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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Elias Visontay, and Matilda Boseley and Luke Henriques-Gomes (earlier)

Sydney hotspot declaration extended to trigger support payments – as it happened

The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has declared a lockdown of four council areas of Sydney as the Covid-19 outbreak widens.
The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has declared a lockdown of four council areas of Sydney as the Covid-19 outbreak widens. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

What happened today, Friday 25 June 2021

That’s where we will wrap up the blog for this evening.

Here’s what happened today:

Have a nice evening, and for those in Sydney, stay safe.

NSW changes rules for drivers transporting international passengers

NSW Health has confirmed that it has made it mandatory for drivers transporting international passengers, including air crew, to be vaccinated and wear a mask.

Brad Hazzard, the state’s health minister, signed the relevant amendments to the public health order on Friday, appearing to put to bed days of uncertainty as to whether the limousine driver who sparked Sydney’s current Covid-19 cluster breached any laws.

The amendments made to the public health order are:

  • Require drivers and passengers (and anyone else in a transport vehicle) transporting international arrivals and crew to wear a mask.
  • Mandate vaccination for designated airport workers, designated quarantine facility workers and designated transport providers. The designated workers who need to be vaccinated will be specified in a vaccination program document of the chief health officer. There will also be an obligation on the employer to not allow a staff member to work in these services if they haven’t had at least one vaccination.
  • Drivers will have to comply with NSW Health Air Transportation Guidelines and the employer will need to ensure that these guidelines are complied with.
A government message on a digital sign on Oxford Street ahead of lockdown restrictions being imposed in Sydney
A government message on a digital sign on Oxford Street ahead of lockdown restrictions being imposed in Sydney. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The requirement in the order to participate in NSW Health’s daily saliva testing
program, when on duty, will continue as it is now. In addition, there will be a new
obligation on employers to ensure that their staff do not work unless they have
participated in the testing program.

NSW Health’s existing guidelines for appropriate transportation, which includes
transportation of flight crews, state that the driver and all passengers must wear a mask
that covers the nose and mouth at all times.

Updated

Sydney hotspot declaration extended, support payments triggered

Australia’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, has released a statement about the declaration of Sydney as a hotspot being extended by two days, triggering Covid-19 disaster support payments.

The City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick have been declared as Covid-19 hotspots for the purposes of commonwealth support until 2 July 2021.

These hotspots were first declared on Wednesday (23 June), initially for seven days, but this has now been extended until 2 July. The hotspot declaration will be reviewed again on 1 July.

The payments can be accessed seven days from the initial declaration, meaning those workers who are unable to earn an income due to NSW public health orders can access the payments from 1 July.

The Covid-19 disaster payment is a one-off payment for when lockdowns last more than seven days.

If you’re eligible and you lost less than 20 hours work, you’ll get $325 for each relevant period of lockdown. If you’re eligible and you lost 20 hours or more of work, you’ll get $500 for each relevant period of lockdown.

Eligibility will depend on whether a worker:

  • Can’t attend work and lost income on or after the eighth day of the lockdown (1 July).
  • Has access to appropriate paid leave entitlements through their employer.
  • Is not getting an income support payment, a state or territory pandemic payment, pandemic leave disaster payment or state small business payment for the same period.

Updated

Doctors’ groups want to block a half US-owned data analytics company from forming a health services buying group, saying it risks creating costly and inefficiently managed “US style” healthcare in Australia.

But health economists and policy experts have dismissed the concerns, saying the buying group could result in more choice, lower costs and better care for consumers, despite warnings from the Australian Medical Association and Australian Doctors Federation that it will result in poorer care.

In May the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a draft authorisation to allow health analytics company Honeysuckle Health – a 50-50 merger of Australia’s nib health fund and the US-based Cigna corporation – to form a buying group. The ACCC said the buying group was “likely to result in public benefits”.

Honeysuckle Health intends to collectively negotiate and manage contracts with healthcare providers, such as hospitals, specialists and GPs, on behalf of private health insurers and other healthcare payers, such as travel insurance companies and the government, who sign up to it.

The four largest health insurers in Australia, excluding nib, which account for approximately 70% of health insurance policies nationally, will not be allowed to join the buyers’ group in order to protect competition.

But the AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, said on Thursday the ACCC must block the buying group and abandon its draft authorisation.

Read more:

Updated

Ben Roberts-Smith has been accused in court of punching a woman in the face in a Canberra hotel room, taking pictures of her naked body while she was unconscious and then initiating sex with her.

The soldier has vehemently denied the allegations, saying they are “completely false”.

“The whole story is a fabrication,” he told the court.

The details of Roberts-Smith’s tempestuous relationship with a woman, known in court documents as Person 17, were put before the federal court as part of the Victoria Cross recipient’s defamation case against three newspapers he says have defamed him by portraying him as a war criminal and an abuser of women.

The court heard at one point in their relationship, after an altercation, he sent her a message by phone: “Don’t fucking abuse me again, because it won’t end well.”

Roberts-Smith did not deny sending the message but said “it wasn’t a threat”, and that he did not know the context in which it was sent.

Read more:

Updated

Further details of Sydney stay-at-home order

As the public health order is being finalised, I can attempt to clarify some of the stay-at-home lockdown order for parts of Sydney. But the details are still a bit murky.

A week-long stay-at-home order is meant to apply to anyone who lives in, or whose “usual” place of work is in, Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and City of Sydney council areas, however a NSW Health source has attempted to clarify some of these conditions to me.

I’m told we should not be so focused on the word “work”, but rather consider this an order to anyone who “regularly” visits these areas, or has spent a “significant” amount of time in the areas since 12 June.

What constitutes a usual or regular place of work/visitation? I’m told there will be “no hard and fast rule” about this, but that someone who works four or three days a week in one of these LGAs should consider that the stay-at-home order applies to them.

People wearing face masks cross a street in the Sydney CBD as the NSW government locked down several central areas of the city
People wearing face masks cross a street in the Sydney CBD as the NSW government announced a stay-at-home order for several parts of the city. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

However, it is less clear and more up to their own judgment if their visits to the LGAs have been less frequent than this.

“There will be a level of common sense that has to apply if they’re working less than say three days a week in one of the LGAs.”

If you’re a university student who has visited their campus within one of the four LGAs regularly (three or more days a week since 12 June was the example given to me), the stay-at-home order would apply to you.

Infrequent or one-off visits to these four LGAs would not constitute a significant enough amount of time to mean they are subject to the stay-at-home rules.

“Obviously coming in for just a couple of different reasons or for a small amount of time does not count,” the NSW Health source said.

For example, if someone living in the the Inner West council, visited the Sydney CBD (City of Sydney LGA) for an optometrist appointment, or a lunch, at some point since 12 June, but has kept outside the four LGAs since then, they would not have to observe the stay-at-home order.

If you don’t live in one of the four LGAs, but live in a share house or family home with someone who must observe the stay-at-home order, then you do NOT have to observe the order too.

The attempt at clarifying the rules follows a tweet from NSW health minister, which appears to illustrate further types of activities that will be exempt from the stay-at-home rules.

“Note in Waverley, Woollahra, City of Sydney & Randwick Local Government Areas, despite Covid-related travel restrictions on leaving home, retail, weddings, funerals, community sport can continue. Other non-essential businesses & other services in houses of worship will cease,” Hazzard said.

However, it’s important to note that community sport in some areas outside the four LGAs has already been cancelled.

Updated

ACT closes border to non-residents from Sydney

The Australian Capital Territory government has just expanded restrictions it has in place for arrivals from Sydney.

