We’ll leave it there for today. Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow. Stay safe, and if you’re in Melbourne, wear a mask.
Summary
Let’s take a look at some of today’s main developments.
- Victoria recorded 384 new cases and six more deaths.
- Victoria suspended non-urgent elective surgeries to prepares hospitals to take residents from aged care homes, where there are now more than 700 cases related to the sector.
- One of Scott Morrison’s advisers has gone into self-quarantine after attending a Potts Point restaurant that is linked to a case. The PM is currently cleared to continue his schedule.
- NSW recorded 14 new cases.
- Six people were fined at a Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney.
Updated
Australia will send an Ausmat medical team to Papua New Guinea as the country braces for the effects of a concerning rise in Covid-19 cases.
It comes in response to a request from PNG for international assistance, according to a statement from acting foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, health minister Greg Hunt, and international development minister Alex Hawke.
This forward team will provide immediate on ground assessment to improve laboratory strengthening, case management, infection control, triage and emergency management, and public health.
The minister said a further deployment was also in the planning stages.
We welcome the swift response of prime minister Marape and his government, which has introduced a number of significant restrictions and is conducting testing, case investigation and contact tracing.
PNG has declared a state of emergency and placed Port Moresby into lockdown.
Updated
Where Greg Hunt won’t listen, the Royal Commission into Aged Care certainly has - it’s found the system “doesn’t deliver uniformly safe & quality care, is unkind & uncaring towards older people &, in too many instances, it neglects them”. #auspol https://t.co/tG3IdZNHjT
— Harriet Shing MP (@ShingvWorld) July 28, 2020
In regards to Nico Louw, the prime minister’s office says the following:
A staff member in the PMO is self-isolating after NSW Health issued a new alert last night.
The acting chief medical officer advises that because the staff member has no Covid-19 symptoms, the prime minister is clear to continue with his plans.
Updated
#BREAKING DFAT confirms British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been transferred to one of Iran’s most dangerous prisons @7NewsAustralia pic.twitter.com/DGwZVjkkAs
— Olivia Leeming (@olivialeeming) July 28, 2020
The comment from DFAT relates to this story reported by the Guardian earlier today.
Updated
NSW Health advises that a public health alert for the Apollo restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Potts Point has been extended by one day.
It says:
Now anyone who attended the Apollo restaurant on 22 July must self-isolate for 14 days from the date of their visit and be tested regardless of symptoms.
This is in addition to the advice issued yesterday already directing those who have dined on Thursday 23 to Saturday 25 July to quarantine for 14 days since their visit.
NSW Health says there are three new cases today linked to the Potts Point area cluster. One of the cases visited the Cruising Yacht Club Australia, which has been closed for deep cleaning.
Updated
PM adviser goes into self-quarantine: reports
The following story is just in through the AAP newswire.
One of prime minister Scott Morrison’s senior advisers has gone into self-quarantine after being linked to a Covid-19 case.
Nico Louw posted on his Instagram account he had been told to self-isolate as he was a close contact of a confirmed coronavirus case at the Apollo Restaurant at Potts Point on 25 July.
He later deleted the message.
Ten News reported Louw had no symptoms.
Morrison travelled to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Tuesday morning before heading back to Canberra for meetings.
It is unclear what recent contact he had with Louw.
Updated
Sally McManus, the secretary of the ACTU, has offered some criticisms of the Victorian government’s $1,500 Worker Support Payment, which is aimed at encouraging workers to get tested and isolate.
She notes a story in the Guardian from 10 July which found only 100 people had accessed the payment. That figure has increased slightly since then, but the premier, Daniel Andrews, is yet to provide the latest data on how many payments have been provided.
McManus tells ABC Radio Melbourne:
We know that people weren’t accessing it. It’s hard to find and it’s hard to deliver.
She says one of the problems was likely the decision to “try and invent some new mechanism”. She also notes that the rate of the payment, at $1,500, means most workers would still be foregoing money if they missed two weeks’ work.
The ACTU has been calling for paid pandemic leave.
The government has since made changes to the payment, including a second $300 payment for people to isolate while they are waiting for their test results.
Updated
The Australian share market has given up its early gains to close lower, despite gold prices surging to a fresh all-time high and coming close to the breaking $US2,000 an ounce, AAP reports.
After being up as much as 0.9% early, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Tuesday down 23.7 points, or 0.39%, at 6,020.5 points, while the All Ordinaries index closed down 22.8 points, or 0.37%, at 6,146.8.
Updated
Guardian Australia has been running a series called Joining the Job Queue where people who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 speak about how it has affected them, financially and emotionally.
This is the latest piece.
Migrants drove more than a quarter of regional Australia’s population growth before the coronavirus pandemic forced border closures, AAP reports.
Treasury’s Centre for Population officials on Tuesday told a parliamentary inquiry that overseas migration was behind 26% of regional population growth nationally.
In certain areas the figure was more than 50%.
Those included New England and Riverina in NSW, Warrnambool in south-east Victoria and the north-west region of that state.
Migrants were also responsible for about half of all migration to WA’s wheat belt and resource-rich southern outback.
In Queensland, overseas migrants to Toowoomba and Cairns represented around 30% of all growth, while in the Sunshine Coast and Darling Downs it was closer to the national average.
Updated
A staff member at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the organisation to close all of its sites today.
In a statement, the ASRC said it closed all its sites this morning for terminal cleans and that staff would get “appropriate leave and full pay” for those who need to get tested or self-isolate.
The ASRC chief executive, Kon Karapanagiotidis, said:
Given the unprecedented pandemic impacting all our lives, we have been planning for this scenario for months.
We have taken early and swift action to close down all ASRC sites to protect staff, people seeking asylum and the community.
The ASRC has the capacity to deliver essential services remotely and will continue to do so.
Updated
The excellent folks at Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast today looked at the long-term effects of Covid-19.
My colleague, Melissa Davey, explains what we know about the so-called “long-haulers”, people who have continued to experience debilitating symptoms of Covid-19 months after contracting the virus.
The peak body for non-profit aged care providers, Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA), says residents should be transferred to hospital at “the first instance in order to prevent major outbreaks and maximise chances of survival”.
ACSA CEO Patricia Sparrow said:
Aged care homes simply aren’t designed or funded to be able to provide hospital-level containment and treatment of this virus, they need the support of the public health system.
This should be happening before we end up with these terrible outcomes. Unfortunately, what’s happening at the moment with transfer to hospital is not a preventative measure.
In order to prevent mass outbreaks as we’ve seen over the last week, we need hospitalisation to happen as soon as someone tests positive. This is the only way to guarantee the best possible disease control and treatment.
We are calling on the commonwealth and states to work together to guarantee that the first cases in aged care homes can be automatically transferred in order to protect older people in care and to prevent mass outbreaks.
Updated
This is the scene in Sussex Inlet at the moment with water through some streets & property as the town reaches Moderate #Flood level. Water is holding at what's expected to be peak level & will begin dropping tonight & through coming days https://t.co/Ss766eSCrL
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) July 28, 2020
📷IG @lizjmcmahon pic.twitter.com/vbQHojvYGe
63 schools now shut in Victoria because of coronavirus. More on the calls for a return to remote learning - @10NewsFirstMelb at 5pm.#springst #auspol pic.twitter.com/ltDIUue6sl
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) July 28, 2020
It’s a strange world we live in.
We're aware of incorrect messages that look like government posts on social media, with a phone number to call if you see other members of the public not wearing face coverings – this is fake, don't call the number.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) July 28, 2020
Unless you'd like to order a popular takeaway pizza.
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/bIKA4nOFn8
Our COVID-19 hotline remains 1800 675 398, or please visit our website: https://t.co/G8SzqvcIHI #COVID19Vic
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) July 28, 2020
A Fitness First gym in Kings Cross underwent deep cleaning after a person with Covid-19 attended a class at the centre on 20 July.
A statement from Fitness First said:
Fitness First Kings Cross was made aware by the NSW Health Department that an individual who subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 visited its Kings Cross club on July 20 to attend a class only, and did not use the gym floor or facilities.
NSW Health has already contacted those members that have been identified as being in close contact with the person diagnosed with Covid-19.
Fitness First has been advised that all members who are required to self-isolate have been contacted and no other members, staff or visitors to the club are at risk.
The club has undergone a process of deep cleaning in addition to increased daily cleaning that has been taking place since the club reopened in June.
Fitness First said the club remained open and safe.
Updated
There’s a new Covid-19 case in SA. The person had been granted an exemption to enter from Victoria.
#SA has recorded one new #coronavirus case, a woman who relocated to SA from Vic for a new job, arriving on Saturday. The woman is in her 20s, SA health says she hasn’t been in close contact with anyone in the community and is now in hotel quarantine pic.twitter.com/fk4hZGuHbb
— Sara Tomevska (@STomevska) July 28, 2020
A new SA COVID-19 case has been recorded involving a person who moved from Vic to SA for a new job. The SA Health Minister confirms the patient was given an exemption to relocate because of her job but they will be denying that in future, with exemptions "few and far between"
— Eliza Berlage (@verbaliza) July 28, 2020
Vic update: stats and outbreaks
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has issued its daily update.
Some important notes:
- There are 769 active cases relating to outbreaks in aged care facilities.
- There are now 775 healthcare workers who have tested positive, including 414 active cases.
The main outbreaks in aged care are:
- 88 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer.
- 86 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner.
- 82 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping.
- 76 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth.
