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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Elias Visontay and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Sydney declared a hotspot by commonwealth – as it happened

Covid testing in Sydney’s Bondi beach on Wednesday
Covid testing in Sydney’s Bondi beach on Wednesday. Photograph: Loren Elliott/Reuters

What happened today, Wednesday 23 June 2021

That’s where we will wrap up the blog for this evening.

Here’s what happened today:

Have a great evening, Amy will be back tomorrow morning.

To everyone in Sydney, we’re hoping for the best.

Updated

The retired Sydney nanny and the Chilean families still looking for answers.

Ahead of an appeal in an Australian court, those who lost loved ones during the brutal regime of Augusto Pinochet say they need closure.

My colleague Ben Doherty with an extraordinary read:

Tens of thousands of Australians have been forced to abandon school holiday travel plans after states closed their borders in response to Sydney’s growing Covid outbreak, with the tourism industry predicting losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Sydneysiders who had been planning to go interstate or to regional New South Wales from the end of this week have had to cancel their holidays after all states and territories announced stricter border restrictions.

The new restrictions, which include bans on entry from either certain local government areas in Sydney’s south-eastern suburbs or the entirety of NSW, come into effect alongside a NSW government directive for residents and workers in the hotspot council areas to avoid travelling outside metropolitan Sydney.

Dean Long, Accommodation Association of Australia chief executive, said that in the hours after NSW announced 16 new cases and other states tightened their borders, there were “mass cancellations” reported, including one hotel in Sydney’s CBD that lost $40,000 worth of bookings in three hours on Wednesday afternoon.

Read more:

Updated

Tasmanian police have dropped weapons charges against a former state Liberal politician who is facing other criminal charges in Queensland, AAP reports.

Adam Brooks was charged in April with incorrectly storing ammunition, which he denied, while running as a candidate in the state election.

He went on to claim a seat after the 1 May poll but stood down a day after being declared elected with the premier, Peter Gutwein, revealing Brooks faced several charges in Queensland and was battling mental health problems.

Tasmania police on Wednesday advised they had dropped firearms charges against Brooks after reviewing the case file.

“Following the review, legal advice was that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction,” the force said in a statement. “The person in question has been formally notified of the outcome. There will be no further police action in relation to this matter.”

Brooks is accused by Queensland police of unlawfully possessing a category H weapon, unauthorised possession of explosives and dealing with identity items. He has yet to enter a plea to the charges but has previously indicated he intends to fight them.

The one-time Tasmanian mining minister, who served in the seat of Braddon from 2010-19, was also accused during the state election campaign of catfishing two women using a fake dating profile. He denied those allegations at the time.

Gutwein stood by Brooks during the campaign, at one stage describing him as a “good-looking bloke” and saying someone could have stolen his identity.

Brooks’ resignation triggered a recount in Braddon with his seat going to fellow Liberal Felix Ellis.

Updated

The national pesticides regulator has refused a request from the New South Wales government to allow farmers to use a rodent poison described as “napalm for mice” around crops to battle the devastating mouse plague.

Conservationists had warned the use of bromadiolone would have devastating affects on native species in the central west and put endangered birds at risk.

The blood-thinning chemical – part of a class of poisons called second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) – is known to stay active for months and can pass through the food chain, causing secondary poisoning of animals that eat the dead and dying.

Read more:

Updated

Victorian Nationals push changes to Murray-Darling Basin Plan

One of the prominent issues in federal parliament today was a Victorian Nationals push to make changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

In short, the proposed amendments would ban the government from buying water from irrigators to return to the environment, and would also prevent any extra environmental water being allocated after the plan is completed in 2024.

Importantly, the proposal would also block delivering 450 gigalitres of water, which most benefits South Australia, already earmarked for the environment.

As we’ve reported earlier, the Morrison government will oppose the changes.

Guardian Australia has obtained a joint letter the South Australian federal Liberals have sent to Scott Morrison, in which they outline the importance of the keeping the plan unchanged.

The signatories include Simon Birmingham, Nicole Flint, Anne Ruston, Alex Antic, David Fawcett, Andrew McLachlan, Tony Pasin, Rowan Ramsey and James Stevens. The letter says:

We remain resolute in our support for the implementation of the basin plan in full and on time.

The certainty provided by the full implementation of the basin plan is crucial to not only ensuring we have a sustainable river system, but that we have sustainable and productive river communities, including the ongoing production of high-quality food and fibre that the economy of many river communities depends on.

We appreciate your ongoing support for implementation of the basin plan as well as the constructive way in which the current minister for water, Keith Pitt, has engaged with river communities and other stakeholders on matters such as the creation of the inspector general of water compliance.

Earlier today, Labor’s Penny Wong, together with other Labor, Greens and crossbench South Australian federal politicians, called for the Nationals to be stripped of the water portfolio after their push to make the changes.

Updated

Fragments of Covid-19 have also been detected at the Cronulla sewage treatment plant and in the Bellambi sewage network.

While NSW Health is aware of confirmed Covid cases who live within these catchments, they are urging people in the following suburbs to get tested immediately if they notice any cold-like symptoms.

The Cronulla catchment serves about 233,000 people and covers suburbs including Bundeena, Caringbah South, Burraneer, Dolans Bay, Lilli Pilli, Maianbar, Port Hacking, Greenhills Beach, Woolooware, Cronulla, Caringbah, Kurnell, Botany Bay, Miranda, Royal National Park, Clifton, Coalcliff, Stanwell Park, Otford, Waterfall, Lilyvale, Helensburgh, Woronora Dam, Stanwell Tops, Caringbah South, Yarrawarrah, Grays Point, Kirrawee, Woronora Heights, Barden Ridge, Gymea Bay, Sutherland, Loftus, Bangor, Yowie Bay, Woronora, Engadine, Heathcote, Maddens Plains, Taren Point, Sylvania Waters, Kangaroo Point, Como, Bonnet Bay, Jannali, Oyster Bay, Kareela, Gymea, Alfords Point, Lucas Heights, Menai, Illawong, Miranda, Sylvania and Holsworthy.

The Bellambi catchment serves about 82,000 people and covers suburbs including Keiraville, Balgownie, Mount Pleasant, Mount Keira, Mount Ousley, West Wollongong, Gwynneville, East Corrimal, Fernhill, North Wollongong, Fairy Meadow, Towradgi, Wollongong, Woonona, Bellambi, Russell Vale, Thirroul, Bulli, Austinmer, Coledale, Corrimal, Wombarra, Scarborough and Tarrawanna.

Updated

NSW Health has just released an updated list of exposure sites in relation to Sydney’s Covid cluster.

Anyone who travelled on the following bus routes at the times listed is a close contact and must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.

  • 600 bus route on Sunday 20 June, departing O’Connell Street, Parramatta (outside Bankwest Stadium) at 4.04pm and arriving at Pennant Hills station at 4.50pm.
  • 665 bus route on Sunday 20 June, departing Parramatta station at 7.30pm and arriving at Rouse Hill station at 7.56pm.
  • 665 bus route on Sunday 20 June, departing Rouse Hill station at 8.20pm and arriving at Parramatta station at 8.45pm.
  • 665 bus route on Sunday 20 June, departing Parramatta station at 9pm and arriving at Rouse Hill station at 9.26pm.

Anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed is a close contact and must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.

  • Nandos at Stockland Wetherill Park Shopping Centre, on Sunday 20 June between 6pm and 7pm.
  • Lumiere Cafe in Surry Hills, on Monday 21 June between 1pm and 2pm.
  • Bamboo Thai in Redfern, on Monday 21 June between 6.15pm and 7.10pm.

NSW Health has also upgraded the advice for Woolworths in Spring Farm. Anyone who visited on Sunday 20 June between 9.30am-11.30am is now considered a close contact.

There are also new exposure sites for casual contacts. Anyone who attended the following venues must immediately get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received.

  • Woolworths Metro at Bondi Beach, on Sunday 20 June between 1pm and 1.30pm.
  • Coles at Willowdale Neighbourhood Centre in Denham Court, on Sunday 20 June between 4.45pm and 5pm, as well as on Monday 21 June between 5pm and 5.05pm.
  • Ampol service station in North Bondi, on Tuesday 22 June between 8am and 8.10am.

Updated

Thanks for taking us through the day so far Amy.

You have Elias Visontay here bringing you the latest for the rest of the day.

Earlier this morning, Amy mentioned the AFP’s canine team was heading into parliament today.

We now have vision of home affairs minister Karen Andrews and coalition MPs Dave Sharma and Trevor Evans awkardly posing with the canine team.

We have one more day of the parliament sitting before it has a one month break (the traditional winter break) so make sure you get plenty or rest for that.

(The next break after that is a six-week break between September and October, which is why people aren’t ruling out an election this year – that’s a very convenient time to have it, if the government so wished.)

The wonderful Elias Visontay is going to take you through the evening, so stick around so you stay up to date.

It’s state of the nation tomorrow brought to you by Ceda, so there will be plenty of speeches and motherhood statements to look forward to. Plus, it’s more of the Barnaby show. And how many more times can the prime minister say ‘carping negativity’? All this, and more, awaits us.

A very big thank you to everyone who commented and read along today – we adore each and everyone one of you.

I’ll be back tomorrow morning – until then, take care of you .

Updated

One of the unity tickets between the government and opposition in the Senate has been on limiting the number of motions those not in a major party can move in the senate – now it seems like there is a bit more curtailing:

Updated

Commonwealth Bank customers cannot access online banking services right now, the bank has confirmed.

The outage started around two hours ago, just after CBA reported issues with its merchant terminal services.

The bank said those services had returned but confirmed customers “may be experiencing difficulty” logging into Netbank and the Commonwealth Bank app.

It is the second outage in a week. Unlike last week’s outage, which brought down online banking services for several Australian banks, this issue appears to be limited to CBA.

If you look at the vaccine allocation here, you’ll see that AstraZeneca will only be available ‘subject to request’ from October.

That’s based on some heroic assumptions that people over 60 will have had their vaccine by then:

Given the size of the Australian population over 60, it is assumed that demand for AstraZeneca doses will reduce in Horizon 2 and be met by Horizon 3. However, AZ doses will be available if demand continues through Horizon 2 and 3

You can find the whole roll out here

Matt Canavan was also asked if he was guilty of “mansplaining” – that was a paraphrase of Hollie Hughes’ contribution to the party room meeting yesterday (as reported by Sarah Martin) – “Thank you, boys, for telling us how to best raise our children.”

(Amusingly, the Tveeder transcription interpreted that question as ‘are you guilty of manslaughter’.)

Canavan:

I will let others judge that.

Canavan says that is the first time he has been accused of mansplaining.

I would like a fact check on that, but anyway.

Updated

Patricia Karvelas asks Matt Canavan whether he believes childcare is ‘outsourcing childcare’:

I don’t. My perspective here is that if we as a nation can afford to provide additional assistance to families on incomes of up to $350,000 and that is what the current legislation does, surely we can provide some additional support for those parents that make the choice to look after their own children, especially given the large inequity that exists in our tax system where single income families on just adequate, modest incomes, household incomes of 90 or $100,000 a year, which is average these days, they can be paying $10,000 more in their tax after childcare subsidies compared to the double income family.

Now that is not particularly fair. So we help the families on $350,000, that is a lot of money.

... And I am not in principle against providing assistance to childcare. Usually it has to be affordable but that is my point here. If we can afford to help our families on $350,000 a year, surely we can afford to help those on much, much lower incomes facing much, much greater inequities.

Updated

Would the Nationals support net zero by 2050 if agriculture was removed? (Which is the position Michael McCormack had floated months ago and David Littleproud repeated this morning.)

Matt Canavan:

That is just one industry. The people and NSW environment minister, Matt Kean, and others who propose net zero emissions, is effectively a slogan right now, not a policy. Three words, net zero emissions.

It sounds good but there is not a lot of detail behind it. When New Zealand adopted their net zero emissions target, at least they did serious work, they did serious economic modelling at what the impact on their economy would be.

That modelling showed that by New Zealand to reach net zero emissions by 2050, it would make their economy 10-20% smaller and would cost 2-4% of their labour force their job. In Australian terms that would be 400,000 people.

That is not just agriculture. I gave an agriculture example. If we are looking at a policy that would put almost half a million Australians out of work, we might want to just do a little bit more thinking.

Updated

Matt Canavan is on Afternoon Briefing (despite the bells ringing for a Senate division – obviously he has judged that he is not needed) and is asked why this week was the week for a leadership change:

I think Barnaby provides a very loud and effective voice for the people we represent and that is what we are here for. As I have said many times this week, it is not about any position for me, I am very happy where I am, but I do want to make sure we have a very effective fight for those people. Michael showed his absolute class earlier in the week and he worked very hard, that was never in question, but I believe even the last few days Barnaby has shown how effective he is at capturing, securing, the national conversation in a direction that supports the people that feel like they are ignored in our country areas, not only in our country areas. And they got their voice back this week and I have gotten a lot of good feedback about that.

