What happened today, Tuesday, 6 April 2021
We’ll leave it there for today. Thanks for tuning in.
Here are today’s main developments.
- The much anticipated two-way travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand will commence on 19 April, NZ PM Jacinda Ardern announced today.
- Scott Morrison welcomed the announcement, which he said would provide a boost to Australia’s travel industry because New Zealanders will be able to visit without quarantining when they go home.
- Scott Morrison was also forced to again defend the vaccine roll out on Tuesday. He said 854,000 vaccines had been administered to 5 April, and he said he would raise the need for more vaccine data at national cabinet. Labor called for stadium-style vaccination hubs.
- A PNG man died in a Queensland hospital after developing complications from Covid-19.
- In non-Covid news, Malcolm Turnbull hit out at News Corp and “rightwing media”, saying they had influenced the NSW government to dump him as the head of a new climate change board.
- Guardian Australia revealed besieged Liberal MP Andrew Laming operated 30 Facebook pages, including some that were masquerading as local news sites.
See you tomorrow.
Updated
Australia Post’s submission to the same Senate inquiry clearly indicates it doesn’t resile from the position she stood aside.
It said:
On 22 October 2020, Ms Holgate agreed to stand aside from the role of group chief executive officer & managing director of Australia Post pending the outcome of an investigation by the shareholder departments and any further actions taken by Australia Post. On 2 November 2020, Ms Holgate resigned with immediate effect and advised that she was not seeking any financial compensation from Australia Post.
The submission also quotes the Maddocks review of the incident, which it said contradicts Holgate by finding that:
- The “former Chair’s position is that he did not” approve the provision of the watches to the watch recipients
- There was “contradictory evidence as to whether the former Group CEO & Managing Director informed the former Chair that it was her intention to purchase the Cartier watches”.
Australia Post said it considers current chair, Lucio Di Bartolomeo’s, evidence to the Senate “to be accurate” but that is after “incorporating the subsequent clarification provided on 21 December 2020”.
Updated
Former Australia Post chief executive, Christine Holgate, has lodged an explosive submission to the Senate inquiry into her sacking for the decision to award executives Cartier watches as bonuses.
“It is almost five months since the events of October 22nd, 2020, when, for no justified reason, I was humiliated in Parliament and then unlawfully stood down by the Australia Post Chair from a role I was passionately committed to,” the submission begins.
In the submission, Holgate doubles down on her claim she never voluntarily stood down and accuses Australia Post chairman, Lucio Di Bartolomeo, of unlawfully standing her down and alleged “he lied repeatedly to the Australian people and to their parliament about his actions”.
“Time after time he has made statements that I had agreed to stand down when I had done no such thing.”
Holgate said she offered to resign, but alleged Australia Post then leaked the letter to the media, before sending a counter-offer which is “itself confirmation that no agreement had been reached”.
Holgate said the gift of Cartier watches was “legal, within Australia Post’s policies, within my own signing authority limits, approved by the previous chairman, expensed appropriately, signed off by auditors and the CFO, [and] widely celebrated within the organisation”.
Holgate accused Di Bartolomeo of providing “seriously misleading” evidence to the Senate on 9 November including regarding his knowledge of a BCG report into the incident.
Updated
Travel agents and hotel operators have welcomed details of the two way travel bubble with New Zealand, but have warned “there will be very little real benefit” for the sector in the short term.
This is because most of the initial travellers from 19 April are expected to be low-spending tourists visiting family and friends, as Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive, Margy Osmond, told the Guardian.
Accommodation Association of Australia has backed that prediction up, with its chief executive Dean Long reigniting calls for post-jobkeeper wage support for CBD hotels in Melbourne and Sydney that are still reeling from a drop off in international tourism and business travel.
The Association said Sydney is currently the worst performing city market in Australia with revenue declines of 67% and forward booking rates of less than 10% for the next 90 days and that Melbourne is similarly decimated.
Long said:
The opening of the trans-Tasman corridor is a very welcome step in the right direction but the reality is while it’s good news for the travel sector, given most travellers will be catching up with friends and families there’s very little immediate benefit for our tourism sector or our hotels and motels. With the end of jobkeeper and given the massive holes in the market especially in Australia’s international hubs of Sydney and Melbourne, the flow on benefits for our hotels and motels, and the many small businesses who supply them is negligible. There’s no doubt it will be a big kick along for consumer confidence but it doesn’t erase the need for tailored support for our accommodation sector. The reality is it’s great news for our travel sector but not so good for tourism.
Australian Federation of Travel Agents chair Tom Manwaring said many of his members were already seeing “increased interest in booking NZ albeit primarily to visit friends and family”.
Manwaring said:
It’s not a massive increase in business and our sector still desperately needs support but it is a much needed step in the right direction.” However, we urge both the Australian and the New Zealand governments to do all they can to ensure now the corridor is open that it stays open. This is important both in terms of consumer confidence in booking travel and from a workload perspective for travel agents who are still working hard on repatriating the outstanding $4bn still owed to Australians by airlines, hotels and tour operators on Covid-impacted travel and managing re-bookings and cancellations as a result of state restrictions.
Updated
PNG man dies of Covid in Queensland hospital
Queensland Health has confirmed a 77-year-old Papua New Guinea/UK man died at Redcliffe hospital yesterday from complications due to Covid-19.
It says in a statement:
He was a dual Papua New Guinea/UK national who was transported by Medivac from PNG to Queensland on 28 March, as his condition was worsening.
Since that day, he has been in ICU at Redcliffe hospital and unfortunately passed away yesterday.
Queensland Health offers its sincere condolences to his family during this time.
Queensland recorded no new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours.
Updated
I don’t believe this is real but perhaps it should be.
The new NZ tourism advertising campaign in Australia is pretty direct... pic.twitter.com/wCIrn3elQM
— Dylan Reeve (@DylanReeve) April 6, 2021
Here is a market’s update courtesy of AAP.
Technology and travel stocks have helped the Australian share market post a solid start to the holiday shortened week.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 57.2 points, or 0.84%, to 6885.9 on Tuesday, the first trading session after the Easter break.
The All Ordinaries closed 69.7 points, or 0.99% higher, at 7133.90.
Technology shares led the broad-based gains, while travel-focused stocks also jumped on news of a travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand.
The Australian dollar was buying 76.55 US cents at 1615 AEST, sharply higher from 75.47 US cents at last Thursday’s close.
Updated
Rounding out the press conference, Morrison returns to the vaccine rollout, saying:
Australia is not experiencing the dire, fatal consequences so many other countries are experiencing, and neither is New Zealand whose vaccination program is, I would say, at a lower level than Australia’s is now. It is not a criticism, it is just that they do not have access to domestic vaccine production.
Updated
Morrison is asked if he’d support a minimum global tax rate, as proposed by US treasury secretary Janet Yellen.
He doesn’t answer directly, but says “Australia’s overall [corporate tax] system is proving to be incredibly competitive and a lot more competitive” than some analysis suggests.
Updated
Question: Given the hold ups [with the CSL vaccines], how many people would you expect to be vaccinated by the end of April?
He says:
A couple of things – there is no hold up. The release of vaccines has always been based on them completing those processes, so the fact that they actually have to get approved by the relevant authorities and do the batch testing, is not a hold up, it is a necessary part of the process to guarantee Australian safety, so to describe it as a hold up would be incorrect.
On not meeting the four million target, he says:
The simple explanation of that is three million – 3.1m vaccines – that never came to Australia. That is the reason. In early January, we anticipated we would have the 3.1m vaccines. Those vaccines were not supplied to Australia, and that explains the difference between the numbers you are referring to, and we made that very clear back in February.
