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The Guardian - AU
National
Michael McGowan (now) and Mostafa Rachwani,Christopher Knaus and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

Press freedom inquiry report released; PM labels India a ‘dangerous place’ – as it happened

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Chair of the Senate committee into press freedom Sarah Hanson-Young. Committee finds laws to protect public interest journalism should be strengthened. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

What we learned, Wednesday 19 May

That’s where I will leave you for tonight. Here’s what we learned today:

Updated

More than 1.5m Covid-19 vaccines – one in every four distributed – are sitting unused in clinics across the country, prompting calls for a “major campaign” to tackle vaccine hesitancy and revive the country’s immunisation program.

Chief political correspondent Sarah Martin on the urgent calls for a national campaign aimed at boosting the vaccine take-up rate after a new survey found about 30% of Australians were unlikely to get a vaccine.

Here’s something I prepared earlier. Lawyers for Christian Porter were back in court today, this time seeking Facebook messages of a friend of the woman who alleged he raped her three decades ago – which he strenuously denies.

The woman, Jo Dyer, is attempting to stop Porter’s high-profile barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, acting for him in his defamation case against the ABC on the basis of what she says is a conflict of interest.

The court heard today it would be a “very, very big deal” if the defamation specialist was blocked from representing the former attorney general.

Updated

That’s all from Penny Wong. While we’re on the subject though, if you’re a little bit behind on this latest outbreak of hostilities in the never, ever, ever ending energy wars, our environment editor Adam Morton has this handy explainer on what the government is proposing and why.

Wong is then asked about the unfolding squabble over the government’s proposal for a new $600m taxpayer-funded gas plant in the Hunter Valley.

As we have reported today, the former shadow resources minister and Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon has endorsed the proposal, while shadow climate change minister Chris Bowen has called for the government to release the business case for the proposal, calling it “a cynical attempt to pick a fight on gas and continue the climate wars”.

Wong says she isn’t surprised Fitzgibbon (and his Hunter Labor colleague and right-faction ally Meryl Swanson) are advocating for the proposal, saying: “I don’t think there is an MP around that is not going to advocate for local jobs.”

But, she calls the proposal a “a failure of policy from this government”.

This is taxpayers’ money being thrown after projects which will produce expensive power because this government will not give the private sector certainty to invest and so [has] to step in with taxpayer funds. That is a demonstration of a failure of policy.

But, she’s asked, isn’t this evidence of more splits within Labor on energy policy?

Maybe unsurprisingly, Wong doesn’t agree, saying she “understands” why her Hunter colleagues are pushing for the proposal.

The AGL gas power station at Torrens Island in Adelaide.
The AGL gas power station at Torrens Island in Adelaide. Photograph: Kelly Barnes/AAP

Updated

Wong is also asked whether Israel has been “disproportionate” in its use of force in Gaza City.

She says Israel “does have a right to defend itself and the Palestinians have a right to live in peace”. The escalation of violence “on all sides” is “deeply distressing”.

But is it disproportionate?

I think it is much better, rather than getting into who is less right [or] wrong in a situation where we are seeing so much loss of life, for us to be putting our shoulder to the wheel in diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire. No one can be but moved by seeing the images that we are all seeing and our focus should be, as both, I said a friend of Israel and we are a friend of the Palestinians.

Updated

Good afternoon.

Let’s stay with Labor’s Senate leader and foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong, who is speaking about Australia’s relationship with China on the ABC.

She’s said the suggestion by the prime minister Scott Morrison today that Beijing’s trade sanctions are “diplomatic atmospherics” – i.e. theatre – is “wrong”, and says some of China’s behaviour amounts to “coercive behaviour”.

It is true that many of our industries have been lucky enough to fine other markets and that is a great thing. There are some industries which haven’t. That has effected jobs and particularly regional – parts of the regional economy. So I am not sure it is good to dismiss it as theatrics. I think it is a strategy by China and we have to have our own strategy in response which should include diversification of our export markets. We remain the most China dependent economy in the world in terms of our exports.

Wong also says Australia is entering “a very different position” in terms of our ability to balance our relationships with the US and China during a period of “strategic competition” between the two powers.

We have Australia rightfully asserting its interests and where those interests have differed from China’s, that has led to disagreement. So we are in a very different phase in Australian foreign policy and we need to be calm, confident and consistent in our behaviour. We need to focus on what it is that we need to do, to manage this situation. I talk about some of the possibilities in the speech and what we also need to do is to make sure that we don’t engage in domestic politics around what is a very great challenge in Australian foreign policy at this time.

Updated

And with that I will leave the blog in the expert hands of Michael McGowan, thanks for reading.

Speaking at a book launch earlier today, shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has called the debate around China “frenzied, afraid and lacking context”.

Labor’s Senate leader said Australia’s relationship with China is in an “increasingly difficult environment”:

[We] need to be clear about what we have to do, together, as a country – as a people – to navigate our way through.

Too much of the discussion on China is frenzied, afraid and lacking context.

This has been made so much worse by a prime minister who is only interested in any issue to the extent it offers him political value.

My concern is that not only does he not fully comprehend Australia’s interests in relation to China, he doesn’t even seek to. As with everything else he does, he only seeks to understand his political opportunity.

Shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong.
Shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP

Updated

Press freedom report recommends stronger laws to protect public interest journalism

Laws to protect public interest journalism should be strengthened and a culture of transparency should be promoted, a senate committee into press freedom has recommended.

The press freedom report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, has recommended improving the freedom of information laws and amending the criminal code to reverse the onus on journalists to prove their stories are in the public interest, among a raft of other recommendations.

Chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the inquiry was established in 2019 after the Australian federal police raided the home of a News Corp reporter seeking information about the publication of classified material, shortly followed by a raid on the ABC headquarters over reporting of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

National and international outrage followed the raids, which were seen as an attack on press freedom.

Updated

Now, in possibly the most astronomical news of the day, Australia is assembling a “space division”.

(Not a space force, a space division.)

The space division will be made up of military officers from the army, navy and air force and will work to “protect satellites” from attack, and will be established within the Royal Australian Air Force headquarters in Canberra next year.

Chief of air force Mel Hupfeld said that it was essential Australia was guaranteed access to the “contested domain” of space, but with a caveat:

However this does not mean that defence encourages the militarisation of space.

All space operations are conducted consistent with international and domestic legal obligations.

So, apparently there will be no official Star Wars. I am unsure how I feel about it.

Nonetheless, defence will be investing $7bn in space capabilities in the next ten years.

It doesn’t appear we will get a flashy name like the US’s Space Force (which is not a syndicated midday sci-fi soap opera, I’m told) and we certainly won’t be calling our space division officers (?) “Guardians”.

All in all, a missed opportunity in my mind. Why can’t we have Space Bushrangers?

Updated

So, just going back to the AAT and the national cabinet, the prime minister and cabinet’s counsel has just made a very interesting contribution:

Rex Patrick himself then weighed in on Twitter:

Updated

The AAP is reporting that a NSW central west hospital has been unable to staff its maternity ward for almost two years due to staffing issues:

A NSW central west hospital which cost the government more than $70 million has been unable to staff its maternity ward for almost two years due to staffing issues, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.

The new Parkes Hospital was completed in late 2015 at a cost of $72.8 million and was designed to accommodate birthing suits and maternity needs.

But a NSW parliamentary inquiry into regional healthcare on Wednesday heard the hospital’s maternity units have been left empty since June 2019.

Expectant mothers must instead travel to nearby Dubbo or Orange.

Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith said this was because a long-standing local doctor retired in mid-2019 and was never successfully replaced, while a midwife-led model at the hospital never materialised.

He also said the hospital’s two operating theatres are under-utilised, with both theatres sitting empty at least three days each week.

“This is not acceptable in a town with a population of 12,000 people and a shire population of 15,000 people,” Cr Keith said at the Dubbo hearing.

Parkes-based general practitioner Kerrie Stewart said there were at most eight full-time doctors in the town for 12,000 people.

The doctor shortage was so severe that standard general practitioner appointments in Parkes were often made a month in advance, while patients with pressing needs were often sent to the hospital.

Three of Parkes’ doctors are also on the cusp of retirement.

