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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Luke Henriques-Gomes (now), Naaman Zhou, Michael McGowan and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

Coronavirus Australia: judge refuses authorisation for Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney tomorrow – as it happened

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Summary

Thanks for staying with us. We’re going to leave for the today.

Before that, here are today’s main developments.

  • The NSW supreme court ruled tomorrow’s Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney will be unlawful due to Covid-19 restrictions.
  • The PM Scott Morrison and CMO Brendan Murphy earlier urged people not to attend due to Covid restrictions, but protesters are vowing to push ahead and say they will do their best to enforce social distancing.
  • Protests will also go ahead in Victoria and South Australia.

We’ll be back tomorrow. Thanks.

Updated

Speaking outside court, assistant commissioner Michael Willing has warned there will be a “significant” police presence at Saturday’s rally.

“Police will be out in numbers to enforce that decision,” Willing said.

Asked how police would respond if thousands turned out, he said: “We will consider any option, we have sufficient resources and expertise.”

“We will have significant police resources out.”

Updated

Sydney protesters to hold BLM rally despite court ruling

Organisers of the Sydney protest have gathered outside court vowing the protest will go ahead on Saturday.

The NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, who was a witness during the legal challenge, said he will be attending on Saturday, and urged social distancing for all those who attend.

Raul Bassi, the protest organiser and legal respondent on Friday, said the decision would not impact the right to protest.

“I never lose my decision to fight for what is true...Tomorrow we meet in there,” he said.

Updated

The NSW Supreme Court has ruled a Black Lives Matters protest scheduled in Sydney on Saturday is illegal as it will breach public health safety.

Justice Desmond Fagan ultimately assessed there would be a public safety risk in allowing the protest to go ahead, likening it to a “defiance” of decisions made by ministers and the expert health advice those decisions were based on.

Fagan said he did not accept the argument of lawyers representing the protest organisers that people would attend the rally regardless of the legal decision, and that in that case, it would be safest for the public to have the cooperation of police to close of streets and allow for greater space for social distancing.

He labelled the argument “futile”.

Fagan also acknowledged the right to protest and the importance of the Black Lives Matter protest in drawing attention to the treatment of Indigenous Australians at the hands of police, but reasoned that many Australians had had to forfeit rights during the pandemic, including to attend church and forfeiting their livelihoods.

Organisers had previously indicated they and supporters would attend the protest regardless of the legal decision.

Updated

In his judgment, Fagan said he did not accept arguments from lawyers for the protesters that if he banned the demonstration, thousands of people would turn up anyway.

NSW supreme court rules BLM protest cannot go ahead

The NSW Supreme Court has denied permission for Black Lives Matter protesters to demonstrate in Sydney tomorrow.

Justice Desmond Fagan accepted a request from the NSW police that the proposed protest be considered unlawful.

“I cannot accept that these proposals ... should take the place of the public health order which applies to all citizens,” he said.

The current rules in NSW allow gatherings of no more than 10 people.

Fagan described the protest as an “unreasonable proposition” given the current social distancing restrictions.

Updated

The Age apologises for Black Lives Matter story

The Age newspaper in Melbourne has issued an apology for its front page story this morning, which claimed without evidence that Black Lives Matter protesters had threatened “police command with spitting, inflammatory chanting and other forms of physical abuse” ahead of tomorrow’s demonstration.

After significant backlash, the paper said in a “clarification” added to a re-written version of the story:

The headline and opening paragraphs of the original version of this story reported concerns within the Victorian Government about the potential for some activists to provoke physical confrontation with police during planned protests.

The story fell short of The Age’s editorial values and standards and caused understandable offence to many members of the community.

The claim that some activists had threatened police with spitting and abuse was not backed up beyond one unnamed senior government source. The story put undue emphasis on these claims. The main organisers of the rally, the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, clearly stated that they had no knowledge of any threats to police. The Age apologises.

To give you an idea of how last minute this legal challenge was, the lights in the court room have just turned off automatically.

It’s 6.40pm, 3 hours and 10 minutes after we started.

The last-ditch nature of the challenge was also apparent earlier in the afternoon, when lawyers representing the police were still printing off legal documents in the courtroom after Justice Fagan had begun proceedings.

Updated

Justice Desmond Fagan is taking “20-25 minutes” to consider whether to allow Saturday’s Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney.

Lawyers representing the organisers of the protest have relied on the argument that the protest will ultimately be safer if it has police endorsement, so the roads can be closed and more space allowed for protesters to socially distance.

Emmanuel Kerkyasharian, representing the protest organiser, said people will turn up to the protest regardless of the court decision, and would be forced to march on footpaths if roads were not closed for them. He argued this will lead to a greater danger of transmission.

