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The Guardian - AU
National
Josh Taylor and Calla Wahlquist

NSW reports 14 new cases, as Victoria records seven cases and five deaths – as it happened

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What we learned today, Wednesday 14 October

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

My colleague Calla Wahlquist will be back in the morning to bring you more of the latest in Covid-19 news, but here’s what we learned today:

  • New South Wales reported 14 new cases of Covid-19, 11 of which were locally acquired. Nine of the 11 are connected to the Lakemba GP cluster. The state government has urged everyone with symptoms to get tested.
  • The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, defeated no-confidence motions in the two houses of state parliament over the revelations in the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) about her relationship with the disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.
  • Victoria recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 and five deaths. The regional town of Shepparton is on alert after three people in the town tested positive, connected to the worker connected to the Chadstone outbreak who travelled to Kilmore but did not reveal in contact tracing that he had also been in Shepparton.
  • Hours-long queues at testing sites in Shepparton were reported on Wednesday as residents responded to the government request to get tested.
  • Ahead of the announcement on Sunday of the next restrictions to be eased in Victoria, the federal government is pressuring the state to open up. The health minister, Greg Hunt, said Victoria should apply the commonwealth standard for being able to open up, which is for a rolling average of 10 or fewer cases per day. The rolling average in Melbourne today is 9.6. The federal government reported a 31% increase in people accessing mental health services in Victoria.
  • Queensland and the ACT are on alert after a woman in Melbourne tested positive for Covid-19 after travelling from Townsville via Cairns, Brisbane and Canberra. It is likely, however, the transmission occurred when she arrived back in Melbourne three days ago.

Until tomorrow, stay safe.

Updated

The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, has once again refused to condemn the Coalition backbenchers Craig Kelly and George Christensen for continuing to push a debunked treatment for Covid-19 described by medical experts as “dangerous”, saying the pair were “entitled to their views”.

Updated

Seven News is reporting still very long queues for testing at the testing clinics set up in Shepparton after three cases connected to the Chadstone and Kilmore outbreaks were reported there last night.

Updated

Here’s my report on the full federal court appeal hearing today for the Tamil family that has been held on Christmas Island for more than a year.

Updated

NSW Health issues western Sydney hotspot alerts

NSW Health has just released hotspot locations for people who should either be isolating and getting tested or monitoring symptoms.

Anyone who attended the following venues is considered a close contact and must get tested immediately and isolate for a full 14 days from exposure regardless of the result:

  • Al-Jabr – A Different Class of Mathematics, 37 Queen Street, Auburn on Thursday 8 October between 4.30pm and 8.45pm, and Sunday 11 October between 10am and 4.30pm.
  • ACE Tutoring, 25 George Street, Parramatta on Saturday 10 October between 9.30am and 1.20pm.

Anyone who attended the following venue is considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received:

  • Westfield Mount Druitt, corner of Carlisle Avenue and Luxford Road, Mount Druitt on Monday 12 October between 11.30am and 1pm.

Updated

ACT and Queensland on alert after Covid-19 case warning

A woman in her 30s who travelled from Townsville to Melbourne via Brisbane and Canberra has tested positive for Covid-19.

She travelled from Townsville 11 days ago, to Cairns on QF2302, then Brisbane on October 6 on Virgin flight 792 before flying on QF1543 from Brisbane to Canberra on 7 October.

Queensland Health has placed a number of people, including health professionals, into two weeks’ quarantine, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said on Wednesday.

“We know that this individual had been treated in a number of health care facilities so we’ve put (the clinicians treating her) into quarantine,” he told reporters in Cairns.

Miles said it was most likely the woman contracted the disease in Melbourne, where she had been for three days before being diagnosed.

The Digital Transformation Agency has said in its annual report that in the first few months after the release of the Covidsafe contact tracing app, the DTA received “more than 20,000 emails and thousands of phone calls ... several leading directly to product improvements”.

It’s worth noting that the major recommendation for improving the app from developers – to move to the Apple/Google version of the app – has not been acted upon.

Updated

In more border-related news, the Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has been accused of keeping the borders closed for political gain after the state’s chief health officer suggested the risk of allowing some travel had “substantially decreased” with a fall in Covid-19 cases, AAP reports.

In evidence before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, Andy Robertson said he was open to considering travel bubbles with other jurisdictions that had also gone at least 28 days without community spread.

All states and territories besides NSW and Victoria have now met that benchmark, he told state parliament’s education and health standing committee.

Robertson also said he was generally satisfied with other states’ border arrangements, contradicting McGowan’s claim a fortnight earlier that he had been advised “their borders are not as strong as ours”.

“The premier’s been caught out by his chief health officer,” the opposition health spokesman and committee member, Zak Kirkup, said.

“I think he’s motivated by fear, ensuring that West Australians feel scared, and that’s what the border arrangements have been based on.”

Robertson said he remained concerned about WA’s susceptibility to the virus because restrictions on physical distancing had largely been removed.

He also declared it was achievable for all states and territories to achieve 28 days with no community spread by Christmas.

Updated

Tim Wilson has also called Icac’s decision to hold public hearings on the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s relationship with Daryl Maguire “disgraceful”.

“It seems clear by pursuing this matter by a public hearing rather than a private one, its outcome has to be to humiliate somebody on the basis of their private life. I’m not arguing the issues shouldn’t be explored, they should be, but I really question the integrity and the basis on which Icac has pursued this matter.

Updated

Now federal Liberal MP Tim Wilson is up on the ABC, joining the chorus today of federal government members criticising the Victorian government’s lockdown, and calling the lockdown in Melbourne “degrading and dehumanising”.

The reality is the Victorian lockdown has become degrading and dehumanising for Victorians. Victorians are being humiliated. It is concerning the steps that the state government isn’t prepared to take in light of what they’ve now admitted which is that they aren’t confident they can meet their own roadmap and that’s why the federal government has been strong in making sure that we communicate the expectation we have to build the spirits and the confidence of Victorians to be able to find a safe, normal for people to be able to get on with their lives.

Labor MP Jenny McAllister says federal Labor will continue to support the state governments on their approach to combatting Covid-19.

It is obviously very different and the approach Labor has taken at a federal level has been to support the state premiers who are working with the health advice that they have and the circumstances that they have been presented. That will continue to be our constructive approach. Of course, I would like to see New South Wales stay with low overall case numbers and I guess we wait the health advice which will be delivered by the premier and the health officer here in good time.

Updated

NSW Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party leader Robert Borsack was on ABC earlier.

He said he is shocked by the revelations about premier Gladys Berejiklian and former MP Daryl Maguire coming out of Icac.

“It is just unbelievable stuff that’s coming out there today. Look, I ... just, she must have had the suspicion that what he was doing was corrupt. He had to declare their relationship. It is black and white and she didn’t do it and neither did he.”

He said it is impossible for the premier to defend maintaining a relationship with Maguire, and while he wouldn’t be drawn on whether she will survive it, he said the rules needed to be tightened around disclosure of interests, particularly for parliamentary secretaries.

“What we’re seeing coming out of Mr Maguire is systematic corruption extending over many, many years. It is not much difference to probably on the scale a lot different, but not much different to the corruption we saw with Eddie Obeid and that was cabinet level.”

NSW lower house no-confidence motion against Berejiklian defeated

The NSW lower house has also just voted against a motion of no confidence against the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, 38-47. So that’s the no-confidence motions of the day finalised.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks during question time today
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks during question time today. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

NSW upper house no-confidence motion against Berejiklian defeated

While votes are counted in the lower house, a no-confidence motion against the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, in the upper house has just been defeated, on the casting vote of the president, giving her an important symbolic victory in her battle to hang onto the top job.

The vote was 20-20 but John Ajaka, the Liberal president, used his vote to defeat it.

“I must vote and at my discretion give reasons,” Ajaka said.

“In my view there is no possibility of further discussion, I will cast my vote in the negative,” he said.

The motion was defeated.

