What happened today, Monday 9 August
We will leave it there for today.
Here’s what made the news for today:
- NSW recorded 283 local cases of Covid-19, 106 of which were in the community while infectious, and an unvaccinated woman in her 90s died.
- Several parts of regional NSW, including Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Lismore, Ballina Shire and Tamworth were sent into lockdown after people with Covid visited those areas.
- The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said NSW won’t take other states into account when plotting its post-August lockdown settings, acknowledging those with a preference for “Covid zero” will keep their borders shut regardless.
- Regional Victoria will exit lockdown from 11.59pm tonight. Lockdown remains in place in Melbourne, with 11 new cases recorded on Monday, with all but one infectious in the community.
- Queensland recorded four new cases linked to the Indooropilly cluster, all in isolation.
- The Therapeutic Goods Administration gave provisional approval to the Moderna mRNA vaccine, with supply scheduled to arrive in Australia from September.
- The latest International Panel on Climate Change report found within the next two decades, temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and bringing widespread devastation and extreme weather.
And some responses to the IPCC report from Save the Children and School Strike 4 Climate:
Paul Mitchell, principal climate change advisor, Save the Children:
Today’s report really should shock everyone, and particularly the Australian government. If this damning indictment isn’t the catalyst for a fundamental shift in Australia, I truly dread to think what it might take.
Australian children, just like millions around the world, are already living with the consequences of too little action over too many years. Children are already suffering the shocking impacts – bushfires, floods, drought – of the climate crisis.
The IPCC report outlines the climate change and extreme events – heatwaves, bushfires, cyclones and floods – are now happening at a regional level and likely to be more frequent and more intense.
Our entire Pacific region understands what these regional, extreme events look like and how they disrupt education, destroy schools and homes and cost lives.
This is not theoretical for children; climate change is a real and present threat to their lives right now. Today. It’s also stealing their futures and their right to a liveable planet.
Eva Rodgers, School Strike 4 Climate campaigner:
We need climate action, and we need it now. That is the message young people and marginalised voices at the front line of the climate crisis have been preaching for many years.
Now, the IPCC report has clarified the detrimental climate position the world is currently in, and the crucial need for action. We need this report to be heard, understood and recognised by politicians and people in power with the sense of urgency it desperately deserves.
We can no longer censor the voices of lead scientists, and if we do, we will continue to see the climate emergency we all fear play out. As outlined by the IPCC, governments across the world simply aren’t doing enough. Instead, their climate inaction is only further damaging the earth, and contributing to the climate crisis.
If this report isn’t the wakeup call we need for urgent climate action, I don’t know what is.
Updated
Here’s the Australia Institute’s climate and energy program director, Richie Merzian, on the IPCC report:
The new IPCC report is a powerful and painful read. It leaves absolutely no doubt that climate change is caused by humans and emissions from burning fossil fuels is the key cause.
The latest science confirms what most Australians have felt first-hand. As the Australia Institute’s Climate of the Nation report shows, 80% of Australians agree we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change. The extreme weather and the devastating fires and floods we’ve seen over the last two years are only going to get worse and they’re going to be more widespread.
Our response to the last five IPCC reports has been a collective failure and we now know that the world will pass the threshold of 1.5 degrees of global warming in the next two decades. We simply can’t afford to ignore this report.
In particular, this report sounds the alarm on the concentration of methane -- which makes up the majority of natural gas, and which has increased 156% since pre-industrialisation. It is downright dangerous for the Morrison Government to be championing a so-called gas-fired recovery.
Australia is a wealthy country that can afford to double its short-term climate efforts. At the very least, we should be transitioning our energy system, which remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
You can read our Australian story on the latest report below.
Updated
IPCC report on climate change released
Here’s a snapshot of our story on the latest International Panel on Climate Change report. I’ll have more reactions for you soon.
Human activity is changing the Earth’s climate in ways that are “unprecedented” in the past thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, with some of the changes now inevitable and “irreversible”, climate scientists have warned.
Within the next two decades, temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and bringing widespread devastation and extreme weather.
Only rapid and drastic reductions in greenhouse gases in this decade can prevent such climate breakdown, with every fraction of a degree of further heating likely to compound the accelerating effects, according to the International Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science.
Updated
The map of Victorian exposure sites shows how the current outbreak is mostly confined to the west/north-west of Melbourne.
Lots of new Tier 1 exposure sites added as exposure list exceeds 215 sites@abcmelbourne #springsthttps://t.co/hz6POFLFsU
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) August 9, 2021
They don’t put the party logo or anything official on these things anymore, just a very generic “The Australian government”.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has received approval for use in Australians aged over 18 years by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) August 9, 2021
The Australian Government has secured 25 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, with the first million doses scheduled to arrive next month. pic.twitter.com/TArVGa3ZAF
If you haven’t kept track of how many times the government announced Moderna is coming:
- Health minister Greg Hunt announced the securing of Moderna vaccines on 13 May, 2021.
- The TGA then announced it had provided a provisional determination on 24 June, 2021.
- Then the TGA told Senate Estimates on 23 July, 2021 the vaccine was close to approval.
- Then Hunt mentioned it was likely to be approved soon in a press conference yesterday.
And then today’s announcement.
We will likely also get another announcement when the shipments start to arrive in September and head out to pharmacies.
I am going to hand you over to the lovely Josh Taylor, who will take you through the evening and bring you the first responses to the latest IPCC climate report. It is not breaking any embargoes to say it is not going to be great (I haven’t seen the report, but I’ve been reading our progress so far, and well – we all know how that’s going. Plus the ocean was on fire not so long ago. The ocean).
A very big thank you to Mike Bowers for dragging me through the day, once again, and to Murph, Hursty, Paul Karp and Sarah Martin who are still all toiling away on the day’s news. Also thank you to everyone else within the Guardian team – you might not see all the names, but from the producers, to the journalists, to the moderators, to the audio visual and data teams and everyone in between, it takes a lot to get all the information to you as quickly and as accurately as we do.
And thank you to everyone who read along as we pushed all that information out – I know it’s a glut, and I know it’s not very good news at the moment, so we appreciate you sticking with us. Thank you for all your messages that make my day easier.
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning. Until then – take care of you and have fun with Josh.
Updated
Some good news.
Updated vaccine rollout tracker! The Gap is gone, now we're tracking progress towards the 70% and 80% 16+ vaccination targets https://t.co/Abq6YY2DVf pic.twitter.com/9shPg4NwNz
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) August 9, 2021
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The man who tested positive to Covid-19 in Byron Bay is in hospital.
Remember that what’s important are public health measures over punitive measures at this point (and all points of a public health emergency).
We want people to tell the truth about where they have been and also to seek help when they need it.
Updated
The New South Wales government has called a snap lockdown in four north coast local government areas, effective from 6pm today.
The seven-day lockdown will apply for the local government areas of Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina Shire.
Stay-at-home orders will also apply to people who have been in these areas any time after 31 July.
The rules will be the same as those that are in place in Greater Sydney, as well as Tamworth, Armidale, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Cessnock.
People will not be able to enter the affected LGAs without “a reasonable excuse to do so”.
The snap lockdown follows news that a man in his 50s had tested positive in Byron Bay.
The chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said earlier today that the case was understood to have travelled to the area from Sydney.
NSW Health said in a statement on Monday night:
Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They also cannot have visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends.
People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers’ responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together.
We understand this is a difficult time for the community and appreciate their ongoing patience and cooperation.
We are asking people not to seek exceptions to the rules, but to ensure they comply with them so we do not see further cases of COVID-19 in the community.
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It’s not the first time we have heard differing comments in press conferences on issues which should, by now, be straightforward. On Friday, following national cabinet, there were two different answers from Scott Morrison and chief medical officer Paul Kelly on what ‘informed consent’ meant in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine:
Morrison:
Informed consent is up to the individual. It’s their consent that they are giving.
Kelly:
It’s a discussion between the giver of a medical service and the receiver of a medical service.
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Sally McManus from the ACTU has commented on the business of employers mandating the vaccine, saying:
Our position has always been that if public health officials decide that the Covid-19 vaccine, or any other vaccine, should be mandatory in a particular workforce then we will support that and work to ensure that all workers can get vaccinated without losing pay. It is essential that every worker has access to paid leave to get vaccinated and deal with any potential side effects – regardless of whether it is mandatory for them to get the vaccine or not.
The push by the Morrison government for mandatory vaccines is designed to cover the fact that access to vaccinations is still limited, and that huge numbers of workers who want to get vaccinated cannot, either because of limited supply or because they cannot afford to take time off work to get the shot and deal with side effects.
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Also, just re-reading the answers to that press conference, in response to Katharine Murphy’s questions on why the government is not considering indemnifying employers who may try and mandate the vaccine for their staff using existing workplace laws (and the reasonable test), Scott Morrison and Greg Hunt said two different things.
Scott Morrison said:
If we were to take that step, that would be thereby endorsing some sort of mandatory process.
But Greg Hunt said
In terms of the indemnity process, under the terms of the definition that the prime minister set out, that process covers anybody who takes a commonwealth sponsored vaccination so long as it is administered in an appropriate way.
So Morrison says by indemnifying employers, it would endorse mandatory vaccines, which the commonwealth is not doing. But literally just seconds later Hunt says there is already indemnity, through the commonwealth vaccine program.
And then Morrison went on to say he understands people are frustrated, but we all have to stay the course.
Could, perhaps, some of that frustration be attributed to seemingly no one knowing what is going on?
Updated
Scott Morrison ended that press conference while there were still questions, because he had to get to a cabinet meeting, which as the prime minister he schedules.
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Given the IPCC report will be out tonight – which Adam Morton will be covering for us – this question is worth showing, again.
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NSW's Northern Rivers, including Byron Bay, to enter lockdown from 6pm
This was only going to be a matter of time.
BREAKING: Northern Rivers to be locked down at 6pm for 7 days. Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina. Same rules as Greater Sydney, no school. @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/8J6sIUPGNX
— Chris O'Keefe (@cokeefe9) August 9, 2021
Updated
Scott Morrison turns a question about the law changes that remove the automatic right Australians residing overseas had to leave the country into an opportunity for one of his ‘I get it Australia, it’s tough, but we have to push through’ speeches that he enjoys giving as he attempts to rebrand his government’s previous failings (we saw a lot of this during the bushfires as well).
Morrison:
I know Australians are frustrated. I know they’re sick of it. I know they’re angry. I know they want it to stop and for life to get back to where they knew it.
But what we have to do now is recognise the reality of the challenge we have in front of us. None of us likes it.
None of us likes to have restrictions. None of us likes to have the situation we’re having now.
I can understand that Australians will go, well, you’re the prime minister. You’re the premier. You’re the government.
We don’t want it to be this way. I don’t want it to be like this for you and your family. I don’t want it to be like that for your kids who I know you want to go to school. I want my kids to go to school too.
We all want that, but there are no shortcuts here. Delta has made it clear of this virus that we have to get through the suppression phase and keep it at bay as best as we can.
So, if you’re in an area that’s in a lockdown, please stay at home. Don’t go out for hours on end. Don’t congregate in areas of Sydney. Don’t do it. Stay at home. Only go out if you absolutely have to.
The lockdown has to work for the lockdown to be lifted and we have to get those case numbers down because when we get to that next phase and we are at 70%, I want us to go into that phase as strong as we possibly can so we have to bear down at this time. We have to push through.
