Good evening, here are the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in Australia. This is Elias Visontay and it’s Wednesday 3 June.
Australia enters first recession in 29 years
Australia has entered its first recession in 29 years after the economy went backwards by 0.3% in the March quarter, with the impact of bushfires and the coronavirus ending the nation’s extraordinary, uninterrupted run of economic growth.
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said a recession was inevitable after the Australian Bureau of Statistics released national accounts showing gross domestic product fell 0.3% in the quarter. The economy grew only 1.4% over the past 12 months, which is the weakest performance since the global financial crisis.
The opposition treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, responded to the announcement by saying Australia entered the Covid-19 pandemic “from a position of weakness”, adding “even before the virus, even before the bushfires, we had issues with weak growth, stagnant wages, weak business investment and productivity”.
Universities face $16bn black hole
Universities claim they will lose up to $16bn by 2023 due to the impact of Covid-19, according to new modelling.
Universities Australia has raised the stakes in lobbying for an industry assistance package or relaxed visa conditions to facilitate international students by revealing it now expects members to lose between $3.1bn and $4.8bn this year alone.
NZ travel bubble ‘very certain’ as Australian cases fall
The deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, said he is “very certain” of the proposed travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand eventuating provided both countries continue to keep the virus under control.
The move towards quarantine-free tourism comes as Greece’s ambassador to Australia conceded a recent Greek government pitch for Australians to visit the country from 15 June was technically illegal to pursue.
There have been eight new Covid-19 cases recorded across Australia in the 24-hour period leading up to Wednesday afternoon. There are less than 500 active cases nationally, with 25 people in hospital, five in intensive care units, with two on ventilators.
Councils struggle with huge rise in household rubbish
Councils around Australia have seen a huge increase in volumes of household rubbish and dumping of waste triggered by a combination of more online shopping, home improvements, international workers returning to their home countries and a clearing out of unwanted possessions during the coronavirus lockdown.
City of Melbourne council said it saw a 70% increase in illegally dumped rubbish in April, compared with the same time last year, while City of Sydney council has reported a 35% rise in the volume of special collections.
Unions and bosses eye future amid recession
Businesses and unions are putting their differences aside and donning their thinking caps as the coronavirus economic slump bites hard.
The federal industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, joined union heads Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil and a range of employer groups in Sydney on Wednesday morning.
The groups are looking at issues including the definition of casual employment, enterprise agreements for major projects and simplifying awards for hard-hit industries such as hospitality, with Porter summarising the first day as “a very optimistic start to the process”.
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Facebook data to show where people are going after lockdown
Researchers hope the addition of Facebook de-identified movement data will give a better overview of people slowly returning to their regular travels as we emerge from the coronavirus lockdown period, and help identify any potential places where physical distancing may be an issue.
From Wednesday, Facebook will make public its own aggregated data set based on location data, which users can opt out of providing to Facebook through their privacy settings.
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Groceries, telehealth and pharmaceuticals: how older Australians can get help at home
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