Labor was down one MLC because Shaoquett Moselmane is on leave while under investigation for his ties to China. The independent MP Justin Field, the two Animal Justice party MPs and Fred Nile voted with the government.

Updated

The motion is being voted on now. It’ll be about 10 minutes.

McKay says it’s not a matter of whether Berejiklian is a good person or not, or whether she is respected by the people of NSW. She says her integrity is up for debate, and why she “failed in her duty as the highest office holder in the land” in failing to report what she knew about Maguire to Icac.

“If there are no consequences for her failure to do her duty, and then we shrug it off as a personal stuff up ... if we accept that, then we are actually saying this is OK to do. It’s actually OK for you to know about this behaviour, fail to report it and effectively cover it up.”

Updated

The NSW parliament, meanwhile, is debating the motion of no confidence against the premier, Gladys Berejiklian. The Labor leader, Jodi McKay, says Berejiklian “had a duty” to tell her party and Icac that she was in a relationship with the former member Daryl Maguire who was up before Icac.

Updated

Three new Covid-19 cases have been reported in South Australia today, all women in their 20s, 30s and 60s who are returned travellers and tested positive on their first day in quarantine.

South Australia is also advising people travelling from New South Wales to be aware of the locations of the new cases in the state.

Updated

That’s about it from Morrison’s press conference. He stopped answering questions.

Scott Morrison indicates that the health response to the Covid-19 pandemic will stay the same whether the LNP is elected or Labor is returned at the state election, but draws a difference over economic policies.

The real difference, I think, is whether someone has a plan to actually get Queenslanders back into jobs and an economic plan to do that. Our federal, National Liberal plan to get Australians back to work is working and we have a plan to continue that into the future, whether it is the plan on lower energy costs for manufacturers, or the plan to build the water and road infrastructure needed for Queensland or support projects like this one ... What’s very clear that in the time I’ve had to spend with Deb Frecklington over the last few days is she has thought carefully about the way Queensland can grow back out of Covid-19 recession.

Updated

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is holding a press conference in Townsville.

He is asked about the hard Queensland border, and says the medical advice on that needs to be transparent. He says he and the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, were “on a unity ticket” on reopening the borders in July before Victoria’s second wave, but the ongoing border closure has come at a cost.

You put these things in place, you have to acknowledge the cost it imposes, especially to the tourism and hospitality industry here. While it is significant, the build back from the pit of the Covid recession, 70% of jobs came back New South Wales, 70% have come back to South Australia but only 44% for Queensland.

One of the reasons for that is the tourism and hospitality industry has been hit hard in Queensland, depends on New South Wales and Victoria, and on the Kiwi tourism business as well as internationally.

Kiwis will be having holidays in two states from Friday and the only thing stopping them having a holiday in Queensland is the fact they have to quarantine for two weeks in Queensland.

Updated

Melbourne QV Woolworths staff member tests positive

AAP is reporting a staff member at Woolworths’ QV story in the CBD of Melbourne has tested positive for Covid-19.

The staff member last worked on 7 October, and a full clean of the store was completed on Tuesday evening.

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest from the daily press release from Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton.

Of the seven new cases, three are linked to the Shepparton outbreak and the other four are under investigation.

Three are in Greater Shepparton, two are in Wyndham, and there are single cases in Moreland and Whitehorse.

A case in Geelong yesterday was removed from the numbers, after it was determined it was a positive case still shedding small amounts of virus weeks post-infection and after they recovered.

The total number of cases from an unknown source in the last 14 days (28 September-11 October) is 14 for metropolitan Melbourne and zero from regional Victoria.

There are currently 182 active cases in Victoria, including 16 among healthcare workers and 30 relating to aged care facilities.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton at today’s daily press briefing in Melbourne
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton at today’s daily press briefing in Melbourne. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Thanks for your company today. I am handing over to Josh Taylor, who will take you through the afternoon.

Please remember to tell the truth in a contact tracing interview, on Daniel Andrews’s promise – we all heard him! – that people will not get fined by police for breaching restrictions because of a full and immediate disclosure to the contact tracers.

TWU suspends negotiations with Virgin Australia

The Transport Workers Union says it has broken off negotiations with Virgin Australia for a new enterprise agreement after reports the airline’s chief executive, Paul Scurrah, has been sacked.

The union’s national secretary, Michael Kaine, said he was concerned Virgin’s new owners, US private equity group Bain Capital, were going to move to a low-cost model rather than the full-service airline championed by Scurrah.

Such a move would result in the loss of yet more jobs at Virgin and also lessen competition in the skies, potentially giving bigger rival Qantas market dominance and resulting in higher airfares.

Scurrah wasn’t sacked as recently as this morning, when he appeared at a financial newspaper’s infrastructure conference.

Bain Capital has been contacted for comment.

Kaine said:

This is a serious and worrying development. The ink is not yet dry on the sale of Virgin and it appears that private equity firm Bain Equity are behaving as we feared: ripping out the heart of Virgin and reneging on promises to the Australian people. We are suspending negotiations on enterprise agreements while we seek clarification on these developments. For our part, we are engaged in talks in good faith. If the plan and scope of the airline as outlined in August by Bain Capital has already been scrapped then this is a serious betrayal that must be addressed.

Updated

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, could be exposed to public anger over any potential adverse findings from the hotel quarantine inquiry in Victoria, writes Josh Taylor, because two other people who may have copped that heat – the health minister Jenny Mikakos and the head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Chris Eccles – have already fallen on their sword.

Josh has been covering the hotel quarantine inquiry, which is due to hand down its final report on 6 November.

Updated

The Group of Eight universities chief executive, Vicki Thomson, has told a parliamentary inquiry the budget’s $1bn injection for research funding may save some jobs but universities will need more in 2022 and beyond due to the drop-off in international students.

Thomson told the Senate migration committee although the sector hoped to bring international students back in semester one, 2021, they won’t get back to pre-Covid-19 flows until 2022. That’s a problem because a smaller class of 2021 will mean fewer second years in 2022, so there is a continuing revenue impact.

Thomson said that universities planned to lay off 4,000 researchers due to come off contract between December and March. The $1bn will help “ameliorate” that but “won’t solve” the problem.

She said:

The $1bn was step one, we need to look at year two, year three etc. We’re not going to have international students back as we did. In many ways, what Covid-19 has done is shone a light on the distorted funding model. There will be no going back to just relying on international student revenue to subsidise research. It’s a new normal ... The government now understands we had a distorted funding model.

Thomson said the funding was an “important stop gap” for the Group of Eight, which conducts 70% of Australia’s university research. In its updated strategic plan, the Australian National University has indicated the funding could save 30 jobs.

Thomson said the Group of Eight was “really concerned” there was not enough support for international students – with nothing from the federal government, unis and state governments had to fill the void. There is “significant poverty among international students” who “are really struggling”.

Thomson noted welfare and wage subsidy programs in Canada and the UK included international students, which could factor into future students’ choice about where to study.

Updated

Ex-NSW MP Daryl Maguire is still giving evidence to Icac, and Michael McGowan is still providing live coverage, which you can read here.

Updated

Meanwhile, question time has been under way in NSW parliament and it was, as you would expect, a bit rowdy.

The opposition leader, Jodi McKay, had a heated exchange with the premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

McKay:

Premier, given you’ve been in parliament for 17 years, and worked with hundreds of MPs, are you aware of any other members of parliament who are taking commissions from property developers?

Berejiklian:

Mr Speaker, I say this – the leader of the opposition sat in the cabinet with Eddie Obeid and Ian MacDonald. Did she know –

McKay:

Unlike you, I reported it to Icac!

Berejiklian was also asked if she would act on Icac’s request to have its funding be independent of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. She said she asked the secretary of her department to ask the auditor general to undertake an independent review of the effectiveness of the financial arrangements for Icac, and was waiting to receive that report. She also claimed her government had increased Icac’s funding by 50%.

