That's it for today
Thanks for reading. The main news on 29 April, 2021:
- The Therapeutic Goods Administration head cautions against linking fatal blood clots to Covid-19 vaccination, saying there was “no likely association” between the deaths of two men reported on Thursday and the vaccine;
- Victoria unveils plans for a purpose-built Covid-19 quarantine facility - but it is on federal government land and will require federal government funding;
- Josh Frydenberg signalled that the looming federal budget would contain measures to boost the workforce of female-dominated professions; and
- A contentious plan to build an enormous Dan Murphy’s in the Northern Territory is abandoned.
And here is a full story about the pre-budget speech given earlier today by treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
Here is a story on the news from earlier today that the royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability will examine Australia’s deeply flawed vaccine rollout in disability care settings.
Story by Luke Henriques-Gomes.
A little more Tasmanian election content, this time from AAP:
The island state’s political donation laws are considered the weakest of any state or territory in the country.
The Liberal government, which is aiming for a historic third term at Saturday’s poll, had pledged to introduce donation reform but that was put on hold when the early election was called.
The Liberals and Labor opposition pledged to voluntarily disclose any donations under $5000 made during the campaign.
Just one donation, $50,000 from Richard Smith, has been made public by the Liberals, while Labor’s sole disclosed donation is $10,000 from Sea Road Holdings.
Tasmania’s disclosure threshold is $14,300, in line with federal requirements. Queensland, meanwhile, has a disclosure threshold of $1000.
Premier Peter Gutwein has defended setting the voluntary limit at $5000.
“We’ve made a very clear commitment that we’d release donations up to $5000 and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” he said on Thursday.
“This is the most transparent election that’s ever been run in Tasmania in terms of donation disclosure.”
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, whose party has disclosed more than $66,000 worth of donations from 14 individuals, lashed the major parties for not being transparent.
“We can see straight through them,” she told reporters.
“They’re trying to hide the vast sources of the bulk of the money that’s come into the Liberal party coffers.”
Labor opposition leader Rebecca White conceded Tasmania has the weakest donation laws in the country but indicated the party was content to match the Liberal Party stance during the campaign.
“There needs to be a level playing field and we’ve complied with the law but we acknowledge that it’s not as robust as it needs to be,” she said.
Mr Gutwein said a re-elected Liberal government would act within the first 100 days to introduce legislation around lower thresholds and shorter disclosure timeframes.
Labor wants laws to ensure all donations over $1000 are made public within 30 days.
Recent voters surveys indicate a close election is likely despite the Liberals riding a wave of popularity into the campaign on the back of their coronavirus management.
Here is a complete story about the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security hearing from earlier today.
Story from Paul Karp.
Thousands of corellas have been filmed flocking to the suburban streets of Nowra on the NSW south coast and it is terrifying.
China’s top envoy to Australia has blasted as “ridiculous” the claim that Beijing’s economic coercion has been the cause of tensions between the two countries.
China’s ambassador, Cheng Jingye, also cautioned Australia against “teaming up in [a] small group against China” - in an apparent reference to initiatives like the Quad with the US, Japan and India. Cheng said Australia should not play the “victim game”.
Speaking during a webinar arranged by the Australia China Business Council, Cheng repeated many of Beijing’s objections against Canberra’s actions over the past few years, including the “discriminatory” blocking of certain Chinese investment proposals, exclusion of Huawei from the 5G network, and the Covid-19 global inquiry call.
But Cheng also added to the list last week’s “unreasonable and irrational tearing up” of the Belt and Road agreements between the Chinese government and Victorian state government. He branded an example of “negative moves by the Australian side” that had “poisoned the atmosphere”.
According to a transcript issued by the Chinese embassy, he said:
“It seems that being tough on and even attacking China has become a politically correct thing to do. What is more astonishing is that some Australians claim that such provocations and confrontation are ways to safeguard Australia’s values, national interests and security.”
Cheng said some people in Australian claimed “that the problems in bilateral trade ties resulted from China’s economic coercion against Australia” but he added: “What a ridiculous and irrelevant argument.”
Cheng said Australia had “launched 106 anti-dumping, anti-subsidy probes on Chinese imports, but for the Chinese part, there are only four such investigations into Australian products”.
“Therefore, if there is any coercion, it must have be done by the Australian side.”
Cheng said China never asked Australia to “compromise its sovereignty or national interests but cannot accept Australia damaging China’s sovereignty and national interests” - a reference to the Australian government’s public criticism of the crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
After blowback against the so-called list of 14 grievances issued by the Chinese embassy last year, Cheng said China did not want to interfere in Australia’s domestic legislature but opposed any Australian legislation that was “deliberately targeting” China. He also said China did not intend to interfere with the freedom of the press in Australia, before urging the media to cease “maliciously smearing or attacking China”.
Updated
Birmingham was also asked about a Victorian proposal to establish a specialised quarantine facility on federal government land - and using millions in federal government money - at Mickleham, north of Melbourne.
The Victorian government sent the proposal to its federal counterparts shortly before releasing it publicly this morning.
He said he welcomed “what I gather is a relatively detailed proposal” and had a little dig at “some states and territories [that] have not come to a level of detail Victoria has”.
But he reiterated what prime minister Scott Morrison said yesterday about the success of the current hotel quarantine model.
The Victorian government themselves relied on hotel quarantine when they decided to have tennis players and officials come to the Australian Open. I trust they will continue to stand by that model while indeed, if they see this as being necessary in terms of serving a longer term function and purpose, we are open to have that constructive conversation and partner with them.
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, is speaking to the ABC.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg gave a pre-budget speech earlier today.
Birmingham says it is entirely acceptable that the country has the largest deficit in peacetime history. He uses the word unprecedented in relation to the pandemic, which is far from unprecedented.
What we have faced is something unprecedented for the last 100 years, and we have responded in ways that has seen the largest deficit in our peacetime history. But that is entirely acceptable when you look at the fact that we have been dealing with the first global health pandemic in 100 years.
Updated
Just one final line from Skerritt, whose press conference from Canberra is no longer being broadcast on the ABC but may have ended in any event.
He really made it quite clear that he was concerned that reporting linking deaths from blood clots with Covid-19 vaccination could impact on vaccine hesitancy.
It means the benefits significantly outweigh the risks and that’s what we have to remember, and we have a shared responsibility to communicate that. Vaccination in this country is not compulsory, individuals will reach their own decisions, but we have to make sure they are informed by the best and most balanced information.
Updated
Skerritt makes clear that in some cases we may not know for weeks if a vaccine has caused fatal clotting, but that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
Throughout the world we are seeing a small number of cases each week associated with the vaccines...the benefits dramatically exceed the risks, so knowing there is a small background risk of clots is something [we] do not hide. But all medicines, all treatments, all procedures, driving a car, flying a plane, have some risks and in the case of these vaccines the benefits outweigh the risks.
We’re looking at these two cases that have been in the media and others reported in great detail. I know the question is often asked when will you tell us what the answer is and, sometimes, the testing is quite clear, whether it is a definite association or whether it is definitely not associated. We can reach a conclusion within hours and report that. Other times we realise that we have to wait for particular tests to be done. Some of these tests are only done in one hospital in all of Australia and there is a lineup for those tests. Or if someone sadly dies, it may be too late to get some of the normal tests you would do on a living human being in a hospital.
Our commitment is that as soon as we have the data, we get the advice of expert doctors and make a decision and announce that decision.
Updated
Skerritt, who confirmed the two people who died had received the AstraZeneca vaccine, added:
We do have to remember that sadly, every week in Australia 3000 people die of all sorts of causes. In the weeks before they die, particularly if they are older people or if they are hospitalised, they may have had a number of medical interventions of different types, which may not include COVID vaccinations, and of course in our community, often the most tragic cases are those of sudden death, where people have done all the activities that they would normally be doing, which may not have included a vaccination but could have included a lot of things.
We also have to remember that in reporting cases of people presenting in hospitals with clots or to their GP, 50 Australians each day report to hospitals or the doctors with serious blood clots from a range of activities, coming from no reason at all, and almost all of them have no relationship to vaccines, 50 cases each day, and while attribution is hard because sometimes a blood clot can kill you within minutes, other times it may kill you weeks later if it is a very serious and potentially fatal one.
