That’s it for today, thanks for reading
Here’s the main stories on Monday, 30 August:
- New South Wales reports 1,290 new Covid-19 cases, another Australian daily record. Four more people have died in the outbreak, and premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that October could be the worst time for the state’s intensive care units.
- An Aboriginal man in Dubbo has become the first Indigenous person in Australia to die with Covid-19.
- Victoria records 73 new cases of Covid-19, with 52 linked but only 24 in isolation throughout their infectious period.
- The federal government was warned 18 months ago of the urgent need to protect the Covid-hit town of Wilcannia, leaked correspondence shows.
- The inquiry into how the prime minister’s office handled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation has been suspended until the conclusion of the criminal trial.
Updated
Here is our story on the news we brought you earlier about the suspension of the inquiry into how the prime minister’s office handled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation:
Wilcannia outbreak: federal government was warned 18 months ago of potential catastrophe
The federal government was warned 18 months ago of the urgent need to protect the Covid-hit town of Wilcannia, leaked correspondence seen by Guardian Australia shows, with an Aboriginal health service pleading for immediate help at the time to prevent an outbreak.
The Maari Ma Aboriginal health corporation wrote to the Indigenous Australians minister, Ken Wyatt, in March 2020, outlining “grave fears” for the far western New South Wales town if Covid were to spread to the vulnerable population there.
“Warnings from around the world are clear: the earlier we prepare and act, the better the outcomes will be. We cannot wait until the first case turns up in the community, or worse, the first hospital case presents,” the letter said.
Full story:
Updated
As we reported earlier, the Gaetjens review into allegations made by Brittany Higgins will be suspended until the completion of criminal court proceedings, the department of prime minister and cabinet has confirmed.
The secretary of the department, Phil Gaetjens, confirmed in a statement on Monday that he had suspended the review after Guardian Australia reported that Higgins had been told by the ACT DPP not to participate while the court proceedings were outstanding.
Gaetjens said he received legal advice that the review should be suspended to ensure it had “no adverse impact on criminal prosecution”.
A 26-year-old man has been summonsed to appear before the ACT magistrates court in September over the alleged sexual assault of Higgins, a former Morrison government staffer, at Parliament House.
Philip Gaetjens has suspended his inquiry into who in the PM's office knew about Brittany Higgins' sexual assault allegations, and when.
— Fiona Willan (@Fi_Willan) August 30, 2021
He says this is based on legal advice to ensure it will "have no adverse impact on the criminal prosecution" #auspol pic.twitter.com/U6wy92cdKD
Updated
There are new exposure sites that have just been listed in the past hour or so for Victoria, including a Shepparton hairdresser for the entire day way back on 20 August (two Fridays ago), and sites in Rosebud and Reservoir.
There are now almost 1,000 sites linked to the current outbreak, and you can find them here: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites
Updated
The TikTok is out, TikTok freaks:
Here’s a 90 second catch up if you’ve only kinda been paying attention to all the OnlyFans news this week pic.twitter.com/vFyfit6PV5
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) August 30, 2021
This is a good piece on Covid across the ditch, for those of you interested in pandemic news from multiple countries:
Updated
The wonderful Nino Bucci will be taking you through the evening – a very big thank you to everyone who joined along with Politics Live today.
We’ll be back with parliament and Covid from early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for any updates with Nino this evening right here – and please, take care of you.
Updated
Greg Hunt continues to use population measures not commonly seen:
More than 1.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered last week, that is more than the population of South Australia.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) August 30, 2021
Importantly, this means first dose vaccination rates of more than:
87% of 🇦🇺 aged 70+
78% of 🇦🇺 aged 50+
58% of 🇦🇺 aged 16+ pic.twitter.com/5xNfXHRPzq
You can read more on the death in what is a very sad and sombre day for First Nations Australians from Calla Wahlquist, here:
Labor MP Linda Burney held a press conference a little bit ago to speak on the first confirmed Indigenous death due to Covid, in western NSW today:
This death and these infections could have been prevented. There is too little too late in western NSW. We know that the federal government was warned back in March 2020 that this was going to be the outcome if they did not step in. March 2020!
That is over 12 months ago. The death of Mr Dunn, just 50 years old, in Dubbo base hospital, I am terribly afraid will be the first death of many.
Updated
For those looking for some good news data from NSW:
See the latest breakdown of locally acquired cases in NSW by age for the past 7 days.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 30, 2021
To get your COVID-19 vaccination, find a walk-in clinic or make a booking: https://t.co/LpVx5a9kfw pic.twitter.com/D4qjvElwZ2
Phil Gaetjens suspends probe into who knew what in PM's office on Brittany Higgins case
The departmental head of the prime minister’s department has issued this statement:
On 17 February 2021, I was asked by the prime minister to report on who in the Prime Minister’s Office had knowledge of the alleged sexual assault of Ms Brittany Higgins in March 2019, and when and how that knowledge was acquired.
In late March 2021 Ms Higgins indicated she wished to provide input to the inquiry, which I agreed to do when she was in a position to contribute.
Charges were recently laid in relation to this matter by the ACT director of public prosecutions.
On 26 August 2021, I was informed of media reports that Mr Shane Drumgold, ACT director of public prosecutions, considered that the continuation or finalisation of my inquiry could prejudice the criminal proceedings now on foot.
My department separately confirmed those views with Mr Drumgold and I sought legal advice on the matter on the same day.
On the basis of that legal advice received on 27 August 2021, I have suspended my inquiry until the conclusion of the criminal trial. This is to ensure that the inquiry can have no adverse impact on the criminal prosecution.
The action I have taken is strictly in response to the legal advice I have received, and does not relate to any of the content of the inquiry. No inferences in relation to that content can be drawn from the legal advice nor my decision to suspend the inquiry.
I have advised the prime minister of my decision.
Updated
Again, the issue isn’t lockdowns, but lockouts.
Living with Covid in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory (and, until recently, the ACT) has been very different to living with Covid in NSW and Victoria.
Life has been pretty normal for about 40% of the country – that is what the national plan is coming up against.
Updated
Liberal MP Dr Katie Allen and Labor MP Jenny McAllister both appeared on the ABC, where they were asked about premiers who may not open borders even after hitting the 80% vaccination target of the eligible population.
McAllister:
Well, the national plan is going to require state and territory premiers and first ministers to work with the prime minister. And in return, it’s going to require the prime minister to open a respectful dialogue with both state and territory leaders. These are complex questions. The national plan is not yet a detailed plan. There are many questions to be worked through, including questions about borders. The national plan is silent on the question of border closures, for example ...
[We seem to have a] a situation when the New South Wales Liberal premier, apparently, is reported to consider the prime minister “evil”*. It doesn’t bode well, does it? It doesn’t suggest he’s the kind of leader who is going to be able to steer through this very complex and consequential decision.
... These are things that are going to have to be worked through, through the national cabinet. It makes it clear that to have a safe reopening, as I think we would all like to see, there needs to be adequate test, trace and isolate capabilities ... There need to be strong vaccination outcomes, and the rollout is still far from complete. We are a long way off 70%. There is so much work to do and it’s a time for leadership and cooperation, not taking pot shots.
Allen:
National cabinet has agreed and in that national cabinet plan is the desire to move away from lockdowns. It’s there in the plan and we know that there’s a transition that we need to go through and, of course, there will be differences of opinions.
But reducing it to talking about a discussion that had not occurred between Gladys, the premier of New South Wales, and Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia. It’s not helping the agenda.
The agenda is about the proper debate about the way forward and that is being had by the national cabinet, by elected members who are representing their states and territories and the federal government. It’s happening on extremely regular basis and we can see those sorts of contest of ideas is what’s going to give the best outcome for Australia.
So reducing it to some sort of politicisation is not helping what is a very, very critical discussion and debate that is around what is the best thing for Australia going forward, and I would say the national cabinet continues to deliver for Australia. Yes, there is debate around the edges but at the end of the day, I think that the people are getting what they need, which is good government.
*Gladys Berejiklian has denied she called Scott Morrison an “evil bully” in conversations with colleagues.
Updated
AAP has a bit more on what those new laws will mean:
People who have been afraid to come forward to tell their story to the disability royal commission can have more confidence under new protection of information laws, the commissioner says.
Federal parliament passed laws on Monday that will protect sensitive information provided to a royal commission.
Disability royal commissioner Ronald Sackville said the new laws would remove a “significant barrier” to people with disability, or people on their behalf, engaging with the royal commission.
The former judge said:
The royal commission will now be able to guarantee the confidentiality of submissions and other sensitive information both during and beyond the term of our inquiry.
He encouraged anyone who has had concerns about telling their story to now contact the royal commission.
This includes accounts of a person’s, or another person’s, experiences of systemic violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation.
Emails, letters and conversations will get the same protection as evidence given in person and in session.
It will be an offence incurring a prison term of up to 12 months to expose information that should be kept private.
Updated
Disability royal commission to accept evidence given anonymously
This is good news – and something which was pushed by Jordon Steele-John: people can now anonymously give evidence to the disability royal commission.
BREAKING: Amendments to the Disability Royal Commission have just passed the House of Representatives, and will become law! 🥳These changes mean everyone can share their experience with @DRC_AU. A resounding win for @Greens & Disability Community ✊💚 #auspol #NDIS
— Senator Jordon Steele-John 🌏🔥 (@SenatorJordon) August 30, 2021
Updated
Someone has just pointed me in the direction of a piece Michael McCormack wrote for the Age this weekend.
It was about Sir Alogy, an Australian racehorse which went from “cow pony” to steeple race champion in the 1920s, before an injury ended his career.
McCormack loves this horse.
He also, I think, may love the analogy of this horse, ending his piece with:
He may have been forced to exit the big stage far too soon, but this loveable Riverina lad, who had delivered mightily, left with his legacy and reputation assured.
Sound familiar?
Updated
You can expect more of these interventions.
Give small business hope & incentives to people: open al fresco dining for the vaccinated. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. But we do have to cut red tape. pic.twitter.com/qoRv9qW94E
— Senator Andrew Bragg (@ajamesbragg) August 30, 2021
Updated
Michael McCormack has popped his head up – he did a speech for Police Remembrance Day (his son is a police officer) and included this little tidbit, which seems like a swipe to a couple of his party-room colleagues (deservedly, given some of the recent commentary from some sectors).
At a time when people across our country should be doing everything they can to support police in their duty, sadly there is an element in society who are doing everything but that. Shame on them.
Why people feel the need to gather en masse to protest against Covid-19 lockdowns, in defiance of state impositions, is beyond belief.
Not only is it breaking the law; it is also placing at risk their lives and livelihoods and those around them, including the police sent to keep the peace.
And that is the point. Police are assigned to these protests to maintain law and order. They do not deserve to be abused, spat on, have projectiles hurled at them, or for their horses to be punched in the head.
That is not how Australia should be in 2021. Sadly there are those, even members and senators in this place, I am disappointed to say, who have not helped the situation. For an MP to exaggerate about police actions at these protests, falsely claiming protesters were brutalised by police, is beyond the pale.
How about condemning the protesters for breaching public health orders first, instead of unfairly and unjustly castigating the brave men and women in blue sent to these illegal gatherings to do their job.
I know of a young constable who has been physically assaulted in uniform multiple times in the first 17 months of his policing career — multiple times. And then we have MPs, supposed to be people’s representatives, pointing accusatory fingers at those courageous officers, from beneath their doonas in the sanctuary of their darkened rooms, from the bravery of their keyboards.
These same people would be the first to squeal if police were not on the scene within minutes if they ever needed them. Give me a break. Better still, give the police a break. Police deserve our encouragement.
Police deserve our support and respect always. Our courts should not be revolving doors for criminals; and magistrates should and must back our police in their work, with appropriate sentencing.
Updated
From Mike Bowers’ lens to your eyeballs:
Updated
AAP has more on the ADF deaths Peter Dutton reported during question time:
Two soldiers have died after becoming trapped in their crashed vehicle in a remote part of north Queensland.
Police were called to the scene of a single vehicle crash on Dotswood Road at Dotswood, near Charters Towers, about 1.45pm on Monday.
Officers and firefighters found the soldiers unconscious and trapped in the vehicle, and they later died at the scene.
The police forensic crash unit is investigating the accident.
Defence minister Peter Dutton told federal parliament there were significant personnel and assets around the Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.
“It is a very dangerous task that our troops are involved in, even during training exercises, and the movement of equipment up and down our national highways,” Dutton said.
“That’s very sad news for our country to learn and our condolences and thoughts are with their friends and family.”
Updated
NSW prisons now in lockdown
The entire New South Wales prison system has been plunged into lockdown after an outbreak at the privately managed Parklea jail, the Guardian understands.
In the largest Covid outbreak among the prison population since the pandemic began, 31 cases of Covid-19 were recorded at Parklea correctional centre in Sydney’s north-west on Sunday.
That’s led to concerns about a wider outbreak. While prisons in NSW have recorded cases before now, they have been among inmates who are quarantined on their way into correctional facilities. These Parklea cases have appeared in the main section of the prison.
A number of inmates at prisons across the state have been identified as contacts of those cases because of transportation between correctional facilities.
