Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Luke Henriques-Gomes and Amy Remeikis

Australia records its first Covid-19 death in a month – as it happened

default

We’ll leave it there for now. Thanks for joining us and see you tomorrow.

Let’s take a look at some of the main developments from today.

  • Australia recorded its first coronavirus death in a month, after an 80-year-old man died in Victoria.
  • Victoria, where 20 new cases were reported today, has requested Australian Defence Force support to cope with a huge spike in demand for testing.
  • Coles and Woolworths have reintroduced item limits at supermarkets in what they called a pre-emptive move to prevent panic buying.
  • And in non-Covid news, the ABC announced a major restructure that would see its flagship radio bulletin axed, the ABC Life website dumped and 250 jobs gone.

Updated

Coronavirus advice in Pacific Islander languages was published only four days ago, raising questions about government efforts to inform non-English speaking communities about the pandemic.

Members of Melbourne’s Pacific Islander community, many of whom reside in the council hotspot of Brimbank, have felt frustrated by the lack of information in native languages and have been requesting it for months.

The Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that coronavirus information in Pacific Island languages, such as Tongan, Samoan and Cook Islands Maori, was first published on 20 June.

Pasifika Community Organisation president Tonya Helu told AAP:

There was nothing. We felt discriminated ... We didn’t have anything.

Updated

The small business ombudsman and employer groups have warned of a coming cliff, with economic supports including free childcare ending, and called on the government not to reduce jobseeker unemployment benefits to $40 a day.

My colleague Paul Karp has more in his report below.

Updated

Coles joins Woolworths to reintroduce item limits

Coles has reintroduced item limits on several products in its Victorian stores, hours after Woolworths made the same move.

Coles Group chief executive Steven Cain said in a statement:

Following discussion with the federal and Victorian governments as well as other retailers, Coles is implementing temporary purchase limits for our Victorian supermarkets to help us manage demand for key staple items.

We ask that customers continue to shop normally so that everyone can have access to the food and groceries they need.

The product limits, which are also in place in the NSW stores at Lavington, Albury and Deniliquin in NSW, are as follows:

  • Toilet paper: 1
  • Pasta: 2
  • Hand sanitiser: 2
  • Mince: 2
  • Paper towel: 1
  • UHT milk: 2
  • Flour: 2
  • Eggs: 2
  • Sugar: 2
  • Rice: 2
Coles trolleys
Coles has also reintroduced buying limits in its Victorian stores. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated

More from AAP:

The Australian share market has closed just slightly higher for a fourth straight day, with investors apparently afraid to push the ASX200 over the 6,000 level.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Wednesday up 11.3 points, or 0.19%, at 5,965.7 points, while the All Ordinaries index was up 12.3 points, or 0.2% lower, at 6,081.6.

The Australian dollar was buying 69.41 US cents, up from 69.09 US cents at the close of trade on Tuesday.

Updated

Perth is set to become the next city to host an AFL hub, with Collingwood and Geelong tipped to join West Coast and Fremantle and play a block of games at the city’s Optus Stadium.

The AFL is expected to announce the next block of rounds on Thursday, having previously only released the first five rounds of the season as the league restarts following the Covid-19 shutdown, reports AAP.

WA firmed as a likely hub city on Monday when premier Mark McGowan announced restrictions on fans attending matches would be lifted entirely from 18 July.

Updated

The ABC is planning to cut about 70 positions in the news section.

Gaven Morris, the ABC news director, told staff in an email that the broadcaster would also reduce the number of original episodes of Australian Story and Foreign Correspondent “to protect the quality of this prestige programming while recognising we have lower funding”.

Morris said all current affairs teams would contribute to the required savings, including some proposed changes to roles in the investigative reporting team, Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story and 7.30.

Meanwhile, it is understood there are also expected to be 53 redundancies in the entertainment and specialist section, with the ABC commissioning original material for prime-time only. The calendar to fill will be reduced from 48 weeks to 42 weeks, and content teams reduced from five to four people.

Updated

Patricia Karvelas says on the ABC that of the 250 jobs to go at the public broadcaster, staff have been told the news division will lose 70 employees, the entertainment and specialist division will lose 53, and the regional and local division 19.

Updated

The chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, Jennifer Westacott, says of Anthony Albanese’s bid for bipartisan agreement on energy policy:

We cannot afford to waste the unprecedented cooperation we have achieved throughout the Covid-19 crisis, on every issue we’ll need to work together to solve problems and create the new jobs that will drive our recovery.

We have long called for a bipartisan, national climate and energy framework that is scalable and provides business with the confidence they need to drive new investment, create new jobs and accelerate our transition to net-zero emissions.

The Business Council remains committed to achieving the goals of the Paris agreement and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. To supply clean, affordable, reliable and secure energy businesses need a mechanism that plots the pathway across the whole economy.

Updated

The assistant treasurer, Michael Sukkar, says he utterly rejects suggestions authorities have failed to communicate effectively with migrant communities about the coronavirus.

Ultimately, the federal government has put huge resources into communicating the messages that explain the health advice not just to mainstream English-speaking Australians but also different multicultural groups and parts of the community who are more versed in other languages.

Updated

Two challenges against the Queensland government’s constitutional right to keep the state’s borders closed amid the coronavirus crisis are set to return to court, reports AAP.

Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer and a group of tourism operators named Travel Essence launched separate proceedings in the high court after the borders were closed in March.

But they were bumped down to the federal court in Brisbane, where they are set to appear on Wednesday after the parties were unable to agree on some of the base facts about Covid-19.

Updated

Here is some more detail on the Australian Defence Force support Victoria has requested from the commonwealth as it grapples with a spike in Covid-19 cases, putting pressure on testing clinics in hotspot areas and laboratories.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said Victoria had requested more than 300 troops. Of those, a small amount will be delegated to quarantine hotels.

It should be noted this defence support is already being used in New South Wales. So far, Victoria has relied on police.

Other military staff with medical training will assist Victoria in setting up more clinics and running tests. However, the state government is still talking to the federal government about specific details including logistics, so more details about that support will likely be made available over the next few days.

Updated

Restrictions will ease on Friday in Tasmania.

Defence force called in to battle Covid in Victoria

The Australian Defence Force and other states have been called in to help Victoria’s efforts to contain coronavirus cases, AAP reports.

The state has seen a spike in Covid-19 infections in the past week, with 20 more cases and a death recorded on Wednesday.

The ADF, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland have been called in to help.

A government spokeswoman said in a statement:

This support will mean we can get even more tests done and results back quickly – and a stronger effort to remind Victorians if you are sick, stay home and get tested.

Community engagement in the local government areas of Brimbank, Casey, Cardinia, Darebin, Hume and Moreland has been ramped up, including door-knocking, after they were identified as coronavirus hotspots.

Updated

Hello everyone. I’ll be with you into the evening. Thanks as always to Amy. If you want to get in touch: luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or @lukehgomes.

It has been quite the afternoon.

I am going to take myself and my cracked tooth (thanks to NSW/ACT’s insanely hard gingernut biscuits) off for a short break. Luke Henriques-Gomes will shepherd you through the afternoon.

Thanks so much for joining me and I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Take care of you.

The CSIRO has announced job cuts today as well:

Updated

A spokeswoman for the Andrews government has confirmed Raf Epstein’s tip:

Victoria has requested the assistance of other states as we continue to ramp up testing and community awareness in key coronavirus hot spots.
This support will mean we can get even more tests done and results back quickly – and a stronger effort to remind Victorians if you are sick, stay home and get tested. We thank our neighbouring states for agreeing to provide this support, which will ensure we keep Victorians safe.

As part of that, the ADF has been asked to help with the logistics of coordinating the state’s help

Updated

Christian Porter was asked about the possibility of holding the AFL grand final in Perth while speaking to Perth radio 6PR:

I’d love to see it in Perth. I – look, I’m no AFL expert and I’m sort of a bit perplexed why, when Covid struck and the season was disrupted, why they didn’t go to an NFL-style regional competition like conferences, where you could have had western and one or two central conferences and then an eastern conference in Queensland.

You could have played two or three, or three or four teams off against each other and then you could have finals later in the year. I mean it would be very different from a normal season but it’s a different set of circumstances. But they went down a different route.

But yeah, I think that it would be a marvellous thing to have a grand final in Perth and the stadium’s just magnificent. Why wouldn’t you?

Updated

Victoria Health has put out its official update on the Victorian Covid situation:

The total number of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in Victoria is 1,884, with 20 new cases reported yesterday.

Yesterday’s new cases are made up of seven linked to outbreaks, nine cases identified through routine testing, one case detected in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine and three cases under investigation.

There has been one new death reported, with a man in his 80s dying in hospital overnight. To date, 20 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

There have been 241 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that have been acquired through unknown transmission. There are currently 141 active cases in Victoria.

