End of live blog
That is where we will leave the live blog for Thursday. We will be back again tomorrow with all the latest news, but in case you missed it, here’s what made news today:
- Victoria reported three new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 all linked to the Holiday Inn outbreak. Two were spouses of hotel staff members who previously tested positive and the third was an assistant manager at the hotel. All three were already isolating since earlier in the week, however contact tracing interviews are underway and more exposure sites may be listed.
- Despite there now being 11 cases associated with the Holiday Inn the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said hotel quarantine is still the right way to go to deal with returning Australians.
- WA has extended the tough border with Victoria for another week, meaning visitors will need to isolate for two weeks, South Australia has closed the border to Melbourne, but Queensland is holding off, only requiring Victorians entering the state to fill out declaration forms.
- The EU has approved the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia. It’s due before the end of this month.
- The attorney-general Christian Porter has hinted the most contentious part of his industrial relations bill – the clause allowing workers on pay deals to be worse off overall – may be about to get the chop.
- Crown Resorts chair Helen Coonan says the company accepts criticisms in a scathing report tabled in NSW parliament on Tuesday and will undertake “root and branch” reform to make itself suitable to hold the licence to run a new casino at Barangaroo in Sydney.
Until tomorrow, stay safe.
Updated
My colleague Paul Karp has an interesting story about Alan Tudge trying to get a decision against him overturned, in part as a case of mistaken identity.
Alan Tudge has claimed the federal court found he had engaged in “criminal” conduct in part because he was mistaken for the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton.
Updated
NT bans nebulisers in hotel quarantine
The Northern Territory has banned the use of nebulisers at quarantine facilities as a Victorian Covid-19 outbreak suspected to have been caused by the medical device continues to grow, AAP reports.
Another worker and the spouses of two other staff members at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday.
The cluster now involves 11 people: four workers, two staff spouses, two released guests, and a family of three who isolated at the hotel after returning from overseas.
NT chief minister, Michael Gunner, says people in quarantine facilities who need to use nebulisers will be transferred to hospital.
“They’ll be placed in a negatively-pressured room. We have extra disease control processes in hospitals,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“Just to be extra safe – post what’s happened in Victoria. This is a cautionary step.”
Updated
Here’s some background on the private clinic not being on the list of exposure sites in Victoria, as mentioned by the head of contact tracing, Jeroen Weimar, earlier.
Melbourne radio station 3AW had calls from people who said they were told by the health department to isolate and get tested after visiting the Avondale Heights osteopath clinic in the city’s north-west on Friday.
They were concerned because it was not listed as a public exposure site.
But as Weimar explained, that’s because the clinic requires bookings and therefore knows who was there and how to contact them. That’s why the clinic is not considered a public exposure site.
Updated
Google has just issued a statement on the launch of its News Showcase product, and how it sees that working in Australia.
We reported last week that the launch of Showcase in Australia indicated there might be negotiations between Google and the government to limit how Australia’s proposed news code applied to Google, and if that happened, then Google would back down on its threat to pull its search product out of Australia.
Google’s director of government affairs in Australia and New Zealand, Lucinda Longcroft, said in the statement Showcase would work under the code, not as an alternative to the code:
“We’ve been very clear that Showcase would work under the Code, not as an alternative to it. Good faith negotiations and remuneration would apply to Showcase, with disputes resolved through standard arbitration, with guaranteed revenue flow. Standard offers would also be available to all registered news media businesses including smaller and regional publishers.
We continue to be in talks with a range of publishers, large and small, in Australia and around the world, and are excited about continuing to build on Showcase’s success.”
Longcroft said there had been over 50 discussions about Showcase with Australian publishers and the government since February last year.
The product has just launched in the UK and Argentina with 160 publishers.
Updated
Cybersecurity concerns have prompted SA Health to give the boss of French shipbuilder Naval Group an exemption from Covid-19 hotel quarantine rules, AAP reports.
Pierre Eric Pommellet is being allowed to isolate for 14 days at a private address after coming to Adelaide as part of Naval Group’s contract to build Australia’s new fleet of 12 submarines.
Chief public health officer, Nicola Spurrier, said Pommellet was not the only person to be granted an exemption, with others made for visiting sports people and those with complex medical needs.
“There are certain times when we felt it appropriate to look at the circumstances and those might be health-related, for example, but in this particular situation it was around cybersecurity,” Spurrier said.
“We try and do our very best in our hotels and we try and control the situation as much as we can but there were certain things like cybersecurity that we couldn’t provide.
“Therefore, if this person was going to be in our state, we’d have to come up with a different arrangement.”
Police commissioner, Grant Stevens, said police resources had been deployed to ensure Pommellet’s quarantine arrangements would remain safe.
“It is a test on our resources, but this is a unique and exceptional set of circumstances that we’ve been dealing with,” he said.
Updated
Pete Evans has quoted this guy a bit on his Instagram page, which is still up.
Updated
Weimar clarifies that the list of exposure sites only includes places that are considered public access.
