We have downgraded our labour market forecasts, and now don’t expect employment to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 #ausecon @cfbirch pic.twitter.com/fUSPuhaG64
— ANZ_Research (@ANZ_Research) September 15, 2020
Updated
Meanwhile, not that it will help the Wallabies but:
New South Wales has reported seven new cases in the last 24 hours - testing rates have now dropped to about a third:
There were 8,835 tests reported in the 24-hour reporting period, compared with 9,316 in the previous 24 hours.
Of the seven new cases to 8pm last night:
- Three are overseas travellers in hotel quarantine
- One is from Victoria in hotel quarantine
- Two are locally acquired and linked to a known case or cluster
- One is locally acquired with their source still under investigation
One new case is a household contact of a previous case linked to Concord Hospital.
One new case is a healthcare worker at Liverpool Hospital. Source investigations are still ongoing and contact tracing is underway.
One new case is a returned NSW resident from Victoria. All passengers on the same flight from Victoria into Sydney are in hotel quarantine.
NSW Health can also advise a new additional case has now been confirmed in a student of Blue Mountains Grammar school. The school is now closed while further tracing and cleaning is undertaken. This case will be included in tomorrow’s official numbers.
It’s vital that everyone who does have the virus is tested and diagnosed, in order to stop further spread to others.
NSW Health is again urging anyone feeling unwell – even with the mildest of symptoms such as a runny nose or scratchy throat – to come forward and get tested, so cases in the community are identified as quickly as possible.
This is even more important with the upcoming school holidays, when people will travel across the state.
Locations linked to known cases, advice on testing and isolation, and areas identified for increased testing can be found here: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/latest-news-and-updates.
NSW Health is treating 86 COVID-19 cases, including six in intensive care, three of whom are being ventilated. Eighty-six per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.
Let’s recap the main events of today.
- Victoria recorded 35 new infections and seven deaths, as case numbers continue to improve
- NSW recorded four new cases, as the government beefed up fines for illegal gatherings
- The Victorian government announced $300m to support sole traders and to prepare the hospitality industry for a Covid-safe reopening
- The Queensland chief health officer, Jeannette Young, has been receiving death threats over a backlash to tough border rules
- Meanwhile, Queensland will boost border exemptions
- Paul Keating told the aged care royal commission a Hecs-style funding system could be used to improve the embattled sector
- South Australia is likely to open its borders to the ACT as early as tomorrow
With that, we’ll leave you for now. See you tomorrow.
Updated
According to a report in the Advertiser, South Australia is poised to open its borders to the ACT as soon as tomorrow.
We had noted reports from AAP earlier today suggesting a decision was expected soon.
The premier, Steven Marshall, has told the Advertiser it might come as early as tomorrow.
#BREAKING: The state’s borders could reopen to the ACT as soon as tomorrow, with #NSW not far behind. @Eliz_henson and @claire_bickers report. #SouthAustraliahttps://t.co/G8N5zyREXD
— The Advertiser (@theTiser) September 14, 2020
Bought something unusual during lockdown? We are running an open thread on lockdown purchases and would love to hear what you’ve ordered.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has issued its daily update.
As we heard earlier today, there were 35 new cases of coronavirus since yesterday. Seven people died, all linked to aged care.
Of the 1,075 current active cases in Victoria:
- 1,019 are in metropolitan Melbourne under stage 4 restrictions
- Forty-seven are in regional local government areas under stage 3 restrictions. There are no new cases in regional Victoria
- Six are either unknown or subject to further investigation
- Three are interstate residents
- Colac Otway has 23 active cases, greater Geelong has six active cases, greater Bendigo has one active case and Ballarat has no active cases.
Updated
My colleague Matilda Boseley reports that there are calls for an independent investigation in Victoria over this incident below.
#BREAKING New video shows police drive into a man in Epping before an officer stomped on his head during his arrest yesterday. The man, 32, was unarmed and was earlier at Northern Hospital for mental health help but police say he was aggressive and assaulted an officer. pic.twitter.com/RpzPW8Acyl
— Paul Dowsley (@paul_dowsley) September 14, 2020
Updated
The Queensland government has added three suburbs to its contact tracing page, which you can access here.
It means a Covid-19 case attended the following suburbs:
- Goodna
- Redbank
- Redbank Plains
A Queensland Health statement said: “Anyone who has been to these suburbs in the last 14 days should monitor their health and if they develop any Covid-19 symptoms, even mild, get tested and isolate until they receive their test result.”
Updated
The Victorian Liberal opposition leader, Michael O’Brien, hit out at the Andrews government’s support package for sole traders.
The Labor government unveiled a $100m package this morning, but the Liberals say the majority of sole traders will be excluded because they don’t have or need commercial lease agreements.
O’Brien said:
Sole traders are the heart and soul of the Victorian economy and I am calling on the premier to rethink this cruel eligibility, which will see many sole traders without any state government support.
Updated
As you would have read if you were following the blog earlier in the day, former PM Paul Keating appeared at the aged care royal commission today.
My colleague, Melissa Davey, has filed this report on today’s hearings.
Updated
Miners and energy companies made the best gains as the Australian share market closed higher to start off the trading week, reports AAP.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index finished in positive territory by 40.1 points, or 0.68%, to 5,899.5 points on Monday.
In the final minutes of trade, the index came within a few points of its session high of 5,903.2 recorded in the first hour.
The All Ordinaries index closed up by 39.6 points, or 0.66%, to 6,078.5.
The Aussie dollar was buying 72.83 US cents at 4.22pm AEST, higher from 72.78 US cents at the close on Friday.
Updated
Feds pressure Victoria over term 4 classes
The federal education minister, Dan Tehan, has said he wants all Victorian students to go back to face-to-face classes, contradicting the state government’s plans.
Under the state government roadmap, only prep to year 3, and years 11 and 12 would return to classrooms in term 4.
Leaning on a formulation that federal ministers are deploying with increasingly regularity, Tehan said:
Obviously from the federal government’s point of view, we would love to see all Victorian schools reopen for term 4. Ultimately, in the end, it is a decision for the Victorian state government.
Updated
Hi there, Luke Henriques-Gomes here taking over from Graham Readfearn.
Northern Territory may quarantine Australians stuck overseas
A former mining workers camp in the Northern Territory is being offered as a potential quarantine base for some of the 25,000 Australians stranded overseas.
AAP reports that NT health minister Natasha Fyles has been talking to the federal government about using the huge Howard Springs facility, which can handle up to 3000 people
All that, of course, depends on the federal government lifting the cap on international arrivals. Fyles told reporters the facility was well set up.
“It is really difficult for Australians caught up overseas. We’ve all heard the stories of people that have inadvertently been caught up and are now stuck in countries where there are no flights or if there are they are hugely expensive.
Fyles said the facility had already housed people evacuated from Wuhan in China and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the start of the pandemic.
NT was declared clinically free from the virus Monday after 28 days with no new cases of the virus.
Although we have reached this clinical definition of eradication we were and still are aiming for a suppression strategy.
We must not become complacent. I believe we will see [more] coronavirus in the Northern Territory.
Updated
NSW to issue $1,000 fines to anyone gathering in groups of more than 20
Many more people in New South Wales will be liable for $1,000 on-the-spot fines if they gather in groups of more than 20, under changes announced by police.
Before today, police had the power to fine the organiser of a gathering that broke the 20-person limit. But now, in a change to the state’s public health order, every person in the group could each get the $1,000 penalty infringement notice.
The Operation Coronavirus commander, assistant commissioner Tony Crandell, said the changes had come in as the weather warmed-up and the days got longer. He said:
Coming into the warmer months, and with end-of-year festivities around the corner, it’s only natural that people will have additional reasons to want to gather and get together.
These amendments aim to ensure that an increase in expected gatherings doesn’t mean an increase in Covid-19 cases.
The new changes come in addition to other restrictions which remain in place, including a limit on numbers at outdoor gatherings and licensed premises.
NSW police will continue to work with the community to ensure compliance to all restrictions under the public health order.
While the vast majority of people within NSW are doing their part, we will continue to target those who don’t.
Updated
A little more from the update from Australia’s chief nursing officer. Alison McMillan, who has urged nurses and healthcare workers to reach out to support services.