We have to not let any voices of negativity overwhelm our optimism for the future and we have to push through. We have achieved what few countries have.
We can’t throw it away now because of any impatience. I understand the frustration, but I know Australians will be able to push through.
You’ll notice in that speech there is no acknowledgement of WHY there might be anger and frustration and impatience, or why there have been delays, and why the NSW outbreak has hit so hard.
That apparently would be a ‘voice of negativity’, which is the new way of saying ‘criticism for any of the government’s past actions’.
Updated
Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy asks Scott Morrison why he is asking businesses to also take on the indemnity, if they choose to mandate the vaccine for their employees (the government won’t be making special laws, and also won’t be putting in place any sort of indemnity for businesses that try to enforce it within existing workplace laws):
There is a presumption in the question that says that the commonwealth wants to mandate vaccines. We are not seeking to mandate vaccines. That is not the government’s policy. That is not how Australia has successfully run vaccination programs in the past. We’ve done it because Australians know their value. We know there is an in-built incentive in a vaccination.
You’re less likely to get it (Covid-19). You’re less likely to get seriously ill and less likely to give it to a friend. It is incredibly important to go and get the vaccine and why every Australian is coming forward in record numbers to get those vaccines.
Now, managing things in the workplace, look we’ll continue to engage with the various industry and business groups that are raising these issues and they’re getting, I’m sure, quite a lot of very helpful legal advice about what their authorities are to do this. But I wouldn’t want it suggested that either the federal government or the state and territory governments are seeking to impose a mandatory process on this vaccination program for Australians. We have been very clear about that.
Murphy: That wasn’t my question, it was will you consider an indemnity?
Morrison:
If we were to take that step, that would be thereby endorsing some sort of mandatory process.
Greg Hunt:
Mandating, which the prime minister set out clearly, is not something we’re proposing, either with regards to the vulnerability of the worker or the vulnerability of their clients, being quarantine and aged care. In terms of the indemnity process, under the terms of the definition that the prime minister set out, that process covers anybody who takes a commonwealth sponsored vaccination so long as it is administered in an appropriate way.
Updated
Once again, Scott Morrison has to answer questions on whether or not he has faith in his minister, Richard Colbeck, after Colbeck, in the Senate, couldn’t answer how many people were in intensive care in Australia because of Covid-19 (Morrison was asked the same question a few minutes later in the House and had the answer).
Q: Why does Richard Colbeck not know the latest intensive care numbers and why does he deserve to be a member of your government managing a difficult rollout?
Morrison:
By the time I was asked the question I had a more updated brief.
Q: He had no information and he said he to take it on notice?
Morrison:
He has that information and I’m sure if he’s asked he will provide the appropriate answer.
Q: Do you have confidence in him?
Morrison:
Yes, I do.
Colbeck previously couldn’t recall how many people had died in aged care settings. He is the aged care minister.
Updated
Scott Morrison again reiterates that there are no plans for a mandated vaccine in Australia:
The vaccination service is free and it is not mandatory. That’s an important principle. We are not going to seek to impose a mandatory vaccination program by the government by stealth.
That’s not what we are going to do. It is a non-mandatory program.
Now, I set out on Friday that there are already existing powers that employers have, both in terms of lawful directions, reasonable directions to their employers.
Equally, business owners have property rights in terms of who they can allow to come in and out of their premises. Those property rights, those authorities that they have for their employees already exist.
Now, we will seek to provide as much careful advice as we can to help them make those decisions, but it is important that Australians know that we are not going to seek to impose a mandatory vaccination program in this country by some other means.
There have been some isolated cases which have already been identified. Quarantine workers and aged care workers. They are the only areas that any states or territories or the commonwealth has suggested that will be providing some statutory or a public health order enforcement of such a mandating.
Updated
Asked about Gladys Berejiklian’s comments on 50% vaccination rates (of the eligible population) leading to an easing of restrictions, Scott Morrison says:
I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about this point. I addressed this question on Friday.
I understand that the Victorian premier addressed it today. The premier in New South Wales is not referring to moving to phase B at 50% vaccinations. She is not suggesting that. She is not aiming to do that.
The vaccination rate to get to phase B, which the New South Wales government is a supporter of, is 70% and then 80% for phase C.
The whole country on average has to get to 70% and then that state itself has to get into 70%. What the premier is referring to is how New South Wales might seek to manage their suppression phase measures of restrictions in that phase. That is what she is referring to.
So I think these two issues have been at cross purposes and hopefully that clarifies it very clearly that the premier is not going in another direction to the national plan ... All states and territories have affirmed their strong agreement to the national plan on Friday and those vaccination targets for moving to phase B and phase C.
This is about the management of the lockdown in New South Wales and what steps they may take in managing that lockdown while they remain in the suppression phase, but the important point is this – the lower the case numbers are, when we go into phase B, the better. Not just for the nation’s health, but for the nation’s economy as well.
As Prof Skerritt noted, in countries that do have above 70% vaccination rates, they are still seeing deaths, in the United Kingdom, that we would hope never to see in Australia at those levels.
So, it is very important that the suppression phase continues to work effectively as we are seeing it do right across the country, but there is a very big challenge as we have seen in New South Wales in arresting the growth in those case numbers and it remains the goal, it remains the task, to suppress those case numbers down. So when ultimately we can get to 70%, which we hope to achieve this year and based on the vaccination rates we are achieving the maths backs that up, then we would be able to go into that phase in a much stronger position because this is the difference between Australia and the rest of the world.
The rest of the world has not seen the very low fatality rates that we have seen in this country. They have not seen the economic recovery by and large that we have seen in this country. They have not seen the very low case numbers. So we’re going for low case numbers. We’re going for low fatality rates. And we’re going for a vaccinated country. And on top of that, a strong economy.
Updated
All Australian batches of Moderna will be batch tested, Professor John Skerritt says.
Here’s the official TGA statement on the provisional approval of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine:
On 9 August 2021, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), part of the Department of Health, granted provisional approval to Moderna Australia Pty Ltd for its COVID-19 vaccine—Spikevax (elasomeran)—making it the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to receive regulatory approval in Australia.
This messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine is provisionally approved and included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) for active immunisation to prevent coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 in individuals 18 years of age and older. It is recommended that the vaccine is given in two doses that are administered 28 days apart.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has shown strong efficacy preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and severe COVID-19 in clinical trials. The vaccine has also received regulatory approval or emergency authorisation in several countries and is being widely used in the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union, the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.
Provisional approval of this vaccine in Australia is subject to certain strict conditions, such as the requirement for Moderna Australia Pty Ltd to continue providing information to the TGA on longer-term efficacy and safety from ongoing clinical trials and post-market assessment.
Data to support the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years are currently under evaluation and no specific concerns have been identified to date. The TGA’s decision on use in this age group will be announced separately.
The Australian Government has secured 25 million doses of Spikevax (elasomeran) to further diversify Australia’s vaccine portfolio as well as provide access to a booster or variant vaccine should this be required in the future. The agreement includes the supply of 10 million doses of Spikevax (elasomeran) in 2021 and of 15 million doses of Moderna’s updated variant booster vaccine in 2022. More information about Australia’s vaccine agreements can be found on the Department of Health’s Australia’s Vaccine Agreements webpage.
Spikevax (elasomeran) is the second mRNA vaccine to receive provisional approval in Australia. mRNA vaccines use a synthetic genetic code called RNA to give our cells instructions about how to make the coronavirus’ unique spike protein. When our body has made the protein encoded by the mRNA vaccine, it then recognises the spike protein as being foreign and launches an immune response against it. The RNA from the vaccine does not change, or interact, with our DNA in any way.
Australians can be confident that the TGA’s review process of Spikevax (elasomeran) was rigorous. The decision to provisionally approve the vaccine was also informed by expert advice from the Advisory Committee on Vaccines (ACV), an independent committee with expertise in scientific, medical and clinical fields including consumer representation.
The TGA will continue to actively monitor the safety of Spikevax (elasomeran) and will not hesitate to take action if safety concerns are identified.
Updated
There are no applications, at this stage, for clinical trials for children to be vaccinated.
Updated
So the approval has come through quickly (Australia ordered Moderna in May and the TGA usually has a 120-day or so approval process, but it has been used in the US for months and months and months, so it is not ‘untested’) for adults aged 18 and over. It is also looking promising for younger teenagers.
Updated
Prof John Skerritt from the TGA on the approval:
The data on the teenagers does look good and we should be able to make a decision again convening the expert advisory committee within the next three or four weeks on an application for use in 12 and over.
We can build on widespread global experience. In the US alone there has been over 140 million doses of Moderna used.
The other really encouraging thing about Moderna is, even after six months, it is proving to be 93% efficacious against any infection, 98% against severe disease and 100% against death and that’s really exciting.
None of us have a crystal ball and no medical expert will be able to say, you need a booster on a certain date.
It is exciting to see such sustained activity of that vaccine six months after. A little bit different from Pfizer. It does require two doses, 28 days apart.
Updated
Moderna vaccine provisionally approved for people aged 18 and over, Morrison says
Scott Morrison:
This means we have an additional 25 million doses of Moderna to add to the 125 million Pfizer doses and 53 million AstraZeneca doses we’ve already started rolling out.
We will have 10 million of the Moderna doses arriving before the end of this year.
The first one million doses is on track to arrive next month and will go to pharmacies. Then we will have three million in October.
Three million in November. And three million in December.
This is another important tool that we have in our battle against COVID. We’ll have it in our hands and we will have the jabs in our arms starting next month. This is our plan to ensure that we get Australia to where we need to get to this year. We have more more Pfizer. We have more AstraZeneca.
Now, we have Moderna.
We have more doctors. We have more nurses. We have more pharmacists. We have more jabs in arms and now 10 million Moderna to add this year, with more than 1.3 million vaccines doses delivered in just one week, that is almost the population of the City of Adelaide.
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Prime minister's press conference
It’s the prime minister Scott Morrison and the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Prof John Skerritt, for this one.
The provisional “green light” has been given for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine to be used in Australia.
Updated
Tanya Plibersek continues on that point:
This is about making sure that people who are desperate for help in the middle of a lockdown, making sure that they get the full amount that they are entitled to and they are not paying tax on the meagre amount of money that the government is giving them. How awful to even talk about playing chicken with people’s lives and livelihood in that way.
We do want to see these companies named. We think it is important that if companies are taking big subsidies from taxpayers, that is transparent. We want the government to be open about the money that’s going to these companies, but we’re not going to play with people’s lives when the government is prepared to give them a few hundred bucks. We don’t want to see that disappear in taxes.
Tanya Plibersek is on Afternoon Briefing where she is giving her interview from a park – where a local dog is trying to make its views very, very clear. (It sounds like a small one with very large opinions).
Plibersek is asked why Labor withdrew support for jobkeeper transparency in the treasury amendment bill Rex Patrick amended in the Senate.
She says it wasn’t the way to do it.
Well, we are still committed to transparency and accountability from the businesses that have seen record profits in some cases.
We think that $13bn ... went to companies that saw their profits rise. What we were going to see is the government delaying money going into the pockets of ordinary Australians if we had persisted with demanding a change to this bill. This bill is about making sure that people don’t pay tax if they get assistance from the government – ordinary Australians, don’t pay tax if they get assistance from the government. We still want to see the transparency around companies getting jobkeeper. This wasn’t the best way to do it.
Updated
Mike Bowers was in QT
Don’t forget just how hard Australian universities are doing it at the moment either.
