We’ll leave it there for now.
Here are the main events from today.
- The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, voted in parliament while waiting for a Covid test result, it was revealed.
- Victoria handed down a big-spending state budget in a bid to kick-start the Covid-ravaged economy
- The SA pizza store worker blamed for the state’s outbreak says he’s ‘deeply sorry’.
- Queensland promised to open its borders to NSW on 1 December.
- NSW and Victoria recorded no new infections, with Victoria no longer holding any active cases.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull says Scott Morrison was “dazzled and duchessed” and went “full-in” with Donald Trump on foreign affairs and climate change, but now needs to change direction to avoid Australia being seen as a “Trump-lite refuge in the southern hemisphere”.
Environment editor Adam Morton has the story.
A timeline for your perusal.
Test was approx 4:00pm.
— Alex Hart (@alexhart7) November 24, 2020
Vote was approx 5:40pm.
Result was approx 6:00pm.#nswpol https://t.co/msTdYCyf4y
The Victorian state budget released today has given another insight into the prison system, with a key target on reducing the rate of offenders who return to jail not being met.
Bail reforms introduced after the 2017 Bourke Street massacre are considered the catalyst for a significant increase in the Victorian prison population, although the budget noted that the government had expected a larger increase in the population were it not for Covid-19.
But 44% of prisoners in Victoria were back behind bars within two years, an increase on last year’s rate and a failure to meet a target of 41%, the budget shows.
“The 2019-20 outcome is higher than the 2019-20 target primarily due to an increase in prisoners returning to custody with shorter sentences and more prisoners returning to prison on remand within two years and subsequently receiving a sentence,” the budget states.
The rate of return to corrective services within two years of discharge from a community corrections order, 17%, also failed to meet the government target and was higher than last year.
The budget confirmed that the state government would report on the average daily number of Aboriginal children and young people (aged 10-17 years) in custody for the first time, with a target set of 16-20. The state detains Aboriginal youths at a rate about 10 times higher than non-Aboriginal youths.
The state is exploring several changes to the justice system as a result of the pandemic, but no significant announcements regarding prisons were included in the budget.
Gladys Berejiklian has been quite strident in her message to NSW citizens about following health authorities’ Covid-19 self-isolation guidelines.
It’s all here in this 1.30 video.
Berejiklian voted in parliament before getting test result
Guardian Australia has also confirmed the news that the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, voted in parliament while waiting for a Covid-19 test result.
Earlier today, the premier had told ABC News:
I didn’t have any symptoms, no scratchy throat, [none] of the symptoms listed on the NSW Health website, but in an abundance of caution I had the test done that afternoon and was told I’d have a result within 90 minutes to two hours.
I didn’t change my schedule, perhaps I should have. But the facts were an ordinary person probably wouldn’t have needed the test at all.
Perhaps in hindsight I should have closed my door and not seen anybody for that 90 minutes to two hours, but I didn’t ... I accept that in hindsight I should have kept my door shut.
Updated
To all workers who’ve taken days of work to wait for test results - thank you.
— Jodi McKay (@JodiMcKayMP) November 24, 2020
To all businesses who’ve given their employees time off work to wait for test results - thank you.
To the Premier - who had meetings and voted in parliament with 90 MPs - shame on you.
Spurrier says:
The important thing for everybody to know in South Australia is that everybody that needs to be in quarantine is in quarantine. So my role here is to protect the South Australian public, but my additional role is to make sure that the medi-hotel system is as good as it needs to be.
Updated
The SA chief health officer, Prof Nicola Spurrier, is speaking to the media, following the news that two cases became infected while in isolation in a medi-hotel.
Spurrier says there will be additional testing for staff and guests at the Peppers medi-hotel.
She is being questioned about whether the guests caught the virus from a security guard or a cleaner, but she is declining to say.
Updated
The removal of Indigenous children from their mothers is a “Catch-22” for women who come forward as domestic violence victims, an inquiry has heard.
Thelma Schwartz of the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service has told a disability royal commission hearing that in 2015 when she began in her role, failure to protect children from exposure to domestic and family violence was grounds for removal.
A history of contact with the child protection system was also cited as a reason for child removal, Schwartz told the hearing in Brisbane on Tuesday, reports AAP.
You can see that by coming forward and making the disclosure that you’ve been a victim, which is all of this advertising and the whole genesis of the Not Now, Not Ever report, this is now used as a Catch-22 for this mother and used against her to remove her kid.
While language has become “more sophisticated” since a change in legislation in 2017, Schwartz said this pattern continues to be the case.
It still comes down to exposure to domestic and family violence (and if) you were a child yourself who has been through the child protection system.
Schwartz said typical ways of operating were “completely inadequate” in dealing with the over-representation of Indigenous people in criminal justice, juvenile detention and child protection systems.
Updated
The opposition leader’s response.
It’s taken them all day to tell the truth. Fact is she didn’t just have meetings, she walked into the parliament with 90 plus MPs and voted while waiting for a COVID test result. https://t.co/COyZuI0oXR
— Jodi McKay (@JodiMcKayMP) November 24, 2020
Berejiklian voted in parliament before getting Covid test result
This is quite a development.
Premier @GladysB 's office has confirmed she voted in Parliament after her Covid test, BEFORE she got her result.
— Alex Hart (@alexhart7) November 24, 2020
Updated
Doha airport officers who ordered forced internal medical exams of female passengers after an abandoned newborn was discovered in a rubbish bin face possible three-year prison sentences.
The physical examinations of Qatar Airways passengers bound for Sydney and nine other destinations triggered outrage in Australia.
AAP reports Qatari prosecutors said an investigation had found some security officers “acted unilaterally by summoning female medical staff to conduct external examination to some female passengers, thinking that what they had done was within the law”.
A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told AAP on Tuesday a progress report had been received in relation to the Qatari investigations.
