What we learned on this Friday 22 April
As Perth and the Peel region prepare to enter lockdown for the Anzac Day long weekend, I wish you all good luck and to stay safe. We are wrapping up the blog for this evening, but here’s what made the news today:
- Anzac Day services have been called off after the Western Australian premier. Mark McGowan, announced Perth and the Peel region will go into lockdown for three days until Monday night.
- A man who spent five days in Perth after leaving hotel quarantine tested positive upon his arrival in Melbourne.
- So far only a friend of the man who was identified as a close contact has tested positive, but contact tracing is still under way.
- Victoria has required anyone on the same Qantas flight to get tested and isolate for 14 days, while people who were in Terminal One of the airport between 6.30pm and 7.30pm are required to get tested and isolated until a negative result is received.
- New Zealand has paused flights between Perth and NZ.
- Three more blood clot cases in Australia have been linked to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
- Approximately 9% of Australian adults are now vaccinated for Covid-19.
- The Nationals MP George Christensen has announced he will not contest the next election.
Updated
Despite one case being an 80-year-old man, the TGA says the three new cases are consistent with data from Australia and internationally that the majority of cases are observed in people under 50, and the risk of blood clots appears to be lower in older adults:
While there have been some cases have been seen in this group, this also reflects that many countries are currently only using the AstraZeneca vaccine in older age groups. Although Australia has seen more cases of Covid-19 in the under-50s, hospitalisation and deaths data clearly demonstrate that the risk of serious harm from infection with Covid-19 remains much higher in over-50s, and the benefits of Covid-19 vaccination outweigh the risks.
Updated
Three more blood clot cases in Australia linked to AstraZeneca vaccine
The Vaccine Safety Investigation Group in the Therapeutic Goods Administration has concluded that three new cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), or blood clots, are likely linked to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
The cases were in a 35-year-old NSW woman, a 49-year-old Queensland man and an 80-year-old Victorian man. Symptom onset ranged from 9 to 26 days after vaccination.
All three patients are clinically stable, have responded well to treatment and are recovering. While meeting the international and UK criteria, two of the three cases appear to be milder forms of the syndrome that were recognised very early by the treating health professionals and are responding well to treatment, and in one of the cases platelet counts were depressed to a limited extent and the patient developed symptoms unusually late (26 days after vaccination).
These take the total Australian reports of TTS following the AstraZeneca vaccine to six. Five cases are in people aged less than 50 years, who were vaccinated prior to the decision to recommend the vaccine only to those aged over 50.
Updated
New Zealand pauses WA flights
New Zealand’s Covid response minister, Chris Hipkins, says as per the trans-Tasman bubble protocols, travel between Western Australia and New Zealand will be paused pending further advice from the WA government.
A flight that was due to leave Perth for NZ later tonight will now not be leaving, and New Zealanders in Perth are asked to follow the local advice.
He says no one on the Perth to Melbourne flight on Wednesday with the Covid-positive passenger travelled on to NZ.
Hipkins:
This is an example of the type of scenario both countries have planned for. Another update will be provided tomorrow.
Updated
Supermarkets remain open during the Perth lockdown but as we have seen every time this happens, people still rush to the supermarkets. They’re not currently instituting purchasing limits, either.
Coles state general manager for Western Australia, Pat Zanetti:
With Anzac Day this weekend, we know many customers were already planning to do big grocery shops, particularly as our metro stores are closed on Sunday and Monday is a public holiday.
By ensuring our customers can complete their entire shop in one trip without purchase limits, instead of multiple visits over a number of days, we’re making it easier for customers to follow government directions to stay home. We will continue to monitor product availability and ask that customers only buy what they need to help ensure everyone in the community has access to food and everyday essentials.
We have well-established safety protocols based on what we have implemented in previous lockdowns, to ensure our customers and team members can feel safe in our stores.
Updated
NSW Health will screen people arriving from Perth at Sydney airport to determine if they’ve visited any of the venues of concern in WA.
Those people will be asked to get tested and isolate until they get a negative result.
Anyone arriving to Sydney after midnight tonight from WA must complete a declaration form from the Service NSW site stating they haven’t been at a venue of concern. The forms are not up yet but the department says they will be available soon.
Conservationists say Australia’s unique marine ecosystems have a “fighting chance” of surviving an onslaught from climate change, pollution and overfishing after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced $100m for ocean protection.
Melbourne airport terminal declared tier 2 site
The Victorian government has declared QF778 from Perth to Melbourne on Wednesday 21 April as a tier 1 exposure site, meaning anyone on that flight needs to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
After reviewing CCTV and conducting interviews, the entire terminal one at Melbourne airport between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on the same date is now considered a tier 2 exposure site.
People who were in the terminal at this time will need to get tested and isolate until a negative result returns.
More locations may be added, the department has warned. But worth remembering the man went straight into isolation from the airport.
Updated
There are at least 10 venues associated with the Melbourne man in Perth, but contact tracing is still under way:
- Crawley: St Catherine’s College, UWA 17/04/2021 – 21/04/2021
- Qantas domestic terminal (T3 - T4) 21/04/2021 11am – 1pm
- Crawley: St Catherine’s College, UWA – Dining Hall 21/04/2021 7am – 9am
- Northbridge: City China Garden 20/04/2021 5pm – 8pm
- Northbridge: Good Fortune Roast Duck House 19/04/2021 5pm – 8pm
- Subiaco: Fortune Acupuncture Chinese Medical Clinic 19/04/2021 1.30pm – 3pm
- Kardinya: Kitchen Inn (takeaway) 19/04/2021 midday – 1.00pm
- Crawley: St Catherine’s College, UWA – Dining Hall 19/04/2021 7am – 9am
- Kardinya: Kitchen Inn 18/04/2021 midday – 2pm
- Mount Pleasant: Brentwood Deli 18/04/2021 8.30am – 9.30am
- East Victoria Park: Bananabro 17/04/2021 5.30pm – 8pm
Updated
Here’s what Victorian health authorities are saying about the man from Perth who tested positive after arriving back in Victoria:
On arrival at the airport, he was immediately advised by Western Australian health authorities of his status as a primary close contact.
He returned directly to his home in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
He was tested yesterday, returning the positive result this morning.
Out of caution, and before the positive test result was known, he was moved into hotel quarantine in Melbourne at his request, where he remains.
Four household and social contacts are associated with this case – the individual’s spouse, his two children, and a friend of one child.
All have been tested.
The department will continue to manage the public health actions associated with this case and will continue to monitor the situation in Western Australia.
Face masks will be required while exercising outdoors in Perth and the Peel region, unless it is high exertion. FIFO workers will still be able to leave for work.
Vic Gov public health meeting to discuss situation in WA.
— Richard Willingham (@rwillingham) April 23, 2021
WA premier Mark McGowan says they will ramp up testing over the weekend, and then make decisions on Monday about whether the lockdown is extended or if other rules are brought in.
Mark McGowan is increasingly pointed about how quarantine is not a responsibility of the states:
“This is an obligation the states have put upon us. And [there are] facilities like Curtin airbase or Christmas Island, Garden Island, or Yonga Hill. The states are doing the best they can in light of the facilities we have that were not built for these purposes.”
Labor leader Anthony Albanese points out lockdowns are only still happening because the vaccine roll-out has been so slow in Australia.
We have one ticket out of this pandemic, and out of these lockdowns, and that’s the vaccine.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 23, 2021
Scott Morrison just needs to get it done.
Mark McGowan repeats that outbreaks from hotel quarantine are the risk of having Australians return from overseas. He says hotels are not designed for quarantine, and are full of hundreds of people coming back to Australia.
He points out all the changes they’ve made including HEPA air filters in the hotels, requiring all hotel staff to only work one job, for them to be vaccinated, and to get daily tests, but he says Covid is “insidious”.
He says they’re still trying to make the hotels fit for purpose on the basis of the last report WA had on the hotel quarantine program, but those upgrades were happening while people were still coming back through the system.
