Good evening and here is our daily roundup of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in Australia. This is Calla Wahlquist bringing you the main stories on Sunday 10 May.
Ten arrested at protest against Covid-19 lockdown laws
Ten people were arrested at a protest outside Melbourne’s Parliament House on Sunday. About 200 people gathered to protest against Victoria’s continued lockdown laws and against the concept of vaccination, chanted for the arrest of Bill Gates, and pushed the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was linked to the rollout of 5G.
Two of the 10 arrested were the organisers of the protest, police said. The charges for the 10 included breaching Victoria’s state of emergency orders, which expire on Monday and carry a $1,600 on-the-spot fine or potential jail time. Three people were also charged with assaulting a police officer, and one police officer was taken to hospital for a rib injury.
NSW to ease restrictions from Friday
From Friday, people in New South Wales will be allowed to have five visitors in their home and gather in groups of up to 10 outside. Places of worship will also be open to up to 10 people. Restaurants and cafes will be open to up to 10 dine-in patrons, although premier Gladys Berejiklian conceded that may not be a viable business decision.
Weddings will be allowed to have 10 guests, funerals 20 attendees if held indoors and 30 if outdoors. However Berejiklian said she was not yet ready to lift the restrictions on regional travel within NSW, and cautioned that the “biggest threat to the New South Wales community is complacency”. She said if infection rates increased significantly, the state would be locked down again.
WA announces four-step plan to ease restrictions
Western Australia has announced a four-stage plan to ease lockdown restrictions. The state is currently in phase one and will move to phase two, which will allow for indoor gatherings of up to 20 people, and allow restaurants, cafes, and pubs to reopen for up to 20 patrons, from Monday 18 May. Phase three will happen about four weeks after that, details to be confirmed, and then phase four will happen at a date to be fixed.
Phase two will also allow groups of up to 20 to engage in non-contact sport, swimming in outdoor pools, and indoor and outdoor fitness classes. Weddings and funerals can have up to 20 participants if indoors and 30 if outdoors.
The 13 regional borders in WA will be replaced with four, allowing for travel between neighbouring regions. The hard border with the eastern states will remain in place. Premier Mark McGowan said it “has been our strongest weapon in the fight against this virus” and “will likely be the final restriction that we lift”.
Australia records 14 new cases
Australia recorded just 14 new cases of coronavirus overnight. Ten of those cases were in Victoria, including one connected to the Cedar Meats cluster, bringing the total number of cases in that cluster to 79. Queensland and NSW both recorded two new cases each.
China threatens barley tariffs
The Australian government is trying to convince China not to go ahead with proposed tariffs against Australian-grown barley, which could devastate the $1.5bn trade. Beijing has indicated it may impose the tariffs because it claims an 18-month long anti-dumping investigation, which Australia participated in, has found evidence of dumping and anti-competitive behaviour. Australian trade minister Simon Birmingham says there is no evidence to show Australia engaged in dumping, and that Australian barley farmers “operate on an entirely commercial basis”. It follows weeks of escalating tension between Canberra and Beijing over Australia’s support for an independent investigation into the origin of Covid-19.
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