“Doctors are working weekends and extra days to provide COVID and flu clinics, often these clinics are also putting out fires, providing emergency scripts, referrals, organising medical appointments,” Dr Stewart said.

“(We) don’t have that critical mass of GPs.

“You feel torn because you would love to open the doors and let everybody come in, but that’s not possible ... I can appreciate the patients’ absolute frustration and anger and disappointment.”

Cr Keith said Parkes Hospital was currently too understaffed to perform colonoscopies and on one occasion sent a man with a dislocated shoulder to Orange because an anaesthetist was not available.

He said Parkes Shire Council had in the past resorted to fundraising and hosting charity events to raise the money required to recruit GPs.

On Tuesday, a woman told the inquiry in Wellington that her mother died at Gulgong Multi-Purpose Service in September without a doctor present.

Hayley Olivares’ mother Dawn Trevitt, a 66-year-old Gulgong teacher, was taken to the facility by ambulance on September 15, 2020.

It took 35 minutes to connect Ms Trevitt with a doctor via Telehealth, by which time she had significantly deteriorated. She died within an hour.

Other patients in the medical centre north of Mudgee were left in the care of a cook while the two nurses on duty assisted Ms Trevitt.

Mrs Olivares was also critical of a NSW Health review into her mother’s death, saying it was not independent and arrived at flawed conclusions.

The report found an attending doctor would not have saved Ms Trevitt’s life.

“I’m not as convinced,” Mrs Olivares said.

Warrumbungle Shire Council deputy mayor Aniello Iannuzzi also said his region’s four hospitals were going without antibiotics and blood supplies.

“Sadly there are times, and the times are too frequent for my liking, where we run out of basic antibiotics to treat basic conditions,” Dr Iannuzzi said.

More than 700 people have made submissions to the inquiry.

NSW Labor health spokesman Ryan Park said in a statement on Wednesday: “The Berejiklian government points to hospital upgrades but bricks and mortar don’t save lives - doctors, nurses and paramedics do.”

So Hunt is asked a couple of times about vaccine hesitancy, especially in light of reports out this morning on the slow uptake of vaccines.

Hunt gave some long-winded answers, but essentially said that:

  • The slow uptake is a consequence of a slow ramp up in terms of the rollout itself (which is kind of ironic when you think about it, but fine).
  • The biggest source of confidence among Australians will be other Australians taking the vaccine:

The single biggest source of confidence any Australian can have looking at their friends and family, their mum and dad, their grandma and grandpa being vaccinated. The fact that we’re seeing that take up I think is extremely important.

Hunt also mentioned that advertising will “play a role” and referred to a “next wave of advertising” that will apparently include fact sheets in over 60 languages.

Updated

Australia passes 90,000 vaccinations a day

Health minister Greg Hunt is up now, giving his usual vaccine updates, this time from Brisbane.

Amid proclaiming we have the “best health system in the world” and the “best support system”, Hunt said we have passed 90,000 vaccinations a day.

In fact, 95,530 vaccinations, a record by 10,000 vaccines in a day. So that ramp up is really taking form. Our general practices and the commonwealth have delivered over 60,000 of the vaccines.

Our states have delivered 35,000 vaccinations, and all up we’re now at 3.278m vaccinations in the Australian rollout, and those numbers are increasing by record amounts.

I think that’s very important and heartening.

Technicians prepare Pfizer vaccines at the mass Covid-19 vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park.
Technicians prepare Pfizer vaccines at the mass Covid-19 vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park. Photograph: James Gourley/AP

Updated

Liberal MP Tim Wilson has come out and defended the government’s repatriation policy, saying the Coalition has “done things”.

Speaking to Sky News earlier today, Wilson said that the government is “working on it, and there needs to continue to be work done”, when it came to repatriating stranded Australians from India.

I’ve supported measures the government has taken, we’ve done things and there is more to be done.

We’ve been making sure repatriation flights are available. We’ve expanded the use of quarantine facilities, all of these measures are all critically important to get Australians home.

And we’ve done them in the past and we’ll continue to do them because Australians overseas should be able to return home if they are able to.

Five charter flights have been organised to return home some of the stranded Australian citizens.

Updated

The AAT has returned to the department of prime minister and cabinet’s case after hearing Rex Patrick’s submissions about the status of national cabinet this morning.

Justice White has started the afternoon session with a challenge to the department: where in the evidence is there proof that it was a decision of the prime minister to set up the national cabinet?

Counsel for the department, Andrew Berger, said:

It was established by agreement of the prime minister, premiers and chief ministers. Although it was a collective decision to establish it, the power or authority stemmed from the prime minister. If the PM hadn’t have agreed, it couldn’t have been established.

Berger said it is “beside the point” whether Scott Morrison set it up individually or collectively in consultation with others.

Earlier, justice White asked whether the affidavit of Phil Gaetjens, the departmental secretary, states whether he was present at the Council of Australian Governments meeting setting up national cabinet.

The answer was: no, it doesn’t say.

Updated

So, sticking with economics for a bit, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has announced that the seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.6% in March quarter 2021, with the annual growth rate at 1.5%.

Head of prices statistics at the ABS, Michelle Marquardt, welcomed the rise and said it was based in regularly scheduled increases:

March quarter 2021’s moderate growth was influenced by regularly scheduled increases. Improved business conditions saw employers revisit wage reviews postponed during the height of the pandemic.

The phased approach to the delivery of award increases saw jobs in the accommodation and food services, retail trade, arts and recreation, aviation and tourism industries receive rises previously recorded in September quarters.

Updated

Good afternoon everyone, and a quick thanks to Christopher and Matilda for their excellent work today. I will be taking the blog through the afternoon’s news, so let’s get stuck in.

And with that, I’ll hand you over to my excellent colleague, Mostafa Rachwani, who will keep you across the afternoon’s news.

The audit office is examining Australia’s travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. It wants to hear from you.

I suspect there will be no shortage of contributions...

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has finished his speech at the press club.

One interesting aspect of his speech: he expressed support for land tax reforms to shift away from stamp duty, which is regarded by economists as an inefficient and prohibitive tax, toward land tax.

This is a state and territory responsibility and the Australian Capital Territory government has moved on this reform already and is gradually shifting away from stamp duty while bumping up rates.

I think there is something in the stamp duty land tax swap out. I have said that repeatedly for some time. And I think that Andrew [Barr, ACT chief minister], in moving before the other states and territories, showed a lot of admirable courage in going down that path. And so I think it has been a really good idea. I text him sometimes when my land tax bill comes in from the place I’ve got around the corner here. But I think it’s been a really good idea, well implemented in the ACT and I tip my lid to him for that.

Chalmers’ position has received support from National Shelter, a leading homelessness group.

Updated

The Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the commonwealth has all the detail it needs about the proposed quarantine facility near Toowoomba, which has received a lukewarm response so far from Scott Morrison.

Morrison said earlier this week that Queensland had withheld vital details about the proposed operation of the Toowoomba quarantine hub.

Palaszczuk rejected that on Wednesday, saying the state and federal governments had been in close contact about the proposal.

There has been a lot of communication that has been happening between the departments on an ongoing basis. He does have a lot of detail and his department may not be briefing him about the extent of the communication that’s been happening.

Updated

Interestingly, Chalmers says Labor is not interested in changing the corporate tax rate.

We’re not interested in the corporate tax rate.

But he does say the party is exploring options to strengthen the tax treatment of multinationals.

And, you know, we think there are opportunities to tax multinationals more fairly. We hope to have more to say about that.

Updated

Chalmers says he wants the commonwealth to fund more dedicated, purpose-built quarantine facilities, including in Queensland, where the state government is advocating for a facility at Wellcamp airport, near Toowoomba, which would be built by the Wagner family.

The federal government has a role to play in quarantine. One of the problems we have with this prime minister is he never takes responsibility. Quarantine is a commonwealth responsibility. There is clearly an issue here. Hotels were built for tourism, not for quarantine. There’s a role here to build facilities. We want to see genuine partnerships between the states and the commonwealth when it comes to these partnerships. What happened in Queensland was somebody had an idea, which should have been examined, taken more seriously and examined more seriously. And if the details didn’t stack up then don’t do it but have a better idea. But the commonwealth has a role to play here.

