Summary
And that’s where we will leave things for this evening. A reminder of what’s happened today:
- Victoria recorded another 240 new cases and 13 deaths, eight of which were linked to outbreaks in aged care facilities.
- The Victorian government extended its ban on evictions and rental increases until the end of the year.
- Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry heard quarantine guests shared lifts and toilets with non-quarantined guests and staff. The inquiry also heard guards had not been given proper hygiene and PPE training.
- The health minister Greg Hunt would not rule out linking any future Covid-19 vaccination to welfare payments.
- NSW recorded five new cases, three of which were locally acquired.
- Queensland recorded another mystery case of the virus, a woman in her 70s from Ipswich who works at the Brisbane youth detention centre. A massive contact tracing effort is underway and authorities are working to determine where she acquired the infection.
- Qantas recorded a $2bn loss due to the pandemic’s hit to revenue. Chief executive Alan Joyce called for “clear guidelines” for when borders will reopen.
- Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said she was “not going to bend to anyone” in response to calls from Joyce for a national framework for border closures.
Thank you, as always, for joining us. We’ll be back here again tomorrow.
Updated
Queensland health authorities say a massive contact tracing, testing and quarantining operation is underway after an Ipswich resident yesterday tested positive to Covid-19.
The Bundamba woman in her 70s works at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre. She has been admitted to Ipswich Hospital and currently has minor symptoms.
The case was recorded in today’s figures for Queensland.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said the woman has indicated she had not travelled interstate or overseas and authorities have not yet identified any contact with a known or likely source.
Late yesterday we began mobilising a massive effort in response to this case.
The Department of Youth Justice has advised this staff member did not frequent the accommodation section of the centre but Queensland Health will test the 127 youth at the facility as well as identified staff as a precaution.
We are working to determine whether there have been any visitors during that time period and whether there have been any residents who have moved in and out of the facility during that time.
The facility has also been placed into lockdown.
Young said health teams were still working to determine where the woman might have acquired the infection.
Updated
And some more from that senate inquiry, via AAP:
Tourism groups want national guidelines on when borders can close and reopen.
Australian Tourism Industry Council chief Simon Westaway has suggested state borders reopen after 28 days of no community transmission.
Queensland’s border closures alone has cost $21m and 173 jobs each day.
Prime minister Scott Morrison will discuss border controls with premiers and chief ministers when national cabinet meets on Friday.
While the government has provided about $1.5bn in assistance to the aviation industry, there have been calls for a broader package.
Australian Airports Association chief James Goodwin said airports were losing $300m a month, with operating costs the same if there’s one flight or 100.
He said airports were doing a great deal of work to comply with government mandated coronavirus requirements, but haven’t been given any support.
The inquiry also heard from hospitality workers who expressed frustration about the impending jobkeeper rate reduction.
United Workers Union member Josephine Annink said she had no choice but to drain her superannuation account to stay afloat.
Updated
The frustration felt by tourism businesses about coronavirus restrictions and border closures is at boiling point, and jobs are on the line, a Senate inquiry has been told.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Jenny Lambert says confidence has been rocked by decisions made after Victoria’s virus outbreak, particularly on state borders, AAP reports.
“The frustration of the business community is boiling over,” she told the inquiry on Thursday.
Businesses will hang on – they’ll keep remortgaging their house, they’ll keep doing whatever it takes to hang on if they see a future.
But if they don’t see an immediate future then it’s very hard for them to hang on and that will mean many, many thousands of jobs lost in tourism in the next month or two.
ACCI has warned 172,000 businesses only have two weeks left of financial reserves.
Updated
Via AAP:
A leading Indigenous disability advocacy body has been overwhelmed with requests for basic help and supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic, a royal commission has heard.
Damian Griffis, chief executive of the First Peoples Disability Network, said the virus has exacerbated existing inequalities in Australia.
He said the group has received phone calls from across the country from people who don’t have access to crucial items such as incontinence pads.
“Our staff have been overwhelmed, frankly,” Griffis told the commission on Thursday.
Requests have ranged from urgent wheelchair repairs in remote communities to troubles accessing medication and food shortages.
Some of our people with disability and their families, they make contact with us at an absolute crisis point.
They’ve exhausted all the other avenues that they’re aware of. We’re not funded for that work, but we never turn anyone away.
Griffis said a 40-page Aboriginal coronavirus plan, drawn up by community organisations and the federal health department, made no mention of people with disability.
He called for the creation of an Aboriginal owned and operated disability individual advocacy scheme and a hotline tailored to meet the needs of disabled Indigenous people.
Updated
Here is a little more, via AAP, on Australians overseas who have been trying to return home:
More than 18,000 Australians abroad are trying to return home but limits on international arrivals are posing a significant challenge, a Senate inquiry has been told.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official Fiona Webster says 27,000 Australians have registered overseas, with 18,800 of them wanting to come home.
Most were in India, the Philippines, South Africa and Vietnam, she said on Thursday.
More than 371,000 Australians have returned home since March 13, when the public was urged not to go overseas because of the coronavirus health crisis.
The federal government has organised 64 repatriation flights home, with 13 of those from India.
Dr Webster said limits on international arrivals posed a “significant challenge” for Australians overseas.
“We can only work within the quarantine capacity,” she said.
DFAT has tried to help vulnerable Australians or those in exceptional circumstances, but had limited sway with airlines, she added.
Nearly 400 people have been given emergency loans to help cover the cost of airfares home.
States requested limits on international arrivals so hotels could cope with the mandatory two-week quarantine program.
The current limits will remain in place until at least October 24.
Until October 24 the limits are:
- Melbourne: no international passenger arrivals
- Sydney: 350 passenger arrivals per day
- Perth: 525 per week
- Brisbane: 500 per week
- Adelaide: 500 per week
- Canberra and Darwin: limits discussed with jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis
- Hobart: no international flights
Updated
The University of Sydney is “making plans” to cut up to 30% of its staff in some faculties, according to the tertiary education union, after staff members were asked to come up with “suggestions on how we might restructure” to reduce costs.
In a statement released just now, the National Tertiary Education Union said it had “received information” that the university’s management “are making plans for cuts of up to 30% of its staffing budget”.
“This would equate to 3,000 job cuts, the biggest at any university so far,” the NTEU said.
Staff in the school of education received an email on Wednesday telling them that the dean of the arts faculty had asked for staff to propose “suggestions on how we might restructure to reduce by up to 30% full-time equivalent [employment]”, according to another group of university staff, the Usyd Casuals Network.
“This morning, the Dean has responded by clarifying that this was not a directive to implement cuts but only to conceive of ‘scenarios’ that might include such cuts.”
However, the group, which represents casual staff at the university said: “We reject the notion that there is a difference between a hypothetical scenario and a concrete plan to cut conditions.”
We’ve contacted the university and will bring you more when they respond.
Updated
Victoria’s afternoon update is out. Just a reminder of the earlier numbers, there were 240 new cases recorded since yesterday. Sadly, there were 13 more deaths, eight of which were linked to outbreaks in aged care facilities.
Of the total cases:
- 16,277 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 1,068 are from regional Victoria.
- Total cases include 8,483 men and 9,166 women.
- Active cases among healthcare workers: 753.
- There are 1,811 active cases relating to aged care facilities.
Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers are as follows:
- 209 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping.
- 193 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner.
- 158 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer.
- 152 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee.
- 132 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth.
- 112 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North.
- 111 cases have been linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir.
- 110 cases have been linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North.
- 110 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg.
- 105 cases have been linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury.
There are 65 cases in residential disability accommodation, 16 of which are residents and 49 are staff.
Updated
The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, has just issued these words for state governments about border closures:
#auspol pic.twitter.com/5dWWeSTYMk
— David Littleproud (@D_LittleproudMP) August 20, 2020
Kidd ends the update with this comment about when international travel might be possible again for Australians.
We do not know when international travel is going to be possible for people from Australia and we do not know when a vaccine will be available which are safe and effective and able to be distributed widely across the country.
Updated
Kidd is asked about the 19,000 Australians wanting to return home and whether caps on international arrivals could be lifted.
He says the AHPPC hasn’t been providing advice on caps.
These are determinations being made by each state and territory based on what they understand they feel is a safe number of people able to come into the country and be monitored and supported in hotel quarantine.
So we do have reduced numbers at the moment and clearly with the outbreaks in Victoria, we saw Melbourne stopping receiving people into Hotel quarantine and that has had a significant impact and has created a backlog of people overseas.
But we are aware that there are many Australians who do wish to return to the country, to return to their families.
Updated
A question about AstraZeneca and reports the company is seeking “indemnification from potential side-effects in countries it is making agreements with”.
Kidd says because he hasn’t seen the letter of intent that has been signed he can’t comment.
Kidd is now turning again to a Covid-19 vaccine, saying the government is following developments in Australia and around the world.
Yesterday the prime minister announced the signing of a letter of intent with UK waste drug company AstraZeneca to supply the Covid vaccine candidate being produced by Oxford University to Australia. Under a signed agreement, should the trials be successful and safe, Australia will manufacture and supply this vaccine.
He says the Australian government continues to monitor all vaccine candidates in clinical trials.
Updated
The national update has begun with Prof Michael Kidd.
Up to noon today, 246 new Covid-19 cases have been diagnosed, slightly up on yesterday’s figure of 228. There have been 13 more deaths, all in Victoria, taking the national total to 463 since the pandemic began.
He says contact tracing of new cases diagnosed in New South Wales and Queensland “remains essential”.
Updated
Human Rights Law Centre executive director Hugh de Kretser stayed in the Rydges Hotel in late June and early July with his family.
We covered off a lot of his experience in a story this morning, but he told the hotel quarantine inquiry this afternoon that he only got two fresh air walks in his whole 14 days in isolation, despite testing negative for Covid-19.
Those walks were only towards the end of his time there, and were only for 15 minutes at a time.
He and his family were kept in a room with windows that could not open, despite De Kretser requesting it because his son has asthma.
He said he was concerned about staying in the Rydges after the reported Covid-19 outbreak, and said he was more concerned that despite claims the Rydges had been through a deep clean, the rooms were unclean with gloves and masks discovered when furniture was moved to give more space for exercise.
Updated
The department of foreign affairs and trade is up at the Covid-19 committee, giving details about consular assistance to Australians abroad including the fact it helped organise 64 special flights home to Australia.
Fiona Webster, the acting first assistant secretary of the consular and crisis management division, said that since 13 March some 371,000 Australians have returned home including 27,000 in which the department had a direct role organising flights. The rest were on commercial flights.
There are still 27,000 Australians registered abroad, including 18,800 who have expressed a wish to return home to Australia. About 15% of those 18,800 are classed as “vulnerable” because of medical or financial reasons, Webster says.
