How things stand
This is where we’ll leave our live coverage today. Here’s a quick recap of what happened:
- Australia has recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus cases in one day for the first time ever.
- New South Wales and South Australia both recorded their highest daily totals since the pandemic began.
- A new Covid case was reported in Tasmania, bringing the tally to four since the state reopened this week. Queensland, which also reopened its borders this week, recorded 31 new cases.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny paid their respects to five children who died in a tragic jumping castle incident in Tasmania. He also announced an $800,000 support package to fund counselling for those affected by the tragedy.
- Tasmania has banned the use of jumping castles in schools in response to the incident.
- The New South Wales government is pushing to narrow the gap between people getting their second Covid-19 vaccination shot and getting their booster to four months in response to the Omicron variant.
- And a senior public health expert has criticised the NSW government’s decision to remove mask mandates despite the huge spike in cases, saying that unless Australia is “a country of total whiny babies” people can continue to wear a mask with no discernible impact on their lives.
And that’s the day. If you are heading out to see family or buy gifts for family, please stay safe. We’ll see you again tomorrow.
Updated
In feral pig news: the Australian and South Australian governments have pledged $1.2m to fund pig culling efforts on Kangaroo Island for the next two years.
More from AAP:
Before the devastating 2020 bushfires, which scorched the western half of the island, the feral pig population was thought to number about 5000.
But the fires killed off many and destroyed much of their habitat, presenting an opportunity to eradicate the animals completely.
Efforts over the past winter involved about 220 hours of flight time using thermal imaging, during which 243 feral pigs were culled, taking the total since the start of the program to 777.
Only about 200 pigs are thought to remain.
Eradication efforts have been funded jointly by the state and federal governments, with another $1.2 million allocated to continue the work into 2022 and 2023.
Environment minister David Speirs said the community on the island, including primary producers and tourism operators, were supportive of the eradication program.
“We know how damaging feral pigs on Kangaroo Island are for our livestock and horticulture industries as well as the environment, which is why we are doing everything we can to eradicate this pest,” he said.
Updated
Here’s more from my chat with public health expert Prof Nancy Baxter:
Australia records its highest daily case toll since the pandemic began
Australia has recorded more than 4,000 cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the highest daily tally since the pandemic began.
It comes just two days after passing the benchmark of more than 3,000 cases in a day.
There are currently almost 247,000 active cases in Australia, although only 110 people are in intensive care.
The cases were reported in:
- NSW: 2,482
- Victoria: 1,504
- South Australia: 73
- Queensland: 31
- Tasmania: 1
Updated
Western Australia has not reported any new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. This is not surprising — it’s still not letting anyone in.
The hard border rules changed again overnight, with NSW upgraded from a high risk category – only permitted people allowed in subject to a negative PCR test, being vaccinated, and 14 days of hotel quarantine – to extreme risk – pretty much no one allowed in except for MPs and necessary government officials.
As of Monday, the border will also be tightened against Queensland, which will go from low risk to medium risk, and Tasmania, which will go from very low risk to low risk.
That means no travellers from any jurisdiction in Australia will be able to enter WA without quarantining.
But, as WA premier Mark McGowan said in a comment that surely doesn’t even track well in Perth after almost two years of isolation, Santa Claus will be allowed in.
#BREAKING Santa’s Coming To Town
— 10 News First Perth (@10NewsFirstPER) December 17, 2021
Premier Mark McGowan has confirmed that Santa Claus will still be granted a travel exemption to visit all the good girls' and boys' homes on Christmas Eve.
“Santa’s a very special person and I think he has an exemption for basically everything.” pic.twitter.com/oagmHMKyJf
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You may have missed the story about security vulnerabilities in widely used software Log4j – you can read about it here.
Now you’re up to speed: it’s affecting kindergartens.
More from AAP:
The ramifications of recently discovered security flaws in a commonly used piece of software known as Log4j are so widespread, even kindergarten teachers are being warned of the risks.
The Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution is used in everything from webcams to navigation apps, but contains a critical flaw which could give cyber criminals password-free access online systems, allowing them to access data and even plant malware.