This means that if someone attended a private clinic, where an appointment was needed, it would not be listed as a public exposure site online.
Exposure site listings are used to get people to come forward. Private clinics keep their own attendance registers, so there’s no need to list them.
Updated
Weimar says the contact tracing team is “right on the heels of this one”.
He says the time between transmission and people becoming infectious is much shorter than it was for the Black Rock outbreak.
He says that’s why the indoor mask requirement was reintroduced a week and a half ago.
Updated
Weimar says the third case announced today is an assistant manager at the Holiday Inn but he doesn’t have any more information.
It was only picked up in testing yesterday when the primary close contact definition of the hotel was extended beyond those who worked on the floor, to those involved in the check-in and check-out process.
She has been isolating since Monday, possibly Tuesday. Weimar said:
“We are, at this stage, reassured by the fact that all of these positives are emerging within the primary close contact field, that is important to us.
Although we are now seeing two cases of household transmission again this is in the household, the closest relationship you would expect people to have, and therefore that gives us some confidence that we are still on the track that we need to be on. But this is early days. This is early days in this particular outbreak.
Updated
Genomic testing of six Holiday Inn cases shows all have the UK variant. Weimar believes the other five cases in the cluster will also prove to be the UK variant.
Weimar says it’s important for people to monitor the list of exposure sites.
He says anyone who was at the Sunbury shopping centre on Friday 5 February, between 3.40pm and 4.30pm, should get tested and isolate until a negative result is returned.
Updated
Third new case in Melbourne's Holiday Inn outbreak
Victoria’s coronavirus testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, says the two new cases reported today are the spouses of two Holiday Inn workers who earlier tested positive.
They were already isolating, so it doesn’t extend the scope of work by contact tracers. There was no further update on exposure sites but Weimar says there will likely be more.
The third case is another Holiday Inn worker who was tested yesterday.
Updated
South Australia will push ahead with important arts and sporting events over the coming weeks despite closing the border with Victoria in response to a growing cluster of Covid-19 cases in Melbourne, AAP reports.
Adelaide is due to host a major women’s tennis tournament as well as the annual Fringe and Festival arts events across both February and March.
South Australia’s chief public health officer Prof. Nicola Spurrier said while it was still early days with the Melbourne outbreak, she was quietly confident the situation would be brought quickly under control.
She said closing the border was also a way of preserving the integrity of the Adelaide events.
“Actually having an outbreak within our state would have jeopardised those particular events,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a problem with those events going forward.”
Spurrier said SA Health would also seek to manage the movement and safety of artists and players.
The Adelaide International tennis tournament is scheduled to run from February 22-27, the Fringe from February 19 to March 21 and the Festival from February 26 to March 14.
Under the border restrictions which came in place from Thursday, travellers from Greater Melbourne are not allowed to enter SA.
Returning SA residents, people relocating and other exempt travellers are still allowed in but need to quarantine for 14 days.
Regional Victoria and cross-border communities are not impacted.
Spurrier said while it was too early to say how long the border rules would remain in place, she was confident Victorian officials would quickly get control of the outbreak.
“I feel confident in this situation because of how many of the close contacts they have placed into quarantine,” she said.
“I’m getting very good intel about how quickly they are able to get their arms around those people who have potentially been exposed.
“I feel pretty positive that things will settle down quickly.”
Labor wants the auditor general to get to the bottom of how Peter Dutton handed out community grants, with home affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally saying it “looks on the face of it worse than the sports rorts scandal that saw the resignation of then minister Bridget McKenzie” a year ago.
You can read Daniel Hurst and Paul Karp’s story here.
Updated
WA reports no new local cases, extends Victorian restrictions
WA premier, Mark McGowan, says no new local cases of Covid-19 were reported in the state overnight, with 3,700 tests conducted. There is one new case in hotel quarantine.
He says WA’s “tough border approach” to Victoria will continue for at least another seven days in the wake of new cases associated with the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport.
Updated
Kelly has been asked about reports that a man was able to get into hotel quarantine in Victoria to deliver a game to a friend, and wasn’t told to isolate or take a test.
He said it was not an ideal situation but he would follow it up after the press conference.
Kelly wouldn’t buy into questions about which state has the best hotel quarantine system.
All of the states have ideas in relation to [hotel quarantine] and will be working through that today and tomorrow. There is another meeting tomorrow and will continue to see what there is we can improve and I believe the state premiers will talk through those suggestions.
Updated
Kelly said staff have assessed the floor of the Holiday Inn and the other guests on that floor, and he is confident it is now just about containing transmission.
So I’m absolutely confident it was a single event and that hazard has been removed and so far now it is about making sure that anyone who might be in the community who is positive is found and isolated.
On the vaccines, Kelly welcomed the news that Europe would not block supply of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia before the end of this month:
That is something we already knew but now that is confirmed so that means that there is no blockage from that point of view in terms of the vaccine arriving. We are definitely on track for the first vaccines in Australia of the already TGA-approved Pfizer vaccine before the end of February.
