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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Stephanie Convery and Matilda Boseley

60 Covid deaths nationally as PM says rapid antigen tests not being stockpiled – as it happened

Australia Scott Morrison New South Wales Covid (Event) Tonga Victoria Google Craig Kelly TGA Kelly Slater

All right, time for us to sign off now. You can find all the daily Covid statistics in the summary post pinned at the top of the blog.

Today’s other notables:

• The TGA has granted provisional approval to the protein-based Covid-19 vaccine, Novovax, and also granted provisional approval to the first two oral Covid-19 treatments in Australia, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir) and Lagevrio (molnupiravir).

• We learned that prime minister Scott Morrison planned to ask the states to allow under-18s to drive forklifts at today’s national cabinet meeting as part of measures to ease the staff shortages crippling supply chains, and then reversed on the plan after it was roundly criticised – and lampooned – with one union official calling the idea a “brain fart”.

• The full federal court published its reasons for dismissing tennis player Novak Djokovic’s challenge seeking to restore his visa, concluding it was open to minister Alex Hawke to find that Djokovic was anti-vaccination.

• Morrison has insisted that claims the federal government is requisitioning rapid antigen tests are “categorically untrue” and allegations made regarding this will be referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

• Victoria will allow IVF treatments to resume despite a pause on elective procedures in the state after significant public outcry.

• The foreign minister, Marise Payne, met with her British counterpart, Liz Truss, in Sydney today, announcing the two governments have vowed to coordinate sanctions over state-backed hacking attacks, saying they want to “raise the costs” for countries that conduct hostile activity in cyberspace.

• An Australian air force aircraft has just arrived in Tonga carrying supplies in the assistance effort to help the Pacific nation after the devastating volcano explosion on the weekend.

• Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest in more than 13 years, sinking to 4.2% in December from 4.6% in November.

Please do join us again tomorrow morning for what promises to be a fabulous Friday full of news. I hope you have a lovely evening.

Updated

First Nations groups have today slammed Australia for missing the deadline to introduce new safeguards against torture and abuse in jails.

Four years ago, the Australian government ratified a treaty – the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture – to bring all its detention sites, including juvenile justice centres such as Don Dale and onshore immigration detention centres, under independent scrutiny to stop abuses.

The independent watchdog, known as a national preventive mechanism, would have standing powers to conduct regular and random inspections of prisons, immigration detention centres, juvenile detention centres and held psychiatric facilities. The deadline for setting up those independent monitoring mechanisms was today.

In August it was already becoming apparent that Australia would miss this deadline. Only three states have fulfilled or are in the process of fulfilling their obligations under OPCAT.

First Nations groups have responded today, with co-chair of justice coalition Change the Record, Cheryl Axleby, calling the lack of action “a national disgrace”.

For three decades First Nations peoples have been dying in police and prison cells and we have been calling for governments to take the deaths, mistreatment and abuse of our people in custody seriously. The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, and the Closing the Gap agreements, were an opportunity for governments to implement independent oversight and accountability of police and prisons to prevent more tragedies. Instead, they have done nothing.

A prison sentence should never be a death sentence – yet since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody over 500 of our people have died behind bars. The Commonwealth, state and territory governments have had four years to meet this deadline.

It is a national disgrace that we are still waiting for action to end the discriminatory laws, policies and practices that see our people die behind bars.

Updated

There have been a few more reasons than usual to take care in the water this summer – tsunami warnings anyone? But I reckon I might avoid any more ocean dips entirely after reading this one. I appreciate that bluebottles are fascinating but NO THANKS.

Look but don’t touch. Bluebottles have been washing up on beaches in NSW, Victoria, SA and Tasmania
Look but don’t touch. Bluebottles have been washing up on beaches in NSW, Victoria, SA and Tasmania. Photograph: PhotoAllel/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Updated

The national aged care regulator has intervened in a south-west Sydney nursing home at the centre of a Covid outbreak after finding it failed to meet quality standards relating to infection control and effective management of the outbreak.

On 6 January, Guardian Australia reported on a major outbreak at the Bupa Clemton Park facility that saw more than 60 residents and staff become infected with Covid-19, and one fully vaccinated person in palliative care die.

After the report, the aged care quality and safety commission formally intervened, ordering the facility to stop new admissions for six months for failing to meet compliance standards of the Aged Care Act.

The facility has also been ordered to appoint interim nursing management.

More details here:

Updated

We heard from the prime minister earlier today in the wake of the National Cabinet meeting; the official statement from that meeting is here if you missed it, or just feel like going through it all again. I won’t judge.

My colleague Josh Taylor has been watching the parliamentary inquiry on social media and online safety, which today featured United Australia party leader, Craig Kelly.

Kelly used his platform at the inquiry to take Google and Facebook to task over the removal of his party’s videos from YouTube and over his ban from Facebook for pushing unproven treatments for Covid-19.

United Australia Party has spent close to $5m advertising its videos on YouTube since Kelly became leader of the party in August, accounting for about 98% of all political ad spend on YouTube in Australia during that time. YouTube has not banned the account or ceased taking money from the party, but it has removed a number of the party’s videos for allegedly violating its community guidelines.

Kelly was also banned from Facebook and Instagram last year for posts promoting unproven Covid-19 treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Read the full story here:

Updated

Sydney’s Wayside Chapel, which serves the homeless and others in the Kings Cross and Bondi areas of eastern Sydney, is among the not-for-profit groups struggling to secure rapid antigen tests.

The chapel’s pastor and chief executive, Jon Owen, says:

We’re in the process of having to beg, borrow and steal to secure any rapid antigen tests so we can maintain just basic minimum staffing levels to keep our operations going.

On his first day back after contracting Covid himself, Owen said getting RATs would likely be a significant investment, “easily” running into the thousands of dollars, with more costs to come.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep our doors open,” he said. He added that they “need to make sure that our staff are negative” as they work with people who often have co-morbidities and other vulnerabilities.

Previously, people would just get a PCR test and isolate, and now the staff of about 140 people have to take RATs, and also offer them to the “few hundred people a day” that they serve.

The problem is common across the not-for-profit sector, Owen said.

We’re all in the same boat, trying ... to do the best that we can for our people, racking up the debts along the way.

Securing those RATs, though, is not easy even if there’s money found.

We’re going to hospitals, we’re going to pharmacies ... We’re hearing rumours ‘this shops got some’, or ‘that shops got time’ ... it’s a bit of a mad scramble.

Updated

Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying the 11-time champion will not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against Covid.

Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on Covid vaccines, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.

The American tour veteran, who has no medical qualifications, has previously said he is not anti-vaccine but opposed to making vaccination mandatory. Slater has also been critical of the visa process that ended with the recent deportation of tennis world No 1 Novak Djokovic.

Read the full story here:

Updated

A Sydney woman who worked as a medical intern at a Sydney hospital despite not being qualified or registered to practise was today convicted in the Local Court of NSW and sentenced to two years imprisonment to be served by intensive corrections order in the community.

The woman, Zhi Sin Lee, was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of $3,400. This is the first time a term of imprisonment has been imposed under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.

Lee is not qualified as a medical practitioner and is not registered.

In 2020, she was part-way through completing a Doctor of Medicine qualification at the University of New South Wales but failed a number of disciplines and was advised she would not be eligible to graduate. Despite this, she accepted a position as a medical intern at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital for the 2021 intake of intern medical practitioners and worked 126 shifts between 18 January and 9 August. Her employment was immediately terminated when the hospital discovered that she was not registered.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency charged Lee with one count of falsely claiming to be qualified to practise in breach of section 116 of the National Law. She pleaded guilty to the charge on 18 November 2021 and was sentenced today.

Magistrate Bartley said Lee “put her own interests ahead of the risk to patients … and knew she was risking the welfare of her patients,” noting it was concerning that her offending took place in a public hospital in the middle of a pandemic with “repeated, calculated dishonesty”. However, Bartley accepted that Lee had demonstrated remorse.

An Australian air force aircraft has just arrived in Tonga carrying supplies, according to a statement released by the federal government.

The joint statement from foreign affairs minister Marise Payne, defence minister Peter Dutton and minister for international development and the Pacific Zed Seselja, said supplies on the flight include shelter materials, hygiene supplies, PPE for people clearing ash and water containers, communication equipment and “a skid-steer loader with a sweeper to support runway operations”.

The statement said:

The delivery of supplies today is part of the initial package of urgent humanitarian assistance. This is in addition to the Australian Government’s existing stores in Tonga, which are already being distributed to the most affected regions via two Guardian Class Patrol Boats and a landing craft that were gifted by Australia to His Majesty’s Armed Force’s (HMAF).

The C-17A flight today was made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of Tongan authorities who have worked to clear a thick layer of volcanic ash from the runway at Tongatapu Fua’amotu International Airport to enable the planes to land.

Recognising Tonga’s Covid-19-free status, we will deliver the supplies in a COVID-safe way. We are carrying out our work in close partnership with the Tongan Government.

HMAS Adelaide, which is currently in Brisbane, is also preparing to deploy to Tonga with supplies and aid, and is expected to depart late today or early tomorrow.

