What we learned, Friday 11 December
That’s where I’ll leave you for this evening. Thanks as always for reading.
Here’s what we learned today:
- Further trials of the Australian-led Covid-19 vaccine in development by the University of Queensland and pharmaceutical company CSL were scrapped after some participants in early trials returned false-positive HIV tests. While there was no risk of HIV to the trial participants, researchers said the false-positive results meant significant changes would need to be made to well-established HIV testing procedures to accommodate rollout of the vaccine.
- The health department secretary, Brendan Murphy, said the design of the vaccine meant scientists had always known the false positive results were a risk. But, he said, it was thought to be “a very, very unlikely possibility”.
- Despite the setback the prime minister, Scott Morrison, defended the decision to invest in the vaccine, calling it “money well spent”. “The expectation that there would be 100% success rate across all of these is naive. It is just not true,” he said.
- The health minister, Greg Hunt, said Australia was still in a “strong position” to roll out Covid-19 vaccines early next year, despite the termination. “Just to let you know, all up, the Australian vaccine portfolio – 53.8 million AstraZeneca units – that’s enough to cover the whole of population,” he said.
- Morrison was not granted a speaking summit at a global climate summit to take place this weekend. Despite previously saying he would speak at the conference to correct what he called “mistruths” about Australia’s climate policies, he sought to shrug off the rejection. He will instead speak at a Pacific Islands climate event.
- The Department of Home Affairs official Neil Hawkins, told a parliamentary hearing there had not been a “co-ordinated government campaign in foreign interference [through social media] targeting Australia”.
- A parliamentary committee reviewing electoral laws in Australia faced immediate criticism after recommending the introduction of voter identification laws.
Updated
Five asylum seekers released from immigration detention before court hearing
Five asylum seekers, who were transferred to Australia under Medevac, have been released from immigration detention this week, it has been confirmed.
Three asylum seekers were released today – including musician and artist Farhad Bandesh – and two people were released on Tuesday, according to the Refugee Advocacy Network.
Bandesh, a Kurdish asylum seeker, was released on his birthday, after eight years of detention, and met at the gates by former Socceroo Craig Foster. In total, three asylum seekers were released from detention in Melbourne, and two from detention in Brisbane. All five have been put on bridging visas.
Chris Breen from the Refugee Advocacy Network said that all five asylum seekers had cases before the federal circuit court challenging their detention.
“The decision by the minister [to release them] has pre-empted a court decision,” he said.
Breen said there were five other asylum seekers also “in the same circumstances”, with cases before the circuit court.
“Bridging visas typically get renewed every six months,” he said.
“They all have places to stay, but their next steps, they are probably overwhelmed, they spent seven years detained inside. To be out is enormous.”
Guardian Australia understands that the asylum seekers have been given two nights accommodation by the government and $300.
Updated
A man has been shot in the buttocks by police during an alleged attempted carjacking in Brisbane’s southwest, AAP reports.
A police officer also suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the incident in Durack about 12.20pm on Friday.
Paramedics took the man, 28, to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a serious condition.
The shooting happened after the man fled an allegedly stolen red Hyundai at the intersection of Inala Avenue and Blunder Road.
He then jumped into another nearby car and threatened the driver, a man aged 58, Detective Acting Inspector Michael Manago told reporters.
“The male person who entered that blue Commodore was armed with a knife,” he said.
“A police Taser and firearm were deployed almost instantaneously.”
The driver of the Commodore was uninjured.
“He’s pretty shaken up,” Detective Acting Inspector Manago said.
The alleged driver of the stolen car, a man aged 26, was arrested at the scene.
The Bureau of Meteorology is very amped up about this weekend’s weather.
Multiple #warnings are now in place for parts of northern #NSW. #Rain has already begun in some areas, with sections of the Mid North Coast recording 100+mm 24 hours totals already. Conditions are expected to worsen, over coming days across the north-easthttps://t.co/uasQWWyumb
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 11, 2020
Here’s our story on the arrest of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong.
Pity the Western Australian rock lobster fisheries, whose product is typically exported to China. This year, amid mounting trade tensions, Australia’s big two supermarkets have stepped in to procure large quantities of lobster, which they’re bestowing on the Australian public at bargain basement prices.
First, Woolworths announced it had purchased five times its usual volume of lobster, and would be selling the formerly fancy crustaceans for $20 a pop.
“We’re pleased to be making them accessible to more families this year, while also supporting the local industry,” Woolworths head of meat and seafood, Tim Dudding, said in a statement.
Not to be outdone, Coles quickly declared it had procured 29 times its usual order of Western Australian rock lobster, and would also be selling them for $20 each.
“This is a fantastic example of how we have been able to act quickly to support our suppliers with an income stream during a very challenging time while also benefiting our customers at the checkout,” Andy Mossop, Coles general manager for bakery, deli and seafood said, also in a statement.
Wild-caught western rock lobsters get a green pass from the Good Fish Guide, and the Coles lobsters are also certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (though the council confirms the Woolworths supply is not).
So you can enjoy your cut-price luxury seafood in clear conscience, unless the chain of events that led to them being proffered in the first place is enough to dull your appetite.
Updated
The University of Tasmania has admitted its “processes did not protect people”, after releasing a review into its sexual harassment policies.
The review was sparked after its former vice-chancellor, Prof Peter Rathjen, was found to have engaged in “serious misconduct” with two female staff members while he was the vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide.
South Australia’s Independent Commission Against Corruption made that finding earlier this year in August. After that, the University of Tasmania launched a review of its processes during the period that Rathjen was VC in Tasmania, from 2011 to 2017.
The barrister Maree Norton reviewed 11 complaints, three of which related directly to Rathjen. The UTAS review did not formally investigate individual complaints but rather was focused on the university’s “handling of issues that arose at the time”.
The current chancellor, Michael Field, today apologised and the university’s council also issued a formal apology to “victims and survivors from the period”.
“This review has highlighted that as an institution we failed in these responsibilities,” Field said. “Our systems and processes in place at the time were not effective in protecting people.”
The university’s chief people officer, Jill Bye, stressed that the review was “not a formal investigation into individual complaints”.
“This was an investigation into the university and its handling of issues that arose at the time,” she said. “This review makes clear that our systems were not sufficient and that we did not have clear processes in place, and people were let down.”
Updated
Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, has been taking part in the national cabinet meetings remotely because he doesn’t want to mix with South Australia’s premier, Steven Marshall. It’s not personal, but his state’s Covid-19 rules mean mixing with South Australians is a no no.
This morning I took part in the 32nd National Cabinet meeting.
— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) December 11, 2020
The controlled border rules apply to everyone in WA, and I couldn't ask others to follow them, if I didn't myself.
Given our State's current health advice regarding SA, I stayed in Perth and took part remotely. pic.twitter.com/O1XXtzTPu7
Updated
The pro-democracy activist and Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded the Apple Daily tabloid, has reportedly been charged under the city’s national security laws.
#HongKong pro-democracy media Tycoon Jimmy Lai has been charged with state security crimes. According to police, the 73-year-old has been charged with "collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security". #China
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) December 11, 2020
Labor’s shadow health minister, Chris Bowen, has also been talking about the vaccine. He’s doing that thing where he says he isn’t criticising the government while obviously criticising the government.
