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The Guardian - AU
National
Elias Visontay (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

WA to ease hard border from 5 February – as it happened

What happened Monday 13 December 2021

With that, we’ll end our live coverage for today.

Here’s a recap of today’s major news developments:

  • Western Australia will ease its border rules from 5 February. Both international and domestic travellers will be able to enter the state without quarantining from that date, by which point it is expected to have vaccinated 90% of its population over 12 with two doses. All travellers will need to be vaccinated, with a very small weekly cap of hotel quarantine spots for unvaccinated international arrivals.
  • Thousands of Queenslanders will be finally enjoying dinner in their own homes on Monday after spending months trapped across the border in New South Wales. The border between the two states reopened just after midnight Queensland time.
  • Scott Morrison welcomed the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, to Canberra on Monday, with the leaders heralding closer defence ties as they witnessed the signing of a previously announced $1bn military equipment contract with a South Korean firm.
  • Australia’s international border will open to more travellers on Wednesday, as the prime minister confirmed that his government would end the “pause” triggered by the emergence of the Omicron Covid variant.
  • Covid-19 infections are continuing to grow, with Victoria reporting 1,290 new cases and two deaths, while NSW recorded 536 new cases, amid increasing numbers of the Omicron variant.

Have a great evening. We’ll be back tomorrow to do it all over again.

Updated

The auditor general has just published the annual report on major defence acquisitions.

It’s basically a yearly stocktake on where major projects are tracking, based on information supplied by the Department of Defence. This is the report for the 2020-21 financial year, so it is looking backwards.

Grant Hehir, the auditor general, found nothing that caused him to believe any problems with the accuracy of the information supplied by Defence as part of the process.

But the voluminous report notes: “Defence’s assessment indicates that some elements of capability to be delivered by projects may be ‘under threat’, but the risk is assessed as ‘manageable’.”

The report said the four project offices “experiencing challenges with expected capability delivery” are the Joint Strike Fighter, MRH90 helicopters, Overlander medium/heavy vehicles, and Battlespace communications systems (land) 2B.

The second project listed there – MRH90 helicopters – is also known as the Taipan. The defence minister, Peter Dutton, announced last Friday a plan to acquire up to 40 Black Hawk helicopters in order to retire the MRH90 early.

Rest assured, readers, we will be going through this report in greater detail in the coming days.

Updated

Paul Mercurio, the actor and dancer known for his role in Strictly Ballroom, has been preselected as the Labor candidate for the Victorian state seat of Hastings.

Premier Mark McGowan has said Western Australia will not reopen its borders earlier than 5 February even if it achieves 90% double-dose vaccination coverage before that date.

He said this is because businesses need to prepare for a specific date and have certainty things won’t change.

Updated

Western Australia’s quarantine cap for unvaccinated international arrivals could be limited to fewer than 100 people per week.

Mark McGowan said an exact number had not yet been determined, but that “it may be down at 100 or perhaps less per week”.

By contrast, New South Wales’ unvaccinated arrival cap is 210 per week, while Victoria’s is 250.

As McGowan explained earlier, WA will only be allowing a small number of unvaccinated travellers arriving from overseas, and they will have to go through 14 days of hotel quarantine.

Domestic arrivals will need to be double-dose vaccinated.

Asked if he was considering extending the option of hotel quarantine for unvaccinated domestic travellers, McGowan said:

“Not at this point in time, no.”

McGowan explains that his strict stance on maintaining rules for unvaccinated people and poorly vaccinated regions after 5 February is because of vulnerable people in the state.

Specifically, he mentions older and Indigenous residents.

“We’re just trying to save their lives. It will find the unvaccinated. You might live in the desert but it can still find you.”

Updated

Premier Mark McGowan was asked if further spread of the Omicron variant in other states could delay Western Australia’s border reopening date of 5 February.

McGowan didn’t go as far as ruling it out, but said it was very unlikely.

“Barring some unforeseen emergency or catastrophe which we can’t predict. But that’s the nature of Covid.”

He said “it’s a very safe bet” that the border will reopen on 5 February.

Western Australia’s health minister Roger Cook has urged residents in his state to use the time between now and 5 February – when the state will reopen its borders – to get vaccinated.

Cook addressed the fact that an already stretched health system in the state was predicted to buckle if Covid spread when its vaccination rate was low.

He said nearly 500 doctors and 350 graduate doctors have joined the system this year.

Cook said:

Make every day count, every day must be counted between now and 5 February.

We have the precious gift of time to continue to get as many people vaccinated as possible. We need to make the most of this opportunity,

Make no mistake about it, Covid is coming into our state.

Western Australians are going to be in for a real shock from 5 February. We are going to be living with Covid-19. But there is no easy way of living with the worst virus in 100 years.

McGowan is warning that there could still be travel restrictions for certain remote communities because of lower vaccination rates.

McGowan said “some regions have dramatically lower vaccination rates”, flagging the Pilbara, Goldfields and the Kimberley specifically.

“These are the only regions that currently have a first dose rate below 80%,” McGowan said.

He said the Pilbara is of most concern, with a double -dose vaccination rate of just 46.1%.

“If individual regions do not get their vaccination rates up, then further measures will be needed to protect the community.”

Western Australia premier Mark McGowan addresses the media in Perth today.
Western Australia premier Mark McGowan addressing the media in Perth today. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

Mark McGowan is now explaining how Western Australia’s new border rules will work when they come into effect from 5 February.

International arrivals will still be required to return a negative PCR test result within 72 hours of departure and undertake a PCR test within 48 hours of arrival in Perth, as well as six days after arriving.

If the traveller is double vaccinated, there will be no quarantine requirement.