Updated

Chalmers 'incredibly concerned' about Australia's deteriorating relationship with China

Back to Jim Chalmers, shadow treasurer, at the National Press Club. He’s asked whether he’s concerned about the impact of our deteriorating relationship with China on trade.

He says he’s “incredibly concerned”.

When you spend as much time in the business community as I do, you have a handful of things raised every time. Energy policy is one, the relationship with China is another. And there are costs and consequences for our exporters and for all the people that they employ including out of the state that you write for in getting this wrong. I would commend everyone here to a really thoughtful speech that Penny Wong delivered around the corner a couple of hours ago about our relationship with China. Picking up on a lot of the issues that have been raised by the business community with Penny and with all of us over the last few years.

Our critique of the government in this regard is that they have failed to plan for a more assertive China. Nobody’s pretending away the fact that China has become more assertive and our concern is that we’re not responding. We don’t have a plan to deal with that. This is obviously an incredibly complex, difficult, evolving relationship, and what it requires is calm, considered, purposeful, that is right and thoughtful leadership, and even the prime minister’s friends don’t describe him in those terms but that’s how we think of Penny Wong. So the difference between us and the government when it comes to managing a more assertive China is going about it in a more calm, and considered and purposeful and way, and I’d encourage you to check out Penny’s speech in that regard.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers at the National Press Club in Canberra, Wednesday, 19 May 2021.
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers at the National Press Club in Canberra, Wednesday, 19 May 2021. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

So, the prime minister Scott Morrison spoke with Newcastle radio earlier this morning.

A transcript has just been released and, honestly, I give up.

Just have a read of this exchange, which, mercifully, brought the interview to a close.

Host 1:

Now, prime minister, you copped a bit of flak for the red carpet treatment you received when you were in the Hunter just the other week. But you must feel pretty special because even your Sharkies didn’t receive the red carpet treatment when they won the grand final in 2016.

Morrison:

Well, we, we have nothing to do with that. I mean, I just walk out of the plane and whatever’s there’s there. I mean, some suggestion that, by those who sort of seized on this, I mean, I have nothing to do with what the Defence Forces do when you get out of the plane. That was nice of them to receive. It wasn’t the first time that’s happened.

Host 1:

No. We’re on radio, it’s theatre of the mind. That’s, that’s the sound effect of rolling out a red carpet. So we’ve done it again for you this morning.

Morrison:

Well, I’m more grateful for the service of our Defence Force personnel, personally.

Host 2:

Hear hear.

Morrison:

I’d be rolling out a red carpet for them, if it was my, it was my decision.

Updated

The first question to Chalmers, from Laura Tingle: will a Labor government intervene in wage cases to try and drive up real wage growth.

Chalmers says such interventions are only part of the solution.

In terms of intervening in wages cases, that’s an important story, particularly in minimum wage cases. We need to attack the stagnant wages on a number of different fronts. Wage cases have a role to play, clearly getting the unemployment rate closer to full employment will put some pressure on wages, but we need to deal with underemployment and we need to deal with those structural issues as well. I think one of the reasons why this government over the last eight long years of being in office has failed on wages is because they haven’t looked right across the board at what might be done.

The second question comes from Phil Coorey, of the Australian Financial Review. He asks how a Labor government would tackle debt and deficit, and whether he can rule out tax increases.

He echoes comments by economist Ken Henry and Steven Kennedy, treasury secretary, that the next government, regardless of its politics, will need to focus on budget repair.

And I think the conversation is rightly focused on three ways you can go about that – grow the economy, spending restraint or spending cuts and changes to the tax system. And if you take those in turn. In terms of growing the economy fast enough to make debt a shrinking proportion of the economy, well, the government’s own budget papers says we’ll go back to below trend growth. So they’re failing on that measure. When it comes to spending restraint we think we can spend more effectively. Katie and I think we can wind back some of this rorts and waste and mismanagement that characterises the budget, the 21 slush funds and all the rest of it. We think there is opportunity for more restraint in those areas. And there will be opportunities for a government of either persuasion to reform the tax system. You know, clearly when you look at international developments on multinational tax and the leadership shown by president Biden, Andrew and I, Katie and the team obviously we follow those developments very closely, and there might be opportunities to make the tax system fairer as well.

Updated

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers is wrapping up his speech. He says he’s never seen a budget spend so much and deliver so little.

In all those years I’ve never seen a budget spend so much for so little effect.

You could feel the room absorb the detail and think to itself – is that it?

Is that the limit of our national ambitions, is this the extent of our national imagination?

Is this all Australia can aspire to: low wages, insecure work, continuing inequality and a generation of debt?

Last year showed us how rapidly and unpredictably and dramatically the world can change.

But it also gave us a glimpse of how quickly we can change, how fast we can adapt to a new normal and make it work for us.

How responsive and creative and flexible and innovative our workplaces and schools and communities can be.

What a tragedy it would be if a glimpse was all we got.

Updated

The Rule of Law Education Centre is running an event titled the Presumption of Guilt, a conference that promises to “examine recent challenges to this doctrine and the threat this poses to the Australian concept of a ‘fair go’”.

The centre has billed Christian Porter, the industry and science minister, as one of the guest speakers.

That would be quite a get for the conference – both because of Porter’s experience as the former attorney general and his personal circumstances.

Porter has been accused of sexually assaulting a 16 year old when he was 17 in 1988. He emphatically denies the allegation, and is suing the ABC for the article first revealing the claims against an unnamed cabinet minister.

But a spokesman for Porter told Guardian Australia that Porter “hadn’t actually accepted” an invitation and will not speak at the event. Asked why he had been advertised as speaking, the spokesman replied that organisers may have been “getting ahead of themselves”.

Guardian Australia has contacted the Rule of Law Education Centre for response.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said Porter is entitled to the presumption of innocence, because NSW police closed their investigation when the alleged victim withdrew from it before taking her life. Porter is an “innocent man under our law”, Morrison has said.

Reflections on the presumption of innocence will be left to the other guest speakers. According to the centre, they are Ron Hoenig MP, Margaret Cunneen SC, Malcolm Stewart and Chris Merritt.

Updated

He warns that if the Coalition return to office after the government, they will cut services and support to secure “fiscal repair”. That, he says, should send a shiver down the spine of Australians.

The other phrase [in the budget] that should send a shiver down the spine of Australians is that the government will turn to fiscal repair when ‘the economic recovery is secure’.

There’s no economic metric attached to this – because the calculation is purely a political one – when the election is secure.

For the Liberals, budget repair is always code for harsh cuts to services and support and that’s why the treasurer refused to rule them out.

If the Liberals win the next election, the first budget of their fourth term will be 2014 all over again.

Updated

Budget 'borrows big and spends big – but thinks small', says Chalmers

Chalmers describes the budget as a “budget that borrows big and spends big – but thinks small”.

That deficit of vision has reduced this budget to a $100bn missed opportunity. A budget that borrows big and spends big – but thinks small. A budget that delivers generational debt – without a generational dividend. A trillion dollars in debt and growing deficits as far as the eye can see – but barely anything else designed to survive much beyond the election.

Short-sighted cuts – to universities and infrastructure. And a series of unconvincing and ineffective patch-up jobs that do little to disguise eight years of attack and neglect.

He says the supposed focus on women in the budget was a “shopping list” of commitments that does little to improve wages or women’s participation.


Child care changes that the budget declares won’t work, out of the gate. Forecasting a decline in workforce participation over the next two years.

And then the hastily revived ‘Women’s Budget Statement’. No meaningful attempt to boost wages, increase participation or properly fund services ... just a shopping list of as many commitments with ‘women’ in the title as the government could find.

Updated

Jim Chalmers, the shadow treasurer, is speaking at the National Press Club, giving his response to the federal budget released last Tuesday. As Amy Remeikis says, that now feels like an eternity ago.

Chalmers is saying Labor welcomes signs of the economic recovery. But he slams the government’s “incompetence” on the vaccine rollout, which he says is “holding Australia’s recovery hostage”.