She wanted to remind people of the relentless and challenging work that nurses were doing, while putting themselves at great personal risk. She said the profession was working hard to make sure nurses were able to access support services to avoid “burnout”.
We know that the work in itself – having to work often for long periods wearing PPE is very, very hard on our health and medical workforce, particularly the nursing workforce at the front line ... wearing PPE is extraordinarily difficult.
We need to remind everyone out there that our healthcare professionals, if they are feeling stressed or are struggling, it is a strength in calling out and saying you are finding it difficult to deal with this situation, and to seek out the help that is necessary, whether through a support program or an employee support program, or one of the many mental health programs provided online and by the phone support.
We need to look after each other.
Updated
ABC journalist Tom Lowrey is reporting a statement from ACT chief minister Andrew Barr about a decision from Singapore Airlines to stop flights to the capital.
Barr says the decision was “not surprising” and had come as part of a broader announcement that the airline was laying off 4,000 staff globally.
He said he hoped that flights would restart “when the time is right”.
Singapore Airlines is pulling out of Canberra, indefinitely.
— Tom Lowrey (@tomlowrey) September 14, 2020
The airline was the first to offer international services in and out of Canberra.
Statement from Chief Minister, Andrew Barr below: pic.twitter.com/7uYcncD1rl
Updated
Australia’s chief nursing officer, Alison McMillan, is giving the national coronavirus update on the pandemic, and also asking us to think about frontline nurses trying to save people’s lives.
Since the start of the pandemic, McMillan says, Australia has seen 26,692 positive cases of Covid-19 and 816 deaths.
She said it was encouraging that NSW’s four new cases showed again there was no community transmission.
That’s testament to NSW Health and their gold standard to track, trace and isolate.
There are 141 people in hospitals in Australia being treated for the disease, with 18 people in intensive care.
More than 7m tests have been carried out since the start of the pandemic.
Updated
Monday so far
Good afternoon. Thanks to Amy Remeikis for taking us through the day so far. Graham Readfearn here now taking over the reins, grabbing the baton, taking up the cudgel etc.
A quick summary of the day so far:
- Victoria reported 35 new cases of Covid-19 and a further seven deaths. New South Wales recorded four cases and Queensland had another day with no new cases.
- Victorian premier Daniel Andrews announced sole traders would get $100m in support, with $3,000 grants for impacted traders.
- Some of Victoria’s roads and footpaths will be opened up as dining and cafe spaces to enable higher numbers of customers.
- Queensland’s chief health officer has said she feels more comfortable now that she has personal police security, after it was revealed she had received threats.
- Queensland is “beefing up” its unit that processes applications for people to be able to cross the border into the state.
- A national Covid-19 update is due from Canberra any minute.
Updated
There is a national Covid update coming up at 3.30pm. Graham Readfearn will guide you through that and the rest of the afternoon. Thanks again for joining me this morning and I will see you early tomorrow morning.
Take care of you. Ax
Updated
Liberal MP Nicolle Flint and progressive campaign group GetUp appeared at the inquiry into the 2019 election today.
Flint has submitted that she feared for her personal safety during the campaign because a man called David Walsh, now deceased, turned up uninvited to a community listening post taking photographs of her and community members, then later appeared at protests organised by GetUp.
Her submission also says her electorate office was targeted with sexist grafitti such as “skank” $60/hour” and “Blow & Go”.
Flint recommended that Labor, the unions and GetUp review their campaign tactics. She argued that people were “incited” by “horrible messages” GetUp had put into the electorate of Flint.
The only problem is – evidence linking these episodes with progressive opponents was thin on the ground.
GetUp’s general counsel, Zaahir Edries, denied that Walsh had ever acted on GetUp’s behalf, and said it took no action against him because it had “no reason to”.
His links with GetUp seem limited to liking a few Facebook posts, he said.
Liberal MP Tony Pasin quoted liberally from GetUp documents about the tactic of “bird-dogging” – which he characterised as akin to stalking and harassment – but GetUp characterised as more innocuous disruption of campaign events by projecting an alternative message, protesting or even singing.
Labor’s Marielle Smith began her questioning by condemning bullying.
She asked whether the Liberals would conduct a review into Julia Banks quitting the Liberal party over bullying, or racist grafitti against Labor MP Anne Aly or homophobic slurs against independent Kerryn Phelps.
Flint was aghast, saying the question was inappropriate because Smith was “alleging the Liberal party are responsible” without any evidence.
Updated
South Australia to move on NSW, ACT border restrictions
South Australia, which also has its borders closed to New South Wales and the ACT (not that you hear that much about it), will have its transition committee look at whether it should open its borders to those jurisdictions later this week.
As AAP reports:
Speculation is growing that SA’s transition committee will drop the 14-day quarantine requirements as early as Tuesday.
But Steven Marshall says he will not do anything that is contrary to health advice.
The premier said on Monday:
We want to give as much of a leg up to those people who want to travel as soon as possible.
The numbers are looking really good – just four new [coronavirus] cases in NSW.
If they give us the advice tomorrow, we’ll be very quick to open that border.
I’m very keen to open that border the minute I get the advice that it’s safe to do so.
In other changes to coronavirus rules, the premier said he was hopeful crowds of up to 25,000, or about 50% capacity, would be possible at Adelaide Oval for any AFL finals matches.
He said significant crowds were at games over the weekend and SA Health officials were reviewing how those games were managed to consider any next steps in increasing numbers.
SA reported no new virus cases on Sunday, leaving the state’s total since the start of the pandemic at 466.
The state has no active infections.
Updated
The Labor senator also reiterated the opposition’s call for the jobseeker and jobkeeper rate to remain the same, given the extension of Victoria’s lockdown.
Gallagher said:
We certainly don’t believe now’s the time to withdraw crucial economic support at a time when the unemployment rate continues to grow. I mean it just doesn’t make any sense to have more and more people losing their jobs, the economy’s going down, unemployment keeps going up, and the government’s plan at the moment is to withdraw crucial support which has been providing money into people’s pockets and food on the table for the last six months.
We just think it’s crazy. It doesn’t add up. And if anything, the Victorian support package strengthens the argument because it goes to show how important government support is at the moment, to make sure that as many jobs can be maintained are, and where jobs are lost that people are given appropriate support.
So we maintain our call for jobkeeper and jobseeker to be maintained. We think the government should come out with an announcement on that sooner rather than later – we don’t think people need to wait and worry.
Confidence and certainty is a real issue in the economy at the moment, and the government should be upfront with people about what they’re going to do, particularly when there’s so many millions of Australians – 1.6 million Australians on jobseeker, 3½ million on jobkeeper — worried about what their future looks like.
Updated
The shadow finance minister, Katy Gallagher, had a few things to say about the administration of the jobkeeper program a little earlier today:
We need to make sure that every dollar spent is delivering the outcome, and that’s it from our point of view. We’ve got a big program, $70bn supporting 3½ million workers going to hundreds of thousands of businesses.
We need to make sure that that money is actually doing what it needs to do, which is to maintain employment and get into the pockets of working people, so that they can actually support the economy at the moment.
Now, our concern is that the government doesn’t seem to be dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s, or perhaps showing the interest they should be showing in the compliance arm and making sure that this money is being used for the intention of the jobkeeper program, which is a program that we always supported.
Updated
But Annastacia Palaszczuk says she won’t be bowing to pressure to change the border restrictions:
I will stand on my record, I will hold my head up high.
And I will stare down those people who are trying to tear Queensland apart because we have a track record of our economy going strong – because we have in place a good health response.
Now, I’ve heard some stories about, you know, in Victoria we’ve got people in lockdown, we’ve got curfews, we’ve got kids not going to school. You know, we hope everything works out there in Victoria.
But in Queensland, people going about their normal jobs, as if almost life was back to normal. I’m not going to risk all of that. Why would anyone risk that?
Even if it means political attacks up until the election?
Yep, so be it. I am going to hold my head up high. I am going to bat for the Queenslanders, all of the families out there ...Their health, and the economy of this state, and their jobs, is more important than these relentless political attacks.
Updated
Queensland to open up more exemptions
Annastacia Palaszczuk is speaking to the media in Queensland.