Webster said the introduction of a cap on incoming arrivals of about 4,000 a week was a “significant challenge” for Australians abroad seeking to come home. She said the government doesn’t have control over the allocation of seats on commercial flights, which are made by “commercial decisions”. Although it tries to help out in cases of hardship, the department has “little leverage”.
Labor’s Katy Gallagher raises the issue of Australians being told to buy business class tickets because of cancellation of economy fares, and Webster repeats that this is a commercial decision of the airlines.
The department has assisted with 390 Covid hardship loans of an average of $3,400, generally to cover airfares for stranded travellers.
Frances Adamson, the DFAT secretary, said the government is “very aware” of the situation of Australians seeking to return home but explains the cap is a health safety measure and the ways it can assist are “limited”.
Updated
You have a national update from Prof Michael Kidd coming up in about half an hour.
Lisa Cox will take you through that and the rest of the afternoon.
I’m off for the next couple of days (I worked a weekend shift) but I’ll be back on the blog – and covering parliament as well as Covid – from early Monday morning.
A massive thank you to everyone for this week – and every week – for all your help and tips. We truly couldn’t do it without you.
We are a day closer to spring, and the warmer weather will also help bring better news, as we all adapt to this new normal. Remember to take whatever time you need for yourself – life has changed, so its normal to feel a bit overwhelmed at times. If that means staring at a wall, do it. If it means starting an exercise program, do it. If it means just having a bit of a cry in the shower, do it. Whatever makes you feel a bit better. For me at the moment, it’s watching My Little Pony and Schitt’s Creek for the millionth time, eating cookie dough and pistachios and reading romance novels. Whatever works.
Thank you again for joining me. I’ll hopefully see you early next week. As always, take care of you.
Updated
Local government no longer has a seat at the federal council table – it was a part of Coag, but it is not a part of the new national cabinet system.
Labor’s Andrew Giles had some things to say about that:
Brian Howe’s Building Better Cities program helped build Australia out of our last recession, and left an enduring legacy: better cities!
The principal focus of Building Better Cities was on projects targeting inner city disadvantage.
Now, 30 years, our urban geography demands a different approach – to deal with the spatial inequalities of today, and to better connect suburban Australians to all those things that make up a good and secure life.
Rebuilding better, and more resilient, cities and suburbs is critical to economic recovery from pandemic and recession.
But it’s more than that: where we live means so much to all of us.
These places need to matter equally in government, and around any national cabinet table.
Updated
We have the technology – and it turns out we can use it.
Federal MPs will be able to attend parliamentary sittings, remotely.
Christian Porter:
New rules have been agreed that will for the first time enable federal members of parliament to contribute remotely to proceedings via video during the next sitting fortnight.
The video option will be available to MP’s who can satisfy the Speaker that they were unable to attend in person because the pandemic had made it “essentially impossible, unreasonably impracticable, or would give rise to an unreasonable risk for the member to physically attend”.
Members appearing remotely will have to use an official parliamentary video facility located in a parliamentary or an electorate office.
They will be able to contribute to debates and ask questions during Question Time. Their contributions will also be recorded in Hansard. They will not be able to vote during divisions or be counted for quorums. Nor will they be able to second motions or move amendments to a motion or bill.
Attorney general and leader of the house, Christian Porter, thanked the Speaker and his office for their hard work behind the scenes to prepare the technology that will make these new measures possible. He also thanked the Manager of Opposition Business, Tony Burke, for his assistance with the new arrangements.
The government welcomes the trial of this innovative technology to allow members who can’t be physically present in the parliament to contribute to debate. The gradual introduction of this technology will occur over the next fortnight to ensure a staged and tested implementation.
Updated
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young thinks it is beyond time for a national tourism plan:
The tourism industry urgently needs a national plan to save businesses on the brink of bust. Tens of thousands of tourism businesses will be lost in coming weeks without cash flow assistance and clarity on border restriction policies.
National cabinet needs to be working on a national tourism plan that factors in industry needs, health advice and the best interests of the country. Instead state, territory and federal leaders are politicking over border restrictions and the intent of National Cabinet is unravelling.
The Covid Senate Committee heard today that two and a half months ago, ABS data showed 57% of tourism businesses didn’t have the cash flow to last three months which means right now businesses are on their last dollars and deciding whether they need to close their doors for good.
Without a plan to save the tourism industry, 172,000 businesses are at risk of going under within two weeks.
Updated
I regret to inform you that ‘team xx’ is back on the Coalition talking points.
Stuart Robert being entirely normal here:
Today is what team Gold Coast does really, really well – it gets together when times are tough.
When the Titans are down and the Gold Coast Suns aren’t looking too good as well, that’s when Gold Coasters step up.
Robert was one sentence away from ‘go sportsball’ here.
I mean, as a Gold Coaster, yes, when there is a natural disaster, or a tragedy, the community, as every other community does, comes together. But when it’s football teams are down?
Ugh.
For the record, if you have ever supported a Gold Coast team, you are more than acquainted with disappointment.
The announcement was about increasing manufacturing capacity on the Gold Coast, by the way.
Updated
For those wanting to follow along with the Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry, you can find the link here:
The hearing continues with evidence from more returned travellers who stayed in hotel quarantine. Watch live: https://t.co/iS4zrpD4q2 Details: https://t.co/QijLcZmftb#Covid19AUS
— COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry (@HotelInquiryVIC) August 20, 2020
Updated
Meanwhile, to give you an indication of what the parliament sitting is going to be like next week:
When it comes to taking responsibility, it’s not hard to work out who @ScottMorrisonMP’s inspiration is...#auspol pic.twitter.com/4wgS9gSgZI
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) August 20, 2020
Updated
Oh look – my heart cracked open.
(via AAP)
Snow is set to fall across large swathes of ACT and the NSW Central and Southern Tablelands as a deep low-pressure trough batters the state with wild winds and chilly temperatures.
The trough has developed over southeast NSW during the past 24 hours, extending into the Southern Ocean, and is likely to persist until Monday.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding on Thursday said the system would bring high winds with gusts surpassing 90km/h, cold temperatures and snowfall.
Snow is expected to fall across the weekend in Orange, Lithgow, Goulburn, Oberon, Jenolan Caves, the Blue Mountains and the high areas around Bathurst, Golding said. Snowfall is likely to occur in places above an altitude of 500 metres.
The ACT and Snowy Mountains region may also receive a dusting, and skiers heading to the NSW snowfields have been warned about the potential for blizzards and avalanches.
Golding said it was a one in 15 year weather event.
“We’ve already seen the start of that with some pretty gusty winds develop over a lot of NSW, those winds kicked up some dust over western NSW,” Golding told reporters.
“Over the next four days those winds are really continuing, some days windier than others.”
Temperatures will hover around five degrees across the NSW Central and Southern Tablelands, with wind chill to give the sensation of below-freezing weather.
Golding said the conditions could prompt the collapse of trees, branches and power lines in some places, and black ice was likely to form on roads. The SES said it had completed 160 jobs in the past 24 hours and has now activated snow plans.
SES commissioner Carlene York said vehicles should be moved undercover, loose items should be secured and residents should steer eight metres clear of fallen power lines.
“Really think twice about whether you have to go out and drive in this weather,” York said.
Perisher resort tweeted on Wednesday “the storm has settled in!” with 10cm of fresh cover.
Updated
Murph has an update on Joel Fitzgibbon being Joel Fitzgibbon:
Senior Labor left frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has blasted her rightwing colleague Joel Fitzgibbon for suggesting Labor could split if it fails to reconcile its progressive and blue collar constituencies, arguing the shadow resources minister needs to get his priorities straight.
After Fitzgibbon floated a potential split some time in the future in a podcast, Plibersek told Guardian Australia: “It’s beyond me why anyone is talking about this when we have vulnerable people dying in nursing homes”.
“People need to get their priorities straight,” she said.
Labor urges Coalition to reverse plan to cut jobkeeper as economy worsensRead more
Fitzgibbon has been at public loggerheads with the shadow minister for climate change and energy Mark Butler over the direction of Labor’s climate policy after the 2019 election defeat, and more recently over taxpayer-supported gas development.
Prof Michael Kidd will give the national Covid update today, at 3.30pm.
Updated
Better late than never, I suppose.
Via AAP:
South Australia will unveil a scheme within days to provide a pandemic leave payment for people who lose their income if forced to quarantine or self-isolate under Covid-19 restrictions.
Treasurer Rob Lucas said the government was examining ways to fund a scheme from the state’s coffers and expected to announce details next week.
But he said the government had no idea how many might qualify for payments of up to $1,500 and how much it would cost.
“Clearly, if we were to ever end up in the circumstances of Victoria, and let’s hope that we don’t, then you have a potential significant additional cost to taxpayers,” Lucas told reporters on Thursday.
“If we manage to keep the spread of the coronavirus to the levels that we’ve looked at here, it wouldn’t be as bad.
“It just depends on the extent of quarantining or directions to self-isolate that the public health officer makes.”
The treasurer’s comments came after chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier revealed the idea of a pandemic leave payment had been seriously considered and advice had been provided to the government.
The Labor opposition also backed the payment.
“Labor strongly supports a pandemic leave payment for those who cannot earn an income because they are required to self-isolate or quarantine,” treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan said.
“We need to do everything we can to assist with compliance with self-isolation and quarantine.
“Nobody should be left financially disadvantaged by doing the right thing.”
Lucas said the state government had been told the commonwealth would not fund a pandemic leave scheme in SA, because the situation was less serious.
“We’ve had the discussions ... but ultimately the federal government has made the decision that it’s only in the case of the disaster state, Victoria, that they will fund these payments,” he said.
“Given we’re not in that position, they believe it’s our responsibility.”
With infections remaining low, SA has so far avoided forcing many people, other than returned travellers, into isolation or quarantine.
The state has also avoided widespread measures impacting on businesses, particularly the hospitality sector where many casuals are employed.
From Friday those businesses and many others will be forced to have Covid-19 marshals to ensure all restrictions on trading and patrons are being enforced, including social distancing and hygiene requirements
The government hopes that will avoid any need to place renewed limits on the number of people allowed in venues which could lead to job losses.
So far up to 30,000 people have completed the online training required to become marshals.
Updated
I shared this earlier in the week.
But for those asking whether or not there was an aged care ‘plan’ as Scott Morrison and Richard Colbeck have claimed, this piece from Daniel Hurst can help answer some of those questions.
Obviously, Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield have done a very good job in New Zealand this year.
But have they brought unrestrained joy to the nation and beyond with their very existence?
That’s why I support Mittens, as New Zealander of the year. Despite all the challenges of 2020, Mittens has continued his adventures, bringing joy with his dignified presence.