Updated

The board of People With Disability Australia (PWDA), one of Australia’s peak disability rights and advocacy organisations, is calling on the Disability Royal Commission (DRC) to launch an emergency public hearing into the impact of the Omicron wave of Covid-19 on people with disability, saying it is critical that the commission “take action before it is too late”.

Board members of PWDA have written an open letter to DRC chair Ronald Sackville urging him to convene a hearing into “the failure of Australian governments and responsible parties to adequately keep people with disability safe during the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically during the Omicron wave”.

The letter says:

We, the Board of PWDA, call upon our Disability Royal Commission to immediately convene an emergency public hearing into the failure of Australian governments and responsible parties to adequately keep people with disability safe during the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically during the Omicron wave.

We note that Omicron presented unique challenges which should have been addressed by protective strategies and positive measures undertaken by government.

We further note that people with disability and their families are still living in crisis, continue to be unprotected and have been failed by the responsible bodies charged with our care.

The letter goes on to list the matters they propose be considered in such a hearing, which include death rates from Covid among people with a disability, failing supports and services, the vaccination rollout, inadequate access to rapid antigen and PCR testing, welfare payments and penalties, and more. You can read the full letter and the list here.

They go on to say:

The number of people with disability who have been lost to Covid-19 and preventable death is steadily increasing and we fear that the situation will worsen without urgent measures.

Updated

Hospitalisation rates disproportionately high for unvaccinated Covid patients in NSW

Health authorities are, as you can imagine, watching like wedge-tailed eagles a few metrics to gauge how big a strain Omicron will place on hospitals.

The ACT estimated a week ago that average hospitalisation rates of patients with the Omicron variant was about two to three days, compared with seven days for Delta.

That ratio is holding steady, with the greater churn of patients helping to give the hospitals some leeway to cope with the extra cases presenting.

Governments’ continuous call for people to get vaccinated sounds monotonous, but the latest NSW data from the Health Department’s critical intelligence unit helps to explain why they keep repeating the mantra.

In the week to 16 January, the percentage of unvaccinated Covid patients in ICU represented 43.8%, or far higher than their share of the population. About 4.7% of those over 16 have not had at least one vaccination shot, while 6.2% are not double vaccinated.

Covid patients, meanwhile, occupied 40.4% of the state’s ICU beds as of 16 January, up about 7.4％ in a week, the data shows.

Updated

Qantas terminates employment agreement with flight attendants

Qantas Airways Ltd said on Thursday it would seek to terminate its contract terms with long-haul flight attendants in a move that would lead to large pay cuts after union members voted against more flexible rostering, Reuters reports.

Qantas said it is the first time in its history that it has sought to terminate an employment terms agreement, or a contract between employers and unions, which is a rare and heated move in industrial relations in Australia.

If successful, cabin crew pay and conditions would revert to a much lower Australian minimum industry standard while a new agreement is negotiated.

The move sets the airline up for a high-profile union battle at a time when it also needs to reach agreements with short-haul crew for it to seal the business case for a major Airbus SE narrowbody aircraft order.

“Qantas should withdraw this threat,” said Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, adding that flight attendants had made sacrifices during the pandemic and had the full support of the union movement in their fight.

Qantas’ latest contract offer to long-haul flights attendants was rejected by 97% in a vote in December. The airline said a union counter-offer was “unworkable” as it would have raised costs by A$60 million ($43.30 million) over four years.

Qantas International Chief Executive Andrew David said in a statement:

We’re seeking termination because we can’t effectively run our business without the rostering changes we desperately need to properly restart our international network in a post-COVID world.

Under the current agreement, cabin crew operating on the A330 fleet cannot be used on the 787 and A380 fleets, making it more difficult for Qantas to shift aircraft types. The airline is running just 20% of its pre-COVID-19 international capacity in the current quarter with the emergence of the Omicron variant leading to tougher border restrictions in some countries.

Qantas said Australia’s Fair Work Commission was expected to deal with the application in the coming weeks, with the airline requesting an expedited hearing. It said it was open to putting the same deal the union had rejected back on the table.

Updated

Federal court publishes reasons for Novak Djokovic decision

The full federal court has just published its reasons for dismissing Novak Djokovic’s challenge seeking to restore his visa.

In their judgment, the three justices set out the test for minister Alex Hawke to cancel the visa:

It is not the fact of Mr Djokovic being a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community; rather it is whether the minister was satisfied that his presence is or may be or would or might be such a risk.

The judges concluded that it was open to Hawke to find that “Mr Djokovic had a stance that was well-known on vaccination and that he was opposed to it”.

They noted:

Mr Djokovic was not, by January 2022, vaccinated. It was plainly open to the Minister to infer that Mr Djokovic had for over a year chosen not to be vaccinated since vaccines became available ... It was plainly open to the Minister to infer that Mr Djokovic had chosen not to be vaccinated because he was opposed to vaccination or did not wish to be vaccinated.”

Updated

Northern Territory records 459 new Covid cases

There are currently 54 Covid patients in NT hospitals, with five patients requiring oxygen. One patient is in ICU.

Those new cases – as for the last few days – includes a lot of people in remote communities and high risk communities. Here’s the breakdown for today:

  • 15 cases in Galiwinku
  • 4 cases in Yirrkala
  • 10 cases in Umbakumba. The source of the infection is from interstate travel. Health staff are in the community undertaking testing, contact tracing and providing the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • 6 cases in high-risk settings in Darwin including hostels, sober up shelters and rough sleepers. This is in addition to four cases yesterday. Danila Dilba Health Service and Larrakia Nation are working together to undertake Covid-19 testing in high-risk settings.
  • 2 cases at the Darwin Correctional Centre
  • 2 cases at the Barkly Work Camp
  • 8 cases at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre with further testing being undertaken today
  • 1 case in the Old Timers Aged Care Facility in Alice Springs
  • 3 cases in Santa Teresa
  • 14 cases in Yuendumu
  • 10 cases in Ntaria and surrounding homelands

NT authorities have also lifted the lockdown in Yirrkala from 2pm local time today. There are now no restrictions on the reasons to leave home. Full details on the NT Health website.

Updated

Ash cloud from Tonga volcano moving away from Australia

Ash from Saturday’s volcano eruption in Tonga is moving away from continental Australia and over the Indian Ocean, according to the latest Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisories.

The ash cloud initially had an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet – 12km – and higher, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said. It has since moved to between 42,000 and 63,000 feet (12.8 to 19.2km).

According to the BoM:

The ash cloud continues to influence the sunrise over western parts of Australia. As the sun rises, it reflects off the particles, resulting in colourful hues.

The ash cloud has caused minimal impacts to Australian aviation services, as most commercial airlines fly at 36,000 feet or lower.

Updated

Australia and UK agree to coordinate sanctions on hacking

The Australian and British governments have vowed to coordinate sanctions over state-backed hacking attacks, saying they want to “raise the costs” for countries that conduct hostile activity in cyber space.

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, met with her British counterpart, Liz Truss, in Sydney today. They will be joined by the defence minister, Peter Dutton, and the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for a broader 2+2 meeting tomorrow.

Payne said they had agreed today to launch a Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership to “help shape a positive technology environment and maintain an internet that is open, free, peaceful and secure”. Without naming any particular country, Payne said they wanted to impose “greater costs on malign actors who would undermine the region’s prosperity and security for their own ends”.

She said in a statement issued this afternoon:

“Australia is committed to working with partners such as the UK to challenge malign actors who use technology to undermine freedom and democracy. We will work with allies to maintain an internet environment that is open, free, peaceful and secure, consistent with international law, and which maximises opportunities for economic growth. Australia and the UK share the goal that technology is used to uphold and protect liberal democratic values, and to benefit our societies, economies and national security.”

Describing the first initiatives under the partnership, Payne’s statement says the UK and Australia will:

  • Increase deterrence by raising the costs for hostile state activity in cyberspace – including through strategic coordination of our cyber sanctions regimes;
  • Strengthen the resilience and response capabilities of countries in the Indo-Pacific region to malicious cyber activity via joint capacity building activity. This will include tackling the increasing threat from ransomware through a joint initiative delivered in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – a valuable step in helping the region to bring an end to criminal activity in cyberspace;
  • Develop an action plan on global standard setting to ensure global standards deliver on our security priorities, economic interests and reflect our values;
  • Advance the Women in Cyber agenda, including through our Women and International Security in Cyber Fellowship.

Updated

Western Australia records 10 new Covid cases

While the prime minister was speaking, WA health authorities released that state’s Covid numbers for the day. There were five local cases of transmission and five from interstate travel. No Covid patients are in hospital in WA at this time.

Morrison backs down on lowering minimum age of forklift drivers

Scott Morrison has backed down on his plan to allow children to drive forklifts as part of plans to ease the staff shortage currently crippling supply chains.

“We agreed to proceed no further with the issue of 16-year-old forklift drivers,” he said this afternoon after a national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders.

The PM floated the idea, described by unions as a “brain fart” that would lead to tragedy, yesterday. Morrison took the idea to national cabinet today, just as Guardian Australia revealed earlier (on this very blog) that he would do.

“We had a good discussion about it today and it is not something that we believe, collectively, that is something we should be pursuing at this time,” Morrison said this afternoon.