Updated

Commonwealth declares Sydney a hotspot

Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, has declared greater Sydney a hotspot under the commonwealth definition (the seven LGAs which have been listed today)

That is the nationally agreed definition. And it also means that if Sydney goes into lockdown, they are able to access federal funding assistance.

Updated

The Greens have lost their bid to remove the government’s bill watering down responsible lending laws from the Senate notice paper.

One Nation is opposed to the Coalition’s changes, so the Greens believed they could have the bill removed altogether.

But the Senate vote was tied (27 to 27), meaning the Greens bid to remove it failed.
Pauline Hanson explained that although One Nation is “100% opposed to the responsible lending law changes” it was still working on amendments to remove banks from the exemption to current laws.

One Nation asked the Greens to defer its motion. Since it was still working on amendments, One Nation would not vote to remove the bill, Hanson said.

Updated

The Western Australia hard border is starting to bite:

Updated

There is still a wait until it’s all ramped up though:

Updated

Larissa Waters has successfully moved a motion to have the government’s Beetaloo Basin oil and gas production plan referred to a Senate committee:

That the following matter be referred to the Environment and Communications References Committee for inquiry and report by interim report by Tuesday 3 August 2021 with the final report due by the first sitting Tuesday of March 2022:

Oil and gas exploration and production in the Beetaloo Basin, with particular reference to:

  1. the Industry Research and Development (Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program) Instrument 2021, which provides public money for oil and gas corporations;
  2. the social, economic and environmental consequences of oil and gas exploration and production; and
  3. any related matters

The Greens won that 28 votes to 24 after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation came on board.

Updated

It’s also worth pointing out, in light of the temporary decision by the Morrison government when it comes to the Murugappan family, the high court has ruled Australia can keep people in indefinite, administrative detention.

The Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul released a statement on that a little earlier today:

In a sharply divided (4-3) decision, the high court has upheld the government’s appeal against a single judge federal court, ALJ20, that had released a Syrian refugee after finding his detention was unlawful because the government was neither processing a visa nor acting to remove him.

The majority decision has found yet again, that indefinite, administrative detention of non-citizens (mostly asylum seekers and refugees) is lawful.

The high court summary said: “The high court, by majority, held that ss 189(1) and 196(1) validly authorise and require the detention of an unlawful non-citizen until the actual event of, relevantly, their removal from Australia or grant of a visa.”

The government had already pre-empted the high court decision by passing (with Labor support) the Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Act 2021 (Migration Amendment Act) in May.

The combination of the high court decision and the Clarifying International Obligations for Removal Act means many asylum seekers and refugees are essentially beyond the reach of the law, and can be held indefinitely at the discretion of the government – the government is essentially a law unto itself.

“It makes a mockery of ‘the rule of law’ when there is one law for citizens and another applies to asylum seekers and refugees,” Rintoul said.

“It is a joke that non-reviewable indefinite detention can be declared not to be punitive because it is ‘administrative’. Tell that to a refugee or an asylum seeker who has been held in detention for eight years.

“It ignores the reality of many who are held in detention who cannot be returned to their home country, and who cannot be sent anywhere else. They will now face a life sentence in detention.

“It is now clearer than ever that refugees cannot not rely on the courts for justice. It is protest action and people power that can free the refugees.”

Updated

Last week the Greens senator Larissa Waters made several unsuccessful attempts to refer a bill about setting up an inquiry into Christian Porter to a Senate committee inquiry.

Jacqui Lambie had some problems with the way Waters was going about it – and has proposed instead a referral to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee.

The Senate just voted on the proposal: it was tied at 26-all, meaning the motion was negatived. Still, the Senate is now one vote away from setting up an inquiry of sorts.

The Lambie motion said:

That the following matter be referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 10 August 2021:

  • the extent to which the presumption of innocence conflicts with the prime minister’s responsibility to maintain public confidence in the executive, and how the prime minister should seek to resolve that conflict;
  • whether a minister’s obligation to uphold high standards of personal integrity in their private conduct extends to conduct engaged in prior to their commission as a minister;
  • the adequacy of the prime minister’s actions to assess whether minister Porter meets the requirements of the prime minister’s statement of ministerial standards of 30 August 2018, including paragraph 1.3(iv); and
  • any related matters.

Updated

It is not permanent – it is for three months.

But for those three months, three members of the family (so only one adult) are not considered to be in community detention. However, one member of the family remains in community detention.

And why now? Well, one reason is community expectations. But another one is pre-empting Barnaby Joyce/protecting Joyce, given he had begun to push for the family before he was returned to the Nationals leadership. Peter Dutton stopped him from having to answer a question on that yesterday, when he was asked on question time – almost before the question was finished.

So operation pre-empt Joyce is up and running.

Updated

Most of Biloela family given bridging visas

Alex Hawke has sent out an update – three of the Murugappan family have been granted bridging visas (which means they can work and study):

Yesterday at the request of the Sri Lankan family formerly resident in Christmas Island, I exercised my power under section 195A of the Migration Act, granting members of the family three-month bridging visas, providing work and study rights.

Under section 195A a minister can intervene to grant a person a visa if it is in the public interest to do so.

This decision allows three members of the family to reside in the Perth community on bridging visas while the youngest child’s medical care, and the family’s legal matters, are ongoing. The fourth family member’s visa status is unchanged.

The family will continue to have access to health care, support services, housing and schooling in the Perth community.

Updated

And Tasmania has as well. Via AAP:

Tasmania is closing its border with seven local government areas in Sydney in response to a growing number of coronavirus cases in the NSW capital.

The City of Sydney, Randwick, Inner West, Woollahra, Waverley, Canada Bay and Bayside will be considered high risk from 4pm on Wednesday.

Anyone who has been in the regions on or since 11 June won’t be allowed to enter Tasmania unless given special permission by the deputy state controller.

Tasmanians returning home who have been in any of the high-risk areas will be required to quarantine for 14 days at a suitable premises.

Transit through high-risk areas directly to the airport is allowed under existing arrangements.

NSW recorded 13 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday following a “super-spreader” event, prompting a raft of new restrictions for people in metropolitan Sydney.

Tasmania’s public health director, Mark Veitch, has urged anyone in the state who has been in NSW since 11 June to monitor for symptoms and check the list of specific high-risk venues.

Anyone in Tasmania who has been at the high-risk venues must immediately self-isolate and contact the public health hotline.

Updated

In the middle of all those news bombs earlier today, South Australia also changed its restrictions to New South Wales. As AAP reports:

South Australia has closed its border with NSW because of the “real risk” posed by the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Sydney.

Premier Steven Marshall says the situation in NSW is deteriorating and immediate action has been taken to keep South Australians safe.

The ban will not apply to essential workers, returning South Australians and other people granted exemptions.

There will also a 100km buffer zone along the border to allow people living in close communities, including Broken Hill, to still travel into SA.

“It’s unfortunate that this has to be done. We do recognise this causes a significant impact on people,” the police commissioner, Grant Stevens, said.

“Clearly, the advice from SA Health has created an elevated level of concern.”

Stevens said people already in transit to SA, by air or road, would be managed at the airport and on the border and either granted exemptions or turned around, depending on their individual circumstances.

People allowed to stay may be required to quarantine for 14 days.

The border closure follows more reported virus cases in Sydney on Wednesday, taking the current outbreak to 31.

Updated

This was very quick:

Updated

Pauline Hanson has turned her attention to the Nationals over net zero by 2050. Her office has released this statement:

Climate change ideology continues to divide the Australian Government and put the lifestyle and livelihoods of farmers at risk.

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson said farmers needed a firm commitment from the Nationals on the prospect of net zero emissions by 2050 that protected their lifestyles and businesses.

“Barnaby Joyce might say the Nationals view this through ‘different eyes’ but with his deputy saying ‘never say never’, farmers are understandably very concerned the Nationals are abandoning farmers to shore up their power in the Coalition,” Senator Hanson said.

“As long as the Coalition, Labor and the Greens continue to pay lip service and waste billions of dollars to placate climate change zealots, Australia will continue to be held hostage by unaccountable climate change ideology.

“This puts our farmers’ lifestyles and livelihoods at risk, along with Australia’s long term food security. The prospect of farmers being paid by taxpayers not to farm in order to meet some arbitrary emissions target decades in the future is appalling, and smacks of the anti-competitive farming subsidies employed by the European Union and the United States to disadvantage more efficient Australian producers.

“One Nation is firmly committed against net zero emissions by 2050. We want farmers doing what they do best – producing the food and fibre which has cemented Australia’s reputation as a leader in agriculture, looking after the land like only they know how, and bringing much needed export dollars into our economy and into rural communities. We need to get out of their way, not tie their hands behind their backs and undermine our future food security.

“The Nationals have failed farmers on water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin. They failed the dairy industry in its crisis. Farmers are looking for effective, decisive leadership and they’re not getting it from the Nationals. Farmers are looking for a firm commitment to protect their lifestyles and livelihoods and they’re not getting it from the Nationals.

“Memories are short. In 2019, Queensland voters sent a clear message by rejecting climate change ideology in favour of jobs and energy security; without this support, the Coalition would not be in government today. The Nationals will ignore this rejection at their peril.”

Mike Bowers made a visit to the Senate, where Penny Wong was all of us:

Senate Labor leader Penny Wong during question time
Senate Labor leader Penny Wong during question time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Feels
Feels. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Question time ends.

There is one more of those before the winter break.

Chris Bowen asks Barnaby Joyce whether or not the NSW removal of stamp duty for electric vehicles will help ‘kill the weekend’ and Joyce responds with a bunch of things that will kill the weekend for coal workers, so this is who we are now.

The Tveeder transcriber is really struggling with Barnaby Joyce’s return to relevance. It’s like we need subtitles for the subtitles.

ACT updates NSW travel advice

The ACT has updated its travel advice for NSW:

Due to the evolving Covid-19 situation in NSW, the ACT government is updating travel directions for people travelling to the ACT from affected areas of NSW.

People should not be travelling between greater Sydney and the ACT at this time.

From 4pm today, the ACT government will introduce a new ‘stay-at-home’ requirement for anyone who leaves the following seven local government areas (LGAs) of greater Sydney – City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra – and enters the ACT.

In addition, anyone who has been in the broader greater Sydney, Central Coast, Nepean, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions of NSW (including the LGAs above) in the past 14 days, will need to complete an online declaration form on the Covid-19 website. This form will be available from 6pm tonight (23 June). This is to ensure we are able to contact people if travel directions need to be escalated in the coming days.

At this time, these requirements will remain in place for at least one week, until 11.59pm Wednesday 30 June 2021.

If you must travel for essential reasons, you must abide by all public health directions in place in NSW and the ACT. This includes changing travel plans and adhering to public health instructions upon your return.

ACT Health is continuing to monitor the situation very closely and will put in place further directions if required in order to keep our community safe. We will provide regular updates on the evolving situation.

Updated

Madeleine King to Barnaby Joyce:

My question is to the deputy prime minister and minister for regional development and I refer to his answer about comments by the Western Australian Nationals leader about his ability to work with the women of regional Australia. How can the deputy prime minister do his job, as regional development minister, when so many regional women who know him well object to him holding high office?

Joyce:

Well, I thank the honourable member for her question and I suppose I return to my answers of yesterday.

That I acknowledge that in a whole range of areas there are people who may dislike me and there are people who like me.

That’s part of politics. I’m sure there are blokes who dislike me as well. And that is part of life.

... On reflection of – as we go through life, we always try to learn from our mistakes. And become a better person.

In case you missed it, Phil Coorey from the AFR reported that Joyce’s partner (and Daily Telegraph columnist) Vikki Campion has been at question time tactic meetings. So there is that as well.

Updated

Sussan Ley is still trying to explain how she was blindsided by the draft Unesco decision to declare the Great Barrier Reef as ‘in danger’ because even though climate change is the biggest threat to the reef, the Coalition government doesn’t think what Australia isn’t doing on climate change should count towards the reef’s future.

Warren Entsch asked her the dixer and she says that the place would be a “very different place without him”, which is true – Entsch is going around again at the next election because his seat is not a natural Coalition seat – it is held by the strength of his personal popularity in the electorate. So yes, the parliament would look different without him, because there is every chance the Coalition would lose Leichhardt without him, which is not a seat it can afford to lose, given the numbers in the House.