As Eleanor Ainge Roy reports:
A celebrity cat, a hardworking civil servant and the prime minister have all been nominated for this year’s New Zealander of the year award.
“In this extraordinary year, we know that everyone has a hero,” Miriama Kamo, the patron of the awards, said.
For some, that hero has been a Turkish Angora cat named Mittens who roams tattoo parlours, office towers and churches, posing for social media snapshots along the way. Earlier this year Mittens, of Wellington, was given the key to the city, and his adventurous spirit has won him tens of thousands of local and international fans.
My name is Amy Remeikis and I endorse this message.
Updated
Will the Melbourne curfew be lifted earlier?
Daniel Andrews:
We’ve spent many days talking about restrictions and that’s important because it is relevant to every person’s daily life but we’re just not in a position to look at the data we’ve got.
We’re into our third week.
We just can’t extrapolate from that data where we’re going to be in a week’s time, where we’re going to be in three weeks’ time, two, three, four five weeks’ time.
It’s just really difficult to know. We would also look to be as proportionate to the challenge as possible. If something like the curfew was deemed to be no longer necessary, then it will come off.
It won’t be on there – it won’t be on, it won’t be imposed for any longer than it needs to be.
That’s the rule we’ve tried to apply to all different restrictions we’ve put in place. It’s absolutely fine for us to be having these discussions, it is just hard to crystal ball where we might get to.
Just so we’re clear, I wouldn’t want to set a date – it might be easier to do that for a little while – until that date couldn’t be delivered.
That’s not the best way to go. We’ve just got to, I think, accept, as tough as it is, that we’ve still got a long way to go in this and we have to keep, all of us, doing everything we possibly can to drive those numbers down and down further.
Then there’ll be a time where we can say, ‘yes, we’re past this. Now let’s have a proper discussion about what’s a proportionate easing’.
Then, of course, debates will start again about whether you’re opening up too fast or too slow. That will be a great day when we’re having those debates again about opening up too fast, too slow.
But we have to stay the course.
We have numbers in the low 200s, the trend is good. We have to acknowledge that even at that number, even at that half number, if you opened up, you wouldn’t have defeated the second wave – you’d just be beginning the process of a third wave. I don’t think anyone wants that.
Updated
Tim Pallas gives a sobering update on Victoria’s economic situation:
I think when I produced the last set of data for you, we looked at unemployment hitting about 11%, or 325,000 jobs being affected.
We saw – we anticipated, through the revised modelling, which works on the assumption of the now stage 4 settings remaining in place to the identified people, we identify that there’d be an 11% in the June quarter in GST and a 9% drop in the September quarter.
Those continue to be our expectations.
Updated
What does Daniel Andrews hope will come from the national cabinet discussions on the borders?
I think there needs to be a really clear acknowledgement of all the different knock-ones.
We’ve provided and we’ll provide more of the different treatment for those – well, it is a burden for many, but it can be a disproportionate impact and burden for some and we’re very regularly trying to make that case.
Elevating it to a national discussion is a good thing, I think. It is not just Victoria. Obviously there are borders shut to other states, New South Wales and Queensland, for instance.
It does play out in different parts of the country. It is, to my way of thinking, a logical thing to put on the national cabinet agenda.
Updated
What is happening in the discussions with South Australia?
Daniel Andrews:
I would describe what we’ve been doing as absolutely pro active. We have minister to minister, all sorts of meetings and discussions, working through these issues.
I think there’s a genuine interest and a lot of work going on to try to resolve them.
Some of them we will not be able to resolve because that’s the nature of the border.
It is about limiting movement. But it’s certainly not settled.
There’s more that needs to be done and people are working very hard to do that.
I suppose, to give you a sense that it’s not just the matter of us and one other state, or even multiple states – this does have a national side to it and that’s why it’s on the national cabinet agenda.
Updated
On the impact on border communities due to the South Australian border closures (which are getting stricter from midnight) Daniel Andrews says:
There are some very significant impacts for many different people.
I’m not sure whether that – whether that comment relates to our government or other governments, but I would try to – I would try to reassure that person or those communities that we’re doing everything we can to try and make the fact that others have closed their borders to us as workable as possible.
It’s not easy, by any stretch. But there’s a lot of work gone on, we have seen a number of concessions that have been made recently.
We’ll continue to fight for others so that we can have the most workable set of arrangements, noting that whenever borders are closed, there’s going to be impacts. That’s the nature of closing the border.
But that is on the agenda for national cabinet tomorrow.
Hopefully we’ll have some progress. I’ve had some discussions with the premier of New South Wales. If I need to have discussion with the premier of South Australia, of course I will would do that.
Updated
When police investigated the referrals of people who were not home when they were supposed to be, exercise (then allowed for one hour for people in self-isolation) and having the wrong address on file were the main reasons for the absences.
Daniel Andrews is asked about whether the exercise exemption should ever have existed (he had originally said it was allowed because you couldn’t lock people down, and then revoked it, as the case numbers grew).
Andrews:
Again, I can’t change that, in terms of I can’t go back. We have changed that.
That’s really important.
I don’t know to what extent that’s contributed to any of the challenges we face. I think what the change, was fundamentally motivated by was the fact that Victoria Police’s job will be easier if this is a really binary thing, there is only, for instance, getting urgent medical care - that’s a reason for not to be home.
That’s something you can prove easily or otherwise.
The notion of ‘oh, I wasn’t there because I was out on a walk’, that’s a much harder thing for Victoria Police to cover.
So on that basis it was removed.
I would just say, despite points that have been made today, I don’t think any of the 42 people who have got fined are particularly pleased with that. 16 of those have nearly $5,000, and they get added to the total number of people who’ve been fined across the state, which I don’t have that number to hand but it’s a significant number.
We have from to time seen people make really poor choices.
I’ve called that out where I thought that was appropriate. You can make your own judgements about whether that’s a good or a bad thing to do.
But I’ll continue to call that out just as I’ll continue to praise the growing number of Victorians who are doing an amazing job in following rules that everyone wishes weren’t there and weren’t needed.
So, again, that approach is well understood. It will not be changing.
Updated
Eventually we get this response.
Daniel Andrews:
There is a judicial inquiry, chaired by a former judge that’s looking into a whole different matters and that’s appropriate.
So I don’t know if that’s a point of debate.
In terms of being as frank as possible.
You’re looking at one set of enforcement activity.
There are more fines that have been issued beyond that and they’re not issued, might I say with the greatest of respect, to people who are following the rules.
They’re fines and penalties for those who aren’t some you may take a different view but they are the facts of the matter.
We have over time seen too many people doing the wrong thing.
But that shouldn’t take away from all of those who are doing the right thing.
I’ve tried to make that point as clearly and as consistently as possible, which is why when many different examples of poor choices, when many different examples of people who perhaps don’t believe this virus is real has been put to me, I try to make the point, yes, they are serious matters but let’s not detract from the amazing work that I think a growing number of Victorians are doing.
I don’t accept the conclusion that you’re drawing about blame.
I don’t accept any of those - they’re not - they’re not factual, in that they are your view.
You’re entitled to your view, I don’t share that view. I try to be as frank and direct as I can.
Yes, there’ll be times when the judicial inquiry mean there is are some matters I can’t go to.
That’s why it’s been set up.
That’s why it’s been setup and doing its important work.
Q: This was three days before stage 4 was announced. It was a big part of the announcement on stage 4 lockdown that – in fact, in the media release it says, “I know Victorians are with me when I say too many people are not taking this seriously and too many people are not taking this seriously means too many other people are having to plan funerals for those they love.”
Daniel Andrews: Yes.
Q: So I suppose that points the finger at Victorians doing the wrong thing and we now know it is far less Victorians doing the wrong thing? We thought it could have been as high as one in four were breaching self-isolation. We now know it was less than 1%. Why did you make that such a big part of your announcement during stage 4 lockdown instead of, say, that your government’s failures in hotel quarantine?
Andrews: So, that’s the real question. I’m sorry, we were building up to that. I’ve acknowledged there have been mistakes made. I’ve set up an inquiry to give us the answers that we need. I – I think we’ve now got to the real question. And I think what I’ve done, what I’ve said all the way along is consistent...
Q: OK. I won’t ask about hotel quarantine...
Andrews: You can.
Q:..why did you blame Victorians on the day you were announcing stage 4 lockdown?
Andrews: I didn’t do any such thing...
Updated
Q: I suppose it is misleading because a lot of Victorians assumed so many more people were breaching isolation when it is less than 1%.
Daniel Andrews: Again, I’m not here to ask you questions but if I might be permitted to do that, how is it misleading to inform the community that when somebody from the army and somebody from the health department knocked on the door, there was no one who answered it? How is that misleading?
Q: I suppose it is misleading because actually less than 1% of people were not doing the wrong thing? That’s a massive part of it?
Andrews: Well, that might be a fair point if we had said that it was our view that every single one of those people were doing the wrong thing.
Updated
Given that it turns out that less than 1% of Victorians actually breached self-isolation, not 25% as originally stated (when Daniel Andrews said one in four people weren’t at home when they were checked for compliance) Andrews is asked whether or not he regrets going so hard:
I indicated they weren’t at home. They weren’t at home. We didn’t issue on-the-spot fines. We referred it to Victoria Police. It is their job to determine and investigate whether people had a lawful excuse not to be at home.
Just as I foreshadowed, we didn’t assume that they weren’t all doing the wrong thing. There was, as I said the time, it could be you choose not to answer the door. You might be isolating at another house. The address for you might be wrong. It might be as [the police] put it yesterday, you might be out the back in a shed. There are lots of different reasons.
Updated
So what will stage three of restrictions look like in Melbourne?
Daniel Andrews:
I can certainly confirm for you that there’s quite a lot of work going on around what that next phase might look like. But it’s all dependent on case numbers.
And as Allen I think has just made the point – it’s not just about the raw number of new cases – it will be some of the circumstances that sit behind those.
So to, I suppose, make Allen’s point in a slightly different way – if you had very low numbers of community transmission or mystery cases, and you had 20 cases, but they were all linked to known and contained outbreaks, then that is, in fact, in some respects, a lower number than it might seem. But, again, it’s too early.
So I know it’s very frustrating and we’d all love to know a clear blueprint every single day and we tick them off and move from one phase to another.
We would love that.
I’m sure Victorians would too. But the issue around the fact that this is not just wildly infectious, but it can be stubborn, it can sit there and be really difficult to extinguish, or even to bring down to a much more sustainable number – and the other point too, of course, is that it can change day to day.
That’s why the weekly trends are much more valuable to us. But, look – these numbers are heading the right way. But we’ve all just got to stay the course on this.
Sadly, we can’t give people a definitive time line, or even a really clear picture, at this stage, of what the next phase might look like.
As soon as we can, and as soon as we’ve got numbers and data that makes those sort of predictions credible, then of course we’ll give people as much notice as we possibly can.
