We will leave you for now. Thank you for reading. Have a great Friday night.
Summary
Let’s take a look at the main developments from today.
- Victoria recorded another 30 new cases, as its confirmed clusters continued to grow. Authorities also confirmed only 70% of return travellers were accepting a Covid test.
- Six new cases were confirmed in NSW.
- Woolworths and Coles reinstituted purchase limit on toilet paper amid reports of panic buying.
- The Northern Territory said it would block people from Covid “hotspots” when its borders opened on 17 July.
- Tasmania said it would open its borders 24 July.
- Virgin administrators have asked creditors to approve a bid from Bain Capital.
- Outgoing chief medical officer Brendan Murphy confirmed his belief international borders would not fully reopen until a vaccine was found.
Updated
The Australian share market has rebounded from Thursday’s plunge, with the financial sector leading the charge after the easing of some regulations for American banks, reports AAP.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index closed Friday up 86.4 points, or 1.49%, at 5,904.1 points, while the All Ordinaries index was up 83.8 points, or 1.41% higher, at 6,011.8.
CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said:
A good, strong day for the Australian market, and it’s pretty clear that the most important factor here and around the globe is sentiment.
That sentiment turned positive after the US Federal Reserve eased capital requirements on banks while ordering them to suspend share buyback programs and keep dividend payments at current levels.
McCarthy said:
I think that investors have taken that to mean the Fed is willing to do whatever is needed to support economies and markets.
The financial sector was biggest gainer, up 2.7% with gains for all of the big four lenders.
CBA rose 2.4% to $69.27, ANZ gained 3.0% to $18.80, NAB climbed 2.7% to $18.40 and Westpac added 3.3% to $17.99.
Macquarie was more restrained, gaining 1.7% to $119.19, but other wealth managers shone.
Magellan gained 5.4%, Challenger rose 4.3%, IOOF added 8.5%, Pendal Group gained 3.8% and AMP rose 4.8%.
Also, insurance companies QBE and Suncorp were both up 3.9%, to $8.88 and $9.54, respectively.
Qantas fell 9.1% to $3.81 after its shares returned to trade following a $1.4bn equity raising in which it sold shares for $3.89.
Holders of Virgin Australia shares, which have been in a trading halt since the airline entered voluntary administration in April, were about lose everything, with the airline set to be sold to Bain Capital to pay off its creditors.
Updated
Ending the interview, Probyn asks when Murphy thinks he will next be able to hug his two-year-old granddaughter.
Murphy’s answer is a bit unclear. He says people are able to hug their family members, if they live with you, but notes he’s not living with his granddaughter.
He says it will happen when there is no community transmission, which is the case in some parts of Australia.
I think in that situation, in a family environment, a little bit of affection might be possible. But I think the most important thing is that people practise that physical distancing and hand hygiene for people they’ve not met before and that they don’t know. We have to do that for the long haul.
Updated
Asked about the criticism of the WHO, Murphy says he thinks the organisation is in a “difficult position”.
I think this pandemic has re-written some of the rule books. As I said, WHO said, ‘Never close borders.’ That doesn’t help. Those countries who have done well have closed borders.
It is a multilateral organisation – trying to keep every member state happy is challenging – and I think they were also trying to balance the cooperation of countries with their statements.
I know the prime minister has rightly asked for a proper objective inquiry into the WHO’s leadership, and we will wait to see what that shows.
Updated
Brendan Murphy expects borders to stay closed until vaccine found
Brendan Murphy says he believes Australia’s international borders will not fully open – that is without quarantining or some type of restrictions – until a vaccine is developed.
So I think until that happens, we are going to have some sort of border measures.
Clearly we have to re-evaluate our strategy as time goes on. If we don’t get a successful vaccine in the relatively near future, then we have to re-evaluate.
Probyn notes it’s possible a vaccine will never be developed.
Murphy concedes “that’s a possibility” but says he’s “getting more confident” that will happen.
There is so much effort going into this vaccine development now, and there are literally hundreds of candidate molecules, and a number that are in clinical trial at the moment, and I think it’s likely we will get a vaccine.
How effective it will be, we don’t know. There may be more than one vaccine and so there is a lot riding on that at the moment.
Updated
Murphy is asked if its premature for him to leave the role given the spike in cases in Victoria.
He says there is “never a right time”.
The planning for my moving was put in place several weeks ago, when things were under good control, but I’ve got a really good team now. I’ve got an acting CMO, Paul Kelly, who is going to step into the role.
Murphy says he will still be involved as secretary of the Department of Health.
Updated
Murphy tells Probyn there has not been a direction from the AHPPC that the national cabinet or the commonwealth government has ever rejected.
He adds:
I think probably the hardest thing for governments was the introduction of severe physical distancing measures because of the huge impact that had on the economy and the employment.
And I have often said that two days after those measures were introduced, driving past the Centrelink office and seeing huge queues was gut-wrenching for me and for all the governments.
Updated
Asked about early commentary from some critics and experts that authorities should have gone harder into lockdown, Murphy says the policy decisions are not just his, but the decision of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
We took what was a proportionate middle ground and it was largely correct.
Updated
Probyn asks Murphy if the earlier modelling – which was presented publicly and modelled possible deaths – was designed to shock the population. He replies:
No, it was designed to really just show what might happen if we did nothing, not that we were ever going to do nothing. But it was really a way of showing what could happen in a country where there was no mitigation.
Updated
Murphy says that on 1 February he called the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, and told him the government should take tougher measures than those suggested by the WHO. That meant closing the borders.