Currently, seven people with coronavirus infection are in hospital, including two patients in intensive care; 1,721 people have recovered from the virus.

Of the total 1,884 cases, there have been 1,588 in metropolitan Melbourne and 241 in regional Victoria. The total number of cases is made up of 1,004 men and 880 women. More than 696,000 tests have been processed to date.

Two of the new cases are staff members from Hampstead Dental in Maidstone. A previous case in a staff member had been notified to the department on Saturday, so appropriate public health measures were already underway, including cleaning and contact tracing. No patients have been identified as close contacts so far. The clinic remains closed. This takes the total number of cases linked to this outbreak to three.

Three new cases have been detected in close contacts of the current family outbreak in Keilor Downs. One of these is a social contact of a confirmed case and also a student at Keilor Downs Secondary College. All students, their families and staff from the college have been directed to the Melbourne showgrounds for testing, regardless of whether they have symptoms. This takes the total number of cases linked to this outbreak to 15.

A new case has also been linked to the H&M Northland outbreak. This individual is a close contact of a known case and was already in quarantine. This takes the total number of cases linked to this outbreak to five.

One of the new cases is a close contact of a known case in a staff member at St Monica’s College in Epping. This new case has no other identified links to the school and has not been on campus. Contact tracing, testing and other public health actions are being taken at the school as appropriate. This takes the total number of cases linked to this outbreak to two.

Cars queue at a drive-through Covid testing site in Melbourne
Cars queue at a drive-through Covid testing site in Melbourne. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

At the Senate Covid-19 committee today, several witnesses from employer groups backed calls for certainty and bipartisanship in energy policy.

Tim Reed, president of the Business Council of Australia, said he was “heartened to hear the leader of the opposition [Anthony Albanese] back the government’s proposed technology roadmap”.

“Certainly, bipartisanship on energy policy would help us go a lot further a lot faster,” Reed said, referencing it in a series of reforms that would help Australia recover from the Covid-19 contraction.

The Australian Industry Group chief executive, Innes Willox, said that “certainty” is the “key factor” for where industry chooses to invest and “volatility” would impede the economic recovery.

An energy framework and certainty around that is going to be crucial for our growth prospects to be maximised. Continuity of approach and policy leads to greater confidence to invest.

Businesses would only “be prepared to invest on sufficient scale to provide cheaper and reliable power we all need” with policy certainty, he said.

Both Reed and Willox backed a target of net zero emissions by 2050.

Updated

Woolworths reintroduces buying limits after Victorian demand spike

Woolworths has released a statement saying it is reintroducing purchase limits for some items, in Victoria, after demand spiked in that state:

Woolworths has reinstated a purchase limit of two items on toilet paper, hand sanitiser, paper towel, flour, sugar, pasta, mince, long-life milk, eggs and rice across its Victorian stores this afternoon.

The preventative move is in response to significantly elevated demand seen over the past 24 hours in certain parts of Melbourne. It will support social distancing in stores and ensure more customers have access to the products they need.

Woolworths Supermarkets managing director Claire Peters said:

We understand many Victorians are anxious about the recent community outbreak, but they can be assured our stores will remain open with plenty of stock in our warehouses to replenish our shelves.

While we have healthy stock levels to draw on, we’re taking this precautionary step to help prevent excessive buying and support appropriate social distancing in our Victorian stores.

We have more than enough product for all of our customers if we all just buy what we need in our weekly shop.

We’ll closely monitor demand across Victoria in the coming days and look to wind back the limits as soon as we can.

The reintroduction of limits on select categories will apply only in Victoria because that’s where the early signs of a demand surge is occurring. They will also apply to online orders. There are no product limits in place outside of Victoria at this time.

Updated

Paul Fletcher:

So this five-year strategic plan is very much what taxpayers can rightly expect, what broader management of the ABC will do as they seek to utilise the substantial resources they are provided in the most efficient way to deliver on the ABC’s charter and to provide broadcasting services to all Australians.

The ABC has secured funding over the next three-year period, we are in the first year of a three-year funding period, so it has revenue certainty in a way that most media organisations in Australia would love to have.

Certainly the government will carefully study this five-year strategic plan. I’m sure it will be the basis for continued discussion between me, as the minister on behalf of the government, and ABC board and management. And particularly as we come into the next funding period, which will commence after the 30 June 2022, then this priorities and strategic plan will no doubt inform that discussion.

Updated

The communications minister, Paul Fletcher, says the ABC’s budget has increased under the Coalition.

That’s true, in the same way health and education budgets keep increasing; that’s population growth.

The difference is this time around, the Coalition has cut how much the ABC expected its budget to grow by. So, having had a budget plan, it made decisions and moved forward with projects, but has now been told, no, we won’t be giving you about $80m of that money you were expecting.

It’s like if you were given $50 to go shopping, made your list and were at the checkout, and the person who gave you the money took $20 of it back.

Updated

When he was asked yesterday about taking up the offer of ADF support, Daniel Andrews said:

We’re not arguing about it. What I’m saying is I don’t think we need to get to that point. But I’m very grateful to the prime minister’s offers of support right across the board. There will be more staff in those settings, and I think that probably the best staff to have in those settings, more of them, are people that have got a clinical background.

So I think you’re gonna see more and more nurses, for instance, in that hotel quarantine system, and I think that will serve us well.

Updated

Victoria has requested ADF 'logistical' support, reports say

We are chasing this up.

Updated

I know that has been a fair bit of not related to Covid news, but it is still important to policy, hence its inclusion.

Getting on with it though, according to Angus Taylor, means not answering questions about targets. Asked about the 2050 target, Taylor says:

We have a clear set of targets – 26% emissions were by 2030, and a joint commitment through the Paris Agreement with countries around the world to deliver net zero in the second half of the century. And let’s be clear, Australia’s 1.3% of emissions – we need to work mostly with countries across the globe to deliver outcomes, and that’s how we’re going to achieve the outcomes, and the only way.

Updated

Angus Taylor is asked if there are still people in the Coalition partyroom who don’t believe in climate change.

(Obviously there are. You know who the are.)

But the energy minister says:

No, it’s not true. Our position is very clear: we’ve got strong targets, we are focused on emissions and we’re delivering – we will on our 2020 targets by a significant margin, 4.11m tonnes [by] December last year, and we will nail it, and we will continue to. And this matters, this is important, and we will unify.

But I make this point – we see division in the Labor party and in particular we have seen on the one hand Joel Fitzgibbon spruiking carbon capture and storage, and on the other hand, Mark Butler has been saying the whole thing is a pipe dream. We are focused, unified and getting on with it.

Updated

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), whose members include ABC staff, has issued a statement criticising the latest job cuts. It says it is a case of “death by a thousand cuts for ABC staff”.

The CPSU says the latest plan will hit Australian content creators hard, as well as see an end to flagship ABC programs. It has called on the government to halt the funding freeze and commit to a five-year ABC funding model.

The union says the cuts will affect technology, news, entertainment, specialist and local teams, and will have “major impacts on content makers and specialist teams, stripping seniority and experience from the organisation”. It says the $5m cut to independent production “means less Australian drama and content on our screens”.

The secretary of the CPSU’s ABC section, Sinddy Ealy, said everyone could see that the media and arts industries had been hit hard by Covid-19, and they needed the ABC to assist in the recovery.

Cutting jobs now is utter madness.

Ealy added:

The ABC has delivered through all major crises of this year. The ABC has provided in some cases lifesaving information throughout the droughts, fires and now a health pandemic. It is clear that Australia needs a strong ABC now more than ever.

Updated

Felicity Wever, director of international programs at Unicef Australia, with some of the personal protective equipment being sent to Timor Leste.
Felicity Wever, director of international programs at Unicef Australia, with some of the personal protective equipment being sent to Timor Leste. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Unicef Australia has sent $140,000 in personal protective equipment to Timor Leste, including vital equipment for medical staff such as face shields, face masks, respirators, safety goggles and surgical gloves.

This shipment, used funds raised from the agency’s Covid-19 appeal, is part of more than $3.5m in funding that Unicef Australia has sent across the region to suppress the spread of the virus.

Timor Leste has had only 24 cases of Covid-19, and zero deaths, but there are concerns an outbreak would be hard to contain, given limited health infrastructure across the country. Timor Leste has 7 doctors per 10,000 people and only one intensive care bed with a ventilator for the entire nation of 1.2 million people.

Felicity Wever, Unicef Australia’s director of international programs, said it was “hard to underestimate the vulnerability that still does exist” in countries such as Timor Leste neighbouring Australia.

Wever said that in Timor Leste, a focus on Covid-19 preparedness and testing had the potential to draw attention and resources from other key healthcare initiatives across the country, including childhood nutrition and vaccination programs.

Timor Leste has rates of childhood stunting that are some of the highest in the world: 50% of children under five have stunted growth.