On AstraZeneca, he welcomed the World Health Organisation’s recommendations that the vaccine is safe, effective, and should be used around the world.
Updated
Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, has told reporters he’s confident Victorian authorities are getting the current Holiday Inn outbreak under control, but he’s encouraged anyone in Melbourne with symptoms to get tested:
[The two new cases] are both household contacts of quarantine hotel workers. They were already in quarantine themselves and so there is no added risk to the community. I have spoken on several occasions in the last couple of days with my Victorian counterparts and I’m very confident that they are doing what they need to do in terms of identifying exposure sites and putting that information out to the community.
Updated
There’s a 4pm (AEDT) press conference planned with Victoria’s coronavirus testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, where I am guessing we will get an update on those two new household cases linked to staff at the Holiday Inn.
Updated
The Victorian regulator has added to the pressure on Crown chief executive Ken Barton and non-executive director Andrew Demetriou to resign, saying it will soon write to them and “demand they explain why they remain suitable to be an associate of Crown Melbourne”.
“Under the Victorian Casino Control Act, associates of the casino operator must be of good repute, having regard to character, honesty and integrity,” the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor regulation said.
Barton and Demetriou were heavily criticised in a report this week commissioned by the NSW regulator, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, whose chair, Philip Crawford, went on radio this morning to say they should resign.
“Demanding an explanation is the mandatory first step of our regulatory action,” the VCGLR said in a statement.
“The commission will consider the submissions of Mr Barton and Mr Demetriou and determine what action to take.”
VCGLR’s chief executive, Catherine Myers, said she met Crown chair Helen Coonan and Crown Melbourne CEO Xavier Walsh late yesterday for a briefing on what the company intended to do in response to the NSW inquiry.
She “advised Crown that the commission continues to consider and assess the Bergin Report and will determine any appropriate action to take under the Casino Control Act (Vic),” VCGLR said.
The regulator had “a number of investigations” underway into Crown, Myers said.
“There is also an ongoing VCGLR investigation regarding Crown Resorts Director, Harold Mitchell, who has also been asked to explain how he is a suitable person to be an associate of Crown Melbourne,” she said.
“In November 2020, Mr Mitchell was found to have committed breaches of his director’s duties whilst on the board of Tennis Australia.”
Updated
Since Google launched Showcase last week, it seems less likely the company will go through with its last-resort threat to pull its search engine from Australia if the news media code goes ahead.
But there have been questions about what impact removing search from Australia might have on Google’s other products.
In response to a question on notice from the Senate committee reviewing the news media code legislation – which asked whether it would impact Maps, Google Pay, YouTube, Gmail and other products, and whether Google would exit all of its services from Australia – Google said this:
The withdrawal of Search from Australia isn’t a threat; it’s a worst-case scenario that we’re working hard to avoid. With straightforward amendments there is a path to a workable code that provides a framework in which Google can pay publishers for value under the code, without undermining Google Search and the fundamental principle of being able to freely link to content on the internet.
At this stage, we are still understanding the implications of removing Search on our other services.
So it’s not clear yet whether other services might be impacted if Google did pull search from Australia.
Updated
Wow, that’s a lot of forgone revenue, but I must say I do like all the parklet dining areas in Melbourne at the moment. It will be interesting to see if they stay.
The City of Yarra is down $8.5 million in parking revenue because of the pandemic. Part of the reason is lost fees where street dining areas have been set up. Yarra Council is currently considering whether to extend the outdoor dining scheme, which expires next month. #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/l9GKN2R3Qh
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) February 11, 2021
The ATO second commissioner, Jeremy Hirschhorn, has revealed about 10 profitable companies are “in discussions” with the tax office about voluntarily returning jobkeeper funds.
The potential repayments are worth about $50m, but only $10m has so far been returned.
Hirschhorn told the Covid-19 committee a much larger number of businesses had simply stopped claiming the wage subsidy when their fortunes turned around but while they were still technically eligible for the scheme.
The Labor senator, Katy Gallagher, on Thursday told the committee it was understandable the public was unhappy about executives receiving bonuses while taxpayers were providing their companies with wage subsidies:
Maybe the legal responsibility doesn’t rest with returning it but more a moral responsibility, now we’re through the crisis.
Hirschhorn said the tax office had also clawed back $135m in jobkeeper overpayments through its compliance activities, while it was a pursuing a further $150m from businesses.
There was also $50m that had been waived because employers had made an “honest mistake”.
A further two businesses are facing court for false or misleading statements, and 43 businesses have faced financial penalties on top of being required to return overpayments.
The tax office also stopped about $180m in invalid jobkeeper claims before they were actioned.
Hirschhorn said that for an $80bn program the level of compliance was “extraordinarily high”.
Updated
NSW Labor seeks government document shredding ban
NSW’s Labor opposition has introduced legislation banning the reckless destruction of government documents after material related to a pork-barrelling scheme were unlawfully shredded, AAP reports
The State Archives and Records Authority last month found the destruction of “working advice notes” – which showed the NSW premier signed off on most Stronger Communities Fund grants – breached state record laws.