Updated

And that’s it from the PM today. Hope you’re all still with us, we probably all need a cup of tea after that.

A question on wage growth and unemployment:

With the unemployment rate at its lowest point since 2008 and the tightening labour market, which has yet to translate to upward pressure on wage growth, when do you expect to see wage growth to start appearing?

Morrison’s answer shifts quite clearly into campaign mode. I’m sure there’ll be a lot more commentary about some of these claims, as there already has been:

To see unemployment fall, as you say, to the lowest level since 2008, and particularly to see youth unemployment fall below 10%, this shows the Australian economy, despite the challenges of this pandemic, the Australian economy has proved incredibly resilient and strong.

And it reinforces the approach that our government has taken from the very outset of this pandemic. It has been about saving lives and has also been about saving livelihoods. On saving lives, there’d be more than 40,000 Australians that would be dead today if we had the same experience of Covid as so many other countries like Australia around the world.

We have about 250,000 more people in jobs today than when the pandemic started. That shows that we have been keeping people’s livelihoods in place as well. Saving lives, saving livelihoods, protecting against the future, one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, that is what our response has been delivering.

Updated

Reporter:

Is there any evidence or modelling regarding potential infection rates of people returning [to work] without daily rapid antigen tests or with them? Have we been watching what’s happening in Canada and the US for example?

Kelly:

It’s a balance as I said. We know that the ideal is, in some countries, we have a 21 day isolation.

... Every time you shorten the period, there is an increase of transmission in multiple ways and the advice that was put out from Atagi is very clear that there’s a bunch of mitigation measures that you can do to make workplaces safer: masks, distancing, and all the things we know about good hygiene ventilation and all that.

Rapid antigen tests or other testing regimes, or indeed, symptom checking when people come in, is a standard approach that many businesses in healthcare and aged care have been doing from the beginning of the pandemic.

RAT tests as part of that ... we think we’ve got the balance right.

Updated

The discussion has turned, following comments from the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to consideration of whether the definition of “fully vaccinated” should mean three doses of a vaccine rather than two.

Basically, Morrison says it’s an “item of discussion”, but as so many people haven’t yet had a booster, and Atagi hasn’t advised on that specifically yet, the federal government hasn’t changed its mandate policy:

The commonwealth government doesn’t mandate those arrangements, decisions are taken solely by states and territories.

We have only supported mandates in the case of health and aged care settings and certain disability settings and there’s been no change to the commonwealth view and I know already, in some states, they are doing mandates on boosters.

Updated

This is a bit of a sidebar to the Covid news, but it’s important to note that Morrison was asked about Ukraine:

Reporter:

What are your concerns about the thousands of Russian troops amassed near the border? What action is the Australian government considering, given your meeting tonight with the UK foreign and defence secretaries?

Morrison:

On the Ukraine, it’s a matter that we can following closely, especially with our partners, we are moving in concert with them.

... [There are] some 1400 Australians that live in the Ukraine and so we are very mindful of that issue and their safety.

It is obviously a tense situation and it’s one that we will continue to work with our partners on in terms of any response ... but there [has been] no request made and none are anticipated.

Updated

Morrison continues on concessional access to RATs through pharmacies:

Chemist, pharmacies, the warehouse distributors, all those, they are private companies. Making supplies available to the public like a supermarket.

And they have the distribution channels, they have their arrangements – what we are doing is ensuring that those who are concession card holders get equitable access to those private products and [are not] penalised because of the cost of acquiring those products.

We are dealing with it from an equity point of view. There is no health requirement for them to go there and buy them, if there was a health requirement for them to do it, they’d be able to access them ... [at] a public testing site.

Updated

Reporter:

Prime minister, if it is your government’s responsibility to buy rapid tests for the aged care sector, why is not your government’s responsibility to buy them and procure them for the concession card scheme been run through pharmacies?

Morrison:

We are providing concessional access to private supplies. We are not nationalising pharmacies. We are not nationalising supermarkets and food stores. The question implies that and that is not what we do. They source their supplies.

We have agreed to provide for equity purposes concessional access to things that are bought in the pharmacy. Like we did with many products.

I want to be clear. If you require a test, by a public health order, if you are a close contact, then you can get a free test from the state testing clinics.

(You know, I’m not sure that the question is actually suggesting the nationalisation of supermarkets and food stores.)

Updated

Kelly says children who are close contacts should not be attending school:

The definition of a close contact is the same for children as it is for adults. Household members. That brings into play that same approach, if you are close contact of a case in your house, you should not be coming to school.

He adds:

We want to keep schools open and want to get them open and part of the surveillance testing is about that, about giving confidence to get kids back to school and teachers back into the classroom as well.

Updated

Reporter:

Why has the federal government agreed to go 50-50 on the cost of testing in schools ... if the health advice is that that is not necessary, why not spend that money on more tests for the general population that are looking to get their hands on them?

Morrison:

We are seeking to work constructively with states and territories. States and territories will make decisions keep schools open. That is our objective.

We need the schools open ... If schools aren’t open, you could see that the peak furloughing of our workforce go from 10% to 15%. Which would have a devastating effect on our economy and the broader functioning of society. Keeping schools open is a high priority for all of us.

The medical advice on this is next but I can certainly tell you, from the chief medical officer and across the AHPPC, that is not a strong recommendation that surveillance testing is necessary for that purpose. There are other policy purposes that the states need to consider to ensure schools are open.

Updated

Reporter:

Professor Kelly, do you have any modelling on what we should expect in terms the spread of Omicron once school in the classroom does start again?

Kelly:

Having children back in the class will increase the movement around cities. We know that. Towns right across Australia, it happens every year. We shared some modelling with the national cabinet today which demonstrated that every January, there is a drop in the mixing and the number of contacts on average, contacts that have people outside the house, that is the standard holiday phenomenon.

We do expect that [the transmission potential] will increase as schools go back. That is something we need to deal with and we are very much and agreed, in agreement to get schools back. That is important.

Kelly says, however, that it is important for children to return to school:

The reasons [are] health: physical, mental, social, developmental for children. We need to take that on its merits and balance like we have been doing for essential workers, that issue.

Updated

Reporter:

How do you ensure that priority groups get the rapid antigen tests on time without the supplies being redirected to Commonwealth orders [given priority on the commonwealth orders]?

Morrison:

We’re not redirecting supplies to commonwealth orders. And we have not put in place any arrangements to do that. We deal with the suppliers directly, as do the state and territory governments, and enter commercial arrangements with them.

... We are not nationalising the means of production or distribution as a government. Even though some might want to do that, our government would never do that. That is not what is taking place.

He adds:

The priorities were for rapid antigen testing – firstly, it is to deal with our healthcare workers and aged care workers ... [as] agreed by national cabinet last week, and secondly, it is to deal with those that are symptomatic and are close contacts. And to deal with the highly [vulnerable] populations, particularly Indigenous communities and groups of that nature. That is where we are seeing the tests need to be.

... The concessional access is being provided to the private market to about 6.7 million Australians. That is where the rapid antigen test had been prioritised, and those other parties that national cabinet agreed to last week.

Updated

Questions now. A reporter asks:

Is the government distorting the rapid antigen test market by trying to build those stockpiles?

Morrison:

I do not believe the government is doing that. As to why suppliers would be telling others these falsehoods, you have to ask them why they are doing that.

I am making it clear that if you are being told that you can’t get access to it, or that your suppliers are no longer going to supply you because the commonwealth has been taking your supplies, that is not true. It is just not true.

Updated

The chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is speaking now. He’s starting with the high rates of Covid across the country, and the high death rates. A reminder that we saw the deadliest day of the pandemic in Australia just this week.

We are seeing a lot of cases, we know that right around Australia, even in WA, there are some cases now, [though] much less than in other states. That time will come. At the moment, 1.15 million cases reported since the beginning of the year. We are still in January. That has led, as we know, to a number of hospitalisations ...

We expected to see a lot of cases in this wave. And we have. This is because the high transmissibility of the virus and we have certainly seen that. We did say and ... I continue to stand by the fact that this is a much less severe type of the virus than previous waves. When you get such high caseloads, you have, unfortunately, some people that are experiencing severe disease.

The pattern we have seen all the way through the pandemic remains the same, though. We are seeing younger people in hospital because there are a large number of cases in younger people. In terms of intensive care, it remains very rare. Only about 0.1% overall needing to be admitted to ICU.

It is a very much lower rate than what we have seen throughout the rest of the pandemic. Similarly with the death rate, it is about that 0.1%. One in a thousand. That is much less for younger people. The rate of death increases with age.

Updated

Claims federal government requisitioning rapid Covid tests 'untrue': PM

Now, Morrison is reiterating comments made earlier about the issue of rapid antigen tests and claims the commonwealth was hoovering up supply:

Final point I want to [make] before handing over to the chief medical officer: you may be aware of some false claims regarding commonwealth government requisitioning of rapid antigen tests.

I want to stress that these are false claims. I will read to you a statement from the Department of Health:

The commonwealth government through the Department of Health is reporting false claims of the requisitioning of rapid antigen tests to the ACCC.

These claims are categorically untrue. They have also been made in relation to at least one state government and will be a matter for the ACCC.