She addresses the border controversy from last week, after a woman was denied permission to attend her father’s funeral:
In relation to individual personal cases, we are trying to do more, we are going to be better at dealing with the individual circumstances of people’s individual stories.
That’s why we have an exemptions unit and we are beefing that up. These are very difficult times for everybody.
My heart goes out to everybody, but these individual cases – the exemptions unit and the clinicians will make those decisions in the best possible way that they can.
Updated
New Zealand is having its own version of border wars, but as always, seem to just be doing it better.
Via AAP:
Jacinda Ardern’s cabinet has split over a decision to extend Covid-19 restrictions across New Zealand for an additional week.
On Monday, the prime minister announced New Zealanders would retain the current social distancing practices and caps on gathering until next week at the earliest.
New Zealand enjoyed 102 days without community transmission of the virus over winter but Auckland returned to lockdown last month when new cases emerged.
With a tail of cases from that cluster still being identified by health authorities, including one new case on Monday, Ardern’s cabinet made a majority decision not to relax restrictions this week.
Cabinet has agreed to check in on the country’s settings at its next meeting, on Monday 21 September.
It made an in-principle decision to remove restrictions for everywhere except Auckland on that date unless there is an upswing in cases.
The party of deputy prime minister Winston Peters and Labour’s coalition partner, New Zealand First, invoked “agree to disagree” provisions, saying the rest of the country should move now.
Travelling around the South Island has reinforced that people are not observing social distancing in the absence of any registered or real threat of Covid-19 ... They have applied their own ‘common sense’ test.
Peters also said the restrictions were costly, “running in excess of $200m for every week the rest of the country remains in alert level two, as opposed to alert level one”.
Opposition leader Judith Collins agreed, saying South Islanders had “had enough”.
Why is the South Island still at level two when there hasn’t been a case recorded there since the end of May?
South Islanders have put up with the inconvenience of restricted gatherings, cancelled sports fixtures and half empty businesses.
With an eye to the 17 October poll, Ardern suggested campaign politics might be to blame for the dissent, saying:
[Peters] is obviously entitled to his view.
Updated
AAP has an update on the how the Senate committee hearing into issues surrounding the use of the Aboriginal flag is going:
The company with exclusive commercial licensing rights of the Aboriginal flag is in discussions with a federal government agency over use of the design.
WAM Clothing director Semele Moore confirmed the move to a Senate inquiry on Monday but remains tight-lipped about the details.
Indigenous artist and copyright holder Harold Thomas designed the flag in 1971 and non-Indigenous company WAM Clothing owns the commercial licensing rights.
Moore said:
WAM has entered into discussions with the National Indigenous Australians Agency in relation to the acquisition of the copyright in the Aboriginal flag.
Those discussions are ongoing. Harold has specifically requested those discussions remain confidential.
Moore was unable to tell the inquiry how many companies have paid to use the flag design, or have been told to stop using it.
I don’t have the information [with me] and no I don’t intend to submit it.
Moore also would not say how long the licensing rights were in place for.
The inquiry is looking at copyright and licensing arrangements for the Aboriginal flag.
Australians can freely fly the flag but there are limitations to its use in other ways.
The inquiry has also been told the copyright could be split so it can be used more widely.
Copyright law expert Michael Green SC said the government could negotiate with Thomas about splitting the copyright while keeping the current commercial rights in mind. Green said:
You can slice copyright in a number of ways.
It would be possible for the commonwealth to do something to create a licence in relation to reproducing the flag as a flag, or to broadcast images of the flag as a flag.
It entails a conversation that needs to be had with the owner, Mr Thomas, and to respect his wishes.
Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt had offered to buy the rights to the flag, but this was rejected.
The long-running issue has reignited after the AFL was unable to use the flag during its Indigenous round.
The league did not strike an agreement with WAM Clothing, which has exclusive rights to reproduce it on garments.
Green said slicing up the rights could happen without creating a new category of copyright.
You can divide copyright by location and all manner of things in the commonwealth.Wyatt has promised to reach a resolution that respects the wishes of the flag’s artist as well as the rights of all Australians.
Labor is also pursuing legislation that would compel the minister to negotiate with Thomas.
Updated
I have been contacted a few times and seen a little on social media about conspiracy theories surrounding when the international borders may open, and why.
Just to let everyone know, I have heard of no changes to Australia’s international border closure. When asked about it, the government has indicated June next year as the most likely open date – but even that has not been set in stone.
With parts of Europe seeing spikes in infections and the US still watching it spread, there is nothing to suggest the border will open, more widely, any earlier.
There is talk of accepting travellers from New Zealand sometime sooner, but that agreement is still to be reached.
Updated
Former prime minister Paul Keating has told the aged care royal commission that while he used to believe a “longevity levy” was needed in addition to superannuation to fund aged care, his thinking had recently changed.
He said there were issues with people’s ability to contribute to the scheme, around whether employers should contribute, how it would be levied and what proportion might be returned to the commonwealth. He added it would not be supported politically, with “moans” from small business organisations “and the violin-playing by members of the Liberal party backbench”.
Keating said he now supported a “post-paid” funding model where the commonwealth would provide people with aged care loans similar to university student loans, which are paid back once students are employed, and compulsorily repaid as a proportion of their income.
If students don’t gain employment, they don’t repay the loan, and those in lower-paid work repay less. These commonwealth aged care loans would be paid back in a similar way through people’s assets after their deaths, including through the sale of property and shares and through any unused superannuation, Keating said.
They way you’re also not asking members of families to chip in and pay for their relatives in their accommodation or their care.
Asked if this would only encourage people to divest themselves of their assets, Keating said policy measures would need to be introduced to protect against it.
“It’s called policy dexterity,” Keating said, adding that “there’s none around” in current thinking towards aged care.
He told the commission that it was not fair to expect younger Australians to fund aged care through their taxes, given the rapidly increasing aged population.
The number of people left in the tax system to support all this is falling. Is it unreasonable that elderly people rely on assets and accumulations to meet the cost, or should it be put to people in tax system to bear the burden of it?
Keating added that while this system meant some people might miss out on a large inheritance, it was not fair to expect hard-working men and women to support other people, including the wealthy, through their taxes.
Making people pay for their care after their deaths through their assets would “demonstrate to working people that they are part of it”, Keating said.
If we want a more cohesive society, the benefits of market capitalism should be extended to working men and women.
Updated
The federal government has indicated it will not delay plans to reduce jobseeker and jobkeeper payments, the Victorian premier says.
Asked on Monday whether he expected further support from the commonwealth, Daniel Andrews said the federal government had “made a decision there won’t be a change to the jobseeker or jobkeeper arrangements”.
That’s entirely a matter for them.
In recent days, Andrews had declined to publicly call for the cuts to income support to be delayed, though he consistently hinted he was lobbying the prime minister directly.
On 25 September, the $550-a-fortnight coronavirus supplement – paid to jobseekers, students and people on parenting payments – will be reduced by $300. It means a jobseeker’s base rate of income support will fall to $815 a fortnight.
Guardian Australia has estimated there are more than 420,000 people living in locked-down areas of Melbourne who receive the supplement.
The jobkeeper wage subsidy will also be reduced in late September. It will fall from $1,500 to $1,200 for full-time workers and $750 for part-time workers. Those receiving the lower rate will also be eligible for a reduced jobseeker payment.
Under the state government’s Covid roadmap, many industries will remain shut until at the end of October.
Updated
The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) has an update on how the communities it represents have handled the second wave of the pandemic:
The latest data shows we have seen a total of 74 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in our communities, with 69 people recovered and five cases still active.
Last week, VACCHO met with health minister Jenny Mikakos to share the success of Aboriginal people and leaders in managing and mitigating Covid-19 in their local communities.
We believe the low incidence of Covid-19 in Victorian Aboriginal communities is testament to Aboriginal community control, and what can happen when all parties work meaningfully together.
During this health crisis, 24 of VACCHO’s 32 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) rapidly sprang into action to keep families safe and our cultures strong by offering much needed culturally safe Covid-19 testing supports.
These ranged from driving communities and elders to appointments, setting up Covid-19 pop-up testing clinics, and operating a respiratory clinic in metropolitan Melbourne. Many ACCOs also demonstrated their flexibility by quickly moving to online or telehealth arrangements.