The entire $252m grants scheme has been under scrutiny since analysis revealed 19 in every 20 projects funded in the lead-up to the 2019 NSW election were in Coalition-held seats.
“I’m shocked we even have to introduce legislation preventing the destruction of government documents,” the opposition leader, Jodi McKay, said in a statement on Thursday.
“This is an important step to ensure trust and integrity in government after too many scandals and cover-ups.”
Debate on the second reading of the bill was on Thursday adjourned to next Tuesday.
An adviser to premier Gladys Berejiklian in October told a parliamentary committee she shredded the notes that showed the premier had “signed off” on $141.8m of council grants. She also deleted electronic copies.
An unashamed Berejiklian later admitted the program was pork barrelling, stating: “It’s not an illegal practice.”
Updated
Of the $50 million in expected voluntary JobKeeper repayments, less than $10 million has been paid back so far, the ATO says
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) February 11, 2021
Sacked university professor Peter Ridd to have his case heard in high court
An update from Australia’s high court on the case involving the sacking of contrarian marine scientist Dr Peter Ridd. Judges have granted Ridd special leave to appeal.
Ridd was sacked by James Cook University in 2018 for alleged breaches of its code of conduct. The scientist had already started legal proceedings against the university for a previous censure.
Ridd, who claims the Great Barrier Reef is not under threat either from climate change or pollution from farms, challenged his sacking and won in the federal circuit court, but the judgment was overturned on appeal in July 2020.
Ridd’s supporters – which are widespread among conservative commentators and the Institute of Public Affairs thinktank – claim he was sacked for his contrarian views and are framing the case as a test of academic freedom.
The university has said Ridd was always allowed to freely voice his scientific views.
Federal circuit Judge Salvatore Vasta, who originally heard the case and found in Ridd’s favour, said in his judgment the case “was purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an enterprise agreement.”
No word yet on a date for the hearing.
Updated
South Australia one Covid case in hotel quarantine
South Australia has reported one new Covid-19 case in a medi-hotel (what SA calls hotel quarantine for returned travellers).
The case is a man in his 30s and they’re now determining whether it might be an old infection.
South Australian COVID-19 update 11/2/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsGpayo or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/Qp2lga5H2L
— SA Health (@SAHealth) February 11, 2021
Updated
Two more Covid cases connected to Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn outbreak
The Victoria Department of Health has just announced two more positive Covid-19 cases linked to the Holiday Inn at Melbourne.
Both are household contacts of staff cases.
It brings the total number of cases associated with the outbreak to 10. Contact tracing interviews are still being conducted to determine other contacts and exposure sites.
Two further individuals linked to the Holiday Inn Airport outbreak have tested positive to coronavirus (COVID-19). Both are household primary close contacts of currently confirmed Holiday Inn staff cases.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 11, 2021
Updated
With that, I’ll be handing over to my colleague Josh Taylor, who will be taking the blog for the rest of the afternoon. Thanks for reading – and happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it.
Cathay Pacific suspends flights to Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth
Cathay Pacific Airways has announced they it stop all flights to Australia, except to Sydney, after Hong Kong announced new quarantine rules for airline crew.
Updated
Breaking: The ATO says something in the order of 10 companies have said they will repay JobKeeper funds so far, worth about $50 million. Not all of the cash has been repaid so far. https://t.co/HVu4SOVsJs
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) February 11, 2021
Christian Porter hints that worse off overall test will go
The attorney general Christian Porter has hinted the most contentious part of his industrial relations bill – the clause allowing workers on pay deals to be worse off overall – may be about to get the chop.
Porter told Sky News the clause was “meant to extend” the existing “exceptional circumstances provision”. Which is odd because, as experts have noted, there is no requirement for exceptional circumstances for employers to cut pay.
He said:
It certainly is featuring in the debate a fair amount. I’m negotiating with the crossbench, and I’m not pretending it hasn’t been raised. There is enormous enthusiasm [among the crossbench] for some parts of the bill, but not for others. This is something we’re discussing at the moment.”
Asked about McDonald’s bid to bolster provisions allowing them to pay partly in food, Porter agreed the bill would allow the Fair Work Commission to consider the “quantity or nature of non-monetary benefits”.
He said whether a pay deal is approved “depends on the nature of the non-monetary benefit ... they’d have to be substantial things”.
Are Chicken McNuggets, Big Macs and fries substantial things? You (and the heavily stacked Fair Work Commission) be the judge! They are if you order a large meal, I guess.
Updated
To be clear, the new Queensland rules do not come into effect until Saturday.
And the state is still working out some of the details – so it is not yet known which parts of Melbourne or Victoria it will apply to.
The acting chief health officer says that Queensland has one resident in the state who was at the Holiday Inn in Melbourne.
She says that person has tested negative so far.
Victorians entering Queensland will need to fill out declaration, but no border closure
The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, is speaking now.