It is disappointing news the UQ vaccine is not going to make the grade. There was a lot of store put in the University of Queensland vaccine. But no vaccine can or should be rolled out in Australia unless authorities are 100% sure and this decision gives Australians the confidence they need in the TGA or other authorities. Having said that, it also underlines what Labor has been saying – we need to ensure as many vaccine deals as possible for Australia. The UQ vaccine was the biggest part of the national strategy with 50m vaccines on order. Australia has had four vaccine deals in place, now we have three. As I’ve constantly pointed out, international best practice is five or six ... So we’ve given bipartisan support for every vaccine deal the government has entered into. We don’t hold it against them the UQ failed, but we will call for more. Australians deserve the most possible as access.
Updated
Prof Sharon Lewin from the Doherty Institute has just been on the ABC speaking about the University of Queensland Covid-19 vaccine.
She says it was the right decision to scrap the vaccine, and dismisses a question about whether the call was influenced by “stigma” around HIV.
This is a public health decision. We need really strong public health to vaccinate against Covid but also to test the blood supply and test people at high rates who may be at risk of HIV. Once you have something like this that’s a false positive in a vaccine that could be potentially given to millions of people it will greatly complicate our public health response to HIV. I don’t think it’s related to stigma. We possibly could cope with it in Australia but in a low-income country this we be very, very difficult.
Updated
The cost of Melbourne’s Metro tunnel has blown out by $2.74bn, with the Victorian government relying on half to come from taxpayers, AAP reports.
The extra money adds to the $11bn the state government has already committed for the major inner-city rail project.
The transport minister, Jacinta Allan, on Friday revealed the Metro tunnel building consortium sent a letter on Thursday night agreeing in principle to equally share the cost to finish the project by 2025.
Rail Projects Victoria received a letter from the group of contractors comprised of construction giants John Holland, Lendlease and Bouygues, bringing to an end a dispute with the government over deadlines and cost that has been threatening to delay completion.
Allan said the government and the consortium had agreed to invest $1.37bn each, giving certainty to completion in 2025 – maybe even 2024 if all goes well.
“Yes, there is additional investment required ... we’re doing this because this is such an important project for the Victorian community,” she said.
Updated
Parliamentary committee recommends voter ID laws
Hello Guardian readers! It’s a Friday afternoon in December, a time universally recognised as the peak period for news. In that spirit, I’ll get straight into it.
A little earlier today the federal parliament’s joint standing committee on electoral matters released a 228-page report recommending Australia adopt voter identification laws and optional preferencing at elections.
The report, chaired by the Liberal senator James McGrath, investigates if electoral reforms are needed in Australia, but the voter identification recommendation is hugely controversial and was quickly attacked by a number of groups.
The Human Rights Law Centre released a statement saying the proposals would weaken the fairness and equality of Australian elections.
“Introducing voter ID laws ... would create a further barrier to voting by Australia’s most disenfranchised populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” the centre said in a statement on Friday.
“Ending compulsory preferential voting (would) potentially lead to millions of voters not having a say in who gets elected to parliament.”
Voter identification laws are a particularly vexed issue in the US. The American Civil Liberties Union says they disproportionately disenfranchise low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities. They also call them “a solution in search of a problem”.
The parliament’s report said the type of ID to be used in elections should be broad enough so as not to actively prevent people from voting and should include such things as a Medicare card, driver’s licence, senior’s card or a power bill.
Exceptions could be made for itinerant and remote Indigenous voters, and in the case of someone being unable to provide ID, they could lodge a ‘declaration’ vote, the committee said.
Updated
And with that, my time on this blog comes to an end. I’ll be leaving you in the capable hands of Michael McGowan to take you through the rest of the day’s news. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Time magazine has announced Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are their person(s?) of the year for 2020:
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME's 2020 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/o97QNlSBrl pic.twitter.com/KuoBoebBN4
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020
Confusingly, they also announced Dr Anthony Fauci, Assa Traoré, racial justice organisers and frontline health workers as guardians of the year. I’m not sure what the distinction is, but there you go.
Korean boy-band BTS won entertainer of the year, and Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James athlete of the year.
Updated
What is the perfect song to end 2020 on? That is the complex question some of us here have endeavoured to answer, including yours truly (in fact I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac as we speak), but now we need you, dear readers:
Please let us know in the comments section of our open thread what you’ll be listening to as this garbage fire of a year finally comes to a close, and they’ll be compiled into a poll, before a final playlist is drawn up.
So, at 11.59 on 31 December, what song do you think should be blaring out?
Updated
Statue of former PM John McEwen unveiled
The governor general, General David Hurley, has unveiled a statue of Australia’s 18th prime minister, John McEwen, near Parliament House in Canberra. McEwen famously took over the prime ministership after the disappearance of Harold Holt. Mike Bowers was there to record the unveiling. Please enjoy these pictures featuring George Christensen in his jaunty cap:
Updated
It’s been a big day for drug busts, with three kilos of ice found hidden in three fake pulley wheels sent from Dubai and headed for Adelaide.
With a street value of $1.8m, the methamphetamine was found in the three seperate packages that were in cargo assignment in Melbourne, leading to the arrest of a 26-year-old man in Adelaide.
He has been charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug and bailed to appear in Adelaide magistrates court in May.
Detective Chief Inspector Darren Fielke said the Covid-19 border restrictions and issues with international freight had not deterred alleged drug dealers.
“Criminals have been adapting to the changed circumstances,” he said.
But he said law enforcement agencies remained agile and were working closely to stay one step ahead.
Updated
Shares in CSL have continued falling after this morning’s announcement that it was not going ahead with a Covid-19 vaccine trial and the federal government had cancelled an order for the drug.
At around 2pm shares in the company were down 3.25% compared to yesterday’s closing price.
Updated
New South Wales is set for another weekend of wild weather, with a flood watch being issued for parts of the coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting heavy rainfall to hit places along the mid-north coast, which copped close to 100mm of rain overnight.
A coastal trough is causing the chaos, and will enter south-east Queensland late on Saturday, before strengthening and returning to NSW on Monday.
“We’re at quite a high part of the tidal cycle so (with) those waves in combination with the high tides, we’re looking at potentially some inundation of some low-lying areas and potentially some coastal erosion up in the north,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding told reporters at a press conference today.
“At the moment we’re closely watching the catchments between the Tweed and the Hastings, so that’s from the Queensland border down to around about Port Macquarie.”
The NSW State Emergency Service has briefed and allocated extra volunteers to the region to deal with the weather.
“We’ve deployed some extra volunteers to those locations including flood rescue technicians,” the SES chief superintendent, Greg Swindells, said.
“We’re expecting we will see a lot of people in orange uniforms out and about helping the communities in which they live.”
Updated
Some more good news, this time from the federal minister for health:
Advice just received from the National Incident Centre - today marks the first 7 day period without any cases of community transmission since Feb 29.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) December 11, 2020
Many thanks to all Australians and take care.
Updated
5G data plans may eventually become so cheap as to provide competition to NBN plans.
That’s according to ACCC’s annual Communications Market Report, which showed that mobile plan prices fell by 17% in 2019-20, whilst NBN plans only fell by 2%.
“The growth in data allowances for mobile services means consumers received better value from their mobile plans,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
“Whether this trend continues into 2021 will depend on how strongly mobile operators compete for new customers.”
The ACCC noted that while 5G is still in its infancy in Australia, operators are continuing to invest in the infrastructure and roll out. The technology could bring huge jumps in internet speed and lower latency, and could prove a more viable option to the NBN in the future.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said the government plans to push ahead with legislation that would transfer environmental approval powers to state and territory governments and that this can occur without first taking steps to strengthen environmental protections.