Updated
Morrison says a lack of supply is the reason why chemists are not more involved in the rollout, though he says it was never the plan that they would be “involved in vaccination program at this point”.
So there has been no slippage, there has been no delay, and the medical advice is it is not the time for pharmacists be involved at this point. There has always been a plan to involve them at the later point with a more general population, and that is still the plan.
Updated
Morrison is asked about the possibility of international travel to other countries beyond New Zealand.
“I can’t really speculate on it. I don’t think that’s fair,” he says.
Morrison adds:
At this point, the evidence is not strong enough to give us a good pointer about when we will arrive at that point.
Updated
Morrison says he can’t outline what’s next as far as travel bubbles go.
“We have looked at places like Singapore and Japan and South Korea, and countries like this, but at this stage we are not in a position to move forward on any of those at this point,” he says.
Updated
Morrison expects travel to Australia to increase with the travel bubble because New Zealanders will not have to submit to quarantine when they return.
Asked what he’d say to Australians disappointed with the speed of the rollout, Morrison says:
And it is true that at this stage of our rollout, it is actually better than where Germany was, better than where New Zealand was, better than where South Korea and Japan was, and so I think there will be some important context in the weeks ahead as we see the significant ramp up of the distribution network.
Morrison says “the challenges Australia have had has been a supply problem”, “pure and simple”.
There were three million doses that never arrived, he adds.
Updated
Morrison is asked for some vaccination data. He says:
The figures I have of the 5 April is 854,983. Of that, there are some 280,943 that have been done through the GP clinics and the GP respiratory clinics and other federal agencies.
That is in addition to those that have been done through age and disability facilities, which is around the 112,830.
Morrison supports data being provided more regularly, he says, and will discuss that with state and territory leaders at national cabinet.
Updated
Morrison notes the bubble will be open in time for Anzac Day, which he says is “tremendous”.
“This will mean importantly, jobs for Australia,” he says.
He says it “means more planes in the air, more jobs on the ground and in the air as well for our airlines”, as well as travel agents and the travel industry.
Updated
Scott Morrison says trans-Tasman travel bubble will mean jobs for Australia
Scott Morrison has stepped up.
He says:
Six months ago almost that Australia opened up to New Zealand and I am very pleased that the New Zealand government has decided that that two-way trouble will commence Monday fortnight. Prime minister Ardern called me last night and we had a very positive discussion about this. It is something we have been talking about for some time.
Updated
Qantas has announced it will operate up to 122 return flights a week to New Zealand once the two-way travel bubble comes into effect from 19 April.
Qantas and its budget carrier Jetstar will fly all of the 13 routes in New Zealand they operated prior to Covid-19, as well as two new routes, from Auckland to Cairns and the Gold Coast.
It will also fly year-round between Melbourne and Brisbane to Queenstown, routes which previously only operated during the ski season.
The services will offer more than 52,000 seats each week.
Flexible booking policy with unlimited flight date changes will be extended to their New Zealand flights.
The Qantas domestic and international chief executive, Andrew David, said “restarting flights to New Zealand is about more than starting to rebuild our international network, it’s about reconnecting families and friends and getting more of our people back flying again”.
David said:
Hopefully, stories of missed weddings and birthdays on either side of the ditch will now be a thing of the past.
We know Australians are keen to head overseas again, so we expect strong demand for flights to New Zealand and there are many Kiwis who can’t wait for a winter escape to warmer weather in Australia.
Qantas expects the New Zealand routes to increase its operating capacity to 83% of pre-Covid levels, an increase the airline believes “reflects a high level of expected demand for what will be Australia’s only international destination for at least the next six months”.
Updated
Western Australia’s troubled health system is facing further scrutiny after the death of a young girl forced to wait for care at a Perth hospital, reports AAP.
Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath died at Perth Children’s hospital on Saturday after spending two hours waiting for treatment in the emergency department.
She had been rushed to hospital with a fever.
Aishwarya’s parents told Nine News they had pleaded for their daughter to be seen by doctors after her eyes became cloudy and her hands turned cold.
She died within hours of eventually being seen by doctors.
“I went to the reception maybe four or five times and I asked them to have a look at her,” Aishwarya’s mother, Prasitha Sasidharan, told Nine News.
“They were actually neglecting us. We pleaded with them to have a look. They didn’t think it was an emergency.”
The health minister, Roger Cook, has requested an urgent briefing from his department into the circumstances surrounding Aishwarya’s death.
Perth’s hospitals have experienced record levels of ambulance ramping in recent months and patients have experienced severe delays, including at the King Edward maternity hospital.
The government has blamed increased demand for mental health treatment, staff shortages and stricter cleaning protocols linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cook on Tuesday said the system was facing “challenges” and international border closures were making it difficult to hire staff.
“I’m absolutely shocked at the moment about how these parents must be feeling today, having taken their daughter to a place where she should have received the best possible care,” he told Perth radio 6PR.
“My instinct is that there’s a gap in the communication process ... clearly these parents feel let down. They need answers and I want answers for them.”
The Australian Medical Association WA president, Andrew Miller, has called for an independent inquiry into Aishwarya’s death.
He said emergency departments had been “crying out for help” for months.
“We know that bad things happen, we know that people get sick and die, even children, but what families need at this time is to know that everything possible was done, even if the worst outcome was unavoidable here,” Miller said.
Updated
Scott Morrison will hold a press conference at 3.40pm. We’ll bring that to you when it happens.
Australia’s Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive, Margy Osmond, said the bubble announcement will be “just terrific” for Australia’s tourism sector and “a shot in the arm for confidence” to travel.
Osmond heralded the specifics of Ardern’s announcement, noting that it “recognises the need to manage the reality of risk”, and that she hopes it will encourage Australian states to adopt a similar uniform approach to managing border restrictions in response to incidents of community transmission.
Osmond told the Guardian:
Ardern has made it clear this is on a state by state basis. We need them to get their act together and be consistent in how they respond to outbreaks.
This sends a very strong message to the (Australian) states to sort themselves out, and to the governments to speed up the vaccine rollout so we can open further.
Osmond noted that the majority tourists from New Zealand have traditionally been visiting friends and family and “don’t spend anywhere near as much as normal tourism”, but said they may now look to travel for leisure, most likely to Queensland.
Updated
Andrew Laming behind several Facebook pages masquerading as news
New from chief political correspondent Sarah Martin.
The besieged Liberal National MP Andrew Laming operates more than 30 Facebook pages and profiles under the guise of community groups, including at least three masquerading as news pages, and another posing as an educational institute.
Australian airports have said the New Zealand travel bubble “will provide a much-needed boost to the aviation and tourism sectors”.
Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin said: “Australia’s airports have been calling for a cautious and planned approach to broadening the scope for international travel and this is a good start.”
Goodwin also said that as the vaccine rollout progresses, Australia should look to establish more bubbles with “CovidSafe nations”, specifically Singapore, and “consider developing pilot programs to bring in international students and agricultural workers”.
Goodwin said:
We can expect to see a lot of emotional scenes at our airports in two weeks’ time with many families and friends reunited after not seeing each other for more than a year.
Our consumer research suggests Australians are eager to get on an aircraft and start travelling again with almost 80% supportive of creating travel bubbles with countries where levels of Covid-19 are low.
International travel is the key to Covid recovery with international visitors spending on average three times more than domestic tourists.
Updated
NSW government influenced by News Corp: Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull has responded to the NSW government’s decision to reverse his appointment to lead a climate change body.