Wever said the health crisis of Covid and the economic fallout of the shutdowns was a “double whammy” for developing countries like Timor Leste, “with lower household incomes, people not having sufficient funds to purchase a diversity foods”.

It also might be harder to continue with screening for stunting, and to identify kids who might be vulnerable.

Wever said that across the East Asia Pacific region about 325 million children have been kept from classrooms by Covid-19 restrictions and were reliant on some form of remote learning.

Our work has been around keeping children engaged while they are out of school. At this juncture in time, with children now returning to school, the question is how do help prepare those schools, so kids can feel safe.

Schoolchildren in Dili, Timor Leste
Schools have reopened in Dili, Timor Leste. Photograph: Antonio Dasiparu/EPA

Updated

Further to that last post is this one from Hursty:

One of many moving parts in the ABC cuts is the changes to the radio news bulletins.

Here is how the ABC managing director, David Anderson, described the change to morning radio news programming:

On local radio, we are proposing changes to some broadcast services. The 7.45am bulletin will cease. We will still have a 10-minute bulletin at 7am, and a new five-minute bulletin at 8am, followed by the AM program until 8.30. The 45 minutes of news will reduce to 30 minutes.

ABC News digital on-demand services will deliver high-quality journalism and a broader range of information for the growing audiences who access our news services on these platforms.

Investment from services with a single broadcast focus, such as the 7.45am radio news bulletin, will be redirected to services that are available across all audio platforms, 24/7, available to all Australians at a time that suits them.

Updated

In his speech to staff, the ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, said the government’s indexation pause – announced in 2018 – would reduce the ABC’s budget by $84m over three years and result in an ongoing reduction of $41m per annum from the 2021-22 financial year onwards.

This is on top of $64m of ongoing cuts that were imposed on us in 2014. In real terms this means our operational funding will be more than 10% lower in 2021-22 than it was in 2013.

Anderson said it was true that many traditional media businesses were also facing revenue challenges, and that the ABC needed to “evolve our digital services to stay relevant”. But he noted there was a key difference:

Unlike other commercial providers, the ABC is a public good. We are a public media service with our independence enshrined in legislation, and a charter to serve the interests of all Australians.

While digital disruption would have brought change to the ABC in any event, there is no doubt that the cumulative effect of funding cuts are an extraordinary strain on our ability to meet community expectations.

Outlining the mechanics of the expected 250 job cuts, Anderson said the ABC had opened a process a fortnight ago that allowed people to express an interest in redundancy. The ABC would today begin a second formal expression-of-interest process in divisions where there were likely to be 10 or more redundancies.

The ABC had also “notified other employees of their potential redundancy today”. After the completion of the second EOI process in a fortnight, the ABC would “commence further consultation with staff and unions”.

Anderson said the people leaving the ABC were “valued colleagues who have made tremendous contributions to the ABC” and it was “a difficult time for everyone”.

You can read his full speech here.

David Anderson
David Anderson: ‘The cumulative effect of funding cuts are an extraordinary strain on our ability to meet community expectations.’ Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Updated

On the ABC cuts, Anthony Albanese says:

The ABC cuts that were made by this government have had an impact on jobs and have had an impact on the quality of services provided.

During the bushfires, the ABC literally saved lives.

Because of the telecommunications that exist in places like Eden-Monaro and some other places as well, Kangaroo Island and parts of the south coast of New South Wales, this was an issue as well – people were relying on the ABC to tell them whether to go or leave and tell them what’s happening. It saved lives, and it seems it is appalling that the government hasn’t recognised that.

The ABC is not too Sydney-centric. The ABC in particular provides essential services to rural communities, and at a time when we have seen the demise of regional newspapers, the ABC, in many cases, along with some other local radio and community radio, is all people have got to rely upon.

It’s also the case that the ABC consistently rates highest in terms of people’s reliability about honesty and authenticity of the news broadcasts, and that’s really important.

The other thing it does is it trains people who then go on to work perhaps for other networks, as well as a bit of an exchange, and in the media.

This is my sixth vision statement today, my third was on democracy. This was due to be given, I think, in April. I think we were doing it but because of the coronavirus, it’s why it was put off ...

Democracy can’t be taken for granted – it’s fragile in many parts of the world. I think the ABC has a critical role, and I’m very sorry to job losses at a time like this. The government surely should be stepping in and saying, “Now of all times is not the time to lose 250 jobs at the ABC.”

Updated

Asked how big a test the Eden-Monaro byelection is for his leadership, Anthony Albanese says:

The test and the opportunity that’s there in this byelection is for people to send a message about the bushfires and what occurred there; about, as well jobkeeper and all those people who missed out – the million casuals, arts and entertainment workers, the people at Dnata; whether also it’s acceptable that the government has the new economic figures about the state of the economy, they know it’s now 95 days until jobkeeper is withdrawn.

If they don’t want jobkeeper withdrawn, vote against the Coalition on Saturday July 4. Because at the moment, the government has those economic figures and guess what? They’re not telling you until after July 4.

That’s not a coincidence. That’s a strategy to rip out support for people who need it, who are vulnerable, but not tell them until after the byelection is held, and that’s why people should cast a vote for Kristy McBain.

She’s the outstanding candidate. She’s the only person as well who gets a chance for an ad here! The only person who their party wanted. The truth is that the Libs and Nats were too busy fighting each other ... that went on for weeks, which is why the byelection was delayed.

Updated

Q: Mark Butler said immediately after the election that Labor would set a medium-term target before the next election which was consistent with the science. Does that remain Labor’s policy?

Albanese:

I have said that, and, yes, we will set targets based on science.

Q: To what extent does this initiative represent any change in Labor policy?

AA:

Well, it certainly is consistent with everything I have said as Labor leader.

When I came and became Labor leader, on day one I said Australians were suffering from conflict fatigue.

I said I’d look for solutions not arguments and that’s what I’m doing here, looking for a solution, looking for an outcome, not looking for an argument and conflict. Not because it’s an academic argument, but there’s real-world consequences. Renewable energy investment falling off a cliff by 50% in 2019 as a direct result of the fact that the government doesn’t have an energy policy.

Now, what I want is a mechanism, and I want it sooner rather than later. I hope to be in Mr Morrison’s position at the end of next year or the start of 2022. I want there to be progress before then. I don’t want the country to just stagnate in between now and then. That’s the spirit in which it’s put forward.

I must say it’s the spirit that I have put forward consistently as the Labor leader and indeed one that I advocated and put forward in various speeches prior to the 2019 election as well.

Updated

Should Dyson Heydon be stripped of his Australian honours?

Anthony Albanese:

Look, I think the most important question here is - and my concern hasn’t been focused on Dyson Heydon, it’s focused on those brave six women, three of whom are taking legal action, and to have a debate that hopefully will facilitate an increased debate about power relationships in the workplace.

The idea that a man, a high court judge, in a position of seniority, has engaged in this conduct against people who are in their first job – the best and brightest are the people who get to be associates to high court judges – should be a huge wake-up call for workplaces throughout the country.

Should Dyson Heydon have been given an AC? Well, clearly not at the time, if you look at what justice Kiefel has found and what she has said.

But my concern at this point in time is for the women in this situation, and my concern also is that it’s a bit of a call for the nation, I think, to examine workplace harassment, which is always inappropriate, and to look at those power imbalances which are there and ensure that there are mechanisms so that there’s resource.

The bravery of these young women to come forward in a circumstance against a very powerful man, a high court judge, is extraordinary, and my praise to them.

Updated

Will Labor accept the government’s 2030 targets?

Anthony Albanese:

One of the things that I’m concerned about is outcomes and directions, and we are prepared to sit down and talk about the mechanisms which are there. We’re not the Coalition. We’ll come up with our own policies and platforms in terms of measures and where we think Australia needs to go and we’ll answer that at the appropriate time in the lead-up to the next election.

We don’t know where the starting point is for 2030. We don’t know where we’ll be in 2022, as I have explained to you on multiple occasions, and I refer to my previous 73 answers on that question.

Updated

Q: Just on your speech and you talking about the need for a mechanism to drive technological change that could be scaled up in terms of emissions, wasn’t that precisely what the NEG did? And there was the emissions reduction component that was used by the rightwing of the Liberal party to neck Malcolm Turnbull, so why would you think Scott Morrison is going to embrace a policy that may be different in name but is precisely the same in mechanism?

Albanese:

He said he supported it at the time. He voted for it and advocated for it at the time. Josh Frydenberg saw himself as the architect of it at the time. And they’ve been in government now for seven years.

People like you will not let them go to the next election, I’m sure, saying: “We’ve been here for nine years – if you give us a fourth term we’ll come up with an energy policy.” That’s really what they’re saying at the moment: “Give us a fourth term and we’ll come up with a policy.”