Corrective Services NSW has now made the decision to lock down the entire state, with an announcement to be made shortly.
Earlier today the NSW chief medical officer, Kerry Chant, said she was “very concerned” about the outbreaks in NSW prisons, coming after eight staff at Bathurst prison also tested positive. There are also understood to be concern about potential cases as Silverwater jail.
This morning Chant said she would “potentially” like to see rapid antigen testing occurring in prison settings, and also wanted to see vaccination ramp up among inmates and corrective service staff.
Vaccination will be the key and we are looking at opportunities to ramp up vaccination as well as having a strong public health response, which is things like locking down prisons, making sure you minimise any movement.
Updated
Anthony Albanese makes a personal explanation, saying he was misrepresented by the prime minister when he denied the commonwealth pursued intervening in Clive Palmer’s border high court case. He seeks leave to table the notice of filing the commonwealth issued to the high court, which gives notice of the commonwealth’s intention to intervene in the case as proof.
Peter Dutton denies leave for it to be tabled
Scott Morrison ends question time – early again.
He did this last week when he got very cranky during question time, cutting question time to just 40 or so minutes.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison (who is getting increasingly cranky today):
My question is to the prime minister: it goes to his answer just previously, where he suggested the federal government had nothing to do with Clive Palmer’s court case against the WA government just last year. Isn’t that not true? Isn’t it a fact the federal government incurred costs of $770,000 for the government solicitor, $66,000 for experts and $41,000 to Clive Palmer as a result of the intervention in the case? Why does this prime minister never accept responsibility?
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, I said the government didn’t pursue the case. That’s exactly the truth of the matter. And for the fact ... the fact the leader of the opposition would seek to misrepresent that in this house is a reflection on him, not the government. I discussed the matter with the premier and the government chose not to pursue it.
The leader of the opposition interjects about the use of taxpayers money. Given we’re now over 50% of the population that received a first dose, under the Leader of the Opposition’s plan, he would have shot...
Tony Smith:
I would say to the prime minister ... He’s answering now a question he wasn’t asked.
Morrison decides he has completed his answer. Or to use his parlance, he will not pursue this answer. (He is very, very cranky today)
Updated
Greg Hunt is still trying to pretend like the Covid Safe app was effective.
Labor grills PM on Clive Palmer court case
Stephen Jones to Scott Morrison:
The prime minister says he supports the premiers in the work they do to save this country, to save lives and to save livelihoods. Why does the prime minister support Clive Palmer’s high court case to tear down Western Australia’s borders? Why is it reported the New South Wales premier regarded him as an evil bully?
Morrison waits for Peter Dutton to get up and object, but Tony Smith fills the silence by ruling the “evil bully” (as reported by Peter Hartcher in the SMH this weekend) part of the question out of order.
That is the only part of the question that Morrison addresses, though:
I’d rather do it later in the day. I can confirm that erroneus report. The New South Wales premier has made it very clear to me in her message she has never used such words, ever.
Smith reminds him that part of the question was not relevant.
Morrison is still pretty angry:
Fair enough.
Again, “evil bully” was declared not relevant, meaning he doesn’t have to address it, but Morrison does so again:
Morrison:
I won’t address the smears of those opposite. What I will do, Mr Speaker, is address the more substantive matter. I seek your indulgence on restating that part of the question.
Jones: The question is to the prime minister: why did the prime minister support Clive Palmer’s high court case to tear down the West Australian borders?
Morrison:
Again, Mr Speaker, the member must be misinformed. The commonwealth did not pursue that case. The commonwealth did not pursue that case*. It’s erroneous to suggest that that is what the government did. The government did not pursue that case at all. We did not pursue that case. And the Labor party continues to push this falsehood around, around the country, Mr Speaker,as they have a habit of doing.
The each-way position of the Labor party across the pandemic is there for all to see. They support the plan, they don’t support the plan. They support the plan, they don’t support the plan, Mr Speaker. They support jobkeeper, they’re opposed to jobkeeper**.
Anthony Albanese:
On relevance. The question was very direct. Because it was a very short question now.
Tony Smith:
It was very direct in the end. Put it that way. It wasn’t direct at the beginning.
Albanese:
Correct. It’s about the government’s support for the WA high court challenge of Clive Palmer that cost taxpayers a million dollars. A million dollars.
Smith:
I just say to the leader of the opposition, he’s got into the habit of using a point of order to ask not only the question again but now, even ask additional questions. So, if he wants to ask an additional question, he can do that. That’s what question time is for.
The prime minister has the call. And he does need to be relevant to the question. But I’m not discounting the fact the original question did have some political commentary and at the heart of it an accusation. The prime minister has the call.
Back to Morrison:
I will restate what I said at the commencement of my answer. What the Labor party is putting about is not true. We did not pursue that case***, Mr Speaker. We did not pursue that case. That’s not what occurred. For the opposition leader ... For the Labor party to peddle untruth is something I have become used to with his leader of the opposition and the Labor party.
*The commonwealth did at first support the Clive Palmer case – and only withdrew after talks with Mark McGowan, who was very, very outspoken about what the commonwealth was doing, which was also doing the WA Liberal brand a lot of damage.
**Labor was the first to suggest a wage subsidy. It wants that subsidy information to be public now.
***The attorney general at the time said the commonwealth was taking part in the case, because it was “expected” and that the high court would want to hear the commonwealth’s side of the case.
Updated
Labor has released a statement from Alex Gallacher’s family:
It is with great sadness that our loving father, husband, brother and grandfather, senator Alex Gallacher, passed away peacefully on 29 August 2021.
Alex was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2019 and battled with courage until the very end.
It was an absolute honour for Alex to represent and serve the state of South Australia over the past 10 years after being elected to the Australian parliament in 2010.
Serving as a senator for South Australia was an enormous privilege that he highly regarded. Alex worked fiercely and tirelessly for working Australians. He took great pride in his advocacy for the transport industry and particularly road safety, co-founding the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety group.
Alex was also proud of his work in the parliamentary committee process, loyally serving as chair and deputy chair of the economics committee, foreign affairs defence and trade committee, and one of the longest standing members of the public works committee.
Our family takes great comfort and pride that his legacy in the Senate has in some way contributed to the progress of our nation.
As a transport worker he soon shifted his focus to representing and fighting for workers in the industry, through the Transport Workers’ Union. This marked the beginning of a 22-year career representing the TWU, serving as an industrial relations officer later going on to become the secretary of the South Australia/Northern Territory branch. He also served as vice-president and president of the Transport Workers’ Union national branch.
We would like to sincerely thank all those who have supported Alex throughout his career, through his loyalty and tireless work at the Transport Workers Union, the Australian Labor party and as a \senator for South Australia.
Alex will be fondly remembered by everyone he crossed paths with. He will be missed dearly.
The Gallacher family
Updated
Tony Burke to Scott Morrison:
Will the prime minister adopt Labor’s plan to provide the Fair Work Commission with the necessary powers to action on insecure work, so that Australian workers can be better protected from insecure working conditions? Shouldn’t every Australian worker be paid at least the minimum wage? Are there any circumstances where the government supports workers being paid below the minimum wage?
Paul Fletcher gets the nod for this one – but it takes a while for him to get up to answer the question. It’s not a strong start:
I do thank the shadow minister for his question. Our government is committed to the arrangements that exist under the Fair Work Act.
He is then briefly saved by someone remotely practicing their dixer, whose microphone has not been muted.
But that doesn’t last – he uses a lot of words here to say absolutely nothing
Our government remains committed to the arrangements in the Fair Work Act and that includes matters to deal with the gig economy, and of course secure work. Now, Labor announced a very light on detail secure Australian jobs plan in February 2021.
But Mr Speaker, the existing objective of the Fair Work Act is to provide for a balanced framework for co-operative relations between employers and employees and the delivery of a framework that’s fair to working Australians while being flexible for businesses. And this framework is designed to carefully balance the needs of employers and employees.
And the fact is, Mr Speaker, that Australians do value the diversity that the labour market in its various features offers.
And Mr Speaker, we are committed to the arrangements which exist under the Fair Work Act.
Updated
Auckland lockdown extended
Fifty-three new cases were reported in the community on Monday, bringing the total number in the outbreak to 562. It is a drop of 30 cases from Sunday, which was the biggest single day for the outbreak, with 83 cases. There were 82 cases on Saturday.
There are 547 cases in Auckland and 15 in Wellington.
The rest of the country outside of Auckland will downgrade to level 3 from Wednesday, except Northland, which will downgrade on Friday.
Jacinda Ardern said that in order for Auckland to move down a level, the country must be confident Delta was not circulating undetected in the community.
As we saw from this outbreak, it only took a week for one case to spread across the city. And that’s why we’re working so hard to get this right.
Modelling suggested that if New Zealand had not immediately moved into a level-4 lockdown after one case, the daily number of cases at this point would be roughly 550 people a day, Ardern said.
The prime minister reminded New Zealanders heading into level 3 that the downgrade did not mean freedom just yet.
It means caution, and staying in your bubble, and it means distance and contactless transactions.
Cabinet will update Aucklanders on their lockdown setting on 13 September.
Updated
Two ADF personnel reported to have died in Townsville car crash
Peter Dutton has just let the house know of information he has received:
I haven’t received confirmation as yet, but tragically two soldiers are reported to have been died in a vehicle rollover near Townsville.
I’m waiting for further details on that. But of course we’ve significant personnel and assets around Lavarack barracks.
There are movements on the day, on the road every day, and it is a very dangerous task that our troops are involved in, even during training exercise and the movement of equipment up and down our national highways.
Anthony Albanese:
I join with the defence minister in expressing my condolences to the family and friends of the two soldiers killed in the rollover of an army vehicle near Townsville.
This is a tragic loss for people wearing our uniform, serving our nation and defending our people. And my thoughts and condolences are with their family and friends.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg continues his attack on Labor (and independents) wanting Jobkeeper information to be public:
We know that small businesses right across the country have relied on JobKeeper to stay in business. Now, those opposite are seeking to attack those small businesses that receive JobKeeper.
Those opposite are now seeking to have their important confidential private taxpayers details revealed publicly*, Mr Speaker. We know, what the industry groups have said about that.
I repeat to the House, the Australian hotels association said that Labor’s tactic is a dangerous political stunt. The Australian Industry Group says that Labor’s tactic is misguided and a dangerous precedent. And COSBOA have said of Labor’s tactic, it’s pursued for pure political gain. You cannot trust the Labor Party, you cannot trust the Labor Party.
*This is the same government which oversaw the personal Centrelink details of a woman be made public to ‘correct the record’ after she wrote an opinion piece on Robo-Debt
Penny Wong has also released a statement on her colleague:
It is with the greatest of sadness that Labor mourns the death of friend and colleague senator Alex Gallacher.
Alex’s fragile health as a consequence of his cancer diagnosis was widely known. However, this does not make the news of his passing any easier.
Despite his illness and deteriorating health, Alex was determined to remain a senator. Even after his diagnosis was announced in January 2020, he continued to work as much as he was able to. Alex joined his colleagues and participated in sittings of the Senate in Canberra as recently as June this year.
Born in Scotland, Alex worked in the transport and aviation industries before becoming an official of the Transport Workers’ Union, serving as president of that union before being elected to the Senate to represent our state of South Australia in 2010, taking his seat on 1 July 2011. He was subsequently re-elected in 2016 and 2019.
His service included being Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and Economics References Committees, and as a member of the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation and References Committees, as well as being the Deputy Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Road Safety and as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works.
Alex never forgot the workers he was elected to represent. In his first speech, he said: ‘I will strive to be true to the Labor values of a fair go and a better chance for all. It is my belief that the Labor Party is the only party that provides all Australians a greater share of the prosperity of this great nation.’
At every opportunity he brought the Senate’s attention to those people who are at the heart of what it means to represent the Australian Labor Party, especially in the transport industry. Australian workers are better off for Alex Gallacher’s advocacy and commitment.
My thoughts today are especially with Paola and Alex’s family, his staff and all of his comrades at the Transport Workers’ Union.
With many senators not able to be in Canberra today, I anticipate the Senate will schedule a condolence motion for a future sitting day to ensure Alex’s contribution can be appropriately recognised by his colleagues across the chamber.
Updated
Simon Birmingham has released a statement on Alex Gallacher:
It is with sadness that I learned of the passing of my fellow senator for South Australia, Alex Gallacher.
We were colleagues in the Senate for over a decade and from his first speech Alex remained loyal to his word and strived to be true to his Labor values.
Alex was proudly of the old-school Labor mould. He was a labourer, truck driver and airline ground crew worker, prior to becoming a union rep. Alex ultimately went on to provide organisational leadership to the Transport Workers’ Union (SA/NT), as well as serving as a Commissioner for the National Road Transport Commission and as a Director of the South Australian Motor Accident Commission.
He took his love for the transport sector into the Australian parliament, particularly his staunch advocacy for road safety and fierce interest in the rights of workers in the aviation industry.
A straight shooter, you always knew what Alex believed and where he stood.