A week ago the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) issued an alert about Apache Log4j, and on Wednesday it publicly confirmed the vulnerability is being actively exploited in Australia.
“We know that malicious online actors are scanning networks in attempts to locate vulnerable servers, so it’s critical that Australian organisations act, and act fast,” Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie said.
The vulnerability has sent companies and other organisations scrambling to install patches to protect against malicious intrusions into their IT.
Victoria’s education department even had to warn kindergartens and childcare centres, telling them late on Friday to be on the alert “for any strange computer or application behaviour”.
The alert may be of particular concern given that early childhood centres store confidential, sensitive information regarding young children.
Early childhood centres have been told to notify IT if they notice anything strange - but many do not have their own IT technician, and have been given a department phone number instead.
Technicians have been advised to disconnect vulnerable servers and computers from the internet.
Kindergartens and childcare centres that have already closed for the Christmas break have been told to contact the department’s hotline immediately.
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Interestingly — or frustratingly, depending on your perspective — South Australia has not lifted its ban on the use of at home rapid antigen tests.
Per the SA Health website:
In South Australia, the use of rapid antigen tests by the general public is currently prohibited given the low level of COVID-19 in the community to date and the wide availability of gold-standard PCR testing. This is due to the known inaccuracy of rapid antigen tests when there is not significant community spread of COVID-19, and the risk of false positive and false negative results. The continued restriction of this test in South Australia when it is permitted in other states reflects the different levels of COVID-19 in communities throughout Australia.
The Chief Public Health Officer will determine when there is sufficient community spread of COVID-19 to make rapid antigen testing a useful additional public health tool.
You can read the full post here.
It is the highest ever daily case toll for South Australia – beating the record of 64 cases set just yesterday.
Updated
SA records 73 new cases of Covid-19
South Australia has recorded 73 new cases of Covid-19.
It brings the total number of active Omicron cases in the state to eight.
Twenty-nine cases were locally acquired in South Australia and have been linked to a positive case, and four more acquired the infection locally but are unlinked. Two more are linked to infections interstate and 37 acquired the infection somewhere in Australia, with no known source. One is a person who acquired the infection overseas.
The cases include 11 children, two teenagers, 34 women aged between 18 and 67, and 26 men aged between 19 and 74.
Of the 73 cases reported today, 29 were fully vaccinated, four were unvaccinated, and 40 have an unknown vaccination status.
Updated
WA firefighters are headed out to Marble Bar, which holds the reputation as the hottest town in Australia, to respond to a bushfire burning out of control north of the town.
The fire was first reported on Wednesday. There’s a watch and act warning in place for people travelling along Marble Bar Road and surrounds.
The alert was upgraded on Saturday morning because the fire was moving fast in a northerly direction along the road. Marble Bar Road is closed from the Great Northern Highway to the Marble Bar townsite. Motorists have been advised to avoid the area and drive slowly and carefully due to smoke.
The township itself is under an advice level alert. There is no current threat to lives and homes but people are advised to stay alert and monitor their surroundings, and watch for signs of bushfire.
People who are isolating due to Covid-19 infection, or risk of infection, “must do whatever you need to protect your life”. That includes leaving your house. or evacuating if necessary.
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Police in Western Australia have charged four men with “endangering the life, health or safety of another person” over a disturbance at a Perth cinema on Thursday night.
The four men, aged 19 to 20, were allegedly “yelling profanities and throwing items into other people” at a 7.30pm screening of a movie at Karrinyup cinema.
In a statement, police said:
Security were alerted and the movie was stopped and lights turned on. The group resisted being removed from the complex and both security and members of the public were assaulted.
The four men were arrested on Friday and charged with a series of offences including endangering the life, health or safety of another person and disorderly conduct. They were scheduled to appear at Perth magistrates court today.
Updated
The NSW special minister of state, Don Harwin, and local government minister, Shelly Hancock, have announced they will retire from politics at the next election.
Harwin and and Hancock both told NSW premier Dominic Perrottet that they did not want to be considered for re-election in 2023.
More from AAP:
Perrottet says they have both “been strong advocates for the people of NSW in their respective roles as ministers throughout their careers” and wished them well as they “continue to do what they do best by serving the great people of NSW”, even outside of parliament.