If you are an ACT resident and are leaving metropolitan Sydney on or after 4pm today, you will be required to:

  • Complete an online declaration form within 24 hours prior to arriving in the ACT or within 24 hours from the commencement of the new stay-at-home requirements.
  • Travel directly to the residence where you will spend the stay-at-home period. You should only leave the residence for an approved essential purpose. The stay-at-home requirement will be in place until at least 11.59pm on Friday 2 July.
  • Wear a mask if you’re aged 12 years and over and leaving your premises for any of these essential purposes. Mask wearing is not required if undertaking vigorous exercise outdoors.

From 4pm today, non-ACT residents will not be able to travel to the ACT from anywhere in metropolitan Sydney unless they have an exemption. If they obtain an exemption, they will still have to observe stay-at-home orders.

Updated

Mining magnate Clive Palmer has been ordered to repay more than $100m over the collapse of Queensland Nickel after a decision by Queensland’s court of appeal, reports AAP.

Liquidators for Queensland Nickel creditors have won an appeal to claw back the multi-million-dollar loan made to Palmer-owned parent company Mineralogy by the failed north Queensland refinery.

The court found Palmer had personally authorised the loan, signing legal documents as both lender and borrower. When questioned by staff about the total balance owed by Mineralogy, Palmer replied through an alias email account: “No limit continue clive.”

The Queensland court of appeal ruling handed down on Friday is the latest chapter in the ongoing legal saga by government-appointed liquidators of QNI against Palmer.

It follows a mammoth 2020 supreme court civil trial into QNI’s 2016 collapse, leaving 800 people out of work.

Palmer struck a deal to settle the majority of the initial $200m lawsuit – including agreeing to repay $66m in taxpayer funds forked out for sacked worker entitlements.

The deals, worth about $130m, also secured the full recovery of most debts owed to unsecured creditors and settled an $88m Aurizon claim for about $18m. That left $102m on the table, which the liquidators argued was payable for a series of unrepaid loans from QNI to Mineralogy.

The initial claim to repay the loans was rejected in Queensland’s supreme court in June last year, with Justice Deborah Mullins ruling transactions were payments from QNI’s joint venture companies to Mineralogy, not QNI.

At the time, a jubilant Palmer declared the Mineralogy decision as a victory over “evil”, and said “the lies against me are unprecedented in Australian history. The stand I have taken was to not allow evil to triumph.”

However, the court of appeal overturned the decision, ruling the judge had erred, ordering Mineralogy and Palmer to repay more than $102m to the failed company.

Updated

Earlier, I wrote that there would be a hearing today to determine if unions would be granted leave to appeal to the high court on behalf of Qantas workers over a legal challenge to how the airline paid overtime and penalty rates to its employees while on jobkeeper.

Qantas had previously been ordered to pay workers thousands of dollars in overtime and penalty rate entitlements. However, the airline successfully appealed that decision in the federal court.

Unions, including the Transport Workers Union, had been claiming that Qantas workers who worked weekends, public holidays and long shifts during the pandemic “experienced wage theft when the airline manipulated rosters to absorb their earned entitlements into jobkeeper payments to avoid paying them a cent over the basic subsidy”.

However, the high court has turned down the unions’ application to appeal.

Michael Kaine, the TWU national secretary, said he is “saddened that workers will not get the chance to appeal to the high court to be paid back the overtime and penalty rate entitlements they’re owed by Qantas”.

Airport workers have been put through the ringer by Qantas management over the last year, who have tested or overstepped the line of the law to rip off and axe workers in the middle of a pandemic. Rather than fighting workers in lengthy, expensive court battles, the airline should simply pay workers what they’re owed and treat them with respect.

While workers have held Qantas to account for their poor behaviour, the federal government has pumped $2bn into the airline with no strings attached. The right thing to do would be to apply conditions that protect workers against wage theft and sackings and ensure taxpayer money isn’t spent on executive bonuses.

Updated

Thanks for taking us through that last part of the day Matilda.

You have Elias Visontay here now, brining you the developments for the rest of the day.

If you see anything you think I should be aware of, you can get in touch via email elias.visontay@theguardian.com or Twitter @EliasVisontay.

Updated

And with that, I shall leave you for the day. I’ll see you all Monday when I’m back on the blog every weekday morning.

Until then, please welcome the fantastic Elias Visontay, who will see you into the weekend.

Updated

Remember what I said about the commonwealth demanding that hotel quarantine still operate as well? Well, I’ll let you place your bets now as to how McGowan feels about that.

It has to be in addition to hotel quarantine, that’s one of the commonwealth’s conditions, so it would be on top of the existing facilities that we operate.

We have done everything we can to tighten the security and the safety of our hotel quarantine system, we removed a bunch of hotels that we couldn’t make it completely safe, we have reduced the number of returning Australians, we have put in place numerous measures that make them as safe as they can, this would be on top of that.

Updated

No, like REALLY isn’t happy about it.

McGowan:

[The sites suggested by WA] both had international quality airports, so I thought they made a lot of sense, but he doesn’t want to do it, so they are obviously not ones we can use because the commonwealth has to find this.

The reason both of those were suggested was you build the facility there, it has a use beyond the pandemic. They need workers, accommodation. It has a great use after the pandemic but they don’t want to do it, so that’s their call.

There is a joint formal assessment process, that is what they have offered. If you have a look at the letter, we will make sure you get that letter after this, it has been provided out there to various people, but we will make sure you get a copy of it. It requested that we enter into a joint formal assessment process, so we will go through that process.

Updated

McGowan really isn’t happy about this. He wants the federal government to use existing facilities as it will be faster.

Look, it would be possible to have something up and running by the end of the year if we use the existing facilities, which is why we have been saying to the commonwealth: do you have existing facilities, can you use one of those?

They don’t want to do that. They want to create a new facility, so it will take time, planning, designing, tendering, working out the exact site, it takes time, but we will do our bit to make it as easy as possible.

Updated

But don’t get it twisted, McGowan still isn’t THAT happy about it, because apparently these pieces of land will take considerably longer to get off the ground, compared to using an already constructed army or mining camps.

We have put other locations to the commonwealth over time. That will be far quicker, for instance, Christmas Island or some of the existing facilities that they had available, the commonwealth doesn’t want that. So therefore they have come back to us with these two sites that are commonwealth land. One is next to the airport and what is next to Jandakot airport.

We are happy to work with them on those two sites. You can look at the letter the prime minister wrote to me yesterday evening, which was released to the press. It said there would be a joint formal assessment process, so I will write back to the prime minister as soon as I can agree to the joint formal assessment process on those two sites.

Updated

Quarantine facility to be built by federal government in WA

McGowan says the federal government has proposed two possible locations for a purpose-built quarantine facility:

I received a letter from the prime minister last night about a joint formal assessment of two sites for a quarantine facility to be billed by the commonwealth. So those two sites are somewhere in the vicinity of Perth airport, on Perth’s airport commonwealth land and somewhere near Jandakot airport on commonwealth land, so we’re very happy this. We will work cooperatively with the commonwealth, we just want to crack on and get this done as soon as we can.

Obviously there will be a few issues along that road but this is a good outcome, and it’s something we have been calling for now for a long time. The joint formal assessment process will write back to the commonwealth to agree to that, and that will no doubt mean we have to do work out which side is best, and whatever the planning and other issues are around it, then the construction of a facility, we will do that as quickly as we can but inevitably these things take time.

Updated

The WA premier, Mark McGowan, is speaking now.

Updated

ACT revokes two Covid-19 exposure sites

In Canberra, authorities have revoked two potential Covid-19 exposure sites, saying they now believe a man who visited the Australian Capital Territory on 14 June was a false positive.