Updated

Federal court told Biloela family 'denied procedural fairness'

The full federal court today heard the federal government’s appeal in a ruling that the youngest member of a Tamil family from Biloela was denied procedural fairness over the immigration minister David Coleman’s handling of the case.

Tamil asylum seekers Priya and Nades and their Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharunicaa, have been detained on Christmas Island since late last year, awaiting the outcome of legal proceedings surrounding a visa application for Tharunicaa.

In April this year, the family failed on one ground in the original trial, but were successful in arguing that Coleman seeking a full brief about the family’s case, on the eve of the May 2019 federal election, showed he was considering lifting the bar preventing Tharunicaa from applying for a visa.

By ultimately not acting on that brief, she was denied procedural fairness, according to the ruling.

In the appeal heard on Wednesday, the barrister acting for the federal government, Stephen Lloyd, argued requesting the brief did not indicate the minister was thinking of lifting the bar, and that at the time the brief was requested “the family was the focus of press attention” and “one might expect that a responsible minister may wish to be apprised of the circumstances pertaining to a family likely to get press coverage. So that may be why I was asking for a full brief”.

Ultimately Coleman didn’t act on the brief after the election.

Part of the reason it is unclear as to why Coleman did not act on the brief is he had been on personal leave since the end of last year, and was not called to give evidence as to his reasoning in the first trial.

Counsel representing the family, Angel Aleksov, said the briefing was “unambiguous” and “the best evidence in this case”.

The court reserved its judgment.

Updated

NSW health authorities have issued some more information about a Covid-19 case detected in Bargo, about an hour south of Sydney.

The case was mentioned by Dr Kerry Chant earlier today but will be included in tomorrow’s numbers, because NSW counts its daily totals in 24-hour periods starting and ending at 8pm.

NSW Health has urged anyone who lives and/or works in the Bargo area to monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested immediately should they develop.

They say that close contacts of the positive case have been identified and are isolating and being tested.

The testing clinics in the Bargo area include:

  • Picton GP respiratory clinic at 9 Margaret Street, Picton (open 1.30pm-5.30pm Monday-Friday and 8am-12pm Saturdays)
  • Camden hospital walk-in clinic at 61 Menangle Road, Camden (open 8am-6pm 7 days)
  • Bowral and District hospital outpatients clinic at Ascot Street, Bowral (open 8am-6pm 7 days)
  • Campbelltown hospital at Therry Road, Campbelltown (open 8am-6pm 7 days)
  • Mittagong GP respiratory clinic at 58 Bowral Road, Mittagong (open 8am-5pm 7 days)

A full list of NSW testing clinics is here.

Updated

Back in Canberra, the health minister, Greg Hunt, says it is “not acceptable” that contact tracers did not know until this week that the truck driver from Melbourne who travelled to Kilmore, causing a cluster there, also stopped off in Shepparton.

Whether or not that is an issue for the authorities or for the individual not in a position to provide that advice, I don’t have that insight. What I can say is there has been very significant improvement in Victoria, their official data is that they are keeping up with the contact tracing – there are obviously individual cases and stories. But, around the country, if you ask me what is my number one public health focus at the moment, it is to make sure that the improvement in Victoria’s contact tracing continues. It has seen significant improvement but honestly there is more to go.

A reporter asks Hunt if GPS data from people’s phones should be used, but for some reason they do not ask if the Covidsafe app has worked as planned, because clearly it is supposed to provide this kind of information.

I don’t know if the truck driver had downloaded the app, but it’s an obvious question to ask if we’re talking about using peoples’ phones to identify potential close contacts, no?

Health minister Greg Hunt gives a Covid-19 update in Canberra
Health minister Greg Hunt gives a Covid-19 update in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

According to local Win News reporter Grace Evans, police in Shepparton in northern Victoria are telling people at the back of the queue for testing to go home and come back tomorrow.

Victorian health authorities today told anyone who had visited a list of high-risk locations in Shepparton to get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.

Three people tested positive to Covid-19 in Shepparton yesterday, and they were believed to have exposed by a truck driver from Melbourne on 30 September who did not tell contact tracers that he had stopped in the town. So, that’s two weeks before the virus was detected, in which it could have circulated in the community.

Updated

Greg Hunt says Victoria should open up with a rolling average of 10 cases per day

Hunt said Victoria should apply the commonwealth standard for being able to open up, which is for a rolling average of 10 or fewer cases per day. The rolling average in Melbourne today is 9.6.

He said that applying the commonwealth standard would allow Melbourne to open up sooner, “and that will make a profound difference to people’s mental health”.

We see in New South Wales what’s been able to be done with cautious, careful step-down distancing rules whilst maintaining a rolling average of under 10 cases a day in terms of the community. And so they have done that very well and that provides a model for many.

Victoria is aiming for a rolling average of five or fewer new cases before it opens up. Hunt said Victoria should instead base itself off the commonwealth standard.

We have a commonwealth definition in terms of hotspots, that’s a rolling average of less than 10 cases. Victoria is below that rolling average. In fact today Victoria’s numbers were below New South Wales with regards to community transmission – the figures I have before me were 11 cases within the community of NSW, seven for Victoria.

So they have passed the national threshold, from our perspective the 10 case threshold would be an appropriate one for Victoria to utilise, the national threshold. NSW has for some months been able to carefully, cautiously, progressively lift restrictions, they are still using the national roadmap, still using the four-square metre rule and they announced future changes yesterday.

The commonwealth standard but with the NSW model, would respectfully provide a way forward for Victoria and Victoria has already reached that commonwealth standard.

Updated

Hunt said that across the country there are currently 28 people in hospital with Covid-19, and only one person is in intensive care. No one, nationwide, is on a ventilator with Covid-19.

Twenty-three of those in hospital are in Victoria – not including the person in intensive care.

There has been a 31% increase in accessing mental health services in Victoria

The Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, is addressing reporters in Canberra about a concerning rise in the number of people contacting mental health services during 2020.

The challenge of mental health during what has been one of the most difficult years Australians have faced since the second world war, if not the most difficult year.

In the past four weeks, Hunt said, there has been a 31% increase in Medicare-funded mental health services in Victoria compared with the same period in 2019.

So one state, one full week period, during the most difficult of times, I know having been in Victoria representing an electorate in Victoria, with family and friends and numerous constituents and people from across the state, that this pressure is real and significant.

So that 31% increase, that compares with a national total of 15% across the rest of the country when you take out Victoria, so the reference case, a 9% increase. That’s still a difficult time. So many people have economic uncertainty and because of that there are stressors, strains, anxieties and in many cases, sadly, depression which has come from it.

With regards to the helplines, for example, if we compare Victoria with the rest of the country, then what we see is that for the four weeks to 4 October, Victoria’s use of helplines was significantly higher than that for the rest of the country. Beyond Blue shows that there’s a 77% higher per capita use in Victoria compared with the rest of the country. Lifeline is 16% higher than the rest of the country over that comparable period. And Kids Helpline, 24% higher than the rest of the country.

So against that background, what I want to emphasise is the support that is available and I am pleased to be able to announce that the budget measure of the doubling of better access services is now in place already around the country. So it’s available to people around Australia. And I think that’s a very important step forward and I would urge those that need to access the additional psychological services to work with your GP, to consult your doctor.

Updated

Looking across the Tasman quickly, the New Zealand opposition leader, Judith Collins, has, as AAP put it, “thrown her National party’s election campaign further off kilter with unfortunate off-the-cuff comments on obesity”.

Making off-the-cuff comments about obesity is not a good idea for anyone, just as a general rule. But if you are the underdog four days out from an election against a popular prime minister like Jacinda Ardern, saying in a radio interview that obesity is a personal choice is a doubly bad idea.

Collins reportedly told Newstalk ZB that “people need to start taking some personal responsibility for their weight” and added that it “wasn’t catching”.

Some 31% of New Zealanders are obese, AAP reports, the third-highest proportion of any country in the world, according to the OECD.

