What we learned today, Thursday 4 February
And we will leave it there for tonight. Here’s a quick summary of everything that went down today:
- The prime minister today announced that Australia had secured an additional 10 million Pfizer vaccine doses, in what the health department called “added insurance”.
- Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said authorities can’t rule out airborne transmission as the source of the new infection in Melbourne.
- Officially, Victoria recorded one new local transmission and two in hotel quarantine, whilst the WA and NSW recorded no new cases.
- WA premier Mark McGowan praised ‘remarkable’ firefighting efforts after the Shady Hills estate was saved overnight but fires continue to burn in the region.
- The Australian Open draw was delayed to tomorrow in light of a hotel quarantine worker testing positive. Authorities hope the tournament can still begin on Monday.
- 10 suburbs in Melbourne will be considered hotspots in the Northern Territory, with arrivals having to enter mandatory quarantine at the cost of $2,500.
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Collingwood players have written an open letter apologising for playing a part in allowing a culture of racism to take hold at the club.
Finally, in light of changing border rules with Western Australia and now Victoria, if you intend to travel interstate this week, please take a quick look at the list of WA hotspots, Victoria hotspots and state-by-state restrictions.
Updated
Earlier today, the Coalition deleted references to rising far-right extremism in a Senate motion Labor had moved to condemn the movement.
The opposition accused the government of seeking to “downplay and dismiss” the threat of rightwing extremism in contradiction of national security advice.
It came after the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, was on Sky News this morning, denying far-right extremism is on the rise in Australia.
It is extreme elements, fringe elements, in Australia that need tackling, they are being tackled. What we have here is increased social cohesion, not increasing extremism.
Labor had moved a Senate motion seeking to condemn far-right extremism, including claims about voter fraud in the US election, and the cause of the Capitol insurrection promoted by Liberal MP Craig Kelly and National MP George Christensen.
The motion passed on Thursday but only after references to Kelly and Christensen were removed, and condemnation of far-left extremism, communism, anarchism and violence, generally, were added.
You can read more on the story from Paul Karp here:
Updated
The Victorian Department of Health (the new department which is just much easier to write), is sending texts to residents living in exposure site suburbs.
The department seems to be attempting to jump ahead of any potential outbreak by getting information directly to residents.
If you are in a suburb where there are coronavirus (COVID-19) exposure sites, you may receive a text message from us urging you to check locations and times of exposure sites.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 4, 2021
If you have symptoms, get tested and stay home. https://t.co/rwdp4FeCwe #COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/nhs4KPeQI4
Updated
Kristina Keneally is back firing shots, this time on Twitter.
The Labor senator has quickly latched onto a mistake on the Senate floor, and used it to say the prime minister “has no clear plan for the vaccine”. But in the process she made a mistake of her own. It’s Colbeck, not Colebeck.
Oops. Richard Colebeck is on his feet now in the Senate correcting the record....because he stuffed up another set of numbers.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) February 4, 2021
He said in #qt that the Govt has a contract for 40m doses of Pfizer vaccine (it is only 20m)@ScottMorrisonMP has no clear plan for the vaccine.
Updated
Collingwood players apologise in open letter
Collingwood players have written an open letter, apologising for playing a part in allowing a culture of racism to take hold at the club.
150 members of the club’s football and netball squads signed the letter, saying they felt their silence enabled the “injustices”.
As athletes we are sorry to anyone who, through their association with our club has been marginalised, hurt or discriminated against due to their race.
Through our silence we feel responsible for these injustices.
We acknowledge it is not enough to simply show support for the principles of anti-racism and inclusion. We will confront the history of our club in order to learn, heal and determine how best to walk forward together.
The letter comes in light of the Do Better report, which found a culture of structural racism had developed at the club.
You can read more on the story here:
Updated
NT declare 10 Melbourne suburbs as Covid hotspots
Effective from 3.30pm CST, 10 suburbs in Melbourne will be considered hotspots in the Northern Territory.
That means anyone arriving in the NT from these suburbs will need to go into mandatory quarantine at a cost of $2,500.
The suburbs are Melbourne, West Melbourne, Brighton, Brandon Park, Clayton South, Heatherton, Keysborough, Moorabbin, Noble Park and Springvale.
Anyone who has arrived in the NT from the Victorian hotspots since 29 January is being directed to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is confirmed.