He told Guardian Australia’s environment editor Adam Morton the government was influenced by a “concerted and ferocious” rightwing media campaign led by News Corp.
You can read Adam’s story below.
Updated
Ardern has no firm plans to visit Australia at the moment.
But she’ll be doing media interviews with Australian outlets this week, “acting as tourism promotion agent number one”.
And with that, the press conference is over.
Updated
Virgin won't fly to NZ until November
Virgin Australia has called the New Zealand travel bubble “a step in the right direction” but has warned it does not plan to resume flights to New Zealand until November.
The airline said it remains “mindful of evolving border requirements which add complexity to our business as we push ahead with plans to grow our core domestic Australia operations”.
Virgin Australia said it has “taken a more pragmatic approach to ramping up its operations both here in Australia”.
A Virgin Australia spokesperson said:
For this reason, we have suspended the sale of most New Zealand services until 31 October 2021. A limited schedule for flights to and from Queenstown will remain available for booking from 18 September 2021.
We are working with Air New Zealand to provide impacted customers with alternative options and will be contacting them directly. In all cases, options to select new travel dates or obtain a refund to the original form of payment are being made available.
New Zealand remains a key part of our short-haul international network and we look forward to re-entering the trans-Tasman market later this year.
Updated
Ardern is asked about the possibility of a bubble with Singapore and Australia.
No conversations have been concluded in that regard. Australia as far as I’m aware has not made a decision around Singapore. We haven’t either. It is fair to say they have a different strategy than either of our countries. I imagine that would be something that would be given long and hard consideration before any decisions were made.
Updated
Ardern says she’s not worried about Virgin saying it would not be flying travel bubble NZ-Australia until September.
Airlines are going to make their own decision around when they choose to restart. Obviously we know two major airlines are very keen to start offering tickets to Australians and New Zealanders. And so I believe that that demand should be well met by those who will be operating.
Updated
If people from Australia end up needing to quarantine (due to an outbreak in the state they’ve come from), will they need to pay?
Ardern:
We’re not anticipating charging people for those circumstances.
Updated
The Wellington Phoenix say in a statement they are hopeful the travel bubble means they will be able to play some matches at home.
The club says:
Although the club will continue to base itself out of Wollongong in New South Wales until the end of the season, this decision now opens up the possibility to play up to two matches in New Zealand during the 2020/21 A-League season.
The club has previously stated that returning home is a goal. It’s important for the fans, our corporate partners and of course players and staff members – some of whom will have been separated from their families for over six months.
In anticipation of such an announcement being made, the club has been working on a plan to have the team and support staff return. This includes travel logistics, liaising with ticket providers and investigating accommodation arrangements for all the teams involved.
With this announcement today, these plans can now be accelerated. We hope to be able to make a further announcement shortly regarding the team’s ability to return to New Zealand.
The club wishes to stress that no definitive decision on a return has been made as yet, particularly as there are a range of factors involved in this decision – not just for the club but the A-League in a wider sense, due to the risk involved in travelling to another country and the possibility of further Covid outbreaks in either country.
Updated
Without wanting to convert the blog into a NZ tourism ad, here is Ardern on why Australians should visit:
You know, you’re asking me to give a promo forNew Zealand. The first thing that I would say is that we are safe and we cannot underestimate how important that is in this Covid-19 world. We are a safe place to bring your family to come and visit. Secondly, we are fast approaching ski season and I know that’s something thatAustralians love to partake in and that’s rapidly upon us but even if you’re not a skier, I can’t begin the list the beautiful places we have to visit. It is ultimately a change of scene that so many have been looking for. You may not have been in long periods of lockdown but you haven’t had the option. Now you have the option, come and see us.
on 6 April 2021 in Wellington, New Zealand. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Updated
Ardern says the NZ government hasn’t yet finalised a decision on the need for pre-departure testing.
So the director general will give us his health assessment on whether or not pre-departure testing is something we may require. It is already in the framework though. One of the responses that we may require as part of travel at any given time, depending on need, could be a pre-departure test. But what we’re saying for most dates from 19 April we’re not expecting it with a caveat to Queensland.
Updated
Ardern says she spoke with NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and the Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today.
She says “dates are being discussed” about Scott Morrison visiting New Zealand.
I’ll be looking to use the opportunity to take prime minister Morrison to an area that has previously enjoyed high levels of international visitors and that we’ll want to put back on the world stage.
Updated
NZ Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins says:
I fully expect we’ll be in regular contact with each other but each country has the right to reserve their own decisions.
Updated
Ardern acknowledged they had been working to a New Zealand-Australia arrangement, rather than what is being implemented: which is essentially a bubble between NZ and the various Australian states and territories.
Yes, initially, as you’re aware, we had been working to a New Zealand-Australia arrangement. I think it’s fair to say that although this adds an extra layer of, you know, complication for us as we manage potential hot spots in different states, it also gives us a level of flexibility. It does mean we have the ability, if we believe it safe to do so, to potentially pause or suspend flights in one state whilst, if another state remains unaffected, continuing travel there. So that flexibility exists but we’ll be using it cautiously and wisely.
Updated
Ardern has faced several questions from NZ journalists about whether the bubble could have happened sooner.
She says:
As you can hear from, you know, the preparation, the experience that a traveller will have coming into New Zealand, the work of airports and airlines but also us learning more about Covid and how to successfully manage it, I think we’re opening it at exactly the right time. We believe it is safe. We believe we can maintain an open free flow between states and New Zealand and it means ultimately people can be reunited.
Updated
Ardern is asked if there will be any government support if people find themselves stranded due to an outbreak.
She says:
Look, no. We’re essentially telling people to prepare. Of course, while both Australia and New Zealand work very, very hard to prevent any outbreaks on either side, we are asking travellers to just simply prepare in case there is an outbreak that may cause a pause or a suspension in travel.
Updated
Ardern concludes her prepared remarks by saying:
Finally, this is an exciting day, the trans-Tasman travel bubble represents a start of a new chapter in our Covid response and recovery, one that people have worked so hard if. That makes New Zealand and Australia relatively unique. I know family, friends and significant parts of our economy will welcome it, as I know I certainly do.
Updated
New Zealand’s director general of health will give final confirmation of any conditions of travel that may affect Queensland by next Wednesday, Ardern says.
Updated
Ardern says people who go to NZ from Australia will make a booking on a “green zone flight”.
That means there’ll be no passengers on that flight who have come from anywhere but Australia in the last 14 days. They will also be flown from crew who have not flown on any high-risk routes for a set period of time.
Passengers will need to provide comprehensive information on how they can be contacted while in New Zealand. They won’t be able to travel if they have cold or flu symptoms. When they fly, they will be required to wear a mask on a flight and will also be asked to download and use the NZ Covid tracer app for use in New Zealand. On arrival, passengers will be taken through what we’ll call “the green zones” at the airport meaning there’ll be no contact with those arriving from other parts of the world and going into managed isolation or quarantine facilities. We will also be undertaking random temperature checks of those arriving as an extra precaution.
Updated
Ardern explains what might happen if there is an outbreak.
In each situation travellers in an affected state should expect two things. First, they must follow the guidelines locally. Second when travel does resume and they’re able to come to New Zealand again, they could be asked to do one of four things depending on the risk. Either, simply monitor their symptoms on return. Two, take a test before they depart. Three, isolate on arrival. Or, four, possibly, in some situations, go into managed isolation for up to 14 days.
Updated
Ardern says travel will begin in a fortnight, but it will not be what it was “pre-Covid”.