Updated
Skerritt said:
I would strongly caution the public and the media in reaching any conclusion on the two fatality cases mentioned in the media.
We have 11,000 adverse events in front of us, ranging from a sore arm through to people having a heart attack a week after having a vaccine, through to a number of other things. For the more serious events, we certainly look at every case in detail, we discuss that with our global counterparts, and we also look to see most importantly whether there is any evidence of cause-and-effect.
Of course the current evidence on those two cases, although those cases are still under investigation, and for privacy reasons I don’t want to go into details of individual patient tests and results and other conditions they may or may not have had, the current evidence does not suggest a likely association.
"No likely association" between Covid-19 vaccine and two recent deaths: TGA
Professor John Skerritt, the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, is speaking in Canberra to give an update on the vaccine program. He is cautioning against linking vaccinations to deaths caused by blood clots, saying about the two most recent cases that “the current evidence does not suggest a likely association”.
Updated
A man has been charged after allegedly ploughing a NSW golf course with his tractor, AAP reports.
The 34-year-old man is accused of tearing up most of Dunedoo Golf Club’s nine holes on Tuesday night, leaving the fairways destroyed and the greens a muddy mess.
He then allegedly drove the tractor from the scene but the hydraulic disc plough was left behind on one of the greens.
The man was arrested on Wednesday morning and charged with a string of offences including destroying or damaging property and using an offensive weapon to commit an indictable offence.
While at the home, police also seized two unregistered firearms.
The man was granted bail at Mudgee Local Court on Wednesday and will face court again on 5 May.
The club’s general manager Ricky Bush said the course had been “ripped to fucking pieces”, devastating the small community of Dunedoo, about 90km northeast of Dubbo.
“People were just staring at the mess and starting to cry. They couldn’t believe it,” he told Golf NSW.
“We were the only sport in town which had kept going through the pandemic.”
Updated
Ben Roberts-Smith threatened to sue his estranged wife and tear up their family court settlement if she gave evidence against him in an upcoming defamation trial over war crimes allegations against him, the federal court has heard.
Story by Ben Doherty:
Commonwealth prosecutors have refused to drop their pursuit of tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle, prompting a withering response from human rights lawyers, who say the case is “profoundly wrong and unjust”.
For the past month, the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions has deliberated on whether to drop the case against Boyle, a former Australian Taxation Office official who blew the whistle on the agency’s use of aggressive tactics to recover debts from small business owners.
Story by Christopher Knaus:
Updated
The Covid committee has wrapped up its hearing – the tourism industry was the focus of today’s information gathering.
It was some very well-trodden ground – understandably. Not a lot has changed for the tourism industry in general – it is still in trouble, it is still struggling, and while some measures have helped, small operators are struggling with visitor numbers well down on what they are used to.
Simon Westaway, the executive director of the Australian Tourism Industry Council, says with the vaccine rollout delayed, it’s affecting travel plans further – a faster vaccine roll out will mean people feel more confident to travel, he says.
It would also presumably mean the government would feel more confident in opening the international border. But that is still some time away.
Corporate travel is still down – companies don’t want to risk sending someone interstate in case there is a lockdown.
Essentially, tourism and hospitality bosses still want the state and federal governments to come up with some sort of financial plan for businesses, which suffer each time there is a sudden lockdown.
There was also an update on those discounted flights – of the 800,000 which were available, about 20% are left.
Qantas and Jetstar will receive about $145m from the program, while Virgin will receive just over $40m. The smaller, regional airlines still receive a share – Airnorth is up for just under $13m and Rex Airlines will receive just under $6.5m
Updated
The Tasmanian election will be held on Saturday.
Here are a few bits and pieces we’ve published in the past month or so.
On issues with housing and the health system:
Another feature on housing:
On the state’s enormous pokies spend:
And the article we published after the last election in 2018:
Updated
Covid-ravaged tourism sector seeks Government help
Australia’s tourism and hospitality sector is urging the nation’s leaders to develop a plan out of the coronavirus pandemic to help the ailing industry, AAP report.
The Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry has held public hearings throughout the health crisis to keep tabs on the government’s response.
Officials from major tourism and hospital groups appeared at the inquiry in Canberra today.
Tourism Accommodation Australia chief Michael Johnson said help was needed for businesses affected by sporadic three-day lockdowns. He said such lockdowns resulted in a $100m hit for the respective cities each time, with the most recent one in Perth.
There is no financial safety net for businesses when they have to close for days at short notice.
“This has a devastating financial, emotional and mental cost to businesses and workers,” Johnson told the inquiry.
He also urged the government to change migration provisions, including allowing international students to work more hours each fortnight on their visas.
The sector is asking governments across the country to create a long-term plan for how and when restrictions still impacting the sector will be eased.
“We feel like we are in a bit of a Mexican stand-off between the states and the Commonwealth,” Australian Hotels Association boss Stephen Ferguson said. “One side blaming the other.”
Australian Hotels Association general manager for the ACT Anthony Brierley said overhead costs were beginning to rise as loan deferrals ended.
“The expectation that we just survive indefinitely on 50% capacity is really scary, it’s a hibernation from which we’re not being allowed to fully wake.”
Corporate travel has not returned with companies reluctant to book trips in case of lockdowns.
The inquiry also heard from senior infrastructure department officials about the government’s program to increase consumer confidence in domestic travel.
Some 800,000 discounted tickets for flights on select domestic routes have been offered, with only about 20% still available.
Officials revealed Qantas, including Jetstar, will receive $144.8m through the program. Virgin will get $40.3m, Airnorth $12.8m and Rex $6.4m.
It comes as prime minister Scott Morrison travelled to Darwin to speak with the tourism industry. He is open to facilities to bring overseas workers in for tourism.
“Having something a bit more bespoke for the territory I think is very much warranted based on what I’ve heard here,” he told Mix 104.9 radio.
“We’ve got to keep Australia Covid-safe and keep Covid out of the country, but this can be done.
“But it’s going to require a partnership I think between the commercial sector, the private sector, ourselves and ultimately the Northern Territory government has to be comfortable and sign off on all the health issues.”
Updated
Victoria has now administered more doses of Covid-19 vaccine than New South Wales, according to the daily update provided by the federal health department.
A state of origin battle. Dan v Gladys. Winner gets a free trip to Canberra.
2.1m doses pic.twitter.com/MGgd3DMBMS
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) April 29, 2021
The home affairs department has had its say on the AFP’s call to ban terrorist insignia and materials.
Chris Teal, the deputy secretary of social cohesion and citizenship, told the parliamentary intelligence and security committee the department agreed in principle with the AFP that they should be banned.
Teal added that the “purpose of the display of flags and insignia” should be defined because there was “a difference between owning it and displaying it for a purpose of vilification”.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally confirmed through her line of questioning that she viewed proscribing individual terrorists as an “attractive proposition”, and asked officials whether short of proscribing a terrorist organisation there should be a “second tier” that sends a message a group may not be at violent but its values are inimical to Australian culture.
Richard Johnson, the first assistant secretary of social cohesion, said there were ways to achieve that symbolism without legislation, including actively promoting an inclusive national identity.
Keneally asked if our current intervention programs educate people about what “shitposting” is. The answer, it seems, is yes.
Johnson:
We have digi engagement to take people through what they’re seeing on the internet, what the tropes are, the ironic modes the groups use. This includes how to see, recognise, engage, challenge that if appropriate.
Updated
More than 20 of Rupert Murdoch’s regional newspapers – including the 160-year-old Northern Star in Lismore – have quietly been merged with News Corp Australia’s city mastheads.
The media giant would not reveal how many regional websites had been absorbed by the Daily Telegraph and the Courier-Mail but Guardian Australia has counted at least 20 by monitoring their subscription pages as they’ve moved over.
Story by Amanda Meade:
Essential poll finds women abandoning Coalition
Women are abandoning the Morrison government after federal parliament’s #MeToo moment, with the latest Guardian Essential poll showing fewer than one in three would give the primary vote to the Coalition.
In mid-January the female primary vote peaked at 37% for the Coalition compared with 33% for Labor but after months of damaging revelations about the government’s attitude towards women triggered by the mishandling of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, this has collapsed to 31%. Labor’s primary vote among women is now 37%.
