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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Josh Taylor, Calla Wahlquist and Amy Remeikis

Australian deputy CMO says no medical reason for state border closures – as it happened

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End of day summary

That’s where we will leave the live blog for this evening.

Here’s what you may have missed today:

  • New South Wales will allow residents to holiday across the state from 1 June.
  • Victoria is the first state to reveal it has used the Covidsafe app data for contact tracing.
  • China has called for Australia to back down on its political manoeuvring over the investigation into Covid-19.
  • Western Australia’s chief health officer has defended its hard border while federal medical officers dispute the need for state border closures.
  • Retail spending fell 17.9% in April.
  • South Australia will move to stage 2 restrictions from Friday.
  • A woman tested positive for Covid-19 two months after returning from overseas.

If you want to follow the latest developments, please check out our international live blog.

Until tomorrow, stay safe.

Updated

South Australia police report more than a dozen people have been fined $1,000 each for breaching gathering restrictions.

There was a large fight in Whyalla Norrie on Saturday night, and police found between 30 and 40 people there. They weren’t fined, but later at the same location police found a large group of people celebrating a birthday.

Thirteen people, including seven women and six men aged between 20 and 67, were fined.

Gatherings of more than 10 people are currently prohibited in South Australia and the total number of people present in a gathering must not exceed one person per four square metres.

Updated

My colleague Elias Visontay has this story on why the pandemic call was delayed.

Mary-Louise McLaws, a professor of epidemiology at the University of New South Wales who also sits on the WHO’s health emergencies program experts advisory panel for Covid-19, said it was a disagreement between WHO member nations, and not the response of the WHO’s head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that ultimately slowed down the international escalation of the response to the virus.

There has been much criticism levelled at the WHO for failing to declare a pandemic earlier.

She said that when the committee met on 22 January, members did not all agree to declare a public health emergency of international concern – a move that requires all 194 WHO member nations to begin preparations and initiate a response to the emergency.

Updated

My colleague Mike Hytner has this report on the problems facing community sport once they’re allowed to return from lockdown.

Updated

The NSW district court will allow for the resumption of some in-person court appearances.

In the criminal jurisdictions, other than jury trials which remain off the table, in person appearances will be allowed for:

  • Appeals from the Local Court.
  • Matters for sentence.
  • Judge-alone trials.
  • Pre-trial argument.
  • Contested applications for bail or contested changes in bail conditions.

In the civil jurisdiction, it will no longer be the court’s policy that parties and witnesses in contested hearings have to give evidence over videolink.

Updated

WA chief health officer defends border closure

The Western Australian chief health officer, Dr Andrew Robertson, has just put out this statement on WA’s hard closed border.

He says no change until other states get their numbers down:

With continued Covid-19 outbreaks in several jurisdictions, including 24 cases in the last 3 days across 2 jurisdictions, the risk of introduction across an interstate border remains. The current quarantine restrictions ensure that such cases are isolated and unable to spread the disease further within the community.

While AHPPC provided no specific advice on interstate borders, closure has been an effective mechanism in reducing the introduction of disease in several jurisdictions, including South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory.

As Western Australia increases the size of mass gatherings in the hospitality, community and sports sectors in Phases 2 and 3, the re-introduction of Covid-19 back into the community from travellers could lead to substantial outbreaks that may require either delay in easing of further restrictions or re-introduction of social distancing and mass gathering measures.

Until community spread is eliminated in the affected jurisdictions, which will require at least a month to confirm (two 14-day incubation periods), opening of the interstate borders is not recommended. If the community spread is controlled, relaxation of the interstate borders could be considered after the introduction and assessment of the impact of Phase 4.

Updated

Anaesthetists will have access to telehealth to do pre-operative consultations, the Australian Society of Anaesthetists said.

The expansion is a “major win,” ASA president Dr Suzi Nou said, and will “ensure anaesthetists can identify patient factors that could significantly increase the risk for complications”. The organisation has been advocating for their inclusion in telehealth since March.

During the Covid-19 crisis, telehealth consultations in anaesthesia will allow patients with major medical problems or those undergoing major surgical procedures to be anaesthetised safely, and they will also help in the conservation of our personal protective equipment.

Many of our patients are already anxious about coming to hospital for surgery and this will allow them to avoid coming in for a consultation that can instead be done in the safety of their homes.

Updated

I will hand over to m’colleague Josh Taylor, who will take you through the evening.

Stay well, and listen to scientists.

The chair of the disability royal commission, Ronald Sackville, has released a statement on the death of an Adelaide woman, Ann Marie Smith, who died in April from a serious illness that developed while she was under full-time care.

Sackville said commissioners were appalled and “deeply distressed” by the circumstances surrounding her death:

The circumstances of Ms Smith’s death are the subject of multiple investigations, including a major crime investigation by the South Australian Police.

It is inappropriate for the Royal Commission to initiate an immediate inquiry into events where that might prejudice an ongoing criminal investigation or a possible future prosecution.

For that reason, the Royal Commission will not at this time commence an inquiry into the specific circumstances surrounding Ms Smith’s death.

It is, however, open to the Royal Commission to undertake such an inquiry at a later stage and it will follow the progress of the other investigations.

Sackville said many of the issues surrounding the treatment and death of Smith would be considered by the royal commission as part of its broader inquiry, including ways to improve accountability through stronger safeguards and monitoring provisions.

These investigations will expose many of the underlying issues that are pertinent to the circumstances of Ms Smith’s death.

Updated

Many farmers are worried about the consequences of Australia’s deteriorating relationship with China, according to Labor’s agriculture spokesman, Joel Fitzgibbon.

The comments come amid reports Beijing may be planning to widen the trade dispute by targeting other lucrative exports, including wine and dairy.

Chinese officials have compiled a detailed list of goods – also including seafood, oatmeal and fruit – that could be subjected to stricter quality control checks, increased tariffs, customs delays, or the subject of state media-encouraged consumer boycotts, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Fitzgibbon told Guardian Australia it was in both countries interests to have a productive trading relationship. He said the government needed to show leadership “not only for our barley and beef exporters but for other agricultural commodities that might be affected” by the dispute.

He said it was concerning that the relationship was now so bad that the trade minister, Simon Birmingham, had been unable to speak with the Chinese counterpart:

Our trading interests are our national interest. We can chew gum and walk at the same time. For decades, as China has emerged, governments have been able to balance the interests and maintain a good relationship with China while robustly defending our national interest. This government hasn’t been able to do that over the course of the last three years, and many of our farmers are very concerned about what may be the consequences.

You can read more on the fallout from the trade tensions here:

Updated

The National Tertiary Education Union has endorsed a deal to save academic jobs in exchange for pay cuts of up to 15%.

In a statement this afternoon, the NTEU says the national jobs protection framework was put to a vote before 107 national councillors and 80% voted in support.

Its national president, Dr Alison Barnes, said it had been a “difficult but necessary decision”:

We have been guided by the urgent need to save as many careers and livelihoods as we possibly can.

Now is the time for union members to unite to pressure the Federal Government and universities to support the framework.

The University of Melbourne this week said it would opt out of the deal, and it’s believed other group of eight universities will follow suit, Anne Davies reported:

It is unclear whether Melbourne University believes it will not need to cut staff, or whether it wants freedom to respond to the financial crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic to restructure their staff and shed casuals.

Updated

Emissions know no boundaries, Angus Taylor says, citing faith in technology to rein them in

Why is Australia committed to listening to the experts and being guided by the science in its response to Covid-19 but not in its response to the climate emergency?

Taylor says Australia does take an “enormous amount of advice from scientists”. He says he listens to the chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, and then sites his development of the national hydrogen strategy and “technology roadmap”.

Karvelas says if Taylor was listening to the scientists on global heating he would commit to Australia reaching net zero emissions by 2050, instead of reiterating this week that it is not the Australian government’s policy to meet that target.

The difference between the climate emergency and the pandemic, Taylor says, is that the response to the climate emergency needs to be a “global effort”.

Karvelas points out that the pandemic is also global. And in that case, Australia led rather than waiting for its trading partners to move first.

Taylor:

The nature of the problem is different. Because the problem you’ve got to solve with climate change is how you coordinate across the whole globe. Everybody to reduce emissions. Because there’s – CO2 knows no boundaries. Emissions know no boundaries.

Karvelas:

Neither does Covid-19, it seems.