Justice Fagan has said such an assumption diminishes the police commissioner’s concerns, and that if he rules the protest should not go ahead, it is not taking away the political right to protest, just deferring it.

Over in the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Desmond Fagan just adjourned the court for 20-25 minutes while he determines his decision. He says he will hand down the decision and give his reasons at the same time.

However, these comments are worth noting.

Updated

The NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, is asked about the decision to allow spectators in corporate boxes at NRL matches, and its relevance to Saturday’s proposed protest.

Emmanuel Kerkyasharian, representing the protest organiser, informed the court of the NRL spectator decisions.

“It’s been announced while we’re sitting here.”

Chant tells the court the NRL measure only applies to corporate boxes as they are deemed comparable to restaurants and pubs.

Asked if Friday’s measure will allow spectators to sit in stands, Chant said “certainly not within NSW”.

Chant has also told the court that gatherings and crowds of the scale expected at Saturday’s protest can lead to the transmission of Covid-19.

She said it’s likely there are undiagnosed Covid-19 cases in the community, and warns they may not even have symptoms yet but could still spread the virus at the rally

“Should there be a person who attends the event [the protest] who may have symptoms or may be in a situation where they are going to develop symptoms in subsequent days, would be considered infectious and they may well transmit through close contact and that would lead to the risk of transmission,” Chant said.

She was asked if she could estimate how many Covid-19 positive people would likely be present at the protest, but she said she could not.

Updated

The hearing at the NSW Supreme Court is continuing. The NSW Dr Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant is now being called to give evidence.

They are still going in the NSW supreme court. The protest organiser Raul Bassi has just completed his evidence. The NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge has been now been called.

Updated

AAP reports that the NSW government’s decision today on crowds at NRL games relates to corporate boxes.

The state government told the NRL on Friday corporate boxes would fall into the same category as pubs and clubs pending the approval of a biosecurity plan.

It means each corporate room will be able to have one person per four square metres from next weekend, with up to 50 people allowed per box.

Venues such as Bankwest Stadium have multiple boxes and lounges that can be split into different sections on top of their corporate boxes, meaning the number of attendees could be able to climb much higher.

The move will allow club sponsors to return to matches, with the ruling applied only to food and drink areas such as corporate suites.

The rules will only apply to NSW-based matches.

The ARL Commission chairman, Peter V’landys, is still hopeful of club members then being able to return as part of capped crowds from 1 July.

“We’re very pleased the government have corrected the anomaly, because this was allowed in pubs, clubs and racecourses but not sports stadiums,” V’landys told AAP.

Updated

Hi everyone, Luke Henriques-Gomes here, taking over from Naaman Zhou. Thanks to Naaman for his work today. I’ll steer you through until stumps tonight.

We’re still awaiting a decision from the NSW supreme court about whether tomorrow’s Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney can go ahead.

Updated

Bizarre stuff here. As the court hears from Raul Bassi, the organiser of Saturday’s planned protest in Sydney, about his credentials organising “the three biggest protests in solidarity with Aboriginal people in this city”, the NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, appears on TV screens around the court room.

It appears police have arranged for her to provide her opinion on the public health repercussions of the event.

Justice Fagan tells Chant she has interrupted the proceedings, and she disappears from the screens.

Updated

NSW to allow NRL crowds in stands

Some breaking news. The NSW government has just given permission for NRL fans to watch live games in stadiums, effective next week, as long as physical distancing is adhered to.

A light moment while the court has briefly adjourned.

Lawyers for police have moved onto a different point, arguing notice for the assembly was not given with seven days’ notice.

Lawyers representing the organisers argue that the original notice of assembly – for 50 people in a different part of Sydney – was given with seven days’ notice.

Justice Desmond Fagan said he can’t take notice for the first iteration of the protest as notice for the revised protest that is scheduled for Saturday – where organisers say 5,000 people will attend.

Updated

NSW Police are attempting to have the Black Lives Matter march scheduled in Sydney on Saturday ruled illegal on a technicality, because the notice of assembly documents for the protest were not signed by the organisers.

Lawyers representing police are arguing that none of the three notices of assembly filed for the event – which was originally scheduled to be smaller and in a different part of Sydney – make the notices invalid.

The court heard the most recent assembly notice for a protest 5,000 people in Town Hall on Saturday, was given to police on 4 June - yesterday.

The court proceedings are still ongoing.

Updated

Organisers of the rally in Melbourne, Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, held a short press conference this afternoon and indicated the protest would proceed tomorrow at state parliament, despite warnings from Victoria police that people could be fined for breaching public health orders around large gatherings.

“Every time we rally, the state and the police attempt to stop us,” Meriki Onus said. “Protest is not a choice when so many of our people are murdered at the hands of police and prison guards.”