Courses cut in everything from languages to engineering. Campuses closing. International education in chaos. Tens of thousands of job losses (ANU has been literally decimated).
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) August 9, 2021
There has never been a more anti-university government than this one https://t.co/fm8OeCLFMF #auspol pic.twitter.com/z6iSao1Gcm
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It has kinda dropped off the radar a little, but the Joint Standing Committee on Migration has presented its final report following its inquiry into Australia’s skilled migration program.
From the release:
Committee Chair Julian Leeser MP said that “Over 500,000 temporary migrants have left Australia since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the lack of skilled migrants coupled with record low unemployment has led to major skill shortages in many sectors of the Australian economy.”
“The Government has implemented many of the recommendations the Committee made in Interim report in relation to skills shortages in the economy and their impact on the viability of businesses and their ability to create more jobs for Australians,” Mr Leeser continued.
“In this report, the Committee has made recommendations addressing a range of issues including a whole of government approach to address skills shortages, providing clearer pathways to permanency to and enabling the best and brightest international students to come and stay here to help us fill persistent skills shortages.”
“The report also recommends a number of measures aimed at cleaning up and streamlining the skilled migration system, including consolidating the skills lists, replacing ANZSCO, providing more concessions for regional visas, improving customer service from Home Affairs and streamlining Labour Market Testing and the Skilling Australia Fund,” said Mr Leeser.
A copy of the report and more details about the inquiry are available on the Committee website.
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Scott Morrison to speak at 4.15pm
Scott Morrison has called a press conference for 4.15pm AEST.
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In case you missed it, Paul Fletcher actually uttered the phrase “yawning paradox” in question time, while trying to avoid a question on the car park funding auditor general’s report.
There are still four months left in this year.
Can a paradox yawn? #qt
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) August 9, 2021
Updated
The RBA said it wanted to get better at communicating, which means – you get graphics!
We have released a snapshot of Key Economic Indicators - https://t.co/SKUCdSZ9Ru pic.twitter.com/EnOUEAufAi
— RBA (@RBAInfo) August 9, 2021
After an hour of questions, Scott Morrison ends question time
Anthony Albanese is up on his feet immediately claiming he has been misrepresented – over the claim the Labor party has been hoping for the worst during the pandemic, and that Albanese may be personally disappointed the pandemic has not hit Australia worse.
“They are despicable comments, not worthy of the office of the prime minister,” Albanese says.
He says he has made two points – that the government didn’t sign enough vaccine agreements last year when deals were being made, and that the government hasn’t built enough dedicated quarantine facilities.
Greg Hunt was heckling during Albanese’s speech – but the microphone didn’t pick up what he was saying.
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Andrew Giles to Scott Morrison:
In the last month there was evidence to the parliament that your office was involved in a canvassing process to select commuter car park projects to fund based on initial list of 20 marginal Liberal-held seats. When will the actually explain his role in the process instead of having others do it?
Morrison:
In relation to the members put opposite, I directly addressed the issues that were being put before the house regarding the role the prime minister plays in finalising an expenditure review committee process and that is exactly the role that I played. That is not an unusual process. It is a process followed by previous prime ministers, previous Labor prime ministers and Liberal prime ministers.
That’s the way you finalise a budget round. When you go through an expenditure review process. Those on the other side may be unfamiliar with that process. I’m very familiar with the process of the economic management of this country because it has been under this government when we went into this pandemic, that we had been in a position where we’ve been able to balance the budget so we could deliver the single greatest economic response the country has ever required, Mr Speaker.
Giles:
This is a very interesting dissertation by the prime minister.
... It was a very narrow question about the process followed in this instance and the role of his office. He should come to those questions to be relevant.
Tony Smith:
The prime minister does need to be relevant to the question. He has been up until now but it’s not an opportunity to speak about the economy or the budget generally.
Morrison:
So I can confirm that the matters were dealt with in accordance with the budget process and the authorities provided by ministers. Provided to ministers.
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Catherine King to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister and I refer to his press conference on Thursday where he said five times in 50 seconds that ministers made the decisions on the commuter car parks program. If the minister was telling the truth last week, how does he explain the letters he signed on January 11 and April 10, 2019, in which he provided funding for 38 car park projects?
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, I confirm again what I said at the press conference the other day. It is quite normal, Mr Speaker, that the prime minister through the process that members opposite may be familiar with, the RAC process signs off on a whole range of recommendations that are made within their authority by ministers. That’s the normal process.
This program goes to something very important. This program that we have supported – Mr Speaker – quote you someone who was – I’ll quote you someone who was supportive. “Public transport isn’t just about the train line or the bus route itself, it’s also about the surrounding infrastructure that makes it work for local residents. That’s is why we’re committed to upgrading parking facilities here at Mango Hill station and the transport hubs across the country.” That was from the member for Grayndler. That was from the member for Grayndler. The member for Grayndler. The Labor party comes into this place and seeks to deride a program that they themselves have supported.
No one is saying there is no need for car parks and infrastructure. What they are saying, in this particular program raised issues around what carparks were chosen, and how the funding was approved.
Paul Fletcher is trying to be a university debater, but he’s on the floor of the parliament, and has to actually answer a question (because of the way this question was formed and Morrison has already done the allowable compare and contrast) so that leaves Fletcher floundering. He tries to bluff it out, is pulled up by the Speaker and then decides he has nothing else to say.
(For the record, yes, ministers have approval to sign off on these fundings commitments – because that is the way the program was set up. The issue here is that it was an election commitment, signed off before the election was called, relied on a marginal seats list, and didn’t take independent advice on where the projects were actually needed – and barely any of them have been built, plus the value for money is questionable.)
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Not sure if a prime minister can be booted under 94a or not, but I think I speak for a lot of us when I say I am excited to find out.
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Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Why does the prime minister constantly change his plans instead of delivering them? Last year it was reopening by Christmas and we were at the front of the queue. In June, there were “horizons”, and then a 4-phase plan. Two weeks age a different 4-phase plan and last week a fast-track vaccination policy 18 months into the pandemic. How many plans will the prime minister announce before he delivers one?
Morrison:
The objective of all of our government’s efforts, Mr Speak, the objective of all the plans that we have put forward has had two objectives. To save lives and to save livelihoods. To save lives and more than 30,000 lives have been saved as the result of the collective actions of Australians. And the actions of governments and the leadership of our government and a million Australians have got back into work after last year’s Covid-19 recession.
Now, Mr Speaker, the Labor party have put this to us. They’ve said to us, Mr Speaker, that why do things have to change? Well, he may be unaware that Covid-19 is a veracious virus which sets its own rules. What we have done as a country, what we have done as a government have been responsive to ensure that we can address the many challenges that have come from Covid-19 and do so as a federation and do so in a way that has saved more than 30,000 lives and put a million people back into work. Now the leader of the opposition may be disappointed with those outcomes. He may be.
Tony Burke:
There are a series of allegations you cannot make about other members of parliament. What was just alleged by the prime minister should be completely outside debate in this House. Completely outside.
Tony Smith:
I’m listening very carefully to the prime minister. I call the prime minister and I remind him of my rulings which still stand.
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, we, Mr Speaker, will continue to do what is necessary to get Australians through this crisis as we have from day one. From the day our government shut the borders, Mr Speaker. From the day that we called the global pandemic two weeks before the World Health Organisation, Mr Speaker.
All throughout this crisis, as we brought Australians together, Mr Speaker, and ensure that more than 30,000 lives have been saved and a million Australians have been able to get back into work, that is the product of the efforts of Australians under the policies, under the leadership of this government, working together so closely with our states and territories, through the federation.
Working together to get these results. And we’ve set out that plan. We’ve set out that pathway that requires us ...
(Pat Conroy gets booted.)
Morrison:
And 80% vaccination rates which are are now approaching on. With great pace. As we’ve addressed the serious issues that we’ve had to overcome with the issues of supply and other medical advice, that have impacted the vaccination program. We are overcoming that and we have turned the corner and Australia is on the path delivering with this virus and we will be on that path and achieving that at the same time as ensuring that we have had one of the lowest fatality rates of Covid-19 in the world and one of the most successful economic records through the Covid-19 crisis, including maintaining a AAA credit rating, despite the significant investments we have made to keep Australians in work and to keep Australia moving forward.
So if Australia could just forget the last year and focus on what’s coming, you’d be doing Scott Morrison a massive solid.
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Josh Frydenberg takes a dixer on tax cuts and once again says Labor didn’t support the stage three tax cuts, which Labor did, because ultimately, Labor voted for it in the parliament.
That’s on the record.
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Scott Morrison gets rebuked for political attacks in QT. Again.
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
I refer to the prime minister’s October 2020 release of the three step framework for national reopening. The prime minister said then that Australia was on track to be opened by Christmas last year. Now with millions of Australians in lockdown, state borders closed and international travel suspended, does the prime minister take responsibility for telling Australians something that just wasn’t true?
Morrison:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. On several occasions we have worked together with the states and territories to combat Covid-19. And on each occasion we have put forward plans in good faith and sought together to achieve those plans. Now that is the right thing to do.
And as we struggled against that Covid-19 pandemic, we set out a program of restrictions that could be eased in different phases, as we struggled against the then known variants of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But, as we know, as the pandemic has progressed, new and different variants have emerged, Mr Speaker.
These are things neither I, the premiers, the chief ministers, in the great wisdom of the leader of the opposition, would not have been able to have the foresight to know which turns the pandemic may take.
There is no country in the world today that has been able to predict every movement in this pandemic but it is the responsibility of government to respond to the circumstances that we face and to seek to provide a path out. Now, Mr Speaker, on occasions the pandemic, the virus gets the better of those plans.
But we will continue to make them and we’ll continue to move towards them, Mr Speak, and implement them. And we will encourage Australians to engage with us in that. So we can indeed chart our path out.
And it may well be the case that further strains of this pandemic may impose further blows.
But I tell you what – Australians will respond. They won’t hope for the worst like the Labor party, Mr Speaker, in this pandemic. They won’t seek to take political opportunity of the pandemic.
Tony Burke interrupts:
The prime minister should think about what he just said. Think about what he just accused members of the parliament, on the dignity of the House. There’s a concept called the dignity of the House. Are you aware of it?
Tony Smith:
I’ll say to the prime minister, he wasn’t asked about an opposition policy. He was asked about the three-step plan. Up until that point he had been relevant to the question. As I’ve said last week, when he’s asked a question that doesn’t ask about alternatives, that he’s quite specific in its nature, having answered it and been very relevant to it, which he was up until that point, in the remaining time he does not have the option to launch a political attack. The prime minister has the call.
Morrison:
So now the national cabinet under my leadership has put together a national plan, Mr Speaker. And the question is, do those opposite support it? Do they support it or will they seek to undermine it? I’m talking about our national plan, Mr Speaker.
Smith:
But the prime minister will resume his seat. You can talk about the national plan but if you’re going to insist on asking questions, I may well let them answer them. But that is not how question time works. You said you’re seeking to talk about the national plan. You can do that. I’m not going to keep making the same ruling and be ignored. The prime minister has the call.
Morrison:
Mr Speaker, the national plan, as set out, means that we get to phase B where restrictions begin to ease at 70% vaccination rates. And at 80%, we are able to live with the virus and the vaccination rates continue.
