What we learned on this Thursday 22 April
We will now close the live blog but we’ll be back with you tomorrow morning. Thanks for following along. Here is what made the news today:
- People aged 50 and over will be able to get the AstraZeneca vaccine from GPs from 17 May, or from 3 May from state and territory facilities or GP respiratory clinics.
- The Pfizer vaccine will be restricted to people under 50, unless they are in high-risk groups such as aged and disability care residents and workers.
- Due to between 10% and 40% of returned travellers with Covid-19 returning from India, the government will reduce direct flights from there by 30%, charter flights by 30% and require transit countries to make travellers from India get a negative PCR test result 72 hours before boarding a plane to Australia.
- NSW Health is still urgently trying to locate four returned travellers who stayed on the 10th floor of the Mecure hotel in Sydney at the same time as there was Covid transmission between rooms.
- Australia will not update its 2030 emissions target ahead of a US climate summit tonight.
- Creditors have voted to wind up Greensill.
- Australia Post backed down on its plan to stop delivering perishables such as food.
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This is satellite imagery of one of the fires currently burning behind #Sydney. Smoke is around a number of areas around #NSW & #ACT as hazard reduction burns continue. Visit @NSWRFS https://t.co/JBfpYweTmH or @NSWHealth https://t.co/vV2MAaEfg9 or @ACT_ESA https://t.co/Zva2Vl0Hcf pic.twitter.com/WxgJzCFkua
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) April 22, 2021
Anne Ruston did not answer two questions on which experts signed off on The Good Society content. It remains a mystery.
She said the Our Watch website content was not considered appropriate. Host Patricia Karvelas says it was just some content to do with sexting, so why couldn’t that just have been removed?
Ruston indicated it might be used in the future:
Our Watch has taken it upon themselves to do a complete review of the site, also to update and make sure that they are absolutely happy, it’s fit for purpose and been modernised and my understanding in discussions with Our Watch is that the site will be up again soon and it will be completely revamped, remodernised and hopefully will provide another tool in the suite so that we can make sure that young people understand issues around respect, around consent and making sure that they are the adults that we want them to be.
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Anne Ruston is asked about why just two of The Good Society videos were removed. She said those two videos (including the milkshake video) “didn’t meet the mark”.
This is a very, very complex issue. They’re trying to address the issue at a range of different age groups and different demographics.
She said teachers and educators will know best what will work in the classroom, and choose what will work for their classroom. (If this is the defence, this is what Safe Schools did, just saying.)
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Just putting this in again:
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
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Minister for families, social services and women’s safety, Anne Ruston, is on ABC News and was asked about the alleged murder of Kelly Wilkinson in Queensland.
She said she is “absolutely horrified” and the system failed her. Ruston said a national plan was needed to ensure states and territories are consistent in enforcing apprehended violence orders and domestic violence orders:
I think there is actually some very strong merit in having nationally consistent rules around the whole of Australia around making sure that we’re keeping women safe in whatever context we’re talking about. We recently, through the current national plan, have made sure that we have interjurisdictional information so that an AVO or DVO in one state is enforceable across the whole of Australia. But I also think that there are some really positive initiatives being undertaken in states and territories ... South Australia and Tasmania.
And so we need to say to the other states and territories have a look at the success that is being achieved in these states about significantly reducing the statistics around particularly high-risk perpetrators – the significant reduction in statistics around those domestic violence incidences as a result of the actions they’ve taken.
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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has welcomed the announcement of over-50s being able to broadly get the AstraZeneca vaccine from GPs from 17 May.
RACGP president Dr Karen Price is encouraging people 50 and over to get the vaccine shot.
If you are aged 50 or over, please get vaccinated at the first opportunity.
Unfortunately, confusion over the changes to the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout has led to some patients cancelling their vaccine appointment or deciding that they will not be vaccinated once eligible.
We must reverse this trend because we will not be able to protect our community unless people put their hand up to be vaccinated. Once more, I urge people to spread the word to friends, family, and colleagues that they should get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible.
GPs like me will be doing everything possible to counsel patients but for some people hearing the message about the importance of getting vaccinated from someone in their life, such as a close family member or friend, can prove decisive.
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Kristina Keneally, who has just returned from visiting the Tamil family from Biloela being held on Christmas Island, says she raised their case with the new home affairs minister Karen Andrews.
This doesn’t need to be a political issue. There are senior figures on both the Coalition and the Labor party that support the family coming back home to Biloela. I would hope Karen Andrews can approach this as a human, as a person, as a mother, as a Queenslander, and someone who understands that there’s a regional town in Queensland that loves this family and wants them to come home.
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Kristina Keneally also questioned when the new restrictions on leaving Australia for high-risk countries like India will come into place.
How can you stand up and announce something without having any sense of the detail of when it’s going to come into effect? It is always the case with this prime minister. It’s always about the announcement. He’s never there for the follow-through.
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Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, describes the vaccine rollout as a “shambles” on ABC News.
And this slow rollout which sees us about 90th in the world – and the prime minister said we would be at the front of the queue – we’re about 90th in the world in the rollout of vaccines. That is affecting our economic recovery. Putting at jeopardy our health and wellbeing and making it harder for stranded Australians to get home.
Particularly when it comes to aged care and disability care, it is embarrassing, it is risky, and it is wrong that we have had such a slow rollout of vaccines in residential aged care, in aged care workers, in disability.
She says he had one job, and it was to get jabs in arms. Which, she said, he has failed to deliver on.
She welcomed the new plan for over-50s, but said there are still vulnerable people in Australia, and no one should be getting the vaccine ahead of aged care and disability care residents, workers, and their carers.
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And finally, Scott Morrison largely repeats the talking points we’ve seen other ministers use today about ripping up those Victorian deals with foreign governments, namely China:
We will always act in Australia’s national interest to protect Australia, but to also ensure that we can advance our national interests of a free and open Indo-Pacific and a world that seeks a balance in favour of freedom.
That’s what our policies are about and what today’s decision has ensured ... because we ensure that our national interest foreign policies are consistent across the country and it is the commonwealth government and my government that’s ensured that we have protected that arrangement.
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On whether many people are cancelling vaccination appointments due to concern about the AstraZeneca vaccine, Brendan Murphy says they are not seeing the same numbers of cancellations in primary care where they are vaccinating the over-70s.
I think our over-70s are getting the message that the risk of Covid is far, far, far greater than this very rare condition. But the message I would give is that we have a very good expert panel who are constantly evaluating the risk.
He said the benefit vastly outweighed the risk for AstraZeneca for over-50s, but repeated that people aged 50 and over who did not want would not be forced to have it, but would not be able to get the Pfizer vaccine, at least for now.
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No plan to update 2030 emissions target for Biden summit: PM
In response to a question from my colleague Katharine Murphy on whether Australia will update its 2030 emissions target ahead of tonight’s climate change event put on by US president Joe Biden, Morrison said there is no plan for that:
That was not our plan to do that this evening. We’re making a range of commitments that we have already announced in terms of our critical technologies and partnerships which we have been discussing in particular with the US. The last discussion I had with former secretary [John] Kerry, the special envoy, about the partnerships we were putting together with the US on energy technology.