- 62 cases have been linked to Menarock Life Aged Care Facility in Essendon.
- 53 cases have been linked to Glendale Aged Care Facility in Werribee.
- 51 cases have been linked to Baptcare Wyndham Lodge in Werribee.
- 50 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg.
- 40 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North.
- 39 cases have been linked to Arcare Aged Care Facility in Craigieburn.
Other key outbreaks include:
- 99 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham.
- 89 cases have been linked to Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown.
- 76 cases have been linked to JBS in Brooklyn.
- 50 cases have been linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac.
- 29 cases have been linked to the Woolworths Distribution Centre in Mulgrave.
- 27 cases have been linked to LaManna Supermarket in Essendon Fields.
- 19 cases have been linked to Respite Services Australia in Moonee Ponds.
- 14 cases have been linked to the Linfox Warehouse in Truganina.
- 10 cases have been linked to Don KR Castlemaine.
- 10 cases have been linked to Aruma Disability Services in Pascoe Vale.
- 5 cases have been linked to Laverton Cold Storage in Truganina.
Updated
Kickflips are cancelled.
(Sorry if that is not a trick you would do in this setting, skateboard people.)
Sorry Tony Hawk, shows over. @BaysideCouncil making sure a small minority of those who have continued to skate, won’t be able to do so. @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/gQFTsELCzo
— Elisabeth Moss (@Elisabeth_Moss9) July 28, 2020
The family of David Dungay Jr have presented a petition with nearly 100,000 signatures asking for the attorney general to investigate his 2015 death in Long Bay Jail.
His mother, Leetona Dungay, was greeted by Greens MPs David Shoebridge and Jenny Leong at the steps of parliament house.
“We need charges and changes,” she said. “What’s in this box is justice and I hope that I get it.”
Earlier, the family said they would have called off today’s protest – which was broken up by police – if the government referred the death to SafeWork NSW and the director of public prosecutions.
Paul Silva, Dungay’s nephew, said:
They will investigate a finger cut off in a workplace but they won’t investigate a human’s life when he was held down in a workplace.
Shoebridge said:
They want what anybody would want if their boy had been killed. They want justice...the young man repeatedly said he can’t breathe.
Today’s petition asks for the attorney general to start an independent investigation.
“The family have twice asked SafeWork NSW to investigate the circumstances of David’s death,” Shoebridge said. “David’s death happened in a workplace.”
The MP also added that the NSW public health order is “very clear” and “very sensible” – but “you don’t breach them just by attending the Domain”. Shoebridge did not attend today’s protest.
Silva said the premier could “certainly” ask the director of public prosecutions to investigate the death as well, and the family wants criminal charges against the prison guards involved.
Updated
We covered this in the blog earlier, but there was a fairly stark contrast between federal health minister Greg Hunt and Victorian premier Daniel Andrews today on aged care.
Is Victoria’s private aged sector safe?
— Hugh Riminton (@hughriminton) July 28, 2020
“I would not let my mum be in some of these places,” says #DanielAndrews.
Fed Health Minister @GregHuntMP: “I think (that) is a dangerous statement to make.” #COVID19Vic now has nearly 800 infections linked to aged care. pic.twitter.com/6OPsy5LOwf
Ballarat Health Services has (finally) disclosed that 2 residents from its dementia aged care centre have covid. The Bill Crawford Lodge residents were diagnosed between 17-20 July. BHS also revealed they’re being cared for at Ballarat Base Hospital.
— Emilia Terzon (@EmiliaTerzon) July 28, 2020
WA update
Western Australia recorded one new case of Covid-19, the state’s health department says.
The new case related to a man in his 40s who was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.
The state has now had 659 cases, including three which are active.
We reported yesterday that Lighthouse Christian College, a private school in Melbourne’s south-east, had told students they must wear masks in college colours. No patterns were allowed.
The school later told us that they would not ban masks that didn’t comply with the school’s face mask “guidelines”.
An unhappy parent of a student at Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar in Essendon has today passed on a similar notice from that school.
According to the notice, from 16 August, students will need to wear masks made by the school’s uniform provider in, or a disposable white or pale blue face masks. The approved masks are described as “Lowther Hall issued, Earslbrae blue, 3 layer, cloth face masks” and will be made to health department specifications.
“A separate circular regarding the purchase of these will be distributed early next week once our prototype has been approved.”
Another private school wants students to wear only reusable masks in the college colours of "Earslbrae blue" (or plain disposable white or blue masks). The school this time is Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar in Essendon. pic.twitter.com/nnNcXi43VE
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) July 28, 2020
The family of David Dungay Jr are at the steps of parliament house to present a petition (with 90,000+ signatures) asking for an investigation into his death. They’ve handed it over to Greens MP David Shoebridge
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) July 28, 2020
“I hope today we have justice”, says his mother Leetona Dungay pic.twitter.com/Re3SHAX2iH
Hello everyone. Thanks to Calla Walhquist for her excellent work today. I’ll be with you into the evening.
If you see something and want to bring it my attention, you can get in contact by email via luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or on Twitter @lukehgomes.
On that note I will hand over to my Melbourne colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes, who will take you though the afternoon.
Stay well, send flowers to any healthcare workers in your life and and try not to look askance at any stray seafood. I’ll see you in the morning.
For a change of pace, for today’s political photo gallery we have the prime minister, Scott Morrison, looking at fish.
He was at Walker Seafoods in Mooloolaba in south-east Queensland this morning, before flying back to Canberra to deal with the aged care crisis in Victoria.
Updated
The National Tertiary Education Union president, Alison Barnes, has told the Senate Covid-19 committee the university sector is well on its way to an estimated 30,000 job losses in the first 12 months of the pandemic, with 7,000 jobs lost in Victoria alone.
Barnes said this is a conservative estimate of the “first wave” but with fewer international students coming this year, that will leave unis with less income for several years to come. The figures also ignore subsidiary cuts at English language centres, private providers, casuals including in non-academic services such as gyms.
Terri McDonald, the NTEU research officer had a big serve at the government’s Job Ready Graduates package.
She said it:
Does nothing to address the problems of the sector, it actually creates more problems for us. It tried to fit more students into the system with less money per student, the funding envelope is not going to increase.
Students are paying more overall and universities will have less resources to teach per student. There are odd things about it – in order to get this strange balance sheet happening, the government wants to send price signals within a system built to ignore price signals. They say ‘we want more science, technology, engineering and maths and less humanities so we’ll make humanities creative arts and law more expensive’. Although the policy makes courses cheaper for science and engineering, it also reduced the amount of money unis get to teach science and engineering.
So the incentive for unis is to boost [student] numbers in areas the government says it doesn’t want people to do to cover shortfalls in areas which are resource intensive. There are all these weird conflicts within it.
Updated
Aged care providers can't afford to provide paid pandemic leave, says sector
Private aged care providers say they will not be able to provide staff with paid pandemic leave without government support.
The federal government has said it will provide compensation to cover the cost of pandemic leave in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, following the ruling by the Fair Work Commission, but, in other areas, aged care providers will have to cover the cost of paying their staff’s pandemic leave themselves.
In a joint statement, the Aged and Community Services Australia, the Aged Care Guild and Leading Age Services Australia said:
We are also concerned that the government funding to cover pandemic leave in Victoria’s outbreak areas only applies for eight weeks.
Since the pandemic, providers have invested millions in preventative measures to protect their residents and staff.
We believe aged care workers deserve pandemic leave – to support them and to protect residents and co-workers – however, providers cannot afford it.
The sector has been asking the commonwealth to fund pandemic leave since April.
There is no way the funding so far announced can cover the cost of pandemic leave.
We are also extremely concerned that the sector is approaching the end of the short-term Covid-19 funding measures for aged care but we are far from the end of coronavirus outbreaks and the spread of the disease amongst older Australians.
It is crucial that no staff or providers are disadvantaged during these challenging and deadly times, with aged care services doing the best they can to keep the people in care, and the people who care, safe from harm.
Updated
In other public health news, free tampons and pads are now available in all 1,500 Victorian public schools.
The Andrews government announced this $20.7m policy about 10 months ago. It’s the first jurisdiction in Australia to provide free pads and tampons in schools – though I have vague memories of the sick bay at Wangaratta High School providing inch-thick pads circa 2002 so it’s possible some schools were already keeping an unofficial supply on hand.
In a statement, education minister James Merlino said sanitary items were “a necessity, not a luxury” and that providing them for free in schools eased anxiety experienced by young girls, eased the cost of living, and supported student wellbeing.
Merlino said:
We’re proud to be providing free sanitary items in all Victorian government schools to ensure that students – regardless of their background or circumstances – can focus and participate fully in their education.
Six fined at Sydney Black Lives Matter rally
The NSW assistant police commissioner, Michael Willing, is speaking in Sydney about the decision to fine six people who attended the Black Lives Matter rally in the Domain today.
Five were fined $1,000 for breaching the public health orders, and one person was fined for offensive language.
He said “many hundreds” of people attended, but they were not all fined because they moved on when asked to do so by police.
Willing:
As we said all along, we are not anti the right to protest. This is about public safety. At the end of the day, we are in the middle of a pandemic. The supreme court judge himself described the current situation in New South Wales as being on a knife’s edge. We had sufficient resources in the field and continue to deal with any eventuality.
Again, we appreciate people’s right to protest. We understand the issues that are in question here are significant and are sensitive to a lot of people. However, we must do what we can to ensure that the public in general are safe at this time. The operation itself is still ongoing, we will see what evolves, but unfortunately we have seen six persons arrested.