When Collins was called out on her views, she dug in, saying:

Do you know what is heartless? Thinking that someone else can cure these issues. We can all take personal responsibility.

On another program she criticised parents of obese children, saying:

... it doesn’t take actually much to get frozen vegetables out of the freezer and pull them out and do something with them. It’s not that hard.

As AAP reports, the comments were also racially tone deaf, with two in three Pasifika (66%) and half of Maori (48%) obese.

Dr Lisa Te Morenga, senior lecturer in Maori health and nutrition at Victoria University, told AAP that Collins’ remarks were “outrageous and disappointing”.

Making healthy food choices is really difficult for people when they are constrained by income, lack of access to healthy foods and the environment is full of junk food options.

And Maori and Pasifika families earn less money, are more likely to live in poverty and in areas not well served by shops.

Te Morenga said if Collins wanted to help she could campaign on lifting wages or increasing food subsidies.

Updated

Prof Catherine Bennett, the chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, has written about the weaknesses of Victoria’s contact tracing system going into this pandemic, and the extent to which it has been fixed. She writes:

In Victoria, a legacy of cuts left the Department of Health and Human Services under-resourced and highly centralised, meaning there was a smaller base upon which to build the surge contact tracing capacity (with some contact tracers coming from interstate).

This was further challenged with the rapid rise in daily new cases, from 65 to 288 in one week alone in July. Systems had to be developed quickly to manage large quantities of data and feed it back to a central hub. The state had to “build the aeroplane while flying”.

Much has changed since then, and for the better. Some hard lessons have been learned along the way but the contact tracing system in Victoria is now very comprehensive and increasingly robust.

You can read her full piece here:

Police in Victoria have fined 56 people, including 12 for failing to wear a mask, in the past 24-hours. One of the fines issued overnight was given to a man who allegedly travelled from Melbourne to Philip Island to spend time with friends, and one was issued to a woman who is alleged to have travelled to Bacchus Marsh, near Geelong, from a Melbourne suburb under stage four restrictions to attend a beauty salon.

Police also checked 25,799 vehicles at various vehicle checkpoints around Melbourne, and conducted 1,732 spot checks on homes, businesses, and on people in public places. They have conducted almost half a million spot checks since the public health orders came into effect on 21 March.

As we reported earlier, community legal centres have requested the director of Fines Victoria oversee Victoria police’s internal fines review process, saying that their clients who were fined unjustly had been denied procedural fairness.

Updated

A few more bits from the Victorian press conference, via Melbourne reporter Matilda Boseley.

Prof Brett Sutton clarified that everyone who attended a site that had been classified as high risk in Shepparton has been told to get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of whether they have symptoms. In the NSW vernacular, that would mean that everyone who attended those high-risk sites was considered a close contact as opposed to a casual contact.

He was asked if that would be the approach from now on, and said:

We will always look at the circumstances of particular places but yes that is the policy. That’s the contact-tracing procedure for all of these settings.

Those high-risk places in Shepparton are:

  • The Central Tyre Service on Welsford Street, any time from Wednesday 30 September to Tuesday 13 October. The three positive cases worked in store.
  • The Thai Orchid Restaurant on Nixon Street on 7 October from 7pm to 8.30pm, when a person who has since tested positive dined in.
  • Bunnings Warehouse on Welsford Street on 2 October.
  • McDonalds Shepparton North on 3 October.
  • The Lemon Tree Cafe on Fryers Street (date and time not provided)
  • The Shepparton Market Place Medical Centre on the Midland Highway on 8 October
  • The Shepparton-Mooroopna Golf Club Members Bar on 4 October and 11 October.

Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said the “default setting” was now that the positive case, any close contacts, and the close contacts’ contacts would be asked to isolate.

And then, at different intervals testing everybody in those three groups. And then what that might do is then opening you up into a whole series of other groups ... That’s isolating a small number of people, but casting the net quite widely. And that’s the key to allowing everybody else to be more open, rather than a kind of statewide lockdown or a community-wide lockdown.

Updated

Sutton was also asked to remind people how to properly wear a face mask, in response to growing anecdotal reports of people who are wearing their mask incorrectly.

Sutton said:

I’ve seen a lot worn on chins, I have seen them sitting below the nose – they shouldn’t, you can inhale the virus through the mouth and the nose.

He said he was sure people in Shepparton now would be wondering whether they had worn their mask correctly, and if that may have protected them. When worn correctly, a tight seal around the nose and mouth, face masks can reduce the risk of transmission by 50%, Sutton said. They are particularly effective for those early few days when a person may be infectious and not symptomatic, so not know to isolate.

Here’s a good refresher on how to (and how not to) wear a mask:

Updated

Back in Melbourne, the daily coronavirus press conference is still going. The chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, was asked if they can guarantee that the truck driver who unwittingly spread the virus to Kilmore and Shepparton had not travelled anywhere else and failed to disclose that to contact tracers.

Sutton said that remained to be seen, as the man is being re-interviewed by contact tracers.

That’s part of the power of work today.

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton speaks during a press conference on Wednesday.
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton speaks during a press conference on Wednesday. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Updated

Berejiklian said Daryl Maguire 'fooled a lot of people'

Berejiklian was also asked about Maguire’s evidence before the Icac, which concerned potential misconduct dating back to 2012. She said:

I would say this, if any of us had known he’d been doing that since 2012, if any of us had known that, of course we would have reported it. But obviously he fooled a lot of people. He fooled a lot of people because, clearly, he was conducting activities he shouldn’t have and many people were not aware of.

The exchange continued.

Reporter: Premier, has he made a fool of you?

Berejiklian: I’m sorry?

Reporter: Has he made a fool of you?

Berejiklian: That’s for others – that’s for others to make judgment on.

Reporter: Do you feel he’s made a fool of you?

Berejiklian: That’s for others to make judgment on.

Updated

Berejiklian said that the photo was not a smoking gun, saying:

As premier I am in photos and meetings and whatever else with many people I do not know, with many people, because that is my role. My role is to conduct the affairs of state, my role is to be in positions where you are in photos and things with people you don’t know and you don’t put things together. That’s the nature of it. But please be careful with the dots you’re trying to draw which simply do not exist. Simply do not exist. OK.

And again, I’m happy to – I’m happy to answer all questions in relation to the public interest. But my tolerance for answering questions which frankly are offensive is waning. Because I’ve already provided information to the Icac on those matters and I refer you to that.

Updated

Back to NSW, where Gladys Berejiklian has delivered a spray to reporters over some questions she has faced over her past relationship with allegedly corrupt ex-MP, Daryl Maguire.

It’s very windy where this press conference is taking place in Sydney so I can’t pick up all of the reporters’ questions. The first is about what access a person had to her during her relationship with Maguire. I gather this is a reference to the photo of her smiling and standing behind Maguire while he shook the hand of Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Berejiklian responded:

Can I say this, and with all due respect, I’ve answered every question I’ve been asked the last few days. I’ve been very open about issues that are very uncomfortable for me, issues I don’t talk about. But I will say this, every day that I am in this job I am here for the people of this state. Never ever have I done anything wrong in relation to my position. Never ever have I tolerated anybody else doing anything wrong and if I ever saw it or witnessed it or knew about it, of course, I would have taken action. But I say this to the people of new situation, can I – thank you – I have been honestly overwhelmed and sustained by the support that the people of this state have shown me, and I will repay that by continuing to work for you, to be your number one advocate to keep you safe, keep you employed. That is my job, it is my honour and privilege to do it.

A reporter tried to ask another question, and Berejiklian said:

Excuse me, let me finish. I’ve given you your turn, let me finish. I say to the people of this great state, you elected me, you deserve me to be focused on you, the issues that matter to you and that’s exactly what I will do. I know the people of this state know that I have done nothing wrong, I appreciate the questions you all need to ask and I’ve answered them in full detail, but you also have to respect my position as Premier and let me do my job.

In response to another question, she said there is “clear separation for all of us, no matter who any of us are. There is clear separation in what we do at work, what we do in our public life versus what we do in our personal lives, and I am more conscious of that than most people would appreciate”.