“The Australian government acknowledges the information provided by Qatar, and the finding of the public prosecutor that the boundaries of legal authority were exceeded,” the spokesman said.
“Further details in relation to criminal charges are a matter for Qatari investigation agencies.”
DFAT said the government expected a “just and proportionate accountability for those responsible”.
“The Australian government has made clear to the government of Qatar that the treatment of the female airline passengers, and the examinations to which they were subjected, were grossly inappropriate and offensive.”
It is expected the Qatar government will provide a further report on the incident and the measures taken to ensure it is never repeated.
The abandoned newborn’s mother faces up to 15 years in prison if apprehended.
The woman apparently flew out of the country before the baby was discovered.
Prosecutors said DNA helped them identify her and the baby’s father.
Updated
South Australia pizza store worker 'deeply sorry'
The Spanish national at the centre of a South Australian police investigation into his failure to disclose to contact tracers he worked shifts at the Woodville Pizza Bar has expressed his remorse for the lockdown in the state, and concern over the release of his personal information into the public domain.
The solicitor acting for the 36-year-old man released a statement on Tuesday that he is “extremely remorseful and deeply sorry for any part his conduct played in any unnecessary lockdown actions.
He did not foresee or intend that things might unfold as they have.
South Australia’s six-day lockdown ended three days early after it was determined the man had worked shifts alongside a security guard at the Woodville Pizza Bar when he contracted Covid-19 and had not just caught it from a pizza box, meaning the spread of the virus was much less than authorities had feared.
Guardian Australia reported on Monday the man has limited access to information due to being in quarantine and police seizing his devices as part of the investigation, but Scott Jelbert, principal at Camena, said in the statement today that some of the information being alleged about his client’s actions is “not fair, accurate or complete notwithstanding the state government’s comments”.
And the man “is concerned he has been all but publicly named”. State authorities have released the man’s age, visa status, and nationality.
“He is sincerely concerned about the impact of the lockdown on South Australians,” Jelbert said.
“My client has not been charged with any breach of the law but in the circumstances, including that such charges may emerge, no further comment about those matters is appropriate at this time.”
Updated
My colleague Daniel Hurst reports that Mathias Cormann’s bid to lead the OECD is facing domestic opposition.
The Greens are now lobbying OECD nations to reject Cormann’s candidacy.
Updated
South Australia reports two more cases linked to cluster
Two more cases have been added to South Australia’s concerning coronavirus cluster, but officials say both people are already in hotel quarantine.
The cases were found in two people considered close contacts who recently returned to Australia and were thought to have contracted the virus overseas.
Their infections were revealed on Sunday and Tuesday.
But SA Health says further genetic testing has now revealed the pair became infected while in isolation in a hotel previously linked to Adelaide’s Parafield cluster, AAP reports.
Their cases take the size of the cluster to 29 but leave the total number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in SA at 557.
“There is no additional risk to the public as the cases are linked to a medi-hotel staff member who has previously tested positive for Covid-19 and contact tracing has already been undertaken,” SA Health said in a statement.
“As a precaution, we are undertaking additional testing at one of our medi-hotels for all staff and guests today.”
Updated
A final update on the markets from AAP:
Enthusiastic investors have helped the Australian share market close more than 1% higher after promising test results for coronavirus vaccines.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index closed up 82.5 points, or 1.26%, to 6,644.1 on Tuesday.
The index remains at levels last reached in late February, before investors became nervous about the coronavirus.
The All Ordinaries closed higher by 83.5 points, or 1.23%, to 6,855.5.
All sectors were stronger. Energy was the standout sector, up by 3.48%.
AstraZeneca became the latest major drugmaker to say its vaccine could be about 90% effective. Oxford University has reported a similar level of success.
The Aussie dollar was buying 73.14 US cents at 1620 AEDT, higher from 73.13 US cents at Monday’s close.
Updated
Tony Burke, Labor’s IR spokesman, is being interview on the ABC.
He tells Patricia Karvelas news that five delivery riders have died on the roads in five months is “chilling”.
When you think that the responsibility for their safety is being governed not by an employer but by algorithm, that’s why they’re working. How quickly they are expected to work, it is being governed by an algorithm. The government’s view has been, well, they’re not employees. If someone wants to work and the app they’re using is the pathway for the work, it is hard to see that they are somehow a proud independent contractor responsible for their own insurance and they’re expected to be up and running as though they’re a small business ...
It’s not safe work. There is a customer demand. This industry will exist. It’s not safe and it needs to be. It’s not secure work and it needs to be. And we can’t have a situation where for the sake of convenience, we put up with there being a section of Australia’s workforce that effectively has no rights.
Updated
Further to those comments from the RBA, my colleague Amy Remeikis has filed this story, which you should check out:
Updated
Reserve Bank says lower dollar and QE are supporting jobs
The Reserve Bank says the lower Australian dollar, helped by its decision to enter into a $100bn bond-buying program, is supporting jobs.
The RBA deputy governor, Guy Debelle, says the impact of the exchange rate coming down boosts domestic demand and puts people in jobs, AAP reports.
“The biggest way of effecting economic outcomes is whether people have jobs or not, which I think is sometimes lost in this discussion,” Debelle told a webinar conference on Tuesday, explaining the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy actions this year.
The bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing or QE, was announced earlier this month and came alongside a cut in the cash rate and other key rates to a record low 0.1% from 0.25%.
Between mid-September and the November central bank board meeting, speculation of a move to QE saw the exchange rate depreciate by about 5%.
“We’ve seen the exchange rate come down by a noticeable amount and enough to have an impact on the economy and have an impact on employment and people’s livelihoods,” he told the Australian Business Economists conference.
More broadly, Debelle says the central bank’s stimulus measures, complementing the significant packages introduced by governments, have boosted the cashflow of households and business.
“The lower borrowing rates will encourage businesses and households to borrow, invest and spend when they are confident about their future prospects,” he said.