Updated
Good afternoon everyone, and we begin by first thanking the ever-brilliant Amy for once again skilfully guiding us through what was a truly hectic day.
There is still much to get through and process for the rest of the day, so let’s get stuck in.
On that note, I am going to leave you in the very capable hands of Mostafa Rachwani to take you through the evening.
The daily blog will be back tomorrow, so make sure you check in to keep abreast of all the day’s events. I’ll be back with Politics Live when parliament resumes in a week’s time.
We’ll bring you all of the national cabinet news tomorrow, so make sure you check in for that as well.
Thank you to everyone who joined me this week – you made the return more than bearable. A massive thank you to Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Daniel Hurst and Paul Karp for dragging me through the week. And of course, to you, for making it all worth it.
Make sure you take some time for yourself this weekend. Everything didn’t magically become easier with the change of date. Take care of you.
Updated
China hawk elected as security and intelligence committee chair
James Paterson, a China hawk and Victorian Liberal senator, has been appointed chair of parliament’s powerful joint committee on intelligence and security.
Paterson said he was honoured with the appointment and indicated he would continue to attempt to work on a bipartisan basis to keep Australians “safe and free”.
“Given the powers they have been granted, strong parliamentary oversight of security agencies is essential in a democracy,” Paterson said.
“In addition to the vital legislation that the committee will consider this year, the inquiries into extremist movements and radicalism, and national security in higher education will be particularly important. We must ensure that violent extremism does not take hold in Australia, and that our universities have robust policies in place to protect their researchers and students from foreign coercion and influence.”
Paterson takes over from fellow China hawk Andrew Hastie, who was appointed assistant defence minister in Scott Morrison’s frontbench reshuffle in December.
(Paterson is close to Hastie. They were both blocked from visiting China on a study tour in late 2019.)
Updated
Friends of the blog who watch the Senate, (so I don’t have to – there is such a thing as too much punishment) just pointed out Richard Colbeck still seems to have an issue with numbers (Colbeck couldn’t say how many people had died in aged-care homes during the pandemic).
Anyways, when asked about vaccine numbers in the Senate today, Colbeck originally said the government had secured an additional “10,000 doses” before correcting himself to “10 million” and then later added:
At this stage we have 40 million doses, based on the announcement this morning, of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. We have 53.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 51 million doses of the Novavax and access to 25.6 million doses from the COVAX Facility.”
We have secured, according to the health minister at today’s press conference, 20 million Pfizer vaccines.
Greg Hunt:
... A total of 150 million vaccines – 20 million Pfizer, 53.8 million Oxford-AstraZeneca, where we’ve seen some very positive results ... 51 million Novavax [vaccines].
Updated
I am just going to include another photo of the pygmy possums because it has been that sort of day, in that sort of week, in that sort of year.
(Graham tells me this is a fully grown female)
Updated
Firefighters on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island are still battling a blaze on the island’s west that is threatening a vital wildlife refuge that survived last year’s fires.
The South Australia Country Fire Service has just told me it’s confident it has secured the blaze within containment lines in the Western River region. The fire started on Tuesday.
Conservationists are desperate to keep the flames out of a 4200-hectare patch that survived the 2020 fires that burned across the rest of the island’s west. A small section has already burned.
A fire service spokesman said: “We’ve had some rainfall over the fire ground this morning and there has been some back-burning campaigns taken out. At the moment we are confident it’s secured.”
As we reported late yesterday, the patch of unburned area to the immediate south of the fire is home to several threatened species, including the Kangaroo Island dunnart, the glossy black cockatoo, the southern brown bandicoot and the green carpenter bee.
The island was devastated by fires in late 2019 and early 2020. The patch, known as the Northwest Conservation Alliance, became a vital refuge for the wildlife.
The fire has burned 294 hectares. The fire service spokesman said there was potential for windy weather and potential thunderstorms later today.
Conservationists at Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife have also found Western and Little pygmy possums in the area.
Updated
Hotel quarantine and other options are going to be one of the big topics for tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting.
Labor has been raising it, and Scott Morrison was careful today to say there was an option – Toowoomba – being considered.
Still, this from Liberal MP, Trent Zimmerman, to the ABC is worth recording:
I think the regional options do need to be explored but it is important to recognise the limitations of these approaches because the hotel quarantine system is not about having somewhere, where people can rest their head, but isolation, and having their own bathrooms. But more critically [having] a massive security and police workforce to service them because there are literally thousands of health and police service members that are supporting what the states are doing across the country and that is not always practicable in local communities.