Full story by Sarah Martin here:
Updated
Here’s a weird story about a ship riddled with Covid-19 moored off the Australian coast. A crew member from the same ship washed up dead on a Vanuatu beach two weeks ago, AAP reports.
Here’s more on that story:
Three new coronavirus cases have been reported on the gas tanker Inge Kosan off the coast of Queensland.
The new cases on Thursday take the total number of Covid cases among people on the British-flagged gas tanker to 11.
The Inge Kosan is anchored off Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast with state authorities containing and treating its active cases aboard the ship.
The Queensland government forewarned on Wednesday that more cases could emerge on ship.Consideration is being given as to whether infected patients can be quarantined on the vessel to reduce risk to the rest of the crew.
The Maritime Union of Australia is continuing to call for an independent investigation into the death of the Inge Kosan crew member whose body washed up on a beach in Vanuatu two weeks ago.
“There are serious questions that must be answered about how the deceased seafarer died, and how his body came to be washed up on a beach in Vanuatu,” MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said on Wednesday.
“Now that the vessel is anchored in Australian waters, local authorities have the opportunity and obligation to launch a thorough, independent investigation.”
There were similar calls in Vanuatu for a thorough investigation into why the body of the middle-aged Filipino crewman was in the sea and how he died.
“There is no question that the circumstances are highly suspicious,” Vanuatu-based Canadian journalist Dan McGarry told AAP.
Updated
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians has backed the decision to dump plans for a liquor megastore in the Northern Territory.
John Wilson, its president, said:
This news comes as a relief to specialist physicians who have been seriously concerned about the impacts of building a liquor megastore and the harms that it would bring to the community.
When we increase the access to alcohol in the community, we see a direct increase in alcohol related harms.
After all the progress that’s been made in reducing alcohol related harm in the Northern Territory, building a liquor megastore would have been a disappointing and an unnecessary step backward.
Updated
The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security is about to hear from the home affairs department.
Earlier, the Australian federal police deputy commissioner Ian McCartney made the case that there are gaps in the criminal law relating to dissemination of terrorist material, arguing the laws are “out of step with community expectations” and leave police unable to counter online radicalisation.
Outside legitimate research and public interest journalism, McCartney said under “no circumstances” should people be sharing terrorist instruction manuals, propaganda, magazine and “graphically violent material”. He said police action was limited by the state of the laws, and also called for greater powers to ban display of racist flags and other insignia that harass and vilify members of the community.
McCartney backed Asio’s assessment of the threat environment (that religiously motivated extremism is still the biggest threat, though ideologically motivated extremism is growing).
McCartney revealed that in 2020 four of 26 of individuals charged with terrorism offences were on basis of ideologically motivated extremism. The number who are ideologically (rather than religiously) motivated is expected to grow although McCartney said this would be “difficult to quantify”.
Updated
A fascinating detail in the Victorian quarantine accommodation project summary released today (which I first saw in this tweet but have since clarified) is that the government expects the demand for this facility to last for two or three years.
The full passage reads:
The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) undertook an initial exploratory review of public health requirements, recommendations from the Coate inquiry, and potential infrastructure options to support alternative quarantine accommodation over the next two to three years, noting this is the expected timeframe for sufficient global vaccination coverage.
The project summary can be found here: https://www.vic.gov.au/alternative-quarantine-accommodation-project-summary
Updated
Here’s a more detailed story from AAP about the state of play in Western Australia, which again recorded no new Covid-19 cases today.
In short, a decision about the crowd size for Sunday’s AFL derby between West Coast and Fremantle, and what restrictions in general will lift on Saturday night, is expected to be made during a state disaster council meeting today:
Western Australia has again recorded no new local coronavirus cases ahead of a decision on plans to ease post-lockdown restrictions.
Four new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine on Thursday among travellers who returned via India.
Interim restrictions remain in place in Perth and the Peel region until 12.01am on Saturday, including mandatory face masks and limits on gatherings.
It’s not yet known which restrictions will continue beyond that point.
Premier Mark McGowan says the state disaster council will meet later today.
“If we have an outcome this evening, which I expect we will, we’ll be able to provide advice to the people this evening,” he said.
Decisions will include what size crowd will be allowed to attend Sunday’s AFL derby between West Coast and Fremantle at the 60,000-capacity Optus stadium. Last weekend’s Fremantle-North Melbourne clash at the stadium was played without a crowd.
Some hospitality venues have opted to remain closed until restrictions are eased, with initial treasury estimates suggesting a $70m hit to the economy. Pubs and restaurants are limited to a maximum of 20 patrons.
WA’s Labor-dominated 41st parliament officially opens on Thursday with MPs wearing masks and the public prevented from attending.
McGowan has announced three “high-risk” quarantine hotels – the Mercure, Sheraton Four Points and Novotel Langley – will stop taking returned travellers from as early as mid-May.
“Whilst they are very secure, obviously they’re not perfect and the ventilation systems there we can’t make perfect. So we’re going to move out of those,” he said.
A halving of WA’s cap on international arrivals to 512 a week is in place for the next month.
The decision to close three quarantine hotels will result in an indefinite reduction in WA’s intake from the previous cap of a 1,025 a week.
Opposition leader Mia Davies said the lockdown could have been avoided had the government acted on warnings about ventilation issues within its quarantine hotels: “The government has put families, communities and businesses at risk without warning and without compensation.”
Updated
With that, I shall depart, with Nino Bucci stepping in to glide into the afternoon with you.
A Melbourne woman who was sexually assaulted by a stranger while on a morning walk has spoken out, saying she fears he will attack again, Gus McCubbing reports for AAP.
The 30-year-old woman, known as Sarah, said she was walking on Sydney Road in Brunswick to meet a friend for their Sunday exercise routine about 6.20am on 7 February, when she noticed the man.
He was wearing a mask and a hoodie but didn’t say anything before or after sexually assaulting her, she said. The woman yelled at him before he fled down a side street, but she is worried he may strike again.
Sarah told reporters today:
It feels calculated and deliberate ... To me it’s either already happened to someone else, or it will at some point. And I’m not OK with that.
Sarah and her friend have since abandoned their Sunday morning walks.
Det snr constable Diane Jeffries said the Caucasian man, described as being in his late-20s or early-30s, followed Sarah for about one kilometre before sexually assaulting her in public.
She said police believed it was a targeted attack and the man had attempted to conceal himself by wearing a mask outside when it no was longer compulsory for public health reasons.
This type of behaviour is extremely concerning ... It’s a brazen attack in a busy street in Melbourne ... and it will not be tolerated.
We’re hoping to bring this person before the courts as soon as we can.
Updated
Corporate lawyer John Longo will replace John Shipton as the chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Longo, a senior adviser at big law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, was national director of enforcement at Asic between 1996 and 2000, a period during which Asic was not famous for its rigour.
Freehills, meanwhile, is well known for defending companies from Asic action.
Shipton is leaving after a kerfuffle over Asic’s payment of his tax return expenses, which the auditor general found was outside guidelines. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.
Sarah Court, who is at the competition watchdog, will join Asic as a deputy chair, although this is not framed by the regulator as a replacement for former deputy chair Daniel Crennan, QC, who was responsible for oversight of litigation.
He also left after the AG raised questions about payment of his rent by Asic. He has always denied doing anything wrong and no findings were made against him.
In a short statement, Shipton welcomed both Longo and Court.
He said that Longo’s “wealth of domestic and international experience will serve ASIC well in the vital work it does in supporting the financial system and economy, especially as Australia recovers from the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic”.
We are also pleased to welcome Sarah Court, who joins as Deputy Chair from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Again, we know Sarah very well and appreciate the skill and experience she brings from our regulatory counterpart.
We will work with Joe and Sarah over the coming weeks to manage a smooth transition to his leadership of the organisation.
Updated
Two NSW deaths after AstraZeneca shots
Guardian Australia now has a full story up discussing these two NSW deaths that have been all over the news this morning.
Australia’s drug regulator and the New South Wales health department will not confirm whether the deaths that occurred after vaccination with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine are being investigated, saying only that they are “aware” of the cases.