I said, “I think we need to do what is not normal public policy. WHO don’t support it. We need to start doing some border measures. We need to try to stop importation, so we need to close the borders with China.
Updated
Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, is on the ABC for an exit interview with Andrew Probyn. Murphy is set to take on a new role as the secretary of the Department of Health.
Murphy says he was in Italy on holidays when he first learned of the coronavirus.
I don’t think anyone was too worried because the early reports were that it seemed to be only animal-to-human transmission. There didn’t seem to be a lot of any evidence, significant evidence, of human-to-human transmission.
And then towards the middle of January the data was saying that there were only 50 cases and there hadn’t been any cases for a week.
Updated
Victoria’s opposition leader, Michael O’Brien, has seized on comments from state health authorities that only 70% of returned travellers were taking a Covid-19 test.
Unbelieveable! 30% of returned travellers in Victorian quarantine are refusing a COVID-19 test.
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelobrienmp) June 26, 2020
My position is clear: Nobody should leave a quarantine hotel without being tested.
Community safety must come first.
Time for Andrews to do the same #springst
First Dog on the Moon’s cartoon this week is about the ABC cuts.
South Australia is likely to drop its blanket approach to border restrictions and look to target travellers from hot spots as it moves to further lift coronavirus measures, reports AAP.
The SA premier, Steven Marshall, said the state was sticking to its plan to reopen all borders on 20 July and could consider lifting restrictions for the ACT, Broken Hill and western Victoria even sooner.
What measures remain in place are likely to apply only to those places where Covid-19 cases have spiked.
Marshall said on Friday:
We’re gradually moving to put restrictions in place around identified hotspots, rather than blanket restrictions by states or territories.
There will be some time until they get their new infections under control but ... we feel very confident Victoria will get on top of their problems.”
With 30 new cases reported in Victoria on Friday, Marshall said SA would continue to monitor its progress.
SA has already lifted border restrictions for Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
On Monday, South Australia will move to stage 3 of lifting coronavirus measures, which includes relaxing density requirements for pubs, bars and restaurants, with one person allowed for every 2 square metres.
Large venues such as Adelaide Oval will be free to cater for up to 50% of their normal capacity, provided health officials have approved their Covid-19 safety plans
The Adelaide Casino will also reopen.
On Friday, SA again reported no new Covid-19 cases, with the last confirmed infection about a month ago.
Updated
GOOD NEWS: South Australia has recorded zero new #COVID19 cases for 31 days in a row!
— Nine News Adelaide (@9NewsAdel) June 26, 2020
The state will move into stage three of eased restrictions on Monday: https://t.co/w9v0xGRxzs pic.twitter.com/2Uc1etnBeG
Nightclubs will be among the businesses to reopen when Western Australia moves to phase 4 restrictions at the weekend.
Speaking on Friday, the health minister, Roger Cook, said people should use commonsense when restrictions ease at midnight.
Police will not be out there tonight with a 1.5m ruler on the dance floor ensuring people stay apart.
The premier, Mark McGowan, said WA’s borders would remain closed for some time.
We’ve got our economy open in part because of the fact that we have the hard border with the east and secondly because we have low infection rates.
WA recorded no new infections overnight but four active cases are in hotel quarantine, AAP reported.
Key changes under phase 4 in WA:
- Gathering limits only determined by WA’s 2 sq m rule
- Removal of seated service requirements at food outlets and licensed premises
- No requirement to maintain a patron register
- Alcohol can be served to unseated patrons
- Events permitted except large-scale music festivals
- Unseated performances allowed at concert halls, live music venues, bars, pubs and nightclubs
- Gyms can be unstaffed but require regular cleaning
- Casino gaming floor to reopen under temporary restrictions
- A 50% capacity at major sport and entertainment venues.
Updated
[Cont from previous post]
Federation reform
National cabinet today agreed that former director general of the Western Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet and former commonwealth cabinet secretary Mr Peter Conran AM will lead the review of the former Coag councils and ministerial forums with a view to rationalise and reset their work. National cabinet also agreed to terms of reference for the review which set out avenues for consultation with commonwealth and state and territory ministers and officials.
National cabinet agreed that review will make recommendations on a streamlined structure, scope and reporting arrangements and on focused regulatory and policy work programs. The review will provide recommendations to national cabinet by September 2020.
Additional papers
National cabinet endorsed a number of papers to enable reopening under a three-step framework for a Covid-afe Australia:
- AHPPC statement on the review of physical distancing and person density restrictions including for smaller venues
- AHPPC statement on hotel quarantine
- AHPPC statement on risk management for boarding schools and school‑based residential colleges
- AHPPC statement to update residential aged care facilities about minimising the impact of Covid-19
- AHPPC statement on preliminary media reports of the results of a randomised trial of the use of dexamethasone
- AHPPC statement on recent outbreaks of Covid-19 in Victoria
- AHPPC statement on the safe return of crowds to stadiums, arenas and large theatres
- Australian aviation industry’s protocol.
Updated
[Cont from previous post]
Localised health response
- National cabinet discussed the outbreaks in Victoria and how best to ensure a coordinated, cross-jurisdictional response to localised health outbreaks going forward.
- The national cabinet agreed to a new plan for Australia’s public health capacity and Covid-19. Under the plan developed by the AHPPC, six actions for state, territory and commonwealth governments will improve long-term sustainability of the public health workforce for the remainder of Covid‑19 and beyond by:
- Strengthening a formal surge plan for the public health response workforce and review the ongoing structure of the public health units
- Progressing the national interoperable notifiable disease surveillance system (NINDSS) project and prioritise appropriate interfaces
- Establishing a national training program for surge workforce;
- Better support the Communicable Disease Network of Australia (CDNA), including shared costs
- Prioritising enhancing the public health physician workforce capacity
- Considering options for developing a formal public health workforce training program.