Morrison said state and territory governments had agreed at today’s national cabinet meeting that streamlining of environmental bureaucracy was the “first priority” when it came to what the government has dubbed regulatory “congestion busting”.
The government has been trying to pass a bill that would clear the way for states and territories to take responsibility for decision making under national environmental law.
It has been blocked by Labor, the Greens and crossbench senators who say the government has withheld key information about its bill and because legislation for strong national environmental standards was not presented to the parliament at the same time.
Senators had also called on the government to delay its bill until after the release of the final report from the once-in-a-decade review of the act, which has been led by the former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel.
Samuel recommended in his interim report that transfer of powers to states occur under a new framework of clear, national environmental standards and with enforcement and oversight from an independent regulator.
Now Morrison used the word “standards” a lot on Friday, making reference to “existing standards” in the “existing laws”, which he said would not change. We are checking precisely what was meant by that as it’s not clear.
But what he did say was the government did not need to respond to Samuel’s recommendations before passing its environmental streamlining bill:
“A second phase, after we are able to legislate those arrangements, is to take into account the recommendations of the Samuel review that may make recommendations on improvements and changes more broadly but we do not have to solve that problem in order to solve the first problem which is making things go faster.”
“That problem” is presumably the massive failures by successive governments to protect Australia’s environment, as identified in Samuel’s interim report back in July and also by the national audit office in a separate report published in June.
Samuel’s interim report found Australia’s environment was in unsustainable decline and laws meant to protect unique species and habitats had been ineffective.
Updated
And now I’d like to present to you some choice shots from the national cabinet presser, courtesy of our Mike Bowers:
Updated
In different news, Rockhampton will vote for a new mayor in January after the Queensland government changed laws to prevent anti-mining and climate activist Chris “Pineapple” Hooper from accepting the role.
AAP has the story:
“The state government passed retroactive laws earlier this month to force a by-election in the central Queensland city following the resignation of mayor Margaret Strelow over misconduct.
Mr Hooper was in line so succeed her as runner-up in the March mayoral election under laws passed by the state government in June.
He tried to assume the role but Rockhampton Council delayed their regular meetings until the retrospective laws were passed, which stopped him from being sworn-in.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland has announced a mayoral by-election will now be held in the city on January 23.
On that day there will also be a by-election to fill new state Labor MP Les Walker’s position as a councillor in Townsville.
The Labor government admitted that it initially designed the automatic succession laws to deter popular councillors from running for state parliament.
But the law didn’t prove effective with a number of councillors running in the October state election.
Ms Strelow resigned in November after the Councillor Conduct Tribunal found her guilty of misconduct over her failure to declare a $1600 trip to an Adani solar plant in Mumbai in 2017.
She and Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill later announced their councils would fund a $30 million airport for the company’s Carmichael coalmine in central Queensland.
Adani Australia changed its name to Bravus Resources last month.”
You can read more on ‘Pineapple’ Hooper here:
Updated
Update on the tourism vouchers from the business Victoria:
We are experiencing a high demand for the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme and have temporarily removed the ‘apply now’ button to allow those currently registering to complete their application. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
— Business Victoria (@businessvic) December 11, 2020
Finally, a question to the NSW and Queensland premiers on whether they regret their border stoush:
Gladys: “No, we would do it all again.”
Anastasia: “It was all based on health advice.”
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has also jumped in, saying the national cabinet has worked in the “best interests of all Australians”:
“I think we should not gloss over the fact that this national cabinet has worked in the best interests of all Australians, that we have not met face-to-face fortnight months but have had a 30 national cabinet meetings. We have been provided with expert advice on health and on the economy.”
Updated
In response to a question on why Australia isn’t purchasing more of the Pfizer vaccine, which has recieved approval in the UK and the US, the PM has said the vaccine will be approved on “Australian rules with Australian officials and on the Australian timetable”.
We want to ensure that Australians, and I think all of us feel very strongly this way, have full confidence, absolute full confidence that when it gets the tech they can get the jab. And they can make that decision for themselves and for their families confidently. So we are aware of what is happening in other states, in other nations around the world. We have a front row seat, frankly, as they go through that.
And we will work through any potential issues that may arise in the data sharing arrangements we have, particularly with the United Kingdom, will be very instructive, I think, as they are the first want to go around the block on this full but there is a difference between what is happening here in Australia and what’s happening overseas.
Updated
The PM has said there are another 38, 655 stranded Australians overseas, with most being stuck in India and the UK. He said the government is monitoring the situation and is remaining in contact with those who have registered to return home.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has backed the PM in saying the focus of hotel quarantine programs should be focused on returning Australians, and that their capacity won’t grow until next year:
“I would like to have a conversation next year not just about international students were skilled migrants. The priority is to reduce the list of Aussies coming back home. I support the PM in that.”
The PM has laughed off a question asking if Western Australian premier Mark McGowan not attending in person was disrespectful:
“We understand every state and territory has its rules and those rules need to be held up to and so we understand, but we obviously miss our colleague and look forward to him joining us next year.”
“We wanted to get Australian Open by Christmas and we are going to achieve that, I believe. And that has been made possible, I think, by the patient is a steady work of everyone you see here in front of you and I think that should be a great encouragement to Australians.”
Victorian premier Dan Andrews has chimed in at this point, saying he hopes Victoria’s quarantine capacity will look to lift its capacity in the coming weeks and months:
“That has got to be done safely and I think we will get to the end of the summer and we will certainly be processing more people. I think significantly more people than we are now. That has just got to be done in a steady way.”
Updated
The first question from reporters asks if Australia’s international borders will be relaxed:
“Our first priority is Australians and Australians returning home and I want to thank all the premiers and chief justice for the work they have done. Particularly NSW because they carry half the burden for the country and they are not all NSW Australians returning but from all across the country find themselves coming through NSW.
Victoria has begun again and the premier and I are looking forward to see that uplift in the New Year as we work through the capacity and have it fully functioning again in Victoria.
Queensland and WA both under that capacity and this is a very productive working relationship but what we all understand is, there are physical limitations on the hotel quarantine capacity but that is the safest and most effective way for people to come home and quarantine.
We all agree that the health standards on quarantine is the most important issue. Where we can create capacity for people to return residents, not Australian citizens, such as seasonal workers -- to return particularly with on-farm quarantine which provides capacity to see those economic needs met. But the first priority is the quarantine capacity for returning Australians and residents and that will continue to be our focus. Where we can create additional net capacity above and beyond that that doesn’t prevent an Australian returning to the country, well, we remain very open to that.”
Next the PM announced the commonwealth will lift the threshold for infrastructure support from $100 million to $250 million:
This will free up infrastructure Australia to focus more on the big projects and de-clog the process of getting these projects moving sooner.
Updated
The PM continued, announcing a partnership between the commonwealth and the states and territories to top up “existing commitments to vocational education and training”.
It is a big partnership, a billion-dollar partnership.
We agreed on the economic front today about the progress of the job trainer program now operational in all states and territories except for the NT and that will be very soon implemented in the NT and this is a game changer in particular for young people but all people of all ages changing careers.
Updated
The PM has announced the states, territories and commonwealth have agreed on a bilateral agreement on seasonal workers:
“There are different circumstances on the ground and different capabilities and capacities. In Queensland, for example, there has been a very, very successful on-farm quarantine seasonal workers program under way and it has been supporting the Queensland agriculture sector and primary producers but now we want to ensure that we can move to other arrangements in states and territories where that need is critical.”