While we absolutely wish to encourage family and friends to reunite and visitors to come and enjoy the hospitality New Zealand is ready and waiting to offer, those undertaking travel on either side of the ditch will do so you were the guidance of flyer beware. People will need to plan for the possibility of travel being disrupted if there is an outbreak.
Ardern says “in many ways we will treat Australia as a region of our own when making decisions on restrictions”.
For instance, if a case is found that is quite clearly linked to a border worker in a quarantine facility and is well contained, you’ll likely see travel continue in the same way as you could see life continue if that happened here inAustralia. If, however, a case was found that was not clearly linked to the border, and a state responded by a short lockdown to identify more information, we’d likely pause flights from that state in the same way we would stop travel into and out of a region in New Zealand as if it was were going into a full lockdown. And if we saw multiple cases of unknown origin, we would likely suspend flights for a set period of time.
Updated
Trans-Tasman travel bubble to commence 18 April
Jacinda Ardern has announced a two-way trans-Tasman bubble will begin at 11.59pm 18 April.
She told a press conference:
Our health response now gives us an opportunity to commit with loved ones again as we start a new chapter in our recovery.
Cabinet was presented with advice today that conditions for opening up quarantine-free travel with Australia had been met. The director general of health considers the risk of transmission of Covid-19 from Australia to New Zealand to now be low, and that quarantine-free travel would be safe to commence.
Updated
Just to let you know we’re expecting that just after 2pm the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, will announce when the trans-Tasman travel bubble will begin.
Updated
CSL, the local manufacturer of the AstraZeneca vaccine, has confirmed that about 2.5m doses remain in various stages of a “rigorous” pre-release approvals process, involving CSL, AstraZeneca, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
CSL released about 832,000 doses two weeks ago, to much public fanfare. Since then, it has released batches containing hundreds of thousands of doses.
News.com.au reported on Tuesday that 2.5m doses were sitting in cold storage while undergoing final approval and testing by AstraZeneca in Europe.
The publication cited this as the reason for the low supply of vaccines in Australia.
But CSL said it was simply using a standard rolling release process, which means some doses sit in the warehouse awaiting final checks and data review, while others are released.
Our highest commitment is always to patient safety, and the stringent checks and balances placed on each vaccine batch released are a critical part of producing vaccines.
As is usual for any new medicines manufacturing process, the production and release timing continues to be refined.
Updated
Earlier today, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the minister for women, Marise Payne, made some comments to reporters at the first meeting of the cabinet taskforce on women’s security and economic security.
Morrison said women’s safety and security “the heart and soul of what the agenda for this group is about”.
He said:
This is a group that is the largest group, combined with the central agencies represented here, the largest group of women who have ever been represented in a federal cabinet. This, I think, is a high watermark that I would like to see rise even higher in the future and the calibre and the credibility of the women who sit around this table, combined with the experience of the other members, I think bring the right experience, the right lens, the right focus and the right priorities and importantly, the right values as to how we can address these critical issues.
He said the focus would be on “equality, on safety, on economic security, on health and well-being” and highlighted the “dreadful” and “heartbreaking” statistics on violence against women, particularly from intimate partners.
Payne said the “first priority” was the government’s response to the sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins’ Respect@Work report.
What the past two months, though, have underscored for us as a government and as a nation is the depth of the issues that impact women, particularly in relation to violence and harassment, particularly in relation to workplace issues.
The work that we are doing here must have and will have an impact on addressing those concerns and the work that we already have underway through Prime Minister and Cabinet, through the independent review by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner are integral to that and I look forward to working with all of you to bring those to fruition.
Updated
Job ads rose by further 7.4% in March
Businesses still seem keen to take on workers, despite the uncertainty caused by the end of the jobkeeper wage subsidies, reports AAP.
Job advertisements rose by a further 7.4% in March, building on an upwardly revised 8.8% increase the previous month.
Job ads are now at their highest level since November 2008 and point to further sharp declines in the unemployment rate.
Treasury estimates up to 150,000 people will lose their job as a result of jobkeeper winding up.
“We think net employment losses will be smaller, as growing labour demand elsewhere should mean many workers find a new job relatively quickly,” ANZ senior senior economist Catherine Birch said on Tuesday.
Birch expects a temporary rise in the jobless rate over the next few months, before it resumes a rapid downward trajectory in the second half of the year.
Economists will be seeking the thoughts of the Reserve Bank on the jobs market following its monthly board meeting, as well as its views on the country’s heated housing market.
Otherwise, economists expect central bank governor Philip Lowe to stay on message at the monthly gathering – that is, interest rates are likely to remain at record lows until 2024.
The central bank will continue to pursue lower unemployment, higher wage growth and more normal inflation pressures through a mixture of a cash rate at just 0.1% and a hefty bond-buying program.
Updated
The Health Minister's Office says the government isn't planning to provide an updated figure today on how many vaccines have been administered across Australia to date.
— Trudy McIntosh (@TrudyMcIntosh) April 6, 2021
Last update was provided on Easter Sunday - 841,885 💉
Thanks Matilda. Hi everyone, Luke Henriques-Gomes here.
I’ll be with you for the next short while. If you’d like to get in touch, you can do so via luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or on Twitter @lukehgomes.
With that, I will hand over the blog to the incredible Luke Henriques-Gomes to guide you through the rest of the day.
The Senate side of parliament was evacuated this morning in Canberra, as part of a test evacuation drill.
Luckily, photographer, Mike Bowers was there to capture all the drama, with our best and brightest left to stand on the lawn awkwardly for an hour or two.
Updated
Butler also called on the government to do more to help control the outbreak in Papua New Guinea:
We should have very strong discussions with all of our international partners about the crisis that is emerging in PNG and make sure, as far as possible, that PNG – particularly those frontline health workers, and then the broader community – is able to get access to vaccines to deal with that crisis...
We’ve said a couple of weeks ago now, as the depth of the crisis became clear, that Australia needed to act firstly as a good neighbour, but also in our own national interest, given the closeness of our countries geographically, to release vaccines to ensure that frontline health workers were vaccinated as a matter of urgency.
So we’ve got out ahead of this, we’ve made those calls, we were very pleased when the government agreed with those calls, and we’re willing to provide whatever assistance and support the government needs reasonably.
Updated
Shadow health minister Mark Butler says Scott Morrison needs to “swallow his pride and admit that his [vaccine] strategy has failed”.
Butler spoke to media from Melbourne a short time ago:
Australians remember that Scott Morrison promised that 4 million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March last week, but the latest figures show that not even 1 million have received vaccinations.
They were also promised that the aged care sector and health workers would be fully vaccinated within six weeks of the beginning of the vaccine rollout strategy, which again was last week. But over the weekend we were told that only one in seven aged care facilities have had their residence fully vaccinated, and the commonwealth has refused to tell us how many of the 318,000 workers on the front line in aged care sector, whom they promised vaccinated before end of last week have been vaccinated...
Scott Morrison said that Australia would be at the front of the queue, but at the moment we are not even ranking in the top 100 nations in the world per head of population with the vaccine. We are nowhere near the front of the queue, we can’t even see the front of the queue from where we currently are...
What I have said is the first thing that Scott Morrison and Greg Hire need to do is admit that their strategy is not working. We are so far behind the rest of the world it is simply not funny. We are so far behind every single commitment Scott Morrison and Greg Hunt has given to the Australian people, surely they must admit that this is not going well, they have to admit that, have to get people around the table and adjust their strategy accordingly, that’s what everyone has been saying over the last several days.