The other point I would make is that a big focus of what the commonwealth and the states and territories have done over the last 12 months is to try to protect regional and remote communities. And that’s why I think there would be some resistance from those communities, as we saw in Gladstone*, to hosting major quarantine facilities because quite rightly there is a concern that if there was a leakage, they could very quickly overwhelm regional health facilities.
*The resistance in Gladstone, which the prime minister made note of in a press conference last week while he was in Queensland, was about the region’s lack of an ICU.
Updated
Here is a little more of how Mike Bowers saw the day:
Updated
Mark Butler has been asked how he feels about losing the shadow climate change portfolio during an interview with the ABC:
I think the health and ageing portfolio that Anthony has allocated to me is extraordinarily important. It is an area I had the privilege of serving in under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and had a real passion for, so I’m really relishing the opportunity to work with fantastic stakeholders, fantastic members of the community in an area that is so important, in the best of times, and frankly we are not in the best of times at the moment.
Updated
We have more detail on Labor’s claims in question time about Helloworld Travel Ltd.
Guardian Australia has seen correspondence from Helloworld HR asking a worker to take a $16,000 pay cut when jobkeeper expires, from $76,000 to $60,000 per year.
The letter describes it as a “temporary change ... for calendar year 2021” that “means you will be working on a full-time basis where you have certainty around both your role and your remuneration”.
“This adjustment will be reviewed in November 2021.”
It said:”The adjustment to your remuneration is based on the forecast revenue of the business and the actions needing to be made to protect our business. The proposed change made to your remuneration will impact your superannuation contribution, annual leave and long service leave accruals.”
The Australian Services Union has written to workers saying that Helloworld chief executive, Andrew Burnes, has “sent personalised emails to workers asking them to agree to accept a pay cut”. The union says the company can’t demand workers take the pay cut, and they’re not obliged to accept it.
The ASU says it is concerned it breaches obligations in the Helloworld Services Pty Ltd agreement to consult with employees and the union about major workplace changes.
Labor’s case is that these sorts of demands will become more common if the IR omnibus bill allows employers to seek agreements that don’t meet the Better Off Overall Test.
Updated
And here is Linda Burney’s statement on the national redress scheme (you’ll find Anne Ruston’s statement below)
“The Government has voted down Labor’s amendments to improve the National Redress Scheme to ensure survivors do not miss out on redress.
“Labor moved a series of amendments to the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment (Technical Amendments) Bill 2020 to fix major structural shortcomings of the scheme.
“Labor proposed amendments to address the issue of survivors waiting too or missing out on redress; the introduction of an early payments scheme; increasing the cap on payments; ending unfair deductions; re-shaping the arbitrary assessment framework; and providing ongoing psychological support.
“One by one, the Government voted Labor’s amendments down in the House of Representatives, including an amendment that is Government policy to name and shame institutions.
“But to add insult to injury, the Government gagged its own Minister from explaining to the parliament the Government’s opposition to Labor’s redress amendments.
“In an extraordinary turn of events, the Minister representing the Minister for Families and Social Services Stuart Robert voted to gag himself from having to provide that explanation.
“This Government is unbelievable.”
Updated
The ABC’s Patricia Karvelas is now asking Michael Sukkar about whether holding the Australian Open was a good idea.
PK: Do you believe the Australian Open should have happened? This obviously is a breach in a situation where a lot of these people have come in for the Australian Open. Obviously we bring back Australians and that’s even been slowed down. Does it show that this wasn’t worth it?
Sukkar:
Well, look, Patricia, from a personal perspective, I was very happy to see the Australian Open go ahead because I want to see a level of normality come back to our lives, and provided it is competently managed, that’s obviously a pretty important qualifier – provided it is competently managed – I was keen to see the Australian Open go ahead. And I was also keen to ensure that that didn’t take up places that would otherwise have gone to Australians returning, which the Victorian government assured us was the case.
So, again, provided that these sort of discretionary events, I suppose, are managed in a decent way, my instinct is I’d prefer to see us get back to some level of normality.
Last year ... we were all locked down for such a long period of time, that just having the outlet of some level of normality with sporting events was actually a really important outlet for us, and I think coming out of Covid is really important, too.