Despite his cancer diagnosis in December 2019, Alex continued to represent the people of South Australia, the Labor Party, the trade union movement and his constituents with diligence and passion. Notwithstanding his battle with cancer, Alex focussed his parliamentary service on those he served, not himself, earning great admiration and respect across the political divide.
Whilst he may have been born a Scot, Alex made Australia home and always worked hard to advance the interests of South Australia and his fellow Australians.
On behalf of government senators, I extend our deepest condolences to Alex’s wife Paola and his four children and grandchildren.
Updated
Greg Hunt says the government has worked to improve the capacity of hospitals to deal with the coming Covid cases (when Australia begins to reopen, large daily case numbers are predicted as the nation goes through the transition).
Updated
Josh Frydenberg continues the campaign which started in earnest on Friday – pushing against attempts to have companies that received jobkeeper, and the amounts of taxpayer wage subsidies received, as an “attack on business”.
Not surprisingly, business and industry groups are very against any attempts to have the information go public, and Frydenberg has jumped on that for his own side’s political gain:
At the last election, Australians knew that the Labor party came after retirees and homeowners, Mr Speaker. Well, this election they’re coming after small business, Mr Speaker. This election they’re coming after small business.
And if the Labor party is prepared to stoop this low to force the tax commissioner to reveal private taxpayers’ confidential information, whose information will they seek to have provided next to the parliament? These businesses were complying with the law. These businesses were receiving government support in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, and for that the Labor party is coming after them.
Updated
Zali Steggall to Scott Morrison:
To the prime minister: over the weekend, we saw thousands of text messages and emails sent to constituents of many electorates by United Australia party spreading misinformation about vaccines and lockdowns. The past two federal elections have been influenced by misinformation and deceptive political advertising from each of the major parties. Do you support politicians and third parties having the ability to lie in political advertising? If you don’t, will you do something about it?
Morrison:
Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. We’re very serious about combatting misinformation. There’s a Covid-19 misinformation portal, Mr Speaker, called Covid-19 myth busting, which I refer to the member, on the australia.gov.au website.
The Department of Home Affairs reviews and refers online misinformation about Covid-19 to websites to request they be taken down. There’s a website called ‘is it true’ and responds to vaccine misinformation they may have heard.
This is important information for people in our community today to ensure that they can be protected from the threat of misinformation.
The Department of Home Affairs works closely in particular with the Department of Health to provide multicultural communities with accurate information on Covid-19. Home affairs counters the threat of Covid-19 misinformation and disinformation to ensure that accurate information is accessible and in language. We support CALD communities by relaying community concerns to government. Settlement service providers also assist in conveying in language message to humanitarian entrants and their communities.
The Covid-19 in-language website provides accurate official government information translated into 63 languages, including fact sheets on Covid-19 misinformation and disinformation and on the vaccine rollout.
I have participated in quite a number of those Zoom forums, Mr Speaker, with multicultural leaders across New South Wales in particular, to deal with those very issues. And so I would refer the member to those very important resources and encourage her to share those resources with members of her community.
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Mark Butler to Scott Morrison:
The prime minister and the minister for health have both said having no Covid patients in intensive care is a measure of the government’s success. How many Covid patients in how many states are in intensive care today?
Morrison:
The information I have available to me in hospital there are 925 people. In ICU, 155. And those who are on ventilators are 63, Mr Speaker.
And what I also know, what I also know, Mr Speaker, is this year, in the middle of this wave of the pandemic in New South Wales, over the course of these many months, some 92 people have passed away in New South Wales.
Over the course of 2021. What we know is when the second wave, which went through Victoria the same time last year, 820 people passed away over the course of 2020 in Victoria. Mr Speaker, the overwhelming majority of those who passed away in Victoria last year were in residential aged care.
And what we have been able to achieve this year, prior to these most recent waves hitting, both New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, is that we have double dose vaccination rates in our aged care facilities upwards of 80%.
What that has meant is our most vulnerable in our community, this year, because of the vaccines, compared to last year, and in particular the priority we placed, Mr Speaker, on vaccinating those in residential aged care facilities and ensuring that we were able to visit all of those facilities to ensure that those double dose vaccinations were provided, has saved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of lives.
And Mr Speaker, I want to thank the inreach teams, I want to thank all of those who are part of them, the clinical staff, those who prepared and planned them, Professor Murphy, General Frewen, and others who ensured that by putting in place those arrangements, Mr Speaker, so many lives have been spared this year as a result of the second and third waves that we’ve seen come through our cities.
In addition to that, Mr Speaker, I appreciate the work that Professor Murphy has been doing. It’s been ongoing work for many months to ensure that he has been working with the heads of the health departments of all the states and territories, to ensure our hospital systems are in a position of resilience to deal with further demands placed on their system.
We know from the information presented that in ICUs that we can anticipate up to 20% in New South Wales their capacity being used up because of COVID, and around the rest of the country, that’s about 10%. We’re working closely with the states and territories to ensure the resilience is in place in those state health systems.
Further work was tasked again next Friday and I’m expecting that back over the course of the week, and I want to thank Professor Murphy to make sure our hospital system is resilient to deal with the challenges.
Updated
The current deputy prime minister continues to pretend that he has always been very concerned about covid and is a very different person to the one who. just 65 days ago, said the people in the regions “couldn’t give a shit” about covid in the cities, because coal prices were high.
Further to that answer:
If the government wasn't hesitant about AstraZeneca- why didn't it use the ample wiggle room in the ATAGI advice to allow people to take it with informed consent?https://t.co/ET2luI4zxs
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) August 30, 2021
Why was there a late-night press conference passing on the ATAGI advice as if it were a fait accompli? Why did the vaccine horizons in June assume it wouldn't be used by October?https://t.co/vwsWhUH5vX
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) August 30, 2021
Morrison only let people aged 18 to 40 take AstraZeneca on 28 June - after Delta had entered Australia and after NSW went into soft lockdown because it was clear we'd have months of community spread without enough Pfizer.https://t.co/IZZFu02W8H
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) August 30, 2021
Scott Morrison is more than happy to speak on the vaccine program, now that it has been corrected. Apparently, all is dandy.
Anthony Albanese:
My question is to the prime minister: it goes to the answer that he just gave. Isn’t it a fact that no Australian wants to be a part of lockdowns, every Australian wants to return to life as normal, but the reason why we’re in the current predicament is this prime minister thought it wasn’t a race to get vaccines out the door? It wasn’t a race to set up national quarantine. If the prime minister refuses to acknowledge his mistakes, how can Australians be confident that he won’t repeat them?
Morrison:
Well, Mr Speaker, it’s all about how you finish the race, Mr Speaker.
What has been achieved in these many months now, Mr Speaker, despite the setbacks we had early on in the vaccination program – that would have seen our expectation of being able to offer a vaccine to everybody in this country being set back some four months from what we originally anticipated – that’s already been brought back to being able to do that before the end of the year. And as each vaccination is demonstrating, we believe we’ll meet that even sooner.
The demonstration of the government’s resolve has been put into place by ensuring that the vaccination rates that we’re now achieving, the fact we’re able to bring forward doses, the fact we’ve been able to achieve and realise additional supplies and we have more irons in the fire, Mr Speaker, more irons in the fire that will see further doses made available in this country, all of this demonstrates the vaccination program that had its challenges earlier have been overcome.
Those challenges have been overcome, whether it was the hesitancy around the AstraZeneca vaccine that many shared, Mr Speaker, but this government didn’t share*, I can assure you.
And Mr Speaker, as we stood up for the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, others sought to cast aspersions on it. But not our government**, Mr Speaker. Not our government, Mr Speaker.
We continued on***. We continued on and saw millions upon millions of Australians continue to receive those AstraZeneca vaccines, which remain a crucial component of the program even now****.
Even now, Mr Speaker, that AstraZeneca vaccine of course is so important and it’s manufactured, Australian made, right here in our country in Melbourne, and I want to thank all those workers out at CSL, Mr Speaker.
I had the opportunity to meet them on many occasions and thank them for the great work they have done in ensuring that our country could be vaccinated. Over 10 million of AstraZeneca have been achieved. Over 10 million. And that was achieved because our government took the decision, last August, last August, a year ago, to ensure that we could make them here in Australia. And there are millions upon millions of lives**** that have been saved as a result of that decision.
*It was Scott Morrison who held a late night press conference just moments after receiving advice from Atagi (the Atagi advice said “recommended” and also included low case-number settings).
**Greg Hunt repeatedly told people they could wait for Pfizer, when we had exceptionally limited mRNA doses.
***Scott Morrison repeatedly said the vaccine program was “not a race” and only changed when Delta hit.
****The government’s own vaccine “horizons” plan said the government would phase out AstraZeneca from October.
*****No idea where the “millions upon millions” has been taken from. The government has based its 30,000 lives saved on OECD averages. “Millions upon millions” is new and not quantifiable.
Updated
Queensland LNP MP Ted O’Brien appears to have caught the dramatic dixer delivery disease which has swept through part of the backbench (usually the part which thinks they deserve more attention than they are getting).
It’s all lining up Scott Morrison to talk about the national plan:
Our plan is about a safe transition for those states who may have no Covid cases, or those states, Mr Speaker, who are locked down. It is about a safe transition for both of them, so we can move to the situation, not too far away, that we can live with this virus, and not live in fear of it, Mr Speaker.
It’s about weddings, it’s about parties and it’s about everything*, Mr Speaker.
It’s about all the things that go to life in our country that we enjoy so much. It’s about restoring lives, it’s about restoring livelihoods.
Our plan is about moving forward and it’s about securing Australia’s future, Mr Speaker, in what will remain a very uncertain world on the other side of this pandemic.
Mr Speaker, lockdowns do need to end and future lockdowns do need to be avoided, Mr Speaker. And we know that because we know those lockdowns are taking a terrible toll on our country, on the mental health of our citizens, and particularly of our young people, Mr Speaker.
On the small businesses who have to struggle through each day – indeed, given economic support, but at the same time, Mr Speaker, they would like to see their businesses able to stand up on their own two feet.
On their children and their education. On our families and on the jobs of Australians. All of these lockdowns and our response is taking a heavy toll. Mr Speaker, we can also not remain locked out of a global economy that is opening up again, with trade and students and travel, tourists and essential workers and others who are needed to drive our economy forward, Mr Speaker.
*The terrible popular culture references continue.
Updated
Question time begins
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister: today is another record day of Covid cases with 1,290 new cases in New South Wales alone. There are 840 people in hospital in New South Wales, 137 of those in intensive care. The prime minister congratulated the New South Wales premier for not locking down Bondi at the start of an outbreak which has now spread to Victoria, here in Canberra, and New Zealand. Was this a mistake?
Morrison:
Those matters have been addressed by me and the Premier of New South Wales, Mr Speaker. And I note also today with the onset of the Delta outbreak that has not only impacted on New South Wales, but on Victoria and indeed the Australian Capital Territory, where we’re right now, and as cases continue to grow, and ... If you look at the epidemiological curve for Victoria, in the Financial Review today, you compare it to what is happening in New South Wales, will you see a very similar profile and we hope with the measures that the Victorian government has taken, Mr Speaker, that curve will indeed bend, in the weeks ahead, and we certainly hope that’s the case.
What we do know is the Delta strain has been unlike every element of the virus we have seen today, and has completely changed the way we seek to manage these issues. Mr Speaker, it’s also very sad today that we learn that there have been 1,000 people who have fallen to Covid as a result of this pandemic over the last 18 months.
And here we are, on 30 August of 2021, where 1,000 people in this country have now fallen victim to that virus.
We know overseas, Mr Speaker, that many fell around the world, and indeed, they hit that mark in the United Kingdom back in March last year, same in the United States, in April in Canada, in September in Israel. This pandemic has reaped a heavy toll, imposed a heavy toll on the entire world, Mr Speaker, and our efforts are focused on combatting it as best as we possibly can.
As a country, more than 30,000 lives have been saved in this country because of the combined efforts of our government, together with the governments at a state and territory level, and most important of all, the great work of Australians around the country, doing what they need to do every and each day. And on a day where we have seen those cases rise, where we’ve seen more than 1,000 cases a day now, becoming more regular, particularly out of New South Wales, we can say on the weekend 379,114 Australians, Mr Speaker, went and got vaccinated. That’s a great cause for hope.
Updated
Anthony Albanese:
It is indeed sad news the passing of a sitting senator, senator Alex Gallacher.
He represented South Australia in the Senate since 2010. He was born in Scotland on the first day of 1954, and came to Australia 12 years later with his parents, like so many migrants, to seek a better life.
He dedicated his life to the interests of working people both as a trade unionist and as a senator.
He came to this parliament with 17 years of experience of hard physical work as a labourer and truck driver as well as a ramp services operator. He joined Labor in Darwin in 1988, when he began to work for his beloved Transport Workers Union, where he became the secretary of the South Australia and Northern Territory branch.
In his first speech in the Senate, he named his priorities as the transport sector, superannuation and road safety. We saw a glimpse of Alex’s humility as he spoke of his love for the transport sector and the people who worked in it.
He said: “There’s no smoke and mirrors, just plain talking and hard working employees and employers alike, in a tough competitive industry that works harder than most people imagine, and continues who work while most people are asleep.”
Alex’s career was indeed a fine one.