ACT Health had previously issued quarantine-and-test alerts to anyone who visited the National Gallery of Australia to see the Botticelli to Van Gogh exhibition or who visited the exhibition gift between 12pm to 1.45pm on 14 June.

The alert also applied to Via Dolce Pasticceria in central Canberra city (2.45pm to 3.15pm) on 14 June. But ACT Health says it has revoked those exposure locations in the ACT (that means there are no longer any listed exposure sites in the ACT).

It explains:

NSW Health has advised that a previously advised positive case of Covid-19 that visited the ACT on Monday 14 June has been reassessed by its expert panel and deemed to be a false positive.

As a result of this assessment by NSW Health’s expert panel, the sites identified last week as Covid-19 exposure locations in the ACT are no longer considered to be close contact exposure locations or areas of concern.

The change means that about 260 residents currently in quarantine in the ACT will be allowed to leave their homes from today, the Canberra Times reports.

ACT Health said it wanted to thank those who have been in quarantine based on the public health advice at the time, and all those who got tested as casual contacts.

In today’s update, ACT Health reported no new Covid-19 cases:

Updated

Queensland extends Sydney lockdown conditions to those who've recently been in LGAs

Just breaking now: Queensland has ordered anyone in the state who has been to Sydney’s Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick or City of Sydney areas since 11 June to follow the New South Wales lockdown rules.

Updated

I know this is the time South Australia puts out their Covid-19 numbers every day, but at this point, it does feel like a bit of a flex compared to NSW’s.

Updated

We are just standing by now for a press conference out of WA which should have some more details about their plans for a purpose-built Covid-19 quarantine facility.

So a question a lot of people have been emailing and tweeting me to ask is: if you live outside the locked-down LGAs, but one person in your household works there, does everyone need to lock down or just that person?

Well, at the moment we don’t know. In fact, I’m hearing from people who have called the Covid-19 hotline that the workers on the other end of the line don’t know either.

However, we have our crack team of journalists working on getting an answer for you all, especially as this will significantly affect those with kids about to go on school holidays!

Stay tuned all.

Updated

Even so, the announcement today comes with a pretty sizeable financial commitment, according to the finance minister:

Victoria will come into the costs of hundreds of millions of dollars and others will be similar costs in terms of the commonwealth contribution to their construction and establishment. And the states and territories continuing partnership has seen them operate such facilities through the hotel network today.

Updated

Oh by the way, the federal government will only approve these facilities if they will run alongside hotel quarantine, rather than replace it.

Now the increased capacity will be great for those still stranded overseas, but isn’t really solving the problem of the hotel system not being up to scratch. It will still be very possible to have hotel leaks.

This seems to be something Birmingham is clear to make a point of, for some reason that is truly beyond me.

We are not going to force facilities into any state or territory. Crucial to remember that the states that are proceeding, in this case Victoria, in doing so with a commitment that is creating additional places on top of the existing facilities. Any state or territory that was to come to the table on those terms we are willing to sit down and talk to them. Nobody is being forced to do so.

The commonwealth approach with Victoria is we are meeting the capital costs and will own the facility, the government has agreed it will operate the facility. That is the approach we will take with any state or territory as they come to the table. The commonwealth is willing to invest in facilities that will be enduring, commonwealth-owned, to respond to future emergencies and crises, and we will expect that states and territories operate them as additional quarantine capacity during the Covid crisis.

Simon Birmingham
Simon Birmingham says purpose-built quarantine facilities will be used on top of hotel quarantine. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

A reporter asks the finance minister why it has taken the commonwealth government so long to commit to quarantine facilities.

This is about the medium to long-term, recognising that potential for these sites to be used for a range of purposes into the future is something that we see benefit in, parts of the resilience of Australia for future crises while adding to the capability in this crisis.

Twelve months ago the nation had widespread potential lockdowns occurring right across the country, a slowdown and a shutdown of much of our economic activity. Our economy has bounced back strongly. But back then we had huge international hotels sitting empty across the cities around the country.

The right way, the fast way to stand up a quarantine system has been as effective as any in the world, the best in the world in terms of the scale of numbers it has handled and its ability to keep Covid out of the community. It is something that Australians should recognise has served our country well. Continue to serve our country well.

Updated

Birmingham is out and about today to talk about the federal government’s commitment to building designated quarantine facilities – only a little late!

In the last day our government has taken further steps in relation to how Covid and other future challenges can be managed into the future – by progressing discussions with states and territories about the potential of different quarantine facilities around the country. We are responding to those states and territories who have said that they want to have purpose-built facilities.

We have outlined clear commonwealth criteria for such facilities. They must be facilities that are proximate to a suitably capable hospital. They must be proximate to an international airport that ... carries international passengers. They must be close to cities.

Despite the challenges, hotel quarantine has worked well. Many passengers have come through those hotels, 99.99% of them safely managed*. But with any human system, there is a risk of human failure. That is why it is important to constantly learn and improve in the operation of those systems as we have done.

*Remember these statistics suddenly become a lot less impressive when you consider that only positive cases ever had a chance of leaking Covid-19.

Updated

Birmingham:

This year we have seen 2 million people globally lose their lives due to Covid-19.

But here in Australia nobody has contracted Covid and died in 2021. That is a testament to the management success of Covid-19 right across the Australian community. And to the work of governments, state, territory or federal, local communities and businesses across the country and most of all Australians who continue to heed and respond to all of the health messages.

Today we feel very much for people across certain designated suburbs in Sydney who find themselves now having to undertake a period of stay-at-home and in doing so make sacrifices once again to keep all of Australia safe and it comes to the Covid-19 situation.

Updated

The federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham, is speaking now from South Australia.

Updated

Australian officials are urgently trying to confirm whether any Australians may have been affected by the building collapse in Miami.

We asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to confirm an ABC report that there are concerns that a number of Australians are among nearly 100 people unaccounted for after the collapse of the Champlain Tower South Condominium in Surfside, Florida.

A Dfat spokesperson said the department “aware of media reporting that Australians may have been involved” in the building collapse – but was still trying to confirm details.

The Australian Embassy in Washington is closely monitoring developments and making urgent enquiries to determine if any Australians were affected.

It is understood the US State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions has advised Australian officials that the recovery operation will continue throughout the evening (local time) and into the coming days.

Updated

It’s everyone’s favourite part of Friday – weekly beast time!

The inimitable Amanda Meade takes us away with talk about Sharri Markson’s Wuhan lab leak theory, a terrible portrait of investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, and the front page of The Age that was, well, mostly an ad for McDonald’s.

Updated

Vital information right here on Sydney’s pubs. (Although remember, even if you live in the inner west, if you work in one of the locked-down LGAs you can’t go to any of these bars).

Updated

The panic buying of toilet paper has resumed.

“No, I’m not stockpiling, I’m just trying to protect myself from other people who will be stockpiling, you know ... by stockpiling.”

Updated

Australia surpasses 7m vaccine doses

Seven million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have now been administered in Australia, according to the federal health minister, Greg Hunt.

It’s worth noting, this doesn’t mean 7 million people have been vaccinated.

Updated

Khorshid:

I don’t think an early approach would have prevented the situation right now in Sydney.

If we had managed to procure enough vaccine for our whole country and had the job finished by the middle of the year, then yes, we would not be needing lockdown now in Sydney, that is fairly clear, but the reality is we have not had the vaccines available. Australia is doing everything it can to access enough vaccine. We have over 200m doses ordered. We just need to be patient for the rest of the year and keep up the fight. We know how to battle this virus, we have done it successfully again and again in each state and territory, all slightly different but all successful, and we need to stay the course until the vaccination program is complete.