Last week’s budget put forward no resources for new national quarantine facilities. And created wholesale confusion on the vaccine rollout. Sixteen months after Australia recorded its first Covid case, we’re still relying on a combination of hotel quarantine in capital cities and the snap lockdowns of state governments. There’s no long-term or even medium-term security. And less than 12 hours after the budget, the treasurer, the health minister and the prime minister, couldn’t even agree which year Australians would be vaccinated. Without a clear plan and timetable, there’s no relief in sight for Australians stranded overseas. There’s no certainty for businesses in tourism, hospitality, education, and aviation, suffering as a result of being locked away from the world. Australia won’t achieve a first rate recovery with a third rate vaccine rollout and a quarantine strategy run out of the Holiday Inn. If anything, the prime minister’s incompetence on the vaccine rollout is holding Australia’s recovery hostage.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Updated

The poor treatment of gig workers and delivery riders is prompting protests in Sydney today. This, of course, follows yesterday’s critical decision by the Fair Work Commission, which held that a Deliveroo rider was an employee not a contractor.

The treasurer Josh Frydenberg made some interesting comments on Sunrise earlier this morning. The treasurer openly advocated against extended state-wide lockdowns.

He described NSW and premier Gladys Berejiklian’s approach to lockdowns and small outbreaks as the “gold standard”.

The key to maintaining the momentum of our economic recovery is to actually suppress the virus and where there are new outbreaks, to respond proportionally and not have state-wide lockdowns, if they can be avoided.

He said the government made “no apologies” for its border closures, which he said would gradually reopen from the middle of next year.

Updated

Thanks to Matilda Boseley for carrying us through the morning. The ABC is reporting that the NSW government is investigating whether it can set up a second mass vaccination hub in Newcastle.

The state government has achieved significant success with its existing hub, at Homebush in Sydney’s Olympic Park. It’s delivering about 5,000 doses a day.

Health minister Brad Hazzard has reportedly confirmed that a second hub may be established at Newcastle, or in the Newcastle region.

With that I shall depart, leaving the amazing Christopher Knaus in my place to take you through the afternoon.

Just a bit more from that Scott Morrison interview with 2GB earlier today:

The prime minister has brushed off criticism about the red carpet treatment he recently received at an Australian airbase.

Morrison raised eyebrows earlier this month after posting a photo of rolled out red carpet and an honour guard that greeted him at the Williamtown RAAF Base near Newcastle, reports Daniel McCulloch from AAP.

His reception surprised several experts and veterans, who had never seen a ceremonial stair guard for an internal visit to a military base.

We have nothing to do with that, I mean, I just walk out of a plane and whatever is there is there...

I have nothing to do with what the defence forces do when you step out of a plane. So it was nice of them to receive it. It wasn’t the first time that’s happened.

However, such receptions are usually reserved for dignitaries and visiting heads of state, not the prime minister.

Morrison said if it were up to him, he would be rolling out red carpet for members of the Australian Defence Force, not the other way around.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a ceremony to welcome the first, fifth generation F-35 fighter jet to BAE Systems Australia in Williamtown near Newcastle. Monday, February 8, 2021.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a ceremony to welcome the first, fifth generation F-35 fighter jet to BAE Systems Australia in Williamtown near Newcastle. Monday, February 8, 2021. Photograph: Darren Pateman/AAP

Updated

Scott Morrison has denied stoking tensions with China through alarmist rhetoric for domestic political gain, reports AAP.

Labor has accused the prime minister of indulging in political opportunism and endangering Australia’s relationship with China.

Morrison rejected the accusation on Wednesday:

Australians can always rely on the Liberals and the Nationals, the Coalition government, to do what’s right in Australia’s national security interests...

Under a Coalition government, we will always stand up for Australia.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong told the ABC the prime minister was using foreign policy for domestic benefit.

My concern is that not only does he not fully comprehend Australia’s interests in relation to China, he doesn’t even seek to.

It’s always about the domestic political advantage – either in the internal fights within the Liberal party in pandering to the far right, or in seeking to pursue some partisan advantage over the Labor party.

Updated

Shadow energy minister calls on government to release the business case for new gas-fire power plant

Bowen:

Let me be clear – Labor supports a role for gas in firming and peaking, as we move to a more renewable economy. Gas will play a role in our energy generation for the foreseeable future as we build storage and build renewables. But this is not what this proposal is about.

This proposal isn’t justified by the economics, it isn’t justified by the engineering, this is a proposal. Mr Morrison and Mr Taylor must urgently release the business case. If they’re so confident this stacks up, release the business case to the Australian people. Show the Australian people that Aemo is wrong. Show the Australian people why the Grattan Institute is wrong. Show the Australian people why the experts are wrong. If they’re so confident, they’ll release the full moding, the full business case.

I doubt they will. If they do, we’ll be able to see transparently why the government has made this decision. The government has known since 2015 Liddell was going to close. They have fiddled, engaged in stop start policy that stopped the generation of new energy. Energy Australia committed to a new gas hydrogen plant with just $5m of commonwealth support. If the Kurri Kurri plant stacks up why does it need $600m?

Shadow minister for climate change Chris Bowen.
Shadow minister for climate change Chris Bowen. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

In case you were wondering what Labor’s response to this new gas-fire power plant was, here is what shadow energy minister Chris Bowen said this morning:

The decision by the Morrison government to invest taxpayers’ money in a gas-fired power station represents the result of eight years of policy failure. Twenty-two energy policies which have created investment uncertainty. It’s a vote of no confidence from the private sector, which hasn’t been able to invest because this government has got energy policy so wrong.

Mr Morrison wants to spend $600m of taxpayer money on a plant his own experts don’t support. The Energy Market Operator says the new energy to replace Liddell is a fraction of a government’s place. The head of the Energy Security Board says it doesn’t stack up because it’s expensive power ... Even the government’s proponents, the Kurri Kurri proponents admit the plant will be used 2% of the time. Taxpayers forking out for a plant which will work 2% of the time.

The Grattan Institute has called it a bad idea. In light of this overwhelming advice, this looks like a cynical announcement by the government today, which is not backed by its own experts.

Updated

A surfer fatally mauled by a 4.5 metre great white shark off Tuncurry beach on the NSW mid-north coast was desperately warning friends of the danger when he was attacked, reports Tiffanie Turnbull from AAP.

It’s the first confirmed fatal shark attack in Australian waters this year, though it’s believed another man was killed by a shark off South Australia in January.

Emergency Services were called to the beach, just north of Forster, about 11.20am on Tuesday, after the man in his 50s was bitten while surfing.

Superintendent Christopher Schilt told reporters the man spotted the shark before it latched on, leaving him with horrific injuries to his upper thigh.

When the attack occurred the man did actually see the shark and called out to try and warn others...

Very heroically his friends were able to bring him back into shore after he had been attacked.

Despite the efforts of bystanders – which included an off-duty paramedic – the man died on the shore.

NSW Ambulance inspector Joshua Smyth praised the man’s friends who worked with paramedics for 40 minutes to revive him.

They commenced CPR. They gave that patient the best chance that they could get at that time, but [we] were unable to save him.

Surf Lifesaving NSW has closed beaches from Blackhead beach to One Mile beach for at least 24 hours, and the DPI is deploying smart drumlines at Tuncurry beach.

Shark scientists from the NSW Department of Primary Industry have since analysed photos of the bite and determined a white shark about 4.5 metres long is likely responsible for the attack.

Drones have been deployed in the area, as the DPI and police search for the shark responsible.

Updated

Press Council says Herald Sun headline on Pfizer vaccine was not fair or balanced

A sub-headline saying six people that took part in the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial died was not fair or balanced, the Australian Press Council has found, because it could lead readers to believe the vaccine was the cause of death.

The sub-headline was on an article published in the News Ltd publication The Herald Sun on 10 December that carried the headline “Allergy warning over Pfizer Covid vaccine”.

While six people did die during the clinical trial, four had received a placebo shot, which means they received a harmless substance that contained no vaccine. None of the six deaths were due to the vaccine.

The Herald Sun stood by the accuracy of its sub-headline, which it argued was not misleading when read in context with the paragraph immediately below that explained four doses were placebo.

It said the figures reported were contained in a 53-page report to the United States Food and Drug Administration, and that this context was also made clear in the article.