Harwin says he has been “giving consideration to whether I could commit to another eight-year term”.
“I have now decided I will not recontest my seat and therefore, this is the right time to end my ministerial service,” the longstanding MP said in a statement on Saturday.
Harwin was first elected to the state’s upper house in 1999 and has held ministries including energy and utilities, resources, public service and employee relations, Aboriginal affairs, heritage and the arts.
He has also been special minister for state since 2017 and leads the government in the upper house.
Harwin says “at this stage” he plans to finish the remainder of his term in the upper house and bow out at the next election.
Hancock first joined parliament in the legislative assembly in 2003, where she later served as speaker for close to eight years before her current ministry role.
Hancock says “challenging family circumstances” and the departure of Gladys Berejiklian, who resigned as premier in October ahead of appearing before the Independent Commission Against Corruption, influenced her decision to step down.
She described the former premier’s resignation as “a loss for New South Wales and a personal loss for me, and something that I have found difficult to move past”.
Hancock says the premier who replaced Berejiklian needs to have more women in his cabinet.
“It is often difficult being the only woman in the room, or one of a handful, therefore it is essential that women make up a larger part of the cabinet to provide our views and perspectives,” Hancock says.
The soon-to-be-shuffled cabinet includes five women, including Hancock, across 21 positions.
Updated
Scott Morrison visits Hillcrest Primary School memorial
Prime minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny Morrison have visited the memorial to the five children who died in the Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle tragedy in Devonport, Tasmania.
'Unless we are a country of whiny babies', Australia should keep mask rules in place – health expert
Prof Nancy Baxter, the head of Melbourne University’s school of population and global health, says Australians should keep wearing face masks to protect against the spread of Covid “unless we are a country of total whiny babies”.
It comes as NSW has this week abolished rules requiring people to wear face masks on public transport, at airports and if they are unvaccinated front-of-house staff in a restaurant or cafe.
That was the wrong call, says Baxter. Masks protect you and others without affecting your life.
Masks don’t stop you from doing anything. Unless we are a country of babies, unless we are a country of total whiny babies, we can still wear masks. They do not cost us a thing.
If you are still wearing your mask and intend to keep doing so, Baxter says consider swapping out the cloth mask you made and/or purchased in 2020 for a well-fitted P2 mask. You can buy them at the hardware store.
Cloth masks will protect others if you are sick, she says, but will not protect you from breathing in the Omicron variant.
You need to protect yourself. Get a P2 mask.
Updated
Good afternoon folks, I will be your guide on this (where I am at least) warm and windy afternoon.
Thank you to the indomitable Steph Convery for taking us through the past few hours.
I’ll get to some other news in a minute but first off, I had a chat with Prof Nancy Baxter a short time ago about the Omicron variant and Covid risk going into Christmas and wanted to share her thoughts.
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I’m going to hand over the reins of this blog to darling Calla Wahlquist now, who will take you through the news of the afternoon. Be well, be safe, wear sunscreen!
The New South Wales government has committed to outlawing the historically overlooked form of intimate abuse known as coercive control following an inquiry.
The attorney general and domestic and sexual violence prevention minister, Mark Speakman, released the government’s response on Saturday, indicating support for 17 of the inquiry’s 23 recommendations.
The remaining six have “been noted as further consideration continues”.
Some of the recommendations being adopted include the introduction of a new, stand-alone offence for coercive control as well as amendments to existing laws.
“No person deserves to live in fear, and it is part of our responsibilities in government to uphold the safety and human dignity of all of our citizens,” Speakman said.
Victoria’s department of health has released its detailed daily Covid data, which shows that 94.3% of Victorians aged 12 and over have now had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 92.4% have had two doses.
There are 384 people with Covid-19 in hospital in Victoria – 84 in ICU, with 43 of those on a ventilator. Of those people in hospital yesterday, 62% were not fully vaccinated. 92% of those in ICU were not fully vaccinated, while 87% had received no vaccination dose at all.
There were no new confirmed cases of Omicron identified in Victoria yesterday. There are 19 known cases of Omicron in the state.