Now in no plan, Mr Speaker, in no scenario, do we make the assumption that Covid is eliminated. That Covid somehow miraculously disappears from the planet. We will need to have ways of continuing to manage that, even at the high vaccination rates. But the plan we have set out is a plan Australians can achieve.
The plan is a plan that Australians are daily achieving. And we have set out that plan and we have set out that pathway, Mr Speaker, and Australians will come on that path with us, Mr Speaker. Others may not wish to, but we will steadfastly go about that plan.
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The current deputy prime minister is not in question time (he went home to Armidale on the weekend and is now caught up in the lockdown) and I don’t think anyone, outside the photographers, are bemoaning his absence.
Bill Shorten to Scott Morrison:
The government announced, indeed promised, that every resident in disability care would be fully vaccinated by Easter. But as of last month, fewer than 1-in-5 residents in disability care were fully vaccinated. Will the prime minister take responsibility for failing to keep his promise to vaccinate all vulnerable residents in disability care by now?
(Gladys Berejiklian and CHO Dr Kerry Chant both mentioned this as a concern during the NSW press conference today.)
Greg Hunt:
At this point in time, we have had 17,311 disability residents on the latest advice that I received from the National Incident Centre shortly before coming to question time. That’s representing 63.6%.
The total residents who have received second doses is 12,132, or 44.5% of residents.
What I particularly want to do is to encourage all of those residents and in particular to encourage their friends and family to support them and to making sure there’s consent, there’s the agreement, there’s the confidence to accept that vaccination. That is an extremely important part that each and every one of us can play. In addition with regards to the outreach program to ensure that we are working with those residents, what we have is a program for all of the facilities across Australia ... over 6,000, in particular, facilities to be visited.
That program includes vaccination service providers [and] includes GPs. We have lifted the Medicare rates for home visits. So these elements are in place. In addition we are seeing the disability hubs play a very important role of providing a service where disability residents, their carers, the workers or their family are able to ensure that they are provided with that support.
I would note one very important fact and that is that the loss of life amongst disability residents in Australia is less than the average of the loss of life for all Australians. It has been one of our singular national achievements and there are many, many people around Australia to be thanked for that.
But for all those carers and workers who have assisted with the vaccination program, we want to thank them. As the prime minister has reminded me, it’s the same with Indigenous Australians. These two groups that were part of our awareness right from the outset – disability and Indigenous Australians have overwhelmingly been able to be kept safe and these results have meant that those communities have been even more protected than the average in Australia and that’s something for which we are thankful and grateful.
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Adam Bandt to Scott Morrison:
The birthplace of democracy, Athens, is on fire and so is the West Coast of the United States. Europe is flooding and here in Australia our own bitter experience means we know the world is in a climate emergency. Tonight, the world scientists will release the latest IPCC report warning the world is heating faster than feared and that we may cross catastrophic tipping points from which there is no return and hit 1.5 degrees in just a few years. Prime minister, your 2030 targets are a death sentence for our country. Will you heed this warning and join the US and the UK by at least doubling our 2030 climate targets? Or will you keep failing to protect Australia and its people from the climate crisis?
There is nothing new in this answer from Scott Morrison. Nothing.
Here’s a taste of the nothing:
There may be those in this place who want to talk Australia down, Mr Speaker, they want to talk Australia down about what we’re achieving, but I can tell you the farmers of this country have been putting their shoulder to the wheel at this task Mr Speaker, the resources industry is putting their shoulder to the wheel on this task, Mr Speaker, transforming their industries, and our government is backing them up because our government believes that you can get emissions down, you can keep electricity prices down, that you can address the future industrial needs of this country, Mr Speaker, and you can do that in a way that is complementary and that you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other and I can tell you, Mr Speaker, our government will not – will not – go down the taxes route. We will not go down the taxes route.
No one is suggesting the taxes route. It is not 2012, the world has moved on.
Instead, read this from Adam Morton:
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Michelle Rowland to Scott Morrison:
The government announced aged care workers would be fully vaccinated by Easter. It’s August. Less than half are fully vaccinated and aged care facilities across Sydney are in lockdown. Will the prime minister take responsibility for failing to deliver on his announcement and vaccinate all aged care workers by now?
Morrison:
The government’s national vaccination program is the responsibility of the prime minister and the minister of health and the government. We do take responsibility for rolling out the national vaccine program, Mr Speaker, and where there are challenges and there are faults, Mr Speaker, we correct them and we get on with fixing them, Mr Speaker, and that is exactly what the government is doing. I’ll ask the minister for health to add further.
Greg Hunt:
At this point in time, the latest advice that I have is that there are approximately 275,357 staff across aged care services.
257,143 vaccinations have been administered across those 275,000 staff. That includes 156,340 or 56.8% of first doses amongst those staff. 100,803 second doses. On the advice and discussions that I have had with Lt Gen Frewen and his team, every facility in Australia has – is required to and does have a plan for vaccination.
The range of options which have been developed with those facilities includes the following:
Firstly, there is self-vaccination where facilities are conducting that program as a form of in-reach.
As a form of in-reach. That has been one of the most successful. The example being the TLC facility with over 90% success rate with both residents and – and with staff in Victoria, across all of their different properties.
The second thing as part of that is that we are expecting that there will be over the next two weeks ...
That will also include in-reach through vaccination service providers, six principal vaccination service providers. Thirdly, in-reach through general practises and what are called commonwealth vaccination clinics. In addition to that there is the outreach option of state vaccination clinics, of commonwealth vaccination clinics, of general practices and of hubs, all of these things are coming together in addition to that one of the things which the prime minister was able to achieve through his work with national cabinet was a commitment of national cabinet for the states and territories to produce public health orders to mandate that anybody who wishes to work in an aged care facility will have to be vaccinated. It’s an important initiative and I thank the states and territories for their cooperation and in working with the prime minister to that outcome.
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We then get a dixer on the economy, but at least Josh Frydenberg has stopped screaming into the microphone.
Scott Morrison is asked the same question in the House, but his question time pack is obviously better prepared, because he has the answers (he then begins speaking about the economy):
The current total in ICU for the whole of Australia is 70, Mr Speaker. Sixty-seven of those are in New South Wales. Mr Speaker, in addition to that, 30 lives have been lost this year to Covid and 941 in total have been lost.
Every single one of those deaths is a terrible tragedy for those families. It is a terrible strategy.
But we also know, Mr Speaker, that in this country, in this country, we have been able to prevent and avoid more than 30,000 deaths because of the collective actions of Australians in this country and the responses that have been put in place. Mr Speaker, overseas – overseas – people don’t just know someone who might have had Covid, they know someone who’s died of Covid and in too many cases they know of many people who have died of Covid.
In this country, Mr Speaker, our experience has been very different and it hasn’t just been the saving of lives which has been so paramount in our thinking as a government we have responded, as we have continued to bring Australians together, indeed the states and territories together, as we have done throughout in over 50 occasions over the course of this pandemic but it’s also been about saving livelihoods.
More than 30,000 lives saved and a million Australians back in jobs since last year’s Covid recession, Mr Speaker.
And, Mr Speaker, at the end of these lockdowns, I know one thing will happen – and that is the Australian economy will surge back and I know that because that is exactly what occurred after the last Covid recession, Mr Speaker, after the last impact and, indeed, we will see how things pan out over the months ahead but I know this – the supports that we put in to support the Australian economy whether it was last year through jobkeeper, Mr Speaker, and the Covid supplement and the cashflow boost, and the many supports we put in place that saw the Australian economy through and ensured we’re one of the few countries in the world that had an economy larger on the other side of the pandemic than at the beginning and more people in work, Mr Speaker, than before.
And at the same time had prevented through collective actions 30,000 Australians at least not perishing, Mr Speaker, that puts Australia in a league amongst very few countries in the world today.
It remains now for us to complete that job as we move towards the end of this year and we see 70% of our country vaccinated, hopefully 80%, Mr Speaker, and I want to thank the Australians, each and every one going out there getting their vaccination as we hit, Mr Speaker, rates of vaccination, rates of vaccination which is up there with the world’s best, Mr Speaker, as we are going through these most recent weeks, amongst these most recent weeks ... 1.3m vaccinations in a seven-day period, Mr Speaker. That is where – that is where both the United States and the UK were operating per capita at a similar level, Mr Speaker.
That is what our vaccination program is now achieving and I thank Australians for supporting it.
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Over in the Senate, Richard Colbeck, who is representing Greg Hunt in the other place, could not answer a question of how many people are in ICUs across Australia, because of Covid.
It’s at least 67 people – in NSW alone.
Twenty-nine people are on ventilators.
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Question time begins
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
I refer to reports the government approached Tabcorp about conducting a lottery as an incentive for more Australians to get vaccinated against Covid. Are these reports correct? And will the government rule out economic incentives for vaccinations?
Morrison:
What we’ll rule out is bad ideas, Mr Speaker.
The government benches find this hilarious for reasons unknown to either comedy, or sense.
Morrison continues:
That’s what we’ll rule out. We’ll rule out bad ideas, Mr Speaker. And, of course, the government has got no issues with incentives, Mr Speaker. What we have a problem with is bad – bad policy. That’s the problem that we have, Mr Speaker.
Bad policy! Paying $6bn, Mr Speaker – paying $6bn ...
Albanese:
It goes to relevance. I’m quite happy to have a debate if the prime minister wants a debate about our ideas. This is about his idea for a lottery conducted by Tabcorp and whether the reports are correct and whether the government would rule out economic incentives for vaccinations.
Tony Smith tells Morrison to get on with it.
Morrison:
I can confirm that we are not proceeding with any arrangement like that with Tabcorp, Mr Speaker. We’re not proceeding ... Mr Speaker, the operation Covid shield has considered many types of incentives, Mr Speaker, particularly when we’re in phase B of the program, not phase A of the program, Mr Speaker, but I tell you what, we’re not considering – we’re not considering a cash splash, we’re not considering splashing $6bn to people who by and large have already had the vaccine, Mr Speaker. That is not the disciplined, informed approach the government is taking. Mr Speaker, that is the approach of the opposition which has been rejected by the health professionals, Mr Speaker, as a cash splash, Mr Speaker.
We will not be indulging the cash splash ideas of the leader of the opposition, Mr Speaker.
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Anthony Albanese is now giving his Olympics speech on indulgence in reply.
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Scott Morrison has used many an Olympics metaphor when talking about Covid, so of course we get a Covid mention when speaking about the Olympics.
He has said this before, but as we know, when he likes a line, he repeats it – and here is a line he likes:
Australians have the grit, the determination and the character to prevail. There may not be gold medals as I wrote recently, Mr Speaker, for being a single parent, for running a small business, for doing the night shift at an emergency department or aged care facility, to be out there at the vaccination hubs, for volunteering for your local surf lifesaving club or your bushfire brigade, Mr Speaker, but if there were, Australia would be at the top of the gold medal tally I’m quite certain.
And this is why I’m so confident Australia will pull through this current challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic. We won’t let it beat us, we won’t let our frustration get the better of us, we won’t let negativity overwhelm our optimism. We will urge each other on, we will just put our head down and keep pressing on and we will succeed, that is the Australian way.
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Ahead of question time, Scott Morrison, on indulgence, gives a thank-you to the Australian Olympians and Japan for hosting the event.
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There has been a new support package offered to South Australian businesses:
The new South Australian Covid-19 additional business support grant - will deliver about an extra $40m in support to an estimated 19,000 local businesses in eligible industries – such as hospitality, performing art venues, artists and performers, tourism, gyms, and transport.
