That's it for today – thanks for reading
Here are the main stories from Friday, 14 January:
- Immigration minister Alex Hawke cancels Novak Djokovic’s visa again, leaving him in limbo ahead of his first round Australian Open match on Monday.
- NSW records 29 Covid deaths on state’s deadliest day of pandemic; Victoria records 18 deaths; six Covid deaths in South Australia, three Covid deaths in Queensland; Tasmania reports 1,201 cases, ACT 1,125, the NT 546 cases;
- There are more than 4,000 Covid patients in hospital nationally;
- NSW police decide not to fine Hillsong, despite the behaviour at the church’s youth camp raising questions about whether Covid restrictions had been breached; and
- The NT government admits it has not been contacting people who attended exposure sites for the past week because of an error within its health department.
We will see you back here for more news tomorrow.
Updated
And from now on you can get all your Djokovic news over here at our dedicated live blog:
Updated
Djokovic could be banned from entering Australia for three years
Under the cancellation issued by Hawke, which is classified as an adverse decision under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act, Djokovic would not be able to be granted a visa (while offshore) for a period of three years, except in certain circumstances.
Updated
And here come what will be an avalanche of hot takes.
Novak Djokovic’s visa has been cancelled on the grounds that he is
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) January 14, 2022
Novak Djokovic.
And:
— Rudi Edsall (@RudiEdsall) January 14, 2022
Updated
Obviously there is nothing in that statement about detention, or about a court appearance, but both are very much on the cards.
Here’s one court appearance we do know about: Djokovic is due to play his first round match at the Australian Open on Monday.
Updated
Alex Hawke cancels Novak Djokovic's visa
The immigration minister Alex Hawke has cancelled Novak Djokovic’s visa on the grounds of “health and good order” and on the basis that it was “in the public interest”.
Here is Hawke’s full statement:
Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.
This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds.
In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic.
The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I thank the officers of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force who work every day to serve Australia’s interests in increasingly challenging operational environments
Updated
Alex Hawke has reportedly cancelled Novak Djokovic’s visa, again.
#BREAKING (finally): World No. 1 @DjokerNole has had his visa cancelled (again). Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has made the decision after several days deliberation. Appeal expected @canberratimes
— Karen Barlow (@KJBar) January 14, 2022
Updated
Disability service workers urgently need more support from state and federal governments as Covid-19 has caused severe staffing shortages, according to union officials and the industry’s peak body, AAP reports.
National Disability Services chief Laurie Leigh on Friday told AAP some providers had lost up to 30 per cent of their workforce because staff were either isolating or sick with the virus.
Most providers, she said, had lost five to 15 per cent of staff.
The NDS chief said lack of access to rapid antigen tests and workforce shortages were the two largest headaches for the sector.
“The current wave of COVID-19 infections is putting significant strain on the provision of disability services,” Ms Leigh said.
Health and Community Services Union official Roisin McGee said staff shortages had heaped more pressure on workers already suffering from burnout.
She called for the sector to have priority access to free rapid antigen tests. Workers could then prove they are able to provide COVID-safe care to clients without spending hours waiting in line for a PCR test and days for the result.
“This industry has already been cut to the bone, but staffing numbers are now at the minimum safety level,” Ms McGee told AAP.
“It’s dangerous for workers and worrying for people with a disability who need support.
“The staff who are still working now - they’ve worked through pandemics, lockdowns, seeing their colleagues get sick and maybe die. And now they’ve seen their fellow employees burn out and leave.”
She also said that in Victoria, delays surrounding the NDIS screening check - which ensures workers do not present an unacceptable risk to participants - had ballooned out to up to 12 weeks.
One service provider had 130 potential new workers waiting for their application to be processed, Ms McGee said.
“The NDIS check is important, but it can’t come at the expense of disabled people’s care,” the union official said.
Updated
I enjoyed this opinion piece from earlier today, via Lisa Bryant.
Health officials in New South Wales say they are increasingly confident new cases of Covid-19 will begin to plateau next week, as Dominic Perrottet declares that schools will only close as a “last resort” in the case of outbreaks once classes resume.
NSW reported another record day of deaths from the virus on Friday, the third time the peak has been broken this week, with 29 people succumbing. A further 63,018 new cases of Covid-19 were also recorded, 37,938 of those from rapid tests.
But despite conceding that the health system is under significant strain as a result of the surging Omicron outbreak, with a fall in the number of overall hospitalisations in the state due in part to the suspension of non-urgent elective surgery until February, the government is increasingly confident it has avoided disaster.
The full story is here:
The Victorian government has established two medi-hotels to house Covid patients in a bid to alleviate the strain on the state’s hospitals.
From Monday, two of Victoria’s quarantine hotels will be converted to facilities for Covid-19 patients in partnership with the Melbourne Health and Northern Health services.
Victorian health authorities say the Pullman Melbourne and the Mantra Epping will eventually accommodate up to 300 patients once fully operational.
You can read more on that story here:
Updated
AAP reports that an operation to remove a “sovereign citizens” protest camp has started in Canberra:
Police have begun an operation to clear a protest camp near Old Parliament House in Canberra.
The operation on Friday afternoon followed a request from the National Capital Authority to “remove structures and vehicles that are on Commonwealth land without a permit”.
ACT police initially used a loudspeaker to announce all tents, caravans, vehicles and other camping equipment must be removed from the area by 4pm AEDT or police would remove it.
They said camping within the parliamentary triangle without a permit constituted a breach of Commonwealth law.
At 4.15pm police moved in and began asking individuals to remove their equipment and vehicles.
Some people were seen to voluntarily pack their cars.
But officers have begun physically dismantling tents and bundling them in a collection van.
Some protesters were shouting messages such as “you will regret it” as officers moved in.
The camp clearance followed a court hearing for two men charged over a December 30 protest which saw the doors of the now-museum set on fire.
Protesters from the “Muckudda Camp” on Thursday sought to enter Parliament House but were prevented by police, with a number of people arrested in the forecourt.
The “sovereign citizen” group has been arguing against Covid vaccinations and calling for the federal government to be “evicted”, among other issues. Their Facebook page includes promotion of unproven Covid treatments.
The page also promotes an event scheduled for Saturday to “take old parliament (and) reinstate lore”.
Representatives of the nearby Aboriginal Tent Embassy, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, have distanced themselves from the protesters.
In an Instagram post, an embassy representative said the protesters were “breeding this cult-like mentality”, fearing there was “potential for people to get seriously hurt”.
Local Ngunnawal elders have also asked the protesters to leave.
The ACT Greens said it was an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Tent Embassy and against “conspiracy theorists and the far right”.
“Rather than bring even more attention to this new group of protesters, we want to use the coming days to celebrate the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, share their history and reflect on what 50 years of struggle can teach us,” they said.
The Tent Embassy began on January 26, 1972, with four men sitting under a beach umbrella protesting the McMahon government’s approach to Aboriginal land rights.
Updated
There’s no Djokovic news, just tweets about there not being any Djokovic news.
Just a girl. Sitting in front of a laptop. Waiting for the Immigration Minister to tell us if he's going to deport a tennis player.
— Bridget Fitzgerald (@msbfitzgerald) January 14, 2022
And this:
alex hawke just waiting 32 minutes until lunch in the cricket to hit send
— Nino Bucci (@ninobucci) January 14, 2022
And of course the confirmation of nothing tweets:
Just checked again with Federal sources, no update yet on #Djokovic@10NewsFirstMelb #springst #covid19vic
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) January 14, 2022
Sydney festival board member Benjamin Law has resigned in protest against the festival’s refusal to terminate a $20,000 sponsorship deal with the Israeli embassy.
In a statement issued by the festival on Friday afternoon, author and screenwriter Law said:
Today’s decision to leave the board is mine alone. I am only comfortable departing now because I have every confidence in the remaining board directors for the process ahead, and I remain an ardent fan and supporter of Olivia Ansell’s vision of a reactivated and dynamic Sydney.
You can read more on that story here:
The full Covid picture in NT, including a fairly wild admission from the government, and an update on the situation in remote Aboriginal communities, via AAP:
The Northern Territory has reported 546 new Covid infections as the government makes an embarrassing confession over an exposure site reporting failure, saying it has “no excuse”.
The new infections bring the territory’s total active caseload to about 3,300 with 27 – three more than the previous day – in hospital.
20 patients are considered acute or suffering serious symptoms and one is in intensive care in Royal Darwin Hospital.
“About 75% of infections are in the Darwin region, including Palmerston and the rural areas,” chief minister Michael Gunner told reporters on Friday.
Another 15% are in Alice Springs, 5% are in Katherine, 320km south of Darwin, and 4% are in East Arnhem Land. The rest are in other regional areas.
Gunner admitted the territory’s new COVID-19 exposure site messaging system linked to the check-in app had not been operating as planned.
“Over the past week these messages have not been sent,” he said. “There is no excuse for this.”
Gunner said instructions had been given to a government team to set up the new system by the NT’s security and management committee.
“But it was not implemented, which is unacceptable,” he said.