Taylor:

Well, except that the – the contagion happens at a local level, of course. So that is a difference. But the important point here is this must be a global effort. And that’s the approach we’re taking. It’s why technology is the way through it.

See? One is a global problem that knows no boundaries and the other is too. Completely different.

Updated

Karvelas says that regardless of the moral rightness of the fall in emissions, Australia will count it towards its 2020 targets.

Taylor says Australia was already, in December, on track to meet its 2020 emissions reductions targets.

As we have extensively reported, Australia’s emissions reductions targets are both pretty low and helped along by carryover credits, which Australia refuses to drop despite being accused of cheating on the international stage.

Also, between December and February a significant part of the country went up in smoke.

The energy and emissions reductions minister, Angus Taylor, is on the ABC talking to Patricia Karvelas about global CO2 emissions being down 17% since the start of the coronavirus crisis, with Australia’s emissions down 28% at the peak of the shutdown in April.

This is not good news, Taylor says, because it occurred because of a global shutdown of the economy:

Look, this is not the way we want to reduce emissions, Patricia. The way we want to reduce emissions is by deploying technologies that drive structural reductions in emissions across critical sectors ... that’s the way to do it, and that’s the government policy.

I mean, we are seeing that, if you slow economic growth, if you in fact turn it backwards, it reduces emissions. And there are people who, over time, have advocated that way of reducing emissions. We think there’s a better way, which is to deploy technologies in sensible ways across those critical industries for countries like Australia.

Pedantic point, but I suspect when Taylor refers to people advocating for an economic shutdown to reduce emissions, he is actually referring to the push for a carbon tax. Which ain’t a shutdown. It’s just a tax.

You can read Ketan Joshi’s critique of the tech not taxes argument here.

Updated

The education minister, Dan Tehan, has announced a further $13m to patch up the free childcare system, with most assistance targeted at providers that are ineligible for the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

On Tuesday Tehan foreshadowed that free childcare will expire in June as Australians go back to work, after releasing an education department report finding that one quarter of centres found the new system is not helping their financial viability.

On Wednesday Tehan announced:

  • $12m for childcare services that have more than 30% of full-time equivalent staff ineligible for jobkeeper payments; and
  • $800,000 to increase the level of funding for in-home care providers.

Tehan said:

Our government has made further improvements to the early childhood education and care relief package in response to circumstances identified in the four-week review published yesterday.

The relief package was designed to work in conjunction with the jobkeeper payment, because staff wages account for about 60% of a provider’s costs. The changes announced today will provide further financial support to childcare services that have more than 30% of staff not eligible for jobkeeper, as well as more financial security for in-home care providers.

The government continues to review and assess the relief package in light of our success at flattening the curve and other issues raised by the new system. We need to consider how the package can best support economic recovery, help parents to get back to work and study, and ensure children’s early childhood education and wellbeing.

Updated

New South Wales has authorised the reopening of indoor swimming pools for swimming squads, under a public health order signed by health minister Brad Hazzard yesterday.

The order says that indoor swimming pools that are at least 25m long, or longer, can be opened only for the purpose of swimming squad training.

Only one swimmer is allowed per lane, and no more than 10 people are allowed in the pool at any one time.

Outdoor pools are already permitted to open in NSW, provided social distancing is observed and swimmers are in groups of 10 or less.

The headline numbers from that national health update are:

  • There are 650 active Covid-19 cases in Australia.
  • 45 of those cases are in hospital, nine in intensive care, and seven on ventilators.
  • The death toll remains at 100
  • 5.9m people have downloaded the app.

Kelly said the app was “working as designed” and that both Victoria and NSW are now using it as part of their contact tracing processes. But, he says, because some of their new cases have been travellers in hotel quarantine, the app is not always necessary.

We’ve had discussions today in the last 24 hours with both Victoria and NewSouth Wales and they confirm that they have used the app and they are using it as part of their contact tracing exercises.

The Digital Transformation Agency has undertaken comprehensive testing on a technical nature and can confirm the functionality of the app on a range of devices, operating systems and manufacturers of phones.

On the issue of Qantas announcing it will fill Australian flights to capacity and make the wearing of masks optional, Kelly says there are “very specific engineering things that happen in relation to the ventilation on aircraft and so forth which can make it safer than a closed room”. It will not, he says, be as safe as an outdoor cafe.

But, look, we live in a very big country. We do need our aircraft to get around this big of ours for all sorts of reasons, whether that’s [for] family or other reasons. And we do want to see our airline industry get back on their feet.

We had a discussion last week with Qantas and worked through the sort of things they might want to look at but we made it very clear that like all other industries in Australia, they needed to do their own risk assessment and come up with their own way of mitigating that risk.

No medical reason for state border closures, deputy CMO Paul Kelly says

There is no medical justification for the continued closure of state borders, Kelly says.

Western Australia, Queensland, SA, the NT and Tasmania have been adamant they will not reopen their borders just yet. This is on the back of Queensland saying it will keep borders closed until September, and WA premier Mark McGowan saying he will not give into the “bullying” of NSW on opening borders.

Kelly says:

At that time [when borders were closed] we were seeing large numbers of cases starting to develop, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria. And so I can understand why those decisions were made.

But I would really stress at the national level and in the National Cabinet or in the Australian Health Protection Committee, we made no decisions or advice in relation to that... From a medical point of view I can’t see why the borders are still closed but, as I said, that’s for the states and territories themselves to decide when that time is right for them.

On McGowan’s comments, Kelly says that he is from WA — so he’s not just giving his views as an eastern stater.

Just to let Mr McGowan know, I’m a proud West Australian. I grew up in that state, so I hope I’ll be claimed.

Kelly said he spoke to WA’s chief health officer, Dr Andrew Robertson, “at least daily” and he knew McGowan was also meeting with Robertson every day.

Happy to meet him [McGowan] any time. It might be a while for now depending on the border closures.

The deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, is giving an update in Canberra. He is talking about the World Health Assembly, which has been meeting overnight this week via zoom.

“So a very empty room which is usually full of people giving their advice to the World Health Organisation,” Kelly said.

Health minister Greg Hunt made a speech on Monday night, Australia time, calling for an “independent, impartial and comprehensive examination of the World Health Organisation’s approach to the pandemic, so that we can really learn the lessons of the origins of the virus, the source of the virus and what has happened over the last few months in relation to the spread around the world and our global response”.

That’s the one that has angered China. Another 136 countries signed on.

Australia really welcomes that unanimous support that came from all of those co-sponsors and we look forward to that, the findings of that as it happens in the coming months as would be necessary so that we can really look at the entire response.

Meanwhile, in Queensland:

People who rely on the Centrelink office in Abbotsford are very critical of its sudden closure.

You can see how big the queue was on 23 March, when the first round of hospitality closures due to the lockdown were announced.

I am going to hand you over to the wonderful Calla Wahlquist for the next little bit.

She will bring you the latest on the national Covid front, with Professor Paul Kelly due to give an update in the next 30 minutes.

I’ll be back tomorrow (and hopefully over this cold) and as usual, you can catch me here and here if you have any more questions. I’m working through the backlog, so if you haven’t received a response, you should soon. As always, take care of you

The National Farmers Federation is not happy with the government’s handling of the bio-security levy, which it very quietly announced it was scrapping this morning.

From the NFF’s statement:

Today’s announcement by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment that the government would not be proceeding with a long-awaited levy to bolster the national biosecurity system comes as a blow to Australia’s farmers.

The levy was first proposed in a 2017 independent review, which found that the national biosecurity system was underfunded, and recommended the introduction of a levy on imports to generate revenue for important biosecurity functions that couldn’t be cost recovered.

National Farmers’ Federation CEO Tony Mahar said the farm sector strongly supported the levy as an important new source of funding for an overstretched system, and was frustrated by today’s announcement.

“Biosecurity is absolutely critical – not only for primary industries, but for the environment and the health of the community. This has certainly been brought home by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We need a firm and clear commitment from government that they are serious about maintaining the biosecurity of this country.

“Biosecurity is absolutely fundamental to agriculture, and the way biosecurity levy proposal has been handled is of concern to Australia’s farmers.”

Mahar said the biosecurity levy proposal had consumed a significant amount of time and effort from industry and governments over a number of years, and that today’s decision had put that effort to waste.