She said safety was paramount and protesters had been asked to wear a mask, bring hand sanitiser and use it regularly, to remain 1.5 metres apart, and to not protest in groups larger than 20, while remaining 1.5 metres apart in those groups.

Updated

However, jobs will still be lost at AAP, with only up to 95 jobs available to current AAP staff.

AAP newswire to be sold

The Australian Associated Press newswire will be sold to a consortium of “impact investors and philanthropists”, with a contract to be complete in mid-June.

The supreme court ruling on Saturday’s protest in Sydney is imminent. Submissions are being made in court right now.

Western Australia now has a total of 30 active coronavirus cases, after a family of four tested positive after returning from overseas, AAP reports.

The 30 people consist of nine locals, one person from interstate and 20 crew from the Al Kuwait livestock ship. None are in hospital.

Mother of David Dungay will march on Saturday regardless of court ruling

The mother of David Dungay, an Indigenous man who who said “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he died in jail in 2015, has said she will protest the treatment of Indigenous people in custody on Saturday regardless of the legality of the march.

“I’m marching for my son ... the nurses and doctors put my son under ground, and I’m going to walk on it,” Leetona Dungay said.

Indigenous elders and organisers of the Sydney Black Lives Matter protest scheduled for Saturday gathered outside the NSW supreme court on Friday afternoon before it heard a challenge from NSW police.

The police have launched a last-ditch effort to have Saturday’s protest called off over fears the large assembly – expected to be in the thousands – would risk spreading Covid-19.

Maria Clague, an Indigenous activist, who is not an organiser of Saturday’s protest, said “we’d like police to work with us not against us”.

“You will not silence us ... We support George Floyd ... and everyone standing up for Aboriginal people,” Clague said.

The NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge was also in attendance at the press conference.

Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay, speaks to media outside the supreme court in Sydney
Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay, speaks to media outside the supreme court in Sydney. Photograph: James Gourley/AAP

Updated

Organisers of the Sydney protest have held a press conference outside the New South Wales supreme court to oppose the NSW police’s decision to take the protest to court.

“We have a right to gather on our country,” says Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grosvenor. “We have a right to speak, and a right to express ourselves as human beings.

“We have lost so much. We were the first people to be affected with colonisation. The first stolen generation, and we will stand up for our rights as equal human beings.”

Faith Black, who was scheduled to MC the protest tomorrow, says: “There have been so many deaths uncovered during the royal commission and nobody has ever been held accountable.

Now that there is worldwide recognition of how black people are being treated, we are taking that opportunity to bring deaths in custody to the forefront.

We were just being accused of being militant. We are not militant people. We are a peaceful loving nation, we always have been. We have traditional custodianship over this land and we want to work with you. We expect that in return.

Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grosvenor speaking to media outside the supreme court in Sydney
Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grosvenor speaking to media outside the supreme court in Sydney. Photograph: James Gourley/AAP
Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay, speaking outside the court on Friday afternoon
Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay, speaking outside the court on Friday afternoon. Photograph: James Gourley/AAP

Updated

Greg Hunt says that the protest is “doubly dangerous” to Indigenous elders who attend the Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter protests around the country tomorrow.

We know that Indigenous Australians, as a general principle, have higher comorbidities, lower life expectancy. That is one of our great tasks.

It would be a terrible irony if, as we pursue the national goal of increasing the health of Indigenous Australians, there is a protest which put that health at risk. There may well be many people associated with Indigenous Australia and if they attend a mass gathering, they then risk taking that back to their elders and their elderly.

Updated

Victoria police won't fine 'thousands' at protests, just organisers

Victoria police have issued a statement on fines for tomorrow’s Melbourne protest.

They say they will not fine “thousands of people” on the day, and want the protest to be peaceful.

But they will fine the organisers, and “other persons”, after the protest is over, if it is found to breach health orders.

Claims in the media this week that Victoria police will not be issuing infringement notices to people who breach chief health officer directions at tomorrow’s planned protest in the CBD are wrong.

In the exercise of police discretion, those who intentionally break the law will be held to account, and we have again contacted the organisers of the protest this morning to ensure this point is understood.

It is our strong preference that the protest does not occur at this time, while the restrictions in relation to public gatherings remain in place.

If it is to proceed then it must be conducted in a manner which does not breach the chief health officer directions.

We have also been clear that it would not be practical to issue infringements to thousands of persons congregating for a protest. We wish to keep the protest a peaceful one.

That said, after the event and as per other recent protests, we will assess the evidence of the protest and if it did breach CHO guidelines we will not hesitate to issue infringement notices to the organisers. We will also consider other persons whom it may be appropriate to infringe.

Updated

The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, is also urging people not to attend protests.

It is fundamentally important for people to be able to express their democratic right. But a mass gathering whether it is a protest or a football match ... at this time is not safe. It undermines and risks all of the work that Australians have done to save lives and protect lives.

