That’s where I’ll leave you. Thanks as always for reading. Here’s what we learned today:
- Labor stepped up its criticism of prime minister Scott Morrison’s handling of anti-vaccine protests, with shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers accusing him of “dangerous, dog-whistling doublespeak” and trying to divide the country for political gain.
- Victoria was “very, very close” to reaching the 90% mark for double vaccinations among residents, the premier Daniel Andrews said, an important milestone as the state recorded another 1,275 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday.
- Meanwhile New South Wales is inching closer to the 95% double-vaccination mark. On Sunday the state’s premier, Dominic Perrottet, said he wouldn’t budge on his decision to continue to force restrictions on unvaccinated people until the mark was reached, or 15 December, despite protests in the city over the weekend.
- Two remote communities in the Northern Territory were pushed into a “hard” lockdown after a spike in cases in the areas. The territory’s chief minister, Michael Gunner, instituted the harder lockdown on the two towns near Katherine because of what he described as low vaccination rates among residents.
- Four children aged between one and 10 have tragically died in a house fire in Melbourne’s south-west overnight. Firefighters described feeling “helpless” as they arrived at the scene of the ferocious blaze.
- The search for William Tyrrell, who went missing on the NSW mid-north coast in 2014, continued despite wet weather hampering police efforts.
Updated
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, whose whereabouts have been a matter of international concern for weeks, attended a tennis tournament in Beijing on Sunday, according to official photos published by the tournament organised by China Open.
Peng could be seen among guests at the Fila Kids Junior Tennis Challenger Finals, dressed in a dark blue jacket and white trousers, according to the pictures published on the event’s official WeChat page, Reuters reports.
The former doubles world number one had not been seen or heard from publicly since she said on Chinese social media on 2 November that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli had coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship.
Neither Zhang nor the Chinese government have commented on her allegation. Peng’s social media post was quickly deleted and the topic has been blocked from discussion on China’s heavily censored internet.
World tennis bodies have expressed concern, with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) threatening to pull tournaments out of China. The United States and Britain have called for evidence of Peng’s whereabouts and safety.
The photographs and video footage of Peng that emerged on Sunday remain “insufficient” and do not address the WTA’s concerns, a spokesperson for the group told Reuters by email.
The US and British embassies in Beijing did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on Peng’s Sunday appearance in the Chinese capital.
Peng also visited a popular restaurant in downtown Beijing on Saturday night. Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-backed Global Times posted a video of the outing, which a restaurant manager confirmed to Reuters on Sunday.
Seven people including Peng were at the Sichuanese restaurant, said the manager, Zhou Hongwei, adding that they ate in a private room and were joined by the restaurant’s owner.
“It was crowded at the restaurant as usual,” Zhou said, showing a bill that included noodles and bamboo shoots. “They didn’t have much. I think they mostly chatted.”
Updated
A NSW police officer who rescued two boys from a flood-affected river will be recommended for a bravery award, as wet weather continues to batter much of the state.
Emergency services were called to the Lachlan River in Condobolin on Saturday afternoon after two 11-year-old boys jumped in, AAP reports.
They were swept 60m away by the fast-moving current, made worse by the flood level, which the Bureau of Meteorology warns will worsen by next weekend.
They were rescued by a police officer who swam out to them with a flotation device.
There are warnings of more to come from the severe storms that have hit parts of northern NSW, delivering damaging winds and more heavy rain to saturated catchments.
There is a gale warning for the Hunter Coast for Monday and strong wind warnings for the Sydney and Macquarie coasts.
The bureau has predicted an inland low pressure system from the Northern Territory is on track to deepen on Sunday and spread rain across the mid-north coast, Hunter region and the central north, causing minor flooding across inland rivers.
There are heavy rainfall warnings in place for the Central West Slopes and Plains, northern parts of the Hunter region and on the mid-north coast.
On Saturday night those storms reached the coast at Grafton bringing damaging winds and large hailstones.
Twenty millimetres of rain fell in an hour south of Grafton and at Port Macquarie on Saturday night.
Updated
Police have continued their search on the New South Wales mid-north coast where William Tyrrell disappeared seven years ago, despite weather conditions creating headaches for investigators.
I’m finishing up for today and am handing the blog over to my colleague, Michael McGowan.