Updated

Korshid:

It is good to see the prime minister making concrete steps towards opening up quarantine facilities that are fit for purpose, safe and appropriately located close to airports and hospitals. We really welcome these announcements in the last couple of days for potentially Western Australia and Queensland and of course the more solid announcement in Victoria. We hope that both the Queensland and WA governments will work with the federal government to set up these facilities.

We would like to see facilities in each state and territory, particularly when there are international arrivals. We don’t know how long we will be battling Covid-19 but it will be for years, and we don’t know when the next pandemic is coming. So this will be an investment in Australia’s future and health but it does not need to be wasted – these facilities can be used for social housing, detention centres, some other purpose, so we don’t think it is a waste of money and this should be set up anywhere arrivals are coming back from overseas.

Updated

The AMA president says this outbreak can not be compared to the northern beaches cluster from late last year, which could be contained with local lockdowns:

The Delta strain is significantly more transmissible than anything Sydney has faced before. They managed to get ahead of the outbreak earlier in the year but it still took around about a month and it impacted the lives of people in the northern beaches significantly. Delta is now out and about.

There are locations throughout Sydney that are of concern and there are hundreds and thousands of people being traced right now and of course the government don’t know who has the virus who has not tested positive yet. We have to get ahead of it. The virus is two or three days ahead of the contact tracing.

Updated

Khorshid says Australia does not yet have high enough vaccination take up to allow Covid-19 to remain simmering in the community for weeks or months (which is what people mean when they talk about “living with Covid”):

The risk profile for deaths in nursing homes has hopefully changed but the reality is that Australia has been relying on an elimination strategy.

Borders will not open between Sydney and other states unless Sydney eliminates the virus again. We are not at this stage living with Covid.

We will have to get to the point where we do live with Covid but that is not now because not enough Australians have been vaccinated.

Only 65% of Australians over the age of 70 have had a single dose of vaccination let alone the two doses you need to be optimally protected against this virus.

Updated

The AMA president, Omar Khorshid, isn’t holding back:

Each state has taken a different approach to the coronavirus.

All of our other states and territories would have lockdown much earlier than what has happened in Sydney.

Sydney has been proud of its response. Sydneysiders have been as supportive of the New South Wales government approach.

The reality is the Delta strain is different and we should have gone faster. We need to look at the Melbourne outbreak. What happened in Melbourne is they tried last year to get ahead slowly and were not able to get ahead of it and it resulted in deaths. And an extraordinarily amount of hardship for people.

That must not be allowed to happen in Sydney.

Updated

Australia's top doctor calls for all of Sydney to lock down

My goodness, how many press conferences were going on at once today?!

Here is a little bit from the AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, who says the NSW government isn’t going far enough and has called on Gladys Berejiklian to lock down all of greater Sydney.

I am concerned about the outbreak of Delta strain in Sydney. While we are pleased that the New South Wales government have gone further than before and announced a lockdown (of four) local government areas, unfortunately in our view that is not quite enough.

What we really need are clear rules for all Sydneysiders that say stay at home so we can get ahead of this virus and stop further transmission. The Delta virus is different. It is being transmitted far more easily and everyone has acknowledged that it is different.

Sydney has not faced this before and it means a different approach is required. Our concern with the current announcement is that it is confusing for many people in Sydney.

If you work in the CBD but live outside of it, we know if you contract the disease you are going to give it to your family. This is happening with the Delta virus in Sydney right now. But the rules don’t apply as far as we can see to family. There is also confusion as to who is in and who is out.

An alternative and what the AMA believes will be the right move is a lockdown of the Sydney basin. Everyone doing the same thing, the same rules for everyone.

If we do that that would get let the government get ahead of the virus and give the contact traces a chance to catch up. Try to avoid months and months of lockdown in Sydney. The economic consequences of lockdown are significant but the economic consequences of getting this wrong a catastrophic not just for Sydney but for all of Australia.

And our belief is that we need everyone in Sydney to do the right thing and stay at home in order to stop this virus from taking a hold in Australia.

Updated

Albanese says Morrison bears some responsibility for Sydney lockdown

The federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, has argued Scott Morrison bears some of the responsibility for the lockdown of four Sydney local government areas.

At a press conference in Canberra, Albanese accused the prime minister of dragging his heels on purpose-built quarantine facilities and of presiding over a “debacle” in the vaccine rollout. Albanese said the share of the population that was fully vaccinated remained low.

The Labor leader also raised concern about the case of the limousine driver employed driving international aircrews to and from Sydney airport.

He said that “in spite of warnings being given very explicitly to the federal government, someone [was] transporting foreign air crew to hotel quarantine who had not been vaccinated”.

It just shows this government’s complacency and the consequences of it. The consequences of that are an effective lockdown of four Sydney locations right now, for a further week, as a result of the government’s arrogance and its complacency.

Albanese noted Morrison’s letters, sent last night, to the WA and Queensland premiers over quarantine facilities, but argued they lacked detail and were more of a political diversion. Albanese said the government had taken too long to act on repeated calls for an alternative to hotel quarantine. He argued Morrison never took responsibility and “just wants to shift blame”.

There are real consequences, real consequences for people’s health and real consequences for people being able to go about their life in a normal way. Scott Morrison hasn’t so much dropped the ball because he never picked it up in the first place.

The opposition leader Anthony Albanese arrives at a press conference at Parliament House on Friday.
The opposition leader Anthony Albanese arrives at a press conference at Parliament House on Friday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Here are all the details in writing from the NSW premier:

By the way, they didn’t say it too often during the press conference, but these new lockdown restrictions for those who live or worked in the four Sydney LGAs in the last 14 days begin at 11.59pm tonight.

Updated

Here is a little on those NSW arrivals who were turned around at Melbourne airport and put on a flight home, from the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley:

Three red zone arrivals were not Victorian residents who are ineligible to enter Victoria, all placed on return flights, and we make no apologies for prioritising the safety of the Victorian community above travellers who come from New South Wales.

This is obviously going to throw a lot of travel plans into disarray as we head towards the school holidays as of this afternoon. People that may have wanted to go to Sydney, but the message is do not travel to a red zone in New South Wales. You may not be able to return home.

And he also says there are more than 100 authorised officers watching as the flights come in, and that if anybody does try to sneak in from Sydney, then they will be dealt with.

Updated

Also, if you have recently travelled to Victoria from greater Sydney, it’s likely that you will have to go get a Covid-19 test and isolate until you receive a negative result, so keep an eye out for text messages.

Also, we already sort of knew this, but Victoria’s two new cases overnight have now officially been linked to NSW’s Delta variant of Covid-19.

(The first of these two cases attended that southwest Sydney super-spreading party before flying home to Melbourne.)

Updated

While this NSW presser conference has been going on, Victoria has been making their own announcements - including increasing travel restrictions with NSW LGAs.

All of greater Sydney and a number of surrounding regions and cities are now considered “red zones”, meaning people who have been there in the last 14 days are not permitted to travel to Victoria, and returning Victorian residents will have to isolate for 14 days.

Updated

Lockdown and press conference summary

Wozzahs, that was a big one.

Here is everything we know so far about the local Sydney lockdown (or whatever you want to call it):

  • From today everyone who has lived or worked in the local government areas of Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney in the last two weeks are now in lockdown for the next week.
  • This means they are only allowed to leave the home for essential reasons, including purchasing essential goods, accessing or providing care/healthcare, work, education and exercise.
  • You can also visit your intimate partner if they are in the lockdown area, but I believe not if one of you are outside greater Sydney.
  • Businesses in those four LGAs can only open if they provide essential services.
  • All the other restrictions that are currently in place (the “lockdown light” that the rest of the city is in) will remain in place for at least another week.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announces lockdown restrictions for four LGAs alongside NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant on Friday.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announces lockdown restrictions for four LGAs alongside NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant on Friday. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Updated

Now comes that bit of the presser when the NSW government has to toe the line of remaining the golden child of Australia’s Covid-19 response in the federal government’s eyes, and criticising the commonwealth for messing up the vaccine rollout.