Updated

Mark McGowan says the WA government won’t give into the “bullying” of NSW or anyone else, as the domestic border debate rages on.

And when I say debate, I mean NSW and the federal government versus pretty much the rest of the country.

The ABC has chopped up McGowan’s response in a handy video you’ll find here, which includes this salvo

New South Wales had the Ruby Princess — I mean, seriously? And they are trying to give us advice on our borders, seriously?” he said.

As we pointed out earlier, Services Australia has announced it is closing a Centrelink office in inner Melbourne.
The centre, in Abbotsford, is in the vicinity of several public housing estates and it will shut its doors from tomorrow.

The Greens leader Adam Bandt attacked the minister, Stuart Robert, for the “decision to close one of the country’s busiest Centrelink offices ... with just 24 hours notice”.
“In the middle of the biggest ever demand on Centrelink, in an area with more public housing than almost anywhere in the country, the minister gives just over 24 hours’ notice that people will be left without a local service,” said Bandt, who represents Abbotsford and surrounding suburbs.

In a statement issued on the Services Australia website, spokesman Hank Jongen blamed the “outcome of comprehensive lease negotiations with the Yarra Service Centre landlord”.

He said this had resulted in Services Australia being “required to vacate the building before the lease expiry date of 22 May 2020”.

The agency pointed people to face-to-face services at a Centrelink and Medicare at South Melbourne, which is about six kilometres away and on the other side of Melbourne’s CBD.

“We’ve been making rapid improvements to support the many Australians who need our help and we know people are increasingly taking advantage of online options to manage their Centrelink and Medicare needs,” Jongen said.

“In fact, all Medicare related claims, changes or inquiries can now be done online or over the phone.”
But Bandt claimed the government’s excuse they “couldn’t negotiate a lease extension or find an alternative site is simply not credible”.

Chinese state media mocks Australia as 'kangaroo serving as dog of the US'

The Global Times (China state media reserved for some of its most hawkish opinions) has published another editorial on the world health assembly passing the EU motion, detailing why it believes Australia is a “loser” of the process.

It’s quite in depth, and long, and includes quite a bit of snark (some of which is lost in translation, but you get the idea).

The third loser was Australia, which has been actively pushing for a so-called independent inquiry into the origins of the crisis in recent days, aimed at China. Australia’s act was widely believed to be instigated by Washington. Some Australian politicians, including Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton, have been in a bullish mood, as some media reports said, in criticizing China for its lack of transparency, and vowed to stand up for their values.

Some Australian media outlets see this as a move aimed at further pressuring China and seeking to hold Beijing accountable for the outbreak, calling on Beijing to face overwhelming global pressure at the WHA meeting.

“This is a totally different thing from the so-called independent inquiry pushed by the Australian side,” Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a routine press conference on Tuesday on the resolution approved by the international community. Along with other countries, China has been actively taking part in the negotiations on this resolution, which clearly recognizes and supports the leadership of the WHO amid the pandemic, he noted.

Some Chinese netizens also mocked Australia’s attempts as it has been trying to become a “martyr” for defending so-called independence and transparency while its ideas were denounced by the global community. By following the steps of some US hawks who harshly attack China over coronavirus, “it seems that Australia, this giant kangaroo that serves as a dog of the US, will hit a deadlock with China on trade disputes in sectors like coal and beef. Hopefully, the US will compensate it!” one netizen said in a Weibo post on Tuesday.

Updated

As mentioned earlier, this is something students will have to get used to.

Even at the fanciest of fancy schools.

Updated

The attorney-general Christian Porter spoke to 6PR Perth radio’s Gareth Parker this morning where he was asked whether the border closures were unconsitutional:

Porter: Well, someone famously said that everything’s constitutional until it’s challenged, and then you
need to be ...

Parker: Till it’s not?

Porter:

... Well, you need to be very careful about the border closures, and they served a very important purpose for a considerable period of time, and that may well still be the case now.

But these are state government decisions and they obviously need to consider the health impact - like what is it that it is creating or achieving in terms of slowing the spread of the virus.

That has to be weighed against the economic impact, that has to be considered in context of the constitutional issues, and they’re real issues.

But state governments will be getting their own advice and making their own decisions. I think ultimately, the big question here though is the practical question about the economy. You know, we’re going to have many, many months of low passenger movements internationally, and that could go on for some considerable period of time. So, if you want Australian tourism, retail, hospitality sector to thrive, you’re going to
have to pivot on to a domestic market, and that will mean West Australians going to Cairns who might have otherwise gone to Bali, and it will mean people from the East Coast going to
Margaret River who otherwise might have gone to New Zealand, or wherever.

And I think we need to keep in mind that there’s a massive economic cost for keeping the borders closed. But
state governments will make these decisions, they’ll balance the competing criteria - not easy calls to make.

Two healthcare workers from the Kyabram District Health service, in regional Victoria, tested positive to Covid-19. The cases were discovered as part of regular screening of residential aged care workers, and Victoria’s public health team said neither had worked while infectious.

A number of other health service staff who had contact with the pair have been asked to self-isolate for 14 days, but the public health team has not identified any of their patients or residents under their care as close contacts.In all 75 people were tested in the screening, and 73 returned negative results.

The number of cases linked to the Cedar Meats outbreak in Melbourne has risen to 103, with the addition of one case diagnosed overnight and two other cases, which were first reported on Monday and have since been traced back to the meatworks.

There have been no new reported cases related to the outbreaks a three Melbourne aged care facilities (each outbreak has only one case), and no new positive cases connected to the Maccas outbreak.

All told there are eight new cases of Covid-19 in Victoria and the total sits at 1,580, of which 1,465 have recovered and 18 died.

The deputy chief medical officer in Victoria, Annaliese van Diemen, says there has been eight new cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in the last 24 hours.

Two have been linked to the Cedar Meats cluster, and another two have been linked to the Kyabram District Health Service (they weren’t at work while infectious)

One has been traced back to a known case, while the rest are under investigation.

Updated

This morning, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant confirmed our story from last night that NSW has had issues with accessing data from the Covidsafe app.

Chant said there were “teething problems” in particular with the iPhone version of the app, and the ongoing Bluetooth handshake issue we have reported earlier.

She said the department was still evaluating the app, and it could be used in future cases where contact tracing was required.

There seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes in the federal department of health today to try to play down this story.

Yesterday evening when we asked the Victorian department of health for information on the use of the app, we were informed it was too early and to check back in next week.

Suddenly after the NSW story was published last night, Victoria this morning was able to confirm a user of the app tested positive for coronavirus and the app’s data would be used in contact tracing.

The federal health department insisted last night it was “unaware” of the problems NSW was facing, but has this morning so far not responded to questions on why it was unaware of the issues Dr Chant raised this morning.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt also seemed unaware of the NSW issues, despite both Dr Chant and NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian facing questions on it this morning.

Asked about the cuts to research and development under this government by the Canberra Time’s Katie Burgess (a very good point) Karen Andrews says:

So, you’re referring to the R and D tax incentive.

So there are a number of things that I’d like to say about the R and D tax incentive.

Some of them I actually covered in my speech, which actually discussed the other parts of innovation which is not recognised and does fall under the R and D tax incentive.

And that is the work being done every single day in the manufacturing businesses.

We also know, too, that with research and development, business investment has been declining for a number of years.

If I speak to the university sector and the researchers, it’s that they’re keen to engage with businesses and industry, to ensure that we increase the research industry engagement.

We actually, as a government, want businesses to start looking at research and investment opportunities in innovation, because we know that when they do that, the outcomes are going to be better for them.

So the R and D tax incentive - I understand, has had a lot of criticism. That software developers have been particularly concerned.

My department has actually worked hard to make this a more user friendly process for them to give some guidance up-front as to what is going to be likely accepted under... What would likely fall outside it.

And then it’s up to the individuals to make the determination as to whether or not they’re going to proceed.

I understand that research and development is very critical to this nation, and that we need to work hard to lift that investment.

From AAP:

Australia and other countries have agreed to cooperate in the fight against hackers targeting hospitals and medical services during the coronavirus pandemic.

Australia has joined an international fight against cyber criminals launching hacking attacks on hospitals across the world. The foreign affairs department and cyber security centre are concerned hackers are attempting to exploit the coronavirus pandemic.