The package will be split on a 50/50 basis between the commonwealth and the South Australian governments, with the state government to administer the program.
The new package includes:
- $3,000 cash grants for employing businesses and $1,000 for non-employing businesses (eg sole traders) in eligible industry sectors that have experienced a decline in turnover of 3% or more over a two-week period as a result of the Covid-19 trading restrictions introduced from 28 July 2021.
- An additional CBD grant of $1,000 will be available for eligible businesses (both employing and non-employing) with a commercial premise in the Adelaide CBD (postcode 5000), in recognition of the increased impact on city businesses as a result of people working from home.
In addition, a new major events support grant of up to $25,000 for eligible events that were either cancelled, or suffered a significant financial loss, as a result of having to be cancelled or postponed due to the Covid-19 lock down in July or further restrictions to 4 August will be funded by the South Australian government.
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OK, there are a few minutes until QT starts, which means it is time for 90-second statements.
Enter that part of parliament, at your peril.
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Labor’s Andrew Leigh, who has been pushing for Jobkeeper accountability and transparency is now having to explain why Labor didn’t keep pushing Rex Patrick’s amendment to make companies which received Jobkeeper and didn’t need it, public.
Labor says it already failed in the House and it would be pursuing other options. But it has left some of the people who have been pushing for this for months, to explain why Labor backed down.
Labor has led the campaign over JobKeeper misuse for almost a year. Our efforts have put the spotlight onto JobKeeper rorts. Politics isn't a game, and we'll continue to fight for transparency - but not by delaying support for people in lockdown. https://t.co/givMWq6hBn #auspol pic.twitter.com/mpWqCqsblI
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) August 9, 2021
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On Tuesday the Senate will vote on a Greens motion to hold an inquiry into the $4.8bn urban congestion fund and the $660m commuter car park fund. The matter would be referred to the finance and public administration references committee.
Proposed terms of reference, to be put forward by Janet Rice, will question whether the fund “meets the highest standards of governance, performance and accountability in the expenditure of public funds”.
The inquiry will also consider “the role of the offices of the minister(s), the prime minister and deputy prime minister, and any external parties, in determining which projects to allocate funding and who would announce these projects”.
In general on matters such as this, One Nation are the casting votes – to side with either Labor, the Greens and crossbench to set up an inquiry or the Coalition to block one.
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Pauline Hanson has also admitted she has not had a vaccine (she has been eligible for quite some time) and if she gets Covid and dies it is “my choice”.
She is now arguing with Sky’s Tom Connell, over whether or not her decision impacts other people.
Which it does.
Hanson is now bragging about never getting a flu shot.
Given the amount of time Connell is spending debunking Hanson, and her claims, you have to wonder why she is still getting this much airtime.
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Pauline Hanson has admitted on Sky she is “not a lawyer by any means”.
Just putting that on the record.
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have started proceedings against internet companies for misleading NBN speeds – from its release:
The ACCC has instituted separate proceedings in the Federal Court against each of Telstra Corporation Ltd (Telstra), Optus Internet Pty Limited (Optus), and TPG Internet Pty Ltd (TPG) for making alleged false or misleading representations in their promotions of some 50Mbps and 100Mbps NBN plans, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
The ACCC alleges that the companies made representations to some consumers on Fibre to the Node (FTTN) connections that they would test the maximum speed of their connections, notify the impacted consumer of their maximum speed if their line was underperforming, and offer them remedies if the maximum speed was below their plan’s stated speed, but failed to do so for many customers.
It is also alleged Telstra, Optus and TPG wrongly accepted payments from certain customers for NBN plans when they were not provided with the promised speeds.
“Telstra, Optus and TPG each promised to tell consumers within a specific or reasonable timeframe if the speed they were paying for could not be reached on their connection. They also promised to offer them a cheaper plan with a refund if that was the case. Instead, we allege, they failed to do these things, and as a result many consumers paid more for their NBN plans than they needed to,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
“Collectively, hundreds of thousands of consumers were allegedly misled by these three big internet providers, Telstra, Optus and TPG, which accepted payments for NBN speeds they could not provide.”
The NSW Department of Education says Zoom is back up for children in greater Sydney who are learning from home after an outage this morning kept lessons offline.
A NSW education spokespersons said it was a problem with Zoom itself:
Zoom advised there was an issue with the platform this morning which was impacting Australian users. DoE immediately contacted the vendor to ensure a quick resolution could be implemented to reduce the impact on remote learning. Schools and teachers have a number of tools available to them to deliver classes and learning during learning from home.
Zoom is now back online and DoE services have returned to normal.
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Labor says it is looking at other ways it can force more transparency on the government.
Rex Patrick though, has his views on Labor not supporting a further push on the jobkeeper amendment (which aimed to make public companies which received jobkeeper and did not need it, along with how much they received).
#BREAKING: Labor has capitulated on supporting a law that requires the Tax Commissioner to publish the name of companies that received JobKeeper and the total amount of money they received. Labor are like a dog that rolls over every time @ScottMorrisonMP stares them down. #auspol pic.twitter.com/QoXfq83Lgf
— Rex Patrick (@Senator_Patrick) August 9, 2021
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Just going through the NSW press conference again, Gladys Berejiklian was asked a non-Covid question on a matter she didn’t care to answer (Daryl Maguire) and replied with:
I refer you to my previous answer and please respect this press conference. Any other questions?
Not sure when politicians decided they got to choose which questions are asked in press conferences, or what was “respectfully”, especially when it came to governance, but here we are.
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It may have slipped your mind, but Tony Abbott is pushing Australian trade as a special trade envoy with India (because when you think India, you think Tony Abbott) despite his role as a trade envoy for the United Kingdom (a country you probably do associate with the former Australian prime minister).
But Labor’s Madeleine King hasn’t forgotten, issuing this statement:
The Morrison Government’s “special trade envoy” Tony Abbott has today advocated a “swift” free trade agreement with India – conveniently ignoring the eight long years this government has spent ignoring this vital relationship.
When Tony Abbott was prime minister, then-trade minister Andrew Robb promised a free trade agreement with India – to be completed in its first term. But negotiations fell apart.
What makes Scott Morrison think Tony Abbott can pull this off now, when he failed to do so as prime minister?
And why is Tony Abbott a special trade envoy for both Australia and Great Britain? This clear conflict of interest is an absolute farce.
His $19,000 in travel expenses is not just a waste of taxpayers’ money, it’s also an insult to the 38,500 Australians still stranded around the world, left behind by this government.
Abbott isn’t being paid for the role, but his expenses are being covered. Daniel Hurst has been trying to find out whether Abbott is also free to lobby on behalf of the UK while in India on behalf of Australia.
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Now that we are through the morning press conferences, we have a little bit of time (what a luxury) before the madness of question time.
If you can, go stand in some sunshine – as a little treat.
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The parliament is sitting (easy to miss with everything else that is going on) and the big battle at the moment is over the government’s attempts to overturn the Senate’s will and stop the naming of businesses which received jobkeeper and then spent it on dividends and bonuses.
Rex Patrick got the amendment through, with Labor (and Greens) support.
The government, which has the numbers in the house, has rejected it in that chamber.
So the battle continues.
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Victoria summary
Sorry for some of the disjointedness there – it’s a little difficult when you get two major updates at once (and the transcription service failed for the NSW update, which made things a little more difficult) but we got there.
Here’s what you need to know from Victoria:
Eleven new cases, all linked, although 10 were in the community for their infectious period.
Regional Victoria is to come out of lockdown from midnight, although some restrictions will apply.
No changes to metropolitan Melbourne.
There are no plans to reintroduce the “ring of steel” around Melbourne. Don’t travel to the regions, though.
Daniel Andrews is not a fan of Gladys Berejiklian’s “50% vaccinated” rhetoric and says Victoria will be sticking to the national cabinet-agreed position (70% to 80%).
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On mandating vaccines, Daniel Andrews says:
We’re not really mandating anybody at this stage beyond, I think, aged care workers, and we’re working very hard to encourage frontline workers like nurses and others who deal with vulnerable people as well.
Look, I think yesterday shows you that far from having to mandate this – whilst I don’t rule that out at some point – we’re well ahead of that now, we don’t need to be doing that now, and frankly we haven’t got enough supply. But the number of people who logged on yesterday made an appointment because AstraZeneca was available to them for the first time in state clinics, that says to me that some of the hesitancy that we all seem to be talking about is perhaps not as real as we thought it was.
I reckon there are millions of Victorians who want to get vaccinated and they’re just waiting for the supply to turn up, as am I. In the meantime, we’ll continue to open more and more of those state clinics to AstraZeneca for 18- to 39-year-olds and I’ll boldly predict tens of thousands of Victorians will come forward and get it.
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As Calla Wahlquist has reported, there are no plans for the “ring of steel” around Melbourne again.
Daniel Andrews:
The reason for that is there’s no comparison, sadly, simply no comparison between Melbourne and Sydney, and I’ve got a border to defend between Victoria and New South Wales. I’m not going to shut half the police stations in Melbourne to do something that Victoria police and the public health team don’t think we need to do.
There’s this 50, 60 active cases versus 5,000 I think in New South Wales.
So that’s where a ring of steel should be put on.
That’s my view – I have made that view whether it’s popular or whether people [don’t] like me putting that view, tough. There should be a ring of steel around Sydney, then we wouldn’t have to be defending our border as much as we are. But that’s the decision of the New South Wales government. We just push on and do everything we can to keep the virus out.
Updated
Why was regional Victoria locked down at all?
Daniel Andrews:
Because we didn’t know where the virus was. And now, four days later, we don’t have cases in regional Victoria, and with a much greater degree of confidence we can return to the settings as they applied on Thursday. You’ve got to take a conservative approach, particularly with Delta, you can get one chance to act fast, you can’t wait around for days.
You can’t wait to do what might be popular, got to do what’s right. The advice was lock everything down. Now, pleasingly, we don’t have cases. I don’t want cases in regional Victoria, I don’t want cases anywhere, but we don’t have cases in regional Victoria and let’s keep it that way. People from Melbourne should not be travelling to regional Victoria unless they absolutely have to and they are permitted to do so under the rules.
The rules are well-known. We have been, you know, living with them for 18 months. Don’t be travelling into regional Victoria and potentially taking the virus with you unless you have a lawful reason.
Updated
On Gladys Berejiklian’s statements she is looking to ease restrictions when the eligible population of NSW reaches 50% vaccination, Daniel Andrews says:
I can only go by what the premier of New South Wales made clear to all her national cabinet colleagues on Friday.
They may be in position to ease some rules in some weeks’ time. I wouldn’t describe that as opening up.
We have an agreed national cabinet framework and that is they can’t open up, nobody can open up and move to the next phase until we’re all at 70%.
Then there’ll be further steps to take as a nation, once we’re at 80%. We’re all of us, because of supply, we’re all a long way away from those numbers. But the rules could change ... in New South Wales in some weeks’ time, depending on cases. We wish them well.
I sincerely hope the rules can change...
Updated
What about people from Melbourne who were in the regions when the lockdown order came down? What is their status, now that the lockdown is being eased in the regions?
Daniel Andrews (right now he doesn’t know):
Well, again, let’s get some specific advice for anybody who is, as you say, has stayed in place.
They probably are very low risk to public health, but let’s get specific advice for those and we’ll come back to you.