For those who are not double vaccinated or have received a vaccine that is not recognised in Australia, they will have to go into a hotel or dedicated quarantine facility when it opens. McGowan said the cap of quarantine places for unvaccinated travellers will be smaller than WA’s current cap for all arrivals.

Domestic arrivals must be double vaccinated unless they have a valid exemption. Domestic travellers will still be required to return a negative PCR test result within 72 hours of departure and undertake a PCR test within 48 hours of arrival in Perth

If a traveller’s stay in WA is for five days or less, they will only be required to return a negative PCR test result within 72 hours of departure, and won’t need to get another test within 48 hours of landing.

Updated

WA to reopen border from 5 February

Premier Mark McGowan has announced that Western Australia’s hard border will ease on 5 February.

It will take effect from 12:01am on that day, a Saturday.

McGowan explained that he was making the announcement because WA had on Monday just reached 80% double dose vaccination coverage of residents 12 and over.

By 5 February, McGowan said he expects the state to have reached 90% coverage.

McGowan said:

Even though Western Australians have lived a normal life inside our Covid free bubble, nearly 2 million people have done the right thing and gotten vaccinated.

We followed a different model to the others. And it’s worked. I want to acknowledge each and every Western Australian for everything they’ve done over the past two years.

Western Australia’s current zero Covid environment and high vaccination rate will help deliver the softest landing to minimise the impact of the virus. When it enters our state,

McGowan’s announcement has defied earlier speculation on Monday that the state would ease its border rules from late January.

Updated

Australia’s international border will open to more travellers on Wednesday, as the prime minister confirmed that his government would end the “pause” triggered by the emergence of the Omicron Covid variant.

Scott Morrison, welcoming the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, to Canberra on Monday, said Australia would open to travellers from South Korea and Japan and also international students and skilled workers more broadly.

While pandemic recovery was on the agenda for the talks at Parliament House, the leaders also heralded closer defence ties as they witnessed the signing of a previously announced $1bn military equipment contract with a South Korean firm.

South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, signs in to Parliament House as Scott Morrison looks on.
South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, signs in to Parliament House as Scott Morrison looks on. Photograph: Reuters

Moon said he respected the Australian government’s “sovereign” decision to strike the Aukus deal with the US and the UK – an arrangement that China has claimed poses a threat to regional stability, amid worsening tensions between Beijing and Canberra.

But the South Korean leader also voiced a desire to maintain a harmonious relationship with China, which he said was important to securing North Korea’s denuclearisation. He ruled out joining Australia, the US and other countries in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Read more:

Updated

Australians in major cities look set to be mostly spared La Niña rains on what is likely to be a mild Christmas Day, according to weather forecasters.

AccuWeather forecasts clear skies for Melbourne and Hobart on 25 December, while clouds are expected to linger across the rest of the country into the evening.

Ahead of the release on Saturday of the Bureau of Meteorology’s official forecast for the week of Christmas, AccuWeather has predicted possible showers in Queensland and the Northern Territory on Christmas Day, with temperatures hitting the high 20s in most major cities.

Here is the run down for every capital city:

We’re expecting Mark McGowan to outline Western Australia’s border reopening date at 2pm WA time/5pm eastern daylight time.

We’ll bring you that update here as it happens.

Meanwhile in Victoria, the Australian Workers Union has raised concerns about the preselection process for the 2022 election amid ongoing factional turmoil in the state arising from the exit of party powerbroker Adem Somyurek.

AWU branch secretary Ben Davis has written to state secretary Chris Ford calling for a halt to the preselection process that is being run by the national executive, alleging irregularities that are “potentially fraudulent”.

Davis says that a number of party members have alleged that nomination forms have been filled out before a candidate has been selected, which he says is “potentially creating a false document pursuant to the Crimes Act.

“As a member of the Interim Governance Committee (IGC) I hereby request that nomination forms for all contested ballots be provided to me, and if you see fit to the other members of the IGC also, before any ballots of national Executive are held,” the letter says.

“Delaying the ballots in the contested seats should also occur until the party can conduct an appropriate investigation.”

So far, seven sitting Labor MPs have been targeted as a result of the factional in-fighting, with one of these, upper house MP Cesar Melhem, describing the situation as “total bloodletting”.

Updated

Millions of tourism dollars are expected to be injected into the Queensland economy after the state reopened its borders to fully vaccinated visitors, reports AAP.

Tens of thousands of people began flooding into Queensland on Monday following the decision to drop entry and quarantine restrictions at 1am for fully jabbed travellers after hitting the 80% double vaccination target.

The arrival of interstate travellers in time for the festive season is a much-needed boost for tourism, particularly in the state’s far north.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen said the region had been losing millions of dollars a day since early 2020. He told Nine:

It’s been a really tough 21 months for the (far north) tourism industry.

One third of our visitors are normally international ... and we haven’t seen them since February 2020 ... Both NSW and Victorian visitors put a million a day each into this economy so we have really been looking forward to having them back.

Olsen said more than 9,000 tourism jobs in the far north had been lost since early 2020 but was confident it could bounce back after Monday’s reopening.

You can read more about Queensland’s border rules easing from today in this article, filed by Jennifer King in Tweed Heads.

Updated

Northern Territory records 16 new Covid-19 cases

There are 16 new cases of Covid-19 in the Northern Territory, with the government considering ramping up Covid rules for some communities.

Of the new cases announced on Monday, 14 are from East Katherine, where authorities had been doing a testing “blitz”.

A chief health officer directive will be issued from today requiring anyone in the NT who has been in Katherine recently to get tested.

Nicole Manison, deputy chief minister of the NT, has also revealed there were only five Covid tests conducted in Tennant Creek – a town of about 5,000 – on Sunday despite positive wastewater detections of Covid.