He says it is “too early to declare a hotspot” in Melbourne.
“All of those cases at this stage were contracted within the hotel quarantine on level 3. So, there’s been no cases of community transmission outside of that location.”
But, he says that Victorian residents will need to start filling out border forms.
“We are in a process of reinstigating the border declaration system. What that means is that from 1am on Saturday, people coming from Victoria will need to make a border declaration. That will allow us to check whether they have been in any of the locations that have been identified by the Victorian contact tracers, whether they are required to get tested.”
Updated
Latest JobKeeper numbers from the Tax Office: About 500,000 supported businesses, about 1.6 million jobs #auspol
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) February 11, 2021
Morrison is asked whether he will “commit to lifting the rate of jobseeker” when the coronavirus supplement ends.
“These are matters we’re still considering,” he says. “When we’re in a position to make a statement on those, then we will.”
Hotel quarantine still 'the right way to go', Scott Morrison says
Morrison is defending the hotel quarantine system, as it works currently with each state managing travellers in commercial hotels.
The hotel quarantine program has seen some 211,000 people come through it. And we’re talking about a handful of cases. This is a system the rest of the world wants to replicate. And this is a system that has been very effective in protecting Australia. It has proven itself to be the right way to go.
The hotel quarantine system has certainly had its shocks along the way, but when you step back and you look at the scoreboard, in terms of how Australia has fared compared to all the other countries in the world ... It’s good for us to be hard markers on ourselves ... And we should try and get to – as a perfect situation as we possibly can, but Australia is as close to that mark as anyone else has in the world.
Updated
The EU approved its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia today.
Morrison is asked what the timeframe is in Australia.
“I will have more to say about that in the not too distant future. Not today.”
Then he adds: “We’re on track”.
Morrison says he is confident in Victoria’s contact tracing and hotel quarantine.
“I wouldn’t be here [in Melbourne] if I wasn’t confident. I have just flown down from Sydney today. That’s why I’m here. Business as usual for me being in Melbourne
“I don’t have a favourite [state] in any of this. I’m not looking to score them.
“The states and territories work together. They might have the odd state sledge here and there, but honestly, at the end of the day that’s not something I’m particularly interested in.”
Morrison is asked what he will do keep the “economy falling off a cliff” when government supports are ended.
He says the jobmaker hiring credit and “the apprenticeship support initiatives” will continue.
And more importantly, he calls on the private sector.
“The challenge now is about the investment that comes from the private sector. There is a point of hand-off, where the private sector stands up.”
Morrison also says Australia’s economy is recovering well – pointing to fewer people on jobseeker and jobkeeper as proof.
“We said at the outset, save livelihoods and lives. We’re doing both those things,” he says.
“The policies we put in place, the programs we put in place are working and we’re seeing the evidence of that. In January we saw 100,000 Australians come off jobseeker We saw at the end of September some 2.1 million Australians come off jobkeeper.”
Australia's pandemic response is working, says Morrison
Scott Morrison is speaking now from Melbourne.
“Australia’s response to the pandemic is working,” he says. “Particularly when you compare how Australia’s response to the pandemic plays out to the experience of so many other countries around the world.”
Updated
The Treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, says a future government decision on the jobseeker rate will be guided by the “adequacy” of the payment and “incentives to work”, rather than broader macroeonomic concerns.
At a Covid-19 Senate inquiry hearing, Kennedy said he had a personal view which he had expressed to the government, although he would wait for ministers to announce any decision, citing the usual cabinet processes.
The Labor senator Katy Gallagher noted that the governor of the Reserve Bank, Philip Lowe, had said the jobseeker payment should be permanently increased.
Kennedy said:
“In front of the government now are decisions around jobseeker so I’ll let the government make those decisions.
I have a view, too, and the government hears what that view is. Once they’ve made a decision to be in a position to talk about and describe it.
Asked about the potential economic impact of the coronavirus supplement ending at the end of March, Kennedy said it was less about “macroeconomic circumstances” and more to do with “the adequacy of the payment and how it intersects with incentives to work”.
Kennedy also acknowledged that there would be job losses when the jobkeeper wage subsidy ended, but in general treasury did not expect a notable rise in overall unemployment.
He said:
I’d expect it will mean there is some people whose employment won’t be present, job losses that would come of that. As there was in the move from jobkeeper two to jobkeeper one.
Commenting in general about the forthcoming withdrawal of fiscal support, Kennedy said officials were “quietly confident the recovery is locked in”.
Updated
Albanese hits back at Coalition over portable leave claims
Earlier, Anthony Albanese held a press conference in Brisbane, weighing in on claims from attorney general Christian Porter that Labor’s industrial relations policy to consider portable leave entitlements for people in insecure work could cost $20bn.
Albanese said: “I mean, this government just makes up figures as if they get them out of a cereal box in the morning. They can’t be taken seriously.”
The Labor leader also went on the counterattack about the Coalition’s industrial relations omnibus bill – which leading academics have warned could lead to pay cuts through changes meaning that Covid-19 affected businesses could strike pay deals that do not need to leave workers better off overall.