We are keen to pursue that. I’d make this one comment on the report. And that is the trajectory to any net zero outcome is not linear. Anyone who thinks it is I know doesn’t get it. The way technology works is there is a long lead time into its development and commercialisation and once the technology is in place, you can see a massive transformation.
And so your achievement of net zero over time has more of that type of a curve. If you think it’s linear, then that just doesn’t, that isn’t supported I think by the science or the research.
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WA premier Mark McGowan had indicated he wanted some changes to flights from India in particular due to the high case numbers, and Scott Morrison says he is on board with all the changes announced today:
Mark McGowan is fully supportive of the arrangements we put in place today and welcomed our suggestion in particular the commonwealth brought about having these transit country PCR test arrangements put in place because that’s what actually is needed to address the situation in Western Australia. There are no direct flights to Western Australia. So it needed a way of dealing with that and the premier was very appreciative in addressing that issue.
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Scott Morrison says he wouldn’t advise people in high-risk countries to try to rush back to Australia, and says the government needs to work through some of the detail of the policy announcement, including ensuring transit countries do PCR tests before they board flights to Australia.
He said the announcement doesn’t show a failure of confidence in hotel quarantine – just a management of risk. He said between 10% and 40% of cases being reported in hotel quarantine are people arriving back in Australia from India.
It reflects that we’re in the middle of a global pandemic that is raging. And Australia has been successful throughout this pandemic, working together with the states and territories, to have very effective border arrangements.
Countries that didn’t follow that practice have found themselves in the situation they’re in. Australians are living like few others anywhere else in the world. We take those border arrangements very seriously.
This is a way of matching that risk. We have seen the proportion of total cases from that one particular cohort from about 10% to 40% of cases. That’s not something we could ignore.
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Scott Morrison expressed his “profound sorrow” over two apparent domestic violence incidents in Queensland and South Australia this week.
These are horrific and sadly they’re not the first of these sorts of terrible and awful events that have taken place ... It is truly awful. And my heart is profoundly sad at this terrible event and of the impact on the families that are involved, the friends, the trauma of this will be unspeakable.
And we must continue to just further increase our efforts to do all we can in these circumstances. The events that lead to this is hard to understand and how people can take these such violent and appalling acts, but it is something our society has been sadly living with for too long. We’ll try and prevent it and do all we can. The work that’s done in the community is so important to that end. There are people who work in this area.
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
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Pfizer vaccine restricted to under-50s
The health department secretary, Brendan Murphy, said the Pfizer vaccine will not be made available to people over 50.
He says Australia has to maximise the its supply which means the AstraZeneca vaccine for now, as we wait for more Pfizer.
This is why the vaccination of the over-50s is being brought forward, using the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He said those who do not want the AstraZeneca vaccine will not be able to get Pfizer if they are 50 or over.
Until we get more Pfizer supplies later in the year, those people who may choose not to have AstraZeneca ... it is a choice.
We recommend AstraZeneca; the risk benefit for over-50 is vastly in favour of being vaccinated. But people always have a choice and more Pfizer will be available later in the year.
At this stage we will not be making Pfizer available to those 50 and over. We need to ensure, because of this new age split, that a range of people under 50 who are eligible at the moment, such as aged care workers, disability care workers, those people with underlying chronic medical conditions, emergency service workers and broader healthcare workers from all settings can have access to Pfizer at the state Pfizer clinic.
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India flights and charter flights reduced by 30%
Scott Morrison has announced – in response to the higher case numbers being seen internationally – that government-chartered flights to the Northern Territory will be reduced by 30%, and departure exemptions for people travelling to high-risk countries – at this point only India – will be reduced.
Direct flights from India will also be reduced by 30% this week. Morrison says they are only coming in to Sydney at this point, and the federal government will require people coming from high-risk countries to have a Covid PCR test 72 hours before leaving the last port before they enter Australia.
In those instances where people cannot return, Morrison said the government would seek to ensure their place is taken by someone trying to get home.
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Over-50s vaccinations brought forward to 3 May and 17 May at GPs
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has confirmed that national cabinet has agreed to priotise Pfizer for those under 50 in 1a and 1b, and those in aged and disability care, quarantine workers, and people in remote areas.
Over 50s will be able to get the AstraZeneca vaccine through GP respiratory clinics and states from 3 May, and GP clinics generally from 17 May.
Morrison said this will give GPs time to still vaccinate the over 70s.
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Prime minister's press conference starts
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says 1.8m vaccine shots have been given to Australians, including his mother. Half have been given done by GPs, he says.
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The TV screens are out for the prime minister’s press conference, so I am assuming that means powerpoint presentation time.
And the response from the United States to the Australian government tearing up Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement with China.
White House @PressSec, Jen Psaki, has declined to weigh in on the Australian Government's use of foreign veto powers to cancel Victoria's Belt and Road agreement with China. @SBSNews #auspol pic.twitter.com/HS48Z82IDL
— Pablo Viñales (@pablovinales) April 22, 2021
Queensland Labor MP Duncan Pegg is resigning from state parliament to fight cancer.
AAP reports Pegg told parliament he would formally submit his resignation in coming weeks:
I’ve been fighting cancer since 2019. I’ve been fighting this fight alongside the 30,000 Queenslanders and 130,000 Australians who are diagnosed each year.
Based on my most recent medical advice, I will no longer be able to continue to both fight cancer and also fight for my local area in the manner in which my community deserves.
The state member for Stretton was elected in January 2015.
He was awarded the Queensland public service award from the Queensland Intercultural Society for his community work in 2017.
Before being elected he worked as a lawyer with a focus on employment and insurance law.
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National cabinet press conference at 4pm
The prime minister’s national cabinet press conference will be in 20 minutes at 4pm AEST.
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Creditors vote to wind up Greensill
Creditors have voted to wind up Greensill Capital, the Australian company that sat atop the globe-spanning financial empire once controlled by Bundaberg sugar farmer Lex Greensill.
The move means administrators from Grant Thornton become the company’s liquidators and will investigate the spectacular collapse, including the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of transactions with the Greensill family. It’s likely this will include public examinations where they will grill company executives under oath in court.
However, much of the action in probing the global meltdown is going on in the UK and Europe, where Greensill’s operational arms were based.
Creditors had little choice but to vote to kill Greensill Capital – there was no proposal to reanimate the entity through what’s called a deed of company arrangement.
Twenty-three creditors owed a total of $1.7bn voted for liquidation, and three, owed $2.96bn, abstained. No one voted against.
Creditors also voted to form a committee of inspection, which will supervise the liquidators, made up of Greensill’s backers, Softbank Vision Fund and Credit Suisse; the association of German banks, which has a multibillion-dollar claim against Greensill; backers of a business Greensill owned called Earnd; and a representative of Greensill’s now former employees.
