What we learned, Wednesday 20 January
That’s where I will leave you for today. Here’s what we learned:
- There were once again no locally acquired Covid-19 cases recorded in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland. The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, hinted that restrictions could ease next week.
- But Berejiklian indicated mask wearing in some settings, including public transport, may be kept “indefinitely”.
- There are now 10 Covid-19 cases in hotel quarantine that are linked to the Australian Open. They include two players.
- Amid controversy over the quarantine policy for Open participants, the world No 13, Roberto Bautista Agut, apologised for comparing the quarantine conditions to prison.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison hit back after the opposition leader Anthony Albanese accused him of “pandering” to outgoing US president Donald Trump. Morrison accused Labor of using the Australia-US relationship as “a political play thing”.
- Twenty-six men held for more than a year in Melbourne hotels were granted bridging visas, and will be released.
Updated
In US news, outgoing president Donald Trump has used his final hours before Joe Biden’s inauguration to pardon or commute the sentence of 143 people including allies including former White House aide Steve Bannon.
Trump leaves office on Wednesday US time, when Biden is sworn in as the nation’s next president. Among the wave of pardons issued was Bannon, a key adviser in Trump’s 2016 presidential run.
Bannon was charged last year with swindling Trump supporters over an effort to raise private funds to build the president’s wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty.
In a White House press release on the pardons, Bannon was described as “an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen”.
Also among the pardon list was Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for Trump who pleaded guilty last year to violating foreign lobbying laws, and former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a Democrat, who was serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.
Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were prosecuted on federal weapons offences, were also granted pardons. In total, 73 people were issued pardons and 70 had their sentences commuted.
AP described Bannon as a “voice of nationalist, outsider conservatism”, who led the conservative Breitbart News before being tapped to serve as chief executive of Trump’s 2016 campaign in its critical final months.
He later served as chief strategist to the president during the turbulent early days of Trump’s administration and was at the forefront of many of its most contentious policies, including its travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries.
But Bannon, who clashed with other top advisers, was pushed out after less than a year. And his split with Trump deepened after he was quoted in a 2018 book making critical remarks about some of Trump’s adult children. Bannon apologized and soon stepped down as chairman of Breitbart. He and Trump have recently reconciled.
Trump has already pardoned a slew of longtime associates and supporters, including his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law; his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone; and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Here’s our full story:
Updated
The Department of Home Affairs mistakenly sent outdated letters to visa applicants erroneously telling them to immediately book international return flights out of Australia in the middle of a pandemic or risk having their applications derailed.
Scoop from my colleague Christopher Knaus.
A tropical cyclone could bring damaging winds and heavy rain to parts of Western Australia’s Pilbara region in the state’s north.
AAP reports that residents and travellers along the coast from Roebourne, near Karratha, to Bidyadanga, south of Broome, are being urged to prepare for a potentially severe impact on Friday or Saturday.
Anyone without appropriate housing should leave immediately or find suitable accommodation, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Wednesday.
A tropical low heading towards the coast is expected to intensify and develop into a tropical cyclone in coming days, with a Category 3 impact possible. It would be the first tropical cyclone to hit the West Australian coast this season.
DFES assistant commissioner Paul Ryan told reporters:
A storm surge is not going to be too much of an issue for us in this instance; it’s more the destructive winds, particularly if it’s a [category three]. We’re expecting the rainfall ... will be concentrated around the cell. It won’t be widespread flooding to the area.
We do have some at-risk areas that we have identified and we’re planning towards what we need to do to respond accordingly.
A Category 3 cyclone would be expected to deliver up to 200mm of rain and wind gusts up to 200km/h.
Anyone in the affected area is encouraged to assess their properties for loose items, tie down boats or caravans and prepare a survival kit including a radio, torch, mobile phone charger, food, water and any necessary medication.
Holiday-makers camping or travelling in caravans are being urged to leave the Pilbara immediately.
Updated
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has given an interview with Bloomberg in which he seems to criticise Scott Morrison’s relationship with the outgoing US president Donald Trump.