Supplies of rapid antigen testing kits are not being redirected to the commonwealth and at no time has the department sought to place itself ahead of other commercial and retail entities.

Updated

On the matter of return to school, Morrison says:

Return to schools will be announced individually by each jurisdiction over the next few days and some will make their announcements today. The school operational plans will be consistent with the principles that we agreed last week.

Where surveillance testing is elected to be done by a state or territory, including for early childhood education and childcare centres, the ... federal government will be supporting that 50-50 through the national partnership agreement with those states and territories and that will be done on an individual jurisdiction basis.

Updated

On the forklifts issue, Morrison says:

We agreed to proceed no further with the issue of 16-year-old forklift drivers. We had a good discussion about it today and it is not something that we believe ... we should be pursuing at this time.

We also agreed to proceed through the transport minister’s national cabinet subcommittee on the proposals regarding licensing, and ensuring that we can have an experience-based licensing system for our road transport ... operators and other truck drivers.

They can also recognise New Zealand licenses to ensure that we can get more of those truck drivers into truck cabs now that are needed because of the following impacts of Covid.

Updated

Morrison is talking about supply chain pressures now, and has said the government ill not be reducing the close contact isolation time from seven days to five:

The measures we have taken to alleviate the pressures, particularly around close contact levels and isolation, are having a positive impact [on] the distribution centres, production side of things ... The challenge still remains to ensure that we keep working on the workforce pressures and the logistics and distribution and transport sector.

We agreed today that we should retain the arrangements for close contacts for essential workforces ... It is all about getting the right balance between getting people back to work and not over stressing the hospital system, which is under a lot of stress.

We believe we have that balance right. The close contact definition that we have for essential workers is doing the job of alleviating the pressure and at the same time, helping us stay within our capacity to continue to support our hospital system. We will also not be changing at this point the isolation period for a positive case of seven days.

Updated

Scott Morrison is beginning the presser by spruiking the current unemployment numbers.

Unemployment has fallen to 4.2%, down from 5.2% at the time of the last election, down from 5.7% when the government was first elected. 1.7 million more Australians and jobs since, including 1 million more women in since then ... It peaks during the pandemic.

... There is nothing that pleases me more than young people getting into jobs. That has been one of the highest priorities for our government.

Updated

Scott Morrison media conference begins

We’re going to Canberra now where the prime minister is speaking after national cabinet.

Updated

Still in South Australia, 290 people are in hospital, 29 people are in intensive care and nine are on ventilators.

Updated

South Australia records 11 Covid deaths and 3,777 new cases

Sadly, nine men and two women have died in the state from Covid. The premier, Steven Marshall, says the unexpectedly large number may be due to anomalies in the reporting lines.

Updated

We should also get Covid news from South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia sometime this afternoon, so you’ll have a full picture of the national Covid situation before too long.

Updated

We’re standing by to hear from Canberra, where national cabinet has been meeting. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is expected to speak shortly.

Updated

Australia’s drugs regulator has for the first time approved oral treatments for Covid-19 which should help address supply shortages of other treatments.

The approval applies to two drugs – Paxlovid and Lagevrio. They have been “provisionally” approved, which means they can be administered by health professionals in limited circumstances but the manufacturers must submit further data as the drugs are used more widely.

The director of infectious diseases at Mater Health Services, associate professor Paul Griffin, said on Thursday:

We’ve got great safe and effective vaccines. We’ve got intravenously administered antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, which have certainly helped us. But what we’ve been missing right now is an oral therapy that changes the course of the Covid illness.

So how do these pills work and who will benefit most from them? Read all the details here:

Service and hospitality industry peak bodies issue 'six point plan' for survival

Three service industry peak bodies, who’ve been collectively flattened by the Omicron wave, have banded together around a six point plan to stop their members going under.

The Australian Retailers Association, Restaurant and Catering Australia and the Tourism and Transport Forum are calling on state and federal governments to step in, as they’re hit with “ongoing supply chain challenges, a record low in consumer confidence and up to 50% of workers going into isolation during January” – all with “almost no government support”, as ARA chief executive, Paul Zahra, puts it.

“Omicron [is] impacting business more than any other time in the pandemic,” Zahra said in a statement.

Some of the asks are probably more palatable to epidemiologists than others. Here they are:

  • Easy, affordable access to rapid antigen tests, with costs underwritten by the federal government, “so businesses are not lumped with additional costs – on top of the trading impacts they’re currently suffering”. (I think we’d all like that one.)
  • An expansion of close contact isolation exemptions to include workers in retail, hospitality and tourism.
  • Prioritisation of specialised workers on the skilled migrant list. Here, they point out “the retail, hospitality and tourism industries were already dealing with skills shortages before the Omicron wave”.
  • Rent relief for businesses with a turnover of up to $50m nationally (NSW currently has rent relief available to businesses turning over less than $5m, and in Victoria it’s $10m).
  • The reinstatement of targeted, temporary cash grants.
  • And finally, the removal of duplicate reporting requirements for positive cases nationally, something which has already taken place in Victoria.

It’s certainly true that service industry business owners are having a very rough time of it at the moment. But spare a thought for the workers too – “staffing shortages” mean that employees are catching Covid; and for service workers, “supply chain challenges” can manifest as screaming customers.

Yes, it’s not great that you can’t buy chicken at the moment, but please remember to direct your frustration appropriately (away from supermarket staff).

Updated

Just a little heads up that we’re expecting to hear from the prime minister at 2.40pm AEDT – just under half an hour from now.

The federal Department of Health has just released a statement about claims that RATs are being redirected to the commonwealth and away from businesses and other organisations, pharmacists, and so on. Here’s what it says:

The Commonwealth Government through the Department of Health is reporting false claims about the requisition of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) to the ACCC.

These claims are categorically untrue. They have also been made in relation to at least one state government and will be a matter for the ACCC.

Supplies of RAT kits are not being redirected to the Commonwealth and at no time has the Department sought to place itself ahead of other commercial and retail entities. Where such claims have been made, the Department has written to the relevant retailer to reassure them that is not the case and seek further detail or evidence of the claims made by suppliers.

The Department is liaising closely with the ACCC and is highlighting the pattern of conduct and providing specific examples of such claims.

While we are aware there are supply constraints within the market, it is expected supply will normalise over the coming weeks.

The Department of Health reaffirms that the Commonwealth Government has not requisitioned RAT supplies within and entering Australia. Any such claims are false, and where notified to the Department will be referred to the ACCC.

Updated

Tonga and Russia discussed in US diplomatic talks with Australia

Providing help to Tonga and responding to Russia’s “unprovoked military buildup” near Ukraine were on the agenda when a top US official spoke with the head of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade today.

The US State Department has provided the following summary of a call between the deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, and the Dfat secretary, Kathryn Campbell:

The Deputy Secretary and DFAT Secretary discussed coordination of regional support for Tonga following the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami. They also highlighted their ongoing commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s unprovoked military buildup.

In addition, they discussed economic recovery and resilience in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as their resolve to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Deputy Secretary Sherman and Secretary Campbell reiterated their commitment to continuing to advance peace, security, and prosperity to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The progress of the ash cloud from the Tonga volcano is changing the way the sunset and sunrise looks in parts of Western Australia.

Updated

The Queensland branch of the CFMEU has called Scott Morrison’s push to let children drive forklifts in order to ease the Omicron staffing crisis a “brain fart” and a tragedy waiting to happen.

Assistant secretary, Jade Ingham, said the prime minister had failed on vaccines, rapid antigen tests and support for vulnerable workers “and now expects child labour to fill the gaps on the front line”.

He said state and territory leaders “must dismiss this idiocy out of hand”:

There is a good reason that most states including Queensland set a minimum age of 18 – accompanied by practical and classroom training and testing – for a high-risk work licence, yet Mr Morrison seems determined to trash workplace safety to compensate for his own failure to prepare and plan.

What next? A return to children leading pit ponies into coal mines and sweeping chimneys?

If ever there was any doubt that the Morrison Liberals view workers as nothing more than an expendable commodity to be used and discarded, this desperate brain fart should make clear their utter contempt for workers’ health and safety.

Updated

Today’s political cartoon is from Jess Harwood. It will give you that deliciously uncomfortable feeling of being torn between exasperated laughter and tears of despair.

Just an update to the awful news earlier today about the baby whose body was found in southern NSW: AAP are reporting that a woman who was arrested in relation to it has now been released without charge.

Police say investigations are ongoing, with Strike Force Walumil established to investigate the incident. A postmortem examination will be held to determine the cause of death.

The home where the body was found is now a crime scene and specialist forensic officers are examining it.

Updated

Forklifts. Here’s the full story, from Ben Butler.

Good afternoon, lovely readers. Thank you Matilda Boseley for taking us through the morning!

With that, I shall hand you over to the amazing Stephanie Convery! See you tomorrow!

Despite Greg Hunt stating point blank that the federal government has not commandeered any RAT supplies, a state Labor MP in Queensland has taken to Twitter to accuse the feds of taking 34,000 tests off Queensland Rail.

Hunt has said any company that claims this is lying, and the federal government will endeavour to report them to the ACCC.

Updated

Fresh pictures of the devastation in Tonga have emerged as some phone services are reestablished five days after an enormous volcano eruption and subsequent tsunami cut off contact with the outside world.