We in Labor are very proud of Alex. He was a conscientiousness, no-nonsense man. He was a long-time member of the rural and regional affairs and transport committee.
He prioritised road safety, for the people who continue to keep our country going during Covid. He was a family man, dedicated to his wife and his children and grandchildren.
In that first speech, he quoted US president Theodore Roosevelt, who said far and away the best prize in life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
He did that, as a working man, as a transport union official, and then as a senator. On behalf of the Australian Labor party, for which he was a dedicated member, and which he loved and truly served, completely, every day, we express our condolences to his family, to his friends, may he rest the peace.
Updated
Scott Morrison:
He served in this parliament for 10 years, born in Scotland, his father headed out here, in senator Gallagher’s own words, for a better chance for him and his family. That’s what this country is all about, that’s the country he served.
I know that members will want to gather their thoughts and pay a complete tribute to senator Gallagher in the next few days, and all condolences and honours due to a serving member of the parliament.
We’ll honour this servant of Australia, a man who loved his adopted country, who loved the party he served and was faithful to it, and who found purpose in serving others in our parliament. To all in the Labor movement and the caucus, the leader of the opposition, particularly those from South Australia also, we extend our deepest sympathies to all of you.
Senator Gallacher’s family also, on this terrible day, and may God bless him, may God bless all of you, and may our colleague and friend rest in peace.
A motion will be moved, Mr Speaker, tomorrow, which will provide the opportunity for all members to speak to that motion, but here today we just simply acknowledge him and thank him for his wonderful service and remember him and what he’s done for our country. And we think of his family most of all.
Updated
Senate president Scott Ryan has confirmed the passing of Alex Gallacher, announcing there will be a motion of condolence at a later date. The Senate paused for a moment of silence.
Ryan said that as a mark of respect, the Senate would be adjourned until tomorrow.
Updated
Both chambers are opening with a statement indulgence for South Australian Labor senator Alex Gallacher. The senator, who served for 10 years, passed away yesterday. He had taken leave after being diagnosed with cancer in July last year.
The Senate has suspended for the day, out of respect.
A condolence motion will be held in the house on a later day.
Updated
The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, says the government is looking at offering Afghan nationals who were airlifted out of Kabul additional support to help them “start their lives in Australia on the strongest possible footing”.
Hawke has announced the formation of an advisory panel on Australia’s resettlement of Afghan nationals. It will be co-chaired by humanitarian settlement adviser Paris Aristotle and the commonwealth coordinator general of migrant services, Alison Larkins.
Hawke said the group would help “ensure our world-class settlement program is delivering to them the comprehensive support they need to get established and settled in Australia as fast as possible”.
He said in a statement:
This is an incredibly distressing and challenging time for the evacuees and the Australian-Afghan community. Our first priority is the mental and physical wellbeing of the evacuees. That’s why the Australian government is working with our service providers and the states and territories to deliver all of the initial settlement and practical support needs that the evacuees have, both in quarantine and the weeks and months ahead.
In consultation with the advisory panel, the government is also looking at what further specialised support might be needed to enhance the settlement process and make sure the evacuees start their lives in Australia on the strongest possible footing. Many arrivals from Afghanistan, including women and children, have endured experiences of torture and trauma and we will be ensuring our support programs have the capacity to respond and aid their recovery from these experiences.
Hawke said he was “very pleased to see an outpouring of support across the Australian community for the evacuees and the humanitarian entrants to follow”.
The full list of members of the new advisory panel:
Paris Aristotle AO (chair of the Refugee and Migrant Services Advisory Council and CEO of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture)
Alison Larkins (commonwealth coordinator general of migrant services).
Gula Bezhan (founder and president of the Afghan Women’s Organisation Victoria)
Ali Reza Yunespour (member of the Hazara community)
Shukufa Tahiri (committee member of the Kateb Hazra Association)
Carmel Guerra OAM (chair of the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network and CEO of the Centre for Multicultural Youth Victoria)
Sandra Elhelw Wright (CEO of Settlement Council Australia)
Paul Power (CEO of Refugee Council Australia)
Hussain Razaiat (president of the Afghan United Association of SA)
Madina Mohmood (youth representative of the Queensland Afghan Community Association)
Nazer Nazir (co-Founder and president of the Afghan Australian Initiative)
Prof Christine Phillips (professor at the Australian National University’s Medical School and medical director of Companion House Medical Service)
Updated
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein in hospital
AAP has this report:
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein has been admitted to hospital after feeling unwell at his office.
The Liberal leader was taken to hospital on Monday, Deputy premier Jeremy Rockliff said in a statement.
He is undergoing a number of tests, which to date have not identified any medical issues of concern and will take a few days to rest and recover.
Rockliff will serve as acting premier and arrangements are being made to cover Gutwein’s absence from state parliament, which sits from Tuesday to Thursday.
An update on Gutwein’s health and return to work is expected to be provided later this week.
Gutwein, who became premier in early 2020 when Will Hodgman stepped down mid-term, last Thursday delivered his eighth budget as state treasurer.
Updated
A Liberal-chaired parliamentary committee has issued a warning about Covid-19 misinformation and disinformation, calling on the home affairs department to monitor the spread of “extremist content and links to international extremist groups”.
The parliamentary joint committee on law enforcement cites reporting from Guardian Australia’s Christopher Knaus and Michael McGowan about German-based Worldwide Demonstration’s role in the anti-lockdown protests and organisers’ links to the far-right group the Proud Boys.
In an interim report tabled late last week in its vaccine-related fraud and security risks inquiry, the committee said:
It has also become clear that Covid-19 mis/disinformation is not only leading to vaccine hesitancy, a health policy concern, but is also leading to some instances of civil disobedience and protest. Covid-19 mis/disinformation is therefore also a law enforcement issue of growing concern, particularly as individuals and groups become more radicalised.
Just as organised crime groups are manipulating people’s natural fears during the pandemic to perpetrate fraud, other groups are also manipulating hesitancy with the new health measures of face masks, mass vaccinations and lockdowns. This manipulation manifests itself first with previously law-abiding Australians engaging in acts of resisting health measures.
However, in some instances, that resistance can grow into more concerning and ongoing behaviour. All Australians, law enforcement agencies and governments must work together to ensure that when the pandemic is over, Australia is not left with the infectious disease of disinformation being used for fraudulent purposes, spreading fear and distrust of our necessary institutions.
The committee recommended that the department “undertake greater efforts to counter misinformation and disinformation, especially among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and culturally and linguistically diverse communities”.
Updated
Labor senator Alex Gallacher dies
We have just learned of the very sad passing of South Australian Labor senator Alex Gallacher.
The Senate will be suspended for the rest of the day.
Updated
An Aboriginal man with Covid-19 has died in hospital in Dubbo. He is the first Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to die with Covid since the pandemic began.
The man in his 50s was one of four people to die with Covid in NSW yesterday, and is the first death recorded in regional NSW.
The chief executive of the western NSW local health district, Scott McLachlan, told reporters in Dubbo a short time ago that it was a “sad and sombre day”.
The man had underlying health issues and was not vaccinated.
Vaccination rates of Indigenous people in NSW are lagging behind the non-Indigenous population, according to figures obtained by Guardian Australia.
In the Western NSW local health district, the vaccination rate for non-Indigenous people is more than twice the rate for Indigenous people.
Aboriginal medical services said the lack of supply to and support for trusted community-controlled health organisations was to blame.
Updated
It’s national accounts week – but they shouldn’t be too bad, as they only take in the first few weeks of the NSW lockdown.
Here’s a taster from AAP:
Businesses went into an expected economic downturn flush with cash in the June quarter, a positive for national economic growth figures due later this week.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said gross operating company profits jumped 7.1% in the June quarter, well above the 2.5% gain expected by economists.
However, business inventories – stock on shelves and in warehouses – grew by a weaker-than-expected 0.2% in the June quarter, a potential drag on economic growth when the national accounts are released on Wednesday.
Prior to Monday’s data, economists’ forecasts had centred on a 0.5% expansion in the June quarter, a marked slowdown after the rapid recovery from last year’s recession seen in the previous three quarters.
However, forecasts range as low as a 0.1% contraction.
Lengthy lockdowns in NSW and Victoria, and snap closures in other jurisdictions, are expected to weigh heavily on the economy in the September quarter.
Updated
First Indigenous death from Covid
The Dubbo man whose death was announced as part of NSW’s Covid press conference this morning has been confirmed as the nation’s first Indigenous death from the disease since the pandemic began.
Confirmed: the man from Dubbo who died with COVID is Indigenous. This is the first recorded Indigenous COVID death in Australia since COVID began @bridgeyb
— Lucy Thackray (@LucyThack) August 30, 2021
Updated
Julian Hill has been allowed back into the chamber after his suspension on Thursday.
Scott Morrison attacked Universities & International Education.
— Julian Hill MP (@JulianHillMP) August 29, 2021
So thousands of Australian jobs have been lost & research budgets slashed.
Australian & international students deserve much better.#auspol #education #university #internationaleducation pic.twitter.com/L6Qyd1G5Kw
Updated
Greens' bill would require parliament to vote on sending Australian troops to war
Should the Australian parliament decide when Australia enters a war, or commits troops? The Greens think so – or at least that the decision should not just rest with the government. Labor is not in support.
As AAP has reported:
The entire parliament must decide on sending the Australian military into future wars, under laws proposed by the Greens.
The Greens brought on their war powers bill for debate on Monday, one day before the United States’ deadline for the withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan.
At present, Australia’s decisions to go to war are a matter for the prime minister and cabinet.
The proposed war powers bill would require a vote by both chambers to approve the deployment of the Australian defence force beyond Australia’s territorial boundaries.
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John warned parliament that “unscrupulous, egotistical and misguided politicians” may seek to exploit a national or international crisis for their own personal or strategic ends.
The bill would also mean parliament receives regular intelligence updates to weigh up the legality, operational scope and when to end a mission, which critics say would put the ADF in danger.
The Morrison government and Labor oppose the bill and argue the executive must retain the powers, in line with constitutional practice.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally said Australia does not need parliamentary approval to send the ADF into armed conflict, peacekeeping or disaster relief.
She said:
It is imperative that the executive have the power to act swiftly and decisively when deploying our troops.
Independent senator Rex Patrick argued the next step should be to refer the bill to a Senate committee for immediate inquiry, so the issues were not swept aside.
Debate on the bill was interrupted to deal with other Senate business.
A former diplomat and acting president of Australians for War Powers Reform, Dr Alison Broinowski, has urged parliament to think about Afghanistan and future wars, saying:
Thousands of people in Afghanistan are now facing imminent danger following the complete mismanagement of the withdrawal of troops, in a war that was never properly and transparently scrutinised in Australia.
We cannot continue to shut out the entire parliament when considering future wars.
Updated
There is one hour until question time – which will be the first time we see Scott Morrison today.
Updated
ACT summary
The ACT has recorded just 12 new cases, six of which are linked to existing cases. Four are under investigation and two are considered mystery cases – at this stage.
Just two were in quarantine for their entire infectious period. The other were either infectious in the community for at least part of it, and four are under investigation.
Twelve people are in hospital, with three in intensive care.
The cabinet will meet this afternoon to consider whether or not to extend the lockdown (although reading between the lines, extending the lockdown seems likely).
Andrew Barr says spring will be a “balancing act” for the ACT when it comes to Covid. He also wants more mRNA vaccines.
Updated
Victoria summary
Heading to Victoria for those same headline figures:
There were 73 new cases of community transmission recorded.
Of those, 52 have been linked. Just 24 were in isolation for their whole infectious period (the others are still under investigation).
There were 26,702 vaccines administered, bringing Victoria’s total to more than 2.3m through state-run clinics.
Victoria is pushing for more mRNA vaccines for the youth cohort.
CHO Brett Sutton says the outbreak is largely under control, except for some areas of concern and he hopes to see the trend stabilise over the next couple of days.
There is no word on how long the extended lockdown will go for at this stage.
Updated
NSW summary
For those who just need the facts:
NSW recorded 1,290 cases of Covid
Four people died, including a man in his 50s in Dubbo, who was the first person to die in the regions in this outbreak.
There are 840 people in hospital with Covid, with 137 in intensive care and 48 need a ventilator.
More than 6.7 million vaccines have been administered.
Western Sydney remains the area of most concern.
Gladys Berejiklian is still pushing for businesses and industry to have their reopen plans in place for when 70% of the eligible population us vaccinated.
NSW authorities believe October will be the worst month so far for the public hospital and health systems.
Updated
ACT also pushes back against PM announcement on 16+ vaccinations
Today is the first day that Scott Morrison suggested that people aged 16-39 would be able to make bookings for Pfizer vaccines, but Andrew Barr is facing questions about why not everyone in that group has been able to book.
Barr said Morrison “made an off the cuff announcement in a press conference without telling anyone – that’s why there’s confusion”. Barr said the prime minister was entitled to make the announcement, but doing so without consultation is “not always helpful”.
Barr encouraged people aged 16-39 to register with the ACT’s online system so they will be able to make a booking later, but said actually getting the jab is “some months away” for that group due to constrained supplies - as late as late October, or November.