Gunner said Territorians had a right to know if they had visited a location where a positive case had also visited.
“The messages are intended to inform someone if they have been to an exposure site and (need to) monitor for symptoms,” he said.
The government employee responsible for overseeing the project has been stood down from the role.
Gunner said the system had now been set up and messages would be sent from 3pm on Friday.
Meanwhile, an outbreak in Yuendumu and Yuelamu, about 295km northwest of Alice Springs, has grown to 43 cases.
“But it continues to be confined to a handful of households,” Gunner said.
A lockout of unvaccinated people will be extended until next Thursday.
Gunner said Yuendumu’s vaccination rate continued to rise with 78% of residents 16 and over given one jab of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 58% fully vaccinated.
“This is a solid jump over the last few days which is encouraging,” he said.
Updated
Covid hospitalisations in NSW are expected to peak next week, according to the state’s health authority, and an analysis of hospital data shows the growth in the number of patients with Covid is slowing down. That full story by Nick Evershed and Josh Nicholas is here:
There’s some backlash against the federal government for announcing a two-week consultation period for the 10-year national plan to end violence against women and children.
A group of prominent women have demanded the consultation be extended, saying the short timeframe “speaks volumes about the seriousness with which the government is taking this issue.”
Breathtakingly disrespectful.
— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) January 14, 2022
The Govt have given community organisations and experts just TWO weeks to contribute to the upcoming 10-year Violence Against Women National Plan.
Two weeks to map out the next 10 years of the fight against gendered violence in Australia. pic.twitter.com/Qk6nymtGTY
In announcing the consultation period and releasing the draft report, the minister for women’s safety, Anne Ruston, tweeted:
Every woman and child has the right to a life free from violence and abuse. The new National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 is our pathway to achieve this.
Every woman and child has the right to a life free from violence and abuse. The new National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 is our pathway to achieve this. Read the draft and give feedback before 31 January 2022 here https://t.co/Dui7x0z7BA
— Anne Ruston (@Anne_Ruston) January 13, 2022
In the religious discrimination inquiry Andrew Walter, the acting deputy secretary of the integrity and international group in the attorney general’s department, has revealed the department has not done any drafting to implement a reported deal with Liberal moderates to amend the Sex Discrimination Act.
A group of four Liberal moderates claim they won Michaelia Cash’s approval to repeal a religious exemption to the SDA that allowed discrimination against LGBTQ+ students.
The deal is highly contentious because Christian groups (including the Australian Christian Lobby and Christian Schools Australia) threatened to remove support for the whole package as a result. Cash has since appeared to renege on the deal.
Walter said he couldn’t comment on the suggestion there was a deal, but confirmed the department hasn’t worked on any drafting to remove the section from the SDA.
Labor MP Josh Burns said that was fair enough because the department could only act on instruction of the government but it appears the deal has been “reversed and revoked”.
Updated
NSW police confirm Hillsong will not be fined for youth camp
The NSW Police acting assistant commissioner Peter Glynn has just released the following statement:
NSW Police have attended an event in the Newcastle area and spoken with organisers. Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued.
Event organisers are aware of their obligations under the Public Health Orders, and NSW Police will continue to ensure ongoing compliance.
The church had come to the attention of police after footage circulated of a youth camp that appeared to show people breaching Covid restrictions. The church apologised, but said it did not believe it had breached restrictions.
Updated
This is a wonderful piece from Mostafa Rachwani on Brighton Le Sands, the closest beach to people from western Sydney.
A horrific story emerging in Melbourne:
I did not know this lucrative beast was missing, but this is heartening news nonetheless.
BREAKING: The $108,000 bull missing for more than a fortnight in Victoria’s North East has been found alive and well.https://t.co/eZPH3pXw4j
— The Weekly Times (@theweeklytimes) January 14, 2022
Here is the full update on the Covid situation in South Australia, via AAP:
South Australia has reported a big spike in COVID-19 infections as new modelling suggests the state could have as many as 10,000 cases each day when the current outbreak peaks.
SA reported 5,679 new cases on Friday, up from 3,669 the previous day, as a large number of state-issued rapid antigen tests were included for the first time.
More than 20,000 RATs were distributed on Thursday, returning 1,747 results. Another six people have died while 246 people are in hospital, including 20 in intensive care where eight people are on ventilation.
The premier, Steven Marshall, said the increase in new infections should be viewed with a “degree of caution” given the inclusion of RAT results and because some PCR tests were delayed by hot weather.
The premier also released the latest modelling on the likely trajectory of infections which suggests SA could expect between 6,000 and 10,000 cases each day when the outbreak reaches its peak, predicted for between 15 and 25 January.
He said the modelling so far had been “alarmingly accurate” and also showed that SA could have expected up to 40,000 cases a day had the government not introduced new local restrictions on Boxing Day.
Those restrictions included tougher density limits in most venues and a 10-person cap on home gatherings.
“The modelling provides for the peak to be reached as early as tomorrow. I think we’re very close,” Marshall said.
“We’ve still got a couple of pretty tough days and weeks in front of us, but I think we can now look to the other side with great hope.”
Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the state had avoided a disaster with the swift introduction of new restrictions but the outcome would ultimately depend on the behaviour and attitude of everyone going forward.
“People will agree that what we’ve done in South Australia has absolutely changed what would have been catastrophic,” she said.
“Putting those restrictions in place after Christmas, I just can’t explain how significant that has been in reducing our cases.”
Updated
The fifth Ashes test is about to start, with Australia losing the toss and being sent in, and all our coverage is over here:
Here’s an update on claims made during the Queensland Covid update earlier that the federal government had taken rapid antigen tests ordered and paid for by the state. AAP reports:
The federal government has denied claims by a Queensland government minister that rapid antigen tests intended for the state’s rail workers had been diverted elsewhere.
As the state continues to grapple with a shortage of the test kits, the state health minister, Yvette D’Ath, said the transport and main roads minister, Mark Bailey, had proof of rapid antigen test (RAT) kits being pulled and that it was “disappointing”.
But a federal health department spokesperson said the government had not issued a mandate to divert supplies.
“The Department of Health is in regular contact with state and territory governments and is not aware of any other government seeking to requisition RAT,” the spokesperson said.
Bailey claimed Queensland Rail received an email from their supplier that an order of 20,000 RAT kits was at Sydney airport.
“Unfortunately the sponsor of the product has decided that (even though these were fully paid for) they will now only be dealing with the Federal Government and these tests are no longer available,” Bailey said on social media.
On Tues, Qld Rail received an email from the supplier which stated:
— Mark Bailey MP (@MarkBaileyMP) January 13, 2022
“The order you had in with us for 20,000 rapid antigen test kits was at the Sydney Airport.
Unfortunately the sponsor of the product has decided that (even though these were fully paid for)… 1/2
D’Ath said on Friday authorities know there is a shortage of tests, but she hoped the Commonwealth was working with industries so stock wasn’t pulled back only to then be given to the same people.
About 409,000 kits had been distributed for public testing clinics and a further 1m were expected on Friday.
“Half of those are point-of-care tests so we won’t be using them at public sites,” she added.
But D’Ath said doctors, primary health networks and aged care facilities were approaching the state for rapid antigen tests and personal protective equipment.
“Now it’s the Commonwealth who are supposed to be supporting that and providing that stock and they told me this week they were,” she said.
“We just can’t be diverting our supplies to primary care when the Commonwealth says they’ve got a stockpile for that very reason.”
The federal health department spokesperson said the Commonwealth had bought more than 10m RATs since August and ordered more than 70m for delivery in January and February.
“The states and territories have also placed orders for approximately 130m RATs for their own use,” the spokesperson told AAP.
“The quantity of RATs procured is expected to meet the foreseeable Commonwealth-related need.”
Updated
In the religious discrimination inquiry Jason Masters, the co-convenor of the Uniting Network Australia, has accused an unnamed government staffer of an “abusive” phone call about the church’s submission.
Masters told the human rights committee:
We mailed our submission and some media release information to MPs and the attorney general. I got a call from one of the staffers from the political office of the AG. He said he wanted to talk to me about it, I said I don’t have time right now can we make an appointment?
He just kept bulldozing on. He said I was wrong with this wrong with that. It was quite an abusive phone call. After 15 minutes I had to stop to go talk to some people to get a bit of support after that phone call.
Labor senator Deborah O’Neill said the report was “very disturbing” and “extraordinary” because in her view it amounted to “harassment and intimidation” of a witness. O’Neill invited Masters to submit more information about the alleged incident.
Masters later clarified that the incident occurred under the former attorney general, Christian Porter.
Guardian Australia has contacted the attorney general, Michaelia Cash, for comment.
Updated
Ai-Media, a provider of closed captioning services to the Seven Network, has released a statement regarding an investigation into who leaked footage of two news presenters.
The footage of Mike Amor and Rebecca Maddern criticising Novak Djokovic in fairly colourful terms circulated widely earlier this week.
The captioning company says it has identified an employee who was working remotely and was responsible for the leak, and “appropriate action has been taken”.