There are 30 confirmed Covid-19 cases linked to the Peel Hotel, Collingwood (16 cases), and Sircuit Bar, Fitzroy (14 cases). One of these cases was confirmed as the Omicron variant.
Updated
NSW Health has apologised to singer Delta Goodrem for the Instagram post that included a picture of her face with syringes pointing to it as a stand-in for the Covid variant Delta.
“NSW Health was attempting to convey an important public health message but recognises it made an error of judgement and sincerely regrets the offence caused to Delta Goodrem,” a NSW Health spokesperson said. “The message has now been removed by NSW Health.”
Updated
In the wake of New South Wales breaking its own and the country’s daily case record today, you might find this piece from Caitlin Cassidy illuminating.
Tony Blakely, a University of Melbourne epidemiologist, said the dramatic easing of restrictions in NSW as case numbers spiked was consistent with a strategy to build resilience to the virus. But although worrying, the arrival of the new Omicron variant might well be the pathway out of the pandemic, he said.
Thunderstorms incoming for New South Wales; watch out for wind gusts, hail and heavy rain.
⛈️Today's thunderstorm forecast, with a risk of severe thunderstorms (yellow and red). Damaging wind gusts is the primary risk, but over the south/southeast there's an added risk of large hail and heavy rainfall.
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 18, 2021
📡Radars: https://t.co/joGHpQeD2Z@NSWSES pic.twitter.com/W3gVw2fETR
Erm, so it appears singer Delta Goodrem has taken NSW Health to task on Instagram for using a picture of her face as a stand-in for Covid variant Delta in its factcheck story series yesterday.
NSW Health appears to have deleted that particular story.
okay know there’s a lot going on, but attention must be paid to delta goodrem calling out nsw health for their “disturbing” choice to inject a picture of her head with not one but two needles pic.twitter.com/G0y2fTNkFf
— jared richards (@jrdjms) December 18, 2021
Updated
Online age verification for alcohol purchases is being trialled in Australia, new documents reveal, as the federal government considers whether similar technology could be applied to gambling and adult sites.
The Morrison government has tasked the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, with developing a “roadmap” for an age verification system for adult content by the end of 2022, but documents released under freedom of information laws reveal options are already being trialled.
Draft talking points and a slide deck from early August released on the transparency website Right to Know this week, show the Digital Transformation Agency has been preparing for age verification and digital ID trials from September this year.
According to the talking points, the trial was to be conducted with online retailers in Australia, using external ID providers Australia Post and Mastercard.
The beta trials had been expected to run for between three and six months, with 100 users per use case, starting first with online alcohol purchases in September, and then gambling websites at a date to be determined.
Read the full story:
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Another reminder to get your booster shot as soon as you are eligible. If you’re aged 12 or over and are severely immunocompromised, you are encouraged have a third primary dose of vaccine (as distinct from a booster) from two months after your second dose, NSW Health says. Talk to your GP!
Further to the below, NSW Health has said a total of 226 cases of Omicron have been confirmed by the required additional testing in NSW. However, they believe that Omicron likely accounts for the majority of today’s cases.
The death recorded today in NSW was a woman from south-western Sydney in her 90s who died at the Gillawarna Village Aged Care Facility in Georges Hall – also where she acquired Covid-19. She had received two doses of a vaccine and had underlying health conditions. This is the fourth death linked to an outbreak at this facility.
New South Wales Health has just announced that it’s only going to do genomic sequencing for Omicron “where it will make a clinical difference to the care of a patient”.
With the high number of COVID-19 cases now in NSW, NSW Health will only undertake genomic sequencing for the Omicron variant in the circumstances where it will make a clinical difference to the care of a patient.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 18, 2021
The humble bogong moth is in trouble. Not very long ago, they would carpet Canberra in their annual 1,000km migration from southern Queensland to the mountains of Victoria – including Mount Bogong, the state’s highest peak.
But in 2019, after decades of gradual decline in the population, scientists reported a sudden catastrophic drop: mountain caves that were once dense with mind-boggling numbers of the insects – as many as 17,000 moths per square metre – now contained so few that they could be counted on just one hand.