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Nine new cases of Covid in SA medi-hotels
Nine new cases of Covid-19 reported in SA medi-hotels today.
That’s quite high for a daily hotel quarantine number and goes back to what WA premier Mark McGowan was saying about the increase in Covid-positive travellers coming back to Australia.
South Australian COVID-19 update 22/4/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/e4B14lR2Vd or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/y4K5PDx0AU
— SA Health (@SAHealth) April 22, 2021
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The national cabinet meeting is now under way, so we should have a press conference or statement on what will happen with the vaccine rollout reset in the next couple of hours.
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From the daily Covid press release from the Victorian government comes the tidbit of information that more than 1,000 people were vaccinated at the three mass-vaccination hubs yesterday, a 10-fold increase on the number at the centres last week.
That represents how much Victoria has ramped up vaccinations at those centres. The total number of vaccinations was 4,519 yesterday, taking the total number administered by the Victorian government to 176,827.
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Vaccine rollout update: 1,785,698 doses administered, up 67,591 in the past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/bPwRj8ztFI
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) April 22, 2021
Millions of Australians may not lose a tax benefit after all when treasurer Josh Frydenberg hands down his budget, AAP reports.
The low- and middle-income tax offset which is worth up to $1,080 and benefits people with a taxable income between $48,000 and $90,000 ends in June.
But media reports suggest it will be extended for another year at a cost of about $7bn.
The treasurer avoided confirming whether this would be the case on 11 May.
“The Coalition is always the party of lower taxes,” he said. “That’s our record and that will continue to be the message and the policies we deliver going forward.”
The tax offset was set up as a one-off economic stimulus measure during the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysts at the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre have estimated about 3.4m taxpayers – 50% of whom were women – would lose out if it was dropped.
The tax offset is claimable when people submit their tax returns.
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This is a disturbing story from AAP about how Services Australia disclosed a domestic violence victim’s new address to her former partner.
The agency breached the Privacy Act when it failed to separate the woman’s records from her former partner’s then updated his online account with her new address, Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk has ruled.
The woman was alerted to the privacy breach when her ex-partner posted a picture of her new house from Google Maps to Facebook, with the comment “Change your MyGov”, in 2017.
She had moved hundreds of kilometres to escape the decade-long abusive relationship, and avoided telling anyone where she was going to ensure her safety.
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The prudential watchdog has issued draft guidance to banks, insurers and superannuation trustees on managing the financial risk of climate change, AAP reports.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority guide has been released for consultation and is designed to assist regulated entities in managing climate-related risks and opportunities as part of their existing risk management and governance frameworks.
Apra chair Wayne Byres said it is important that Apra-regulated entities are prepared to respond to financial risks, whatever form they may take:
Since the Australian government became a party to the Paris agreement, Apra has been raising awareness of climate-related risks to the financial sector. Given the unique and long-term nature of the risks, however, processes to measure, monitor and manage climate-related financial risks are still developing.
The guide covers three risk components: physical, transition and liability.
It warns of lower asset values, increased insurance claims and supply chain disruption from changing climate conditions and extreme weather events.
In the transition phase to a low carbon economy – and the resulting policy changes, technological innovation and social adaption – it sees an impact on demand, and risks from “stranded assets” and loan defaults.
However, not considering or responding to the impact of climate change could result in business disruption leading to litigation and penalties.
Apra is seeking stakeholder feedback by 31 July and, subject to feedback, the final guide is expected to be released before the end of the year.
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My podcasting colleagues over at the Full Story are looking to speak to people trying to buy their first property, or have found themselves locked out of the market.
If this is you, or you know someone who would like to share their experience, you can email them at australia.fullstory@theguardian.com.
Here is a new comment from foreign affairs minister Marise Payne on the help Australia has offered Indonesia. The defence minister, Peter Dutton, has called his counterpart, Prabowo Subianto.
Payne said:
The news of the missing submarine is deeply concerning. There are over 50 submariners on the boat and the reports which we heard overnight are clearly going to be deeply distressing to the families of those submariners and indeed to the Indonesian navy.
Australia has indicated and has been in contact with minister Prabowo through defence minister Dutton that we will provide any assistance that we can. There is no question that submarine search and rescue is very complex. It is not a submarine that Australia operates – our submarine class is quite different – but whatever we are able to do we have undertaken to do, and I think those submariners submariners and their families are very much in need of all of our thoughts and prayers.
Further details have been sought from the defence department.
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Now for the fine print. The joint statement between Marise Payne and her New Zealand counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta, has just been released.
Concerns about China’s actions in the region appear to be behind a lot of the messaging, even if it’s not mentioned by name.
The statement says Australia and New Zealand talked about ways to deepen cooperation “to meet the shared challenges facing our region”, and the two countries “stand together in facing a challenging global environment”.
Ministers discussed the importance of promoting our shared interests in an open, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific. They reaffirmed their intent to work together to preserve the liberal international order that has underpinned stability and prosperity in the region, and to foster a sustainable regional balance where all countries – large and small – can freely pursue their legitimate interests.
Payne and Mahuta talked about the “increasing pressure on the international rules-based system and rising protectionism, and agreed on the need for coordinated regional and global action on issues such as human rights and climate change, including work Australia and New Zealand are doing together to strengthen the climate resilience of our Pacific island partners”.
Without mentioning the Five Eyes intelligence arrangement, the statement gives a nod to New Zealand’s concerns about expanding the remit of that grouping, by emphasising the need for “broad coalitions”.
Minister Payne and Minister Mahuta agreed on the value of coordinating with other likeminded countries and building broad coalitions on issues of common interest.
The pair also vowed to help Pacific island countries manage the health and economic impacts of Covid, including supporting the vaccines rollout.
They also welcomed the launch of two-way quarantine-free travel between Australia and New Zealand, saying this would contribute to the economic recovery in both countries, especially in the travel and tourism sectors.
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Josh Frydenberg is asked about whether it is time to stop flights from India coming back to Australia given the high number of Covid cases in the country. He says it will depend on the medical advice, and will ultimately be a decision for national cabinet which is meeting today.
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Josh Frydenberg speaks to media in Perth
The federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, is holding a press conference in Perth. He’s asked when the government is going to start repaying the debt it has built up. He indicates the fiscal strategy will be detailed in a speech he will give in the lead up to the budget in May:
I will make a speech in the lead-up to this year’s budget where I will talk about that fiscal strategy. But the best way to repair the budget is to repair the economy. Last year we were standing on the edge of an economic abyss. Treasury thought the unemployment rate would reach as high as 15%, that economic growth could fall by more than 20%.
Fortunately we avoided the worst fate we saw of other countries across the world. Australia on both the health and economic front has done better than other countries.
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Ratings agency Fitch reckons China won’t slap punitive tariffs on products like iron ore as trade tensions continue to rise because they are “core to the bilateral trade relationship” but thinks like barley and coal are at risk of further sanctions.