“Of particular concern are reports that malicious cyber actors are seeking to damage or impair the operation of hospitals, medical services and facilities, and crisis response organisations outside of Australia,” they said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Australia and other countries at the United Nations have agreed to cooperate on cyber crime and not knowingly allow their territory to be used for “international wrongful acts”.

“The Australian government calls on all countries to cease immediately any cyber activity – or support for such activity – inconsistent with these commitments,” Australia’s cyber affairs ambassador, Tobias Feakin, said.

“We also urge all countries to exercise increased vigilance and take all reasonable measures to ensure malicious cyber activity is not emanating from their territory.”

Updated

The New Zealand Herald is reporting Air New Zealand will lay off more than 1300 staff.

Asked about the Coalition’s (until recently) never-ending criticism of Labor’s GFC response, by Mark Kenny, Karen Andrews says:

I’m probably a person that tries to stay out of the politics of undermining other political parties, because I don’t see that it’s a particularly worthwhile strategy.

I would think that today had the opportunity to really approach a new way of looking at Australian industry.

What I will say is that there have been some issues in the past, specifically related to manufacturing.

And that has been across-the-board. It’s been decades long that has got us to this. I could spend a lot of time, if I wanted to – but I don’t – raking over the coals of the past.

I’d prefer to look forward. If I speak specifically about the jobkeeper payment, I do believe that it was necessary.

We understood when we were doing it quickly, that there would be issues as a result of that.

But we believed at the time that it was an important thing for us to be doing. And every day, I have businesses approach me and say, ‘we were only able to stay afloat because of the jobkeeper payments’.

So I would say in response to your question – let’s not go back to politics and let’s be forward-focusing in what we’re trying to do. Let’s actually try to keep together the united approach as long as we possibly can, and focus on, in this case, developing a strong Australian manufacturing sector.

Updated

GPs are reporting that Australians aren’t getting their usual check-ups. If this is you, please go to your doctor. Those niggles should not be ignored:

Tens of thousands of Australians with chronic diseases are putting themselves at risk by missing vital visits to their GP and skipping potentially life-saving cholesterol tests to manage and prevent heart disease.

New data from the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) reveals a 10 per cent drop in GP visits for the management of chronic disease in March 2020, equating to 96,000 less visits compared to the same time last year.

Alongside the impact of Covid-19 on the fall in chronic disease visits, pathology data from NSW reveal a 28% drop in cholesterol tests being processed in March compared to the same time in February 2020.

Heart Foundation chief medical adviser and cardiologist Prof Garry Jennings, said the data also showed an 18% drop in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health checks in March 2020 compared to the same time last year.

Updated

Pulled up on that point, by David Crowe, (although not as bluntly) Karen Andrews again says Australian businesses need to change the way they do business.

ie: don’t go for the lowest cost. I look forward to governments no longer going with the lowest tender, then.

Andrews:

What I’m saying to our businesses is that we need you to look at the value proposition.

We need you to look at the value of those goods. Now, clearly, there will be times when each and every one of us, businesses included, will need to buy on a cost, on a price basis, that they will be looking for the lowest cost.

But what those businesses have experience is that they actually had some difficulties with supply during the crisis, because they could not get the materials that they needed.

When they look at their longevity as a manufacturer, look at how you’re going to shore up your own supply chains. And look as to whether or not you can source that product from Australia. And by doing so, you have reliability of supply in a crisis.

Updated

Karen Andrews has given a very nice speech about the need to reinvigorate the Australian manufacturing industry (let’s all ignore what happened with the car industry under Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey, though) but at the end of the day, it all means diddly squat without some sort of government assistance to bring down costs.

Here is what Andrews says on that:

From my portfolio point of view, I’m at the consumer end. So for Australian manufacturers, I want to make sure that they get the best energy price that is they can.

So price and reliability are important. It’s also important that we start to shift the mindset so that we’re not trying to compete on cost.

Given that we are a high-wage nation, given that we don’t mass-produce many goods.

And in fact, our niche is our capability to transit really quite quickly to change our manufacturing to be very agile and nimble in what we’re doing in manufacturing. So we don’t have the long runs that the likes of other countries overseas have. So for us to be competitive, we have to start looking at manufacturing on value – not on cost.

So price is a part of the value equation, but it is not the only part of it. When you look at value, we also look at the longevity of the product.

We look at economic indicators. We look at freight. We look at costs of manufacturing here in Australia and the benefits of that. The shift needs to be from cost to value.”

So the answer is apparently to change how capitalism works. Cool beans.

Updated

She is the most popular prime minister in recent New Zealand history for a reason.

Updated

Leading epidemiologists are expecting a second wave of Covid-19 infections as Australians fully return to offices and schools, but believe the amount of infections can be smaller than what has been experienced so far if physical distancing is maintained.

Addressing an Australian Science Media Centre webinar on Wednesday, Australian National University professor of infectious diseases Peter Collignon said crowding indoors as a result of winter’s colder temperatures could spread infections during the second wave in a way not experienced so far.

He also warned the likely sources of second wave infections will be Australians in their 20s and 30s who are asymptomatic and return to normal life without knowing they are spreading the virus.

“I actually think we will get a second wave but I think it will be less than our first wave if the vast majority of people keep on doing the right thing. Winter is more of a risk of spreading viruses than is summer so we may have been lucky … We’re going to get a second wave but I think we can keep it small this winter if we keep on doing the things we know work to stop droplets being transmitted, and that means we won’t have crowds of tens of thousands on street parades or at football matches.”

Mary-Louise McLaws, a professor of epidemiology at the University of New South Wales, said to lessen the impact of a second wave, younger Australians who will likely be asymptomatic should be “mindful and reflective” of how they feel and get tested for Covid-19 if their sense of taste and smell is not normal so they can be diagnosed and not spread the virus.

“One of the big problems is of course getting people back to work. And these three steps of getting people to work by July, if we’re not very careful, we’ll have this second wave. Whether it’s doubling every three days or a spike. We will get it, unless we’re very careful about social distancing.”

Updated

Karen Andrews is wrapping up her press club speech:

There’s a real sense that in a post-Covid world, where norms have indeed been disrupted, there will be an adjustment of our fast, disposable, retail approach.

A return to quality over quantity. This sort of disruption would indeed be a great opportunity for Australian manufacturing to compete on value, not cost.

It’s also important to recognise that our manufacturing sector has evolved and looks very different to what it did 30, 20 or even 10 years ago.

Manufacturing consists of a number of specialty processes along the production chain – from design through to marketing.

There are high-paid and skilled jobs at each step
along the process – and the modern factory floor is home to designers, engineers, scientists and tradespeople.

Parents, educators and our young people need to know that old stereotypes of production line labour are not an accurate reflection of Australia’s vibrant manufacturing sector.

Our manufacturers are innovators, having adapted to many challenges … in fact, they have a lot in common with the proud disruptors of the tech sector.

Updated

This is a good read – and helps explain the “why don’t they just go home”.

Updated

This is sure to help calm everything down.

Karen Andrews is delivering her national press club address.

It is obviously, on manufacturing.

Specifically, what will happen with the sector in Australia in a post-Covid world.

Gladys Berejiklian said, when announcing that students would go back to on-site learning on 25 May said it would not be unusual for schools to be closed due to Covid.

This is the whole text, from the English translation on the Chinese embassy website:

China Daily: Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said on May 18 that the input of so many parties in the EU-sponsored COVID-19 draft resolution at the WHA is a real signal of the importance of the call for an independent, international review proposed by Australia. It’s a win for the international community, and Australia, as a strong and active part of that international community, would certainly see it that way. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: First and foremost, China supports a comprehensive evaluation of global Covid-19 response to ensure experience gained and lessons learnt after the pandemic is brought under control, which should be led by WHO and conducted in a science-based, professional, objective and impartial manner. China has been consistent and clear about this all along. The draft resolution on Covid-19 being discussed at this year’s WHA is consistent with China’s position and reflects the widespread consensus of other countries. China, along with other parties, has actively participated in the consultations on the draft resolution and the co-sponsoring of the draft resolution.

Second, the above-mentioned draft resolution is entirely different from what the Australia called “independent international review”. For example, the draft resolution proposes to initiate at the appropriate moment an evaluation rather than to launch an “independent international review” instantly, which confirms WHO’s leading role instead of adopting another mechanism. The draft resolution calls for an evaluation of experience gained and lessons learnt from the WHO-coordinated international health response, rather than an inquiry based on the presumption of guilt targeting certain country. We hope Australia will read the text carefully instead of making conclusions based on assumptions.