Updated

Catherine King doesn’t get this one in:

This week Steph Ryan the deputy leader of the Nationals in Victoria said, ‘I have never made any secret of the fact that I think Barnaby Joyce’s previous actions didn’t really make him eligible for the top job.’ Why do so many regional women who know the deputy prime minister say he is unfit for the job.

It is ruled out of order.

Updated

Amanda Rishworth asks Barnaby Joyce:

Is the government planning any policy changes to increase female workforce participation in regional Australia? Or does the deputy prime minister agree with one of his government colleagues who says women using childcare and I quote, ‘Are outsourcing parenting’.

Joyce:

Look, I do support childcare, I absolutely support childcare. In fact, I’m one of the beneficiaries of childcare and I live in a regional area. It is important that either parent that takes on a primary caring role and at times it’s the case that both have to go out to make the payments, to pay for the house, to pay for the car, and this is a vital component of how our society works, and we’re lucky we can do it, Mr Speaker, because we have to have these changes that are actually improving it are brought in by this side of the parliament.

It’s this side of the parliament that has understood that concept and it’s this side of the parliament that is championing that those, whether they’re mothers at home or fathers at home, have to wait until we were on the Treasury benches for these issues to be dealt with.

The interjections from Labor are “this is just weird”.

But it gets weirder – Joyce doesn’t seem to know who the minister in charge of childcare is and says “now, I might ask the minister, if she wishes, to add to my comments”. (At least that is how it sounded on the broadcast.)

Except it is Alan Tudge, who has not, as far as I know, changed his pronouns. Before that, it was Dan Tehan. I mean, this is the Coalition. It’s always safer to assume the minister will be a male, just in general.

Updated

It is a much more subdued Barnaby Joyce today. He’s still Barnaby though, so subdued Barnaby is still more Barnaby than is ever needed.

Australian deputy PM Barnaby Joyce reacts during House of Representatives question time on Wednesday.
Australian deputy PM Barnaby Joyce reacts during House of Representatives question time on Wednesday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Terri Butler asks Barnaby Joyce about the Victorian Nationals’ attempts to blow up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan:

He can’t really answer the ‘why now’ or even ‘why’ question, so there is a lot of ‘we are listening about jobs’ and it finishes with:

So if you’re asking me why are the Nationals in the Senate making sure that these people understand that we hear them and respect their views, that is because that is what the Nationals’ job is.

Updated

Australia’s top foreign affairs and trade official says she has not advised the government to strengthen its climate policies in order to reduce the risk of the country facing carbon border tariffs.

Frances Adamson, who finishes up as head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade later this week before taking up the role of South Australian governor, implied carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM) were an idea that would not go away.

But she also suggested they were currently being used mainly as a “forcing mechanism” (presumably to push for higher climate ambition). The European Union, United Kingdom, United States and Japan are among those to have explored such proposals as a way to avoid “leakage” of emissions to less climate-ambitious jurisdictions.

Adamson told the National Press Club:

I think obviously, it’s something that’s being talked about. And you know, when something sort of breaks through as an acronym, a CBAM, you know that it’s not just an idea that’s going to be here today and gone tomorrow. My trade negotiator colleagues - and I do think we’ve got some of the world’s best - tell me that it’s not at all clear how this might work in technical terms in a way that is WTO-consistent.

I think at the moment it is being used, if I might say so, as a sort of forcing mechanism - a potential forcing mechanism. How it might work in practice, I think, has yet to be seen. But Australia will certainly be engaged, including through our mission to the WTO, in discussions about what this might mean and whether in fact it will be consistent with the World Trade Organisation rules. We’ve got a big stake in ensuring that that organisation recovers its sense of purpose, particularly in order to talk about an economic recovery.

When asked by Guardian Australia whether she had provided advice to the Australian government on reducing the risk that it faces by increasing its level of climate ambition, Adamson said:

That’s a direct question. I’ll answer it with a direct [answer]: No.

Updated

Out of all the ministers, it is Peter Dutton who really struggles with the rule of staying on topic and not just swinging around a verbal sledgehammer.

Thoughts and prayers for Sgt Dutton as he goes through this difficult time. In the wise words of Pitbull though, when it comes to tough times ‘believe me, been there, done that. But every day above ground is a great day, remember that’.

Tony Burke:

This parliament has been used for 120 years to debate the issues of the day. If on the day, as new [Covid] cases are coming out, and borders are closing, the government won’t accept a debate in the middle of a global pandemic, how bad does a crisis have to be before the government will allow this parliament to be used as a parliament?

Dutton:

Well, Mr Speaker, I’ve been in this parliament for a few years now, and I have seen a few debates, I have seen a few governments in action. I can remember very clearly, Mr Speaker, when the Labor party was sitting on this side of the House. We were denied day after day, Mr Speaker...

I’ll tell you what hasn’t been accepted by those opposite. What hasn’t been accepted by those opposite is that they and they lost the last election. Now they sit on that side without the numbers in this chamber so don’t whinge about it. Don’t whinge about it. It’s a result of your own failings. You went to the last election...promising taxes on every Australian. And you wonder why they voted you out.

...You went to the last election promising to restart boats and to surrender our sovereignty on borders. No wonder the Australian public rejected you.

And I’ll tell you, Mr Speaker, as we move around the country now, and you speak to Australians from one corner of the country to the other, I’ll tell you what Australians are saying; thank God Bill Shorten’s not the Prime Minister of this country. That’s exactly what the people of Australia are saying.

Anthony Albanese with a point of order:

The minister is misleading parliament. People can’t move around this country.

Tony Smith says that isn’t a point of order but adds he was just about to ask Dutton to be relevant to the question.

I’d ask the Leader of the House to be relevant to the question. The question was a procedural one and he was asked that in his capacity as the Leader of the House. It wasn’t an opportunity for a wide-ranging critique or history lesson on elections past.

Dutton:

...As we hear from the Australian public, to go to the very point raised in the question from the honourable member opposite, the Australian public has seen the government’s response to COVID and I tell you what, they look at what is happening around the world and Australians are grateful that we are living in the country that we are today. We made a decision, Mr Speaker, in the National Security Committee of cabinet over 12 months ago to lock our country down and to close our border with China, the greatest decision, Mr Speaker, during the period of COVID because it stopped that virus coming to our country.

Mr Speaker, at the same time, the prime minister has demonstrated the leadership to stand up and to be with the premiers*, to make decisions in relation to the health system that has saved this country tens of thousands of deaths, Mr Speaker.

He then decides he has concluded his answer.

*This is not exactly how it happened. And the ‘stand up and to stand with the premiers’ didn’t happen until both the WA and Qld elections proved how electorally popular lockdowns were. Until then, it was game on. So, if we are getting a history lesson there, probably best not to continue to rewrite it.

Updated

Before question time, a group of Nationals held a press conference to explain the party’s decision to try to amend government legislation for the Murray Darling Basin plan.

Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie said Nationals MPs had agreed to the changes in Monday’s party room meeting, but they had not brought this to the attention of Tuesday’s joint party room meeting.

Instead, the Nats chose to spring the proposal on their Liberal colleagues in the Senate this morning. McKenzie suggested the party would be pushing to have the position included in the new Coalition agreement if the Liberals blocked the move in the Senate.

“We hope the Liberals do come on board with these amendments because they’re sensible, they’re actually what the community has been asking for,” McKenzie said.

“They actually just articulate what is already existing government policy. So they shouldn’t be afraid of these amendments.”

McKenzie said that if the party had attempted to negotiate amendments through government channels, the opportunity to amend the legislation would never have arisen.

“If we had said four months ago, late last year, (that) if the Water Act and the Murray Darling Basin Plan Act ever come before the Senate we will be moving amendments to it, it would never have happened. Because we have very different views.”

Damian Drum said it had been “difficult and tough” to get the legislation ready, and revealed the party had been planning the move for months.

But Drum insisted the timing of the move was unrelated to the change of leader, nor a sign of the junior Coalition party being prepared to flex their muscle.

“This has got nothing to do with Barnaby or Michael, we have been planning on this for months,” Drum said.

Updated

Not surprisingly, Simon Birmingham has told the Senate the government will not be supporting the rogue Nationals amendments to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

“Yes, it is the case that when those amendments come to a vote, I and government will be voting against those amendments.”

Birmingham goes on:

We are proud as a government to have ensured that billions and billions, thousands of billions of litres of additional water entitlements have been secured to support environmental flows across the Murray-Darling Basin. The government stands resolute in its support for the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, as we have said, in full and on time.”

Updated

The head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson, was asked during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra about the proposed designation of the Great Barrier Reef on the world heritage “in danger” list.

Adamson said Australia would deal with the issue “as a technical issue, and work through the system ... the best way that we can”. She did not respond directly to vague accusations that China may have played some part in the recommendation, but offered the following broad observation:

“Due process around these things is really important, and underscores the important value of the [rules-based] system that we’re talking about and investing in. So I read what’s said, I hear what’s said. From a diplomatic perspective, we’re working through it as a technical issue.”

Updated

Josh Frydenberg is yelling about stuff.

Again.

The suspension motion fails.

This is totally about farmers, and not at all about swinging eggplants around and causing problems because they can.

Here were the ‘let’s blow up the Murray Darling plan, even though it is government legislation and has been signed off by our party room and the cabinet, and has been around for awhile, but we have just decided to do it now that Barnaby Joyce is leader, but that means nothing, Nats’ at their press conference a little earlier today:

Nationals members and senators trying to derail the Murray Darling basin plan, the member for Nicholls Damian Drum, Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie, The member for Malle Anne Webster and NSW Senator Perin Davey.
Nationals members and senators trying to derail the Murray Darling basin plan, the member for Nicholls Damian Drum, Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie, The member for Malle Anne Webster and NSW Senator Perin Davey. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Sometimes, the angles just work

Nationals members and senators trying to derail the Murray Darling basin plan, NSW Senator Perin Davey.
Nationals members and senators trying to derail the Murray Darling basin plan, NSW Senator Perin Davey. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

While we wait for this latest suspension of standing orders to fail, NSW Health has updated its exposure site list:

The motion:

That the House,

1, notes, A, there is a global pandemic.

B, there have been at least 25 Covid outbreaks from hotel quarantine.

C, fewer than 3% of Australians are fully vaccinated.

D, the prime minister had two jobs this year: to roll out vaccine and establish a safe national system of quarantine and he has bungled both jobs.

E, the outbreak in Sydney is worsening by the hour.

F, new restrictions are being imposed on businesses and households.

G, borders are slamming shut as Australia heads into school holidays.

H, the prime minister says the vaccine rollout is not a race.

And, I, the NSW premier said today, “NSW has had a real sense of urgency in relation to the vaccine rollout. Until the vast majority of our population is vaccinated, these threats will be real and ongoing.”

And, 2, therefore calls on the prime minister to urgently fix his bungled vaccine rollout and establish a safe, national system of quarantine.

Anthony Albanese finishes it with “Mr Speaker, we needed more jabbings and less stabbings (he means backstabbings)“ but then he is gagged.

Updated

Labor moves to suspend standing orders for the third day this week – it’s again on how terrible Labor thinks the government is. There are a lot of words, but that is the basics of the motion (as it is every motion Labor moves).

Katharine Murphy tells me that Barnaby Joyce wandered up to the backbench to have a chat to Michael McCormack

Updated

Speaking of carp, Barnaby Joyce gets up and shouts a lot of things about coal and mining jobs.

There are less than 40,000 coal mining jobs in Australia. But they are apparently the most important jobs in the country, according to the Nationals leader.

Really not sure “carping negativity” is having the impact the prime minister thinks it is – but he’s proud of it. That is at least the third or fourth reference in just three questions.

Updated

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

“Premiers and chief ministers around the country have done the heavy lifting fighting the Covid virus. Labor and Liberal premiers are giving the prime minister clear warnings about the urgency of the vaccine rollout which stands at 3 per cent and the need for a safe national system of quarantine. What will it take for this prime minister to fix his bungled vaccine rollout and establish a safe national system of quarantine?”

Morrison:

The government has had two clear jobs through this pandemic. The first of those is to save lives. And the second is to save livelihoods.

Our job has been to save lives and to save livelihoods, and we know that were it not for the actions of the government working together with governments around this country, our experience compared to those of like countries around the world more than 30,000 Australians would have perished during this crisis.

That didn’t occur because of the actions taken on our watch.

In addition to that we have saved livelihoods to ensure that Australia’s economy is stronger today than before the pandemic hit and in addition to that there are more Australians employed today than before the pandemic hit.

There have been many measures we have put in place to secure those. Those have included an investment of more than $310 billion in health initiatives as well as economic supports to achieve those results.

Now, Mr Speaker, reference is made to the actions of the state and I commend the actions of the state.