“Premier Andrews I know it is a very important issue in Victoria presently as it is in many other states and we have agreed that bilateral arrangements made on health orders that will be applied to seasonal workers coming into states and that will unlock the ability for the Commonwealth to then provide seasonal worker visas which will confine those seasonal workers in those jurisdictions so they remain completely under the health control of those states and territories and that will be result in the bilateral arrangements that exist between the state and territories and the Commonwealth.”
PM Scott Morrison says the states and territories are working on any “vulnerabilities” in their plans to ensure the virus remains relatively contained.
We need to tighten some arrangements particularly around aircrew as well as on diplomats.
These are the vulnerabilities. They are not on a grander scale but they are important vulnerabilities and as our success continues, the states and territories become even more razor-like focus on the areas where potential vulnerabilities can emerge and so we have had good discussions on how we can tighten arrangements in both those areas, working both bilaterally with the commonwealth as well as together.
Updated
The PM is about to speak following the meeting of the national cabinet, and we are on standby to bring you everything discussed.
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The ABC has released an internal review that apparently found the national broadcaster didn’t have enough “conservative voices” during their 2019 election coverage.
The review, undertaken by journalist and former adviser to the BBC Kerry Blackburn, raised concerns on the “narrow ... range of viewpoints” presented on news discussion programs The Drum and Insiders.
The report says that “more conservative voices and perspectives should have been included” and that “the disparity impacted the program’s impartiality”.
It comes after the Senate passed a motion forcing the ABC to release the report yesterday.
The broadcaster said it was “proud” of the representation on the show, and that it had worked to expand its pool of voices.
“The pool of contributors on The Drum has continued to grow in political and geographic diversity and there have been changes to the pool of political journalists and expert commentators used on Insiders.”
The review didn’t find any impartiality issues with the programs, with the statement saying the issues raised were “minor.”
“Overwhelmingly, this was outweighed by the evidence of thoughtful and impartial analysis and discussion produced by the program team across the election period.”
Updated
In better news for Victoria, another doughnut day:
Yesterday there were 0 new local cases, 0 new cases acquired overseas and 0 lost lives reported. Thanks to all who were tested: 9,760 results received #EveryTestHelps #StaySafeStayOpen
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) December 10, 2020
More info https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/6Ts9mijiD9
Still an incredible achievement worth celebrating every day.
So it looks like the website to apply for the Victorian government’s tourism vouchers is still down.
The site crashed after being inundated as holidaymakers rushed to snap up the first batch of the $200 vouchers.
The state government planned to open registration for 40,000 vouchers at 10am on a “first-come” basis, but it appears people are unable to apply, with a white error message appearing if you hit the “apply now” button.
Applicants will be able to claim back $200 on accommodation, tours or tickets if they spend more than $400 on a holiday in regional Victoria.
The site appears to still be down after many technical experiments on my end (hitting it many times and refreshing the page), but I will update you all if it returns to functionality.
NSW has once again recorded no new locally acquired cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
Nine cases were reported in overseas travellers, however, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,444.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 11, 2020
Nine cases were reported in overseas travellers. This brings the total number of cases in NSW since the start of the pandemic to 4,444. pic.twitter.com/3OqDl4RPj2
None of the 80 active cases in the state are in intensive care, thankfully.
Good morning and happy Friday everyone, and a quick thanks to Calla for guiding us through a busy morning, a stellar job as always.
I’ll be taking you through this afternoon’s stories, so let’s dive in.
Updated
Today marks nine months since the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 pandemic.
It feels longer.
I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for joining us on the live blog day after day. Your emails, tweets, and comments are always appreciated, even — especially! — when you point out errors and things we may have missed. This community of readers is a very special thing. Thank your for coming along for the ride.
With that, I’ll place you in the capable hands of Mostafa Rachwani who will take you through the day.
Other things to note, as we speed towards national cabinet:
- Queensland will enter the New Zealand travel bubble from Saturday. From 1am, NZers will not have to quarantine upon arrival.
- The $200 Victorian travel vouchers, which can be spent when a Victorian spends at least $400 on accomodation somewhere in regional Victoria, have been released and the website where you can sign up for the vouchers has crashed.
We’ll bring you more detail on both as the day goes on.
Shares in biotech company CSL fall 2.6% after vaccine trial halted
CSL shares have fallen 2.6% this morning after the company cancelled trials of its potential Covid-19 vaccine and the Australian government cancelled its order for the drug.
It is unlikely the ASX will haul CSL over the coals over the timing of its announcement to the market this morning.
Listed companies are supposed to immediately tell the exchange of information that might materially affect their share price.
In CSL’s case, it reportedly told the government of problems with the vaccine trial on Monday and the government cancelled the deal on Thursday.
But there’s a disclosure carve-out for material that’s confidential and it appears the information didn’t leak until media reports this morning, outside of trading hours.
The company then made a formal announcement before the market opened, so no one was able to trade on the reports.
A quick eyeball of trading data over the past week shows a modest spike in volume on Wednesday, but it isn’t outside the usual range for CSL shares. And there’s been no big price movement either.
Whether or not there’s been any insider trading is a different question - and one for a different entity, the corporate regulator. Guardian Australia has contacted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for comment.
Updated
Anglicare has called on the Victorian government to give young people a break from fines for breaching coronavirus restrictions.
The Victorian government says it plans to chase down more than $3m in unpaid fines issued to teenagers during the lockdown.
That’s disappointing, says Anglicare CEO Paul McDonald. He says young people have borne the brunt of the shutdown — being unable to attend school and university, isolated from friends, and disproportionately affected in job losses from the shutdown of the hospitality and retail industries.
Young people need to be shown some empathy during this seriously challenging year, as they’re already suffering the effects of living through this pandemic. During lockdown, significant behaviour change was required for all of us, and particularly for young people.
Behaviour change with some young people takes time. For the vulnerable young people in Anglicare Victoria’s care, these kids have their own daily struggles with family violence or the youth justice system. They want to do the right thing, but it can take time to get the message through.
McDonald said most of the 2,000 fines issued to teenagers under the Covid-19 rules should have been a warning.
Premier Daniel Andrews showed remarkable leadership in managing that state out of the worst of the pandemic. I now urge the Victorian government to waive the fines for these young people and their families. It will go a long way towards helping these kids start the new year on a positive note.
There is no coordinated foreign interference campaign targeting Australia, agencies say
Government agencies have not identified a “coordinated government campaign in foreign interference” targeting Australia through social media, a Senate committee has been told.
The comments were made on Friday at a hearings for a Senate select committee examining the issue.
Neil Hawkins, of the Department of Home Affairs, told the hearing there had not been a “co-ordinated government campaign in foreign interference [through social media] targeting Australia”.
“The area where we are most concerned about is our elections, we saw what happened in 2016 in the US and 2017 in France,” he said.
He said officials had set up “capability” to deal with the potential threat, including at state and territory elections, but no co-ordinated “clandestine” campaign has been uncovered.
“A lot of this disinformation has nothing to do with governments,” he said.
Later, officials also confirmed social media platforms operating in Australia have no legal obligation to report foreign interference they identify.
Jenny McAllister, a Labor senator, told officials the committee had previously heard from the Chinese-owned platform TikTok that it was unclear to which Australian government agency companies should report foreign interference activities.
McAllister was concerned none of the agencies had directly engaged with the platforms to tell them what to do if they uncovered foreign interference targeting Australia.
Hawkins noted the electoral commission had made its expectations clear during the last election campaign, but the hearing was told that otherwise discussions between government agencies and the platforms had been more focused on counter-terrorism.