Willing said police were standing by in case protesters gathered again later today. Paddy Gibson, the organiser, presented a petition to state parliament after being fined for breaching public health orders. He told Guardian Australia’s Naaman Zhou that he planned to challenge the fine in court.
Willing, asked what he thought about that, said:
Well, best of luck to you at court.
Protesters were gathering in groups of 20 or less in the domain and people are allowed to gather outdoors in NSW in groups of 20 or fewer. But Willing said police will allege that the hundreds of protesters were gathered “for a common purpose” despite standing separately.
We will allege that that has occurred today and infringement notices were issued. The public health orders have been publicised over and over and over again. We’ve seen it, warned over and over again. We do not want to see a situation where people attract the disease as it currently is. As I said, the supreme court justice himself said the current situation in New South Wales is on a knife’s edge. On a knife’s edge.
Updated
Our data team has pulled together a map of the aged care homes in Melbourne associated with the biggest numbers of positive Covid-19 cases.
It’s important to remember that the cases linked to aged care are split about 50-50 between residents and staff.
Updated
The Covid-19 Senate inquiry will shortly turn to the government’s university funding package, but first heard from the Australian Council of Social Services about the adequacy of jobkeeper and jobseeker payments.
Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said the doubling of jobseeker with the coronavirus supplement had helped welfare recipients to feed themselves three times a day, provide a roof over their head and clothing for their children.
But she said the government’s plan to cut payments by $300 a fortnight is “so distressing for so many” and recipients want certainty about the supplement, which is technically due to expire in December.
Goldie said she was “heartened to hear there is an intention to lean in – to deliver a permanent increase to jobseeker” – which seems to be overstating the government’s position, which is only that they are likely to extend the (now reduced) coronavirus supplement beyond December.
Updated
In South Australia, premier Steven Marshall is announcing changes to his cabinet after losing three ministers to an expenses scandal.
He is adding the speaker of the house, Vincent Tarzia, to cabinet, as well as David Basham and Stephen Patterson.
Black Lives Matter protest organiser will challenge $1,000 fine in court
I’ve just spoken to organiser Paddy Gibson, outside the Domain, who says he was arrested, fined and released by police.
Earlier, other organisers who were detained said they weren’t arrested, only fined.
Gibson said:
I don’t think anybody got taken into custody, I did get arrested but I didn’t get taken into the actual lock up.
He said he was not given a notice to attend court.
I’m free to go.
They shut down our public safety stall ... The first thing I saw police do was order our Covid safety team to pack up. But everyone wore a mask, everyone was Covid-safe, I wasn’t even in a group of more than 20.
The police actions today prove this was always about intimidation, and about trying to silence the fight for justice for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people in particular.
He said he would challenge the fine in court.
Seth Dias, another organiser, said he was given a move on order and fined, but not arrested when police broke up a Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney’s Domain today.
We were trying to get everybody to disperse, but I was told to formally move on. I was ensuring everyone was out and safe, at which point the police told me I had not followed a move on order.
They issued me an infringement notice, took my details and said they would be in contact. I’m not entirely sure what will happen from here.
I was ensuring everyone was leaving, I was doing their job for them.
Updated
Collins said the aged care sector in Australia was “in crisis prior to Covid-19”.
But she said the failures of individual providers to respond properly would be a matter for the royal commission into aged care.
The issues are widespread. They have been known for a long time. Aged care in Australia was in crisis prior to Covid-19. We knew that there were issues around staffing. We know there are not enough staff. We know they’re not paid enough. And we knew this before Covid. We knew this a long time ago when the royal commission was called. To say that we didn’t know all of this would happen or that it wouldn’t happen this way is just not true.
Updated
Labor’s aged care spokesperson, Julie Collins, has been speaking in Hobart. She says the federal government should have learned the lessons of the New South Wales outbreak and responded more quickly.
She’s contradicting Greg Hunt’s claim that the federal government has learned the lessons from Newmarch.
There is a royal commission into aged care. Sadly, we’re seeing the stress on that system and the wonderful staff in aged care and the families and the relatives who are trying to and having to deal with that.
My empathy really is with the staff, the family and the loved ones today, particularly those family members who are not getting the information they need about their loved one and what is happening. We need to do better. The government should be able to do better.
She said many aged care providers still did not have adequate PPE, and the government should have conducted an audit after the mask began.
When the federal government asked providers, ‘Do you have anyPPE?’, when they set up an inbox for people to request PPE, they get 1,300 requests. Why did they not do an audit of how much protective equipment those facilities had so that they could deal with outbreaks?
There are reports today they’re sending now more protection equipment to Victoria – two weeks later after the first outbreak in aged care. We need to do better than this. The federal government should have learnt the lessons of what happened in New South Wales, in Dorothy Henderson Lodge and in Newmarch.
Updated
Hunt said the intervention in the Victorian aged care sector would continue for “long as there is a serious public health outbreak in Victoria”.
Hunt agreed that the aged care outbreak was foreseeable – in that if you have mass community transmission it will get into aged care, not in that he anticipated the mass community transmission event in Victoria.
He said that because it was forseeable to some extent, that’s “why we were able to step in”. He says just because you could foresee it, doesn’t mean you could prevent it.
When there are enormous numbers of workforce who are not just ill but as a consequence, for every worker who is ill there are huge numbers that are isolating, then that has an impact on the Victorian system.
They have had their challenges. They are rising, they are rising to the occasion, but sometimes there is a pretence that awareness and preparation can prevent the community transmission having an impact on nurses, doctors or aged care workers. They are part of that community.
And so, once you have a catastrophic hotel quarantine breach which leads to a catastrophic community transmission, then that is part of the environment which everybody has to manage.
The fact that they’ve been able to step up – imagine the circumstance of St Basil’s, where 100% of the staff were immediately furloughed on a public health order, then we’ve actually gone in, stepped in as a consequence. There couldn’t have been a more difficult situation. Allison and her team were in there and they have saved lives and protected lives, precisely because of the preparation that was put in place.
Hunt says he 'will not hear a word against aged care workers'
Hunt was asked about his own experience with private aged care facilities in Victoria, as his father lived in one.
My father lived in one, yes. It’s a difficult decision for any family and it’s a difficult time. My father lived in one and we knew that that meant he was in the latest stages of his life. I cannot imagine better care that my family and my father could have got and I speak, I think, for hundreds of thousands of families around the country.
The idea that our carers, that our nurses are not providing that care, I think, is a dangerous statement to make. They are wonderful human beings and I will not hear a word against them.
A reporter asked another question, but Hunt repeated:
I will not hear a word against them!
Updated
Hunt said the key concerns are making sure staffing is covered, if aged care workers need to self-isolate, and to ensure that residents who need to be moved to a hospital can be moved.
He said he had received a “concerning report” of aged care providers being turned away when they tried to move residents into hospital – and he again says that’s a state decision.
We had a very concerning report yesterday from Bupa, a major provider, that they had extreme difficulty getting patients into public hospital. That’s not acceptable. Where there are patients that need that support, they must be given it. There can be no excuses.
The beds are available. The workforce is available. We have one of the finest health systems in the world in Victoria, and around us, and every resident that needs that support must be given that access.
Asked if the federal government has dropped the ball on managing the aged care outbreak, given the earlier experience with Newmarch House in Sydney, Hunt said it was “exactly the opposite”.
It’s precisely because of the experience we’ve had that we’re able to set up an aged care response centre.
To think of it this way, Victoria – let me look at the figures here – has had approximately 6,900 cases since 1 July. That is an explosion of cases in one city of one state. Against that background, there are no areas that are immune. We’ve seen that our hospital staff have been sentinels for their community. Equally, the aged care staff have been sentinels. The fact that, from time to time, public health units will indicate that staff will have to isolate, I think it important to consider whether all staff need to isolate immediately because it’s critical that there is a transition plan.
That’s a decision made at the state level, so we respect that but it’s absolutely critical ... that there is a clear warning, that there’s a clear transition plan so as staff can be put in place. But the fact that we’ve been able to setup the PPE to make sure that there is a national call for staff, that Ausmat is available, because so many Victorian staff, whether aged care or hospital or health worker have had to isolate is an indication of the preparation that goes into this.
Updated
Australia’s chief nursing and midwifery officer, Alison McMillan, said she worked in St Basil’s Home for the Aged, the site of the biggest aged care outbreak in Melbourne at the moment, and one which has been identified as having had significant failures.
She urged nurses not to be afraid of working in aged care settings.
I know that for many nurses and patient care attendants who work in aged care, this is a challenging time and I acknowledge that there is a fear associated with caring for complex cases in a Covid-19 situation.
But our role is to provide care and compassion for those who are the most vulnerable and what I’ve seen so far is an enormous effort of nurses coming out of acute hospitals and voluntarily going into aged care facilities and providing that vital care and supporting those people.
She added:
I, too, have been in a Covid-positive environment. I went to St Basil’s a couple of times last week to work with the facility to help make the decisions we needed to make about movement and staffing. But there is good training for staff and there is plenty of PPE. You need not worry it is not available for you to look after yourself. So please don’t be frightened. Please think about those that need your care so we can support all of those vulnerable Victorians across the state.
Updated
Call for interstate nurses to help with Victorian aged care response
Hunt said the federal government will send an Australian Medical Assistance Teams (Ausmat team) into Victoria to help manage the outbreak, and would also request staff come in from interstate.