He reminds Canberrans aged 18 and over they can “get AstraZeneca today”, subject to getting health advice.
Asked how Australia is going to get through young adults and those aged 12 to 15 by the end of the year, Barr said October and November are set to be the “biggest months” with 80% of Australians double dosed by late November. In the ACT, he wants “way more than 80%” vaccinated by Christmas, and hopefully up to 90 or 95%.
Updated
New Zealand records 53 new cases
New Zealand has reported 53 cases in the community, bringing the total number in the outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant to 562. It is a drop of 30 cases from Sunday, which was the highest single day for the outbreak with 83 cases.
There are 547 cases in Auckland and 15 in Wellington. Of the 562 cases, 522 are epidemiologically linked to existing cases, with the results of the rest still pending.
Thirty-seven people are in hospital, with 5 in intensive care, but everyone is in a stable condition.
As of Monday morning, 34,120 close contacts had been identified, with 87% of those tested for the virus. There are 444 locations of interest reported.
More than 16,300 tests were processed across the country on Sunday. Nearly 47,900 vaccine doses were administered on Sunday – a record for a Sunday – with more than 3.33m doses now administered to date.
The virus was first identified in the community on 17 August and the country was put into a level 4 lockdown – the highest setting – after the first case emerged. From midnight Tuesday, regions south of Auckland will downgrade a level, but Auckland, where the majority of cases have been, and Northland will have to wait until Monday afternoon to hear if their lockdown will be extended.
Updated
'A gentle step forward' at 70% vaccine target, ACT leader says
Andrew Barr has warned that despite the ACT leading the nation its “vaccinated population is still not at a level that sufficient for an easing of health measures in place”.
Asked about Josh Frydenberg’s comments that the commonwealth might not continue economic supports once the 70 and 80% targets are reached, Barr rejected the threat, by noting that “70% is not the magic number, it’s a gentle step forward”.
Barr noted that “even the prime minister is changing his language” about the second phase of the national plan, when the target of 70% of those aged 16 and over is reached.
Barr said “commentary from people that haven’t read the national plan is incredibly unhelpful”.
He added:
We will reach 70% ahead of rest of the nation – 80% is a better number to be focusing on. There’s a gloss that the targets are 70 to 80%. Let’s stop talking about 70%, because it’s not safe. It will be a gentle step forward [at 70%]. It will be 80%, and I hope when the nation is at 80 we’re at 90/95%, as close to herd immunity as possible.”
Updated
How many mRNA doses is Victorian getting?
Martin Foley says that is a question for the commonwealth:
You’d have to ask the commonwealth that. Under Covid Shield, there’s this thing called dynamic redistribution which allows the commonwealth to shift vaccines around.
That’s raised a few questions along the way. But you’d have to ask the commonwealth that question.
Q: Just with allocation of vaccinations and are you comfortable with the amount that Victoria received given New South Wales got it?
Foley:
More than 575,000 is what New South Wales got allocated – we do not begrudge them that. Victoria got 170,000 extra, but it’s this dynamic redistribution that sees material moved around in response to demand issues by the commonwealth that I’m sure has a very sound public policy and public health grounds to it. The greatest need that gets the greatest support and that has clearly come at the expense of other states and territories.
Updated
Martin Foley is asked why VCE students were not prioritised over other people in the 16+ cohort and says again, it is supply:
You could say why didn’t we prioritise any number of really valid and important groups, particularly if you have VCE students. It’s because of supply.
As we just announced, it’s extraordinarily difficult to get through a Pfizer vaccine for the age group we’re talking about ... because they’re all booked.
And you can only get out what you’re given. Our GPs and our pharmacies can only allocate what they’re given. The real problem has been from the start and is today, the lack of supply.
Updated
Senior school students are a priority, but there is no plan at this stage in Victoria for that cohort to get their vaccinations earlier than anyone else. Martin Foley says that again is down to supply from the commonwealth:
If there was extra supply provided into Australia, it disproportionately went to New South Wales and we do not begrudge them that.
And under the circumstances and others made a judgement that that was the appropriate thing to do. As soon as and it out to the arms.
He says more supply allows the government to select particular groups as vaccination targets.
Originally it was for border and quarantine workers. Now it’s still around private residential aged care and aged care workers. [And we’re] making sure that we support not just our VCE students but all of our students to get vaccinated as soon as they can to get back to the classroom.
NSW did it, by reallocating vaccine supply from the regions to HSC students, which then had to be replaced when the outbreak began impacting the regions as well.
Updated
Victoria's reopening options grow when vaccine targets hit, Foley says
But again, it comes down to vaccinations, and Victoria wants more mRNA vaccines from the commonwealth.
And for businesses who want a roadmap out, Martin Foley says it is there – the national plan – and that depends on vaccinations:
Last year was very, very different. The roadmap exists. It’s called the national cabinet decision that all states and territories have signed off on.
The sooner we get to 70%, the sooner we get to 80% vaccination levels, our options grow in terms of how we can respond.
And when we get to those points with lower infection levels, our options multiply even more considerably. So in terms of business’s concerns, we share those.
Family concerns - we share those.
The entire community’s concerns. People want to get to the other side of this. And the way that we get to the other side of this the quickest is by keeping our infection levels low and our vaccination levels high and the thing that’s holding us back on the vaccination levels is supply.
And the sooner the commonwealth opens its cheque book and starts providing us more vaccinations, the sooner we can get there.
Q: Can we have a different situation for people who are double vaxxed? Wouldn’t that be an enormous incentive, even with the grand final and things like that?
Foley:
In terms of once you get to 70% and 80%, that is the plan that all states and jurisdictions have signed off on, which as a component of that, is being worked on right now, about the positive incentives that people who are double vaccinated will have in place for them.
Updated
The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, is now taking questions on the extended lockdown:
Q: When do we expect to get an idea of how long the lockdown will be extended by? You said yesterday that it would be extended, but do we know when we will be told for how long? Or anything else?
Foley:
So all of those details are being worked through by our public health team ... and the minute it’s finalised we’ll be able to talk to the Victorian community about what that will look like.
But can I stress that the strategy has always been the same. Once national cabinet, all states and jurisdictions signed off on that strategy, our goal is to keep the level of infections down and the level of vaccinations up. And there’s hard work to be done in both of those areas.
Q: Is that an acceptance that we may end up staying in lockdown until we reach that?
Foley:
Not necessarily, no. In terms of restrictions, public health restrictions, we’ve had public health restrictions in different iterations for the best part of 18 months now. I think that we can work on the basis that if we are successful, there will be different restrictions and the goal is to be successful.
Updated
Sutton says the outbreak is largely under control, except in some areas of concern. He says he understands the concerns for those who are worried what a stay-at-home order will mean for extended family who work, but that there is financial support in place:
Sutton:
You can’t have your head in the sand around this. If you are symptomatic and might be infected with Covid, the only path for protecting your family, your loved ones and your close contacts is to get tested so that they can know at the earliest possible time and can protect those other family members and the other workplaces and places that they might go to if they know their status.
If they know that they are primary close contacts and can quarantine, they will not put other people at risk.
This is not about blaming anyone. This is about being clear that the only pathway to protect those around you, those you care about most, is to actually know your own status with regard to Covid-19. Visit the coronavirus.vic.gov.au website.
There are links both for the exposure sites, but more importantly, for the financial support tab on the home page.
There’s the disaster payment that you’re probably aware of if you can’t work due to the restrictions. That’s up to $750 a week. There’s the $450 payment for getting tested and awaiting your result if you have to miss work.
There’s the $1,500 isolation payment if have you to quarantine for that full 14-day period. And, of course, there are the relief packages and the business support that’s been available through the Victorian government as well. If you need support, please call out for it. It is available.
Updated
Brett Sutton then gives some somewhat heartening news. Things are not great in Victoria but the outbreak is not as bad as it could be:
We are in a challenging position right now. We are hoping to see a trend and maybe it is stabilising over the last few days with numbers not increasing exponentially. We are in a better position than we might have been with exponential growth from the beginning of this outbreak.
The number of days from when we had 50 cumulative cases in July is relatively flat compared to how it took off in New South Wales. That is both a tribute to everything that Victorians are doing, in terms of following the rules and the fantastic work of our contact tracers.
It is a huge effort required for the Delta variant and it only takes us dropping our guard just a little bit for that transmission with the Delta variant to occur to household members and within the community.
Updated
Brett Sutton on the Shepparton outbreak:
In terms of the Shepparton outbreak, there were two mystery cases notified yesterday. They are now linked. All cases in greater Shepparton are linked in this outbreak, which is good news. A key call-out: anyone who attended SkySalon Hairdressing on August 15-19 ... please come forward for testing. We believe there are more people who need to come forward who might have been there over those days.
Updated
Most Victorian cases in young people due to vaccine coverage in older population
Victorian CHO Prof Brett Sutton is up for the Victorian update now.
He says there are marked differences between this outbreak and what Victoria saw last year – and it is because of vaccinations:
In terms of our active cases, and this is the story of vaccination and points to a difference with 2020 – 170 of our cases are aged 0-9, 124 aged 10-19, 167 are aged 20-29, and 150 are aged 30-39. More than three-quarters are under the age of 40.
That is not the demographic spread of age in our community to have fewer than a quarter of cases over 40 years of age.
That is the impact of vaccination, which is telling a positive story. And as it supply ramps up, as the GPs and pharmacies have Pfizer available from today, as our state vaccination hubs are doing more Pfizer vaccines, first and second dose than ever before, as well as having plenty of AstraZeneca available for those eligible populations, these are really positive measures that will change the story of who we are seeing as cases and can provide us options as we go forward.
Updated
Victoria also has a frontline worker at its press conference.
Kylie Fisher, the critical care outreach services manager at Western Health, has been asked to give her account of what her health service went through last year. It is, as you could expect, harrowing:
Last year, they helped prevent hundreds of admissions to our intensive care units by acting as an extension of the ICUs and they helped support our ward nurses to support our patients and our communities.
They would often come to me overwhelmed, sometimes in tears. They were worried, they would come to work worried, they were worried about their colleagues, about how they would support their colleagues on the wards, looking after overwhelming numbers of acutely unwell patients, patients that we usually don’t see admitted to the wards.
They were worried about their families. They would go home after 12 hour shifts, long shifts. They would have showers before they would leave work, they would drive home, get out of their cars, get changed out of their scrubs in their garages, shower again before they would go in and speak or hug their families and their loved ones.
I saw tears, exhaustion, I saw nurses consoling nurses, I saw blood across the ridges of their noses and ears from wearing PPE for 12 hours at a time. Long shifts on their feet, kilometres they would clock up responding to emergency calls and calls for assistance on the wards. What we don’t understand is they would come and say, Kylie, it is like nothing we have ever seen before, these patients are young, they are fit. And then the next minute they are well and next minute they are being taken to ICU.
You asked me what I’m worried about as their manager?
I am worried I am going to have to ask them to stand up and do it again. They will. These are senior ICU nurses who have seen it all before, they have done it all before. I have to probably ask them to do it all again. They will. But they shouldn’t have to. I am asking - we are lucky, we have got science, a vaccine, please, if you haven’t already, get yourself vaccinated, make that appointment.
Updated
Spring a 'balancing act' for the ACT
Andrew Barr says the ACT’s chief health officer will brief cabinet, as they consider the future of restrictions.
But he is preparing the ground to extend the lockdown beyond Friday in some form. Barr said:
The Delta variant is very hard to contain. We still have cases in the community. We still have cases that do not have a clear epidemiological link. It is very clear we will require ongoing public health measures in place beyond this week.
Our lockdown measures are effective at reducing the spread of the virus. But it is concerning we are still seeing cases infectious in the community and without clear links to exposure sites or close contacts.
This means spring will be difficult – we have a difficult balancing act. [The] journey from here will require careful and modest steps forward before we have more people vaccinated.
Updated
Victoria pushes Covid vaccinations
Heading to Victoria now, where health minister Martin Foley is giving the update on today’s 73 cases. As Matilda Boseley reported a little earlier, just 24 were in isolation for their entire infectious period.
So Victoria too is pushing its vaccination program, and 26,702 vaccines were administered in the state-run clinic on the weekend – a 20% increase on the weekend before.
Foley:
We are continuing to see strong numbers come out through our state-run clinics, which now run at 2.383m vaccines being delivered through that system and we suspect we might close in as a state through all platforms 5m vaccines administered over the coming day.
That is total for the pandemic, that is. As you know, the premier launched the 1m vaccines program a little while ago and we are almost halfway to delivering on our goal of that figure through the state-run centres.
We are currently sitting at 455,000 doses administered through that program since that campaign commenced.
We have seen a very strong demand on the Pfizer bookings that have been in place across our state sites and whilst there are currently no Pfizer bookings available right now for first doses in that system, don’t give up because as more become available from the commonwealth, we put more systems in place. And it just goes to show again how strong the demand for Victorians, if we get the supply to get people vaccinated.
In that regard, today is actually the day in which both GPs and pharmacies will begin to open up for Victorians aged 16 and above for Pfizer under the rollout. Please, if you can’t land one today through the state-run clinics, come back and look again tomorrow in the coming days. But perhaps more importantly go and enquire through the GP network or community pharmacy network to get access to that.