On Thursday the Northern Daily Leader reported that a man in the northern NSW city of Tamworth had died in hospital on 21 April from blood clots in his lungs, which developed after he received the vaccine. And the ABC reported that a man in his 70s had died in Sydney after receiving the vaccine, but did not name the cause of death.
It is unclear whether health authorities suspect that a rare and severe clotting condition linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, is being investigated as a possible cause of the deaths. Though the Tamworth man developed clotting in his lungs, it is not yet clear whether the clotting was TTS or a more common form unrelated to the vaccine.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration said it “does not comment publicly on details of individual adverse event following immunisation reports that have been submitted, in order to protect patient confidentiality”.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
Here are the 10 sites the government considered for the alternative quarantine hub.
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) April 29, 2021
They include sites at suburbs like Keilor North, Epping, Little River (Cherry Creek), Attwood, Lara, and @Melair
Mickleham got the tick, @AvalonAirportAU is backup@10NewsFirstMelb #springst pic.twitter.com/rkSFA2L7hi
A little extra context on our Asio posts from before.
lots of interest on Burgess saying a terror attack is "likely" in next 12 mths
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) April 29, 2021
Burgess later clarified the threat level has been set as "probable" for a while, as there's "credible intelligence" groups have capability - i.e. it's not necessarily new
"that's what probable means"
Updated
Ummmm, did Australian icon and comedy gem Hannah Gadsby just get married!
I’d like to introduce all y’all to Jenney. She’s a producer extraordinaire. She’s funny and very talented at reciting facts. We just got MARRIED and we are very chuffed. This is me gushing. I’m full of very positive feelings. Thanks to all y’all who voted for marriage equality. pic.twitter.com/8lpaPyPADO
— Hannah Gadsby (@Hannahgadsby) April 29, 2021
Interesting stats out from the ABS - more than a quarter of sexual assaults recorded by police were reported a year or more after the incident occurred. @10NewsFirst #auspol #EnoughIsEnough pic.twitter.com/3dm7tKVhYv
— Tegan George (@tegangeorge) April 29, 2021
Leppington land purchase 'gross incompetence or corruption'
The federal government’s controversial purchase of the Leppington Triangle site for 10 times its market value was “either gross incompetence or corruption”, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
In September the auditor general released a damning report revealing ethical failings in the infrastructure department’s purchase of the $30m Leppington Triangle, land the government needs for a planned second runway at the western Sydney airport after 2050.
The audit found taxpayers spent $26.7m too much for the land, which was owned by the Perich family, whose company donated $58,800 to the Liberal party in 2018-19.
On Thursday, Geoffrey Watson SC, the director of the Centre of Public Integrity, told the inquiry the “inevitable” conclusion was that it was “either gross incompetence or corruption”.
“The money used to make the purchase was public money and the funds withdrawn were administered by public officials.
“Given the processes were readily available to assume [the land] at commercial value [it is] unjustifiable to purchase it at more than market value. To make the purchase at 10 times its value must show the decision was one of two things.
“It had to be ... either gross incompetence or corruption – it can’t be anything else.”
Updated
No new local Covid-19 in WA
Just in: there are no new locally transmitted cases of Covid in Western Australia overnight, helping raise confidence that the latest hotel outbreak has been contained.
Premier Mark McGowan has also indicated that further easing of social distancing restrictions will be announced later today.
There were also four cases from returned travellers in hotel quarantine, which given McGowan’s dark warnings of 79 people coming in from India this week seems like a pretty good outcome all things considered.
Updated
Chalmers is now laying out Labor’s plans to improve employment numbers:
We have announced positive alternatives. Anthony Albanese has made announcements about modernising the energy grid and making sure we can transmit cheaper and cleaner energy. We have made announcements about apprenticeships on government projects. We have made announcements about childcare investment.
We have made positive suggestions the government should pick up and run with if they are serious about growing the economy in a broader and more inclusive and more sustainable way so that we can get unemployment down, closer to full employment, and so we can get the wager comes we need and deserve.
Updated
Chalmers:
We have said for a long time that we need to do better. We have seen the Reserve Bank and others say that full employment, most likely, has a four in front of it rather than a five, and we have been saying for some time that it is more appropriate that we are more ambitious on full employment.
To that extent, we say welcome to reality to the treasurer.
Obviously, we need to get closer to full employment if we care about wages growth. One reason we have not had sufficient wages growth in this country for eight years is because we have not been near full employment – there has been underemployment and job insecurity which has made it hard to get ahead.
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Chalmers:
The credit for this economic recovery belongs to the Australian people who have done the right thing by each other to limit the spread of the virus.
The recovery in the budget is due to a range of factors, including the extraordinarily high iron ore prices exporters are receiving for commodities.
The recovery for this recession would be stronger if Scott Morrison was not completely stuffing up the vaccine rollout. The budget would be in much better neck if this Liberal government had not spread around money on waste and rorts. The budget would be in a better position if we had not spent that money on advertising and market research and billions given in jobkeeper payments to companies that did not need assistance.
After eight years of this government, the budget the week after next cannot be another missed opportunity to invest in people and their jobs and the future of their families.
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Chalmers is dishing out some pretty harsh burns to Frydenberg:
It was not that long ago that this treasurer said that his unemployment target was just under 6% and now he has been forced to say that it is something more like 4.5%. This is an admission that the treasurer has been wrong all along.
This is an admission that, up until now, the treasurer has got his budget strategy wrong. This is a treasurer who got his forecasts wrong, budget strategy wrong, and now he has been forced into this humiliating about-face in this scripted speech today.
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Labor responds to pre-budget speech
Now it’s time for the response speech from the shadow treasurer, Labor’s Jim Chalmers, who has the tough job of saying the government’s budget is terrible even though it’s probably way closer to a traditional Labor budget than a Liberal one:
What matters is not the fancy spin and the slick marketing that we here in scripted speeches from the treasurer. What really matters is the job insecurity and underemployment and stagnant wages that we have seen from this government for eight long years now.
This is the same guy who printed the ‘back in black’ mugs. These are the same people who said that debt, when it was $200bn, was a disaster but now that it is north of $1tn it is manageable and prudent and sensible.
Of course, now is not the time for austerity. That has been clear to the rest of us for some time. It is remarkable that the treasurer has not locked austerity on the head before now ...
All this speech does is push budget nasties from this side of the election to the other side of the election. There will still be deep and damaging cuts to the budget from this Coalition government, but the Australian people will not know what they are until we get through the election, and that is a risk to people who do not know where those cuts will be coming from.
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The competition watchdog has allowed the 160 regional newspapers that make up Country Press Australia to band together to negotiate with Google and Facebook for deals for payment for news content.
The interim authorisation needs to be granted because neither Google nor Facebook are designated under the news media bargaining code.
The code would allow media companies to form such alliances to boost their heft against the two companies for negotiations, but because the government has specifically given both Google and Facebook time to sign enough deals with media companies before designating them under the code, it would be against competition law for the media companies to team up.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims said both tech giants appeared to be signing a number of deals in the months since the code passed the parliament:
We welcome the fact that both Facebook and Google appear to be successfully reaching voluntary deals with Australian news businesses, including a number of smaller publishers, following the passage of the bargaining code. The onus now remains on Facebook and Google to continue to negotiate in good faith with news businesses of all sizes.
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No local Covid cases in NSW
Hmmm, a mixed bag from NSW. No local cases, which is wonderful, but 15 overseas acquired is definitely an increase from previous days this week.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 29, 2021
Fifteen new cases were acquired overseas to 8pm last night, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,275. pic.twitter.com/RtFmoSA8Q4
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So for those struggling to follow, or just joining us, here is the long and short of it:
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has made it clear there will be no “sharp turns towards austerity” just yet.
Despite the Australian economy doing better than expected the government is not ready to start lowering the deficit (its favourite activity) because it wants to lock in stability. The thing is, locking in stability costs money.
So in a week and a half it sounds like we will have a Liberal government handing down a fairly non-Liberal budget, but we are going to have to wait to see the specifics of what that will actually look like.