But the Australian Press Council said in the context of a global pandemic, it is especially important for publications to ensure headlines are not misleading even if further context is provided in the story.

The Council accepts that headlines usually refer to only one aspect of a story and the accurate position was established in the first paragraph of the article.

However, the obligation on publishers to take reasonable steps to ensure factual material is not misleading will vary in the circumstances. The Council considers it is higher in the context of reporting on deaths during vaccine trials in a pandemic. By implying in the headline that the deaths were or could have been due to the vaccine, the publication failed to take steps to ensure factual material is not misleading.

The Council also said the misleading potential was compounded by a Facebook post linking to the article, which began: “Six people died during Pfizer’s late-stage trial of the Covid-19 vaccine”, and used a similar headline but did not include a statement in the post itself that the deaths were not due to the vaccine.

Updated

Morrison labels India a “dangerous place” when asked about death of Australian Govind Kant

Scott Morrison has called into Sydney radio 2GB to speak to Ray Hadley about all the things, including the death of Sydney man, Govind Kant who died after contracting Covid in India.

Kant had travelled to India for family reasons in April. He died in a hospital in Delhi.

Morrison says India is a “dangerous place”.

It’s terrible what happened to this relatively young man, and it’s a tragedy...

And when we lose an Australian anywhere, and certainly that happens all around the world when people are in dangerous places, and so I feel for the family, but you know, it’s not a safe place and we’re trying to bring people back safely.

As Sarah Martin reported earlier in the week, people who can afford the rare commercial flights which transit through Doha, won’t have to go through the same stringent testing procedures before they get on their flight – unlike the ‘vulnerable’ Australians who are eligible for repatriation flights.

Some of those commercial flights are going for $10,000 one way – so it is becoming an issue of equality as well.

Updated

NSW records no new local Covid cases

NSW, you beauty! No local Covid for you.

Updated

Angus Taylor has been asked about the whole “Carbon Council saying gas costs more than renewables” thing:

Well, they’re wrong. Our modelling on this is very clear. We’ve seen that if we replace the capacity that’s being lost from Liddell, then we’ll contain prices.

If we don’t, we’ll see prices go up by 20% in the short term and substantially more in the longer term. So it’s clear that a gas generator like this can help to keep prices down* and that is exactly what we want to see, of course.

*Well, after the $600m of taxpayer’s money going into building it, that is.

Updated

OH PLEASE! WON’T ANYONE THINK OF THE SMELTERS!

Angus Taylor:

We are standing here on a site where an aluminium smelter in 2012 was killed by the carbon tax. An aluminium smelter right here was killed by the carbon tax. We’re replacing it with a gas generator. We want to see more of that in this region, in the Hunter Valley, and create those jobs for people across New South Wales and Australia!

Updated

Taylor has been asked about the government’s investments in hydropower:

We saw it in Hazlewood in Victoria. Some of the experts said, you know, what, you don’t need to replace it, we saw the wholesale price double when Hazelwood shut.

So we saw it in South Australia with Northern. So we’re not going to stand-by and see that happen*.

You talk about other technologies. We’re investing, big time, in, of course, Snowy Hydro and Snow which 2 and pump Hydro, it’s very, very important. Much more capacity being add from that than here but the two combined are important and we need balance in the system. When it comes to batteries, we’re seeing batteries put into the grid and that’s a good thing and they can play an important role in frequency control and over time they can provide firming and back-up. But long duration back-up and storage needs gas and Hydro, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.

*But dude, renewables are literally way cheaper than gas? That’s kinda the whole reason you had to build this plant yourself.

Rex Patrick has won a small preliminary battle in the AAT, which has rejected the commonwealth’s attempt not to even produce a national cabinet document until after submissions have been made.

PMC’s counsel Andrew Berger argued to do so would be an “intrusion into confidentiality” so the AAT should first hear submissions, then decide whether it needs to see it.

Justice White responded that the document in dispute is “not a document that is self-evidently a cabinet document” and the assertion that it is, is “yet to be decided”.

After a bit more to-ing and fro-ing, White made a formal ruling along those lines. He said he is “not satisfied” yet based on the material in the affidavits – including PMC secretary Phil Gaetjens – that the documents are exempt because they are cabinet documents. He ordered they be produced, in sealed form to preserve their confidentiality, so he can inspect them.

We’re now on to the substance of the case. Geoffrey Watson, Patrick’s counsel, has criticised PMC for asking the AAT to decide the case based on Gaetjens’ opinion that the documents are cabinet documents. Watson is arguing they are not experts (because they are not independent) and the AAT’s guidelines have not been met.

White agreed, that “neither of [the PMC] deponents appear to have complied with tribunal guidelines regarding expert or opinion evidence”.

Watson therefore asked that the evidence be disregarded, submitting the AAT should instead follow judicial precedent:

This isn’t an exercise in judicial arrogance, this is application of rule of law.

Updated

Every time Angus Taylor talks about what a good policy this gas-fired power plant is, all I can think about is this Facebook comment.

Updated

Probably a good rule of thumb: the more insistent a politician has to be that their policy is a good idea, the less likely it is to actually be a good idea.

That being said, here is Angus Taylor, really laying it on thick:

Now, this is a good day for jobs. It will create jobs during construction of course and ongoing jobs but importantly the jobs of all of those workers who rely on affordable, reliable energy for their living, for their businesses, a good day for households in having affordable energy, of course, a good day for having reliable energy that is needed at a time when we’re looking at the prospect in 2023 of losing 1600 megawatts of capacity when Liddell closes down not far from here.

Now, this, combined with Tallawarra, which was announced recently, a gas-fired generator down in the Illawarra, announced recently by EnergyAustralia, will, combined, provide the replacement we need to ensure that we have that energy for affordability and reliability*.

But importantly, both this project and the one at Tallawarra will help bring down emissions*. They’ll be hydrogen-ready projects but on top of that, they’re projects that can ensure that the solar and wind that is being built at records rates – the highest level of household solar in the world here in Australia, can be backed up so that we have that power we need at the price we need in the evening when the sun goes down.

*So would renewables and battery technology.

*Not as much as renewables and battery technology.

Minister for energy Angus Taylor.
Minister for energy Angus Taylor. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Angus Taylor:

[The gas-fired power plant will provide] affordable, reliable energy for people in New South Wales but people right across the east coast. And this is an important announcement of the government’s commitment to a 660-megawatt gas open-cycle generator which will be able to keep the lights on when it’s really needed and put downward pressure on prices when it’s really needed*.

It’s likely only to be needed less than 2% of the time, by the way.

Updated

Energy minister Angus Taylor is speaking now.

Updated

Melbourne sees 220% spike in syphilis infections in women

One epidemic not enough for you? How about a sexually transmitted one?

The Alfred hospital in Melbourne is warning there has been a 220% spike in syphilis infections in women. They say an “epidemic” is in place and “swift action is required to bring it under control”.

Epidemiologist and Associate Professor Eric Chow said in a release that the epidemic, which was once focused on gay men in inner Melbourne, has now become much more generalised and is spreading outwards.

Overall, there was a 45% increase in notified syphilis cases from 950 cases in 2015 to 1,375 cases in 2018.

While the number of syphilis infections among gay men continued to rise (a 21% increase), there was a sharp increase in cases among women (a 220% increase) and heterosexual men (a 129% increase).

The spike in heterosexual cases is now largely coming from the outer Melbourne suburbs and areas that are considered to be socioeconomically disadvantaged.

The Melbourne CBD had the largest number of cases among heterosexual men, with the outer north-west suburbs of Brimbank and Melton coming in close behind.

The major concern with the rise in syphilis among women of reproductive age is infection during pregnancy and congenital syphilis.

We know syphilis can cause major complications during pregnancy and even result in the death of the child so we’re urging all women at high risk to get screened during their third trimester in addition to the universal screening during the first.

Updated

OK, so still trying to find Scott Morrison’s comments, but the good news is energy minister Angus Taylor will be standing up today as well, so we are bound to get a good grilling out of our federal government no matter what.

Updated

'It’s bullshit': environment advocacy agency slams Morrison's new gas investment

The manager of policy and strategy at environmental advocacy organisation, the Wilderness Society, has slammed the government’s decision to pour $600m of taxpayer money into a new gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley.