Updated
Jane Hume, the superannuation minister, is responding to former prime minister Paul Keating’s claim that the government timed the Retirement Incomes Review to coincide with the Brereton report.
Hume says:
I saw Prime Minister Keating’s interview last night and to be honest I thought it was full of conspiracy theories and that was only one of them.
Updated
The Business Council of Australia is mostly pleased with the Victorian government’s budget.
Though there is a note of caution on any “further burden on business, likely a reference to plans for a pilot to provide casuals and insecure workers with sick leave.
Jennifer Westacott, the chief executive, says:
The government’s focus on jobs will be welcome news to thousands of Victorians working fewer hours or not at all in the wake of severe restrictions over the past few months.
Investments in infrastructure and social housing are good first steps towards supporting the critical construction sector and driving the economic activity that will create new jobs. These projects can help create jobs immediately and help position the state for the future.
New spending to develop innovative models for apprenticeships and trainees as well as short-course micro-credentials could help displaced workers re-train and re-skill quickly for new industries and opportunities. We also welcome the government’s commitment to a wage subsidy, particularly targeting those hardest hit by restrictions and most at risk of falling into long-term unemployment.
It is also good to see that Victoria has joined other jurisdictions with reforms to modernise road user charges to keep the system fair.
Updated
Andrew Hastie calls for greater parliamentary oversight of military
Further to Andrew Hastie’s comments on the Brereton report, which we reported earlier, the WA Liberal MP has been on the ABC expanding on his call for greater parliamentary oversight of the military.
He tells Andrew Probyn:
Defence is a huge organisation. In order for parliament to exercise proper civilian oversight of the military you have to have a baseline understanding of the capabilities, the methods and the operations of the ADF. If we can’t talk about those things in public, we can’t talk about them at all.
So we need to talk about them in a classified space and right now there is no such mechanism in the parliament to increase parliamentarians’ understanding of defence and therefore enable parliament to hold it to account.
We didn’t have any significant debate about strategy inAfghanistan while we were there. We didn’t have that at all and that’s a problem. So we can’t ventilate everything in public. We can’t spill all our secrets into the open, but we can do so as my committee does, the intelligence committee does, behind closed doors in a protected classified space. That is what I am arguing for, a defence committee that can have those conversations with defence in a protected classified space governed by secrecy provisions.
Updated
Scott Morrison and the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, swapped notes on Covid-19 situations in their two countries during a phone call this afternoon.
A readout issued by Morrison’s office says the pair also discussed progress on vaccine trials and they “were encouraged by the more positive trajectory of their economies in the third quarter”.
Widodo – who is due to host Morrison at an annual leaders’ meeting next year – described the Indonesia-Australia relationship as important for regional stability and prosperity. The two countries would look to increase cooperation including in the south-west Pacific, according to Morrison’s readout.
The phone call follows a range of multilateral events over the past couple of weeks, including the East Asia Summit and Apec.
Morrison’s office said the pair “agreed that these multilateral meetings had made useful contributions to regional security and prosperity” and they backed the newly finalised Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – which includes China – as important for the region’s economic recovery.
They also reportedly said they looked forward to more countries joining the rebadged Trans-Pacific Partnership in future.
Updated
The Victorian Liberal opposition has responded to the state budget.
The opposition leader, Michael O’Brien, said:
Labor’s budget has run up the white flag on jobs with Victoria’s unemployment to remain higher than the national average for each of the next four years.
One in five Victorians currently are out of work or underemployed. Despite the big taxing, big borrowing and big spending budget, our jobs crisis is set to continue.
We need to revive our economy. Small business is the jobs engine of Victoria but it has been left out in the cold by Labor’s budget.
True to form, Daniel Andrews’ arrogance has got the better of him by covering up project cost and timeline blowouts by simply deleting them from the budget papers.
Daniel Andrews thinks he can throw other people’s money around to make up for the devastation caused by his second wave lockdowns. Victorians need jobs today, small businesses need the burden of taxes and charges to be lifted, but neither have been delivered in this budget.
Updated
The former special air service troop commander and federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie is calling for greater parliamentary and media oversight of the Australian military.
Hastie has voiced personal grief and shame over alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers he served with in Afghanistan.
The member for Canning in Western Australia wants greater media access to military operations overseas, reports AAP.
We stage-managed Australia’s contribution to the Afghanistan war through a carefully crafted information operation.
Perhaps with greater access for the Australian media, some of the events alleged by the Brereton report might never have happened.
Hastie, who chairs a parliamentary committee on intelligence and security, wants to create a committee with powers to compel defence chiefs and bureaucrats.
If we are serious about increased accountability and transparency, then we need proper parliamentary scrutiny of the Department of Defence and the Australian defence force
Without it, our parliament cannot exercise proper civilian oversight of our military.
Updated
The NSW opposition leader, Jodi McKay, says the premier’s explanation for failing to self-isolate after getting a Covid-19 test is unacceptable.
She said Gladys Berejiklian must publicly clarify when she had the test and when she received her results.
Berejiklian was present for the treasurer’s budget speech at noon last Tuesday as well as question time from 2.15pm, and again when a division was called at 5.40pm, reports AAP.
McKay says:
Did she have the results before that division or did she walk into that parliament, with 90-plus MPs, not knowing the result of that test.
The opposition’s health spokesman, Ryan Park, said earlier that it was clear the premier “had a scratchy throat, which we all know is a symptom of Covid-19”.
McKay added:
She has tried to worm her way out of it but it’s black and white: the premier should have self isolated.
The premier shouldn’t even have gone to work that morning.
Updated
While the Victorian government has received widespread praise for its pledge to build 12,000 social and affordable homes, there have been still some criticism from public housing advocates.
A key concern is that the homes will be managed by community housing providers, rather than public housing.
In response to the budget, the Victorian Public Tenants Association says:
We now understand that the new social housing dwellings to be delivered as a result of the big housing build will be managed by privately owned community housing providers and association. This is deeply disappointing given the essential safety net that public housing has provided to Victorians for generations.