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Frydenberg on jobkeeper:
That is why we moved from economy wide support like jobkeeper, which we always said was an emergency temporary payment ... Others [said] the sky was going to fall in and it needed to be continued as a cost of more than $2bn a month and we held firm.*
And that firmness has been good for the budget, and good for the economy, also good for the labour market because it means a more efficient movement of workers to more productive roles across the economy.
*We don’t actually have the numbers yet for how the job market fared after the end of jobkeeper, so take this with a pinch of salt until then.
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Terrorist attack likely in next 12 months: Asio
Mike Burgess has clarified that Australia’s terrorist threat level remains at “probable” meaning that Asio believes it is likely there will be an attack in the next 12 months. This is based on the fact individuals and small terrorist groups have both the capability and intent, and there were two such attacks in the last year.
Earlier, Labor’s Kristina Keneally asked about Victoria police’s submission on violence associated with leftwing extremist groups such as Antifa.
Asked if this created a false equivalency, Burgess replied that Asio’s position stands: that nationalist and racist ideologically motivated extremism is its principal concern – and that people who are less informed may have “misread” what Victoria police had said.
Burgess said that Victoria police appeared to be talking about “protests” and that leftwing groups “might get involved in a bit of biffo” which is “not what concerns Asio”. He said this is not a conflict with Asio’s position, which is focused on terrorist offences.
Earlier he said that although Asio has adopted the language of “ideologically motivated violent extremism” as an umbrella term, it had not decided to “ban any words” (eg nationalist and racist extremism). He cited incels as an example of people who don’t neatly fit into political ideology.
Keneally also asked about whether Asio believes the federal government should have power to list (and proscribe) not only terrorist groups but also individuals (such as the Christchurch shooter) and their manifestos.
Burgess is not a fan. He says he is “not sure how that helps” because listing individuals might “draw attention to them” and cause others to be “inspired by them”.
Keneally noted that more than 90% of the communications Asio wants to intercept are encrypted, and asks if Asio has the powers it needs.
Burgess responds that the Australian federal police have particular needs – a reference to the proposal to give it access to the Australian Signals Directorate’s expertise to disrupt criminal activity. But Asio already has new powers from the encryption bill, meaning it has the right “legal mechanisms” in place already.
Burgess signalled that to get the “right capabilities” it had made the “right asks” but he couldn’t comment more because it’s a “budget consideration”. So it sounds like Asio has asked for cash so that it can use new powers to crack encryption that passed in late 2019.
Updated
Hmmm. Just a note. A week ago there was A LOT of talk about investing in women and even a “woman-led economy” following months of sexism and alleged sexual assault scandal plaguing the parliament.
But that rhetoric was nowhere to be seen in Frydenberg’s speech. Perhaps that’s all still in there, but it clearly isn’t top of mind.
Updated
The treasurer has been asked how we can attract talent from around the world to Australia to help with growth:
I’ve got a friend who employs several hundred people in Silicon Valley and he asked the other day if his staff would like to come and live and work in Australia. Half of them put up their hands. The other half would have if they went and asked their partners.
When you look on the television as to what is happening in other countries, even in some of our close friend countries, people are looking into Australia. There is a level of stability and calm and also lifestyle which is the envy of the world.
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We have now reached the Q&A stage of the speech, and things are getting a little technical but I’ll bring you the juiciest bits.
Frydenberg has been asked about the decision to focus on a business-led recovery:
A key focus to Australia’s economic recovery plan is for the private sector to take the pattern and you run with it because eight out of every 10 jobs are in the private sector and we want business to be feeling confident to go and invest, to hire, to innovate and to grow.
So this budget will be seeking to build on announcements in last year’s budget designed to do that.
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'Neo-Nazis are no Isil, the Grampians is not a caliphate': Asio
Mike Burgess, the director general of security leading the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, has given an update on the threat from extremism at the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.
Burgess said Australia’s terrorism threat level remains “probable” and that religiously motivated extremism (specifically Sunni Islamist terrorism) is the greatest threat, although there is a growth in nationalist and racist ideologically motivated extremism.
We anticipate there will be a terrorist attack in the next 12 months, and it can come from either ideology.
Burgess said Asio has boosted its resourcing to combat ideologically motivated extremism, up from one-third of its priority counter-terrorism workload up to 40%.
Burgess said ideologically motivated extremism was “motivated by a wide variety of social, political and economic grievances” and populated by “young, well-educated, articulate, middle-class” people (mainly men) who are “not easily identified”. More Australians have been ensnared in “racist, supremacist and sexist” grievances, including minors, and the threat is “more widely dispersed around Australia, including rural and regional areas”.
Ideologically motivated extremists are “security conscious”, chat in online forums and are “savvy about limits of what is legal and discuss how to beat the system in terms of what they can say or do”.
Although Burgess said this threat “won’t diminish any time soon” it was “important to put it in context”. “National Socialists [neo-Nazis] are not Isil. The Grampians is not a caliphate.”
Burgess said Asio does not investigate people solely for their political views, only if there is an indication they intend to carry out or incite offences. He said Asio is “not all-seeing and all-knowing” and home affairs engages in broader community engagement and de-radicalisation.
Updated
A quick break from the budget:
The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability has announced it will examine Australia’s deeply flawed vaccine rollout in disability care settings.
Those in disability care and their support workers were supposed to be in the highest priority of the rollout, phase 1a.
But the government has abjectly failed to supply the vaccine as intended, using commonwealth in-reach teams. That has forced some providers to circumvent the system and go to general practitioners.
A new royal commission hearing will be held on 17 May to probe the government’s approach to those in care and their support workers.
The royal commission has already examined the experiences of people with a disability during the pandemic. That process revealed significant government failings and made 22 recommendations.
In a statement, it said the government had indicated it supported or supported in-principle 21 of the recommendations.
This included recommendations in the report addressing access to a Covid-19 vaccine by people with disability and disability support workers when one becomes available.
While this response is welcome, the royal commission also notes that during the early stages of the Covid-19 vaccination rollout disability advocacy groups, people with disability and service providers have expressed deep concern about the extremely low numbers and proportion of people with disability and disability support workers who have been vaccinated and the lack of information about the implementation of the rollout.
Those concerns have been widely reported in the media and have been expressed directly to the royal commission.
The concerns suggest that the rollout may not have implemented the priorities announced in the Covid-19 vaccine strategy or met the expectations of people with disability. These are matters that the hearing will investigate.
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And a strong close from the money man:
That is why the budget, in just under two weeks’ time, and our fiscal strategy as outlined today, will continue to prioritise job creation as a pathway to a stronger economy and budget position.
Ladies and gentlemen, our economic recovery plan is working, but the job is not done. Thank you very much.
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No 'sharp pivots towards austerity': Frydenberg
Frydenberg promises smaller government spends ahead, just not quite yet:
Looking further ahead, our challenge, once we recover from this crisis, is to again rebuild our fiscal buffers. We have done it before and we will do it again.
But it will not be by undertaking any sharp pivots towards austerity.
For fiscal consolidation should be sustainable, it should rely on gradual changes that are made over time and that provide the foundation for a growing, thriving economy.
When we do transition into the second phase of the strategy, we will act in accordance with the principles that we have laid out, namely to focus on growing the economy in order to stabilise and reduce debt, to target a budget balance on average over the course of the economic cycle that is consistent with that debt objective.
We will do this by controlling expenditure growth while maintaining efficiency and quality of government spending and guaranteeing the delivery of essential services.
Updated
This has such weird energy, like someone standing up and asking people for forgiveness for not being mean to them.
Now the Treasurer is justifying that he can be going carte blanche on government support programs in the budget and still be a capital “L” Liberal.
Which does sort of have the tone of someone defending themselves from something that no one is accusing them of.
Finally, I would like now to turn to the important issue of fiscal sustainability. I want to be very clear: the Morrison government’s core values have not changed.*
We remain committed to lower taxes. Containing the size of government, budget discipline and guaranteeing the essential services. We have the track record to prove it.
Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on our levels of government debt, as it has all around the world, but using the government’s balance sheet to limit the economic cost and the longer-term scarring of the labour market stemming from this crisis was a responsible and a prudent decision.
It was the fiscally responsible course of action. A stronger economy means a stronger and more sustainable budget.
*Like brah, no one is annoyed at you for not slashing supports during a global pandemic! It’s OK, mate! We get it!