That might mean bringing pharmacists more quickly into the system, it might mean max vaccination centres of the type you see in pretty much every country I am looking out around the world. The first thing is Scott Morrison needs to swallow his pride and admit that his strategy has failed.
Updated
NSW police are holding a press conference now, calling for information from the public following a case of alleged road rage in Sydney’s south-west last night.
Around 10.45pm police were called to Henry Lawson Drive in Georges Hall.
They allege two young men in a silver Honda Civic were travelling south when they became involved in a confrontation with two men in a silver Toyota Hilux ute.
The occupants of the ute allegedly forced the Honda off the road into bushland where the car rolled onto its roof.
When the pair got out of the crashed car the men from the ute allegedly confronted and assaulted them, with one man from the Honda stabbed in the leg.
The ute pair then got back in the car and allegedly drove away from the scene north at high speed, before crashing with a motorcycle ridden by a 24-year-old man, and a silver Toyota Camry, driven by another man. Police alleged the ute did not stop.
A spokesman for police is now calling for witnesses to get in touch with information about the silver Toyota Hilux and its occupants.
We’re trying to seek the assistance of the public today to try and locate these men and in particular the vehicle as well.
Police say all four people in the ute came into contact with have been hospitalised.
As a result of the initial confrontation and accident with the two males, a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old, they were taken to Liverpool hospital and are assisting police with their current inquiries.
The driver of the silver Camry, a 58-year-old, was taken to, again, Liverpool hospital, with chest injuries.
The rider of the motorbike, a 24-year-old man, was taken also to Liverpool hospital, with rib and a compound fracture to one of his legs and remains in a stable but serious condition.
Updated
Ever wondered what a national competitive Scrabble championship looked like? Well, look no further, AAP’s Lisa Maree Williams attended the Australian 2021 event to capture all the best moments.
The first internationally recognised face-to-face Scrabble tournament since the start of the pandemic took place in the Grand Ballroom of the Bankstown Sports Club in Sydney over Easter.
Around 100 wordsmiths and dictionary devotees ranging in age from seven to 87 battled it out for triple word scores and the elusive S, with the winner qualified to compete on the world stage.
Check out all the high adrenalin gameplay here, and scroll through to see some brilliantly on brand Scrabble tile earrings:
Updated
No Covid-19 for the ACT!
ACT COVID-19 update (6 April 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) April 6, 2021
▪️ Cases today: 0
▪️ Active cases: 0
▪️ Total cases: 123
▪️ Recovered: 120
▪️ Lives lost: 3
▪️ Test results (past 24 hours): 139
▪️ Negative tests: 190,984
▪️ Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 13,774
ℹ️ https://t.co/YGW9pOHG3e pic.twitter.com/Njl8eayLct
WA records no new local Covid cases
Western Australia has recorded no new local cases of Covid-19 today.
A health department spokesperson released the following statement:
The department of health has reported two new cases of Covid-19 overnight.
The new cases are males in their 20s and 30s arriving from overseas. Both are now in hotel quarantine.
The state’s total number now stands at 950.
Updated
Up to 10,000 allowed for Sydney's Anzac Day march
A special exemption has been granted to allow up to 10,000 veterans and their descendants to march in Sydney on Anzac Day, reports AAP.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard has issued an exemption for 25 April to allow the Sydney CBD Anzac Day march to proceed through the city and past the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park.
No decision has been announced on the number of spectators allowed.
NSW Health says it’s working with RSL NSW to ensure Anzac Day commemorations are Covid-safe and meet public aspirations.
Up to 5,000 people will be allowed to attend dawn services provided they are seated, and require guests to use a QR code check-in.
Updated
Political reporter Daniel Hurst has pretty much summed up the NSW political situation this morning.
NSW premier repeatedly says she respects, admires and has fondness for Turnbull (but not enough to prevent the NSW govt from dumping him from NSW climate role)
— Daniel Hurst (@danielhurstbne) April 6, 2021
What a strange tone to take in a press conference while firing someone.
Tasmania’s Liberal party has pledged an extra $110m for redevelopments at the state’s major hospital if it retains power at the upcoming election, reports AAP.
Premier Peter Gutwein on Tuesday announced the plan to extend the Royal Hobart hospital’s emergency department and create space for more intensive unit beds.
It takes the overall spend on the redevelopment to $200m.
It is the Liberal party’s second big health announcement in two days, after $156m over four years was promised on Monday to cut lengthy elective surgery waiting lists.
Gutwein flagged further health commitments this week.
This will ensure Tasmanians can get the healthcare that they need, when they need it, in the right place as well.
The Liberals, aiming to win a third consecutive term at the 1 May poll, also promised $30m for the second stage of a health centre at Kingston, south of Hobart.
Health looms as a key issue in the state election, which will be held a year ahead of its due date after the Liberal government was plunged into minority when Speaker Sue Hickey quit the party.
More than 12,000 people were on Tasmania’s elective surgery waiting list as of December, according to health department data.
Just 56% of patients are admitted for surgery within the clinically recommended time.
It was recently revealed by the state branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation that 900 shifts remain unfilled in the projected April roster at the Royal Hobart hospital.
Updated
The NSW premier has been asked several times about the vaccine rollout to pharmacies reportedly being delayed by at least a month.
She said she wasn’t aware of the details, but again questions the federal government’s October deadline for vaccinating every willing adult in the country with at least one dose. But it’s worth noting her tone is considerably more measured and supportive of the commonwealth than last week.
Look, it’s a challenge which is why for some months now, the New South Wales government has been advocating to allow the states to step up and support the efforts.
The commonwealth is negotiating regarding the pharmacy rollout so I don’t have much information about that. I’m relieved we can work together to try and hit those targets. It will be a big stretch. Six million by October is a big stretch even for the first shot but having said that, we need to work as hard as we can together to get as many people vaccinated as possible because it will literally change our lives. We’ve done so well with Covid to date. We’re not out of the woods.
Updated
Berejiklian is being asked about the federal government’s plans to create mass vaccination hubs in NSW, such as those seen in stadiums and parks in other countries.
One potential location is the Sydney Showground.
The premier seemed a little lukewarm on the idea, emphasising the need for local vaccination sites.
It goes both ways. Having one centre detracts from people being able to access from their local communities and really ignores the rural and regional communities that need to have the vaccine as well...
I’m incredibly proud of the New South Wales government’s contribution to date. I don’t know any other state that’s done close to 128,000 vaccines. There’s more to do but this is not a competition. This is about making sure that we get as close to six million people vaccinated by the end of the year as possible because that really will change our lives for the better.
That’s my priority and we look forward to work being the commonwealth to make that happen.
Updated
Berejiklian has been asked if Turnbull will be replaced with an advocate for clean energy.
Turnbull was dropped from the Zero Emissions and Clean Economy board over his public calls for a moratorium on new coal plants in the state, which you wouldn’t think would be a controversial position for someone in that role, but deputy premier John Barilaro took great offence to the idea.
Berejiklian didn’t directly answer the question:
That’s a matter for the minister but I’m confident the good work New South Wales is doing in that regard will continue and looking forward to New South Wales leading the way.
I think in New South Wales we have a fantastic balance. We’re creating jobs...That’s why New South Wales stands out. We have a healthy balance. It’s all about jobs.
Updated
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking to media now, chiefly about the somewhat unceremonious dumping of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull from his new position as the chair of the Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy board.
It seems Berejiklian is singing Turnbull’s praises while twisting the knife:
A great Australian and a great contributor and I want to thank him for all these done for our nation and for all he’ll continue to do in public life...