We’re here to help. We’re being constructive. They have listened to the science and that’s one of the things that I saw as a breakthrough. They’ve listened to the science during the pandemic. How about we take that principle on to other measures as well, particularly climate change.

Updated

Q: Is Labor still committed to not using the Kyoto carryover credits in order to meet the Paris targets? And if that’s the case do you concede that Australia would then have to double emission reduction efforts over the next decade to achieve that?

Anthony Albanese:

To the first question, yes, it’s a rort. If it looks like a rort and sounds like a rort, it is. And that’s why the rest of the world is saying no to carry over of – I mean there’s some irony, I’ve got to say, in a government that ... opposed ratifying Kyoto, and was opposed to what Labor put in place, saying we want to use those credits when we had an energy policy in order to make up for the fact that we don’t.

And what I’m putting forward today is a proposal in which we can have an energy policy in this country. We don’t have one at the moment.

Updated

What is Labor’s position on coal?

Albanese:

When the [Labor] conference meets [in December] we’ll determine a new platform.

But those issues are stating the obvious: that they’ll depend upon markets and demand. And I have consistently said that. I maintain that position. Whether it’s thermal coal or metallurgical coal.

The way that all international agreements have been done is to measure emissions at the point in which they’re emitted, not in terms of – you don’t take Japan and say they produce a lot of cars so therefore they have to pay the price of the production of those cars. That’s a very simple proposition.

Updated

Q: How important a feature of what you’re proposing is the ability for a Labor government or an incoming Labor government to upscale future target emissions in the future?

Albanese:

It’s essential. It’s essential that targets be based upon the science and it needs to be a mechanism that has that flexibility there ... I’m not naive about this ... Because, frankly, they are a whole lot of people who don’t even believe climate change is happening, in spite of the facts and the science around them. What I’m arguing for, though, is that you can agree on a framework, and business say that they’ll factor in the potential of changes down the track, but that what they really need is that framework.

Updated

Anthony Albanese Labor looking 'forward not backwards' on carbon price

Asked if Labor supported a carbon price, Anthony Albanese (eventually) says:

Renewables today are looking for a different framework. See if you ask ‘Are we going back to the old system?’, the answer to that is no. We’re looking forward, not backwards. And we’re looking forward at a mechanism that will drive that change through the economy.

And what business tells us and all the players in the energy sector is that they can live with a rent, they live with the Clean Energy Target, they can live with a range of structures. We went to the last election with an emissions scheme. All those mechanisms are what is required, given the commercialisation that we have seen in renewables.

Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese: ‘Renewables today are looking for a different framework.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Q: Will you commit to ambitious medium targets towards the 20350 goal and a price on carbon?

Albanese:

Well, what Labor put in place when we were in government was a framework, a framework that could be a car, if you like n which you could speed up by putting your foot on the accelerator or slow down, depending upon what the scientific advice was through an emissions trading scheme.

The problem now is that there’s a debate about fuel and whether you should speed up or go backwards in terms of targets. But there’s no vehicle to put the fuel in.

And what I’m arguing today and what the experts have told us, that we have consulted with, is that you need a vehicle that has bipartisan support, that will be permanent, in place, that can be adjusted that, can be flexible and that’s why we’ve said the proposals that we’ve put forward, we’re attempting to be cooperative here in putting forward two of the suggestions are ones that are the governments that they themselves walked away from, the Clean Energy Target and the National Energy Guarantee.

So, what’s obvious is that emissions were going down when we were in government. When you had the change of government, that process was reversed.

And we’ve had since 2013 no energy policy in this country. That’s not good for the national economy in terms of jobs given the recession that we’re innings but it’s also not good for action on climate change.

So I understand that we need to do better as a nation. This is a proposal seeking out - seeking out bipartisanship on the framework. We can have our disagreements about how much the target should be and we’ll base our targets upon the science.

We have already said net zero emissions by 20350. I think it’s unfortunate that the Federal coalition government haven’t embraced that, unlike every single state and territory government whether they be Labor or coalition.

The Labor leader moves to questions.

Asked if Labor will still commit to research and development funding coming in at 3% of GDP, Albanese says:

Well, we’ll make specific costed policies closer to the election.

But in terms of the principle of an increase in R&D investment, absolutely.

We consider it as just that, an investment not a cost. It’s an investment that produces a return and if we’re better at commercialising our R&D, we would have a growing economy, growing jobs.

To use just one example, so much of solar technology that’s used around the world was produced right here at the ANU or at the University of New South Wales.

What happened then was that it was off-shored and other nations got the benefit of those manufacturing jobs and then we imported it back.

We supplied all the ingredients that into to go a solar panel but we don’t make them here. We used to.

I visited the centre at Homebush, I visited a centre in Adelaide run by Origin. We need to be much better at it and we need to see R&D as an investment.

Updated

Back to Anthony Albanese’s speech:

The pandemic has been a wake-up call.

The Government has begrudgingly shelved ideology in favour of expertise.

We all came together.

The values that are seeing us through this crisis are the values that will let us flourish when it is behind us.

We’re not there yet. Covid-19 is still ravaging many countries and the spectre of a second wave keeps us grounded.

Australia has been fortunate. Some of it has been the lottery of geographical isolation and low population density.

But it is also thanks to our high level of scientific and medical expertise – and crucially, the fact that it was listened to and acted on.

It has also been a victory of the Australian people. It is testament to our instincts to pull together and co-operate.

And to respect actual experts rather than the instant experts, who spring up on Facebook like mushrooms and thrive on the same fuel.

Updated

Victorian holiday parks turn away 'hotspot' bookings

Via AAP:

Residents from the six Victorian coronavirus hotspot councils have been blacklisted from some coastal caravan parks in the state.

Locals in the Melbourne areas of Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin have been banned from a caravan park chain while health authorities on Wednesday advised against regional travel.

The Anglesea Family caravan park, the Torquay Foreshore caravan park and the Lorne Foreshore caravan park managed by the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee have cancelled all bookings from guests living in those hotspots.

The caravan parks said on their websites:

This will apply to all bookings up until Monday 13 July and include 12-month permit holders.

We will not be lifting these restrictions until the Victorian government advises that community transmission in these areas is under control.

The parks said they made the call to protect the health and safety of staff and visitors and would be contacting guests with cancelled bookings in the coming days.

The decision follows the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee urging residents in these hotspots not to leave their suburbs until community transmission is curbed.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton, however, said the message didn’t seek to force residents to stay home.

In Victoria we’ve got transmission across metro Melbourne, so for all of those areas it’s not about saying you can’t leave there.

It is a message for those areas, you have to be particularly aware of people with symptoms ... because transmission is higher in those areas.

He recommended people consider whether they should mix with people they don’t normally see.

Prof Sutton added that case numbers remained low in Melbourne, but argued businesses were free to do as they wished regarding admission of guests.

It’s a very, very, very low risk for any one individual, but each business will have its own risk tolerance point and they can make a decision.

Updated

Over at the press club, Anthony Albanese has got to the nitty gritty of his speech:

When the Morrison government abandoned the National Energy Guarantee, they turned their back for a time on the prospect of an enduring bipartisan energy policy.

Today, with the importance of scientific advice being front and centre, and a need to invest and create jobs, it’s beyond time that Australia had an energy policy in the national interest.

That is why I have written to the prime minister and suggested we meet and agree on an energy investment framework that will deliver the modernisation of our energy system.

Like industry and the experts, Labor is open minded about the specific investment framework to be adopted.

We can work with a National Energy Guarantee, a Clean Energy Target, an Emissions Intensity Scheme or other models which deliver the essential component of providing investment certainty.

It must be flexible, and it must be enduring.

And enduring energy policy is one that can adjust to different emission targets.

It should be possible to agree on a policy framework that can deliver confidence to investors even though there is disagreement over Labor’s net zero emissions by 2050 target.

Labor is willing to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies being able to generate carbon offsets, as long as the usual quality safeguards are met.

We would also support the government if it reinstates the CCS flagships program established by Labor and abolished by the Abbott government – or a new funding vehicle.

The chief scientist, the IPCC and the IEA all advise that CCS must be part of the solution to reach net zero emissions.

But we won’t agree that renewable energy agencies like Arena and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation should have their funds for renewables raided in order to invest in carbon capture technology.

If we are to advance the Technology Roadmap, then Arena must be supported with further funding.

When the science is clear politicians should act.

Updated

The ABC has now revealed further details about the planned cuts.

In a statement, it says planned savings initiatives include:

  • Giving ABC Life a new editorial direction and name, ABC Local, sourcing content from across the ABC, including outer suburban and regional areas.
  • A greater focus on digital and on-demand news services, including discontinuing the 7.45am broadcast-only radio news bulletin and shifting focus to provide news across all our audio platforms.
  • Rebranding ABC Comedy to create a home for a range of genres, such as Arts, Science, Education and Religion. Comedy will continue to be commissioned for ABC main channel and a destination on iView.
  • Reducing independent production by approximately $5m per year, predominately from the factual and entertainment slate, with the ABC prioritising investment in Drama and Children’s programming.

