What happened today, Friday, 18 June, 2021
That is where we will leave the live blog for Friday. Amy Remeikis will be back with you on Monday morning for the next sitting week of parliament.
In the meantime, this is what made the news on Friday:
- Masks are compulsory on Sydney public transport for the next five days as New South Wales recorded one new case of Covid-19. No other restrictions have been brought in as a result of the latest outbreak, beyond people in the eastern suburbs being asked to reconsider going out this weekend.
- The case was reported to be a “fleeting transmission” from the first case on the same level of the Westfield Bondi Junction Myer store on Saturday 16 June.
- Queensland declared the local government area of Waverley a hotspot, meaning anyone visiting from that area must isolate for 14 days.
- The couple who travelled to Queensland from Melbourne during lockdown have been fined by Queensland police for allegedly giving false information on their border declaration form.
- Witness K has been spared jail time, given a three-month suspended sentence.
Updated
One for the Senate estimates fans. It’ll be on between 6 and 8pm AEST.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and Health Department officials will give evidence to the Senate COVID-19 committee in a newly scheduled hearing on Monday evening
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) June 18, 2021
More than 800 seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands have completed Covid-19 quarantine and have begun harvesting crops in South Australia’s Riverland, AAP reports.
The 782 men and 22 women from Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Samoa have been in isolation at a Paringa facility, northeast of Adelaide, with none returning a positive test result for coronavirus.
They were brought in to help fill the gap left by the loss of the usual pool of seasonal workers, including backpackers.
“Industry modelling shows if there was a significant reduction in the availability of seasonal workers there could have been nearly $1 billion wiped from our state economy,” primary industries minister David Basham said.
“This would have been devastating for our local agriculture industry and the thousands of jobs across the state it supports.”
Basham said the government had worked closely with SA Health and police to safely set up the specially configured Paringa Resort as a quarantine location.
He said the government would now consider other options to get more seasonal workers into SA if needed.
Discussions were continuing over a pre-departure quarantine pilot program in Vanuatu and Fiji, the minister said.
Updated
The prosecution of Witness K has been labelled a “dark chapter” in Australia’s history.
The Human Rights Law Centre has just issued a statement defending Witness K’s actions in helping to expose Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste in 2004. Senior lawyer Kieran Pender said:
“Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished. Instead of recognising the important role Witness K played in exposing wrongdoing, he was charged, prosecuted and has now been sentenced, with much of this process taking place in secret.”
The HRLC said the case would have a “chilling effect” on others considering blowing the whistle. Pender says they will not think twice about the “enormous personal risk that comes with doing the right thing”.
“This only serves to make our democracy poorer.”
Updated
NSW Health determines transmission at Myer Bondi Junction
NSW Health has determined Covid-19 tranmission occurred between two patrons at the Myer in Bondi Junction on Saturday 12 June.
As a result, all staff and patrols who were at Myer Bondi Junction on level 2 or level 4 on that date between 11.15am and 11.50am are considered close contacts, must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and self-isolate for 14 days from the date they were at the venue, regardless of the result.
Level 2 includes women’s sleepwear, shoes, lingerie, handbags, accessories, watches and cosmetics. Level 4 includes homewares, toys and kidswear.
Anyone who attended during these times but did not go to level 2 or 4 is not a contact.
Anyone, including staff and patrons, who attended David Jones Bondi Junction, Level 1 on Saturday 12 June from 10.55am to 11.15am is now considered a close contact and must also follow the above steps.
Level 1 includes bedding, manchester, homewares and small appliances.
Anyone who attended during these times, on either the food court of level 1, or any other floors of David Jones is not a contact.
The following venues have also been listed as exposure sites:
- Westfield Bondi Junction, Level 5 Food Court, Sunday 13 June between 1.15pm to 1.45pm
- Eden Gardens, Macquarie Park, Sunday 13 June, between 12.30pm to 1pm
Anyone who was at the venues at this time must get tested and isolate until a negative result is returned.
Anyone who visited the following venues at the listed times should monitor for symptoms and get tested if they occur:
- Westfield Bondi Junction, Level 4, Friday 11 June between 12.30pm to 1pm
- Bondi Junction Interchange, Stand J, Tuesday 15 June, between 4.10pm to 4.30pm
- Limousine car park at Sydney International Airport Arrival circuit,Mascot, Tuesday 15 June, between 6am to 7.30am
Updated
A third of WA aged care workers would quit rather than get Covid-19 vaccinations
A third of West Australian aged care workers would quit the industry if forced to get Covid-19 vaccinations, according to a new survey.
State and federal leaders have discussed potentially enforcing mandatory vaccinations in aged care amid concerns about the slow rollout in the sector.
AAP reports the Australian Nursing Federation has polled 4000 members who work in aged care in WA on the topic.
Almost two thirds of respondents said vaccinations should remain voluntary and 31 per cent said they would leave the industry if forced to get a jab.
If staff were forced to be vaccinated, it should also be mandatory for relatives and visitors, according to 85 per cent of respondents.
Aged care staff also want to be given their choice of vaccines.
ANF state secretary Mark Olson said enforcing vaccinations would exacerbate staff shortages in the aged care sector.
“We are desperately short of aged care nurses and carers,” he said on Friday.
“We cannot afford to adopt policies that would worsen well-documented difficulties facing the sector and create an even bigger shortage of staff.”
Olson has written to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and WA premier Mark McGowan urging them to persist with voluntary vaccinations.
Morrison earlier this month said state and federal leaders were “leaning heavily” towards forcing aged care workers to get jabs.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) has been asked to provide advice on how such a program could be rolled out.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly earlier this month acknowledged that it could have unintended consequences.
He said some security guards in WA had chosen to leave the industry after vaccinations were enforced for frontline hotel quarantine workers.
“We don’t want that to be an issue,” he said.
Updated
Here’s Christopher Knaus’s full report from the Witness K sentencing.
Queensland Rail driver killed as trains collide
AAP reports a Queensland Rail train driver is dead and two others are injured after a locomotive and a coal train collided west of Rockhampton.
The three drivers were all on the locomotive when it collided with a coal train on the Aurizon rail network, about 11.30am on Friday, Queensland Rail chief executive Nick Easy said.
Police say the driver who died was a 49-year-old man from Margate, north of Brisbane.
Another driver, 43, suffered a broken leg and was flown to Rockhampton Hospital. The third driver, 41, sustained minor injuries and was taken to the hospital by road.
Police have said both trains were westbound but it’s unclear if both were moving at the time of the crash.
The RACQ CapRescue helicopter service, which attended the scene, said it appeared one train was stationary and was hit from behind by the other.
“We are deeply saddened and distressed by the incident and our priority is the welfare of our people and the families of the drivers involved,” Easy said in a statement.
He said the Rail Safety Regulator and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland would investigate the cause of the crash
“Given the nature of the incident, it is not appropriate to comment or speculate further on the potential cause.”
The Capricorn Highway had to be closed for about two hours so the helicopter could get access to the scene.
Forensic Crash Unit investigations are continuing.
Updated
It is not long until Census night, now - 10 August, and the assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar, held a press conference earlier about what we can expect.
The 2016 Census was plagued with issues on the night, with thousands of people unable to access it.
They’re ramping up the number of people they’re expecting to do the Census online, but people will be able to do the Census as soon as they get their login information – they won’t need to wait until 10 August.
People can choose to still fill out the paper version if they want, but they’re expecting about 75% of the population to fill out their form online – up from 63% in 2016.
To avoid the issues faced last time, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, has been undertaking ethical hacks of its IT systems, and simulated distributed-denial-of service attacks to prepare for what might happen once the system is live.
There was also real-time monitoring and alert tools, and Sukkar said all information is securely hosted in Australia, and encrypted end to end.
ABS chief statistician, David Gruen, said the ABS could “never say never” on something going wrong on the night, but the bureau has done a lot of work to prevent a repeat of 2016:
“We are as prepared as we think we can be, but I will sleep more soundly on the 12th August after this is over ... We have to be prepared for everything including kids in their parent’s basement who would think it would be a great idea if they could get into the system. That, state actors, people who … as is clear the ABS holds a lot of sensitive data. We do it as carefully as we possibly can so that we protect people’s privacy, but it is something that means that you have to have as sophisticated protections as you possibly can.”
Updated
Witness K handed suspended sentence
Witness K has been handed a suspended sentence of three months imprisonment. He will not serve time behind bars.