Of course, the qualifier there is if the Victorian government is going to green-light the Australian Open ... they have a role in competently managing it.
PK: Are you confident that they can competently manage it?
Sukkar:
We’ll see, Patricia.
PK: Well, we’ll see, but are you today, right now, when I interview you, confident that they can manage [it]?
Sukkar:
Patricia, the proof will be in the pudding. We’ll see.
PK: So you’re not confident that all of these people who have come from overseas, from hotspots, can be managed competently by the Victorian government?
Sukkar:
Don’t verbal me, Patricia.
PK: I’m asking because you said the proof would be in the pudding.
Sukkar:
That didn’t sound like a question. It sounded like you were making a statement on my behalf.
PK: No, no, no. . Do you think they can do it?
Sukkar:
I think provided they can be competently managed, I would like to see these thing goes ahead. I think time will tell, the proof is in the pudding, and I really hope – it is my sincere wish – that they are able to do that because as a Melburnian, I’m very proud of the fact that one of the grand slams happens in our home town, so I want it to go ahead.
Of course, the qualifier is that it’s competently managed and I hope that’s the case.
Updated
Anne Ruston has released a statement on the national redress scheme, which Labor attempted to amend today:
“I am deeply disappointed that the Labor Party has today chosen to play political games with an issue as serious and important as the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.
“The Bill before the Parliament is technical in nature and will address unintended consequences or oversights in the initial drafting of the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018. It will improve funder of last resort provisions and permit payments to be made to a person appointed by a court, tribunal or board such as a Public Trustee who manages the financial affairs of vulnerable survivors to prevent abuse.
“Labor’s proposed amendments make no real changes to the Scheme and would simply require the Minister to “consider” issues and prepare a report.
“The very same issues Labor has raised are already being considered under the legislated second year review which is currently being undertaken by Ms Robyn Kruk AO.
“Ms Kruk is due to complete her independent review by the end of the month and it will be considered at the next meeting of state and territory ministers which are signatories to the inter-governmental agreement which underpins the Scheme.
“Labor is fully aware of this review and its scope which includes a focus on all aspects raised in the Shadow Minister’s amendment.
“Ms Kruk has undertaken extensive consultation with survivors and I believe it is only right to listen and act upon their feedback.
“That is why the Morrison Government could not support Labor’s attempt at political point scoring which would only have the effect of circumventing the review to blindly make changes to the Scheme’s operation without considering the voices of survivors.
“If Labor was genuine about wanting to improve the Scheme today, they would have supported the Government’s Bill without amendment and not made surprise amendments which were circulated to the media hours before being tabled in Parliament or being provided to my office.
“The Morrison Government is absolutely committed to improving the Scheme for survivors who we recognise have waited too long for redress.
“We understand the Scheme has not been without its challenges and the Government has sought to make continuous improvements underpinned by an additional $104.6 million investment in its operation over the next four years.
“We are giving the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission the power to revoke relevant charitable status from institutions which fail to join the Scheme and we have taken away their ability to access Commonwealth grants.
“In the first year after the Scheme was established in July 2018, 47 institutions joined, in the second year a further 176 institutions joined and now six months into the third year of operation another 223 have joined.
“Labor also revealed their ignorance of the Scheme through its proposed amendment to name and shame institutions.
“The Government already names and shames institutions which fail to fulfil their moral obligation to join the Scheme. The list is available to view at www.nationalredress.gov.au/institutions/institutions-have-not-yet-joined
“As at 1 January 2021, the Scheme has received a total of 9,117 applications, 4,530 payments have been made totalling about $377 million and a further 540 offers are awaiting an applicant’s decision.
Updated
Does Michael Sukkar agree with Tim Wilson’s claim the RBA governor was speaking outside the RBA’s mandate when he said there should be a permanent rise to the unemployment payment?
Sukkar tells the ABC:
The point I’m making is the RBA governor can quite rightly talk about matters that affect the economy, but in the end the government will be informed by the best decision-making we can.
Without sounding arrogant, I think if you look at the decision-making processes and the decisions and the consequences of those decisions that we’ve taken throughout the pandemic [they] have hit the mark each and every time, whether it was JobKeeper, or JobSeeker or the HomeBuilder program, for example, in my own portfolio, as far as supporting a million jobs in the residential construction industry.