Four children have died in a fire that tore through a home in Melbourne’s south-west, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
As investigators from the Victorian arson squad dug through the remains of the home on Mantello Drive in Werribee on Sunday, police confirmed a 10-year-old and three-year-old boy, and a six-year-old and one-year-old girl had died in the fire.
Read the full story from Michael McGowan here:
Victoria 'very, very close' to hitting 90% vaccine target
Victoria’s premier says the state will reach 90% full vaccination against Covid in a matter of hours, as he encourages people to honour their second dose appointments, AAP reports.
With 89.1 % of Victorians aged over 12 fully vaccinated in the 24 hours to Sunday, premier Daniel Andrews said the 90% milestone would be reached soon.
We’re very, very close today, so if not by the end of today then probably tomorrow.
If you’ve got a second-dose appointment, please honour that. One dose doesn’t get you through, you need two. It’ll keep you out of hospital and it’ll help to keep us open.
Updated
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a thunderstorm warning for the northern inland of NSW, including Walgett.
Tim Paine says he always knew the texting scandal that cost him the Australian Test captaincy would eventually be made public, revealing media had approached him about it “numerous times” over the past three years.
Paine sent Australia’s Ashes preparations into chaos on Friday afternoon when, less than three weeks before the start of the series against England, he stood down over explicit text messages and a graphic image sent to a female former Cricket Tasmania employee in 2017.
Two days later, in an extensive and personal interview alongside his wife Bonnie for News Corp, Paine said he “absolutely” believed the controversy was a ticking time bomb, based on previous attempts to have it published.
Read the full story here:
Australia will probably avoid the new burst of coronavirus cases that are enveloping Europe, although problems could arise entering winter next year, AAP reports.
Several European countries are being forced to impose new lockdown restrictions in the face of a fourth wave of Covid-19 cases.
Australia is enjoying a relatively high level of vaccination with over 84% of people aged 16 and over now fully vaccinated with two doses.
“Because we will have a relatively newly minted, highly vaccinated population, we will probably be OK in summer and go through a bit of a honeymoon period,” Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy told the ABC.
“The problem will be later when vaccination rates, vaccinations possibly start to wane in terms of effectiveness into winter next year.”
As such it will be critical to keep the vaccine booster program going, Dr Moy says.
However, the Northern Territory’s Covid-19 outbreak is expected to grow beyond currently locked-down areas following nine new cases detected at remote Binjari, about 320km south of Darwin.
The Australian Defence Force has been called in to help with transferring positive cases and close contacts to the centre of national resilience.
“What has become clear to us based on the level of movement that has been happening in some communities outside of Katherine, is there is a real risk the virus has reached the connected communities further away,” NT chief minister Michael Gunnar told reporters.
From Monday, visitor restrictions will ease at all ACT hospitals, community health centres and walk-in centres to allow two visitors per patient, per day during visiting hours.
“The decision to restrict visitors to our health facilities is always a difficult one, but it ensures we can protect the health and safety of everyone,” ACT Health said in a statement on Sunday.
“This is especially necessary for our most vulnerable, particularly patients whose health is already compromised.”
Updated
Queensland has also not recorded any new local Covid-19 cases today.
There are currently four active cases in the state.
The state reported that 84.4% of Queenslanders aged 16 and older have received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, while 73.1% are fully vaccinated.
Queensland #COVID19 update 21 Nov
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) November 21, 2021
Today we have recorded 0 new cases of COVID-19.
Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19. Find your nearest vaccine clinic on our website. pic.twitter.com/F6SWBVTFmL
South Australia has not recorded any new locally acquired Covid-19 cases today.
87.1% of those aged 16 and older have received at least their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, while 77.2% are fully vaccinated.
South Australian COVID-19 update 21/11/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsGpayo or contact the South Australia COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/LZ3F3gPKDx
— SA Health (@SAHealth) November 21, 2021
Updated
*adds to cart*
Very honoured that the lovely Alex from .@polliecards created this - the perfect gift to annoy my right wing dad with this Christmas 🥰 https://t.co/FebV0dm74v
— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) November 20, 2021
Perrottet stays course on restrictions for unvaccinated people
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet says unvaccinated people will not be granted freedoms any earlier than 15 December despite thousands rallying against vaccination requirements, AAP reports.
“All of these measures are not tailored for rules for the sake of the government, they are tailored to keep people safe and that’s what we’re focused on,” Perrottet said in Sydney on Sunday, the day after unmasked protesters descended on the city.