Witness K, hidden by a wall of black panels, was asked to stand by Magistrate Glenn Theakston before being sentenced. He was ordered to be of good behaviour for a year and pay $1,000 in security.
Theakston said the Witness K’s crime was not “trivial”, but rather a “express, deliberate breach of the defendant’s obligations to maintain the secrecy of the operations of Asis”.
Witness K has faced sentencing proceedings this week for his role in exposing Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste during 2004 negotiations to carve up oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.
The bugging gave Australia an upper hand in the commercial negotiations. Witness K has since been praised as a hero by leaders of the impoverished nation.
The Australian government, meanwhile, signed off on his prosecution.
The court heard Witness K was now elderly, aged above 70, and was suffering physical health problems, as well as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideation.
Theakston found his mental health issues were connected with his offending, and reduced his culpability.
“I can’t help but find his moral culpability is reduced,” he said.
Theakston said Witness K was not motivated by personal gain. Nor was he attempting to blackmail anyone.
The disclosures were made in affidavits intended to be used in the permanent court of arbitration, where Timor-Leste had accused Australia of negotiating in bad faith by using espionage.
Witness K, Theakston said, was acting in to achieve “justice” and had an “intention to participate in the rules-based order”.
Updated
Witness K spared jail
My colleague, Christopher Knaus, reports Witness K has been spared jail, after pleading guilty over his involvement in exposing a 2004 bugging operation against the allied government of Timor-Leste during negotiations over the Timor Sea.
Witness K has been spared jail time. He was sentenced to a 3mths term of imprisonment, which was fully suspended. Magistrate noted he was motivated by a sense of justice, rather than for any personal gain. More to come on @GuardianAus shortly.
— Christopher Knaus (@knausc) June 18, 2021
We will have the full story shortly but you can read his earlier report of the Witness K trial here.
Prof Mary-Louise McLaws said she believes the vaccine rollout should prioritise people between the ages of 20 and 39 to reduce the risk of transmission in the community:
“I believe that the group that we need to focus on are the 20-39-year-olds, yes, the elderly have a great risk of death and that is why they need to continue to get their Pfizer shots, absolutely. But, in the meantime, until we get enough of the product if Australia and around Australia, we really do need to focus on that 20 to 39-year-olds because they carry the burden of infection and the burden of transmission and if we give them Pfizer and there is only 21 days between the first and the second dose, then we cut off that vehicle of spread.”
Updated
Epidemiologist Prof Mary-Louise McLaws has told ABC’s afternoon briefing the Sydney outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 so far seems to be going slower than the Victorian outbreak – the main outbreak being the Kappa variant – but said the growing number of exposure sites was a concern.
There are 27 close contact sites, and around eight casual sites, she said:
“But we don’t know how infectious is case was or cases at the time of their visiting all of these sites. It would be nice to know when they were diagnosed, when they think they were exposed, and then we could work backwards to when they were at most risk of spread.”
Updated
In further good news, South Australia has recorded zero new locally acquired cases.
South Australian COVID-19 update 18/6/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/e4B14m8DML or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/S20NuLMTBF
— SA Health (@SAHealth) June 18, 2021
The ABC is reporting that a man has attempted to escape hotel quarantine in Cairns by scaling the building.
The 29-year old allegedly tried to escape the hotel by by climbing over the balcony, where he injured his legs.
Police say the man arrived from Victoria this morning, and are investigating the matter.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young said he’s now in hospital.
A gentleman did try to climb out of the balcony they were on and then fell and was taken to the Cairns base hospital.
Updated
NSW to give away vouchers of up to $100 to spend in Sydney CBD
In some fantastic news, NSW will be rolling out a “TGIF” voucher scheme that will allow residents to spend up to $100 in the Sydney CBD.
In a statement, NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the vouchers will (checks notes) make Fridays fun again?
We have listened to businesses and know that it’s time to make Fridays fun again and ensure the Sydney CBD doesn’t just survive but thrives.
This will be a targeted program designed to get more people back into the heart of the greatest city on earth and on the way through spend a little extra on retail and services businesses.”
The way it works is that about 500,000 Sydneysiders will receive four $25 vouchers that can only be used in the CBD, and on a Friday, in an attempt to encourage people to return to the CBD.
I already have plans for my vouchers, and it won’t involve using all the vouchers in one go. It’s all about being strategic.
Updated
South Australia prepares for return of international students
Universities Australia has congratulated the South Australian government for becoming the first state to welcome international students back this year, after a new quarantine plan was approved by the federal government today.
Under the SA plan, which we reported on the blog this morning, up to 160 students at a time will quarantine for two weeks in accommodation at Adelaide’s Parafield Airport.
This will be separate to the existing hotel quarantine system, and won’t impact the number of Australians who can return home.
The chief executive of UA, Catriona Jackson, said today the plan “demonstrates what is possible when health authorities, government, industry and our universities cooperate in achieving the safe return of students from low-risk nations”.
“Right now, there are more than 10,000 higher education students studying with South Australian institutions who are outside the country. We want to welcome them back as quickly as possible so they can join their Australian classmates on campus.”
Earlier today, the SA premier, Steven Marshall said international education contributed more than $2b to the state’s economy.
“We hope to see more states and territories go down the same path as South Australia in the near future,” Jackson said.
NSW also has a similar plan that is awaiting federal government approval.
Updated
Federal government broadcasting plan dropped
A Morrison government plan to allow Foxtel to halve its commitment to producing Australian drama and save up to $12m a year has been dropped from the broadcasting bill at the 11th hour.
The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment Bill, which included a controversial proposal to allow Foxtel to slash its requirement to spend 10% of its drama budget on Australian content to 5% was removed after opposition from Labor and the Greens.
The bill was examined by a Senate committee which has recommended in a rare majority report on Friday that the Foxtel part of the bill be withdrawn.
The Greens media spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, said that the Foxtel reduction “would have delivered another favour to Murdoch-owned Foxtel after the $40m tax-payer funded grant Foxtel received to broadcast women’s sport on their platforms”.
The parties agreed that the Foxtel proposal would be examined as part of the media reform green paper and the imposition of content obligations on streaming services like Netflix. The Greens want a 20% quota on streaming services while the government has proposed 5%.
The committee heard from the independent production sector that drama is of “critical cultural value to Australia” and reducing content obligations would see drama replaced by entertainment programs.
Foxtel told the committee it would save between $10m and $12m a year if the legislation became law, and it had invested $217m on lifestyle programming and $165m on drama programming in the past five years.
Foxtel’s earnings have halved since the arrival of streaming services, the committee heard.
The ABC does not have a content obligation while commercial free-to-air broadcasters are required to ensure that 55% of all content they broadcast is Australian.
Labor said the government has failed to follow the lead of other countries by requiring them to invest in local content and create local jobs.
Updated
So, LNP MP John Alexander has received his first jab, and celebrated by proudly declaring it was an AstraZeneca vaccine in a video posted to Facebook:
Alexander claimed in the post people shouldn’t hesitate to take the AZ vaccine in that people should see it as playing the “percentage game”:
When you’re playing for big money in professional tennis you play the percentages, so too the ‘Game of Life’. Play smart, play the percentages, look after your health and the health of others: get vaccinated.
I have full confidence in our vaccination program and in the AstraZeneca vaccine, the rewards outweigh the tiny risks.
As such, today I received my first AstraZeneca jab, as an over 60 (believe it or not!).
Northern Territory sacred sites being destroyed by mining, Juukan Gorge inquiry hears
The Juukan Gorge inquiry has heard evidence from traditional owners of Glencore’s McArthur River Mine lease on the destruction of sacred sites.
AAP has the story:
The Juukan Gorge inquiry has been told Aboriginal sacred sites were being dug up, wiped out and blown up at a massive Northern Territory lead and zinc mine.
The parliamentary committee inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia on Friday heard evidence from traditional owners of Glencore’s McArthur River Mine lease.
The mine – about 750km southeast of Darwin – has been dogged by environmental incidents and alleged damage to cultural sites over the past four decades.
Yanyuwa/Garrwa/Gurdanji woman Joy Priest said her late father Leo Finlay, who was a former Northern Land Council deputy chair, fought to protect the land from the mine in the 1970s but was unsuccessful.
“Forty years later, that mining company has still got us like sardines in a tin, and they still got all their interests protected,” she said.
“But we are left exposed with our sacred sites unprotected.”
Garrwa elder and Borroloola Aboriginal leader Jack Green said MRM had destroyed cultural sites important to traditional owners.