I say to the people of this great state, I apologise for the distraction, it was out of my control. I apologise for that completely. I never have and never would do anything wrong by the people of this state. I am here for the people of this state. I have been overwhelmed by the comments and the support I’ve received. And whilst I will always be open and transparent in answering any question I receive on any matter, I also appreciate the need for me to be focused on my job. If I had done anything wrong I would not be standing here as your premier. I would be the first one to admit if I had done something wrong but I have not. What I want to do and continue to do and will do is put our people first. The most important thing for me has always been my service to the community and my service to the public. That is unwavering and I will not have innuendo, incorrect statements put to me which I have found offensive, but in due course I have attempted to answer everything because it is in the public interest for the public to have confidence in me. And that’s why I’ve been very, very open about things that are very difficult to take talk about. Things I don’t talk about even with the people closest to me, but I have done that because the public deserves to know they have a Premier that knows the distinction between her personal life, how important her public office is and who also knows that every minute of my day that I am at work as the Premier of this state I m here for the people of this great state.

And again:

I have stressed over and over again, I had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. And those matters have already been canvassed and no doubt in the next few days will continue to be canvassed. I have made that point on numerous occasions, and if I had done anything wrong I wouldn’t be standing here today.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian holds firm on Wednesday.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian holds firm on Wednesday. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Updated

Queensland residents told to get tested after woman tested positive in Melbourne

People in Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane have been asked to urgently get tested for Covid-19 after a Queensland woman who travelled to Melbourne tested positive for the virus in Victoria.

According to the Courier-Mail, the woman lived in Townsville but travelled through Cairns and Brisbane before flying to Melbourne on 7 October. The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, told reporters:

The team at Queensland Health has asked a number of people who may have been in contact with her to quarantine themselves for 14 days and get tested in that period ...

It’s most likely she contracted it while in Melbourne, she was in Melbourne several days before being tested, however the way we’ve been so successful is by being ultra-cautious.

Queensland recorded no new cases today.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian said NSW authorities want to see about 20,000 people to get tested each day to ensure they are picking up every chain of transmission.

Some of the new cases that have emerged in south-western Sydney tells us, and Dr Chant explained this in great detail this morning, tells us there was some chains of transmission we hadn’t picked up weeks or months ago.

She said the eased restrictions, now been put on hold, were:

  • An easing of the 4 sq m rule for indoor dining at cafes to allow for a minimum number of patrons before the rule applies;
  • Allowing for group bookings of more than 10;
  • Increasing the number of people who can attend a wedding.

Those changes may still be announced as early as later this week but not until Kerry Chant gives them the go-ahead, she says.

Updated

The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, says he has “serious concerns” about the number of people coming forward to get a Covid test.

I can still hear the Victorian coronavirus press conference in my other ear, and Daniel Andrews is making the same plea for anyone with any symptoms to get tested.

Said Hazzard:

It’s fair to say that as health minister I have some concerns, some very serious concerns about testing. The numbers that we got overnight are just reminiscent to me of Crossroads [the cluster at the start of the NSW second wave] and it worries me that perhaps the community are not actually coming out in the numbers that we need to be tested. Effectively, each and every one of us, our community [are] the frontline troops of a war on Covid and just thinking you might have hay fever is no excuse to not get tested.

In fact, it’s the reason you should get tested. So what we’ve seen is the numbers of testing on Monday get back to 7,000, that means that on Sunday we had not too many people going and getting tested. I really am making a very strong call to our frontline troops, our community in this war on Covid to go and get tested.

Updated

The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, gave slightly different numbers to Berejiklian.

Chant said there were 11 locally acquired cases and three in hotel quarantine, which is 14 in total. So we’ll go with that.

Chant said:

Of the 11 locally acquired cases, nine were linked to the Lakemba GP cluster. All nine cases are household or other contacts of known cases, including three who attended the clinic. Contact tracing and investigations into the source of the cluster continue.

The other two locally acquired cases are linked to the private clinic cluster in Liverpool, a cluster which now has 10 cases in it. One of the new cases is a patient, and the other is a staff member.

Chant added:

As the Premier indicated, overnight we did receive another notification of an elderly gentleman from Bargo, the interviews are still underway but in order to galvanise the community we are identifying that case ahead of more formal details of their movements to ask the community to be particularly alert in that Bargo area and present for testing.

As the Premier said we are in a critical phase. It’s reassuring overnight that the cases were linked to known clusters. Is obviously overnight we’re investigating a couple of other cases that we will need to do that investigation to see if they’re similarly linked, but I suppose due to the large nature of the contacts that we’ve had to do, the multiple venues, all of that means that there is potentially inefficiency people in many settings.

We’re still trying to unravel the source of the clusters and this is the time we’re asking the community to come forth and get tested but also maintain those Covid-safe practices.

NSW records 11 locally aquired coronavirus cases and holds off easing further restrictions

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says she has held off a planned easing of restrictions because of growing coronavirus numbers and low testing numbers.

NSW recorded 14 new cases, 11 of which were locally acquired. Nine of the 11 locally acquired cases are linked to the Lakemba GP cluster.

Says Berejiklian:

I cannot stress enough that this is the most concerned we’ve been since that first incident when the Victorian citizen came up, infected his colleagues and went for a drink at a hotel. This is the most concerned we’ve been since that time ...

If we get advice to say that Dr [Kerry] Chant is satisfied we can make those announcements we’re intending to do, we will. But I want to make very clear we’re holding off because we are concerned with where we’re up to.

Updated

The reporter trying to hammer out the timeline is Raf Epstein from the ABC. What he is trying to determine is whether the permitted worker – who is a truck driver, so I’m going to call him that because it’s less clunky – had been or should have been contacted by DHHS before he travelled to regional Victoria for work on 30 September.

Says Jeroen Weimar:

In terms of the original Chadstone outbreak, so the driver had not, I believe on the 30th had been told – he had not yet been told to self-isolate at home is my understanding. I can confirm that offline for you.

What I can confirm is the driver on 30 September was already under any conditions, any permitted travel into regional Victoria, was under obligations not to attend any local restaurant, cafe, Bunnings or any other retail activity outside of regional Victoria and to practise all the good measures around social distancing, mask wearing and hand hygiene we should all do.

There have been a number of breaches of those core principles that led to not only Kilmore – I think the real area of concern for us with Shepparton is we ended up in a very extensive conversation with the individual on the back of the Kilmore outbreak, at that point we should have been told about the Shepparton connection that he had made. Had we known about that, we would have done in Shepparton what we did in Kilmore and Benalla, which was to jump on all this and the contacts a week earlier.

Updated

Daniel Andrews says the permitted worker from Melbourne travelled to both Kilmore and Shepparton, and sparked both outbreaks, has been referred to police.

So the timeline is that the manager of the Chadstone butcher shop tested positive on 28 September, on 29 September the contact details of all the staff at the butcher shop were forwarded to DHHS, and on 30 September, the driver – who lived with a staff member – travelled to regional Victoria, Kilmore, Shepparton and Benalla, on a permit to undertake permitted work.

The potential breach is that he dined in at a cafe and visited a store – which he was not allowed to do, under the restrictions on travel for Melburnians in regional areas.

This referral at first seems a bit confusing given Andrews’ comments last week that people would not get referred to police for things disclosed in contact tracing. He said people would not get in trouble for telling contact tracers the “full story”.

Here’s his full response on this point:

This matter has been referred to theVictoria police. It has gone to the compliance unit and they will provide further information to Victoria police from DHHS and they will make further judgments.

You don’t get in trouble if you tell the full story, I want to make that clear to people. You potentially do get into trouble if you don’t. By trouble, I am not just talking about a fine but there are infections in Shepparton today that we know of and there is almost certainly going to be more that were all completely preventable if this individual had told the full story.