But as I’ve said a few times, this is not a sprint in any sense. This is an ultra-marathon, and we all just need to get to the other side of it. That’s the most important thing.
Updated
And for those watching the daily case numbers, the good professor has this message:
The numbers go up and down.
It’s the long-term trends that I’m looking for. You know, we’re hopeful – by next week – they’ll continue to go down. Whether there’s a bit of wobble in it – 240,220 – I’m not so worried about.
But I would like to see, over a number of days, that it continues to come down.
Updated
What about people, with no symptoms, who are being asked to be tested by their employer, but are being turned away?
Allen Cheng:
What we are trying to do is to use the testing capacity that we have to test people who are most likely to have illness.
So, there are 6.5 million Victorians – we can’t test everyone.
There are certainly circumstances where testing asymptomatic people is warranted, and that’s workplaces where there’s an outbreak, particularly high-risk workplaces.
We’re not – you know, the testing people aren’t the police.
We’re not going to, you know, look in your throat and make sure you really have a sore throat or not.
But we are trying to make sure that we’re using the testing on people that actually need it and are most likely to have infections so that we can get those tests back as quick as we can and to shut down that transmission chain.
Updated
On the number of people getting tested, professor Allen Cheng says:
It’s really important that everyone who is unwell, in any way, gets tested.
So it’s always hard to know when you see figures go down – is it actually because there’s actually less illness out there? For example, we know there’s hardly any influenza out there because, presumably, of what we’re doing to control Covid as well. But it’s also important that we encourage people who might be unwell to get out there.
We do know that, for example, a lot of people were getting tested at Chadstone Shopping Centre and are no longer doing that because people aren’t going to Chadstone anymore.
There’s obviously a wide range of places for people to get tested, and we just encourage people to get tested if they’re unwell.
Updated
What is the difference between quarantine and isolation:
Professor Allen Cheng:
To draw a distinction between what’s called “quarantine” and “isolation” – isolation is for people that have been unwell, and that’s 10 days, and three days after the resolution of their illness.
Sometimes if they’re not well at the end of 10 days, it will be longer than that.
Quarantine is for well people that have been exposed that are at risk, and that’s to do with how long it takes to become unwell after you’ve been exposed.
And that’s 14 days. So that’s obviously – there’s a lot of confusion about that sometimes.
What it can mean is that people that become unwell actually are released before people who aren’t unwell. But that’s just a property of the disease.
Updated
Acting deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng is giving an update now.
He explains some of the data changes:
The eagle-eyed among you will notice that there’s been a sharp decrease in the number of active cases – 2,291 since yesterday.
I’d probably just explain the process of how an active case is cleared – it’s a process we call “release from isolation”.
For a lot of people – for most people, it involves a case interview that’s a bit like the opposite of the case investigation that we do at the start.
So it does take an assessment by a trained health professional.
What it does involve is making sure that their symptoms have cleared and enough time has lapsed since the start of their illness to allow them to be released from isolation.
But for some cases – for some patients who have ongoing symptoms or people that have more severe disease that are in hospital or have been in hospital, or for some that have impaired immune systems, they require additional swabs.
It’s not a simple process. A lot of work has gone in over the last couple of days to clear people from isolation so that they can go back into their normal activities.
Updated
The Victorian treasurer is giving an update on what the rental situation has looked like so far:
In the last four months, what we’ve seen is close to 26,000 agreements for reduced rent have been registered with Consumer Affairs Victoria.
The Victorian Small Business Commissions also helped something like 8,000 rent-related inquiries.
Most of those have been help that has been brokered to find common ground between tenants and landlords.
That’s the way that the system should work. It’s about providing facilitative capacities wherever that is possible, recognising that, of course, the material circumstances of landlords and tenants vary considerably across the spectrum, across the arrangements that they’ve struck, and therefore there’s no capacity, really, to have a one-size-fits-all approach.
But there are things that the government can do to help people reach agreement and, ultimately, to provide some support for the agreements that they do strike.
We’re also introducing some additional measures, with commercial landlords required to provide rent relief in proportion with falls in turnover.
So, up until now, that proportionality principle has been aspired to, but we will now make it a very clear and expressed intention that, if you’re identifying a downturn in your capacity, your turnover, then you should have an expectation that that is similarly reflected in terms of the rent relief that you get.
Eviction, rental hike ban extended in Victoria until the end of the year
Tim Pallas:
Look, nobody should be worried about losing a roof over their head right now – particularly given the circumstances around social distancing.
But also, the associated economic consequences of the pandemic event that the entire world is confronting. So we need to provide certainty to people who lose their homes or their businesses, and we need to help tenants and landlords find some common ground.
That’s why we’re going to extend on evictions and rental increases the ban on evictions and rental increases until the end of the year.
Under the extensions, evictions will continue to be banned for residential and commercial tenants until 31 December, unless in rare and specific circumstances.
Rental hikes continue to be banned until the end of the year also. Everyone in these difficult times needs to pull together.
This is about making sure that we strike the right balance and that we also ensure that those who depend upon tenancy arrangements for their shelter, their homes, are provided with adequate safeguards.
It’s also about making sure that we strike the right balance and we provide support and assistance to landlords who do the right thing by their tenants.
Updated
Daniel Andrews:
Let me just give you the split on active cases.
These numbers never tally, because there’s always a few that are still being investigated.
But as best we can – 4,864 is the total active across Victoria.
4,438 of those are in Metro Melbourne or Stage 4 restriction local government areas.
There are 295 that are in regional local government areas under Stage 3.
There’s a handful of interstate residents.
And there’s about 130-odd that we are still investigating.
So that is good news.
If you remember, we had significantly higher numbers – up over 500, if memory serves correctly – in regional Victoria.
Those numbers are coming right down.
And that’s very good. But you’ve got to keep coming forward and getting tested.
We’ve got to keep those test numbers up so that we can have that most accurate of pictures.
Just to give you – again, across those three sites – greater Geelong, 118 active cases, Greater Bendigo, 27 active cases. Ballarat and surrounds 18 active cases.
So those numbers are stabilising and coming down.
Total numbers in Victoria are coming down – that shouldn’t lead to any sense of complacency.
That’s exactly what we want.
Updated
Daniel Andrews:
There are 753 healthcare workers who are active cases.
There are 1,811 active cases in aged care settings. And the total number of active cases is 4,864.
[The deputy chief medical officer] will go to why those numbers have dropped substantially over the last couple of days.
There’s been a power of work gone on in terms of that exit process, if you like, going back and making sure that people without symptoms can return to normal, or at least COVID-normal.
Daniel Andrews begins press conference
The Victorian treasurer is going to speak at this one.
Andrews starts with the breakdown:
Of course, our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with each of those 13 families.
We wish them well at what will be a very difficult time for them.
By way of information, I can confirm that one male in their 70s, six females in their 80s, five females and one male in their 90s – that is the composition of those 13 tragedies.
Eight of those deaths are linked to outbreaks in aged care settings.
There are 622 Victorians in hospital. 43 of those are receiving intensive care and 28 of those 43 are on a ventilator.
There were about 20,000 tests yesterday, which is an increase on the 16,000 and 17,000 in the days before.
Updated
Lols. Freedom of movement.
Remember that?
Good times.
Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson popped up on London radio overnight.
The last time an Australian government MP went on UK media it didn’t go so well (Craig Kelly during the bushfire crisis) but Paterson held it together.
He was talking about his desire to set up freedom of movement between the UK and Australia.
Paterson: Well, I should note, for the record, I’m an advocate of Brexit as well. In fact, I was the only Australian politician to support it prior to the referendum in 2016. But what I’m advocating is a very natural return to close economic relations between Australia and the UK. The kind of economic relations that we used to have prior to your entry into the European Union. And that should be both unimpeded trade and unimpeded travel for citizens of both of our countries to be able to freely move through, to work, to study, to travel for business in a way that I think would really enrich both our countries and a way that works because of our similarities.
Host: And you think this would be a good idea in Australia?
Paterson: Absolutely, in fact, since 2001, the number of Australians travelling to the United Kingdom for this sort of travel has declined by 73%, and that’s as a result of the sort of immigration controls you’ve had to put into the rest of the world in recent years because you haven’t been able to control the immigration that you’ve had from the European Union. But polls in the UK show that actually Australians are the most popular migrants to the United Kingdom and that most people in the UK would like to have the same or more Australians visit. So I think it makes great sense for both Australia and the UK.
Host: And why would Australia do this with the UK? Because, you know, there are a couple of countries, at least geographically closer. Why the UK in particular?
Paterson: Well, we’ve got already this exact agreement with New Zealand and it works remarkably well. Our economies are highly integrated, but in a way that respects the political sovereignty of both of our democracies. This is not an ever closer union. It’s based on mutual recognition of our standards, not a harmonisation of regulation. The United Kingdom is the next most logical country for Australia to have this with given our common heritage, our common culture, our common values, our common political and legal systems and our common head of state.
Host: Do you think that this is politically sellable in the UK? Because obviously bringing down net migration to the UK has been a promise of several. And we’ll get through them quite quickly. But several conservative prime ministers now. Is it plausible, do you think, that this could happen?
Paterson: Well, you’ll know better than me. But Boris Johnson is an advocate of this idea going back to 2013. Polls by YouGov in 2016 and 2018 show a majority of UK residents want the same or higher levels of immigration from Australians and that we are the most popular migrants to the UK. So if there’s any country in the world that you’re going to deal with, I think Australia is going to be first on that list.
Updated
Labor’s Murray Watt has been plugging away all day asking witnesses if they’re concerned the $1bn tourism fund wasn’t all spent on tourism.
Technically, it was a $1bn “relief and recovery” fund and much of it was spent on tourism – helping support zoo animals, airlines and airports – but Watt has cited other uses including promoting the seafood industry, forestry and air freight.
Margy Osmond, the chief executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum Australia, said there was “considerable concern that the $1bn tourism fund became a $1bn not tourism fund”, describing it as an “ongoing bone of contention that it was not spent extensively in the industry”.
Coralie Bell, the chairperson of Australian Regional Tourism, said that smaller tourism operators are in “crisis mode” and feel “very disconnected” from direct support – although obviously the industry has benefited from the jobkeeper wage subsidy program. She added it “disappointed” her how much of the $1bn fund was not spent in the tourism industry.
Updated
Well this is a bit lovely.
Excitement via what’sapp as the qantas packs have arrived at friend’s house in SYD and unboxing photos received back. Thanks to @AmyRemeikis for the heads up about this. If freq flyer points no good for getting us out of MEL, at least we can send presents! pic.twitter.com/C7bsKm40VF
— James Reynolds (@jamesreynolds) August 20, 2020
Guests in hotel quarantine in Victoria shared lifts and toilets with non-quarantined guests and staff
Nurse Jen also told the hotel quarantine inquiry of poor PPE use and hygiene in the quarantine hotels. She said it was obvious to her that security guards at the hotel had not been given proper training.