Malcolm Turnbull weighs in: "as an Australian leader, back-slapping sycophantism is not the way to go"
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) January 20, 2021
"the reason I was able to get as good outcomes as I did with Trump... because I won his respect, by standing up to him and disagreeing and taking him on" https://t.co/0GIewML1zH
Updated
Here are some photos of Scott Morrison briefly getting stuck inside an elevator.
Updated
And that seems to be all from the prime minister.
Morrison is asked about Anthony Albanese’s speech criticising him for his relationship with US president Donald Trump.
He hits back, accusing Labor of using the Australia-US relationship as “a political play thing”.
He says:
Personal attacks are not foreign policies. The leader of the opposition thinks sledging me is some sort of foreign policy, he just does not get it. It is the job of every prime minister, of whatever political persuasion you are, and every president of the United States, whatever persuasion they are, to continue to steward what is a very important relationship and that is what I have been doing with the current president [and] what I will be doing with the coming president.
I have had a very warm conversation with president-elect Biden, and I’m looking forward to a very positive relation with president Biden once he is sworn in, and his administration. We have very good dealings and relationships with the current administration.
Updated
Morrison is being asked about the government’s emissions reduction targets for 2030. He says “we are going to meet and beat them” several times.
OK the feed is back.
Morrison is being asked by a reporter why he hasn’t visited a coalmine as prime minister, and whether it’s because he’s worried about implications from people in Sydney and Melbourne.
“Why would I not?” he says.
If the opportunity presents I will happily take it. I am happy to meet any Australians where they are working, and doing a great job.”
He tells us that he “bumped into a bloke just last week” at the Shoalhaven hotel who works in the mine there.
“We had a good chat about what is happening in the mines there,” he says.
(I’m sorry I have no idea what the context for this is).
Updated
Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking to reporters from rural Queensland.
“No one does mining better than Australians,” he says.
Then the ABC’s feed drops out.
I mean I assume he was going somewhere with that statement but also, where’s the lie?
Earlier today we told you that Labor leader Anthony Albanese had accused the prime minister Scott Morrison of “pandering” to US president Donald Trump in a speech on Wednesday.
The party’s shadow foreign minister Penny Wong has carried on that criticism. In an interview on Sky News today, she described the Trump administration as “unpredictable and tumultuous”, and accused Morrison of putting his “political interests ahead of the stewardship of the relationship” between Australia and the US.
She said:
I would point to a few things: I would point to in recent days, his refusal to disavow, to call out the incitement of protesters who stormed the Capitol. I would point to his willingness to effectively attend a campaign rally with President Trump. I would point to his refusal to condemn Mr Christensen and Craig Kelly who are peddling the same lies, which founded the attack on democracy, which was the storming of the Capitol.
Morrison has labelled Trump’s comments in the lead up to the Capitol insurrection as “incredibly disappointing”.
On Wednesday he told 2GB Radio it was “really disappointing” the events at the US Capitol had detracted from the Trump administration’s legacy.
“It’s been very disturbing what we’ve seen particularly around Capitol Hill.
But it had been a year full of violence, you know, in many ways last year in the United States. And I’m confident about America ... [they’ll] bounce back, they’ll overcome this.”
Updated
Labor’s shadow housing minister, Jason Clare, has addressed the “big jump in the number of Homebuilder applications”, describing it as a “good thing”.
Clare told reporters in Sydney:
The scheme kicked off late last year and it was very slow to start off. And a lot of tradies in the building game lost their jobs. We’re seeing that ramp up now. That’s good. That will hopefully mean that we’ll see tradies who work in building homes for other Aussies get their jobs back.
But a word of warning here - my office is already getting calls from people who applied for the $25,000, signed a contract for a new home, and are now being told by their builder they may not get the money. And the reason for that is the builder is saying they can’t comply with the rules the government has set up.
In particular, that the builder has to start building the house within six months of signing the contract. Now, if people sign up for the scheme, apply for the $25,000 and then miss out for no fault of their own, then I think that’s unfair. I urge the prime minister and the government to apply a bit of common sense here and work with the state governments who are involved in the scheme and make sure that people don’t miss out.”
