’t matter where you are in the state because as we can see, the backpackers, when we follow up with all of them, could have gone anywhere in the state, given that we don’t necessarily have backpackers at this point in time, people who have been in the hotel. They could have gone anywhere in Queensland.
It’s really, really important, please, anyone in Queensland, any symptoms at all to come forward and get tested.
Updated
Worryingly, this infected bulk carrier vessel is in the Torres Strait, close to the Torre Strait Islands where there are large Indigenous communities who may be at increased risk from Covid-19. (There has been a huge vaccination effort on the islands though)
Here is Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young with more details:
We have two separate issues today. The first is that the bulk carrier Sanyu came into the Torres Strait waters on Monday and asked for a pilot and then disclosed that they had a lot of sick people on that ship. So there are 21 crew on the ship and a lot of them were sick.
So we sent out nurses onto the ship who tested them all through yesterday and we got those results late last night and 19 out of the 21 are positive. So then we worked very closely, as we always do, with ... Maritime Safety Queensland, to organise the best possible response to keep the crew on this ship safe, to keep the ship safe and to keep the people of Queensland safe.
So it’s been organised that the ship will steam around to Weipa and, if it has not arrived already this morning, it should be arriving fairly soon into there. We will then organise to take the six crew off the ship, maintaining and crew on the ship to keep it safe, and we work through MSQ to sort that out and then we will bring the six crew down to Queensland, that make down to Brisbane to be managed in one of our Covid facilities in Brisbane.
All that is happening as we speak. The ship came originally from the Philippines and all of the crew, I understand, are from the Philippines.
Updated
Queensland case infectious while staying in backpackers' lodge
Yvette D’Ath:
Overnight we recorded 20 cases*. Thankfully, 19 of these are overseas-acquired, and not in hotel quarantine yet. What they are is a crew of 21 on [a] bulk carrier vessel.
We were advised that a number of the crew onboard were unwell and health workers went on board yesterday and tested them, and 19 of the 21 have come back positive so far ...
In addition, we have one confirmed case in the community. This is an individual who had been in hotel quarantine, had travelled from the Philippines to stay, an Australian resident who lives in Western Australia, but had travelled back to Brisbane from the Philippines, and left quarantine on the 17th.
He had all of his checks, while in quarantine they were negative, however, he has become unwell. He has then been tested on the evening of the 26th of July and has come back positive.
In the time that he has been infectious in the community since the 22nd of July, he has been residing at the Roma street, City Backpackers during this period.
* I swear my heart stopped beating when she said this.
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Queensland records one local Covid-19 case and 19 on cargo ship
Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath has confirmed one new locally acquired case overnight and 19 cases among crew members on a cargo ship now in Queensland waters.
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We are standing by now to hear from deputy Queensland premier Steven Miles for the state’s daily Covid-19 update.
Why the deputy premier, you ask? Because premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is still in hotel quarantine after returning from the Tokyo Olympics.
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Julian Assange stripped of citizenship by Ecuador
Ecuador has revoked the citizenship of Australian-born Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is now in a British prison.
Ecuador’s justice system formally notified the Australian of the nullity of his naturalisation in a letter that came in response to a claim filed by the South American country’s foreign ministry.
A naturalisation is reconsidered when it is granted based on the concealment of relevant facts, false documents or fraud. Ecuadorian authorities said Assange’s naturalisation letter had multiple inconsistencies, different signatures, the possible alteration of documents and unpaid fees, among other issues.
Carlos Poveda, Assange’s lawyer, said the decision had been made without due process and Assange had not been allowed to appear in the case.
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A Queensland update coming to you in about 15 minutes.
The state is still on high alert after several infectious people were out and about in the community but so far the virus hasn’t appeared to have spread.
Fingers are crossed for another day of zeros today. All the updates will be here in the blog.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young will give a COVID-19 update at 9:30am
— @MartySilk (@MartySilkHack) July 27, 2021
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Academy Award winner Natalie Portman is staying in Australia to star in a second movie, to be filmed in Sydney and regional NSW, reports Gina Rushton from AAP.
Portman will play Tess, the protagonist in an adaptation of Italian author Elena Ferrante’s novel Days of Abandonment.
The Black Swan star begins filming this week after arriving in Australia in September to film the Marvel blockbuster Thor: Love and Thunder.
Days of Abandonment executive producers Maggie Betts, Celine Rattray, Sophie Mas and Len Amato said everyone in Australia had been “so welcoming”:
We are very appreciative to have the opportunity to safely film in Australia alongside the talented people who live and work in the country.
The film received $3.4m of funding from the federal government’s location incentive program.
Arts minister Paul Fletcher said the production would generate more than $25m of local economic activity:
Days of Abandonment will directly create more than 200 jobs for cast and crew, 500 extras roles, and use the services of an estimated 400 businesses across NSW when they begin filming in July.
The film will employ female creatives and crew across all levels of the production and work with industry on events to promote women’s leadership in the screen sector.
Other international productions taking advantage of the location incentive funding in the coming months include Joe Exotic, Ticket to Paradise and Irreverent.