She said “frankly, that is not good enough”.

Manison said it was “likely” the government would escalate Covid rules and introduce “lockouts” – where unvaccinated people are placed in lockdown – in some regional communities in the territory in coming days.

Updated

South Australia records 13 new Covid-19 cases

South Australian premier Steven Marshall has said there are 13 new Covid-19 cases in his state for the reporting period announced on Monday.

He said the majority of the cases are believed to be the Delta variant.

There have so far been two confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in SA.

There has been a bit more sun across New South Wales in recent days, prompting concern for people swimming in hazardous conditions at beaches in the state.

Over the weekend, Surf Life Saving NSW volunteers performed more than 60 rescues, with two people requiring resuscitation.

Sadly, a middle-aged man was unable to be revived at Coffs Harbour on Saturday. He was pulled from the water about 300m north of the patrol flags, semi-conscious and still breathing.

NSW Ambulance inspector Charnan Kurth said “drownings can occur in seconds – we have to be constantly looking out for each other”.

In the UK, Boris Johnson is gambling on an unprecedented ramping up of vaccinations, rolling out 1m booster jabs a day to stem an incoming “tidal wave of Omicron” and avoid imposing further restrictions.

The army will be deployed across the country to help rapidly accelerate the vaccine program and GPs will be told to cancel appointments to dedicate resources to offering vaccines to every UK adult by the end of December.

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday night, the prime minister said he was “afraid we are now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant, Omicron, and we must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends and loved ones safe”.

Read more:

Shoppers on Oxford Street in central London.
Shoppers on Oxford Street in central London. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The RSPCA has teamed up with two other leading animal welfare organisations to lobby both clothing brands and sheep farmers to move away from mulesing sheep.

RSPCA Australia, Four Paws and Humane Society International say they will work with the wool industry to encourage the breeding of sheep that do not require mulesing.

Mulesing is the process of removing folds of skin from the tail area of a sheep. It’s done to reduce flystrike and is mainly practised on sheep that have folds of skin, like merinos.

It used to be the industry standard in Australia, where flystrike can be a deadly problem, but over the past two decades many wool producers have focused on breeding sheep that do not require mulesing.

Some farming organisations are also changing their standards to discourage mulesing. The Victorian Farmers Federation lobbied for regulations requiring the mandatory use of pain relief when mulesing sheep, which came into effect last year.

But the Australian Superfine Wool Growers Association remains in support of the practice. Four Paws’s wool expert, Rebecca Picallo Gil, said more than 3,000 Australian woolgrowers had already switched to no-mules flocks.

Humane Society international’s Georgie Dolphin said:

With the advanced genetics available today, it is unacceptable to continue to breed wrinkly sheep that are prone to flystrike. Our organisations want to see an end to mulesing within the next decade, a target that is easily achievable.

Updated

PM confirms international borders to reopen Wednesday for some visa holders

One of the most tangible announcements from the joint presser was Scott Morrison confirming the international borders would reopen as planned this Wednesday.

We reported last week this was likely, but a bunch of international students and other travellers have been anxiously messaging Guardian Australia over the weekend hoping for some certainty. This should come as a relief to them.

First, a quick recap: the government announced in late November it was delaying the plan to reopen Australia to international skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working, holidaymaker and provisional family visa holders, from 1 December until 15 December.

That “pause” also included reopening to travellers from Japan and South Korea. It was to gather more information about the Omicron variant. As it stood, the Australian border was “already closed to travellers except fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family, as well as fully vaccinated green lane travellers from New Zealand and Singapore and limited exemptions”, per the government release at the time.

All arrivals to Australia also require a negative PCR test and to complete Australian traveller declaration forms detailing their vaccination status and confirming requirements to comply with state and territory public health requirements.

While the government has been signalling it wanted to get on with reopening, these things are always subject to change, based on latest advice about Omicron – so many travellers were worried about whether their plans would be disrupted once again. But Morrison, standing next to South Korean president Moon Jae-in, told reporters:

We also have tourism and education links that run deep – some 20,000 Korean students come and study in Australia – and we are looking forward to welcoming them back as we are the many tourists and business travellers and skilled migrants. And on Wednesday of this week, we will move again forward. The borders will be reopened both to Korea and to Japan and for skilled migration and for students as we conclude the pause that we announced several weeks ago.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in signs the official visitors book at Parliament House in Canberra as he meets with Scott Morrison.
South Korean president Moon Jae-in signs the official visitors book at Parliament House in Canberra as he meets with Scott Morrison. Photograph: Reuters

Morrison praised the high level of vaccination in both countries, adding:

I know the more than 123,000 Australians of Korean ancestry will be looking forward to seeing their friends, their family and them being able to join together and that has been made possible because of the outstanding achievements in Korea in managing Covid and I congratulate the president on their achievements.

Updated

In a sparse gym in one Sydney’s most disadvantaged areas, Mayor Chagai is not only teaching basketball but also transforming Australia.

If you’re looking for a lunchtime read, check out this article from James Button, with powerful photography from Guardian Australia’s picture editor Carly Earl.

With that, I shall hand you over to the amazing Elias Visontay, who will bring all the news for the rest of the afternoon.

In other news, John Gerrard has now officially taken up his position as the new Queensland chief health officer after Jennette Young moves on and up to the governor role.

Updated

A small word of caution on the defence announcement out of the Scott Morrison/Moon Jae-in joint presser.

The Morrison government has confirmed that a $1bn defence contract for new Self-Propelled Howitzers for the Australian Army has been awarded to Hanwha Defense Australia.