He noted Guardian Australia’s story about McDonalds:
Today I note that McDonald’s have made a submission to the inquiry about Christian Porter’s industrial relations bill. Now, they made that submission saying that when you look at whether a worker is better off overall, you should take into account whether they’ve had a chicken nugget or a French fry during their meal break. I mean, seriously?
I used to work at Maccas. I used to and I know what it’s like to have a bit of food or a drink during your break. You need to do it. Particularly, I used to work out the back. It was hot, hard work. It’s a good thing that young people work in casual jobs like at McDonald’s. I encouraged my own son to get a casual job. He worked at Woolworths through school. It is a good thing. It teaches them discipline. But the idea that you take into account whether someone’s better off overall if they have the luxury of actually getting a bit of food and a soft drink during their break is just quite absurd. And it shows where this government wants things to head. You only get rid of the Better Off Overall Test if you don’t want workers to be better off overall.”
Updated
The Treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, has told a Senate inquiry the Australian economy is “recovering faster” than officials had anticipated, with consumption “recovering very strongly” and consumer confidence returning to pre-Covid levels.
Kennedy told the Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry he was “surprised” to see participation levels improving and the unemployment rate falling “more rapidly than we expected”.
He acknowledged that treasury’s forecast of a 7-7.5% unemployment rate looked “unlikely” now.
Employment levels for people over 35 were now above pre-Covid levels, but for those between 15 and 34, they remained below that level.
He said:
That has very much unfolded in the way we expected that people have gone back to jobs ... and those jobs are being generated are going to more experienced people.
On households, Kennedy said:
Household balance sheets are well placed. People have actually been retiring their debt through this period, and partly that may have been because of their precautionary behaviour but also because the things they might have wished to spent their money on, they couldn’t because of the restrictions.
Updated
In Victoria, what needs to be done to regulate Crown Melbourne?
Ben Butler has this explainer:
NSW records no new local Covid cases
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Three new cases were acquired overseas, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,943.
There were 16,397 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 18,885.
Updated
Mamamia didn’t read the suppression order or get its story legalled before publishing a 2018 story about the verdict in the George Pell case, its CEO James Lavigne has told the Victorian supreme court this morning.
— Nino Bucci (@ninobucci) February 10, 2021
Lawyers for sacked contrarian Queensland marine scientist Dr Peter Ridd are up before the high court this morning in a case that’s exercised large chunks of the conservative media and indirectly sparked a Senate inquiry.
Ridd’s lawyers will ask the court to hear Ridd’s appeal. If denied, the decision will represent the end of a long-running legal saga instituted by Ridd and cheered along by right-wing media and commentators.
Ridd, who claims the Great Barrier Reef is not under threat from global heating or run-off from farms, was sacked by James Cook University in 2018 for alleged breaches of its code of conduct. Ridd had publicly attacked other university colleagues, claiming their science couldn’t be trusted.
The Townsville-based scientist took out legal action against the university for initially censuring him and then later sacking him. He won the case before federal circuit judge Salvatore Vasta, who awarded him $1.2m in compensation.
Conservative commentators and think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs rallied around Ridd claiming he was sacked for challenging climate science, framing the case as one of academic freedom.
In fact, as Judge Salvatore Vasta and the university had pointed out, Ridd’s sacking related to the university’s code of conduct. In his judgement, Vasta said the case “was purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an Enterprise Agreement”.
In any case, in July 2020 the university appealed Vasta’s decision and won (Vasta’s judgements have been successfully appealed more than 20 times, a review has found).
Ridd will be represented this morning by high-profile QC Stuart Wood, who also defended controversial rugby player Israel Folau in a dispute with Rugby Australia.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the case.
Updated
Victorian Covid exposure sites updated
And here is a list of those new coronavirus exposure sites in Victoria:
Visitors to the following venues at the specified times must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days:
Friday 5 February
- PJ’s Pet Warehouse, Sunbury, 3.37pm - 4.10pm
- Bakers Delight, Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3.40pm - 4.15pm
- Aldente Deli, Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3.45pm - 4.23pm
- Sushi Sushi, Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3.53pm - 4.28pm
- Asian Star, Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3.57pm - 4.30pm
Saturday 6 February
- Cellarbrations, Sunbury, 6.17pm - 7.02pm
- Sunny Life Massage, Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 4.30 - 6.30pm Sunday, February 7
- Cellarbrations, Sunbury, 5.44pm - 6.19pm
Tuesday 9 February
- Commonwealth Bank, Glen Waverley, 1.30pm - 2.45pm
- HSBC Bank, Glen Waverley, 2.15pm - 3.30pm
Visitors to the following venues at the specified times must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result:
Friday 5 February
- Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3.40pm - 4.30pm
Updated
Allan says that “hundreds of people” have been tested at a range of new pop-up testing sites around the city.
“I just spoke with Jeroen Weimar, all 20 testing facilities across Melbourne have increased their operations yesterday,” she said.