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The Victorian government is considering a plea from builders to include home renovations in financial support packages the next time the state locks down as the national construction industry reels from Covid-19 restrictions in Melbourne and Sydney.
While large Melbourne sites, which typically have dedicated workforces, have kept operating throughout the city’s five lockdowns, smaller builders were banned from working on renovations inside people’s homes during the latest lockdown, which lifted at midnight on Tuesday.
Master Builders Victoria says builders were also excluded from the state’s business support schemes during the last two lockdowns, despite being eligible previously due to loss of revenue.
Find the full story below:
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Victoria records eight local Covid-19 cases overnight, all in isolation
A fully isolated day once again for Victoria, with just eight cases of Covid, none of whom were out in the community while infectious.
What a start to Wednesday!
Reported yesterday: 8 new local cases and no new case acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 27, 2021
- 19,349 vaccine doses were administered
- 35,862 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/9Kg5QIKkmX
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To those reading the blog from southern coastal regions of NSW and the ACT, watch out this morning. There is a severe weather warning for damaging winds today.
⚠️Severe Weather Warning for #DamagingWinds
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) July 27, 2021
For people in Illawarra, Snowy Mountains and parts of South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes and Australian Capital Territory Forecast Districts. https://t.co/Oc8nHkySeT pic.twitter.com/TxEA17QhYx
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Australia’s health department was urged by the government’s vaccine advisory group to order as many Covid-19 vaccines as possible from different sources after a meeting in August last year.
The health department secretary, Prof Brendan Murphy, said on Friday that the government’s procurement strategy was based on advice from the Science and Industry Technical Advisory Group – a group he chairs – as he sought to deflect criticism of the troubled vaccine rollout.
The comments disgruntled some members of Sitag. Multiple sources have told Guardian Australia that the group was asked to provide feedback on a procurement strategy that had already been prepared by the department after its negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.
Read the full report from Sarah Martin and Katharine Murphy below:
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Cafes are back open for on-site dining and even the dogs are enjoying the service on Swan St, Richmond. Happy to see the back of Lockdown #5! @BreakfastNews @abcmelbourne @abcnews pic.twitter.com/b7GovhUiyt
— Stephanie Ferrier (@FerrierSteph) July 27, 2021
We are keeping an eye on Tokyo as well today as Aussie Ariarne Titmus preps for her second round of competition with world champion Katie Ledecky from the USA.
You can read Kieran Pender’s preview here:
Or, if you want a snappy 60-second recap (and a dramatic recreation of Kaylee McKeown’s F-bomb), you can check out my Guardian Australia Tiktok below!
And find full coverage in today’s Olympics live blog.
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European, British and US diplomats have met up to three times in Canberra to discuss how to encourage Australia to consider stronger cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions.
Guardian Australia can reveal that diplomats from like-minded countries have been talking about how they could engage in dialogue with Australia, aimed at lifting its level of climate ambition before a crucial international conference in November.
In addition to pursuing engagement with the Australian government, possible options include outreach to business associations and farming groups.
The latest meeting, held last Thursday, brought together the ambassadors, high commissioners or deputy heads of mission of the UK, the US, the EU, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland.
You can read the full, exclusive report below:
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SA will not consider giving Pfizer doses to NSW, premier says
Steven Marshall is asked if he has considered giving NSW some of SA’s share of Pfizer doses and his answer is a polite “heck no”:
Well, my understanding is that the federal government has been able to find 50,000 doses and, of course, the Atagi changed protocols or advice is going to allow more people of the AstraZeneca jab up there in New South Wales.
I do think we need to stick to the national framework in terms of vaccination. We don’t know where the Delta variant is going to hit next. We do have a national approach. We’re very keen to stick to it here in South Australia ...
Look, as I said, the Atagi advice now is that it is better for younger people to now take that AstraZeneca. So I think it opens up a huge opportunity for New South Wales. There is no constraint on the AstraZeneca vaccine whatsoever. So I think that will be a changed situation in New South Wales.
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SA premier Steven Marshall is beaming on ABC News Breakfast this morning after a seven-day lockdown appears to have effectively fought back a Delta outbreak in the state:
Look, I am very happy today, a week ago we were very concerned about what was happening here in South Australia with this Delta variant, but the people of South Australia went into a hard lockdown, they didn’t move around very much at all and we got on top of it with massive, massive testing results over the last week. Absolutely huge.
And we’re very grateful today to be out of lockdown. There is still some restrictions in place, and they’re going to be in place for some time, but the good news is students are back at school, we have got hospitality workers back, we got retail open again and we’re now gradually coming out of this very tough situation here in our state.
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Simon Birmingham labels NSW pleas for jobkeeper to be reinstated 'political bickering'
Federal finance minister Simon Birmingham has labelled the NSW treasurer’s calls for jobkeeper “political bickering”.
So check out this HARDBALL question from Today host Karl Stefanovic:
So why does the NSW treasurer say in News Corp papers you have to bring jobkeeper back? He is having a whinge even though they just pocketed $1.3m in stamp duty*. Is it your job to bring it back?