From Morrison’s release: “Based in Greater Geelong, the contract will procure Self-Propelled Howitzers and Armoured Ammunition Resupply Vehicles, under the LAND 8116 Phase 1 project. The government committed to this project in May 2019.” The then defence minister, Linda Reynolds, announced in September last year that Hanwha Defence Australia had been chosen to build 30 self-propelled howitzers for the ADF, to be built in the Geelong region, as you can see from this story at the time.

The contract signing was witnessed by Morrison and Moon before their joint press conference in parliament house in Canberra this morning. In today’s release, the government says the initial contract “covers 30 Self-Propelled Howitzers, 15 Armoured Ammunition Resupply Vehicles, and weapon locating radars that help find enemy artillery, collectively referred to as the Huntsman family of vehicles”.

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, said: “The prime ability of the new vehicles is to fire and move quickly, avoiding enemy counter-attack. This project will mean a significant increase in the level of firepower and security for Australian artillery capability.”

Updated

A group of male koalas from Victoria’s Strzelecki Ranges will be brought to Adelaide as part of a new breeding program aimed at securing the survival of the species.

The koalas are expected to arrive in coming weeks to join a group of disease-free male and female koalas at the Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills.

The Cleland population, including some koalas rescued from the 2020 Kangaroo Island bushfires, is considered to be the only sanctuary-managed colony free from both chlamydia and koala retrovirus in Australia.

Environment minister David Speirs says the transfer of the koalas is part of a bold conservation initiative that will help secure the survival of the species.

Catastrophic events like last year’s bushfires across Australia significantly reduced koala numbers...

That’s why this unique breeding program, which will include the addition of the Strzelecki koalas, will help to safeguard populations and provide opportunities for research as a priority for the species’ long-term survival.

The Victorian koalas are being taken from a private forest plantation after assurances from wildlife authorities their removal was in the interests of conservation.

Koala Life, an independent not-for-profit organisation set up for the conservation and research of koala diseases, said the relocation would increase the number of disease-free genetically diverse animals, which would ultimately help to protect the species from future challenges.

Chief executive Chris Daniels:

It’s also an important step in our scientific breeding program and significantly assists our research into the species...

These koalas will form part of a breeding program that can support the long-term conservation of the species, particularly in response to natural disasters.

Updated

Thousands of Queenslanders will be enjoying dinner in their own homes on Monday at last after spending months trapped across the border in New South Wales.

The border between the two states reopened at 1am Queensland time.

Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, estimated that 50,000 vehicles would be crossing in the early hours of Monday morning, with long delays expected.

All vehicles were required to present a border pass that was only made available to those travelling from hotspots one hour before the border opened, leaving many already anxious travellers more worried about getting home.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Queensland records one new local Covid-19 case

On the day borders reopen, Queensland has recorded one new locally acquired case, as well as two overseas-acquired cases and seven interstate-acquired cases, detected in hotel quarantine.

Updated

Moon’s response, to paraphrase, was basically: “Dude, we have a rogue nation with a bunch of nukes right above us that we are technically still at war with - yeah we are going to try and be friends with as many people as possible, mate.”

Moon:

With regard to the question on the relationship with China, that was your question: Korea and Australia uphold the same values and our position in terms of the geopolitical situation, we are like-minded.

First of all, in terms of our alliance with the US, it’s the basis of our diplomacy as well as security affairs and in terms of the economic relationship, of course, the relationship with China is important.

However, Korea has another factor to take into account and that has to do with the peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and also denuclearisation of DPRK. We need the constructive efforts of China to enable the denuclearisation of [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].

Therefore, Korea is focused on the steadfast alliance with the US and also with China; we want a harmonised relationship. And we want to maintain such a relationship and we will be putting in the efforts to make this happen.

And, of course, with regard to the relationship with China, there may be certain conflicts and there may be some issues of competition. However, if you look at climate change and the supply chain issue, and also in terms of pandemic and infectious diseases, there are global challenges and these are domains where we do need cooperation and collaboration.

Updated

Morrison:

I have absolutely no doubt that our only ambition between Australia and Korea is to ensure a peaceful and safe and free and open Indo-Pacific.

Where all nations in the region can trade openly and well and positively, free from any coercion and have their own choices about how they move forward.

Updated

Reporter:

President Moon, Australia, like South Korea, has faced billions of dollars in Chinese trade sanctions as punishment for domestic policy decisions. How should countries respond to Chinese economic coercion? And to Scott Morrison: how can Australia and Korea work together to counter Chinese economic coercion?

Morrison jumped in to answer first (perhaps as the question was being translated?).

I might start - the question has come from the Australian side. I would say this.

Australia and Korea are like-minded liberal democracies and we work together to ensure there are economic choices in the region. There is a strengthening of our capabilities both from defence security point of view and not just in the traditional, but also in the new areas of cyber and new technologies that occurs in a security space, but also occurs in an economic space.

The fact that we’re working together on critical minerals supply chains and rare earths, these are the critical minerals and rare earths that power and support a new energy economy. And so ensuring that there are trusted supply chains between like-minded countries is incredibly important for our region. It brings stability, it brings balance.

Updated

Moon says that this trip has nothing to do with China and Morrison immediately added:

When you are engaging with other countries in these types of contracts, it is an objective to be doing so with those countries who are like-minded in their outlook, and I think between Korea and Australia we share a very similar view and a similar aspiration for the Indo-Pacific.

Updated

South Korea will not boycott Beijing Winter Games: president

Moon Jae-in has been asked by reporters if visiting Australia just days after the government decided on a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics was likely to upset South Korea’s relationship with China (which is always fairly strained anyway, given the issue of North Korea).

He was also asked if South Korea intend to issue a similar boycott.