In fact, Mr Speaker, as prime minister, I called the states together into the national cabinet to ensure that our actions were coordinated, and one of the first actions we took ... was to agree to put in place a system of hotel quarantine around this country that has been a key measures in ensuring that Australia has been able to have the success that it has. Breaches from any form of quarantine, Mr Speaker, in a global pandemic are inevitable and that is why the further rings of containment with contact tracing, social distancing and other measures are vital.

The vaccination program, which I have indicated, has reached some 6.86 million people, two-thirds almost of Australians aged over 70 in the most populations having already received their first dose and more than a quarter of Australians aged over 16 having received their first dose.

As the vaccination program continues to escalate, as we move from the AstraZeneca vaccine to the Pfizer vaccines, which were timed for their delivery because of international supply constraints in the second half of the year, that will continue to rollout. We have also invested half a billion (dollars) in the quarantine facilities in the Northern Territory, which was recommended by the Halton review.

In addition to that, we are partnering with states, particularly Victoria right now, on the development of additional facilities to supplement the hotel quarantine program not to replace it.

So, Mr Speaker, the actions that our government has taken have saved lives and have saved livelihoods. That has been our focus. The politics in this has and has been left to the opposition, who have sought only to undermine in carping negativity rather than engaging in the national project which this government has led to the great advantage of Australians.

Updated

Tony Smith says it is particularly pointless for Labor MPs to heckle a screen.

Anthony Albanese points out that is what usually happens with Sky After Dark.

Ed Husic, who should probably stop yelling things if he doesn’t want to get booted out, heckles: “Why am I watching Sky News at night during QT!”

To which I ask the good member – is he new here? Where does he think everyone practises their lines?

Updated

The first dixer is just an excuse for Scott Morrison to continue his theme of ‘carping negativity’.

He again looks like he is reading from an autocue – either that, or he doesn’t know where the lens of the camera is.

This is a Labor party obsessed with carping negativity, opposing the government’s measures to keep our economy strong through the pandemic.

What we’ve been able to achieve as a country has not been with the support of the opposition. Their approach has just been negativity and ideology. That is not going to get us to a low emissions future, it’s not going to get resource projects approved in our states and territories at a commonwealth level.

The Labor party needs to saddle up with the economic improvement that we’re seeking to put in place to bring Australia out of the Covid-19 pandemic strongly. Instead, what we’re getting is negativity.

Updated

Question time begins

Anthony Albanese decides to ask the prime minister a question:

“The NSW Covid outbreak is worsening and borders are closing. The prime minister says it is not a race but the NSW premier said today there is a real sense of urgency, and until the vast majority of our population is vaccinated these threats will be real. How many outbreaks will it take before the government fixes the bungled vaccine rollout and creates a safe, national quarantine system?

Scott Morrison (via the screen):

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I spoke to the premier earlier today, and we spoke specifically about if there was any need for further vaccine doses to be distributed in NSW, and the premier advised me that she was pleased with the dosage distribution.

That was her clear advice to me today, and that was advised to the national cabinet by the lieutenant general earlier in the week.

I commend the NSW premier for the way she is handling the outbreak in NSW. The fact that she hasn’t gone to lock down Australia’s biggest city but has taken the positive decision to keep Sydney and NSW open for its residents and to continue to rely on what is Australia’s best contact tracing system in NSW.

Mr Speaker, I can advise even at today, two-thirds, 66.27%, just under two-thirds of our population over the age of 70 has now been vaccinated ... In the last 24 hours some 140,819 doses have been administered.

We are now at 6.86 million doses having been administered in Australia. Now, Mr Speaker, it might suit the politics of the leader of the opposition to run down Australia’s performance.

It may suit the politics of the leader of the opposition to undermine Australia’s efforts as we lead the world when it comes to managing Covid in this country, Mr Speaker.

... The leader of the opposition needs to understand that carping negativity is not a substitute for policy positions, Mr Speaker. The opposition has been invited for more than a year to join the government in our efforts to combat the virus.

But throughout the pandemic they have chosen time and again, Mr Speaker, to just pursue political point-scoring rather than joining and supporting the national effort. Now, 95%of Australians, Mr Speaker, we saw in the Lowy poll today, believe Australia has handled this pandemic well, and the evidence, when you look at the case numbers in Australia, the fatality rate in Australia, which could have been 30,000 more were it not for the steps taken by governments including our government to ensure that Australia has positioned itself as one of the best countries in the world as we move through this pandemic.

The opposition seems to believe that when there is a global pandemic there can’t be transmission of a virus. That is a foolish position and a misleading position, Mr Speaker. We have taken a realistic approach, working with governments around the country to keep Australians safe, to protect lives and protect livelihoods.

The opposition continues to focus on politics and point scoring ... rather than supporting a national effort.

Updated

Small side point on the Victorian Nationals deciding to try to blow up the Murray Darling plan – given that it is government legislation they are trying to amend, that means it first went through the cabinet, then the Nationals party room and the joint party room.

So once it has the sign-off from those three places (cabinet most importantly) it is locked in as government policy.

So the rogue Nationals are now trying to amend it (led by their senate leader), which puts the other Nationals in a bind – because they will have to vote against Nationals and government policy.

And if Nationals ministers now support this change, they are going against the cabinet. Which usually means you have to resign from cabinet, because that’s the rule – going against the cabinet position, once it has been signed off, is going against cabinet solidarity. Officially, that rule is:

Members of the Cabinet must publicly support all Government decisions made in the Cabinet, even if they do not agree with them. Cabinet ministers cannot dissociate themselves from, or repudiate the decisions of their Cabinet colleagues unless they resign from the Cabinet.

Barnaby Joyce is back in cabinet. Bridget McKenzie says Joyce supports it. But technically, he can’t, unless he wants to resign from cabinet again. Or the cabinet changes its position.

The only other option is this is just sabre-rattling, because they can and Bridget McKenzie, who is going back into the ministry, just wants the water portfolio.

Updated

And on the Labor side, they have their own problems. The Joyce-surection has caused waves everywhere

If you’ve been with Amy all day you’ll know everyone in politics today is coming off the long run. The Nationals are using the opportunity of the Joycesurrection to stick their elbows out.

The Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie has just used the period of senators’ statements prior to question time to warn against signing up to net zero by 2050. McKenzie didn’t oppose the target outright but she said Australia “must be wary” of setting targets that will cost thousands of jobs. She added Australia should not “sleepwalk” into an international agreement that favours “rich developed countries” with a natural advantage (and what she means by that is countries with nuclear power plants).

She says those countries are able to reduce emissions without upending their manufacturing sectors because nuclear is not intermittent. It is base load power. She said coal and gas would continue to underpin Australia’s prosperity for decades to come.

She said Australia should continue to export high quality coal to the region.
You could actually fact check every sentence in this contribution, but it’s nearly question time so I’ll keep it simple. Two points.

1. Australia is already a signatory to the Paris agreement which puts the world on the net zero path by mid-century. That’s already happened, and this government was the government that signed Australia up. McKenzie’s government. Tony Abbott took the decision, and Malcolm Turnbull presided over ratification. It’s done.

2. If we want nuclear energy, understand one thing. Nuclear energy is not economic in this country without a carbon price. That would be the carbon price that this government repealed back in 2013. The quickest way to incentivise nuclear (apart from the required regulatory change) is to legislate a carbon price.

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie speaks during debate in the Senate chamber on Wednesday.
Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie speaks during debate in the Senate chamber on Wednesday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Question time will be on in less than 30 minutes.

It will once again be the Barnaby show

I’m really, really sorry Sydney.

We’re all really hoping that authorities get on top of this outbreak really soon.

Updated

WA closes border to NSW

Mark McGowan has updated the travel advice for NSW – and it goes a little further than Queensland and Victoria:

Following updated health advice related to the Covid-19 outbreak in New South Wales, WA has strengthened its border controls to reduce the risk of the virus coming into the WA community.

NSW has transitioned from ‘very low risk’ (with a test and quarantine regime) to ‘medium risk’ under our controlled interstate border, effective from 11am today (23 June).

This returns us to hard border arrangements with New South Wales. Under the medium risk classification, travel from or through NSW is no longer permitted, except for exempt travellers. This also applies to anyone who may have been in NSW since 11 June and has not subsequently been in a ‘very low risk’ State or Territory for 14 days – this includes anyone travelling from the ACT who has travelled into NSW in that time.

The exemption list is limited to:
- certain senior Government officials;
- certain active military personnel;
- a member of the Commonwealth Parliament;
- a person carrying out functions under a law of the Commonwealth;
- a person responsible for transport freight or logistics; and
- anyone who is given approval by State Emergency Coordinator or an authorised officer.

The final category includes compassionate reasons – including those Western Australians that may have travelled to NSW recently and need to return to WA.

These people will be assessed on a case-by-case basis by WA Police and arrivals will be required to complete 14 days of self-quarantine and be tested for COVID-19 on arrival and on day 11.

Anyone who has previously arrived from NSW in the past two weeks should continue to monitor their symptoms and get tested immediately if any develop.

In line with previous advice, anyone who has recently arrived from NSW and was at an exposure site are required to get tested and self-quarantine for 14 days from the date of exposure.

Updated

Back to the press club and Frances Adamson says the so-called list of 14 grievances issued by the Chinese embassy last year was “a massive own-goal by China” because no Australian government would be able to move on the issues listed.

“I couldn’t understand why they did it ... I think it has played very negatively for them.”

She won’t say how long she thinks Australia will remain in the diplomatic freezer, but says the Chinese government is “immensely pragmatic” and Beijing will return to the table when it sees it as being in its interests to take a different approach.

Updated

A-League final to go ahead in Melbourne; crowds to return to AFL games

After days of discussions with the Victorian government, the A-League grand final will go ahead in Melbourne.

Melbourne City were at high risk of being forced to play their home decider against Sydney FC in another state, but the Australian Professional Leagues on Wednesday announced the match will be staged on Sunday afternoon at AAMI Park, which will operate at 50% of its 29,500 capacity.

Crowds will also return to AFL matches in Melbourne, capped at 25,000 fans at both the MCG and Marvel Stadium before a planned boost to 85% capacity next week. It is less than the 50% cap for which the AFL had lobbied, but means Friday night’s Richmond-St Kilda match at the MCG will be the first fixture played in front of spectators in the city since 23 May.

The NRL has a bye week, given State of Origin game two is being played in Brisbane at the weekend. NSW Blues players have already left Sydney and are in camp just south of Queensland in Kingscliff, but will have to cross the border before tomorrow after Queensland closed its border to certain LGAs in Sydney from 1am Thursday. Those NRL players still left in Sydney are back in a bubble and unable to leave home except for essential activities and training.

Updated

The ‘what the hell are you doing Victorian Nats’ avengers assembled for a press conference. It’s fairly rare to see this group together, if that gives you any indication of how annoyed they are at the Bridget McKenzie et al ‘intervention’.

Multipartisan support for the Murray Darling Basin plan today at a press conference in the senate courtyard of Parliament House in Canberra, from left Liberal Senator Andrew McLachlan, Centre Alliance member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie, Independent Seanator Rex Patrick, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young ,from the Labor Party Senators Marielle Smith and Don Farrell, and the Liberal member for Sturt James Stevens.
Multipartisan support for the Murray Darling Basin plan today at a press conference in the senate courtyard of Parliament House in Canberra, from left Liberal Senator Andrew McLachlan, Centre Alliance member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie, Independent Seanator Rex Patrick, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young ,from the Labor Party Senators Marielle Smith and Don Farrell, and the Liberal member for Sturt James Stevens. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Bridget McKenzie is now making a statement on climate policy in the senate.

It seems that McKenzie is just blowing up all the things today.

Victoria to further ease Covid-19 restrictions on Friday

In the midst of all of that, Victoria announced it was going to further ease restrictions come Friday morning.

That’s after a week of having no more than one case a day (and several zeroes).

James Merlino:

On the advice of the Chief Health Officer, restrictions in regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne will ease from 11.59pm tomorrow night and in the interests of giving everyone some certainty and stability, these settings will be in place for the next two weeks.

State-wide, a number of changes will apply. Public gatherings will be allowed with up to 50 people and gatherings in the home will be permitted with up to 15 visitors to a home per day, including dependants.

This means for those spending time in accommodation, the rules will now permit the booking household, plus a further 15 people to go away together, in line with the new private gatherings numbers.

Funerals and weddings can move to a cap of 300 people, subject to the density limits of the venue.

The work from home recommendation will be removed and office caps increase to 75% or 30 people, whichever is greater, but a density number will still apply. Physical REC and community sporting venues will be able to have up to 300 people per indoor space.