Updated
Q. Why can people go to the rugby and basketball games tonight but not Anzac Day services?
Mark McGowan:
“There is no perfect answer here. We discussed this during the course of the day. It is now past 3pm. We only have this second case in the course of the last hour or so and we have had to make a judgment call on what is possible to be implemented.
“So we took the advice of the health officials and also the police commissioner. Logistically, it was very difficult to put in place the rules at 6pm so we moved it to 12pm just to allow for the drafting of the rules and secondly the implementation of the rules.”
Updated
Chris Dawson says around 20 people who were on the same flight from Perth to Melbourne as the man who travelled to Melbourne are either on their way back or already back in WA. Police and the health department will determine whether they’re close contacts.
He notes there are no interstate travel restrictions in place at this time (I am guessing that might change to line up with the lockdown as we have seen previously).
Contact tracing is under way, but Chris Dawson says the man from Melbourne who tested positive did not use the Safe WA QR code check-in app for the places he visited. Dawson said his friend who tested positive did, however.
Dawson urges everyone to use the QR code check-in app (albeit that they won’t be able to dine in restaurants or go to pubs for anything other than takeaway this weekend).
Updated
Police commissioner Chris Dawson says there is already advice that there is a lot of traffic on the roads, and stresses they will not be preventing people leaving the Perth or Peel region up to midnight:
“This long weekend, you should limit your movements but we accept the practicality of this is that people will be moving for the long weekend and from midnight tonight, as the lockdown commences.”
People who do leave the Perth/Peel region will be expected to wear a mask, regardless of where they are in Western Australia.
Updated
Professional sports in Perth will go ahead but only with players and officials. The Wildcats and Western Force rugby game will go ahead with crowds tonight because it’s before midnight, but anything between Saturday and Monday night will not go ahead with crowds.
WA police commissioner Chris Dawson has urged Perth and Peel residents not to rush around tonight ahead of lockdown commencing at midnight:
“People who are leaving the Perth and Peel area, we know it as long weekend. I ask that you drive safely. You don’t rush. There is no need to rush. We want you to keep safe on the roads. We accept and know that may people have plans for the long weekend. If you are driving and have made plans, don’t leave this until the last minute. Drive safely and normally.”
WA halves hotel quarantine cap
WA premier Mark McGowan says he has asked for the number of international arrivals per week in WA be cut from 1,025 to 512 per week for the next month:
Given the situation around the world, with cases increasing and the stress on our hotel quarantine system, it is important we have a pause on the number of cases coming in to our quarantine facilities. Covid-19 is incredibly challenging as we are experiencing. It has been more than a year and WA’s experience of community transmission has occurred before, a year ago, but this has been an incredible result that we have achieved till now. We need to go back to what we know best.
Updated
WA premier announces Perth and Peel lockdown
WA premier Mark McGowan announces a three-day lockdown from midnight tonight until midnight on Monday.
People can only leave home for work, shopping for essentials, medical needs, compassionate requirements, or exercise with a maximum of four people, limited to one hour per day.
Masks are mandatory from 6pm tonight.
Pubs, bars and clubs, except takeaway, are closed. Gyms and indoor sporting venues are closed and no committee sport is permitted.
Playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor recreational facilities; cinemas, entertainment venues and casinos; large religious gatherings and places of worship; and libraries and cultural institutions are all closed. No visitors to hospitals or residential aged care or disability facilities unless there are exceptional circumstances. Weddings and funerals will be permitted, however, with 100-patron capacity not including staff, and masks must be worn.
Anzac Day dawn services in Perth and Peel will not go ahead.
Updated
WA case passed on Covid to friend
WA premier Mark McGowan says the Victorian man who tested positive was one of two in adjacent rooms to those who tested positive.
He was in Perth for five days before he left for Melbourne yesterday, and has already passed on Covid-19 to one of his close contacts in Perth.
“We now need to assume he was infectious during this five day period.”
They’re still contact tracing, but he went and had a coffee in Leeming on the 18th, a dinner in Northridge, and stayed at St Catherine’s College at UWA, went to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, visited Kings Park on the 20th and Northbridge again, and then wen to the airport on the 21st.
He was on QF778 and Victoria is tracing those 257 passengers.
Updated
WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy foreshadows snap lockdown
Ahead of WA premier Mark McGowan’s press conference, the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy informed its members that a three-day lockdown was imminent in the wake of the Covid-19 transmission in hotel quarantine.
Breaking: WA to enter three-day lockdown, according to advice from WA’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy to mining companies pic.twitter.com/PXLa4JsrWu
— Paul Garvey (@PDGarvey) April 23, 2021
Updated
That WA press conference is now 2.30pm WA time. We will get there eventually.
Kevin Rudd said there needs to be a fundamental readjustment to Australia’s position on coal given the changes globally:
“You will not find today any mainstream financial institution willing to provide lines of capital to invest in a new coal-fired power station. It is only a couple of sovereign governments around the world doing that.
“Warning sign number two is China’s own national plans to mothball its coal-fired power stations over time, use them as a reserve capability for the rest of their, as it were, fleet of power generators, which will increasingly become a renewable fleet, and so if you are looking at the trajectory for Australia’s coal exports, purely from a market analysis, leaving aside domestic climate change action in this country, it is all trend negative and over time, similarly with gas as well.”
He said “the days of Morrison walking into parliament with a lump of coal saying this was come to Jesus moment for the Australian resources industry, frankly, is an appeal to past nostalgia”.
Updated
Kevin Rudd accuses the Morrison government of “inelegantly crab-walking” towards net zero by 2050 because everyone else already is, and says the 2030 target is becoming more important – Australia so far has refused to up its target:
“What we see is Morrison in cahoots with his Murdoch puppet masters, inelegantly crab-walking their way towards accepting a position of midcentury carbon neutrality because there is no one else left with them standing.
The second target however, which was much more materially relevant than the first, is where we currently stand in terms of our carbon reduction target for the 2030s.
Presently we have committed to a target of between 26 and 28% carbon emissions based on a 2005 level by 2030, and frankly everyone else is now upping that to about 50%. But Morrison refuses to embrace that.”
Updated
Kevin Rudd: Morrison's argument about technology over targets is 'nonsense'
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, is on ABC News to discuss the climate summit overnight.
He says it is “pretty good” and gives it an eight out of 10. He says it shows America is “back in the game” and countries around the world – aside from Australia – are lifting their efforts when it comes to combatting climate change.
He says the argument about technology over targets from prime minister, Scott Morrison, is “nonsense”. While technology has always been important, targets are crucial:
“If we want to avoid catastrophic climate change, international climate change scientists say we must keep average temperature increases for the planet within 1.5 degrees centigrade this century and to do that, you need to achieve carbon neutrality for the planet by 2050 and to do that, you need to radically increase everyone’s nationally determined contributions for carbon reductions by 2030, which is why other countries have been doing that, and why Australia continues to sit on its hands on this, it defies my imagination.
“Frankly, it is contrary to our basic economic environmental interests.”
Updated
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission warning it on increasing the minimum wage.
ACCI’s submission in reply argues there are “substantial concerns around the multi-speed recovery” given recreation and personal services industries have not recovered, “uncertainty regarding vaccination rates and international virus variants”.
It also leans very heavily into the prospect of job losses now the jobkeeper wage subsidy has expired. It noted in March 21% of businesses reported to the ABS they were reliant on jobkeeper and other wage support programs.
It said:
“Without this government support, 20% of businesses indicated they would be reducing staff hours, 9% of businesses would be forced to reduce staff numbers and 4% of businesses would be forced to close their doors. The end of jobkeeper on 28 March (3 days after the survey was released), is likely to be the main tipping point for most of these businesses. This will have major implications for the unemployment and underemployment rates through April, May and June.”
ACCI also argues that lifting the minimum wage is an inappropriate form of stimulus because the costs are born by small and medium-sized businesses, and noted they already have the cost of the superannuation guarantee increasing from 9.5 to 10% in July.
The ACTU submission in reply complains that whether they are calling for a freeze or a delay in the increase in the minimum wage, big businesses’ claims amount to a pay cut.