Hotel quarantine
- National cabinet confirmed that the current hotel quarantine arrangements remain in place. In addition, national cabinet agreed that further testing will be conducted for all those in hotel quarantine, including within the first 48 hours in quarantine and then on day 10-12 of quarantine.
Roadmap for arts and entertainment venues
- National cabinet asked AHPPC to develop a roadmap for reopening arts and entertainment venues, in particular to enable planning for productions to commence.
- This will build on the AHPPC statement on the safe return of crowds to stadiums, arenas and large theatres. Under this plan the AHPPC advises that in step 3, seated and ticked events may take place with crowd limits – for example, stadiums with a capacity of up to 40,000 people may operate at 25% seating capacity and stadiums with a capacity of greater than 40,000 people may not have more than 10,000 people. In later steps, states and territories may allow all large venues to admit larger crowds provided there is no evidence of community transmission, the event is seated and ticketed, physical distancing and other public health measures are maintained, and all public health risks are managed.
Small venues and physical distancing
- National Cabinet agreed that under step 3 of the framework for a Covid-safe Australia and based on AHPPC advice, states and territories can allow small premises to apply a one-person per 2-square-metre rule with a Covid-safe plan in place.
Updated
The PM’s office has issued a statement following today’s national cabinet meeting. I’m going to reproduce it for you in full:
The national cabinet met today to further discuss Australia’s current Covid-19 response, easing restrictions in the coming months, helping Australians prepare to go back to work in a Covid-safe environment and getting the economy moving again.
The chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, provided an update on the measures underway, the latest data and medical advice in relation to Covid-19.
Treasury secretary Dr Stephen Kennedy provided an update on the labour market and current economic conditions.
There have been over 7,500 confirmed cases in Australia and sadly 104 people have died. There are now around 500 active cases in Australia, and over the past week, daily infection rates have remained low. Testing remains high, with more than 2.2 million tests undertaken in Australia.
National cabinet discussed the localised outbreaks in Victoria and the health response underway and committed to providing as much support as is necessary. Localised response plans are part of the three-step framework for easing restrictions agreed by all jurisdictions. Victoria is responding well, including with testing and tracing, and the commonwealth and other jurisdictions stand ready to assist where needed.
National cabinet recommitted to the strategy of suppression of Covid-19 and to the three-step Framework to a Covid-safe Australia.
We need to continue to have the right controls in place to test more people, trace those who test positive and respond to local outbreaks when they occur. These are precedent conditions to enable Australia to relax baseline restrictions and enable Australians to live and work in a Covid-safe economy.
National cabinet thanked Professor Murphy for his work on the Covid-19 response and wished him well in his new role as secretary of the commonwealth Department of Health.
National cabinet will meet again on 10 July 2020.
Updated
Thanks Matilda! Luke Henriques-Gomes here. I’ll be with you into the evening. Get in touch on luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or on Twitter @lukehgomes.
With that I will leave you for today, but don’t you worry for a moment, the magnificent (and award-winning) Luke Henriques-Gomes is here to guide you through the afternoon.
Coles joins Woolworths in reintroducing toilet paper buying limits
From today Coles has introduced limits on purchasing toilet paper and paper towels across all stores nationwide and online.
Customers are now allowed to buy only one packet of each per trip.
In Victorian stores and NSW stores along the southern border, there are limits of two packs per customer on the following:
- Hand sanitiser
- Flour
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Mince
- UHT milk
- Rice
- Pasta
Updated
Gutwein says the state will use an app to track those travelling across the Tasmanian border.
[Travel] will be supported by an app that we are currently modifying in conjunction with other states. It will be used on a mobile, laptop or computer and will be complemented by manual records to cater for all users at the borders.
The app, currently used in WA, will essentially replace the current Tasmanian arrivals form. It is designed for efficient border entry management and will include a Q-scanner.
Updated
Tasmania won't open borders until 24 July
The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, is speaking now regarding the state’s border.
The advice is we need to ensure there is adequate time between our easing of stage 3 restrictions at 12 noon and when we remove restrictions ...
It will be four weeks before we ease the restrictions on our borders. The date is Friday 24 July ...
If the public health advice at that time or in the lead-up to that date is that it is not safe to remove restrictions, then very simply we will not open up our borders ...
I want to be clear: as the circumstances stand today, if we were opening up tomorrow, we would not be opening up our borders with Victoria tomorrow ... I want to make this perfectly clear. I don’t care who is calling for it, whether it be a lobby group or the prime minister. If the public health advice is we should maintain restrictions, we will.
Updated
Another member of Papua New Guinea’s defence force has tested positive for coronavirus – only the country’s 11th case, but the third in just over a week which can be traced to Port Moresby’s Murray Barracks.
The PNG government is considering imposing new restrictions on the PNG capital, concerned by new community transmission of the virus.
The ninth case in the country was detected at the end of last week – an Australian defence force officer who had been in PNG since January. That officer has since been repatriated to Australia.
The 10th case, of a 27-year-old soldier, came earlier this week as a result of mass testing of staff at the barracks.
The latest case is a 26-year-old woman, who is being monitored by health workers in isolation at a sports centre that has been converted into a Covid-19 treatment facility.
PNG’s national pandemic response controller, the country’s police commissioner, David Manning, said he was considering whether new movement restrictions were necessary in Port Moresby, following two new cases in 48 hours.
PNG lifted its state of emergency last week.