That is important for basketball stadiums and the like and 1,000 outdoors, subject to density limits. Seated entertainment venues will be able to increase capacity up to 75% and a maximum of 300 per space indoors and 1,000 people outdoors. There are some changes to visitor limits at hospital and care facilities, so that two visitors at a time, up to five visitors per day will be allowed.

Although I note some facilities will have additional measures in place, above and beyond the CHO requirements. Mask requirements will remain the same. They are required indoors, except in your home and they are recommended when you can’t keep 1.5m away from other outdoors. Although the same caps apply state-wide in these settings, communities in regional Victoria will be able to use a density of one person per two square metres, provided a Covid check-in marshal is present to require people to check in.

This includes physical recreation venues, community facilities, creative studios and places of worship. This requirement underscores just how important it is that we’re able to trace people in the event of an outbreak.

Updated

Frances Adamson suggests that any hopes China may have of a fundamental policy rethink from the Australian government would ignore the “very real impact” of China’s behaviour on Australia, and bipartisanship in Canberra on the most fundamental policy settings.

She cites the Lowy poll indicating Australians’ trust in the Chinese government has fallen to record lows.

Updated

The outgoing Dfat chief and former ambassador to Beijing, Frances Adamson, cites “siege mentality” in China’s external engagement under Xi. Adamson is addressing the National Press Club.

Updated

The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security report into the review of the re-listing of Hizballah’s External Security Organisation as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code has been tabled.

Updated

Things are completely normal in the Coalition.

Updated

There are a lot of people asking this, so as one of the resident Queenslanders in the gallery, as I understand it, you can still transfer through the Sydney airport to Queensland even with the border closure to Sydney – as long as you don’t catch public transport (bus or train). So direct to the airport in private transport, or direct through the airport is fine.

Mark Dreyfus responded to Nola Marino’s move to have the Victorian quarantine bill urgently put through the parliament (bypassing the committee):

The Morrison government had two jobs and it has failed at them both. It had the job of getting quarantine right. It is a constitutional responsibility of the commonwealth, and the commonwealth has ducked that responsibility from the get-go in this pandemic. The other job that it has failed to get right is the vaccine rollout. But right here and now I’m going to speak about quarantine, because the exemption of this project from the ordinary requirements of this parliament and the ordinary requirements that it go before the Public Works Committee is only needed because the Morrison government failed to get onto this last year.

We’ve known for 12 months that hotel quarantine is grossly inadequate, that hotel quarantine is a temporary fix, that hotel quarantine is not the perfect solution. Far from it – hotel quarantine is not even an adequate solution.

We’ve had 24 outbreaks from hotel quarantine. Think about that: 24 outbreaks, each of them capable of giving rise to a massive spread of this deadly disease across our country. It’s only good luck, good management by state premiers and the immensely cooperative behaviour of Australians that has prevented those 24 outbreaks from the inadequate hotel quarantine arrangements that we have and has saved us from the recurrence of the deaths that we had across our country, particularly in aged care, in the middle of last year.

The government commissioned a report from an eminent former secretary of the commonwealth health department to tell the commonwealth government what needed to be done for quarantine in Australia. And what did we get? We got a report from this eminent former secretary of the commonwealth department of health that told the commonwealth of Australia that they needed to build dedicated quarantine facilities. It’s not like this is a new idea for the commonwealth of Australia. Australians in every capital city are deeply familiar with the commonwealth-run facilities that are now museums. Think North Head in Sydney or Point Nepean in Victoria where the commonwealth used to have its own dedicated facilities for infectious diseases. It doesn’t now because we’ve resolved other arrangements to deal with infectious diseases, but this pandemic is presenting us with a challenge that the Morrison government has utterly failed to meet. It’s continuing to fail to meet this challenge. It thumbed its nose at Victoria’s proposals when they were first made.

We still don’t have exactly clear what it is the commonwealth wants to do. It took months to get to the position that it’s announcing here today, and that is that it wants to go ahead with a joint venture with Victoria to build a dedicated quarantine facility in Victoria. It should have been doing this last October. We’ve known since last October, when the report that it commissioned was delivered to the commonwealth government, that a Howard Springs-style facility is what is required. There hasn’t been a single escape of this deadly virus from Howard Springs. There hasn’t been an outbreak from Howard Springs.

There has been an outbreak from every part of the hotel quarantine system. Victoria had to go back into lockdown because of someone leaving hotel quarantine in South Australia and spreading the virus throughout Melbourne, which happily, again, we’ve managed to get on to.

But it’s a disgrace. It is a disgrace that the Morrison government has squibbed its responsibilities, ducked its responsibilities, run away from its responsibilities. You’ve only got to think about the disgraceful performance of the prime minister going right back to the bushfires. ‘I don’t hold a hose, mate’. That is Scott Morrison. ‘I don’t hold a hose, mate,’ and he’s at it again.

Updated

Hursty is at the Adamson address. He says the audience includes Marise Payne, Penny Wong, Simon Birmingham and ADF chief Angus Campbell*.


*There are too many Angus’s in public life

Updated

Outgoing Dfat boss Frances Adamson is addressing the National Press Club today.

We will bring you those updates as well.

Updated

Meanwhile, the Nationals’ ‘meet the team’ banner on their website’s homepage still has Michael McCormack’s photo.

Might need a bit of an update.

Updated

The Nationals leader in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, has contributed to the Murray Darling debate in the Senate.

McKenzie said that water buybacks during the millennial drought had “devastated families, communities and industries” that are only now recovering. She said it was “incredibly galling” that Nationals senators had been accused of not caring about the health of the river, because “we live there and we know it”.

McKenzie said the 450GL of water was a “bald set of numbers that we know weren’t based in science”, arguing that you can’t demonstrate commitment to the environment “using the blunt instrument of numbers alone”. The 450GL was “never guaranteed” it was “always dependent on there being no socio-economic impacts”, she said.

McKenzie:

When we did a review ... [it found the] need to change this plan is pressing. That’s why we are here today. There is no point in piously drafting a private senator’s bill ... We’ve been waiting patiently, not for a change of leader – for the Water Act and Murray Darling Basin Plan Act to come before the Senate.”

Updated

This is still happening in the Senate – Paul Karp is listening so you don’t have to.

Summary of NSW restrictions

In case you missed them, here is the NSW health announcement on the new restrictions:

Following updated health advice from the chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, about the growing risk to the community, the following restrictions will be introduced for Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour:

  • Visitors to households will be limited to 5 guests – including children;
  • Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces, and at organised outdoor events;
  • Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed;
  • Singing by audiences at indoor shows or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed;
  • Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs however, dancing is allowed at weddings for the bridal party only (no more than 20 people);
  • Dance and gym classes limited to 20 per class (masks must be worn);
  • The one person per four square metre rule will be re-introduced for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals;
  • Outdoor seated events will be limited to 50% seated capacity;
  • Previous public transport capacity limits, represented by green dots, will be reintroduced;
  • If you live or work in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas, you cannot travel outside metropolitan Sydney for non-essential travel.

Updated

Here is the breakdown of the new NSW numbers:

Of the 10 locally reported cases to 8pm last night:

Seven cases were already announced yesterday:

  • A child who attends St Charles Catholic Primary School, Waverley.
  • A man in his 60s from Wollongong. He is a household contact of a previously reported case and has been in isolation while infectious.
  • Five family members who are household contacts of a previous case. They have been in isolation while infectious.

Three further cases were reported to 8pm last night:

  • A man in his 50s who works in Bondi Junction.
  • A woman in her 40s from Wollongong. She is a close contact of a previously reported case and has been in isolation while infectious.
  • A man in his 30s from South West Sydney. He is a close contact of a previously reported case.

And the cases which came after 8pm:

13 locally acquired cases were notified overnight, after the 8pm reporting cut-off:

  • 8 of these cases are linked to a birthday party in West Hoxton, attended by a previously reported case linked to the Bondi cluster. About 30 people attended this party and they have all been tested and are in isolation. A total of 10 people who attended the party have now tested positive for COVID-19, including a two-year-old child, who attended Little Zak’s childcare in Narellan Vale on 21 June.
  • 1 of these cases is a close contact of a previously reported case linked to the Bondi cluster.
  • 4 of the overnight cases are currently unlinked. Urgent investigations and contact tracing are underway.

One of the cases took a flight (QF163) from Sydney to Wellington, New Zealand, departing Sydney at 7:05pm Friday 18 June and arriving in Wellington at 12:12am on Saturday 19 June. The person then returned on a flight (NZ247) from Wellington, New Zealand to Sydney on Monday 21 June 2021, departing Wellington at 10:13am and arriving in Sydney at 11:33am.

Human rights lawyers have welcomed news that the privileges committee will examine whether federal court proceedings have breached parliamentary privilege by forcing pokies whistleblower Troy Stolz to hand over correspondence with Andrew Wilkie to the clubs lobby group ClubsNSW.

Stolz, a former ClubsNSW employee, last year blew the whistle on the extent of money laundering through the state’s pokies.

Stolz was in communication with Wilkie’s office before the independent MP tried unsuccessfully to table a document in parliament showing only 5-10% of the state’s clubs were complying with money laundering laws.

ClubsNSW has since launched proceedings against Stolz in the federal court, alleging he breached a confidentiality agreement through his disclosures.

The court last month ordered that Stolz hand over his communications with Wilkie to ClubsNSW. In some cases, correspondence between MPs and their constituents is protected by parliamentary privilege.

On Tuesday, Wilkie successfully referred the matter to the powerful privileges committee.

He has asked the committee to consider:

“Whether the legal action in the Federal Court of Australia taken by the Registered Clubs Association of New South Wales against Mr Troy Stolz raises issues of parliamentary privilege or contempt such that the House should formally claim privilege and intervene in the court proceedings to assert the protection of parliamentary privilege.”

Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Kieran Pender said the decision was a “positive step”.

“Whistleblowers should be able to confidentially speak up about wrongdoing to their elected representatives without fear of those discussion being used against them in a court or elsewhere,” he said.

“There are so few avenues for people to call out wrongdoing. If our ability to speak up to our elected representatives is weakened, there’ll be even fewer and our democracy will suffer as a result.”

Updated

NZ brings in new restrictions after Australian travelled to Wellington

New Zealand is introducing new restrictions on gatherings after a Covid-infected Australian traveled to Wellington and visited a number of popular tourist locations.

The Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, said on Wednesday that the Wellington region would move to alert level 2 from 6pm, and would remain there until Sunday.

Under New Zealand’s alert level 2 conditions, gatherings are limited to under 100 people, social distancing must be observed in public places, and masks are compulsory on public transport.

Hipkins said he also encouraged people to wear masks in any situation where they are interacting with people they do not know and could not observe social distancing. Hospitality venues can stay open if they are seated, with separate tables served by a single server.

Hipkins said travel was not restricted, but asked anyone leaving the Wellington region to “take level 2 with them” and observe the same rules elsewhere in the country.

“This is not a lockdown,” Hipkins said. He said if New Zealanders followed the precautionary measures outlined he hoped “we can break the potential chain of transmission”.

Director-general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said the infected person had likely contracted Covid-19 in Sydney before their travel to Wellington, and that they worked at a healthcare provider near Bondi Junction that an infected person had visited. Officials were still waiting for genomic testing to confirm that link.

Bloomfield said there was “no information to suggest” that the person had breached trans-Tasman bubble rules.

People queue outside a COVID-19 testing station in central Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, June, 23, 2021.
People queue outside a COVID-19 testing station in central Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, June, 23, 2021. Photograph: Jack Crossland/AP

Updated

Labor’s Penny Wong has called on the Liberals to vote down Nationals amendments to gut the Murray Darling Basin Plan. Wong said that Barnaby Joyce is “allowing” the Senate Nationals, led by Bridget McKenzie, to “attack South Australia”.

Wong told the Senate the issue is shaping up as a “test” for the Liberals, who she says are embarrassed by the amendments, and called on Liberal premier Stephen Marshall to pressure Morrison on the issue.

Guardian Australia understands the Liberals will vote them down. But that is just round one – the next fight is whether and how hard Barnaby Joyce will raise the issue in negotiations with Scott Morrison.

Wong said:

Mr Morrison, this is a test for you. There are three things you need to do: strip the Nationals of the water portfolio; give a clear commitment that you as prime minister will deliver the plan in full; and give a public commitment there will be no change on water policy as part of the secret Coalition deal. That’s where these deals get done.”

Nationals senator Perin Davey accused Labor and the Greens of being “only focused on one state – South Australia”. She said the amendments are “not about stealing water from South Australia”.

Updated

The Senate has started debating the inspector-general of water compliance bill, which the Nationals have weaponised with amendments proposing to tear up some of the central tenets of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

In the Senate, Labor’s Glenn Sterle notes that one of the Nationals’ first acts after Joyce retook the leadership was to vote against a motion committing to implement the Murray Darling Basin Plan in full.