“Where they’ve got the mine site it’s right in the middle of six very important sacred sites, they’re all connected under a rainbow snake that they’ve dug in half,” he said.
“We’re fighting to get the government and the mining company to understand that it’s Aboriginal land and very important.
“There’s a songline that ties us to the area. We are not going to go away.”
Mr Green said Aboriginal people needed to be treated with respect and consulted over future development at the mine.
Gudanji traditional owner for sacred sites within the mine lease Casey Davey said MRM should stop its destruction of the land.
“We want our sacred sites protected and we want them to clean it up,” he said.
“Don’t treat our country like this.”
Native title holders are troubled by the lack of consultation with the expanding mine and its impact on 22 sacred sites and the land.
Updated
The ACT has recorded zero new cases today, which is great news considering some of the concern around the apparent false positive case that had visited the state.
ACT COVID-19 update (18 June 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) June 18, 2021
▪️ Cases today: 0
▪️ Active cases: 0
▪️ Total cases: 124
▪️ Recovered: 121
▪️ Lives lost: 3
▪️ Test results (past 24 hours): 622
▪️ Negative tests: 224,799
▪️ Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 69,198
ℹ️ https://t.co/YGW9pOHG3e pic.twitter.com/sldkEinlDE
Anthony Albanese was also asked about my colleague Katharine Murphy’s report today that concern was raised about using the AstraZeneca vaccine in the over 50s in April. He said there had been “real issues” with the vaccine:
“Well, no doubt it’s a very good report, you would think, in the Guardian, as you would recommend. But I’ve got to say, I haven’t read that. But it’s very clear that there have been real issues here. And the government needs to be more transparent about what the processes are. They need to be transparent about the meeting held last July that we asked about in parliament, whereby you had a junior burger going along negotiating with Pfizer about the possibility of manufacturing Pfizer here and about access to the Pfizer vaccine here in large quantities. How is it that hasn’t occurred? How is it that Greg Hunt, as the health minister, didn’t take control of the process? Because they were too busy at that time saying we were at the front of the queue, with all of their rhetoric and all of this spin. What we need here is substance, not spin. And this is a government that is addicted to marketing, and yet it can’t market a public information campaign to roll out the vaccine.”
Updated
Thanks Amy. Labor leader Anthony Albanese held a press conference a short time ago, and the transcript has just come through, so I will go through some of what was asked.
He was asked whether it was a “cheap shot” to say the federal government put all its eggs in one basket with the AstraZeneca vaccine, in the wake of the new Atagi advice overnight, because the government has ordered enough of other vaccines to cover the population. He said only AZ and Pfizer are available right now:
“The fact is there are only two vaccines in Australia at the moment. AstraZeneca and Pfizer. And the co-chair of Atagi, Associate Prof Christopher Blyth, said last night that vaccine supply remains relatively constrained.
“I spoke to people all the time who are trying to log on desperate to get vaccinated. They are in groups. They get messages back saying, ‘Thanks, you’ve registered, but you can’t get a spot right now, log on at a later time and see if you can get a spot’. Now what that’s doing is creating a real disincentive for people who are trying to do the right thing. A real disincentive.
“We know that essential workers, people in category 1A have not been vaccinated yet. Aged care residents, disability care residents, aged care workers. The government can’t even tell you how many, what percentage of aged care workers, have been vaccinated, because they sent them off to local GPs.
“The government also has had the pharmacies, GPs, crying out saying, ‘We’re ready to help get an orderly system in place’. This government insisted on controlling the rollout of the vaccine rather than delivering it through the states and area health services and pharmacies. And the truth is that as of today, less than 3% of Australians are fully vaccinated, after they said 4 million people would be vaccinated in March. This is a government that has missed every one of its targets.”
Updated
I’m going to hand you over to the glorious Josh Taylor for the next little bit.
Parliament is back on Monday, and that’s when you’ll see me again. So have a wonderful weekend and please, as always – take care of you.
Police fine Melbourne couple who headed to Qld during lockdown
Queensland police have fined the Melbourne couple who travelled to Queensland during Victoria’s lockdown for providing false information their border passes.
From the Queensland police media statement:
Detectives from Task Force Sierra Linnet have issued a penalty infringement notice (PIN) to a man and woman for allegedly providing false information on their Queensland border declarations.
Police will allege the duo travelled into Queensland on June 5, via Goondiwindi after having been in Victoria and deliberately provided false information to obtain a Queensland Border Declaration Pass ‘G’ pass.
Police were alerted to the pair on June 9, after the woman tested positive for COVID-19.
The man subsequently tested positive the following day (June 10).
The duo has remained in hospital undergoing treatment for COVID-19 and were released by Queensland Health today (June 18).
Police interviewed the duo this morning and following investigations, the 48-year-old man and 44-year-old woman have each been issued with a PIN for failing to comply with COVID-19 Border Direction – CHO Untrue Info ($4,003).
Updated
Just before Greg Hunt’s press conference, Anthony Albanese held a quick press conference, where he repeated Labor’s take on the vaccine rollout mess:
This government had two big jobs this year: to roll out the vaccine and to establish national quarantine facilities. And it’s very clear that it’s botched both.
Yesterday’s announcement on AstraZeneca is creating further confusion.
And if the government had done what Labor argued it should do – put in place multiple deals with vaccines such as Moderna – then they could have substituted very easily and avoided some of this confusion.
Last night, on the 7.30 Report, the co-chair of Atagi, associate prof Christopher Blyth, said this:
“Our vaccine supply remains relatively constrained.”
Now, this pandemic has been a crisis for a long period of time now. The government has had more than a year to get its act together.
And yet what we have is a failure to put in place a clear plan to deal with Covid going forward. Labor has put forward that 4 -point plan consistently to get the rollout of the vaccine right, to make sure that there’s national quarantine facilities available with purpose-built facilities, to have a public information campaign that’s effective, and to produce and manufacture mRNA vaccines right here in Australia.
The government has not put in place any of those measures and it put all of its eggs in the AstraZeneca baskets, and now those chickens are coming home to roost.
Updated
Greg Hunt wraps up the press conference with one of his now-signature “statesman” statements, even though there are still journalists who have questions
Updated
Should people who are refusing their second dose of AstraZeneca be put in the back of the queue for the Pfizer vaccine?
Greg Hunt:
The critical thing is for people to come forward for their second dose.
And we know that the RACGP and the AMA are supporting the strong, clear medical advice of the chief nursing and midwifery officer of Australia, the head the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
Our goal is not to be punitive, to be supportive of Australians, and to say that we want everybody to be vaccinated.
And if you’ve had the first dose, the medical advice set out by Atagi in writing yesterday was absolutely clear: that the risk of an adverse incident after having had the first dose is absolutely rare, and that’s global experience as well as Australian.
Updated
Why is the ADF involved in the Covid response, given that they have you know, other jobs and we have public servants who are qualified for these roles? (And indeed, were filling them until recently.)
Greg Hunt:
We think they’re an enormous asset. An enormous national asset.
The military has been involved in the response to Covid right from the outset, very early on we recruited military personnel to work in the National Incident Centre.
They have been engaged right throughout the logistics in terms of the acquisition and the purchasing, to make sure that we had masks and ventilators. [General] JJ [Frewen] was deeply involved in the ventilator program from the earliest time. Just the logistical capacity, as well as what they were able to do on the ground in Victoria and in other states.
We are so privileged to have this ADF in this country. And to be able to deploy them in this role, it shows – as they do, whether it’s floods, bushfires, natural disasters – they’re here to protect us in terms of any threat abroad, but they’re here to support Australians in times of need.
Updated
Despite Gladys Berejiklian (and a few other premiers) naming about 80% of the population as the target rate for herd immunity, the feds are not putting a figure on it.
Greg Hunt deflects and says something along the lines of as high as possible.
The question wasn’t broadcast, but I think Greg Hunt was just asked about the story that the government could have secured the Pfizer vaccine earlier and didn’t. Hunt declares it “false”.
... And we’ve secured all of the available doses at the earliest possible time, that could have been done, and Pfizer’s confirmed that.
Updated
Confirmation of vaccine rollout delays
General John Frewen, head of the ridiculously named “operation Covid shield”, known in normal nations as the vaccine rollout, confirms there is an expected drop in vaccination rates because of the Pfizer supply concerns:
We also now think that what is likely to happen in the near term is that we will see a likely temporary reduction in daily vaccination rates, as people make informed decisions around what they want to do in light of the Atagi announcement, they then change their bookings and they then get access to a Pfizer provision point. But, you know, this potential reduction should be short-term and then we would see a return to the more regular daily vaccination rates.