Manning had said previously that the new cases in the capital were “evidence of local transmission in Port Moresby, and the risk is very high that more cases may be identified in the coming days”.
The identification of this case provides Papua New Guineans need to take responsibility and remain vigilant to stop the chain of transmission.
The country needs to work together to apply the ‘niupela pasin’ or the ‘new normal’. This will involve changing our old ways of doing things and replacing them with behaviours and actions to reduce the risk of getting infection.
Updated
Now onto travel news: the prime minister has been asked if he agreed with Qantas head Alan Joyce’s comments that there may be no international travel for 12 months. Scott Morrison replied:
We hope we can come to an arrangement with New Zealand before that, whether it’s with other nations – a number of other countries expressed an interest, given our health success in Australia.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be invitations we take up. So as you look around the world and you see the intensity of the virus escalating, not decelerating, then I think it is not unreasonable for Alan Joyce to form the view he has.
No one really knows and that’s the problem. That’s just the uncertainty we have to deal with as we make so many decisions.
Updated
Morrison was asked about the September cutoff date for jobkeeper payments. He said:
I have no doubt that there are many businesses now, fortunately, who have moved above that threshold. I expect that is the case and I certainly hope it is for their sake and their employees.
We are working under the legislation arrangements. We will continue to do that for the current phase of that program. In relation to future phases of what we will need to do in terms of the stimulus, as I said on numerous occasions, we will be announcing that in time for the economic statement and these are considerations that the government is working through.
But as I assured, whether it be Qantas or those in the entertainment sector or the tourism, hospitality sector, or regions like north Queensland, we get it, we understand that they are going to be hurting more for longer than other parts of the economy.
We will continue to tailor our fiscal supports to those areas that will continue to need them. Our hope is more and more parts of the economy won’t need them and they will be able to move forward.
Updated
Scott Morrison addressed the news that Bain Capital agreed to buy Virgin Australia.
I’m pleased a successful bidder emerged from that process. That’s what we anticipated. I look forward to Virgin going forward, and more importantly for the jobs in Virgin to be secured.
It’s a sector, though, as we saw with Qantas yesterday, that faces very significant difficulties. Virgin is now focusing obviously on the domestic operations, and the domestic operations have a much more positive outlook than the international. Therefore you would hope that they would be able to move to a more profitable situation at least for those operations, given their focus on those things.
It’s a good next step. There’s still a long way to go. The government will continue to provide the broader support that it’s been providing.
Updated
Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy has addressed the news that 30% of returned travellers in Victoria have been refusing Covid-19 testing in hotel quarantine.
That 30% is quite a high rate and I think other states haven’t seen such a high rate ...
You have powers to say to someone, ‘Well, we won’t let you out of quarantine until you’ve been tested and had a clear test’ ... We will make sure people understand before they come that this is a requirement.
I think most people will cooperate with that arrangement.
Updated
Scott Morrison also spoke on the AFP and Asio raids on a Labor MP’s Sydney home this morning, allegedly in relation to Chinese political interference.
It’s a matter that is being pursued by the taskforce which became operational last December, which we established. The details of that, I’m not at liberty to go into, as I’m sure you’d expect, but it’s been an investigation that has been going on for some time.
It’s elevated to a new level today. I think the actions of the Australian Federal Police and Asio demonstrate that the threats in this area are real. The need to take action is necessary and the government is absolutely determined to ensure that nobody interferes with Australia’s activities.
We won’t cop anyone coming and seeking to interfere in our political system, in our energy sector, in perceived area of opportunity for an outside actor. We won’t cop it. We are a resilient people. We will stand up to it. And we will take action, as what you’ve seen today demonstrates.
Updated
Morrison has addressed supermarkets being forced to reintroduce product limits on toilet paper due to panic buying.
Stop it, it’s ridiculous ... The coordination commission that works around this issue has been working with the suppliers and the retail outlets to put that in place. I’m sure it will pass, as it did last time, and there’s no need for it.
I think today it’s important to reassure people the outbreak doesn’t mean there’s a problem. The response to that outbreak is strong, which means that Australians can have confidence.
Updated
Today is Brendan Murphy’s last day in his post as Australia’s chief medical officer. He thanked the other members of the Australian health protection principal committee.
Any achievements I might have had is a collective achievement. The wisdom of that group is extraordinary. Every member of the federation of Australia has responded well. One of the great legacies of this outbreak is how our federation has worked well.
At the health level, we have consensus, cooperative, assisting each other, and we have taken the best expert advice and given it fearlessly to our first ministers, who have taken that advice on every occasion. That makes me very proud.
Updated
Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy says he is confident Victoria will bring its outbreaks under control.
When I took to the national cabinet the plan for reopening, removing, we assured national cabinet that the likelihood of outbreaks was high and we were ready to respond to them.
That’s exactly what the Victorian health authorities are doing right now. They have a huge team. They’re contact tracing over a thousand people. They’re testing extraordinary numbers of people.
And that’s the way to bring a localised outbreak under control: to go to where the problem is, engage with the population, test, isolate, quarantine – standard public health response.
Updated
Morrison says the national cabinet has agreed that smaller premises will be allowed to move to a 2 square metre per person rule rather than the current 4 sq m.
Smaller premises will be determined by the jurisdiction but, as a rule of them, that’s around about 100 square metres. So that means for much smaller premises that would have otherwise been trying to stick to a four-square-metre rule arrangement. This just gives them a bit more room for them to be taking more patrons.
It will be up to individual jurisdictions when they introduce that rule.
Updated
Morrison says any state could experience outbreaks as Victoria is.