Currently each community housing provider has separate policies for key issues such as rent setting, and the sector has discretion to allocate properties more selectively than public housing allocations – which must always be based on urgency of need.
Although 12,300 new properties is a historic commitment, the extent of Victoria’s social housing challenge means that this must be just the start.
The association noted that a regulatory review of community housing had been announced.
We intend to do our utmost to provide every assistance to that review panel, to ensure that all people on the waitlist have a fair opportunity to be allocated housing, and that rents for future social housing tenants remain genuinely affordable.
Updated
Renowned political journalist Alan Ramsey has died
The renowned political correspondent and columnist Alan Ramsey has died, aged 82.
Ramsey is most remembered for his insightful and acerbic weekly columns in the Sydney Morning Herald, reports AAP.
His journalistic career started in 1953 and spanned more than half a century. He served as a foreign correspondent for Australian Associated Press in Port Moresby and London before accompanying Australian troops to Vietnam in 1965.
His fearless reporting on the war was widely respected and rankled military leaders.
Ramsey joined the Canberra press gallery the following year and famously shouted “You liar!” at prime minister John Gorton during a parliamentary debate in 1971.
He was deputy editor of the Australian for several years before joining the Sydney Morning Herald, where he spent his final 22 years in journalism before retiring in 2008.
Ramsey was admitted to Australian media’s hall of fame in 2017.
Tributes have poured in from people in politics and the media.
“Vale Alan Ramsey. Uncompromising, formidable, informed, insightful. Always a match for the politicians – and they knew it,” Canberra political correspondent Michelle Grattan said.
Broadcaster Phillip Adams described Ramsey as “journalism’s grumpiest old bugger”.
Updated
The WA Liberals’ new leader, Zak Kirkup, is addressing the media – and making his opening pitch to voters ahead of the March election.
This government has done a good job in shutting down our borders and responding to the virus. But all of us know that there is no plan going forward. We all know that there are very strong economic headwinds ahead of us that deserve a plan to make sure that all Western Australians’ confidence in a new Liberal government, to make sure they are gonna be looked after in the future and in the long term.
Our priority is to keep Western Australians safe, to be smarter today for a better and a brighter tomorrow.
And here’s that business card I mentioned earlier.
This is the “future PM” business card Zak Kirkup handed to John Howard when he was still in high school. @Gary_Adshead kept it in his archive for years. Its appears @zrfk will take the leadership of the @LiberalsWA in the next few hours. @9NewsPerth pic.twitter.com/WaosVt4BdK
— Adam Haynes (@9haynesy) November 24, 2020
Updated
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten has backed Qantas’s move to require international travellers to provide proof they have received a Covid-19 vaccine.
Shorten told reporters:
Maribyrnong is an aviation electorate. Thousands of people in this electorate earn their living through the aviation industry. Alan Joyce is on the money. We should make sure that people have the vaccine before they go overseas. You know Qantas is $2bn down courtesy of Covid-19. Thousands of jobs have been lost; small businesses have been smashed. And of course, most tragically, hundreds of people have died.
So simple message is: you don’t have to travel overseas; if you don’t want to have the vaccine, then don’t worry about going overseas. But we’re not going to go into another third wave merely because some people have some cranky views about being anti-vaxxer. So a very simple message to some of the anti-vaxxer brigade: it’s not compulsory to go overseas. No vaccine, no air ticket.
Shorten chimed in a bit later asked Labor’s health spokesman Chris Bowen, whose position on the matter was more muted.
Bowen said:
Well, the vaccine won’t be mandatory as a matter of law. That’s now a bipartisan position. The prime minister did sort of toy with making the vaccine mandatory, but he dropped that decision. That’s the case in relation to the law and government policy. I completely understand where Qantas is coming from – they want to ensure the safety of their passengers. We want to see international travel as soon as it’s safe to do so and the vaccine will be an important part of that and I think Qantas deserves the bipartisan support of all involved in the efforts they take to ensure the health and safety of their passengers and, importantly, their staff.
The former Labor leader and former shadow treasurer were together in Melbourne today.
Updated
Campaigners have welcomed the Victorian government’s “nation-leading” pledge to offer extended care arrangements to every young person in the state on an ongoing basis.
The $64.7m initiative, announced in the state budget, will provide an accommodation allowance to every young Victorian in out-of-home care until the age of 21.
The Home Stretch campaign said it meant a young person could remain living with their kinship or foster carer if they wished, or moved to supported independent living arrangements.
Support currently ends for most young people once they turn 18.
The Home Stretch chairman, Paul McDonald, said:
This announcement will transform the lives of vulnerable young people for the better, giving them options they would not have if their support had been terminated at 18 – as it is for the majority of young people across the country.
Updated
This is a significant development.
Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas, says once a Covid-19 vaccine is a readily available, proof international travellers have received the jab will be a non-negotiable condition of flight.
Matilda Boseley has the details.
Updated
My colleague Calla Wahlquist has filed this report from the Victorian budget lock up.
AAP has this market update.
Investors have been pushing prices higher on the Australian stock market after more enthusiasm about possible coronavirus vaccines and Queensland officials relaxing border restrictions.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index was up 77.5 points, or 1.18%, to 6639.1 at 1200 AEDT on Tuesday.
The All Ordinaries gained 78.7 points, or 1.16%, to 6850.7.
All sectors were higher, although energy was the only one with gains of more than 2%. It rose 2.77%.
Updated
Zak Kirkup set to lead WA Libs
The WA Liberal party looks certain to have a new leader: first time MP Zak Kirkup.
Kirkup, 33, is in the box seat to replace Liza Harvey as opposition leader. Harvey quit two days ago, four months ahead of the March election, amid poor polling.
Kirkup’s likely ascent comes after his main rival, Dean Nalder, withdrew his candidacy, reports AAP.