Here is Hazzard’s best attempt:

I can only say that the NSW government and NSW Health is doing absolutely everything we can to get the vaccines out into people’s arms.

But to some degree, our arms are tied behind our back when there’s just insufficient vaccine supply to be able to get it out. That remains the ongoing issue.

Updated

There could be another (potential, but not confirmed) twist in the limo driver’s case.

Reporter:

Just on the limo driver. The Nine Network said that they’ve spoken to the driver and he claims that he got the virus while sitting at Bell’s Cafe because someone sneezed on him. What do you make of that? And the comments earlier that there is no definite evidence that he is patient zero? Do we know that the limo driver is, in fact, the cause of the outbreak?

Chant:

I think that I’ve been very clear what we know and what we don’t know at all times.

Obviously at the beginning when we have a diagnosis in someone who transports flight crew, I think that it is reasonable that we would make that assumption and that is probably on strong epidemiological grounds, that that is likely to be the hypothesis. I think that I have stressed that throughout Covid, you have to keep an open mind to all different ideas, but that certainly, the advice that I’ve had, it’s consistent with that being the most plausible.

But as said, I’m happy to work with that gentleman if he’s got another rationale for that.

Updated

NSW 'unlikely' to ever identify original source of outbreak

Th chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, says health workers are “unlikely” to ever establish the original source of infection for the limousine driver who was the index case in this outbreak.

Reporter:

Have we been able to definitely link this person to the air crew or whoever they were transporting?

Chant:

No, we have not been able to definitely link this and we are unlikely to do so.

So, if I just explain that aircrew that come in, that they are transported to quarantine hotels and we test the air crew on coming in.

Obviously air crew depart, and when I say air crew, it’s not just domestic, but freight. And New South Wales has over 3,000 air crew coming in every week, so it’s actually quite a large proportion and they’re often on rapid turnarounds and they have requirements under Casa aircraft things around periods when they can’t be contacted.

Updated

Intimate partner visits still allowed in Sydney lockdown

Do not fear my darlings! The dreaded Covid-19 bonk ban has not returned!

Reporter:

If partners don’t live with each other, does that mean that they can’t see each other?

Chant:

No, we always have some components which are around intimate partner visits, and that will extend in this circumstance.

But we are actually asking the community to work with us. Our contact tracers are getting on top of the venues very quickly, but we’re still seeing some people who are infectious in community for a period of time.

And this will allow us, it’s almost a circuit breaker, to give us that time. As I said, we will assess every day and I provide my advice to the premier, so the sooner we can get those testing rates, the sooner we can assure ourselves that everyone is locked down and we start seeing all of those cases.

Updated

A reminder – this lockdown does not just apply to those who work in those four LGAs, it is anyone who has been in them at all in the last 14 days.

Reporter:

Just to make it really clear, if a person who is north of the bridge within the city was in the city this morning, do they then return home to their place north of the bridge and treat this like a lockdown?

Berejiklian:

Yes, if you are essentially someone who works in those local government areas, especially if you’ve been working in the four local government areas, either part time or permanently in the past two weeks, you are subject to the stay-at-home order.

So it doesn’t matter where you live. If you’ve worked in those four local government areas, you’re subject to that as well. That includes me. I don’t live in the four local government areas but I work in the CBD on most days, therefore, I am subject to the restrictions. I can’t leave my home, and that starts today.

Updated

So is this a lockdown? Yes, 100% is it. There is no question.

But will Gladys Berejiklian admit that? Not really.

Reporter:

Is it a local lockdown?... Is there a reason why you’re not using the word “lockdown?”

Berejiklian:

You can use whatever word you want but what is important for me is to explain to the citizens who are directly impacted and what our citizens can and can’t do.

And we are making sure that we get that information out. And I just ask everybody to come together and apply with a very proportionate response. We’ve chosen not to do the stay-at-home orders in a broader area.

Updated

To clarify it looks like this lockdown applies to all non-essential businesses in the CBD and those four other local government areas as well.

Berejiklian:

The health orders will specify in detail, but clearly, if you are a business in those four local government areas, unfortunately, unless you’re providing essential food and services – that is take away food and services or grocery services of that nature, we don’t expect those businesses to remain open in the next week.

So, obviously, for a business like a gym in those four local government areas, we’re saying only exercise outdoors up to groups of 10. That means that any gyms or indoor exercise places won’t be open. Nightclubs and things of those nature.

Specific details will be available in the health orders but I think that people get the drift because we’ve been down the path before.

Updated

Tell me if I’m wrong but a law without any consequences for not complying with that law is ... a suggestion, right?

Hazzard doesn’t seem to agree:

I think that we also have to recognise that it’s very hard to make a law against stupidity!

No matter what we do, no matter what we do, people have to actually apply some common-sense. And they have to understand that we’re living to a pandemic that’s killed almost four million people across the world.

So, I’ll point out for those drivers that where most of you would be aware and to most of the community, there has been saliva testing arrangements at the airport now for many months. Any driver could easily when they’re out there have a saliva test*...

So there’s been a lot of work done to encourage drivers* of international visitors, whether it’s air crew or others, to be able to do things easily – to get your saliva test easily, get your vaccine easily.

But it would appear that perhaps in some case, they haven’t taken that opportunity.

*But were they required to?

*Did that work include ... actually mandating that they did it?

Updated

NSW ramps up Covid guidelines for airport transport stafff

NSW says it is cracking down on Covid-19 compliance among workers interacting directly with international passengers – which goes some way to answering the key questions of “how strict were the rules to begin with?”

Here is the health minister, Brad Hazzard (somewhat speaking around the point):

It would appear that there may be a small number of people who don’t comply with the expectations. The guidelines are there with the public health orders. That’s disappointing.

We’ve been on this journey for 16 months and by far, the majority of our community comply with the orders and they comply with the guidelines that are set under those orders. We will, though, now, be having orders that will be effective as from 4pm today requiring that people comply with those guidelines effectively*.

We’re stepping up the guidelines on mask-wearing for those drivers of people coming in from international flights – whether they’re passenger flights or whether they’re cargo flights*, they are crews involved with the transportation of passengers in some cases.

And we will have the guidelines that have existed will be now pushed into very clear orders with very clear consequences*.

*What were they doing beforehand?

*What the penalties beforehand?

*BUT WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES BEFOREHAND!?

Updated

Three new NSW cases currently unlinked to known outbreaks

OK, we have some clarity on those numbers now.

There were 17 new cases overnight that will be officially included in tomorrow’s numbers, but 14 of them have already been linked to existing outbreaks.

This means the total number of new cases in NSW today is 22.

Here is Chant’s breakdown of the 17 from last night:

If we go to overnight and what came through: 17 locally acquired cases were notified overnight and these will be in tomorrow’s numbers; 14 cases are linked to known cases and three are under investigation, but I can confirm that those three cases also are in south-eastern Sydney residents.

So we would expect that one is a Bondi resident, one at Bellevue Hill, and we’re expecting that those linkages would be made ...

In relation to the 14 case that is are linked, we’ve got two cases linked to the Joh Bailey and one also attended the Bondi Royal.

We have got a person who had lunch at the Life Cafe. Actually, three people associated with the Life Cafe exposure.