Read the full story here:
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Something Christmassy! That’s what we need. The lovely Caitlin Cassidy has a great story today about people who love Christmas and Christmas decorations. Here’s a lil glitter taster with the full story chaser:
A search has resumed for a swimmer missing overnight at Lennox Head on the NSW north coast.
Police were called to Seven Mile Beach by a woman reporting she had seen a swimmer in difficulties in the surf about 6pm on Friday, AAP reports.
Officers immediately began a search involving local lifesavers, the force’s marine rescue command, ambulance personnel and the Westpac rescue helicopter.
Personal belongings were found unattended on the beach near the surf club before a man approached police with concerns his 19-year-old son had not returned from a swim, around 7pm.
The search continued until 10pm without success and resumed at 6.30am on Saturday.
Water police and Marine Rescue NSW are currently conducting sweeps off the coastline.
Updated
More on those Covid cases in Tasmania, from AAP:
Recent arrivals from Newcastle are being contacted after the first three cases were linked to superspreader events there.
Positive wastewater samples have been collected from Norwood in Launceston, where there are no known cases.
Anyone in the area is advised to get tested immediately if they experience any symptoms, no matter how mild.
Tasmania requires people arriving from high-risk areas to return a negative test in the 72 hours before they travel.
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein said on Friday the state government was considering a mask mandate at indoor venues and would have more to say in coming days.
Tasmania had no active cases when the state reopened.
Updated
New Covid case in Tasmania
A fourth person has tested positive for Covid-19 in Tasmania, four days into the island’s reopening.
AAP reports the latest case is a teenager who flew to Launceston from NSW on Thursday. He was tested after NSW Health notified him he had been at an exposure site, but before the notification arrived he visited a cafe and a JB Hi-Fi store on Thursday afternoon.
Those two venues are now exposure sites, along with Launceston airport’s baggage carousel.
Close contacts on board the man’s flight and people who checked in to the venues he visited around the same time have been contacted by Tasmanian public health services.
Two other confirmed cases are linked to an early Wednesday morning Qantas flight from Sydney, one of the first planes to land after the border reopened.
Another person who was confirmed positive on Friday flew from Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon.
Updated
ACT records 18 new cases of Covid-19
There are three people in hospital but nobody in intensive care or on ventilators. 98.3% of ACT residents aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated.
Updated
More from Morrison on our Covid response – I can’t hear the questions but I presume they are touching on NSW’s record case numbers:
Living with the virus under the national plan is not about case numbers ... I’m not going to alarm people on case numbers. What matters is hospitalisation, ICU, people on ventilators and severe illness. That’s what matters ... We’re past the time where we just talk about case numbers.
We planned to live with the virus, we didn’t plan to live shut in.
Updated
Back to the PM in Hobart (sorry to give you all press-conference whiplash). He’s talking about our Covid response.
“Australia is not the UK, it’s not North America,” Scott Morrison says. He’s emphasising that policy settings “have to protect lives and livelihoods”:
You don’t jump at shadows, you wait for the best information ... Australia can’t go back. We have to go forward. We have to live with this virus. We have to live with it safely.
The $500,000 from the state government will be rolled together with the money from Smith’s GoFundMe – more than $1m has been raised there so far – and Rockcliff says people who want to help the Devonport community should direct donations to that newly established community public fund.
Updated
ABC News has just cut to the mayor of Devonport, Annette Rockcliff, who is speaking live now, with Zoe Smith, the woman who established the GoFundMe page that was gathering donations for the Hillcrest primary school community yesterday.
I just want to announce this morning that council, together with [the] state government, and with Zoe as well, have launched the Hillcrest community public fund. This fund will help the families directly, the directly affected families, as well as the whole Hillcrest community.
It’s been set up by the state government and my state will support it. It will support the families, it will go directly to those families and that community. It will be overseen by a group of people, including Zoe Smith here, the principal of the school, myself, a representative from MyState, and Craig Limkin, who works for the premier.
Updated
The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, is speaking now, thanking Morrison for his support after the Devonport tragedy and the offers of support from state leaders around the country. He says the financial contribution from the federal government is building on a financial support package that his state government announced yesterday:
We’ve put in place the Regional Social Recovery Committee under our State Emergency Management Act to deal with matters like this, and that committee has already met. It has members including the Devonport City Council, and others from across our departments.