Any mass gathering at this time is a lottery with peoples’ lives.

Murphy:

What we know is that one person, one high viral load person, can infect 30 to 40 people. We have seen that in Australia. One person infecting 35 people at a wedding.

Updated

CMO says large gatherings are 'inherently dangerous' to health

The chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, is speaking now.

He says that he and the other state health officers have put out a statement “expressing our serious concerns” about mass gatherings and protests.

A mass gathering, even if people try to make it safe by trying to practise distancing and hand hygiene, is inherently dangerous because people can’t really keep apart. They can’t stop touching each other. We don’t know who is there. We can’t contract trace.

Avoid mass gatherings.

Updated

The Labor MP Amanda Rishworth has said that the government is leaving people “in limbo” with the uncertainty around childcare.

“Despite the government flagging that the current arrangements would end on 28 June, and the minister promising he would give four weeks’ notice of any change, we still haven’t heard a peep from the government about its plan after the current scheme ends,” she said in a statement.

Rishworth said that the current free childcare scheme had left out many families, and had negatively impacted quality of care, but that returning to the old system was also “not the answer”.

“Labor calls on the government to act urgently and properly fund and implement a system that delivers affordable, high quality and accessible early education and care for all Australian families,” she said.

Updated

Friday afternoon has become a bit of a dumping ground for policy backflips and embarrassing announcements: a fortnight ago it was the $60bn jobkeeper costing error, last week it was the $721m robodebt refund. Will we be getting a Friday surprise today as well?

Earlier, at the press conference, Scott Morrison was asked about free childcare, which the education minister, Dan Tehan, has signalled must come to an end as the economy reopens and more children return to care.

Morrison said that centres “are keen to move back to a more normal arrangement” and “we will be in a position in the not too distant future to make further announcements about that”. So far – a pretty good candidate for the Friday surprise.

Then we spotted a legislative instrument, registered on Friday, in which the education department secretary nominated 13 July as the date at which new rules on allowable absences from childcare will apply. The rules were due to apply from 21 September or a date to be fixed by the secretary.

Allowable absences are an integral part of the old subsidy model – they define reasons children can be absent that won’t result in reduced subsidies to parents. They’re less relevant under the temporary free system, as the government stopped caring about the whys and wherefores of children not attending care.

We can’t be sure the 13 July date is when the free system will snap back to something resembling the old subsidy model. But it’s a pretty big bread crumb in the trail. We will know in the “not too distant future”.

Updated

Meanwhile, here are the images from a protest in Canberra today.

Gyms and sport back in WA tomorrow

In Western Australia, the premier, Mark McGowan, is announcing huge liftings of restrictions in the state.

Full-contact competitive sport will be allowed from tomorrow, and gyms can reopen. Western Australians will also be allowed back onto Rottnest Island.

“Up to 300 people will be allowed in some settings, and there’s a capacity to apply for exemptions for more,” McGowan says. “Indoor and outdoor venues with multiple divided spaces are able to have a hundred people in each space.”

Galleries, museums, the TAB and zoos can also reopen.

Updated

Victoria police will fine protesters in groups over 20

This just in from AAP. Victoria police will fine protesters if more than 20 people attend.

Updated

SA police allow Black Lives Matter protest

Meanwhile, the South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, has allowed a Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter protest to go ahead in Adelaide on Saturday.

Stevens has granted an exemption to Covid-19 restrictions so that protesters can gather and march. But he says the protest must still abide by physical distancing rules.

Updated

NSW police could arrest protesters in groups over 500

Fuller says that online attendance showed 10,000 people were attending on Facebook. “We know that is not always accurate,” he says. But it is “well above” the original application.

He says the protest could theoretically go ahead “if the organisers had two individual protests running at once with 500 people”.

“But how can you control how many people turn up once it gets up to 10,000 potential hits? [Organisers] confirmed they were unable to control it. They refused to rescind their application to protest, which resulted in us going to the supreme court.

“If 501 turn up, we could give them a direction to leave. If they refuse, we can arrest them, or arrest them and give them a caution or a court attendance notice, or a $1,000 fine.

“If we are put in the corner tomorrow, we will make arrests.”

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian watches on as police commissioner Mick Fuller speaks to the media
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian watches on as police commissioner Mick Fuller speaks to the media. Photograph: James Gourley/AAP

Updated

Fuller says that if the supreme court rules in favour of the protest it can go ahead with 500 attendees.

But if more attend, then it will depend on the circumstances on the day.

Berejiklian says she gives Fuller “a million per cent” support.

Updated

NSW premier 'pleads' with protesters to stay at home

Fuller says protests in groups of 10 are allowed under the health order, but that if the supreme court outlaws the protest, a gathering of hundreds would be illegal.