I commend the Victorian government, and I commend the other state governments who are supporting Victoria...
At national cabinet today there was a great sense of solidarity in supporting Victoria because this could occur in Queensland, it could occur in Western Australia, it could occur in Tasmania, New South Wales, in any other place...
There will be outbreaks. What matters is the response. There will be outbreaks and what matters is that we continue to build our capability to deal with those outbreaks.
Updated
Morrison is starting on a happy note, celebrating Australia and NZ winning the bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup:
If we could do backflips like Sam Kerr, we would. Like many other things, we can’t use the courtyard to do backflips. You’ll use that one again, I’m sure. It is great news, wonderful news, at a time when Australians are doing it so hard, so hard, each and every day, to get that bright spot of news with this wonderful event coming.
It’ll be the largest and undoubtedly will be the best. We can look forward to a magnificent event and so many other events as Australia grows out of the Covid crisis, grows out of the Covid recession, and this is an important milestone to look ahead to and build towards that event.
Updated
The prime minister is speaking now following national cabinet.
Three in 10 returned travellers in Victoria refuse coronavirus testing
Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen, says 30% of returned travellers in hotel quarantine have been refusing Covid-19 testing.
At the moment there is no requirement that they must undertake testing. Everybody’s offered testing on multiple occasions throughout their stay and we have, you know, very good uptake of that.
Van Dieman defined that “very good uptake” as around 70%. She was asked by media if the department required more powers to enforce testing.
That’s I think something for consideration and further discussion, but at this point in time we’re pretty happy with the current regime. It’s more stringent than most other places.
Victoria has been battling two separate outbreaks among staff members working at quarantine hotels.
Updated
Federal courts and tribunals issue notice sexual harassment is "unlawful and wholly unacceptable" #auspol #auslaw pic.twitter.com/KUiD0Z9otb
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 26, 2020
Woolworths to reintroduce toilet paper purchase limit nationally
Woolworths has just annouced it will reintroduce countrywide buying limits on toilet paper.
The supermarket chain released this statement:
Woolworths will this afternoon reinstate a two-pack limit on toilet paper and paper towel in all Australian stores following a recent surge in demand across different parts of the country.
The precautionary move is designed to support appropriate social distancing in stores over the weekend and ensure all customers have access to the products they need ...
Woolworths Supermarkets managing director Claire Peters said: “We’ve regrettably started to see elevated demand for toilet roll move outside Victoria in the past 24 hours.
“While the demand is not at the same level as Victoria, we’re taking preventative action now to get ahead of any excessive buying this weekend and help maintain social distancing in our stores.
“We have ordered more than 650,000 additional packs of toilet roll into our network, which is an increase of more than 30% on our usual volumes.”
There are currently no other product limits other than toilet paper and paper towel outside of Victoria.
On Wednesday, Woolworths reinstated a purchase limit of two items in Victoria on toilet paper, hand sanitiser, paper towel, flour, sugar, pasta, mince, long-life milk, eggs and rice.
Updated
Here is a little more information on those Sydney ASIO raids, via AAP:
A south Sydney house belonging to NSW Labor upper house MP Shaoquett Moselmane has been searched by Australian federal police and intelligence officers.
The AFP confirmed search warrants were executed in Sydney on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation and that there was no threat to the community.
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay said she’d been told police and ASIO members entered Moselmane’s Rockdale home and had a warrant for his parliamentary office.
Asked if the searches related to suspicions of Chinese government filtration, McKay said:
No, this came as a surprise to me.
McKay will be briefed by law enforcement agencies later on Friday and told reporters one of Moselmane’s staff may also be involved. McKay said:
There’s an expectation on MPs that, whatever they do, it’s in the best interests of the people of the state.
I’m very restricted in what I can and can’t say.
Moselmane’s membership of NSW Labor would be suspended and he would no longer sit in the Labor parliamentary caucus, McKay added.
Moselmane in April stood down as assistant president of the NSW upper house after praising Chinese president Xi Jinping’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, saying Xi had demonstrated “unswerving leadership” and decisiveness.
Moselmane has been a member of the NSW upper house since December 2009 and between 1995 and 2009 served four stints as Rockdale city council mayor.
Updated
For more information on the future of Virgin Australia, check out Ben Butler’s full report below:
Updated
Nick Evershed has kindly put together this chart showing the recent trends in Victorian cases.
As a Melbourne resident myself, I’m not loving the gradient at the end of that graph.
If you are interested in this, check out Nick’s other amazing data work here:
Updated
Unions have responded to Virgin Australia’s administrators striking a deal with Bain Capital by repeating their call for government intervention to keep the broader aviation sector afloat.
In a statement, ACTU president Michele O’Neil said:
Virgin administrators Deloitte have advised the unions that represent Virgin employees that they have signed a sale agreement with Bain Capital in the best possible terms given the circumstances.
We understand that the agreement provides 100% protection of employee entitlements but will result in the loss of jobs to some of Virgin Australia’s hardworking and skilled employees.
What is needed now is for the federal government to play its part to secure a viable future for the aviation industry and its workers given yesterday’s announcement by Qantas and today’s developments with Virgin.
We welcome the opportunity to work with Mike Murphy and his team and look forward to urgent discussions on their plans and the issues of concerns to workers: in particular their jobs, the ramp up of work and flights, and their future within a rebuilt and viable Virgin Australia.
We once again call on the Morrison government to stop favouring one airline executive in their communication and commitments and give every aviation worker certainty by urgently confirming the extension of jobkeeper and announcing a package of assistance for the industry.
Scott Morrison has a responsibility to act today.
Updated
Hello to all Keilor Downs and Broadmeadows residents.