“We expect any further punitive trade measures imposed by China to target Australia’s smaller export categories,” Fitch said in a note released this afternoon.
“This would reduce the risk of adverse effects on China’s labour market or near-term growth prospects, in contrast to targeting products like iron ore – Australia’s largest export to China – which are critical inputs for China’s industrial development.”
Fitch said Australian industries that are able to sell their goods elsewhere, like barley, copper and coal, have been less affected by existing tariffs and bans, but winemakers have found it more difficult.
It thinks education might be OK because China is in deeper dispute with other places it sends students.
“Australia’s education and tourism exports to China fell in the year ending 30 June 2020, but it is hard to disaggregate the impact of bilateral tensions from that of the Covid-19 pandemic,” it said.
“China faces geopolitical disputes with other major English-language offshore education centres, such as the US, UK, and Canada, which may mitigate the risk of a steep drop in Chinese student arrivals in the medium-term.”
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The ongoing tensions caused by Australia’s deportation of New Zealand nationals came up during the meeting between Marise Payne and Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington today.
Asked about then home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s recent description of New Zealanders deported under section 501 of migration laws as “trash”, Mahuta said:
“We’ve certainly moved on beyond those particular comments. The things that needed to be said were said at the time in relation to the statements made.”
(Just a reminder: Mahuta, the New Zealand foreign minister, said last month that Dutton’s remarks “only serve to trash his own reputation” and were a “reflection on his own character”. Dutton told parliament he was “proud of this government for the way in which we have kicked these people out of our country”, which he said reflected the Australian government’s policy of “cancelling visas of dangerous criminals, of people that have committed serious offences against Australian citizens”.)
Mahuta told reporters today:
“I can say that we continue to raise our concerns around the issue of deportations and the impact that it has on New Zealand.”
Mahuta said she had reiterated those concerns in her talks with her visiting counterpart, Payne. She said New Zealand believed that “people who for the most part spend their lives in other country, and relate to that country as by and large self-identifying as to where they belong”:
“These are matters that have been raised, they will continue to be raised, and we continue to have discussions about how we might address that.”
WA floats reducing or suspending returns from India
Mark McGowan says WA isn’t considering an overall reduction in the cap on returned travellers but says a reduction in the number of people returning from India should be considered – or a suspension entirely - considering the large number of Covid cases there.
The number of people returning to Australia who are infectious is just climbing hugely. In the Northern Territory, I understand, they have had massive increases. South Australia has had massive increases. India’s obviously full of Covid.
We are very concerned about India and that’s why we have suggested a suspension, a reduction, in the number of people returning from India should be considered by national cabinet, and I’ll raise that matter today.
It’s not, you know, we feel deeply for people who are in India, but obviously it is a big risk to broader community and to the integrity of our hotel quarantine system, the numbers of people who are returning.
He says anecdotally people are leaving Australia, going to India, and then returning Covid-positive.
“We don’t know why this is happening. This doesn’t seem to be a fair reasonable or sensible thing that people are able to leave Australia currently and go to a country that is full of Covid and then return back.”
People should only be going to India “for the most extreme of circumstances” and says permission to leave Australia is the responsibility of the federal government.
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McGowan says it’s a major exercise running hotel quarantine, especially when there are commonwealth facilities available:
We actually have thousands of people employed who are looking after them. In terms of other facilities that are available, there’s obviously, as I have said before, Christmas Island, there’s Curtin air base, Yongah Hill, and other places that can potentially be made available.
The commonwealth said no – they said no consistently. That has to be hotels run by the state.
Rottnest was used for returning cruise ship travellers early in the Covid period. Obviously it’s something we have available to us should we need to in the future. But the thing about Rottnest is it is isolated, but there are still staff that attend there. There’s still people that need to be fed, cleaned, all of those services provided. So it’s not a zero-risk environment.
Having said that, I think it is available if we need it in the future. But at the moment, our systems are the hotels. We currently run nine.
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McGowan to raise hotel quarantine in national cabinet
McGowan says he will raise his concerns with hotel quarantine in national cabinet today given the surge in India, noting the federal government refuses to run quarantine:
I’m going to raise with national cabinet my concerns about the volume of returning Australians who have the virus and the pressure that is placing on us and our hotel quarantine system and the risk it is providing to the broader community. Clearly people who have been in India are at very, very high risk.
Remember as health experts have always said: hotels were never built for long-term quarantining. However, short of dedicated commonwealth facilities, which the commonwealth has said they will not do, at this stage for all states and territories, hotel quarantine is our best option to keep the virus contained and out of our community.
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Mark McGowan says the hotel quarantine system is under “significant stress”:
Our system is under significant stress. We currently have nine hotels with more than 2,000 overseas arrivals on any given day. It’s a major logistical challenge each and every day. Unfortunately, we’re seeing more and more positive cases as the pandemic rages around the world.
On the other guests on the floor, he said there were 18 who have left after returning a negative result. The two people in adjacent rooms have been contacted and retested, and will be required to quarantine for another 14 days.
Of the other 16, they are also being retested, and four so far have returned negative results.
He says 13 security guards on shift, 31 various hotel staff, one doctor and two CCTV installers on that floor have all been tested and will isolate until they get a negative result.
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Mecure hotel won't be used for quarantine, WA premier says
WA premier Mark McGowan said the Mercure hotel would not be used for hotel quarantine after two sets of guests staying in rooms opposite each other recorded the same sequence of virus, despite arriving from different countries at different times.
McGowan said on 16 April a mother and her four-year-old child from the UK tested positive as part of their day 12 test. They were staying across the hall from a couple who returned from India.
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Just an update on press conferences for today. We are just waiting on one from the federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and the Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan.
The latter being largely focused on the hotel quarantine transmission issue, I would say.
Marise Payne was asked by a reporter about her decision overnight to tear up two Victorian government agreements with China related to the Belt and Road Initiative and whether she’d like New Zealand to take a similar approach.
(New Zealand and China signed a “memorandum of arrangement” in March 2017 to lay the groundwork for cooperation under the BRI.)
Payne said that was “entirely a matter for New Zealand” which has different governance arrangements. She noted the Australian foreign veto laws that passed the parliament were intended to ensure that Australia had a consistent approach to foreign policy across the states and territories.
Payne said she would weigh up cancelling other agreements in the months ahead: ”I do expect that there will be further decisions to be made in due course and they will be informed by advice from my department.”
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Asked if Australia wanted New Zealand to take a stronger line against China, Marise Payne said she would not give public advice to other countries. She said the Australia-China relationship was important, and Canberra’s engagement with Beijing would be “clear-eyed”.
But she added it was important to acknowledge that China’s outlook and the nature of its international engagement “has changed in recent years”, and there was a need to “adjust” to these “new realities”.
Payne said she and Nanaia Mahuta had engaged in an at-length discussion today on a range of strategic issues. She said they was able to have those discussions in a positive spirit.