“I saw a lot of mostly security guards, for example, constantly wearing the same gloves for their shift, going to make themselves a coffee with gloves on, using their phone, things like that, always wearing the same gloves, wearing their mask so that the nose was hanging out or that it was underneath the chin,” she said.
Some PPE was not properly disposed of in contamination bins, either, she said.
“I raised my concerns to someone who I believe worked for DHHS. I suggested that it would be pretty simple for a nurse to offer some training to security or whoever required it we just need securities kind of arrange a system where we could make sure everyone had been adequately trained,” she said.
“I [never] felt like it was ever acted on, it was sort of just like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
In one hotel, quarantined guests also shared lifts and toilets with other non-quarantine guests and staff.
Jen also reported poor record keeping in the hotels, with a listed of the up to 300 people held in quarantine kept on paper. She said twice she turned up to swab someone for a Covid test in their room to find the room empty.
In one instance she says a family of four went a week without a welfare check or a swab test from a nurse.
Eventually, she said, she resorted to creating her own Excel spreadsheet.
Updated
Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre to reopen in September
There is some theatre coming back – Belvoir has announced A Room of One’s Own is going ahead on 10 September.
Capacity is limited because of social distancing, but it’s a show, which is going on.
Updated
Suicidal person in Melbourne hotel quarantine told to 'stop threatening suicide just so [you] can get a cigarette'
A suicidal person in hotel quarantine was allegedly told by a DHHS staff member to “stop threatening suicide just so they can get a cigarette”, a former hotel quarantine nurse has told the Victorian hotel quarantine on Thursday morning.
The nurse, referred to in the inquiry as Jen, worked casual shifts in hotel quarantine at the Park Royal Hotel and the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport between April and June.
Jen told the inquiry that she felt the attitude among Department of Health and Human Services staff based in the hotel who were there for escalating issues in the quarantine hotels was that any problems raised by guests were the fault of the guests.
Jen alleged “problem” guests had their names posted on a whiteboard in the Park Royal.
“Rather than proactively fix this problem ... it was the guest’s fault and they were being a problem and they were being annoying and they were constantly calling us,” she said.
One guest’s name who was on the board was a person who had threatened suicide. Jen said she saw notes about the suicide threat when she started her afternoon shift, and found it hadn’t been followed up.
When she raised it with a DHHS staff member, she alleges the staff member said “they had specifically called this guest in the room, and told them that they need to stop threatening suicide just so they can get a cigarette”.
Jen said she checked on the hotel guest with a doctor and found they were unharmed but were distressed and anxious about the situation.
Other issues among guests raised by Jen was a woman unable to use her Chinese medicine for controlling her pain because she didn’t have access to a kettle in her room, and it was difficult to obtain, and what Jen described as a dismissive attitude from DHHS for a woman with type 2 diabetes who asked for more healthy food to be provided.
• Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78
Updated
South Australia’s tough new border restrictions with Victoria come into force from midnight.
Without an exemption, you will not be able to cross.
Mathias Cormann is holding a press conference today.
Updated
New Zealand director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said people who have no symptoms turning up for testing is “putting huge pressure” on health facilities. He urged people with no symptoms to stay home, and not line up for a test.
The New Zealand health minister Chris Hipkins said the signs of slowing numbers are encouraging but “this is not the time we can afford to relax”.
Hipkins said the next few days could be critical “in breaking the back of this resurgence”.
He urged Aucklanders to adhere to the lockdown rules.
99% of staff in quarantine hotels have been tested, as have 99% of those in border-facing roles such as customs and immigration, health minister Hipkins said.
Hipkins said there had been “no unseen transmission” outside the border, apart from “the mystery Rydges case”.
Previously testing at the borders had not happened “at the speed and scale” that it should have, Hipkins admitted.
Hipkins has also taken the time to squash a rumour, saying the ministry for children’s services “would not take the children of people who have tested positive for Covid-19”.
Hipkins said this rumour had been circulating in Māori and Pacific communities particularly and was putting some people off getting a test.
Updated
New Zealand reports five new cases of coronavirus
New Zealand’s director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there are five new cases to report, all related to the community outbreak in Auckland.
Four cases are in Auckland, and one is in Tokoroa, 200km south.
six people are in hospital receiving care, with one in intensive care.
The total number of community cases is 80. The majority of those cases are related to the south Auckland cluster, while two are still under investigation, including that of a maintenance worker at the Rydges hotel.
A lift used by the Rydges maintenance worker shortly after an infected person used it is a “strong line of investigation” Bloomfield said, as to discovering how the maintenance worker contracted the virus.
Updated
Given police are being told to prepare for another six months for border closures, is that what NSW is planning for?
Gladys Berejiklian:
In a pandemic, I think it would be courageous to predict beyond a few months.
But we are taking all the opportunities to plan ahead. We are always hopeful and optimistic.
In fact, Dr Chant and I and others, you know, consider where we could have been. I mean six or seven weeks after the Victorian outbreak was made aware of, New South Wales has been holding our own.
I’m pleased with how we’ve gone. I still remain anxious about the unknown cases we have in south-western Sydney.
We know the virus is circulating, but certainly I think to date we can look back and think the decisions we made at those times were the right ones.
I remember getting criticised when we closed the Victorian border because I’d waited too long and now I’m getting criticised that the border is there at all.
So I’ve accepted and acknowledged, in a pandemic, I’ll never be able to please everybody all the time. And that’s OK. I’m completely comfortable with that.
Because the decisions we take are for the safety and wellbeing of our citizens, and we’re trying our hardest to get the right balance, but we appreciate, along the way, that certain communities will suffer more than others because of the consequences of our decisions.
And our job is to identify them and support them specifically, which is what we’re doing.
Updated
Q: Have you had talks with John Barilaro over the past couple of days – have your talks been fairly tense?
Gladys Berejiklian: No.
Q: He seems to be completely almost opposed to what you’re saying today?
Berejiklian:
No. We have an open and frank conversation and he’s always a bit outspoken. That’s just John Barilaro.
Updated
Q: John Barilaro is out there, sending a confusing message.
Gladys Berejiklian:
Look, we think, at all times, we need to maintain a safe border and the safety of all of our residents.
The last thing that I would want to see is the disease seeding in rural and regional New South Wales. Everything we do is to protect our community, to keep our community safe.
I appreciate the challenges that are involved, but consider the alternative.
Consider the virus seeping into our regions and that is something that I don’t stand for, and we need to make life as easy as possible for those communities suffering on the borders.
I do appreciate the angst and frustration. I am in almost daily contact with community members on the borders.
But we can tweak things as situations arise, as the seasons change, as the demands on working people change. We’re always looking at ways to improve things.
Q: John Barilaro is on the Victorian border this morning, calling for the permit system to be scrapped. Can we expect any changes to either where the border bubble sits? Or the permits?
Gladys Berejiklian:
Oh, look, we’ve been managing the situation as best we can. And it is a difficult situation.
And if we can make further improvements, of course we will.
We’ve already made a number of improvements to make sure people are accessing essential services and making sure that, in particular, our agriculture and farming communities have access to workers.
So we’ve been tweaking arrangements as it goes on. I do want to stress that, when it comes to our Victorian border, that, pleasingly, I was able to – and continue to be – in conversation with the Victorian premier and the prime minister, to make sure that we’re making the situation as easy as we can for all concerned, and, of course, if there’s further we need to do, we will.
But I also want to stress that I’d much rather have this conversation than a conversation where the whole state was forced into lockdown because the virus got out of control.
So I appreciate how difficult it is for our border communities, but please know we’re working really hard to make it as easy as possible.
When you have, you know, a history of a century of commerce and uninterrupted commerce and trade, and 55 border crossings, is not an easy task for everybody. I want to thank our communities for their patience.
We appreciate their frustration. And the government is continually looking at ways in which we can provide direct support to those communities.
Updated
NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant:
In relation to our ICU, we have eight Covid patients in intensive care, and five of those are ventilated.
To just again to reiterate that message that this is an incredibly critical phase in our response.
We are seeing these continual low levels of transmission, particularly in south-western Sydney, but also popping up in western Sydney from time to time.
It’s critical that we continue to see those high testing rates. It’s important that the community continues to embrace those Covid-safe behaviours, such as social distancing and wearing a mask when you can’t socially distance.
Updated
NSW records five new coronavirus cases
NSW has recorded five new cases – three of which were acquired locally.
Two of those cases are still under investigation.
Updated
And Treasurer Tim Pallas will be with Daniel Andrews
The Daniel Andrews press conference announcement is out.
Daniel Andrews will give a press conference at 12pm. @AmyRemeikis
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) August 20, 2020
Updated
Pauline Hanson’s role in Australian politics is just to say no to everything. Except her senator’s salary and perks.
There seems to be some confusion by @PaulineHansonOz here. The govt says a coronavirus vaccine won’t be compulsory. https://t.co/UG8f73Uvok
— Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) August 20, 2020
So far, the ACT government has followed NSW’s lead in almost everything - which makes sense, given the geography.
So this could be big
Canberra airport is considering barring NSW residents from boarding flights in a bid to get states like Tassie and SA to open borders, as closures push the airport to the brink https://t.co/89yaw9ycKV via @EvanstheAirwave
— Sally Whyte (@sallywhyte) August 20, 2020
Greg Hunt won't rule out linking any future Covid vaccination to welfare payments
Greg Hunt was asked about linking any future Covid vaccination to welfare payments last night on the Nine Network and again this morning on Seven.
He gave pretty much the same answer – not ruling it in or out.
Here he was this morning:
We certainly would encourage as many people as possible, we would like to see a take-up of up to 95%,which is where we are at with our children’s immunisation rates. 94.77%, record rates.
We are doing the right thing as a country but we have kept on the table concepts such as no jab no play, things that we are already doing to help Australia have one of the highest childhood immunisation rates.
... Our first goal is to encourage as many Australians as possible and I’m confident that with a vaccine that can save lives and protect lives and give people hope and give people their freedom back, all of the things that we value have helped us as a nation prosper.
I’m confident that very large number of Australians will take it up. We reserve the right to take it up.
We reserve the right to take steps. I will certainly be taking the vaccine and we aren’t there yet but we are one of the leading candidates and there are other eggs in the basket.
Updated
AAP has an update on Victoria’s fines:
A man and a woman who think the coronavirus is not that serious are among the latest people to be fined for breaching Victoria’s restrictions.
Victoria police issued 168 fines up to Thursday morning, an increase on the previous day’s figure of 154.