The ACTU president Michele O’Neil said:
“Wage growth keeps hitting new record lows and is currently just 1.4% while profits grew 15.1% last year.It’s the first recession in Australian history when profits got bigger, not smaller. Money in the hands of working people will drive the recovery from the pandemic.
“An increase to the minimum wage means a pay rise for around one in five workers. Beyond being the right thing to do when half of hospitality workers say they are in financial stress, it is one of the key tools we have to generate economic growth through spending.
“The arguments being made by the big business lobby as part of this process are disingenuous and disappointing but not surprising. They have consistently put the narrow short term interests of their members – huge corporations who have expanded their profits during a recession – ahead of the national interest and even ahead of public safety.”
Updated
And another 15-minute delay on that WA press conference, 2.15pm, local time, start.
Queensland police have provided some more information about those two bodies found in an apartment on the Gold Coast.
A 53-year-old man was found, and initial investigations indicate the man’s death is not suspicious, but a crime scene was declared after a second body of a 48-year-old woman was found at the apartment.
A post-mortem will be conducted.
Just a bit more on those two men charged over alleged racist abuse sent to NRL player Latrell Mitchell, from AAP.
The NRL has warned it will continue to refer racist online trolling of its players to police after two men were charged with sending abusive messages via social media to South Sydney star Latrell Mitchell.
Mitchell earlier this week informed the NRL Integrity Unit he had received numerous offensive and “racially charged” social media messages.
The Integrity Unit forwarded those complaints to police, who on Friday arrested a 22-year-old Taree man and a 25-year-old Lake Munmorah man.
Both men were charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, and granted bail to appear in NSW courts next month.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said the competition would not tolerate racist trolling of players.
He also lauded Mitchell for his leadership role in fighting online abuse.
“Any fan who racially abuses or threatens our players will be referred to police,” Abdo said in a statement.
“I want to commend Latrell for the leadership role he is taking. We wholeheartedly support Latrell in reporting this matter. He is a leader in the fight against racism in our community.”
Updated
That WA press conference has been delayed by half an hour, so should be 2pm WA time, 4pm AEST.
The bodies of a man and another person have been found in a unit on the Gold Coast, AAP reports.
The man’s body was found at the apartment block on Labrador Street, Labrador, about 10.20am on Friday.
Officers who arrived on the scene then found another person’s body in the same unit about 11.20am.
Police did not say whether the second dead person was a man or a woman.
Updated
WA premier Mark McGowan and health minister Roger Cook will provide a Covid-19 update at 1.30pm AWST (3.30pm AEST).
Updated
New rules to protect cyclists on Victorian roads to come into effect from Monday
New road rules designed to give extra safety to cyclists will come into effect in Victoria on Monday, AAP reports.
From Monday, motorists must give riders at least one-metre clearance when overtaking on roads up to 60km/h, and 1.5 metres on roads with speed limits above 60km/h.
The new rules bring Victoria into line with all other states, which already have minimum passing distance laws in place.
Roads minister Ben Carroll said 13 cyclists lost their lives on Victoria’s roads in 2020, an increase on the five-year average of 10 deaths:
“Last year was a horrible year on our road for cyclists. These measures will ensure everyone has a safe place on our roads. This new rule provides a clear direction on how much space motorists should give cyclists when passing.
“We all share the roads and need to look out for one another.”
Under the updated rules, drivers and motorcyclists can briefly cross painted lines to give cyclists the space they need - including solid lines, double lines, painted tram lane lines and painted islands - but only when they have a clear view ahead and it’s safe to do so.
Improper overtaking or passing offences will incur two demerit points and on-the-spot fines of $330. If the matter proceeds through court, the fine can increase to $1,652.
Updated
It’s not unusual for media outlets to cover the costs of travel for something like this, but good to have it on the record.
Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon had his accommodation and hospitality paid for by Sky News for his interview in the mine pic.twitter.com/FHzno4KIJh
— CAMERONWILSON POSTING HIS Ws (@cameronwilson) April 23, 2021
One new case of Covid in South Australia
One new case in South Australia today – a woman in her 70s. It is considered an old transmission and she is not infectious.
South Australian COVID-19 update 23/4/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsG7zGQ or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/RzKpvPn5BC
— SA Health (@SAHealth) April 23, 2021
Updated
You’d think the number of shots required would be in the basic talking points.
More COVID-19 vaccine problems for the government as Superannuation Minister Janet Hume wrongly tells Sky today that just a single dose of Pfizer vaccine is needed. pic.twitter.com/jA0H6MRNaw
— Sue Dunlevy (@Sue_Dunlevy) April 23, 2021
Two men charged over allegedly racially abusing NRL player online
NSW police has charged two men over alleged offensive, racist and threatening messages sent to an NRL player on social media.
Detectives from the fixated persons investigation unit arrested and charged a 22-year-old man at a home at Taree and a 25-year-old man at Lake Munmorah on Friday.
They were charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence. They’ve been granted strict conditional bail ahead of court appearances in May.
Updated
Targa Tasmania rally driver dies
Tasmania police have confirmed that 68-year-old rally driver Shane Navin died when his 1979 Mazda RX7 rolled 35.4km into the Mount Arrowsmith stage of the race about 10am.
Medical teams were there immediately but were unable to revive the driver, Tasmania police said.
Co-driver Glenn Evans was assessed by the attending medical crew and was not injured.
Targa Australia chief executive Mark Perry, said:
This is a very sad time for the Targa community. Shane was a much loved and admired member of our Targa family. We send our heartfelt condolences to Shane’s family and friends on their loss.
Updated
Sorry. Just on that last one, the PM is referring to the total number of hotel quarantine cases. So it might look like there’s a fair few more in hotel quarantine, but the overall number is about the same.
It points to there maybe being more cases from India but that’s offset by arrivals from other countries not being Covid-positive.
Updated
PM admits total hotel quarantine cases have not risen dramatically
Despite cutting the number of direct flights from India by 30% and putting in new measures to ensure people get PCR tests before flying to Australia, Scott Morrison admitted the number of new Covid-19 cases in hotel quarantine has not dramatically increased:
I should stress this also: the total number of cases in quarantine – albeit that a proportion of those that have originated from India – the total number of cases that are occurring in quarantine are about the same they have been all year.
So we haven’t seen a spike in the number of total cases over that period of time. There’s been a slight increase in the last week or so.
So the quarantine system is not failing because of that at this point. So we need to put in place the risk management that protects it going over the next few weeks, as the pandemic is raging around the world. And I don’t expect this to be the last time when we have to make such a decision.
Which is strange because this is what he said yesterday:
We have seen the proportion of total cases from that one particular cohort rise from about 10% to 40% of cases. That’s not something we could ignore and so we have to take actions to mitigate that risk on behalf of all Australians.
Updated
Q: Why don’t you think it matters when Australia reaches net zero [carbon emissions]?
Scott Morrison:
Well, I have said we want to do it as soon as possible ... [and] would like to do it by 2050. Potentially it could be done earlier. But the how decides when you get there. I’ve heard a lot of people make a lot of commitments in this area, and I’ve heard it from countries that frankly haven’t had any reduction in their emissions. I have heard it from countries whose emissions are still rising. But how we actually achieve it will determine when we achieve it.
He then talks up hydrogen again, and repeats the line about emissions not having accents or nationalities.
He noted Canada had announced a $170 a tonne carbon tax to meet its 45% reduction by 2030, and said Australia would not be following.
I won’t be doing that in Australia. I will be getting there by technology, not taxes.
Updated
Scott Morrison is in his own electorate in Sydney’s Sutherland shire with environment minister Sussan Ley to announce a $100m package to protect Australia’s oceans.
Morrison is particularly talking up using seagrass and mangroves as part of combatting climate change through carbon capture.
Ley:
You have one interconnected ecosystem that stores four times as terrestrial ecosystems. We need to work harder on the methodology and part of this package will do that. It will allow blue carbon accounting so that we can calculate exactly how much carbon you can store in these systems and bring it to life.