A series of photos tweeted by the Tongan consulate late on Wednesday show trees and buildings flattened and covered in ash. Others show debris piled up outside homes and damaged vehicles.

“Nuku’alofa, the ‘city’ of The Kingdom of #Tonga, covered in volcanic ash,” the consulate wrote.

The photos came as telephone links between Tonga and the rest of the world were partially restored, though restoring full internet connectivity is likely to take a month or more according to the owner of the archipelago’s sole subsea communications cable.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

National Covid summary

Australia has marked another deadly day of the pandemic with 60 deaths on Thursday. Here is a summary of the daily numbers so far:

NSW
Deaths – 25
Cases – 30,825
Hospitalisations – 2,781 (212 in ICU)

Victoria
Deaths – 15
Cases – 21,966
Hospitalisations – 1,206 (122 in ICU)

Queensland
Deaths – 9
Cases – 16,812
Hospitalisations – 830 (48 in ICU)

South Australia
Deaths – 11
Cases – 3,777
Hospitalisations – 290 (29 in ICU)

Tasmania
Deaths – 0
Cases – 1,185
Hospitalisations – 29 (two in ICU)

ACT
Deaths – 0
Cases – 892
Hospitalisations – 62 (three in ICU)

NT
Deaths – 0
Cases – 459
Hospitalisations – 54 (one in ICU)

Western Australia
Deaths – 0
Cases – 10
Hospitalisations – 0

Updated

ACT records 892 new Covid-19 cases

62 people in the ACT are now in hospital with Covid-19 (up from 60 yesterday), with 3 in ICU (down from five yesterday).

18-year-old among Covid deaths reported in Queensland

Queensland chief health officer Dr John Gerrard has given details on those nine Covid-19 deaths recorded in the state over the latest reporting period, including an 18-year-old.

Sadly, today we have nine deaths to report. This includes an 18-year-old with significant underlying medical problems, a person in the 70s, five people in the 80s, one in the 90s and one person over the age of 100.

Of these nine people, three were unvaccinated, five were double vaccinated and one had had a booster. Our thoughts is with their family and friends.

Updated

United Australia party leader, Craig Kelly, has just been grilling Google and its Covid misinformation policy.

Or, as Kelly called it, “the line between what is misinformation and what is a genuine valid opinion in a democracy”, which is of no surprise as he himself admits the United Australia party has received strikes for content they’ve posted on YouTube.

Google’s director of government affairs and public policy in Australia, Lucinda Longcroft, said the policy was developed based on advice from the World Health Organization and health authorities around the world, including the federal health department.

Kelly then pulled out papers backing his support for the unproven use of ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19, and proceeded to argue against boosters for children, and questioned the medical expertise of Google’s content moderators.

He said:

So you think it’s quite acceptable for people with no medical qualifications to ban and censor, on the platform, medical experts and professionals that have an alternate opinion?

He also asked about the removal of a speech made in parliament, which he said YouTube did, and said he had “countless examples of it”, and asked whether public figures were treated differently when it came to Covid-19 policies.

Longcroft argued that the rules that apply to the public also apply to public figures. The committee is now hearing from Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.

Updated

Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles is laying out the details of the state’s new quarantine facility, which is set to take its first 500 guests in February.

The first 500 beds, as you know, we will begin to put guests into in February. The facility itself is broken into two parts of 250 beds.

These parts can be operated individually and for different purposes. So the decision has been made that, on opening, the first part will be used for those travellers who still need to quarantine.

The second part that will be used for Queenslanders directed into isolation because their accommodation is not suitable. That will allow us to downscale the number of hotels that we need.

Updated

A little more on the decision by the NSW planning department to recommend the state’s independent planning commission approve the expansion of Whitehaven’s underground coalmine near Narrabri, despite admitting they have no clear policy to determine what is an acceptable impact on the climate.

Some possibly relevant context here:

Readers might recall there have been some high-profile decisions in NSW in recent years – by the commission and the courts – that have rejected developments on grounds that included their impact on the climate.

They include the Rocky Hill mine near Gloucester and Kepco’s proposal for a mine in the state’s Bylong Valley.

Last year, the legal firm the Environmental Defenders Office, representing bushfire survivors, won a case in the state’s land and environment court that found the NSW Environment Protection Authority had failed in its duty to address global heating and had to develop policies to protect the environment from climate change.

The anti-mining group Lock the Gate Alliance has described the planning department’s admission as unusual.

The alliance’s spokesperson, Georgina Woods, said the direct and indirect emissions the Whitehaven project would cause were the highest of any project put to the planning commission to date.

The department’s decision to recommend approval to this huge new source of greenhouse pollution is particularly infuriating because, for the first time, the department actually sought advice about the project’s carbon emissions.

The department’s admission that New South Wales has no coherent policy about how to prevent and manage the greenhouse emissions of the state’s coal mines is damning, but that policy failure should not mean this damaging project gets waved through.

The project will now go to the IPC for consideration and there will be a public hearing so watch this space.

Updated

The NSW government does not have a clear or consistent policy to consider the acceptable level of impact of new developments on the climate crisis, according to the state’s planning department.

The admission is contained in a report, published late Wednesday, recommending the Independent Planning Commission approve an application from Whitehaven Coal to expand its underground coalmine at Narrabri in the state’s north-west.

The project would produce 11 million tonnes of coal per year and over its life would result in about 31 million tonnes of scope-1 greenhouse gas emissions - that is, those emissions that are a direct result of the mine’s construction and operations.

The project’s scope-three emissions, which occur largely from the burning of coal after it is sold into the market, mostly overseas, would be 456 million tonnes over the life of the mine.

In its assessment, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment noted that NSW now had a large set of climate change policies, including a net zero by 2050 target, a policy to cut emissions by 50% by 2030 and a push to “generally ratchet down” emissions.

But policies that guide the assessment of developments such as mines and industrial facilities were not clear on how to assess emissions consistently, “nor is there any clear timeline to measure any ratcheting down”.

The department wrote there was also no clear guidance on mitigation and abatement measures.

Updated

Unemployment reaches lowest rate in more than 13 years

Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest in more than 13 years, sinking to 4.2% in December from 4.6% in November, according to the ABS.

The economy added 65,000 jobs, the survey covering 28 Nov-11 Dec found, cutting the jobless rate to the lowest since August 2008, or just prior to the global financial crisis.

The last time the rate fell below 4%, if that’s where it’s headed, was in the 1970s, when the ABS tracked changes by the quarter, ABS’s Bjorn Jarvis said.

The latest data shows further recovery in employment following the large [actually record] 366,000 increase in November,’ Jarvis said, adding the survey does not pick up changes after the first two weeks of December, when Omicron really got going ...

Recovery in New South Wales and Victoria continued to have a large influence on the national figures, with employment in these two states increasing by 32,000 and 25,000 people between November and December. Their employment was around where it had been in May, having fallen 250,000 and 145,000 during the lockdowns.

Updated

Queensland records nine Covid-19 deaths and 16,812 new cases

The Queensland numbers have just come through and the state has sadly recorded another nine deaths from those infected with Covid-19.

The state also racked up another 16,812 infections in the latest reporting period.

Updated

Remember how the RBA said it wouldn’t lift the official cash rate from its record low 0.1% until 2023 if not 2024, and the financial markets were betting rates will rise from this June? Anyways, we have one of the big four banks moving their prediction forward today.

In a note this morning, Westpac chief economist, Bill Evans, says that the bank has shifted its “first move” by the RBA from February 2023 to this August.

We have not changed our call for the first hike in the overnight cash rate by the RBA since June 2021 when we were early to challenge the “not till 2024” consensus ...

We now expect one hike of 15 basis points (0.15%) in August to be followed by a further hike of 25 basis points in October.

Rising wages and inflation are the reasons for the shift, and that comes even as the bank reins in its growth forecast for GDP.

Westpac Economics is now forecasting growth for 2021 and 2022 of 3.2% and 5.5%, respectively. That is revised from the pre-Omicron profile of 2.8% and 6.4%, with a net reduction of 0.5 percentage points, the bank said.

Updated

In terms of the Tonga situation, it looks like New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, will be holding a press conference in the next hour or so and should have some more information about conditions on the ground.

Updated

In case you were wondering how Josh was going with the online safety committee:

OK, I have some terrible news for you. The Harry Styles concert scheduled for later in the year in Melbourne has been cancelled. The Victorian premier has just confirmed.

Please respect my privacy in this time of grieving.

Updated

Skerritt has added that false claims from suppliers have been rife in recent months.

We have had a lot of trouble with companies making false claims, we have even submitted applications was when they have an application for approval.

We have a lot of false claims of [companies] wanting to approve a product and they haven’t even submitted any data. The police are looking into this I won’t comment any further in any detail.

We have had comments and issues of falsified letters of approval, companies saying “here, this product is approved by the TGA”. That is a forgery.

Unfortunately, while we have a lot of companies doing some really good work, getting product out there in the supply chains, there are some who clearly are doing the wrong thing.

Updated

'They are lying': Hunt says government has not taken any RATs from companies

Reporter:

For complete clarity, can you and professor say that there has been no requisitioning, no seizures, no redirection, nothing on rapid tests purchased for private sector customers? And are the companies who are telling their customers that their federal government has taken stock from the medical stockpile, are they lying?