Ausmat, which has helped out in other states and territories, will be coming to Victoria. They’ve assisted in quarantine, they’ve assisted in Western Australia, they’ve assisted in activities around the country and they are the best of the best. They are the SAS of the medical world.
Furthermore, we have put out a call for interstate nursing staff, South Australia in particular has taken the lead on that, they are formulating those resources.
Hunt said the Australian government was also allocating a further five million masks from the national medical supply to the aged care sector in Melbourne, and would also provide 500,000 face shields – the first time that level of PPE has been provided to the aged care sector.
All of these measures are coming together to provide that additional support for our beautiful, older Australians who are one of the reasons we’ve taken such difficult measures.
Updated
Hunt said the aged care outbreaks are, like the rest of the second wave in Melbourne, “a consequence of major outbreak at hotel quarantine”.
They’re sentinels of their community and community transmission. What we see in this case is that mean this is a frail community. With all of their extraordinary leadership and strength, I want to praise our aged care workers, praise our aged care teams, praise our aged care facilities and their families for their work in supporting this community.
Hunt said the biggest challenge in aged care is that, if one staff tests positive, a “significant number of staff, or all staff, may need to isolate”.
When all staff have to isolate with little or no notice, then that means that there are residents that have to be cared for. That is our fundamental task. That’s why we have setup, in partnership with Victoria ... it is also to make sure that every patient, every patient that needs or would benefit from hospital care is able to immediately access that hospital care.
I thank the Victorian government for the points that they have made today that that will be the standard which they adopt. I think that’s a very important step going forwards.
Hunt said there are now 1,463 ADF members working in Victoria, particularly in contact tracing. He implies that Victoria’s contact tracing team had not been meeting the national standard of contacting every active case, every day.
They’ve been involved to ensure that the public health system in Victoria has support in terms of logistics of achieving that goal of every case, every day. Every case, every day is the standard which must be achieved in each state and territory and I’m pleased that the ADF, under Commodore Hill, has been able to assist.
Updated
Hunt is now giving the “context” of the Victorian outbreak.
The origins of this we know – a hotel quarantine breach with, sadly, catastrophic human outcomes. A major community transmission as a consequence of that and some of the challenges that we have seen in the contract tracing program.
Against that background we have stepped in to assist with that contract tracing and real progress is being made. The ADF has played an extraordinary role but I also want to acknowledge and recognise the work of Victoria’s Public Health Unit.
As part of that, we also recognise that wherever there is widespread community transmission, and this has been the global example, then there are cases of staff, as sentinels, representatives of that community, who, sadly, asymptomatically, with no ability to know otherwise for it is not within their knowledge, it is not within in many cases the capacity within the testing, those staff have brought such cases into aged care facilities.
You may have noticed that, just as Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said he was not interested in blaming anyone for failures in aged care but did repeatedly say it was a commonwealth responsibility, Greg Hunt is staring by outlining all the ways in which it’s Victoria’s fault.
It is perhaps an example of collegiality that they’re both doing it.
Updated
Hunt is giving some global context on coronavirus numbers, against which backdrop the outbreak in Melbourne can’t help but look better.
Globally, he says, there have been one million new cases recorded in four days, bringing the total number of cases globally to 16.4m, with 651,000 deaths.
These are confronting, real human statistics and they put in place the context for Australia’s great challenge. In seven out of eight states we are doing remarkably well right across Australia.
Victoria is the eighth state.
The federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking in Melbourne about the response to the outbreaks in aged care.
He begins by thanking again “our extraordinary nursing staff, our medical staff, our aged care staff, for their commitment to managing the outbreak in Victoria. Their actions have saved lives and protected lives”.
Updated
NSW police are holding a press conference about the Black Lives Matter rally, or “unauthorised public assembly” as they put it, at 2pm.
In other Sydney news:
A member of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia at Darling Point in NSW has tested positive to coroanvirus.
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) July 28, 2020
Clubhouse closed for cleaning.
No arrests, only fines, at Sydney Black Lives Matter march, says organisers
Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay Jr, says the family will present a petition to parliament at 3pm today after a protest was broken up by police earlier.
Dungay, whose son died in Long Bail Jail in 2015, had offered to call the protest off if the NSW government ordered an investigation by Worksafe or the DPP into his death.
Dungay family member Lizzie Jarrett said that no people had been arrested – contrary to media reports – only fined.
Leetona Dungay said:
We were in bunches of 20s, and the police just come up and stop it. We asked people to disperse with us, and it was unaccountable for what they have done to [organiser] Paddy Gibson. He’s copping a fine now for it.
We’re gonna go to parliament house to put a petition, and we should have nearly 300,000 on the list ... We’d like all the people to come there, keep dispersed in 20s, even if we have got a line down the whole street. The petition should push for them to be accountable for what they did to my son.
Jarrett said there were more police than protestors, and police issued move on orders and fines, but did not arrest anybody to her knowledge.
The police decided to come in with the intimidation tactics and make it totally un-Covid safe from their point of view, not from ours.
They took an organiser of ours, Paddy Gibson, but we’re smarter than that, and he didn’t get arrested, thank goodness. He might have gotten a fine, but that’s ok. A couple of other organisers were fined. But we’re taking control back now as a family.
The advice to any allies right now is please go and entertain yourself safely in the city, please keep your distance, but at 3 o’clock if you want to be with us we will be at parliament where we will be giving the petition to David Shoebridge.
Updated
The Australian Capital Territory is not adding to those growing case numbers. It has recorded no new cases of coronavirus again, and now only has one active case.
Despite this good record, the ACT’s chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, has urged Canberrans to “remain vigilant”.
We all have a responsibility to make sure we are maintaining a physical distance from people and practicing good hygiene. This is good general advice to follow, regardless of where you are and what you are doing.
We only need to have a look at what is happening in Victoria and NSW to see how the situation can change quickly if people don’t do the right thing.
Our continued success in the fight against this virus relies on Canberrans maintaining this effort in the weeks and months ahead.
I just wanted to pull out that last point.
Australia only reached 10,000 coronavirus cases on 13 July.
Today, just 15 days later, Victoria alone is at 9,049 cases – some 5,082 more than on 13 July – and the national total is expected to top 15,000 when today’s numbers are added in.
Sutton was then grilled on delays in people being contacted by the contact tracing teams. He says people may have missed a call or visit from contact tracers for “a number of reasons” including phone numbers being transcribed incorrectly, people not answering the phone, or not being home when the ADF come knocking.
Sutton:
From 10,000 cumulative cases in Victoria there will be many people who have been unable to be contacted for whatever reason. There are circumstances where we call people and they say they were unaware they were a case. So they have not necessarily been notified from the pathology lab or whatever other mechanism they have had. There will be issues when you do things at significant scale but there is no question that we are allocating those notified cases to the department for interview and that is being done within the same day wherever possible.
So if someone is picking up their phone, the interview will be completed.
In response to criticisms that close contacts, including workplaces, were not being notified, sometimes for days, and that sometimes individuals were taking on the job of directly contacting people themselves, Sutton said:
It is incumbent upon the individual to try and identify their close contacts and let people know, to the extent that they are comfortable and confident that they are a case, if the close contacts need to quarantine.
He added:
There may be circumstances where someone gets a result as an individual and informs their workplace, but we won’t know about that until we have conducted the interview with that person.
Sutton also dismissed criticism that some people who had been identified as close contacts, and were in self-isolation, had not been able to get a test. Sutton said they only tested close contacts if they showed symptoms, because he said that if a close contact got tested soon after their exposure, when they had no symptoms, it could create a false sense of confidence.
You can develop illness within 14 days. If it has been three days since you are exposed to the virus and you get a negative test, that does not mean your quarantine period ends. You must do 14 days of quarantine, but if they want to know whether they have the virus, anyone with symptoms should get a test. And we have said that across the board, and they can go to – anyone with symptoms should go to – one of the 160 testing sites in Victoria and be tested.
Updated
Interestingly, Sutton said that the Victorian government cannot legally prevent people who test positive to Covid-19 from going out in public to exercise.
Sutton said people are “entitled to exercise, within their home and their garden, ideally”.
People who have no garden and have no other option, and they have a right to exercise. So the Victorian charter of human rights and responsibilities is clear that if you are not giving people an option to exercise than you are effectively putting them in prison, and that is not something that can be done for a case of coronavirus or for anyone else for that matter.
People who test positive, or are in precautionary self-isolation, are told to “absolutely limit potential interaction with others”.
We ask that they remain 1.5m away from all other people at all times and we say wear a mask, obviously in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire they must now, and we would say that they should do that [exercise] for the minimum required period.
I am not sure what that then means about the ability to impose that hard lockdown on the nine public housing towers, but I’m sure legal minds are already turned to the issue.
Updated
The Victorian chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said the R-number in the Victorian outbreak “will be close to one if not below one” but he warned that a large outbreak could drive it up again.
The numbers that we see day-to-day now are very much driven by outbreaks but, of course, we have to get on top of the individual community cases occurring where we do not necessarily know where they picked up the virus in order to get on top of these outbreaks.
The R number, I have not seen it since two days ago, it’s calculated a couple of times a week. It will be very close to one if not below one so there should be a downward pressure on transmission in the community but, again, whenever you have a setting that allows for significant outbreaks to occur that can also drive that R number up.
So we need to get on top of the outbreaks, make sure they are not being seeded by community members with ongoing transmission.
The Australian Medical Association has called for a royal commission into the entirety of Victoria’s response to the outbreak.