Updated
Health services in rural NSW are struggling under the burden of the Omicron outbreak, writes Natasha May.
Hillsong church has put out a statement about that camp we mentioned earlier (which NSW police are still considering fining them over):
Breaking: Hillsong Church apologises for youth camp: "We regret giving any perception that we were not playing our part to keep NSW safe and we sincerely apologise to the community at large." @abcnews
— Jake Lapham (@JakeLapham) January 14, 2022
Updated
Here’s an update about the news we brought you earlier regarding a police operation targeting so-called sovereign citizens in Canberra. AAP reports:
Police have begun an operation to clear a protest camp near Old Parliament House in Canberra.
The operation on Friday followed a request from the National Capital Authority to “remove structures and vehicles that are on Commonwealth land without a permit”.
It followed a court hearing for two men charged over a December 30 protest which saw the doors of the now-museum set on fire.
Police briefly attended the camp before agreeing to come back later on Friday when camp leaders were available.
They have asked members of the public to avoid the area.
Protesters on Thursday sought to enter nearby Parliament House but were prevented by police, with a number of people arrested in the forecourt.
The ‘sovereign citizen’ group has been arguing against COVID-19 vaccinations and calling for the federal government to be ‘evicted’, among other issues.
NT records 546 new Covid cases
The Northern Territory has recorded 546 new Covid cases in the latest reporting period.
Updated
NT government admits exposure site messages not sent for a week
The chief minister of the Northern Territory, Michael Gunner, has just made a fairly remarkable admission: that for the past week the territory has failed to contact people who visited exposure sites.
Gunner said:
Yesterday we were requesting an update on the exposure site messaging and the process. We were advised over the past week, these messages have not been sent.
There is no excuse for this. There was a clear decision and a clear direction by the security and emergency management committee. This direction was not implemented, which is unacceptable.
The person responsible for tasking this decision has been stood down from the emergency operations centre and will return to regular duties.
Gunner said the issue was rectified overnight, and that people would start to receive messages.
Updated
Onslow, the Pilbara town which hit Australia’s equal record hottest temperature yesterday (and which shares a name with my favourite Keeping Up Appearances character), is heating up again: 45C at midday WA time.
With a few hours of warming to go, Onslow is sitting on a toasty 45C. (This site reached 50.7C on Thursday, at least on a preliminary reading, matching the hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia. @BOM_au https://t.co/6zIquJLAF9 pic.twitter.com/u2oI1J4WaY
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) January 14, 2022
The SA chief health officer, Nicola Spurrier, says the state maintains its own definition of close contacts, despite changes announced in some other states.
As an example, she mentions there are only five people in the state who can do railroad signalling, and so it would be dangerous if they all caught Omicron.
Updated
Speaking of Adelaide, someone has been going around putting large googly eyes on things, which I quite enjoy.
You know you're in Adelaide when... 🤦♂️👀 pic.twitter.com/FnrHRacoYz
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) January 14, 2022
And here too:
Someone in Adelaide is going around putting giant googly eyes on things and I applaud them. pic.twitter.com/CpmJtU2lZy
— the woods are lovely dark and deep (@rAdelaidegrl) January 11, 2022
The South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, is still talking in Adelaide. He says he wishes the state had reached 90% double dose already (they should reach it in the next couple days) and were heading to 95%.
This is a fairly unusual story: Queensland police are searching for a missing police dog (of the type they would in fact use to search for someone who was missing).
Here’s the AAP report:
A missing Queensland police dog may have been taken in by a member of the public and a reward is on offer for information leading to his safe return.
Police dog Quizz was helping track down an offender who allegedly ran from a stolen car at Redbank Plains, southwest of Brisbane, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
He got separated from his handler during the pursuit and is still missing, despite an exhaustive search involving all terrain vehicles, trail bikes and drones.
PD Quizz is a three-year-old Sable German Shepherd with a black and tan hide. He was wearing a black tracking harness with a long tracking lead.
Inspector Mick Thiesfield said there had been an unconfirmed sighting of the dog on Tuesday morning, and he could be stuck in nearby bushland.
“The police dog could be snagged on some sort of tree ... as he moves around the bush,” he said on Friday.
But given there have been minimal sightings over several days, Inspector Thiesfield said it is “probable” a member of the public may have taken in PD Quizz.
PD Quizz is not considered dangerous but should not be approached. Anyone who sees him should contact police.
Updated
The modelling suggests, among other things, that SA would have hit 30,000 cases a day if it had not delayed (and staggered) the resumption of the school year. Queensland has made a similar call.
“The information we have received is very compelling,” Marshall says.
There’s been some modelling released in SA too:
SA OMICRON MODELLING:
— Harvey Biggs (@HarveyBiggs) January 14, 2022
Daily COVID cases are likely to peak between 6,000 to 10,000 in the next 10 days.
Govt say South Australia was headed for 30,000 to 40,000 daily cases by next week if it wasn’t for some of the restrictions brought in on Boxing Day.@9NewsAdel pic.twitter.com/yfhCWv2k3J
Back on Marshall in SA. He says there’s three new RAT collection sites to open between now and Tuesday.
He also says there are 557 SA health staff who are Covid positive, with 870 either infected or furloughed because of the virus.
Updated
There are reports that police are planning to evict people from a sovereign citizen camp at Old Parliament House today. Police made arrests earlier this week after some of these protestors allegedly tried to force their way into new Parliament House.
BREAKING: Dozens of police are entering the SovCit 'Muckudda Camp' near Old Parliament House right now to evict everyone. @theage pic.twitter.com/3K13FUdHDW
— Rachael Dexter (@rachael_dexter) January 14, 2022
Updated
Marshall says that 246 hospitalisations is an increase, but the number of patients in ICU has dropped to 20 from 27 earlier in the week.
SA record six deaths, 5,679 new Covid cases
Marshall says he does not have any more detail on the deaths, and says the case number is a little higher because many testing sites were closed for hot weather yesterday. And 1,747 results today are from rapid antigen tests. RAT results only started being included yesterday.
Updated
SA premier Steven Marshall speaking from Adelaide
He says he’s very pleased to be out of isolation. I didn’t know he was in isolation, but that’s good for him.
WA to bring in widespread vaccine mandate from 31 January
I think we missed this fairly significant news out of WA, which dropped late yesterday.
The state is about to become unvaccinated people’s worst nightmare. They will be banned from pretty much everywhere, with the restrictions to last “years”, according to premier Mark McGowan.
The AAP story is here:
Unvaccinated West Australians will be banned from entering bottleshops or dining at fast-food restaurants as the state prepares to open its borders.
Premier Mark McGowan says the restrictions will come into effect from January 31 ahead of the February 5 border transition.
Proof of double-dose vaccination will be required at all hospitality venues, including restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars and fast-food outlets for dine-in customers.
It will also be needed for visitors to public and private hospitals and aged care facilities, indoor entertainment venues including play centres, casinos and cinemas, gyms and fitness centres, the zoo, Crown casino and amusement parks.
The requirement will apply to anyone aged 16 and above and will be implemented across the state.
“Life will become very difficult for the unvaccinated from January 31,” the premier told reporters on Thursday.
“These will be the broadest proof of vaccination requirements in the nation and they will not be removed anytime soon.”
Mr McGowan said West Australians who chose to remain unvaccinated were putting themselves and others at risk and increasing the burden on the health system.
WA is set to scrap quarantine for fully-vaccinated arrivals from February 5 but the government is yet to outline how it will define close contacts of positive cases.
Updated
The Australian Republic Movement has launched an advertising campaign, only days after unveiling its preferred model for selecting a head of state.
The campaign features the tagline: “Thanks, we can take it from here.”
The model, released on Wednesday and named the Australian Choice, proposes that Australia’s parliaments nominate candidates for head of state who then would be put to a national ballot.
The head of state would be elected for a five-year term and be responsible for appointing as prime minister the person who has majority support in the House of Representatives, or calling an election if no one can obtain that support.
The head of state would have no individual authority in relation to the setting of government policy, day-to-day governance or passing of laws, which remains the responsibility of the parliament, prime minister and cabinet.
Updated
There’s been some reports circulating that indicate NSW police will not be fining Hillsong church for the singing and dancing that has been going on at a youth camp, possibly in breach of Covid restrictions.
But a NSW police spokesperson has just told me that’s not necessarily the case, as the force is still considering the matter.
Here’s our full story on the youth camp:
Updated
There’s been a small win for Novak Djokovic, who before yesterday was reportedly facing investigations for possible breaches of Covid regulations in three countries: Australia, Spain and Serbia. Apparently Spain are not investigating his travel to the country.