Have you run into the door-to-door Covid testing taskforce today? Did you say yes to testing? If not, why not?
Tweet me your experiences at @MatildaBoseley and I’ll feature your stories on the blog.
Updated
Melbourne clusters grow
Several large clusters in Melbourne have also grown overnight.
The Coburg family cluster has had one additional case – I believe taking the total to 15.
The second Keilor Downs family cluster has grown to 19, and the North Melbourne family cluster (formally known as the H&M Northland cluster) is now at 15 cases, a growth of five from numbers reported yesterday.
And as mentioned before, a Macdonald’s worker has tested positive and is linked to the Wollert cluster that is associated with St Monica’s College in Epping.
Updated
Among the new Victorian cases is a healthcare worker a youth mental health facility.
Victorian deputy chief health officer Annaliese van Diemen says:
[They are] believed to have worked while infectious, possibly asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic.
That facility is now in lockdown and we are working very closely with Melbourne Health, who run the facility. A number of staff have been put into quarantine who have been close contacts and obviously a number of patients are possibly close contacts so they are in quarantine in their rooms and full PPE is being undertaken.
Other new cases include a worker at McDonald’s which is linked to the Wollert outbreak in the city’s north.
Updated
Victoria records 30 new cases overnight
The Victorian deputy chief health officer is speaking now:
At this point with the information we know about those cases – seven are linked to known outbreaks, five have been detected in hotel quarantine.
Five have been detected through routine testing, so further investigations will be ongoing for those in terms of whether they are linked to outbreaks or linked to community transmission. And 13 are under investigation – and just to reiterate that means that they may turn out to be in hotel quarantine or they may be linked to outbreaks or they may be cases linked to community transmission.
Updated
Administrators plan to sell Virgin Australia to Bain Capital
Virgin Australia’s administrators, Deloitte, say Bain Capital is the successful bidder for the airline.
Rival Cyrus Capital Partners pulled out this morning, slamming the administrators for failing to engage with them – and return phone calls– this week.
It’s important to note that, even though the administrators say they’ve signed a deal with Bain, it isn’t binding unless approved by creditors at a meeting in August.
It’s not clear what creditors, especially bondholders owed $2bn, stand to get from the sale – Deloitte has not given information about returns in its announcement this morning.
There’s still time for the deal to fall over or for a legal challenge too.
Deloitte said:
Following a comprehensive sale campaign supported by the VAH management team and their advisors, Houlihan Lokey, Morgan Stanley and Clayton Utz, the administrators have today entered into a sale and implementation agreement with Bain Capital (through both its private equity and distressed and special situations funds). This agreement will result in the sale and recapitalisation of Virgin Australia Holdings and its subsidiary businesses (VAH Group) which operates the Virgin Australia and Tiger airlines (“the transaction”).
Completion of the transaction will occur after the second meeting of creditors, which is currently scheduled to occur before the end of August. Bain Capital has received necessary regulatory approvals under the Australian government’s foreign investment laws to complete the transaction.
The transaction:
- Supports the current management team led by Paul Scurrah and their improvement plan for the airline.
- Commits to the retention of thousands of jobs.
- Carries forward all travel credits and Velocity frequent flyer-booked flights.
- Honours all employee entitlements.
- Provides a significant injection of capital to see the business recapitalised and well-positioned for the future.
Updated
Queensland attorney general Yvette D’Ath spoke to media earlier, urging residents to comply with quarantine orders:
Although we are so fortunate in Queensland to have so few active cases, the fact is, as of today, we have almost 3,000 people on quarantine orders. About 880 of those people are in hotels but over 2,000 are quarantining in their homes.
It is absolutely critical that those people remain at home for the 14 days that they are quarantining, that they are not allowing people into their homes and they are not leaving their homes for any reason other than to be tested for Covid.
Updated
New Covid-19 clinic in Camden NSW
In response to a twelve-year-old student at Camden High School in NSW testing positive to Covid-19, the state’s health department has set up an additional Covid pop-up testing clinic at Camden Hospital.
The clinic will have walk-in testing with no bookings required and the clinic will be open over the next three days between 10am and 4pm.
Updated
“It happens at every level ... it’s not just the judiciary, it’s through the industry.”
Those are the comments of just one of the many lawyers Naaman Zhou spoke with about the alleged culture of sexual harassment that exists within the Australian legal profession.
A senior lawyer at a top-tier firm has such a history of harassment that a supervisor must sit next to him at every social event. He is also banned from one-on-one meetings, just one of the allegations from young lawyers in the industry.
Another former legal partner, who has now been appointed a senior counsel, allegedly harassed and kissed a junior clerk when she was 24.
You can read his full story here:
Updated
Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane to be suspended following Asio raid
Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane will be suspended from the party by NSW leader Jodi McKay.
Earlier this morning the Sydney Morning Herald reported his Sydney home was raided by Asio as part of an alleged wide-scale investigation into Chinese political influence.
McKay spoke to media a short time ago:
I was advised earlier this morning that there had been search warrants executed on the home and the office of Mr Moselmane. I have asked the general secretary of the party to begin suspending his membership of the Labor party. It is the right thing to do. He will no longer sit in the caucus, he will no longer be a Labor party member. His membership is being suspended as we speak, that process is now underway...
It is dreadfully concerning, it is terrible.
The SMH is also reporting there is a police officer stationed outside the MP’s office.
There is a police officer stationed outside NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane's office in NSW Parliament.
— Lisa Visentin (@LisaVisentin) June 26, 2020
Updated
Six news cases in NSW
ABC is reporting NSW recorded six new cases overnight. Five are from hotel quarantine.