The statement says the proposed initiatives “are in addition to reduced numbers in management and support teams and identified savings greater than 2% through current vacancies, redundancies and reducing operating costs”.

The ABC says it has also reduced travel budgets by 25% and there has been “a greater reliance on technology to connect the workforce”.

It says it will review its property portfolio to “consider options to either improve our accommodation, lease vacant space or relocate if it is more beneficial”.

“Assessing spare capacity for leasing in ABC Ultimo could potentially create a $4 million p.a. saving. A portion of this could be reinvested in services.”

Updated

Anthony Albanese press club addresss

The opposition leader has begun his speech:

One day, when the pandemic is over we might get back into the habit of carrying cash around in our wallets – although cash is likely to be used substantially less than before the pandemic.

Those plastic banknotes are a double boon: they’re harder to forge than the old paper ones, and they can survive a washing machine.

This practical bit of genius is an Australian invention, one of many to have emerged out of the CSIRO, that great powerhouse of turning imagination and curiosity into reality.

Fittingly, one of those banknotes bears the face of David Unaipon — preacher, proud Indigenous Australian, inventor and scientific thinker.

He revolutionised sheep-shearing.

He foresaw the development of laser.

Decades before the first chopper took to the sky, he developed a concept of a helicopter based on the aerodynamics of the boomerang.

If we dedicated all our banknotes to our inventors and our discoverers, there’s substantial competition.

Nobel laureate and molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn.

2018 Australian of the Year and quantum physicist Michelle Simmons.

Howard Florey, who carried out the first clinical tests of penicillin.

Fiona Wood, who invented spray-on skin and transformed burns treatment.

Graeme Clarke, who gave hearing back to so many with the multi-channel cochlear implant.

What unites them all is curiosity, and a vision of a better way of doing things.

Today I want to talk about how that spirit can take us forward.

Updated

ABC pleads against further cuts

The ABC has urged the government against pursuing any further budget cuts, as the national broadcaster confirmed its plan for $40m in savings each year would result in job losses and an impacts on audiences.

Australia’s national broadcaster outlined the planned cuts in a new five-year plan released on Wednesday, a couple of weeks after it foreshadowed up to 250 jobs would go.

The long-term plan makes clear that the ABC is struggling to deliver its range of services “within a smaller funding envelope”.

The report says “significant funding cuts” since 2014–15, and an indexation pause from 2019–20, “must be absorbed at the same time as the ABC grapples with new cost pressures”. It says the ABC has developed a package of measures designed to achieve ongoing savings of at least $40m a year from 2021–22.

“The savings measures target several areas, including renegotiating third-party contracts, addressing areas of discretionary spending, finding production efficiencies, reducing the ABC’s property costs, and reviewing content and services,” the report says.

“While these measures aim to minimise cuts to services and output, they will result in job losses and have an impact on audiences.”

In an implicit warning to the government, it adds: “Any further budget reductions beyond this will have an even more significant impact on services, such as consolidating TV channels, radio networks, and some regional services.”

Regional services are a particularly sensitive topic among the National party, given the strong support the ABC’s broadcasting services have in rural and regional areas.

In a section of the report on the broader economic environment, the report says it is “possible” the Australian government may pursue further budget cuts. The ABC will, however, continue to argue for its value and the public benefits it delivers. The report points to the bushfire crisis last summer and the Covid-19 pandemic which reinforced “the ABC’s importance as a trustworthy source of vital information”.

The five-year plan aims to set out the ABC’s long-term direction. The ABC’s purpose, according to the plan, is “to deliver valued services that reflect and contribute to Australian society, culture and identity”.

The ABC’s vision is to be “the home of Australian stories – accessible, bold, creative”.

The plan spells out six priorities:

  • Deliver personalised digital experiences.
  • Remain Australia’s best and most trusted source of news and information.
  • Strengthen local connections.
  • Prioritise quality over quantity.
  • Invest in the workforce of the future.
  • Be creative, flexible, efficient, and accountable.

On that last point, the ABC aims to “deliver against our Charter, while always working efficiently to identify savings and reinvestment opportunities”.

Updated

ABC to cut 250 jobs

Some news from the ABC decisions

Updated

In non-Covid news for a moment, ABC workers are finding out what areas and jobs will be cut as part of the changes the national broadcaster is introducing, after funding indexation cuts as you read this.

The inclusion of hypertension in the list of the most common comorbidities of people who died in Australia after being diagnosed with Covid-19 is perhaps one of the scariest, as many people can have it and not realise it.

Hence why authorities warn you don’t really know how Covid-19 will hit you.

Updated

Hypertension, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases, cancer, and dementia most common 'comorbidities' of Australian Covid deaths

The ABS is also tracking changes in Australia’s mortality rate and causes during the pandemic. It has released this statement:

The first in a new series of monthly, provisional reports aimed at tracking changes in mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic was released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Director of Health and Vital Statistics at the ABS, James Eynstone-Hinkins, said the reports would provide insights into patterns of mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic, and allow early identification of emerging health issues during the recovery period.

“The report shows that more than 33,000 doctor certified deaths occurred from 1 January to the end of March 2020,” said Mr Eynstone-Hinkins. “The highest number of deaths were recorded in the last week of March.

“Deaths in that last week of week of March from pneumonia, diabetes and dementia were higher than expected numbers based on historic averages.

“It will be important to confirm whether those increases are sustained before drawing any conclusion from this data.”

Additional information on Covid-19 deaths registered since the start of the pandemic shows the most common comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases, cancer, and dementia.

Updated

AAP has had a look at a recent study headed by University of New South Wales academic Dr Holly Seale over how the pandemic has changed our behaviours:

  • 41.9% of respondents perceived the level of Covid-19 risk as very low or low.
  • 93.4 % performed one or more of six avoidance behaviours such as avoiding public transport, staying away from public areas or work, and postponing events.
  • 84.9 % performed one or more of three recommended hygiene behaviours such as washing hands or covering a cough or sneeze.
  • 56.8% used alcoholic hand gel or hand sanitiser more often than usual.
  • 37.8% increased the time spent cleaning or disinfecting things they might touch.
  • Almost 94% displayed faith in health authorities’ recommendations.

Updated

It is important we stay across what is happening the Pacific as well as this pandemic rolls on.

Victoria is now offering workers free training in how to manage the coronavirus risk:

Updated

The Senate committee looking at the Covid-19 response is continuing with business today.

Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed has delivered an opening statement, here is part of what he had to say:

As we come out of this tumultuous period, we must guard against further entrenched disadvantage, particularly for people at risk of long-term unemployment. Furthermore, we must not only create jobs and skill people, but also ensure our welfare system is adequate. Our long-standing call to review the rate of Jobseeker is now more urgent than ever.

The success of the recovery must be seen in how it improves the quality of people’s lives, in a manner that is consistent with the values of our nation.

To this end, the Business Council has set up 14 member-led economic recovery working groups to safely reopen the rest of the economy, accelerate the recovery, and put in place the structural reforms necessary to deliver decades of sustained and faster economic growth and higher wages.

If we are to guarantee the high and continually improving living standards we are used to, Australia must remain a growing, competitive and open trading economy.

We must also be an aspirational society that rewards hard work and puts money in the pockets of ordinary Australians, and an entrepreneurial society where we can keep and attract the best and brightest.

We must be a nation that:

  • Attracts investment
  • Creates more secure and higher-paying jobs
  • Skills its people and innovates
  • Bridges the metropolitan and regional divide
  • Enables all citizens a pathway to economic mobility
  • Plays to its strengths whether they are existing or new, and partners to build on the strengths of others
  • Values successful businesses and successful Australians
  • Can hold its own against the rest of the world

Updated

Back to the Black Lives Matter blame game for a moment, the protests occurred at the same time the government was pushing, very, very hard for closed states to bring down their hard border restrictions. There was talk of bringing crowds back to the football and the message was the economy was out of hibernation and reopen for business.

Make up your own mind, but remember to take in all the facts and put it all in context.

Updated

The New South Wales inquiry into Crown Resorts and its suitability to hold a casino license is to resume immediately, the state’s Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority says.

It may seem like a long time ago but, prior to the world coming to a crashing halt, former NSW supreme court judge Patricia Bergin, SC, was running an inquiry into allegations against Crown including that it or its subsidiaries engaged in money-laundering, breached gambling laws and partnered with junket operators with links to drug traffickers, money launderers, human traffickers, and organised crime groups that were aired by Nine’s newspapers and its flagship current affairs TV show, 60 Minutes.