Dfat officials confirmed the government had successfully asked a social media platform to remove material that used Australian government logos to try to “cultivate the impression that there was an official Australian government criticism” of Vanuatu.
It was related to allegations of Indonesian troll farms combating the West Papuan independence movement.
Officials also said that though it was damaging disinformation, there was no evidence that the anti-vax movement was linked to foreign interference.
Updated
The NSW government has rejected a recommendation to create an independent office of animal protection.
The recommendation was made by a parliamentary inquiry into animal cruelty laws in NSW, chaired by Animal Justice Party MP Mark Pearson.
Adam Marshall, the NSW agriculture minister, said in a response to the inquiry that the government did not support recommendation to remove responsibility for the protection of animal welfare out of the department of primary industries. Also not supported was a recommendation to conduct a one-day public hearing in which animal charities like RSPCA would have the opportunity to give evidence about animal cruelty matters; to establish and fully fund a specialist unit within NSW Police to investigate animal cruelty offences; and to establish and fully fund an independent statutory body, the independent office of animal protection.
Pearson said the decision to reject the recommendation would “impact millions of animals”. He said:
The RSPCA currently successfully prosecutes less than 1% of complaints they receive, and that tells you everything you need to know about the effectiveness of having under-resourced charities enforce animal cruelty laws.
While we’re talking about former politicians, former PM Malcolm Turnbull and his art curtain have appeared on BBC Question Time, which is Q+A with accents.
He was commenting on Boris Johnson’s suggestion that the UK may end up with an “Australian-style deal” with the European Union. Which is a short way of saying no deal at all, just some ad-hoc agreements.
Says Turnbull:
We have obviously a deal with the EU on WTO terms and there are really some very large barriers to Australian trade with Europe which we’re seeking to address as we negotiate a free trade agreement with Europe.
But Australians would not regard our trade relationship with Europe as being a satisfactory one. It’s our third biggest trading partner collectively because it’s such a big economy. but there are very big barriers to Australian exports of agricultural products in particular. There’s a lot of friction in the system in terms of services ... be careful what you wish for. Australia’s relationship with the EU is not one from a trade point of view that I think Britain would want, frankly.
“Be careful what you wish for. Australia’s relationship with the EU is not one, from a trade point of view, that Britain would want.”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) December 10, 2020
Former Australian Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm warns the UK against relying on WTO rules for business with Europe. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/u3OiLJ7SH8
Updated
Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, George Brandis, had breakfast with the British high commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, this morning.
Apparently they discussed Australia’s “ambitious climate action agenda”. That must have been a short briefing.
I was pleased to join @VickiTreadell for breakfast this morning at Westminster House.
— George Brandis (@AusHCUK) December 10, 2020
An enjoyable discussion which included, among other topics, a briefing on Australia’s ambitious climate action agenda. pic.twitter.com/8q6ztKSDW5
Back at the University of Queensland and CSL briefing in Australia, Prof Trent Munro, UQ’s senior group leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, said the decision to halt the development of the Australian vaccine candidate was a “particularly disappointing day for the team”.
The team is devastated.
The fact was that the data looked so promising, he said. The HIV immune response was a risk, but unexpected, he added, reiterating that there was no risk to participants of actually having HIV.
Munro said:
We were anticipating that there may be an issue which is why we included this in this in the original consent forms for our vaccination.
But we weren’t expecting the vaccines would would respond with this low level [HIV immune] response. That was the unexpected finding.
The researchers said it would take 12 months to redesign the vaccine. It would therefore not make sense to produce it for this particular pandemic. But if Covid-19 continues to be an issue, the team may look at developing it down the track.
Updated
FDA advisory panel recommends approval of Pfizer Covid vaccine for emergency use
In other vaccine news, an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended the emergency approval of the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
More from Jessica Glenza at Guardian US:
If the FDA grants emergency approval, the US would be the third country in the world to have authorized the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the broader public behind the UK and Canada, and it will be the most populous country to do so.
In more data on the vaccine released in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, Pfizer and BioNTech said the vaccine was 95% effective in a randomized controlled trial of more than 43,000 people. An accompanying editorial in the journal described the vaccine’s development as a ‘triumph’ for science.
The vaccine uses messenger RNA technology to introduce the body to the spike protein found on the outside of the coronavirus to provoke an immune response. It requires two doses, administered three weeks apart.
Scientists are still studying how long the vaccine will protect people, the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in children and pregnant women, and the rate of asymptomatic disease in vaccine recipients.
The FDA could approve the vaccine for emergency use at any time after the advisory committee meeting, and the Trump administration is pushing for speedy approval. But the FDA must signal it is giving safety and efficacy concerns due consideration. Vaccines in general have a higher bar for approval than many medicines, because they are given to healthy adults.
Approving a vaccine too quickly could stoke public skepticism, and lead to higher levels of vaccine hesitancy. Too slow an approval puts more lives at risk. More than 2,000 Americans per day and 80 Americans per hour are killed by the virus. The FDA takes the actions recommended by its advisory panels about 78% of the time, according to a recent study by the Milbank Quarterly.
You can read more here:
Here is Scott Morrison gesticulating at this morning’s press conference.
Updated
A bit more on how the false-positive HIV test result was returned in some participants in the University of Queensland and CSL trial.
The Covid-19 spike protein has been the focus of this vaccine. The University of Queensland’s molecular clamp technology locks the “spike” protein into a shape which allows the immune system to be able to recognise and then neutralise the virus. Covid’s spike proteins, like most surface viral proteins, are fairly unstable. To ensure that the vaccine induces the right immune response, the vaccine needs to lock that shape into place, or in other words make it stable. That was achieved with the molecular clamp technology.
The clamp chosen comprises two fragments of a protein found in HIV on its own, as those fragments provided the greatest stability. It is completely harmless adding that protein to the spike protein, while also providing that greatly enhanced stability.
Trial participants were advised of the possibility that vaccine-induced HIV antibodies might be detected. Subsequent HIV tests provided definitive negative results.
Updated
Pacific Island Forum leaders say Covid-19 should not be an excuse for inaction on climate change
The Pacific Island Forum leaders have issued a statement saying that Covid-19 is not an excuse for delaying urgent action on climate change.
The forum is holding a roundtable on urgent climate change action tonight, Fiji time, to mark five years of the Paris Agreement.
Pacific Forum Chair, Tuvalu prime minister Kausea Natano, said:
We are already facing the reality of climate change even at the current level of 1.2 degree Celsius. Greenhouse gas emissions have reached record levels and are rising. If we do not act now, many of our low-lying atoll islands will be uninhabitable within our lifetimes. We have no time to lose
As the Blue Pacific continent, the Kainaki II Declaration is our call on humanity to reset and take immediate and decisive climate change action.
Pacific Islands Forum secretary general, Dame Meg Taylor, said the world has “gone past the tipping point and the science is showing that urgent and decisive action is what we need to come back from the brink”.
She said the coronavirus pandemic “must not be an excuse for inaction”.
Rather, the Pacific sees the pandemic as a catalyst for greater climate change ambition, more urgent action, and building back better. This generation of world leaders, of business leaders, of citizens, has the opportunity to make the necessary policy and behavioural change. The science is clear. Our leaders are clear. We must all act, and act now.
Small Pacific Island nations contribute much less than 1% of global C02 emissions. Australia has the highest emissions of any of the Pacific Island Forum members.
Meanwhile, shares in CSL are now shaping up to fall by more than 1% when trading starts at 10am.