At the end of the day, that decision was made but what I want to do today is thank Malcolm for his contribution to Australia, his contribution to public life and all that he has done. I’m someone who is incredibly fond of him. I think he’s a great intellect. He’s made enormous contributions and notwithstanding what some might say, he’s incredible in his donations the way he used to donate his salary from public life.
Certainly I accept what minister Keane said in his statement and that is unfortunately for everyone concerned it was proving to be a distraction. And can I stress again, stress again my admiration, respect, and fondness for Malcolm Turnbull. He’s an outstanding contributor to Australia.
Updated
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. Seven new cases were acquired overseas, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,121.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 6, 2021
There were 4,819 tests reported to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/22jCjZ2wtN
NSW reports no new local Covid cases
NSW has recorded its 5th day in a row with no local cases of Covid-19.
WATCH: Dr Jeremy McAnulty provides a #COVID19 update for Tuesday 6 April 2021: https://t.co/NRC8z6uO1a
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 6, 2021
The last case was a man in Byron Bay who sat near a group of infected women from Queensland, but it seems that the virus has not spread further in the region.
Updated
As of Sunday Australia has vaccinated 841,855 people.
This weekly infographic shows the total number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Australia, as of 4 April. To see a more detailed breakdown of Australia’s vaccination program, visit: https://t.co/T4sb4eEVmQ pic.twitter.com/md8s2kSFDr
— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) April 6, 2021
Turnbull blames 'rightwing media' for being dumped from NSW government board
Malcolm Turnbull has blamed a “concerted and ferocious campaign” led by the Daily Telegraph – and the Coalition’s being “held hostage” by rightwing media – for the NSW government’s decision to drop him as the chair of a new state climate change board.
As reported earlier in the blog, the energy and environment minister, Matt Kean, has issued a statement this morning saying Turnbull had been dropped as the chair of the Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy board.
It followed the deputy premier, John Barilaro, last week rejecting a call by Turnbull for a moratorium on new coalmines in the state. Barilaro called on the PM to set aside his “war on the Coalition”. Kean said the decision had been made because it was important the focus was on “facts, technology, science, and economics”, not personality.
The Daily Telegraph today splashed with the headline “Malcolm’s coal war”, and accused Turnbull of “Nimby activism” against the proposed Mount Pleasant coalmine expansion.
Turnbull told Guardian Australia the government had “backed off” from appointing him after the attack by the News Corp paper “and other rightwing media”. He said the Daily Telegraph had worked up its story with “none other than One Nation’s Mark Latham”.
This is essentially the Coalition continuing to be held hostage by the right wing, which is sustained and empowered and amplified by the rightwing media.
It’s kind of a textbook example of it. It’s exactly what’s happened.
Turnbull said the suggestion in the Daily Telegraph that the Mount Pleasant mine expansion would create 500 jobs was “complete and utter rubbish” as demand for coal was declining, and any expansion would mean a loss of jobs elsewhere.
On the call for a coal moratorium, he said: “I don’t resile from anything I’ve said.”
More in a story on the Guardian Australia website shortly.
Updated
In arts news, the Sydney Opera House announced today that its pandemic digital pivot, From Our House to Yours, a program of livestreamed performances and digital alternatives to in-person events, will essentially become permanent.
The SOH has developed a new streaming platform – called, well, Stream – on which they will host arts documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage, provide video and audio content for children, and livestream author talks and concerts. They also promise to trawl through their archives for works that could do with a rewatch.
You can access Stream from the Sydney Opera House website. Apps for the platform are reportedly in the works and expected to be released later this year. It’s free for now, though there will likely be pay-per-view options. First up in the livestreaming schedule will be the four free concerts happening at the Opera House forecourt this weekend, featuring Ziggy Ramo and Jack River.
Updated
Traditional owners and representatives from Aboriginal Victoria are visiting a site in south-west Victoria today where a 1,500-year-old Aboriginal site has reportedly been half-destroyed to make way for a path.
The 176-metre long Kuyang Stone Arrangement at Lake Bolac is a ceremonial and meeting site for the Eastern Maar traditional owners. The rocks are arranged in the shape of an eel, the animal which underpinned the local economy – the site is about 100km from Budj Bim national park, where the world-heritage listed Gunditjmara eel traps are located.
According to the ABC, up to 60 metres of the stones have been removed to make way for a path.
The site is located on private land but is a registered Aboriginal heritage site. The Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation are the registered Aboriginal party.
Aboriginal Victoria said in a statement:
We are aware of allegations of harm to an Aboriginal site known as the Kuyang Stone Arrangement in south-west Victoria.
We are working with the Registered Aboriginal Party – Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation – to investigate these allegations.
It is an offence to cause harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage under the Aboriginal Heritage Act and substantial penalties can apply.
Updated
If you are sort of confused about all the vaccination talk and aren’t totally sure what’s going on with Australia’s rollout, can I recommend this article below.
It breaks down all the most important numbers and stats about the Covid-19 situation and vaccine rollout down under.
Updated
Queensland reports no new local Covid-19 cases
Queensland has recorded another day of no local Covid-19 cases, great news after an outbreak and subsequent lockdown last week.
Tuesday 6 April – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 5, 2021
• 0 new cases
• 70 active cases
• 1,491 total cases
• 2,318,436 tests conducted
Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,357 patients have recovered.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/8v7K2t2UPL
Updated
NSW opposition leader Jodi McKay has responded to the news that former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has been dropped as chair of its new Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board, following a public stoush with the deputy premier over coalmines in the Hunter Valley.
The Labor leader labelled the decision to appoint him to begin with a “monumental failure of judgment”:
How on earth did it even come to this? John Barilaro backed Turnbull’s appointment in cabinet.
This should never have been a political appointment and was always going to be divisive. A monumental failure of judgment by John Barilaro.
How on earth did it even come to this? John Barilaro backed Turnbull’s appointment in Cabinet.
— Jodi McKay (@JodiMcKayMP) April 6, 2021
This should never have been a political appointment and was always going to divisive.
A monumental failure of judgment by John Barilaro. https://t.co/h97M2BRqng
Updated
OK, I don’t usually like to post fluff politician tweets, but this one from Annastacia Palaszczuk is genuinely really funny.
Parker from Sherwood State School picked a tough word to learn to spell 🙌 pic.twitter.com/xVGZwHBgSP
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 6, 2021
I think I need to go to this lesson as well!
Updated
Greater gliders hit hard by bushfire and drought
The population of greater gliders in the NSW Blue Mountains has more than halved after a horrific bushfire season and years of drought and heatwaves, Hannah Ryan from AAP reports.
Local ecologists who used spotlighting and wildlife cameras to survey the gliding marsupials’ habitats estimate that numbers have declined by 60% in the mountain region.
The glider experts, Peter and Judy Smith, looked at six burnt sites at Wombeyan and Jenolan last November and December to compare the population to surveys from before the 2019-20 fires.
They found a “significant decline” in the population in the research area, and estimate that the overall reduction in greater gliders as a result of the fires alone was around 45 per cent, Peter Smith said.
They also did spotlight surveys in areas that hadn’t been hit by the fires.
The results showed that the drought and heatwaves leading up to the fires had a “major impact” even in places the fires didn’t reach.
Based on the two studies, they estimate the overall reduction in the Blue Mountains population to be about 60%.
The study was commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia and the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative.
“It is alarming that more than half the Blue Mountains greater glider population may have perished. They are one of several species heavily impacted by the bushfires,” WWF ecologist Kita Ashman said.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull dropped from NSW government climate change board
The NSW government has dropped the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as chair of its new Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board.