“The news is false. Neither the government has ordered it nor is there any police investigation open on the athlete,” the spokesperson for interior ministery told POLITICO. 👇🏻
— Saša Ozmo (@ozmo_sasa) January 13, 2022
Spain denies it’s probing #Djokovic for entering without COVID vaccine https://t.co/DPLKCXwZQs
Updated
The often entertaining F3 derby in the A-League men between Newcastle and Central Coast has been postponed:
BREAKING | Tomorrow's F3 Derby has been postponed 😭
— NEWCASTLE JETS FC ✈️ (@NewcastleJetsFC) January 14, 2022
Our Women's match on Sunday night at home is still set to go ahead ✅
Details ➡️ https://t.co/l9ATd1oqvU#BondedByGold
This is horrific: there is no air-conditioning in the cells of a prison in the Pilbara, where the temperature yesterday reached 50.5c, according to Human Rights Watch. There’s also a more detailed report on that here.
Roebourne prison in Western #Australia's Pilbara region has no air conditioning in prisoners cells
— Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) January 13, 2022
Today it reached 50.5°C at Roebourne
Approx 80% of the inmates there are Indigenous.
This is outrageous & must be fixed immediately @MarkMcGowanMP https://t.co/pSPIXgbQaf
I mean, this is almost certainly not the reason why that package you ordered online is delayed. But it’s still quite wild and worth your lunch time attention:
Keep hearing of train burglaries in LA on the scanner so went to #LincolnHeights to see it all. And… there’s looted packages as far as the eye can see. Amazon packages, @UPS boxes, unused Covid tests, fishing lures, epi pens. Cargo containers left busted open on trains. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/JvNF4UVy2K
— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) January 13, 2022
Thank you Caitlin, the best CC since nacho cheese.
Looks like the clock has struck half past 12, meaning it’s time for me to pass the blog on to the thrillingly capable hands of Nino Bucci.
Enjoy the rest of your respective Fridays.
Still in Victoria – the dedicated quarantine facility in Mickleham is expected to be up and running by the end of next month. The accommodation hub will have room for 500 beds.
The design of the new hub is based on the existing standalone facility currently operating at Howard Springs.
Mickleham quarantine facility expected to be up and running by end of Feb (500 beds). State government will take over later this month and run trials, before formally opening it. @10NewsFirstMelb
— Patrick Murrell (@pamurrell) January 14, 2022
Updated
A similar statistic to what we’re seeing in NSW:
Half the people in Victorian ICU are unvaccinated (6 per cent of the population) @JamesMerlinoMP says
— Richard Willingham (@rwillingham) January 14, 2022
Here’s some more details on the medi-hotels to be established in Victoria.
The hotels, which had been used for hotel quarantine, will provide care for more than 300 people at a time, the state government says.
The two hotels will transform quarantine sites into specialised home-style care for less acute patients, with all the amenities of existing quarantine hotels.
The medi-hotels will have the capacity to provide care for over 300 patients at a time – in partnership with Northern Health and Royal Melbourne Hospital.
They will work to alleviate pressure on the hospital networks requiring beds for patients with high-care needs, the government says.
Patients eligible for transfer will be those well enough to be relocated from a general hospital ward for the final stages of their clinical care. Clinical teams will be available to respond to any medical emergencies.
The Victorian government will retain operational management of the hotels and Victoria police will remain on site.
Idea to turn covid quarantine hotels into hospital at home hotels for hundreds of covid patients.. came from CQV staff. Took it to health and government - and they said yup.
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) January 14, 2022
Updated
The ACT records 1,125 new Covid cases
The ACT’s numbers are in, and there have been 1,125 new Covid cases reported overnight, including 885 from PCR tests and 240 from rapid antigen tests.
There are 27 people being treated in hospital, including three in intensive care.
ACT COVID-19 update (14 January 2022)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) January 14, 2022
▪️ New cases today: 1,125 (885 PCR and 240 RAT)
▪️ Active cases: 4,382
▪️ Total cases: 19,908 (18,490 PCR and 1,418 RAT)
▪️ In hospital: 27
▪️ In ICU: 3
▪️ Ventilated: 3
▪️ Total lives lost: 16 pic.twitter.com/7g0RekCHqS
Updated
Returning to the announcement of two medi-hotels to be established in Victoria, Merlino says it is in response to growing case numbers in the community, which is causing a rise in hospital admissions and emergency department presentations:
This is placing enormous pressure on our hardworking doctors and nurses and the entire hospital workforce. We have been preparing for some time to manage an increase in Covid cases. We always knew that as we move away from lockdowns, there would be a significant increase in pressure on our hospital system.
Two of Victoria's quarantine hotels - Pullman Melbourne on Swanston Street and the Mantra Epping - will become 'medi hotels' for COVID-19 patients. "Like hospital in the home, this will alleviate some pressure on hospitals," Acting Health Minister James Merlino says.
— Benita Kolovos (@benitakolovos) January 14, 2022
The program will begin from Monday, January 17 with patients from the RMH and Northern Hospital, who will be assessed before being transferred to ensure that they are well enough to be relocated. They'll remain under the care of the hospital and still be considered an inpatient.
— Benita Kolovos (@benitakolovos) January 14, 2022
Updated
Some 21.2% of Victorians 18 and over have had three doses of a booster shot, equating to more than 1 million people.
Merlino:
24,071 people were vaccinated yesterday through our state clinics. In terms of kids vaccinations, 5,147 kids aged five to 11 received a vaccine yesterday. But I would encourage anyone who hasn’t booked yet to get online and call and make that booking. More than 28,000 children are booked in to receive their first dose over the next seven days with almost 40,000 available for the next 30 days.
Updated
Acting Health Minister and Deputy Premier Merlino starts today's Vic Presser by putting on his Education Min hat to congratulate kids on first round uni offers.
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) January 14, 2022
Victoria to establish two medi-hotels for Covid patients
Victoria’s press conference has begun.
Two medi-hotels will be set up in the state to increase capacity for Covid care in the hospital system. The hospitals will take more than 300 Covid patients who require “lower level care”.
Two hotels will take more than 300 Covid-19 patients who need ‘lower level care’. pic.twitter.com/tajZLVmqGl
— Emma O'Sullivan (@emma_os) January 14, 2022
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein says businesses impacted by the pandemic will be eligible for extra support funding, dating back to 15 December.
Businesses that experienced an unavoidable loss, including spoilage, will be eligible for up to $5,000.
The business impact support program has been designed to help those Tasmanian small businesses which have had a reduction in business turnover due to Covid cases and isolation requirements. It will cover initially the period from the 15th of December when we opened through to the 14th of January.
The downturn for those businesses may have been caused by loss of staff due to exposure that has affected the business’s ability to operate, or loss of business due to significantly lower than usual customer demand. Funding of up to $5,000 will be available to eligible businesses depending on their business size and support of up to $5,000 will also be available for those businesses that experienced and unavoidable loss due to spoilage.
Updated
Tasmania records 1,201 new Covid cases
Tasmania has recorded 1,201 new coronavirus cases.
Of the new cases, the vast majority, 852, were from self-reported rapid antigen tests.
There are 10 people being treated in hospital specifically for Covid symptoms.
While we wait for the Victorian press conference, feast your eyes on this zebra foal.
From AAP:
A Victorian zoo has welcomed its first male zebra foal in four years, and the aptly-named youngster has wasted no time showing his stripes.
The long-legged colt is up and walking under the watchful gaze of mum Zaide after being born at Werribee Open Range Zoo on Sunday.
He has been named Zintlanu, which translates to the number five in South Africa and Zimbabwe’s officially recognised Xhosa language, as the fifth baby born to Zaide and father Melako.
"Zintlanu has found his feet very quickly."@WerribeeZoo has welcomed its first male zebra foal in four years, and the long-legged colt has wasted no time showing his stripes.
— Australian Associated Press (AAP) (@AAPNewswire) January 14, 2022
MORE: https://t.co/I5gh1WRPyw pic.twitter.com/WpqvbBw5Ug
Updated
Wowee, some accusations flying from D’ath. Asked how Queensland is going with rapid antigen tests, the health minister says she talked to minister Mark Bailey yesterday afternoon who confirmed they’d “been given reason by the supplier that the stock was taken by the commonwealth instead. That is disappointing”.
Reporter:
The commonwealth denies it.
D’ath:
Well, minister Bailey says that he’s got proof of that. So I’ll leave it to minister Bailey to provide that information. But look, we know that there’s a shortage across the board. But I would hope that the commonwealth is working with industries, that if there is a time where government agencies have to turn to suppliers and say – we need for emergency reasons to acquire your stock – that they’re looking at where that stock is going. Because imagine if we’re pulling back stock only to find that we’re doing so to give it to the same people that we took it off in the first place.
Updated
Posting this solely because I only just realised her official title is “Queensland Premier and Minister for the Olympics”.
52% of eligible Queenslanders have had their COVID-19 booster and 6% of 5 to 11-year-olds have already had their first shot. Keep it up, Queensland 👏💉💪
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) January 14, 2022
Over in the ACT, sovereign citizens involved with the Old Parliament House fire on 30 December are in the magistrates court today.
Sovereign citizens in ACT Magistrates Court asking to represent an Old Parliament House protestor being told to keep quiet by a clearly annoyed Magistrate Beth Campbell.
— Dominic Giannini (@domgiannini_) January 14, 2022
“It's not like on television where someone can just jump up and say objection."