And one of the recommendations from that committee was that the government should immediately make a first-stage ... $500,000 to support counselling and other supports in the community.
Updated
Morrison is announcing a financial support package for the community after the jumping castle tragedy.
We are providing $800,000 to support the families and communities affected in counselling support, $250,000 for first responders, $550,000 for the broader community. This will be paid to Tasmania’s Primary Health Network. It will be provided over an 18-month period, because we know support won’t just be needed in the next few weeks, it will be needed for many, many, many months, to try and begin that process of healing.
There’s additional trauma counselling in the $250,000 for those involved, and training for those services in trauma, of informed care and psychological first aid to assist in recovery. The $550,000 includes $200,000 for additional trauma counselling in the community. There’s $200,000 for the local Headspace trauma care and training, and expanded supports for young people.
There’s $100,000 to support return-of-school in 2022, including training and counselling for teachers and staff, and $50,000 in community mental health and wellbeing grants to support the community.
Updated
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is speaking in Hobart now about the Big Ship (that’s the RSV Nuyina). He’s acknowledged, though, that the timing is not great, given the tragedy at Hillcrest Primary in Devonport this week:
I’m very pleased to be here in Hobart today for this very important event ... But, sadly, the events of the last few days mean it’s a terribly, terribly awful time for Tasmanians. And, on behalf of Jenny and I, and all Australians, I want to extend our deepest sympathies to the five families in particular who have lost those precious young ones, and we think also of the families of the three who are still in a terribly critical condition. We think of the entire community that is just heaving with sorrow.
As I said yesterday, there are no words, only prayers, for our fellow Australians in Tasmania, and for the community that will carry this burden. And it will be a heavy burden. It will weigh them down. But I want to say to them, whether they’re the first responders, the teachers, the friends, the family, the P&C at Hillcrest – the whole community – that Australia is one with them. And we grieve with them and we mourn with them, and we want to do everything we possibly can to help them through this terrible, terrible, unthinkable, unimaginable tragedy.
Updated
The Queensland chief health officer, Dr John Gerrard, has just been speaking about the latest case numbers:
We expect the Omicron strain to become dominant in Queensland in the coming weeks. In addition, I can say that there have been some cases in the healthcare setting. Because we are aware that the virus is widespread, it is inevitable that people in the healthcare setting will develop infection, and that is going to happen more and more in the coming weeks and months.
So, there are a number of venues, healthcare venues across the state, where there have been either staff or visitors with Covid-19 in them. These include: the North West Private Hospital in Brisbane, Toowoomba Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital, BlueCare Homefield Residential Aged Care Facility in Mackay, and at least one general practice in Brisbane. This will continue to occur in the coming weeks and months.
Updated
Queensland records 31 new cases of Covid-19, taking its Omicron total to 12
Queensland health authorities are providing an update now: eight of the cases are contacts of known cases. Five are linked to interstate travel. One case caught the virus in Queensland community.
Updated
Queensland sports administrators Tracy Stockwell and Rebecca Frizelle will join the organising committee for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympic Games, AAP reports.
Sport minister Richard Colbeck and special envoy for the Games Ted O’Brien have also been nominated by the federal government to be on the organising committee.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said both women will bring years of experience and understand what’s needed behind the scenes to create success on the field and in the pool.
“The Brisbane Olympics Games in 2032 will showcase the best of Queensland, providing our athletes with the ability to thrive on the world stage on home soil,” he said on Saturday.
“But it will also provide economic opportunities for many and create a legacy for generations of young sporting Aussies, so we must get it right.”
A successful US Olympian before settling in Australia, Stockwell is vice president of Swimming Australia and a member of the Committee for Brisbane Advisory Council. She is also a founding member and past president of Womensport Queensland.
Frizelle was appointed to the board of the Gold Coast Titans NRL club in 2014, going on to be appointed the first female chair in the NRL. She is a director of Paralympics Australia and a member of the Griffith University Council.
The Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements Bill 2021 passed the Queensland parliament earlier this month and provides for the organising committee to be established.