More than 8000 ACCO-run telehealth sessions have taken place since March.
Updated
Concern at drop in NSW testing rates as another infection linked to eastern suburbs club
NSW Health has put out its update:
There were 9,316 tests reported in the 24-hour reporting period, compared with 14,426 in the previous 24 hours.
Testing numbers have dropped over the past two weeks, which is a concern, particularly in areas such as south-western, western and south-eastern Sydney.
Of the four new cases to 8pm last night:
- Three are overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
- One is locally acquired and linked to a known case or cluster.
The new case is a close contact of a previous case who attended the Eastern Suburbs Legion Club. This person had been in self-isolation while infectious.
While there has only been one new locally acquired case recorded in the past 24 hours, the virus is likely circulating among people in the community with mild symptoms. As such, the risk of outbreaks and a resurgence of cases remains.
It’s vital that everyone who does have the virus is tested and diagnosed, in order to stop further spread to others.
NSW Health is again urging anyone feeling unwell – even with the mildest of symptoms, such as a runny nose or scratchy throat – to come forward and get tested, so cases in the community are identified as quickly as possible.
This is even more important with the coming school holidays, when people will travel across the state.
Locations linked to known cases, advice on testing and isolation, and areas identified for increased testing can be found here: www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/latest-news-and-updates.
NSW Health is treating 81 Covid-19 cases, including six in intensive care, three of whom are being ventilated. Eighty-eight per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.
Updated
Paul Keating appears before aged care royal commission
Former prime minister Paul Keating has been asked by counsel assisting the aged care royal commission Peter Gray QC about the thinking around aged care when he first entered government.
Keating said that when he served as treasurer in the Hawke government from 1983, it was brought to his attention that many people were in aged care simply because they had nowhere else to go.
There was no system of geriatric assessment at the time, Keating said.
So we first established a system where every single person would be assessed.
Keating, an architect of Australia’s compulsory superannuation system, said he also realised back when he introduced the scheme some 30 years ago that his generation “had a social standard of living that would not be replicated at $24,000 a year” and he knew there would be pressure from many of them for “a much bigger pension”.
The aged pension alone just wouldn’t allow people to live a quality life at home in their old age, Keating told the commission.
Superannuation is the grease that lubricates the wheels of people’s lives later on, where no such lubrication would exist simply by reliance on the age pension.
Superannuation intended to take some of the pressure off public financing of aged care. Anybody that has an accumulation is in just a much better position to support themselves and do the little things that make life worth living. Particularly if they are living at home, you know, so the aim of the policy was to help people [stay] at home, to help them be more independent.
Updated
How will Victoria pay for all its stimulus measures?
Daniel Andrews:
As the Reserve Bank governor has indicated, Steven Kennedy, the head of the federal treasury has indicated now is the time to invest.
Use the strength of our budget – I had this conversation with the PM at some length recently, where it was acknowledged our budget was in a very strong position coming into this.
You have to use every lever that you have access to. Now is the time to borrow.
Now is the time to invest because if you don’t get growth in the economy again, if you don’t get that economic recovery, which can only happen after you have dealt with the health issue, then there is no prospect of paying that money back.
There is no prospect of getting back to something like a normal budget where you have revenues at pretty much normal levels.
You have growth in the economy, employment opportunities, profits, all of those things.
Now is the time to use the state budget to protect household budgets, now is the time to use the state budget and our balance sheet and the fact that costs of capital are lower than they have ever been.
Just as the governor, the federal treasury tells us and just as – I think the prime minister has been pretty clear also that he wants states to do their fair share of the heavy lifting. How that tallies up will be brought to account when the budget is delivered.
Updated
When will regional Victoria learn more about its restrictions being eased?
Daniel Andrews:
We will be here tomorrow and hopefully there will be no mystery cases in the data I report tomorrow and hopefully we can have more to say.
No doubt, there will be criticism that we haven’t been given any notice but this is nature of these things.
Because you have to hit the target before you can make the decision, there won’t be a lot of notice.
That is preferable in making people wait for another week or so.
Hopefully we can have very good news for regional Victoria tomorrow. That is subject to the numbers that come in today. The key point here is that that is the best demonstration. It is live, it is real, it is actually happening.
It is not a model or theoretical exercise. It is occurring. Got the numbers low, kept the numbers low and now we can open up.
That should be a great boost for everybody, not just in regional Victoria but in metropolitan Melbourne looking and thinking “Can we achieve this?” Absolutely we can and we will.
The frustrating part about this is that you might – I think we will hit the 30-50 number and we might get there ahead of time.
You only know what you know with this virus. The fact that what I do today I won’t see the impact for at least 10 days or maybe 14 days, that is where the passage of time, as painful as it is, it becomes your friend in terms of having certainty about what is happening out there.
Not every symptomatic person gets tested. Not every case, despite the work of our coronavirus detectives, even though we’re meeting and exceeding national bench marks, not every case can be tracked back to its source.
There are mysteries. Whenever there is a mystery case, there is at least one other person who gave it to them.
On average that person will have two or three close contacts, so I think you get the point. There will be things out there that we don’t know about. It is not just numbers, because they are the things you do know, it is also about the passage of time to make sure that there is not something you’re missing. When you make your judgment off data that can never be a complete data set, because not everyone gets tested, that givers you a better sense that is an accurate reflection.
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Professor Brett Sutton is then asked about some of the restrictions being eased today (very small easings).
They are baby steps. We all recognise that it is not an absolute sea change in terms of what is opening up.
That is what we’re trying to manage here. We are managing expectations and we’re being clear that outdoor activities are the low-risk activities.
These small steps are the ones that will continue to keep us safe and keep us on a steady pathway. I know how keen everyone is to get to a different place but you only need small numbers.
I don’t want anyone looking at the daily numbers by postcode and saying “There are no cases in my postcode, what is the issue here?”
I am sure someone in Wuhan in January said: “We have only got 100 cases, why is the city being locked down?”
We can’t have short-term memories on this. It starts with small numbers and it explodes and then the place that wasn’t infected becomes a place that is totally overrun with cases.
We have to consider Victoria as a whole and do the right thing, no matter what it looks like locally for us.
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Victoria has 'an opportunity to get down to extremely low levels', Brett Sutton says
Brett Sutton echoes his Queensland counterpart when talking about the dangers of a Covid infection:
We have an opportunity to get down to extremely low levels and now is the time to keep those constraints in place for the freedoms that we get, not just saving lives, which is obviously our key objective here and avoiding hospitalisation and all of the consequences that we know that coronavirus has.
Some are yet to be fully understood but multi-system illness affecting kidneys and lungs and the nervous system and the heart, including of healthy people.
Recent evidence of athletes who are getting MRIs that show they get inflammation of their heart. That might be a long-term disability or a long-term effect on their cardiovascular performance.
For all those reasons, we want numbers low but there is absolutely a view that the hard bit now is really significant opening up and greater freedoms in the long term which won’t be available to Europe or North America in the same way because they will have the challenge of hundreds to thousands of cases that they don’t want to get out of control.
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Professor Brett Sutton about whether there is a benchmark of test numbers authorities want to reach before they are comfortable:
There are WHO guidelines for numbers of tests that should be done for every case detected and we are meeting those for all our local government areas across Victoria.
We want to do better than that. We are not setting benchmarks per se but we are doing a traffic light system where we know that there’s a higher case numbers or more transmission.
We want the testing to reflect those hotspot areas, in particular. It is absolutely the case that all those postcodes, LGAs with zero cases and maybe zero cases for weeks and weeks need to have a baseline level of testing that should be maintained.
We haven’t got a fixed number but we’re looking at that comparison of how much testing is being done against how many active cases, how much transmission is occurring.
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Will the Boxing Day test and Australian Open have crowds:
Daniel Andrews:
It is too early to determine whether they will have crowds. It is too early for us to determine how big any crowd might be.
That is our aim.
We have taken that offline and we are having detailed discussions with, whether it is cricket authorities, the MCC, the whole AO team, talking to them about what their event looks like and there are other events that aren’t as famous as that but there is lots of other events that would normally occur over summer and we have to work through each of those event by event and venue by venue.
It is hard for us to predict where virus numbers will be, what risks do we have to deal with in just a few weeks time let alone months.