Updated
NZ and Australian foreign affairs ministers speak to media in Wellington
New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister, Nanaia Mahuta, has reiterated her country doesn’t see the need to invoke the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance as a “first port of call” for raising issues of concern, including on human rights.
Mahuta addressed the media in Wellington alongside Australian foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, after their meeting a short time ago. Australia, which has experienced a rift in its relationship with China, has joined several joint statements with other members of the Five Eyes: the US, UK, New Zealand and Canada. However, New Zealand hasn’t always signed up to those statements.
Both Mahuta and Payne emphasised the value of the alliance.
Mahuta – who first raised her concerns earlier this week – said the Five Eyes was primarily a security and intelligence framework “and it’s not necessary all the time on every issue to invoke Five Eyes as a first port of call” to rally international support.
She said New Zealand valued the relationship which brought significant benefits to the country. “But whether or not that framework needs to be invoked every time on every issue especially in the human rights space is something we have exchanged further views about.”
Updated
Some more easing of restrictions, this time in South Australia, AAP reports.
Adelaide Oval will welcome a capacity crowd from early next month after more Covid-19 restrictions have eased.
The change to apply from 8 May will allow for a full house of more than 50,000 fans at the next AFL showdown between Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows.
Some requirements for mask use will still apply.
South Australia has also reported nine new coronavirus cases on Thursday, all in recent overseas arrivals.
Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the rising number of active infections being handled in SA had her “on edge”.
She said officials were monitoring the capacity of Adelaide’s Tom’s Court hotel which is being used to house all returned travellers who test positive.
“We feel we’re getting near capacity in terms of our concerns around safety,” she said.
Updated
And with that I’ll hand the (ahem) reins to Josh Taylor, who will see you out for the rest of the day.
A mammoth donkey called Diamond Creek Moonwatcher has been imported into Australia, the Department of Agriculture has proclaimed.
No pictures, unfortunately.
the agriculture department has facilitated the import of a particularly large donkey, they proudly announce in this important media alert, with a title which (I admit) definitely made me click pic.twitter.com/dKhRJX3Pr0
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) April 22, 2021
Australia Post is reportedly backing down on its decision to stop transporting perishable goods, a move that had been slammed by small producers in regional areas.
Australia Post backs down on plan to axe transport of perishable goods - Small Business Ombudsman Bruce Billson to head a working party. Aust Post eliminating "issues" before Tues when senate inquiry grills board on Christine Holgate ousting @abcnews @BillsonBruce @australiapost pic.twitter.com/JhcOdOdE4U
— Peter Ryan (@Peter_F_Ryan) April 22, 2021
The Victorian chief health officer, Brett Sutton, says he is a little under the weather today after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine yesterday.
Feeling just a wee bit ordinary today - achey and tired. On the plus side, go immune system! For fact sheets following vaccination please see: https://t.co/C9jZWec17e
— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) April 21, 2021
Updated
NSW health urgently searching for four travellers who stayed at Mercure Hotel
NSW authorities are searching for at least four travellers who stayed in quarantine hotels where it appears there was Covid-19 transmission between rooms, AAP reports:
NSW health authorities are urgently trying to track four people who may have been exposed to Covid after three returned travellers at a Sydney quarantine hotel contracted the same South African strain of the virus.
On Wednesday night NSW Health said two of three people diagnosed with the virus were family members who had stayed in connecting rooms on the 10th floor of the Mercure Hotel in Sydney earlier this month. The third person stayed in an adjacent room.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said on Thursday up to 40 returned travellers and an unknown number of staff may have been exposed and health authorities were working to track down at least four people.
“We have managed to contact 36 of those individuals,” she said. “We are urgently escalating contact with the remaining four.”
A number of hotel guests had since gone to other states and territories and authorities there had been alerted.
Staff potentially exposed will also have to self-isolate.
Anyone who stayed on the 10th floor of the Mercure between 7 and 12 April is being directed to get tested and self-isolate until 14 days after they left quarantine.
The three infected returned travellers arrived on the same flight on 3 April.
However, Chant said transmission at the airport or plane was extremely unlikely, as all parties had tested negative on day two in quarantine.
Health authorities are investigating how a breach may have occurred, but Chant said the detection showed NSW’s systems were doing their job.
“We have put in range of measures at the borders to protect us from incursions and it’s been pleasing to see that the whilst we have detected these incursion events, they really haven’t then led to further transmission,” she said.
Health authorities said that [an investigation into] a separate case of transmission between hotel rooms of the Adina Apartment Hotel at Town Hall was ongoing, and all contacts located so far have tested negative.
Updated
Pfizer has issued a statement after a Brisbane man developed blood clots shortly after being vaccinated.
News Corp reports that although the man had received the Pfizer vaccine shortly before developing clots, he also recently had knee surgery, which is considered a more likely cause of the clotting.
In a statement provided to News Corp Pfizer said it had conducted a “comprehensive assessment” of data relating to its vaccine and found no evidence that clots were an associated risk.
There have been 200m doses of Pfizer vaccine administered globally.
This safety database analysis included a review of all adverse events received for the vaccine through to 27 March 2021.
Pfizer considers that the benefit-risk profile of (the vaccine) in preventing Covid-19 remains positive.
Updated
No new Covid cases in NSW, investigations continue into hotel transmission
NSW Health has confirmed there were no new local Covid-19 cases yesterday, but seven new cases that were acquired overseas.
There were 10,264 tests reported to 8pm yesterday, compared with the previous day’s total of 11,943.
It also confirmed that there were two investigations into transmission between travellers at the Mercure Hotel and Adina Apartment Hotel.
Investigations are continuing into how Covid-19 transmission occurred between returned travellers who entered Australia on 3 April on the same flight and subsequently stayed in adjacent rooms while in hotel quarantine at the Mercure Hotel on George Street in Sydney’s CBD.
The investigation has not identified any further cases of transmission to date.
The three returned travellers, two of whom are family members, share the same viral sequence for the B1.351 variant of concern, first identified in South Africa. They were transferred to the special health accommodation and will remain there until they are no longer infectious.
Investigations also continue into how transmission of Covid-19 occurred between two groups of returned travellers in hotel quarantine at Adina Apartment Hotel at Town Hall in the CBD. All contacts tested to date have returned negative results.
There were 4,185 vaccines administered by NSW Health in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday. The total number of vaccines administered by NSW Health is 185,260.
Updated
With that, I will hand you over to the capable hands of Nino Bucci to take you through the rest of the day.
Centrelink breached domestic violence victim’s privacy by disclosing new address to former partner
Services Australia has been ordered to apologise and pay compensation to a domestic violence victim after it disclosed her new address to her former partner.
The agency breached the Privacy Act when it failed to separate the woman’s records from her former partner’s then updated his online account with her new address, Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk has ruled.
The woman was alerted to the privacy breach when her ex-partner posted a picture of her new house from Google Maps to Facebook, with the comment “Change your MyGov”, in 2017.