Updated
Back to the federal health press conference and chief midwifery officer, Alison McMillan is repeating the health advice around the vaccines.
In short – if you can get one, get one.
McMillan:
If you’re over 60, please don’t hesitate to go ahead and get that booking for your vaccine.
Although we do know there are side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine, if you contract Covid-19 you are much, much more likely to get unwell or die than if you have a side-effect from the vaccine.
Current data in Australia says that the over-60s, of those who contract Covid, 14% of those die.
So it’s a really important message that this vaccine will protect you from this virus, but you do need to get the vaccine. If you’ve had your first dose of AstraZeneca, please don’t hesitate to get your second dose.
Make that booking and get your vaccine. That’s because the second dose is important to make sure that you’re completely covered and that you get the full protection the vaccine provides to you.
If you’re concerned or you’re not sure, you’ve got questions around the vaccine, as you’ve heard, you can talk to a health professional, talk to your general practitioner about your questions.
There are lots of places where you can get answers to your questions, including at health.gov.au.
Thirdly, now, if you’re between 50 and 59, now you can make a booking to get the Pfizer vaccine, but we do ask you to be patient.
There is enough for everyone, but there are obviously booking times. You need to make those bookings so that you can get that vaccine.
So, importantly, if you’re over 60, please don’t hesitate, make that booking for the vaccine. If you’ve had your first AstraZeneca, go ahead with your second. If you have questions, seek health professional advice. And if you’re between 50 and 59, now you can access Pfizer, make that appointment, but we do ask for patience.
Updated
Witness K: prosecutors say case should be used to deter others
I’ve just emerged from the Witness K sentencing hearing, where we’ve been allowed to hear some of the prosecution’s submissions on sentence.
The prosecution is not pushing for an immediate sentence of imprisonment for the former intelligence officer, who is charged over his role in unearthing Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste during 2004 negotiations to divide resources in the Timor Sea.
Prosecutors have, however, argued against Witness K’s push for a non-conviction order and said his case should be used to deter others in the community from committing similar acts. The commonwealth prosecutor Richard Maidment, QC, said Witness K should not be afforded any mitigation because he thought the disclosure was “appropriate”. The court has heard Witness K may have been motivated by a sense of altruism or vindication.
“In our submission, the consideration of whether it was appropriate for him to breach the obligations, which had been brought to his attention many times, does not afford him mitigation,” he said.
Witness K is charged with conspiring with his lawyer Bernard Collaery to disclose protected information to Timor-Leste in 2013.
The conspiracy was realised by Witness K’s writing of two affidavits for use in the permanent court of arbitration, where Timor-Leste was arguing Australia’s espionage showed the 2004 negotiations had not been conducted in good faith.
Maidment said the conspiracy took place over many months, between May and October 2013. It was not an “instantaneous” act, he said, or some momentary lapse.
“He had the opportunity to consider, reconsider, reconsider, many times over” Maidment said.
Updated
Greg Hunt press conference
Greg Hunt starts off with the news that there will be a national cabinet meeting, most likely on Monday (depending on availability of the premiers) and thanks the states and territories for the pivot they have made with their vaccine programs since the advice came down yesterday.
Hunt then announces there is a new Medicare subsidy for GPs to help counsel people about vaccines (which is what the royal college of GPs had been calling for).
Hunt:
I have signed the Medicare instrument today – it is to assist our GPs to assist and support those who are coming forward for vaccinations.
So there will be a new Medicare item for over-50s to allow for a general practice consultation. It will be done by GPs. It will be at what’s known as the Level B equivalent, or $38.75, and it will be bulk-billed.
And I particularly want to thank the AMA and the RACGP, and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, led by Karen Price – they have worked with us on this item.
And their goal is very simple, and that is to ensure that everybody in the 50-60 category comes forward to have their second dose, and those that haven’t had a first dose come forward over the coming weeks and months to have a first dose.
And then also to ensure that everybody over 60 either has their second dose or comes forward to have a first dose. And to have this additional support for people as they are facing a decision around their first dose, or completion of their second dose, is something that the GPs have supported and advocated, and which the prime minister readily accepted and authorised immediately today.
That item is live and available immediately.
Updated
Queensland declares Waverley council area a hotspot
Queensland has declared Waverley LGA, in Sydney, a hotspot (as of 1am tomorrow).
So if you are from, or have been in the eastern Sydney area, and plan on travelling to Queensland after 1am tomorrow, you will be made to undergo hotel quarantine.
Updated
The acting Victorian premier says the federal government has had a year to sort out vaccine supply issues, and has failed.
James Merlino:
The government absolutely acknowledges global issues but there has been well over a year for the commonwealth to get these matters sorted. The fact is, from today there is going to be a public hit of confidence in terms of AstraZeneca and we have got less Pfizer to give at a time we have got increasing demand. We are falling behind in this race.
Monday’s national cabinet meeting should be a barrel of laughs.
Updated
James Merlino says he believes there is not a strong federal government public campaign encouraging vaccinations, because there isn’t the supply to match it (as yet):
That is exactly the point I am making. Why don’t we have a national campaign, like we have seen in other jurisdictions, a fantastic ad in France I saw recently, we don’t have a national campaign to increase the uptake of the public, in terms of vaccinations.
It must be because the commonwealth do not have confidence in their supply to match the demand that will be generated by such a campaign.
Updated
And it turns out he was just warming up.
James Merlino:
You deal with the reality on the ground and the reality is that the commonwealth made it very clear, as I said – I have said it a number of times, very clear at national cabinet to states and territories don’t worry about second doses, we have got all you need. They said that at national cabinet. They said it publicly. The reality is that is not the case.
The commonwealth do not have the supplies of Pfizer to meet the demand, supplies of second doses to match the demand for first doses. We have to balance the demand as best we can.
We have to tweak what we can provide and that is why, in terms of people between 50-59 that have got a booking for AstraZeneca, we will switch them over to Pfizer. That means we have got less to do what we were already planning to do.
This just gets harder and harder. I have acknowledged global supply chain problems but the commonwealth have had more than a year to resolve these issues and we are falling behind in the race.
Updated
'This is a race and as a nation we are falling behind'
Not being from the same party, and also, not being in the position full time, James Merlino is not at all reticent in pointing the finger at the federal government over the vaccine supply issues.
Merlino:
This is a race and as a nation we’re falling behind. That is the reality.
We don’t have, from the commonwealth, sufficient numbers of vaccines for second doses to match the demand for first doses.
That is a fact. That may well change later in the year but right now we are falling behind as a nation in this race.
There is no national campaign to increase public uptake of the vaccines. Why is that?
Is it because the commonwealth does not have confidence that they have got supplies of vaccines to match what will be an increase in demand?
I’ve acknowledged a number of times there are global supply constraints but the commonwealth has had well over a year to address these issues and provide greater levels of confidence to GPs around our nation, to state and territories in terms of our sites that we’re responsible for. But we simply cannot meet the demand that is out there and now we have got this - the advice and the commonwealth decision that will have an impact on public confidence.
Updated
Jeroen Weimar doesn’t take the bait when he’s asked about Gladys Berejiklian using the term “fleeting transmission” in her press conference.
(Victorian authorities had used it, and were criticised.)
“Well, great,” he says and moves on.
Updated
Jeroen Weimar says he still thinks Victoria can vaccinate everyone in the state who wants it, by the end of the year:
We are running the largest vaccination program anywhere in Australia. The state system is running at 170,000 capacity a week at the moment without stretching itself too far.
We could step that up further. It is all about vaccine supply and that is a predicament. What we are being led to believe is there will be more supply available in the last quarter of the year.
That will make it a sprint towards the end of the year. I suggested we would like to bring as much of that forward as we can. I would like to get people vaccinated now in winter when we’re more vulnerable to Covid. There is no reason to delay but we need the vaccine to come through to do that.
But don’t expect to be able to book in for a first Pfizer vaccine in Victoria next week:
Next week we have reserved those 27,000 slots for second dose appointments coming up.
There are first dose appointments available in the weeks further out.
With 49 clinics, there is a fair geographic spread of opportunities. If you are eligible for Pfizer for your first dose, hit the website or call the contact centre and see what is available. We are, at the moment in terms of our projection of vaccine supply, we are running at around 100,000 doses a week at the moment.
That steps down to 80,000 doses a week from the beginning of July. I have fewer people that I can vaccinate from the beginning of July onwards at the same time as Atagi is encouraging us to shift more people into the Pfizer platform. It will be a congested space over the coming weeks unless we see more vaccine (supply).