“Another day of testing in the 22,000 mark shows that Victorians continue to take this very, very seriously”.
The Victorian transport minister, Jacinta Allan, is giving the state’s Covid press conference today.
She says that one of the people who tested positive yesterday “has been in that wastewater surveillance catchment area that covers Coburg, Pascoe Vale and Reservoir”.
“That does put into context that unexpected wastewater detection that the minister for health spoke of yesterday.”
Updated
Severe Thunderstorm Warning for DAMAGING WINDS and HEAVY RAINFALL
— Country Fire Service (@CFSAlerts) February 10, 2021
For people in parts of North West Pastoral district.
Issued at 8:59 am Thursday, 11 February 2021.
The next warning is due to be issued by 12:00 pm. refer https://t.co/fz0g1LJkiL pic.twitter.com/lj7ugwC3DJ
AMP cancels dividend, Ares drops bid
AMP shareholders won’t be receiving a final dividend for 2020 after the financial services provider endured a tough 12 months and takeover talks with Ares Management fell through, AAP report.
AMP was advised overnight by US-based Ares that it will not be proceeding with its $1.85 per share takeover bid, but talks surrounding AMP Capital continue.
Releasing its full-year results on Thursday, AMP reported an underlying net profit of $295m, compared with $439m the previous year.
“2020 was a tough year across the world,” AMP chief executive Francesco De Ferrari said in a statement.
The board’s decision not to declare a final dividend follows a $344m payout to shareholders in the form of a 10 cents per share special dividend in the first half of 2020.
Updated
AGL posts loss
Energy generator and retailer AGL has reported a massive bottom-line loss and says the outlook for the rest of this financial year looks challenging, AAP reports.
The net loss was $2.3bn for the six months to December, compared with a profit of $323m in the previous corresponding half year.
Most of the loss was driven by AGL’s earlier decision to book impairments for “onerous” legacy contracts related to windfarm offtake agreements. Those contracts, which were stuck between 2006 and 2012 to support renewable energy sector development, ended up costing AGL more than they are worth today.
After excluding one-off charges, AGL underlying earnings were a bit rosier. Underlying profit was $317m, albeit down 26.6%.
This reflected a sharp decline in wholesale prices and margins for energy, including electricity, gas and renewables, and the cost of supporting vulnerable customers during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The outlook remains challenging,” CEO Brett Redman said in a briefing on Thursday.
AGL continues to forecast an underlying net profit between $500m and $580m for 2020/21. This compares with $816m the year before.
It also reflects the impact of the current outage of the Liddell coal-fired power station in Muswellbrook in NSW.
Redman noted cooler or milder weather across most of the country this summer had reduced power demand.
Updated
Crown will undertake 'root and branch' reform, chair says
Crown Resorts chair Helen Coonan says the company accepts the criticism of it made in a scathing report tabled in NSW parliament on Tuesday and will undertake “root and branch” reform to make itself suitable to hold the license to run a new casino at Barangaroo in Sydney.
In the report, inquiry commissioner Patricia Bergin found Crown had facilitated money laundering and there had been criminal involvement in junkets that brought high-rollers to its casinos. She said the company was not suitable to hold a licence but set out ways it could clean itself up so that it could run Barangaroo.
In a statement to the stock exchange, Coonan said she welcomed the report and the response to it from the head of the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, Philip Crawford.
As the chairman of a high-profile public company in Australia, I recognise community and regulatory expectations of the way we conduct our operations are rightly high.
The commissioner has made findings of serious conduct, culture and compliance issues that clearly do not accord with our values. I accept criticism is warranted and reiterate our unreserved apologies for these shortcomings.
While we have already taken a number of important steps to improve our governance, compliance and culture, I recognise from the commissioner’s report we have much more to do.
We do not underestimate the scale of the problem and appreciate there is a need for ‘root and branch’ change. This change has commenced.
Importantly, the commissioner’s report outlines a pathway towards suitability to give effect to the Barangaroo Restricted Gaming Licence. Noting that ILGA will now consider and respond to the recommendations, I today commit to working in an orderly and coordinated manner with Mr Crawford.
We owe it to the over 20,000 people who work at Crown’s properties to move with pace as we implement the necessary reforms.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Crown directors Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston after their resignation from the Board yesterday. On behalf of the board, I thank Guy and Michael for their valuable service and wish them well with the future. Their decision will help accelerate our plans for board renewal and demonstrates we are moving quickly in our response to the commissioner’s report.”
Updated
Victoria records two locally acquired Covid cases, reported yesterday evening
There were two locally acquired Covid-19 cases in Victoria in the 24 hours to midnight yesterday.
These were announced already yesterday evening – they are a worker and a guest at the Holiday Inn.
The total number of people in the Holiday Inn cluster is now at eight – a family of three who returned from overseas, and five workers or guests.