The fantastically effective AstraZeneca vaccine continues to be available at state centres and at GPs and continues to be the Atagi endorsed vaccine especially for the over 60s. Please come forward and get the best vaccination that’s available for you and the best one that is available for you is the one that’s available today.
Updated
On those numbers in the ACT, coming out of lockdown at the end of the week is not looking promising.
Andrew Barr says cabinet will be provided with advice on that this afternoon.
ACT records 12 new cases
The ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, is giving the Covid update:
- The ACT has 12 new cases, six are linked to exposure sites or close contacts, with four under investigation and two with no known links at this stage
- Of the 12, two were in quarantine their entire infectious period, at least six were infectious in the community and four are under investigation.
- Twelve people are in hospital (down from 20) and three are in intensive care (up from one).
Updated
Q: The federal government extended eligibility for the Pfizer vaccine. Anyone between 16-39 was made eligible by the federal government for Pfizer. What is going on in New South Wales? Can anyone in New South Wales, 16-39, get Pfizer or just the LGAs of concern?
Brad Hazzard:
No. Let’s make it very, very clear, even though this might be about the 500th press conference where we have said this. AstraZeneca is in abundant supplies but Pfizer is not.
AstraZeneca is a perfectly good vaccine, it has been used right across the world and my strong advice, when we are in the breakout of the virus as we have at the moment, is go and get whatever vaccine you can get.
They are both very, very good. For those who have a preference for a number of reasons, for Pfizer, they will have to wait. Our advice is don’t wait. You could be the next person in intensive care and you could be the person who is exposing our health team to the virus and you could be the person who dies. Go and get whatever vaccine is available.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian is then asked about the possibility of field hospitals being needed, given that the UK opened up at 80% vaccination and is seeing 100 deaths a day (at the moment).
Berejiklian:
Other countries that opened up at certain vaccination rates didn’t have any restrictions in place. Many countries didn’t use QR codes or vaccination passports. Some didn’t use density requirements or social distancing requirements. When we are comparing, let’s make sure we’re comparing apples to apples. The second point is, as the experts have told us, we won’t require those type of field hospital arrangements in the way we have planned. I will ask minister Hazzard to expand on that.
Brad Hazzard:
The health advice is we have substantial capacity in our hospitals and that capacity to have not only patients in wards but also in ICUs is where the focus should be.
We spent a lot of time last year, with the health system, the doctors and nurses and administrators, looking to see what numbers might come in through the course of the pandemic and we have taken steps to make sure that there are private hospitals, world class private hospitals that are on standby now for any increase in patients when we need to do it. Field hospitals would not be on the agenda at the present time.
Can I say this further. Some of the measures we took last year on health advice were issues like increasing by quadrupling the number of ventilators in New South Wales, so it went from 500 to 2,012 last I looked. ... There are a lot of extra staff who have extra training to step up. The health system is ready in New South Wales, but as has been said by the paramedics and other staff, they do not want to see you ... in our hospitals or in our ICUs. Please go and get vaccinated.
Updated
Is Dr Kerry Chant worried about Covid in prison populations?
Clearly, I’m very concerned about prisons and I highlighted the fact that they are one of the targets for the vaccination efforts. It is a complex operational environment. People are living in close quarters. People are coming in to work in the prisons and Covid can be introduced and we have high turnover. Prisons is something that we would see potentially a role for RAT [rapid antigen testing] and other testing.
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant is then asked about the need for booster shots, given what is happening in highly vaccinated countries like Israel:
I can’t see that Covid is not going to be with us forever. Maybe in the future we can have even better vaccines and coverage across the world to achieve that.
As a public health doctor we always want to have diseases go, get totally eliminated, but that is not on the horizon in the fear future. Booster doses and repeat doses will be part of that.
There will be different advice about different schedules and which doses you get but at the moment our priority has to be getting first and second doses into people and there will be recommendations about booster doses in the future. And I can assure you that the commonwealth government has purchased a large quantity of vaccine into 2022 and this will be a regular cycle of vaccination and revaccination as we learn more about when immunity wanes.
Updated
Covid disproportionately affecting Indigenous people in western NSW, Chant says
Regional NSW has experienced its first death during this outbreak today, with a man in Dubbo dying. Dr Kerry Chant is asked:
“We understand that the death in Dubbo was in an Indigenous man. There is concern about the virus getting into those vulnerable communities where there is low vaccination. Will you investigate the circumstances of this particular death?”
Chant:
I am not in a position to confirm the nature of the person who died or give out any other medical conditions without first talking to the family. Let me just say that is the approach I am taking.
Any death is tragic and we are particularly concerned about the case numbers in far west and western NSW because of the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people and the likelihood that Covid will be and is touching Aboriginal people disproportionately.
For that, we need to use everything we can. I would like to say there are very strong vaccination efforts in those local communities and I call upon all community leaders to encourage high uptake. And I have been pleased that some of the towns have had incredible uptake.
Updated
There have been a few decisions made on the fly in NSW – Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday that bookings for 12- to 15-year-olds that had been made earlier than scheduled in what was a site error would be honoured, which quickly became not the case when those appointments were cancelled.
Rapid testing for businesses was also cancelled.
Asked what happened with the rapid testing, Gladys Berejiklian defers to Dr Kerry Chant, who says:
Clearly, our key policy driver for that decision was to get people vaccinated. We really want the vaccination of authorised workers, our disability workers and child care workers, and that is because we are seeing those impacting on work places but also impacting on very vulnerable people.
We had given the options of RAT testing in some circumstances but obviously that testing is more able to be implemented because of the TBA requirements where you need to have supervision in larger workplaces.
The feedback we have got in relation to it is firms that had five employees really struggled with implementation of the RAT, so what we did was remove that, but can I say I would have a strong expectation that if you wanted to keep your workmates safe and your workplace functional, get those workers vaccinated.
Q: You made a rule on one Friday and reversed the rule on the next Friday. These businesses spent money putting it in place.
Chant:
Can I suggest that if the businesses put it in place it is your insurance policy. Because when you get a case in your workplace, you will have prevented that workplace being closed down, in most cases for something like 14 days.
The workplaces, I would encourage people to, where it is appropriate and fit for purpose, for them to have the RAT testing if they have got critical work or it is critical that they can’t stop their business.
Updated
Freedoms not certain for all Sydney LGAs
Back to NSW.
Asked if people in the local government areas of concern will be guaranteed the same freedoms come 70%, Gladys Berejiklian says it is being worked out ‘as we speak’.
Please know that NSW is working towards a roadmap as to what that 70% looks like. We also have to appreciate the next few weeks are critical, they will give us good guidance as to what level of freedom we will have. But my strongest message is: if you are not vaccinated, do not expect to have freedoms. Please know those freedoms will be extended to those that are vaccinated because we want to protect those members of our community who are not vaccinated and also those who are especially vulnerable because we also know there’s a small percentage of people who have underlying health conditions, who are already ill and even a vaccination may still not prevent them from getting ill.
Updated
Just 24 of Victoria's 73 cases in isolation for entire infectious period
The Victorian health minister Martin Foley is speaking now, announcing the state’s 73 cases today, only 24 of whom have so far been confirmed to have been in isolation for their entire infectious period.
From today select general practices and pharmacies across Victoria will begin administering Pfizer doses to anyone over 16 years of age.
Today is actually the day in which both GPs and pharmacies will begin to open up for Victorians aged 16 and above for Pfizer under the rollout.
So please, if you have can’t land one today through the state-run clinics, come back and have a look tomorrow and in the coming days, and more importantly, go and enquire through the GP network or the community pharmacy network to get access to that.
Vaccination rates in Victoria are also way up compared to last weekend, with Foley suggesting the state might surpass the 5m dose milestone in the coming day.
In regards to vaccines, getting vaccinated is our way out of this pandemic. It’s the key markers on the national cabinet plan that will get us all through this. And it is the key deliverer of hope and aspiration of recovery and coming out the other side of this pandemic.
We saw 26,702 vaccines administered through our state-run clinics, a further 20% increase on the previous Sunday. And Saturday was also a 20% increase on the previous Saturday. So we are continuing to see strong numbers come out through our state-run clinics.
Updated
New Zealand records 53 new cases
This cluster’s index case came from Sydney.
#BREAKING: Fifty-three new COVID-19 community cases recorded in NZ https://t.co/hgmZp7aspC
— Newshub Breaking (@NewshubBreaking) August 30, 2021
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian on her message to health care workers who have said the system isn’t coping:
There are always people that are going to be concerned about that. Equally there are people involved in the planning for the last 18 months and are well aware of what to expect.
Our health experts are some of the best in the world. Our ICU, emergency departments are some of the best in the world. And have been planning and training to deal with [what] we are likely to expect in the next couple of months and I cannot thank them enough.
We have invested billions of dollars to support the capacity, in staff, in training, PPE, ventilators, all those things we need.
Our aim is to keep people out of hospital and ICU and the best thing we can do is to increase our vaccination rate.
[The paramedic] Mr Ibrahim said much more eloquently than I can, to protect people like him, his profession and our loved ones, let’s get vaccinated, both doses and stay out of those situations.
Updated
What seems to be missed in that though, is the health care professionals themselves. We already know they are exhausted and stretched in terms of people resources – and they are already warning us many doctors and nurses are hitting their own capacity to deal with the crisis. So what happens when it gets even more intense, and the people manning that ICU capacity and ventilators are already exhausted?
Given health care workers are warning the next two weeks are going to bring even more pressure, is the system prepared for October, when Gladys Berejiklian says it is going to get even worse?
Berejiklian:
To put things into perspective. About 18 months ago when the epidemic started in earnest, we quadrupled our ICU capacity, we purchased ventilators. People ventilators is tragic but it is still relatively low. The health system is prepared but will it stretch? Absolutely.
It is stretched now but there is capacity across the network. We are one network and is all the specialist - you do not have to believe me - every time a health specialist explained the plan and moving forward, we have a network in NSW where resources can be moved around, specialist can move around and that is what you do when you’re planning a pandemic. These are not normal circumstances. This is a pandemic. I am not going to pretend this is situation normal. When you are in the middle of a pandemic and racing to vaccinate your population, you can pretend that this is normal but what our aim is to get to normal, to get to a place where we live with the virus, keep people out of hospital and have a relatively free life with safety restrictions in place.
Q: Is it realistic kids can be in school in October and have outdoor dining?
Gladys Berejiklian:
The hospitalisation rate is not necessarily related [to] transmission. It is the accumulation over time. Once you get to October and 70% double dose, the chance of our citizens, the proportion of our citizens ending up in hospital or intensive care greatly reduces so we have to be aware of those facts.
The rate of hospitalisation, the rate of people going into intensive care goes down.
... The vaccination is the best armour we have in protecting people against Covid but also in living a normal life. All of us have to accept, as confronting as it is, that we do not know how long Covid will be with us but we will find a safe spot where we can live freely and have as few of us ... in intensive care as possible. And the double dose vaccination is the best chance we have of keeping ourselves and our loved ones and our health workers safe by staying out of hospital.
Updated
Q: Does Gladys Berejiklian have the modelling, or the numbers of what life in the health system looks like, opening up at 70%?
There’s various models that exist and every time we get modelling, it has lots of what we call variables.
It depends on a whole bunch of things ... We are hopeful that once we get those vaccination rates up, the rate of hospitalisation declines and we also know from the information we have the accumulation of cases and the number unvaccinated, that October is likely to be out worst month in terms of pressure on the system. And that is why we have gearing up for that and we have been nearly two years.
Our hospital system is under pressure. Will we need to do things differently? Of course, we will.
We will need to manage things differently because we are in the middle of a pandemic but we will cope and that is why we are keeping a keen eye on those figures but even after we get to 80% double dose, we are going to see more cases but if the majority of the population is vaccinated, the majority of those cases will not need to be in hospital and that is why it is important to focus on those numbers to ensure our hospital system is not overwhelmed.
That is why it is important for us to have the conversation now. I do not expect the public to suddenly have a change in mind ... when we get to 70% double dose. And that is why we are keen as a government and team in NSW to make sure our citizens are privy to this conversation now because life will change ... and I do not want people to be confronted by that.
I would rather have a process where we become accustomed to what life with Covid looks like and feels like and it should feel much less scary and much more hopeful as those vaccination rates go up. And I want us to beat every record of the planet in terms of what proportion of our people are vaccinated.
Updated
October to be worst for health system and ICU, Berejiklian says
Gladys Berejiklian is pushed on the health system pressure and says:
We anticipate that the worst month, the worst time for our intensive care unit will be in October ... And the number of cases we have in intensive care will depend on our vaccination rate and also on the number of cases, and we all have a hand in determining what that looks like. And I cannot think enough the tens of thousands of people that are coming forward every single day in our state.
We’re getting close to 900,000 jabs a week in NSW out of a population of 8 million. That is outstanding.
Every day we get closer to hitting those vaccination targets means the pressure on our hospital system, on our ICU, will decline over time and that is what we need to manage.
Some countries who open up too early and too freely see their hospitals overwhelmed.