Updated
Here’s our full story on the more than 20 refugees who have reportedly been released from detention inside a Melbourne hotel today.
A coalition of rights groups says Australia should take a step towards ending the mass imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by raising the age of legal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years old.
The Australian government is set to face questions over the country’s human rights performance tonight (Australian time), as part of the UN human rights council’s universal periodic review process that happens about every five years.
Countries that have submitted questions in advance have raised concerns about rates of Indigenous incarceration, as we reported yesterday. Germany wants to know precisely why Australia has delayed a push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years.
Ahead of tonight’s human rights hearing, the Raise the Age coalition has issued a statement with a range of its members urging Australia to take the rights of children seriously, and to commit to raising the age.
Monique Hurley, legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, said children across Australia “should be in schools and playgrounds, not police and prison cells”, while Cheryl Axleby, the co-chair of Change the Record, said the existing policy was “cruel, harmful and out of step with the rest of the world”.
Axleby said:
The Australian government has been condemned by tens of thousands of Australians, doctors, lawyers, academics and today comes under the scrutiny of countries like Poland and Germany who want to know why Australia is locking away Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids as young as 10 years old.”
Priscilla Atkins, the co-chair of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, said raising the age was one action that Australian governments could take right away “that will have an immediate – and generational – impact to end the over-incarceration of First Nations kids and to give our kids a brighter future”.
Dr Mick Creati, International Child and Adolescent Health Specialist and Senior Fellow with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said the UN review process was “another opportunity for Australian state and territory governments to be reminded of the urgent need to raise the age of criminal responsibility”.
Nolan Hunter, of Amnesty International Australia, said the UN and experts in child development and health agreed “that we must act on this now”.
Updated
And that’s all from me for today. I’ll hand you over to my colleague Michael McGowan.
Could be some bushfires in Victoria this weekend, the head of the state’s emergency services reckons.
The temperature is going to reach the 40s in some areas.
This just in from AAP:
Victorian fire authorities are bracing for a weekend of severe fire danger through northern parts of the state.
With the temperature forecast to climb into the 40s in some areas, emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp has warned Victorians to make sure their bushfire preparations are up to date.
He said Mildura will start to warm up on Thursday, while Sunday and Monday are set to be spike days.
“It will be a challenging weekend for us,” he said.
“There is every chance we will see total fire bans for Sunday and Monday ... with fire danger ratings, particularly up in the north of the state, around ‘severe’.”
Updated
Another piece from our powerful Childhood in Custody series has just been published :
The ACT has recorded no new Covid-19 cases.
ACT health confirmed restrictions remained for 10 local government areas in Sydney, meaning ACT residents who have been in those areas can return but must quarantine, and non-ACT residents cannot travel to the ACT without an exemption.
Updated
Here is what has happened so far today:
- No locally acquired Covid-19 cases recorded in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland.
- Ten cases linked to the Australian Open, including two players.
- Restrictions could ease in NSW next week, and on track to ease in Queensland on Friday.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison appears to compare the US Capitol insurgency with the Black Lives Matter protests.
- A tennis player who said quarantine was like prison apologises.
Updated
Multiple reports regarding that earlier bus crash on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road confirming six people have been injured. The road remains closed in both directions between Wye River and Lorne, but you can keep updated with VicRoads here.
As our West Australian readers start to log-on, I bring to you news of possible secession. I have not clicked through to see what other images/tweets etc come up under #WAXIT but please feel free to do so:
A group of business leaders in Western Australia want the state to break away from Australia… calling the campaign #WAXIT.
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) January 20, 2021
Should WA be allowed to break away and form an independent nation? #9News pic.twitter.com/mtStO3Ayzh
Updated
$7bn needed for social housing to address rising homelessness and create jobs, advocates say
A $7bn funding injection into social housing would address surging homelessness caused by the pandemic, advocates say.
This just in from AAP:
Social housing advocates fear a surge in homelessness stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, and are urging swift action from the federal government to ensure Australians have a roof over their heads.
A national campaign to end homelessness, Everybody’s Home, estimates a $7bn injection into social housing would make a serious dent in homelessness, while creating 18,000 jobs a year over the next four years.