He wouldn’t have got into trouble for telling the whole story. It is only when you don’t that we all have problems. We all have a challenge that is greater than it should be. We can’t change that. That is why we are focused night and day to get everybody in Shepparton that needs to be tested, tested and put in an appropriate response around those people and pull this up as quickly as possible.

Victoria police will deal with that. That is not for politicians to do that work. I want to reconfirm, there is no stigma or shame in getting this thing, it doesn’t discriminate. What people can’t do equally is discriminate in what they tell us. They have to tell people the full story. If you happen to have visited a pretty large regional town, to not tell us you have done that is not the right thing to do. Not for yourself, not for the people that are infected because of that and all the infections that may come that were all preventable, if back weeks ago, or certainly days ago, we could have done, in Shepparton and in Kilmore and Chadstone, to make sure people got tested and we found them quicker and their contracts could be away from everybody else.

We will have to see how this runs over the coming days. If you tell the full story, you don’t get into trouble. It is when you don’t that you cause difficulties for everyone and potentially for yourself.

Updated

Shepparton outbreak linked to permitted worker from Melbourne, authorities confirm

Victoria’s commander of testing and community engagement, Jeroen Weimar, is speaking now about the Shepparton outbreak. He says all three cases are linked to the Central Tyre Service in Shepparton, after one employee went for testing after feeling unwell.

Weimar said:

Yesterday, early afternoon, an individual who had come forward at the weekend to get tested received a positive result. We immediately tested 12 other people at her workplace at a tyre shop in Shepparton and identified two further positives.

As of late yesterday evening we had three positive cases, nine negative cases in Shepparton, all associated with a tyre shop. Yesterday afternoon we traced back the source of the infection to a Melbourne resident who travelled with a permit to Shepparton on 30 September. That was the original cause of the cluster as we now understand it, within the Shepparton area.

Our focus today is about responding to both the three positive cases we have but also we believe a number of contacts that could have been made in the last two-week period.

He then read out the list of areas visited by positive cases, an updated version of which can be found here.

Says Weimar:

We are asking anybody in Shepparton or Goulburn Valley who has visited those locations, come forward and get tested today. If you have symptoms, if you don’t have symptoms, if you attended any of those locations at the times set out on our website, please, we ask you to get tested to make sure we can stop the virus in its tracks. We are asking all residents of the Shepparton area, if you have any symptoms and we ask this of all regional Victorians and all Victorians in Melbourne, if anybody has symptoms whatsoever, go to your nearest testing centre and get tested today.

Do not delay, don’t wait. Any period in which you are feeling unwell and are carrying the virus, you are spreading it to your family, your friends and your associates. The only way to stop it is to identify it at the earliest possible state and follow from there.

Updated

The 14-day average of new cases in Melbourne is 9.6. That’s the number that has fixated everyone because, according to the Victorian roadmap, it has to get down to an average of five in order to the next stage – which was earlier flagged to happen this Sunday. Daniel Andrews addressed that fixation, slightly, by saying that seven positive cases out of 16,061 cases was a very good result:

It is one that gives the very clear sign that the numbers are coming down, whether they are coming down as fast as we hoped, that is another matter. We will need to see the days between now and Sunday unfold. We will say more about that on Sunday, about some significant changes.

Updated

Daniel Andrews gives daily coronavirus update

The Victorian premier is addressing the media now. Daniel Andrews repeats the daily figures of seven new cases and, sadly, five deaths.

Four of the new cases are in Melbourne, three are in Shepparton.

Four of those five deaths are connected to aged care. There are now 23 people in hospital, none of whom are in intensive care. There were 16,061 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

There are eight active cases in regional Victoria – three in Shepparton and five in the Mitchell shire (which is Kilmore).

There are also 16 active cases among healthcare workers, and 30 in aged care.

Updated

We are expecting the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to step up for a press conference any minute now.

Meanwhile, Daryl Maguire is still giving evidence before Icac. He has so far admitted to receiving thousands of dollars in cash at his parliamentary office for a visa scheme he set up, and has agreed, after questioning from counsel assisting Stuart Robertson, that he sought to “monetise your office” as an MP, and “use your status” as an MP “with a view to making money”.

You can follow the live coverage of those hearings here.

Updated

In other news, the Victorian Labor MP Will Fowles, who you probably remember from this exploit, appears to have drawn some inspiration from The West Wing in his speech opposing a no-confidence motion against the premier, Daniel Andrews, last night. You can listen to a clip of it here but these were the quotes:

Martin Sheen as Jed Bartlet in The West Wing:

We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil.

Fowles:

We did not expect nor did we invite this confrontation with a ferocious and feckless enemy.

Bartlet:

That every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that our capacity may well be limitless.

Fowles:

If we think we have reached the limit of our resolve we need only to look to these heroes and decide that our resolve may well be limitless.

In Fowles’ defence, it has been A Year and it’s possible he’s one of those political types who has watched The West Wing so often that it is wired into his brain. Unfortunately for him, it is also wired into the brain of the majority of his parliamentary colleagues, their staffers and the press gallery, so the unattributed partial quotes were picked up.

Updated

Let’s go back to the investigation into branch stacking allegations against two Victorian federal Liberal MPs, mentioned earlier.

The finance department has investigated the allegations made against Kevin Andrews and Michael Sukkar and said that in both cases there was not sufficient evidence to warrant further investigations.

The statement regarding the allegations against Andrews is here and the statement on the investigation into the allegations against Sukkar is here. In both cases, the department said, the MPs requested had the investigation.

On Sukkar, the review concluded:

Further investigation of the matters within the scope of the review is not warranted as there is not a sufficient basis to form a view that there was serious misuse of Commonwealth resources under the MOP(S) Act or the PBR Act.

There is no basis to refer the matter to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority under the Protocol because there is no evidence of serious misuse of work expenses.

On Andrews, it said:

The review concluded that further investigation of the matters within the scope of the review is not warranted as there is not a sufficient basis to form a view that there was serious misuse of Commonwealth resources under the MOP(S) Act.

Updated

Former NSW MP Daryl Maguire begins giving evidence before Icac

The former NSW MP Daryl Maguire is now in the witness box before Icac. Counsel assisting, Stuart Robertson, has warned that his questioning of Maguire will go for “at least the whole of today”, most of tomorrow and possibly Friday.

He begins by runningthrough Maguire’s understanding of the ministerial code of conduct.

Robertson: Whilst you were a member of parliament you understood, didn’t you, that you had an obligation not to use your position to promote our own pecuniary interests or those close to you in circumstances where there is a conflict or real or substantial possibility of conflict.

Maguire: Yes.

Robertson: You understood that duty throughout the time you were a member of parliament.

Maguire: Yes.

Robertson: You understood that you had an obligation not to use your influence as a member of parliament to seek to affect the addition to further your private interests or those of an associate.

Maguire: Yes.

Robertson: You understood that obligation.

Maguire: Yes.

Robertson: Whilst you were a member of parliament you’re also aware that you are bound by the codes of conduct.

Maquire: Yes.

My colleague Michael McGowan is providing rolling coverage of these hearings, which you can follow here:

Updated

In other news, Chasten Buttigieg, husband of the former US presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, is displeased with our US colleagues for referring to the couple’s pet dogs as “lazy”.

The insult came in the first paragraph of this story by Tom McCarthy about Pete Buttigieg’s success in combating conservatives on Fox News.

I don’t know the dogs personally but can only assume they are very good boys and/or girls.

Updated

Daniel Andrews will hold his daily press conference at 11am.

Updated

The Victorian chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, has urged people to be honest with contact tracers about their movements.

This follows reports that the same person who unwittingly spread Covid-19 to Kilmore also spread it to Shepparton, and neglected to tell contact tracers that they had visited the northern Victorian town.

Updated

Community legal centres request Fines Victoria oversight in review of Covid-19 fines

A coalition of community legal centres in Melbourne has formally requested that the director of Fines Victoria step in and oversee Victoria police’s internal review of Covid-19 fines.