Updated
I think we now might have reached the crux of the speech.
Frydenberg:
We will not move to the second phase of our fiscal strategy until we are confident that we have secured our economic recovery.
We want to first drive the unemployment rate down to where it was prior to the pandemic and even lower. And then when we get there, to ensure it is sustained.
The last time Australia had a sustained period of unemployment below 5% was between 2006 and 2008, just prior to the GFC. Before that you need to go all the way back to the 1970s.
There are a number of important reasons why our fiscal strategy remains focused on driving unemployment even lower.
Against the backdrop of a highly uncertain global economic environment it’s prudent to continue to support the economy and then ensure our recovery is locked in.
Frydenberg says budget's main goal will be to lower unemployment
And yes that was merely the calm before the storm.
Frydenberg:
Nevertheless, we continue to face enormous uncertainty on both the health and the economic fronts. Around the world more than 800,000 people are contracting Covid every day. Global deaths have reached over 3m. We know that the virus is evolving and new strains are emerging. While the vaccine rollout is progressing both here and abroad it still remains at a relatively early stage.
Many health systems, including in India, have been completely overwhelmed. So as long as the virus remains a threat, we phase enhanced risks to the global and to the domestic economy.
Despite the strength in our domestic economic recovery, the unemployment rate is not comfortably below 6%. Our international borders remain largely closed. Australia is experiencing the lowest population growth in a century. Interest rates are close to zero.
These are unusual and uncertain times. For these reasons we remain firmly in the first phase of our economic and fiscal strategy. We need to continue to work hard to drive the unemployment rate lower. That is what the budget in just under two weeks’ time will do.
Updated
Frydenberg seems to building to something with all this positivity:
The budget will lay out the next phase of Australia’s economic recovery plan, to grow our economy so we can deliver the jobs and guarantee the essential services Australians rely on while also keeping Australians safe. We should all be encouraged that the economic recovery is on track and ahead of schedule.
Unemployment in March has fallen to 5.6% which is below the most optimistic treasury forecasts and below the forecast of 7.5% in MYEFO for the March quarter. This represents around 200,000 more Australians in work than we were expecting just over four months ago. There is now strength across a range of indicators that suggest ongoing momentum in the broader Australian economy... All very positive signs.
Now Frydenberg is circling around to answering the unasked question: “If we are doing well, why aren’t we trying to get the deficit back down this year?”
In the October budget, as the economy was showing early signs of recovery, we published our fiscal and economic policy strategy that was revised. The strategy was set out in two phases. The initial phase of the strategy, the Covid-19 economic recovery plan, continued our core focus on achieving a strong economic recovery, getting people back into work and avoiding the scarring of the labour market.
The second phase focused more an securing our long-term fiscal sustainability by growing the economy in order to stabilise and then reduce gross and net debt as a share of GDP. When introducing the fiscal strategy last year I said that the first phase would focus sharply on boosting business and consumer confidence and promoting jobs and growth throughout the economy. That the priority must be to secure a strong and sustained economic recovery and drive the unemployment rate down. And that the first phase would remain in place until the unemployment rate was comfortably below 6%.*
This guidance provided a marker on the road to recovery. It provided a clear signal to households and businesses that the government would not withdraw support prematurely in support of fiscal consolidation.
*We are now below 6%, but apparently modelling says that’s not enough.
Updated
The treasurer is taking somewhat of a victory lap at the start of this speech, a very different tone to the 2020 budget, let me tell ya!
As a direct result of our actions, Australia has experienced a smaller fall in economic activity than any major advanced economy. And we are the first major advanced economy to see both hours worked and employment, return to pre-pandemic levels. Australia is now set to avoid what many feared would be another lost generation to long-term unemployment.
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Treasurer says budget will prioritise job creation
Frydenberg:
I want to talk about how our economic and fiscal strategy was designed to protect jobs and avoid the scarring of the labour market. How the upcoming budget will continue to prioritise job creation and drive the unemployment rate even lower. And how we will continue to ensure Australia’s fiscal position remains strong and sustainable.
At the outset of this crisis we laid out a clear set of principles to guide our emergency response. Our response would be temporary. It would be targeted, it would be proportionate to the shock, and it would use existing systems where it was appropriate to do so. And all our efforts would be focused on keeping as many Australians as possible in work. We were determined to avoid the high cost of prolonged unemployment from past recessions ...
From the outset, we were determined to limit the damage to the labour market. This is why the government responded with an unprecedented level of support to protect vulnerable households, save Australian businesses and jobs. We’ve committed more than $250bn in direct economic support, including jobkeeper, the single largest and most successful economic support program in Australia’s history.
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Frydenberg:
Now, beyond all expectations, after the first recession in nearly 30 years, employment has not only returned to its pre-Covid level, it has surpassed it.
There are more Australians in work today than ever before. I’ll say that again: there are more Australians in work today than ever before. But we know that the job is not complete.
We need to stick to the plan.
I’d get familiar with that “we need to stick to the plan” line. I reckon it just might be the slogan of the budget this year.
Updated
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks to press
Frydenberg has started by pumping up the government economic achievements before the pandemic:
Ladies and gentlemen, one year ago our nation was in lockdown. We were staring into the economic abyss. 1.3m Australians had been stood down or had lost their jobs. At the time, treasury feared the unemployment rate could reach 15% or over 2m out of work.
However, we were entering this crisis from a position of economic strength. The unemployment rate was 5.1%. Workforce participation was close to a record high.
Welfare dependency at a 30-year low. We had returned the budget to balance for the first time in 11 years. Budget surpluses were forecast in each year across the forward estimates and government debt was low by international standards.
Australia’s sound economic position enabled us to respond to Covid as required.
Updated
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is speaking now ahead of next month’s budget.
So it’s a little complicated but it looks like the Victorian government is essentially trying to pressure the federal government into action.
The state government will forge ahead with detailed plans, blueprints and pre-construction works while the commonwealth ponders the business case.
Victoria will pay the $15m for these plans in the hopes that the federal government will then agree to pay for the $100-700m construction.
Updated
The decision on quarantine facility will be made in September
James Merlino says if the plans go ahead the facility could be up and running by the end of the year.
So the business case outlines roughly four months to do the detailed design and four months for construction. If this goes ahead, we can have this open by the end of the year ...
This is a no-regrets piece of work. By September it will be the go or no-go decision. That will be based on what the world will look like in September. The success of the vaccine rollout, the efficacy of the vaccine in terms of transmission, the worldwide situation, decisions made in terms of border control and quarantine, all of those will be considered in September, for a decision, whether or not to proceed with construction.
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Merlino:
The proposal is that initially it will be a 500-bed facility but the case provides for scaling up options up to around 3,000 beds.
To ensure we don’t waste any time, whilst the commonwealth is considering the proposal and business case ... the Victorian government will crack on and do the detailed design and planning,
Updated
Acting Victorian premier James Merlino has confirmed the prefered location of a new purpose-built quarantine facility - but construction hasn’t been confirmed yet.
We made a commitment to undergo a business case to investigate an alternative quarantine hub. That work has been finalised and as I indicated, we’re in a position to talk about location and to talk about next steps in terms of this important improve the safety of the community. This is an alternative quarantine hub...
The preferred location is Donnybrooke Road in Mickleham, next door to an existing animal quarantine facility. It is clear the virus will be with us for some time. We have a delayed rollout in the vaccination program, dire in other parts of the world.
We don’t know how this year will play out. The announcement, the next steps I will take you through, is about providing Victoria and our nation with options that we can take up to make the community safer.
As I said a number of times, international borders’ quarantine are Federal Government responsibilities. In terms of the next steps, now we have the business case as a preferred location, the detailed proposal was September through to the Commonwealth, we are in active discussions with them, deep into the thinking and recommendations of these next steps.
The requests to the Commonwealth is they pay for the construction of this facility and ultimately take ownership of this facility. As I said, this is a Commonwealth responsibility and just like Howard Springs, it should be owned by the Commonwealth.
Okay, we are hearing from acting Victorian premier James Merlino now.
Now in those photos, the cabins don’t look particularly mobile to me.
Just a few weeks ago the Victorian government was very strong on the idea that the facility would be able to be picked up and transported to bushfires or other emergency sites in the future.