“The initial surge of the pandemic may have passed but the economic aftershocks are still smashing household incomes,” campaign spokeswoman Kate Colvin said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Housing and homelessness providers we work with are under more pressure than ever with absolutely surging demand.”
Fuelling her concerns are reports that the major Australian banks will end mortgage holiday applications, which have helped thousands of struggling home owners during the coronavirus pandemic.
Everybody’s Home believes this decision would contribute to a surge in housing stress.
Ms Colvin said expanding social housing would offer a powerful social and economic response to the uncertainty and devastation the pandemic has created.
“By investing in social housing we can put a rocket under the construction industry to employ tens of thousands more people,” she said.
“At the same time, we can quickly expand the number of homes available to people whose livelihoods have been devastated by the pandemic.”
The federal government has put in place the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to support efforts to increase the supply of homes. The corporation has to date approved more than $1.6bn in loans.
Updated
There has been a serious bus crash on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. Paramedics are reportedly on the scene, but it is unclear how many people are injured. VicRoads say that the road, an exceedingly popular tourist destination this time of year, is closed between Lorne and Wye River, near the Mount Defiance lookout.
A detour is in place taking drivers inland via Deans Marsh and Skenes Creek.
Victorian authorities confirm 10 positive Covid-19 cases linked to the Australian Open
Victorian emergency services minister Lisa Neville has confirmed there are 10 positive Covid-19 cases linked to the Australian Open, seven of which were confirmed as of yesterday and three more that will be included in tomorrow’s figures.
She said during a media conference in Melbourne that the three new cases included two players and a support person, but one of the players is believed to be shedding the virus.
All the cases are in hotel quarantine, which Neville confirmed was being paid for by Australian Open organisers, not the state government.
26 refugees detained in Melbourne hotels for more than a year granted bridging visas
Refugee activists say that 26 men held for more than a year in Melbourne hotels were told earlier today they had been granted bridging visas, and will be released.
A statement for the activists said the men were being held in Carlton’s Park Hotel, after being moved recently from the Mantra Hotel in Preston. They had been held for as long as seven years on Manus Island before coming to Australia.
“This is a victory first and foremost for the men inside, who’ve put up with terrible conditions for years but never gave up their struggle for freedom”, said Nahui Jimenez, protest coordinator for the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism.
“As well, it’s a victory for the refugee movement, who have been united in hitting the streets day after day, month after month.”
The campaign will hold a protest on 30 January in a bid to free those who are still detained, with the 26 men released today to be invited as guests of honour.
Updated
Earlier, the Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed her government is looking at “a number of options” for quarantine in the regions instead of hotel quarantine in Brisbane.
Asked if that would include a mining camp outside Rockhampton, she said:
Not at the moment, because we’re working through it, and I will respect the confidences of our national cabinet again. We’ll put forward some proposals there and working over those issues in the next few days.
Scott Morrison has said he is open to the idea, and the federal government is “already doing that” at the Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory.
He told 2GB Radio:
Anna[stacia Palaszczuk] hasn’t – I haven’t got a proposal yet, I’m catching up with her in Brisbane on Friday ... In regional communities there will be understandable anxiety about what this will mean and how is that going to work, ‘why does it have to be here’ – those issues have to be worked through, we had to do that in Howard Springs but that worked. We’ll take it step by step but always happy to hear good ideas.
Updated
Berejiklian also had this to say about the diminishing prospect of international tourists being allowed into Australia this year and state border closures:
There’s no doubt thats an enormous hit to the Australian economy ... not having international travel is a huge burden we have to wear.
Which is why I’m so strident about at least having no [closed] internal borders within Australia, that will keep domestic travel, domestic tourism, it will allow more trade between the states, it will allow economic activity to thrive, it will keep people in jobs, and more importantly on a human level it will allow people to see their relatives and loved ones.
Updated
I am just catching you up on a press conference that NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has given on the mid-north coast.
She has, somewhat predictably, again made comments about the approach in NSW compared with other states.