Bergin is also looking into whether the proposed sale of 20% of Crown to Hong Kong-based Melco, controlled by the Ho family, breached Crown’s license to run the casino it is building at Barangaroo, in Sydney.

The inquiry was put on hold in April due to the coronavirus crisis, but the ILGA now says that “after carefully considering the current covid-19 situation, and Commonwealth and NSW Government advice and restrictions, the Authority considers it safe and practicable to resume the inquiry’s work”.

It appears Bergin is still looking into the proposed sale of shares to Melco, even though it was called off and the person of key concern, Ho family patriarch Stanley Ho, died last month.

The alleged links of Stanley Ho to triad organised crime groups were among reasons he and a number of companies linked to him were banned from being involved in Barangaroo.

Updated

For the record:

Two of the four people diagnosed with Covid-19, who have been linked to the Black Lives Matter protest work for the same retail store. They were diagnosed almost two weeks after the protest and authorities don’t believe they picked up the virus there, but can’t be sure.

The other two (one I believe tested negative after testing positive) were diagnosed shortly after the protest, and authorities have said they did not get infected at the protest.

All were wearing masks.

As Brett Sutton said earlier this week:

It is re-emerging because people are not doing things as stringently as they might have done a month, two months ago. But I don’t think the Black Lives Matter protest has contributed. We are not seeing people who have clearly acquired it there.

There were also protests in every other major city in Australia and we are not seeing an uptick in cases anywhere else.

Updated

Greg Hunt is now shifting blame, again, to the Black Lives Matter protests for the uptick in cases in Victoria:

When you look around the world, and you see what has occurred, overseas, roaring past nine million cases.

The rate of growth is actually accelerating around the world and yet in Australia the achievement we have had is precisely because we have engaged with these communities.

If there is an individual family where they have not observed distancing behaviours, then there is a mixture, always, of extra information, but personal responsibility, and one of the things we know that has happened, and this was set out in research that was published today, is, over recent weeks, particularly since the protests, many Victorians and many Australians have said, if it is OK for 10,000 people to congregate and huddle together, surely it would be OK for 10 and my family, and the message is, it was never OK for that protest to have gone ahead, not because of the subject matter.

Noble, powerful, important, but because of the fact that two and a half weeks later, we have had an outbreak in Victoria, in part, we know that there are four cases directly linked with that protest, but we also believe that there has been a significant relaxation in parts of the public as a consequence of the double standard, so the message is, please, keep your distance. It is vitally important. It can save your life, it can protect your life.

Updated

Greg Hunt is being asked what was done to engage migrant communities, in terms of passing on information about the pandemic:

There have been 4,300 consultations with migrant leaders or communities in different ways, shapes or forms.

Secondly, we not only had migrant representatives specifically at my request on that committee which was set up specifically at my request, we also had migrant consultation to that community and not only have we taken it up, prior to it, as I said, beginning in February, we began the process of setting out different language broadcast, different language fact sheets, 20 broadcasts in different languages, 63 languages and fact sheets, 4,300 engagements with migrant communities including those who have done a fantastic job, and 850,000 different other language unique page views in terms of foreign language fact sheets.

Updated

Not all jurisdictions have reported as yet but we’ll update this as they do:

Greg Hunt is making a health funding announcement:

Queensland, which made the decision to set a border reopen date for after the school holidays (10 July is the plan) has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

Updated

The union movement has called on Virgin Australia bidder Bain Capital to explain what will happen to jobs and workers’ entitlements if it wins control of the stricken airline.

Rival bidder Cyrus Capital Partners has pledged in writing to retain as many jobs as possible and guarantee 100% of the entitlements of Virgin’s existing 10,000-strong workforce, Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil says.

“It is now up to the other bidder, Bain, to do likewise and show Australian workers their bona fides when it comes to protecting the jobs and entitlements of people working in Australia,” she said.

“The commitment to keep the headquarters where it is means protecting the jobs that are already in place. Australian unions support protecting as many as possible of the current jobs and working together to create more jobs as the airline industry recovers.”

Unions, led by the Transport Workers Union, have a key role in deciding who wins Virgin because staff dominate the creditor base by numbers and are owed entitlements such as leave that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

They’ve been sceptical of Bain, which has a record of union-busting in the US and proposes a much smaller airline than Cyrus.

Administrators from accounting firm Deloitte are racing against time – and dwindling cash reserves – and hope to have a deal in place by 30 June.

But a sales process that has already been tricky due to the complexity of the airline, its whopping $7bn debt pile and the reluctance of the Morrison government to provide any financial support has become even more uncertain in recent days.

The deadline for bids was last Friday but on Wednesday morning bondholders owed more than $2bn reportedly lobbed an out-of-time proposal to recapitalise the airline.

Details are unclear but the proposal would apparently involve the bondholders tipping an extra $1bn into the company and getting shares in a re-listed Virgin in return.

Meanwhile, the state of Queensland is still in the mix – it is offering at least $200m to any bidder willing to keep Virgin’s HQ in Brisbane. This could result in the state ending up owning a chunk of Virgin.

Updated

For those asking for a chart, Nick Evershed has you covered:

Victoria's Covid chart

Updated

After a worker at Coles Laverton distribution centre tested positive for Covid-19, there were questions about food safety.

Coles released a statement yesterday saying staff did not touch individual items at the distribution centres – their job is to move the crates and cartons around, most of which is done with machinery.

The centre is being deep cleaned as a precaution.

Agriculture minister David Littleproud had this to say about staying vigilant on the frontline of food safety today:

There is no evidence that Covid-19 is transmitted through food or food packaging.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, our food production and distribution chains have stepped up and lifted their standards even higher.

Not only are they keeping food on the shelves, they’re minimising the spread of this virus.

While it’s regrettable that a Coles worker has contracted Covid-19, the main risk of transmission of Covid-19 is from close person to person, not from food or drink.

Australian food regulators, the World Health Organisation, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and other international health and food safety authorities have been consistent with this advice.


Updated

Crossing over to domestic politics Anthony Albanese spoke to Sabra Lane this morning about his press club speech, and his offer to the prime minster to work on energy policy in a bipartisan way:

Look, this is a genuine offer to sit down and provide a framework. One that’s scalable, so that it doesn’t, for example, we have said very clearly that we want a zero net emissions target by 2050. The government disagrees with that. Well, okay, let’s put that disagreement, let’s just recognise that that’s there.

But that shouldn’t stop there being a framework. And we’re flexible about it. We’ve said whether it’s the NEG, or an emissions intensity scheme, or a clean energy target, you should be able to agree on that framework that provides that investment certainty.

We saw last year, a massive drop in renewable investment, 50% in 2019. That’s before the recession. Unless we actually address these issues, then what we’ll see is less growth, less jobs. And we can get it right. I firmly believe that action on climate change can actually reduce emissions but also create jobs and reduce power prices.

Updated

For those wanting updates on the international situation in regards to Covid-19, you can find it here:

Updated

Victoria recap

  • A man in his 80s became the 20th person to die in Victoria after being diagnosed with Covid-19. His death brings the number of people who have died in Australia to 103.
  • Victoria recorded 20 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. Eight of those are considered to be from community transmission. That is down from 10 infections from community transmission Victoria had been seeing.
  • There are 141 active cases of Covid-19 in Victoria.
  • More than 1,000 people are considered close contacts of those people who have been infected.
  • Authorities have opened a testing site for Keilor Downs Secondary College students, their parents and teachers at the Melbourne showgrounds. From Thursday, that testing site will be open to the public.
  • A drive through test site has been set up in Craigieburn. The wait can be up to four hours.
  • Victoria has the capacity to test 20,000 people a day, although the turnaround may take a day or more.
  • Police have been called in to manage traffic at the Chadstone shopping centre testing site.

Updated

The one bit of happy news for Brett Sutton today is the number of community transmission has gone from 10 to 8. He says authorities see that as a stabalisation of the transmissions.

Has Victoria been using the Covidsafe app in its contact tracing?

Brett Sutton:

As I said previously, it’s an important thing for people to download, it will help us in those circumstances where someone has been a close contact but they don’t know who they have been next to for 15 minutes or more or in a room for two hours.

We haven’t had cases that have already been identified through our routine picking up the phone contact tracing. But as we go to a more movement of people and, you know, an opening up and less of restrictions, the app will be more and more important as we go by.

Updated

There is an ‘army’ of public health officials doorknocking Victorian homes from today, to alert people to the dangers of coronavirus, with a focus on those who may not speak English or have English as a second language, to ensure information is spread far and wide.

Asked if Victoria could have done better on that front, Brett Sutton says:

We were down to one, two, sometimes zero cases of community transmission.

When we have seen who’s been identified as cases in recent days, and where those chains of transmission have occurred, we have clearly reached into those communities.

It’s a complex process. We have always had information in multiple languages. I have been very actively engaged in multicultural engagement.