Updated
Labor’s shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has blasted prime minister Scott Morrison for wanting to “embrace” the violent politics of anti-vaccine protests, accusing him of trying to divide the country for political gain.
Read the full story here:
Qld health minister says threats won't stop her doing job as security increased
Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath has confirmed she has received threats due to the state’s Covid-19 vaccination mandates but says “nothing is going to stop me” doing her job, AAP reports.
D’Ath is among the Queensland politicians who have received a beefed-up security presence after receiving threatening emails.
Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga alerted police on Friday of an email sent to state and federal MPs warning of “terrorism, extremism and violence” over the state government’s policy of banning unvaccinated people.
D’Ath said on Sunday she was concerned by the threats but felt safe.
“I do. Nothing is going to stop me doing my job,” said D’Ath, who was accompanied by security.
“You have to take it (threats) seriously. It’s disappointing that we have to do (increase security) but it is part of the job.
“I am just going to get on with it.”
Police minister Mark Ryan said on Sunday there had been an “escalation in the intensity of threat” toward state politicians.
Tensions rose again on Saturday at an anti-coronavirus vaccine mandate protest in Brisbane.
When the Brisbane crowd was asked by a protester what they thought of premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, someone yelled: “Hang the b****”.
Ryan said the onus was on protest organisers to monitor behaviour at their events.
“There are a very small cohort of people I think who are trying to hijack quite legitimate protest activity,” he said.
“You’ve also got a responsibility to the broader community to ensure those people who are attempting to hijack your democratic process don’t use what you want to do for a lawful purpose, for something which could quite seriously escalate into something very concerning.”
D’Ath said the state government supported the right to protest but not inciting violence.
“I am concerned about some of the rhetoric, some of the threats going around,” she said.
“I do think people need to be very clear in their language, to not be inciting or be encouraging this kind of behaviour.”
Meanwhile, D’Ath ruled out removing a requirement for interstate travellers to undergo costly PCR tests before entering the state after Queensland hits the 80 per cent fully vaccinated mark.
Figures show 84.35 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have had one jab and 73.06 per cent are fully vaccinated, with no new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
Updated
NT health authorities have said they expect more Covid-19 cases, after nine cases were reported in Binjari, outside Katherine, yesterday afternoon. The virus has spread to at least six families.
One of the nine cases – a woman in her 70s – has been taken to hospital with moderate to severe symptoms. The other eight cases, along with close contacts, have been taken to Howard Springs quarantine facility.
NT chief minister Michael Gunner said he couldn’t give out exact vaccination rates for Binjari because it was an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation community. But he said that less than 70% of the community had received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose.
Gunner warned that the lockdowns are likely to be in place for a few weeks.
Updated
I’ll hand you back to Justine Landis-Hanley now. Thanks for reading.
Two NT communities enter lockdown after nine cases
The Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, is speaking to media about the “hard” lockdown imposed on communities near Katherine. The lockdown was imposed after a further nine cases of Covid-19 were announced yesterday. The territory recorded no new cases since then.
The NT government announced this morning that the communities of Binjari and Rockhole, both home to about 200 and 130 people respectively, would go into a “hard lockdown”.
The communities had already been caught under the Katherine lockdown, but hard lockdown rules mean residents are only able to leave their homes and yards for medical treatment or in an emergency.
Gunner said the federal government had provided Australian Defence Force assistance, and the government was considering what extra resources may be needed. Binjari was a “low vaccination community”, he said.
The nine new cases reported on Saturday range in age from 17 to 78.
The latter is a woman who presented at Katherine hospital with symptoms and was taken to Royal Darwin hospital on Saturday night.
Updated
The men’s world number one tennis player, Novak Djokovic, says he is yet to decide whether he will take part in the Australian Open in January, after tournament organisers confirmed players would need to be vaccinated to compete in the grand slam.
Following his semi-final defeat against Alexander Zverev in the ATP finals on Saturday, Djokovic told reporters he had yet to make a call on competing in the Open.
“We’ll see. We’ll have to wait and see,” Djokovic said.
“I haven’t been talking to them, to be honest ... I was just waiting to hear what the news is going to be and now that I know we’ll just have to wait and see.”
On Saturday tournament chief Craig Tiley confirmed all players would need to be vaccinated to compete in the tournament. It came after months of uncertainty and negotiations between Tennis Australia and the Victorian government.