NSW has recorded six new cases of coronavirus from 15,278 tests. Five are in hotel quarantine and one is a year 7 student from Camden High School in Sydney's south-west who attended school all week. 6 cases remain active, according to the new criteria. @abcnews @COVID_Australia
— Chelsea Hetherington (@chelsea_hetho) June 26, 2020
Updated
The message from New South Wales towards Victorians living in 10 hotspot suburbs affected by small outbreaks of Covid-19 has been clear: don’t visit.
“Normally we welcome our Victorian cousins into NSW, but right now I am asking Victorians, particularly those from the hotspots in Melbourne, to not come,” the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said on Thursday.
People from his state have also been urged not to travel to Victorian hotspots which include Keilor Downs, Broadmeadows, Maidstone, Albanvale, Sunshine West, Hallam, Brunswick West, Fawkner, Reservoir and Pakenham.
Melissa Davey has all the details below:
Updated
In some more cheerful news, poor old outgoing chief medical officer Brendan Murphy has revealed he has taken to wearing a disguise while in public to avoid his newfound fame:
I’m a relatively private person and, as I’ve said in other media, I have taken to wearing sunglasses and a hat when walking on the weekend on the occasions I can get out to have a walk, because people come up to me are always positive and nice but it is nice to be incognito for a while.
He sat down for an interview with the ABC to mark his last days in office. His new role will be secretary of the health department.
Updated
Today is also the first of a 10 day testing blitz in Melbourne. The focus today will be on the suburbs of Keilor Downs and Broadmeadows, with an effort to eventually test 50% of residents over the next three days. Attention will then turn to eight other hotspot suburbs.
In many cases, this will involve ambulances sitting at the end of suburban streets with health officials going door to door asking locals to get tested whether they are symptomatic or not.
“So, they will be invited to come and get a test, and they’ll only have to travel 50 metres or 100 metres in order to complete that test,” premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday.
This huge testing operation is an effort to curbs the problematic rates of community transmission in Victoria.
Updated
There is some breaking local news underway in Australia as well. The Sydney Morning Herald has just reported that New South Wales Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane’s Sydney home has been raided by Asio operatives allegedly as part of a sweeping investigation into Chinese influence in Australian politics.
The newspaper is reporting that there have been allegations Chinese government agents have infiltrated the MP’s office.
They say the raid began around 6.30am today and lasted several hours.
The publication also notes, “the Age/SMH is not suggesting the allegations involving Mr Moselmane and his office are proven, only that they are the subject of an Asio and federal police inquiry”.
I will try to bring you more details as they come to light but for now, you can have a read of the SMH’s story here.
Updated
With that, I’ll be handing the blog over to the wonderful Matilda Boseley. Thanks for reading.
In some breaking international news, Iranian authorities are investigating reports of a large explosion just east of Tehran. One to keep an eye on.
Scott Morrison has spoken to 2GB Radio about continuing economic support for the aviation sector after 6,000 job losses at Qantas and the growing backbench revolt against Greg Hunt’s ban on importing liquid nicotine products.
Morrison said:
Jobkeeper is there until the end of September. We understand that there are sectors of the economy – aviation is one, the entertainment industry is another – that will continue to be affected much longer than other businesses that are thankfully starting to open up again. It’s always been our view we’ll have to provide targeted support in those areas … What I’ve said to Alan Joyce and what I’ve said to everyone is we understand the need for further support.”
Asked about the cliff of supports ending in September, Morrison sang a very different tune to his repeated warnings that government payments are “temporary medication”, now urging Australians not to “rush to conclusions” about what the government will do. “We understand what is going on out there – we’ll keep ensuring we have policies to support people,” he said.
Asked about the backlash to the vaping ban, Morrison tried to deflect by saying he was focused on the coronavirus recession and Hunt will “take into account various feedback that’s coming back”.
But when pushed, he did defend the ban by arguing: “Individuals who get the vaporiser nicotine ... can get that via permission from the department of health and their doctor and get it from a medical supplier. Vaping products that don’t contain nicotine are not affected by these changes.”
NT will block entry to people from coronavirus hotspots
NT chief minister Michael Gunner is speaking now.
He says that despite the situation in Victoria, “the hard truth is, we cannot stay shut forever”. The NT border is set to open on 17 July, and that is not changing.
But he is announcing strict new measures for people who have come from “hotspots” from other states – even as small as a suburb:
If your suburb or local government area has been declared a hot spot by your state or territory government or by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, then you will not be given access to the Territory.
You will be quarantined in a centre at your own cost before you can enjoy the NT.
Gunner also says that police will monitor the border for two weeks after it opens and “for as long as they are needed”.
The entry card will need people to declare if they have been in a hotspot in the past 28 days. And you can be fined for making a false declaration:
If you are meant to be in lockdown, then you shouldn’t be leaving your home, you shouldn’t be coming here.
If you do leave your home and come here, we will lock you down, and if you break our rules, we can lock you up. So don’t come here.
Updated
From this morning, a huge exclusive from Christopher Knaus on the secretive Bernard Collaery and Witness K case.
The government has spent $2m prosecuting the pair for their role in blowing the whistle on Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste, our ally. The case has not even reached trial.
If you haven’t watched it yet, here is the moment the Matildas found out we were hosting the World Cup:
"The host of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 will be.... Australia & New Zealand!!"
— Westfield Matildas (@TheMatildas) June 25, 2020
Cue pandemonium 🥳🤪#AsOne pic.twitter.com/JfqowJlDWg
The Sydney Morning Herald has dispatched reporters today to report that there is “higher than usual demand” for toilet paper in some parts of Sydney.