This is because by the time the facility is built there is a decent chance there will only be a few months of quarantining left to do.
Here are some photos of the new proposed facility.
(Although it’s in the same compound as a pet quarantine station, it looks like the travellers won’t have to sleep in the cages.)
Acting Premier @JamesMerlinoMP acting CQV minister @DannyPearsonMP and deputy CHO @peripatetical unveil designs for remote quarantine facility on Donnybrook Rd Mickleham @3AW693 pic.twitter.com/7UPGt1W3Y1
— Stefanie Waclawik (@StefWaclawik) April 28, 2021
Updated
500-bed quarantine facility to be built in outer Melbourne
The Victorian government will petition the federal government to foot the $200m bill for the new quarantine facility in Mickleham, north of Melbourne, saying quarantine is a commonwealth responsibility.
State government confirms $15million to plan a 500 bed “alternative quarantine hub” at Donnybrook Rd, Mickleham. Victotia wants Commonwealth to fund construction- says quarantine is a federal responsibility @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/CYS4CCjCFR
— Andrew Lund (@andrew_lund) April 28, 2021
Updated
Only three rental properties in Australia are considered affordable for a single person living on the government’s “boosted” jobseeker payment, new analysis has found.
The pandemic has reduced rents in some markets but the latest update to Anglicare’s rental affordability snapshot of more than 74,000 properties found affordability remained dire for people living on welfare benefits.
The Morrison government lifted the permanent rate of jobseeker, student and parenting payments by $50 a fortnight this month, taking the base rate of unemployment benefits to about $44 a day.
However, when the coronavirus supplement ended it meant welfare payments actually fell by $100 a fortnight.
The Anglicare snapshot found there were only three affordable listings across Australia for people on jobseeker.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
OK, so we have this Melbourne presser starting any second and the Frydenberg speech around the same time! I’ll be focusing on the treasurer (being a national news site and all that) but never fear Melbourne reader, I’ll try to bring you an update or two never the less!
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Premier Peter Gutwein says PM Scott Morrison won’t be campaigning with him before Saturday. “I don’t need the prime minister to hold my hand” #politas #tasvotes
— Emily Baker (@emlybkr) April 28, 2021
Free vaccinations offered in Sydney and Melbourne as bad flu season flagged
Free flu shots are being offered in Melbourne and Sydney as experts worry about a bad season ahead, reports AAP.
Anyone not in the queue for a Covid-19 vaccine is being urged to have their flu jab as soon as possible. The Immunisation Coalition is running free clinics at the Melbourne and Sydney town halls on Friday.
There are concerns about a “rebound” flu season, based on 2017 and 2019 numbers being significantly higher than the previous year.
Mary-Louise McLaws from the World Health Organisation said it was “unrealistic to expect that life will return to normal this year.”
While we have almost no Covid-19 local transmissions and with Covid vaccines being rolled out Australians are still at risk of influenza.
Earlier this month, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners recommended all people over six months of age have their annual influenza vaccination.
The RACGP urged people in later phases of the Covid vaccine rollout to get their flu shot as soon as it was available, and then get their Covid vaccine.
The flu vaccine and Covid vaccine should be administered at least 14 days apart, according to clinical advice.
Updated
OK Victoria, what’s going on this morning. Why are there easels set up ahead of the big presser?
Are they going to paint a treasure map leading to the new purpose-built quarantine facility?
Mystery easels at #springst ... @10NewsFirstMelb pic.twitter.com/5gwSaXWP4s
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) April 28, 2021
Updated
Treasurer @JoshFrydenberg is in Canberra today and will deliver a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry at 10am #auspol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) April 28, 2021
Anger erupts over reported location of proposed new Victorian quarantine facility
It looks like not everyone is happy with the proposed new location for the Victorian “village-style” alternative quarantine facility.
The official site for ambitious, state-run, quarantine development will officially be announced in about half an hour, but word on the street is that it will be the Mickleham post-entry site, a federal government animal quarantine facility about 45km north of Melbourne.
But local Chris Razos whose in-laws share a fence with the site, has rung into Melbourne’s Nine radio station, 3AW to lodge his complaints.
It’s probably the most stupidest [sic] decision anyone in any government could make.
Putting something like that in the middle of suburbia ... having it next to houses, is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
This virus is so vicious and attacking and so deadly. Why would you put it somewhere where there are residents and 30,000 houses that have been developed around? ...
Put it further out.
Updated
An Australian company is planning to trial electric trucks with swappable batteries, allowing almost nonstop travel for heavy vehicles between Sydney and Brisbane.
Developed by Janus Electric, the batteries can be swapped in three minutes, removing the need for trucks to plug in and charge for up to 12 hours.
The batteries will reportedly average between 400-600km a charge, with drivers only needing to stop at placed charge-and-change stations along the initial Brisbane-Sydney trial route.
The stations will be located strategically, to coincide with mandatory driver fatigue breaks, including at Hemmant in Brisbane, Taree and Coffs Harbour on the Pacific Highway, and Prestons in Sydney.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
Queensland reports no new local Covid cases
More good news, Queensland is local Covid free!
Thursday 29 April – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 28, 2021
• 0 new locally acquired
• 4 overseas acquired
• 28 active cases
• 1,556 total cases
• 2,452,628 tests conducted
Sadly, seven people with COVID-19 have died. 1,504 patients have recovered.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/QT075fpHKE
Updated
Win for Indigenous community as Woolworths pull Darwin Dan Murphy's plan
Woolworths has finally pulled the pin on a controversial Dan Murphy’s outlet at the Darwin airport.
This store would have been located near the Indigenous Bagot community who have made the decision to remain dry.
Late last year Woolworth Group formed an independent panel to consider the proposed liquor store development, where they heard from a number of community leaders.
This morning they released a statement confirmed the panel had concluded that the development “should not go ahead”.
CEO Brad Banducci said in the statement:
[The decision] will create a platform for working better together in our engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Woolies pulling the pin on its Dan Murphy's at Darwin Airport - it was due to be located near a dry Aboriginal community, the Bagot community pic.twitter.com/rZ7m9Cvxzp
— Alex Druce (@AlexDruuuce) April 28, 2021
Updated
Gutwein has defended his party’s positions on gaming rooms and pokies, a key issue in the Tasmanian campaign:
We have a highly regulated industry here as it is across the rest of the country. The view we’ve taken with a harm-minimisation framework in place Tasmanians should be free to choose how they spend their money. I would make the point that right now, sitting in someone’s lounge room, using their mobile phone, someone could lose their house. We have a highly regulated sector ...
I’ve made perfectly clear in terms of our policy that pubs and clubs will do better, the state government will do better in fact and we’ll spend more on harm minimisation. The loser out of all this will be federal hotels.
$46 million has been lost on poker machines in Tasmania in the last 3 months.@mjrowland68: Will you reduce the tax on gaming rooms & casinos?@GutweinTeam: "What we put at the last election was pubs and clubs would do better, the government would do better." #politas #tasvotes pic.twitter.com/XW5pTNoGSB
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) April 28, 2021
Updated
Dating profiles of Liberal MP a case of identity theft, Tasmanian premier says
Taking you back a moment to the Tasmanian state election, premier Peter Gutwein says two recently discovered dating profiles that includes photos of Liberal MP Adam Brooks is a case of identity theft.
Look, I have spoken to Mr Brooks and he’s denied that they are his profiles ...
It is concerning. At the end of the day he’s made it very clear to me that’s not him.
Rowland:
You believe him?
Gutwein:
Yes, I do.
Rowland:
This is the same candidate, for the benefit of our national audience, he is facing court on alleged firearm storage offences. Was there any consideration given to making him stand aside given ...
Gutwein:
Well, in terms of that, we’ll allow the court process to take its course. The electors of Braddon, on Saturday, will be able to make a decision about Mr Brooks and that’s what a democracy is all about ....
As I’ve said, innocent until proven guilty. We’ll allow that process to take its court: The electors of Braddon will make that decision. Around the state we have strong candidates.
I would urge Tasmanians on Saturday to make certain they vote for their Liberal candidates in order of preference and elect a majority government.
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Victoria reports no local Covid cases
Good news from Victoria! No local Covid-19 today!