A drop of 1.13% is predicted, based on broker order books.
The company this morning told the market it won’t be going ahead with further trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine and the government has cancelled an order for the drug.
Dr Andrew Nash, CSL’s chief scientific officer, said during a press briefing which is currently underway that, for months, University of Queensland and CSL researchers had been working around the clock on the vaccine. He said the vaccine was safe and effective, but the false positive HIV result would prove an issue for rollout, as it may erode public confidence and would require changes to existing and well-established HIV tests to ensure false positives due to the vaccine would not occur.
Nash said:
Now from the very beginning of this project, we have highlighted that there is a risk of failure associated with early vaccine development.
In summary, the study has shown that the vaccine elicits a robust neutralising response, and has good safety features.
However, the University of Queensland research has found that the vaccine generated antibodies towards the GP-41 molecular clamp that are cross-reactive in some HIV tests, and which leads to a false positive result in those tests.
A molecular clamp is a polypeptide used to maintain the shape of proteins in vaccines. The University of Queensland vaccine is a protein vaccine, which means it includes harmless pieces of Covid-19. Once vaccinated, the immune system recognises that the proteins don’t belong in the body and begins building antibodies.
“I want to emphasise that there is no adverse health implications for the clinical trials of the body, and there is no possibility that the vaccine causes HIV infection,” Nash said. “I also want to highlight through the study, no serious adverse effects or safety concerns were reported in the participants.”
Updated
Dr Andrew Nash, the chief scientific officer of CSL, said that there is no safety issue identified in the vaccine – it’s just a diagnostic issue. He says:
I want to emphasise there’s no adverse health reactions and there’s no possibility the vaccine causes HIV infection. I want to highlight through the study no serious adverse events or safety concerns were reported in the 216 trial participants.
Now, over the past few weeks, we’ve worked closely with experts in HIV and pathology to potential management solutions. In consultation with the Australian government, CSL and the University of Queensland have now concluded that while there is not a safety issue, there are a number of challenges in rolling out the vaccine and that these challenges might have an impact on public confidence in vaccination programs more broadly. At this stage, and without more data, significant changes would need to be made to the well established HIV testing procedures and the healthcare setting would need to change to accommodate the rollout of this vaccine. Therefore, CSL won’t be proceeding with the further development of the program and the phase two and three study will not go ahead.
The phase-one trial will continue with scheduled follow-up and monitoring of participants and in due course the University of Queensland plans to submit full data for peer review publication.
Now, from the very beginning of this project, we have highlighted there’s a risk of failure associated with early vaccine development. This decision emphasises the rigorous assessment involved in vaccine development and the myriad considerations that must be taken into account in order to produce a vaccine that’s safe and effective, logistically viable and publicly acceptable. And while there’s still many challenges along the way to produce a vaccine against Covid-19, we remain steadfastly committed to our work protecting the Australian population against this pandemic to.
This end, manufacture of approximately 30 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine candidate is under way with first doses planned to be released for use in Australia early next year. In addition, CSL has now agreed at the request of the Australian government to manufacture an additional 21 million doses to ensure that there’s enough of this vaccine, should it be approved by the regulators, to cover the entire Australian population. And on behalf of everybody at CSL, I like to acknowledge that we are very proud to be able to step up and make this additional commitment.
Updated
The University of Queensland and CSL are holding a media briefing on the decision to abandon the trial. It’s a webcast.
There were 216 participants in phase 1 of the CSL/UQ clinical trial.
The trial began on 13 July with 120 participants, five groups of 24, and all participats are healthy adults aged 18 to 55. Ninety-six participants received the accine, 24 received the placebo.
It was expanded on 15 September with an additional 96 participants, 72 of whom got the vaccine and 24 got a placebo.
Monitoring of those participants will continue.
And now for some festive news, via AAP:
Almost $80 million worth of MDMA has been found inside an excavator imported to Australia from the United Kingdom, prompting the arrest of five men across both countries.
Just under 450 kilograms of the drug - with an estimated street value of $79 million - was found inside the excavator.
Federal police on Wednesday raided four locations across western Sydney, arresting two men and seizing about $1.2 million in cash.
Another three men were arrested by authorities in the UK.
Labor deputy leader Richard Marles was doorstopped about the UQ vaccine outside parliament this morning.
He said:
It is really important that the Government gives a very clear explanation of the decisions that it has made, the plan that it has going forward, so that it can maintain public confidence in the program of working on and ultimately allowing a vaccine for the Australian community because that’s going to be very important. Vaccines matter. They deeply matter. This is obviously a big blow. But the role for Government today, is to make sure that they are inspiring confidence in the Australian people about the program of developing and ultimately rolling out a vaccine in this country.
A reporter asked Marles if he will get the vaccine when it becomes available.
Marles:
Oh, absolutely. I’ll be taking all the medical advice. And I have confidence in our doctors, in our scientists to make sure that when the vaccine is publicly available, that’ll be safe and I’ll definitely be taking the vaccine.
After dining with many of the premiers and chief ministers at the Lodge on Friday night after parliament rose for 2020, Scott Morrison will preside over the 32nd national cabinet meeting on Friday (but who’s counting?).
The national federation reform council (which replaces the old Coag) will also meet. If you want to understand these distinctions a little better, here’s a primer.
On the agenda for national cabinet:
- An update on the economic outlook from Treasury secretary Stephen Kennedy.
- An update on the coronavirus including an epidemiological update, and reaching agreement about the vaccine roll-out.• Border management issues, including emergency management, and the three step reopening.Setting priorities for 2021
On the agenda for the national federation reform council:
- Job creation.
- Commonwealth state system reforms.
- Mental health.
- Emergency management.
- Taskforce discussions (Indigenous, women’s safety, veterans’ wellbeing).
- A presentation from local government.
Health minister Greg Hunt has issued a press release stressing the purchase of an additional 20 million units of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
It also provided some more information about the false positives to HIV in the CSL/UQ vaccine:
The University of Queensland utilised a “molecular clamp” vaccines design based on a highly promising technological platform, and has the potential be used to vaccinate against a number of potential viruses.
As part of the vaccine’s design, the university’s researchers included a small fragment of a protein taken from the HIV virus, known as glycoprotein 41 (gp41). This has been used to create a “molecular clamp” to hold the vaccine’s synthetic virus in place.
Although the university’s researchers have confirmed the protein fragment poses absolutely no health risk to people who have taken the vaccine, they have identified a partial antibody response to it among trial participants.
This has the potential to interfere with some HIV screening tests that look for these antibodies – leading to a false positive test result.
It is this impact on HIV screening – and in the context of other promising vaccine candidates becoming available – that has led to the Government’s decision. The decision was based on the unanimous advice of SITAG.
Importantly, pathology testing that directly looks for the HIV virus has confirmed negative results for the trial participants who have taken the vaccine.
Participants were informed the protein formed part of the vaccine before they consented to taking part in the trial – and HIV screening tests were carried out before and after vaccination.
Participants will continue to be monitored to establish if the antibody response to the protein decreases over time.
The government will continue to support UQ is in its ongoing research due to this new platform providing such a promising breakthrough in vaccinations.
Updated
It should be stressed the fact that we have any viable coronavirus vaccines just 12 months after the disease was first detected, let alone four that have completed or are in phase 3 trials with strong results, is remarkable.