The minister, Keith Pitt, has said the government supports the plan – but Sterle questions for how long this will remain its position.

Guardian Australia has contacted the prime minister’s office to ask if the Nationals have made similar demands in negotiations between new Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, and Scott Morrison. No comment – and nothing ruled out at this stage.

Sterle told the Senate the plan contains 450GL of additional water flow that is supposed to be delivered through efficiency, which secured South Australia’s participation in the plan. The water is supposed to be delivered by 2024. Sterle said just two of the 450GL have been delivered.

He said:

Joyce is back and suddenly the water for vulnerable ecosystems is under threat ... Bridget McKenzie made clear the Nationals believe the 450GL was never guaranteed, and science is pointing to a rethink of how we manage lower lakes.”

Sterle quotes South Australian environment minister, David Speirs, who said he would be “extremely disappointed” if a change in federal Nationals leader changes the approach on the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

And yet, that is what is happening.

Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, is up now accusing the Nationals of the same: taking too much water out of the river, harming the environment.

She said:

Nine years later we see Mr Barnaby Joyce as deputy prime minister and his supporters here in the Senate wanting to blow a whole in the plan, steal more water, thieve from the environment and leave downstream users and downstream states worse off.

Updated

Back to parliament

We have listed the restrictions for Sydney below – as soon as the health department releases them in detail, we will let you know.

NSW press conference summary

So there was a lot in that.

NSW has been announcing case numbers in a confusing way (announcing the day’s numbers, plus ones which came after 8pm), but we know that there were an additional three cases from yesterday, plus another 13 positive tests that came in after 8pm. So that’s 16 new cases.

Brad Hazzard is “as worried as he has been” since last January.

Restrictions have been put in place in greater Sydney. If you live in greater Sydney you’re being asked not to travel.

Masks will be mandatory in certain indoor places including workplaces and retail. Gym classes will be limited to 20 people but you have to wear a mask.

There is no lockdown. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be – lockdowns aren’t being ruled out in the future.

Updated

The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, can’t explain why the driver who transported flight crews to quarantine wasn’t vaccinated.

Everybody in the quarantine system should be vaccinated and an arrangement that is enforceable. But from time to time there are people coming in and out of the system and the human system, with a range of reasons why we might find that somebody is not vaccinated.

It could be a health issue themselves so those are issues we need to look at and the police are investigating. I’m telling you that the police are investigating.

... So let’s concentrate on what we need to be doing, our serious issue, Delta variant, which could have happened at any point at any time and we have made that point for the last 12 months, 15 months but it is a human system.

We have had almost 200,000 people come through our quarantine system and at any stage, there are human beings at every level working with those incoming passengers and we have to do, from time to time, expect there will be issues.

... That is all I’m prepared to say on that.

Updated

Why is this outbreak different to the northern beaches outbreak?

Dr Kerry Chant:

Every cluster has a unique characteristic and what we saw with the northern beaches cluster was a superspreader event – that there were two different values that amplified the transmission and then we were able to get on top of it.

We were not dealing with Delta at that time. What is particularly concerning is usually we would have seen a retail environment as low-risk settings. If you are shopping in the department store, they are generally not crowded places. When walking around, generally people do try to keep some distance.

To see transmission occurring in the setting where the mode of transmission would have been captured on CCTV, and I don’t want to (suggest) this virus jumped across a room or anything. We saw close contact but it would be the inadvertent contact you would have in retail settings that we would not have suspected transmission could happen.

We have also seen the speed at which transmission happens in households.

Updated

When speaking Annastacia Palaszczuk’s request for a letter from NSW Health saying it is prepared to break the national standard for quarantine and let a couple travel to the Gold Coast to see a dying relative, Gladys Berejiklian can barely contain her frustration:

At least a week ago our health minister spoke and New South Wales made it clear there was no impediment for them to make that journey. Can I be clear on that?

... [It] has been aired publicly for the last few days. Minister Hazzard will correct me but that was already made clear that we did everything we could to facilitate that.

Updated

What about the impact on regional NSW tourism, given it is school holidays and Sydney has been locked out of Queensland and Victoria?

Gladys Berejiklian:

We are being proportionate to the risk and saying at this stage if you live or work in those seven LGAs and let’s face it, that is quite a certificate proportion of Sydney, many people work or live in those LGAs which covers a huge proportion of Sydneysiders anyway.

We are being realistic and proportionate to the risk there. If you are living or working in those seven LGAs, please don’t travel outside Sydney.

We don’t want to contaminate or spread this variant into the regions.

We are being proportionate to the rest but it is an evolving situation. Dr Chant and her experts give us a rise in the next week or following the next week. We will ultimately follow that advice but what we have done in NSW is balance the risk, make sure we aren’t imposing restrictions over and above what we need to but when we need to act quickly, to act decisively, we have done and will.

I would be prepared to make any decision or announcement if the health advice recommended that in the next few days but at this stage, this is the best advice we have and the best response we have. And I ask our citizens to do what they have done during the entire journey – to trust us, because we have listened to them, because if we need to do further, we will.

We appreciate the time of year but we also appreciate the risk and that is why the response we have provided today we believe is a good response, proportionate response to the risk.

Tourists visit Cairns Aquarium in Cairns, Queensland.
Tourists visit Cairns Aquarium in Cairns, Queensland. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian also says the state’s hands are tied when it comes to the vaccine rollout, because they can’t get more Pfizer supplies from the federal government:

We can’t increase it. The federal government is in charge. What applies to New South Wales applies to all of Australia so we aren’t special. In national cabinet, we were advised of the doses we will receive soon based on population and New South Wales will get its fair share.

Updated

Given the majority of vulnerable people (they’re talking over 75s) have been vaccinated in NSW, are the restrictions necessary?

Gladys Berejiklian:

Firstly, we don’t have sufficient vaccination to distinguish between those that have been vaccinated and those that haven’t.

This particular strand is extremely contagious and we don’t have enough of the population vaccinated to make those distinctions.

If we had a higher proportion of the population vaccinated, we could have considered it but we don’t know any of that.

Having said that, this strain is contagious and rather random as to how you are impacted. You could be younger and suffer very serious health consequences or death.

It is random, not just older unavoidable people that may be susceptible to very serious consequences or lifelong [health problems].

That is why it is really important for all of us to protect those around us, people we work with, people who are our closest family and friends and unfortunately, we have to consider random members of the public, brushing somebody alongside, that can transfer the virus and that is how contagious it is.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Updated

NSW not ruling out a lockdown

If everyone is so worried, why no lockdown?

Gladys Berejiklian:

We have always said we have considered all the options, but we have always said we will not burden our citizens unless we absolutely have to do.

We know basically where the super-spreading events have been, we know where the virus is circulating, and we don’t want to take any further action than what we have now. But this relies on all of us reining in our behaviour, all of us following the health orders that are coming into place from 4pm.

I am not ruling out any further action, but I am also confident that if we adhere to the health orders today, we will have a good chance of getting on top of this outbreak.

I am not going to rule out further action, I am not going to rule out what happens beyond a week, because we don’t know.

We certainly didn’t expect this situation a few days ago.

But that is what it means, responding to a pandemic means you look at the facts, you look at the response, you look at where spread is or isn’t occurring and you are accordingly.

We have had the response in New South Wales not to burden our citizens unless we absolutely have to do.

We have listened to the health advice, we have listened to what has occurred and what is occurring and based on that advice is what we are announcing today. If we need to take further action within the week or after the week, we are open to that. But we just don’t know yet because the situation is evolving.

Updated

If you live in the Blue Mountains or elsewhere and work in the city, what do you do?

Gladys Berejiklian:

That’s why we have said to assess your own situation. We don’t want people who are living or working in those LGAs to spread or move around.

If you happen to work in a regional community but travel to those LGA is, we recommend you consider working from home or else living in the LGA where you work. But for essential purposes, people can still conduct their business. Just be extra cautious. If it is for an essential reason, you are able to move around. But what we are saying is if you live or work in those LGA is, we don’t want you moving outside of metropolitan Sydney.

Katoomba, NSW.
Katoomba, NSW. Photograph: picturelibrary/Alamy Stock Photo

Updated

People who live or work in seven Sydney LGAs told not to travel outside city

If you work in one LGA area and live in another, can you travel for work?

Gladys Berejiklian:

If you live or work in any of those impacted LGA is we don’t want you moving outside of metropolitan Sydney unless four essential purposes.

Obviously work, visiting and ill relative are essential purposes. Can I please make this important point.

I think people get the general message when we say, if you live or work within those LGAs, we don’t want you travelling outside of Sydney.

If you happen to come outside of city into those LGA is, we recommend you don’t in the next week.

So this comes down to health orders but also exercising common sense.

We know the virus is circulating in particular around those LGA is, the unlinked cases all those cases that are under investigation are all from that geographic proximity, so this is important and proportionate action at that we are taking to prevent further spread.

Having said that we are not [limiting] people’s behaviour within metropolitan city. The risks are there, we’re not saying you can’t leave the home for any reasons but when you leave your home there are bills you have to adhere to.

We’re not saying you cannot leave your home for any reason in metropolitan Sydney, you can.

We are not putting any objections on you leaving the home for any purpose, but if you happen to live or work in those seven LGA is, we don’t want you moving outside of Sydney. We don’t want spreading to our regions. We don’t want spreading to holiday destinations within New South Wales, at regional New South Wales in particular. And I think the vast majority of the public understand that.

Updated

'I am as worried now as I have been any time since January last year': Hazzard

Brad Hazzard is really talking up QR codes and says he is as worried as he was in January last year:

I know from my experience and from others’ experience, that there is a degree of tiredness and a degree of apathy about the response to the virus.

But in a sense, this is a new and more dangerous version of the virus and that apathy has to be swept away.

We have to actually take it seriously. The QR codes should be used whenever you are entering any of the various places where there will be QR codes.

And you should make sure that if you don’t happen to have a QR code, if you have an older-style phone, and I know there are a lot of older citizens in New South Wales who don’t have data on their phones, what I would say is to the various hospitality providers, shopkeepers and others, make sure you have alternative methods of knowing who has been in your shop.

It may make a difference to all of us to know that one person who came in and left and with this particular Delta variant.

So every retail, every hospitality centre, every opportunity where one of our citizens is going to be entering into your premises, make sure you have the QR code visible, make sure you are checking as far as humanly possible to make sure everyone signs in on the QR code, if they haven’t, if they don’t have a data phone, make sure there is written capacity, paper and pen it is that simple.

Make sure that you have that ready and available. And again, we are all in this together.

It is quite serious, I have to say as New South Wales health minister I am as worried now as I have been any time since January last year, so we need to make sure that we are all looking after each other.

Updated

'Very real and present danger': Hazzard

Health minister Brad Hazzard is up next:

Last Saturday I indicated what we knew about this Delta virus and the transmission at Westfield Bondi Junction could be described as a near and present danger when we were in the vicinity of the virus.

I think now what we have seen in just the last week or so is the numbers have gone from our first case to more than 30 cases very quickly and obviously we have just heard that we have had the 13 cases cases since 8pm last night.

What I would say to our community is we have gone from that near and present danger to a very real and present danger not just in a shopping centre but right across Sydney.

We need all take this seriously. We each have the future of our fellow New South Wales residents and Sydney residents in our hands.

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Updated

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant gives an update:

I’ll take you through a recap of the cases over the last day and describes the issues causing us concern.

There were 10 locally acquired cases to 8pm last night. There were three new cases.

The vast majority, yesterday were pleasingly in isolation for the full infectious period.

However, we have had two cases yesterday that were not certain that was the nine-year-old child that attends the Saint Charles Catholic primary school and we have also had a gentleman in his 30s and he attended the birthday party.

In terms of the cases today, we had 13 locally acquired cases recorded after the 8pm cut off last night.

Eight of these cases were linked to the birthday party in West Hoxton, identify the previously reported case, the worker at Bondi Junction.

I’ll describe the sequence of events, so you understand how quickly transmission is occurring, that party and gathering occurred, there were about 30 people there, in a house and the person was infectious at the time, unknowingly, didn’t have symptoms, was unaware, hadn’t attended venues, in that evening, then waited and get tested, when they developed symptoms next day, and we got the result on the Monday.

Immediately, people are asked to isolate and we got the test coming and associated with that.

What you see is that those test results indicate how rapidly the virus was transmitted in the circumstances with 10 cases from that party and that is on day two after the exposure so the event happened on Monday and those individuals were tested on Tuesday, and remember, there is a period where they would not have been infectious. On the Sunday all those individuals would have unknowingly had the infection or periods of Monday.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian says contact tracing is holding up, but the variant is more contagious than anything they have dealt with previously (as Victoria also stated):

On this occasion, our contact tracing has been better than I’ve ever seen what we haven’t seen one before as the contagiousness of this variant. It is extremely contagious and the 30 exchanges not even physical touching means people have transferred it

The changes are immediate – compliance will be enforced from 4pm.