Obviously with the Chinese community way back in February, March, but ongoing I have met with the Islamic Council of Victoria.

We’re meeting with a whole number of ethnic community representatives and we have always advocated to engage with our intelligence team around where are our cases, what communities do they represent and to use all mechanisms to reach into them.

It is not a simple case of pamphlets and campaign materials and banner to reach into communities.

You do need that community leadership, community champions and all of the modes and methods available to you to try and get messages out. It’s not an easy task.

There are people who use social media from their country of origin or amongst their work of friends as their primary source of information.

A lot of that is information. A lot of it tells them that it’s all rubbish messaging from government. So we have to meet people where they are and we have to get those messages penetrated a much as possible.

Updated

What is the next step for Victorian authorities?

The primary lever that we now have is a test and trace mechanism.

So really broadening the testing availability and the messaging and reach everyone about the need to test if they’re symptomatic is our key driver to get numbers down.

Obviously, all of the messages about keeping your distance, about hand hygiene, about cough etiquette, about not visiting others when you’re unwell, they’re all things that make a huge difference.

People may not understand how much of a difference it makes, but I think the significant uptick in the last couple of weeks is because those very things haven’t been followed. Those are the things that will maintain low transmission in Victoria.

Updated

On the reproduction number for the virus, Brett Sutton says it is above two.

As he explains:

I mean, the reproduction number or the effective reproduction, the ref, is something we want to keep below one.

When it’s below one, one case on average transmits to fewer than one case and numbers continue to drop over time and we can get to zero.

When it’s at two, it means that the active cases that we have are doubling with each generation.

We have seen the community transmission numbers go from single figures to above 10.

So it’s no surprise that the – that the ref is at two or above.

But with the stabilisation in numbers in the last few days, I expect that that will go back down and I absolutely hope that we can get it below one and drive those numbers back down to zero.

Updated

On the gentleman who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 and died in Victoria overnight, Brett Sutton says:

It’s a gentleman in his 80s. You know, very, very sad account that someone has died, but the family have requested that no further information is given. I’d like to respect that.

You know, it does point to the fact that when we get additional cases, there will be a risk of people dying or be at risk of further cases being hospitalised and going to intensive care.

That’s why we need to get on top of numbers in general.

Updated

There are some more questions on that:

Q: Have some of the security staff in question been ‘too friendly’ with guests?

Sutton: They know the protocols in regards to how to manage accompanying guests for fresh air. So the same messages in terms of the distance they need to keep and the hygiene procedures that they will need to go through routinely.

Q: Have there been any instances of security guards breaching those guidelines with guests in terms of the distance between them?

Sutton: Not that I’m aware of. Not that I’m aware of. But clearly there’s been transmission to those contracted staff and so whether that’s been from a surface or whether it’s been from a guest to a contracted staff member through respiratory droplets, it will be impossible to find out. But we’re reviewing all of those processes as I said before to make sure that those staff respect them and are not put at risk unnecessarily.

Updated

On what has happened with the security staff at the Stamford Plaza and Rydges quarantine hotels, Brett Sutton says:

There was some concern about the distancing between those contracted security guard staff.

I think, you know, it’s always a risk when people are more than – less than 1.5 metres apart.

There are a number of staff, some of those spaces where they gathered, meant they were too close together. So that’s been observed.

Obviously it’s been re-enforced that distancing needs to be maintained at all times for everyone.

Updated

In terms of test result turnaround, the CMO says:

Even now still with the thousands of tests done over the last couple of days, some of those results might take longer. But again the message hasn’t changed for in my opinion.

It’s just unfortunate that people are only really prompted to testing by an increase in cases. We want people to test all of the time, not just when there’s some anxiety about, you know, where case numbers are going.

We have an opportunity to control numbers across metro Melbourne.

If everyone, all of the time, considers that if they’re symptomatic, they isolate at home, they don’t see others, they present for testing, they get a negative result and they can go about their normal life.

Or they get confirmed as a case and we can follow-up and control transmission.

Updated

On the delays at some testing sites in Victoria, Brett Sutton says:

Those 20,000 tests are about the laboratory capacity to process them on a daily basis.

All the materials, all the reagents, all the test kits are available up to those numbers.

But the focus on where people go for testing has obviously gone to some really focused areas for convenience. All I’m saying is you need to shop around for your testing because there’ll be some sites that are under significant pressure because of that convenience.

But there’ll be some other sites and GP practises and other pop-up clinics that people need to look out for so they’re not spilling out on to the road that requires the traffic management that has affected Chadstone today.

Of the new cases:

  • Seven are linked to known outbreaks.
  • One is in hotel quarantine.
  • Nine through ‘routine testing’ (where people go into a clinic to be tested – but not yet had their infection immediately traced back to a particular source as yet.
  • Three others are under investigation – meaning they don’t know where they could have picked it up (most likely community transmission).
  • There are three staff members who tested positive at the Hampstead dental clinic. All staff members of the clinic will be tested but there are no patients who have been identified as close contacts.

Updated

Eight of the most recent 20 Covid-19 Victorian cases are from community transmission, Professor Brett Sutton says, bringing the total cases identified as being from community transmission to 241.

Updated

Victoria records 20th coronavirus death

Professor Brett Sutton confirms a man in his 80s died overnight, bringing the number of deaths of people diagnosed with Covid-19 in Victoria since the pandemic started to 20.

I think the Australian total stands at 103.

Updated

While we are waiting on the Victorian update, I can let you know that the latest Lowy Institute poll is out, and unsurprisingly, Australians have reported having lower trust in China.

Given the news, most recently the Friday announcement of ongoing cyber attacks by a “state-based actor” Scott Morrison wouldn’t name, but also wouldn’t stop speculating it was China, that drop in trust shouldn’t be news to anyone.

Updated

We are still waiting for the Victorian press conference to start, which will give us a breakdown of the new Victorian cases.

In case you didn’t see it, Victoria has recorded 20 new cases of Covid-19 overnight. It is the eighth day in a row Victoria has reported figures in the double digits. While some have been in isolation as returned travellers, the problem is the level of community transmissions, particularly within family groups.

Updated

Meanwhile, in case you missed it, Novak Djokovic has tested positive for coronavirus.

Updated

Victoria records another 20 covid cases

We’ll have an update on this very soon

Victoria’s chief medical officer, Prof Brett Sutton, will give an update on his state’s coronavirus cases at 9.30am.

Updated

In world diplomacy news, Australia has decided to stick up for the international criminal court, despite the Trump administration attacking it.

Updated

It doesn’t look as though the jobseeker payment will be returning to the old $40-a-day rate when the Covid supplement ends in September. But no one knows for sure. And no one knows what the new rate will be. A lot of attention has focused on people who are new to the payment, which is expected to grow once jobkeeper ends in September, and time is called on the “zombie businesses” that won’t be reopening.

The Australian Council of Social Services has polled people on jobseeker and found that for many it’s meant a complete change of life:

The overwhelming majority of people who completed the survey had been receiving one of these social security payments before the coronavirus supplement was brought in.

• 94% said the removal of the supplement would have a significant or extreme impact on their ability to cover the cost of essentials.
• 93% said they were now able to afford fresh fruit and vegetables.
• 83% reported eating healthier and more regularly. Before the supplement, 74% of respondents skipped meals. Of those who skipped meals, 28% skipped one meal a day or more
• 69% said they were now able to pay for essential medical and health treatments.
• 75% said they were able to pay their bills.
• 65% said it was easier to pay rent or move to safer accommodation.

Updated

We know there have been delays and reports of clinics running out of tests in Victoria, but the government is still pushing for as many people to be tested as possible.

Greg Hunt has released this statement:

Almost 90 clinics have now been established across Victoria to test people with cold and flu symptoms for COVID-19, influenza and pneumonia.

The Australian Government is encouraging all Victorians with such symptoms, especially those living in one of the six identified coronavirus hotspots, to be tested at a GP-led Respiratory Clinic (GPRC) or Victorian Government-run fever clinic.

The 27 GPRCs in Victoria, together with 60 fever clinics run by Department of Health and Human Services Victoria, are doing a great job in minimising the spread of coronavirus across the state, helping to reduce pressure on emergency departments and making it faster and easier for all Victorians to access free coronavirus testing.

As at 23 June 2020, GPRCs had serviced Victorians from 548 postcodes, covering 97.7 percent of the state geographically. They have assessed more than 43,000 people, and conducted approximately 37,600 tests for coronavirus. GPRCs have conducted 24,576 tests in Victorian coronavirus hotspots alone (65 per cent of all tests conducted in Victoria).

It is more important than ever for us all to work together to slow the spread and get tested if we are experiencing any symptoms. This is particularly the case for residents in areas marked as coronavirus hotspots: Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin – or anyone who has visited these areas recently.

Victorians can access free services at their nearest testing clinic, with extended hours in certain areas, walk-through clinics and drive-through clinics making the process of getting tested as accessible as possible.