Updated
Or, the shorter version from Jeroen Weimar:
It is frustrating, when you’re running the state system, that we now have more people who are going to switch over to Pfizer and we have so little Pfizer available. When we see more Pfizer coming through, we can recalibrate the program. We can step across and make this Pfizer switch easily in Victoria. We need the vaccine in order to do that.
Updated
We’re back to Jeroen Weimar, who also speaks about the delays to the vaccination program because of the difficulties in the supply of the Pfizer vaccine (at the moment).
It’s a setback for the program in that we now have more people to vaccinate with a limited supply of Pfizer. Our colleagues in the commonwealth are indicating there will be more Pfizer available towards the last quarter of the year.
I am hearing indications there may be more Pfizer available in September and possibly in August. We don’t have those projections at this point in time.
If Pfizer is available through the GPs and clinics, we can pick up the pace. What we have done here through the GPs and state clinics is an unparalleled ability to get people vaccinated. We’re running at 50,000 people a day – we were running at 50,000 people a week. We have seen an upsurge in the last four weeks.
We would like to keep that going. With the Atagi recommendation (on the AstraZeneca vaccine) and the commonwealth decision, we need to either have more people competing for the same amount of Pfizer or we need more Pfizer to maintain the momentum we have built up.
Updated
Andrew Crisp says the commitment the states have with the federal government is that local resources are used first:
The time is right [to call in the ADF] because we actually have a commitment in relation to the way that we work with the commonwealth, that we utilise our resources on the first instance and that is exactly what we have done. I am confident the time is right to bring in the ADF now.”
Crisp says at least some of the 120 ADF personnel who have been requested will be on the ground in Victoria’s storm impacted areas tomorrow.
Updated
Victorian emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, says it wasn’t a case of not wanting the ADF to help with the storms, but that they needed to make sure everyone knew what was needed:
You have got to step this through. In the very, very early days it was extremely dangerous and a matter of assessing the consequences of that particular weather event.
The Premier has talked to at least a thousand who are working. We have had those numbers from day one. You only have to look at what has been done in the Dandenong’s.
To give you another number. We believe there has been 482 roads impacted as a result of last week’s weather event. We are down now to 14 of those being cleared, with the resources that we have got.
Again, that has been an incredible effort. The time is right ... And now within 24 hours we are ready to go with another (ADF) request.
Updated
Jeroen Weimar, the Victorian Covid commander, says Victoria has shifted its AstraZeneca vaccine appointments for 50-59 year olds to Pfizer in line with the new advice:
People who had a confirmed appointment forAstraZeneca, that will now be a Pfizer appointment and we have contacted them to make sure they are comfortable with that. I would urge anyone who has had their first dose of AstraZeneca to please come forward when your time is due for your second dose of AstraZeneca. We will continue to assess options with the commonwealth around the long-term implications for the program.
Updated
Greg Hunt will hold his press conference with Lieutenant General John Frewen at 1pm
Victoria makes additional request for ADF personnel to help with storm clean up
Contrary to what Peter Dutton said (he was on the Nine Network this morning saying he didn’t understand why Victoria had not accepted an offer for the ADF to help with the storm damage), James Merlino said Victoria had made an initial request for ADF workers to help with planning and logistics (which was met).
He said yesterday there would be more requests as Victoria worked out what was needed – and today there is a formal request for another 120 ADF personnel to help with the clean up and community assurance.
Merlino says there are more than 1000 people on the ground – volunteers and emergency services – in impacted areas already, and another 300 or so volunteers on standby given the weather predictions for later in the week.
Updated
The federal government has agreed to Victoria’s request to go halves in the payment for people who have lost power in the recent storms – and face up to another three weeks without power.
James Merlino thanks the commonwealth and says:
The emergency update, as at 7am, is there are still 5634 households without power in the AusNet service area and the majority are in the Dandenong ranges.
According to AusNet’s latest estimates, 4629 customers are anticipated to be restored from today until Sunday and an additional 218 by Friday the 25th of June.
But as we know, there will be a number of weeks in the depths of winter where many thousands of people will be without power. So yesterday we announced a prolonged power outage payment of $1680 per week extended to all eligible households without power as at Thursday 17 June.
The payment will be assessed on a weekly basis and administered by AusNet and will help families buy goods and supplies if they are staying in that home, and also assist households in terms of finding and paying for alternate accommodation.
Updated
Victorian press conference
The acting Victorian premier, James Merlino, says authorities have “cautious confidence” as the state eases Covid-19 restrictions in the state.
There has been one new case, which was linked to the existing Southbank cluster – a close contact of an already diagnosed case. So they have been in isolation.
Merlino:
We identified this case thanks to regular and rigorous testing of primary close contacts.
The public health team were able to contact trace the movements so there are no new additional exposure sites and that is a good outcome.
Excellent progress is being made across all the outbreak areas with huge testing numbers, more than 35,000 yesterday, and I want to thank all Victorians. That is a very good number and we want to keep those testing numbers up as high as we can.
This gives us cautious confidence as we ease restrictions safely across the state from today. Staying Covid safe needs to be front of mind, not only for this weekend but also for the weeks and months ahead, until we get to a position where our vaccination rates as high as they can be.
Updated
An eagle-eyed reader spotted Josh Frydenberg’s comments this morning that Germany’s AstraZeneca program was open to people aged over 18. And while it is technically true, Germany’s advice is the vaccine is primarily for people aged over 60. But they won’t stop you if you’re younger from getting the vaccine, after consultation.
That’s what many people in Australia who are below the age of 40 want – the opportunity to have the AstraZeneca vaccine, if they want it.
Germany’s advice is:
As of Wednesday 31 March, AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is to be used primarily for people over the age of 60. This has now been decided by the Federal and Länder Ministers of Health and Senators for Health.
Earlier, the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) had published a revised draft of their recommendations for Covid-19 vaccinations. In it, the committee recommends using the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over the age of 60. It may, however, still be used in younger people, reads the decision “at the discretion of the physician and having weighed up the individual risks on a case by case basis, and if the vaccinee so decides after being fully informed”.
Updated
Chris Knaus is back in the ACT magistrates court to follow the Witness K sentencing – or trying to. It has once again been closed to the public (and media).
Court closed in the sentencing of Witness K again this morning. We haven't been allowed in since proceedings began at 10am. No idea what's happening. Will bring you updates on the @GuardianAus live blog when I can. https://t.co/BdPjS8GCC0
— Christopher Knaus (@knausc) June 18, 2021
Updated
The outage on Thursday afternoon that brought down banking services for CBA, Westpac, ANZ and others affected around 500 customers worldwide, cloud provider Akamai has confirmed.
The outage between around 2pm and 5pm AEST prevented customers accessing their online banking services, as well as airline booking for Virgin Australia, and Australia Post services.
It was caused by Akamai’s prolexic distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) protection service.
The service is designed to prevent online services being hit with DDoS attack, but an issue with its routed service – where all traffic is routed through an Akamai “scrubbing service” to prevent DDoS attacks – meant no traffic was able to get through.
In a statement on Friday, Akamai has said it was not a cyber attack, nor an update to its systems but a “routing table value used by this particular service was exceeded”.
The company said around 500 customers were affected, but “many” were automatically re-routed and brought back online.
It took around four hours for all the remaining customers to be manually re-routed.
Updated
National cabinet meeting called for Monday
Given the change in advice when it comes to AstraZeneca, and what that does to the vaccine rollout in the states and territories, the premiers and territory leaders wanted a national cabinet meeting convened.
One has been called for Monday. Scott Morrison met with General John Frewen, the leader of ‘operation Covid shield’ – the fancy military name the government has given the vaccine rollout to make everyone feel better – remotely this morning, along with health officials and ministers to go through the new advice.
We should hear from Greg Hunt and Frewen this afternoon about the roll out of the Pfizer vaccine for 50-59 year olds.
Updated
NSW press conference summary
So, if you are in greater Sydney, you must wear a mask on public transport for at least five days. That mandate comes into effect from 4pm today.
There has been one new confirmed locally acquired case – a man in his 50s who was on the same floor of the Westfield Bondi Junction Myer as the initial Bondi case on Saturday.
That’s the second “fleeting contact” transmission connected to that first case.
A woman in her 70s was sitting outside a cafe that the initial case had visited. She tested positive earlier in the week. Genomic sequencing of her virus is an exact match to the first case.