Andrews:
They are entitled to their views but I am not focused on those matters. I think we are a long way away from those issues ... we are in the middle of a second wave and that should be, and that is, my exclusive focus.
He returned again to the issues reported in aged care in Melbourne.
Some of the stories where we read, stories of what has gone on is completely unacceptable and we should draw a line under that. That is done and none of us can change that. Now we must make sure we work together to try and do our best to provide the care and support that people need.
Updated
Andrews was asked how some of these aged care facilities have been able to maintain their accreditation, if the care they provide is as substandard as he has described.
Andrews:
It is not my job to stand here and be a commentator and it is not my job and it is not helpful for me to be running critiques on other governments or other systems.
We do not accredit these places but that is not the issue. Having a demarcation dispute, a finger-pointing exercise between governments is not something I am prepared to do. We have got to get this done and we will get this done in partnership. The key point and the best way to answer this question and any other question that wants to dissect private-sector aged care, we are having a royal commission in this country into this sector and I think that is exactly the right thing to do.
He says that he is not the royal commissioner.
Andrews repeated that it’s not possible, or even necessarily appropriate, to move all aged care residents into hospitals.
The answer is no, because I do not have 50,000 hospital beds lying empty. Or the staff to be able to provide them with care. And, a small matter, many of these people will not need to move and it is a deeply traumatic thing, particularly for psycho-geriatric patients who have dementia or whatever challenges, it is a deeply distressing thing to move them from their home, a familiar environment with familiar staff into an unfamiliar environment.
Back to Victoria.
There are now more than 700 active cases connected to aged care settings in Victoria, and fewer than 10 of those cases are linked to public sector aged care. Premier Daniel Andrews says public sector aged care – which is the part the state government manages – is less than 10% of the market.
Asked if these changes should have happened earlier, given the outbreaks at some aged care homes in Sydney during the first wave, Andrew said “I am not interested in any of those games”.
He said he is not sure how many aged care residents will have to move, and is trying to get that information from the Commonwealth.
It is difficult to put a number on this and I would make the point again that the vast majority of residents will be safer to stay in their home, but have additional care and for their family members to have confidence that their needs, from very basic needs, which are more about welfare and care rather than clinical treatment, will all be to an acceptable standard. That is where we want to get to.
It will be a massive exercise and there will be residents who move out and become patients of hospitals both public and private, and that is an important partnership but I think there will be many more who will stay in place but will benefit from in-reach teams, just like what happened late last week at St Basil’s.
Protesters have been fined for breaching public health orders. They lost a court bid to allow the protest to go ahead.
One of the protesters arrested at the Syd BLM rally said he had been fined $1000 by police. He then ripped the fine up and said he would take it to the Supreme Court. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/Xllubo5zg9
— Benedict Brook (@BenedictBrook) July 28, 2020
Protester Vanessa: "I'm here exercising my right going to the park. I was handed a microphone and told protesters to go home and I was arrested ... I was completely complying by orders. The only people who are breaching health safety orders are the police." @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/viOJMho2Tf
— Omar Dehen (@Omar_Dehen) July 28, 2020
We will go back to Victoria in a moment but, quickly, at least three people have been arrested by police at the Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney.
Police have detained at least three people, including organiser Paddy Gibson, at a #BlackLivesMatter rally in Sydney.
— Avani Dias (@AvaniDias) July 28, 2020
Protesters have been issued fines and move on orders.
The rally was ruled unlawful by the NSW Supreme Court but is going ahead anyway.
Mikakos said:
To those families who have their loved one in private aged care at the moment, we are taking steps to ensure that your loved one gets the clinical care that they need. In some circumstances it will continue to be the safest option for your loved one to stay in that nursing facility but where there is a clinical need we will not hesitate to make sure that your loved one has a hospital bed available to them.
We have had already over 170 residents transferred to both public and private hospitals in recent days and there are more transfers that are planned. As I explain it is not always possible to transfer everybody. We have very frail and elderly people in these nursing homes and in some cases they have dementia and it is very challenging and stressful for an elderly person to be moved in those particular circumstances but we will always act on the basis of clinical care advice and we have a team of doctors and nurses available from our hospitals who are assisting these nursing homes and assisting the commonwealth government at this very challenging time.
There are 56,000 aged care beds in Victoria – so moving everyone is not a possibility.
I know this is a very stressful time for the families and I have had contact with some of the families in recent days. I know they are very anxious about their loved ones’ situation but I want to reassure them that every effort will be made to make sure that your loved one can continue to get the care and the dignity that they deserve.
Updated
Mikakos said she found the number of outbreaks in aged care in Melbourne “very distressing”. She appeared emotional while talking.
I have to say personally I have found the last week very distressing to see the number of outbreaks that we have had across our aged care sector in Victoria and also the number of fatalities that we have had, and I want to acknowledge the grief of all of those families who have lost a loved one, a very much loved member of their family in recent days.
So the situation in largely private aged care has been very, very concerning and we have taken steps today and in recent days to support that sector and to support the commonwealth government in its efforts.
She said there was a “distressing situation” in St Basil’s home for the aged last week, which she said was particularly “close to many members of the Greek community and I know they have been distressed to see the rising toll of deaths at that facility”.
Mikakos is obviously part of that community, and she seems to be feeling it too.
The commonwealth stepped in to St Basil’s last week, with state government nurses from the Northern Hospital sent in.
It has been clear that those steps have not been sufficient and this is why I asked my department over the course of last weekend to take steps to transfer patients and staff from the facility. We have 35 residents remaining, the vast majority of residents have been transferred to hospitals, largely private hospitals across Melbourne and I am grateful to all those private hospitals who have been able to assist us at this challenging time.
We have had continued pressures across aged care and we have other facilities who similarly experienced significant pressures as a result of a lack of staff.
That’s the reason for the elective surgery changes, she said.
Updated
Babies at the Nicu test negative to Covid-19
All but one of the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne have tested negative to Covid-19, and that final test result is still pending, the health minister, Jenny Mikakos, has said.
I just wanted to advise that the latest advice that I have is that all the results have been received, bar one result that’s still pending, of the babies at the Nicu and they have all come through as negative so I think that is very good news, very positive news that I wanted to share with the community, because I know that this particular incident is one that would have caused a great deal of distress to many.
And I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the amazing staff who work at that Nicu at the Royal Children’s who are incredibly dedicated and devoted to their patients and acknowledge, of course, the great distress that would have been experienced by all the families involved at the Royal Children’s.
Updated
Chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton said the coronavirus numbers remained “pretty volatile”.
There are now 88 cases associated with Estia aged care in Ardeer, 86 associated with St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner, 82 associated with the Epping Gardens aged care home in Epping.
Sutton said the active case numbers “will really depend on whether outbreaks occur with large numbers of residents in some of these private aged care facilities”.
Updated
Andrews said he would provide an update on the number of people who had applied for hardship payments to cover them for not having sick leave by the end of this week.
He also promised data on the success of Australian defence force members doing door-to-door visits for contact tracing.
Updated
Andrews briefly touched on the trend of people filming themselves asserting their “human rights” in refusing to wear a face mask or otherwise comply with health directions.
I just say that’s a really bad decision. Not only is it a bad decision, it’s not a very smart one, because Victoria police – who are doing an outstanding job as well as and I send a message of thanks and support to each and every member of law enforcement, whether it be sworn officers of Victoria police, sheriffs, Corrections Victoria staff, they’re all doing a fantastic job – it’s a bad choice to make and it’s not a very choice to make because you will be fined and that’s about protecting others.
Please wear a mask. And thank you to all of those, the vast majority of people who are.
Updated
Aged care residents will be moved to hospital 'where there is no confidence that care can be provided to a suitable standard' in nursing homes
Andrews said almost 2,000 residential aged care residents had already been moved from aged care homes into hospitals.
Where there is no confidence in infection control, where there is no confidence that care can be provided to a suitable standard, then we will do everything we can to move those residents out.
In St Basil’s home for the aged, the site of the biggest aged care outbreak in Melbourne, Andrews said:
We have sent registered nurses in there, Victorian government registered nurses, to support the care and the wellbeing of those residents. That will continue.
What that will mean for other Victorians is that a number of services will have to be constrained. Those procedures will have to be deferred.
Ultimately the sickest people must get treated quickest and whilst this is not a sector that we have any involvement in, the residents, I stress, the residents are Victorians and we need to look after them.
Updated
Andrews said the Eastern Health hospital and the Ear and Eye hospital were closing beds today and would send staff, mainly registered nurses, to work in residential aged care settings to “essentially take over the clinical care of residents in those settings”.
Some of the stories we’ve heard, some of what’s gone on in some of these settings is simply not acceptable and it’s not about blame, it’s not about demarcations and having disputes about who is in charge of what. It’s just about getting on and getting this done.
Andrews said it was a “very long night” of discussions between the state and commonwealth government to negotiate staffing. Prime minister Scott Morrison also mentioned this, when he said he was cutting short his Queensland visit because of the aged care issues.
But Andrews said it did not mean that all aged care residents would be moved to hospitals if they test positive to Covid-19, or if there’s an outbreak at their home.
This does not mean that every resident in an aged care facility, a private sector aged care facility, that has an outbreak, will be moved en masse to a public, or indeed to a private, hospital. It will always be based on clinical need. It will always be based – not on the judgement of premiers or prime ministers but on the judgement of the treating doctors and medical teams, many of whom have been seconded in under these arrangements.