Moon:

With regards to the Beijing Olympics on the diplomatic boycott, we have not received a request from any other country, including the United States, to participate in the diplomatic boycott. We are not considering a boycott measure.

With regards to AUKUS, we respect the decision made by the sovereign state, Australia, and this is the decision made by Australia as a sovereign nation and we respect that. And Australia is making efforts for peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and within the region. Australia does not desire dispute arising in the region and, for peace, we will continue to cooperate with Australia.

And the state visit I make at this time has nothing to do with our position over China and we believe that between Korea and Australia it is very important that we cooperate over the core minerals and for the hydrogen economy and for the low-carbon emissions technology.

Updated

Moon:

Third, we agree to strengthen supply chain cooperation. Australia, the world’s richest country in mineral resources, and Korea, a major producer of batteries and electric vehicles, play an important role in the global supply chain.

Our two countries share the view that establishing a stable mineral supply chain is important not only for the two countries but also for the global economy, and we have signed the MoU on cooperation in the critical mineral supply chain.

We will systematically cooperate throughout the entire resource development cycle including mineral exploration, development, production and mining disaster management, further strengthening human exchange and technical cooperation.

Today, the two countries have set a new milestone in cooperation based on the solid friendship and trust we have built over the past 60 years. We will, together, prepare for a new era.

Updated

South Korea and Australia are also apparently great space buddies now!

Moon:

Second, we have agreed to nurture our key future industries together. The two countries declared to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and are focusing on a transition to a low-carbon economy.

Today, the prime minister and I signed the plan for low- and zero-emissions technology partnership by broadening the ecofriendly technologies such as hydrogen economy, solar power and carbon capture mechanisms. We will turn it into an opportunity to create new jobs and industries.

We have also decided to strengthen space cooperation. Australia established a space agency in 2018 and is spurring efforts to foster its space industry.

Korea has also set a new turning point for space development, with the launch of the new rocket this year. I hope that the MoU regarding space cooperation will enhance exchange and foster cooperation in fields from space exploration in the launch vehicle industry to satellite navigation, and I hope the agreement becomes a stepping stone for the two countries.

Updated

If you were wondering whether this is all a thinly veiled front to send a message to China about who really has power in the Indo-Pacific, here is Moon:

The prime minister actively supported the Korean people and the peace process and two countries continue working to the towards the lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, and also peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Updated

Moon is now delivering his speech in Korean. Luckily I’m fluent! (I’m not, I shall be using the ABC translation.)

Your excellency, prime minister Morrison, thank you very much for the warm hospitality. You have invited me as Australia’s first [leader] since the Covid-19 outbreak and today our two countries have formed a close cooperative relationship. I think this will be a great gift for the people of two countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties ...

Today the prime minister and I advanced our bilateral relations and elevated to a comprehensive Australian partnership. Together our two countries will leap forward as global leaders and look forward to moving towards a future of shared prosperity.

First, we agree to strengthen ... strategic cooperation for fostering regional prosperity.

Updated

Morrison:

Australia and Korea have some of the highest vaccination rates double-dose of anywhere in the world, and so that is enabling our economies to open up and we see that today here in Australia as the borders come tumbling down there in - between Queensland and the rest of the country - and Australians are being reunited because of their effort to get vaccinated and to see families reunited, to see Australians coming together as we get to the end of this year.

This is encouraging, but I know the more than 123,000 Australians of Korean ancestry will be looking forward to seeing their friends, their family and them being able to join together. This has been made possible because of the outstanding achievements in Korea in managing Covid and I congratulate the president on their achievements.

We look to proceeding with the many agreements that we have announced today, whether in defence, defence materiel, the memorandum of understanding to establish an implementation plan for Australia and Korea’s low zero-emissions technology partnership that the president and I agreed we would proceed with when we met together in the UK at Carbis Bay at the G7.

Updated

Here is Daniel Hurst with a bit more information on those deals that were signed by Morrison and Moon this morning.

Updated

Morrison:

Today, as always, our economies complement each other. We are important trading partners and we welcome the prospect of Korea joining the CPTPP [comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership] and we look forward - should they wish to take that decision and step - we look forward to being an encouraging partner.

The CTPPP sets a high bar for countries that understand the importance of the rule of law in trade that deals with its partners fairly and consistently in a way that promotes free trade and Korea has already achieved those marks, not only in their relationship with Australia, but with the many trading partners with whom they have trusted relationships. This investment goes in both directions and we look forward to that continuing.

We’re also important security partners as we have just witnessed with the howitzer contract, a billion-dollar armoured vehicle centre for excellence to be located in the Geelong region.

Updated

Here is Morrison speaking, and yes, he did get the name of the Korean War wrong ... while speaking to the president of Korea.

It’s a great honour to have you here in Australia in what is your first ever trip to Australia along with first lady Kim. As guest of our government on this important state visit, the first of these we have had since the outbreak of Covid ...

As you know, the friendship between your nations is deep and historic. From Kapyong to here we are now in Canberra. Our ties were forged during the Vietnam - during the Korean - War.

Australia was the second nation after the United States to come to Korea’s aid in those very dark days. More than 17,000 Australians fought to defend your freedom and, indeed, the freedom of all liberal democracy peace-loving countries in these conflicts.

Updated

Defence deal signed as Korean leader visits

Australia and South Korea have struck a $1bn defence deal as leaders Scott Morrison and Moon Jae-in hold formal talks in Canberra, reports Paul Osborne from AAP.

The South Korean president and first lady Kim Jung-sook were welcomed to Parliament House, where they signed the official visitors book, by the prime minister on Monday.

Australia and South Korea will upgrade their ties to “comprehensive strategic partnership” status during the visit.