... I think we are but I don’t think it will be a Boxing Day test like it normally is, nor will the Australian Open be exactly the same as it normally is.
Don’t read any more into that than for instance teams and players coming from overseas and coaches and officials will all have to quarantine. It won’t be an ordinary summer from that point of view. We will get as many people we can get there, provided it is safe.
We don’t want one event, as important as the events are economically and for a sense of normality for people – the Australian Open tennis is a really big event for us but we don’t want one event to necessarily set us back and cause us a problem.
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Q: When will venues be allowed to – particularly bigger pubs and restaurants – be allowed to have some diners and drinkers inside?
Daniel Andrews:
The density limit is still being worked through. 1-4 is what we did previously. A number of other states have moved to 1-2.
We look at the experience they have had. We look at what risk that has posed. How it has worked for them.
Today is not the day to announce those things but we will cover off on some of those matters when it comes to regional Victoria, quite soon. Then that will at least, in part, inform where we land in metropolitan Melbourne.
Q: Is there evidence between lock down 1 and 2, when the pubs and restaurants were open, if there was any infections from indoor dining?
Andrews:
We have made this point a number of different ways, but we are often at our greatest risk when we’re at a mate’s place having dinner because there is no time limit, there is no waiter making sure we keep our distance.
There is not necessarily all the kind of infection control, cleaning tables, cleaning common areas, all of those things.
Our publicans, our cafes, restaurants and others have done a fantastic job and I am confident they will when we open up. They aren’t closed now because they are a high-risk setting, they are closed because it would only mean more virus if we allowed their customers, many hundreds of thousands, indeed millions of people, to freely move around metro Melbourne. That is the absolute key.
Being open with no customers is not the answer here. Just like being open for a very short time and then being closed is not the answer.
We appreciate how challenging it is but this is one way in which we can get more people seated, get turnover back into these businesses and help them find that Covid normal, when outside will still be a bigger feature but at that point it will be safe to have larger numbers of people inside.
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But $5,000 is not a lot of money in 2020?
Daniel Andrews:
$5,000 is a very significant amount of money. Many of these businesses will share a space with businesses that are located nearby. We are confident there will be a significant amount of work can be done with that money.
We are always open to listening to industry if there is a particular precinct that requires further money than that.
The other announcements around bollards and improving public space, making sure we maintain safety as we make the important transition, we’re not expecting venues to cover those costs.
They would be covered by us and the minister has spoken to some of the funding that will sit behind that.
We think that there is an opportunity here to have many more patrons seated, drinking and dining, therefore turnover for those businesses and we think these grants are targeted, they are what is needed.
This won’t just be a feature of this summer, it will be there for the long term which is a good thing.
That certainty is very important. Very few businesses will invest large amounts of money, even with a grant, if next summer this wouldn’t be an ongoing feature. I think it will be. Patrons will warm to it.
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How are councils responding?
Daniel Andrews:
We are well engaged with the City of Melbourne. Metro councils have more time but regional Victoria, this will be – all things being equal, if we take this step in the next few days, this can be a feature of regional pubs, restaurants, cafes very, very soon. We have to get it right and there will be further details about exactly how far apart tables need to be, some of the perspex screens between tables.
Things have been a feature of what other cities have done, other cities that have been able to get their hospitality sector as close to normal as possible without necessarily seeing those settings drive additional coronavirus cases. There is a bit to be worked through.
The most important part about today is not only a partnership of local government to get the rules changed quickly but also giving venues a cash grant to help pay for the things they need to make it possible.
We don’t want the cost of this, when many businesses are cash strapped as it is, they have very significant challenges, we don’t want that to be a limiting factor.
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How will the new public spaces/outdoor dining spaces work?
Daniel Andrews:
Each site will be judged on its merits. It is clear that we will see more tables on footpaths.
Some of that foot traffic may move to the curb-side parking area where curb-side parking would no longer be allowed.
We may see streets closed. Some laneways closed even, we may see public space, so parks and gardens that are adjacent to significant numbers of restaurants and pubs, venues like that that may well be transformed – not necessarily every square inch but a portion may be transformed. It may be a shared area between a number of different businesses and because this will run all summer and because I think these changes will be so popular that they ought to be a feature of every summer, some of the investments that will be made to fit those spaces out, there will be a significant return on that investment, not just in the months ahead but in the years ahead.
Every space is unique and we will need to make sure we have that local input. That is why councils are a partner in this.
We expect those decisions to be made in a timely way and all our feedback to this point is they will be.
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Victorian sole traders to receive $100m in support
Victorian jobs and precincts minister Martin Pakula is also at this press conference. He is talking about some of the grants being offered to Victorian businesses:
Yesterday we announced our largest ever support for business in Victoria. We’re continuing that today with a number of initiatives, as the premier’s indicated.
The first of those I want to go to is a $100m of support for sole traders, those hardest hit by restriction.
That will apply to the sole traders who are tenants or licensees in a commercial premises or location and who will be closed, heavily restricted or restricted under the second step.
They will be grants of $3,000.
We think that will support around 33,000 sole traders across the state.
That will be those traders who work in areas like accommodation and tourism, some non-permitted retail, media and film production, gyms, creative studios, outdoor entertainment, private museums and galleries.
There will be a range of sole traders who will you supported under that initiative.
As many people are aware, primary income support for sole traders has been provided by the commonwealth and through jobkeeper.
We have been focusing our efforts primarily on those businesses which employ people but the two levels of government have provided complementary support.
This new sole trader initiative is a recognition of the serious challenges that many have faced.
It will allow tens of thousands of them to help pay their overheads, to give them the opportunity to emerge on the other side and recover strongly.
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Victoria to turn roads and footpaths into dining spaces
Victoria is also going down the road of turning roads and footpaths into dining spaces, to get the hospitality industry up and running again. NSW is also looking at doing this.
New York did it, and it’s worked – and so has Lithuania, which turned entire city centres into pedestrian mall/dining spaces/parks.
The way we live life is changing – but not all of it is going to be negative.
Daniel Andrews:
What we know, if you look at places like New York, where they have been able to get their hospitality sector back to something approaching normal, faster than what would otherwise have been the case because they have used the footpath – curb-side parking and taken public space and turned it into pop-up cafes, restaurants, bars.
That is what we will do. We will change the way the city operates and the suburbs and regional cities.
We have got some images that we can share with you after the media conference about what that might look like to give you a sense of it.
This summer will be unlike any other. I expect by the end of summer, so popular will the arrangements be, a mixture of some inside and many more people seated outside, I think that will become, in many respects, a lasting feature of the way the city and suburbs – indeed the whole state functions from a bar, restaurant, cafe, pub point of view.
We know and understand there will be costs involved in that and that is why there are dedicated grants so that the cost of umbrellas and planter box and bollards and some of the other physical infrastructure that makes that possible, getting more people back into those businesses faster, because they’re outside, we don’t want the cost to be a barrier to already strapped and businesses that are under considerable pressure being able to make that transition.
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Daniel Andrews:
Can I make a couple of comments in relation to the last five weeks or so.
We have gone from 725 cases to now down into the 30s. That is a mighty effort.
It is something every Victorian, regardless of whether you’re in the regions, the suburbs or the centre of Melbourne, everyone is playing their part and should be proud and pleased to see that the trend is with us.
The numbers continue to come down. Particularly if you just spare a moment to think about what is happening in other parts of the world where the trend is working against them.
The trend is making lockdowns for a second, third time in some respects much more likely.
They are matters for those countries and those parts of the world but France, with 10,000 cases in a day, Israel just announced no more than 500 metres from your home. They have had many thousands of cases in recent days.
That is a three-week lockdown. Spain, the United Kingdom, the list goes on where there are many parts of the world that are coming into winter, which will be a unique challenge as we have experienced.
What’s more, their case numbers are at such a high level that they are in exactly the place we don’t want to be in as part of a third wave.
We simply must do everything we can to avoid that and staying the course, doing this in safe and steady steps is the only way to avoid thousands and thousands of cases.
My last look at this early this morning, I think France has more than 2,000 people in hospital, close to 500 people on a machine to help them breathe and R number is towards two.
That means every inspected person is infecting nearly 10 other people. No one is pleased about that.