And then we’ve got seven additional cases associated with the party in south-western Sydney. So you can see the incredible attack rate we’ve had amongst guests at that party. And as we’re working through this, because that party is some distance, we’re hoping that everyone was fully in isolation and therefore, posed no further risk to the community at that time.

Updated

It seems that the Joh Bailey Salon is one of the really acute areas of concern.

Chant:

So just to be clear, we’ve found the link that explains those unlinked cases.

That person was infectious in the community on 15 and 16 June. But that then led to a number of seeding events and then we have seen workplace transmission at the Joh Bailey. And what we’re concerned is the over 900 clients that attended, or potentially are contacts [who] may acquire the infection.

Now, we have reached out to those individuals and what I’m hoping is that when we see the cases over coming days, they’re all in isolation. But the key issue is because of the growing number of venues, the fact that we’ve had confirmed transmission at a number of the venues, we need to reduce people’s movements.

So by the time we’re getting to them, they have reduced the limited number of activities or sites that they’ve done. Hence the basis of the advice today to government to the four local government areas.

Updated

Chant says a Covid-19 positive person attended two gyms while likely infectious.

I can also confirm that there were four cases associated with the Life Cafe in Bondi Junction.

And I’m also concerned that a case that was identified yesterday attended two gyms whilst infectious. People who attended the Fitness First Platinum in Bondi Junction on 21 June or Fitness First Bondi Junction Spring Street on 22 June should check the affected times on the NSW Health website, get tested and quarantine as directed by NSW Health.

Updated

'Larger numbers of cases' expected in NSW in coming days

Chant:

Can I say that we are going to see larger numbers of cases and I’ll go on to explain what we’ve found through the detective work.

Investigations have found that a person who was infectious on 15 and 16 June was the source of the infection for the Joh Bailey hairdressing in Double Bay.

The Fresh Nails salon in Westfield Bondi Junction, and the Life Cafe, Bondi. And a close contact of this person then introduced the infection to the Tropicana Cafe.

While it is satisfying that these linkages have been found - so that means that all cases as of last night were linked bar one, which was the child that I mentioned yesterday. So all of the other cases have got a clear transmission chain.

I’ve got significant concerns for patrons and staff of the Joh Bailey salon in Double Bay, because we have at least three staff members who were working whilst infectious and with two confirmed cases amongst clients so far.

I expect more cases to be detected over the coming days and I’m urging all clients and staff of Joh Bailey between 15 and 23 June to be tested and maintain quarantine as directed by NSW Health.

Updated

The chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, says all 11 of the official new cases from yesterday have been linked to current outbreaks.

I’m just going to go through the 11 locally acquired cases, noting that six of those were announced yesterday.

And can I just say that last night, although we were announcing those 11 locally acquired cases, all of those cases were actually linked. And I want to extend my appreciation to the work of the contact tracers who managed to do that so promptly.

So there were six announced yesterday – a man in his 30s who attended the Christo’s pizzeria in Paddington; three women [who were] close contacts of a previously reported case who works as a hairdresser at Double Bay hair salon. All have been in isolation whilst infectious.

A man in his 40s linked to the West Hoxton birthday party attended by the previously reported case linked to the Bondi cluster. As of 8pm last night, there were 17 people who attended the birthday party have now tested positive for Covid.

And we have additional cases today which I’ll go into. A man in his 40s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs who was linked to the cluster. These are the five new cases. A man in his 30s and a woman in her 30s and their child who were household contacts of each other from the Sydney eastern suburbs. A woman in her 80s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs and a man in his 20s from the Sutherland shire who was a close contact of a previously reported case and has been isolating while infectious.

Updated

Berejiklian:

Again, we’ve done better than expected in terms of contact tracing and getting on top of all those links.

But what this does is make sure that we haven’t missed any chains of community transmission and also that we don’t continue through workers in particular spreading the virus at workplaces, because we appreciate that even though most of the cases have been in and around the south-east and the CBD, that many workers come from around the greater Sydney area into those places, and unfortunately, those workers once infected are passing it on to a large group of clients and that’s why, whether you live or work in those four local government areas, we will be asking you to stay home unless for the reasons we’ve outlined.

Updated

To be absolutely clear this includes everyone who has worked in the CBD in the last fortnight, so a huge portion of the Sydney population.

Here is what Berejiklian had to say:

For example, I’m captured in that. I don’t live in those areas but I work there and have done so in the last fortnight, so therefore, I’m captured by that stay-at-home order. So if you live or work in those four local government areas, you need to make sure that you don’t leave your home unless for the main reasons that I’ve outlined just now and that will be in place for a week.

This appears to be because of the significant spread from business owners and workers to customers across the city.

Updated

Lockdown announced for Sydney CBD and three other LGAs

Everyone living or working in Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney will go into lockdown for at least the next week.

Berejiklian:

Health has made a number of recommendations which the New South Wales government has accepted.

Firstly – all the existing settings we have in place, every single setting we have in place will now be extended until Friday midnight next week. So previously, all the existing settings were supposed to finish on Wednesday, but now, all the existing settings will finish at midnight Friday next week.

So an additional week from today. In addition, there is a significant announcement I’d like to make.

So in the four local government council areas of Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney – if you live or work in those local government areas, you need to stay at home unless absolutely necessary.

The necessary reasons include – if you can’t work from home and you have to work outside of home. If you can’t get educated at home and you have to get educated outside of home. If you exercise outside, although we don’t want any more groups than 10. And if you need to provide care or compassion to a relative. And fourthly, of course, if you need to buy essential goods or services.

So these are the only reasons we want anybody who lives or works in those four local government areas to leave their home.

Updated

OK, Gladys Berejiklian seems to have different numbers.

She is saying there were 14 new cases overnight – all but one of which were already in isolation.

Until 8.00pm last night, we had a total of 11 cases – six of them you already knew. The additional five are new cases linked to existing cases and since 8pm last night, we’ve had an additional 14 cases.

Fortunately, all of them are linked except for the one which is the nine-year-old student at that school we mentioned a few days ago.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now.

NSW records 22 new cases

The numbers have just dropped and it’s a little confusing but it looks like there are 11 new cases overnight – six of which were already accounted for.

On top of that, there are 17 news cases that will be recorded in tomorrow’s official numbers.

Updated

While we wait, a quick update for Adelaide. Looks like you guys are getting some Friday street parties in the CBD this winter. Fun times.

Good morning all, Matilda Boseley here.

We are just waiting for the NSW presser to start so grab a coffee and strap in. This has the potential to be a chunky one.

Just a reminder we’re expecting the Covid-19 numbers from New South Wales when Gladys Berejiklian steps up for a press conference at 11am.

I’m going to leave you with my colleague Matilda Boseley now. Have a lovely Friday.

Queensland’s deputy premier, Steven Miles, says hotel quarantine will still be needed even if the custom-built facility proposed by the commonwealth goes ahead.

“We would continue to envisage a level of hotel quarantine going forward under either proposal,” he said, according to AAP. Currently there are about 3,500 people in hotel quarantine in Queensland.

Miles said Queensland was happy to proceed with a joint formal assessment of the Pinkenba site, but said the state government had already considered it and rejected it, in part due to old asbestos-riddled buildings on site.

He wants the prime minister to keep the Toowoomba proposal on the table, saying the plan is well advanced and therefore can be built more quickly, and is scalable beyond 1,000 beds.

“I think what Queenslanders liked about the regional quarantine proposal was the distance between this facility and people’s homes ... and an urban area,” he said.

“This Pinkenba proposal is in the suburbs of Brisbane.”

In his letter, Scott Morrison said Queensland’s plan for a facility at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba did not meet his requirements, including that it be on commonwealth land and within an hour’s drive of a tertiary hospital.