Berejiklian said:
In NSW we’ll always try to strike the right balance of providing the health and safety for our citizens but also for making sure we allow the economy to grow stronger, for jobs to grow, and for people to have their livelihoods protected and thats very important to us to get that balance right.
Different states have different approaches, but I want to stress all states have the ambition of zero community transmission, and that’s certainly the case in NSW.”
NSW may keep mask wearing in certain settings 'indefinitely'
“I do want to foreshadow that mask wearing in certain settings may be something we may keep indefinitely,” Berejiklian says about the potential for easing restrictions next week.
“We just want to give people that additional line of defence.
“We also want to make sure what we announce is simple and wholistic.”
Updated
“Deep, deep gratitude to the community for allowing NSW to get to where we are,” Berejiklian says.
Berejiklian said some conditions, such as masks on public transport and other high-risk settings, could remain beyond next week.
Updated
Restrictions could ease in NSW from next week
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is thrilled with all the testing yesterday (almost double the number of tests than Monday).
She says the health advice is that they will wait another week before easing conditions, but they are hoping to get to “pre-Avalon” restrictions then if case numbers remain low.
NSW records no new locally acquired Covid cases
NSW Health will not be doing a press conference today, but have confirmed there are no new locally acquired cases and a significant increase in the number of tests (almost 20,000). Three new cases were found in hotel quarantine.
WATCH: Dr Jeremy McAnulty provides a #COVID19 update for Wednesday 20 January 2021.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 20, 2021
There will be no press conference today. For the latest information on COVID-19 case locations in NSW visit: https://t.co/pqkRdfyEBr pic.twitter.com/2tYDamnIEi
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We have heard from another reader who successfully obtained one of the 40,000 travel vouchers released by the Victorian government today. She says all of the $200 vouchers were snapped up within 25 minutes!
There is a disconnect between the expectations of employers and employees when it comes to “hybrid” working relationships that have developed during the pandemic, according to research published today.
The Adapting to the New Normal: Hybrid Working 2021 report found that while about 80% of employers said they had based their return to office plans on discussions with staff, only half of staff said they had been consulted.
Some 600 employees and 300 employers contributed to the Pitcher Partners and Bastion Collective research.
Updated
You can find global Covid-19 news, if you’ve a hankering, on this blog which just launched over here:
Morrison appears to compare US capitol insurrection to Black Lives Matter protests
Prime minister Scott Morrison appears to have drawn a comparison between the violence at the US Capitol by a mob attempting insurrection and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
Speaking to 2GB Radio, Morrison agreed with presenter Ray Hadley that the events of the last couple of months had “detracted” from what the Trump administration had achieved over four years.
Morrison said:
I think it’s a fair comment and that’s what was really disappointing. But there’s some very good people in that administration - I particularly worked closely with the vice-president [Mike Pence] ... and secretary [of state Mike] Pompeo - I had the chance to talk to them in the last 48 hours and thanked them for that and wished them well.
But it’s been very disturbing what we’ve seen particularly around Capitol Hill. But it had been a year full of violence, you know, in many ways last year in the United States. And I’m confident about America ... they bounce back, they’ll overcome this.
What we see over here, from the extremes - because that’s what you see on your televisions - you don’t see people in their normal towns and communities most of the time, you see the extremes on television. The American story is much bigger than that.
The apparent comparison between an insurrection and rallies for racial justice and against police brutality echoes comments by the deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, last week while acting PM.
McCormack invoked the “all lives matter” rebuttal to Black Lives Matter protests while comparing them to the Capitol Hill mob.
Morrison also rejected critics’ including Anthony Albanese’s claims he was too close to Donald Trump, saying that “reflects more on them than me”.
Prime minister Scott Morrison has counselled public health experts and commentators against “creating anxiety” about when international travel will resume.
Presumably that includes the chief medical officer Paul Kelly who has warned it will be one of the last elements of Australia’s coronavirus policies to change.
Morrison told 2GB Radio that international travel depends on the success of the vaccine, and the government will take policies “one step at a time and not get too far ahead of ourselves”.
There are a few hiccups [in Norway], but they’re getting past them. Things change quickly, they can improve quickly or deteriorate quickly. So we’ll take things one step at a time, not create too much anxiety about what might or might not happen.