As Prof Nancy Baxter, the head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health told the ABC:
I think what’s important to note is, if we were in a different position right now – if none of the other vaccines looked like they were going to work –then having some false-positive HIV tests would have been something the world would have accepted as necessary to actually make people immune to Covid-19. People are not at risk of getting HIV from this vaccine – it’s a protein, and the body is creating an antibody to that protein, so there’s no risk to the individual.
But obviously if we have other great options for vaccines, then it doesn’t make sense for people to have a false-positive HIV test. So that’s why this has stopped. So we’re really in a very fortunate position to have multiple vaccines that look like they’re going to be effective.
However Baxter said Morrison had put a positive spin on Australia’s vaccine position. The two vaccines closest to getting regulatory approval are the Pfizer vaccine, which Australia has secured 10m doses of, and Moderna, of which Australia has not secured any doses. AstraZeneca and Novovax are not quite so far along.
Updated
Shares in CSL are set to fall when the market opens this morning after the company announced it was ditching plans to go ahead with testing of its Covid-19 vaccine and the government has cancelled its order for the drug.
A fall of about 0.76% is predicted, based on broker order book data at around 8.30am, but this could change closer to the opening bell.
ASX listed companies are required to immediately inform the market of any developments that might materially affect their share price.
In CSL’s case, the company reportedly told the government of problems with its trial on Monday, with the government moving to can its order on Thursday.
There’s no sign of an unusual bump in trade volumes this week but it’s also not unusual for the corporate regulator to take a close look at trading in the lead-up to big announcements like this one.
Australia has not been granted a speaking slot at the global climate summit
The UN has released a list of speakers this morning, in alphabetical order, and it skips from Austria to Bangladesh.
No Australia.
Despite lobbying hard, Brazil & Australia appear to have missed the cut for Saturday's UN #climate ambition summit. Guess the clue was in the name. pic.twitter.com/GvADCfydzq
— Ed King (@edking_I) December 10, 2020
Morrison says that while it’s disappointing to not continue the CSL/UQ trial, it’s not a setback in terms of the Australian government’s ability to get everyone vaccinated.
I think what this demonstrates is the effectiveness of our strategy. And what we can do is vaccinate our population twice over. And we have one of the highest ratios of availability of doses of any country in the world. So this isa demonstration of the success of the vaccination policy and approach that we have been following. We have prepared for this. We have planned for this. And now we’re making decisions in accordance with this. And so I think this does demonstrate both the science that we have available in Australia, but also the manufacturing capability.
CSL is a leading manufacturer in the world. The minister and I have both visited the facility there, and I want to thank everyone down at the plant there because they’re going to be busy, they’re going to be producing those vaccines. As the minister said, the net outtake of this is we are more likely to have the entire population vaccinated earlier rather than later by the ability to bring this manufacturing capability forward. The process for manufacturing the molecular clamp vaccine are actually more complicated than it is for AstraZeneca. So this is basically adding on to the existing run, as opposed to a completely different manufacturing process. So that puts us in, I think, a strong position.
That stronger position is because all of CSL’s manufacturing capability can now be focused on the AstraZeneca vaccine, rather than split between AstraZeneca and the molecular clamp vaccine.
Prof Brendan Murphy was asked how we know that the AstraZeneca, Novavax and Pfizer vaccines will not have similar problems. The short answer is that they have both moved to phase 3 clinical trials – AstraZeneca and Pfizer have released phase three data and Novavax is expected to release it soon — and no issue like this showed up.
So we’re pretty confident that an issue like this is unlikely to happen because we’ve got the Phase 3 data.
The Novavax platform is very different [to UQ]. It doesn’t use the same molecular clamp — it uses a different approach. There’s no reason why we would expect the same thing. And they’ve published their Phase 1 studies, and they haven’t realised any of these sort of issues...
The AstraZeneca vaccine is more advanced in its development than UQ was, and because it’s now in production, by making more of it, we can bring forward whole-of-population coverage with the AstraZeneca vaccine much earlier.
The Pfizer vaccine — the other one we have — it has also got Phase 3 trial information that the company has released. It’s also gone through regulatory approval in, now, two countries, and a third coming up today. So it wouldn’t have got through that if an issue like this had happened. So we’re very confident we won’t see this issue with the other vaccines. Novavax still has to publish Phase 3 trials, and we’ll await those. But we know that Pfizer and AstraZeneca are in a very strong position.
Updated
Morrison said that today’s announcement should increase confidence in the vaccine process, because it shows that governments are willing to abandon the development of a vaccine that does not pass its tests.
I think today, and the decisions we’ve taken, should give Australians great assurance that we are proceeding carefully, we are moving swiftly, but not with any undue haste here. At the end of the day, the Therapeutic Goods Administration – like with any vaccine in Australia – must have their tick-off. Without the tick, there’s no jab when it comes to vaccines in this country.
He seemed pleased with that line, expect to hear that line repeated as we move toward a vaccine roll-out.
He continued:
We’ve all had vaccinations at various times in our lives. I have. My children have. And we take those vaccines in great confidence of the system that we have here in Australia. What you’re seeing here is the system at work, protecting Australians, and making good decisions in the public health interest. So that’s why we were so keen to keep Australians up to date here this morning – so you know where we’re at. But the truth is, we’re on track. The system’s working as it should. And Australians are protected, as always.
Updated
The secretary of the federal health department, Prof Brendan Murphy, said the CSL/UQ vaccine was “likely to be a promising vaccine” but the risk of an HIV false positive could undermine public confidence, so the trial was abandoned:
It was likely to work. But we knew that we didn’t want to have any issues with confidence, and this false-positive test may have caused some confusion and lack of confidence, but it was a very, very good technology, it was looking like it was going to make antibodies, and it probably would have worked very well as a vaccine, but we can’t have any issues with confidence, and we are – as a nation now, with a good portfolio of vaccines – able to make these decisions to best protect the Australian people.
The risk of a false positive to HIV was known from the outset. Murphy was asked why the Australian government decided to invest in the vaccine given this risk, and says that the high prevalence of false positives was unexpected:
I think the risk of actually getting a false-positive was seen to be extremely low at the outset. Everyone was very surprised at the unexpected prevalence of the false-positive. It’s only a small portion of the HIV protein that’s in the vaccine as the molecular clamp. The modelling at the time thought it was a very low theoretical risk on that basis – that’s why people were informed of that risk. But it was very surprising to CSL and UQ the incidence of the false positives. So it was very unexpected.
Updated
Greg Hunt says Australia now has one of the highest rates of vaccine purchases and availability to population in the world.
That’s 53.8m AstraZeneca units, enough to cover the whole of the Australian population, 51m Novavax units, also enough to cover the whole of the population, 10m Pfizer units, and 2.5m units under the Covax facility. So, 140m units all up:
The net result of the decisions taken and the next evolution of the scientific advice is that we will have strengthened our position in two vaccines, and discontinued the process in relation to one vaccine which is, of course, the University of Queensland. The final outcome from all of that is that there is the potential for slightly earlier completion of the vaccine rollout for Australians in 2021. So that net result is a very important outcome for Australians.
Updated
Australia increasing production of AstraZeneca virus to 53.8m doses and Novavax to 51m
Scott Morrison said that in accordance with the government’s vaccine strategy, it has redeployed resources to deliver other vaccines:
And so we are increasing our production and purchase of AstraZeneca vaccines from 33.8m to 53.8m, and we’re increasing our access to the Novavax vaccine from 40m to 51m.
So that’s an extra 20m doses of AstraZeneca, and an extra 11m doses of Novavax. The AstraZeneca vaccines, of course, are manufactured here in Melbourne by CSL.