... I am keen to make sure not only do our case numbers go down but the most important numbers we look at the moment is how many cases need hospitalisation and how many ending up in ICU.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian is answering questions – and given her switch to looking at hospitalisations and ICU admissions, the first question is what she is anticipating when NSW opens up:
The important thing to note, when we get to 70% double dose, the freedoms we are [expanding] will be those [who] are fully vaccinated.
We note the risk of developing severe illness are reduced when vaccinated, the risk of passing it on to others is severely reduced, but also there will still be restrictions in place. You will have to check in, demonstrate you have been vaccinated, demonstrate social distancing, in certain settings you will have to wear a mask.
At 70% double dose life will be better than it is today. Having said that, we will make sure we never have any settings that will overwhelm our system and that is the absolute challenge.
Please, every time the numbers come out, the more people double vaccinated the less chance of them going into hospitals.
The hospitalisation rate of cases is likely to come down as vaccination rates go up.
We will never ever have settings in place which are going to overwhelm our health system, our paramedics or overwhelm our intensive care units and that is what we watch very closely.
We have to remember this important point as well, we do not know how long Covid will be with us and we have to demonstrate our pathway out of living with the virus, and that starts when we have 70% double dose vaccination and obviously there are further positives when we get to 80% double vaccination and these are important targets.
That is why I say the most relevant figure for us is keeping an eye on how many people require hospital care and how many people require intensive care.
Updated
Joe Ibrahim speaks of a case where he responded to a single mother who was deteriorating from Covid, and were called to her home to give critical primary care.
Her son made a comment to me and that comment was: ‘I think this is my fault. I think I have given mum Covid.’
That stopped me in my tracks and stopped my team in our tracks and absolutely broke our hearts. Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. This is what paramedics see on the frontline every single day.
While paramedics are absolutely available to respond to you in medical emergencies and at your time of need, our preference is that you stay healthy and that you do not need to meet me or one of my team and do not need to be in the back of one of our ambulances.
As a father, as a paramedic, as a member of western Sydney’s community, I stand here ... and I’m asking you to follow the rules, stay at home, go and get your vaccines because that is what is going to help us.
Updated
The press conference also has Ambulance paramedic Joe Ibrahim, giving the frontline worker perspective:
Our role as paramedics is physically and mentally demanding. One of the most physical demanding things we do is perform CPR. In the current climate, we need to perform CPR in full PPE.
To give you an understanding of what that is, we are wrapped up in a plastic gown that is not breathable. It is to ensure that the virus does not get into our lungs. We have glasses and gloves on. We wear this for the majority of our 12-hour shift and it takes its toll. We wear this to not only protect us, to protect our family, to protect the broader community and your family.
... When I joined this profession, years ago now, I knew that it came with a level of risk to serve our community. For the very first time though, I am bringing this risk due to this contagious virus home to my wife and my beautiful boys. I know and take comfort in the fact that vaccinations break the chain of transmission and I am grateful to be vaccinated. This truly does give me comfort and this is another reason why I stand here today asking you ... to go and get vaccinated.
Updated
There has been Covid detected in the sewage in Trangie and in Byron Bay in NSW – both areas where to date there have been no positive cases.
Updated
The NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant then gives her update. NSW is getting to the point where there will be more than 1000 people in hospital with Covid:
[There are] 848 current cases admitted to hospital and 147 are in intensive care, 48 require ventilation.
Sadly, they have been the deaths of four people who had Covid. A gentleman in his 50s died at Dubbo hospital and he had significant underlying health conditions.
At Westmead hospital, a man in his 70s died but he also had underlying health conditions.
And a woman in her 60s from Western Sydney who died at Westmead hospital and she acquired her infection at Cumberland hospital. Can I just extend my personal sympathies to the families. Every time we read out these names, there is a family that is grieving.
Updated
Gladys Berejikian:
Vaccination is the key in terms of our freedom and reducing the spread of the virus.
The other number critical is at the rate of hospitalisation and it stands to reason that when you have people fully vaccinated, you are likely to see the rate of hospitalisation and the rate of people in intensive care to climb.
We will have further to say about that in the coming days. I also want to take this opportunity for all of us to think about our frontline workers that put their safety and health on the line to support the safety and health of all of us.
Our message is, get vaccinated. We are doing so well. We are also doing well in terms of planning for our roadmap. We want to citizens and industry to start preparing Covid safety plans, to make sure they are fully vaccinated, to start making sure that come 70% double dose, which will happen at some stage in October, those freedoms will extend to people who are fully vaccinated.
Updated
NSW records 1,290 cases and four deaths
Gladys Berejiklian opens with vaccination numbers again, as is her new habit.
But it is a new record for case numbers – with western Sydney the main area of transmission.
Four people with Covid died in the last 24 hours.
As I have been saying for the last couple of weeks, while it is important for us to reduce case numbers, we know the greatest way to do that is getting vaccinated.
Updated
The ACT press conference will be held at 11.45am.
Territorians could find out what is going to happen with restrictions today, so we will let you know as soon as we do what is happening.
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We are still waiting on when the Victorian press conference will be held – it is usually around 11.15am or so. We will make sure we cover it off as well as the NSW one, and make it clear which jurisdiction we are in.
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With at least six correctional officers at the Bathurst jail in western NSW testing positive for Covid, and a potentially exposed prison population, Change the Record is increasing its call for First Nations people in prison to be protected.
Co-chair Cheryl Axleby said:
Change the Record has warned for over a year now that not enough is being done to protect our mob in prison and youth justice facilities. It is alarming that so little has been done to protect our people. A prison sentence should never be a death sentence, but if the Delta strain takes hold in a prison or youth justice facility, our people are sitting ducks.
First Nations peoples in prisons are particularly at risk from Covid-19. Our people are far more likely to have disabilities and to have experienced recent poor health; add to that a highly infectious strain of the virus in an environment where it is impossible to socially distance and you have a tinderbox waiting to explode. State, Territory and Commonwealth Governments should take urgent action to get our mob out of prison and support us to stay safe and well in the community.
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Struggling Victorian events businesses fear they won't survive 2021
Victoria’s events industry is asking for a realistic timeline for when events may return. As AAP reports:
Almost half of Victorian event businesses are unsure if they will survive 2021, with one in three cancelling all events for the remainder of the year, an industry survey has found.
It comes as more major public events in Victoria, including Magic Mike Live, cancel due to coronavirus restrictions.
The state’s event industry is calling for a realistic timeline for when functions can begin again, as the Victorian government plans to extend the state’s sixth lockdown beyond September 2.
One in five event businesses have lost more than a million dollars during recent lockdowns, according to the Save Victorian Events survey of 361 businesses.
During lockdowns from June to August this year, the industry’s income dropped by 86% on average.
About 34% of the sector’s companies have cancelled all events until the end of 2021, with 47% unsure if their business will survive to the end of the year.
The industry currently employs 60% fewer permanent workers and 86% fewer freelancers, contractors and casuals.
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The Independent MP Zali Steggall has announced a new private members’ bill – she wants to stop “misleading or deceptive political advertising” before the next election.
Steggall plans on introducing the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Stop the Lies) Bill in the parliament for the October sittings:
This year we have seen a number of examples of misleading and deceptive advertising including from Members of Parliament and political parties without current representation in the Australian Parliament.
The amendments proposed have been tried and tested as they are modelled on legislation that has been in place in South Australia for over 20 years and was adopted by the ACT last year. There is both a legislative and a normative preventative effect from this Bill.
In acknowledgement of the emerging threat posed by technological advances, the amendments also address the issue of deep fakes through the banning of impersonation or passing off a misrepresentation of a candidate.
There have been examples of technology such as deep fakes being weaponised to distort the political process including during the most recent Queensland election as well as in the US, Belgium and Malaysia, we need to get ahead of this technology and make it clear that it is not permitted in Australian election campaigns.
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Virgin Australia mandates employee vaccines
Virgin Australia will require all employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The vaccine mandate will come into effect from 15 November for frontline team members, with all office based staff required to have their vaccine by 31 March. The airline consulted unions and employees before announcing the mandate.
Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said:
The majority of our team at Virgin Australia are already vaccinated, and we will be listening to our team members to ensure we find the best fit policy for our organisation. We will now commence discussing the proposed vaccination requirement in detail with our team through our internal safety committees, unions and other appropriate forums.
The announcement comes after Qantas last week said it would also require all of its workers to get the vaccine.
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That exchange ended with Anthony Albanese backing in premiers to make their own decisions:
It does allow for premiers to make decisions. It’s silent when it comes to border closures.
But it speaks about minimising baseline restrictions, adjusted to minimise cases without lockdowns. That’s what it suggests.
That’s what it suggests in black and white that they have signed up to.
I don’t understand how, when you have a national crisis like this, the federal government are seeking to have arguments with state premiers, and in particular, to target those state premiers who’ve been most successful.
And you don’t hear about South Australia, which also has the same restrictions that are there, as does Tasmania at the moment, as the West Australian premier.
But what you have is Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison looking to distract from their own failures, to distract from the fact that they haven’t responded to recommendations that had been made to them for things that they are responsible for, things like the aged care workforce being vaccinated, things like aged care workers not working in multiple facilities unvaccinated, things like the taking of a foreign aircrew to quarantine.
It’s no wonder that there’s some frustration from the state premiers, be they Labor or Liberal, that had been taking action. Remember that this current outbreak as well, more than a week in, Scott Morrison was out there praising and urging no lockdown.
And that’s in spite of the fact that this breach, I say again, came from what Jane Halton described as a gaping hole in keeping people safe. And nothing was done to close that hole.
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Here is the back and forth between Labor leader Anthony Albanese and ABC Radio’s Fran Kelly this morning, on the national reopening plan:
Kelly: The WA premier, we’re trying to get this clear, how we all move out of this, Mark McGowan is mounting perhaps the strongest resistance to the national plan and all its benchmarks.
Albanese:
But that is not true either, Fran.
Kelly: Let me just point this out to you. He says there would be 1 million unprotected Western Australians when the nation hits the 70% vaccination rate and he will not “deliberately infect our citizens because people would die”. Is that fair enough from the premier? Or should he recommit to the national plan for the sake of all those businesses impacted by lockdowns?
Albanese: Where is that statement a breach of the national plan, Fran?
Kelly: Well, the country can’t open up until every state and territory is at 80% and then they are supposed to open up and he says, well, that will still leave my state, which has no Covid infections, with 20%, at least if not more, 30% of people who are vulnerable to infection and why would I do that?
Albanese: Fran, Mark McGowan has kept Western Australians safe.
Kelly: By keeping the borders shut.
Albanese:
He’s done an outstanding job. And the national plan does provide for, though, which we support, opening up, changing some of the measures at 70% and then again 80% and provide for just highly targeted lockdowns only.
Kelly: So would you support, if the country gets to an 80% vaccination level, some states, whichever state, keeping its borders closed because they still don’t want to allow outsiders who may be unvaccinated into their state?
Albanese:
I support the national plan that every state premier and every chief minister has signed up to.
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NSW press conference at 11am
It is 11am for the NSW Covid update today.
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And in news that should surprise no one, given the pseudo campaign that was launched today, Josh Frydenberg is attempting to switch up the jobkeeper debate and whether companies who received the wage subsidy and how much will be made public:
Jobkeeper saved the economy and the nation. According to the Reserve Bank, it’s saved more than 700,000 jobs. According to the governor of the Reserve Bank, it was a remarkable program. And we do know that it helps see the very strong economic rebound where our unemployment rate today is at 4.6%.
Now, if you’re a public company, you need to disclose the amount of money that you got for jobkeeper. But if you’re a private company, your tax information is actually that. It’s private.
And what the Labor party is seeking to do is to expose every small business across the country with their private tax details, and you have heard from the tax commissioner that that would be a very, very bad development, and a very, very bad precedent.
... So, this is the Labor party playing very dangerous politics with a very successful program and all those people watching your show today know how successful jobkeeper was in helping them stay in a job.
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Frydenberg says all states 'have to learn to live with Covid'
The federal government is also relying on the business community to push the message and change public sentiment in the lockout jurisdictions. Josh Frydenberg:
You have got pretty influential people in Western Australia, like Kerry Stokes ... who made the case, the economic case, for the state opening up.
As vaccination rates increase we know we can open up in a Covid-safe way. The plan that was agreed by national cabinet was based on the best medical advice in the world through the Doherty Institute.
And it has shown once you get to the 70 to 80% vaccination rates, the transmissibility of the virus reduces, the number of people who get seriously sick reduces.
There is an imperative. The more you talk about it, the more I talk about it, the more business leaders talk about it, the more that reality will sink in, that Australians, whether they are in Brisbane or Perth or Melbourne or Sydney or Adelaide or Launceston and Hobart, it doesn’t matter. Wherever you are in Australia, you have to learn to live with Covid.
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The treasurer Josh Frydenberg has taken the lead in pushing reluctant states – which is every one except for NSW and Victoria at the moment – to commit to the national reopening plan.
South Australia and Tasmania aren’t really getting a lot of attention at the moment, but neither is rushing to switch up from lockouts at the moment. But it is WA and Queensland that are getting the most attention. Mostly because both states have Labor leaders, but also because they are the states where the election will be won and lost.