Tim Beshara hasn’t mince words this morning, labelling the government’s plan as “bullshit”.

Every time that Angus Taylor or Scott Morrison writes another welfare cheque for the fossil fuel industry it is evidence that the industry has no future. From now on, the only people who are willing to invest in gas are culture warriors and cowboys.

This week the International Energy Agency announced that there should be no new fossil fuel exploration from 2021 and that oil and gas demand and prices will collapse in a net zero world. It’s game over ...

For a ‘gas-fired recovery’ not to be bullshit, investors would have to be putting up their own money. But they are not. And the Kurri Kurri gas plant announcement gives 600 million more reasons why it’s bullshit ...

No amount of government welfare for the fossil fuel industry will bring them back from the abyss. Our concern however is that they aren’t allowed to damage Australia’s special places in their dying days.

Updated

Covid cases continue to rise in Asia-Pacific region

The latest weekly Covid-19 Epidemiological Update has just been published by the World Health Organization.

It says globally, in the past week, the number of new cases and deaths continued to decrease, although overall counts for both remained high with just over 4.8 million new cases and nearly 86,000 new deaths reported in the past week.

All regions reported a decline in new cases this week with the exception of the Western Pacific where the number of new cases were similar to the previous week.

The Western Pacific Region reported over 132,000 new cases and over 1,700 new deaths, both increasing by 4% compared with the previous week. Both weekly case and death incidences were the highest reported in the region since the beginning of the pandemic.

The highest numbers of new deaths in the Western Pacific Region were reported from the Philippines (782 new deaths; 0.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 15% decrease), Japan (640 new deaths; 0.5 new deaths per 100,000; a 21% increase), and Malaysia (209 new deaths; 0.6 new deaths per 100,000; a 54% increase).

In the south-east Asia region, the highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (27,922 new deaths; 2.0 new deaths per 100,000; a 4% increase), Nepal (1,224 new deaths; 4.2 new deaths per 100,000; a 266% increase), and Indonesia (1,125 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 5% decrease).

Updated

Rex Patrick’s legal fight for access to national cabinet documents

Independent senator Rex Patrick’s challenge to the status of national cabinet is being heard by the administrative appeals tribunal today.

Patrick is seeking cabinet documents under freedom of information but the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has refused, claiming the national cabinet is a committee of the federal cabinet, and all its deliberations are therefore confidential.

Rex Patrick argues the features of a cabinet include that it is made up only by ministers drawn from the government in which the cabinet operates, that members share collective responsibility for decisions and are bound by cabinet solidarity.

Patrick submitted that the national cabinet is neither a cabinet nor a committee of the federal cabinet, because many of its features are not only inconsistent with the constituents of a cabinet, but are inimical to it.

He noted that members of national cabinet are not responsible to the federal legislature and collective responsibility cannot be imposed on them.

PMC claims that the makeup of cabinet is governed by convention, but the only rules are that the prime minister determines its size and membership.

PMC has submitted that it is “entirely appropriate or even necessary” for the prime minister to appoint people other than a federal minister, such as subject matter experts or people from the other side of politics or an independent where there is a need to ensure bipartisan support, for example in a hung parliament.

PMC asked the AAT to place “greater weight” on what its witnesses – including the secretary of the department Phil Gaetjens – say a cabinet is, than earlier “judicial observations” about cabinet.

Gaetjens has claimed disclosure of national cabinet documents would harm leaders’ ability to work together and the response to Covid-19.

In addition to confidentiality, PMC has added that release of documents would harm commonwealth state relations and be contrary to the public interest. Patrick has responded that this argument is late and at best can only mean documents are conditionally exempt (meaning they will have to be examined one by one) rather than a blanket exemption.

Senator Rex Patrick.
Senator Rex Patrick. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Okay, looks like ABC cut into the prime minister’s press conference from the prime minister quite late and just caught the tail end.

I’ll hunt down an alternative live stream now and bring you the updates from the front half!

Unclear exactly what he was asked, but here is Morrison’s thoughts on supporting Australia’s Covid-19 recovery.

If you don’t focus on the economy, then you can’t guarantee the essential services Australians rely on. You can’t support the investments in defence and our national security that Australians rely on that enables Australia to stand up for itself.

So our policies on lower taxes are as much as supporting every business out there in the country and every employee out there in the country, as it is about keeping Australians safe and keeping Australians supported by the services they lie on.

Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking now from Melbourne.

We have heard for weeks that there have been vaccine supply and booking issues, but as these issues have been addressed there are mass vaccination hubs with lots of vaccines available. While bookings are required at mass vaccination hubs in NSW, Victoria allows walk-ins, and some sites are saying if you show up, you will be seen and vaccinated quickly.

AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid told Guardian Australia that some of the excess vaccines at mass vaccination hubs are now being diverted to GP clinics who are still struggling to get enough supply.

The president of the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners, Dr Karen Price, said she was hearing anecdotally that there were mass vaccination hubs around the country that were very quiet.

And yet we also know GPs want to deliver more vaccines and can’t get them. Those in their 70s and 80s especially prefer seeing their own doctor over going to a hub. Once younger and more mobile cohorts become eligible for the vaccine, that’s when I think we will see mass vaccination centres really fill up. So I am not saying they don’t have a role.

But of course it is very frustrating to see a mass site with lots of doses while general practices are having to send long-term patients elsewhere because they don’t have enough.

The message is though now is a great time to go and get vaccinated at a mass vaccination site if you’re eligible. If you’ve been put off by reports of supply issues and difficulties getting bookings at GPs, try a mass vaccination site.

Both Price and Khorshid said bookings had also slowed following the change in advice about the AstraZeneca vaccine, with Pfizer vaccine now being preferred for under 50s. But they reiterated public confidence should be high in the AstraZeneca vaccine because it is safe and effective and any serious side effects are exceptionally rare. Even in the under 50 age group.

While the Sydney Olympic Park mass vaccination site in NSW has a steady flow of people, from reports we are hearing, the process is still smooth and efficient and people are getting in and out fairly quickly.

In the meantime some sites in Victoria are exceptionally quiet, so again, it’s an ideal time to get vaccinated if you’re eligible.

Updated

Yesterday evening I spoke with head of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid. He said it is time for the prime minister to put a date on reopening international borders and to accept that the health system will need to cope with new variants of the virus.

Of course first, you’ve got to put in place a system that is able to quarantine the highest -isk individuals coming into the country, and you need to make sure you’ve got a health system that’s ready to cope ...

And then you’ve just got to do it. Give people a date, so that way they also go out and get vaccinated. Because a certain number of people will go and get the vaccine because it’s the right thing to do. A certain number of people will get the vaccine because they really are worried about getting sick with Covid. But there’s an awful lot of people who don’t feel threatened by the virus who don’t see any direct benefit from a vaccine. So they ask ‘Why should I get it done?’

Well, we’ve got to answer those questions so that every person can really clearly see the benefits, and weigh them up against the risks, which of course, are negligible. And therefore I think setting a date for travel would be helpful.

He said he appreciated that Scott Morrison was concerned that by setting a date, the public would hold him to it and that polling showed the closure of international borders had been a popular policy that the government did not want to risk tweaking approaching an election.

But actually, it’s possible to have those conversations with the public and I think people will be on board with the fact the situation can change and understand that ...

“Even though 72% of the population support the border closures, I don’t think that means 72% of people never want to travel again.”

“By the middle of the year through to September, we really need a plan for 2022,” he said. “Whether that be a plan for opening up early in 2022, or gradual staged opening throughout next year. But I’d be very disappointed if we are still in this situation in June next year.

Khorshid said he is also really concerned by reports from vaccination hubs that there is some vaccine hesitancy towards the AstraZeneca vaccine.He said the vaccine is safe and effective but a combination of poor public health messaging and alarmist media reports had left some people still fearful.

I think that a lot of damage was done with the Atagi [Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation] decision and the way it was communicated by the government.

Updated

Pala! Where are your Covid-19 numbers?!

Less “Gabba”, more “zero locally acquired cases of Covid-19”.