Djokovic is currently tied on 20 grand slams with both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and the Australian Open would offer him the opportunity to surpass both players. But he has remained non-committal about whether he would take part in the tournament due to the vaccine rules.
“[Novak] has said that he views this as a private matter for him,” Tiley said on Saturday.
“We would love to see Novak here, he knows that he’ll have to be vaccinated to play here.”
Updated
As NSW inches closer to the 95% mark for first dose vaccinations, parents in the state have been warned to remain vigilant about the virus and monitor their children to prevent outbreaks in schools.
NSW Health reported on Sunday that 94.4% of residents over 16 years have now received one dose, with 91.8% of the population fully vaccinated.
But on Sunday NSW Health’s deputy chief medical officer Jeremy McAnulty said there had been multiple cases in schools across the state.
We are urging parents to remain really vigilant to help protect the rest of the school community.
Symptoms in children can be quite mild and not obvious so if they get any symptoms at all please take your children to a testing clinic.
Two Sydney schools and one in Newcastle remain closed due to Covid outbreaks. Of the 12 to 15-year-old age group, 75.3% are fully vaccinated and 81% have received at least one vaccine.
There were 176 cases of Covid-19 reported across NSW on Sunday, and two deaths.
An unvaccinated women in her 40s died at Royal Prince Alfred hospital. She had underlying health conditions. A fully vaccinated man in his 80s who also had underlying health conditions Sydney died at Liverpool hospital.
Updated
I’m handing over the blog to my brilliant colleague, Michael McGowan.
Updated
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for south-west WA, including parts of the Perth metropolitan area.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for southwest WA including parts of the Perth Metropolitan area. Possible damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding. See https://t.co/tlUQ5evaPq pic.twitter.com/6vwmgJ8rxS
— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) November 21, 2021
Updated
A man has died while working at a coal mine in central Queensland.
AAP has the story:
Police confirmed a man died early on Sunday morning at Curragh mine, 30km north of Blackwater.
Officers attended the scene about 2.15am and will prepare a report for the Mines Inspectorate, which is part of Resources Safety and Health Queensland.
A Coronado Global Resources spokeswoman said mine operations had been temporarily suspended to allow authorities to investigate.
“A full investigation is being conducted into the accident and Coronado is working with the Queensland police, the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and other authorities,” the spokeswoman told AAP.
Updated
NSW Health has provided more information about today’s Covid-19 update. The state recorded 176 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases.
There are 192 people with Covid-19 currently in hospital in NSW; 32 are in intensive care, 15 of whom require ventilation.
Of those in intensive care, 25 are not vaccinated, three have received their first dose, and four are fully vaccinated.
NSW also recorded two new Covid-related deaths.
An unvaccinated woman in her 40s with underlying health conditions died at Royal Prince Alfred hospital. And a vaccinated man with underlying health conditions in his 80s died at Liverpool hospital.
Updated
ACT records 16 new local Covid-19 cases
As of 19 November, 97% of those aged 12 years and older are fully vaccinated.
ACT COVID-19 update (21 November 2021):
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) November 21, 2021
New cases today: 16
Active cases: 177
Total cases: 1,918
Negative test results (past 24 hours): 2,280
In hospital: 5
In ICU: 2
Ventilated: 1
Total lives lost: 11
Updated
Weekly transport costs rise above $400 per household, AAA says
Weekly transport costs for the average Australian metropolitan household have risen past $400 a week for the first time.
AAP reports:
A peak motoring body study says regional areas have also been hit in the hip pocket, with the average Australian household paying $367.63 per week or 14.8 per cent of their income on transport costs – up almost $60 from last year.
The Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) latest affordability index shows the cost of transport has gone up across all states and territories, with capital city households spending an average of $401.86 a week or 15.5 per cent of their income and $328.51 (14 per cent) over seven days in regional centres.
AAA says there are concerns rising fuel prices may blow out costs even further with their survey showing Australian motorists were likely to drive for both work and holidays in coming months as Covid-19 restrictions ease.
“Rising fuel prices are a significant contributor to rising costs across both regional and metropolitan Australia,” AAA managing director Michael Bradley said.
“With a federal election and two state elections due next year, this report is a timely reminder that cost of living pressures are rising and that policies that further increase transport costs need to be avoided.”