Yesterday there were no new local cases and 1 new case acquired overseas (currently in HQ) reported.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 28, 2021
- 3,662 vaccine doses were administered
- 16,891 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/9MvbGgsKfu
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Queensland launches Indigenous treaty talks
In some good news, consultations are under way today in far-north Queensland for a proposed treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The state Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships minister Craig Crawford will work with the newly appointed Treaty Advancement Committee in Cairns to official launch consultations.
Crawford has previously said the state is also committed to a “truth telling and healing” process.
Queensland is one of many jurisdictions involved in a treaty process after Victoria signed a treaty with Indigenous communities before passing it into law in July 2018, reports AAP.
The ACT signed a treaty with Indigenous groups in 2019 and the Northern Territory government has entered into treaty consultations, which are due to be completed by the end of this year.
South Australia’s Labor government had been working towards a treaty, but the process was stopped in 2018 upon the election of a new Liberal government.
Currently, NSW, Western Australia and Tasmania are not working towards a treaty agreement.
The federal Coalition government is also working on a design for an Indigenous voice to government, which would be consulted on laws but would not be cemented in the constitution.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that he supports an Indigenous voice to parliament enshrined in the constitution.
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The federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, says the upcoming budget will not take any “sharp pivots towards austerity”, with his focus on ensuring Australia’s economic recovery continues to create jobs.
In a pre-budget speech to be delivered in Canberra on Thursday, Frydenberg will outline the framework for the 11 May budget, saying the government’s strategy will remain on supporting the “transitioning” economy before any focus on budget repair.
Cautioning that Australia remains in “unusual and uncertain times”, Frydenberg also signals the government will provide further fiscal stimulus in a targeted manner in the budget, acknowledging the private sector is still emerging from the hit of the Covid-induced recession.
Frydenberg will say, according to excerpts from his draft speech:
Private sector growth is the essential ingredient in maintaining a strong economy and a sustainable fiscal position over the longer term, you can’t have one without the other.
You can read the full report below:
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Second unconfirmed blood clot death reported in NSW
ABC is reporting that a second man had died as a result of blood clots shortly after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. This man was reportedly in his 70s and passed away in Sydney.
I must stress that this has not been independently confirmed by the Guardian and health authorities have not confirmed a causal link between this man’s death and the vaccine.
The TGA does investigate all deaths reported to it that are suspected of having been caused by vaccine side-effects, so hopefully, we can get more clarity on this situation throughout the day.
This is the second unconfirmed report of deaths after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine this morning, the Northern Daily Leader this morning citing the family of a man who died in Tamworth last Wednesday after getting his first jab on 13 April.
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Looks like we will be finding out sooner rather than later about that Victorian alternative quarantine facility.
Victoria's plan for a new non-CBD, non-Hotel Quarantine program for returning travellers (and economic cohorts) to be unveiled at 0945.
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) April 28, 2021
Epidemiologists are questioning why Australia has banned all flights from India, with a Guardian analysis revealing India has fewer coronavirus cases per capita than either the United States or the United Kingdom during their respective Covid peaks.
The Australian government did not suspend flights from those countries as it did this week with India.
Experts say cases in India could be underreported but they believe the numbers are still lower than the spikes seen in other countries in recent months. They also note one variant of interest in India has not yet been deemed as concerning as the UK strain that dominated Britain’s December wave.
Peter Collignon, a professor of infectious diseases at the Australian National University, believes Australia “needs to rethink blanket bans”. He says Canberra is ethically obliged to allow Australians to return from India because they risk contracting the virus in a country where hospital access isn’t guaranteed.
You can read the full report from Josh Nicholas and Elias Visontay below:
Frydenberg has been asked if a massive investment into childcare is on the table this budget. (Universal childcare or at least something approaching it has been highlighted by business groups as one of the most powerful and effective ways to close the gender pay gap in Australia.)
But the treasurer won’t be pinned down:
I will not comment on pre-budget but we have already put more than $10bn a year into childcare and we amended some of the rebate levels and we focused it on low- and middle-income earners and we have already done some changes around childcare but as you can imagine, I’m not going to get into the rule in, rule out game a week-and-a-half from the budget.
Updated
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is out and about this morning, setting expectations for next month’s budget.
He says the government will aim to further reduce the unemployment rate further before seriously tackling the growing deficit or making any sharp pivot towards “austerity”.
He is speaking to ABC News Breakfast now:
The key to repairing the budget is to repair the economy. We are not out of this pandemic yet. You have seen events in India and the lockdown in Western Australia, the virus is having new strains and so we’ve got to be very cautious and very considerate and try to drive that unemployment rate down...
Until you get the unemployment rate down to around 4.5% to 5% you won’t get an acceleration in inflation and unemployment.
So Treasury have actually redone their economic modelling and forecasting around that number. With respect to our priority, it is to drive the unemployment rate down in the first instance to where it was pre-pandemic, which was 5.1% last February.
The economy, the labour market has been a lot more resilient than we expected in our most optimistic forecasts but there is still a lot of uncertainty out there and that is why the budget will keep the focus on skills, on infrastructure, on tax and of course on ensuring we guarantee those essential services like aged care.
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Melbourne pet quarantine complex flagged for Covid hotel alternative – report
So there has been a lot of talk this morning about the Victorian purpose-built Covid quarantine facility that has been in the works for a while now.
Michael Fowler from the Age is reporting this morning that the site of a pet quarantine complex north of Melbourne airport has become one of the top contenders for an alternative, village-style, quarantine facility for returning travellers.
The state government could make an announcement today confirming the site has been chosen as a location for the ambitious build.
This plan emerged after Victoria experienced a second hotel quarantine breach earlier this year. Although case numbers remained small, this outbreak still plunged the state into a hard five-day lockdown, and the government pledged to find a better, long-term solution to hotel quarantine.
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Bushfire north of Perth controlled
A bushfire north of Perth threatened houses late yesterday before being brought under control.
The Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services warned residents it was too late to evacuate from houses near the centre of Gingin about 6.20pm (EST) yesterday, but the warning was downgraded about 90 minutes later. Firefighters continued to tackle the blaze into the evening.
The cause of the fire is unclear, but the WA emergency website appeared to show that there were two prescribed burns in the area about the same time as the fire started.
The black and white icons are burn offs. The icon in the middle is the current watch and act alert #gingin #perthnews pic.twitter.com/f5YwQ3IWZw
— Aleisha Orr (@AleishaOrr) April 28, 2021
The Shire of Gingin had also posted on its Facebook page on Tuesday that it planned to do prescribed burns on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Good morning, Matilda Boseley here, and together I think we can make it through this Thursday!
There is some sad and concerning news to start off, however, with Australia’s medicines regulator investigating unconfirmed reports a 55-year-old NSW man died of blood clots after the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The man died in Tamworth last Wednesday after getting his first jab on 13 April, according to reports in the Northern Daily Leader today. The article cited information from the man’s family.
The man is believed to have died of blood clots on his lungs.
I say “unconfirmed” because the Therapeutic Goods Administration has yet to comment on the death, and obviously no direct causal link to the vaccine has yet been established. However, the TGA does, as a matter of course, investigate all deaths reported to it that are suspected of having been caused by vaccine side-effects, so it wouldn’t be surprised it comes out and says something today.
Australia has so far recorded one death linked to a Covid-19 vaccine.
On 23 April, the TGA reported it had reviewed three suspected cases of rare blood clots caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine, including a woman in her late 40s.
They have also found links to three other cases of non-fatal blood clotting that are “likely linked to vaccination”: a 35-year-old NSW woman, a 49-year-old Queensland man and an 80-year-old Victorian man.
Some other things to look out for today:
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will make a pre-budget speech, laying out the government’s hopes to further reduce the unemployment rate to below 5%, while pledging to avoid a sharp pivot towards “austerity”.
- We are just two days away from the Tasmanian state election so I’ll bring you any updates and scandals as the race heats up.
- In Western Australia, premier Mark McGowan is set to outline plans for the easing of coronavirus restrictions after last weekend’s lockdown.
- And in some fun news, the highly acclaimed artist behind psychedelic rock band Tame Impala, Kevin Parker, has been named songwriter of the year at the Apra music awards.
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