Authorities have not been able to determine whether or not a man in his 40s who tested positive with a low viral load was a false positive, so they are treating him as a positive.
That brings the number of this outbreak to five. But there are no lockdowns or restrictions beyond social distancing.
If you are in the eastern suburbs, particularly near exposure sites, you are being asked to rethink your plans. Everyone else is encouraged to continue as normal, but obey Covid safety plans.
Updated
The NSW Health minister, Brad Hazzard, is asked whether or not he is confident contractors within the quarantine system are obeying the rules and guidelines:
No system is perfect. The one thing we do know is that this Covid virus is like a gorilla fighter. It comes up when you least expect it.
This is why we need to do all the things that we have been doing for the last 15 months. QR codes are the other weapon that we have to fight back with.
And I would strongly encourage people to use the QR codes no matter where they are.
As to the system, our system has 190,000 people who have come through hotel quarantine. We have 6500 workers every week working in our hotel quarantine system.
We do everything possible to make sure it is as safe as possible. We have a handful of cases over the last 16 months and every day we go to work we make sure that we are doing everything possible to make sure it stays safe.
Is it possible to absolutely guarantee that nothing can go wrong, of course not. It is a human system.
People are coming in and out of the system the whole time. We will continue to do our best but at the end of the day is about the community that has been with us on the journey and as the premier said, the premier has emphasised on many occasions and so have I, we are very lucky that our community in New South Wales listens to the premier, myself and Dr Chant and responds appropriately. I’m sure the frontline workers will do the same.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian is working that line again where she doesn’t exactly criticise the federal government, but she’s certainly making it clear that the NSW government is not to blame for the vaccine rollout:
If we had more vaccines we would be getting them into arms. That is the bottom line.
I have a sense of urgency about New South Wales it is and is getting access to a vaccine.
I pushed it to make sure we had [vaccines] accessible for workers, a push to make sure New South Wales Health would step up and help with the rollout.
Can I stress how grateful we are to the GP network? The GP network needs more doses and is craving more doses and we rely on them to get the jabs in arms.
And of course New South Wales Health is breaking records every week in how many we are managing to do as well, but we are limited by the doses we get and that is something I can’t control.
But we are looking forward to getting more doses in the next few weeks which is the advice we have received from the commonwealth.
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant says knowing they have the Delta variant has inched up her level of concern (but only slightly):
Chant:
Every case is separate ... the fact that this lady yesterday associated with the cafe exposure was positive, what was pleasing was her next ring of close contacts were negative.
If we see those next ring is becoming positive before we get to them, that raises a concern because it means we are chasing our tails. And that is an indicator of risk.
And if we see unlinked cases, that we are concerned about.
And my concern has gone up a little bit today because I am aware that transmission has occurred in a shopping centre and I understand that people may not have religiously checked in, people may not have been conscious that they went shopping or which settings.
And that is why I’m asking for particular vigilance.
People know that they use Bondi Junction as a shopping centre, please just be particularly vigilant.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian says she remains committed to a target of having 10 million vaccinations – but she isn’t in charge of supply:
It is a target, it is based on the advice I have had that you can’t really consider Covid a normality until at least 80% of your adult population (are vaccinated).
The experts say depending on the expert, anywhere between 70 and 80% of the adult population should be vaccinated before you have those conversations [of free travel etc].
That’s why I’ve been super vigilant in trying to get as many jabs in arms as possible.
One thing I can’t control as premier is, I can’t control the doses of vaccine we get and I can’t control the vaccines we get.
What I can do is provide information to our communities about where you can access the jab once we get it in New South Wales.
I can’t control that, that is another government’s responsibility.
What and what we can do collectively is encourage everyone who has access to to get it. We will make sure we use up every single dose we get. We do have a sense of urgency in New South Wales. I think we need to be far more ambitious about how we vaccinate our population, how quickly we think about opening up, how quickly we think about Covid normal, because otherwise we will get left behind.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian also thanked the other state premiers for not slamming their borders shut in response to the NSW cases:
Firstly it was a thank you, the restraint shown is better than in the past.
...What the other states are doing at the moment is what I would do, which is reciprocal arrangements. If someone has visited a venue of concern, if someone is deemed to be a casual contact then of course you have got to go through those declarations.
We are recommending anyone who is a casual contact not to go anywhere, frankly, because Health might say in the next few hours you are a close contact and we don’t want you and your family and loved ones disappointed because you have exposed other people and not only yourself but the people you have come into contact with will have to spend two weeks at home.
We don’t want people to go through that. If you are a casual contact please don’t go anywhere, cancel your plans. That is an extra precaution to make sure you don’t inadvertently cause harm to yourself or anybody else.
The NSW Premier says she won’t be putting onerous conditions on NSW residents or businesses unless they absolutely have to.
At this stage, she says things are under control.
Gladys Berejiklian:
At this stage if the situation changed we would be able to escalate [the response].
Given the number of cases we have identified have those links, have the crossover points, and given those people who have been as close contacts are in isolation already it reduces the risk.
New South Wales learns, every time we have an outbreak we take what we learn into the next one and we try not to burden our citizens or businesses unless we absolutely have to.
We feel the response we have outlined today is enough for the information we have today. If that changes, which is always the case, we have room to move.
We don’t want to move at this stage but we have room to move if the situation worsens or something unexpected happens.
What we do definitely want people to do is if you are catching public transport, please, wear a mask. It is compulsory. That is the only thing compulsory between now and Wednesday night.
Please make sure if you are catching public transport you are wearing a mask. That is from 4 o’clock today. Some people might be at work, it doesn’t take much to get a mask. Please make sure you do that and follow the other advice we have given you this morning, especially in and around the eastern suburbs.
I would rather ask people to be cautious for a few days and not attend events in that region rather than go further with restrictions more broadly.
Updated
Given the number of exposure sites are now growing, is Gladys Berejiklian worried?
Berejiklian:
It shows the nature of the virus, we have known that from day one.
Can I take this opportunity, which I should have done at the beginning, to thank the outstanding work of the contact tracers. Within hours to be able to work out where the additional case and cases from yesterday actually crossed over, within literally hours, it is outstanding.
It shows the type of robustness in the system we have. It is far from perfect, no system is. It is evolving.
I’m not going to pretend we are not concerned about what will happen in the next few days, but we feel at this stage what we have asked the public to do is proportionate to the risk given the robustness in the contact tracing and the number of people coming forward and getting tested and given the fact that the eastern suburbs community has been through this before.
We do say that given people have been on public transport, given we know one case in particular has transmitted the disease in a very fleeting way, we are asking everybody to be on high alert, not to engage in activity you don’t have to do. Just don’t expose yourself or your loved ones to any risk. But also, at the same time, know that if you are going to an organised event the Covid safety plans are there for a reason so please respect the QR codes, respect what the organisers ask you to do. If I was going to an event or going to an indoor event I would be wearing a mask. We’re not saying you have to, but if you are going to a cinema, for example, where you will be there for a couple of hours, you should wear a mask.
Updated
The CCTV footage of the Bondi Junction Myer store puts the latest positive case on the same floor as the initial case on Saturday, but at this stage, Dr Kerry Chant says, authorities haven’t seen the moment of ‘fleeting contact’ between the two (at this stage):
At the moment they have placed him in the same floor in the same section of Myer. They have asked for further CCTV footage to see if there is inadvertent passing.
At the moment we don’t know the nature of the contact, the fact that the community would understand that, in general, when we are shopping in settings such as those sorts of retail environments we don’t generally come in close proximity.
We just need to wait for the CCTV footage. You can’t recall everything that happens. There might be a close exposure.
Updated
Masks to be worn on greater Sydney public transport
Gladys Berejiklian:
In relation to what we are recommending people do in the next few days, we want everybody in greater Sydney and for the purposes of this particular outbreak or number of cases, we are excluding, not including the Central Coast, the Illawarra or Wollongong.
When we are saying greater Sydney we are sticking to the geographic definition. For the next five days we want everybody to wear masks on public transport to make sure that if the virus is circulating it doesn’t spread on public transport.
In relation to people who are currently deemed to be casual contacts, if you attended a venue which is on the health list, we strongly recommend that you don’t go away anywhere. Because if health updates that to a close contact, you will have to come back and isolate.
So we are strongly recommending that if you are a casual contact that you not travel in the next little while and make sure you follow the health advice in relation to the venue you visited. In relation to mask wearing, we are recommending that in all indoor venues in greater Sydney, and it is again strictly greater Sydney excluding Illawarra, Central Coast and Wollongong.