Safety and health – that has always been the starting point for all of our responses when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic. Having a clear plan. Getting clear advice. Making decisive decisions to ensure that we can put the health interests of Australians first. That lays the platform for the economic recovery that is undertaking right now as we end this year and go into 2021.
Morrison then threw to the health minister, Greg Hunt, who he says is “one of the standout health ministers of the world in terms of how he has led our response and put Australia in such a strong position to be where we are as we go into this Christmas”. So that’s a nice Christmas card for Hunt.
Updated
Morrison says the Australian government selected four vaccine candidates to back with federal funding earlier this year, never expecting that all four trials would result in a viable vaccine:
Our vaccine strategy, and our vaccine policy, had identified four vaccines that we believed – based on the scientific advice – had the potential to go through to the end of stage tree trials and be available here in Australia.
At no stage, can I assure you, that we believed that all four of those vaccines would likely get through that process. If that had occurred, that would have been truly extraordinary, based on the process of vaccine development not only in this country, but anywhere else. So that’s why we spread our risk. That’s why we backed important projects. And that’s why we pre-prepared to ensure that we could deal with any issues along the way.
The advice that we have received, and the national security committee of cabinet met this week and made the final decision yesterday, is that the University of Queensland vaccine will not be able to proceed based on the scientific advice, and that will no longer feature as part ofAustralia’s vaccine plan.
I do want to thank, though, Prof Paul Young and all the team up there at University of Queensland for the amazing work that they have done in getting the vaccine to that stage. And we will continue to support and fund the work that they’re doing on molecular clamp research on vaccines, which has application in many other areas. They’re doing great work. They are amazing. I’m incredibly proud of all of our scientists for the awesome work that they’ve been doing to support us this year. And so I congratulate them and thank them for all the hard work they’ve put in this year.
Updated
Scott Morrison is speaking in Canberra now.
Updated
Guardian Australia’s Melissa Davey and Chris Knaus explained the molecular clamp technology at use in the CSL/University of Queensland vaccine trail in this article, back in October:
The process of infection relies on the virus using the spike proteins on its outer surface to attach on to human ACE2 receptors – a protein on the surface of many cells, including in organs and on tongues.
Once attached, the spike transforms and unfolds, hooking into the cell and crashing the virus particle and cell together, forming a channel through which a string of viral genetic material can pass into the human cell.
When the body’s immune system fires up to combat the virus, much of its effort goes toward that spike protein.
UQ has effectively taken the Covid-19 genetic sequence, isolated the section that codes for the spike protein, and changed that sequence to include a clamp that locks three spike proteins together in the form they exist in before they try to bind with human cells.
The upshot? The body gets all the immune response with none of the infection and is vaccinated against future Covid-19 infection.
The phase one trials have proved that this kind of vaccine works even if this specific vaccine candidate will not be progressed, which is a pretty significant development.
You can read more on that here:
Updated
The statement to the ASX says analysis of the phase one data will continue, and the full data will be submitted to peer review.
The vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland, Prof Deborah Terry, said she was proud of the UQ team despite the disappointing result:
I also want to thank our many partners, our donors – including the federal and Queensland government – and of course the 216 Queenslanders who so willingly volunteered for the phase 1 trials.
The co-lead researcher on the trial, Prof Paul Young, said it was possible to re-engineer the vaccine to remove the issue that caused the HIV false positives, but doing so would set development back 12 months, and “the urgent need for a vaccine has to be everyone’s priority”:
I said at the start of the vaccine development, that there are no guarantees, but what is really encouraging is that the core technology approach we used has passed the major clinical test. It is a safe and well-tolerated vaccine, producing the strong virus neutralising effect that we were hoping to see. So we will continue to push forward and we are confident that with further work the molecular clamp technology will be a robust platform for further vaccine development here in Australia and to meet future biosecurity needs.
CSL is now working on making 30m doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, with the first doses to be released in Australia early next year. Full data from the AstraZeneca trials shows it has 70% efficacy.
Dr Andrew Nash, the chief scientific officer for CSL, said the Australian government had ordered another 20m doses of that vaccine.
Updated
CSL says vaccine trials will not go head due to HIV false positives
CSL has issued an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange confirming that the phase two and three clinical trials of the vaccine will not go ahead.
The statement says that phase one trials of the UQ/CSL v451 Covid-19 vaccine showed a “robust response towards the virus and has a strong safety profile”.
But it said the trials will not go ahead because some participants in the phase one trial showed a false positive result for HIV. They explain:
The Phase 1 data showed the generation of antibodies directed towards the “molecular clap” component of the vaccine. These antibodies interfere with certain HIV diagnostic assays. The potential for this cross-reaction had been anticipated prior to the commencement of the trial. Participants were fully informed prior to their involvement that this could occur. Blood samples from the study participants were tested after vaccination and it was found that these molecular clamp antibodies did cause a false positive on a range of HIV assays. Follow-up tests confirmed there was no HIV virus present, just a false positive on certain HIV tests. There is no possibility the vaccine causes infection.
The statement says the trial was halted because of the implications of that issue, if the vaccine were to be rolled out to broad populations:
It is generally agreed that significant changes would need to be made to well-established HIV testing procedures in the healthcare setting to accomodate rollout of this vaccine. Therefore, CSL and the Australian government have agreed vaccine development will not proceed to Phase 2/3 trials.
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Palaszczuk confirms vaccine trial has been 'abandoned'
Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has confirmed that the CSL/University of Queensland vaccine trials have been abandoned. She told ABC News breakfast that it was devastating news:
I think we’re very, very disappointed but of course there’s been a number of companies right throughout the world and universities teaming up to come up with a vaccine in such a short period of time. Of course we’re disappointed and now all eyes are looking at what is happening in the UK with the rollout of their vaccine. And of course I think the Australian government and every leader at state and territory is watching closely the outcomes of what is happening in the UK.
She would not confirm why the trials were suspended, saying that would be a matter for the researchers:
I will leave that to the experts to talk about. I’ve just been advised yesterday, late afternoon, that the trial has to be abandoned. But I will let the experts talk about that in more detail.
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Some details on the timing of information today about the CSL/UQ vaccine.
Before 8am there will be a statement from CSL to the Australian Securities Exchange.
At 8am Scott Morrison and the federal health department secretary, Prof Brendan Murphy, will hold a press conference. About the same time, CSL will issue a press release.
And at 9am CSL will hold a press briefing.
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Good morning,
Trials of the Australian-led coronavirus vaccine in development by the University of Queensland and pharmaceutical company CSL will not go ahead because some participants returned aberrant results, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported.
CSL is expected to make an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange this morning.
The University of Queensland has abandoned planned third-stage clinical trials of the vaccine, the SMH reports. The Australian government had already signed a billion-dollar deal to buy 51m doses of the vaccine.
We’ll bring you more details as soon as they’re to hand.
Premiers and chief ministers will fly into Canberra today to hold the first in-person meeting of national cabinet. Except for the WA premier, Mark McGowan, who is dialling in to avoid contact with the SA premier, Steven Marshall. The west still considers SA to be a coronavirus hotspot.
On the agenda are negotiating a national agreement on roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine, border rules and further reopening. We’ll have more details on that via Katharine Murphy in a moment.
Also on Scott Morrison’s agenda today is a meeting of Pacific nations before a global leaders’ climate ambition summit on the weekend. Morrison has still not been given a speaking spot.
Let’s crack on. You can follow me on Twitter at @callapilla or reach me via email at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com.
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