Updated
Scott Morrison holds press conference
The prime minister is holding a press conference the day after his muted speech at the virtual climate action summit overnight. Scott Morrison largely repeats what he said last night about performance over commitments and speaks about the national interest:
Staying on the front foot, we are no stranger to those things, we are no stranger to the commitments for the achievement of those commitments, which ultimately is what matters at the end of the day. Australia, we have our plan. We are working to our plan. In Australia’s national interest.
We have unique challenges here in Australia with the structure and size and complexion of our economy as well as the amazing habitats, whether they be in the ocean environments and coastal environments – where we are today – all those in the desert country right across the far reaches of our continent. We are dealing with those and we are addressing those and we are doing it in a way that the rest of the world does take interest in and learn from with our great scientists, but I’ve also got to say our great industrialists.
It is the industrialist and pioneers and entrepreneurs that will be making the way forward with new technologies. We will reach our commitments through technology. We won’t be doing it through taxing our industries and jobs out of our country.
Updated
A little bit more on Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein’s tattoo. He posted about it on his brand new TikTok account, which goes by the name papi_g. Apparently the tattoo is for his first black belt. Alrighty then.
Tasmania’s Premier Peter Gutwein now has TikTok. His username is papi_g #politas pic.twitter.com/j6Oc4KYCAV
— Monte Bovill (@MonteBovill) April 23, 2021
Inaugural NDIA chairman blasts NDIS assessment policy
Bruce Bonyhady, the inaugural chairman of the national disability insurance agency and an original architect of the national disability insurance scheme, has blasted the government’s NDIS independent assessment policy as a “robo-planning”.
Appearing at a parliamentary inquiry on Friday, Bonyhady said he would not use the term “independent assessments” because the assessments were not independent and the phrase reinforced a “deliberate misrepresentation”.
The fact that robo-planning has reached the current stage of implementation is a disgrace. It should have been stopped long before now.
The assessments – a three-hour interview with a government-contracted allied health professional – will replace a process where participants obtain and submits reports from their treating specialists. The government says the assessments will make the process fairer, more consistent, and easier for people with disabilities.
Linda Reynolds, the new NDIS minister, said last week she would wait for feedback from an ongoing trial before committing to roll out the assessments, essentially delaying their introduction by some months.
Bonyhady told the inquiry he opposed the policy for three reasons:
First, robo-planning combines and uses tools for purposes for which they were never designed, and for which there is not a shred of evidence of their validity ... Second, robo-planning abandons goal-based planning, which is one of the foundations of the NDIS and essential to its success. It replaces opportunity with a deficit-based approach. Third, the NDIA is seeking absolute power by deliberately structuring robo-planning so it will not be reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. With no transparency, robo-planning could be used to exclude participants, cut plans or change the NDIS eligibility criteria. And the NDIA would not be able to be held to account for such actions.
The inquiry is continuing in Melbourne today. It is also expected to hold hearings in Hobart, Perth and Geelong in coming weeks.
Updated
We reported this yesterday, but it’s now officially in the schedule for Tuesday next week.
Australia Post inquiry hearing program for Tuesday (27 April) confirms the WHOLE BOARD will attend, with some special attention/a separate session for Tony Nutt. #auspol pic.twitter.com/fsht5WOgII
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) April 23, 2021
I am trying to find out what Peter Gutwein’s tattoo is. It looks like a panther, but if I find out, I will advise.
Telstra, Optus and TPG are among five companies to pay $647m in total for spectrum licences that will allow them to ramp up the construction of their 5G networks.
In what communications minister Paul Fletcher is calling “the year of 5G”, Telstra, Optus, TPG, Dense Air and Pentanet all secured 15-year licences for spectrum in the high end 26GHz band.
This will be used for millimetre wave 5G that will allow for large amounts of data to be sent in a short amount of time over shorter distances. Companies will likely construct smaller cells in cities and office blocks where it will be most useful for carrying data.
The government will auction low-band spectrum for 5G later this year which will allow for 5G to get wider coverage across the country.
Updated
Tasmania’s premier Peter Gutwein has received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has received his first astrazeneca jab. @7tasnews #politas pic.twitter.com/LErRjOERF7
— Sean McComish (@spmccomish) April 23, 2021
With that, I shall leave you for the week. See you all on Monday!
Josh Taylor is here now to see you off to the weekend.
The Queensland government will restart the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the Torres Strait Islands next month amid concerns about the AstraZeneca jab, reports Marty Silk from AAP.
The Torres and Cape hospital and health service put the brakes on the region’s rollout last week after medical advice recommended AstraZeneca be avoided for people under 50 due to the risk of extremely rare but serious blood clots.
There has been concern over the pause in the border islands, some of which are visible from Papua New Guinea which surpassed 10,000 virus cases earlier this week.
Hospital and health service chief executive Beverley Hamerton says the vaccine drive will restart when a special fridge to store the Pfizer dose arrives.
She says most of the region’s relatively young population will get the Pfizer vaccine except for 992 people who have already received their first dose of AstraZeneca.
Everyone who has had a first dose of AstraZeneca without any adverse effects will be offered a second dose ...
We will not be offering Pfizer to community members who have already had a dose of AstraZeneca.
The hospital and health service will also hold meetings across the region to address any questions or concerns.
Hamerton said vaccination was still the safest way forward in the border region.
We hope our communities will be able to move past the recent uncertainty relating to the AstraZeneca vaccine and appreciate the very real benefits for individuals and communities of being vaccinated against coronavirus.
Updated
Australia is set to host the first human clinical trial of a genetically modified adenovirus vaccine for Covid-19 delivered via nasal spray.
Avance Clinical, an Australian contract research organisation, has applied to the office of the gene technology regulator for permission to conduct the phase 1 clinical trial on behalf US company Tetherex Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
The trial from June to September proposes using genetic modification to prevent the virus multiplying and insert a gene encoding the Sars-Cov-2 spike protein to help people produce antibodies against Covid-19.
A health department spokesman said the trial related to a vaccine that was “new to Australia” and was sponsored by Tetherex. It is seeking men and women aged 18 to 55 with no history of blood clot disorders.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
NT records 13 new hotel quarantine cases
The Northern Territory has recorded a huge number of new positive Covid-19 cases in hotel quarantine today, all arriving from India.
The Howard Springs facility was already at its peak Covid-19 positive population before today with 18 infected travellers coming from India since the weekend. Today’s results nearly double this.
NT Health has released the following statement:
13 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the Northern Territory in the past 24 hours.
Three males, aged three, 38 and 51, and two females aged one and 19 who arrived on the repatriation flight from Chennai on 15 April 2021 have tested positive for Covid-19.
The three and 38-year-old males are asymptomatic, while the 51-year-old male, the one and 19-year-old females are displaying mild symptoms.
Five males, two aged 33 and an 11-, 37- and 52-year-old, and three females aged 32, 34 and 62 who arrived on the repatriation flights from New Delhi on 17 April 2021 have tested positive.
The 34- and 52-year-old females are asymptomatic, while the two 33-year-old males, the 11-, 37- and 52-year-old males, and 32-year-old female display mild symptoms.
All 13 cases are under the care of the Ausmat team at the NT centre for national resilience.
Updated
Coldest Sydney morning this early in the year in 38 years. 9.2 degrees. Colder in the west. Brrrr @9NewsSyd
— Natalia Cooper (@Natalia_Cooper9) April 23, 2021
I haven’t spoken much about this story because it was all a little up in the air, but Queensland police have confirmed one of its sergeants is back on duty after recovering from blood clots he developed three days after receiving a Pfizer vaccine.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration and health authorities are still investigating if there’s a link between the man’s condition and the vaccine, and police have confirmed he had suffered from blood clotting-related illness in the past.
The 40-year-old officer developed deep vein thrombosis after knee surgery in 2009, but recovered in less than 12 months.
Police say the officer has recently been stationed at the state’s quarantine hotels and received the vaccine on Sunday.
Shortly after, symptoms developed which warranted further medical attention ...
Federal health authorities are working to determine if there is a link between the sergeant receiving the vaccination and symptoms he experienced shortly after.
He is now back on duty.
Pfizer said it closely monitored all reports of adverse reactions. It said there was no evidence that clots were a risk associated with the use of its vaccine.