Lastly, I want to stress that we welcome it if Australia changes its course, completely gives up its political manoeuvere and returns to the broad consensus of the international community following the relevant WHA resolution.

Updated

Beijing calls on Australia to 'completely give up its political manoeuvre'

A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry has responded to theWorld Health Assembly motion (which was led by the EU) and recommended Australia ‘changes its course’.

The spokesperson highlighted the differences between the WHA resolution and Australia’s proposal of an independent international review and stressed that China welcomes it if Australia changes its course, completely gives up its political manoeuvre and returns to the broad consensus of the international community following the relevant WHA resolution.

Updated

The Covid crisis, and the trade situation, has resulted in this announcement from the government:

Following broad industry consultation and further consideration of the impacts on industry, the Australian government has made the decision not to proceed with the Onshore Biosecurity Levy.

The department undertook a co-design process with industry to develop a levy model that was practical for industry and the government.

This process highlighted that a levy could not be implemented without significant regulatory impacts on industry and proposed levy payers.

This decision has also been made in consideration of the ongoing impacts of drought, bushfires and Covid-19 on the Australian economy and the rapidly changing global trade environment.

The department would like to thank the Industry Working Group and other stakeholders who provided valuable input and feedback on the proposed levy design.

A levy will not be progressed and this decision will not impact on the overall biosecurity budget.

Australia’s biosecurity system will continue to be funded through existing arrangements.

Updated

Penny Wong also spoke to the ABC radio this morning (in Adelaide) where she repeated Labor’s stance on the government’s relationship with China:

I think on the inquiry, if that’s the question, this is the inquiry into the pandemic, I’ve made very clear from the start we supported it.

And we welcome the resolution at the World Health Assembly to have an inquiry, a European Union-led resolution that has many countries signed up to it, including Australia.

It does differ from what Marise Payne announced on Insiders, in that the World Health Organisation is doing the inquiry. But leaving that aside, I think it is a very good outcome, so we’ve supported that.

I think you asked would we do something differently. I think I’d have a little bit less George Christensen leading the debate on China. I think we’ve seen a lot of backbenchers engaging quite inflammatory language about China from the Coalition.

People are entitled to their view. We’re a democracy. Their views can be put respectfully. But I do think we’ve seen a lot of inflammatory language, which doesn’t help.

Updated

They aren’t happening every day any more, but the deputy chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, will be holding a national health update at 3.30pm today.

National cabinet, for those who missed it, won’t be held until 29 May. There is no meeting this week.

There is, however, a National Press Club address from Scott Morrison on Tuesday.

Updated

Yesterday, Simon Birmigham and David Littleproud said quite explicitly Australia would be looking to diversify its trading base, naming India as one of those potential markets.

AAP has followed that up and reports that the virtual summit Scott Morrison is due to hold with Narendra Modi (the original planned trip was scrapped because of the bushfire crisis) will have trade as a big agenda item:

Australia has been looking to complete a defence agreement on reciprocal access to bases and cooperation on military technology projects.

A new education partnership is also on the cards, as are Australian plans to export more goods to India, including agricultural products.

“Australia and India are natural partners with deep people-to-people links,” a spokesman for Morrison told AAP.

“The prime minister looks forward to holding a virtual summit with Indian prime minister Modi in the near future as another step to advance our India economic strategy and cement India in the top tier of Australia’s partnerships.”

Updated

The reason for this is apparently the lease ended, and the department couldn’t negotiate a new one.

Still tho.

Marise Payne has had to overcome her career-long aversion to the media in her role as foreign minister, but in the last two weeks she has had to really step up in front of the cameras in order to explain what is happening with Australia’s relationship with China.

Simon Birmingham, as trade minister, has done the bulk of the messaging on this, but Payne has had to get out more than she would be comfortable with, because she is, after all, the foreign minister, and it is important as the head and face of that portfolio to explain to Australia what is happening on the world stage. Particularly when it is a situation like this.

This morning, Payne spoke to Sabra Lane on ABC radio about what happened in the World Health Assembly overnight, and why Australia was OK with it (despite previously pushing for more).

Lane: I’m going to pick you up on those points. You, at the outset, said that WHO couldn’t oversee this as it would be a case of poacher turned gamekeeper, but all of those entities that you just mentioned are all part of WHO.

Payne: Well, the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee is, in fact, an independent organisation drawn from national governments, from NGOs, those from the international system with very broad experience in a range of public health areas. They serve in their personal capacity, they are not, if you like, part of the WHO structure. But we’re at the very beginning of this process and we have to step through that with the WHO, with the members of the WHO as to what this will look like.

Lane: What about the timing? The resolution says the inquiry will happen at the earliest appropriate moment, China says when the peak has passed. Given that there might be a second wave, how long before this inquiry begins and will you lobby G20 partners over this?

Payne: In terms of the timing of the review, we’ve been very clear, and particularly in our discussions with international counterparts, that for many countries which are still dealing with the absolute most critical aspects of response to the pandemic, this is still a very difficult time. So, the timing will be determined by the international community and I do think that’s appropriate and that’s a point we’ve made all along.

Updated

Victoria’s parliament will sit again from next month.

As AAP reports:

Parliament last sat on 23 April to pass emergency legislation in response to the deadly virus.

On Wednesday, it was announced both houses will sit from 2 to 4 June and 16 to 18 June.

Parliament will then break for the previously scheduled winter recesses before returning on August 4.

But restrictions will be in place: additional cleaning will be done, reduced numbers of MPs will be allowed in the chambers, and staff numbers will be reduced to aid social distancing.

Sitting dates are subject to change, depending on the spread of coronavirus and the advice of the chief health officer.

Updated

Retail spending fell 17.9% in April

The ABS has released its latest figures on the Covid impact – this time on retail spending. It fell 17.9% in the last month, which is the biggest recorded fall – and follows the biggest rise in March, when everyone was panic buying.

Turnover was down 9.4% when compared to April 2019.

These preliminary figures, which will be subject to revision, show falls in every industry, with particularly strong falls in food retailing, cafes, restaurants and takeaways, and clothing, footwear and personal accessories.

The food retailing industry, which saw a strong rise in March due to unprecedented demand, fell 17.1 per cent from March 2020. Additional analysis indicates that the majority of products which rose substantially in March recorded falls in April 2020, however they remained at higher levels than April 2019.

While March saw a mix of impacts related to COVID-19 across industries, these impacts were overwhelmingly negative in April, as regulations regarding social distancing measures limited the ability of businesses to trade as normal for the entire month. Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services, clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing, and department stores fell heavily in April and there were no offsetting rises in the other industries. Turnover in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing, and cafes, restaurants and takeaways is around half the level of April 2019.

Updated

Penny Wong and Chris Bowen have responded on behalf of Labor to the World Health Assembly passing the EU motion to set up “at an appropriate time” an investigation into the origins and original response to Covid-19.

Labor welcomes the passage and formal adoption of the World Health Assembly resolution overnight to enact a review coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Member States into the Covid-19 pandemic.

Labor has consistently supported an impartial inquiry into the virus to ensure we learn the lessons from Covid-19 and improve pandemic prevention, preparedness and response capacity across the globe.

The European Union led motion, supported by the Australian government and over 130 countries, shows the kind of international cooperation we need in a crisis like this pandemic. Labor believes it is in every country’s interest to get to the bottom of this and ensure it never happens again.

The Australian government now needs to clarify how the proposed review will work and explain how Australia will constructively engage as a member state to ensure the kind of independent investigation it had called for occurs.

The government should also explain what it will do to ensure this review will deliver real results, unlike previous pandemic reviews which have not been well supported by WHO member states.

Throughout the Covid-19 health emergency Labor has supported the government’s efforts wherever possible and provided constructive feedback whenever necessary.

Labor will continue to support Australia’s role in this review, and will hold the government to account to ensure they productively contribute to the high-quality, comprehensive and independent review process that is needed.

Updated

The federal court has removed the last bit of personal liability hanging over the administrators of stricken airline Virgin Australia after a deal was struck with the Taxation Office.

ATO lawyers had been concerned about a request to the federal court from the administrators, partners at accounting firm Deloitte, that meant they wouldn’t be personally liable for overpayments under the jobkeeper scheme.