Others already selected for positions include Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, AOC chief executive Matt Carroll, Paralympics Australia president Jock O’Callaghan and athlete representatives Bronte Barratt and Kurt Fearnley.
This is a really interesting graph, illustrating daily case numbers in New South Wales against the number of people in hospital.
Here is a chart comparing daily cases to people in hospital in NSW.
— CovidBaseAU 🦠📊🇦🇺 (@covidbaseau) December 17, 2021
There is no time shift depicted here, however through Jun-Oct wave the two seemed to follow each other quite reliably. pic.twitter.com/kd389Gj6JL
The National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) spending on private law firms to battle participants appealing its decisions rose 30% last financial year, new figures show.
Data released under freedom of information laws shows the agency paid about $17.3m in 2020-21 to firms representing the agency in “external matters” such as legal challenges at the administrative appeals tribunal.
The figure is an increase from $13.4m the previous financial year, the data shows.
It underlines how the rapidly increasing number of national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) participants challenging decisions to cut or deny them support can create a windfall for law firms paid by the taxpayer.
While spending on fees to law firms has increased, community law centres funded to represent people with disability have told Guardian Australia they are at capacity and struggling to take on new clients.
Read the full story here:
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Here’s a picture of the big ship from back in October, when it first arrived in Hobart.
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In 2010, an Indian mining company bought some tenements over a giant and untapped coal basin in the west of Queensland.
That purchase, by the conglomerate Adani Group, kickstarted one of the most controversial and politically divisive resource projects in Australia’s history – the Carmichael coalmine and rail project.
Before the year is out, and about eight years behind schedule, Adani says it will finally export its first coal, destined to be burned in a power station.
The moment will be celebrated as a victory by its supporters, including many regional Queensland MPs and senators and conservative commentators.
But for its opponents, including climate change activists and some traditional owners, the Carmichael project always meant danger and it became the focus of a campaign with an uncompromising two-word slogan: Stop Adani.
So as the first coal waits to wind its way through the Great Barrier Reef’s shipping channels, what now for that campaign?
Read more from Graham Readfearn and Ben Smee:
The environment minister, Sussan Ley, is at the launch of Antarctic research ship the RSV Nuyina. The ship is heading off to Antarctica on Monday. Ley made some comments on ABC TV just now, saying the ship – which cost $1.9bn – is:
... the most advanced polar research platform in the world, giving scientists the ability to study the ocean depths, the sea ice, and the upper atmosphere for climate science.
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NSW Covid numbers the worst of any Australian state since pandemic began
Today’s Covid figure in New South Wales is the highest daily total of any state in Australia since the pandemic began.
Victoria recorded 2,297 cases on 14 October, which was at the time the grim national record. Today’s 2,482 cases in NSW also exceeds the state’s own previous peak – the 2,213 cases recorded only yesterday.
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The chainsaws outside my window have now been replaced by leaf blowers. Who authorised this?!
Ahead of the prime minister’s appearance in Tasmania today, I highly recommend reading Katharine Murphy’s latest analysis of Morrison’s strategy so far in the lead-up to next year’s election:
When he’s not trialling new made-for-TV grabs (a new “shake and bake” analogy, which I think was invoked first in relation to emissions reduction, and now has morphed into something broadly economy adjacent, or “jabs and jobs” which was Friday’s innovation), the prime minister has taken to listing things.
Morrison’s current list includes saving lives during the pandemic. Shoring up the health system “with more than $33bn from the federal government in additional investment”. Saving livelihoods with “the single largest economic rescue package in our history”. Presiding over economic recovery after the waves of the pandemic – “more than 350,000 jobs created in a five-week period after the lockdowns were lifted, and through the crisis, we have maintained that AAA credit rating”.
At the risk of stating the obvious, prime ministers don’t have to list their achievements if they are confident voters have already logged them.
Updated
Victoria records 1,504 new Covid-19 cases
Seven people have died in Victoria with Covid-19 since yesterday.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) December 17, 2021
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAtS1P#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/RlHnMcqdlX
Updated
New South Wales records its highest daily total with 2,482 new cases of Covid-19
One person has died and 26 people are in intensive care.