So far three people have developed clots in Australia after being given the AstraZeneca vaccine, but this drug uses an entirely different system to produce an immune response in the human body to mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.
At least 14 people in Australia have had allergic reactions to the Pfizer vaccine, but none have developed blood clots.
Updated
Police ordered to pay former AFL coach Dani Laidley over leaked photos
Six Victoria police officers must pay compensation to former AFL coach Dani Laidley over leaked photos of her in police custody, AAP reports.
Images including Laidley’s mug shot and another of her in an interview room wearing a blonde wig and dress were shared among police and on social media last May.
Several officers including a senior detective and police staff were charged in December after a seven-month internal investigation. Another 39 officers and seven public servants faced internal disciplinary action.
Chief commissioner Shane Patton told 3AW on Friday, hearings for six officers wound up this week:
We have had some discipline hearing outcomes as well this week. We’ve had six officers who’ve had the matters proven ...
The independent hearing officer has put them on a good behaviour bond for 12 months, but in addition to that ordered that they undertake a respect course ... as well as awarding compensation to Dani Laidley.
Patton said the six officers must each pay between $1,000 to $3,000 to Laidley.
No action is being taken against 224 people who shared the images after they were leaked online.
Updated
One of WA’s richest people, property developer Allen Caratti, is due to appear in Perth magistrates court today after being charged with tax offences and impersonating an ATO officer.
It follows a long-running joint investigation between federal police and the ATO, Operation Caballus, which was launched in 2014.
Caratti, whose full name is Allen Bruce Caratti, is listed to appear in court at some time after 10am today (WA time).
The AFP said it had charged a 65-year-old man with four offences “over allegations he dishonestly failed to declare $7m income from a royalty payment to a company he controlled, which police allege was done to avoid paying a GST liability and associated income tax”.
He “allegedly avoided paying more than $2.57m in tax-related liabilities”..
Prosecutors will also allege the 65-year-old man posed as an ATO debt management director during a phone call to an accountant in 2018, to try to find out what questions the AFP had been asking about the matter.
The combined wealth of Caratti and his family – with some members of which he has also been involved in a complex legal dispute – has been estimated by the West Australian newspaper as $549m.
Updated
Albanese was asked if he believes it was the right decision to reduce arrivals from India as cases on the subcontinent reach a record high, and he has wasted no time in criticising the Australian vaccine rollout.
We understand that that is a difficult decision but we also know that we are not through Covid-19 yet. We can’t be complacent. Which is why the rollout or the non-rollout of the vaccine is so important.
Yesterday in Melbourne I visited an aged care facility where are not a single resident has received the vaccine. Not a single aged care worker has received the vaccine.
It isn’t good enough.
Australia in terms of vaccine rollout has been appalling. The gap between what the government promised and what has been delivered. We are at ... the back of the queue ...
The truth is we are falling behind. Falling behind other countries around the world and they are looking at us and the spin and marketing that characterises this government doesn’t wash when you’re actually having to deal with real challenges and real outcomes.
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Albanese:
All of our major competitors have adopted zero by 2050 except for China, of course, a major trading partner that has not got zero by 2060.
Every state and territory government has [said] net zero by 2050. The Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers’ Federation, our big four banks. All of the big companies, including the resources sector like BHP and Woodside and sent us, all have targets as well ...
Australia has to get its act together and in the lead up to the Glasgow conference later this year there will be real pressure on Australia to lift its game and to show that it is serious about tackling climate change.
Updated
Albanese slams PM's Biden climate summit speech
As that news about the Indonesian submarine was breaking, Australia’s opposition leader Anthony Albanese has been speaking from the regional Victorian city of Bendigo.
He is chatting about Morrison’s appearance at Biden’s climate summit, and, like, I get the point he is trying to make, but gosh Albanese likes to use the successes of developing nations to dunk on the government, and every time it just gives off very colonial energy. Also sip!
Australia got to speak at this major estimate after Bhutan.
It says something about where we are ranked and the way we are viewed and our place in the world when it comes to the transition to clean energy and how we are dealing with the challenge of climate change but also taking up the opportunity that climate change represents.
You have heard Scott Morrison, someone who, when he said, and I heard his comments last night, where he said that it wasn’t about when, it was about how. Everyone else at that summit would have been scratching their heads. Of course, in part, is about when. That is one of the factors at the conference was put together on.
So Labor thinks this is very disappointing. That Australia has put ourselves in a position whereby the US and other countries, of course, are talking about taking action against nations that aren’t seeming to be pulling their weight when it comes to dealing with the global challenge of climate change.
And Australia is seen with Saudi Arabia and Brazil and countries like that as not pulling our weight.
Updated
Earlier Indonesian navy chief of staff Yudo Margono said rescuers had found an unidentified object with high magnetism at a depth of 50-100 metres and that officials hoped it was the submarine.
He said they were waiting for a navy ship with underwater detection facilities to arrive before they could investigate further.
Updated
Two Australian navy ships rush to search for missing Indonesian navy submarine
Australia has sent HMAS Ballarat and HMAS Sirius to help in the search for the Indonesian submarine missing with 53 crew on board.
The submarine was last heard from in waters north of Bali while on a training exercise. The Indonesian military fears an electrical fault may have caused it to sink to more than 600 metres below sea level, which experts say could be extremely dangerous.
Indonesia requested help from Australia in the search which foreign affairs minister Marise Payne confirmed would be answered.
The defence department has just published details:
Indonesia has accepted Australia’s offer to assist in the search for missing submarine, KRI Nanggala (402).
HMA ships Ballarat and Sirius, both presently at sea on separate regional deployments, are making best speed for the search area.
The Anzac class frigate Ballarat, equipped with sonar capabilities and an embarked MH-60R helicopter, is expected to be in the search area today after transiting the Lombok Strait.
The support ship Sirius is off the coast of Brunei and will be in the search area from around Tuesday. Sirius can replenish ships with fuel, water and stores by day and night.
Rear Admiral Mark Hammond said the ADF would stand with our neighbour during this crisis.
My thoughts are with the submariners of KRI Nanggala, their families and the Indonesian people. As always we stand ready to assist our fellow mariners in the Indonesian navy.
These two Australian ships will help expand the search area and extend the duration of search effort.
If you want to quickly catch up with the key details of this situation you can have a look at our Tiktok explainer:
Or this article below:
Updated
The European Union will reportedly not stand in the way of 1m AstraZeneca doses being diverted from Australia to Papua New Guinea.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported late Thursday that trade minister Dan Tehan had secured a “very clear assurance” from the EU that it would not block 1m doses going to PNG, which is battling a major outbreak. The government has been asking the EU to release the doses to PNG since March.
Tehan says the new assurances from Valdis Dombrovskis, the European trade commissioner, leave the fate of the 1m doses now firmly in AstraZeneca’s hands.
The World Health Organization warned this week that PNG was reaching a critical stage due to continued widespread community transmission, a weak health system, rising hesitancy and limited Covid testing. Australia has committed to supplying the region with 10,000 locally manufactured AstraZeneca doses every week, beginning this week.
But key figures have urged Australia to give active consideration to lifting that contribution. Jane Halton, the former health department secretary, former WHO board member and chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said Australia should be considering whether it can give more to PNG.
Halton told the Guardian:
I would be very much hoping that we are looking at our domestic supply with a view to thinking about when we can release some more from Papua New Guinea ...
Obviously there’s a balance to be struck here between the domestic need and our nearest neighbour’s need, but I would be hoping that that would be being monitored very closely.
Updated
NZ to allow restricted number of travellers from India
New Zealand is cautiously reopening the pathway home for travellers coming from India after introducing a ban earlier this month.
The rule changes allow a dramatically reduced flow of arrivals from a new category of “very high-risk” countries. India, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Pakistan are in that category.
Arrivals from those countries are restricted to New Zealand citizens and their parents, children and partners as opposed to other countries where New Zealand has taken arrivals who are permanent residents or on “essential worker” visas.
Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said that “from India alone, this is expected to reduce the number of potential positive cases coming to New Zealand by an estimated 75%”. Hipkins said it would be possible to apply for exceptions on humanitarian grounds.