Administrators are normally personally on the hook for every debt they run up while in charge of a company, but the Virgin administrators have asked the court to excuse them from liability so that they can keep the airline running while trying to sell it.

At a hearing last week Judge John Middleton approved the request in relation to most of the debts Virgin incurs, but kicked deciding the jobkeeper issue to a hearing this morning after the ATO said they wanted more time to discuss the issue with the administrators.

This morning, Middleton said he would approve orders agreed to by the two sides.

Updated

South Australia announces earlier move to stage 2 restrictions

South Australian premier Steven Marshall says the state can relax some of its restrictions ahead of schedule:

From Friday this week, you’ll be able to enjoy a meal and a glass of wine indoors up to 10.

So we’re going to be changing the arrangements we announced almost two week ago.

And now, instead of only 10 outside the cafes and restaurants, it will be 10 indoors, 10 outdoors, including alcohol service for all cafes and restaurants in South Australia.

And the second announcement today is that we will be moving to Stage 2 restrictions from Friday, June 5 – not Monday, June 8.

So we’re bringing that forward. We’ve listened to what the people of South Australia have said. We want to move to stage 2 sooner than the Monday of the long weekend.

South Australian premier Steven Marshall.
South Australian premier Steven Marshall. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP

Updated

Speaking with Sky News a little earlier today, Anthony Albanese wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not he agreed with his Victorian state colleague Tim Pallas’s comments, only saying that federal Labor was as one with the federal government on that issue.

But he said there were more questions to be asked about the US deal with China on barley, so Australia knows what it is dealing with:

Well, we clearly need not just to engage with China. We need to engage with the United States as well, given the reports that are there about the deal between the US and China. And the example whereby it may well be that the US is stepping in to fill the gap that will be created by the imposition of tariffs on Australian barley.

We need to operate our trade system on the basis of laws. Laws that apply to everyone. Which is why we’ve also supported the Australian Government taking China over this issue to the WTO.

Australia doesn’t subsidise our barley. And we need to support our farmers. Clearly, we need to look at diversifying markets as well, as much as possible. But there is no reason why hardworking Australian farmers should suffer during this period as a result of a decision by the Chinese Government.

...We are good friends with the United States. And clearly the government should be in a position to pick up the phone and to at least explore what the facts are here about the US China deal and on agricultural and whether it has any implications for Australia.

Leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese.
Leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

The Liberal senator James Paterson ramped up his criticism of the Victorian Labor state treasurer, Tim Pallas (and by proxy Daniel Andrews), for what he said was “effectively do[ing] their [the CCP] bidding for them” after Pallas blamed the federal government for the 80% tariff on Australian barley exports going to China.

Victoria signed up to the Chinese government belt and road initiative, which bucked the Australian advice (which is also given to Pacific Island nations). Asked on Melbourne radio 3AW why the Victorian government appeared to “kowtow” to the Chinese government, Paterson replied:

It’s really strange to me. I mean, I think it’s not an unreasonable expectation from our politicians state or federal that when we’re engaged in a trade dispute with a foreign government, and particularly when it is a foreign authoritarian government, as the Chinese Communist party is, that the default is to back your own country, the default is to be loyal to your own country. And if you’re not capable of doing that, then I think it’d be much better if you keep your thoughts to yourself. It’s very clear to me that the Victorian government has no understanding and no expertise in foreign policy. They’ve got no responsibility for it. They should stick to their own task at hand. They’ve got a fair bit on their plate.

Which led to this exchange:

Neil Mitchell: Are you saying Tim Pallas and Daniel Andrews are being disloyal to Australia?

Paterson:

Well, they’re certainly not being helpful to Australia’s national interests, whether it’s the comments Tim Pallas made yesterday, whether it’s them signing up to the belt and road initiative, which in my view has undermined Australia in a critical area of our national security.

Updated

Greg Hunt says universities, which are not eligible for jobkeeper and have had their research capacity slashed with the loss of international students, have been working with the states “in putting forward proposals for careful, cautious, quarantine-based resumption of international students”:

A number of the premiers have talked about that, and we remain very open and very welcoming to proposals that they are likely to put forward.

Updated

Greg Hunt, in announcing $400m for medical research, says there have been 1.1m Covid-19 tests across the nation and 5.9 million people have downloaded the Covidsafe app.

Updated

Deloitte also thinks it could take some of the hardest hit industries – including the arts – at least six years to recover. And industries which escaped the most immediate hit – like finance – could see some delayed impacts, as people begin to default on loans:

At a broad industry level, the key losers in terms of jobs losses in the short term (seeing greater than 50% declines) are expected to be accommodation, arts, recreation and other services – and they may take five or six years to recover all the job losses seen. Sectors such as property and professional services, education and telecommunications are less impacted now, and may be back in a solid growth phase by early 2022.

However, a couple of sectors have a moderate decline now, but may take an extended period to return to early 2020 employment levels. Key here is the finance sector, which may see a longer period of weak performance than other key office-intensive industries. The finance sector is part of the defence against the COVID-19 downturn, with many loans being deferred. But over time banks can expect to see a sharp rise in non-performing loans, while it may be some time before businesses are ready to invest again at significant scale, implying a sharp hit to credit demand.

Updated

Deloitte Access Economics has released its latest analysis of the employment data, and has looked ahead to what a post-Covid work life might look like:

The COVID-19 emergency has given both employers and employees time to observe the costs and benefits of working remotely, while businesses have been forced to overcome previous barriers by investing in technologies and rapidly developing new work methods.

At least during the period that we continue to live with COVID (prior to a vaccine for example), it is likely that the tendency to work from home will remain above pre-crisis levels. The post-COVID era however becomes more difficult to predict, meaning that office demand cannot be automatically assumed to align with the white collar employment base which is the traditional driver.

Over the balance of 2020, social distancing will undoubtedly restrict office density as restrictions begin to lift, reversing the decades long trend towards smaller workspaces and increasing the required levels of office space for some businesses.

Importantly however, businesses are unlikely to completely abandon the office. Both employers and employees recognise the advantages of in person collaboration and the wellbeing benefits of social interaction with colleagues more generally, especially after months of social distancing and isolation.

Underpinning these shifts will be economic momentum. Employment growth in Australia’s metropolitan areas will continue to positively underpin future office demand.

Updated

Given that we will be hearing about barley and China for the next 60 days at least, this explainer from Daniel Hurst may prove useful:

Updated

Speaking of Queensland, Bob Katter wants to call off the Queensland bid for the 2032 Olympics “as it’s a waste of money and resources while the economy tanks from the Coronavirus and thousands try to survive without work”:

If it was a stupid idea to sink Billions into a Brisbane Olympic games before Covid-19, then it is infinitely more stupid now.

Should we spend the next decade restarting a manufacturing sector, commencing nation building infrastructure and getting Australians back to work? Or should we spend the next ten years preparing for a two week sporting event?

The strange capitalisation of billions is his own.

Bob Katter doing this thing in Parliament House Canberra on 4 March.
Bob Katter doing this thing in Parliament House in Canberra on 4 March. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Just to be clear, NSW may be opening up for travel from 1 June but Queensland is still saying no.

Victoria also didn’t close its borders but it still has physical distance restrictions in place, so you need a reason to travel in Victoria and a holiday, at this point, isn’t one of them.

Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, told the state’s tourism industry to aim for September but warned that was not a guaranteed either:

The very, very earliest, and only if everything went absolutely perfectly, we might be able to think about opening up our border in July.

If the tourism industry wants a more realistic scenario they should be preparing for September …

Having said that, I can’t even commit that September will be possible. It depends what happens between now and then.

Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory are all saying the same thing. But it is only Queensland which is getting heat for it. It’s almost as if there’s a state election around the corner.

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young at a press conference at Parliament House in Brisbane on Wednesday morning.
Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young at a press conference at Parliament House in Brisbane on Wednesday morning. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Updated

It’s been an awful 24 hours in Brazil. The country still doesn’t have a health minister, after the previous one resigned one month ago.

Dr Jeannette Young says the border closures were necessary to protect the state’s population, and people need to remember that the coronavirus is different to other pandemics the world has seen, given it is contagious and potentially fatal. She says that means the border closures will be assessed but she won’t be rushing to advise the government to reopen them:

This is a really new way of managing a pandemic, so I was here in 2009 managing the swine flu pandemic, and that was totally different.