Asked about companies handing back jobkeeper payments – including the Super Retail Group – due to good sales results, Morrison said that he welcomed it.
What that says is – people know when they need it and appreciate it when they need it, but they don’t want to take advantage of it.
Updated
Ray Hadley has told Prime minister Scott Morrison on 2GB to put sunscreen on his ears today. It is forecast to be hot in Cloncurry.
A reader has been in touch to thank me for alerting them to the travel vouchers being released in Victoria this morning and to say the website is working well, despite crashing during an earlier release.
Ray Hadley has had a chuckle at the thought of PM Morrison getting a call from his NZ counterpart Jacinda Ardern while driving through the “middle of the outback” yesterday. Morrison is speaking to 2GB from regional Queensland.
Queensland reports no new local Covid cases and two in hotel quarantine
In Queensland, no new local cases have been reported, with two new cases in hotel quarantine.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says there have been positive sewerage results on the Gold Coast, which is expected because of the location of hotel quarantine, in Cairns North, where there is a case “that was intermittently shedding”, and in Canonvale in Mackay.
Updated
Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking on 2GB. He is again talking about the difficulty in getting people to work on farms.
“This is a very hard thing to get to work. Governments have been trying to do this for years and years.
“A lot of this work was being done by backpackers, and obviously because of Covid there’s not as many people around.”
Updated
Kogan fined $310,800 for breaching spam laws
Online retailer Kogan has been hit with a $310,800 fine for sending more than 42 million unwanted marketing messages to customers. This report from AAP:
Major online retailer Kogan has copped a massive fine for bombarding customers with spam emails.
The company has agreed to pay $310,800 for sending out more than 42m unwanted marketing messages.
Kogan made it difficult to unsubscribe from the emails, requiring customers to set up passwords and log into their accounts.
Australia’s communications watchdog has found the company breached the Spam Act, which requires electronic marketing material to contain an unsubscribe function.
Nerida O’Loughlin from the Australian Communications and Media Authority said Kogan’s breaches affected millions of customers and frustrated many people.
She said the company was given multiple warnings about its tactics before the official investigation began.
“Businesses must comply with the unsubscribe requirements in the spam rules,” O’Loughlin told AAP.
“This investigation makes clear that businesses can’t force customers to set a password and login to unsubscribe from receiving commercial messages.”
The company has since updated the unsubscribe settings on marketing emails and accepted a three-year, court-enforceable undertaking which will apply to both its Kogan and Dick Smith brands.
It will be required to appoint an independent consultant to review the company’s systems and procedures, as well as train staff responsible for sending marketing messages.
Kogan will also need to regularly report to the ACMA on its customer complaints.
O’Loughlin said the significant fine and tough terms of the deal should send a clear message to Kogan and other companies about flouting spamming laws.
Updated
I urged you all yesterday to get your teeth into our Childhood in Custody series, and I can again recommend today’s instalment from Laura Murphy-Oates:
The size of the Coalition’s homebuilder scheme has tripled from an estimated $688m to more than $2bn, as more than 75,000 applicants qualified for the uncapped stimulus program.
The scheme had a low take-up rate at first due to the slow establishment of application processes in each state and territory, but received a surge of 35,000 applications in the final weeks of December.
The grants were originally worth $25,000 for new builds or significant renovations. While the program has been extended for a further three months to 31 March, grants have been reduced to $15,000.
Statistics released by the assistant treasurer, Michael Sukkar, show that most applications were for new builds (59,763) rather than rebuilds (15,380).
Victoria lead the way with 21,595 successful applications, followed by Queensland (13,507) and New South Wales (13,687).
Sukkar said:
Treasury estimates that homebuilder will now support up to $18bn of residential construction projects.
Homebuilder was designed immediately to inject confidence and encourage buyers back into the market to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic on the residential construction industry.
On all counts homebuilder has more than achieved this objective, and it has kept hundreds of thousands of tradies in work who would have otherwise been facing the unemployment queue.
This is a phenomenal outcome for our tradies and for our economy at a time it needs it most.”