Updated
Victoria suspends non-urgent elective surgery because of concerns with aged care
Andrews has announced the suspension of non-urgent elective surgery to free up hospital capacity for residential aged care residents, and free up healthcare staff to support the aged care sector.
He said:
I cannot stand here and tell you I have confidence that staff and management across a number of private sector aged care facilities are able to provide the care that is appropriate to keep their residents safe. If I could say that, I would.
But I won’t stand here and say that and I won’t stand here also and say, oh, well, this is just a Commonwealth government matter. We don’t run this sector but the residents in these homes are all Victorians. The Commonwealth government have asked for help and that is exactly what my government and our agencies will provide to them.
So it is with some regret, but a sense of absolute urgency that I need to announce that elective surgery other than for Category 1 and the most urgent Category 2 patients will be suspended forthwith. We will do our level best to honour those booked surgeries, so scheduled surgeries, but that will not run for very long.
If you’re outside the most urgent of Category 2 or in Category 3 – although very little Category 3 surgery is being undertaken at the moment – then we will attempt to have your surgery done, but very soon, all of that surgery will stop. So only the most urgent patients will be treated.
That is appropriate because that will free up beds and it will free up staff. Staff is the biggest issue. It’s not so much about equipment. It’s no so much about capacity in a physical sense. It’s about having staff who are able to provide care and support to the most vulnerable residents in and coming out of private sector aged care.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is giving the update.
He says there are now 260 people in hospital with Covid-19, including 45 people in intensive care.
Four of the six people who died since yesterday are cases linked to “private sector aged are”. That’s a change in language from the premier from yesterday – he didn’t previously differentiate between private and public aged care, in fact he explicitly said he wouldn’t.
The people who died are two people in their 90s, three people in their 80s and one person in their 60s.
Andrews said:
Can I just again take this opportunity to offer my condolences and send my best wishes and support to the families of those six individuals who have passed away since our briefing yesterday? This will be an incredibly challenging and sad time for the people who love them the most and we send our best wishes to them. Our thoughts and our prayers.
Victoria records 384 new cases of coronavirus and six more deaths
Victoria has recorded 384 new cases of coronavirus today, about 150 cases fewer than were recorded in the record high numbers yesterday.
But sadly six more people have died.
I reported earlier that the total number of people in Victoria who have died after testing positive to Covid-19 has doubled in the past week – up to 77 yesterday, an increase of 38 deaths from the 39 deaths recorded as of Monday, 20 July.
Updated
We are standing by to hear from Victorian premier Daniel Andrews any minute now.
In the mean time, ABC24 has emus giving a live cross from a Queensland pub.
A live cross to the pub emus with an insert screen waiting for Daniel Andrews to give the Victorian coronavirus figures. What is 2020. pic.twitter.com/iHziFlF9tu
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) July 28, 2020
Before Scott Morrison spoke to the media in Queensland, Labor called on the prime minister to explain what steps he will take to deal with the aged care crisis in Victoria.
Richard Marles, the deputy Labor leader, called for better communication with aged care facilities so they could implement programs such as not allowing people to work in two aged care facilities at once.
Marles said:
We need to hear from our prime minister today, we need to hear the prime minister taking responsibility and engaging in action. It’s fine to have the press conferences and the glib one-liners, but today we need to see from the prime minister action. This is a fractured system which is letting down the most vulnerable Victorians.
We learnt the lessons from Newmarch, or we should have, and it’s critically important that today we hear from Scott Morrison about what he is actually going to do to stop this unfolding crisis from reeking the havoc that we all so greatly fear.
NSW Health has also issued a warning for passengers on the Jetstar flight JQ506 from Melbourne to Sydney on 25 July, after a passenger on the flight tested positive to Covid-19.
A woman in her 30s who was on the flight has tested positive to Covid-19 while in self-isolation. She’s the Victorian listed in the 14 new NSW cases recorded from yesterday.
Authorities are contacting those who were deemed to be close contacts, which is passengers in rows 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
Updated
NSW has recorded 14 new cases of coronavirus
NSW has recorded 14 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including six new cases linked to the funeral cluster and four linked to the cluster at the Thai Rock restaurant at Wetherill Park.
The new cases also include a case associated with the Thai Rock restaurant at Potts Point in inner Sydney, and the previously reported case in a staff member of the Apollo restaurant in Potts Point.
One of the cases was a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine, and one was a Victorian in self-isolation.
There are now 75 cases associated with Thai Rock Wetherill Park, 56 cases associated with the Crossroads Hotel cluster, eight cases associated with Batemans Bay Soldiers Club, and 15 associated with the funerals.
There are three cases associated with Thai Rock Potts Point.
NSW health repeated its warnings around people who attended the Apollo restaurant in Potts Point and two Mount Pritchard hotels. Details here.
Updated
Morrison was asked a number of times if he feels the outbreak in Victoria has justified Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision not to open the border.
He doesn’t answer that part of the question, just saying that Palaszczuk has acted in “good faith” as a member of the national cabinet.
On her comments that she might reintroduce a hard border in Queensland if the outbreak moves north, Morrison said:
The approach we’ve taken as a commonwealth government is we’re one country, but there are parts of the country which need to be contained from other parts of the country, and Victoria is clearly in that situation.
And when the New South Wales-Victorian border was hardened, that was done after the New South Wales premier, the Victorian premier and I met and agreed to do that and then put the resources in behind how that would be managed.
He added:
States are making their own decisions about when they decide to put up borders or not. They assert their right to do that and I’m not getting into that conversation. But I follow the health advice. I certainly would agree that, where there are parts of the country, whether there are outbreak zones in Sydney – which the NSW government is well on top of – or certainly across Victoria, or if, for example, it were to occur in Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast, then clearly it would be the right thing to do to prevent movement out of those areas into any part of Australia, into any part of Queensland, let alone the rest of the country.
That’s a different response than Morrison has given on the border question in the past few months, but perhaps the size of the outbreak in Victoria and the fact that he’s talking to a Queensland audience have shifted things.
Updated
Asked what changed this morning to change his plans, Morrison said “the escalation of the workforce challenges necessitates me to return”.
Other than, presumably, more people testing positive, the only thing that has changed overnight in terms of the aged care workforce is the unexpected Fair Work Commission decision introducing paid pandemic leave for casual aged care workers.
Morrison said:
The workforce issues are very challenging and that’s why it’s important that the workforce, the nursing workforce in both private and public hospitals is available to support those needs. That can be with the direct transfer of residents … into those facilities, or otherwise freeing up those nursing staff availabilities to support in those aged care centres.
Updated
The federal and Victorian governments last week introduced changes preventing casual aged care workers from working across a number of different residential aged care homes in Melbourne, in an effort to slow the spread.
Morrison was asked why this change, limiting workers to one facility, wasn’t introduced back in March, given the risk to residential aged care was well known.
He said:
The difficulty is the nature of the workforce and the necessity to keep a workforce in place to provide care to residents. Otherwise, those residents would be abandoned. And the infiltration of the community spread of the virus through staff has been of particular concern, and it has happened very, very quickly.
So managing the aged care workforce has been very difficult in Victoria. It’s not a simple issue. It would be nice to say that there are simple solutions to these complex problems, but there are no not and there are no fail-safe or foolproof solutions that you can put in place. All we can do is what we are doing, and that is working together and being very transparent and up-front with people.
Morrison said he expected the aged care royal commission would investigate the management of the coronavirus outbreak.
I established the aged care royal commission and the aged care royal commission is already looking at issues relating to Covid in terms of what occurred in New South Wales [particularly Newmarch House] and I would expect them to look at what has occurred in Victoria as well. We’re open to that. You can expect me to be open to with the Australian people about the challenges we face there and how we’re dealing with them.
Morrison said transferring aged care residents to public and private hospitals if they test positive to Covid-19 is “a very important part of the plan that is being implemented”.
Federal and state health authorities have repeatedly said those transfers will only occur on a case-by-case basis. Said Morrison:
That relieves the stress on those facilities where there are patients – I should say residents – who are able to be accommodated in those facilities in single rooms, in appropriate facilities.
There has been significant PPE that has been provided to the aged care sector inVictoria, both leading up to this time over many weeks, and more is being provided. The training was provided, but it’s important, with the leadership in these facilities, that that is being adhered to, and further steps are being taken to ensure that that is taking place.
There has been a bit of buck-passing between the aged care sector, unions, and the government over who has provided PPE, how much has been provided, how much training has been provided and whose responsibility it is when that training is not adhered to.
Morrison continued:
The disruption to the workforce, which has included the disruption of the management workforce in those facilities, means that you have significant problems ensuring a continuity of communication with families. And I know that must be terribly heartbreaking for those families, and incredibly difficult.
And Richard Colbeck, the minister for aged care, I have tasked specifically to be focusing on ensuring that we do everything we can to fill those holes when it comes to communications with families. There is disruption and we would ask for patience. But I understand that that patience is very hard to come by when you’re talking about a loved one who’s been affected by Covid, and what’s been occurring in these facilities.
Covid is a difficult beast to manage, and it means that there will be difficult tasks, and there will be hard times, and there will be complex solutions that are necessary. But the way we get on top of it is the way we’re acting, by working together.
Morrison said he spoke to Victorian premier Daniel Andrews yesterday about bringing additional nursing resources into aged care facilities in Victoria, and that could involve staff coming in from other states.
After discussing the matter with [health minister Greg Hunt] earlier today, I thought it was best that, as much as there are some tremendous things – and I wanted to hear from up here in Queensland over the next few days – I think the urgency of the situation requires me to return to Canberra.