Updated

NSW premier imposes new Sydney restrictions

Gladys Berejiklian continues:

If there is a major outdoor event like a sporting event or other organised event, we will recommend only 50% capacity so if there is a stadium where there is a major event on over the weekend or in the next week, we recommend only 50% capacity and that will be in the health orders.

We want to ensure there is more widespread mask wearing. We will extend mask wearing to indoor settings like workplaces and we already had them in place for a number of venues we announced yesterday.

If you are going to an organised event, an outdoor sporting event or outdoor concert or some type of other event, in addition to 50% capacity, we want you to wear a mask at those events.

If you’re going to a sporting event, there is likely to be cheering and shouting and whatever else, given how contagious the virus is, we want you to wear a mask at those events.

The exception is if you are eating or drinking and that is applied throughout.

Gym classes will be limited to 20 but you have to wear a mask. Some people might choose not to attend those gym classes. We don’t want it to be a bigger impact than we need to, but gym classes are 20 with masks.

Public transport is back to the green dots. The green dots are still there. We kept them in place. Wear a mask on public transport and where those green dots.

Importantly, if you live or work in the seven LGA places we described earlier in the week – I don’t live in those LGAs work in those seven LGAs, but I work in those LGAs – if you live or work in those seven LGAs you cannot travel outside Sydney unless you are visiting a relative in care or have to go to work. So unless it is essential travel, you should not be going outside metropolitan Sydney for the next week and we apologise in advance for the impact on some people’s ability to travel during the school holidays.

Those seven local government areas are City of Sydney, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West, Randwick and Waverley.

Updated

New restrictions are being outlined for NSW hotspots:

Gladys Berejiklian:

We know it is a difficult time given school holidays and I should also say at the outset that these restrictions announced in today will be in place from 4pm today for an additional week.

We had said the mask-wearing restrictions had to be in place for another week until Wednesday met night.

This will apply to these restrictions I announce today. No more than five visitors per household including children, at hospitality venues, no vertical consumption. All people must be seated at any setting. We don’t want mingling.

[It increases the means] of transferring the virus so these are make sure all consumption at hospitality venues or otherwise or events has to be seated and with good social distancing.

No singing or dancing at any venue except weddings which we will allow 20 people on the dance floor at any given time but no dancing or singing whether a place of worship, a nightclub, anywhere else but for weddings. No more than 20 people on the dance floor at a wedding.

We will revert to the one per four square metre rule during this time and we know that will have an impact on family gatherings like funerals or weddings but these are measures we have to take charge of now so we don’t have to do anything more severe down the track.

But we are putting in place now is in a bid prevent us having to take further action.

Updated

Here are the numbers.

Updated

NSW records another 16 local cases of Covid

Gladys Berejiklian is giving the update:

As of 8pm last night, there were 10 cases of community transmission in New South Wales. [Seven] of those we had already been made aware yesterday.

The 10th is an additional person that attended the party where the worker from Bondi Junction also attended.

They are the 10 cases to 8pm last night.

Unfortunately, since 8pm last night, New South Wales has recorded an additional 13 cases of community transmission. Eight of which were at that same party.

Yesterday we mentioned a party that was attended by a worker from Bondi Junction. That party had an additional case to 8pm last night and eight additional cases from 8pm until now.

The ninth person out of the 13 was a patient in the waiting room of the case we mentioned yesterday and there are four cases under investigation but all are in close proximity to the south-east Sydney cluster and Dr Chant will provide further detail of those. This is an evolving situation that we would have preferred not occur but what has occurred. Our government will take action today to limit the spread of what is a very contagious variant of Covid.

Updated

We should hear from the NSW authorities very soon.

Updated

Four NSW Nationals MP in self-isolation after exposure to Covid case at Sydney restaurant

The NSW Nationals MP Trevor Khan has confirmed that he and three of his parliamentary colleagues are in self-isolation after attending a restaurant at the same time as a Covid-positive case.

Along with Ben Franklin, Steph Cooke and Adam Marshall, Khan ate at Christo’s Five Way Pizzeria – a Paddington restaurant popular with the Nationals – on Monday night. The group received a text message from NSW Health at about midnight last night.

Khan has been tested and is waiting for the results. He said he could be in isolation until 5 July “subject to what NSW Health tells me”.

“I have absolutely no symptoms but I’m in self-isolation because of the message I received from NSW Health,” he said.

“The one thing I can say is very clearly the QR codes work. It is pretty impressive how quickly they have contacted us. I’ve been pretty religious in using them so it is good to see the system is working.”

In the meantime, Khan is stuck in the unit waiting to receive the results of his Covid test.

“I don’t have many books ... usually it’s just the unit I sleep in when I’m in Sydney working,” he said.

Updated

Michael McGowan will have an update on the NSW Nationals’ possible Covid exposure for you very soon.

Updated

We will receive the NSW numbers very soon, but there are unconfirmed reports four members of the NSW Nationals party are in self-isolation after potential exposure at a factional dinner earlier in the week.

New Zealand officials have released a growing list of locations visited by a Covid-infected Australian on a trip to Wellington.

The ministry of health has so far released 14 places of interest that the person visited over the weekend, including a supermarket, museum, and several downtown cafes and eateries. The full list is still being updated, and is available here, along with instructions for testing and self-isolating to those who have visited those locations.

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said he understood the person had had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This would mean that while they are not fully vaccinated, they may be less infectious to others than if they had not had any doses.

Hipkins said the situation in Wellington was considered “low risk but not no risk”.

The Covid-positive person was traveling with their partner, and Hipkins said he did not yet know the vaccination status of that person.

A further update from New Zealand officials is expected at 1pm. The government has said it is not ruling out a lockdown for the city, or other restrictions on movement and gathering.

Updated

Never let it be said that Joel Fitzgibbon will let an opportunity to drag back attention to him and his personal causes go by.

Everyone focused on what the government is doing? Must be time for Fitzgibbon to pop his head up!

The Labor member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon, during question time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra
The Labor member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon, during question time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has bucketed his own party for voting to prevent Arena investing in fossil-fuel related technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

Fitzgibbon told 2GB it was “regrettable” that Labor was opposing $1.2bn of investments in a move he called “ideological craziness”.

Fitzgibbon also blamed Pauline Hanson for abstaining from the vote. “We should not have won – Pauline not turning up gave us the victory I didn’t want,” he said.

Fitzgibbon noted the new investment rules, now junked, would have allowed investment in carbon capture and storage – and argued that if you’re “serious” about getting emissions down, you should support CCS.

Updated

Oh good.

Updated

This just turned up on the government notice paper very suddenly:

NEW QUARANTINE FACILITY IN VICTORIA—APPROVAL OF WORK

Mrs [Nola] Marino (Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories), for Mr [Ben] Morton (Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet), pursuant to notice, moved – That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969, and by reason of the urgent nature of the works, it is expedient that the following work be carried out without having been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works: New quarantine facility in Victoria.

(Thanks to the friends of the blog for all their extra eyes)

Updated

Over in the Senate and the Nationals seem to be blowing up the Murray-Darling Basin plan.

Bridget McKenzie’s office has sent out a statement. Here is part of it:

Today the National Party in the Senate will put forward amendments to the Basin Plan.

Last year, National Party basin MPs Anne Webster and Damian Drum put forward water amendments in an attempt to address basin communities’ concerns about water availability during the drought.

Since then, we have been looking for an opportunity to amend both the Water Act and the Basin Plan Act. The Inspector General legislation provides the rare opportunity to achieve what our basin communities have sort for so long.

The National Party are proposing four key amendments to the Water Act (2007) and Basin Plan Act (2012).

    • Remove 450GL up water
    • Remove buybacks
    • Enable new offset projects
    • No further water to be taken when the Basin Plan concludes in 2024

The amendments will see the removal of the controversial 450 gigalitres (GL) that Federal Labor hastily added to the Plan in 2012 to get South Australia to sign up, but the 450GL was never guaranteed.

The Nationals believe the next major step required to protect the environment is delivering environmental complementary measure projects rather than destroying rural communities by taking more water.

The Nationals are proposing to legislate to rule out water buybacks. Buybacks have devastated farming towns with less water available to grow food, increased water prices and stranded irrigation assets – this cannot be allowed to continue.

To date the Basin Plan has recovered over 2100GL for the environment with the Plan having a target of 2750GL. The remainder of the 2750GL is well underway with Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) Projects - there are 36 projects in total. A handful of projects are unlikely to be achieved and flexibility is required.

The Nationals are proposing to amend the legislation to allow for new SDLAM projects. We have made these policies but our people want more certainty so we need to legislate.

The floodplains surrounding the Mara Billabong, near Wilcannia, New South Wales
The floodplains surrounding the Mara Billabong, near Wilcannia, New South Wales. Photograph: Lincoln Fowler/Alamy

Updated

Narellan Vale childcare centre in Sydney reports positive Covid case

We are still waiting on the official word from NSW Health, but a Narellan Vale childcare centre in Sydney has announced it is closed for cleaning after a positive Covid case:

Little Zak’s Academy is taking additional precautionary measures to ensure all rooms and play areas are thoroughly sanitised.

The child who has tested positive and her family are in home quarantine and “doing well”.

Updated

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry has responded to the claims that China is to blame for the Unesco draft decision to declare the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”.

(Thanks to Daniel Hurst for pointing it out)

Q: A UN committee has recommended that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef be added to a list of “in danger” world heritage sites. It’s a move that has angered Australia and the Australian government who believe it was influenced by political interference. A government source told Reuters reporter in Australia that the Canberra believes China is behind the move as China is currently chairing the committee. Do you have any comment on this?

Zhao Lijian:

Some people in Australia have been spreading China-related rumours and disinformation out of ideological bias. In the same vein, what you just mentioned is totally groundless smear and slander.

Updated

Let’s all just take a moment to let it sink in that it was One Nation that tanked the Arena changes.

(There were also questions over whether or not it was legal and it would have ended up in the courts if allowed to stand, but still.)

Updated

We’ve reached out to Senator Pauline Hanson to ask why she abstained from the disallowance motion to prevent the Australian Renewable Energy Agency investing in carbon capture and storage and other fossil-fuel related technologies.

It was Hanson’s absence for the vote last night that allowed Labor, the Greens, Rex Patrick, Stirling Griff and Jacqui Lambie to pass the disallowance. She split from Malcolm Roberts, who voted with the government.

The explanation given to Guardian Australia by crossbench sources and other interested stakeholders is that Hanson didn’t like the fact that gas companies who pay no tax but pay dividends to foreign shareholders stood to benefit from Arena’s expanded investment remit.

Viewed not as a pro-renewable energy move but an anti-government subsidies for undeserving companies move, that makes sense. It will be interesting to see if this has a bearing on future votes on the Beetaloo Basin and the gas-fired recovery generally.

Updated

As I understand it, you can still transfer through Sydney airport under these restrictions, but keep an eye on it.

Why is the defence force leading the public health vaccine roll out?

No one can really say. Something, something logistics is the best we can get.

Mike Bowers was out and about early this morning.

Apparently Barnaby Joyce wasn’t in the greatest of moods, at least with the photographers.

A function was held last night celebrating his return to the Nationals’ leadership. Perhaps the game was just a bit too early for him this morning.

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce at the annual rugby league touch football ‘State of Origin’ match for politicians and staffers on the Senate oval of Parliament House in Canberra this morning.
Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce at the annual rugby league touch football ‘State of Origin’ match for politicians and staffers on the Senate oval of Parliament House in Canberra this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Queensland senator Matt Canavan scores a try.
Queensland senator Matt Canavan scores a try. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

I didn’t ask who won, because I don’t care.

The teams at the annual rugby league touch football ‘State of Origin’ match for politicians and staffers
The teams at the annual rugby league touch football ‘State of Origin’ match for politicians and staffers. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Virgin Australia will hand out millions of frequent flier points as an incentive for Australians to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

The airline’s initiative comes as the Morrison government is yet to release its public ad campaign to encourage vaccination that health experts have been pleading for.

A Virgin spokesperson said “what the latest lockdown in Melbourne and the evolving situation in Sydney has taught us is the sooner we can all get vaccinated, the sooner we can get on with our lives, without the constant fear and uncertainty that come with lockdowns, restrictions and closed borders”.

Free business class flights and millions of points for its Velocity frequent flier program will be of offer to any Australian resident – regardless of whether they have previously flown with the airline – who gets vaccinated and registers for the competition.