Inner Melbourne Community Legal, one of the legal centres, said in a statement today that it was “frustrated after months of refused internal review applications, despite widely-reported public comments by Victoria Police that Covid-specific fines that did not pass a ‘common sense test’ world be withdrawn”.

An IMCL lawyer, Lloyd Murphy, said:

To date we have not had a single Covid-19 fine withdrawn by Victoria Police through the fundamental safeguard that is the internal review process.

It is our experience that Victoria Police does not uphold the principles of procedural fairness and refuse an internal review application on the first occasion without providing any reason for adverse decisions or giving us an opportunity to respond to the refusal.

Among the fines unsuccessfully reviewed were a person fined for sitting on a park bench after exercising, a person fined for taking a photo on an empty street in the CBD while walking to the supermarket, and a person fined walking home from work.

Updated

The ABC has reported that the Shepparton outbreak (three cases) and the Kilmore outbreak (six cases) are linked to the same person from Melbourne, who travelled to regional areas as a permitted worker.

Meanwhile, the Queensland opposition leader, Deb Frecklington, is on the campaign trail and has been speaking to reporters in Mackay.

She has announced a $50m program to cyclone-proof houses in cyclone zones that do not comply with current standards. The proposed grant is capped at $15,000 for 75% of the total cost of the work, which has to be done by a registered tradie.

Frecklington says it will create jobs.

We are just about to have a cyclone season. The tradies want to see money out of the door so people can be safer. Imagine an oldie sitting in their home, it is a 1950s [house] with asbestos, crappy windows and needs sealing on the windows. Those people are focused on making sure their home is safe.

As mentioned earlier, prime minister Scott Morrison is in Queensland today to support Frecklington’s campaign. He called in to Sydney radio this morning from Rockhampton – about 330km south of Mackay.

Updated

Federal Liberal MPs reportedly cleared of branch stacking allegations

The finance department has reportedly cleared the assistant treasurer, Michael Sukkar, and the veteran Liberal MP and former frontbencher Kevin Andrews of inappropriately hiring staff to conduct recruitment from their offices (to stack branches).

In August an explosive story by Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes aired allegations that a party operative, Marcus Bastiaan, had organised staff to recruit members to boost the position of his faction while they were employed by Andrews. The report claimed to have seen evidence from memos, documents and recordings that suggested while Sukkar was not actively involved in stacking Liberal branches, he may have benefited from it.

Bastiaan rejected allegations of branch stacking but resigned from the party. Andrews and Sukkar also denied wrongdoing but the matter was referred to the finance department, which oversees parliamentarians’ employment of staff.

According to the Australian, the department hired an independent reviewer and has now concluded:

Further investigation of the matters within the scope of the review is not warranted as there is not a sufficient basis to form a view that there was serious misuse of commonwealth resources under the [relevant legislation].

There is no basis to refer the matter to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority under the protocol because there is no evidence of serious misuse of work expenses.

Updated

A second cycling team has pulled out of the Giro d’Italia due to the coronavirus, sparking concerns about the viability of the race.

The Mitchelton-Scott and Jumbo-Visma teams both withdrew after positive tests among team members on Monday. Mitchelton-Scott’s general manager, Brent Copeland, said:

Unfortunately we received the news on Monday evening that we have returned a number of positive Covid-19 results to members of our staff after our third round of tests in three days. As a social responsibility to our riders and staff, the peloton and the race organisation we have made the clear decision to withdraw from the Giro d’Italia.

Among the cyclists to test positive are the Australian Michael Matthews, of team Sunweb – but while he was not at the start line on Tuesday, the Sunweb team has not withdrawn.

Find more details here:

Updated

Parts of Western Australia are under a catastrophic fire danger rating today. The Bureau of Meteorology says very hot, dry and gusty winds over the southern interior, Goldfields and Eucla areas will bring extreme to catastrophic fire danger.

A reminder that the fire season is upon us.

Updated

The coronavirus omnibus bill passed the Victorian upper house in a late-night sitting last night. A move by the state opposition to add an amendment that would have scrapped the 5km rule failed.

As AAP reports:

The omnibus bill passed around 2am on Wednesday in the Legislative Council after weeks of negotiations between the government and crossbenchers.

There was widespread concern about controversial powers in the bill to detain Victorians over public health orders.

But crossbenchers succeeded in having those measures taken out of the legislation.

The omnibus bill will now go to the lower house, where Labor has a strong majority.

Updated

The NSW opposition leader, Jodi McKay, has tweeted the reasons for her no-confidence motion against the premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

McKay alleged that Berejiklian “turned a blind eye to corruption in her Government by failing to report her knowledge of Daryl Maguire’s business dealings for six and a half years, even after his resignation from parliament in July 2018”.

She said:

She failed to report discussions she had with Daryl Maguire, over a number of years, about his business dealings – including congratulating him on the amount of commission he was earning from such deals.

She failed to fulfil her legal obligations under the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act to report corrupt conduct, and her obligations under the Ministerial Code of Conduct to manage conflicts of interest in her Government

She has failed to uphold any standards of propriety across all levels of her government.

Most importantly, there must be consequences to the Premier’s actions. To simply pretend this didn’t happen, to move on and forget sets a standard I won’t allow.

Updated

There are now eight disadvantaged jobseekers – meaning people with significant barriers to employment, including older people and the long-term unemployed – for every entry-level position in Australia, according to a report by Anglicare.

Find more details in this report by Luke Henriques-Gomes:

Updated

The Victorian chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, has issued some encouragement to the people of Shepparton:

Updated

I just want to jump back to Scott Morrison’s interview on 2GB briefly, because I had to hear this so you do too.

After joining in some vigorous defending of Gladys Berejiklian, the host, Ben Fordham, played the prime minister a clip of the US president, Donald Trump, saying at an election rally that he will “kiss everyone in the audience”.

You know, the Donald Trump who tested positive for Covid-19 less than two weeks ago, was hospitalised and pumped with an experimental cocktail of drugs, then reportedly returned a negative test yesterday and is now campaigning again? The leader of a country where more than 200,000 people have died of Covid-19? That Donald Trump.

Morrison laughed at the clip, as he was meant to, and then said:

There’s nothing like Donald, that’s for sure, but the Australian public is safe from my lips.

Look, I know the US-Australia relationship is held in some esteem, but surely joking about kissing people while out in public less than two weeks after being diagnosed with a disease that has caused more than 1 million deaths worldwide in less than 10 months is not something which the prime minister of Australia should chuckle about?

Updated

Victoria reports seven new coronavirus cases and five deaths

Victoria has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, five more people have died.

The rolling 14-day average is 9.6 for metropolitan Melbourne and 0.6 in regional Victoria. There have been 14 cases with an unknown source detected in metro areas in the two weeks to 11 October.

Updated

Morrison says Berejiklian's integrity is 'not in question'

Scott Morrison has called in to 2GB radio in Sydney from Rockhampton. He told the host, Ben Fordham, that he did not have any doubts about Gladys Berejiklian’s integrity – and Fordham is 100% on board. He opened the interview with a spiel about how the NSW premier should not be punished for having a dud boyfriend.

Says Morrison:

She has been very upfront with people and I think very vulnerable with people about it and in that vulnerability there has been I believe great strength. Her integrity is not in question, I don’t think, I have known her for years and I know her form and I know her character …

Right now, NSW needs Gladys Berejiklian more than ever ... Gladys Berejiklian has done a great job but she’s human like the rest of us. And the way that she’s owned that – she hasn’t ducked it, she’s owned it and stepped up to it.

Fordham says Berejiklian is dedicated to public office, and Morrison agrees:

She has dedicated her life to this job and she’s a pleasure to work with … And not everybody is as fortunate as others in their personal lives and how these matters go. Ben, as you know, I have been blessed as you couldn’t believe in these matters, but I put that down to Jenny.

Fordham suggests that Morrison would be able to sympathise with Berejiklian, saying: “Earlier this year you had a really tough time, during the bushfires, there was criticism over a trip you had taken with your family.”