We did not have the testing capacity back then. We did not have the ability to quarantine.

Our borders remained open. There were so many different variables.

We’ve got totally different levers to protect Queensland today, and that’s a very, very good thing, because this is a very different pandemic to a flu pandemic.

We know the mortality is higher.

We know the consequences are worse. So it’s a good thing we’ve got all these extra levers.

But there are a couple of things that will protect Queensland. The first is the testing capacity. The second is our ability to contact-trace. We have got enormous resources in this state to contact-trace. And please, could everyone download that Covidsafe app? Because that’s another tool that we now have that technology has given us that we didn’t have back in 2009, and we need to use it. But it will only be effective if the vast majority of people download it. It will help.

Every single person who downloads it helps, but it will be most effective if the majority of people do it.

Updated

The Queensland chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, is also holding firm in her advice that Queensland maintain its border closures:

I believe one of the things that has protected Queenslanders the most, as we’ve been managing our response to Covid-19, is the closure of the international border, and the requirement that anyone coming from overseas goes into 14 days’ quarantine.

That has been absolutely critical.

Then, when we started to see increased cases coming across the border from, in the main, New South Wales and Victoria, closing our border to those two states was incredibly important.

We have not seen, since that decision was made, any further cases here in Queensland due to people from New South Wales or Victoria coming into Queensland, which is good.

But we need to hold firm, and we need to manage our domestic borders very, very carefully.

I know - I see the exemption requests every single day from people who live in other states who want to come to Queensland and, whenever there are compassionate reasons – a relative is dying or there’s an awful situation – of course I grant those exemptions, and people come and they’ve been very good at quarantining here in Queensland.

We need to remain firm, and make sure that we manage our borders as we go forward, because Queenslanders have done a fantastic job.

Updated

All the 77 residents in the Rockhampton aged care home where a worker tested positive for Covid-19 have been tested for the virus – and all have returned negative results. As have all the employees.

The residents have been moved into private rooms as a precaution.

Updated

Woman develops symptoms and returns positive Covid-19 result two months after returning from travel

In Queensland, the chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, says a Brisbane woman has been diagnosed with Covid-19 after developing symptoms two months after returning from overseas travel:

So one new case confirmed overnight in Queensland – a lady in her 70s, who lives in Metro North.

She returned from India via Singapore two months ago and has now tested positive after developing some mild respiratory symptoms.

At this stage, we’re not sure whether that is a persistent case, or whether she’s acquired it here.

We think it most likely that she acquired the case in India, but we’ll now have to do a lot of work to work through that, some additional testing and also we’ll have to talk to her and look at contact-tracing.

So all that work has started.

Updated

Yesterday, Simon Birmingham said it was for others to determine if the Chinese government decision to level the tariffs was in retaliation to Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins and first response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He can do that – acknowledge it at least – because he is a more senior minister. David Littleproud, is still holding on to the “totally unrelated” line.

David Koch: Right. OK. Well, we’ve angered the Chinese with some pretty blunt remarks in the past. You said yesterday we shouldn’t read it to the fact that the barley tariffs have come at the same time as the increased diplomatic tensions with China over coronavirus. Do you honestly, hand on heart, scout’s honour, believe they’re unrelated?

Littleproud: Yeah, Kochie. I do.

Koch: Really?

Littleproud: I mean this has been in place for 18 months. And in fact, we extended this a further six months and that was the extent to which we could extend it. The juncture at the point in time has come at a critical point in terms of Covid-19, we respect that, but I think to speculate outside of that is dangerous. We’ve got to keep to the course and look at each one of these cases on an individual basis.

And you alluded to the beef situation, those four abattoirs. Let me just put into perspective, one of those abattoirs is in fact partially Chinese owned, so they’ve imposed this temporary ban on one of their own companies here in Australia.

So I think we just need to take a calm look at these and look at them individually and make determinations from that.

Updated

Australia to wait 60 days before appealing China barley decision at the WTO

David Littleproud was on the morning interview circuit again this morning.

He said Australia would keep working with Beijing, using the 60-day time period nations have to try and appeal decisions such as the one China has imposed to place an 80% tariff on Australian barley, at a local level, before heading to the World Trade Organisation. This is what he told the Seven Network:

We are working within Beijing at the moment. I have agricultural councillors and trade officials from Simon Birmingham’s office in Beijing working with officials now.

So we’ll work constructively through a set process and it’s important to respect that process. We’re fair traders, we’re a fair nation within the global community and it’s important we live up to responsibilities, we’ll stick to the process. But that’s only 60 days and then once that’s completed, we’ll make a determination at the WTO.

Updated

Qantas CEO defends decision not to enforce social distancing on flights

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce spoke on ABC radio this morning, confirming the airline would turn people away from flights if they are displaying symptoms of Covid-19.

“If you are not feeling well you wake up for your flight there will be no cost of changing your ticket and we will be asking people to do that,” he said.

Joyce defended the airline’s decision not to enforce social distancing onboard its flights. Other airlines have opted to leave middle seats in economy class free to allow space between travellers, but Joyce said this wasn’t being considered.

Qantas planes are seen at the airport in Sydney.
Qantas planes are seen at the airport in Sydney. Photograph: Loren Elliott/Reuters

“This idea of the middle seat and the middle seat taking around isn’t social distancing. It’s a 60cm difference between two people. To get the full metre squared, you will end up with 22 people on an aircraft of 180 seats and the airfares are nine to 10 times as much.”

However, epidemiologist has slammed the decision not to make mask wear compulsory, saying it “fails the test of logic”.

You can read the full report below.

Updated

[continued from previous post]

The statement continued:

The number of women in Australia who have died at the hands of a current or former partner persists without any significant reduction since 2010.

A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare noted that one in 6 women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or previous partner since the age of 15. One woman was killed every nine days and one man every 29 days by a partner between 2014-15 and 2015-16.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed additional dangers for the victims of domestic violence, with a dramatic increase in demand for services. Eleven women have been killed in domestic violence incidents since lockdown was implemented in early March.

The Law Council has welcomed the government’s announcement of $20 million earmarked to support people affected by domestic violence as well the Help is Here campaign, and the rolling out of extra measures to ensure people experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence know where to get help during the coronavirus pandemic.

But a valuable opportunity to examine and improve the programs that are working well to support and protect the vulnerable members of society, has been lost.

Chronic underfunding of the family law system by successive governments over many years, continues to leave vulnerable families in crisis.

Updated

The Law Council of Australia has been absolutely scathing in its assessment of a bipartisan Senate committee inquiry into domestic violence in Australia.

Before the pandemic hit, the deaths of Hannah Clarke with her three children, Trey, Aaliyah and Laianah in February brought the nation to a standstill.

The parliament responded with another committee – there have been many, many inquiries over the years into domestic violence in Australia, but this one was supposed to carry all that work forward.

The Law Council president, Pauline Wright, says it failed:

The Law Council of Australia is appalled at the lack of commitment shown by the majority report of the bipartisan Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee in tackling domestic violence.

The release of the committee’s majority report Inquiry into domestic violence with particular regard to violence against women and their children represents a sad failure of regard for the lives of those Australians lost to domestic violence, and those who will be in danger in the future.

The Law Council commends senator Rex Patrick on the substance of his dissenting report and for calling out the failings of the committee in meeting its responsibilities, both as a committee of the parliament and to the people of Australia.

The majority report was delivered three months ahead of schedule, without the committee accepting submissions or holding public hearings. As a result, the report amounts to little more than a literature review, posing a number of obvious and often stated questions. This demonstrates a lack of commitment by decision-makers to address a serious community problem and a significant cause of death in Australia.

Updated

NSW reports four new Covid-19 cases

NSW reported four new cases of coronavirus from more than 7,000 tests in the last 24 hours.

All four people who were diagnosed with Covid had recently returned from overseas travel and were in quarantine.

Updated

NSW never closed its borders (neither did Victoria) unlike the rest of the nation. But it did restrict travel within the state. That was loosened, slightly, when the definition of care allowed for travel to a family or friend’s house.

The 1 June announcement now means you don’t need a reason to travel throughout the state, and can once again, book a holiday spot. It might just take a little more planning:

Gladys Berejiklian:

So whilst it’s good news, please treat the good news with caution, be extra organised, plan ahead, book ahead, do things online, as far as possible, make sure that you are – you keep your family safe and those around you safe.