One in three Australians 'unlikely' to receive coronavirus vaccine

Almost one-third of adult Australians say they are unlikely to be vaccinated against coronavirus in a concerning new sign for the troubled national rollout, reports Daniel McCulloch from AAP.

An alarming poll published by Nine Entertainment has found doubts about side effects top the list of reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Many people also believe there is no rush to take the jab while the international borders remain closed.

The survey found 15% of people said they were not at all likely to receive the vaccine, while another 14% said they were not very likely.

Scott Morrison told Newcastle radio 2HD on Wednesday he is keen to focus on the more than 70% of people who are happy to have the vaccine.

I would encourage them to go and make that booking ...

If you are over 50, go and do that with your GP now. The state government is setting up other clinics to do the same thing. So I would just encourage people to get on and do it.

The prime minister was also keen to point out only a small proportion of those surveyed were “hard against” receiving the jab, saying that was fairly normal with most vaccines.

Morrison said the number of vaccinations in Australia had surpassed three million and continued to climb each day.

It’s an important part of what we are doing – it’s not the only part of what we are doing – and it’s important we all work together to achieve that.

The federal government has spent months arguing there is no urgency on vaccines and more recently concerns have been raised about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca jab.

Liz Chatwin, the president of AstraZeneca in Australia and New Zealand, spoke to ABC seeking to ease concerns among people aged over 50 who are feeling some hesitancy about getting the vaccine.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is highly effective – it has actually been used in tens of millions of people around the world, and in the vast majority of people it is extremely well tolerated.

Chatwin said blood clots linked to the vaccine were extremely rare, with just 18 cases reported in Australia out of 1.8 million vaccinations.

Those rates are very similar to what have been seen overseas but the difference here in Australia, the experts are saying, is that the cases appear to be more mild ...

They are speculating this is because there is high awareness here in Australia, physicians don’t have the huge strain of treating Covid-19 in our healthcare system, so they have been diagnosed earlier and managed really effectively with good outcomes ...

Experts have reported there are 50 blood clots every day in Australia from a multitude of different causes, so that just underlines how rare this condition is.

A vial of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine at CSL in Melbourne
A vial of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine at CSL in Melbourne. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Ummmmmmmmm....

If you want to read up on the implications of this, check out this report from Luke Henriques-Gomes:

An appeal has been granted against a family law decision that took a judge more than seven years to deliver after it was found the “gross and deplorable delay” contributed to “substantial errors” – and the judgment may have been made despite the court file being lost.

The parents of two children with special needs will face another hearing after the family court granted the appeal against the decision of federal circuit court judge Anne Demack.

Justice Steven Strickland found the father’s appeal had to be allowed because not only was the delay “gross and deplorable” but it was “rendered palpably worse” by the fact Demack had not explained or justified it.

Another justice, Stewart Austin, said the delay was “not the only mischief encountered here”, detailing how the court file was lost in 2019 and there was no evidence it was recovered before the judgment was handed down last September.

You can read the full report below:

Summary

So Scott Morrison is in the Melbourne suburb of Bayswater today. He arrived about 9am so we are likely to hear from him within the next hour or so.

I’ll bring you all the updates live.

Updated

Continues from last post ...

Oh, and then there is the latest gaffe with Australia’s policy on Taiwan, which Scott Morrison said he didn’t get wrong in a recent interview with SBS – even though his answer contradicted Australian policy.

Wong says in the speech:

He incorrectly claimed Beijing’s preference – one country, two systems – as Australia’s ...

When pressed on this, rather than admitting he got it wrong, he doubled down and covered up the mistake with a lie ...

Foreign policy should not be the prosecution of domestic politics by other means – because as I’ve said, in diplomacy words matter.

Mr Morrison’s political opportunism on foreign policy is unprecedented in Australian history as some of the foreign policy challenges themselves.

Labor has ramped up the criticisms of foreign policy gaffes after the would-be defence secretary Mike Pezzullo (he is now the secretary of home affairs) decided to beat the “drums of war” in an op ed, while his former minister Peter Dutton (now in charge of defence) warned of the likelihood of war over Taiwan.

So two of the people most responsible for keeping Australians safe are instead talking tough for political purposes – and in doing so they are playing directly into the CPC’s narrative – and providing Beijing with the leverage that comes with a sense of inevitability about crisis, conflict and war.

None of it is overly new – but watch this space. With the budget handed down, we are in election mode – and talk of war and outside threats tend to help incumbents. What it does for our national standing though, is another issue entirely.

Updated

Labor senator Penny Wong will spend part of her day launching the latest book from Nine Newspaper’s Peter Hartcher – The Red Zone – and she’s taking the opportunity to criticise the government’s handling of all things China.

Wong’s speech says too much of the discussion on China is “frenzied, afraid and lacking context” and that Scott Morrison has exasperated as “a prime minister who is only interested in any issue to the extent it offers him political value”.

Wong (and thereby Labor’s) rhetoric on how the government has handled diplomacy with China has been toughened in the last year or so, as Australia struggles to handle the tempestuous relationship.

In her speech, Wong puts that blame at Morrison’s feet:

My concern is that not only does he not fully comprehend Australia’s interests in relation to China, he doesn’t even seek to ...

As with everything else he does, he only seeks to understand his political opportunity.

It’s always about the domestic political advantage. – either in the internal fights within the Liberal party in pandering to the far right, or in seeking to pursue some partisan advantage over the Labor party.

Wong believes it is not just China that this occurs with, pointing out how Morrison started his prime ministership “by breaking decades of bipartisanship with the Jerusalem embassy debacle to pander for votes in the Wentworth byelection –
without any care to what it meant for critical partnerships like Indonesia”.

Plus, Wong says, there has been how Morrison reacted to Trump:

He went all in on President Trump, even attending a campaign rally, breaking longstanding foreign policy conventions by refusing to meet with senior Democrats, pandering with his “negative globalism” attacks on multilateral institutions that are central to Australia’s interests, and refusing to call out the Capitol insurrection when other world leaders did.

Continues in next post ...

Updated

Qantas will use a different laboratory to screen passengers flying from India to Australia after some of the people stopped from boarding a repatriation flight out of the country later tested negative for Covid-19.

But despite a review revealing “issues” with the laboratory used to process the tests, the airline has stood by the initial results that saw nearly half of the 150 people who had been scheduled to board the first repatriation flight out of Covid-ravaged India denied entry to the flight.

Forty-two people booked on the first repatriation flight, which landed in Darwin on Saturday, tested positive either in PCR tests in the days prior to departure or rapid antigen tests at the gate. Thirty others were barred as their close contacts.

After reports that a handful of people who had been blocked from boarding the flight had later tested negative for the virus, Qantas initiated a review that included re-running all of the positive test results “under additional medical supervision”.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Victoria reports no new local cases of Covid

OK, nice! Turns out they were just a little late for normal reasons!

Updated

Hmmm, no word on Victorian Covid-19 numbers so far today.

Look, it isn’t TOO late just yet so no need to worry but I’ll admit my blood pressure is rising just a little bit.

Oh, and “a state keeping us in suspense for daily numbers” definitely counts as a “sip” in the morning blog coffee game.

Updated

Energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor has moved to expand the mandate of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to allow it to fund carbon capture and storage projects and “clean” hydrogen that can be produced from fossil fuels.

In regulations, published Tuesday, the government added its technology roadmap to the list of initiatives Arena could finance.

The roadmap includes carbon capture and storage as well as so-called “clean” hydrogen, which can be hydrogen produced from coal and gas.

The changes to the agency’s functions, first flagged last year, come as the International Energy Agency warned investment in new oil, coal and gas developments must end this year to meet global climate goals.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

The remains of the so-called Somerton man will be exhumed at an Adelaide cemetery in an attempt to solve the more than 70-year mystery over his death and his identity, reports Tim Dornin from AAP.

On December 1 1948, the man’s body was found on Somerton beach with the circumstances of his death remaining an open police investigation.

The case is in the hands of the major crime investigation branch, with detectives to be on hand when his body is exhumed at the West Terrace cemetery on Wednesday morning.

“Following recovery of the remains, Forensic Science SA will attempt to recover a DNA profile from the man,” Detective Superintendent Des Bray said.