First, what a wonderfully euphemistically way to describe that extremely ill-timed Hawaiian holiday and the even more ill-considered attempt by the PMO to pretend that he was still in the country. Second, I’m not sure it’s quite the same as being brought before a corruption inquiry. But Morrison picks up the analogy:

You learn from these experiences. And if there’s one thing I can say about Gladys, if she makes a mistake, she doesn’t do it twice ... you learn from your successes and you learn from your mistakes and that’s Gladys’s form.

It would, says Fordham, be like changing the jockey in the middle of the race at the Everest (a horse race on in NSW this week, which I think sponsors 2GB) or deciding to replace the CEO in the middle of a profit-making streak. (The problem with this analogy is that in both cases, allegations of corruption could lead to such a change – although of course Berejikilan has not been personally accused of corruption).

Morrison likes this analogy too:

It would be a bit of a numpty decision, I would have thought. Gladys will press on, she’ll press through.

He then noted that “teams make governments” and applauded the treasurer, Dom Perrottet, for standing by his leader.

Updated

Meanwhile, back in NSW, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party says it will not support any legislation in state parliament until Gladys Berejiklian steps aside.

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers leader, Robert Borsak, told the ABC:

She should put herself aside now until this is all complete and Icac makes a complete and total report. She has done an excellent job on Covid, NSW is well ahead of the pack as far as that is concerned, but that is not a get-out-of-jail-free card on these matters.

This is not necessarily a problem for the NSW government. If the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party joins forces with the Greens, the three independents in the house, and the Labor party, they still have three fewer votes than the Coalition. Still, it’s not a good sign.

Updated

WorkSafe Western Australia has released a statement on the death of a construction worker on a building site at Curtin University yesterday.

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a worker on a building site at Curtin University this afternoon.

It is believed that the death is related to the collapse of the roof of a building under construction, and two others are believed to be injured.

WorkSafe thoroughly investigates serious work-related injuries and deaths in WA with a view to preventing future incidents of a similar nature.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said any work-related death was a tragedy, and relayed his sincere condolences to the man’s family.

Leading epidemiologists have told Guardian Australia’s Melbourne bureau chief, Melissa Davey, that Victoria is “obviously failing” to meet its roadmap targets – but that may be because the targets were too ambitious. They the state’s contact tracing system is now up to scratch.

Says the University of Melbourne epidemiologist Prof Tony Blakley:

The Victorian roadmap has as its last two steps, steps you take if eliminating [is your goal]. We are obviously failing to get there, which is a shame. But the point here is that the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services had those targets to try and get completely on top of the virus, hopefully … eliminating community transmission.

Given cases are popping up again in New South Wales, and NSW does not believe long periods of elimination of community transmission are possible, this makes it challenging – if not even foolhardy – for Victoria to now go hard for elimination, given where we are at – a stubborn tail.

He said the daily metrics on contact tracing in Victoria “suggest we are now on par” with NSW in that area.

But let’s be clear – a safe opening up will mean a bumpy ride until the vaccine. Without doubt we will have outbreaks between now and then, even if contact tracing is exemplary.

Prof Bruce Thompson, an epidemiologist and the dean of health sciences at Swinburne University, said Victoria still had four times the number of active cases of NSW. But he said some easing of restrictions, including removing the 5km rule – which was having “small effect” on curbing virus spread – should go ahead.

Updated

In Western Australia, the chief health officer, Dr Andy Robertson, will face questioning today about the state’s hard borders. According to forecasts used in the state budget, these could remain closed until at least April.

Robertson will be questioned by the state parliament’s education and health standing committee today about WA’s ability to contain any potential future Covid-19 outbreaks.

More from AAP:

The interstate borders have remained closed for more than six months and the state has recorded no community spread of Covid-19 during that time.

Polls suggest the border closures have largely been popular within WA.

But business groups and West Australians separated from their loved ones are desperate for clarity on when free travel between the states will be allowed.

Robertson has warned that just one community case could spark a large outbreak because WA has largely removed restrictions on physical distancing.

Authorities could be forced to reintroduce some controls if state borders were to reopen, he said.

WA’s state budget, released last week, was built on the assumption that the state’s borders would remain closed until April 1 – after the March election.

But the government says it is just a Treasury assumption and does not reflect government policy, which is based on health advice.

WA has 18 active COVID-19 cases – seven among the Philippines crew of the Vega Dream iron ore bulk carrier, anchored offshore near Port Hedland.

Updated

Good morning,

Residents of the regional Victorian town of Shepparton have been urged to get tested for Covid-19 after three people tested positive yesterday, in an outbreak believed to be linked to the Chadstone cluster.

The three infected people are isolating at home in the town, which is about two hours north of Melbourne, and are being monitored by Goulburn Valley Health. A list of locations they visited while potentially infectious is below. According to the commander of testing and community engagement, Jeroen Weimar:

Extensive contact tracing has commenced by local authorities. We expect as part of that effort, further cases will be discovered.

To everyone locally – even if you haven’t been near these locations – if you feel unwell at all, please get tested as soon as possible and stay at home until you get your results.

The areas visited are:

  • Central Tyre Service, Welsford Street Shepparton, Wednesday 30 September to Tuesday 13 October
  • Bunnings Warehouse, Midland Highway, Shepparton, Friday 2 October
  • McDonald’s Shepparton North, 175 Midland Highway, Saturday 3 October
  • Mooroopna golf club members bar, Sunday 4 October, and pro shop and members bar, Sunday 11 October
  • Shepparton Market Place Medical Centre, Midland Highway, Shepparton, Thursday 8 October
  • Lemon Tree Cafe, Fryers Street, Shepparton
  • Thai Orchid Restaurant, Nixon Street, Shepparton, Wednesday 7 October from 7pm to 8.30pm
  • Bombshell Hairdressing, Fryers Street, Shepparton, Wednesday 7 October from 9.30am to 10.30am.

From today a new testing site will be set up at the showgrounds.

There are now 35 cases linked to the Chadstone cluster, plus six linked to the connected Kilmore cluster.

Weimar said there were financial payments available for people to stay home while waiting for their test results (details here) and urged anyone in Shepparton, or with family there, to share the message.

These are not the only new cases in regional Victoria – Bairnsdale secondary college posted on Facebook that it had been advised of a positive case in the school community but that the person had not visited school grounds while infectious. Secondary school students, from year seven onwards, only returned to on-site classes this week.

In other news the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, survived a no-confidence motion brought by the opposition leader, Michael O’Brien, yesterday. This is no real surprise – Labor holds an 11-seat majority in the lower house. The motion lost 44 votes to 23 in a debate that lasted into the night. The opposition called Andrews a “self-centred, egotistical, one-man band”. Andrews called the motion a political stunt.

And speaking of no-confidence motions – the NSW opposition leader, Jodie McKay, will move one against the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, today. We’ll bring you more on that as it happens.

Staying in NSW, health authorities have issued an alert for several venues in south-western Sydney which were frequented by people who later tested positive to Covid-19. Anyone who attended the following venues is asked to monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately should they develop:

  • Woolworths Oran Park, Wednesday 30 September, 5.30pm to 6.30pm; Thursday 8 October, 5.15pm to 6pm; and Friday 9 October, 6pm to 6.30pm
  • Prasadi Nepali restaurant, Emerald Hills, Friday 2 October, 3.30pm to 4pm
  • McDonald’s Emerald Hills, Friday 2 October, 5pm to 5.15pm
  • Aldi Emerald Hills, Friday 2 October, 5.30pm to 6.15pm
  • Fantastic Furniture Campbelltown, Friday 9 October, 3.30pm to 5.20pm
  • Bunnings Gregory Hills, Tuesday 6 October, 7pm to 8pm
  • IKEA Tempe, Wednesday 7 October, 1.30pm to 5.30pm

Let’s crack on. You can follow me on Twitter at @callapilla or email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com.

Updated

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