The $1bn deal - under which Korean defence company Hanwha will provide 30 self-propelled howitzer artillery weapons, 15 ammunition supply vehicles and radars to detect enemy artillery - is the largest defence contract struck between Australia and an Asian nation.

The new vehicles will be able to quickly fire and move to avoid enemy counterattacks.

Defence minister Peter Dutton touted the deal as a boost for Australian firepower and security in the Indo-Pacific.

[It] is one of several projects that will modernise the Australian Army, ensuring it continues to maintain a capability advantage now, and into the future...

We are committed to keeping our region safe while protecting our interests in a rapidly changing global environment.

The deal is expected to create at least 300 jobs in the Greater Geelong region, where the manufacturing facility will be based. Construction is due to start in 2022.

Morrison said the relationship continued to grow, underpinned by trade, shared values, common regional strategic interests and a commitment to an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Our comprehensive strategic partnership with the Republic of Korea is underpinned by our joint commitment to defence and security cooperation.

This year mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Moon is the first international leader to visit Australia since borders reopened.

Updated

So Moon and Morrison are signing some partnerships and deal first, and I assume will speak after that.

We are standing by for Scott Morrison and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, to give a joint address from Parliament House in Canberra.

Updated

A flood warning and total fire ban in the same state on the same day has pretty big “post-apocalyptic” energy, doesn’t it?

It’s time to have a chat about what’s going on at The Sydney Morning Herald.

Overnight, the newspaper posted an article confirming that newly appointed editor, Bevan Shields, had called longtime opinion columnist Elizabeth Farrelly and ended her arrangement with the paper after she “failed to disclose that she had registered as a candidate for the Labor party in the Strathfield local government elections when she wrote a piece criticising Liberal and independent councillors in the electorate”.

The writer has now issued a statement on the situation via a Facebook post, stating that it was “an oversight on my part” not to disclose her registration, but says she never actually intended to run for local government.

Simply to keep my options open, I registered my interest online. I was not preselected for the Labor federal candidate, nor for the Labor council ticket, so I did not run in the recent council election.

I was involved with the Labor campaign only insofar as I agreed to have a placard on the front lawn for a couple of weeks and to hand out on polling day for 2 hours. This was done in thanks for the warm welcome I received to the neighbourhood.

Updated

The ABC is reporting this morning that the Victorian Greens have referred the government-owned logging agency VicForests to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog and the ombudsman.

It follows the ABC’s reporting of allegations that VicForests had logged sites illegally and spied on a conservationist.

The logging agency has denied it logged illegally and said it always complied with the law.

The Greens’ Ellen Sandell has written to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and the ombudsman, asking them to launch investigations.

I respectfully request that IBAC conduct an investigation into whether these actions by VicForests — especially the allegations of spying on a private citizen — constitute corrupt conduct and warrant further investigation...

Using taxpayer money to hire a private investigator to spy on a private citizen I would consider a gross misuse of taxpayer funds.

Serious allegations of widespread illegal activity by a Victorian public sector agency I would consider something also worthy of investigation by IBAC.

Updated

Updated

Trade minister Dan Tehan has urged businesses not to hoard a chemical key to keeping Australia’s freight and logistics sectors on the road, reports AAP’s Georgie Moore.

Australia has about seven weeks’ worth of urea – used in the diesel exhaust fluid AdBlue – left amid a global shortage as China restricts exports.

The federal government is speaking to countries including Indonesia about shoring up Australia’s supply. It is also approaching Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Japan. Korea last month flew 27,000 litres of urea to Australia.

Tehan told ABC radio this morning that the Covid-19 pandemic had highlighted the fragility of some supply chains:

There will always be some stock which they [businesses] keep in warehouses ... But what we don’t want to see is the excessive warehousing of AdBlue at this stage.

He is confident Australia will be able to secure the urea it needs:

There is obviously issues around containers, shipping disruptions which we’re also working through ... But from everything that we’re seeing, there is clear supply which we can bring to Australia.

Updated

Updated

Jail is killing Julian Assange, Andrew Wilkie says

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has spoken to Radio National about the plight of Australian Julian Assange.

Although attempts to extradite him from the UK to the US are ostensibly for their court system, Wilkie said “the reality is it’s always been intensely political” because he claims charges are politically motivated against Assange for “doing his job” as a journalist and reporting via WikiLeaks:

This can be solved politically by Scott Morrison picking up the phone to Joe Biden and Boris Johnson and saying, ‘This has gone on long enough – it’s not acceptable that an Australian Walkley award-winning journalist is being kept in jail for really doing nothing more than publicising hard evidence of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, let’s release him and let him come back home.’

Wilkie also called on Labor leader Anthony Albanese to commit to the same, if he is elected. Wilkie said jail “is killing” Assange.

On who he will help form government in a minority parliament, Wilkie said he had been burned by Julia Gillard reneging on his pokies reform, and in future he will treat “every vote on its merits including confidence and supply” – meaning no deal to support one side.

Still, he said climate change will be important to him and Morrison has done “terribly” on the anti-corruption commission issue.

Updated

Scott Morrison is currently welcoming the South Korean president, Moon Jae-In to Australia.

Gosh, we are so far away from everyone, it’s always exciting when a political leader makes their way down here!

Telehealth to be made permanent, health minister says

Federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking now from Melbourne where he has just announced that Medicare-funded telehealth options will become permanent.

He also reiterated that Australia is on track to open the border for skilled labourers and international students:

The first is about the reopening of the borders for students and for skilled labour on 15 December. Yes, we are on track for that. That has been reconfirmed over the weekend. We said on the 29th of November that we were intending to reopen on 15 December. That has been through the national cabinet process ...