I want to stress this was not an easy decision. It was based entirely on current risk assessment and will be reviewed regularly.
New Zealand temporarily closed the border to all arrivals from India, including citizens, after surging case numbers in the country. The outbreak in India is still out of control, with 1.6m cases reported in a week, and health systems collapsing.
The New Zealand government is also introducing a “cohorting” system to hold groups of arrivals together and keep managed isolation and quarantine facilities empty for cleaning between cohorts, rather than accepting rolling groups of arrivals.
Countries have been designated very high risk if there have been more than 50 Covid-positive cases per 1,000 arrivals to New Zealand in 2021.
Updated
Everyone sip!
This is a baffling choice of graphic design and I’m totally obsessed with it.
Through our Veterans' Employment Pathway, we're helping ex-service personnel transition to new careers with the Queensland Government.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 23, 2021
Almost 750 veterans have already found careers in jobs like teaching, nursing, and engineering in the three years since the program launched. pic.twitter.com/ruhK7xqFpG
Phase 1A 'just about mopped up' in Victoria
Victorian health minister Martin Foley says phase 1A of the vaccine rollout is almost complete in the state.
1A has just about been mopped up and there are still some people in that group that we are happy to assist with, private residential, aged care, staff, a whole range of others.
And in the 1B group. The biggest there is Victorians over 70 and then other groups, whether they be healthcare workers and all of the other police, emergency services, all of which we are confident are coming forward in increasing numbers.
Updated
Martin Foley has described the actions of the man in the time between getting off the plane from Perth to testing positive:
[He was] contacted as he was coming off the plane as a primary close contact.
He did all of the right things, got his gear, went straight home, sat in the back seat, put his mask on all the way home and stayed separate from the rest of the members of his family members at home, his initial advice.
Got tested the next day. Checked into hotel quarantine before that day was out, which was yesterday.
His test came in at 2am, returned a positive, and the public health process of interviewing, testing, following up potential exposure sites is now well under way.
Foley said his partner picked him up from the airport.
Updated
Foley has commended the man for his actions leading up testing positive:
Our public health team on this, the gentleman was literally contacted the moment he got off at the airport. He has done the right thing, he has cooperated with our public health team. He has gone into isolation and our public-health team are following through his movements and any primary close contacts on the flight and elsewhere. We will have more to say throughout our public health team over the course of the day, I am sure...
He is asymptomatic. He shows no signs of being ill. He just goes to show, he was a gentleman who did exactly the right thing, showed no signs of the illness and as a result of our friends in Western Australia notifying him and notifying us, we were able to immediately get onto this case.
Foley:
Public health actions are already under way and household contacts are being urgently tested this morning and we would hope to get those results over the course of the day.
Obviously there are going to be a number of primary close contacts on that flight and that flight was Qantas QF778. All of those people are being contacted by our contact tracing team and will need to isolate for the full 14 days.
We will be examining the gentleman’s movements, particularly for the airport where he did wear a mask, as he did on the flight, as he did on his journey home having been contacted by public health officials as he arrived at the airport.
We will be examining those movements for contact tracing purposes and for the purposes of establishing should there be any exposure sites. If there are exposure sites or further information becomes available, of course our public health team will be sharing that information with the people of Victoria.
Updated
Here’s Victorian health minister Martin Foley with some more details about this Victorian case:
Western Australian health recently reported a transmission between two rooms at a hotel quarantine facility in Perth. As a result of this known transmission event in Perth, Western Australia determined that other residents on that floor formed primary contact for Covid purposes.
I can advise that this morning, at 2am, the Victorian health department received a notification of a positive Covid-19 results in one of those recently identified primary close contacts returning from hotel quarantine in Perth.
That individual travelled from Perth on a Melbourne flight on Wednesday, 21 April. That was after completing his two weeks in hotel quarantine in Perth, having stayed in the adjacent room which held the positive case in that hotel ...
He was picked up at [Melbourne] airport by his spouse and returned directly home to his residential location in the eastern suburbs where he lives with three household contacts, his spouse and two children. He was immediately tested yesterday afternoon and returned the positive result this morning.
Out of caution, before that positive result was returned the individual requested to be moved to hotel quarantine in Melbourne. We have of course immediately accommodated that request.
Updated
On the upside, there are no local Covid-19 cases in NSW today, especially after ITS second hotel quarantine transmission case yesterday.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 23, 2021
Eighteen new cases were acquired overseas to 8pm last night, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,229. pic.twitter.com/j2TJgsI8En
But also, JEEEEEZZZZ 18 overseas acquired cases is very intense.
Updated
Everyone on infected Victorian man's flight now close contacts
Victorian health minister Martin Foley says all passengers on Qantas flight QF778 from Perth to Melbourne are considered close contacts and will need to isolate for 14 days.
The man’s family is also being tested.
Health Minister MARTIN FOLEY:
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) April 23, 2021
Man flew into Melb on Wednesday (QF778) after 2wks quarantine in Perth.
Told he was a primary close contact of a +ve case.
Went home with spouse to home with 2 kids.
Tested yesterday and asked to go into Melb Quarantine.
Positive result at 2am.
Updated
Brilliant observation from my colleague Nino Bucci: could you imagine if WA premier Mark McGowan shut the border on Victoria after personally delivering it a Covid-19 case.
Updated
Victorian health minister Martin Foley says this officially ends the state’s long run of no community transmission, despite the man not contracting Covid in the state.
Foley has been asked about this at the press conference:
Because the gentleman was tested in Melbourne, it goes down on our numbers. If I’m wrong on that I’m sure [chief health officer Brett Sutton] will clarify by days end.
Min Foley on why an interstate acquired case is considered local transmission: “because the gentleman was tested in Melbourne, it goes down on our numbers. If I’m wrong on that I’m sure @VictorianCHO will clarify by days end.” @theheraldsun
— Mitch Clarke (@96mitchclarke) April 23, 2021
Updated
Victorian man infected with Covid-19 while in Perth hotel quarantine
OK, just a bit more on this case of community transmission in Victoria.
The man is from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. He arrived home after spending time in hotel quarantine in the Mercure Hotel Perth, where the virus has managed to jump between rooms infecting at least two other returned travellers.
He arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday but after the breach was discovered the Victorian government asked all recently released guests at the WA hotel currently in the state to retest themselves and isolate.
The man tested positive. He has asked to be moved to Victorian hotel quarantine.
Updated
As expected - the whole Australia Post board (and Bob Katter) will give evidence to the Christine Holgate inquiry next Tuesday pic.twitter.com/9BrUGmx2Cy
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) April 23, 2021
Three children rescued, two Australians arrested in child sex abuse operation
Three children have been rescued and four people arrested after Australian police uncovered online sex abuse of children in the Philippines, reports Tiffanie Turnbull from AAP.
Two Australian men have been charged with child sex abuse offences, leading to the rescue of three children as young as six in the Philippines.
The children, aged between six and 17, were saved after the Australian federal police referred intelligence on to their counterparts in the Philippines.
Two women, both aged 27, were arrested in Manila in March.
In Australia, a 40-year-old NSW man who was allegedly communicating with the women to pay for abuse material was arrested by police in November.
Another man, 66, was charged with multiple child sex offences in Queensland in August.
AFP child protection operations Det Supt Paula Hudson said:
For the AFP, this work is about the children we save. Our officers never give up, no matter whether a child victim is based in Australia or overseas.
Updated
Kevin Rudd weighs in on Scott Morrison's climate summit speech
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has responded to Scott Morrison’s (rather pro-coal industry) address to the Biden climate summit overnight.
He spoke in his positions as president of the Asia Society in New York, criticising China and Australia’s reluctance to commit to more ambitious emissions targets:
Today’s summit showed that America is back and that tackling climate change is back at the centre of the international agenda. It is clear a number of the world’s largest emitters have heard what the scientists have been telling us for years, which is that we must halve global emissions by 2030.
The new US target is a big step forward in that regard, especially after four years of having a climate denier in the White House. All the world’s major economies are now on notice to similarly step up by the time we get to Cop26 in Glasgow.