Police said the pair were observed not wearing face masks while they were with children at Lysterfield Lake Park in Melbourne’s south-east.
They had travelled from Keysborough for a walk, breaching rules because the trip was more than 5km.
“When speaking to police, it was clear they were deliberately breaching the directions because they didn’t think the virus was that serious,” Victoria police said in a statement.
A woman found walking in Hobsons Bay during the 8pm-5am curfew also was fined, saying she had visited a friend’s house and also did not think the virus was that serious.
Among the 168 latest fines, 24 were for not wearing a face mask outside home and 48 were for curfew breaches.
Police issued 12 fines after checking 14,343 vehicles, while there were 4,493 spot checks at homes, businesses and public places.
Updated
The hearing of the Covid committee has revealed the tourism sector believes it will need further support beyond jobkeeper 2.0, which is set to expire in March 2021.
Simon Westaway from the Australian Tourism Industry Council said the industry is focused on “getting jobkeeper 2.0” through both houses of parliament and “potentially working on a jobkeeper 3.0”. Westaway said wage subsidies have “pretty much hit [their] target”, although it was “not perfect” because it had missed some short-term and seasonal work, particularly in northern Australia.
John Hart from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that businesses serving international visitors will need support until a coronavirus vaccine is developed – which means support “not for one month, one quarter or even one year”. With international tourism not set to resume until mid 2021, that gives you an idea of timeframe.
Witnesses also had a big slap at state premiers for maintaining border bans.
Westaway said it was “quite galling” that even after a strong seven-day rolling reduction off the back of better numbers from Victoria, states and territories had “doubled down” on border bans. Leaders shouldn’t be “dictated by public polls”, he said.
Updated
Donald Trump has essentially given his blessing to Qanon today, so it’s a low base. But still.
.@realDonaldTrump asked about 'QAnon' --- "They like me" and "love the country" pic.twitter.com/STeZOG1jRa
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) August 19, 2020
Via AAP:
Scott Morrison has come up trumps in a survey comparing how world leaders have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Museum of Australian Democracy worked with Ipsos and researchers in Italy, the United States and UK to examine the public view of the threat posed by Covid-19 and trust in political leaders.
The research put the prime minister well ahead in terms of being viewed as competent in his handling of the outbreak, followed by Italy’s Giuseppe Conte, the UK’s Boris Johnson and US president Donald Trump.
Citizens’ perception of the threat of the virus to themselves personally is highest in the UK – where the rate of deaths per capita is highest – while concerns about the economic threat are somewhat greater in the UK and Italy when compared with the US and Australia.
Concern about the national threat posed by the virus is highest in the UK.
Two-thirds of Britons consider the virus a high or very high threat compared with six in 10 in the US and Italy and one in three in Australia.
Morrison came out best of the four leaders in all descriptions of how they handled the pandemic, including “cares about people like me”, “listens to experts” and “handling the outbreak competently”.
Trump fared worst in every category, with two-thirds of those surveyed saying he “acts in his own interests”.
While there were big partisan differences in Italy, the US and the UK, in Australia a majority of both government and opposition party supporters think the government’s leader is handling the coronavirus well.
Updated
On the AFL grand final, Annastacia Palaszczuk said discussions with the league are ongoing. Behind the scenes.
WA could still hold it, but Optus stadium will only be allowed at 50% capacity.
On Greg Hunt’s call for some “decency” in health exemptions, following more cases of people being delayed entry into Queensland for health reasons because of the border closures, Annastacia Palaszczuk says:
Let me make it very clear that health services are offered across the nation, Queensland health services are very strong, which is obviously why a lot of New South Wales people want to come to Queensland.
But we also know that people travelling from Queensland do pose an increased risk when it comes to Covid.
So we have to make sure we have strict measures in place, and that is exactly what we have.
So we will work with those individual families on a case by case basis, basis, but there will not be a blanket exemption for everyone.
We have to protect Queenslanders.
... I’m showing a lot of decency, you know, and it’s about time that Greg Hunt focuses on aged care, and the issues that are happening in Victoria and stop trying to raise every other issue about Queensland.
I’m focused on is making sure that we have Covid under control.
But as we’ve seen today, it can happen anywhere at any time, and all of our agencies are operating for swift action.
Look how swift the action has happened. This was detected overnight. We’ve got Department of Health in at the youth detention centre, and the end of the detention centres management plans have been activated because the government has been planning for this.
We have been planning for this and we’ll continue to plan for it.
Updated
'I am not going to bend to anyone' on opening Queensland border, Palaszczuk says
In response to Alan Joyce’s call for a national framework for border closures, Annastacia Palaszczuk says:
I think the national strategy needs to be focusing on Victoria, to get all of their cases under control, so all of Australia can open. That should be the national strategy and I talked about that yesterday.
... We will always take the advice of the chief health officer to keep Queensland aside. So, I’m not going to bend to anyone. It is a tough time at the moment. But, you know, Qantas is free to operate within Queensland and those other states where the borders are open.
Updated
The 70-year-old woman who worked at the Wacol youth detention centre is in hospital and “reasonably stable”, Dr Young says.
Updated
On the Japanese case, Queensland’s chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, says authorities have no idea where she contracted the virus:
She could she could have had it before she came to Australia and has recovered and just be excreting virus later.
We’ve seen that in quite a few cases. She could have got it in Brisbane, she could have got it on the plane going back to Tokyo, we really don’t know.
The most important thing for us is to contact trace and test those people around her and if all of those people are negative, then I think we can say this is a very low risk situation.
Updated
That’s still 500 staff though.
The woman was a supervisor in the operations centre.
But Bob Gee said her movement can be tracked through security cameras:
The good thing about a youth detention centre is all movement within reason is tracked.
The significant – and I think you all know this – there is significant CCTV footage. We will be able to work through all of that as best we can. I would say that the advice I initially have is that her contact was limited to only a very small number of young people. She has not worked, walking through the accommodation section.
Updated
Bob Gee:
Can I make it really clear: overwhelmingly, every young person is in their own individual room. I really would doubt that there is any that are doubled up.
From time to time that can happen, where people are related or want to but we had already yesterday made sure – last night I should say – made sure that we put in place processes where people were separated, not just the young people but staff.
Updated
Bob Gee then goes into a bit more detail about what the lockdown actually means for residents:
It is not the first time we have had infectious diseases in a youth detention centre.
We are well practiced at locking down.
Whether that is for a security or health reason, we are well practised at that. What has physically happened, last night all of the young people were locked in their rooms and they stayed there.
We will have, using personal protective equipment and well-trained staff, support for them for as long as it takes for [Queensland] Health to move through and do what they need to do, in terms of checking.
Updated
Bob Gee continues:
There will be no court appearances, there will be no education instruction at the centre today.
We have plans in place for young people to be given support, in terms of education, health, contact with family and those processes are being put in place.
It is a virtual world that we live in now. We will work through that today and over the coming days to make sure that we provide the best support we can to the young people that are there but, importantly, staff, family and friends.
Some other facts, there is 127 young people out at the Brisbane youth detention centre today. 110 of those young people are male. 17 are female and the ages range from 13 years and six months upwards.
There is about 520 staff that work at the centre, not all at once, of course. The majority of them are youth detention centre workers but also education and health professionals.
As the premier indicated, we took a conservative approach at the youth detention centre and face-to-face visits at the end of July were cancelled and only recommenced this Monday, the 17th of August.
Updated
The director-general of youth justice, Bob Gee, said the centre was now in lockdown:
Last night we were advised by Queensland Health that a staff member had tested positive to Covid-19.
We have been practising and we have been workshopping and testing our systems since Covid first came to light.
I am very confident that we are doing everything we can to make sure that all of the staff, all of the young people – visitors, families and friends are supported.
Can I just make a couple of quick points, some facts. Personal protective equipment has been issued to all staff. They have been trained in how to do that.
Personal protective equipment will also be provided to young people – or has been provided to young people out there at the centre.
I have never seen more health professionals as the Brisbane youth detention centre than there is out there today.
Any new admissions to the centre will not be accepted.
Updated
Dr Jeannette Young:
The second case is a lady in her 70s, who lives in the Ipswich area.
She developed symptoms, we believe, on the 10th of August, although that has been clarified now.
We only got the result for her late last night.
We are just working through with her or her contacts at the moment.
She has worked at the Brisbane youth detention centre and she worked there for five shifts while she was in that infectious period.
We go back remember, two days prior to when symptoms first develop.
So from the 8th of August.
At this stage, we’re working with the centre to test all of their residents.
They have approximately 130 youths in detention there and all of the staff. There is over 500 staff.
Plus, we will be going through whether there have been any visitors during that time period and whether, of course, there have been any residents who have moved in and out of the facility during that time to test them for two reasons.
Firstly, whether they have got the infection now, possibly from this lady, or to try and see if we can find out where she might have contracted the infection.
At this stage, we’re not aware of any venues that she has been to that those young women who went down to Melbourne, that cluster of five, have been to during that period but that is the work that we will now be doing thoroughly over the rest of today to work out all of her contacts, where she has been and where she might have got this infection.
There are two cases that we’re just working through all of the contacts and where people might have been and who might have been infected.
While we do that, of course, it is very important that anyone who develops any symptoms, or has any symptoms, comes forward immediately, at any time and gets themselves tested and isolates themselves until they get results.
Updated
Dr Young believes the chance of further infection from the woman who tested positive on her return to Japan is low.
The second case though, is more concerning.
The Queensland chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, is giving details of the woman who visited Brisbane and then tested positive for Covid-19 on her return to Japan:
Yesterday, we were notified by – from Japan – of a case who travelled from Brisbane to Sydney, to Tokyo, was tested on arrival in Tokyo and found to be positive.
We have now gone back and looked at the history of this particular individual.
She travelled from Japan to Australia in the middle of July.
She went into quarantine in Sydney and had two weeks in quarantine there.
She had two tests done and both of those were negative. She then asked for an exemption for here in Queensland, that was given to her to visit her unwell father in Morningside, Bulimba area in Brisbane.
She flew directly from Sydney.
She left the quarantine hotel in Sydney, flew directly from Sydney into Brisbane and went and stayed with her father.
She spent two weeks there, then on Tuesday, she travelled back to Japan, travelling directly from Brisbane airport on a Virgin flight, down to Sydney and on to Japan.
At this stage, we’re contact tracing all of her close contacts at this stage, we’re aware of six who we have tested and we should get their results late today.
Updated
Queensland youth detention worker diagnosed with Covid-19 went to work while sick
The 70-year-old Queensland woman, recently diagnosed with Covid-19, went to work at the Wacol youth detention centre in Brisbane, while sick.
Annastacia Palaszczuk:
This new case that we are concerned about is a woman in her 70s. She lives in the Ipswich region and the contact tracing is now happening because she worked at the youth detention centre at Wacol.