Morrison cuts short Queensland trip because of 'health crisis' in aged care in Victoria
Prime minister Scott Morrison is cutting short a trip to Queensland to deal with a “health crisis” in aged care in Victoria, due to the second-wave coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne.
Morrison, speaking from a business in Mooloolaba in Queensland, said:
We have just over 80 facilities out of just over 430 in Victoria which have been affected. Not all severely, but some of those cases have been far more severe.
And I’ll be returning to Canberra later this morning to engage directly again over the course of this week. I had been planning to be in Queensland for the next few days. Because we really are dealing with a health crisis and we are dealing with an economic crisis …
In relation to Victoria and aged care, the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre has been stood up now for several days. That brings together the commonwealth officers, both in emergency management and the federal department of health, with their counterparts in Victoria. Now, the situation in Victoria aged care is very complex. You have a combination of the community transmission, which is widespread in Melbourne, finding its way into many facilities. And in particular it has found its way into the aged care workforce.
Morrison said the standing down of many aged care workers, due to positive results or the isolation of close contacts, had caused a “very significant disruption to the provision of care in those facilities”.
The commonwealth has been working, including with other states, to ensure that we can plug those gaps wherever we possibly can. But I want to be upfront with you – it’s very difficult and it’s very hard to get people into those positions, particularly given the complexity and difficulty of the situations they’re facing. And last night in particular we had ADF officers, nurses, being put into a night shift in a Melbourne facility, and we were able to arrange that quite late in the evening, about 11pm.
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Police in Victoria have fined 23 people in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell shire in the past 24 hours.
Police have handed out 79 fines in the past 24 hours, including fining seven people who were holding a two-day day party in a short-term rental in the CBD and three people from different addresses who were in a car together and told police they were going to McDonald’s.
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Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and health minister Jenny Mikakos will give the Victorian Covid-19 update at 11.30am.
The growing Covid-19 outbreak in aged care homes in Melbourne has rightly been the focus of national attention this week.
As of yesterday, there are 683 active coronavirus cases linked to 61 aged care services across Melbourne.
Most of the deaths reported in the past week were also connected to aged care outbreaks. Thirty-eight people with Covid-19 have died in Victoria in the past week. That’s an effective doubling of the state’s health toll in a week – as of last Monday, 20 July, the pandemic-long death toll for Victoria was 39.
The aged care homes with the highest number of positive cases are:
- St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner – 84 cases
- Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer – 82 cases
- Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping – 77 cases
- Menarock Life Aged Care Facility in Essendon – 62 cases
- Glendale Aged Care Facility in Werribee – 53 cases
- Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth – 57 cases
- Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg – 50 cases
The president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Harry Nespolon, has died of pancreatic cancer.
Nespolon was a former president of the AMA in NSW. The current president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said his “dedication to general practice and the RACGP has been remarkable”.
As President of the RACGP he has been an incredibly strong advocate for GPs and a passionate voice for improving healthcare for Australians.
He is also remembered for his strong leadership as former chair of GP Synergy, during a period of the organisation’s significant growth and change.
His advocacy on behalf of doctors and patients has contributed to many health system improvements. He believed primary care to be the cornerstone of an effective health system and fought for general practice to play a central role.
Harry was a well-respected general practitioner, and an inspirational leader in medico-politics. His incredible commitment to serving the profession despite his illness is testament to his character and dedication as a medical professional.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt said he worked closely with Nespolon over the past two years, and said his death was a “great loss”.
He was a passionate but also reasoned advocate for GPs and, above all, for their patients— the Australian people.
His tenure as president coincided with a period of reform and then, of emergency—both the bushfire emergency and more recently the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Throughout these challenges, and his own personal battle with cancer over the past nine months, he remained tireless, eloquent and cogent in his leadership and drive for positive change.
Before we get to the bad news of the day, I regret to inform you that a pub in outback Queensland has barred emus from entry because “they behave a bit badly”.
Chris Gimblett, the owner of the Yaraka Hotel, about 220km south of Longreach in central Queensland, told the ABC:
We didn’t really want them becoming patrons in the hotel. Because when they do get in here, they behave a bit badly
How rude.
This story also features an “emu expert” who says emus are a) basically just giant chooks and b) have killed before.
Seems like a good reason not to anger them by banning them from the pub.
We still haven’t heard a time for today’s coronavirus update from Victoria. They have been held at 11am, but usually I’d get an alert for that by now.
I can however tell you that the Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, will announce the next stage of that state’s coronavirus recovery plan at 10am local time, or 12pm here. McGowan has been unveiling this plan like an advent calendar – at this rate we’ll have the full package by mid-August.
We’re also standing by to hear from the prime minister, Scott Morrison.
New Zealand is pausing its extradition treaty with Hong Kong, following similar moves by Australia and the United Kingdom this month.
From AAP:
Foreign minister Winston Peters said the passage of China’s controversial national security legislation had eroded the rule of law in the territory.
“New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong Kong’s criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China,” Peters said on Tuesday. “If China in future shows adherence to the ‘one country, two systems’ framework then we could reconsider this decision.
“New Zealand remains deeply concerned at the imposition of this legislation, and we will continue to monitor the situation in Hong Kong as the law is applied.”
The decision means every member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, including Australia, Canada, the UK, the US and New Zealand, has made the extradition shift.
Peters said New Zealand was reviewing its overall relationship with the former British-controlled territory.
New Zealand has also updated its travel advice for Hong Kong, though due to Covid-19 the government is currently asking Kiwis not to travel overseas and to safely shelter in place wherever they are in the world.
Eight more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria have tested positive to Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the Aboriginal community to 45 on Tuesday, up from 37 last week.
Jill Gallagher, the chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, said more funding should be directed to frontline Aboriginal health services to help them respond.
The federal government committed $123m to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sector to help the Covid-19 response, but Gallagher said less than 40% of that funding was available to Aboriginal health services in metropolitan areas and major regional centres. Some 80% of Aboriginal people live in urban areas.
New data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows a spike in COVID-19 cases in Melton, Brimbank and Hume local government areas.
Almost two-thirds of cases are female with more than half of cases in the 15-44 age group which shows that young people are not immune from this virus.
These numbers are extremely serious, particularly as we are starting to see infections in rural areas, and in spikes in some LGAs.
To date, no Aboriginal people in Victoria have died from the virus, and Gallagher called on people to be vigilant and “take every precaution to stay on top of this virus”.
If you are showing even the mildest of symptoms such as runny nose, sore throat, coughing, fever, loss of smell or taste, or shortness of breath, you must get tested. And our mob cannot go to work if they are sick.
Workers at JBS abattoir in Melbourne stop work over coronavirus fears
Abattoir workers in Melbourne have downed tools over coronavirus fears this morning.
Workers at the JBS meat factory in Brooklyn, which has recorded 71 positive cases of Covid-19, ceased work on Tuesday morning until the company can assure them they will be safe, the United Workers Union said.
The union also claims some workers have been left without any income at all while isolating or had to draw on their annual leave, AAP reports.
Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday said people who are going to work sick are the “biggest driver” of the state’s second wave.
As always, you can follow our rolling global coronavirus coverage here.
Thirty-nine per cent of Australians expect tighter restrictions will be imposed in their local area due to the second wave of Covid-19, a poll conducted for Guardian Australia by Essential has found.
The survey of 1,058 people also found that a third of respondents thought the mandatory quarantine requirements for overseas travellers would remain in place for two years, up from 22% in the same survey question last month.
Just over a quarter of respondents (26%) said they feared a population-wide resistance to the virus would never be achieved.
But the outbreak in Victoria has not dented Daniel Andrews’ approval rating, which remains steady at 53%.
More details here:
Updated
South Australia will follow Queensland and NSW in introducing a restricted border bubble to allow cross-border residents from Victoria into the state.
From midnight tonight, people living along the South Australian–Victorian border will be able to apply for a cross-border permit to cross back and forth, but only if they live within 40km of the border.
Permits will also only be issued to people who need to cross the border for employment or education, providing or receiving care or support, or obtaining food, fuel, supplies or medical care.
A Victorian with a cross-border permit must not travel more than 40km into SA, and a South Australian with a cross border permit who travels more than 40km into Victoria will be required to quarantine for 14 days upon their return.
It’s not quite clear what that means for South Australians living in border communities like Renmark, where Mildura, about 140km away in Victoria, is the closest big town for hospital services and speciality shops.
In a statement, SA police said:
These changes may impact a range of arrangements Victorian/South Australian residents have in place. For example cross border community members will no longer be allowed to travel between Portland (Vic) and South Australia. Affected cross border community members are strongly advised to consider their need to travel and make new arrangements immediately.
The full border directions and frequently asked questions are here.
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Aged care regulator to investigate St Basil's aged care home in Fawkner
The aged care regulator is investigating St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
More from AAP:
There are 84 cases linked to St Basil’s at Fawkner, with some residents reportedly left lying in soiled sheets and without food.
The aged care quality and safety commissioner has been asked to investigate and has served a notice on the home.
“We have stepped in and taken control and responsibility at federal level,” Health Minister Greg Hunt told the ABC on Tuesday.
All staff at the facility have been told to self isolate and emergency replacements brought in.
Mr Hunt says 79 of 115 residents have been transferred out of the facility, with more to be moved throughout the day.
“Our role is to make sure all the remaining residents are safe, and the advice that I had as of late last night and early this morning is that the conditions are stable,” he said.