She had moved hundreds of kilometres to escape the decade-long abusive relationship, and avoided telling anyone where she was going to ensure her safety.
The woman said:
My heart just sank. I felt sick. I did everything right when I had the strength to leave him and he found me through no fault of my own.
Within months, her ex had relocated interstate to live near her.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
A vaccine mystery afoot in NSW it seems:
My first instinct: is someone having a lend of me? I mean, how does packaging for a COVID vaccine even stray out into the mean streets? pic.twitter.com/Gn7AA94bJt
— Gavin Coote (@GavinCoote) April 22, 2021
An update on the state of mushrooms in both South Australia, and my kitchen.
. @SAHealth has released a statement warning people not to eat wild mushrooms as poisonings are up. But I’m only tell you this because I was to show off the gloriously large mushrooms I cultivated from an Aldi growing kit! pic.twitter.com/oVxqsCd37z
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) April 22, 2021
I mentioned that missing submarine earlier in the morning, here is a bit more information on that:
Indonesia’s navy is searching for a submarine that went missing north of the resort island of Bali with 53 people on board.
The country’s military chief, Hadi Tjahjanto, said on Wednesday that the KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise when it missed a scheduled reporting call. The vessel is believed to have disappeared in waters about 60 miles (95km) north of Bali, he said.
Tjahjanto said the navy had deployed scores of ships to search the area, including a hydrographic survey ship, and had asked for help from Singapore and Australia, which have submarine rescue vessels.
The navy said an electrical failure may have occurred during the dive, causing the submarine to lose control and become unable to undertake emergency procedures that would have allowed it to resurface. It believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 metres (2,000-2,300 feet).
You can read the full report below:
Updated
When asked, Victorian Minister @JaalaPulford says Belt and Road deal decision by @MarisePayne “is a matter for Federal Government.”
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) April 22, 2021
Despite Victoria signing the MoU with China. @10NewsFirstMelb #springst pic.twitter.com/JCXdsmQtUr
New youth justice laws to pass in Queensland
Queensland is set to pass laws allowing courts to fit teenage offenders with GPS trackers and remove the presumption of bail for those caught committing serious offences while on bail, reports AAP.
The controversial laws, which are being debated in state parliament, are set to pass on Thursday night. They target about 400 repeat offenders, most of whom are Indigenous, allegedly responsible for almost half of all youth crime in the state.
The issue became highly charged following the deaths of pedestrians Kate Leadbetter, who was pregnant, and her partner Matt Field. The couple was struck by an allegedly stolen car driven by a teenager in Alexandra Hills on 26 January. Calls for reform increased with the death of 22-year-old motorcyclist Jennifer Board at Thuringowa on 5 February.
She was hit by a Holden Statesman following a stolen Hyundai sedan during an alleged vigilante pursuit.
Labor MP Jonty Bush says while the government is working to address the social causes of youth crime, such as poverty, the community has a right to safety. This was the key message heard by parliament’s Legal Affairs and Safety Committee during recent public hearings across the state.
However, some people were understandably frightened, having experienced personal occurrences of break and enters, hold-ups or dangerous hooning.
Greens MP Michael Berkman, a vocal critic of the proposed laws, is due to speak against the laws in parliament on Thursday. He’s previously accused the government of focusing too much on treating the symptoms rather than addressing the social causes of youth crime.
The opposition Liberal National party has unsuccessfully tried to move an amendment to laws that would make it an offence to breach bail conditions.
Opposition leader David Crisafulli said the problems will continue unless recidivist youth offenders face the consequences.
Everybody deserves a second chance, but that is not what we are discussing today ...
We are discussing a system that allows people multiple chances, in some cases 20 chances.
The amendment that the opposition seeks to put forward ensures that those people who are given the opportunity to be out on bail can be held accountable for their actions.
Updated
It’s 10am, which means I suspect many of you will be looking for something to distract you from work right about now.
Can I recommend this video from SBS’s The Feed talking about the infamous “milkshake consent” video:
Hopefully, this one causes slightly less controversy 🤡 pic.twitter.com/dhiCeKzTMZ
— The Feed SBS (@TheFeedSBS) April 21, 2021
Updated
Berejiklian says NSW could have mass vaccination hubs up and running by mid-May
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian says the government is planning to have their mass vaccination hubs running within around a month, but the centre’s success will rely on vaccine supplies from the commonwealth:
We are looking at the footprint, as you know. New South Wales Health has already identified over a hundred sites around New South Wales which people will have access to the vaccine. Some of those sites have now been converted, or will be converted, to being able to dispense the Pfizer vaccine, given the likelihood that that vaccine will become more prominent into the future.
I want to thank everybody from New South Wales Health for making this possible. And Susan Pearce will give an update on the situation. We hope to have this up and running by the middle of May. But, of course, it also depends on the doses that we have available to us.
But I will say this: that New South Wales Health has been advised in the next few weeks of the dose that is we’ll be receiving, and in relation to both Pfizer and AstraZeneca, that New South Wales will be receiving. It’s important to note that this mass vaccination hub will be needed if we have to dispense with all the Pfizer vaccines that are made available to us. So, if the information we’ve been provided materialises, this vaccination hub will be necessary to get the Pfizer vaccine out to everybody who is in those categories of individuals who need it.
Updated
Speaking of, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now.
Updated
The main numbers we are waiting for today are NSW and WA, who both had infection control breaches within their hotel quarantine systems.
The next few cases will be crucial to figuring out if the virus managed to escape into the wider community.
We usually get the NSW numbers around 11, and I’m honestly not sure when we get the WA numbers because they have been Covid-19 free for so long. (I’ll find out for you all.)
Queensland reports no new local Covid cases
So my spider senses were tingling and I thought “haven’t seen the Queensland numbers today”, so I go the premier’s Twitter and she posted them seven seconds ago.
SEVEN SECONDS!
God, I’m good.
Oh, no cases by the way.
Thursday 22 April – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 21, 2021
• 0 new cases
• 14 active cases
• 1,520 total cases
• 2,419,307 tests conducted
Sadly, seven people with COVID-19 have died. 1,451 patients have recovered.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/YeZK1vPYgI
Updated
Bunnings offer to host vaccination hubs
Australians could potentially pick up a sizzling sausage when getting their Covid jab with hardware giant Bunnings saying it is open to offering its car parks as mass vaccination hubs.
Bunnings has an open offer to help the federal government with its vaccine rollout and health experts say the proposal could be an effective way of distributing vaccines in suburbs while engaging local communities.
National cabinet this week agreed to fast track vaccinations and overhaul the initial rollout strategy that has been plagued by delays related to logistics, supply issues and blood-clotting concerns.
NSW and Victoria have independently incorporated mass vaccination sites for over-50s into their rollouts; while the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on Monday said mass vaccination hubs would be suited for an anticipated “12-week sprint” ahead of Christmas once further Pfizer supplies and the Novavax vaccine become available.
You can read the full story below:
Updated
Just for comparison, Australia has currently administered around 1.7m doses.