NSW COVID-19 update – Saturday 18 December 2021
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 17, 2021
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 94.9% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 93.3% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/HIr5CV8wJw
Updated
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is in Tasmania today. He’ll be attending the launch of the RSV Nuyina in Hobart this morning. The RSV Nuyina is a great big ship – an Antarctic icebreaker, to be precise.
Morrison is also understood to be heading to Devonport later today.
Updated
It’s also going to be hot and gusty in New South Wales today, with fire warnings for southern and northern Riverina areas.
🌡️It's going to be a warm to hot day with max temperatures 5-10C above average for most. Chance of a (gusty) thunderstorm over majority of NSW and a #Fire Weather Warning for Southern and Northern #Riverina fire areas.
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 17, 2021
⚠️#Warnings: https://t.co/f1oOTtxaix@NSWHealth @NSWSES pic.twitter.com/SZyDZNhAZp
Updated
My colleague Nino Bucci has been covering this fascinating case in the NSW supreme court over the last few weeks:
Sydney man Raymond McClure was as wealthy as he was lonely. But in the final months of his life he became closer with his GP, Dr Peter Alexakis, the court heard.
Alexakis spoke fluent greek like McClure and was the only person who regularly visited the 83-year-old in hospital. And because McClure was suspicious about other medical professionals and lawyers, he became increasingly reliant on Alexakis for more than just social interaction, Alexakis said.
The extent of this reliance, and whether it unduly influenced McClure’s decision to leave 90% of his $30m estate to Alexakis, is central to the court case over the will.
Updated
It’s going to be a hot and windy day in Victoria today. Stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, water your plants early, make sure your bird baths are full.
A warm night across western/central #Victoria; down to 19.7C in #Melbourne with most of the night sitting >22C.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) December 17, 2021
Top of 33C in the city today ahead of an early arvo cool change.
Otherwise a hot and windy day across #Victoria! 🥵🌡️💨#VicWeather
Details: https://t.co/bPtDwRu8YV pic.twitter.com/GuE86OtVS4
Shout out to the two gardeners doing some hedge maintenance outside my window this morning, love a good double-chainsaw grind at 8.15am on a Saturday.
New South Wales health officials are considering breaking with commonwealth advice by shortening the Covid vaccine booster interval to four months, amid concern about spread of the Omicron variant.
Guardian Australia understands that NSW health department officials were meeting with vaccine providers in the state on Friday and canvassing the prospect of how they would cope with an influx of people eager to be vaccinated ahead of schedule.
A source familiar with the vaccine rollout in NSW told Guardian Australia health authorities in the state were concerned about record transmission levels this week as well as a potential waning of protection, given that a large number of people in the state received AstraZeneca.
Read the exclusive story here:
Good morning, I’m Stephanie Convery with you on this, the last Saturday before Christmas (DON’T PANIC).
It has been a helluva week, and yesterday we capped it off with a huge rise in Covid-19 cases in New South Wales and Victoria, jumps in Queensland and South Australia too, plus a fair bit of general anxiety about what the surge might mean and how much case numbers might grow.
The rises came as Covid-19 testing sites came under strain ahead of the busy Christmas period.
Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory went into lockdown after four Covid cases were found there.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced yesterday that mask mandates would be returned to retail settings over Christmas and the New Year while Western Australia announced it would tighten travel rules for arrivals from Queensland and Tasmania arrivals.
NSW and Victoria scrapped their three-day isolation requirements for international arrivals. (They will now need to get a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival and isolate until they get a negative result.) Australia also passed a vaccination milestone: 90% of over-16s are now double-dosed.
Australia’s chief medical officer moved to reassure people that the vaccine is still effective against severe disease, urging those who are eligible to get their booster shot.
Still, it remains to be seen how much havoc Omicron will wreak on our Christmas holidays. We’ll bring you all the Covid news of the day as it comes our way.
We also learnt the names of the five children who died in the awful jumping castle incident in Tasmania.
The Tasmanian education department announced a ban on the use of jumping castles at all state schools late on Friday. Schools were told the ban on “all jumping castles and inflatable amusement equipment” would be imposed indefinitely.
All right, someone bring me a coffee, please! Let’s get stuck in.