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Anthony Albanese has hit back at critics of his leadership and standing in the polls – such as the Construction Forestry Mining Maritime and Energy Unions.
Albanese told 2GB Radio:
With respect … which poll are we doing badly in? If you look at the published polls, a Newspoll at the end for the year finished up with the government on 51% [two-party preferred] and us on 49%. That’s a lift in our vote – a three-point lift in our primary vote; I’ve been in positive territory [for approval rating] the whole way through; prior to the pandemic I was the preferred prime minister. During a pandemic what you have is a flight to leadership that’s occurred in every state, everywhere except where pandemic has been completely mishandled such as the US …
We’re very competitive, our vote is up on where it was at the last election. And at the end of the year we’ve had a real focus on the government, where people have wanted the government to succeed because of the implications for their health and job if it didn’t succeed – then I make this observation – we are a pretty good position going into 2021.”
Albanese said Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon – despite quitting the frontbench – has not called on him to quit, and he had “never heard” of the CFMMEU organiser Eliza Doidge, who suggested Tanya Plibersek would be better to lead the party.
Albanese said he showed “strong leadership” against CFMMEU Victorian construction secretary John Setka and in contrast Scott Morrison has taken no action against MPs promoting “quack ideas” for treating coronavirus and conspiracies about the US election.
Updated
Victoria reports no new locally acquired Covid cases for the 14th day in a row
It is now two weeks without a locally acquired case in Victoria. But the state has recorded three cases in hotel quarantine.
19,810 Covid tests were received in Victoria yesterday, which is roughly double that of NSW’s testing numbers reported yesterday. NSW still has a number of cases under investigation with no known transmission links.
Yesterday there were 0 locally acquired cases reported, and 3 in hotel quarantine. It has been 14 days since the last locally acquired case. 19,810 test results received - thank you for getting tested.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 19, 2021
More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/Wli493VkXi
Updated
The Victorian government is releasing more $200 travel vouchers at 10am today. It has previously been a little bit of a palaver getting one, with the website crashing, but feel free to try your luck again here.
We wrote this piece about travel vouchers all over Australia last month:
66% of Australians say they are likely to get Covid vaccine – study
There has been some interesting research released by the United States Study Centre, which found that 66% of Australians, compared with 36% of Americans, were extremely or very likely to be vaccinated with an approved Covid-19 vaccine.
Only 8% of Australians said they were not at all likely to use an approved vaccine, as opposed to more than a quarter (26%) of Americans.
The research can be found here.
Updated
Tennis Australia head says 'cultural' differences in the response to Covid-19 may explain player gripes
Tennis Australia chief executive officer Craig Tiley says there are six active Covid-19 cases in hotel quarantine linked to the Australian Open.
Our latest figures were seven, so we will hopefully get some clarity on that later today when Victorian officials speak.
Tiley, speaking to the ABC, said he was looking forward to the 14-day quarantine period ending on Friday next week, as that would hopefully mean the tennis, rather than questions about the pandemic, can take centre stage.
He also had some interesting comments about the gripes from players, including two who reported finding mice in their room:
Well, it’s a tightrope that we walk and one of them is the safety of the Victorian community and that will not be compromised under any circumstance. I do understand the players.
This is a new experience for them and I don’t think anyone expected to be in – to know what the 14 days was like and they are adapting to it. At the beginning, they did start – was pretty challenging with their adaptation. It’s got a lot better.
Obviously the commentary and the social media hasn’t helped but we have to just continue to move forward and look towards tomorrow and do the best job we possibly can.
Tiley added that cultural differences could explain some of the concerns, with players from more than 100 countries travelling to Melbourne to compete for $83m in prize money.
It’s difficult for some of these people.
We must not forget that we have invited these players also from around the world, over 100 countries to Australia, and culturally there’s a different approach to how the virus is managed. And we’re proud here in Victoria and Australia of how we have done it and protected the community like we have. And we’re going to continue to do that.
So we don’t make any excuses for the 14 days. That was a requirement that was – everyone knew that risk coming in. It was a requirement to come in into Australia and play the Australian Open. And again we’ll work with those players.