"Today, we did it" -- hitting 200 million shots in under 100 days, announces @POTUS. "It's an incredible achievement for the nation." #CoronavirusVaccine pic.twitter.com/2eB2Qi6tTA
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 21, 2021
Updated
Morrison to appear at US president Biden's climate summit today.
Scott Morrison will use a global climate action summit organised by the US president Joe Biden to foreshadow a spend of $565.8m over the next eight years to build international collaboration to drive development of some low-emissions technologies.
The Australian prime minister will tell the virtual summit during a contribution expected on Thursday night that he wants to build practical, project-based international partnerships to accelerate new energy technologies and drive down costs. The spending, to be confirmed in the May budget, will be accompanied by additional domestic investment in hydrogen hubs and carbon capture and storage projects.
The government says priority countries for future international collaboration on investments in low-emissions technology include the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, as well as India, Canada and New Zealand.
Priority technologies include hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, low- or zero-emissions steel production, low carbon alumina and aluminium production, and zero carbon liquefied natural gas production and shipping to Asian countries.
You can read the full report from Katharine Murphy and Adam Morton below:
Updated
Hunt for suspects after Launceston shooting
There is some breaking news coming out of Tasmania.
A man is in serious condition after being shot outside a house in northern Tasmania, the latest in a spate of gun incidents in the region, reports AAP.
The 52-year-old allegedly confronted two people at his car in suburban Launceston in the early hours of Thursday. He suffered serious injuries and is currently in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Authorities would like to speak to anyone who saw two people acting suspiciously in the Invermay Street about 1.30am.
One suspect is described as 170cm tall with slender build and wearing black clothing. The other is described as 175cm tall, heavy set and wearing a large black jacket with hood.
Updated
Today is the one-year anniversary of the fatal Eastern Freeway crash in Melbourne.
Leading Senior Constable Lynnette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King, and constables Glen Humphris, and Josh Prestney were killed when a truck veered off the road and crashed into the officers who were in the process of impounding a car.
The crash was the single greatest loss of life in Victoria police’s history, with the truck driver responsible jailed last week for 22 years.
Today, and every day, we remember the lives of Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constables Josh Prestney and Glen Humphris who were killed in the line of duty one year ago today.
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) April 21, 2021
We will remember them.
More 🔗https://t.co/16IMOEHapL pic.twitter.com/q9udhKu5Z2
Updated
Trade minister heralds win for Australian wine makers in Canada settlement
Australia has reached an agreement with Canada over wine exports, in what trade minister Dan Tehan is heralding as a big win.
Essentially the two countries have settled the remaining measures in Australia’s World Trade Organization challenge to Canadian wine measures.
Canada has now agreed to a phased removal of what Australia calls “discriminatory measures” imposed by the province of Quebec, which essentially disadvantaged Australian wine producers wishing to import into the country.
Tehan announced this in a statement this morning:
Removing these trade barriers will allow Australian wine makers to fairly compete for Canadian customers, and more customers means more sales and more jobs and growth in Australia.
Our success demonstrates the strength of the WTO dispute settlement system and underlines why Australia is working to reform the organisation to keep it relevant.
Australia strongly supports the multilateral rules-based trading system, with the WTO at its core, and we will continue to work within that system to stand up for the rights of Australian exporters while resolving trade matters in a respectful manner.
Facebook is facing a complaint under Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act that the company is not doing enough to moderate against hate speech.
The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (Aman) announced on Wednesday it had lodged a complaint under sections nine and 18(c) of the act with the Australian Human Rights Commission over what the group says is Facebook’s failure to rein in hateful speech on its platform.
The complaint alleges Facebook allows pages that state they are “anti-Islam” but host hateful content about Middle Eastern, African, South Asian and Asian people.
Guardian Australia understands the organisation had been in discussions with Facebook about its policy for a year, and the source of frustration that led to the complaint from the organisation was the need to report violating content themselves, rather than Facebook proactively removing it.
Read the full story below:
If the main storyline of the day is hotel quarantine, the B-plot has to be “international tensions with China”.
The federal government has already upset the embassy by blocking several “belt and road” agreements the Victorian government had with the sleeping giant, and now it is doubling down, and scolding New Zealand for questioning the role of the Five Eyes alliance when Marise Payne meets with her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington today.
Mahuta has argued the Five Eyes group should focus solely on intelligence sharing. She does not want the network straying to other matters, such as criticising China for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
Payne told ABC she plans to re-emphasise the importance of the Five Eyes alliance during the bilateral meeting.
Australia will continue to emphasise the vital nature of the Five Eyes alliance in security and in intelligence.
The foreign minister refused to say whether Mahuta’s comments had placed a strain on the coalition.
There is a depth of commitment in the relationship between Australia and New Zealand that is very significant …
In terms of the Five Eyes, what I have found in the last year in particular and certainly in the last little while, is a very significant level of engagement across counterparts.
Along with Australia and New Zealand, the Five Eyes alliance comprises the US, Canada and the UK.
Updated
Victoria has had no local Covid-19 cases overnight!
Yesterday there were no new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in hotel quarantine).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 21, 2021
- 4,519 vaccine doses were administered
- 13,951 test results were received
Got symptoms? Get tested.
More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/Nv2VyLDjRz
Updated
Tasmania’s first international flight in 23 years has taken off from Auckland in what has been hailed as a “special” day for the state, reports AAP.
Air New Zealand flight NZ197 left Auckland at 9am NZST on Thursday and will land at 11am AEST at Hobart International airport.
Speaking from Auckland, the chief executive of Tourism Tasmania, John Fitzgerald, said it was a thrilling and historic day.
There hasn’t been an international flight to Hobart for 20 years from New Zealand. So it’s special.
The flights have been underwritten by the Australian federal government, which last year announced a $50m investment to return international flights to Hobart. Much of that has gone toward upgrading the airport.
Air New Zealand successfully bid for the rights to operate the route and has committed to a twice-weekly service from Auckland for the next two years.
The airline’s chief executive, Greg Foran, said he was keeping an open mind about adding a Tuesday service.
Potentially as we get into the winter season, the ski season, we may end up adding a third one on …
We think it’s going to end up paying its way reasonably well and we’re excited that it’s going to get under way.”
The last regularly scheduled international flights out of Hobart, a Hobart-Christchurch route, ceased in 1998. Since then, the island state has seen intermittent overseas charter flights and services to Antarctica.
Thursday’s flight is carrying Air New Zealand executives, trade partners and Kiwi journalists eager to explore the Apple Isle.
The flights have been made possible by the trans-Tasman bubble, which began on Monday when New Zealand removed the need for Australian travellers to complete a fortnight’s quarantine on arrival.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian has been a vocal advocate for opening up AstraZeneca vaccinations to anyone over 50. This is a plan that is likely to be rubber-stamped at national cabinet today.