“What could have been an extraordinary, catastrophic situation – actions have been taken.”
The bulk of the 161 deaths in Australia have been people aged over 70, including 67 residents in aged care.
Updated
All workers should get paid pandemic leave, ACTU says
The Australian Council of Trade Unions says the Fair Work Commission’s decision to offer paid pandemic leave to aged care workers should be extended to all workers.
Its secretary, Sally McManus, said:
The problem of workers having no leave goes beyond the aged care sector.
We welcome this decision but it still does not remove the trap door for casual workers with irregular hours, or workers in other industries.
Paid pandemic leave is a crucial public health measure that provides a circuit breaker to stem the rate of transmission by allowing those with symptoms to stay home without losing income.
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The South Australian senator Rex Patrick says parliament should consider introducing mandatory quarantine for MPs to attend sitting days. He previously called for MPs to have their wages docked $1,000 for every cancelled sitting day that is not rescheduled.
Patrick said:
While it may be convenient for the Government to cancel Parliamentary sittings, and so avoid scrutiny, democracy can’t be put on hold, especially in the context of such a complex health, economic and social crises.
It may be necessary for some and perhaps most MPs and Senators to accept two weeks of hotel quarantine in Canberra prior to the Parliament meeting and COVID-19 testing before and throughout.
Patrick said if the choice was mandatory quarantine or cancelling another session of parliament, quarantine should be the choice. 2020 already has fewer parliamentary sitting days than any of the previous 10 years, even without any further scheduled sittings being cancelled.
Updated
The delivery platform DoorDash has signed an agreement with the Transport Workers’ Union on Covid-19 protections for delivery riders and drivers.
From the TWU’s statement:
The agreement will see DoorDash continue to provide masks, hand sanitiser, and gloves, while defaulting all deliveries to “no contact” and enabling riders and drivers to initiate no-contact deliveries, in a joint effort to enforce social-distancing guidelines.
Both organisations are calling on the rest of the food delivery industry to implement protections and help ensure the highest safety for both consumers and workers.
The union’s national secretary, Michael Kaine, said:
Food delivery workers are essential frontline workers who allow businesses to stay open and people to eat safely while under lock-down. These workers need protections to keep them safe and they need to be paid when they can’t work due to Covid-19. In too many cases these protections are absent. We are pleased that DoorDash is at the forefront of changing the status quo and is working with us to stand with workers on virus protections.
Through this joint agreement we want other companies to come on board to protect workers and we want State and Federal Governments to back the process. We believe that collaborating with DoorDash is an important step towards giving gig economy workers the rights and protections they deserve.
Igor Perino, who delivers for DoorDash in Sydney and is a member of the union’s delivery riders alliance, said delivery drivers and riders were mostly having to source their own masks, gloves and hand sanitiser and the new agreement would mean these were supplied.
Updated
South Australian residents will be barred from returning to their home state from midnight tonight unless exceptional circumstances apply. The premier, Steven Marshall, told the ABC this morning that the tighter border restrictions were in place to protect SA residents.
Victoria has now recorded more new cases in one day – 532 – than SA recorded in total since 1 January, which is 447. Marshall said:
So we’ve been ramping up our security on that border for the last three or four weeks, but as of midnight tonight, we’ll be closing the borders to all but essential travellers and, as you said, this includes South Australians returning home.
He said there “could be some minor exceptions for compassionate reasons” but that he had given “plenty of notice” that the border was closing. He would not say when the border restrictions might lift.
Look, it really depends. I don’t think that we can put a number on it because it really depends where that infection is coming from. At the moment, we’ve seen some fairly worrying clusters. In fact, at one stage, there were more than 100 outbreaks across the state.
We’re really concerned about community transmission. We haven’t had an example of community transmission in South Australia since way back in March or early April. So we’re really, really being cautious, but we’ve got to. One of the big advantages of our low level of infection here is that we’ve been able to really stand up our economy, get people back to work.
We’ve had a massive surge in the participation rate in South Australia. And last month, we had 11,400 people finding work in South Australia. And we want that to continue into the future.
The SA border is open to Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland and “soft” with the ACT and NSW, which means people are allowed in with a 14-day quarantine.
Updated
Scott Morrison will speak to the media about 10am today.
(There’s a media call then a walk through a business before the doorstop, so don’t hold me to that time.)
Updated
In other health news, Labor is warning that people living in regional and remote areas could face barriers to having heart disease diagnosed, under a change to the Medicare benefits scheme which means that GPs will not be access the Medicare rebate to carry out a basic heart test.
From 1 August, GPs will not be able to access the $19 rebate for interpreting an electrocardiography test. Instead, the rebate will only be available to specialists and cardiologists.
Labor’s health spokesman, Chris Bowen, wrote to the health minister, Greg Hunt, last week asking him to “reconsider the changes as a matter of urgency”. In a letter published by the ABC, he says the change could increase out-of-pocket costs for people or require GPs to refer patients to a specialist to have their results interpreted – both of which, he said, could particularly impact patients in rural and regional areas, where rates of heart disease are particularly high.
Asked on ABC News Breakfast this morning if he would reconsider the change, Hunt said:
This came from a medical expert panel. It came from what’s known as the Medicare taskforce, led by Prof Bruce Robinson. It’s the highest clinical advice and it was based on safety.
So, no.
Updated
NSW Health late yesterday issued a number of warnings about restaurants in Sydney’s inner suburbs and south-west.
Everyone who attended the Apollo restaurant at Potts Point from Thursday 23 July to Saturday 25 July, has been asked to immediately self-quarantine for 14 days and get a Covid-19 test if they have symptoms. A staff member has tested positive.
Anyone who lives around the Potts Point area, or has visited it in the past 14 days, has also been told to get a Covid-19 test if they experience any possible symptoms, which includes respiratory symptoms, however mild, or a headache, however mild.
Everyone who attended or worked at the Mounties hotel in Mount Pritchard between midnight and 3am on Thursday 23 July, between 11am to 3pm then 8pm to midnight on Friday 24 July, and between midnight and 3am on Saturday 25 July has been asked to immediately self-quarantine for 14 days and get a test if they have any symptoms.
Everyone who attended the bistro of Pritchard’s hotel in Mount Pritchard between 7pm and 7.45pm on Thursday 23 July has also been advised to monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested should any develop.
A full list of testing clinics in NSW, including local pop-up clinics, can be found here.
Updated
I wanted to give you a little bit more detail about that $150m announcement on accommodation for people sleeping rough in Melbourne.
As mentioned, the funding will extend the current hotel accommodation scheme for 2,000 rough sleepers, which started when the pandemic began in March, until April 2021. Again, in Victoria homeless people were asked to contribute to the cost of that accommodation, while in other states they were not.
In the meantime, the Victorian government said it will arrange to lease 1,100 properties from the private rental market to provide a “permanent home for people once they leave emergency accommodation”.
At the same time, the first 1,000 new social housing units promised by the Andrews government several years ago are coming online now, and homeless people will also be moved into those units.
Each person moved into a home will be given a tailored support package, including mental health support, drug and alcohol support, and family violence support, and the government said it would provide support to help people “sustain a tenancy” including helping with a bond and initial rent payments.
Updated
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, are in Washington DC today ahead of an Australian-US ministerial consultations (Ausmin) meeting, which will take place on Tuesday (or tomorrow US time).
Payne told the ABC’s AM program that it was important these talks still took place in person.
We have been having very many meetings and discussions through those means in recent months ... but I do think Ausmin meetings are different, they are very significant.
That was particularly the case for this meeting, given the global challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the “strategic challenges” posed by China, she said.
Payne said there were “a large range of issues for us to discuss”, with a focus on “further cooperation between our two countries on health security”.
She said they were following Covid-19 safety procedures in all meetings and would quarantine for 14 days upon their return to Australia.
Updated
Good morning,
Aged care workers will be able to access paid pandemic leave from tomorrow, in an effort to ensure that people do not come to work with mild Covid-19 symptoms. It follows a landmark decision by the full bench of the Fair Work Commission on Monday, which added the two-week leave paid leave entitlement for people working in residential aged care under the aged care award, the nurses award and the health professionals award.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has repeatedly said that the spread of Covid-19 in Melbourne is largely due to people going to work while sick or symptomatic. Australia recorded a record high number of cases yesterday, thanks to a huge 532 cases reported in Victoria. As of yesterday there were 683 active cases linked to aged care, including staff and residents.
Meanwhile, homeless people in Victoria will be able to stay in a hotel and off the streets until April. More than 2,000 people sleeping rough in Melbourne were moved into hotels when the pandemic was declared in March, to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among those vulnerable communities. This morning, $150m in funding was announced to extend that package while moving people into long-term low-cost private rentals.
Andrews said:
This pandemic has laid bare many inequalities – you can’t stay home if you don’t have one and you can’t wash your hands regularly if you don’t have access to the bare basics of hot water and soap.
This is our opportunity to help break the cycle of homelessness – because now more than ever, home means stability, security and safety.
In March we reported that homeless people in Melbourne had been asked to make “significant co-payments” to their hotel accommodation – we’re not sure if that will continue.
In other news today, authorities in NSW have urged people not to attend the Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney today, after organisers lost an appeal yesterday to allow the march to go ahead. Organisers have said they will ensure people comply with Covid-19 restrictions in NSW, and wear face masks and socially distance.
Let’s crack on. You can follow me on Twitter @callapilla and email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com.
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