Kirkup is the Liberals’ health spokesman and will take the reins barring a last-minute challenge.
He said on Monday:
I think anyone should judge a person by their actions and not by their age.
I’ve made it clear that there’s a real opportunity here for some hard work and energy to go into the team of the new possible Liberal leader.
The Liberals have only 13 of the 59 seats in the parliament, and face an uphill battle at the March poll, given premier Mark McGowan’s record approval ratings.
Kirkup holds his own seat, south of Perth, by a margin of just 0.7%, making it the tightest contest in the state.
He joined the Liberal party as a teenager and has long been considered a future leader.
As a child, he is said to have handed a business card to the then-prime minister, John Howard, in which he called himself a “future PM”.
Updated
Some reaction to the Victorian budget.
The Greens welcomed the massive boost to social housing and the investment in renewable energy through the plan for a big battery. Both were initially floated by the Greens, they said.
They were disappointed with the lack of “broader tax reform”, such as changes to stamp duty.
Emma King, chief executive of the Victorian Council of Social Service, said the budget would make “real inroads into poverty and disadvantage”.
She welcomed massive spending on social housing and mental health, among other initiatives.
Updated
Melbourne to get new contemporary art gallery
The Victorian government has also announced a plan to build a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne.
Called NGV Contemporary, it would be “the country’s largest gallery dedicated to contemporary art and design”, treasurer Tim Pallas said.
Work on the $1.4bn project is expected to begin in 2022. Pallas said it was expected to create 5,000 jobs while being built, and attract 3m visitors a year.
Updated
Victoria unveils new jobs tax credit
A key measure in the Victorian budget is a jobs tax credit to encourage businesses to hire new staff.
The $880m scheme will provide businesses with a payroll of $10m or less with a non-refundable credit of 10 cents on every dollar spent on wages above the previous year’s wage bill. Effectively businesses will get 10% back on new wages, which Tim Pallas said would effectively reduce, or in some cases completely remove, their payroll tax bill.
The government will also reduce the land transfer duty – stamp duty– on houses worth $1m or less and purchased between now and 30 June 2021. New builds will get a 50% reduction; existing homes a 25% reduction.
There’s also a 50% land tax discount for new housing developments intended for renters and a $500m Victorian homebuyer fund, which will see the government contribute to the purchase price of a new home in exchange for a slice of the equity.
Updated
Victoria posts record deficit of $23.3bn in state budget
The Victorian government has forecast a record deficit of $23.3bn and a massive increase to net debt to cover the cost of a jobs and infrastructure program to help the state recover from Covid-19.
Gross state product is forecast to decline by 4% this financial year, in what the treasurer Tim Pallas told parliament was the biggest economic impact to the state in nearly a century.
Pallas is delivering his budget speech in the parliament now, and said “now is not the time to deliver a budget in surplus”.
Net debt is forecast to increase to $154.8bn in 2023-24, or 28.9% of GSP, forcing the Andrews government to abandon a 2018 commitment to keep net debt below 12% of GDP.
“We are putting our credit rating to work when it’s needed most – to help Victorians now and into the future,” Pallas said. “We are borrowing to make the necessary investments to drive a quicker and stronger recovery.”
He said the budget hinges on a jobs plan which aims to create 200,000 jobs by the end of 2022 and 400,000 by 2024. Some 125,000 new jobs are supported in spending that is either announced in or ongoing in this year’s budget, he said.
Updated
Thanks Elias. Luke Henriques-Gomes here. I’ll be with you into the evening.
First up, we’ll have some updates from Calla Wahlquist, who has been in the Victorian budget lock up.
I’ll be passing the blog over to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes who will take you through the afternoon and news from the Victorian budget.
Have a great afternoon, and now, over to you Luke.
Updated
The inspector general of intelligence and security, Jake Blight, has revealed Australia’s spy agencies collected data in the Covidsafe contact tracing app in the past seven months.
In his first report on the use of the data, Blight found Australia’s spy agencies had policies in place to ensure Covidsafe app data was not intentionally collected, but there had been “incidental collection in the course of lawful collection of other data” and that was permitted under the Privacy Act.
The data was not decrypted, accessed, or used by any agency.
Blight said Igis would have inspections in the next few months to ensure the data had been deleted, and none had been accessed.
The legislation brought in to secure the Covidsafe app means only the system administrator or health officials needing to access the data for contact tracing have access to its data.
Health officials in Victoria yesterday told a parliamentary inquiry that they had to stop using some of the data from the app at the peak of the second wave because it was unclear whether under the legislation health officials from other states who were helping Victoria with contact tracing were allowed to use the data.
But it was only for a short period and as has been previously reported Victoria has not been able to identify any close contacts through data in the app that were not already identified through manual contact tracing, despite downloading data from more than 1,800 people’s devices.
Updated
'Best phone call in ages': Gladys Berejiklian
Best phone call I have had in ages. Pleased to hear from @AnnastaciaMP the Queensland/NSW border will come down on 1 December!
— Gladys Berejiklian (@GladysB) November 24, 2020
Great news Queensland! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/WF33XKFk07
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) November 24, 2020
Updated
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that Pauline Hanson – she of the “I didn’t flip-flop, I said no originally, then I said yes. Then I have said no, and I’ve stuck to it” fame – is attempting to cover off all sides of the superannuation debate.
The One Nation leader supports a 0.5% increase to the super compulsory rate, but only if people don’t cash it all out and spend it on Landcruisers and caravans.
If they do, then she wants the whole super scheme clarified.
And if it turns out you can cash it out, then maybe a wage increase would be better.
“While the money belongs to the employee, it wasn’t designed to be cashed out as a lump sum and blown, only to leave a person on a government pension for the rest of their lives,” she said.
“People should not be encouraged to squander their superannuation. It defeats the purpose of the scheme.
“If we don’t reclarify the purpose of superannuation now, we might as well just give these increases to people through their pay packets.”