Fuel prices were the biggest contributor to increased transport costs with an average of $77.57 spent a week by households in capital cities (up $5.38 in the last quarter alone) and $79.26 a week in regional centres (up $5.16).
Sydney is still the most expensive capital city with households coughing up $477.56 a month on transport ahead of Melbourne ($446.97), Brisbane ($444.05), Perth ($390.45), Canberra ($386.38), Adelaide ($362.36), Darwin ($356.96) and Hobart ($350.14).
While Hobart had the lowest total transport costs, when measured as a percentage of typical household income it was ranked as the last affordable capital city.
Updated
Many are concerned about the apparent disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai, urging the Chinese authorities to offer “verifiable evidence” of her whereabouts and safety.
Peng, a former doubles world No 1, has not been seen or heard from publicly since she accused a former high-ranking Chinese government official on 2 November of forcing her to have sex after playing tennis at his home.
Videos of Peng Shuai having dinner with her coach and friends in a restaurant were released by Chinese media today.
But Women’s Tennis Association Chairman and CEO Steve Simon said that “it remains unclear if she is free and able to make decisions on her own, without coercion or external interference”.
A new statement from Steve Simon re Peng Shuai. pic.twitter.com/TxrhEfQxwm
— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) November 20, 2021
Updated
Labor’s Chris Bowen and Liberal MP Stuart Robert talked on Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program this morning about the Morrison government’s religious freedom bill, expected to be tabled in parliament this week.
Our friends at AAP have the story:
It was a promise at the last federal election, but with only months remaining of this term of the Morrison government it is only this week bringing its religious freedom bill to parliament.
Parliament gathers for what could be the final sitting fortnight before Australians go to the polls.
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen said his party wants to be constructive on the bill, but it has yet to see it.
“The government has now been in office three years,” Bowen told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
“It was a big issue at the last election. Here we are at five minutes to midnight, three years of fiddling around and nothing.”
But government frontbencher Stuart Robert insists the government has been consulting extensively and widely on the issue and is now able to bring it forward.
However, the final result may not please everyone.
“No one gets everything they all want in public policy, I think that’s a given on all sides of debate,” Robert told Sky News.
“There always different voices in a debate, you have always got to try and find balance that can be really difficult.”
But Bowen says the religious freedom bill is not the only issue the government has dragged its heel on.
There was also the promise of the integrity commission, which Bowen said the prime minister has been fiddling around on, but again done nothing.
But Robert said the government continues to consult extensively about an integrity commission, as it is in terms of an Indigenous voice to parliament, also promised at the last election.
“We’ve always said we want the voice to be something that is a bipartisan agreement, we want something that Australians can embrace,” he said.
He said Indigenous Australian minister Ken Wyatt is doing an extraordinary job working through 51 Indigenous Australian peak bodies to try and bring something to the table that everyone agree with.
“The election is still a good six months way, so there is plenty of time for us to move forward on what we took to the Australian people three years ago,” Robert said.
Updated
Four children found dead after house fire in Werribee, Victoria
Victoria police have confirmed that four children – two boys and two girls – were found deceased after a house fire in Werribee, Victoria.
A 10-year-old boy, three-year-old boy, six-year-old girl and one-year-old girl were found dead.
Updated
Four people, believed to be children, are unaccounted for after a house fire in Werribee, Victoria.
Investigators believe the house fire started in the Mantello Drive property just after 1am.
Victoria police said that a man, a woman, and an eight-year-old boy were able to escape the fire.
The man has been taken to hospital with smoke-related serious injuries. The woman is in hospital, being treated for smoke inhalation, and the boy has been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Police are investigating the cause of the fire.
Updated
Finally, Speers asked Chalmers whether Labor has settled on a 2030 climate target yet?
Chalmers said no, and that Labor would be coming to a view on that in the coming weeks.
Chalmers:
Well, we are having a discussion about the best target and the best suite of policies. At the next election it will be a choice. The government has a pamphlet, we’ll have a plan. We will announce our plan in the coming weeks...
Speers asked why the hold up on Labor’s position.
Are you still waiting for inputs, or is it just an argument amongst yourselves as to where to land?
Chalmers:
I wouldn’t describe it that way, David. We are having really constructive conversations with Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen and the shadow cabinet.
I will say this: we will strike the right level of ambition when it comes to climate policy. Good climate policy is good economic policy. If we get cleaner energy into the system, there will be more jobs, more investment and more opportunities for people in the regions.