Then in terms of telehealth, it’s a continuation of the existing measures across the work of GPs, allied health and specialists and I want to thank everybody for their involvement in that. All of the different parts of the medical community have played their role but the RACGP has been our principal partner on that front and well supported by the AMA and ACRM.

Updated

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has implored Scott Morrison to pick up the phone to Joe Biden and Boris Johnson to end the prosecution of Julian Assange, AAP reports.

The former intelligence analyst told the ABC:

The reality is this has always been an intensively political matter and it can be solved politically by Scott Morrison picking up the phone to Joe Biden and Boris Johnson.

It comes after reports the 50-year-old WikiLeaks founder suffered a stroke in prison in October. Wilkie said:

Jail is killing Julian Assange. There is no way he will survive continued incarceration in the UK.

Assange has just suffered a legal blow after the UK high court ruled he could be extradited to face charges in the US. His lawyers say they intend to appeal the decision in the UK’s highest court.

He faces an 175-year prison sentence on espionage charges in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified information which revealed alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Updated

Just very normal things happening on the NSW/Queensland border.

Victoria records 1,290 new Covid cases and two deaths

NSW records 536 new Covid-19 cases and no deaths

After a Gold Coast man who bludgeoned his teenage girlfriend to death escaped a murder charge by arguing that he had been provoked by her tales of infidelity, the Queensland government decided to step in.

“Other than in exceptional or extreme cases you can’t rely on words, or conduct that consists substantially of words,” the state’s then attorney general, Cameron Dick, said in 2011. “We need a change to the law … just because you say something it doesn’t mean that you should be killed.”

A decade later, another Queensland man, Arona Peniamina, also convinced a jury his spouse’s suspected infidelity had provoked him into ending her life in a jealous rage.

The government’s reforms had not prevented him from successfully arguing he was guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder, because he had been provoked.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Watch out, Queensland! Anthony Albanese is in your state now and is bringing the election campaign with him!

Here’s what he had to say to the ABC before jumping on his flight to the sunshine state.

We need to reconnect with Queenslanders, we didn’t do well enough in the last election. When I was locked out of Sydney because of restrictions, I spent a long time in Queensland, I did a couple of road trips up and down the coast.

I visited every small place that there was in between Rockhampton and Brisbane down the coast, and I think that Queenslanders know that this is a tired government, the end of its third term, they don’t have an agenda for today, let alone a vision for tomorrow and I’ll be talking today about our plans including 465,000 free Tafe places, 20,000 additional university places, and how we build back stronger. We need to take of the sacrifice that Australians have made by actually trying to envisage how we become more resilient, how we make more things. On my trip to Queensland a few months ago, I went to Maryborough, they’re doing fantastic there.

Making trains, building things, creating jobs in regional Queensland and that’s what I want to drive.

Updated

Total fire ban for north-western Victoria

A total fire ban has been declared for north-western Victoria, AAP reports.

The Country Fire Authority says the Mallee and Wimmera regions will be subject to a total fire ban on Monday,

It means no open-air fire can be lit or remain alight, and strict rules apply for the use of farm machinery, chainsaws and lawnmowers.

“CFA advises people living in areas at risk of fire to activate their bushfire plan,” the authority said.

Temperatures are expected to reach the mid to high 30s in the two regions, with strengthening north-westerly winds forecast early before a blustery southerly change crossing the state throughout the day.

There is also a low risk of dry lightning in the area.

A high fire danger rating applies for central, north-central, northern country and south-west regions, while the eastern parts of the state are of low to moderate risk.

It is only the second total fire ban of the season, thanks in part to cooler and wetter-than-average weather in November.

The outlook for this fire season indicates a lower threat of prolonged bushfires but grass and crop blazes remain a high risk across the state after average to above-average rainfall and strong fuel growth.

CFA acting chief officer Garry Cook said:

Overall, we’ve had milder conditions leading into this fire season, but we can’t afford to be complacent about these hot and windy days where the fire danger spikes. Grass and crop fires are prevalent this season and can move at speeds of up to 25km/h and jump highways.

Updated

A person in New South Wales has been admitted to hospital infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the first Omicron patient to be hospitalised since it arrived in Australia last month.

It comes as thousands of protesters marched through capital cities yesterday to oppose vaccine mandates, and Western Australia and Queensland prepared to reopen their borders.

After two years of border closures, the WA premier, Mark McGowan, is today due to announce when the state’s borders will reopen to domestic and international travellers, after reaching the 80% vaccination milestone at the weekend.

And “tens of thousands” of people are expected to cross into Queensland after its borders reopen at 1am on Monday. It will be the first time in 229 days people will not need to quarantine on arrival, provided they are fully vaccinated.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Of course with Queensland’s border opening, tourism minister Dan Tehan is out and about this morning taking a victory lap (even though the decision to open the border has nothing to do with the federal government).

Here he is chatting to ABC radio:

All the forecasts are, when it comes to domestic tourism, by the end of next financial year it will be back to pre-pandemic levels and international tourism will follow on the back of that, so there are positive signals for our tourism industry ... 660,000 jobs in our tourism sector, we want to make sure that reaches beyond post-pandemic levels and we need those overseas skills ... here in Australia helping us strongly rebuild the tourism sector.

Updated

Things seem to be getting pretty loose over in the Barnaby Joyce isolation suite, with the deputy prime minister placing his phone inside a microwave to get the perfect camera angle for his Sunrise interview.

I feel like there is a joke about radiation frying your brain in there somewhere, but I’ll just leave that up to you.

Updated

China has responded “irrationally” to the Aukus pact between Australia, the US and Britain, defence minister Peter Dutton says.

The conservative Australian minister continues to mount forthright criticism of the Chinese government, accusing it of “bullying” countries that stand up to it.