Updated
Today's Covid numbers
Here is a summary of Friday’s Covid numbers. We’ll continue to update it throughout the day.
- New South Wales has reported 63,018 new Covid cases and 29 deaths, on the second day rapid antigen tests were included in the state’s total figures. There are 2,525 people being treated in hospital including 184 people in ICU.
- Victoria has reported 34,836 new Covid cases and 18 deaths from PCR tests and RATs. There are 976 people being treated in hospital including 112 in ICU.
-
Queensland has reported 23,630 new Covid cases from PCR tests and RATs, and three deaths. There are 589 people being treated in hospital, including 41 in ICU and 15 requiring ventilation.
- South Australia records 5679 new cases from PCR and RATs, and six deaths. There are 246 hospitalisations and 20 patients in ICU.
- Tasmania has reported 1,201 new Covid cases, including 852 from self-reported rapid antigen tests. There are 10 people being treated in hospital specifically for Covid symptoms. There have been no deaths.
- The ACT has reported 1,125 new Covid cases, including 885 from PCR tests and 240 from rapid antigen tests. There are 27 people being treated in hospital, including three in ICU. There have been no deaths.
- The NT has reported 546 new cases, with 27 in hospital and 20 in ICU. No deaths reported.
Updated
A reporter asks Gerrard if Townsville has enough ambulances after reports from the opposition of the deaths of two patients.
Gerrard says it is too early to make any clinical determinations while the deaths are still under investigation.
Look, I’m aware of those deaths. They’re under investigation at the moment. I think that it is certainly ... completely inappropriate for the opposition to draw links to any availability of ambulances to deaths when they are under investigation. Internal investigation, QPS and the coroner. So let’s leave it to the experts to determine whether there were any contributing factors. But you know, it was irresponsible of the opposition to be trying to make a clinical decision and findings without those experts still completing their investigations.
Updated
Gerrard estimates Queensland is about two weeks from reaching its peak. New South Wales believes it is approaching its peak now.
Different areas will be reaching their peak at different times in Queensland because we’re a more decentralised state. So presumably, and this is a bit speculative - Gold Coast, which was the first region to seem to get its growth, presumably, will reach its peak earlier than other parts of Queensland.
The most useful things to look at will be hospitalisation rates rather than the numbers of cases. And we’re looking at those closely every day. And it’s when the hospitalisation rates start to steady. And Gold Coast has been relatively steady for a day or two, but you can’t read too much into a day or two’s worth of data. So I don’t want to overstate that. But I think that the Gold Coast will be the first to peak and then others will follow. But I really must emphasise, it’s too early to try to speculate from the data that we have.
Updated
Back in Brisbane, Gerrard is asked if he is concerned there are deaths occurring at home. When asked whether the majority of deaths were occurring in aged care, hospitals or at home, he said it was “a mixture of both”.
It does concern us when there are deaths at home. From the few reports that I’ve been seeing, we’re seeing reports of people having an illness for a short period and then sudden deaths. And we’ve reported about those earlier on. That’s been reported elsewhere in Australia and around the world ... which I think I’ve referred to on a previous occasion. But we are certainly keeping a close eye on that, particularly when there are deaths.
Updated
Victoria’s Covid update will be at 12pm with acting premier James Merlino. The states and territories have been proceeding in a very civilised order today.
12 Midday: @JamesMerlinoMP and CQV Commissioner Emma Cassar to provide #covid19vic update and make an announcement. @10NewsFirstMelb #springst #covid19vic
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) January 14, 2022
Updated
Queensland’s vaccine coordinator Shane Chelepy takes to the podium. Some 52% of eligible people in Queensland have received their booster.
But that also means is 40% of people out there who are eligible now, to get their booster. We are seeing really good numbers of people getting vaccinated right across the system.
Queensland health has done over 70,000 vaccinations in the past few days which is terrific. My message is clear ... those that are able to walk into our Queensland sites can get boosted.
Queensland COVID-19 Booster Shot Update
— Yvette D'Ath MP (@YvetteDAth) January 14, 2022
52% of eligible Queenslanders have now have their COIVD-19 booster.
The vaccination will help protect you from serious illness.
Please come forward today and get your booster shot.
Updated
Queensland’s health minister Yvette D’Ath says 5.96% of five- to 11-year-olds in Queensland have received a vaccine.
I have to say, I think it is great our five- to 11-year-old vaccination rates, the first three days, we have had 5.96% of all five- to 11-year-olds in Queensland vaccinated. Almost 6% in just three days. We know the numbers going to grow as our pharmacies and GPs are able to come online as they get the vaccine supplies delivered to us. We have over 40,000 young people five to 11 booked in for appointments today at state clinics. That is great.
Updated
Queensland 23,630 new Covid cases, three deaths
Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard is up in Queensland. There are 23,630 new Covid cases in the state, including 10,182 that were logged from rapid antigen tests.
Sadly, there have been three more deaths overnight.
There are 589 people being treated in hospital, including 41 in ICU and 15 requiring ventilation. While hospitalisations remain relatively steady, ICU numbers have jumped from 26 yesterday.
There is a steady increase in the number of patients in hospital. Not an explosive increase, a steady increase. It is across Queensland, the increases are across Queensland in all regions. There seems to be particular growth in ... Brisbane south of the river. That is where most of the growth is occurring at the moment. Not explosive growth but steady growth across the state.
Updated
In the ACT, there are reports people are getting aggressive towards health staff at a testing site that is providing free rapid antigen tests to eligible people.
Our initial stock of RATs will be used up today for those who need it most, however there are more on the way. Once more stock is available, further use of RATs will be considered. Sadly, we’ve already had reports of aggression at Kambah today. Please treat our team with respect
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) January 13, 2022
We recognise this is a challenging and difficult period, but abuse toward our staff will not be tolerated. Please be kind to the team and each other.
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) January 13, 2022
Canberra is stronger when we work together.
Updated
Labor’s Deborah O’Neil has asked witnesses at the religious discrimination inquiry about the deal between four Liberal moderates to protect LGBTQ+ students at the same time as the religious discrimination bill.
The deal is highly contentious – because Christian groups including the Australian Christian Lobby and Christian Schools Australia threatened to remove support for the whole package as a result.
The attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has since appeared to renege on the deal, revealing broad protections for LGBTQ+ students will have to wait for 12 months.
On Friday, Mark Sneddon, the executive director of the Institute for Civil Society, a legal social policy thinktank told the human rights committee inquiry he had no “personal knowledge” of the deal.
But he noted that Cash has since spoken to a Christian group “denying the existence of a deal”. So stakeholders clearly interpret Cash’s comments to mean that Liberal MPs Katie Allen, Fiona Martin, Angie Bell and Dave Sharma have not won a guarantee to amend the Sex Discrimination Act at the same time as the religious discrimination bill.
Updated
Good question from a reporter, to conclude today’s presser.
They asked if, when Perrottet saw the number of deaths this morning and given the “awful week” the state has had, his resolve about the path NSW was on was shaken. Ie, at what point do we reconsider bringing in more restrictions, to prevent further hospitalisations and deaths?
I believe we’re completely on the right path. The only way out of this is to push through. And that’s exactly what our people are doing. When we’ve talked about, over the last two years, learning to live alongside the virus, there’s all going to be challenges through this transition. We have to live in the world as it is – not as we want it to be.
Chris – you know, it is confronting. It’s always confronting to see those figures of people who have died. Behind every one of those numbers is a person. Is a family that’s lost a loved one. And we’ve gone through this over the last two years where people have not been able to say goodbye to their loved ones because of restrictions we’ve had in place on funerals. People have had restricted weddings and haven’t been able to celebrate such a momentous day in the way that they would have liked. And we’ve done everything that we can to try to have society operating and open as much as possible – to return as much of society to normal. And we will do that ... we are going to get through this.
Updated
Perrottet 'shocked' by Hillsong church camp
Perrottet is asked about the Hillsong church camp doing the rounds on social media, that saw revellers singing and dancing in close proximity indoors. He says he was “extremely shocked” and “disappointed” by the images.
He says even if it was within the rules, “it wasn’t in the spirit of the rules”, a possibly unintentional pun:
I was completely shocked last night to see that and NSW Health is dealing with that last night, and I echo the frustration and anger that people right across the state has felt. What has got us through the last two years has been the efforts and sacrifices that many have made to keep people safe. That means that many businesses have had to tailor the way that they operate. Many people have had to change their behaviour to keep people safe. Now, we made those rules and even if, technically, it was within the rules, it certainly wasn’t in the spirit of the rules.
Now, I understand that Hillsong are ensuring that that doesn’t occur again. But I was incredibly disappointed. These rules aren’t there for the sake of it. These rules are in place to keep people safe and for the 99.95% of people who are doing the right thing, I think everyone would feel completely frustrated and shocked by what they saw last night. And you know, we don’t want to see that happen again. We’ve made it very clear, as Dr Chant has just pointed out, in those settings, there is to be no singing and dancing and there are many hospitality venues that have had curb their operations in order to keep people safe as we move through this next period of time. So to see that last night, I was incredibly disappointed.