This is principally our message today – please don’t travel from Melbourne to regional Victoria unless you absolutely need to and you have got a valid reason, a lawful reason. Don’t be putting yourself in a situation where a shopkeeper is going to have to ask you or Victoria police member is going to pull you over and have to ask you and your answer won’t be – well, will not be a valid answer. There are fines. We don’t want to issue those fines.
There’s fines of up to $1,800 for an individual, $10,000 for a business. That’s on the spot. We can go further if we take people to court. I don’t want to issue any fines. I want people to do the right thing and limit their movement, just as they have been doing. At the beginning of this outbreak, so go back to Thursday last week, we didn’t know where this virus was.
We had to take the most cautious approach we did. We now have, unlike the last outbreak we dealt with, we don’t have cases in regional Victoria. The fair and proper thing to do, the proportionate thing to do, it will never be zero risk, the proportionate thing to do is reopen regional Victoria, and I would appeal to people in regional Victoria: don’t come to Melbourne unless you have a valid reason to and you absolutely have to.
If you’re from Melbourne, please don’t go to regional Victoria unless you have a valid reason and you absolutely have to. As for people staying in regional Victoria so far, their status, I’m happy to come back to you and get specific advice to them.
Updated
Back to the Victorian update for a moment:
27 medical staff at Joan Kirner women's and children's at St Albans are furloughed.
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) August 9, 2021
Weimar says the outbreak is impacting a lot of health workers through schools - their kids are primary close contacts, so the whole family has to isolate.
Labor Shortland MP Pat Conroy spoke to digital radio Australia Today about the shift of Pfizer vaccines from his electorate in the NSW Central Coast to Sydney, and it is safe to say he is not happy about any of it.
We’re completely in lockdown being in between Newcastle and the Central Coast, so we’ve got the lockdown that applies to all of Sydney, other than the western Sydney LGAs that have the stricter lockdown.
So you’re only allowed out for your essential groceries or if you’re an essential worker or for exercise, and we’ve got 17 cases in the community of Covid.
And what’s really scary and the thing that I’m as furious about as the vaccines being stolen is that the system is broken.
For example, people are waiting four days to get a test result, and that’s if they can get a test. So, for example, slightly further to the north of me where there was hotspots declared, there wasn’t a single testing facility open on a Sunday. So how can people get tested? And then they have to wait up to four days to get a result, and now we are seeing contact spots being announced for 12 days ago. Well if it’s taking that long to identify them, I think we’ve got Buckley’s of keeping this under control any time soon...
It’s almost criminal, and I think I know [why] other people are talking about a royal commission into the Covid response when we get through it – and we just need to get through it first and then work out what went wrong – but there seems to be chronic under-preparation everywhere of just juggling things and just decisions being made on the run.
But decisions around the vaccines by the federal government last year was just so shortsighted and stupid, and then obviously the health authorities, some of them making decisions about who gets testing facilities, who gets access to the vaccines, who does the rollout, and it just defies common sense.
And ultimately it’s your listeners, it’s the people of Australia that are paying the price for this very silly approach.
Updated
So there are no changes to metropolitan Melbourne’s restrictions, but regional Victoria will now see some additional freedoms.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says he will not reintroduce the ring of steel between Melbourne and regional Victoria, despite the decision to lift restrictions in regional Victoria.
He says that is not necessary at this point and would require too many resources – but repeats his call for Sydney to introduce a ring of steel around its metropolitan area, saying there is a difference between the 60 or so active cases in Melbourne and the thousands in Sydney.
Andrews:
I’ve got a border to defend between Victoria and NSW and I am not going to shut half the police stations in Melbourne to defend something that public health experts and police say we do not have to do.
He says that is why Victoria keeps looking at what is happening in NSW, because “their problem is our problem”.
Asked if it was sustainable to keep Melbourne locked down with just 11 daily cases, Andrews said:
Whether it’s sustainable or not, it’s the only option we have. And that is the agreed national cabinet position … because if you let this run it won’t just be 11 cases.
If you want to see whether locking down some local government areas works, have a look at what’s happening up there. We tried that last year and it didn’t work against a different strain of the virus.
Updated
Regional Victoria lockdown to be lifted
Regional Victoria will come out of lockdown at midnight tonight after the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said there was no sign of transmission into the regions.
From 11.59pm on Monday, the rules in regional areas will revert to those which were in place last Thursday, which will mean students can return to school and restaurants can reopen with strict density limits.
People from Melbourne will not be allowed into regional Victoria except for care and compassion reasons and for authorised work.
Andrews said police would be out checking people had a right to be in the regions.
You won’t be able to buy so much as a litre of milk without establishing that you’re from regional Victoria.
He said that although 11 cases were recorded again today, the cases showed a relatively positive picture – one was isolating for their entire infectious period, “and we expect that trend to continue”. The outbreak is also relatively localised at this stage.
Today’s a good day for regional Victoria and in many ways a positive day for the rest of the state … That’s the system working as it should but we’re still chasing very hard, we’re not out in front of it as yet.
The Victorian chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said there were no exposure sites or confirmed cases in regional Victoria, and unlike the fifth lockdown in July there was no big exposure event like an AFL match at the MCG which draws people in from around the state.
And, amazingly, 15,000 people have booked in to get vaccinated in Victoria after the state opened up the government-run hubs for AstraZeneca for people aged 18 to 39 yesterday.
Updated
Calla Wahlquist watched the Victorian press conference while the NSW presser was on, because she is an angel.
Her updates are up next.
Updated
NSW summary
As you would expect, there was a bit in that press conference.
NSW recorded 283 new community cases, a large number of who were still infectious in the community
One person, a woman in her 90s, who had been diagnosed with covid, died in hospital
Tamworth will be in lockdown from 5pm this afternoon, after a person from Newcastle unknowingly travelled while infectious
A person is in hospital in northern NSW with covid, after travelling from Sydney to Byron in late July. Byron and surrounds has been put on alert (but no lockdown)
Gladys Berejiklian still wants to see 50% vaccination rates before easing restrictions and was a little defensive about the pushback from the other states which is already being seen
Canterbury-Bankstown is now the main area of concern
There has been signs of stabilisation in Fairfield.
Gladys Berejiklian leaves the press conference as questioners are still yelling questions.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian on workplace transmission (still the biggest transmission risk):
I think we have to accept the biggest threat, as the health experts say to us, is what we call seeding or transferring the virus through workplace.
There’s thousands of people that come out of local government areas of concern every day because they have to.
Dr Chant said we’re concerned about disability workers who might be unvaccinated, and the challenges that’s posing we have noticed in the last few days.
While you have authorised workers that have high rates of non-vaccination, that is a risk to all of us. The way we [move] forward is bringing everybody along with us.
You can’t have the segregation – you can’t just look at rates of vaccination that one suburb and the number of cases in isolation because we’re all connected. We’re all connected as a nation, let alone as a state, a city.
We have to accept that. As much as we can think we can cordon things off and want more freedoms, we have to encourage each other and support each other to get the vaccine, not just where we live but across the city, across occupations, across professions.
It’s in all of our interests to increase the rates of vaccination, especially in those communities where the rates of vaccination can be higher, where people are working because they have to because we rely on them.
We rely on them to support our aged care homes, disability homes, get food to supermarkets – because there is a cohort of workers that are moving around Greater Sydney that poses a risk to all of us. And that’s why we need to make sure we support them, support the great work they’re doing by supporting them in getting vaccinated, supporting their employers to get onboard. And I do really want to thank industry for encouraging their employees to come forward and get vaccinated.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian on that same point:
I remember other states closing borders to us when we had very low numbers of cases that weren’t even Delta.
I think it’s pretty predictable what the other states will do. I don’t know about you guys but I don’t think any state premier will change their position on that. But what I do want to say, which is respectful to the national cabinet process, is the Doherty report is an outstanding piece of research.
The New South Wales government is committed to respecting the national cabinet’s wishes in relation to the Doherty report.
We’re not intending to overstep our mark beyond what that report allows all the states to do. That report obviously allows certain freedoms at 70% vaccination, at 80% vaccination, and I want to say respectfully that we respect the national process.
We know there’s expectations on each state to meet their collage to meet the standards in that report. New South Wales will do that, but please know that once we hit 50 to 60, lockdown plus easing some restrictions is very different to what the Doherty report says must happen at 70%.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian is again saying that “having half the population” in NSW vaccinated would allow for a greater easing of restrictions.
That would be eligible population – over 16 – and vaccinated means just one dose in this instance.
The national cabinet has agreed on 70% (goal of 80%) of eligible people being vaccinated before things start opening up (lockdowns become rarer etc), which puts Berejiklian at odds with the other state premiers.
She says:
I can’t control what other state premiers and chief ministers do, and they’ve demonstrated their propensity to close borders to us all throughout this pandemic.
So, the responsibilities of the New South Wales government is ensure the health and safety and wellbeing of our 8 million citizens, but please know the New South Wales government has also seen ourselves as part of our nation as part of Australia.
And to this day we’re welcoming home Australians coming back to New South Wales – we see our role, yes, as the largest state in the nation, but also as Australians – and when Dr Chen and I said a few Fridays ago this was a national emergency [what] was happening in Greater Sydney, we meant that, because when the largest state has a threat, the way it does, you cannot pretend it’s not going to impact the nation.
You can’t pretend it’s not going to impact what other states choose to do, you can’t pretend it’s going to not impact other states, no matter how hard you work. And the Delta strain is different and again, you know, please know that New South Wales did very well until this point.
Updated
So that means there is no special payment which would help people stay home if they are casual workers.
Which we know is a massive issue which has been highlighted during Australia’s response to the pandemic.
Not everyone can work from home, and not everyone can afford to miss a shift. There is a giant cohort of Australians living paycheck-to-paycheck and missing one shift is a huge deal.
Updated
Why hasn’t NSW introduced a payment for people to stay home while they wait for test results?
Victoria introduced a $450 payment quite some time ago – and in Victoria you get $1,500 if you have to isolate for two weeks and miss work.
Gladys Berejiklian speaks about the disaster payments which are available, but doesn’t point to any dedicated payments for people who may need to miss a shift to test and isolate while they wait for their results.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian is still aiming for 6 million doses of the vaccine (first and second) of the eligible population by the end of this month.
She wants vaccination rates to go up “across the state” but particularly in the areas of concern.
Updated
Notwithstanding that point, Dr Kerry Chant says NSW will be stepping up the compliance action, after chats with commonwealth CHO Prof Paul Kelly.
Updated
The person who travelled from Newcastle to Tamworth did not know they were infectious when they travelled.
The person who travelled from Sydney to Byron Bay is in hospital at the moment with Covid. The matter is under investigation – but again, the focus is on (as it should be) public health, not punitive measures.
Authorities need people to tell the truth.
Updated
NSW has not shifted from its view that vaccinations are the best way out of the outbreak.
Scott Morrison, though, while saying vaccinations would ultimately be the way out, is pushing lockdowns. This is what he had to say after the national cabinet meeting on Friday:
The lockdown needs to be effective and when the lockdown is effective, the lockdown can be lifted. And the additional vaccines that we’ve provided to support New South Wales are assisting them in that goal. But the most effective thing is for people to stay home, to get tested, to isolate, to get vaccinated. There’s no shortcuts through this and we understand that.
And it is a heavy burden that is placed upon our nation at the moment, a very heavy burden. And that burden comes as a result of this third wave of the Delta strain around the world. And so as we carry it, we are seeking to assist every Australian affected by this through the significant economic supports which you rightly say are being put in place, and they’re put in place swiftly.