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Penny Wong accuses Morrison of putting relationship with Trump over Australia's interests
Labor senator and shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has doubled down on criticising the relationship between prime minister Scott Morrison and outgoing US president Donald Trump.
Morrison had “corroded” our most important alliance, she said.
Wong, speaking on the ABC, also said Morrison should have been more forthright in condemning Trump’s behaviour ahead of the insurgency at the US Capitol earlier this month.
She said the Trump presidency had been unpredictable, and “regrettably” led to a decline in US influence and power.
Obviously we have said consistently through the last four years the alliance transcends any individual, it is the centrepiece of Australia’s foreign policy, it’s our most important relationship.
But there is no doubt that this has been a tumultuous and challenging time for America’s allies including Australia and we look forward to President Biden’s administration delivering on the commitment he has made to invest more strongly in alliances and to recognise that alliances are the central aspect - a central aspect of US power.
Scott Morrison has corroded the alliance by the way he has approached his relationship with Donald Trump. He has put his political affinity with Mr Trump and his own political interests ahead of Australia’s interests and the values in the alliance.
It was Scott Morrison who attended effectively a campaign rally for President Trump and critically it is Scott Morrison who’s failed to call out Mr Trump and defend democracy as other world leaders have. And he continues to indulge the conspiracy theorists in his own ranks instead of disavowing them which would be an in our interest for him to do.
Here is a piece from my colleague Paul Karp about Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s comments regarding Morrison and Trump.
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Parts of Australia to swelter over long weekend
It is likely to be very hot this long weekend in many parts of the country, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s for some cities.
This morning’s forecast for major Australian cities shows that 10 of the 15 will be in the 30s on either Friday or Saturday (or both), with Adelaide, Albury-Wodonga and Canberra all nudging 40.
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Tennis player apologises for comparing quarantine to prison
The world number 13, Roberto Bautista Agut, has apologised for comparing quarantine conditions for the Australia Open to prison.
He reckons the video of his comments was broadcast without his consent, but he’s apologised to “everyone who has been offended”.
Several players or support staff who criticised quarantine have later backtracked, and tennis officials said yesterday that after a conference call with more than 500 of them, the majority were satisfied.
— Roberto BautistaAgut (@BautistaAgut) January 19, 2021
Another prominent Australian health official has poured cold water on the prospect of any of us slipping overseas for some pool-side daiquiris this year.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly said yesterday that “international borders will be one of the last things to change”. On Monday, his predecessor, and the head of the health department, Prof Brendan Murphy, was similarly dismissive about widespread vaccination bringing about any major change to international travel.
Australia’s major banks are reportedly planning to stop allowing home loan deferrals, a policy introduced to provide economic relief during the pandemic.
The Nine newspapers reported that banks were no longer accepting new applications for deferrals, and would end the practice altogether in March.
Good morning
This is Nino Bucci with you on the Australia live blog for the next few hours.
Two more Australian Open players have tested positive to Covid, bringing the total number of cases associated with the event to seven. Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton also said two previous positive Covid-19 cases that sparked a hard lockdown of some tennis players in quarantine had been reclassified as cases of “viral shedding” linked to previous infection. But he said it was too early to clear the flights the reclassified cases were travelling on, meaning all passengers, including 47 players who were deemed close contacts, must remain in hard lockdown.
Some players were able to train for the first time yesterday, and expressed their gratitude to Victorian and Australia authorities and Tennis Australia for being able to hold the grand slam.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese accusing the prime minister, Scott Morrison, of “pandering” to Donald Trump and damaging relations with Joe Biden. Albanese warns the Biden administration’s climate policy will leave Australia “totally isolated” on the world stage and calls for Morrison to re-engage with multilateral cooperation after his rhetoric about “negative globalism”. Albanese argues Morrison “went too far” in cultivating the US president “partly out of his affinity with Donald Trump, partly because of the political constituency they share”.
And the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, says proposed Australian media laws requiring tech companies Google and Facebook to pay for displaying news content risk setting a precedent that “could make the web unworkable around the world” and undermine the web’s “fundamental principle”.
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