Updated
Perrottet is asked about Covid parties, a frankly bizarre occurrence whereby people gather with the intention of getting Covid (please, don’t try this at home). He says “they should not be doing that”.
We have made it very clear here in our state to minimise large household gatherings. In addition to that, as the prime minister clearly pointed out yesterday, there can be rates of re-infection. So anyone thinking that is a good idea is completely wrong ... now, from time to time, people do the wrong thing. But I say if you’re thinking about having one of those parties – don’t have one. Follow the guidance that we have provided and even outside of those parties, we’ve asked people to minimise household visitations, to minimise large household gatherings. And that’s clearly the position that we’ve taken and in the main, I want to thank everybody for making the effort. And particularly at a time when it’s summer. Many people are on holidays right across the state at a difficult time and many people – almost everyone is adhering to those rules.
Updated
Interrupting the NSW press conference for a moment with a reminder on behalf of our community moderation team to our valued commenters.
The off-topic rule as outlined in the Guardian’s community standards still applies to all live-blogs. Our liveblogs are not open threads for discussing all things.
We welcome robust debate, but comments should only relate to topics that have been introduced in today’s liveblog by today’s bloggers. Off-topic comments (or those which break any other community standards) will be deleted.
Updated
Rapid antigen tests a 'key part' of return to school in NSW
Back in NSW, and Perrottet says there is a “strong possibility” rapid antigen tests will be used in classrooms as part of the return to school plan, with a 50/50 cost sharing arrangement between the state and federal government:
The agreement that we have with the federal government in relation to the cost-sharing arrangements with respect of rapid antigen tests, if they’re used for a public health purpose, that there will be a 50/50 funding arrangement. That has been confirmed by the prime minister. We’ll work through those plans and finalise them. Present them to national cabinet next week.
My expectation is that you will see rapid antigen tests as a key part of it. In terms of supply – you know, I think that our state has certainly led the way when it comes to supply of rapid antigen tests. We have procured already 50 million. We are procuring an additional radio million ... A number of those tests have already arrived and we have complete confidence that we will have enough supply to provide for the plan once it’s finalised next week.
Updated
Turning to vaccinations, and they’re picking up in every state and territory, as the booster interval is reduced and five to 11 year-olds join the rollout.
On vaccinations - the speed of vaccination has picked up dramatically in every jurisdiction pic.twitter.com/9wdn2ekLV5
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 13, 2022
Chart that tracks lag between 2nd dose and booster numbers suggests we're still pretty far off a 4-month interval for eligible people - currently the lag is sitting at five and a bit months. This is actually an improvement I think, as was ~ 6 months when we started tracking iirc pic.twitter.com/VvDrdrHCNS
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 13, 2022
The Guardian’s Nick Evershed has updated a series of Covid charts – first, on NSW and Victoria:
Today's hospitalisation numbers for Victoria - 976 patients with Covid pic.twitter.com/giLelHoYSN
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 13, 2022
Today's hospitalisation numbers for NSW - 2525 patients with Covid pic.twitter.com/3GIEH3yswF
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 13, 2022
Case numbers in NSW by testing type - today's numbers again include RAT tests from over the past week pic.twitter.com/LplPjHWM8c
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 13, 2022
Case numbers for Victoria by testing type - PCR numbers are looking pretty flat over the last 5 days, but who knows what is going on these days! pic.twitter.com/h5temoZFkU
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 13, 2022
Updated
Meanwhile:
QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will hold a press conference at 10:15am, local time #COVID19Aus #qldpol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) January 13, 2022
Dr Chant is asked how many deaths have been reported with the Omicron variant compared to Delta.
She says at the moment, the focus is on understanding admissions to ICU, where everyone is being tested, and in some instances it is difficult to tell the cause of the death itself:
Sometimes we won’t be able to in some of the circumstances get sufficient sample from the cases to sequence but we will work on improving you know, getting as much data as we can so to inform the community ... whether you test someone particularly the PCR testing it’s very, very sensitive. So you may well have cleared Covid and got over Covid for a period of time, and recovered, and then if you subsequently die it still may be found in your nose and throat ... it does mean that we are reporting cases and we are not trying to say they were directly caused by Covid, and we are doing some further work to look at the underlying reasons and give the community more information about that. But it is important, the question for us to understand the Delta versus Omicron deaths. So we will follow it up with the team.
Updated
Dr Chant says is have become clear the risk of hospitalisation is “substantially lower” with Omicron than Delta – and the hospitalisation numbers “speak for themselves in that regard”. The length of stay in hospital is also lower.
Emergency department attendances have also been down over the past week.
Chant:
For people who need to come to the emergency department, please keep coming. For those of you who have more minor illnesses, please consider what other healthcare you could access, including Health Direct and of course your doctor or your pharmacy. With respect to vaccinations ... whilst we are continuing to see our community adhere to social distancing and mask wearing that is assisting us in this, all the while we are getting those boosters into the arms of our community.
Updated
NSW expects number of new Covid cases to 'plateau' next week: Chant
Dr Chant turns to the modelling Perrottet mentioned earlier, which shows NSW projecting relatively well in terms of hospitalisations and ICU admissions. She makes an excellent point that can be easy to forget – that behind all the modelling and graphs and Covid updates there are people.
It’s obviously very pleasing for us to see the actuals on that modelling graph track below the most optimistic prediction that we presented to you last week. I want to be clear though about that. Please don’t read that as meaning that our health system is not under pressure. And modelling ultimately is modelling. Behind every line and every dot on that page are people. And whether it’s Covid patients in our hospitals, people caring for themselves with Covid in had the community, and of course our staff who are managing this day in day out, at all fronts of the health system, we expect that pressure on our hospitals to continue for at least the next few weeks.
Although what we are starting to become increasingly confident of is that we will see a plateauing next week and that is pleasing but that plateauing is obviously still at a relatively high level of Covid patients in this our hospitals and in our ICUs. The relationship between the hospitalisations, the cases, and what we are projecting in terms of those recent cases is holding up quite well. And does give us a degree of confidence about where we are headed as I said into the next couple of weeks.
Updated
OK, this is interesting. Dr Chant clarifies that if you have tested positive for Covid and quarantined for seven days, you do not have to self-isolate if you are deemed a close contact for a full month after your exposure to the virus.
She says the terminology of “close contacts” is moving towards degrees of risk.
I think we are moving away from the terminology close contacts or casual contacts because they meant certain things at certain times. What we are trying to do is inform the community about their level of risk following an exposure to Covid ... so if you spent a long time indoors with a person, in close proximity without masks, that increases your risk. If it was a fleeting outdoor exposure it’s a low risk or if you have got a Service NSW ping that says you have been in the presence, you have probably been in an indoor environment where both of you have been masked, you have been socially distanced, low risk.
It is also important this hasn’t been probably very clear and I apologise with everything moving very rapidly, but given we have got so many people exposed to Covid, we had many people with Covid ... so people with recent Covid who have had a high risk exposure like a household contact ... within four weeks of when they have been released from isolation they are not considered at risk of reinfection and therefore don’t have to isolate. So that may not have been clear. So for instance if you’ve had Covid you have gone in and done your seven days isolation, for the next four weeks even if you get exposed to Covid or someone else in your household gets Covid, that hadn’t had it before, you do not need to isolate. You are considered pragmatically at not to be considered at risk of reinfection for that – for that period.
Updated
Dr Chant turns to the changed definition of close contacts. She says the state is moving away from the term more broadly and focusing efforts on those most at risk – household exposures. She also points out that while Covid-positive people are allowed to leave isolation after seven days, the risk does extend for a full 14 days.
The premier just wanted me to cover off the issue of close contacts. Under the requirements close contacts – we are moving away from the term ... so we are focusing our efforts on those most at risk. Everyone probably can understand that household contacts are the group that’s most at risk if you have got an infectious case in that setting. We know the close proximity in households. We know that Omicron and other variants have spread very rapidly in households. So we are asking – there is a requirement when you are notified as a case you let your household know and your household is under an obligation to stay at home for those seven days – to do a RAT test immediately and to do one at day six.
We are letting people know that whilst you’re most likely to acquire your infection in the first seven days after exposed to a case we need people to be aware that the risk really extends for the full 14 days. So whilst 75% of cases will arise in that first seven days after you have been exposed, there will be a smaller number that can arise in that second seven days.
Updated
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant is up, providing a breakdown of today’s 29 deaths. Fifteen men and 14 women have lost their lives, aged between their 40s and their 90s.
Sadly we are announcing the deaths of 29 people with Covid. The deaths of 15 men and 14 women. And can I also echo the premier’s condolences for those who have lost their loved ones.
Three are in their 40s. Five in their 60s. Five are in their 70s. Eleven are in their 80s. And five are in their 90s. In terms of the people in their 40s, two were vaccinated with two doses of vaccine, one had no record of vaccination and we know that that strain was Delta. And in one of the cases they had significant underlying health conditions ... in terms of the 60s, four out of five were not vaccinated and the one vaccinated individual had had three doses but again had very significant underlying health issues.