As a Queenslander, I think it is tremendously important that we recognise there is an appetite right around Australia for us to do something meaningful about cleaner and cheaper clean energy. The regions stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries according to the Business Council modelling. We could do something meaningful, be practical problem solvers and do something that doesn’t abandon communities or our traditional income streams.
Updated
Speers turned the conversation to debt.
You mentioned debt. Gross debt is already higher than $850bn, on track to pass $1tn. What would you do about this debt mountain, should you inherit it?
Chalmers:
Well, this trillion dollars in debt comes courtesy of a budget which is absolutely riddled with rorts and waste and mismanagement. This government is THE most wasteful government since federation. We need to prioritise growth in the first so any new spending we propose is about growing the economy. The second thing is to deal with the legacy of rorts and waste and mismanagement left to us by the government if the government changes hands. And thirdly there is an opportunity for tax reform in areas like multinational taxes.
But our priority in the near term is to make sure we get wages growing again, we get the secure work and we don’t turn what has been a decade of missed opportunities and wasted opportunities in the economy into another decade of that.
And that means doing things like growing the economy by getting cleaner and cheaper energy, by training our people for opportunities as they emerge, turning our ideas into jobs. All of these things are absolutely crucial to growing the economy. We will get bang for buck in the budget. It will be a responsible budget, not another three years of the and waste and manage management we’ve seen from the most wasteful government since federation.
Speers:
It sounds like some tax change on multinationals, not really any spending cuts beyond the areas that you have described as rorts. You will still be largely relying on growing the economy to fix that debt problem?
Chalmers:
I don’t think we should lightly dismiss the opportunities to wind back some of the rorts and mismanagement in the budget. We are talking about tens of billions of dollars that the government has wasted on car park rorts and settling the robodebt case and all the money they’ve sprayed around for political purposes. We shouldn’t dismiss the opportunities there to have a far more responsible budget when it comes to spending, at the same time as we do something about multinationals, but, yes, the priority, with all of our spending and the reason we hold every proposed policy up to the light and we judge it by what it means for growth, what it means for secure work, because we would inherit a trillion dollars of Liberal debt with not enough to show for it and we need to be and will be much more responsible with the budget than the Liberals have been over the last eight years.
Updated
Speers asked Chalmers whether any taxes would be higher under a Labor government?
Chalmers confirmed that Labor will focus on multinational taxes, but to watch this space for everything else.
Our priority is multinational taxes. We haven’t finalised our full suite, as you would appreciate. There are still two budgets between now and next. The mid-year budget and then the pre-election after that, so it makes sense to maintain flexibility on our final set of policies. We’ve said repeatedly we won’t take an identical agenda on tax or anything that we took to the last election to the next election. But we will finalise our policies, all of our policies, including on tax, with an emphasis on multinational taxes between now and the election.
Updated
Speers asked what Labor would do to help lift wages.
I know unions are now saying they want industrywide bargaining, or the power to negotiate across multiple employers. Would that help lift wages?
At first, Chalmers avoided talking about industrywide bargaining. Instead, he talked about getting “productivity growing against and ... business investment at acceptable levels”. He also said that Labor has “a policy out there about making work more secure”.
But Speers pressed on about the union’s calls for industrywide bargaining, specifically comments from ACTU secretary Sally McManus that this is the best way to secure wage increases.
Chalmers responded:
When it comes to comments made by the ACTU, I think for the last few years, people on all sides of the employment relationship have expressed their concerns about enterprise bargaining, and have proposed ways to make it better and we take suggestions made by the unions and made by the employer groups very seriously... [Industrywide bargaining] is not part of our policies. We announced our policy on industrial relations some time ago.
Updated
Speers turned the conversation towards the cost of living.
Speers:
“[The prime minister] said that power prices, petrol prices would all rise more under a Labor government than a Coalition government. Are you prepared to debate that?
Chalmers:
I would absolutely be delighted to have an election about cost of living and real wages going backwards and the fact that the prime minister has been lying to Australians about the economy and that has real consequences for working families. If he wants to have an election on the fact that petrol prices have gone up on average over the last year something like $900 for an average family with an average car, at the same time as real wages have gone backwards $700 over the last year, then we say bring it on. Under the Morrison government, petrol prices are skyrocketing, real wages are going down and working families are going backwards, and I think that should be central to an election about the economy, about living standards, and about the prime minister’s failures on economic management.