Unfortunately there remains a big gap between China’s carbon neutrality vision and the reality of what they announced today – but it was the blunt message their domestic coal sector needs and it must also now trigger a rethink on their overseas financing of coal through the Belt and Road.
The fact that the US’s target is almost twice as ambitious as Australia’s, and the UK’s three times as much, shows just how isolated we have become.
Updated
A Victorian man is infected with Covid-19 in Perth hotel quarantine
A Victorian man has tested positive to COVID-19 after picking up the virus in hotel quarantine in Perth. The patient, who is asymptomatic, requested to be moved to Victorian hotel quarantine. Minister Foley says the patient lives in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/dzoOwqyQ06
— Mitch Clarke (@96mitchclarke) April 23, 2021
Updated
The Victorian government has established a fund to cover funeral expenses for members of the stolen generations, reports Benita Kolovos from AAP.
Aboriginal affairs minister Gabrielle Williams announced the $300,000 interim program on Friday. It will operate until a $10m reparations scheme begins later this year.
The program, which will be backdated for any death after 1 January, will provide families with up to $10,000 to cover the costs of a funeral, headstone or plaque and/or the repatriation of their loved one.
This support will make a significant difference to the lives of many stolen generations families ...
It is also an acknowledgment of the past injustices perpetrated by the state against stolen generations and their families.
We cannot change the past, but we can confront it and help make a difference to the lives of so many Aboriginal Victorian people who have suffered and continue to suffer.
Victoria will be the final state to introduce a redress scheme for the stolen generations later this year.
It is estimated almost 10% of Victoria’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 50 and over are members of the stolen generations, taken from their parents between 1910 and 1970 as part of a government-run assimilation regime.
The state had the third-highest rate of removal in the country, with more than one-third of Victoria’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population descendants of the stolen generations.
Ian Hamm, the chair of the stolen generations reparations steering committee, said the funeral costs program would give stolen generations “a dignity in death they may not have always had in life”.
It allows [families] to grieve without the additional burden of the expense of a funeral ...
It is the right thing to do; it is the decent thing to do.
Just a reminder if these topics are difficult for you, you can call: Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Updated
China threatens retaliation over Belt and Road deals cancelled
China has threatened to take further action against Australia after the Morrison government cancelled Victoria’s two Belt and Road agreements in a sign the diplomatic dispute between the two countries may worsen.
China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it had lodged a “solemn” protest with Australia and reserved the right to take further action, just hours after the Chinese embassy in Canberra warned Australia would “only end up hurting itself”.
The message was amplified by Chinese state media, with the nationalistic tabloid the Global Times stating Australia had fired a “major shot” in what could be another trade war.
But the Australian government insisted on Thursday it was simply defending its national interests by blocking the two agreements between the Victorian state government and China’s reform commission.
You can read the full report from Helen Davidson and Daniel Hurst here:
Updated
Just bringing back this tweet now. No particular reason.
Saying you believe in locking up asylum seekers, but not these particular asylum seekers because there's enormous national goodwill and they fit a particular, politically-defined model of who whites will accept, is gross.
— Osman Faruqi (@oz_f) April 21, 2021
Updated
Turnbull says Biloela family his government detained should be back in Queensland
Malcolm Turnbull has flipped his position on releasing a family of Tamil asylum seekers being detained on Christmas Island, AAP reports.
Turnbull was prime minister when Priya, Nades and their two daughters were taken from Biloela in central Queensland and put into detention. But now, more than three years on, he says he supports the family being resettled in Australia.
wants the new home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, to allow a family of Tamil asylum seekers to return to Biloela. Photograph: Andrew Taylor/AP
Speaking to the ABC, Turnbull acknowledged the importance of tough border security policies to stop asylum seekers making the risky journey to Australia by boat, but called on new home affairs minister Karen Andrews to exercise some discretion.
There’s a difference between scratching your ear and ripping it off, as my late father used to say, and you need to have a bit of subtlety, you need to have compassion, you need to have some humanity ...
That family should be back in Queensland.
He urged Andrews to seize on the recent cabinet reshuffle to adopt a fresh approach.
She is the new minister and she can now look at the file anew, use her discretion and bring them back to Queensland, to the community that wants them, and that would be the right thing to do.
Andrews received a high-level briefing on the Tamil family when she became minister last month, and told ABC radio she was unwilling to make a decision while their case for protection is before the courts.
What I’ve done is exactly what I promised that I would do, which is look at the facts of the case ...
But this matter is before the courts at the moment, and there is nothing that I am prepared to say that will prejudice the government’s interests or the interests of that family.
Any speculation about what will happen potentially prejudices either or both, and I’m not going to do that.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the family had spent more than 1,000 days in detention, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
This family have been to hell and back and it’s time this country gave them a bit of compassion and a fair go.
Updated
What you needed to see today 🥰 #BlackfullaTwitter pic.twitter.com/hW8xUXWsw3
— Banok Rind (@banoky) April 22, 2021
As Australia came under international pressure to lift its climate commitments ahead of a virtual summit hosted by US president Joe Biden, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and his emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, have made a series of claims to defend the government’s position.
Do they stack up? Adam Morton looks at the evidence.
A must-read fact check below:
Updated
OK, this isn’t from Australia, but I think we all deserve a little joy this morning. Think of it as a treat for making it through the week.
A dog ran onto the track during a high school relay race in Utah – and covered 100m in 10.5 seconds pic.twitter.com/pqe3qqACBC
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) April 22, 2021
Updated
Important police news coming from Victoria’s police commissioner Shane Patton this morning.
CCP Patton tells @3AWNeilMitchell there was a "very loud" cracking noise as he knelt to lay a wreath at y'day's memorial service at the Academy: "And what it was.. was my pants splitting."
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) April 22, 2021
Inadvertently giving grieving families what may have been their only laugh of a tough day
Updated
Thousands of people subjected to a strip search in New South Wales have been left with a police record, despite officers not finding anything illegal. The state’s law enforcement watchdog has warned the practice could lead to further targeting without any cause.
Data obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre has revealed that between 2018 and 2020, more than 5,500 people had their details recorded in the central intelligence database used by police following a strip search in cases where nothing illegal was found.
The data shows that 61% of strip searches recorded in the Computerised Operational Policing System, known as Cops, during the period did not discover anything illegal. The Cops system holds more than 40m records accessible by the state’s police, and acts as the force’s central intelligence database.
Sam Lee, a solicitor at the RLC currently involved in a mooted class action lawsuit against police over the use of strip searches, said data obtained by the legal centre showed that thousands of people were being “left with a permanent police record for no reason”.
You can read the full report below:
Queensland has no new local Covid cases either
Friday 23 April – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 22, 2021
• 0 new locally acquired
• 4 overseas acquired
• 18 active cases
• 1,524 total cases
• 2,422,128 tests conducted
Sadly, seven people with COVID-19 have died. 1,453 patients have recovered.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/FuKhLRfmEz
A Covid-19 free day in Queensland. Don’t you love to see it!
Updated
Dutton says Australia will never surrender its sovereignty to appease China
You might remember yesterday I mentioned the federal government had torn up Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative agreements with Beijing and China responding by threatening to launch fresh action against Australia.
Well, now Peter Dutton has declared Australia will never surrender its sovereignty or compromise its values to appease China, reports AAP.
The Chinese government said it would “reserve the right to take further action” after lodging a formal protest with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the Morrison government of “political manipulation and bullying” and warned cancelling the agreements would make already strained China-Australia relations worse.
Dutton told Nine on Friday Australia had been clear with China throughout the long-running diplomatic stoush.
“We’re not going to have our values compromised; we aren’t going to surrender our sovereignty,” the defence minister said.
He said Victorian premier Daniel Andrews had done the wrong thing in signing the agreements with China.
He shouldn’t be entering into agreements that aren’t in our national interest ...
We are standing up for who we are. We’ve got very important diplomatic relations with many countries, including China, but we aren’t going to be compromised by the principles of the Communist party of China.
Dutton also took aim at China for building up military bases in the region and launching cyber attacks.