Updated
More than 40% of the eligible population in NSW have received their booster shot, Perrottet says. Nationwide, that figure is around 50%.
Vaccination is key. It has been the key to keeping people safe during this difficult time. It is why here in NSW and right around the country we have one of the lowest death rates and hospitalisation rates anywhere in the world. That’s because we have a vaccination rate of around 95%. And we can see in our hospitals today, in our ICUs close to 50%, which has always been around that point, around 50% of people who will be in ICU are unvaccinated ... so I often say, the numbers don’t lie but the facts speak for themselves ... Despite the challenges of the last two years, despite the challenges that we are facing into today, we will get through this together.
Updated
The NSW government released modelling last week in relation to the health system’s hospitalisations and ICU presentations. Perrottet says new modelling will be released today on where the state is tracking – which is “better than the best case scenario” released last week:
On a worse case scenario last week as we set out we have the capacity within our health system ... early signs that was very encouraging given what we were facing into. Today we are releasing where we are tracking against that modelling and whilst the health system is under pressure and our health teams are doing an amazing job, we are currently tracking at both an ICU and hospitalisation rate here in NSW better than the best case scenario we released last week. So that is encouraging, reassuring and pleasing. The health system is under pressure in this state, just like right around the country and right around the world as we move through this pandemic. It is going to be a difficult few weeks ahead but the tracking that we are releasing today is very reassuring and encouraging given where we sit today in in the pandemic.
Updated
Perrottet turns to changes agreed to in national cabinet to close contact definitions for critical workers, and the tightened condition of close contacts that excludes venues (supermarkets, bars etc).
Nationally we had already worked through this approach here in NSW in respect of critical workers who are deemed to be close contacts. And some of those changes that we’ve made for those close contact exemptions include health, emergency services, safety law enforcement, justice and correctional services, energy resources, water, waste management, food, beverage and other critical goods. And you will all be happy to know the media as well.
I would also like to reiterate the point the prime minister made yesterday in relation to the definition of close contacts. And just to confirm this a close contact definition is legally someone who is a household contact of a Covid positive case. I think it is incredibly importantt hat we realise that simply because you may get a notification through your Service NSW app you might have been at the grocery store or you might have been at a restaurant, that does not constitute a close contact. A close contact legally is someone who is a household contact of someone who is positive with Covid-19.
Turning to schools, Perrottet says plans to get students back to face-to-face learning on “day one, term one” will be submitted at national cabinet next week and will be publicly released following the meeting on Thursday:
I would also like to acknowledge the decisions that we made yesterday in the national cabinet. We agreed to six principles in relation to schools. As we have said here in NSW, we are completely committed to getting schools open day one, term one, in a way that is safe for students and for teachers. And we are – as we agreed yesterday we will be finalising those plans with the Department of Education and NSW Health, we are working very closely with the Victorian government where we are obviously in a very similar situation in relation to the virus to have those plans submitted at national cabinet next week and by submitting those plans we will release those publicly following national cabinet on Thursday.
Updated
Dominic Perrottet press conference begins
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, is appearing before the media in Sydney. He starts by sending his condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have died with Covid. The figure has reached 772 in the state after 29 deaths were reported today:
On behalf of the government and people of NSW can I extend my thoughts, my prayers and our hearts go out to all families right across NSW who have lost a loved one at this time. Can I also acknowledge today the great work, the fantastic work of every – of all our frontline health workers right across NSW for the efforts that they are making, day in day out.
Updated
There has been a fatal car crash on the New England Highway.
Westbound lanes of the New England Hwy are closed at Thornton after a man was hit by a car at about 2:30am. Emergency services tried to revive him but sadly he died at the scene: https://t.co/RSrmpuznE2 .@1053NEWFM
— Jessica Rouse (@JessRouse95) January 13, 2022
Police are yet to formally identify the man who was killed this morning. Traffic has been chaos in the area with two trucks involved in a smash at the John Renshaw Drive intersection, thankfully both uninjured. .@1053NEWFM
— Jessica Rouse (@JessRouse95) January 13, 2022
In Victoria, detective inspector Dean Thomas will front the media at 11am following a double homicide in Mill Park and a double homicide in Mordialloc overnight.
Homicide squad detectives are investigating after a stabbing attack at a home in Mill Park resulted in the death of a woman and a six-year-old girl.
In Mordialloc, a man has been arrested following a suspected fatal double shooting. Two people died at the scene.
Sadly a six year old girl and her mother have died after being stabbed in Mill Park overnight. A 40-year-old man was taken to hospital and is under police guard. Thankfully another little girl involved in the incident was unharmed. @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/r73uK7OTCc
— Gillian Lantouris (@gillianlant) January 13, 2022
Updated
Over in Queensland, Gold Coast district acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman will front the media at 11am, local time, to discuss the removal of border restrictions in the state from 1am Saturday.
Updated
Cleansing the blog for a moment with this absolutely lovely pig. Look at this pig!
It is breakfast time for a beautiful pig 🍇🍈🍉🍊🍎🍐nearly two years old! pic.twitter.com/qYuqcgJnMT
— Lucy Ormsby Williams (@lormsbywilliams) January 13, 2022
There have been 218 Covid deaths in Victoria and NSW in the past seven days.
VIC hospitalisations up 23 today to 976.
— CovidBaseAU 🦠📊🇦🇺 (@covidbaseau) January 13, 2022
◾️112 are in ICU (+1)
◾️️30 are on a ventilator (+️5)
️18 deaths today, total at ️839.
In the past week:
Deaths⬆️92
Hospital⬆️332
ICU⬆️6
Vent⬆️6 pic.twitter.com/IMIHPY2R2a
NSW hospitalisations up 142 today to 2525.
— CovidBaseAU 🦠📊🇦🇺 (@covidbaseau) January 13, 2022
◾️184 are in ICU (+2)
◾️️60 are on a ventilator (+️0)
️29 deaths today, total at ️772.
In the past week:
Deaths⬆️126
Hospital⬆️787
ICU⬆️50
Vent⬆️27 pic.twitter.com/FHbLA1au47
Health minister Greg Hunt has provided a vaccination update.
Yesterday was a record day for boosters, with 50.7% of those eligible now having received their dose.
Another record day for boosters, kids and primary care.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) January 13, 2022
Daily doses: 347,072
Seven days: 1,843,899
More than 45,423,554 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across Australia.
We are now at 94.95% for first doses for Australians 16+ and 92.42% second doses.
A record 254,515 boosters were administered yesterday. Over 4.6 million Australians have had a booster. Now up to 50.7% of those eligible.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) January 13, 2022
NSW Health say of the 37,938 positive rapid antigen tests that form part of today’s daily figure, 24,329 were from the past seven days.
** Of the 37,938 positive RAT results, 24,329 of these positive tests were from the previous seven days.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 13, 2022
Please note there may be some cases included in these numbers where people have reported positive RATs on multiple days and/or where people have also had a positive PCR test during the same reporting period
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 13, 2022
Updated
NSW reports 29 new Covid deaths
NSW numbers are in, and 63,018 new Covid cases have been detected on the second day rapid antigen tests are included in the daily case count.
Just over 61,000 rapid antigen tests were reported in Thursday’s case numbers – dating back to 1 January.
Sadly, there have been 29 lives lost overnight – another record number up from yesterday’s 22 deaths.
Hospitalisations are up by 6%, but ICU is up by just 1%. There are 2,525 people being treated in hospital, up from yesterday’s 2,383. ICU numbers, though, remain relatively stable – there are 184 people being treated in intensive care.
NSW COVID-19 update – Friday 14 January 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 13, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 95.2% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 93.8% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/M3SeEnwm6N
Updated
Victoria reports 18 new Covid deaths
Victoria’s numbers are in, and there were 34,836 new Covid cases detected in the past 24 hours. Some 31.06% of today’s tests returned a positive result.
There are 976 people being treated in hospital including 112 in ICU, which is staying relatively stable with an increase of 23 hospitalised overnight.
Sadly, 18 lives have been lost.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) January 13, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAcOZP#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/e5kceyLk2b
Updated
Finance minister Simon Birmingham also appeared on ABC News Breakfast this morning, again forced to justify the national shortage of rapid antigen tests.
Reporter:
The ABC has a story this morning about rapid antigen tests, of the 22 or so that are in Australia, only one is locally made. The rest are coming in from overseas. That’s part of the reason why they aren’t freely available in shops right now. What’s the hold-up? There are two locally made waiting approval at least, why aren’t we making more of these here? What’s the hold-up?
Birmingham:
We do have to realise there is a global shortage of rapid antigen tests. They are in short supply in the United Kingdom and United States, in Canada, right around the world. Because Omicron has resulted in this huge additional demand. Now, Australia still has one of the highest testing rates for population, per capita in the world. So we have, despite all of the pressures of Omicron, managed to maintain some of the highest rates of testing of any country in the world. We are, as I said before, procuring additional kits to support that additional capacity.