Updated

We have contacted Dfat seeking any information on any unaccounted Australians in Miami. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything back.

Updated

Stepping away from Covid developments for a moment, and back to the other big political story of the week.

Scott Morrison has expressed hopes that the Coalition parties can “knuckle down” and display unity after Barnaby Joyce’s return to the leadership of the Nationals.

After a week in which the Nationals agitated for major changes to the Murray Darling Basin plan and split from the Liberals on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives, Morrison was asked by Paul Murray on Sky News: “So how does Barnaby help you win the next election?”

Morrison replied: “By working together.”

Morrison said the Liberals and Nationals had “been in government more often than not since Robert Menzies founded the Liberal party, and he said himself that, you know, we do our best for the people of Australia when we work together”.

Morrison’s answer indicated there was room for the Nationals to differentiate from the Liberals on certain issues, but he stressed the need to strive for unity over public divisions.

We come from slightly different perspectives, we have a different take, and there are a lot of rural and regional people in the Liberal party, as there are in the Nationals. But we do our best when we work together and when we come together and focus on the things. We do our best work when we don’t try to be separate from one another, but when we get together and knuckle down and work hard for the country, and that’s what we’ve done as a government. I mean, Barnaby and I worked together when I was treasurer and he was deputy prime minister back some three years ago, so we’re quite used to working with each other. We know each other very well and I think we can get a lot done, but we get it done together, heading in the same direction.

Updated

In the Sky interview, Scott Morrison expressed confidence in the NSW Liberal government’s handling of the latest Covid outbreaks. Morrison said Sydneysiders “can feel very confident that if anyone’s going to get on top of this with their tracing and not have to shut the city down, it’s the NSW government”.

He was asked about purpose-built quarantine facilities. Morrison said that when the pandemic began, Australian authorities needed to put in place a quarantine arrangement as quickly as possible – but he did not elaborate on the federal government’s current plans for purpose-built facilities.

Updated

Morrison: vaccinations may play role in easing internal borders

Scott Morrison has hinted he wants the states to consider easing internal border restrictions for people who have been vaccinated.

The prime minister popped up late last night on Sky News Australia. The transcript of his interview has lobbed this morning, and the host, Paul Murray, pressed him on the idea of less stringent domestic border bans and state restrictions for people who have been vaccinated.

Morrison responded cautiously, saying vaccination levels were rising, but “obviously you’ve got to wait for those two doses before you could consider what you’re talking about”. He was at pains to say the idea was not a “vaccine passport”.

Now, I did raise this a few months ago when I was over in Perth and discussing it with some people over there. It got sort of written up as, and when I went up to Queensland, it got written up as a sort of a vaccine passport. That’s not what it is. I was just simply saying that if you’ve been vaccinated, that the state governments would recognise that, and you’d be able to move around in times like this. Now, the states aren’t ready to accept that. I’ve put it to them, they’re not ready to accept that as a, as something you can do. It happens a fair bit overseas, well, quite frequently overseas. They do it in the United States and in some parts of Europe and the United Kingdom when people are vaccinated. The difference there is that Covid’s right through all those countries, and that’s not the case in Australia. So, you know, these are the steps that we’ve asked the states to consider, both to support the vaccination program, but also that when people get vaccinated, then, you know, we can keep Australia as open, behind international borders.

Morrison added that “no one” was talking about dropping open the international borders at this stage, “but if we can keep Australia as open as possible behind those international borders, then we’ll continue to see our economy do as well as it has been”.

Morrison said he had recently spoken with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, about the strong increase in vaccination rates in that country. “And the principal reason for that is exactly this - this is why it’s actually increasing - that if people are vaccinated then they’re not subject to the restrictions on, you know, going to see family and things like that, how many people go to a restaurant, attending events, things like that.”

Morrison said he understood there were “real reservations in Australia that, you know, the idea that the vaccine entitles you to do something and doesn’t allow others to do it”.

“I mean, the vaccine is not compulsory and we would not make it compulsory. But at the same time, if the health risk is lower after someone’s been vaccinated, and that has to be established, then that does provide, you know, those things for states to consider. Now, we are moving towards that.”

He said his department, together with those of state premiers and chief ministers, were continuing to do work on the idea.

Updated

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will provide a Covid-19 update at 11am.

She will be joined by the health minister, Brad Hazzard, the state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, and NSW police deputy commissioner Gary Worboys.

Updated

Victoria records no new cases

Here’s the latest from the Victorian health department. These two cases were reported yesterday.

Updated

Two new cases in Queensland, both in quarantine

The Queensland chief health officer, Jeannette Young, says there were two new local cases reported overnight.

The two cases were in quarantine during their infectious period, she says, meaning they are “not a risk”.

“I’m not concerned about that,” she says.

The cluster that began with a person who came to Australia from Portugal has now hit seven cases.

Updated

Miles continues:

This Pinkenba proposal is in the suburbs of Brisbane. We’ll need to consider that very, very carefully in working up the proposal. We would welcome if the commonwealth has done any more work other than the letter that the prime minister sent out last night. We welcome them providing that to us and welcome them working with us for how such a facility can be safely designed and developed.

Updated

Queensland quarantine proposal welcomed, but little detail

Miles is addressing Scott Morrison’s letter to Queensland saying the federal government was now proposing a purpose-built facility at Pinkenba.

Can I underline we certainly welcome the commonwealth is finally giving consideration to supporting a Queensland quarantine facility. Of course it needs a lot more work. This was a one-and-a-half-page letter received by us late last night, just after it was provided to the Courier Mail. The only detail in the letter is an address. And I just note that when Queensland provided a 15-page early proposal, we were told that was far too little detail.

Now, we’ll work with the commonwealth through that detail. Our officers have already started analysis on that site. But there is a lot more work to be done. The proposals we’ve been working on were for regional quarantine facilities. This clearly won’t be a regional quarantine facility, this will be an urban quarantine facility and that will require different settings for keeping the community safe.

Updated

Miles says yesterday police turned around 186 people who attempted to enter Queensland by air.

“And they were sent back to Sydney,” he says. There were 128 people who arrived who were put into hotel quarantine.

The Queensland deputy premier, Steven Miles, is speaking in Brisbane.

He says:

As you understand, we continue to monitor the situation related to the Sydney Delta variant outbreak very closely. That continues to expand. I will look forward to that update from New South Wales later today.

Updated

More on quarantine:

Updated

PM proposes Queensland hotel quarantine facility

The Queensland government is considering a federal proposal for a mass Covid-19 quarantine facility near Brisbane Airport, reports AAP.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is offering for the federal government to pay for the 1,000-bed facility on the site of the Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba.

Under the proposal, the state government would build and operate the hub.

The office of the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says she’s considering the offer.

“A letter was received last night,” a spokesman told AAP on Friday. “The Queensland government is considering the contents of the letter.”

The Damascus Barracks is mainly used for storage, rather than being a traditional Australian Defence Force operating base.

The prime minister’s office is keen on the site as it’s close to the international airport.

It’s also near three major hospitals that are equipped to treat and isolate Covid-19 cases.

If the two governments can strike a deal, the new facility would be operating by early 2022.

A possible impediment to a deal is the issue of whether the proposed facility would replace or supplement hotel quarantine.

The commonwealth insists mass quarantine should supplement the hotel quarantine program’s capacity.

But the Queensland government wants the commonwealth to replace the hotel quarantine system.

Palaszczuk says hotels aren’t designed for containing infectious diseases and their CBD locations increase the risk of outbreaks.

Three Covid-19 outbreaks in Brisbane this year have been linked to virus transmission in hotel quarantine.