Among the rewards, one vaccinated Australian will receive 1 million frequent flier points – which Virgin says is enough to fly around Australia seven times between each capital city, or to Europe and back multiple times (once borders open).

Australians will only be able to apply for the frequent flier points once Australia’s vaccine program has progressed to the point that all adults are eligible for vaccination, a sign that even private business incentives for vaccination are ultimately limited by the speed of the government’s rollout.

Updated

Annastacia Palaszczuk turns to the Great Barrier Reef and says:

The greatest risk at the moment is the National party in Canberra.

Why?

They are the ones that are proposing a coalmine right on the Great Barrier Reef. And coal is going to be needed across the globe for many years to come, including gas, including renewables, and that is why we have a 50% renewable target by 2030, and my government in the last budget invested $2bn in renewable energy.

Building a brand new coal-fired power station adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef by the National party, yes. These plans are already under way.

Updated

As usual, NSW will give its Covid update at 11am.

Updated

I think that is the sixth hotel quarantine breach in the last month.

Dr Jeannette Young:

We’re contacting all of the 30 people on that floor 5 and anyone who left quarantine during the period that I’m concerned about. So they’re all being contacted.

And the people on floor 5, their stay has been extended until we’ve been able to confirm that there’s been no additional transmission.

I mean, it’s reassuring that it is one room to the room next door, and we’ve seen, unfortunately, that happen across the country in our hotels.

We now, of course, have all of our staff fully vaccinated and all of our staff working in these get tested every single day. We’ll retest all of the staff again whether or not they’re at work or on leave, so we’ll go back to all of our staff and see if there’s any positive cases there.

But so far, with all of that daily testing, there hasn’t been any.

On the hotel quarantine leak, Dr Jeannette Young says:

So a few days ago, we did have some cases that were reported as hotel assessed and found in hotel quarantine.

But now that we’ve got the genome sequencing back, we know that there’s been transmission from one room to another room. So this is on floor 5 of the Brisbane airport Novotel hotel and we had two people in one room, and one person in the room adjacent.

And that person in the room adjacent tested positive first and then, two days later, the couple, or the two people in the adjacent room, tested positive. And at the time we thought it was just overseas acquired. But now that I’ve got the genome sequencing back, it’s clear that the first person has given it to the other two people.

Updated

Why the sudden change to lock out those Sydney areas?

Dr Jeannette Young:

The 21 cases that we’ve seen and just the large number of exposure venues. There’s well over 120 exposure venues and, unfortunately, with the Delta variant, we’re seeing very fleeting contact leading to transmission. If you remember at the start of this pandemic, I spoke about 15 minutes of close contact being a concern. Now, it looks like it’s five to 10 seconds that’s a concern. So it’s just the risk is so much higher now than it was only a year ago.

Updated

Queensland chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, gives her update:

We have one new case in hotel quarantine who recently returned from Zambia and we already have the genome sequence on that case and it is the Delta variant.

And that’s the major variant we’re now seeing in people returning from all parts of the world.

So we’re not seeing that Delta variant only coming from India now.

It’s widespread and that is to be expected when you get a variant that is more transmissible, it then becomes the dominant variant.

And we’ve now seen, of course, this rapid spread in Sydney of the Delta variant and it’s now at 21 cases, so we’ve had to make that decision here.

So I’ve advised the premier and she has followed through that we will be requiring anyone who has been in those seven LGAs in Sydney from 1am tomorrow and I’m not backdating it, but anyone who arrives after 1am tomorrow who has been in those areas will need to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days.

And we’ll keep a close eye on whether there’s further spread to more LGAs in Sydney. So it is very important that people in Queensland reconsider their need to travel anywhere in Greater Sydney or Wollongong.

Updated

There is some good news, though, for the Sydney couple who are vaccinated and want to come to Queensland to see the man’s dying father before it is too late. Annastacia Palaszczuk says an agreement with NSW Health is possible:

I’m pleased to have an update. Dr Young and I had a lengthy discussion this morning and what we would like to see from the New South Wales government, and this is a matter for the NSW government, if they want to break the 14-day mandatory quarantine for this couple, and if can provide Dr Young with how they will safely be transferred from Sydney to the Gold Coast, we, of course, will do everything we can to facilitate the reunion with his father at the earliest convenience.

Updated

Queensland closes to Sydney hot spots

I am so, so sorry Sydney.

Queensland is following Victoria and closing its borders to much of greater Sydney.

Annastacia Palaszczuk:

So we already closed to the Waverley council area, but from 1am tomorrow, in line with the restrictions announced by Victoria, Queensland will close to the following local government areas. They are: the City of Sydney, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick.

Updated

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirms Queensland has had a hotel quarantine leak:

Now, the other thing we’ve detected overnight as well is that we had some spread of the Delta variant in a hotel. It’s the Novotel hotel so we’re making sure that we look at that floor closely and, once again, we just think that it is a case of people opening the doors.

Updated

Victoria records no new local Covid cases

Victoria completes a week with either zero or one case:

Updated

The AFP canine team is headed to Parliament House this morning for a bit of soft PR.

They might be cute, but they’re still narcs.

Updated

Is Labor divided on climate policy?

Jim Chalmers:

We agree 100% that this country needs to get to net-zero emissions by mid-century. We’ve said that for some time now. As have all the states and territories, the peak business groups, a lot of the countries with which we compare ourselves.

We don’t want to see action on climate change and the jobs which will flow from cheaper and cleaner energy held hostage to more political games between the Nationals and the Liberals.

Updated

We are still waiting on the NSW numbers to be released – that should be very soon.

In the meantime, in case you missed it, here are the new venues of concern

Over on the Nine Network, David Littleproud was pretending everything was fine:

Q: Did you manage to wash the blood off your hands before parliament yesterday?

Littleproud: Look, it was a traumatic day but democracy has made its call. Now we have to just get on with the job and win the next election under Barnaby.

Q: Who’d you vote for?

Littleproud: Look, I’ve been consistent. I don’t get into these games or finger-pointing exercises after the event. My comments – my public comments – have been very consistent and my actions align with that.

Q: OK. How’d you manage to hold on to that job then?

Littleproud: Well, anyone can contest me.

Host: [Laughs]

Littleproud: But obviously they didn’t feel they had the numbers.

Host: [Laughs]

Littleproud: The only, the first rule of politics is if you’ve got the numbers, you use them. So, I was happy to be contested. If that was what the party room decided, then that can happen at any point.

Newly elected National party leader Barnaby Joyce (middle) with David Littleproud (left) and Bridget McKenzie (right) on Monday.
Newly elected National party leader Barnaby Joyce (middle) with David Littleproud (left) and Bridget McKenzie (right) on Monday. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Josh Burns was sent out with Labor’s lines this morning.

Asked how he thought the Coalition was going, he said:

I think they are a mess to be honest. I can’t remember a government being as shambolic as they are. They spent, in the middle of a national crisis, in the middle of New South Wales dealing with this really infectious strain of virus, the only thing that this government’s done is stabbed the deputy prime minister in the back. It’s shambolic, Australians deserve better, and instead of dealing with the issues that face Australians this government is leaving us increasingly isolated, and they want to drag us back to the 1950s.

Updated

It shouldn’t come as any surprise – to anyone. This has been on the cards (officially) since 2012. There have been multiple warnings. Promises have been broken, commitments have not been kept. The Great Barrier Reef is not getting better.

And in that same decade, Australia has not done anything on climate. There has been no concrete policy for a decade. Despite the spin, not a lot is going to happen on emissions unless there is actual action.

I was a journalist in Queensland for years, and covered when the Queensland government and Coalition federal government co-operated to travel to France and stop the reef from being listed as ‘in danger’ during the Paris climate talks in 2016. In the years since, NOTHING has changed.

There is no way anyone could have been ‘blindsided’ by this. Unless, of course, you have been wilfully blind. But then that is something else entirely, isn’t it.

Graham Readfearn has spoken to Dr Fanny Douvere, of Unesco’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, about the draft decision to list the reef as “in danger”.

The “in danger” recommendation was made on science-based reports from Australia, including from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and official government reports on water quality, the senior Unesco official said.

“This decision is not a surprise to anyone. We have been working constructively [with Australia] for a decade. There has been bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020.

“All the information points in the same direction, that the reef is deteriorating and the outlook has gone from poor to very poor.”

Updated

Wellington may face Covid lockdown after visit by infected Australian tourist

Our New Zealand correspondent, Tess McClure, has an update on the NZ Covid situation.

New Zealand is racing to track the in-country movements of a tourist with Covid-19 who tested positive on their return to Australia, with the possibility of a lockdown of the capital, Wellington, not ruled out.

The traveller spent a weekend visiting Wellington from Sydney, and visited a number of sites around the city, including popular tourism spot Te Papa, the national museum. At this stage, it is assumed they caught coronavirus in Sydney before travelling.

Four close contacts have already been identified and are isolating, the ministry of health said.

New Zealand officials have released an initial list of six locations of interest in Wellington, and those who have visited them at the listed times are being told to get tested and self-isolate. So far they include a pub, a pharmacy, a hotel, and the museum, all in the inner city.

Updated

David Littleproud also told ABC radio RN:

We shouldn’t close our minds to the technologies that can reduce emissions, that can keep coalmines going here in Australia and around the world, and continue to invest in that technology.

This is one of the biggest furphies the government is pushing – because no one is saying that we should ignore the technology – it’s that, in many cases, the technology doesn’t exist. And it is the market which is making the decision on coalmines. It’s pulling out. All over the world. Banks and investment firms aren’t turning away from coal from the goodness of their hearts or because they have developed a social conscience – it’s because it doesn’t make financial sense.

Updated

David Littleproud:

If there is to be any move towards it then farmers should be part of the solution and they shouldn’t be penalised like they have been in the past where they have footed the bill for the country’s social conscience and we just simply say that it’s time to square the ledger.

This ignores that the agriculture industry is already doing things. A lot of work actually. And has supported net zero for some time.

Updated

The problem for the Nationals is that the leadership change was essentially on net zero 2050 – there are enough Nats in the party room who don’t want it, didn’t think Michael McCormack was pushing back enough, and Barnaby Joyce seized his chance.

But that only matters before the election (all of this is about the election). After the election, it won’t be as much of an issue (that’s my prediction anyway).

The issue for the government (and the country), though, is the Glasgow climate conference is in November. Which, on current indications, is before the election. And where the world is expecting Australia to do something. And if we don’t, well, that could mean other issues like tariffs.

So this has some way to play out, but the lines are being very strongly drawn.

Updated

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud is on ABC radio RN trying to explain how things are being done on climate change, while also explaining why agriculture needs to be excluded (which is not a new position).

But that is still not enough to get the Nats across the line. So we are at a stalemate.

Updated

Good morning

Happy Wednesday, everyone. We’ve made it halfway through the last sitting week before the winter break.

It’ll be another Barnaby day in the parliament as Labor continues to sideline the prime minister from question time and everything else the opposition can manage. Late last night, Labor and the Greens took advantage of a no-show by Pauline Hanson to disallow changes to the Arena renewable energy fund that would have opened it up to funding fossil fuel projects (like gas).

It’s a blow to the government’s “energy plan’ and won’t help ongoing tensions between the Nationals and the Liberals over climate and energy, including net zero by 2050. The whole reason Joyce is back is because the Nats didn’t believe Michael McCormack was bolshie enough on the topic, so Joyce has come out all guns blazing. Asked about jobs in question time yesterday, the deputy prime minister mainly spoke about coalmining jobs. That’s a very, very small percentage of the Australian workforce, but they’ve become among the most important jobs in the country. Just for political reasons.

Meanwhile, the pandemic continues, with Victoria declaring large parts of NSW “red zones” and effectively shutting the border, while New Zealand has temporarily shut down the travel bubble after a person with Covid flew from Sydney to Wellington.

There is no “normal” with this. Lives are being disrupted and the inability to plan, or the constant dread that comes with those still making plans, is leaving a lot of people on edge. Australia’s vaccination schedule can’t increase until it gets more mRNA vaccines and that’s not happening until at least the spring. The head of the roll-out has admitted that concerns over supply is the reason there is no vaccination campaign. The states can’t increase their side of the roll-out without knowing they have enough for second doses. As NSW deals with the latest outbreak, tensions are increasing, but there are no real answers. National cabinet can meet all it likes, but without increased vaccination supply, Australia can’t move forward.

We’ll cover all of the day’s political and Covid news for you as it happens. You’ve got Mike Bowers out and about for you, and Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Sarah Martin and Daniel Hurst in Canberra, hitting the phones and hallways. Amy Remeikis is with you on the blog.

It’s a three-coffee morning. At least.

Ready?

Updated

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