All of that is not the actions of a friend ...
We need to make sure that, yes, we’ve got an important trading relationship, but China and others need to understand that Australia is not going to be bullied.
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Victoria has no new local Covid cases
No Covid-19 in Victoria today by the way!
Yesterday there were no new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in hotel quarantine).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 22, 2021
- 5,383 vaccine doses were administered
- 13,233 test results were received
Got symptoms? Get tested.
More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/kLVjKWbPC8
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The behaviour of a judge and barrister who failed to declare their relationship before appearing in the same trial and continued private contact while the case was being heard strikes at the foundation of the justice system, a submission made to the high court says.
The court is hearing an appeal by a Perth real estate agent against a decision by the full family court not to grant him a retrial after details about the relationship between key players were discovered.
The agent, known by the courts as Mr Charisteas, has been involved in family law proceedings against his former wife for almost 15 years. About $4m has been spent on legal fees.
Charisteas filed his submissions in the high court case last week.
In the submissions, he says that despite a recusal application having previously been made against family court of Western Australia judge John Walters, he had failed to declare a relationship with barrister Gillian Anderson, who represented Mrs Charisteas.
You can read the full report below:
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We have all be plagued by the Zoom mute button this year, but apparently even world leaders are not immune.
Here is the start of Scott Morrison’s address to Biden’s climate summit:
Mr prime minister, I’m not sure we’re hearing you.
Good morning Australia, here's how Scott Morrison's time slot at the Biden #LeadersClimateSummit went (trust me, this was the good half) pic.twitter.com/t3GthHcOXw
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) April 22, 2021
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A man is in a serious condition after suffering severe burns and other injuries in a suspicious house fire in south-east Queensland, AAP reports.
Paramedics and police were called to the fire at home at Raceview, near Ipswich, at 4.54am on Friday.
They found a man suffering burns to his arms and legs and abdominal and facial injuries.
He was rushed to Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital with a high acuity response unit ambulance officer, who specialises in treating severe life-threatening injuries.
The man remains in a critical condition.
Queensland police said the fire was suspicious.
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Three new Victorian mass vaccination hubs will be established in Ballarat, Heidelberg and Sunshine.
ICYMI last night - the state government announced three more mass vaccination centres in Ballarat, Heidelberg and Sunshine. Statement: pic.twitter.com/67h4fhN1e6
— Benita Kolovos 🐯 (@benitakolovos) April 22, 2021
Greg Hunt says about 9% of adult Australians are vaccinated
Hunt was asked what percentage of the eligible population has been vaccinated.
Well, if you think of it as a 20m population for the adult population, you’re looking at about 9% of the adult population in terms of vaccinations. And that’s increasing every day.
So increasing on weekdays by on average a little over 60,000, as we move to these fast-tracking arrangements. That has the capacity to expand and then as we move to the second doses, that will expand again.
And then in the later part of the year, when we have the mass vaccination program for Pfizer, for the under-50s, for the general population, that will expand.
So we have 170m vaccines all up for Australians. We’ll continue to do that as quickly as we can, but always within the safe medical advice. That’s what has kept us safe. It’s a challenge the likes of which we haven’t seen in any of our lifetimes.
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Health minister Greg Hunt spoke to ABC News Breakfast this morning and was questioned by host Michael Rowland over the government’s “confusing” approach to the vaccines rollout:
Well, the pandemic throws up challenges. So, you know, every day we have to adapt in a world with 880,000 cases yesterday and zero in Australia*. We’re always following and adapting to the medical advice.
The latest advice indicates just as we have with flu, age limits for some vaccines to be used for younger people and some for older – you and I are in the group of over 50, I think you’re only just over 50 and perhaps we may be able to get you to be vaccinated on air, we could arrange that. All of this is about building confidence for the public.
From 3 May in state clinics or commonwealth respiratory clinics or GP respiratory clinics, over-50s will have access to the vaccination program and from 17 May in GP clinics right around the country. They’ll have general practice access for the over-50s. So fast-tracking for them, and then for the under-50s in the 1A and 1B groups, we’re fast-tracking that process through access to the state and territory Pfizer clinics. A really good step forward.
1.8m vaccinations done so far. We’ll get the country vaccinated. In a world with nearly 900,000 cases and zero in Australia, we’re still an island sanctuary in a difficult challenging pandemic**.
* A politician reminding us how lucky we have it compared to the rest of the world to justify the low vaccine rollout. Sip!
** Double sip!
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Nationals MP George Christensen to retire from politics
The Nationals MP George Christensen has announced he will not contest the next election in a shock decision he attributed to the “broken” state of Australian politics and a desire to spend time with family.
Christensen revealed the news in a statement to the Courier-Mail, since confirmed by Guardian Australia, and said the time was right for him to give up representing the Mackay-based seat of Dawson.
Christensen will remain a member of the Coalition until the next poll but even from the backbench he could prove a handful for the Morrison government due to his outspoken views on topics including abortion.
In his statement, Christensen said he had only ever intended to “serve three terms” when he first ran for office in 2010, although he is already in his fourth term.
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Remember the confusing “milkshake consent” government video that’s been all over the news this week?
Well, Naaman Zhou and I obtained early draft scripts of the series and we break down exactly what was amended and cut.
Scripts of earlier versions of the controversial video series commissioned by the federal government included a bizarre reference to the 1950s as a “modern progressive society” and used the example of “borrowing leggings” rather than “touching your butt” to teach students sexual consent.
In other videos, it appears explicit references to sex were removed in the drafting process. A video, eventually published under the title “Kiss”, was also originally called “Sex”, although the script itself still refrained from using the word “sex”. This was one of the key videos in the “consenting to sex” modules.
During this three-year period, some key stakeholders were unaware of the plans for the videos and believed the series had been placed on hold indefinitely. It is understood some of those involved were only recently made aware that the project would be going ahead.
You can read our full report below:
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Morrison makes no new emissions pledge at Biden climate summit
Now I know what you are all thinking: didn’t Scott Morrison speak at US president Joe Biden’s climate summit last night? How did that go?
Well, luckily Katharine Murphy and Adam Morton have given us a full breakdown.
Scott Morrison has told world leaders that future generations will ‘thank us not for what we have promised, but what we deliver’ in his contribution at the virtual climate action summit..
With major countries, including the host, lining up to significantly upgrade their emissions reduction targets, and with world leaders highlighting the urgency of ambitious action in the coming decade, Morrison made no new commitment, instead sticking to the 2030 target of a 26%-28% cut compared with 2005 levels.
Morrison said the government would ‘update our long-term emissions reduction strategy’ ahead of the UN’s Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November. He delivered his statement early on Friday morning while Biden, who had opened the summit, was not in the room.
While other nations used their speaking slots to welcome the US back to global climate action after the setbacks and rancour of the Trump era, and to focus predominantly on the importance of cooperative, urgent action, Morrison’s contribution struck a different tone.
You can read their full report below:
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Good morning, it’s Matilda Boseley here.
This morning we are waiting with bated breath for the Covid-19 test results to come in for a group of Sydney dock workers after they boarded a ship that was later found to be carrying infected sailors.
The Inge Kosan, an LPG tanker, was docked in Port Botany for a day on 31 March, having sailed from Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby. Some 15 wharfies boarded during this time.
It then departed, destined for Vanuatu, but NSW Health said it had received worrying news from the Pacific island nation’s government.
The body of a Filipino sailor from the ship was found washed up on the beach and local health authorities learnt he was Covid-19 positive.
NSW Health released the following statement:
Health authorities in Vanuatu have confirmed that 12 out of 13 crew members from the ship, including [a] deceased crew member, tested positive for Covid following testing in Port Vila.
Six of the 15 Australian wharfies that boarded the infected ship tested negative on Thursday night. The results for the remaining nine are expected today.
NSW Health said none of the crew of the Inge Kosan left the ship when it was in Sydney and the wharfies who boarded it were wearing protective gear.
Procedures were in place to support Covidsafe practices in ports, including on vessels.
Further investigations are ongoing as to whether an additional three workers also boarded the ship.
And with that, let’s get cracking with the day’s news. 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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