Simon Birmingham:
It’s our job to make sure there is effective support there for the people of Sydney. We are not interested in any political bickering and we are delivering that effective support.
Dan Andrews has likened the disaster assistance payments to being like jobkeeper. So indeed we are providing a payment that is now accessible to all casuals. It’s hitting more households and individuals in NSW and giving them that financial support and we’ve been having the discussions as a federal cabinet knowing that this decision was likely to be necessary from the NSW government as to how we can make sure we continue to deliver that effective assistance right across Sydney.
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Major aged care providers have warned that vaccination rates for their home care staff remain extraordinarily low, just days after the government conceded it still has no specific plan for vaccinating the workforce.
About 150,000 aged care workers provide care to about 1 million older Australians in their own homes across the country, but the government revealed on Friday it still has no dedicated plan for vaccinating home care staff and has given the issue little focus.
It has not extended the vaccine mandate for residential workers to home care workers, despite warnings weeks ago that it was an “obvious blind spot” in the rollout.
Now, at least two major providers are urging the government to treat the issue with greater urgency.
You can read the full report below:
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Oooooh! This will be fun!
Coming up on @BreakfastNews, South Australia's Premier @marshall_steven (8.10am AEST) #auspol #covid19sa pic.twitter.com/G5gCbxJYft
— Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) July 27, 2021
I mention NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet’s opinion piece mostly because the federal finance minister Simon Birmingham has just been asked about it on ABC News Breakfast.
Here is his response to those repeated calls for jobkeeper to be reinstated:
The prime minister and the treasurer had lengthy discussions last night with premier Berejiklian and Mr Perrottet. And the prime minister’s maintained discussions with premier Berejiklian right through this crisis as he usually does with premiers in these circumstances.
We have, over recent days in particular, been looking at what else may be necessary as a result of the decisions we expect New South Wales would have to make. The PM will have more to say on that later today. They’re the types of things he was outlining to the New South Wales government last night.
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In case anyone was wondering if NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet was still desperately keen for the federal government to reinstate jobkeeper for lockdown greater Sydney, he has made his views abundantly clear in an opinion piece in the Daily Telegraph today.
The piece lays out all the ways the federal government disaster payments fall short when compared with jobkeeper. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say:
The Disaster Payment excludes people who are receiving other forms of Commonwealth assistance. It shouldn’t ...
In fact almost 200,000 people in NSW fall into that category, including 77,300 JobSeeker recipients, almost 34,000 people on Youth Allowance, and more than 4,000 Austudy and ABSTUDY recipients.
Many of these are young people who can’t yet get the vaccine, can’t work, can’t get on with their studies, and now they’re being told the income they have lost won’t be topped up like everyone else’s. This is truly the generation at risk of becoming the new forgotten people.
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Chris Minns:
We have offered bipartisan support for the health advice over the last four weeks and we will do as well going forward.
At the moment what New South Wales needs to hear is a united front from the political leadership. If I thought that containment and lockdowns didn’t work, then I’d be raising hell, but at the end of the day we do, we support the health measures that are in place, the consequences of letting it rip are just too serious for the safety and risk of people in New South Wales.
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Speaking of NSW, the state’s opposition leader Chris Minns is out and about this morning and is ... well, surprisingly supportive of the premier, given the news we are expecting today.
Minns was asked on ABC News Breakfast if he thought Berejiklian should have locked down harder and faster:
Well, I mean, self-evidently this will be the sixth or seventh change to restrictions since in the last four weeks when the initial outbreak was recorded. So I think even the chief health officer and the premier herself would say that the original measures didn’t work.
But, look, I mean there would be plenty of time to work out the chronology, what happened in the intervening weeks, the circumstances that led to the initial lockdown. Right now, we just want this to work. I mean, we’re all praying for the government is success, because people are hurting in New South Wales and in Sydney and everyone I speak to is just desperate for this to be over.
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Good morning
Good morning, everyone, it’s hump day – but don’t worry, we can get through it together.
It’s Matilda Boseley here and let’s start the day off with an update on NSW.
At 11am it’s expected NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian will announce a four-week extension to the greater Sydney lockdown.
Guardian Australia understands Berejiklian will not be introducing curfews but the government is exploring rapid antigen testing for year 12 students to allow them to return to school before their HSC exams. Other years will be expected to remain at home for their schooling over the additional four-week period. These rapid tests may also be used at essential workplaces such as supermarkets.
Single bubbles, which would allow those who live alone to visit one other person in the same circumstances, is also likely to be introduced for this next phase of the lockdown.
As Berejiklian had previously indicated, some construction will be permitted to resume from Saturday, provided sites have approved Covid-safe plans.
That will set a new end date of 28 August – nine weeks after the city first entered the severe restrictions.
In better news, people in Victoria and South Australia are waking up out of lockdown, although heavy restrictions remain in place.
In Victoria it remains illegal to have guests over to your home, and restaurants and cafes can reopen but only for seated service, with strict density caps.
OK, my friends, let’s not delay any further and jump straight into the day.
If there’s something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.
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