Greg Hunt:

They are lying. That is why I am reporting them to the ACCC.

We have heard that in relation to claims between states where companies have made those statements. We have followed that through.

I have to point this out. There are people in the market that will make statements and promises and not be able to deliver. What we are seeing is that, whether it is commonwealth, state or territories, or community or private sector, that some supplies have overcommitted and not been able to deliver.

There are different reasons and excuses put out. There is a global spike in demand. That is having an impact, not just in Australia, but the world. As a consequence of these false claims, I have asked my department to report where we are aware of them.

Updated

Google has defended not banning United Australia party from YouTube, after Labor MP Tim Watts said in a hearing on social media the party had a page “riddled with videos spreading Covid-19 misinformation, undermining public health efforts during a pandemic and the vaccine role”.

Watts pointed out that UAP had spent over $5m on Google advertising since August, which made up 98% of all political advertising on Google in that time, meaning Google had profited from it.

Google’s director of government affairs in Australia, Lucinda Longcroft, told the hearing action was taken against people regardless of their political status and who they represent, and people get a three-strikes in 90 days policy where they can be banned for life if they get three strikes.

When Watts pointed out that Google had accepted money for advertising videos that were later found to violate guidelines, Longcroft said Google was “doing everything in our power to stop [UAP founder Clive Palmer] and every other person who might promulgate misinformation relating to Covid” and the company is not seeking to profit from it.

Longcroft refused to say how many strikes UAP had received.

Watts pointed out six of the nine UAP videos he reported to YouTube had been removed and asked how that didn’t reach three strikes. Longcroft said YouTube “bundled” them into a single strike.

“I’ll remember to stretch them out next time,” Watts replied.

Updated

Labor MP and deputy chair of the social media and online safety parliamentary committee Tim Watts has taken Google to task this morning over not publishing what videos are being most viewed on YouTube similar to what Facebook makes available through its CrowdTangle product.

He told the officials at a hearing on Thursday it would provide insight into what is being most shared on the service.

Google’s Australian government affairs and public policy director Lucinda Longcroft just pointed to other information Google provides:

We are also committed to transparency around the way in which our algorithms and recommendation systems work. We publish a blog, we publish YouTube guidelines on the way our recommendations work. We publish on our websites very clear directions as to how YouTube works, how search works, and these are quite extensive - in one case a 170 page report - on the way in which our recommendation systems work, surface content that is, in most cases, the most relevant and useful as well as safe for users. So we are committed to that transparency in the way our recommendation systems work as well.

Facebook and TikTok will also appear before the committee later today. There is an expectation United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly - who is on the committee - may ask questions of the tech companies after being banned from Facebook and Instagram, and having YouTube videos removed for allegedly violating community guidelines.

A few economic numbers out there today, although they are tempered by being a bit pre-Omicron, or will be.

Jobs figures for December are out at 11.30am. A month ago, we reported the economy added a record number of jobs in November, sending the unemployment rate down to 4.6% as east coast lockdowns ended.

The numbers out today though only cover the 28 November-11 December period, which precedes the ramp-up of Covid cases and the subsequent disruptive effects on staff absenteeism, cancelled dining or travel events.

The CBA is predicting the jobless rate will sink further, dropping to 4.4%, with the economy adding 60,000 more jobs.

The bank has also published its latest update of its Household Spending Intentions index. Combining spending and lending activity on 12 consumer categories and Google search data, the index is intended to be a forward-looking gauge of sentiment.

The index in December rose 2.5% from November to 115.0, the highest since the series began in July 2017. Retail, Travel and Transport rose strongly, while home buying fell again, the bank said.

More broadly, there’s a bit of tug of war going on in the economy. On the one hand, you have the ongoing urge to spend; on the other, intense strains on the healthcare and supply chains, as I looked at here:

My big regret, though, is not having my colleague Ben Butler’s smarts. Lowering the age for forklift driving would have made it high on my parody list. Journalism too has its ups and downs.

Updated

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been asked about the forklift situation, but says he isn’t aware of the prime minister’s proposal.

With no disrespect to the PM or anybody else, I’m always up for new ideas and being creative, but I’ve had two meetings these last two Mondays with supermarket CEOs and they haven’t suggested that.

Skerritt has stressed that the new oral treatments will not constitute an effective replacement for a Covid-19 vaccine:

We do not want people to feel that if they can pop a pill they do not need to be vaccinated, because for all infectious diseases for decades, prevention has been better than cure, put it that way.

However, we realise that even some individuals, maybe because of their weaker immune response or age or whatever, they may still become ill with Covid if they are vaccinated. The same way with some other diseases. So in this case having a treatment is also beneficial. Even if you are vaccinated.

Updated

Skerritt hopes Novavax lifts vaccine rate as many wanted protein-based jab

Skerritt says hundreds of people have contacted him to ask for a protein-based Covid-19 vaccine (this is an older, more traditional vaccine technology), and he hopes it will be those groups who choose to take up Novavax that it is now approved.

The technology on which it is made is an older technology, it uses a protein, so I would have had several hundred emails from individuals groups who have said for whatever reason we would like to have a particular vaccine, so I don’t know whether it is 50,000 or 100,000 or a million or whatever individuals, I don’t think anybody knows but there are some individuals, and this just gives them further choice.

Updated

Federal health minister Greg Hunt has flatly denied that the government had redirected or requisitioned rapid antigen tests from businesses inside Australia, although several warehouses and suppliers have continued to tell media that this is the case.

We have not done that, we are not doing that, and I have asked my department overnight to refer any of these cases to me to see.

It is simply false, misleading and untrue.

There are some supplies, they have been over promise to federal, state and to community or private purchases. But where those claims have been made, that we are requisitioning them at my request, they are simply plain false. That is not something we are doing something we’re going to do.

Skerritt:

The critical trial data led to two trial showing 90% efficacy. No strong signals of adverse events, but as we do for every Covid vaccine, we have a large team of people focusing on the potential adverse events, and whether the advice needs to be changed and we will be working closely with those European countries that have plans to roll out Novavax.

Finally, I want to remind people that our laboratory plays a critical role in all vaccines. Retest two test every batch and every vaccine, including the Covid vaccine that comes into Australia, and no vaccine goes out to Australians unless it passes our very strict, rigorous laboratory testing, so Australians can have confidence.

Updated

Novavax approved as two doses, 21 days apart

It’s time for Skerritt to talk about Novavax and why the government is hopeful that it will help boost vaccination rates.

While we still have very high vaccination rates, the commonwealth has not mandated vaccination, notwithstanding the massive take-up of vaccination in the country. [We’ve] been waiting for Novovax, and it is great it has finally been approved.

It is approved as a ready to ... make use vaccine and approved in two doses, 21 days apart, so that will also enable rapid completion of vaccination and our dream is we maintain our 95% up to 98.99% in this country.

Skerritt says Novavax will not currently be used as a booster vaccine:

The approval is for a primary course, in other words, the first two doses of vaccination. I know there is interest in the potential for Novovax being used as a booster or even an adolescence paediatric dose, but we are talking to them and we have been given an undertaking as we have with all vaccines, as soon as we get the data, we will review it is an absolute top priority.

Updated

Skerritt:

The final thing that doctors will have to be aware of with both medicines is that they are not recommended in pregnancy or breastfeeding, fortunately not a common consideration in aged care. But more to the point, one of the medicines, for example some of them do interact with a number of drugs so as is the case for all prescription of new medicines it is important to look at what [medicines] the individual is on.

And that will also influence the decision about whether or not they are an appropriate candidate for which one of these particular drugs, so interacting with drugs sounds academic but it can have quite significant impact.

Updated

Skerritt:

The second thing is it’s really important to realise that the medicine trials were run in different times, different countries with different amounts of Covid, so it’s a little bit like the Olympics, you don’t know who is the best athlete until they come up head-to-head.

So because these drugs were tested at different times with different amounts of Covid around, we can’t really say this one is so much better, though both are important and decisions will be made as to whether one of these treatments is the right things to use, or another drug which we have procured a significant amount of and has proven extremely valuable. That is also used, but as the minister said it requires intravenous application and therefore it doesn’t have the advantage of being applied orally within residential aged care.

Updated

Therapeutic Goods Administration deputy secretary, Prof John Skerritt, is giving some more details on these two new oral drugs in the Covid treatment arsenal.

Some of the questions we have had even prior to making the final regulatory decision may be of interest to the media: the two oral treatments, whether one is better than the other and why have two and so on and so forth.

Firstly I want to say that it’s common and an ideal situation in medicine, whether you are cancer or a virus or common things like diabetes, to have a selection of medicines, because it will be times when one is indicated for certain groups of patients and one for another.

Both medicines in the clinical trials were very effective in reducing death. There were one or zero cases in the treatment in the group of people treated with either medicines compared with a known one case there was eight or nine.

So that of course is a most important thing, especially as those medicines will be rolled out, including in aged care, and while we are seeing some younger deaths it is still largely the older people, the proportion of people who are dying from Covid.