Whilst it’s great news for people across the state, and of course, New South Wales is always open to welcome people from other states.

We intend to keep our borders open.

We think that’s best for New South Wales but also best for Australia.

We’ll play our part as the largest state, traditionally the economic powerhouse of the nation, to make sure we engage as much economic activity as possible.

We don’t want to see job numbers to crash as they did in April. We want people to be realistic, a Covid-safe environment will look and feel very different.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian announces NSW open for travel from June

The NSW premier says it is time to reopen the state:

We’re pleased to say from 1 June, there will be no travel restrictions in New South Wales.

You can go on a holiday with your family and friends, but know the holiday you’re taking from 1 June will be different to a holiday you have taken before.

Please take extra care in planning ahead, booking online, and making sure you keep away from large crowds, and protect your friends and your family as you are holidaying. We want people to enjoy themselves, to feel free, but nothing we do is the same during a pandemic.

You need to book ahead, think about opportunities to enjoy the environment in a different way, but please make sure you’re safe. From that date, many of our cultural institutions, our art galleries, museums, libraries, will be able to open their doors. But again, they’ll have special qualifications.

It may involve having a special time to allow the most vulnerable to use the facilities, it does mean booking ahead, but making sure you leave a record if you are visiting one of places, if something happens unexpectedly, if there’s a case, we can follow up quickly. We want people to enjoy the extra freedom, but it means you need to think ahead and plan ahead, and accept that nothing we did before the pandemic will be quite the same during the pandemic.

Updated

Josh Taylor, who brought you this story on NSW being unable to use the Covidsafe app for contact tracing:

Followed up to see what Victoria was doing. That state only used it on Monday. From their response to Josh:

On Monday evening, Victorian Public Health team identified a Covid-19 positive patient who had the Covidsafe app registered on their phone.

The patient consented to Victoria using data on their phone which has been downloaded to look for potential contacts.

Victoria has signed an agreement on access to information and our public health officials have been trained on how to access and use the close contact information.

Access is strictly limited to trained public health officers carrying out contact-tracing functions. Victoria has legislated privacy obligations when handling citizens’ private data or health data and these obligations will be adhered to.

With only a small number of cases in Victoria, there have been few opportunities to use the app so far. We hope this continues.

We urge Victorians to download the app to augment our contact tracing tools to stop the spread of the virus. This will be increasingly important as restrictions are eased and people are more mobile.

An iPhone displays the Covidsafe app.
An iPhone displays the Covidsafe app. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Updated

Meanwhile, while NSW is going to open itself up to travelers, the rest of the nation, excluding NSW and Victoria, is looking at ways to open its own travel bubble in a post-restrictions world:

Katharine Murphy has a story on the latest government vs ABC issue:

The Morrison government has put the national broadcaster on notice that it expects the ABC to embark on a six-month wage freeze to bring it in line with other taxpayer-funded agencies during the Covid-19 crisis.

The warning follows the government’s decision in early April to defer general wage increases for commonwealth public servants for six months. The public service commissioner followed up that directive by writing to all non-public service agencies – including the ABC – informing them the government expected them to adopt the same practice.

With no clear response from the ABC to the 9 April missive, Guardian Australia understands the communications minister Paul Fletcher wrote to the national broadcaster this week flagging his expectation that the organisation would defer a 2% increase for all employees scheduled to take effect in October under the ABC’s enterprise agreement.

The Fletcher letter to the ABC’s managing director David Anderson notes the Covid-19 pandemic has again threatened the viability of Australian media organisations, with some commercial companies requiring their staff to take pay cuts of more than 20%.

Marise Payne and Greg Hunt have issued a joint statement welcoming the World Health Assembly’s support of the EU’s motion, co-sponsored by member states, including Australia and China, to hold an independent investigation (spearheaded by the WHO) into the origins and response to the coronavirus pandemic.

It includes a little “we won’t back down or apologise” message to Beijing at the end, with a line you just know was diplomatically worked shopped into the early hours:

The Australian government today welcomes the adoption of a landmark resolution on the global Covid-19 response at the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly, which was EU-led and cosponsored by over 130 WHO member states.

The resolution commits to an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation into Covid-19, at the earliest appropriate moment, to review the lessons learned from the international health response coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There is also a clear mandate to identify the source of the Covid-19 virus and how it was transmitted to humans, which will be necessary to prevent and reduce the risks of the emergence of new diseases that pass from animals to humans.

Australia has been clear and transparent in calling for an independent review into Covid-19, which is an unprecedented global health and economic crisis.

Australia will continue to be a consistent and constructive voice in the international community to advance and protect our national interest and the global interest.

Updated

Greg Hunt has also announced a further $400m in funding for medical research:

A total of 237 new projects will receive funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), with a further 30 grants to be funded through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Priority Round.

Funding will support research in the areas of:

· Cancer: $87.1m

· Cardiovascular disease: $46.5m

· Mental health: $54m

· Indigenous: $19.4m

· Infectious diseases: $84.7m

Updated

Paul Fletcher, who looks after the arts, as well as communications (given the arts have been left out of so many government assistance programs, I thought you might need a reminder), has announced a $1.7m regional touring program. It is broken into three categories:

Playing Australia
$1,167,654 in funding will support 10 organisations to tour across all states and territories, including 84 regional and rural locations. Successful initiatives include Hit Production’s Isaiah Live, Regional Arts Victoria’s double bill Stardust and The Mission, and the Australian Theatre for Young People’s Follow Me Home.

Contemporary Music Touring Program
$335,389 will fund 17 groups of artists to perform at metropolitan and regional locations across the country, including more than 110 regional and remote towns, featuring country, folk, Indigenous, jazz, pop, rock and children’s music. Funding recipients include Tralala Blip’s Eat My Codes If Your Light Falls Tour, a differently abled electronic pop band from northern NSW who will tour to locations including Wagga Wagga, Bermagui and Gunnedah.

Contemporary Touring Initiative
$257,861 in funding will provide three contemporary visual artists the opportunity to tour their exhibitions to 17 regional centres as well as cities including Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. The funding will enable the Museum and Galleries NSW’s Centre of the Centre, a major new commission by internationally recognised Australian artist Mel O’Callaghan, to visit nine galleries and art centres across five states from 2021-23.

Updated

Not coronavirus related, but timely – the Association of Market and Social Research Organisations, or Amsro, has released an interim discussion paper into what went wrong with polling at the last election.

It has made 23 recommendations for polling companies, ahead of its final report in October. They are mostly about sample size, and transparency, but you can find them all here.

Updated

What does an independent inquiry, set up by the World Health Organisation, which Australia’s foreign affairs minister Marise Payne last month said was the last thing Australia wanted, as it would resemble a “poacher and gamekeeper situation”?

Well, at “the appropriate time” the WHO will set up an inquiry, forming a team from the member states, who will carry out the investigation.

The “appropriate time” will be when the pandemic is over. That was China’s main, public contribution, to the debate.

Updated

Good morning

Gladys Berejiklian is getting serious about restarting tourism.

After telling her state colleagues – mainly Queensland – that it was time to reopen the borders again, and for now, being ignored, the New South Wales premier has announced she’ll be opening up her own state for travel from 1 June.

As AAP reports:

New South Wales residents will be able to head to the state’s regions for holidays in less than a fortnight under a relaxation of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Recreational regional travel within the state will be allowed again from 1 June, according to multiple media reports.

Under current NSW public health orders, regional travel for holidays is banned. Queensland has flagged border closures with southern states could remain until at least September due to the coronavirus pandemic, prompting despair from tourism groups.

“Even if some states don’t let us travel there we’ll invite the other states here,” Berejiklian told the Daily Telegraph.

“If people are spending their dollars locally that has huge opportunities for us. The key is keeping people in jobs.”

The announcement will be confirmed by Berejiklian at her 8am press conference this morning, which we’ll bring you live.

The EU motion at the World Health Assembly, to investigate the origins and response to the coronavirus pandemic, passed overnight without incident. It will be enacted at “the appropriate time”, which was the key phrase in getting the motion up. That phrase got China on board with co-sponsoring the move, which, even if it was last minute, took down quite a few diplomatic barriers.

We’ll bring you all the day’s reactions and more as we continue our coronavirus coverage. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.

Ready?

Let’s get into it.

Updated

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