If 10 people turn up in Pitt Street tomorrow, we wish them well.

But if hundreds and thousands of people turn up, then they’re in breach of the health order and if they haven’t complied with the supreme court, then obviously all of the police powers available to us can be used.

But we would much rather see a peaceful outcome. I think Sydneysiders are more mature than what we’ve seen in the press.

We’re not saying you can never protest again, it’s just not the right time at the moment.

Berejiklian then speaks directly to those intending to attend.

I’m asking, appealing and pleading with those thousands of people who’ve indicated they’re turning up to a protest – please do not do it. Stay at home. Express yourself in a different way.

Fuller clarifies that the protest organisers did get all their paperwork in on time.

If they submit the appropriate documentation, known as a Form 1, protests get protection from the Summary Offences Act, which means we can’t use a lot of our powers that we normally would in a public unlawful gathering.

In this case, the Form 1 was submitted in the appropriate amount of time, which means if the organisers refuse to stop the protest, then the only way forward is for the supreme court to make the ultimate decision in relation to that.

Updated

The NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, says he lodged an injunction because the numbers of those attending the protest kept growing online.

“The NSW police every year facilitates nearly a thousand protests in the Sydney CBD alone,” he says. “This protest, in particular, has grown in numbers.

“We also view social media closely. As of the morning, that had escalated to potentially 10,000 protesters turning up. And the organiser, himself, admitted that he couldn’t ensure that the protesters could adhere to … the current health orders.

“This morning we commenced legal action ... Regardless of that, we had been pre-planning for this protest like we do any other, regardless of the outcome of the supreme court application.”

Berejiklian said that the protest’s request had “substantially changed”.

“When a protest organisation cannot guarantee that those participating in the protest will adhere to social distancing, that is deemed an illegal act.

“If you feel so strongly about an issue during a pandemic, please consider expressing your views in a different way.

“At no stage did the NSW government support or give the green light, or give the go-ahead for thousands and thousands of people flagrantly, flagrantly, breaching the health rules.”

The health minister, Brad Hazzard, says this is “not political, it is about health”. He says that NSW has a limit of 500 people outside.

Updated

Berejiklian says Black Lives Matter protest should be ruled illegal

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has said that she supports the police application to make Saturday’s Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter protest illegal.

The NSW police have applied for an injunction in the supreme court to make the protest illegal. That result will be known in the afternoon.

Berejiklian says that police have ways to ensure social distancing during large gatherings, but that the attendance grew too high for Saturday’s protest for organisers to guarantee that.

The premier says:

I spoke to the commissioner and it became abundantly clear that police would not be able to assure the maintenance of those health ordsers, that the number of protesters far exceeded what the initial request was.

The police commissioner and I discussed the fact that the police commissioner would apply to the supreme court to have the intended protest tomorrow that was intended to go ahead deemed illegal.

Updated

In Victoria, the CEO of the state’s peak body for Aboriginal health has shared advice to protestors on Saturday for keeping safe from Covid-19.

“We must take a harm minimisation approach to the rally,” says Jill Gallagher, the CEO of The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO).

Australia has a dark history of colonial oppression like the USA ... Australia is starting to reckon its past, and tell the truth, and we think that is a huge step in right direction.

We support a peaceful protest of collective action and our approach is one of harm minimisation.

If you can’t attend that’s OK, you will have the ability to show solidarity and support via livestream. [Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance] will live-stream the event via their Facebook. This is a peaceful protest with strength and purpose.

Gallagher says the advice of VACCHO and Victorian Aboriginal elders is to stay home if you are unwell.

While the police are acknowledging the pain and suffering our community is facing. And respecting our communities right to peacefully protest, this must be done safely and in trying to reduce the transmission of Covid-19.

Remember to keep a safe distance of 1.5 meters apart at all times.

Be sensible. Peacefully protest but do this lawfully.

Hygiene and personal equipment are critical to reduce the risk and stop the spread of Covid – wear face masks, bring sanitisers, and wash your hands.

Stay deadly. Stay safe.

She adds that Aboriginal organisations have already done an exceptional job in limiting the spread of the virus.

“The fact that we have only had six cases in our community, shows us what we ALREADY know, which is that Aboriginal Community Control works.”

Updated

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge has labelled the NSW police decision to take the protest to court “seriously unhelpful”.

“Whatever the police say, thousands of people will attend tomorrow,” he says. “The choice for the police is to work collaboratively to make this assembly safe, socially distanced and peaceful or to keep going down the same aggressive path that got us here in the first place.

“What’s needed now is cooperation, understanding and peacefully working together, not court orders and the implicit threat of more police violence.”

Earlier today, the NSW police minister David Elliott also said that the rallies on Saturday were “not my kind of cause” and that people who attend were “not of sound mind”.

NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet also opposed the protest and said that “as a father of six kids I go home to a mass protest every day”.

Updated

NSW Police go to court to stop Black Lives Matter rally

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge has confirmed that the NSW police are going to the state’s supreme court to try and call off a Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter rally planned for tomorrow.

Updated

Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner is speaking now. He says the NT will wait to see how southern states go over the next few weeks to decide when to re-open its borders.

“We are looking at what happens in the south. New South Wales and Victoria are going from stage one to stage two in the next few weeks ... We are looking at the community transmission rate down south and how they control any outbreaks. What no one knows yet is how they will handle it from step one to step two.”

Updated

Finally, Morrison is asked whether it is an “embarrassment” that people could be able to go on holiday to Queenstown in New Zealand before they could go to Queensland.

He says he hopes that Queensland and WA will drop their border closures by July, which is consistent with the national framework released a few weeks ago.

“For people in Victoria, NSW and the ACT, I’m sure they would like to see a bit of Queensland sunshine, and Western Australian sunshine,” he says. “I hope states would make decisions consistent with that national cabinet timetable.”

Updated

The government is preparing the ground to make the $70bn jobkeeper wage subsidy less generous after a Treasury review in June.

Under consideration are:

  • Limiting the subsidy to the hardest-hit industries
  • Limiting the subsidy to businesses that are still experiencing the requisite 30% or 50% (for larger companies) downturn in revenue
  • Agreeing to Labor’s calls to wind back the payment for people who normally earn less than $1,500 a fortnight.

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has been out defending the prospect of changes midway through the program, by arguing the government has always said there would be a review.

On Wednesday, he told Radio National Drive: “We always said when we put the jobkeeper program out there that there would be a review about halfway through.”

And on Friday, he told Sky News: “As we’ve said right from the outset there is a review halfway through.”

The only problem is: this is not correct. There was no mention of a Treasury review when the program was announced on 30 March – not in the media release or the press conference with Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg.

Legislation for the wage subsidy included a review by the attorney general’s department of various workplace relations aspects of the plan – such as employers’ ability to stand down workers to trigger eligibility for the payment – but no mention of a Treasury review.

The first mention I can find is on 8 May, when Morrison said: “There’s a review built into jobkeeper to be done before the end of June.” That set the hares running that the subsidy could be wound back.

Labor asked at the Covid-19 Senate committee – and Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy said Treasury had always known there’d be a three month review but he wasn’t sure when it was announced.

The reason this matters is: businesses planned on the basis the program would last at least six months and it wasn’t until five weeks into the scheme the government said payments could be cut mid-stream. The scheme is generous, maybe it should be pared back – but the least the government can do is not rewrite history that we have always known this.

Updated

Morrison is also asked whether it is “a national shame” that there have been at least 432 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991.

He is also asked if the government has to do more – given only two-thirds of the recommendations have been implemented from the royal commission into deaths in custody.

He says it is a shame, and that governments are working on the Closing the Gap initiatives.

“In Australia we understand the problems we have in this area ... All Australians share these concerns. And so I don’t diminish them for a second.

“But what I do say is that Australia is not other places. So let’s deal with this as Australians”.

Updated

Scott Morrison says 'don't go' to Black Lives Matter protests

Morrison is asked whether people should stay away from Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter protests on the weekend.

He says that each state’s police departments have made their decisions to allow them.

But he says: “It’s not a good idea to go”. And he says that he has asked the AHPPC to consider this matter.

“It is important for people to have their right to protest ... but with those liberties come great responsibility,” he says.

“For all of those Australians who couldn’t attend the funeral of a family member or couldn’t see a loved one in a nursing home or a veteran who couldn’t remember their fallen colleagues by attending a war memorial service on Anzac Day, I say to them don’t go.

“We all found a way on Anzac Day ... we stood on the end of our driveways and we held up a light”.

He says people should “find a better way” to protest. “I encourage people not to attend for those reasons, and those reasons only.”

Updated

Jobkeeper guaranteed for 6 months in some form

Morrison has just guaranteed that Jobkeeper will be in place until the end of September – the full term of the original 6 month announcement.

“The six months provision of Jobkeeper has been set out in legislation and people can count on that.”

However, he has said that a 3 month review will be undertaken. My colleague Paul Karp has more information on that coming up.

Frydenberg says the draft legislation will be released next month, and “the intention is to have that legislation passed before the end of the year, and put in place from the first of January next year.”

“During the Covid crisis, we established a zero dollar threshold for foreign investment, that was to protect the national interest. But that was always to be temporary.”

He also says that passive foreign investments in non-sensitive areas will be “streamlined”.