Updated

TGA grants provisional approval to Novavax vaccine

Finally! It looks like there may be light at the end of the Novavax tunnel, with the TGA giving provisional approval to the protein-based Covid-19 vaccine.

Greg Hunt:

We have 51m units available, and obviously we have a first dose national vaccination rate of 95.2%, [but] we know that some people have waited for this vaccine. Although we have encouraged everyone to proceed ... we recognise that as a fact.

Hopefully, this will encourage those people in the less than last 5% to come forward. We want to have as many people come forward to be vaccinated, the next stage is the Australian advisory group on immunisation and subject to their approval it will be made available over the coming weeks to be distributed through states and territories, general practices and pharmacies that seek to order it.

The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine has been granted provisional approval by the TGA.
The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine has been granted provisional approval by the TGA. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Updated

OK, we are jumping over the federal press conference now, where health minister Greg Hunt is discussing the TGA’s decision to approve two oral Covid-19 treatments this morning.

[They will be used for people with] mild to moderate symptoms, but are at risk of severe disease, so in particular its elderly Australians, particularly those in aged care, and between the two there are 800,000 courses of treatment that are on order and we are expecting the first of these courses to arrive in the coming weeks and they will be made available through prescription. That is a really important addition in a very important sign of hope and protection for the Australian public.

Updated

Victoria’s Covid commander Jeroen Weimar says 3,900 health staff were unable to work in Victoria yesterday due to Covid-19 and close contact isolation requirements.

Updated

Andrews has moved on to discussing the Victorian government’s backflip on IVF this morning, with the announcement that these fertility treatments can resume from today after all elective hospital procedures were paused due to the Omicron outbreak.

The premier apologised “for any stress or for any concern” that resulted from the pause.

I made it very clear to you that no one is pleased to have to turn off or pause any services across our health system. The code brown and unique pressure our system is under is just, it is not because of money or a lack of machines we need or PPE or equipment, it is about people.

When you have literally up to 6,000 people that ... would be working on a health system but aren’t because of Covid, that puts extraordinary pressure. The decision was made based on advice.

It is now appropriate to have another look in the context of things as they unfold ... and then try and reinstate whatever you can.

I am very pleased that the public health team, the chief health officer, has reviewed his advice, and the minister has accepted that and will make any decision [to] reinstate IVF services.

That will take a couple of days. Those already in the system still receiving, mid-cycle, they were still receiving IVF services. It was about not having new patients come into the system. But they will be able to come into that system from early next week. And the orders will be effective immediately. It is a very good outcome.

I apologise for any stress or for any concern. It is never easy. Never easy. In such challenging times.

Everybody’s doing their very best to keep safe. That is what drives us ... I do apologise for any ... distress or pain out of this.

Updated

Victoria orders 166m more rapid antigen tests

Andrews says Victoria has now placed an order for a further 166m rapid antigen tests to distribute primarily to government employers to help ensure workplace safety.

In terms of announcements, I am pleased to confirm that we have placed an order for a further 166m rapid antigen test. We had already ordered 44 million and have seen significant early deliveries arrive.

Last week, we had another series of deliveries totalling 4.5m this week. That makes all things possible and I will have more to say on the way these will be deployed after national cabinet.

It is very important that we keep adding to that stockpile. They are going to be relevant, they are going to be particularly important in the weeks and months to come.

Updated

Daniel Andrews says the split between positive results coming in through PCR and rapid antigen test is now “about 50/50” for Victoria.

Tasmania records 927 new Covid-19 cases

Tasmania has recorded 927 new Covid-19 infections today, with 31 Covid positive people now hospitalised and three in the ICU.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews is speaking now, and once again has suggested the national cabinet will agree to formalise the three-dose requirement (for those eligible) to be considered “fully vaccinated” against Covid-19:

This is a three-dose project. To be properly protected ... you need three doses. That is what the experts tell us and what I expected national cabinet to reflect today. I want to be really clear with everybody, this is not to plus an optional extra. It is free doses in order to be protected against severe illness, getting the virus or giving the virus to someone else.

Updated

Infant’s body found in NSW, woman arrested

A woman has been arrested after a baby’s body was found at a home in southern NSW.

Police searched the house in Corowa in the Murray River region on Wednesday night after hearing concerns about the child’s welfare, reports AAP.

When they found the infant’s body, they arrested the 40-year-old woman.

The body was located in a freezer, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The woman was taken to Albury Police Station where police say she is assisting with their inquiries.

The home is now a crime scene and specialist forensic officers are examining it.

Updated

Victoria records 15 Covid deaths and 21,966 new cases

Victoria’s number are finally in and sadly 15 more people with Covid-19 have died with 21,966 new infections recorded.

There are now 1,206 hospitalisations, an increase from yesterday’s 1,152.

Updated

Just to put that fall in NSW Covid hospitalisations into perspective:

At this rate, we might get the Victorian press conference before we get Victorian Covid numbers!

The premier is up at 10am.

Australian relief flights set to arrive in Tonga

Australia’s high commissioner to Tonga has described the damage from a tsunami in the Pacific nation as catastrophic, as more disaster relief supplies arrive, reports AAP.

Rachael Moore said the underwater volcanic eruption and following tsunami had led to large amounts of buildings being wiped out on small islands.

“Through the region, these places are devastated, they’re described as a moonscape,” she told ABC Radio on Thursday.

We’ve seen reporting of zero houses remaining on some of the small islands and along the western beaches. There’s a moonscape where there were once beautiful resorts and many, many homes.

It comes as Australia is set to send two C-17 planes with humanitarian supplies to Tonga that will arrive later on Thursday afternoon.

The HMAS Adelaide is also ready to be deployed from Brisbane either on Thursday or Friday, loaded with humanitarian and disaster relief supplies, along with critical equipment to help recovery efforts.

It’s expected the voyage to Tonga will take five days, and the ship will serve as a base for relief work.

Images from Tonga’s shoreline show damage to structures and trees after the tsunami.
Images from Tonga’s shoreline show damage to structures and trees after the tsunami. Photograph: Consulate Of The Kingdom Of Tonga/ZUMA Press Wire Service/REX/Shutterstock

Moore said freshwater contamination in the country following the tsunami had caused significant issues.

Water is an extremely high priority here and it’s something the government is working on, and development partners here are working closely with them on ensuring that they have what they need.

After several days of limited access, phone communications have been restored in Tonga, allowing residents to get in touch with family abroad.

However, internet connections will still take longer to repair after an underwater cable was severed. It’s expected the repair of the cable will take several weeks.

Volcanic ash, which has covered parts of the country, has hampered efforts. Crews have had to wait for ash to be removed from the country’s airport before supplies can land.

Complicating matters was Tonga’s border measures due to the pandemic, which have kept the Pacific nation Covid-free.

Disaster relief efforts are expected to be led by locals on the ground in order to avoid a spread of virus cases on top of the tsunami damage.

Updated

Looks like we will be getting a press conference about these new TGA drug approvals at 10.15am Canberra time.

Also, my Victorian readers, don’t worry I haven’t forgotten you! The health department has yet to put out the numbers for today. I’ll pop them in here as soon as I can.

NSW has also recorded a slight reduction in the number of people hospitalised, with 2,781 patients now in Covid wards, compared with 2,850 yesterday.

NSW records 25 Covid deaths and 30,825 new cases

The NSW Covid numbers are in and sadly another 25 Covid positive people in the state have died, with 30,825 new infections recorded.

It’s not easy to quantify the cost of the Omicron wave to Carolyn Campbell-McLean, but here’s a good starting point: $1,300.

That is how much she says she has spent on rapid antigen tests since Australia’s PCR testing system began to falter.

There have been other costs too: Campbell-McLean paid the price for the December PCR testing debacle when she couldn’t find a Covid-negative carer to help her get into bed on New Year’s Eve; and she has not left the home she shares with her husband, who also has a physical disability, since 15 December due to the spike in cases.

But the cost to Campbell-McLean just to keep herself safe is perhaps neatly summed up in that figure of $1,300.

You can read the full report below:

IVF treatments to resume in Victoria

Victoria will allow IVF treatments to resume despite a pause on elective procedures in the state. This comes after a significant public outcry.

A spokesperson for deputy premier James Merlino said in a statement that the specialised nature of the IVF workforce and medical equipment means that its resumption will not affect the hospital system’s ability to combat Covid-19.

Following advice from the Chief Health Officer, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures suspended as part of the temporary changes to protect our hospitals will recommence, to help support Victorians who are wanting to startor grow their family.

Some services will restart from today, with hospitals scaling up their operations to enable procedures to resume from 11.59pm on Tuesday, 25 January.

The Chief Health Officer provided advice to the Acting Minister for Health that the restrictions on IVF procedures can be removed - as the specialist nature of the workforce and the facilities and equipment used are not imperative to support the pandemic response at this time...

While the IVF restrictions were in place, services were still available to those who needed to complete a treatment cycle they had started prior to 6 January 2022 or those who required future IVF procedures due to health treatment that would render their eggs non-viable.

Merlino also apologised for any “distress” caused by the pause to services.

IVF is a challenging journey for anyone to go through, let alone in the midst of a global pandemic, and we’re deeply sorry for the distress caused by affected services in recent weeks.