Forensic Science SA’s assistant director operations Anne Coxon said the technology available today was clearly light years ahead of the techniques available when the body was discovered in the late 1940s:

Tests of this nature are often highly complex and will take time ... However we will be using every method at our disposal to try and bring closure to this enduring mystery.

SA attorney general Vickie Chapman, who gave permission for the exhumation, said she believed the Forensic Science SA team was well equipped to handle the challenging task:

For more than 70 years people have speculated who this man was and how he died ... It’s an enduring mystery but I believe that, finally, we may uncover some answers.

The case is part of Operation Persevere which seeks to put a name to all unidentified human remains in the state. It runs in tandem with Operation Persist, under which cold case homicides are actively investigated.

The Somerton man shortly after the autopsy
The Somerton man shortly after the autopsy. Photograph: Wikimedia

The man’s body was first found by passersby who noticed him slumped against a seawall. His cause of death remains unknown and many theories have been advanced about his identity, ranging from a jilted lover to a cold war spy.

An initial police investigation and coronial inquest left the matter unresolved with the case particularly mystifying because of a number of items found with the body.

They included a suitcase, items of clothing with the tags removed, incoherent writing believed to be a code, the poetry book The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and a torn scrap of paper with the Persian words “Tamam Shud”, meaning it is finished.

Updated

Missing out on travelling to Rotterdam was tough for Montaigne, the singer documenting her struggle with coming to terms with the situation via her TikTok channel.

(Just a reminder that dozens, if not hundreds of Australian sportspeople have been allowed out of the country to compete in international competitions in the last year.)

Updated

EUROVISION SPOILER ALERT! READ NO FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW!

OK, now that’s over with, I have bad news for you all.

Australian singer-songwriter Montaigne has missed out on this year’s Eurovision final after the pandemic forced a remote performance of her song Technicolour.

The singer-songwriter, whose real name is Jessica Cerro, was unable to travel to the Netherlands city of Rotterdam for the competition due to Covid-19 and was therefore forced to perform her song via a prerecorded “live” entry which was broadcast during Wednesday’s semifinal.

This is the first time Australia has missed out on the finals since being invited to join the competiton.

Norway, Israel, Russia, Azerbaijan, Malta, Lithuania, Cyprus, Sweden, Belgium and Ukraine made it through to Saturday’s final.

Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia also missed out on a place.

Updated

Here is what energy (and emissions reduction) minister Angus Taylor had to say about the newly announced gas-fired power plant to be built in the Hunter Valley, when he made the announcement last night:

Cheap power is crucial to ensuring families, businesses and job-creating industries in NSW can thrive, which is why we are committed to replacing the energy generated by Liddell to keep prices down ...

This important project is good news for NSW as well as the broader national electricity mMarket.

We were very clear from the start – we will not stand by and watch prices go up and the lights go off.

You can read Adam Morton’s full report on the announcement below:

Updated

Continues from last post ...

But the big question for Labor will be whether it keeps the legislated stage three tax cuts – which we will now pay for with borrowed money. That’s called “deficit spending” – adding to the debt to carry the cost of a government policy. In this case, it is tax concessions that were barely affordable when the government was talking surplus – and are absolutely not affordable given the situation now.

Still, the cuts are legislated and Labor supported the package through the parliament, even if it has always had reservations about the high income earner concessions.

Jim Chalmers doesn’t say which way Labor will go – and the government has set this up as a fight it WANTS to have at the next election – it may not be selling the budget with a lot of enthusiasm but it is VERY enthusiastic about the possibility of spending an election campaign fighting over tax cuts.

Chalmers and Labor want to frame that fight using very Coalition areas – how “responsible” is that spending? The shadow treasurer will say in his press club speech:

What concerns me and my colleagues is that this year’s budget is spending $100bn – all the proceeds of the recovery, and then some – without any lasting social benefit or any long-term economic dividend.

Of course, this is in addition to baking in the stage three tax cuts for high income earners, at a cost to the bottom line of over $130bn.

When the treasurer airily says he’s funding all this from growth he really means from debt – every new dollar borrowed – and even with the resources of Treasury he still can’t or won’t tell us what the return would be.

Labor’s position is straightforward: borrowing should be invested in projects and programs that create secure jobs and opportunities, drive broad and inclusive growth, and deliver long-term value for money.

Our fiscal strategy will be driven by economics and bang for buck, not by the politics of the last election or the one before. The level of debt matters but the quality of the spending matters more.

You can catch the speech from 12.30 on ABC TV. Keep an eye on the question-and-answer section – that is usually when you get the actual information.

Updated

It’s Wednesday, which makes it National Press Club address day – and being a week since the budget was handed down (can you believe?!) Jim Chalmers gets to give his response to the speech Josh Frydenberg made about 10,000 minutes ago.

From what I’ve seen of the speech, it is pretty much an extension of Anthony Albanese’s budget reply speech on Thursday.

But Chalmers, being a bit of an economic purist, focuses in on the debt and wage growth – as in, what bang did you get for your debt buck, and how little your wages have and will grow.

Chalmers says last week was his 15th budget lock-up (thoughts and prayers - he worked in Wayne Swan’s office before becoming a MP, so he’s had experience with all sides of a budget) and he was left feeling a little ... underwhelmed:

You could feel the room absorb the detail and think to itself – is that it?

Is that the limit of our national ambitions, is this the extent of our national imagination? Is this all Australia can aspire to: low wages, insecure work, continuing inequality and a generation of debt?

Last year showed us how rapidly and unpredictably and dramatically the world can change. But it also gave us a glimpse of how quickly we can change, how fast we can adapt to a new normal and make it work for us.

How responsive and creative and flexible and innovative our workplaces and schools and communities can be. What a tragedy it would be if a glimpse was all we got.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers: ‘Is that it?’ Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

To get back to a world where wages grow, the labour market has to tighten – which means unemployment needs to get to a place where it has a four in front of it and employers are competing for the best workers. Once that happens, inflation should start to correct (goes the thinking) and the reserve bank will feel comfortable putting up interest rates, and the cycle should kick start itself – we have been in a pretty stagnant place in the cycle for quite a few years, so the time for action is well past.

Chalmers says what the government is doing won’t be enough. And as the budget lays out, wage growth is not something anyone can expect in the near future. As Chalmers will say in his speech:

In black and white, page 9 of this year’s budget confesses to a cut in real wages over the next four years. In nominal terms, the weakest annual growth in wages on record, after eight long years of wage stagnation … The real wage cut for workers is this government’s lowest act of bastardry and betrayal.”

Continues in next post ...

Updated

It’s Wednesday, party people, and if we can get through this we can get through anything!

It’s Matilda Boseley here, and let’s kick off the morning by talking about gas.

Yesterday the Morrison government confirmed it will fork out up to $600m to build a new gas-fired power plant in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley, despite experts warning the fossil fuel investment doesn’t make all that much from a commercial perspective.

To complicate matters this news comes a major report was handed down by the world-leading International Energy Agency, which found fossil fuel expansion must end now if the planet is to address the climate crisis.

It says humans have a “narrow and extremely challenging” pathway to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which is the most generally agreed-upon climate change prevention target around the world. Australia hasn’t actually committed to this, with the Morrison government saying it would “preferably” like to achieve this target.

But it looks like that word “preferably” is doing a lot of heavy lifting this morning because on Tuesday night the government announced was dedicating unallocated funding in last week’s budget to the publicly owned Snowy Hydro Ltd plan to build a 660-megawatt gas plant at Kurri Kurri.

If you haven’t been following along, basically Scott Morrison has been pretty dedicated to the idea of gas-fired power plants in the area, going as far as to warn last September that taxpayers would step in if the private sector did not commit to building at least 1,000MW to replace the Liddell coal-fired generator in 2023.

(Energy Australia announced it would build a 316MW gas hydrogen plant last week.)

But it isn’t just the environmentalist lobby that’s against the plan, industry experts have also said investments in a gas power plant made little commercial sense given the abundance of cheaper options flooding the market.

I’ll bring you comments from the energy minister shortly, and no doubt the prime minister will face some tough questioning from reporters if he speaks publicly today.

Well, let’s not delay any longer and jump into the day!

If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.

Updated

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