It is an opportunity to reflect on the fact that this can get away from you quickly. If you were to open up at a level that is higher than the experts tell us is safe, you won’t be open for very long.
You will have driven numbers down but you will have no chance of keeping them low. That is what this strategy is. Open up and stay open. Get the numbers low and keep them low.
That is where regional Victoria finds itself and it is exactly the trajectory and pathway, the road map that metropolitan Melbourne is on also. That should give people great optimism and a sense of real purpose to see this through, defeat this, see it off so when we do open up in those safe and steady steps, we can stay open.
That is the mission. That is what we want to do and that is what we will achieve by everybody working together.
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Daniel Andrews continues detailing today’s numbers:
There are 4,291 cases of unknown source, an increase of six since yesterday’s report. There are 176 healthcare workers who are active cases.
We send our best wishes to them. We thank them and their colleagues.
Those who are unwell, those who have been furloughed and those who are working so hard in every setting, every hour of every shift. They are true heroes. We are genuinely grateful to them.
There are 1,075 active cases in Victoria.
In terms of active cases in the regions, we are down to 47 active cases in regional local government areas that are under the stage 3 restrictions.
There are no new cases in regional Victoria today. Colac has 23 active cases, greater Geelong six, greater Bendigo one active case and Ballarat, no active cases.
That is a testament to the hard work and absolute determination of regional Victorians to not only get these numbers low and keep them low and we are grateful to every single person across regional Victoria for the part they are playing. Regional Victoria took a step yesterday, as did metropolitan Melbourne, there is an opportunity for regional Victoria to take yet another step in just a few days time if these trends continue.
The metro 14-day rolling average to 11 September is 54.4 cases, in regional Victoria it has dipped below four and it is now 3.9.
That is a fantastic outcome.
That is proof positive that this is not a theoretical exercise, it is a strategy that is working and to see regional Victoria down to 3.9 cases, it means they are on the cusp of taking the next step, all things being equal, there is a few more days to get through. We’re pleased to think we will be able to take those big steps, but safe steps towards opening regional Victoria up.
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Victorian press conference
Just 35 new cases since yesterday.
Sadly, there are 729 deaths due to coronavirus in Victoria, an increase of six – one death has been removed due to duplication.
Those fatalities are one male in their 70s, a female and one male in their 80s. Three males and one female in their 90s.
We send our condolences and best wishes to each and every one of those families. All of the fatalities are linked to aged care outbreaks.
There are 122 Victorians in hospital, 12 are in intensive care and seven of those 12 are on ventilators.
The numbers continue to fall and that is great news.
A total of 2,497,710 test results have been received since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of 8,937 since yesterday.
We are grateful to each and every one of those people for coming forward and getting tested. These are essentially Saturday’s numbers. Not great weather, obviously the numbers are down on weekend – each weekend anyway.
We would always want more people – the highest percentage possible of symptomatic Victorians to come and get tested.
We don’t want a situation where test numbers are not an accurate measure of – not enough tests being done for us to have confidence that we have a clear picture of how much virus is out there.
We don’t want any steps in this safe and steady road map to be deferred or to be compromised. It is important that each and every Victorian comes forward and gets tested. We still have confidence in that number and the trend, numbers steadily increased throughout last week as they do each week.
It is a powerful reminder and my personal request and a request on behalf of all Victorians to get to the other side of this, if you have symptoms, however mild, please come forward as soon as you register those symptoms. That can be when you’re most infectious.
Don’t put it off for a day or two. You will get your results within a day. That is 90% of back within 24 hours.
It means we can care for you and make sure that in your choices and in the 14 days afterwards, you’re not putting anybody else at risk and we’re managing this as best we possibly can.
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The Senate committee looking at issues surrounding the Aboriginal flag (copyright etc) is under way.
You can find the program, here.
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Barnaby Joyce blasts NSW koala regulations as 'creeping socialism'
Barnaby Joyce had a chat to the Seven network this morning, where he criticised the NSW Liberals for criticising the NSW Nationals, who attempted to blow up the NSW Coalition last week, and then came out with ... nothing.
Joyce does his best Principal Skinner “no, it is the children who are out of touch here”:
Might I say, in the past being Liberal meant more than just living in a good suburb. It mean believing in private enterprise and then believing in the right of property ownership. What we have with koala regulations is creeping socialism. Basically they find a wonderful term, koala, and then turn up in your place and say see this that you used to own, you don’t own it anymore.
We own it and we’re not going to pay you for it. Now the other thing that should be – the Liberals should be very aware of is numbers.
You just won’t be the government if the Nationals fall out. If you throw more fuel on this fire, you will not be the government if it all falls apart.
So deal with this ridiculous regulations that should have been dealt with ages ago. Understand how, for us out here in the bush – and I live here, you can say it’s all around me – we’re not going to kill something that our kids have a stuffed toy of. But we don’t want the deft hand of government coming in socialising our assets without payment because that’s not the reason we vote for this side of politics.
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NSW records four new Covid cases
NSW has recorded four new cases of Covid in the last 24 hours – one is under investigation.
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Peter Dutton’s office has released a statement announcing Islamic State East Asia has been re-listed as a terrorist organisation under the criminal code:
“The government reviews the listing of terrorist organisations to respond to changing circumstances and to ensure the effective prosecution of terrorists,” Dutton said.
Islamic State East Asia is an Islamic State affiliate that conducts terrorist attacks against military and civilian targets in the Philippines.
The re-listing of Islamic State East Asia ensures that all terrorist organisation offences continue to apply to this organisation. Offences relating to terrorist organisations attract penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment.
“Based on advice from our security agencies, I am satisfied this terrorist organisation continues to meet the criteria for listing under the Criminal Code,” Dutton said.
The government currently lists 27 terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.
Further details regarding the listing of terrorist organisations can be found at www.nationalsecurity.gov.au.
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Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference at 11am.
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You can find all your international Covid news with Helen Sullivan over here:
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Kristina Keneally said Labor has taken a plan to the Senate to try and up the number of people accepted home each week:
It’s not just the 4,000 figure that comes into play because we’re not even meeting that 4,000 capacity per week right now. There are only four cities where we are using international airports. Each one of those has an individual cap on it. We have 13 airports in Australia that can take international plane arrivals. Why aren’t we using places like Darwin, where there is a nearby quarantine facility? Canberra, which has got an international airport that is shut down one day a week now because it is so lacking in passengers. The Gold Coast, which has the capacity both in terms of the airport and nearby hotels to do quarantine. There is capacity within our system, both international airports and hotel and quarantine facilities to take more. Now Peter Dutton said yesterday, he would double the number if the states would only allow it.
Well Peter Dutton is the minister for home affairs. Is he a minister, or is he a mouse? Take a plan forward. Come up with a plan to get these stranded Australians home. 3,500 of them are considered medically and financially vulnerable. My office has been overwhelmed with stories with people who are at risk of becoming homeless, who are in dire circumstances, who are separated for months from loved ones.
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Kristina Keneally says onus on federal government to raise cap on number of Australians allowed to return home
Kristina Keneally is working to up pressure on the federal government to raise the cap of the number of Australians allowed home each week (another weird sentence to write) after Peter Dutton blamed the states for not accepting more people for hotel quarantine.
Keneally told ABC radio:
I missed the memo where we decided in Australia that international borders and quarantine responsibility were a state responsibility.
They are the commonwealth’s responsibility. It is Peter Dutton’s responsibility under the constitution to ensure that citizens can cross the border and can come home and if they need quarantine, then that is a federal responsibility.
Let’s remember, at the beginning of this health pandemic, the commonwealth brought people home from Wuhan, and from the Diamond Princess in Japan, they quarantined them in federal quarantine facilities.
Now, if the commonwealth government is serious about getting a stranded Australian home, they need to step up, show leadership, put a plan in place and take it to the so-called national cabinet if they need to, but it is the commonwealth responsibility to assist stranded Australians in the middle of a global deadly pandemic who are stuck overseas.
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Paul Keating to be a witness today at aged care royal commission
Over the next week the aged care royal commission will examine the funding of aged care homes, and former prime minister Paul Keating will be among the witnesses on Monday, and former treasurer Peter Costello will speak on Wednesday.