Everyone clear? Yup. It’s a bet both ways. Which is standard for One Nation.
MEDIA RELEASE | Statement From Senator Pauline Hanson on Superannuation.https://t.co/y9F9v3Jg4l
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) November 24, 2020
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Sir Michael Fallon, a former British defence secretary, asked Scott Morrison how it would be possible to persuade China that it would be in its own interests to abide by the Law of the Sea Convention and independent rulings on its South China Sea claims.
Morrison said this was “the $64,000 question, really”. It was very difficult to “understand the mind of China and their outlook, but it is our task to seek to do so”.
Of course, there are tensions. I won’t deny that. But I do feel that many of the tensions are based on some misunderstandings. And I think one of the key misunderstandings is a level of confidence about what we see is the end result.
Our end result from Australia’s point of view as I said, is not containment. Our end result is happy coexistence, respecting each other’s sovereignty and systems and being able to happily coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship.
And I believe that’s where both parties of this relationship have a lot more work to do to get to that shared understanding of what we see the ultimate goal as being.
Morrison suggested the incoming Biden administration may have an impact on the Washington/Beijing ties: “Perhaps the atmospherics of that relationship will change following the most recent election.”
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Scott Morrison: Australia will be 'patient' and 'consistent' with China
Scott Morrison says his government will remain “patient” and “consistent” as it seeks to navigate the current tensions with China.
The Q&A portion of the prime minister’s virtual appearance at a British thinktank event last night has arrived in journalists’ inboxes.
As reported by Katharine Murphy overnight, Morrison called on major powers such as the US and China to try not to force their allies and partners into binary choices, as middle powers like Australia needed some more latitude or “room to move”.
Morrison took a few questions after his Policy Exchange speech, including from Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the UK House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, who asked about how Morrison saw the UK’s role in working with Australia, Japan, India and others in defending the international order.
Morrison claimed Australia’s policies when it comes to the rules-based order and the Indo-Pacific “are no different today than they were in John Howard’s time” – although he suggested there were “some things that have changed, of course, to our north”.
Alluding to this year’s trade actions by China, Morrison said all countries should take seriously their obligations to comply with the letter and the spirit of World Trade Organization rules “because that’s what makes it all hang together”.
“We’ve just got to be patient about this, and we just need to be consistent in holding to these positions and pursuing them in a way that seeks to get to where we all want to be at the end of the day.”
The aim was to ensure countries in the Indo-Pacific could freely trade and enjoy economic growth and prosperity.
China’s advance was “good” and it was not the objective of Australia or other regional players to contain China economically. It was important to be as clear in delivering that message as possible, including in partnership with like-minded countries like the UK.
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Health minister Greg Hunt spoke in between those press conferences from Queensland and South Australia and announced there are no Australians requiring ventilation for Covid-19.
Hunt was speaking at ResMed, a ventilator manufacturer in Sydney, which had been working to boost Australia’s supply since concerns at the beginning of the pandemic there would not be enough ventilators for Australians.
Hunt was also asked about vaccines, and revealed all is on track for the first cohort of Australians to begin receiving a vaccine by March next year.
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South Australia records one new case
South Australian chief health officer Nicola Spurrier has said she hasn’t “popped the cork on the champagne bottle yet but the champagne is on ice” as the state announced one new Covid-19 case on Tuesday.
Spurrier said the case is a close contact of a returned traveller who previously tested positive.
It is a man in his 20s who is in a quarantine hotel, but it is unclear if he is a returned traveller or if this was locally acquired.
Guardian Australia contacted SA Health to clarify this, but it was unable to provide more information.
Spurrier said there are 27 cases linked to the Parafield cluster, and 39 active cases in SA.
There is one person in hospital, a woman in her 50s. A 30-year-old man was recently discharged from hospital.
Spurrier also said there are 4,100 close contacts, or contacts of close contacts, linked to the Parafield cluster who are quarantining.
There were 6,822 Covid-19 tests taken in SA on Monday.
“I haven’t popped the cork on the champagne bottle yet but the champagne is on ice. We haven’t finished the job yet and every South Australian still has their part to play,” Spurrier said.
She also urged South Australians to begin wearing masks, even as restrictions eased.
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SA plans to lift all restrictions on 1 December
The South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, says authorities remain focused on lifting restrictions in the state by next Tuesday 1 December.
I said yesterday what a difference a week makes. South Australia is continuing to rise to the challenge of this particular cluster and I believe that we are now in a very good position to stare down this second wave.
This could have been a potentially catastrophic situation in South Australia but the swift and decisive action taken following that unequivocal health advice has put us in a very good position.
The transition committee met this morning. They will meet again on Friday. We have our eyes firmly fixed on next Tuesday. We have signalled that, next Tuesday 1 December is the day that we will go back to where we were before the Parafield cluster and further lift those restrictions.
We do not want to have any restriction in place for one day than we need to.
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New South Wales records no new cases
There have been no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday.
There were six new cases in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
NSW recorded no new cases of locally acquired #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) November 24, 2020
Six cases were reported in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine. This brings the total number of cases in NSW to 4,359 since the start of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/Y9pssLtPbl
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No decision yet on SA border, says Queensland’s chief health officer
Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, also spoke about South Australia’s outbreak and what it would take for Queensland to fully reopen to people from SA.
Young:
They’ve had a really good, rapid response down there. So they had another case yesterday, which was eight days after that person had been exposed.
We just need to wait for a little bit longer before we can decide what needs to happen.
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No Australians currently requiring ventilation for COVID-19, reports Health Minister Greg Hunt 🎉 #covidaus
— Tamsin Rose (@tamsinroses) November 23, 2020
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian was “very positive” when she heard Queensland would fully reopen its border, according to Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“It is wonderful to be back in communication with the NSW premier,” Palaszczuk said, after weeks of tension between the two.
“Now is the time, if you live in NSW, come to Queensland, start planning that holiday. We would love to have your business. It means jobs for Queenslanders. And as you know, Queensland, beautiful one day, perfect the next.