If you go to an indoor venue you wear a mask, whether it is a cinema, hospitality or front-line hospitality workers. It is not compulsory but we are recommending that especially if you cannot guarantee social distancing especially in those places around the eastern suburbs.
We know the virus has the potential to have been circulating in eastern Sydney in particular. So again we send out a message to say unless you absolutely have to, our strong preference is that you do not engage in any activity unless you absolutely have to, especially in those eastern communities, especially in proximity to those venues that have been identified.
Updated
The woman in her 70s who went to the same cafe as the initial man who was diagnosed as had her genomic results return, and she is an exact match for that original case (which was expected)
But as CHO Dr Kerry Chant says (and Victorian authorities have warned earlier) it shows how infectious the Delta variant is.
If you are at one of those events, you will probably notice extra compliance checks when it comes to Covid plans.
Updated
The message from Gladys Berejiklian is if you have been in, or live in an area with exposure sites, get tested. If you are a close contact, or have been to an exposure site, isolate and get tested. There are no closures.
Berejiklian:
As we have done in the past, the New South Wales government based on expert health advice has relied on our community to step up and do what we have asked them to do.
We are really making sure that everybody follows this. If you’re planning to go to an organised event, those events should proceed because all major events, all outdoor events, all events have good Covid safety plans.
So we don’t want anyone to cancel any event. We don’t want anyone to cancel any of those organised ticket events in particular.
Just make sure that whether you are the organiser of the event or someone attending, that you stick to those recommendations we have given you and the good Covid safety plans. Those safety plans have worked for us in New South Wales. We don’t want people panicking but at the same time we want everyone on high alert.
We want everyone to appreciate that if all of us do the right thing, we are able to get through the next few days without imposing any further requirements on our population.
Our intention is that what we have announced today will get us through the next few days unless there are unexpected things that come up, but obviously we are closely monitoring the situation and we want everyone, as they have done in the past in the New South Wales Way, to follow our advice and to be sensible.
Not to cut corners and to appreciate that when all of us do the right thing, we keep all of us safe and we are able to keep everything open.
Updated
The newest case – the man in his 50s – appears, at least according to the CCTV camera footage, to have had fleeting contact with the initial infectious case at the Westfield in Bondi Junction (the Myer to be exact).
That was on Saturday. He started showing symptoms on June 15, so his infectious period is from June 13.
Updated
Health authorities have been unable to conclude whether the man in his 40s from Castle Hill who tested positive for covid is an old case or not.
So he is being treated as a positive case.
None of his close contacts have tested positive though, so that is good news.
NSW press conference
Gladys Berejiklian says there has been one new locally acquired case since 8pm last night – a man in his 50s who had been to the Bondi Junction Westfield.
Updated
Naaman Zhou has the latest on the shooting death in Sydney:
Updated
A reminder – if you are travelling to Queensland you’ll need to fill out a traveller declaration pass if you arrive from 1am tomorrow. You’ll find that here
Enjoy your trip to the greatest nation on earth. Tell it a big hello from me.
Updated
The ACT exposure sites are based on the ‘potential’ covid case in Sydney – the man in his 40s who is potentially a false positive. But both NSW and ACT authorities believe it is best to move forward as if he was positive. So if you were at the National Gallery between 12 and 2 on Monday, or the Via Dolce cafe in Canberra city that same afternoon, isolate and get tested.
South Australia will slowly start re-introducing international students, after a quarantine hub at Parafield airport was approved.
It will be able to house up to 160 students at a time, for their quarantine duration – paid for, by themselves.
You may have missed it, given the tsunami of news this week (timeless statement) but two Indigenous men, Matthew Ryan and Ross Mandi from Arnhem Land have made an official complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission, alleging voter suppression.
The MUA and the UWU have backed the complaint (from its joint statement):
This complaint comprises three discrete complaints about the commissioner’s performance of functions and exercise of powers under the act in relation to:
(i) The maintenance of the Commonwealth electoral roll, and by arrangement the NT electoral roll, in respect of residents of Aboriginal communities who do not receive mail delivery directly to their residence (and instead receive mail at or care of a community post office, by mail bag, or by post box) – particularly the commissioner’s “policy” that he will not use the direct enrolment/update power in ss 103A and 103B of the Act for such residents.
(ii) The maintenance of the Commonwealth electoral roll, and by arrangement the NT electoral roll, in respect of residents of Aboriginal communities which do not have enumerated street addresses (with no mail directly to the residence) – particularly the commissioner’s practice whereby the lot numbers (if extant and known) which identify the specific “place of living” for such residents are not recorded on the roll.
(iii) The commissioner’s differential treatment whereby residents of sizeable Aboriginal communities (eg Maningrida, Wadeye and Galiwinku) in the electorate of Lingiari in the 2019 Federal election (and earlier elections) had a polling booth for voting on or prior to polling day for a substantially shorter time than was provided for other comparable towns in Lingiari (eg Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek and Jabiru).
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The NSW press conference will be held at 11am.
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Melbourne, we hope the ease in restrictions you woke up to this morning have helped soothe some of that covid fatigue you must be feeling.
Two visitors (plus dependents) can now be hosted in homes, while outdoor gatherings can have 20 people. (Masks are still mandatory indoors.)
Gyms can reopen, along with indoor entertainment venues and the people limit of hospitality businesses has also increased.
Keeping it crossed that we’ll see more restrictions lifted in another week.
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Amazing logic here:
The article, written by two Indigenous women, is based on the ‘Australia Talks’ survey, which literally surveys Australians on their views on topics. It’s their in the name – Australia Talks.
Kirstie Wellauer is a Joondaburri woman (Bribie Island) while Bridget Brennan is from Victoria and of Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta heritage.
Alex Hawke travelled all the way from the Hills district in Sydney to the University of Sydney, and eventually became the member for Mitchell (back in the Hills district).
You know ‘real’ Australia.
This shows we need many more than 500 ABC staff to be sent to Parramatta. https://t.co/ttZU3Hwm70
— Alex Hawke MP (@AlexHawkeMP) June 17, 2021
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Victoria records one new locally acquired case
The person was a primary contact of an existing case.
Hope they get well soon.
Reported yesterday: 1 new local case and 1 new case acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 17, 2021
- 16,710 vaccine doses were administered
- 35,252 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco
Got symptoms? Get tested. #COVID19VicData #COVID19Vic [1/2] pic.twitter.com/dqIVvmRpqH
Professor Paul Kelly is also a little more open about the ‘challenge’ on the vaccine rollout now, given Australia will not receive the bulk of the mRNA vaccines it has on order until late in the year:
It is a challenge. There is two million people that have joined that availability of the Pfizer vaccine. We have been very clear all along that that external supply from outside Australia is limited for the time being.
We will be increasing, over the next couple of months and particularly towards the end of the year, where we will have 40 million doses of Pfizer by the end of the year. They have promised us that.
We will have Moderna coming as well in September and onwards and the Novavax vaccine we have pre-purchased. We still don’t have a date for that one but that is on the horizon.
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The chief health officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is also doing the media rounds. His main message is: if you have had your first vaccination with AstraZeneca, you should have your second.
Here is on the ABC:
It is another change and I understand people’s confusion perhaps about that.
I wrote to all GPs yesterday to give them their updated advice. We acted quickly on that advice from the experts. People should feel very confident about what we do know about this vaccine which is firstly that it is very effective.
It is mostly safe and for older Australians it is still available and the best one to get.
The other important message today is any of the almost four million people who have had the first dose of AstraZeneca should not cancel their second dose. It is really important to get that full protection and get two doses.
We know from the information from the UK, where they are ahead of us in terms of giving second doses, that it is a much lower rate of this rare but sometimes serious side effect in that second dose, if the first dose has worked out well. That is my message today.
If you’re over 60, AstraZeneca is available, don’t cancel your appointment, carry on.
The risk of this issue is much lower than the benefit of the vaccine. If you have had a first dose of AstraZeneca, whatever your age, make sure you go along and have that conversation with your GP if you’re concerned but don’t cancel your booking for the second dose. For those between the age of 40-59, Pfizer is available. Make that appointment and get that Pfizer jab.
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Josh Frydenberg was out this morning as well, where he was also asked about the advice change for AstraZeneca:
There are challenges with the AstraZeneca vaccine, not just here in Australia, but globally. It’s cautious advice from Atagi and it is advice that we have taken.
I note that in the United Kingdom, the AstraZeneca vaccine is available for those aged 40 and over.