It follows the deputy premier, John Barilaro, publicly criticising the former prime minister after Turnbull backed a call for a moratorium on new coalmines in the state.
Turnbull’s appointment was cleared by state cabinet on Monday last week. The board will will help oversee the delivery of clean energy legislation that passed parliament with multiparty support in 2020.
Two days later, Turnbull gave an interview to the ABC’s RN Breakfast in which, speaking in a personal capacity, he said he believed coalmine proposals and approvals in the state’s upper Hunter Valley were “out of control”. He said mines were devastating the landscape, shortening lives by reducing air quality and – given the declining global demand for coal – potentially leaving taxpayers with a huge environmental remediation bill.
Barilaro responded with a statement rejecting the call for a moratorium, accusing Turnbull of having a “damaged ego” and saying he needed to set aside his “war on the Coalition”.
Matt Kean, the state’s energy and environment minister, has now issued a statement saying he had decided not to proceed with Turnbull’s appointment.
Kean said it was important the focus was on “facts, technology, science and economics”, not personality.
“Malcolm Turnbull, AC, has contributed much to our country and I know will contribute more into the future,” Kean said.
“However, no person’s role on the board should distract from achieving results for the NSW people or from the government’s work in delivering jobs and opportunities for the people of NSW.”
He said a new chair would be announced “in due course”.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull has been dropped from his newly announced appointment as chair of the NSW government’s Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board.
Environmental editor Adam Morton will be bringing us more information shortly.
#BREAKING: NSW Government abandons plans to appoint former PM @TurnbullMalcolm as chair of its energy transition board pic.twitter.com/LCspnAdUn4
— Gavin Coote (@GavinCoote) April 5, 2021
Updated
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has invited Scott Morrison to be among the first Australians to skip hotel quarantine when a travel bubble between the two countries begins.
The trans-Tasman PMs meet formally at the start of each year for the Australia-NZ Leaders’ Meeting, and in 2021 it’s New Zealand’s turn to host.
But rather than hold the meeting virtually, both countries deferred the talks to allow for an in-person gathering.
Ardern said this morning that she was hopeful this would now be possible:
We were due to have our leader-level meeting at the beginning of the year. Our hope had been to do that face-to-face...
We both are keen to get on with it as soon as possible and the venue is due to be New Zealand and so we’re looking forward to welcoming him here at a date that can be mutually decided upon.
Ardern is expected to announce the date the travel bubble will start at 2pm AEST this afternoon.
Updated
Can a pain machine help create empathy? That’s what we sent Full Story producer Ellen Leabeater to find out.
Ellen visited artist Eugenie Lee – who suffers from chronic pain conditions – and she hooked Ellen up to a pelvic pain simulator, which recreates the feelings of stabbing, a cattle prod and pulsing pain.
This pain is similar to those caused by conditions such as endometriosis, fibromyalgia and adenomyosis, which have historically been ignored. But if everyone could experience this pain, would that change? That’s what the Full Story team a determined to find out in this episode.
Ellen Leabeater:
What does it feel like when someone says “I believe your pain”?
Eugenie Lee:
There is an enormous amount of relief and suddenly I realise that all my muscles were all tensed up because I was ready to fight on, to counter-attack what you were about to say. I’m conditioned to go against what you’re about to say because I’m expecting you not to believe me ... I think it heals me up to a certain point, it’s just that effective, that sentence, it’s so powerful.
You can listen to the full episode here, or download it from the podcast app of your choice:
Updated
Labor calls for stadium-style Covid vaccine rollout
Labor has thrown its support behind establishing stadium-style coronavirus vaccination hubs to speed up the national rollout, reports AAP.
The federal government has played down the need for mass vaccination sites, insisting its growing network of general practice clinics has the program under control.
But opposition health spokesman Mark Butler told ABC radio on Monday the strategy was not working and it was time for new ideas:
I don’t understand why the commonwealth is so resistant to an idea that has been rolled out in pretty much every country I have looked at around the world ...
These large vaccination centres of the type that state governments would be able to operate fairly straightforwardly are the way in which other countries are racing ahead of Australia in their vaccine rollout.
Butler also wants pharmacists brought into the rollout sooner after chemists warned they had been delayed by a month and would not start administering coronavirus jabs until June. He said it was unfair to force general practices to go it alone.
I don’t think the numbers lie. And the numbers show how far behind we are. The strategy put together by the commonwealth is not working...
There’s just not enough hands at the wheel and the commonwealth has got to recognise that.
Acting chief medical officer Michael Kidd said on Tuesday federal health authorities were not ruling out the idea.
Updated
Summary
Protests are being planned around Australia following five Indigenous people dying in custody since the start of March.
Five deaths since the start of March. See you on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/OZpSwK1OAo
— Shari L Sebbens (@sharileesebbo) April 5, 2021
You can learn more about the latest man who died here:
Updated
Former Labor leader and current opposition frontbencher Bill Shorten has appeared on the Today Show this morning to outline his “four-point” proposal for a better vaccine rollout plan.
First of all we have a problem in Australia. Bangladesh, Senegal and Rwanda have all vaccinated more of their people proportionately than Australia. I think there is some basic commonsense needed.
One, let’s involve the GPs of Australia in the delivery of it. Only 4,600 GPs out of about 8,600 are involved.
Two, we have indemnified big pharma for the rollout, why not do that for the big workers administering.
Three: why don’t we add money to pay penalty rates to the workforce so people are able to work weekends and after hours.
And here is another good idea: if you are going to ask GPs to set up day clinics and for whatever reason they make a loss, say we will back you in for the cost of setting up day clinics. There you are, four-point plan and we get on with it.
Updated
Kidd has been asked about the ongoing investigations into whether blood clots developed by a 44-year-old Victorian man are linked to the AstraZeneca jab.
Look, clearly, we are very concerned. This is why, over the weekend, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee met a number of times.
We had an emergency meeting of the Australian Technical Advisory group of Immunisation and a meeting of independent experts group set up by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to look at that report of the man in Melbourne on Good Friday.
So there’s been a lot of activity over the week. We are expecting the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to meet again. There have been ongoing discussions with the European regulator for the European Union and the regulator in the United Kingdom. I think we will hear more about this tomorrow.
But Kidd said he is still “absolutely” comfortable with Australians receiving the AstraZeneca jab in the mean time.
We have to put this in perspective ... What we also know is the risk of death to Covid 1 to two people per 100. So the benefits of the vaccine and the rollout of the vaccine far outweigh the risks of this possible side effect.
However, it is really important that people have the information so that they can make an informed decision as to receiving the vaccine at this time.
For background, the man received the vaccine on 22 March and days later he presented at Melbourne’s Box Hill hospital suffering from a fever and abdominal pain. He was found to have abdominal clots with a low platelet count.
He showed symptoms similar to those which led some European countries to pause their rollout of the vaccine after some people who had received the jab were reported to have developed clotting in Europe.
In an earlier statement, Australia’s independent regulator of vaccines, the TGA, stressed “no cause-and-effect relationship between Covid-19 vaccination and this case has been established at this stage”.
But they did confirm they would investigate.
Updated
Victoria reports no new Covid cases
Another day of zeros for Victoria. International flights are set to resume in the state from Wednesday.
Yesterday there were no new cases reported. 7,353 test results were received. Got symptoms? Get tested - #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 5, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco #COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/RGi4rOZrvT
Updated
As Angelika has suggested on Twitter, I reckon it’s a sip of coffee every time someone tells us our vaccine rollout is on track, when it is in fact, not. So, SIP!