Some shelves were empty in Roselands, Merrylands, Leichhardt and Toronto in Lake Macquarie. This comes after widespread media reporting on toilet paper shortages in Victoria, as the state’s number of Covid-19 cases rose.
In June, researchers said that Australia were world leaders in panic buying – and more panicked than even the UK and Italy, who had far more Covid-19 cases.
Researchers said that the Australian media’s overreporting on the shortages and hoarding could have played a part. The spikes in panic were uncorrelated to either government announcements or rising cases.
Levels of panic in Australia were so high the researchers had to create a new chart just for us.
Updated
Tasmania border announcement coming
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein is expected to announce a date when the state’s borders will reopen to domestic travellers.
AAP report that Gutwein will make the announcement today, more than three months after the borders were first closed.
Gutwein said he has held “positive” talks with South Australia, which has opened to Tasmanians and select states, in a sign visitors from some jurisdictions may be more welcome than others.
The state government has previously said late July is the likely date for when border restrictions will be eased.
Just in case anyone is unclear at how much Cyrus is upset with the administrators at Deloitte (who have been contacted for comment), the Cyrus statement continues:
The effort and expertise invested by Cyrus and its advisers over a very compressed time period, including the close personal involvement of Cyrus’ founder and chief investment officer, Stephen Freidheim, demonstrates how committed Cyrus is - and remains - to playing a lead role in the future of Virgin Australia.
Cyrus knows what it takes to grow a successful Virgin airline. With a 20-year history of investing in airlines, and its deep understanding of the Virgin culture from twelve years as the controlling shareholder of award-winning US airline Virgin America, Cyrus firmly believes it is the best-qualified party to take Virgin Australia forward to great success - to the benefit of employees, customers, Velocity frequent flyer members and other stakeholders. These qualifications are bolstered by the involvement of former Virgin Group North America CEO Jonathan Peachey as a senior adviser to Cyrus.
Working closely with Virgin Australia’s management and other stakeholders culminated in a strong vision and business plan that was overwhelmingly supported by the unions representing the collective heart and soul of Virgin Australia - its employees.
In fact, every major group with a vested stake in Virgin Australia’s future - employees, their union representatives and Virgin Australia management - support Cyrus due to the shared vision, compatibility of working styles and mutual respect earned during our intensive engagement over the past few weeks.
Cyrus also believes that its business plan, developed on a bottom-up (plane-by-plane and route-by-route) basis with management, best positions Virgin Australia to return to strength during these difficult times. It has been widely reported that after this plan was unveiled two weeks ago, it has been largely adopted by all other potential bidders as well.
Freidheim said in the statement that he would be “willing to re-instate our offer if the Administrators agree to re-engage in good faith”.
Peachey said: “It has been a pleasure to get to know Virgin Australia, its talented and enthusiastic management and its dedicated employee union representatives.
“Cyrus would have brought to Virgin Australia all its experience of launching and supporting the growth of Virgin America in the United States to reinstate Virgin Australia to its rightful position as the best airline in the region.”
Cyrus Capital Partners launched a blistering parting spray at administrators of Virgin Australia as it pulled out of the race to buy the airline.
The move leaves Bain Capital as the only bidder, but it is by no means clear it will buy the airline. Bain’s bid has to be approved by creditors and there is also a late move by bondholders, owed $2bn, to re-float the airline that complicates matters.
Cyrus pulling out is a blow to unions, who had favoured the group over well-known union-busters Bain.
In a statement, Cyrus said:
After thousands of hours of detailed due diligence, business planning and stakeholder engagement from Cyrus and its advisers over the past two months, Cyrus has decided to withdraw its offer to acquire Virgin Australia, due to lack of engagement by the Administrator.
On the morning of 22 June 2020, Cyrus presented to the administrators of Virgin Australia Holdings an offer to acquire the airline, its regional business and the frequent flyer program Velocity, in accordance with the administrators’ procedures. However, since then, the administrators have not returned calls, emails, or meaningfully engaged with Cyrus to progress its offer.
On the morning of 25 June 2020, Cyrus submitted a further unsolicited package of value improvements and other compelling measures to increase the value of the transaction, improve the return to unsecured bondholders and deliver more certainty for the administrators. This too received no response other than an acknowledgement of receipt.
Despite the material improvements put forward, the administrators have still not engaged with Cyrus on its offer.
As a result, Cyrus has withdrawn its offer today, 26 June 2020.
Updated
Bain Capital only bidder left for Virgin Australia
There is only one potential buyer for Virgin Australia left, as the lengthy process for the airline continues.
The American private equity firm Bain Capital is the only remaining bidder, after the only other rival, Cyrus Capital Partners, withdrew.
Cyrus said in a statement this morning that it would withdraw due to “lack of engagement” from the company administrating Virgin’s sale, Deloitte, according to a report by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Updated
Good morning everyone, it’s Naaman Zhou here, and welcome to our coronavirus liveblog for today.
In extremely good news, Australia and New Zealand will host the 2023 Women’s World Cup, as announced in the early hours at about 1am today.
National cabinet is also scheduled to meet later, where it is expected that Scott Morrison and the premiers will discuss reopening arts venues and live entertainment.
A Sydney school has been closed this morning after a year 7 student tested positive for Covid-19. Camden High School in Sydney’s south-west is being cleaned today, after the student attended school all week.
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein is also expected to make an announcement today about a future date for reopening Tasmania’s borders to domestic travel.
We’ll bring you all the news as it happens. Stay tuned.