Yesterday there were 2 new locally acquired cases reported. 22,570 test results were received. Thanks for getting tested, #EveryTestHelps. More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 10, 2021
#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/H5AgcwznOV
Updated
'More people have to go' at Crown
The chair of the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, Philip Crawford, has just spoken on 2GB radio about Crown, AAP reports.
“Things could get really sticky if we don’t get things sorted out pretty quickly and April is approaching very fast,” he said this morning.
When asked about the future of CEO Ken Barton and director Andrew Demetriou, Crawford indicated it was “obvious” from reading the scathing report that they also needed to make a swift exit.
“More people have got to go,” he told Radio 2GB.
“The liquor licence expires at the end of April and that’s not a bad horizon for us to put to them and say, ‘You’ve really got to get on with it’. It’s got to be quick.”
He said the resignation of two directors, Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston, was “a really positive start”.
“Just what we’re going to do with Mr Packer and his 36% (shareholding) is something we’ll be discussing,” he said.
Updated
The doors are open at the new drive-through testing site in Sunbury at the former Masters carpark on the corner of Vineyard Rd and McDougall Rd (across the road from Woolies). pic.twitter.com/3d1mPNcr9X
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 10, 2021
Australian universities will prioritise “Instagram-worthy” experiences on campus, while cutting building costs and face-to-face lectures, according to an external report on university digitisation.
Darren McKee, the chief operating officer of Murdoch University in Western Australia, was quoted in the report saying: “The face-to-face mass lecture is all but dead.”
The report claims that creating a more “Instagram-worthy” campus is a new priority of university design.
Updated
EU approves first shipment of Pfizer vaccine
Australia’s first shipment of coronavirus vaccines has been formally approved. The European Union has formally approved the export of vaccines to 23 countries including Australia.
The trade minister, Dan Tehan, said: “It is great news and they’ll arrive towards the end of February and we are absolutely on track to roll our vaccine program out.”
Updated
McDonald’s management has proposed that non-monetary benefits – such as Happy Meals, chicken nuggets and Big Macs – should be considered when the Fair Work Commission evaluates whether a pay deal leaves workers better off.
As Paul Karp reports, that means they could soon be asking their own staff “Would you like fries with that?”
Updated
Peter Dutton grant 'worse than sports rorts, Kristina Keneally says
Labor’s immigration spokesperson, Kristina Keneally, has attacked the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton over a fast-tracked grant to the National Retailers Association, which he denies was influenced by a donation.
Keneally told ABC News Breakfast this morning that this was a “rort”.
“The Liberals treat taxpayer money as if it is Liberal party money,” she said. “These grants come from the Safer Communities Fund. But it seems Peter Dutton wasn’t using the money to keep communities safe, he was using it to make Liberal-held and marginal independent and Labor seats safer for the Liberal party.”
“This looks, on the face of it, worse than the sports rorts scandal that saw the resignation of then minister Bridget McKenzie,” Keneally said.
“Prime minister Scott Morrison needs to speak up today and make clear whether or not Peter Dutton has breached ministerial standards. Only the face of it, it looks like he has, but that needs to come clear.”
Documents obtained by ABC’s 7.30, published on Wednesday, said the NRA received a one-off $880,000 grant for a program to assist retailers responding to armed offender incidents.
In a written statement, Dutton said “the baseless suggestion that I have or would be influenced by a lawful donation to the LNP is false and highly defamatory”.
“The suggestion that the government has done anything other than support projects worthy of support is nonsense.”
Updated
Tsunami warning cancelled for Lord Howe Island
“Small unusual waves” may continue, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, but a tsunami warning for Lord Howe Island has officially been cancelled.
The all-clear however, has not yet been given, and residents are still being told to be alert.
The warning was issued three hours ago, after a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake near New Caledonia, just before midnight.
The New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency said people should get out of the water, off beaches and away from harbours, rivers and estuaries in areas from Ahipara to Bay of Islands, Great Barrier Island and from Matata to Tolaga Bay.
“We expect New Zealand coastal areas to experience strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore,” the agency said in a statement.
#BREAKING Good news for Lord Howe Island, the Tsunami threat has now been cancelled. @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/VPHHKD32yy
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) February 10, 2021
The main tsunami waves have now passed all expected Lord Howe Island locations. Small unusual waves may continue, but Tsunami Warnings for Lord Howe Island have been cancelled. NSW State Emergency Service will advise the All Clear when safe to return to coastal areas.
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) February 10, 2021
Read the full report here:
Updated
Good morning everyone, and welcome back to our live coverage of Australian news and the coronavirus. It’s Naaman Zhou here with you.
A tsunami warning has been issued – and then cancelled – for Lord Howe Island after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake near New Caledonia. No evacuations have taken place.
Yesterday, Victoria’s Holiday Inn Covid cluster grew to eight after another worker and former guest tested positive. We’ll be watching for an update on that today.
South Australia also reimposed its hard border for greater Melbourne residents from midnight yesterday. In New South Wales, some restrictions are still set to ease tomorrow.
We’ll bring you more as it happens. Stay with us.
Updated