... In good news, there hasn’t been visitors at that youth detention centre because of our concerns with those young women who came back from Victoria from the 27th of July until Monday.
That is a whole lot of contact tracing that doesn’t have to happen because those strict measures were put in place at the youth detention centre.
I want to reassure Queenslanders that we have very strong management plans in place for events like this and those plans are now being activated with the staff of the Brisbane youth detention centre and also with Queensland Health.
Updated
There have been 11 new cases of Covid diagnosed within the NDIS system – two participants and nine workers (all in Victoria).
Updated
Having Mark Butler and Joel Fitzgibbon’s name on that release says more than just their portfolios – it is a message that despite the internal policy squabbles, publicly at least, Labor is still united on this issue.
Updated
Labor’s Mark Butler and Joel Fitzgibbon (who has been causing some headlines of his own again today – which Murph will update you on, in case you haven’t seen it) have welcomed the NFF’s announcement:
The National Farmers’ Federation is the latest significant body who have reviewed their climate change policy and committed to net zero emissions by 2050. Labor welcomes the decision.
Our agriculture sector is amongst the most adversely affected by changing and radical weather patterns, and longer, hotter, dry spells.
Climate action will provide farmers with opportunities to participate in carbon markets. Our farmers will reap the benefits of carbon-generated income for their efforts to further improve the productivity and efficiency of their farming practices representing a win-win for growers and producers.
Labor will work with the NFF, its members, other growers and producers, all those along the food production value chain, and the research community to improve the prospects of meeting the NFF’s ambition of making farming a $100 billion industry by 2030.
In adopting net zero emissions by 2050, the NFF joins 73 nations, every state and territory in Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia, the energy industry, our biggest airline, our biggest mining company, our biggest bank, our biggest telecommunications provider, and countless experts and scientists.
Updated
National Farmers’ Federation commits to net zero carbon emissions by 2050
This means the NFF joins just about everybody – except the federal government.
From the National Farmers’ Federation:
Australia’s peak farm body has thrown its weight behind an aspirational economy-wide target of net carbon zero by 2050 ( NCZ2050).
Members of the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) have voted in favour of the landmark policy – which includes strict caveats regarding fair implementation and economic viability – at an online meeting this month.
NFF president Fiona Simson said the strengthening of the NFF’s climate goals was a strong reminder of the role farmers already played in tackling emissions.
“Australia’s farm sector continues to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Simson said.
“In the past decade, agriculture has consistently reduced its emissions intensity and net emissions within the Australian economy.
“The red meat sector, for example, has a target of being carbon neutral by 2030 and is already making great headway on research and new technologies that will enable that transformation.”
However, despite progress in the farm sector, Simson warned the goal of NCZ2050 would be just an aspiration without ongoing innovation and policy support.
“We need to equip farmers with far better tools for evaluating and reporting on individual business emissions,” Simson said.
“This will require new investment in research and development, so we have more robust baseline information, new pathways to reduce emissions, and fewer barriers to participation in carbon markets.”
Action on climate change is a central part of the NFF’s 2030 Roadmap which sets a vision for agriculture to reach $100bn in farm gate output by 2030.
Updated
The Queensland positive test is causing quite a bit of anxiety in the sunshine state.
The woman works at a youth detention centre, which is one of the main reasons authorities are worried.
Not knowing where she picked up the infection – the second mystery case in 24 hours –is also causing quite a bit of worry.
The Queensland premier will stand up on the matter very soon.
Updated
Simon Westaway, the chief executive of the Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC), is speaking to the Covid-19 committee about the impact of coronavirus and border closures on industry.
He reports that the tourism industry has shrunk by $80bn in annualised terms, that is, it has halved over the course of the year.
Part of this is closure of domestic interstate borders, which he says cost $84m a day.
Westaway expressed belief that the national cabinet could develop a framework to phase border bans out – both during lockdown and in the process of reopening.
ATIC believes that after 14 days of no or negligible community transmission a state should outline a process for reopening their borders within 28 days.
It wants the process to be done in consultation with the commonwealth, using nationally consistent administrative arrangements, and for bans to be assessed regularly using transparent criteria.
This will be a big focus of national cabinet on Friday.
Updated
So who does Qantas boss, Alan Joyce, think should be making the domestic border decisions?
I think we would be very happy, and I think a lot of the public would be very happy, if there were a clear set of rules set by the national cabinet and the medical advice that they receive.
To understand, why borders are closed and when they will open, so we don’t know that today.
We get dates from different states which are different from each state and there seems to be no reference to the level of cases that we see.
Surely, that should be the driver. Surely that should be what is determining this and the medical advice should be that determinant.
Nobody has an issue with what happened with Victoria, those borders needed to be closed.
We’re supportive of what has happened on the international borders.
They needed to be closed but there is clear reasons how they protect the health of the various states.
We still don’t understand why states with zero cases for a long time have borders closed to states with zero cases.
That doesn’t seem to make any medical sense or any advice that we have seen.
Updated
Qantas posts $2bn loss
The important number out of Qantas’s results this morning is $2bn.
It’s the literal bottom line – in accounting speak, the net loss, after tax, endured by the airline.
That’s down from a profit after tax of $840m for 2019.
Qantas is also bandying about an “underlying profit” figure of $129m.
But this excludes the effect of a number of things, including the $1.4bn cut to the value of its assets the airline has recognised as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline also got $267m in jobkeeper payments, although it says the majority went to pay stood-down staff.
Updated
When will the US open for Qantas?
Alan Joyce:
We are taking the view, and as you know, we have parked the A380 for at least three years.
We have put the 787s in long-term storage which fly trans-continental and we believe the earliest we will see the international borders opening up is the middle of next year.
The US is like – we’ve always assumed that let’s get the domestic borders open first, get the rules set around them and then potentially have the bubbles, country by country, when we have a similar level of exposure to the virus, so New Zealanders, they are an example and that should potentially open up relatively fast compared to the other countries around the world.
The US, with the level of prevalence there is probably going to take some time.
It will probably need a vaccine before we could see that happening. The news on the vaccine seems to get better every day.
A lot of the people, the medical advice we have, a lot of the medical advice I think governments around the world are having is that we potentially could see a vaccine by the middle or the end of next year and countries like the US may be the first country to have widespread use of that vaccine, so that could mean that the US is seen as a market by the end of 2021, hopefully we could, dependent on a vaccine, start seeing flights again.
Updated
On that, national cabinet meets tomorrow, and the domestic borders are on the agenda.
On Queensland saying it doesn’t expect borders to open to areas it has declared as hotspots until after Christmas, Alan Joyce says:
Again, what’s the basis of it?
So, blanket comments that say, “The borders will not be opened,” even if Victoria gets down – even if Victoria gets down to no cases, or New South Wales gets back to no cases, is that still the situation?
Surely, these decisions should be based on the facts, the health advice, and the level of cases that we’re seeing around the various states.
That’s what we’re calling on.
I think that’s what we need.
Otherwise it feels like there is no real base decisions. It’s just there to inform – maybe to politics.
And we think that eventually will cost jobs and businesses, particularly a lot of the small businesses in Queensland, to go out of business.
Some areas of Queensland, Tasmania, and other parts of the country, 30% of the jobs are dependent on tourism.
If it’s safe to do it, it should be opened. We’re not saying, “Open the borders” blankly.
We’re saying, “Let’s have the rules to say what would you have to see in order for those borders to be open?”
So, we all have clarity and know what’s the right thing to do.
Updated
Qantas CEO calls for 'clear guidelines' for when domestic borders will open
Meanwhile, Alan Joyce wants a framework for when the domestic borders will open.
ASAP.
At the moment, there are no rules around how borders are going to close and going to open.
And it’s very clear that, from a health and safety point of view, that has to be the priority.
And nobody has an issue with the international borders being closed – that’s protected Australia.
Nobody’s had an issue with the borders to Victoria being closed.
But it’s very clear that we don’t have clear guidelines for when the borders will open, when they will close.
So, we have the situation where there are a large number of states and territories that have had zero cases and they’re not even open to each other.
So Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania – we’ve got closures there still. With very low cases, no cases, and it’s been like that for a while.
And we don’t have any determination on when the borders will open. We think, and I think, the federal government thinks, they should be open soon, or now.
But we need to have the framework for what will allow them to open, to give certainty to the tourism industry, to our company, to our employees.
And eventually, at some stage, we know that we have to start our tourism industry again.
The economies are depending on it. Jobkeeper is helping a lot of states at the moment, but we need to get people back in jobs.
Otherwise we’re going to have a cliff that’s going to be bigger than the financial impact that Covid-19 has already caused.
And we need to do that in a safe way. But at the moment it’s not clear what those rules are going to be and how they’re going to be applied.
And I think that’s a problem for a lot of businesses. It’s a problem for all business. And eventually it’s gonna be a big problem for the economy.
Updated
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will hold a press conference at 10am.
That’s the second mystery case linked to Brisbane in the last 24 hours – a woman who flew back to Japan tested positive on her arrival after spending time in Brisbane.
Updated
Queensland records second mystery Covid case
Queensland has another mystery case of Covid on its hands – a 70-year-old woman who works at the Wacol youth detention centre has tested positive.
JUST IN: A 70 year-old Queensland woman who works in a youth detention centre has tested positive to COVID-19. #9News pic.twitter.com/Yl5NPmFKEG
— Nine News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) August 19, 2020
Updated
This is....I don’t know what this is.
Forget snakes on a plane...Farmers told to put sheep, hay bales, harvest machinery on aircraft to get around border restrictions. @politicsabc @abclandline @ABCRural https://t.co/O2HyH4n0vU
— lucy barbour (@lucybarbour) August 19, 2020
The ACT has extended its public health emergency until November.
Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith has announced the extension of the ACT Public Health Emergency for a further 90 days, effective until 19 November 2020.
— Andrew Barr MLA (@ABarrMLA) August 19, 2020
Alan Joyce has begun his speech.
He has already delivered it to the ASX – you can find it here.
Updated
The Northern Territory heads to the polls on Saturday.
Half of voters though, have already had their say.
(A reminder that the NT plans on keeping its borders closed to declared hotspots for 18 months.)
Second last day of pre-polling today and 42.7% of NT electors have voted if you include pre-polls, mobiles and returned postals. Given turnout of around 85%, that means more than half of votes have already been cast, details at https://t.co/OWvspEOLM7 #ntpol #ntvotes #auspol pic.twitter.com/KEkWUy1OIf
— Antony Green (@AntonyGreenABC) August 19, 2020
Alan Joyce will hold a media conference very soon.
There’s only so many ways to say “it’s pretty terrible” but I guess we are about to hear them all.
Updated
It makes sense that with the airlines not in the air, the airports are suffering as well.