Updated
Kidd says the government hasn’t ruled out the possibility of taking over large paces like churches or stadiums and tuning them into mega vaccination hubs.
But despite this being used to great success overseas, Kidd seemed a bit half-hearted about the idea, suggesting it was a state decision:
We’re not ruling that out. We’re working with the states and territories on the additional sites which the states and territories will continue can to be setting up.
We’ve already seen the plans from New South Wales. Each state and territory is looking at what is the best way to meet the needs of their local population and to get the vaccine out to the people of Australia.
Kidd says on a population ratio level Australia is now distributing around the same number of vaccines a day as the US.
If you look at the equivalent figures, we’re told about the Americans delivering a million doses a day, well, population-wise we’re actually delivering the equivalent of more than that here in Australia and it is continuing to rise.
Once I get a spare second I’ll check these numbers for you, but for now, it’s worth remembering the US’s population is about 12 times ours, so we are still talking under 85,000 doses a day.
Updated
As we enter the second month of vaccine rollout, attention has turned to how slow the federal government’s efforts have been.
We are likely to tip one million vaccine doses administered today, still leaving us aggressively behind schedule.
Acting chief medical officer professor Michael Kidd says the pace will pick up now that we can administer domestically produced doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and more GP clinics are coming online.
Well, as you know, last week we had 1,500 general practitioners, the commonwealth-funded general practitioner respiratory clinics and we’ve tripled the number of vaccine doses being delivered to the people of Australia.
This week we will have an additional 1,500 sites coming online over the coming weeks. So by the end of this week we’ll have over 3,000 sites where people can receive the vaccine right across the country.
That will continue to rise over the next few weeks up to over 4,000 sites by the end of April. So there are many sites.
This has always been a program which is going to be ramped up over time and more and more opportunities for people to get their vaccines, particularly to get vaccines from their own local general practitioner if they choose or if from other sites located conveniently near to where people are living.
Updated
OK, Stuff.co.nz has pulled through. Here is some more of that interview New Zealand deputy prime minister Grant Robertson did with TVNZ’s Breakfast program this morning, about the possibility of a trans-Tasman bubble.
He defended the government’s decision not to ease restrictions to Australia earlier:
I think back to people who wanted this before Christmas and that was the exact moment that there was a big outbreak in Melbourne, so we’ve been careful, we’ve been cautious, but we’re ready. We’ve been stepping through this very carefully because it’s important we get all the systems in place ...
We want to be able to tell New Zealanders and Australians exactly what’s expected of them before they leave, what happens in the unlikely and awful event that there is an outbreak on either side of the Tasman.
Robertson conceded this deal could draw domestic tourists away from New Zealand and to Australia but said it would still be worth it.
We want them [Australian tourists] to come here, and there’ll be particular parts of New Zealand where this will really matter, places like Queenstown for the ski season during the school holidays and so on.
Equally, we also have to remember that New Zealanders like to holiday in Australia ... We also have to accept that, quite a few people who might have been touring around New Zealand will now go off to Australia.
On balance, it’ll be a positive, and it’s up to us to market ourselves in Australia and make sure that Australians come over here.
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New Zealand’s deputy prime minister Grant Robertson says he felt “really confident” about a possibility of a trans-Tasman travel bubble this morning.
He spoke on New Zealand TV this morning:
I feel really confident about the fact that we’re in a good place here. The hard work we’ve all done has put us in a place where this is possible. Also for Australia too, I think one of the things to acknowledge today is that both Australia and New Zealand, relative to the rest of the world, have done pretty well.
I’ll try to hunt down the rest of that TV appearance and bring you what I can.
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Now if you were following along with the blog last week you would have noticed we have been playing somewhat of an informal morning coffee-sipping game, where we caffeinate ourselves every time someone in the Australian political ecosystem says or does something aggressively predictable.
Well, I reckon in light of the New Zealand news today we need to add anyone who says “a boom for tourism” to the sip list.
Other rules include Annastacia Palaszczuk tweeting out something with strangely athletic graphic design, Brad Hazzard calling NSW’s Covid-19 response “gold standard” and Scott Morrison telling off any press gallery reporter named Andrew.
Tweet me your proposed rules at @MatildaBoseley and if I like them I’ll pop them up in the blog!
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I mentioned before that the NSW restrictions easing obviously don’t apply to people who have been asked to isolate because they have been to Covid-19 hotspot.
If you need a reminder of where these hotspots are, check out the articles below.
Here are the NSW hotspots:
Here are the Queensland hotspots:
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Prime minister Scott Morrison has tweeted his support for Liberal senator Jim Molan who revealed yesterday that he would be taking leave after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
Jen and I wish you & your family all the best for your treatment & recovery, Jim.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 5, 2021
We’ve worked together for over a decade now & you’ve always put your service above all else, even now. You are an incredible person. We will all be here to support you through this battle ahead. https://t.co/rWvJDYBf3V
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Australia risks never achieving herd immunity to Covid-19 unless it ramps up its strategy for engaging with vaccine-hesitant populations, a former health department chief and an epidemiologist have warned.
While health officials remain confident in the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, they have told Guardian Australia they are concerned that recent reports about blood clotting will not curb vaccine hesitancy rates.
Health authorities on Monday acknowledged it is “likely” that blood clots developed by a 44-year-old Victorian man last week were linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Deputy chief health officer Michael Kidd noted that his “colleagues overseas appear to be seeing one to two cases” of recipients who develop the condition per one million recipients.
You can read the full report below:
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Oh my, what’s this? More good news? We are getting spoilt here!
Yep, restrictions have officially been lifted in Byron Bay and surrounding northern NSW areas following a four-day run of no community transmissions.
About 200,000 residents in the region were ordered to wear masks in most indoor public areas and limit house gatherings to no more than 30 last Wednesday after a man contracted Covid-19 in Byron Bay after sitting on the table next to an infected woman who travelled down from Queensland.
Huge numbers of people turned out for testing in the area, and these high numbers, combined with no other cases being discovered, allowed NSW Health to lift restrictions as of midnight last night.
They put out this statement on Monday:
These efforts have provided us with the confidence to lift the restrictions, but we are still in a period of increased risk and we urge the community to remain vigilant for the next week.
But the department clarified that close contacts of coronavirus cases are still required to continue self-isolating for 14 days from their date of exposure and get tested again at the end of this period.
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Welcome to Tuesday
Good morning, Matilda Boseley here to kick off the week.
I hope you are all heading out to work or school today well-rested, with bellies full of hot cross buns.
For once there is actually some good news to start the day because it’s looking pretty likely that New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern will announce a start date for the trans-Tasman travel bubble, which would finally pave the way for international tourism with Australia, and even better, this could start as soon as next week.
Now, this free travel plan has been in the works for around 300 years (well, 11 months), and while Australia lifted quarantine requirements for incoming Kiwis in October last year, a scattering of outbreaks, both small and large, across Australia has meant New Zealand was always hesitant to reciprocate.
But now Ardern’s cabinet will meet to sign off a trans-Tasman plan before 4pm their time (2pm for Melbourne and Sydney).
Not only would reciprocal quarantine exemptions allow the cogs of commercial tourism to start turning again (a huge source of income for New Zealand), but it would also free up about half of all the spots in their hotel quarantine program, allowing more Kiwis around the world to return home. In fact, families separated by the Tasman Sea have been among the loudest voices calling for a resumption of normal travel.
But it looks like any travel bubbles plans would be reliant on New Zealand being able to snap the borders shut temporarily in the event of outbreaks.
With that, why don’t we 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.
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