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Queensland’s deputy premier Steven Miles on the border relaxation:
This is indeed a great day for Queensland ... a day I have been looking forward to for a very long time. I know it is a day that many Queenslanders and their family and friends, particularly in Sydney, have been looking forward to.
Our tourism and hospitality sectors have struggled while some of our traditional sectors like mining and agriculture have held up throughout the entire pandemic, and this is a chance for particularly our tourism and hospitality sectors to get more people back to work.
I know there are lots of Sydneysiders who have been wondering whether they could plan a Christmas holiday on the Gold Coast or Cairns or all of the wonderful places in between or north of there.
Now we know that they can, and that means when they come here they will be spending money here, creating jobs here, helping businesses here, to get more people back to work.
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Queensland to reopen fully to NSW on 1 December
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is speaking after meeting health authorities this morning, and says chief health officer Jeannette Young is satisfied NSW is safe.
Palaszczuk:
Dr Young is now satisfied that they have reached the over-28 days, so can I say to New South Wales: we welcome you to Queensland from 1 December.”
She said Victorians will also be welcome to enter Queensland from 1 December, provided they meet the 28-day threshold, which will be achieved if the state record no new cases by tomorrow.
Palaszczuk said she had let NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and Victorian premier Daniel Andrews know.
I hope this is welcome news. I think it’s great news in the lead-up to Christmas, but once again, that timely reminder for everybody:we need to make sure that we continue to keep up our social distancing.
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Michael Kaine, national secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union, is speaking about the death of a food delivery rider in inner Sydney on Monday, the fifth in two months.
Kaine said he had previously urged industrial relations minister Christian Porter to set up an urgent inquiry into Uber Eats and gig delivery platforms, and is renewing his calls now.
The fifth rider in total to have been killed on our roads in two months. This is carnage. That’s one every 11 days.
These companies don’t care whether riders live or die. All they care about is getting food on time delivered.
These companies don’t train riders. These companies don’t provide appropriate and proper protective equipment. These companies put these riders under incredible time pressures.
They’re to answer a call for a delivery within seconds, and if they’re late by one or two minutes, then those riders can be kicked off the platform, often by an algorithm with absolutely no recourse.
These riders have been the heroes of the pandemic. They have worked to deliver food to households and businesses as they’ve been locked down. It’s been an important part of the safety mix that has allowed us to have control over this virus. And they are treated like fodder. They are treated like machines.
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Queensland chief health officer to speak shortly
Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, is set to address media shortly.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said she hopes to hear an announcement that the state will reopen its border to residents of greater Sydney.
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Compelling insight into the Brereton report and the war in Afghanistan from Andrew Hastie today. A must read for those who value our armed forces and want to learn the right lessons from it: https://t.co/Ms6BpgxksZ
— James Paterson (@SenPaterson) November 23, 2020
On Monday night New South Wales police confirmed that a food delivery cyclist was killed after being hit by a truck on an inner-Sydney street.
It was the fifth death of a food delivery worker across Australia in the past two months.
My colleague Naaman Zhou has been covering this issue, and has written this report:
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We’re happy to confirm that there were 0 new cases, 0 lost lives and 0 active cases reported yesterday. 9,960 test results were received – thank you, #EveryTestHelps. More detail: https://t.co/pcll7ySEgz#StaySafeStayOpen #COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/axPlsu830H
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) November 23, 2020
'Insecure work is a threat': Sally McManus
Sally McManus, the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, was on ABC News this morning talking about the Adelaide outbreak and insecure work in the pandemic.
Guardian Australia’s Josh Taylor reports that the hotel quarantine worker at the centre of a police investigation into his failure to disclose to contact tracers he worked shifts at the Woodville Pizza Bar is unaware of the growing public focus on him as he remains in hotel quarantine.
McManus, while acknowledging there was “a piece of the puzzle we don’t know” that police were investigating, said the episode had exposed issues with what quarantine workers are paid:
What we do know is that one of the security guards who was working in the hotel was then working in the pizza bar, and then someone else contracted it off them.
The big question really there is why was a security guard needing to work a second job in a pizza bar to string together a living wage? Why weren’t they given full-time hours at the hotel? Why weren’t they paid enough so they didn’t have to also work in a pizza bar? I think this is just a really basic thing we’ve gotta get right in all of those hotel quarantine areas.
Insecure work is a threat. It will spread the virus if we don’t make sure that people have enough money to live and that they’ve got sick leave.
McManus also said the security industry was “rife with labour hire” and that while it might not be possible to fix worker issues across the entire industry immediately, action should start by focusing on guards in the quarantine hotels:
The fact that sometimes they don’t have proper qualifications, the fact they’re not giving people their basic rights like sick leave, means they’re less likely to get tested if there’s not automatic tests.
It might not be such a big issue across the economy but at least in these hotels we should be plugging all those holes, because that’s the only way we’ll make sure that the virus doesn’t spread, if we are gonna still have people come back to our country.
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During her earlier interview about failing to self-isolate while waiting for her Covid-19 test result, Gladys Berejiklian again called on Annastacia Palaszczuk to fully reopen Queensland’s border to residents of greater Sydney.
The NSW premier said she hoped her Queensland counterpart would announce the decision after she met health authorities today.
Berejiklian told ABC News:
I’d be absolutely thrilled if that was the case ... We saw yesterday the jubilation of our citizens who came across the border and New South Wales citizens that went to Victoria. The jubilation was heartwarming.
The stress release was amazing and I want other people to feel that today and I hope, out of the goodness of their heart because there’s no scientific basis for having that border shut, and the benchmark they’ve set is way too high.
And I hope when they open the border they’re determined to keep it open because we are going to get cases, we are going to get community transmission.
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Anthony Albanese has sought to play down the intensity of concern within his own party that Labor’s position on climate action is alienating mining and blue-collar workers.