Updated
Speers has asked Chalmers about the anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protestors that took place in Victoria yesterday.
Do you accept that there are some people concerned about vaccine mandates who aren’t necessarily extremists?
Chalmers took the opportunity to condemn the violent threats against state politicians, and criticise Scott Morrison for his alleged inaction on the issue.
You can express a view in this country without dragging around gallows and noose and calling for premiers to be hanged. I condemn without reservation, without qualification, the violent threats being made here, even if the prime minister won’t.
We live in a society, and that means we have obligations to each other to try to tame this virus, to look out for each other, to protect each other, to try to keep each other safe and what the prime minister is trying to do is trying to divide us, trying to diminish that collective effort and undermine all of the good and all of the progress that Australians have made together. He does that with this dangerous dog whistling double-speak that we see from him. He does it by claiming credit for high vaccination rates without taking responsibility for the measures that are necessary to get those rates up.
And I think what is especially troubling to mainstream Australia is the rest of us see the kind of violent politics that have emerged in the United States in the last couple of years, and we want to reject it, and the prime minister seems to want to embrace those kind of violent views and violent threats. And so I think the country is crying out for leadership and they are not getting it from this prime minister, and if he wants to keep playing this dangerous game with dangerous consequences, then the country doesn’t just have an opportunity to throw him out at the election, they have an obligation to do that.
Updated
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking to David Speers on ABC Insiders.
Updated
Food banks in Australia were overwhelmed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Guardian Australia has collated data from the past decade from the three major food relief providers nationally – Foodbank, OzHarvest and SecondBite – and spoken to organisations working in or connected to the food relief sector, as well as people directly using these services.
The evidence is overwhelming: demand for food relief was rising before the pandemic hit, even before the black summer bushfires that preceded it.
Read the full story here:
Meanwhile in Victoria, 89% of those aged 12 years and over are fully vaccinated.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) November 20, 2021
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAtS1P#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/atM34iIO0a
Let’s take a look at updated vaccination rates.
In NSW, 94.4% of people aged 16 years and older have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine; 91.8% are fully vaccinated.
NSW COVID-19 update – Sunday 21 November 2021
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) November 20, 2021
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 94.4% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 91.8% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 55,330 tests pic.twitter.com/aBqvAtvAx5
NSW records 176 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths
NSW COVID-19 update – Sunday 21 November 2021
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) November 20, 2021
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 94.4% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 91.8% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 55,330 tests pic.twitter.com/aBqvAtvAx5
Victoria records 1,275 new local Covid-19 cases and four deaths
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) November 20, 2021
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAtS1P#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/atM34iIO0a
Updated
United Australia party MP Craig Kelly won The Australian Skeptics award for “the proponent of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle”.
On the other hand, Guardian Australia journalist Melissa Davey was named as the winner of the Barry Williams award for skeptical journalism for her work exposing false claims about ivermectin and its promotion.
Read the full story here:
International students have arrived in Australia from Singapore for the first time since November last year. The head of the country’s peak university body hopes they are the first of many.
Our friends at AAP have the full story:
International students returning after almost two years separated from Australian campuses during the pandemic will hopefully be the first of many, says the head of the nation’s peak university body.
The contingent has arrived on flights touching down in Sydney and Melbourne from Singapore as part of the two-way travel bubble between the two countries.
None of the fully vaccinated passengers are required to enter quarantine.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson says the students are the first from overseas since small numbers returned in November last year.
“Universities have worked closely with government and health authorities for more than 18 months on plans to safely welcome back our international friends,” she said on Sunday.
“Around 130,000 international students remain outside Australia and they are all very eager to re-join their classmates.”
Those landing on Sunday will be joined on 7 December by about 500 others as part of a NSW government initiative.
Updated
Good morning! It’s Justine Landis-Hanley here to bring you the news today, Sunday 21 November 2021.
Severe weather warnings are in place across New South Wales, with heavy rainfall expected over the central west slopes and plains. the Hunter, and the mid-north coast.
The Northern Territory yesterday recorded nine new local Covid-19 cases in the Binjari community just outside of Katherine. Residents of Binjari, as well as the neighbouring community Rockhole, are now in a hard lockdown and only allowed to leave their homes for essential services.
Meanwhile, fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed to travel into South Australia from Tuesday, as long as they test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours before departing.