So Scott Morrison isn’t going that hard, leaving Josh Frydenberg, who is less visible as the treasurer (pretty sure most of my family couldn’t pick him out in a line up, because as ‘quiet Australians’ they don’t pay that much attention to federal politics), as one to push the attack.
Here is what Frydenberg had to say to the Nine Network this morning:
My job is to ensure our economy is strong, jobs are created and we rebound out of the crisis. State and territories are ringing up the federal government for economic support.
We have been forthcoming. We’re providing already now more than a billion dollars a week into the states and the territories that are in lockdown, but also business support packages across the other state and territories.
I can see that the economy will continue to suffer if we do not open up in accordance with that plan. And then you could have the ridiculous situation, where somebody in NSW could travel to Canada before they could go to Cairns or someone in Victoria could go to Singapore or Bali before Perth. That is ridiculous. We need to ensure we open up as one country.
The federal government is hoping that public sentiment in the lockout states will shift (outside of Victoria and now NSW, lockdowns have been minimal and life has continued pretty much as it had – with the main difference being a lockout of other states, rather than lockdowns). The federal government is hoping that will change:
Frydenberg:
That’s why it’s so important that the public and that is why it is so important than the business community keep making the case. I mean, it’s not just the economic case that is important, because businesses need that certainty to know that they can reopen once restrictions are eased, but it’s also the shadow pandemic that Patrick McGorry, former Australian of the Year, talked about.
We have seen a record number of teenagers turn up at hospital with mental health issues as a result of the anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies and thoughts that are you are seeing as a result of these lockdowns.
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Oh good – Craig Kelly’s private members’ bills are on the list today:
Good morning. The House will resume at 10am. After two committee reports are presented, this morning's private Members' business will be comprised of the introduction of a bill from Mr Kelly and motions moved by Mr Connelly and Mr Hayes. Full program here: https://t.co/ElfHOs8vST pic.twitter.com/0ZZicLvTWB
— Australian House of Representatives (@AboutTheHouse) August 29, 2021
Labor leader Anthony Albanese was on ABC radio RN this morning.
I’m just transcribing that interview now, so will bring you some highlights. He does say he has received a security briefing on Afghanistan, so it looks like that information is being shared a little more widely now that Australia’s official evacuation operation has ended.
The government has been a little more quiet today – last week, Scott Morrison opened the parliament week with a blitz of the morning media. Today, he is laying low.
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Mike Hytner and Adam Morton have written on The Cool Down, a new campaign highlighting the climate crisis, spearheaded by sports stars:
A who’s who of Australian sport, spearheaded by the former Wallabies captain, David Pocock, have been brought together in a new initiative that aims to use the platforms of high-profile sportsmen and women to tackle the climate crisis.
The campaign, named The Cool Down, was launched on Monday by Pocock who, after retiring from rugby union in 2020, has focused his energies on conservation and climate activism.
Pocock is joined by more than 250 current and former athletes who have penned an open letter to the nation’s leaders encouraging bold action be taken as extreme weather events become more frequent and “our Australian way of life, including sport at every level” is jeopardised.
The Cool Down is a movement by athletes for all Australians
— Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) August 29, 2021
250+ athletes, 30 sports calling for bold climate action to safeguard the future of all Australians + the future of sport
Let’s all make it happen!
Join us at https://t.co/CVvQbDYaHC 👇#thecooldown pic.twitter.com/A6sGcopaW1
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Over the weekend, Craig Kelly continued to spam all MPs and parliamentary staff on the APH system with the sort of content that the aunt you don’t really talk to, and the high school friend who really got into essential oils and MLMs keeps posting on Facebook.
No really – he is sending out conspiracy videos posted on Facebook to the entire parliament.
He started this late last week and seems determined to continue.
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Victoria records 73 new local Covid cases
52 of these have been linked.
Reported yesterday: 73 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) August 29, 2021
- 26,702 vaccine doses were administered
- 41,395 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/lQxcfi9yEW
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The New Zealand government made all of its wage subsidies public – with a searchable database
Meanwhile, the government is going after people who received jobkeeper from their employers at the same time as receiving social security – many people were confused by the set-up, or received the wrong advice, and have since been served debt notices by the government.
But you’re not allowed to know what companies received jobkeeper, or how much.
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The campaign to stop the campaign to have jobkeeper payments made public is whirring up. There has been a push from non-government MPs to make the amount companies received from the taxpayer wage subsidy public, given some used it to pay dividends or made a profit during the time the subsidy ran.
The Senate attempted to have the tax commissioner disclose the information last week. The government put in a last-minute public interest immunity challenge to stop it. But the memo seems to have gone out for industry organisations to come out against it (there is also a piece in the Australian newpspaper lashing the opposition for attempting to have this information public). Here is the hotels lobby:
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) is calling on the Senate to reject attempts to force Australian companies to publicly disclose their personal tax affairs as a retrospective pre-condition to receiving jobkeeper.
AHA National CEO Stephen Ferguson said, “This dangerous political stunt is an attempt to play politics with a bipartisan assistance scheme that saved hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs.”
“We completely agree with the need for integrity in the payment of public money by governments to people and businesses.”
“However, the Commissioner of Taxation has advised this precedent has serious implications for taxpayer confidentiality and confidence in providing information to the Tax Office.”
“People who abided by the rules set down at the time will be publicly humiliated by politicians playing political games.”
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Truck drivers block M1 in Queensland vaccination protest
A group of truck drivers have protested against Queensland’s vaccine mandate – essential workers entering the state from NSW will have to have the vaccine in order to be able to enter Queensland. AAP has more:
Traffic was backed up for kilometres after two prime movers were parked in the two southbound lanes of the Pacific Motorway at Reedy Creek South on the Gold Coast about 5.30am on Monday.
One truck driver named Brock, who did not give his surname, says the drivers are protesting the Queensland government’s health orders which only allow essential workers to enter from NSW if they have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
End all lockdowns, people go back to work and kids go back to school,” he told Nine’s Today show.
That’s what we want out of it, we’ve had enough of it.
We’ve had a lot the support mate, the people that showed up today is amazing, we appreciate everyone that’s come down.”
News footage showed federal One Nation senator Pauline Hanson and her advisor James Ashby at the protest.
Police told AAP the trucks had been moved on and traffic was once again freely flowing by 7:20am.
Federal employment minister Stuart Roberts said the health orders were tough, but the truckies shouldn’t be inconveniencing thousands of people to make a point.
He said truck drivers are important, but personal liberty needs to be balanced with public good.
Vaccination seems to be the way for us to be able to get through this, to get back out of lockdown and to get ourselves back to the freedoms that we love here in Australia.
The rest of the world is doing it. Sure, there is carnage left, right and centre, but there is carnage left, right and centre here.
No one wants it, it isn’t a perfect situation. I have taken the decision to get vaccinated, get it done. It isn’t necessarily what I want to do, but it’s the only way to move forward.”
The truckie protest comes as Queensland becomes the first state to trial rolling out Covid-19 vaccines to international seafarers arriving in local ports.
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Aged care workers on students visas to be allowed to work longer hours
Aged care workers on student visas will now be able to work longer hours, after the government temporarily removed the restrictions which limited how many hours they could work on their visas:
Skilled workforce for aged care will be strengthened with the Morrison government extending the ability for student visa holders to work longer hours across the sector in the ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The temporary extension of the removal of working hour restrictions applies to all student visa holders working in the aged care sector, regardless of when they commenced that work.
That is partly because Australia’s workforce is in a very interesting place at the moment – with the international border closed, the labour force has declined (seasonally adjusted) because there are no workers coming into the country. Which means employers have to fill jobs with the existing workforce – and many are running into issues (showing how much a lot of our business models rely on imported labour).
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Penny Wong was also asked if Labor would be setting a medium-term climate target, given how climate is becoming increasingly important across all electorates. She told the ABC:
We have made clear our position by 2050 and the importance of a strong pathway to get there. But let’s be really clear – the government wants you to have a discussion about medium-term targets.
The reality is, with Barnaby Joyce as the deputy prime minister – remember the bloke who has campaigned over the last 20 years or 15 years against action on climate change – this government, this Coalition government led by Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce will never act on climate. And what that poll shows is what we already know – the community wants action.
The business community wants action. The only people who don’t are Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce. You have to change the government if you want action on climate change.
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An independent editorial review has criticised the ABC documentary Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire for making an historical allegation about former New South Wales premier Neville Wran.
Wran, the Australian Labor “giant” who led NSW as premier for a decade, died in 2014 aged 87. A group of his former staffers has been critical of the ABC documentary by award-winning journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna.
The three-part series examined the tragic event that occurred at Sydney’s Luna Park in 1979, when a fire destroyed the ghost train ride, resulting in the deaths of six boys and a man.
But one aspect of the program, about connections between Wran and organised crime figure Abe Saffron, have been criticised by Wran’s friends including former ABC chairman and managing director David Hill, former NSW premiers Bob Carr and Barrie Unsworth and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as unfair, uncorroborated and stretching credulity.
“It contains a critical opinion about one aspect of Exposed – an historical allegation regarding Neville Wran, to which ABC News has responded,” the ABC said in a statement ahead of the publication of the review.
Guardian Australia understands the review will be made public on Monday afternoon.
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Labor’s shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong spoke to the ABC this morning about Afghanistan, and was asked what she believed the government should be doing to evacuate people Australia had promised to help:
Look, this is a very perilous situation. We’ve seen one strike. We’ve seen more terror attacks discussed and planned. This is a very risky situation.
... we thank the ADF personnel and the other personnel, Australian personnel and the US and the UK forces for assisting in the evacuation of many Australian visa holders. Regrettably, we have left hundreds behind, and the government will need to focus on how it deals with the Australian citizens, permanent residents and visa holders who have been left in Afghanistan.
So what should they do?
This will be something that will be negotiated over time with the international community, and obviously, with whomever ends up in control, or largely in control of Kabul and Afghanistan.
But I would say this: I do think that it is disappointing that the government did not listen to the many calls to get people out earlier. We saw the veteran community very vocally calling on the government to act, to bring out those who have helped us. And it is, I think, deeply regrettable, that the government failed to act earlier, as I said. All our thanks to the brave and our friends and allies who helped evacuate people in the last two weeks. But for months now, the government has been called upon to act and failed to do so.
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Victorian premier Daniel Andrews announced yesterday he would be extending Melbourne’s lockdown after recording 92 cases, with just 63 of them linked on Sunday.
The ACT will decide over the coming day or two what it plans to do with its lockdown.
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Meanwhile, mRNA supplies should be increasing over the next couple of months, but older Australians who waited to have a choice could find themselves at the back of the queue:
Brisbane is getting its second mass vaccination hub, this time in the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall. That will open up on 8 September and help take the pressure off the existing hub, which is in the city.
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Good morning
Welcome to the second week of parliamentary sittings, which will be a lot like the first – not a lot going on.
Covid travel restrictions mean we have pretty much the same cast in the parliament in Canberra this week, which is not many, although the main players will of course be around.
You’ll hear a lot about how polls don’t matter – the latest Newspoll, first published by the Australian, shows the two-party-preferred vote has moved one point in Labor’s favour – 54 to 46, with the Coalition’s primary vote dropping three points to 36. That support seems to have gone to minor and fringe parties – neither One Nation or the Greens saw much movement.
The drop in primary will be one of the most worrying results for the Coalition. While there has been a lot of commentary about Labor’s primary vote, the Coalition’s has been largely ignored. And in the end, on election day, the only issue will be where those preferences flow – do they go to the Coalition, or to Labor?
The results come while NSW continues to record ever-higher Covid daily cases (1,218 yesterday) at the same time as ongoing reports of the health system under increasing pressure.
If you haven’t already, read this story from Elias Visontay which goes into some of the detail of what is happening in NSW hospitals:
Two ICU nurses from Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred and St Vincent’s hospitals have independently raised concerns that when working in non-Covid ICUs in recent weeks, the pressure that surging Covid cases had placed across the health system has left them understaffed to the point that increasing sedative dosage is the safest way they can manage their patient load.
Guardian Australia does not suggest the nurses have administered sedatives their patients were not already prescribed by a doctor.
Rather, the ICU nurses, who oversee the infusion of sedatives and administer varying levels within a certain dose range prescribed by a doctor – known as titration – report that when staff are stretched, decisions have been made to increase sedation to the maximum allowed dose “to knock the patient out” so nurses can ensure the patient will remain safe when they need to divert their attention elsewhere.
Victoria has also not managed to get a lid on its outbreak, and both states are dealing with a lot of lockdown-fatigued people. Which is where the national plan comes in – but the rest of the country, which has seen lockouts but not as many lockdowns, is not as willing to open up as the plan demands.
Throw in the Afghanistan withdrawal, and the federal government is on the back foot in more than one way.
We’ll cover all of that, as well as what is happening with Covid as the day unfurls. You have Amy Remeikis with you on the blog, along with Mike Bowers who is of course, already at work. Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst will be with you during the day, with the Guardian brains trust ensuring you don’t miss anything.
It’s going to be a busy day – I’m on coffee number three.
Ready?
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