But amongst a global supply shortage there are pressures there. In terms of approvals for other kits to come on to the market, they are matters that the health authorities, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, work through carefully and obviously any kit that is going to be used needs to meet sufficiently high standards in term of its accuracy and efficacy to come on to the market and that testing of those kits is important in the first place.
Updated
For all the Helen Garner fans out there – she is up on Radio National now recommending books and talking chooks (she is currently taking care of chooks).
I’m sort’ve puzzled by the whole idea of summer reading, I don’t get that, I just read whatever’s before me but I must say I have been reading the newspapers about sport, I don’t care about cricket ... but I’ve been fascinated by the Novak Djokovic thing ... that’s my idea of summer reading, things that you look at them and just burst out laughing.
Garner recommends a book called The Dancer – “a big, fat brick of a book” that portrays the life of Philippa Cullen.
Updated
Imagine having a single rapid antigen test “Down Under”:
I am directing my team to procure 500 million more COVID-19 at-home, rapid tests.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 13, 2022
That will mean one billion tests to be distributed for free.
This is quite a neat little pic from the Bureau of Meteorology. Be safe on the roads, morning commuters!
After some heavy rain overnight in Sydney that saw 47mm at the Observatory Hill, this-morning fog developed which reduced visibility and resulted in interruptions to the morning commute. Learn about fog - https://t.co/fyqsDI3T8L #FerriesInfo #LiveTrafficSyd pic.twitter.com/AdE6ELdI4y
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) January 13, 2022
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet will be up at 10am.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant and NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce will hold a press conference to provide a COVID update, 10am, Sydney #nswpol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) January 13, 2022
The Transport Workers’ Union national secretary, Michael Kaine, was on ABC News Breakfast this morning discussing the fallout from national cabinet yesterday. He says “there is no plan” to address supply and staff shortages in the sector:
This is the disappointment out of that national cabinet announcement from Scott Morrison yesterday. There is no plan to rebuild a healthy work force, to have road transport supply chains that do the brilliant job they have done over the two years of this pandemic, they need to be healthy. We wrote to Scott Morrison in September with a follow-up in October last year, saying it was critical, amongst other things, that road transport supply chains were flooded with rapid antigen tests because we could see in the context of the Delta outbreak that if we intended to reopen, we needed to ensure that workers were testing negative and we were maximising the number of healthy people in supply chains or we would have a problem.
That was dismissed by the Morrison government. They don’t listen to the voices of workers and the results we are seeing today, and we saw them yesterday, reflect inaction from Morrison which is building on compounding the mistakes of the past. His approach here is to send back into the work force those people that we have deemed for the last two years close contacts, are most likely to be carrying the virus without knowing it. That means that we could actually be making matters worse.
Updated
South Australia’s premier, Steven Marshall, was just up on FIVEaa. He is still negative to the virus after his daughter tested positive to Omicron.
Premier's son also now has Omicron, in Brisbane, where he lives. His daughter, also contracted Omicron, but is now 'feeling fine'.
— FIVEaa (@1395FIVEaa) January 13, 2022
Premier says the Press Conference TODAY will be early afternoon.
— FIVEaa (@1395FIVEaa) January 13, 2022
Updated
On the betting sites, Djokovic's odds of winning the #AusOpen have lengthened. On TAB, Medvedev is now favourite...people beginning to think Djokovic won't play. pic.twitter.com/MM9zmk1uKm
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) January 13, 2022
Labor senator Kristina Keneally is having fun on social media this morning:
Definition of Hawkward:
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) January 13, 2022
When you realise being a Govt Minister actually means being prepared and doing work
Come on @AlexHawkeMP - we’re all waiting pic.twitter.com/nyojw0YCsO
58 days and counting.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) January 13, 2022
That’s how long ago the Morrison Govt granted Novak Djokovic a visa to come to Australia.@AlexHawkeMP needs to decide now whether Djokovic stays or goes.
The Morrison Govt is just incompetent.
This is a farce. pic.twitter.com/VqtmVjTQux
Birmingham is up on Radio National now, pushing back against calls to make rapid antigen tests free. He says the Omicron variant has been a curveball, necessitating the move towards RATs from PCR tests due to heightened testing demand.
"At the time of decisions around reopening, we were all dealing with the Delta variant. We were responding to the health advice at the time and that health advice was very strongly in favour of continuing to use PCR tests as much as possible."
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) January 13, 2022
- @Birmo, Finance Minister
Groups like the AMA & Transport Workers Union say they urged the Govt months ago to procure RATs.
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) January 13, 2022
"We procured RATs for use in critical sectors... but Omicron has meant demand for all types of testing is far in excess of what had been modelled or envisaged previously."
-@Birmo
Senator Jacqui Lambie was also up on the Today show this morning providing her views on the Djokovic saga. In true Lambie fashion, she compared the situation to sending kids home when they play up at school:
Why does this keep dripping out of the tap? Why hasn’t the minister done anything about this? If he’s going to do him on character, because they believe that his submission has been lied in, then, you know, this is what we do when our kids play up at school. They get sent home.
So maybe it’s about time to stop this debacle, finish it once and for all without the tap keep dripping and make up your mind, Alex Hawke, and where are you, missing in action? Make a decision. If you can’t make a decision on Novak Djokovic, goodness me, how are you guys running the country? This is an absolute shambles. Let alone what it’s making us look like in the face of the rest of the world. It’s absolutely a shocker.
The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was just up on the Today show alongside the finance minister, Simon Birmingham, who was sporting quite a holiday beard.
Birmingham said a decision on Djokovic’s fate was a “matter for the immigration minister” but the federal government’s policy remained the same – “that non-Australian citizens entering Australia should be double-vaccinated. We’ve been very clear about that all along.”
Chalmers replied:
Look, our position has been clear from the beginning. If he doesn’t meet the visa requirements, he shouldn’t have been given a visa in the first place. But there is two issues now, I think, as this debacle drags on for another day. First of all, make a decision. Our international reputation is being trashed more each day that the government delays.
Secondly, when Scott Morrison thought there was a political opportunity in this, he was all over it, and, now that it’s gone so badly, he wants to pretend it has nothing to do with him and it’s all Alex Hawke’s job and all of his fault. Unfortunately, there’s a pattern of behaviour here. When things are easy, there’s a photo or political opportunity, there’s Scott Morrison all over it. But when things get difficult, as they have with this Novak Djokovic case, he’s nowhere to be found.
Rainbow over Maryborough this morning after the flood waters recede and locals assess the damage. Here with @AlboMP and @MurrayWatt to express our appreciation and admiration for the emergency services and volunteers who do such amazing work at a really difficult time. #auspol pic.twitter.com/ESFGn2nWb9
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) January 13, 2022
Updated
The Australian Council of Social Services chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, appeared on Sunrise earlier discussing the supply chain crisis after yesterday’s national cabinet meeting. She said making rapid antigen tests free would be a “crucial tool” to keep people safe.
The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, has echoed unions in calling for the free and wide distribution of the tests.
Goldie:
The government was advised many months ago about what was needed to deal with this crisis, national cabinet again yesterday failed to deliver. People out there, we know, are very distressed and anxious and trying to get their hands on these rapid tests. It is clear that we need these to be free for everyone, business and unions and the community sector, we have all agreed on this. We did not get that yesterday, we got what we think will be a messy system that will create a lot of confusion for people. We are worried that we have not got what we need. This is a deep public health crisis and these tests are crucial tool for people to know that you’re looking after yourself and your loved ones. And it is safe for you to go back to work. That is what we need.
National Cabinet failed to deliver what the country needs @cassandragoldie tells @sunriseon7 - workers and people receiving community service care are still anxious are about how to access #RapidAntigenTests - vital tool to help look after yourself and your loved ones. 1of2
— ACOSS (@ACOSS) January 13, 2022
Updated
Good morning
Good morning,
We’ve nearly reached the end of the week, and what a week it’s been.
Sports journalists around the world were left disappointed yesterday afternoon after it became clear no decision on tennis star Novak Djokovic’s fate would be announced during prime minister Scott Morrison’s press conference.
The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, is yet to reveal whether he will revoke Djokovic’s visa. It comes as ticket sales will be capped at 50% due to the ongoing Omicron wave.
Meanwhile, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has called an emergency meeting of unions for this coming Monday due to the supply chain crisis hitting Australian shelves.
Morrison failed to respond to a letter sent by the council’s secretary, Sally McManus, at the beginning of the week. Under new rules announced after a national cabinet meeting on Thursday, workers in a swathe of industries will be allowed to go straight back to work after recording a negative rapid antigen test.
Unions say this isn’t a solution to the crisis because of increased transmission, and have been calling for free and widely available rapid antigen tests as a priority.
And travellers entering Queensland will be able to do so at their leisure with the state’s border rules to be scrapped from 1am Saturday. It comes as Queensland heads towards 90% vaccination targets.
I’m crossing my fingers for a decision on Djokovic today so we can all move on with our lives, so let’s dive in.