Financial reforms introduced under their leadership, including superannuation reforms, will be discussed along with reforms needed going forward.
Counsel Assisting, Peter Gray QC, opened on Monday morning, stating: “There are some surprising features of the current arrangements in out-of-home care.”
“For example, homecare providers are not required to report to the government, including what kinds of goods and services are provided with the home care package subsidies ... which amounted to about $2.5bn dollars a year based on 2018-19.” Residential care providers receive about $11.7bn each year in total commonwealth care subsidies and about $4.4bn in overall care related revenue, including contributions from residents.
They also receive funding for additional services and deposits for accommodation.
There was a lack of transparency around how subsidies were spent, Gray said.
The Department of Health recently conducted a survey of home care providers and the results had been “disturbing”, Gray said.
There were negligible amounts spent on nursing and allied healthcare, with only about 15 minutes of care per allocated per fortnight even for people on the higher levels of the home care package.
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The Queensland chief health officer also says she understands that some people balk at what they are being asked to do, in terms of quarantine, because they don’t fully understand the impacts of the virus.
She says that might be a communication failure – that people still think it is like the flu. But it’s not.
She said health authorities are seeing more and more people who contract the virus, recover from the initial infection, but are then left facing multiple lingering health impacts.
She says again that that is why she is taking it so seriously. That it’s not just the number of infections – but what happens, and stays, after.
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Dr Jeannette Young says she will look at lifting the gathering restrictions which are in place in Queensland where there has been no new community transmission cases in the state for 14 days.
She is worried about those areas west of Brisbane because someone from a linked cluster was out and about while infectious, and so they are putting in extra resources to see if the virus has been passed on.
On the ACT hotspot declaration, and the closure of the NSW border, Steven Miles tells the reporter:
We’ve said that at the end of each month we’ll review cases in other states and therefore review our border rules.
We have processes in place to allow people to visit dying relatives and loved ones we have processes in place for people to get exemptions to come to Queensland for funerals.
They’re very similar arrangements that apply in South Australia and Tasmania and Western Australia and I trust 7.30 has reporters at those press conferences today to ask the very same questions.
I trust you’re not just getting caught up in the LNP’s attempt to make this a political issue in the lead-up to the Queensland state election.
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Steven Miles says he feels the heartache when he hears what some people are going through, but that he doesn’t believe there are other choices:
None of us asked to be in these roles and to have to make the kinds of decisions that we’ve had to make. Those of you who have been here throughout will know how difficult those decisions have been sometimes, how heartbreaking they’ve been sometimes, but Dr Young, has, I think, always done her best to make the right decisions for Queensland and that’s borne out in the results.
Sometimes those decisions have been hard. The results have had impacts on people and individuals and their families about the result of the difficult decisions but the cumulative result of those decisions is Queenslanders having been kept safe.
Steven Miles is called back to the microphone, where he is asked about an individual case, involving compassionate exemptions:
As I’ve said consistently: I never have and never will address individual cases.
Every one of these cases is complex.
As we’ve learned in recent days, the prime minister made a mistake talking about a couple of individual cases recently and was left with egg on his face when the facts of those cases came out.
So, is I’m not going to get into the detail of those cases.
I know that the chief health officer and her team go through them all very, very carefully, and wherever they can they are as compassionate as they possibly can be while also – while also – ensuring Queenslanders are kept safe.
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How she feels about needing protection, Dr Jeannette Young says:
Well, actually, that helps me. That our government here in Queensland is prepared to support me to that extent is, I think, the support that they have shown to me and has made me feel much, much safer doing what I need to do and knowing that I’m supported in doing it.
Asked about the toll the criticism of her decisions have taken on her, Dr Jeannette Young says:
It has taken an enormous toll on me, but then this has taken an enormous toll on nearly every single person in our community.
Every single person in our community in Queensland has had to give up an awful lot.
And we can’t see a clear end to this. So, we’re going to all have to work this through together and work out how we can manage this as well go forward.
I think this has been tough for everyone. And I do think everyone who’s participated – because I know we’ve done more than a million tests to date, and every single time someone gets tested, they’re giving up their freedom, while they wait for that result. So, this is a tough time for everyone.
And I hope everyone has got a way of managing their mental health, of being able to talk to someone that they love, that they can work through issues with.
Please reach out.
We have the Care Army here in Queensland. We are fortunate, we have a lot of resources. We need to use all of them.
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Dr Jeannette Young on why she is being so conservative with her advice:
We’re now eight months in. We’re learning a lot more. We’re learning that this is not a disease of the respiratory system. That might be how it’s transmitted in the main, but it’s not flu.
It affects every single cell in the body and leaves long-lasting problems for different organs in the body, whether that be the heart, the kidneys, the brain, the lungs.
So, it is really important that we minimise the number of people who get this disease. Not just the number who are going to die from it, but the number who get it. That is really, really important.
And that’s why we have the very strict protocols that we have in Queensland for quarantine. This is about people not getting this disease. That is really important.
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Dr Jeannette Young is back on deck after a weekend off.
She says there are still concerns about community transmission in Ipswich – that is where the newest cluster popped up.
More community testing clinics are being set up in those areas, west of Brisbane, to try to catch any new cases. Goodna, Redbank Plains and Redbank are on alert.
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Queensland’s deputy premier and health minister, Dr Steven Miles, is addressing today’s press conference. He says the pandemic is not over, as the overseas figures show:
You will all have seen, though, that while we have zero cases overnight here in Queensland, the World Health Organization has confirmed that globally in the last 24 hours we had more new cases of Covid-19 than on any other day throughout this pandemic.
This thing isn’t over. In fact, it hasn’t peaked.
While sometimes it might feel like it’s passed here in Queensland because we have done so well, we need to remember globally this pandemic is still getting worse, more people are still dying.
Israel, for example, in a bid to deal with their second wave, have gone back into lockdown.
Their residents will only be allowed to move within 500 metres of their homes for the next three weeks, underlying just what could happen – just what could happen – if we were to experience a second wave here in Queensland.
That’s precisely why we need to keep this virus out.
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Queensland reports no new Covid cases
There have been no new cases of Covid reported in Queensland.
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Queensland chief health officer given police protection over threats
The president of the Queensland chapter of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Chris Perry, who held a press conference yesterday to tell people to “back off” in their criticism of the state’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, spoke to the Nine network again this morning.
He said Young had received death threats and now needed police protection:
Jeannette now has a couple of police outside of her house, who go with her everywhere.
She has had to have extra help with sorting through the applications for quarantine exemptions; she was getting over 100 per day which she was trying to deal with herself, so working through five in the morning to nine at night was quite hard work.
It’s been quite stressful and it hasn’t been helped by cowardly people who are threatening to take the life of a woman.
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Meanwhile, the NSW government is still side-eyeing John Barilaro as though he’s the female lead in a teenage comedy the morning after the night before.
David Elliott, the Liberal police minister, told Sydney radio this morning that there were plenty of other Nationals MPs who could lead the party and, while he didn’t straight up say Barilaro should resign after losing Blinky Bill, he didn’t not not say it either:
As my dad used to say, if you’re gonna throw a punch make sure the first one’s a knockout.
I can’t see how you can say that you won when you basically walked away with exactly what you had.
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I know how heartening it is seeing that daily case number of 35 in Victoria – but we don’t know how many tests that result is from. Authorities are looking at the two-week average, not just the daily results.
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This issue is inching closer to a resolution:
Gladys Berejiklian will hold her press conference at 11am.
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Labor’s Julie Collins has put out a release after new elder abuse data was released:
Shocking new figures have revealed there are still more than 100 reports of assault and sexual assault in Australian aged care homes each week.
The latest figures from the Aged Quality and Safety Commission, which were tabled at the royal commission, underscore the shocking state of Australia’s aged care system.
Sadly we know unreported assault and sexual assault in aged care are even greater than these numbers.
Despite these completely unacceptable figures, the Morrison government is still yet to introduce a serious incident response scheme that would respond to cases of assault and abuse in Australia’s aged care system.
It has now been more than three years since this scheme was first recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission following its landmark investigation of elder abuse in Australia.
The Morrison government has only announced “initial” funding for a scheme that may be operational by 1 July 2021.