Australia has been in a position where we have not only been able to save lives and save livelihoods, and as we go towards, even through this most difficult period, this is one of the hardest periods we’ve had to get through, on the other side of this, hopefully not to far away, is where we have both saved lives, we have saved livelihoods, and we have vaccinated the country. And there are very few countries that will be able to claim those three achievements. But we are very much on our path towards it and we will keep doing that.
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian says of the vaccine matter:
So it’s not the total number of cases you need to look at to predict what’s going to happen in intensive care, it’s the total number of cases that aren’t vaccinated, which will give you an indication of what’s in ICU.
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant says she doesn’t think NSW Health has seen anyone who has had two doses of a Covid vaccine in intensive care.
Updated
There is an ICU update at this press conference – that is after there were concerns raised about the number of staff in ICU units, because some of the pressure being put on the health system is shown.
At the moment, the system is managing.
Updated
Here is the NSW data for those looking for it (a very big thank you to our very fast data team for these updates).
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant says the area of most concern for NSW authorities at the moment is the Canterbury Bankstown area.
She says stabilisation has been seen in Fairfield.
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant says the Byron case is understood to have travelled from Sydney at the end of July.
There was a suggestion the person had come from the Gold Coast. Chant only mentioned Sydney in her update.
Updated
Dr Kerry Chant is calling for anyone at Tamworth’s Covid contact exposure sites to get tested – but there are some issues with testing in Tamworth at the moment.
#BREAKING | The #Tamworth drive-through #COVID19 testing clinic is at capacity and has closed. Council to announce new drive-through location shortly. @The_NDL
— Anna Falkenmire (@annafalky) August 9, 2021
Updated
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant says there had been 130,840 tests in the last 24 hours – which is incredible. Well done, NSW.
There are 29 people who need ventilation in NSW ICUs at the moment
There are currently 349 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 67 people in intensive care, 29 of whom require ventilation. NSW has reached the major milestone of 10 mill tests, with record 133,840 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with previous day’s total of 95,480.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 9, 2021
Updated
Gladys Berejiklian says someone from Newcastle went to Tamworth, which is why Tamworth will be locked down for one week, starting from 5pm today.
There are no cases, but there are confirmed exposure sites.
There is a call out in the Byron community – no further action at the moment, other than there has been a case there and people need to be on alert.
NSW records 283 Covid cases
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian says a woman in her 90s passed away overnight. She had been in palliative care.
Sixty-four cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 71 remains under investigation.
Updated
We’ll be bringing you the NSW press conference in about 10 minutes.
Updated
Queensland summary
Given the outbreak in Queensland seems more under control, there was not as much information in that press conference as we have previously been given, but there were still some dot points worth taking notice of:
- Queensland recorded four new cases, all linked and all in isolation
- The mystery of the Cairns taxi driver case has been solved – genomic testing has linked the infection to that of a marine pilot who was diagnosed last week (picked it up from a ship). The pilot had been vaccinated but the taxi driver had not been
- Anyone who is displaying symptoms in Cairns is asked to get tested
- Mask mandates remain in the 11 LGAs Queensland has marked as at risk of Covid
- Community sport can continue – where there can be groups of 10 or less, with social distancing and mask wearing
- The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre is being opened as a mass vaccination hub from Wednesday – you will need to make an appointment on the Queensland Health website (no walk-ins)
- AstraZeneca is available through pharmacies and GPs
Updated
Victoria will also give its update at 11am.
That is the same time as the NSW update – I’ll focus on the NSW one, given that the outbreak there is bigger, but will bring you the Victorian news as soon as I can (there were 11 cases reported today, all linked, but just one was in isolation).
Updated
And on the criticism Dr Jeannette Young has received for her previous comments about AstraZeneca, the CHO says:
Ever since we’ve had our outbreak here in the south-east of Queensland, I have said anyone who has any concerns at all and would like to know something about the AstraZeneca vaccine should immediately go and talk to their GP about it.
I personally have had my first dose of AstraZeneca and I will be having my second dose tomorrow.
I have endorsed that every single day. Please, everyone. If you are 60 years of age or older then we’ve been saying this every day, for months and months and months – going right back to last year. Would you please go and get vaccinated? It is really important. If you are under 60, please go and talk to your GP.
Given how the Delta variant can impact younger people, there is AstraZeneca available. If you are in Queensland, you can talk to a doctor if you want to get vaccinated.
Updated
Queensland CHO Dr Jeannette Young is asked why Queensland isn’t distributing AstraZeneca in its vaccine hubs and says:
The reason we are doing Pfizer is because it is much harder to use because we have got to dilute the vials. We will see what happens with Moderna because Moderna you don’t have to dilute so it makes it much easier.
That is why we are focusing on Pfizer. It is just a slightly more complicated vaccines and needs different storage requirements …
Our local pharmacies have been vaccinating for flu since 2012 in Queensland. They are very good at it. I actually spoke to the Pharmacy Guild. I think this was one of the first things at the start of the pandemic back in January last year and said, “Do you think you could please get all of your pharmacies organised so when we one day get a vaccine that they can go and vaccinate?” And they did it and they did it brilliantly.
Updated
Annastacia Palaszczuk says people shouldn’t panic over Gladys Berejiklian’s comments that 50% of the eligible population being vaccinated could mean an easing of restrictions:
I think everyone is getting ahead of themselves with the definition of opening up. So I think you need to go back to her and ask her what easing of restrictions will be.
You may find it’s very minimalist compared to where we are, where the LGAs and the families have done such a great job, we’ve been able to ease those restrictions where schools can go back, businesses can go back, and we’re monitoring that over the next two weeks.
We have put in place a roadmap, to see where we want to be in two weeks’ time, that depends on whether or not we have any community transmission that’s out of that cluster.
Updated
Annastacia Palaszczuk, who was one of the key leaders talking down AstraZeneca vaccine, is now pushing people speak to their doctors. Queensland won’t be offering AZ through its quarantine hubs but Palaszczuk says it is at pharmacies and GPs, and people can go make an appointment whenever they like:
As I said clearly at the start of this press conference, the federal government is responsible for 70% of the vaccination of Queenslanders, and we are responsible for 30%.
The best way to go and get – one of the best ways to go and get your vaccine is have that conversation with your GP or local pharmacist. We know that Queensland is such a decentralised state, that’s what people will do.
We’re responsible for 30% and we’re really happy with the rates of vaccination that we’re having now. Of course, that’s why we’re opening up it more, so we can do more and get more people vaccinated. As we know from the national cabinet decisions, we really need to push the whole population to 70 to 80% vaccination.
Updated
Q: The New South Wales premier is flagging the idea of when they hit 50%, starting to ease some restrictions in New South Wales. First of all, do you think that’s consistent with the national cabinet agreement, and secondly, what would it mean for the border?
Annastacia Palaszczuk:
That’s honestly a matter for her [Gladys Berejiklian] and you’ll have to ask her what the easing of restrictions would look like. I think they would be very minimalist.
I’m not commenting on New South Wales. Let me say this – we are absolutely concerned about what is happening in New South Wales. The further north the virus travels is alarming for us. So we’ll be watching that incredibly carefully. So we already have those border patrols and those border controls in place at present. But if we have to go harder, we will.
Q: How could you go harder?
Palaszczuk:
Well, we can go harder by, you know, we’ll have to be stopping everyone, OK? We’re very concerned at the moment. We’re not at that stage. But if we have to go harder, we will.
Updated
There are additional Pfizer doses for Queensland, NSW and Victoria, Annastacia Palaszczuk says, after the federal government brought forward the September supply into August.
Updated
Annastacia Palaszczuk says that Queensland Health is not going to get all contacts, when asked why the taxi driver was only now picked up as part of the marine pilot case.
So get tested, if you have symptoms.
Queensland police inspected 204 venues after lockdown ended in the south-east yesterday – and all of them were complying.
For those asking, no, Barnaby Joyce will not attend the parliament this week – he went home to Armidale at the weekend which has seen çovid cases.
There is a *slight* chance Joyce may have changed his mind over his past assertion that people in regional Australia “couldn’t give a shit” about Covid in the cities.
Barnaby Joyce won’t be at parliament after travelling to Armidale on the weekend @SkyNewsAust
— Andrew Clennell (@aclennell) August 9, 2021
Updated
Community sport is OK for up to 10 Queenslanders together, as long as there can be social distancing and mask wearing. So golf, yes. Dance classes – if you are separated and wearing a mask, yes.
Groups of school students coming together from different schools? No. That’s not allowed in south-east Queensland just yet.
Updated
Dr Jeannette Young, the Queensland CHO, says genomic testing shows that the marine pilot who was found to have Covid last week most likely passed on the infection to the Cairns taxi driver on the way to the port.
So anyone with any symptoms in Cairns, don’t wait for Queensland Health to contact you – they want you to come forward to get tested.
Updated
The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre will open as a mass vaccination hub from Wednesday – 16- to 59-year-olds can register for their vaccination on the Queensland Health website.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk:
The federal government is responsible for 70% of the vaccination of Queenslanders. The Queensland government is responsible for 30%. So what we do know is we’re getting on that, that Pfizer is going to be coming on fast over the next couple of weeks, so from Wednesday, this convention centre will be open from 8.30 till 4.30 and we are now asking people, if you are between 16 and 59, you can now register on the Queensland Health website.
Now of course, a lot of people will still be going to their GP or pharmacist to get their vaccine.
I have just heard, I think, that the commonwealth government has also approved Moderna so we will be getting more information about Moderna. People on the Queensland Health waiting list you will be prioritised but now we are opening up to anyone between the ages of 16 and 59. They will be free parking here, which is fantastic.
Please don’t just turn up. This is not for walk-ins, you must be registered and you will be contacted by Queensland Health.
But we want to see as many people in Queensland vaccinated as quickly and safely as possible.
Updated
Queensland update
South-east Queensland has recorded just four new community cases – all linked and all in quarantine; 12,464 people are in home quarantine.
There are 153 active cases and there were 26,394 Covid tests in the last 24 hours.
More than 3,500 vaccine doses have been administered.
The taxi driver who tested positive in Cairns has been linked to the marine pilot (who had been vaccinated) who was picked up last week.
Updated
ABC issues new social media guidelines to staff
The ABC has released new social media guidelines and warned staff that their employment is at risk if they breach them.
“The ABC will be updating its employment contracts to make this clear,” ABC MD David Anderson told staff on Monday morning.
Everything that is posted on personal social media accounts is editorially and legally the responsibility of the owner of the accounts, the new guidelines say.
Anderson said staff should not have any reference to the ABC in their username and should have a disclaimer making it clear that posts are their personal view:
Most personal social media activity has no bearing on the ABC and there is no intent to constrain anyone’s activity outside the workplace.
The primary concern is when personal social media activity reflects badly on the ABC’s independence and integrity, or when a poorly judged post or series of posts or “likes” compromises perceptions of the impartiality of someone in an ABC role where maintaining impartiality in the public eye is crucial.
So, to protect yourself and the ABC, I offer this simple piece of advice: If you are posting, liking, or sharing something on personal social media that is work related or about a matter of public controversy – ask yourself if it’s something you would also say, write, or share on an ABC platform. This is particularly important for those who have a high profile or senior role within the ABC.
Updated
I think we have all agreed this had very Four Seasons Landscaping vibes.