She has been asked if Australia has the supply to make this work:
Clearly, if there is a less rigid process in the way forwards and how we deal with all vaccines including AstraZeneca, well that’s an opportunity for states to do more than what they’ve been asked to do.
But we’re doing is making sure we are supporting our GP network. Many people want to get the vaccine and should get the vaccine from a GP because they might have an underlying health issue and [questions].
So we want to support the GP network, we’re going to make sure they get as many doses as they need to be able to get that out in the community.
Updated
Berejiklian has been asked what she is doing to ensure that aerosol transmission isn’t occurring in hotel quarantine. Victoria recently shut down their returned traveller quarantine facilities in order to conduct a full audit of ventilation and air pressure to ensure airborne transmission wasn’t occurring.
Well, I can only comment on what’s happening in New South Wales and certainly, in New South Wales every precaution is taken, especially with the various strains and some of which are understood better than others. But I’m confident we have the processes in place to keep returning home at least 3,000 Australians every single week. New South Wales has done that consistently.
Updated
The NSW premier says the coronavirus may have spread on the plane rather than in hotel quarantine:
They were on the same flight, so it could have been on that flight. But we want to take every precaution. We assume it’s in the hotel, we assume that others may have been caught up in it and make sure we contact everybody.
I’ll get further details in the morning.
Updated
Berejiklian has been asked if she is worried Covid-19 might have spread into the wider community:
I remain concerned every day of the pandemic because we know that an outbreak or one case of community transmission can suddenly escalate.
But I have confidence our authorities have been through this a number of times, and I have confidence, we’ll get to the bottom of it and make sure that we contain anything if that’s required.
At this stage, it is confined obviously to those travelling.
Updated
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking to ABC radio now about this new case of Covid-19 transmission in hotel quarantine.
Updated
Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne says Australia has offered to help in the search for an Indonesian submarine lost with 53 sailors onboard.
The vessel has not been seen or heard from since Wednesday when it was participating in a training exercise north of Bali.
Payne said the situation was “very distressing”.
We will help our neighbours in any way we can.
Indonesia has sought help from Australia and Singapore.
Updated
Entire Australia Post board asked to front Senate inquiry over Holgate saga
Guardian Australia understands the entire Australia Post board has been invited to a Senate inquiry to answer questions about the exit of former chief executive, Christine Holgate.
Holgate has accused the chairman, Lucio Di Bartolomeo, of unlawfully standing her aside from her job and Scott Morrison of humiliating her in parliament over a gift of $20,000 Cartier watches to senior executives. Australia Post and Di Bartolomeo insist she agreed to stand aside and later resigned over the saga.
The Environment and Communications References Committee conducting the inquiry has invited the entire Australia Post board to appear at a new hearing on 27 April.
Former Liberal party national director, Tony Nutt, will be the witness of greatest interest – after Holgate’s testimony suggested Nutt had attributed the decision to stand her down directly to the prime minister.
Holgate has accused the board of doing nothing to stop her from being discredited as the controversy exploded in parliament and the media.
Guardian Australia has asked Australia Post which of its board will appear – and was referred to Di Bartolomeo’s earlier statements denying unlawful action against Holgate, who he said stood aside voluntarily.
Updated
The Morrison government’s decision to cancel Victoria’s Belt and Road agreements will “further damage” the relationship between Australia and China, according to the Chinese embassy.
The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, announced last night she would cancel those two deals between Victoria and the Chinese government because she was satisfied they were “inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations”.
The decision was made possible by foreign veto laws that passed the parliament late last year, allowing the foreign affairs minister to cancel international agreements involving states and territories, councils and universities.
Overnight, the Chinese embassy in Canberra issued a statement expressing its “strong displeasure and resolute opposition” to Payne’s decision.
A spokesperson for the embassy said:
This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China. It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations. It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself.
The cancellation, announced last night, covers a memorandum of understanding that the Victorian Labor premier, Daniel Andrews, signed with China’s national development and reform commission in 2018. That included a pledge to work together on initiatives under Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road infrastructure-building program.
The veto also targets the subsequent framework agreement for establishing a working group.
Prof Rory Medcalf, head of the national security college at the Australian National University, has previously argued the Victorian government’s agreements had “undermined the national interest by weakening the commonwealth government’s ability to set the terms for key international relationships”.
Last year Medcalf said accepting the memorandum of understanding without including language on governance, environmental standards or even labour rights “serves mainly as a propaganda gift to Xi Jinping”.
But the Chinese embassy spokesperson said cooperation between China and Victoria under the Belt and Road Initiative was “conducive to deepening economic and trade relations between the two sides” and would “promote economic growth and the well-being of the people of Victoria”.
Updated
There’s more holiday cash up for grabs this morning, with the Queensland state government offering vouchers for tourism experiences in Brisbane and the Whitsundays. (One of those seems significantly better than the other.)
BREAKING: 36,000 travel vouchers will be up for grabs for holidaymakers in Brisbane and the Whitsundays.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 21, 2021
The Holiday Dollars are valued at $100 and $200, and give visitors 50% off at selected accommodation or tourism experiences.
Don't miss out! Find details for each offer 👇 pic.twitter.com/tdlO3tw8cz
Welcome to Thursday
Good morning, it’s Matilda Boseley here ready to take you through the highs and lows of Thursday.
Oh, and we are starting off with a bit of a low, with not one but two states grappling with Covid-19 spreading in their hotel quarantine facilities.
First up with have Western Australia, where two returned travellers contracted Covid-19 in hotel quarantine in the Mercure Hotel in Perth.
The WA Health Department had previously reported the infections as being acquired overseas, but genomic sequencing has since confirmed otherwise.
They released a statement on Wednesday night:
The virus was transmitted in hotel quarantine at the Mercure Hotel, as two sets of guests, in rooms opposite each other, had the same sequence of virus – despite arriving from different countries at different times.
Other guests who stayed on the same sixth floor at the same time were previously released from the hotel after testing negative. The department says they are being contacted, retested and directed to self-isolate.
NSW is also grappling with a similar issue – for the second time this week.
The health department believes the South African variant of Covid-19 has jumped rooms, infecting another returned traveller in the Mercure Hotel quarantine facility on George Street in Sydney’s CBD.
Two of the three people infected were family members and stayed in connecting rooms on the 10th floor, while the third person was staying in a separate adjacent room, all arriving on the same flight on 3 April.
The state’s health department is now scrambling to contact everyone who has stayed on the same floor between 7 April and 12 April (when authorities believe the infection occurred).
The department says those people will be directed to get tested and self-isolate until 14 days after they left quarantine at the Mercure Hotel, as will relevant hotel staff.
You might remember that over the weekend there was also a separate case of transmission between hotel rooms of the Adina Apartment Hotel at Town Hall. The department says those investigations are ongoing.
Just before we get started, it’s worth remembering we are also expecting a meeting of the national cabinet today, where it’s expected the federal government will sign off on opening up Astra Zeneca vaccinations for everyone over 50 in Australia.
Now, 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.
Let’s jump in!
Updated