A separate review commissioned by the government following the Oakden nursing home tragedy also recommended introducing the scheme in 2017.
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Victoria records 35 new cases and seven deaths
Victoria Health has released today’s numbers:
#COVID19VicData for 14 September, 2020.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) September 13, 2020
Yesterday there were 35 new cases reported and 7 lives lost. Our thoughts go out to all those affected.
More information will be available later today. pic.twitter.com/jApb1qnkTW
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Daniel Andrews has also confirmed, as reported yesterday, that he will front the hotel quarantine inquiry, headed by judge Jennifer Coate, on 23 September. He said in a statement:
I established the Board of Inquiry into the Hotel Quarantine Program to find the answers that all Victorians are entitled to.
Given the program was established as a decision of National Cabinet I always anticipated that I would need to appear in order to provide the context for its beginnings.
He won’t be the only member of his government to appear, the health minister, Jenny Mikakos, will also be called (among others, including the police minister, Lisa Neville).
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Meanwhile, Chinese investment in Australia continues to fall.
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Queensland’s deputy premier and health minister, Steven Miles, will give the state’s Covid update at 9am.
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I really hoped they enjoyed my cat photos and the late-night, add-to-cart, clothes site non-shopping excursions:
(via AAP)
A Chinese military company has amassed the personal details of more than 35,000 Australians as part of a giant global database targeting influential figures.
The company with links to Beijing’s military and intelligence networks has collated profiles on 2.4 million people.
The profiles contain a range of information including birth dates, addresses, marital statuses and political leanings.
Bank records, job applications and psychological profiles have also been collected.
Australian politicians, business people and entrepreneurs are on the database.
Much of the data has been drawn from public records but some information appears to have been sourced from confidential documents, raising questions about China’s intelligence gathering operations.
Federal opposition frontbencher Kristina Keneally said the database was concerning and people were right to feel alarmed.
“Of course, countries have long collected intelligence but it’s important each country’s independence is respected,” she told ABC radio on Monday.
“What this highlights is that the threat of foreign interference and the capacity to amass big data sets on a population is real and we’ve got to take that threat very seriously.”
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And on the personal attacks Dr Jeannette Young has experienced (the Queensland AMA came out on Sunday told people to calm their farms as it backed her choices), which have included a ramping up of criticism from the federal government, Nick Coatsworth says:
Personal attacks are not appropriate to our chief medical officers – I suffered a few myself. People are doing, making the best decisions on their advice for the people responsible for, the Queensland people.
Whatever assistance we provide the Queensland government, it’s all on the table, including support for enhanced public health response in the event that there are more wide scale outbreaks in Queensland.
They’ve done a fantastic job in controlling the south-east Queensland outbreak and that should give Queenslanders confidence about the ability of the public health unit to control Covid-19 at low numbers.
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Dr Nick Coatsworth is also asked about the differing opinions on border closures among the health chiefs:
Well, first thing is that you know, Dr [Jeannette] Young [Queensland] and Professor [Brett] Sutton [Victoria] amongst all the chief medical officers are extremely experienced public health officials.
There is a debate about borders and movement and that is largely related to risk tolerance and whether one is prepared to allow any possibility of Covid-19 entering into one state. Of course, there is a state in New South Wales that is relying and relying effectively on test, trace and isolate and has managed to keep numbers down for over a month.
That likely is the way of the future. We may not see a vaccine – it could be January 2021 [or] December 2021. So we need to have these ongoing border discussions. They’re obviously a live issue.
The definition of what a hotspot is, or I prefer to say a geographic area of concern, is still a live debate within AHPPC.
Your viewers can be reassured that those are positive, constructive debates ongoing.
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The deputy chief health officer Dr Nick Coatsworth is doing the morning rounds this morning.
He tells the ABC Australians still need to go get tested if they have any symptoms, particularly in Melbourne, where there is still a higher than authorities would like number of unknown Covid sources:
One of the things I’m acutely aware of is if you’re not in Victoria, it’s very difficult to understand the pressures brought about by the stage-four restrictions in Melbourne and the surrounds. That said, they are clearly having the desired effect, that light at the end of the tunnels growing bigger by the day.
But 20 cases yesterday that have as yet been unlinked. That is still too high.
We need of course for everybody with symptoms in Melbourne and indeed Victoria to get themselves tested so we stand the transmission links and the public health unit can shut them down.
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Sydney’s nightlife is getting a boost from the state government.
The plan will be announced a little later today. The Daily Telegraph had the jump on it and reports that it revolves around extended opening hours, more accessible public transport and more chances for venues to host live music performances.
There is also talk of turning footpaths and parking spots into outdoor dining areas, or mini recreational zones, after hours.
We’ll have more detail on that soon.
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It is also 14 September, which means some Melbourne restrictions will be eased, including a shift of the curfew hours to 9pm to 5am (curfew hours will never not be strange to write).
As AAP reports:
From Monday, people living alone or single parents will be allowed to have one other visitor as part of a “social bubble”.
Outdoor exercise is extended to two hours split over a maximum of two sessions, allowing social interaction with one other person or household members.
Playgrounds and outdoor fitness equipment will reopen and the nightly curfew will start an hour later at 9pm before finishing at 5am.
The 14-day case average for Melbourne sits at 56.9, inching closer to the sub-50 target.
Melbourne will move to the “second step”, including increased limits for public gatherings and a staged return to school for some students, from September 28 if the average falls to 30-50.
“If you project forward 14 days, you would expect the 14 day rolling average to the end of September would be absolutely no more than 48,” Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said.
“It is more likely to be between 20 and 30, I would hope.”
People in regional Victoria will also enjoy greater freedom from Monday with up to five people able to gather in outdoor places from a maximum of two households.
The five-person limit will also apply for religious services that can resume in regional Victoria if they’re held outdoors with a faith leader.
Authorities are hopeful regional areas could jump two steps out of lockdown by mid-next week, allowing residents to go out for a coffee or meal.
The Labor government on Sunday announced a $3 billion suite of cash grants, payroll tax deferrals and fee waivers, described by Premier Daniel Andrews as “the biggest package of business support in the history of this state”.
There will be payroll tax deferrals for up to 12 months for businesses with payroll of up to $10 million a year, coming at a cost of some $1.7 billion to the state.
Business groups welcomed the support but renewed calls for the government to reopen the state as soon as possible.
Tensions remained high in parts of Melbourne.
More than 70 people were arrested as anti-lockdown protesters gathered at the Queen Victoria Market, with some throwing fruit at police after raiding market stalls.
Victoria on Sunday reported 41 new cases and seven further deaths.
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Good morning
It is the 38th week of 2020. Or, in real terms, week 104.
Of course we are still talking about the same things we were talking about last week.
Queensland is under pressure to move on its borders, or at least come up with another roadmap out of its border closures, as personal cases highlight the wider pain. But the federal government hasn’t come out of the muck smelling like roses either – there is pushback over the politicisation of people’s individual tragedies.
As Matilda Boseley reports:
The daughter of a Queensland man whose funeral was at the centre of a federal-state brawl about border closures has accused Scott Morrison of using the case to “advance his political agenda”.
Alexandra Prendergast said in an open letter to the prime minister that his actions were “absolutely disrespectful” to families who had not been granted permission to attend relatives’ funerals.
It was “heartbreaking” that the prime minister had “presented himself as being empathetic and understanding” but had not considered the ramifications of his actions for family members, Prendergast said.
And on Insiders yesterday, Peter Dutton tied himself in knots over why Tony Abbott was given permission to leave the country, but so many others are still fighting to be allowed to head overseas for compassionate reasons.
You’ll be hearing more about recovery this week, as we inch closer to the budget. Victoria has released its $3bn business recovery plan to a mixed response. The federal government will come under pressure over the jobkeeper and jobseeker tapering that is about to kick in, despite the economy being no where near open.
Also in Victoria, there will be questions about the police response after disturbing footage of a woman being pulled from her car and riot police walking through the markets in response to lockdown protests.
There are still questions about the modelling the Victorian government has used to shape its roadmap – Daniel Andrews says it’s time to move on from that, as it’s real-time data that counts but, given that the plan has been built around the modelling, questions will be asked.
We’ll keep you up to date with all the day’s events as they happen. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.
Ready?
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