Campbell Newman wants to re-enter parliament – he’s running for the Liberal Democrats after quitting the LNP:
#BREAKING Former QLD Premier Campbell Newman announces he will run for the Senate as QLD lead on the Liberal Democrats ticket. It comes following his resignation from the LNP. @9NewsQueensland #9News pic.twitter.com/JIqnKHHJVK
— Sally Gyte (@SallyGyte) August 8, 2021
Updated
As expected, the NSW Covid update will be delivered at 11am.
Updated
Parliament will begin sitting at 10am.
We’ll also have the run of Covid pressers for you very soon as well.
Updated
For those looking for the data for Victoria’s latest numbers, you will find it here:
Updated
Rex Patrick managed to get an amendment past the Senate that would have made any businesses who received jobkeeper and didn’t need it – and how much they received – public, but the government has rejected the Senate’s will and sent it back to the House of Reps to reverse the change (by rejecting the Senate’s amendments).
Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt was asked why Labor didn’t do more in the House:
Well, we supported this amendment in the Senate last week and sent it back down to the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the government hasn’t seen fit to accept that amendment in the House of Representatives and is sending it back to the Senate today. Labor continues to think that businesses who have received jobkeeper and other business support do have an obligation to pay it back to the government if they didn’t need it.
But we are not going to stand in the way of people getting these disaster payments urgently. It has already taken the government far too long to get these payments out the door. We have made our point, we continue to think that businesses should pay that money back. But if we vote again for this amendment in the Senate, all that will do is further delay these payments. And that’s the last thing that Australians need right now.
Updated
Just a reminder that tomorrow is census night but you can fill it in earlier if you know who will be in your household on Tuesday evening.
Updated
Simon Birmingham was quite un-Simon Birmingham when asked about the latest Newspoll:
I couldn’t really give a stuff about the polls – there are far more important things for us to focus on right now. And that’s exactly where our focus is and where Australians would expect it to be.
Updated
The year 12 vaccination site at Qudos Bank Arena is already very busy.
AAP has more:
As greater Sydney’s Covid-19 lockdown enters its seventh week, thousands of year 12 students from eight coronavirus-hit council areas in western and south-western Sydney will get a Pfizer vaccine jab.
Starting on Monday, the mass vaccination push will continue all week at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park until the 24,000 students are vaccinated.
NSW Health vaccinated almost 2000 supermarket and food distribution workers with AstraZeneca on a day it dubbed “Super Sunday” at the Olympic Park vaccination hub.
Twelve suburbs in the Penrith local government are now subject to tougher lockdown rules as Covid-19 continues its spread west.
Residents in the far western fringe of Sydney will be living under the same restrictions that apply to eight other local government areas in the Covid hotspots.
Overnight, NSW Health issued alerts for dozens of Covid exposure sites, including five venues in Tamworth in the New England region.
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All things going as normal, we should hear from the NSW authorities about 11am.
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A women’s and children’s hospital in St Albans has been listed as a tier one exposure site in Melbourne.
The maternity assessment centre at Joan Kirner women’s and children’s hospital on Furlong Road was listed on the Victorian exposure site list late last night. Anyone who attended the centre between 8.15am and 2.45pm on Friday 6 August has been ordered to isolate immediately for 14 days, get tested, and notify the Department of Health. The pathology lab – Dorevitch Pathology – on the ground floor of the same hospital has also been listed as a tier one site.
Anyone who was at the lab between 9.05am and 9.50am is ordered to get tested, isolate for 14 days and notify the Department of Health.
The whole hospital has been listed as a tier three site from 8.15am to 2.45pm on Friday. Anyone who was at the hospital is required to monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested if they appear.
You can read the full list of exposure sites here.
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Police are looking for a missing teen in Sydney’s west:
Atem Mayol, aged 17, was last seen at a home on Luxford Road, Bidwill, about 7.45am yesterday (Saturday 7 August 2021).
Officers from Mount Druitt Police Area Command commenced inquiries into his whereabouts a short time later after he failed to return home.
Police and family hold concerns for Atem’s welfare as he has a serious health condition.
Atem is described as being of African appearance, about 185-190cm tall and of a thin build, and has black braided hair and dark coloured eyes. He was last seen wearing a black and red coloured jacket with black tracksuit pants.
He is known to frequent the Ropes Crossing, St Marys and Mt Druitt areas.
If sighted, contact police to assist immediately.
AAP has broken down the latest Newspoll:
Prime minister Scott Morrison’s personal approval rating has dived amid lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and Queensland and frustration with the vaccine rollout.
There’s also been a fall in confidence in his federal government’s management of the pandemic as state governments try to stop the spread of Covid-19, according to the latest Newspoll published in Monday’s the Australian.
For the first time, more people – 49% of those surveyed – say they are unhappy with Morrison’s management of the pandemic.
People were even more unhappy with the prime minister’s handling of the vaccine rollout with 59% of respondents saying they were dissatisfied.
Popular support for the federal Coalition and Labor remains neck and neck at 39% since the last poll three weeks ago.
The two-party-preferred split of 53% to 47%, in Labor’s favour, also remains the same.
Morrison still leads opposition leader Anthony Albanese in the preferred prime minister stakes. Morrison dropped two points to 49% while Albanese picked up three points to 36%.
Satisfaction with Albanese’s personal performance remains the same as it was three weeks ago, at 38%.
The Newspoll, conducted between 4 and 7 August, was based on surveys of 1,527 voters across metropolitan and regional areas.
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Victoria reports 11 new cases
All of the cases are linked, which is good news – one was in quarantine for the infectious period.
Authorities are hoping the lockdown will cut down on those infectious in the community numbers now.
Reported yesterday: 11 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) August 8, 2021
- 17,101 vaccine doses were administered
- 38,987 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/BFELr5herD
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More Queensland pharmacies have come onboard to deliver the vaccine, this time in north and central Queensland.
The Pharmacy Guild reports that 137 community pharmacies, mostly in the regions, will begin administering Covid vaccinations this week. That’s on top of the 516 pharmacies already approved for the program, meaning there will be more than 700 pharmacies involved by the end of the week.
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Simon Birmingham was asked by the ABC why the government is against stimulus for people getting the vaccine but is not looking to recoup any money from businesses that received jobkeeper and didn’t need it, spending it on dividends and bonuses:
The businesses that claimed it were facing genuine threat of long-term lockdowns and shutdowns at the time. Now, for many, it ended up being a slightly better proposition than had been expected at that stage.
But they were all eligible for it under the rules struck at the time, because we wanted to make sure we could cover off that uncertainty. We don’t think it’s appropriate to create a circumstance where now they are vilified with some sort of pretence that they weren’t eligible, when they were eligible, and the actions of government and those businesses saved many thousands, if not millions, of Australian jobs.
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There is no national update, so here is one Casey Briggs from the ABC has put together – how long, on current vaccination pace, it will take each jurisdiction to reach 70% (and then 80%):
New chart! If every state and territory maintained its current first dose vaccination pace, here's when you'd expect them to reach a *first dose* coverage of 70% and 80% pic.twitter.com/xqNnZ3PE1L
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) August 8, 2021
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Cars are lining up for Australia’s first drive-through vaccination site:
Getting ready to go at Australia’s first drive through vaccination site at Melton. Cars already lining up for when their bookings start at 8.30
— Tali Aualiitia (@taliaualiitia) August 8, 2021
📸 from Pat Rocca pic.twitter.com/SlULkYwp67
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There is enough AstraZeneca vaccine for anyone who wants it. If you are seeking to get vaccinated, investigate whether it is an option for you – and remember Victoria has now opened up hubs where it has been made available.
There are still questions over what the federal government did last year, when striking vaccine deals, given that Australia is only getting enough supplies of the mRNA vaccines now.
Simon Birmingham says: “We can all run on the ‘ifs’ of hindsight, but we don’t live get to live in hindsight, we live in the here and now”:
.@Birmo said Australia wasn't a "priority" for companies like Moderna and Pfizer manufacturing vaccines for countries with higher death tolls than us.
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) August 8, 2021
"If we could go back in time,I'm sure we'd do all manner of different things that may or may not have made a jot of difference." pic.twitter.com/CkfBZxsdGo
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Newsflash: turns out Australia is not doing so great on climate, despite the government’s claims.
As Adam Morton reports:
Claims by the Morrison government that Australia has done more to cut greenhouse gas emissions than other countries have been challenged by an analysis that found it has gone backwards compared with similar countries over the past 15 years.
Energy analyst Dr Hugh Saddler ranked the performance of 23 OECD countries and Russia on eight climate measures, including share of electricity from non-fossil fuels, per capita emissions from transport and overall emissions intensity of each economy.
He found Australia was ranked 20th or worse in seven of the eight categories. In relative terms, it had not improved in any category since 2005 and had gone backwards compared with other developed countries in four.
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We don’t have the official numbers for Victoria has yet but here is what is happening on the socials:
relatively good news
— Rafael Epstein (@Raf_Epstein) August 8, 2021
11 cases in Victoria today
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Good morning
Welcome to the second week of the first spring sitting.
What’s shifted since the weekend?
Not a lot.
Moderna, the vaccine Dolly Parton helped fund, is about to be approved by the TGA and will be available in Australia from mid-September. That’s another mRNA vaccine which will help bolster Australia’s stocks, as the nation moves towards its goal of 70% to 80% vaccinated.
As Katharine Murphy reported yesterday:
The Moderna vaccine will be available in Australia from mid-September, adding to the country’s use of AstraZeneca and Pfizer, the Morrison government says.
The announcement on Sunday came as the Victorian government revealed it would make AstraZeneca available to people aged 18 to 39 at nine of its state-run clinics and set up Australia’s first drive-through vaccination hub.
NSW is still struggling to contain its winter Delta outbreak, with Barnaby Joyce’s regional electorate among those having to check venues of concern. It wasn’t so long ago Joyce was saying country electorates really “couldn’t give a shit” about Covid hitting the cities, because coal prices were at a record high.
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – NEW VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 8, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of new venues of concern in Newcastle, Tamworth and Sydney’s west which are associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/uJbnY7lZn1
Testing sites have also been set up in Dubbo:
COVID-19 testing clinics operating in Dubbo:
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 8, 2021
Dubbo Showground Pop-up Clinic, Cnr Fitzroy and Wingewarra Street Dubbo: 8am-4pm 7 days
Dubbo Manera Plaza Walk-In Clinic, 77 Myall Street, Dubbo: 8am-4.30pm 7 days week
More info 👉🏽 https://t.co/DtrfDlTOqt pic.twitter.com/h6pf3oMG88
The latest Newspoll has Scott Morrison’s approval ratings in negative territory, with the LNP not shifting its two-party-preferred setback either, as the Covid outbreak begins to bite.
Businesses are also annoyed after Morrison said governments would not be creating any special laws to allow companies to mandate vaccines, instead recommending that they “carefully” navigate existing workplace laws.
South-east Queensland is out of lockdown but Cairns in the far north has entered it, while Victoria is nervously watching numbers.
All in all, the country is in a watch-and-wait scenario, and no one is enjoying it.
You’ve got Amy Remeikis to take you through the day’s events, with Mike Bowers providing all the colour and depth. Your Canberra team of Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst are ready to fill you in with all the detail, and the Guardian brains trust around the country will let you know when something is happening in your patch. I hope you managed some rest at the weekend because this week seems likely to get messy.
Ready?
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