In Korea it is those aged 30 and over. Indeed, in Germany it is for those aged 18 and over.
Here in Australia it is for those aged 60 and over. But more than 6 million jabs have been administered.
Importantly, the most vulnerable parts of the population, those over aged 70, 60% of those people have received a dose of the vaccine and for those aged 50 and over, more than 40% have received a dose of the vaccine.
So we’re rolling out the vaccine. So we’re rolling out the vaccine as quickly as possible.
And there is more Pfizer that’s also coming online and those supplies will help more people get the jab.
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Richard Marles used his role in the Dutton v Marles weekly weirdness to push Labor’s line on the vaccine rollout issues:
The point is this last year – and we were making this point last year – in the midst of their self congratulation the government was complacent in the various queues that it placed Australia in, in terms of the various vaccine projects around the world.
So it wasn’t until the beginning of this year that we’re ordering the quantity of doses of Pfizer which will enable us to get there. It wasn’t until this year we even got in the queue of Moderna.
Our point last year, and we were making it last year, was that they needed to hedge their bets and be in a whole lot more queues of vaccine projects than what they did. In fact, they bet the house really on one doing the bulk of the work and as it’s turned out now their vaccine rollout is in disarray and that is on them.
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Peter Dutton was over on the Nine Network for his weekly sparring contest with Richard Marles, where he was asked about the people facing up to three more weeks with no power in Victoria.
Dutton says Victoria hasn’t asked for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), and he’s not sure why.
We’ve been very clear, the ADF is on standby and prepared to go and provide whatever assistance is requested.
I don’t understand why the acting premier in Victoria hasn’t pulled the trigger on that ... there are families who are in a dreadful situation. You’ve reported since the start of this. We’ve been very clear, the acting prime minister has been very clear to Mr Merlino in Victoria that the ADF will provide whatever assistance is needed to help get Victorians through a very difficult time.
But so far the Victorians believe they can take care of it themselves and we’re ready to help as soon as they request it.
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In Orwellian news, Christopher Knaus asked for the six previous editions of the Covid aged care plan, given the ‘7th edition’ was the one released to the public.
Turns out there are no other editions. The document which was released was just named the 7th edition
As Chris reports:
Experts have accused the federal government of “revising history” by describing the current national Covid aged care plan as the “7th edition” when no prior editions of the document exist.
The aged care royal commission in October 2020 criticised the coalition for failing to establish a dedicated plan on how to deal with the virus in aged care and recommended it take “immediate action” to “publish a national aged care plan for Covid-19”.
The aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, at the time insisted the government did have a plan that it had “been continuously building and adapting … since January 2020”.
In late November 2020, the government published a document titled “Updated National Covid-19 Aged Care Plan (7th Edition)”.
Using freedom of information laws, Guardian Australia asked for the six previous editions of the plan. The health department in response said the term “7th edition” actually referred to “the government’s 7th stage of endorsing or providing response/guidance for Covid-19 in aged care”.
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Greg Hunt was asked this morning how the shift in AstraZeneca advice to over 60s, rather than over 50s, (which as Murph has reported, was something members of the national cabinet had first raised concerns about in April because of TGA advice) was going to impact the vaccine rollout, given we are not getting the majority of mRNA vaccines until the end of the year.
There are no concrete guarantees coming from the federal government. Instead, we have talk of ‘goals’.
Hunt told the Seven Network:
It doesn’t change the goal of having every Australian given the opportunity of being vaccinated this year.
It does mean, over the coming weeks, more people will be in that Pfizer bracket instead of 40-49, it becomes 40-59.
We add two million people to the group but we do know that also included some of the most hesitant and so, it’s probably going to mean an additional one million who would take it up over and above what would have been the case.
But hopefully, for those in the 50-59 group, we want to urge all of you to come forward for Pfizer.
We recognise there may need to be some patience while we do that but the doses are doubling, going from over 300,000 a week to 600,000 a week during July on average.
And they will continue to grow to another 32.5m for Pfizer. And so, this strong, clear supply, we have to encourage people to have their second doses, encourage all of those who are eligible for first doses, whether it’s the 40-59 or the 60 and above, to come forward. The risk of death from CovidD, if you catch it and are over 70 as Brendan Murphy said, can be one in 10. And so, this is about keeping each of us safe and all of us safe.
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Meanwhile, it turns out that premiers and chief ministers raised concerns about AstraZeneca being given to people under 50 back in April, as Katharine Murphy reports:
Premiers and territory leaders raised concerns in April about whether it was safe to give AstraZeneca jabs to Australians aged 50 and over during a national cabinet deliberation mulling expert health advice.
The Morrison government on 8 April announced it had accepted expert advice that Pfizer be the preferred vaccine for under 50s and AstraZeneca the preferred Covid inoculation for Australians over 50.
That announcement by Scott Morrison followed accumulating evidence that the AstraZeneca jab was associated with extremely rare but potentially deadly blood clots.
Guardian Australia can reveal during a national cabinet discussion the next day, the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, raised a number of questions about whether the line should be drawn at 60 years of age rather than 50, citing publicly available advice from the Therapeutic Goods Administration about blood clots found in other jurisdictions in women under 60.
You can read that whole story here
Speaking of Greg Hunt doing the rounds, here he was on the Seven Network this morning, working to keep confidence in the AstraZeneca rollout, up:
Right through the pandemic, whether it’s been the closure of the borders with China or the closure of the international borders, we have followed the medical advice.
But that medical advice evolves in the greatest pandemic in 100 years. And what we have done here, again, is actively and is cautious and conservative in Australia.
If you think that in the UK, the age range for AstraZeneca is over 40s.
In South Korea, over 30s and in Germany, over 18s. So, very cautious and conservative here but that advice now is taken into account the fact that we have virtually zero cases.
Not every day, obviously as we see at the moment, but by global levels, almost negligible numbers of cases and therefore, they have said, to be absolutely cautious, they recommend over 60, to be absolutely cautious, they recommend over 64 AstraZeneca and now, for 50-59 Pfizer.
But equally, the risk from a second dose is absolutely minimal, it is very different to that first dose, the 50-59 and the risk of not being fully vaccinated is vastly greater and people should feel confident to come forward and that medical advice comes from the same people who put in place the cautious and conservative age range and they say, “Come forward for the second dose.”
Which is what the chief medical officer Paul Kelly has said, the former chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said. And these other things that kept Australian safe.
It is a difficult decision and I understand but it is important for ... continuing to be vaccinated. We have now passed one quarter of all adult Australians that have been vaccinated, and I thank them and urge them to keep coming forward.
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Good morning
Happy Friday everyone – the closure of another week is almost upon us and we are just a few days out from the winter solstice, meaning the sun is going to start staying with us a little longer each day. You have to take the small celebrations where you can.
We’re all waiting to hear whether there have been any further positive cases of locally-acquired Covid in NSW. A man in his 60s tested positive for the Delta variant earlier this week – since then, his wife has tested positive, as has a 70-year-old woman who visited one of the cafes listed as an exposure site. A fourth case, a man in his 40s, was still being investigated as a possible old case or false positive, given there didn’t seem to be any links and his viral load was low.
The original case worked as a driver, taking flight crews to quarantine. Authorities are investigating why he wasn’t vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the ACT sent out a health alert last night, after a potential Sydney Covid case visited the Botticelli to Van Gogh exhibition and exhibition gift shop at the National Gallery of Australia, and then headed to a Civic cafe on Monday.
An alert has been sent out for anyone who visited the gallery from 12 to 1.45pm, or the gallery gift shop from 12 to 2pm on 14 June, to get tested and isolate. Same for anyone who went to Via Dolce Pasticceria on 14 June 2.45 – 3.15pm. It was a public holiday in Canberra on Monday, so there were a few people out and about.
Additional NSW exposure sites are being added – you can find the list here
With the advice on AstraZeneca changing yesterday, you are going to see Greg Hunt EVERYWHERE today. Scott Morrison’s UK trip has finished, so he is winging his way back, but he won’t be able to do anything for awhile, as he will be in quarantine. You’ll see him zooming into parliament, but he won’t be out and about. That leaves Josh Frydenberg as the Liberal deputy leader to step into the fray (the other choice is Michael McCormack, and well, we all know how that would go).
We’ll keep you updated on all of that, and more, as the Australia Live blog rolls into the weekend. You’ve got Amy Remeikis with you this morning, with all the Guardian brains trust ready to go.
Grab a coffee/tea/slab of cake and let’s get into it.
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