Updated

"Most significant foreign investment reform since 1975", Frydenberg says

Frydenberg says this reform is “the most significant since the establishment of the [Foreign Investment] act in 1975”.

He says the government will create a new national security test for those seeking to invest in “a sensitive national security business”. This applies to individuals as well as state companies.

The exact definition of this will be worked out later, but it will include telecommunications, energy and “businesses that collect, store and own data that is critical to Australia’s national security and defence”.

Morrison announces an extra $50m of funding for government agencies so they have the resources to enforce the new foreign investment rules.

Josh Frydenberg says that 20% of foreign investment comes from the US, 10% each from the UK and Japan, and 5% from China.

Scott Morrison is speaking now. He says treasurer Josh Frydenberg will announce new foreign investment rules – which we reported on yesterday.

He begins by saying Australia has become prosperous because we are an “outward looking, open, trading economy”, but that investment must be “on our rules”.

He also says he spoke with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi yesterday.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge says NSW police are threatening to go to the state’s supreme court to cancel permission for a Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter protest tomorrow.

Hi everyone, it’s Naaman Zhou here. Thanks to Michael McGowan and Matilda Boseley for their work this morning. We are still waiting on Scott Morrison to emerge for his press conference.

In the meantime, the Australian stock market has opened lower today, snapping a four-day winning streak. The ASX200 was down 18.7 points, or 0.31 per cent, after the first 15 minutes of trade today.

Updated

I’m going to hand you over to my colleague Naaman Zhou, who will take you through the rest of the day.

Student at Melbourne's Newbury Primary school tests positive

Of the three new cases in Victoria, two are in hotel quarantine. The third is a student from Newbury Primary school, which I mentioned earlier will close today as a result. Sutton said that case had “almost certainly been picked up in the community”.

“They happen to be attending school but this is not transmission within the school and the risk of transmission in the school remains very low,” he said.

Updated

But Sutton said he doesn’t think it is “inevitable that we will have a spike” as a result of the protest.

We have gotten transmission down to extremely low levels and it may be there is no one there with coronavirus but obviously the greater the numbers that gather together the greater the opportunity there is for one of those individuals, for more, to be there with coronavirus and to be infectious and to transmit to others.

Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, has again asked people in Melbourne not to attend the planned Black Lives Matter protest. Victoria has recorded three new cases of Covid-19 overnight, and at a press conference just now Sutton said “there is a risk that all of the gains that we have made are put at risk by people gathering in large numbers”.

It takes a single individual who is infectious to potentially transmit to many others in a mass gathering setting. That is what my focus is on and that is why I would reinforce that now is not the time to be in a mass gathering setting.

With respect to the protest tomorrow, I made a statement yesterday that from a public health perspective, again, it is not the time to be having large gatherings. So I do urge anyone not to be breaking the directions. The directions state that a gathering should not be of greater than 20 people. Clearly a protest breaks those public health directions and it is a public health risk. I understand the passions that people will have in relation to this and the desire to protest, but my focus has always been on the health and wellbeing of people and that includes for the protesters themselves.

Updated

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, will hold a press conference in Canberra at 10.30am.

Quite a morning for 2GB. A little earlier the treasurer Dominic Perrottet (who, like David Elliott, is from the right of the New South Wales Liberal party) also said Saturday’s protests should not go ahead.

As a father of six kids I go home to a mass protest every day and I can’t take my kids to my brother’s house under these social restrictions that we have in place. You can’t defend the indefensible. I think it’s ridiculous. When people are making enormous sacrifices right now I think situations like this, and protests like this on the weekend, clearly shouldn’t go ahead.

So you now have a situation where the NSW police have approved a protest which is being criticised both by senior members of the government and the Labor opposition.

I bet the premier Gladys Berejiklian is going to be glad the pubs are open by the time this day is over.

Updated

The New South Wales police minister, David Elliott, has been on 2GB this morning talking about those protests. He has been, as you might expect, quite uncomplimentary, saying people who plan to attend the protest against police brutality are “not normal”.

“I don’t think anyone who goes out during a pandemic and joins a mass gathering is of sound mind,” he said.

The protest, near Town Hall, has been authorised by NSW police, and the minister said he believed the protestors would have taken the issue to court if it wasn’t.

As the premier said yesterday, there are things in our society that it is virtually impossible to stop,” Elliott said.

“The people who attend these gatherings during a pandemic don’t care what their parents say.”

Updated

There are reports a primary school in Melbourne has been forced to close after a positive Covid-19 case.

Updated

Some interesting politicking going on in Sydney this morning. As you can see below, the Daily Telegraph, in its inimitable style, has splashed on concerns about a Black Lives Matter protest planned for tomorrow.