The federal Labor leader said disquiet about the party’s position “is a debate taking place by some in the media and taking place by some who refuse to acknowledge the reality”.
He was speaking after the Queensland senator Murray Watt told a Rockhampton conference on Monday that the ALP “treasures” every job created in the mining sector and sees a future for coal exports.
That speech was praised by his colleague Joel Fitzgibbon, who resigned as Labor’s resources spokesman out of concern his party’s position on climate action was too ambitious, after he almost lost his coalmining reliant seat of Hunter at the 2019 election.
On Tuesday Albanese told ABC News that Labor’s climate policy was clear:
We have a position of having zero net emissions by 2050. We have a very clear policy that sees that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy and that’s what the market is saying as well.
This really is a debate taking place by some in the media and taking place by some who refuse to acknowledge the reality, which is the market is speaking and the market is heading towards renewables. It’s a matter of the role of government playing in that transition.
Murray Watt’s position was precisely the same thing that I’ve been saying which is, he spoke about climate change being good for job creation. That doesn’t mean that our export industries are about to close. We’ll continue to export our resources. That will continue to provide an income for the country that helps to fund education and health.
I say the same thing, as does Murray Watt, whether he’s in Canberra or in Queensland or in Melbourne or anywhere else: the fact is that climate change is real.
Albanese also said further progress on the party’s climate action position would be determined at the coming national conference, and plans were being made to hold the two-day event via Zoom before Easter next year:
I think it will be a success and will enable us to finalise the platform going forward of the Labor party. We are a democratic party. We’re an inclusive party and that will enable people to contribute.
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Budget day for Victoria
It’s a big day for Victoria, with the Andrews government handing down its budget.
Guardian Australia’s Calla Wahlquist will be in the budget media lockup and will be bringing you everything you need to know.
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Daniel Andrews has spoken about Victoria’s zero active cases, saying he is “pleased” but the battle to contain Covid-19 is “far from over”. The premier said:
We are pleased to confirm there are now zero active cases of coronavirus in our state. The one remaining active case has now been cleared of the virus and discharged from hospital.
That’s great news for them and their family, and it presents us with an opportunity to yet again thank all of those nurses and doctors, hospital cleaners, ward clerks, ambos – the whole health team – for the amazing work that they’ve done throughout this global pandemic event.
This is far from over. Even with this run of zero days, no active cases, very strong testing performance, and people who are just doing the right thing, playing their part, until a vaccine arrives this is something that’s going to be with us for the foreseeable future.
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Zero active cases of Covid-19 in Victoria
After containing Australia’s largest outbreak, there are now no active cases of Covid-19 in Victoria.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman told Guardian Australia on Tuesday morning the last Covid-19 patient was cleared of the virus on Monday.
#BREAKING: There are officially ZERO active cases of COVID-19 in Victoria. @VicGovDHHS has confirmed the state’s last coronavirus patient was cleared of the virus and discharged from hospital yesterday. @abcnews
— Chelsea Hetherington (@chelsea_hetho) November 23, 2020
Berejiklian acknowledges she should have self-isolated
Gladys Berejiklian has acknowledged she breached NSW health requirements by failing to self-isolate while waiting to receive the results of a Covid-19 test she took on the state’s budget day last week.
The premier fronted ABC News this morning to address the claims, saying she had no symptoms and only took the test out of an “abundance of caution” last Tuesday afternoon, so that she could reassure people asking why she was losing her voice that she had tested negative to Covid-19.
NSW Health rules require anyone who has been tested for coronavirus to self-isolate until a negative result is returned. Berejiklian underwent a rapid test in her office last Tuesday and was present at the treasurer’s budget speech at noon, as well as question time from 2.15pm.
This morning she said:
I didn’t have any symptoms, no scratchy throat, [none] of the symptoms listed on the NSW Health website, but in an abundance of caution I had the test done that afternoon and was told I’d have a result within 90 minutes to two hours.
I didn’t change my schedule, perhaps I should have. But the facts were an ordinary person probably wouldn’t have needed the test at all.
Perhaps in hindsight I should have closed my door and not seen anybody for that 90 minutes to two hours, but I didn’t ... I accept that in hindsight I should have kept my door shut.
Berejiklian went on to rule out changing the NSW Health requirements to self-isolate while waiting for a test, saying complacency was her “biggest fear”.
I still haven’t hugged my parents, that is really hard, since February. I haven’t let anyone touch me, even though people run up to you in the middle of the street, and I’ve put my elbow out which is rude for me but I do that.
It’s only because I am so vigorous against fighting against complacency that I took the test because I didn’t have a symptom.
I knew my voice would be going and I wanted to say with confidence to people that I’ve had taken the precaution.
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Good morning, Elias Visontay here to take you through all the day’s news in Australia.
Mathias Cormann’s travel around Europe to campaign for the top OECD job may be costing Australian taxpayers as much as $4,300 an hour. The Morrison government is supporting the former finance minister, who quit the Senate this month, in his bid for the job with the use of an RAAF Falcon.
- A third Covid vaccine candidate has produced up to 90% efficacy results at a fraction of the cost of those previously announced. The vaccine, developed in the UK by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, is also fridge-stable and easy to transport, unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines that require ultra cold storage.
- Another food delivery worker has been killed in Sydney in what is the fifth death among food delivery workers across Australia in the past two months.
- The movement to find independent challengers to Coalition MPs has spread beyond NSW and Victoria into South Australia, with Voices of Boothby emerging in the marginal Adelaide seat held by Nicolle Flint.
- Australia’s use of handcuffs to transfer asylum seekers to medical appointments is unlawful, inhumane, traumatising and illegally restricts access to healthcare, particularly for those with a history of mental illness and torture, a landmark new case alleges.
If you see anything in your area or line you think I should know about, you can get in touch with me by email at elias.visontay@theguardian.com, or via Twitter @EliasVisontay.
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