The Pinkenba proposal also puts the state’s proposed quarantine facility at Wellcamp Airport, near Toowoomba, in doubt.

Updated

One of the two new cases in Melbourne from yesterday:

Updated

Ben Smee reports:

An internal email reveals Adani executives adopted a deliberate press strategy to obscure details about its plans to source large volumes of water for the Carmichael coalmine, raising concern among environmental groups and water experts about how the company intends to cover an 8bn-litre annual shortfall.

A hearing will be held today to determine if unions will be granted leave to appeal to the high court on behalf of Qantas workers over a legal challenge to how the airline paid overtime and penalty rates to its employees while on jobkeeper.

Qantas had previously been ordered to pay workers thousands of dollars in overtime and penalty rate entitlements. However the airline successfully appealed that decision in the federal court.

Now, unions including the Transport Workers Union, Australian Services Union, and Flight Attendants Association of Australia, are hoping to have that overturned in the high court.

The TWU is claiming that Qantas workers who worked weekends, public holidays and long shifts during the pandemic “experienced wage theft when the airline manipulated rosters to absorb their earned entitlements into jobkeeper payments to avoid paying them a cent over the basic subsidy”.

The unions point to the fact that there was a dissenting judge when the federal court decided, in a two-to-one decision, that Qantas didn’t need to pay back the workers. Michael Kaine, the TWU national secretary, said workers “have suffered disproportionately under callous Qantas management”.

Qantas took advantage of the pandemic to steal from the pockets of aviation workers who were under enormous financial pressure and uncertainty over their jobs.

What they’re owed means a great deal to these workers but pales in comparison to the $2bn of taxpayer funding paid to the airline, whose executives earned millions while workers were refused their sick leave and penalty rates.

At every turn, Qantas management has sought to kick workers while they’re down, axing thousands of jobs, downplaying the deadly virus and pilfering wages. We hope the high court will see the seriousness of Qantas’ actions and its impact on hardworking families.

Updated

Young people experienced higher rates of psychological distress, job loss, and educational disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic than older Australians, new research has revealed.

My colleague Melissa Davey has more.

Dan Tehan won’t comment directly when asked by Michael Rowland about reports – in the ABC – that Scott Morrison has proposed purpose built quarantine facilities in WA and a site in Brisbane.

He says:

We’re in discussions with all states and territories including the Queensland state government, the Western Australia state government, about additional quarantine sites. There’s a very clear methodology as to what we can is appropriate. And those discussions continue. Obviously we’ll advise more detail as the discussions advance.

Updated

The trade minister, Dan Tehan, has been on ABC News Breakfast to talk about China’s move to accuse Australia of anti-competitive behaviour regarding some Chinese imports, including stainless steel sinks.

The move comes just days after Australia took similar action against China over wine exports.

Tehan says:

We’ll robustly defend this dispute. Our defence is we go through appropriate processes through our Anti-Dumping Commission when we put duties on place. We do so based on detailed analysis of Australian industry. We’ll robustly defend it. We obey the WTO rules, we take them seriously. They stood us in great stead as a nation. So we’ll obviously take up the consultations with China on this dispute. We’re happy at official level to discuss with it them and also at ministerial level. But we’ll robustly defend this case.

Updated

And here is the latest on the situation in Sydney, according to AAP.

The NSW government will hold a crisis meeting to review the state’s response to a growing number of Covid-19 infections across Sydney, which has so far avoided a lockdown.

The cabinet gathering due to take place at 9.30am on Friday will come ahead of the official release of the latest infections data later in the morning.

So far, there are 36 cases linked to the so-called Bondi cluster that erupted in the city’s east last week.

The Coalition government has held off declaring a lockdown, instead preferring to restrict the movements of residents, increase mask wearing and limit social and other gatherings.

“It’s the detail, the information we have behind the scenes that our expert health officials look at, that gives us the confidence to the make a decision and the advise at this stage is not to lock down,” the deputy premier, John Barilaro, told Nine Network on Friday.

“We’ll see what the numbers are like this morning when the crisis cabinet meets again at 9.30am.

“But the advice could change in the next few hours, and it could change over the weekend.”

NSW Health added several exposure sites, including two cafes in Potts Point, two cafes in Alexandria and a health club in Bondi Junction to its list of venues of concern on Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Barilaro has also tested negative to Covid-19 after a virus scare in the state’s parliament.

Updated

And here are the changes to restrictions that have come into effect in Victoria today.

People across the state can have up to 15 visitors to their home, up from two in Melbourne and five in regional Victoria.

Funerals and weddings are now capped at 300 people. Hospitality venues can serve up to 300 in Melbourne but density limits still apply.

Masks must still be worn at indoor setting outside the home.

Offices in Melbourne are allowed 75 capacity or 30 people, whichever is greater.

AAP has some more details about that new cluster in Melbourne.

Victorian health authorities are scrambling to find close contacts of a second coronavirus case in the state with links to an outbreak in Sydney.

The man, who works at a dry cleaning business in the Melbourne beachside suburb of Sandringham, returned a positive test late on Thursday afternoon.

His family has been isolated and are being tested, with the state public health department saying it is urgently trying to understand his movements.

QR code data from the business is being analysed, while his close contacts are being identified and contacted.

The man was a close contact of another worker at the dry cleaners, a man from Oakleigh who tested positive on Wednesday after going to a party at his daughter’s house in West Hoxton in Sydney on Saturday night.

The gathering has since been declared a super-spreader event, with more than 12 attendees having become infected.

The Oakleigh man, who is aged in his 60s, returned to Melbourne on Jetstar flight JQ523 that left Sydney at 5.30pm on Sunday.

The flight and terminal four of Melbourne airport have been listed as tier one exposure sites, as has the dry cleaning shop, which is shut for deep cleaning.

The Oakleigh man developed symptoms late on Tuesday night at his apartment complex home, where he lives alone.

The health department says a “risk assessment” is being undertaken at the complex and support will be provided to other residents.

Victoria has declared greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Shellharbour, Blue Mountains and Wollongong as “red zones” under its travel permit system.

The Oakleigh man travelled back to Victoria from a Sydney suburb that was considered to be “green zone” at the time.

Updated

Good morning

Good morning, my name is Luke Henriques-Gomes. Happy Friday – and welcome to today’s live blog.

Here’s what you need to know so far today.

The NSW government will hold a crisis meeting this morning as the state responds to a growing number of Covid-19 cases. The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, is warning this is the “scariest period” the state has faced, following 11 new local Covid cases on Thursday. An expanding list of exposure sites includes several Sydney shopping centres and state parliament. The government has so far insisted there is no need to lock down the city.

Melbourne is also on alert after a man who returned from Sydney tested positive. A second case was also reported yesterday. Authorities fear the man, who worked for three days in a Sandringham dry cleaners, may have come into contact with up 100 people. He appears to have caught the virus at a party in Sydney that been described a super-spreading event. Despite the new concerns, an easing of restrictions came into effect in Melbourne this morning.

My colleague Paul Karp has the latest on Peter Dutton’s defamation suit against the refugee activist Shane Bazzi. Dutton has accused Bazzi of showing malice, citing a tweet labelling him a “cunt” and a “fucken scumbag”. Dutton is suing Bazzi over a tweet labelling him a “rape apologist”, which Bazzi says constituted fair comment and honest opinion.

Michael McGowan reports that the dossier of rape allegations against former attorney general Christian Porter, which was sent to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, earlier this year, has been made public for the first time. You can read about that here.

And Amanda Meade reports that the renown political columnist Niki Savva has quit her role at the Australian, after editors told her she had to share a page with the paper’s new recruit, Sky News host Peta Credlin.

With that, let’s get into it.

Updated

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