Those concerns are, in fact, coming from the NSW Labor party. The state opposition leader, Jodi McKay, has told the paper; “Is [Gladys Berejiklian] really giving her approval for a mass rally with potentially thousands of participants, when the maximum number of people allowed to visit a private home remains just five?”

Updated

Good morning. Bit going on.

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has just been talking about the federal government’s proposed new foreign interference regime. The Morrison government wants to institute a new national security test, including expanded powers for the treasurer to force the sale of assets or impose conditions after a deal is reached if national security is at risk.

The new rules would also make changes to protect health and tax information stored on servers.

The move is likely to draw the ire of China at a time of heightened tensions between Canberra and Beijing, but Dutton says the new rules are “country agnostic”.

They are country agnostic and that is important because the threat can come from a number of actors and we need to make sure that we can deal with that threat. When you are saving your data to the cloud at the moment that ultimately end up in a server somewhere in a physical location.

If the wrong people own that premises then that information could be exploited and that’s just one example, there are many more that we would need to deal with on a regular basis. I think this is a sensible upgrade in modernisation of the laws and the treasurer will provide that outline later today.

Updated

I might leave you there for this morning, the esteemed Michael McGowan will take you through the rest of the day.

The New England Journal of Medicine has also retracted its paper on the dangers of hydroxychloroquine after reports on Surgisphere by Melissa Davey.

Updated

Just 38 of a predicted 36,000 food boxes have been delivered under a $9.3m government initiative designed to deliver emergency food supplies to older Australians isolating throughout Covid-19, reports Elias Visontay.

“This result indicates that referrals to, and take up of referrals by providers is working very well, but that demand is low for this form of emergency assistance,” said the health department’s response to the question taken on notice, seen by Guardian Australia.

You can read the full report here:

Updated

WA eases travel restrictions in remote communities

Western Australia will join the Northern Territory in lifting travel restrictions across remote Indigenous communities today.

These communities have been quarantined from the rest of the states since 18 March to shield them from Covid-19.

The federal government says the decision has the full support of the WA land councils and Aboriginal community-controlled health services in the state. A spokesperson for the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, said:

The Government will continue to monitor the situation in Western Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Government, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

In the event of an outbreak of COVID-19, the Australian Government will work with the Western Australian Government to move rapidly and take all necessary steps to continue to safeguard the health of remote communities.

Updated

Black Lives Matter rallies draw criticism at time of distancing

There are a number of Black Lives Matter rallies planned for the capital cities at the weekend, protesting against the deaths of Indigenous people in custody in Australia and the police killing of George Floyd in the US.

The NSW government is allowing the Sydney rally to go ahead, a decision which has drawn criticism from the opposition.

“Is [Gladys Berejiklian] really giving her approval for a mass rally with potentially thousands of participants, when the maximum number of people allowed to visit a private home remains just five?” the state’s Labor leader, Jodi McKay, has asked in the Daily Telegraph.

In Victoria, Daniel Andrews has asked people to stay home but has said police have decided not to fine protesters for gathering en masse:

Do you lock people up, do you inflame what is, I think, a pretty volatile situation given the depth of feeling on these issues? Or … do you take a look and say it’s by no means ideal, but it’s certainly better than seeing that gathering on Saturday deteriorate into something like we’ve seen overseas.

Updated

Just staying on Covid-19 medication news, the Lancet has officially retracted a paper which caused the World Health Organization to halt trials of hydroxychloroquine.

A Guardian investigation had revealed errors in the data that was provided for the research by the US company Surgisphere. These were later explained by the company as some patients being wrongly allocated to Australia instead of Asia. But more anomalies were then picked up. A further investigation by my colleague Melissa Davey found that there were serious questions to be asked about the company itself.

Updated

Ebola drug remdesivir wins backing as Covid-19 treatment

Good morning all, Matilda Boseley here to take you through the morning.

First up today, the antiviral drug remdesivir has been officially endorsed as a treatment for patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 infections.

The drug has been recommended by the National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, which brings together the country’s peak health groups.

Originally developed for the treatment of Ebola, it is the first medication to be recommended as a possible treatment for patients hospitalised after contracting coronavirus.

“This is the first information we have that a drug has a beneficial effect as a treatment for Covid-19,” said the taskforce’s executive director, Assoc Prof Julian Elliott.

“The preliminary data published so far from two clinical trials indicate that it can reduce the time for someone to recover from Covid-19. However, we do not yet have definitive information that remdesivir will reduce the risk of dying from the disease.”

Elliott said the taskforce had reviewed evidence to speed up the development of the recommendation in less than two weeks.

Remdesivir is not licensed for use in Australia but the federal government has approved exemptions to some aspects of the Therapeutic Goods Act to allow the drug to be accessed in the context of clinical trials and for compassionate use.

The taskforce also said it understood there was a sufficient supply in Australia to meet expected demand.

Updated

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