Catherine King says the government needs to extend assistance to the nation’s airports:
The Senate COVID Committee will today hear evidence from the Australian Airports Association that while their members are losing collectively around $300m a month they have received no direct Government assistance.
Australia’s aviation sector supports more than 206,000 jobs, and none of that would be possible without airports.
Whilst the travel restrictions and border closures have seen a dramatic drop-off in air-travel, our airports have been required to continue operating for essential freight and the small number of passengers still on the move. With few paying passengers, these significant costs have been borne by airports.
The situation is even worse for regional airports where the majority of staff have been left behind by Scott Morrison’s exclusion of council workers from JobKeeper payments.
With Canberra Airport recently announcing it will be closed entirely on Saturdays, and other airports facing similar issues, the Government must work with the entire aviation sector and develop a plan for Australia’s aviation sector, including airports.
Airlines, airports and unions are united in calling for a national aviation plan – the Prime Minister must listen.
Victoria reports 240 new Covid cases, 13 deaths
Victoria’s daily results have been released.
#COVID19VicData for 20 August 2020. 240 new cases of #coronavirus (#COVID19) were detected in Victoria yesterday. Sadly we report 13 deaths from the virus. More information later today. pic.twitter.com/fiQChvG3Oh
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) August 19, 2020
Updated
Qantas had previously announced its plans to get through Covid – including 6,000 job losses and the grounding of its fleet. This announcement is part of its full-year reporting requirements.
Updated
From Alan Joyce’s report to the stock market:
The impact of COVID on all airlines is clear. It’s devastating and it will be a question of survival for many.
What makes Qantas different is that we entered this crisis with a strong balance sheet and we moved fast to put ourselves in a good position to wait for the recovery.
We’ve had to make some very tough decisions in the past few months to guarantee our future.
At least 6,000 of our people will leave the business through no fault of their own, and thousands more will be stood down for a long time.
Recovery will take time and it will be choppy. We’ve already had setbacks with borders opening and then closing again. But we know that travel is at the top of people’s wish lists and that demand will return as soon as restrictions lift. That means we can get more of our people back to work.
COVID is reshaping the competitive landscape and that presents a mix of challenges and opportunities for us.
Most airlines will come through this crisis a lot leaner, which means we have to reinvent how we run parts of our business to succeed in a changed market.
Updated
Alan Joyce said it was the toughest set of conditions Qantas had faced in 100 years.
For context, that includes when Qantas had planes shot down and destroyed and its Darwin hangar bombed in the second world war.
And the Great Depression.
So for an airline founded when the world was recovering from the Spanish (actually started in Kansas) flu, that is not something said lightly.
Updated
Decoding the Qantas announcement, the airline has still managed a profit – $124m – before tax.
That is down 91% on the previous year.
The airline suffered a $1.4bn non-cash write down of assets, including the A380 fleet and $642m in one-off redundancy and other costs as part of its business restructure.
The planes are in a boneyard in a US desert. They will remain there until Qantas starts flying again.
Updated
As previously announced, Qantas won’t be resuming international flights until at least July 2021.
The federal government has not given a concrete indication of when the borders will open but, when asked about it, Scott Morrison and co have pointed to mid-next year as being most likely.
Updated
Qantas announces 'worst trading results in history'
Qantas has announced its results to the ASX.
Alan Joyce states the obvious – it has been a terrible year for airlines:
We start by saying this is clearly not a standard set of results for the Qantas Group.
It’s been shaped by extraordinary events that have made for the worst trading conditions in our 100-year history.
To put it simply, we’re an airline that can’t really fly to many places – at least for now.
The impact of that is clear. Covid punched a $4bn hole in our revenue and a $1.2bn hole in our underlying profit in what would have otherwise been another very strong result.
I’ll come to the statutory result in a moment but the fact that the group still delivered an underlying profit before tax of $124m despite Covid says a lot about our resilience, and why we have confidence long term.
There are several important factors that supported the underlying result:
• The profit of almost $800m that we made in the first half, which we saw unwind in the second half.
• The immediate action we took to reduce our costs as soon as travel demand collapsed.
• And several bright spots in our portfolio: Qantas Loyalty, Qantas Freight and our charter services for the resources market.
I also want to acknowledge the federal government’s support.
They were very quick to recognise the impact of travel restrictions on aviation – and responded with industry-wide support, plus jobkeeper, which has been a lifeline for our employees.
Obviously, this result would have been very different without border closures – but they have been an important part of the public health response and we greatly appreciate the government’s support.
The industry will need that support while the closures remain in place.
Updated
While we have been very focused on what is happening in Australia – understandably – we should also open our eyes to what is happening across the Pacific. If we really are all in this together, we need to include our Pacific neighbours in that.
CARE International has released a report on what is happening to women in some of the most vulnerable nations during this pandemic – including some not so far from us
Julia Marango, CARE International’s resilience manager in Vanuatu, said:
Even though Vanuatu is physically remote, people here are definitely feeling the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. With international tourism halted, many people have lost their income.
Transport restrictions have made it hard to keep shop shelves stocked, and people are worried about how they’re going to feed their families.
This puts a particular strain on women, for example they’re at increased risk of domestic violence when there are financial tensions in the family.
Ensuring all Ni-Vanuatu have a stable and nutritious source of food was already a challenge before COVID-19, and it will be an even bigger challenge now.
Both men and women need to be part of the solution, but across the world CARE has found women are often left out of decision-making at times of crisis.
The UN has warned that a global hunger crisis is looming, and if women in Vanuatu and around the world aren’t given the power and resources to be part of the solution, it will only be worse.
Updated
The Senate has its spring session draft program out.
The legislation cupboard seems a little ... bare
Draft Legislation Program for the Senate, 2020 Spring Sittings of Parliament: Week 1 (24 – 27 August) https://t.co/3AVo60gHRM #auspol pic.twitter.com/bsNYsFhUgI
— Political Alert (@political_alert) August 19, 2020
Updated
Tasmania is not opening its borders for some time – and that is having flow-on effects to its health services.
Via AAP:
A lack of interstate health locums amid COVID-19 border restrictions will force a Tasmanian hospital’s emergency department to further reduce its opening hours.
The state’s northern Mersey Community Hospital will next week reduce its ED hours to 8am to 6pm, a further reduction of four hours and less than half the 24-hour service offered before coronavirus.
“The majority of locums who staff the MCH’s emergency department are from interstate,” Health Minister Sarah Courtney said.
“Due to current quarantine requirements and travel restrictions, finding locums to be able to staff the emergency department has become extremely difficult.”
After-hours patients will instead face an hour drive to Launceston or a 40-minute drive to the North West Hospital near Burnie for treatment
“Unfortunately, the pressure placed on locum resources nationally is out of the Tasmanian Health Service’s control,” Ms Courtney said.
Mersey Community Hospital was once rescued by the federal government and famously became the nation’s only Commonwealth-funded, state-managed public hospital.
Canberra intervened in 2007 when the facility was facing downgrade as part of a state hospital reform, offering to pick up the tab to maintain a full range of services.
The Mersey was handed back to the Tasmanian government in July 2017, with $730.4 million up front from federal coffers so the state could run the hospital for at least the next decade.
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Speaking of Pauline Hanson, she has decided to fight the “mandatory” Covid vaccination that is not mandatory and, as yet, is not even a vaccination.
Scott Morrison started yesterday by saying he wanted any forthcoming Covid vaccine to be as “mandatory as we can make it” before backing down in the evening to admit it would not be compulsory, but would be actively encouraged.
Once a vaccine is proven, Australia needs about a 95% take-up rate for the population to be protected against the virus.
But Hanson, who is no stranger to creating controversy when it comes to vaccinations –despite having her own children vaccinated – knows how to play up to people’s fears and that’s what she’s jumping on here.
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It’s not just returning Australians who want the international arrivals cap lifted – as Elias Visontay reports, hotels are pretty desperate for the business as well:
Australian hotels are “absolutely desperate for more business” and are prepared to participate in quarantine programs to boost capacity for returned travellers if the government eases the strict cap on international passenger arrivals.
Michael Johnson, the chief executive of Tourism Accommodation Australia, a division of the Australian Hotels Association, said the government had justified the cap as a way to ease pressure on hotel quarantine, but it was “more in place to slow the process, from a security perspective”.
“There has always been this perception that at least quarantine was keeping the hotels full to make up for the loss of tourism. But many hotels in our CBDs are running at under 10% occupancy,” he said.
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Parliament is back next week, and the government is pushing ahead with plans to introduce a “liquid asset test” for jobseekers.
Under the legislation, anyone with more than $11,500 in the bank will have to wait 13 weeks to receive income support. During the pandemic, that could be even longer.
Amends the: Social Security Act 1991 to: amend the residency requirements for the age pension and the disability support pension by changing certain timeframes which need to be met before claims will be deemed payable to eligible recipients; and increase the maximum liquid assets waiting period for youth allowance, austudy, newstart allowance (or jobseeker payment from 20 March 2020) and sickness allowance from 13 weeks to 26 weeks; proposed New Skilled Regional Visas (Consequential Amendments) Act 2019 to make contingent amendments to a transitional provision; and Social Security Act 1991 and Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 to cease payment of the pension supplement after six weeks temporary absence overseas and immediately for permanent departures.
Labor’s Linda Burney said with 13 jobseekers for every one job vacancy, the measure needed to be delayed:
The Morrison Government wants Australians who have lost work to eat through their savings before they can receive help,” she said.
“If people are forced to run down every last dollar, they will have no buffer for bills and emergencies like a broken car or fridge – making it harder for people to get back on their feet.”
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Good morning
The aged care response continues to plague the federal government.
Yesterday Scott Morrison tried to put responsibility back on the states – in this instance, Victoria – for what he said had become a public health response.
Today the Sydney Morning Herakd and the Age report that the federal government was warned about potential staff shortages in aged care homes in April, after the Dorothy Henderson Lodge outbreak in NSW.
The Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry resumes today and will hear from returned travellers, as Australian hotels lobby to increase the international arrivals cap so more of them can take part in the program.
Meanwhile, Queensland Health has issued a public health alert after Japanese authorities contacted it to let it know a returning traveller has tested positive for Covid.
The woman had travelled to Japan via Brisbane and Sydney. She had arrived in Sydney in mid-July and completed her two weeks of quarantine so she was able to enter Brisbane without having to isolate again. Two Covid tests taken during isolation came back negative.
But on her return to Japan this week she tested positive.
NSW Health is working with Queensland Health to alert anyone who was on the VA962 Brisbane-to-Sydney flight on 17 August.
Anyone who was at the South Brisbane cafe the Jam Pantry on 16 August between 9.45am and 11am is also being told to go into isolation and get tested.
We’ll cover all the day’s news and more – you have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.
Ready?
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