Yesterday Dutton said the Australian government had formed the Aukus partnership with the US and the UK because it wanted to see “see increased stability and peace in our region”.

“The response by China to that, I think, was irrational,” he told Sky News Australia.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Time to chat about next year’s election, and the battle the treasurer is facing from an independent in his home seat.

Michael Rowland:

You are now facing, as we know, Monique Ryan in the seat of Kooyong. She’s a Royal Children’s hospital doctor. You’ve labelled people like she, an independent, as a front for Labor and the Greens. What evidence do you have for that?

Josh Frydenberg:

Well, at the last election, I had an independent who said they were gonna vote for Labor. That’s a pretty clear indication. We’ve also seen plenty of cases where they’ve just mirrored the policies of our political opponents.

Rowland:

But what evidence do we have at this time?

Frydenberg:

This is a rinse-and-repeat, Michael. What we’ve seen, we’ve seen obviously a lot of funding going into these independents around the rest of the country, and it’s a democracy, so people can put their hand up.

Updated

ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland:

Just on Omicron, you might have caught up with the news just in the last hour or so, Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, made an address to the nation there. He’s declared a tidal wave of Omicron case is about to hit the UK.

He’s declared it a public health emergency, and has declared that all British adults over the age of 16 can get a booster shot by the end of the year. Taking that into account, are we being a bit too sanguine about Omicron here in Australia?

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg:

We saw the medical advice, and that saw a pause for two weeks of the reopening of the border to international students and to skilled workers.

That was a precautionary measure. But we will continue to listen and follow the health advice, and it has served us well to date.

But at the same time, we need to ensure that our economy keeps this momentum going. And we’ve seen a very strong rebound, Michael. We’ve seen 350,000 jobs come back since the start of September. We’ve seen business and consumer confidence lift. We’ve seen Australia maintain its AAA credit rating. We’ve seen a very strong pipeline of investment, both in the housing market and more generally across the economy.

Updated

The Queensland premier taking a victory lap as the borders reopen this morning.

Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg is chatting to media this morning, discussing the Queensland border reopening.

He was asked if he is “absolutely confident” that state border closures are now a thing of the past.

I certainly hope so ... We do know that the Omicron variant is not the first or not the last variant that we will probably see with respect to Covid.

We also know that it’s highly transmissible, but perhaps not as severe as previous variants. We also know that the vaccine has proven to be a very effective defence against the virus, with the number of hospitalisations and deaths coming down, and restrictions being eased accordingly.

So, I’m very hopeful that the state premiers will stick to the plan, keep their borders open, and allow Australians to be reunited at Christmas and allow businesses to flourish.

Updated

The NBN has announced plans to switch to 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2025 and use electric or hybrid cars where possibly by 2030, reports AAP.

Australia’s NBN Co has announced a “towards-zero carbon ambition”, with the company outlining a plan to use electricity exclusively from renewable sources by the end of 2025.

As well as purchasing 100% renewable electricity from December 2025, an initial three-year roadmap works toward switching to electric or hybrid cars were possible by 2030, and reducing annual energy use by 25 gigawatt hours by the end of 2025.

Total electricity generation in Australia was estimated to be 265,232 GWh in 2020, according to government numbers. More than 8.3m premises are connected to the NBN network, and the company says it will seek a “more efficient use of energy as data demand and the number of connected premises continues to grow”.

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said:

Beyond the direct impact of becoming an environmentally sustainable business, what’s equally exciting is the power of the network to help enable digitisation, and the huge benefits that unlocks for the nation in terms of emissions reductions, as well as socio-economic benefits.

The company has already entered into a renewable power purchasing agreement intended to deliver almost 20% renewable energy to the network by the 2o23 financial year. It plans to reach the 100% target through further power purchase agreements and contracts for renewables.

The announcement comes as NBN Co becomes the first Australian telco and government business enterprise to join RE100, a global initiative joining “the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable power”.

RE100 Australian co-ordinator Jon Dee said:

It joins 110 other major companies in Australia that have joined RE100 and made the commitment to switch to 100% renewable electricity.

Between them, Australian members of RE100 use more than 5.5 terawatt hours of electricity a year, enough to power 800,000 Australian homes.

The towards-zero carbon ambition is part of NBN Co’s second sustainability report released toay, which also looks at social and economic impacts.

With 33% of management positions held by women, NBN Co outperforms the national average, it notes. Additionally, as at 30 June 2021, NBN Co had a gender pay gap of less than 1%.

Updated

Good morning

Good morning everyone and welcome to the new week! It’s Matilda Boseley here on the blog with you today and I have some good news to start us off.

After nearly five months the Queensland border has finally opened!

As of this morning, anyone from Victoria and NSW can enter the sunshine state as long as they are fully vaccinated and have proof of a negative PCR test before beginning their journey.

With tens of thousands of people expected to travel today, Jen King is up on the NSW/Queensland border this morning to bring us all the updates.

Let’s go west now because Western Australia’s premier is set to finally reveal when the state’s borders will open, ending months of speculation.

Mark McGowan is expected to announce a firm date for the reopening, this morning, likely in late January or early February.

The state’s borders are closed or heavily restricted to every other state or territory except Tasmania. It’s anticipated the vaccination rate will have climbed to 90% by the time the borders finally reopen.

Once the borders come down, transitional restrictions will come into effect. This will likely include mask mandates in high-risk indoor settings, and proof-of-vaccination requirements for large events with crowds of more than 1,000 people, nightclubs and casinos.

Entry to remote Indigenous communities will remain restricted and contact registers will still be used.

OK! With all of that out of the way, why don’t we jump right into the day?

Updated

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