For more information on where to find your nearest coronavirus testing clinic, please visit health.gov.au, DHHS Victoria or your state or territory health department website.

Will NSW consider shutting its borders to Victoria?

NSW and Victoria remained open during the pandemic, and Gladys Berejiklian was pushing for Queensland to reopen its borders for some time.

Now, with things getting worse in Victoria, Berejiklian says:

Well, look, we don’t want it to come to that. I have confidence that what is going on in Melbourne can be contained, can be controlled, and for a community like Albury-Wodonga, they don’t see themselves as two separate towns, they see themselves as a one community, and a hard border closure would be detrimental to a part of the country that doesn’t have cases.

We’re not in the business of having hard border closures. In fact, when New South Wales had an excessive 200 cases a day – yes, mainly from overseas travellers that we had a high number cases of the day – the Victoria government kept the border open, we managed through high number of cases without closing our borders and I’d like that to continue.

Which is not exactly ruling it out.

Updated

'Don't travel to Melbourne'

And in case that wasn’t clear, the NSW premier repeats it:

We have suggested for Sydneysiders to rethink any travel to Melbourne whatsoever. So we’re recommending people just don’t travel to Melbourne at this point in time until the government feels down there they have controlled the community spread, given what’s gone on in the last couple of weeks.

Updated

NSW premier warning repeats Melbourne travel warning

Gladys Berejiklian is not taking a step back from her warning to NSW tourism businesses to avoid taking bookings from Melbourne Covid hotspot travellers – and she is warning her residents to stay away as well.

Speaking to the ABC about the Victorian case spike, Berejiklian said:

I’m sure it’s manageable and it is. I mean, there will be community spikes, community outbreaks during the course of the pandemic and New South Wales, it could happen here just as easily, which is why it’s so important for us to remain vigilant.

It’s a good wake-up call to remind us about how contagious the disease is and how quickly it can get out of control.

But in New South Wales, we are doing everything we can to prevent and stop community spread and – the warning that I have issued in the last few days is no different to what the Victorian premier has issued.

That is to say, if you live in those hotspots you shouldn’t be travelling anywhere, let alone interstate.

I said to New South Wales businesses and to community organisations –don’t have anything to do with those hot spots, that’s just common sense pandemic management.

Whilst community spread is still what it is, whilst people are still chasing those contacts to warn them, to self-isolate and do all those things it’s just common sense to make sure that New South Wales businesses and organisations avoid any interaction with anybody from those hotspots unless they know that person has been cleared and doesn’t have Covid and certainly they are warnings any premier would give, especially here in New South Wales where we keep our borders open.

Updated

Josh Frydenberg has been doing the interview rounds this morning:

And how worried is the treasurer, who lives and represents Kooyong, about the Victorian Covid situation?

Well, I’m very concerned about the health impacts of the spike in cases in Victoria and it just underlines how significant the threat is from Covid and we are not out of it yet even though we have been ahead of the rest of the world in flattening the curve.

People need to follow the quarantine requirements. Obviously there needs to be continuing tracing and testing and the Victorian and federal authorities are obviously stepping that up, but this is a real challenge to ensure that we stem that curve in terms of the increase in cases, but the impact of flattening the curve is that we can actually get people back to work. So it has a big economic impact as well.

Updated

What about the arts and entertainment sectors? What can they expect?

Josh Frydenberg:

They can expect continued support from the federal government on top of the earlier announcement of $27m for Indigenous arts organisations, regional arts organisations and a group called support providing assistance to those artists in need.

We know that the jobkeeper program is supporting many in the arts sector, whether the Melbourne Theatre Company, Opera Australia – all utilising the jobkeeper program – but we have been working on a set of measures and supports for that sector recognising that the social distancing requirements that are in place have made it very hard for those events in that sector to continue as they did pre-Covid.

Updated

The ratings agency Moody’s has reconfirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating, which has made Josh Frydenberg happy.

An AAA credit rating makes it easy for governments to borrow funds from international banks – better interest rates and repayment terms. In a sense, they know we’re good for it.

So what does that mean for programs like jobkeeper, if anything?

Frydenberg, speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, wouldn’t say:

We’re undertaking a review of the jobkeeper program and I’ll have more to say on the 23rd July when I provide an economic update.

What we do know is that the jobkeeper program is supporting 3.5 million workers.

It has been an important economic lifeline for the country and of course, it compliments the jobseeker program where we have seen a double of the safety net but, Michael, this statement overnight by Moody’s is a real vote of confidence in the Australian economy.

We’re one of only 10 nations to have a AAA credit rating from the three leading credit rating agencies and what Moody’s said is there has been effective and proactive policy making by the government and relevant agencies and of course, that the Australian economy remains remarkably resilient. So this is really good news and it does affect the cost of borrowing, not just for the federal government, but for state governments and for private lenders like banks.

Updated

Murph has taken a look at what Anthony Albanese plans on addressing at his press club speech today – bipartisanship on energy policy.

Updated

An estimated 125,000 public school students in Australia have no internet access at home, according to a new report that attempts to measure the “digital inclusion gap”.

Releasing the report this morning, the Australian Education Union said the Covid-19 pandemic had “exposed the long-term systemic inequality that already exists for Australian students, particularly those from vulnerable backgrounds”.

The AEU commissioned the researcher Barbara Preston to delve into the problem, after teachers heard persistent reports of students who were unable to properly take part in remote learning at home during the pandemic because of poor quality or non-existent access to the internet.

The report’s findings include:

  • About 125,000 public school students lived in dwellings that were reported to have no internet access in 2016, when the last census was done.
  • While the rollout of the national broadband network continued after the 2016 census, there has also been an increase in the percentage of Australian children living in poverty – so the NBN would tend not to be affordable by those living in poverty, and not a priority for many living close to poverty or in unstable housing.
  • The percentage of students without internet access at home was 5% among public school students in 2016, compared with 2% among Catholic students and 2% among independent students – so public school students were more than twice as likely as either Catholic or independent school students to have no internet access.
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were much more likely to have no internet access at home - 21% compared with 5% for all public school students.
  • About 9% of students with low family incomes had no internet access at home, while only 1% of students with high family incomes did not have access.
  • About 4% of public school students in major cities had no internet access at home, compared with 12% in remote areas and 32% in very remote areas.

The AEU’s federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said the report “must be a wake-up call for the federal government about the urgent need to close the persistent long-term gap in internet access, affordability of IT hardware and software”.

She called on the government to launch a digital equity audit.

Updated

Good morning

As we learnt yesterday, Victorian authorities are seriously considering a second lockdown – one that could be statewide – if social distancing recommendations are not followed.

At the same time, health authorities are reviewing procedures for staff at Melbourne’s quarantine hotels after two outbreaks stemmed from security staff working at them.

Victoria is now Australia’s most-watched state when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 133 cases linked to the most latest outbreaks.

Gladys Berejiklian, who had been pushing for states like Queensland to open its borders, has warned NSW tourism operators to turn away any visitors from Victoria’s hotspots and South Australia has increased the police presence at the border it shares with Victoria, as well as ordering Victorians to get online approval before they try to enter the state.

We’ll have more on that, and everything else as it happens today. Anthony Albanese is due to give an address to the National Press Club which we’ll also cover, as well as other general political news.

You have Amy Remeikis with you for the bulk of the day.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
RaKai banned from Twitch streaming again for 30 days after livestream accidentally reveals NBA star LaMelo Ball phone number
Streamer RaKai has been banned from Twitch for 30 days after revealing NBA star LaMelo Ball’s phone number during a livestream. The clip spread quickly online and led Twitch to suspend his channel for sharing private information. The incident adds to RaKai’s past bans, including a June 2025 suspension linked…
The Times of India
The Times of India
Harry Styles addresses ‘queerbaiting’ criticism in SNL opening monologue
Singer hosted the long-running variety show following the release of his new album
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
So, what happens during a gas crisis, anyway? Your older relatives have a reason to bring up what could come next
With gas prices up 11%, rationing being debated in California, and a dozen countries already restricting fuel, the 1970s playbook is back. Here's what it looked like then, and what it could look like now.
Fortune
Fortune
‘Small, plump, gooey … marvellous’: the best supermarket tortilla, tasted and rated
Which supermarket Spanish omelette seems as if it’s served plump from the pan, and which is a soggy flop?
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot cancelled, says Sarah Michelle Gellar
Streaming platform Hulu decides ‘not to move forward’ with reboot of hit 90s series, according to actress
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
"I was a single guy on tour, in a band, and I met a lot of girls and I apologise if I hurt her." Sebastian Bach sorry for relationship with 17-year-old Christina Applegate
Skid Row and new Twisted Sister singer Sebastian Bach famously derailed Christina Applegate and Brad Pitt's union
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play