We thank Victorians for their patience as we’ve worked through critical workforce issues, and we’ll keep working to have other services restored as soon as we can.

Updated

Federal health minister Greg Hunt has released a statement following the TGA’s provisional approval of two oral drugs used to treat Covid-19.

The Australian Government welcomes the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) provisional approval of the first oral treatments for COVID-19 in Australia, Lagevrio® (molnupiravir) and Paxlovid® (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir).

Lagevrio and Paxlovid are oral anti-viral treatments that have been found to be effective in treating people with mild to moderate COVID-19 who have a high risk of progressing to severe disease, reducing admissions to hospital and ICU and potential death.

The Government has secured access to 300,000 treatment courses of Merck Sharp & Dohme’s (MSD) Lagevrio® and 500,000 courses of Pfizer’s Paxlovid® for supply throughout the course of 2022, with the first deliveries of both medicines anticipated over the coming weeks.

These oral antiviral treatments need a prescription and are taken every 12 hours for five days. They are designed to interfere with the virus’ ability to multiply.

Morrison hopes states will allow children to drive forklifts

Scott Morrison will ask the states to allow children to drive forklifts at today’s national cabinet meeting as part of measures to ease the staff shortages crippling supply chains, Guardian Australia has learned.

As anyone who’s ever worked in a factory or warehouse knows, forklifts are a very dangerous piece of machinery – a person was killed in a forklift accident in Victoria on Tuesday.

In Victoria, NSW and Queensland you currently need to be 18 to get the high-risk work licence needed to drive a forklift but Morrison will ask for this to be lowered.

Morrison is likely to tell state premiers he is passing on a suggestion from industry.
It’s part of a bundle of measures Morrison wants brought in to try to ease a supply chain squeeze that has stripped supermarket shelves of goods, including pork and some fresh veggies.

Yesterday, the PM said some changes had been made but more were required “at a state level, and I’m continuing to pursue those with the states”.

There are changes that we need to make around the age of forklift drivers, to get quite specific.

He also wants the states to get rid of rules requiring rapid antigen tests daily for workers, except in high-risk industries.

Another proposal, to recognise New Zealand truck licences, seems somewhat less controversial.

Updated

Two oral treatments for Covid given provisional approval by TGA

Big news from the Therapeutic Goods Administration this morning, they has now granted provisional approval to two oral Covid-19 treatments, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir) and Lagevrio (molnupiravir).

Rather than vaccines, these are drugs used to treat the actual Covid-19 disease and are the first oral treatments to be approved for Covid in Australia.

They will be used to treat adults who are not yet at the point of requiring supplemental oxygen but who are at “increased risk of progression to hospitalisation or death”.

Here is what the TGA says about their usage:

Either medicine should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis of Covid-19 and within 5 days of the start of symptoms.

Lagevrio is available as capsules, while Paxlovid comprise separate tablets of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. In both cases, the medicines are taken twice a day for 5 days.

Merck’s molnupiravir pills are used to treat Covid-19.
Merck’s molnupiravir pills are used to treat Covid-19. Photograph: AP

Updated

The interval for a booster shot will be reduced to three months in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT amid unprecedented strain on hospitals as Omicron cases surge.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced on Wednesday morning the move would take effect on Wednesday while NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, said the change would be implemented from Friday in that state.

The interval reduction in South Australia and the ACT came into effect immediately.

Perrottet said he had “seen very clearly” through ICU numbers that vaccination was key to reducing symptoms and fatalities.

You can read the full reporter from Tamsin Rose, Caitlin Cassidy and Peter Hannam below:

Zverev says untested Australian Open players could have Covid

Alexander Zverev reckons some more players at the Australian Open may have Covid-19 but they may have gone undetected because they weren’t tested, AAP reports.

“I think quite a few players had it when they arrived. Quite a few players, I think, have it now,” the German No 3 seed said on Wednesday following his win over Australian John Millman at Melbourne Park.

We’re not getting tested, so I think if we would get tested there would be probably more positives than there are now, in a way.

Frenchman Ugo Humbert revealed earlier on Wednesday he’d tested positive for Covid, a day after his first round defeat by compatriot Richard Gasquet, which had forced him to isolate for a week in Australia.

“We are allowed to go outside to eat, allowed to do whatever we want, so I think it’s natural that more people get Covid,” Zverev said, adding that he’d taken his own extra precautions to avoid infection by being in a “bubble for myself”.

Australian player Bernard Tomic had criticised the Covid-19 testing protocols during the qualifiers last week, saying: “I can’t believe nobody is getting tested.

They’re allowing players to come onto the court with rapid tests in their room ... No official PCR testing.

Tomic himself then tested positive two days later.

Zverev is taking no chances, saying:

I understand that there is a lot of cases in Melbourne, in Australia all around. So I don’t do much outside, I haven’t been to any restaurants yet, I haven’t been out.

I haven’t been anywhere but the hotel room and the courts, so I’m kind of doing a bubble for myself, simply because I don’t want to take any risks and I want to give myself the best chance possible to do well here.”

When asked about how Covid protocols were affecting her, Australian women’s world No 1 Ash Barty added:

My routine? I’m a hermit. It doesn’t affect me too much. For us, it’s pretty low-key.

We come and practice and do what we need to do. Otherwise, a good book and a coffee and I’m set.

Alexander Zverev in action on Wednesday as he beat Australian John Millman.
Alexander Zverev in action on Wednesday as he beat Australian John Millman. Photograph: TPN/Getty Images

Updated

As the number of Covid cases in Australia has become impossible to accurately determine using test and case numbers alone, epidemiologists say it is crucial to undertake population-wide surveys to understand both current levels of infection and cumulative past infections.

John Kaldor, a professor of epidemiology at UNSW’s Kirby Institute, and his colleagues at other organisations conducted seroprevalence surveys in 2020 and 2021. They are hoping to conduct repeat surveys this year to better understand the spread of the Omicron outbreak. “Antibodies can fade, but people probably have some detectable antibodies at least six months after infection,” he said.

“We are hoping to conduct some repeat surveys during the course of this year, but there are a range of approvals we need first.”

You can read the full report below:

The federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham, has also appeared on the show, and was asked if Australia realistically has enough rapid antigen tests coming into the country to allow all students to be tested, potentially multiple times a week.

Birmingham:

So we are getting millions of additional tests coming into Australia and together between the commonwealth and the states and territories, there are a couple of hundred million that are being procured.

We have been in a position to be able to supply millions of kids through crucial sectors like aged care and to supply millions of kids in the states and territories to make sure they are freely available for free for people who are close contacts to support the continued free testing of individuals who have Covid or Covid-like symptoms and need that testing as close contacts, and we are confident we can work with the states and territories around the return-to-school plans to make sure that they can occur safely, securely, including the use of rapid antigen tests where necessary.

Updated

NSW education department reaching out to retired teachers and students 'to provide a buffer'

While speaking to ABC News Breakfast, NSW premier Dominic Perrottet was asked about reports circulating this morning that corporate staff in the education department have been contacted by the government stating that if they have a background in teaching they may be required to re-enter the classroom to fill in for those who are sick.

Perrottet confirmed that the state government has been reaching out to a number of groups.

Well, what we’ve done in terms of reaching out to teaching staff across the state, we know that many teachers have retired recently. We know we’ve got many younger students in their final year. In order to provide a buffer as we move through this period, the education department here in New South Wales has done a call out to those teachers.

We want to make sure as we move through, that the plans that we have in place in relation to cohorting students and things like that will ensure that as operationally as possible we have the most seamless transition as we move through.

There’s no doubt there will be issues that come through. It’s not going to be perfect. It will look a bit different to how schooling has been in normal times, but ultimately I think with the plan we put in and taking to national cabinet today, I have confidence we’ll be able to have schooling commence as seamlessly as possible.

Updated

Good morning

Good morning all, it’s Matilda Boseley here with you this morning.

It’s Thursday, which means all the state and territory leaders are ramping up to meet with the prime minister this afternoon for national cabinet. The main thing on the agenda today: children’s return to school.

At the moment Scott Morrison says the case for frequent rapid tests for school teachers is strong, but the jury is still out on the need to test students.

The predominant way I’m advised the virus comes into a community like that is through the teachers, not the students.

But with Omicron, anything is possible.

But it seems that New South Wales and Victoria will push hard for student testing, expected to present a united schooling plan to national cabinet on Thursday.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet has just told ABC News Breakfast that RATs will likely play a large role in their educational reopening plan.

We do see at least in the short-term surveillance testing providing some role as we get kids back in the classroom.

New South Wales as of this week has ordered 150m rapid antigen tests. We see those tests playing a role in all our frontline work and giving comfort to people as we move through this difficult period of time. That’s for schools, health workers, providing support, social housing as well.

Plans under consideration include calling upon retirees and final-year university students to substitute for isolating teachers, and requiring each student to do twice-weekly rapid tests.

But the prime minister says there is no guarantee all states and territories would agree to a consistent plan.

State and territory leaders will also be updated on the vaccine rollout, the capacity of the health system and epidemiology of the outbreak.

The distribution of free rapid antigen tests will also be a topic of discussion as the government prepares to roll out its free tests for concession card holders.

With all that ahead, why don’t we jump right into the day.

Updated

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