I suppose what I’m saying to you is we make these decisions with the full knowledge of the economic consequences at the time and we don’t need to make that decision just yet because, as you’ve seen throughout the last 12 months, things do move pretty quickly and events can change very quickly, too.
Now, yes, we’ve been on, I think, an improving trajectory for a period of time and that’s highlighted by the jobs. It is now down to 6.6 unemployment, so we’ve done so much right, but the reason we’ve been able to do that is we took decisions with the information at the time and that’s what we will do with JobSeeker, too.
For the record, the RBA’s mandate is:
Its duty is to contribute to the stability of the currency, full employment, and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people.
Updated
The Senate inquiry into issues facing diaspora communities has made 14 recommendations, including a national anti-racism strategy and promoting the national security hotline as an avenue to report foreign interference.
But the most blistering contributions have come from the inquiry’s chair and deputy chair.
The deputy chair, Eric Abetz, refused to take a backward step from his questioning tactics in October, when he demanded three Chinese-Australians publicly and unconditionally condemn “the Chinese Communist party dictatorship”. Abetz told the chamber this afternoon his issue was with “the evil Chinese dictatorship”.
“During the hearing some inappropriate allegations were made suggesting that witnesses appearing as experts, and thought leaders, and think-tank contributors on China and its impact on the Chinese diaspora shouldn’t be asked if they condemned the CCP dictatorship, which is brutalising its citizens. Let’s be clear one million of its own people in concentration camps … To not condemn such a heinous regime is in itself heinous.”
Labor’s Kimberley Kitching, who chaired the inquiry, said some witnesses did not feel safe enough to give evidence in public hearings.
“We heard in-camera evidence from some, because either they are frightened from past experiences with the regimes in their country of origin, or they fear for their families, whether those families be here or in the country of origin.
“I don’t think we can avoid naming the country where witnesses felt threatened and had to give evidence in camera. The regime there is the Chinese Communist party. In the last day we have seen further documentation and authentication of sickening treatment and torture of the Uighur people in the forced labour camps in Xinjiang.”
Updated
This happened when the government announced the defence force was joining the bushfire effort.
Did the Liberal Party secure these vaccines or the Australian government? https://t.co/no7hSKwqq1
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) February 4, 2021
The Senate inquiry into issues facing diaspora communities in Australia is about to table its report.
You may recall this inquiry hit the headlines in October when the deputy chair, Eric Abetz, caused outrage by demanding three Chinese-Australians publicly and unconditionally condemn “the Chinese Communist party dictatorship”.
We’ll have more details soon.
Updated
This just popped up in my feed
You're right Jack. I did skip over it – unintentionally. I don't always stick to the written script. But I do believe that, just as we remember the other wars that shaped who we are as a nation, we must remember the frontier wars. I'll have more to say about this in coming weeks.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 4, 2021
For those wondering, I asked Daniel Hurst to check why the White House refers to Myanmar by the name colonists gave it:
From the US state dept: The military government changed the country’s name to “Myanmar” in 1989. The United States government continues to use the name “Burma”.
Updated
WA premier praises 'remarkable' firefighting effort
Authorities have provided an update on the Perth Hills bushfire, saying the Shady Hills estate has been saved. It was threatened by the blaze overnight.
WA premier, Mark McGowan, said it was a “remarkable achievement” that no more houses had been lost, or injuries recorded.
“This is a truly remarkable achievement given the ferocity of the fire. And that, as far as we know, no additional homes have been lost overnight thanks to the incredible work of our fireys.”
But he revealed that after a more thorough assessment, the number of homes destroyed previously had been revised to 81.
He said the emergency was not yet over and residents must keep track of emergency alerts.
“The threat to lives and homes remains and emergency warnings are still in place. These fires are highly unpredictable and things can go bad very quickly. Weather conditions are still volatile, with strong winds forecast.”
DFES commissioner, Darren Klemm, outlined how an overnight strategy to lay fire retardant lines helped contain the fast-moving blaze, but that conditions remain difficult to manage.continue to prove difficult to manage.
“No loss of homes overnight was a great outcome, and it is credit to the strategies that were put in place by the incident management team, and backed up by the firefighters on the ground in incredibly difficult conditions overnight.
“Today we’ve got over 260 firefighters on the fire ground. All of the aircraft are in use currently except for the fixed-wing water bombers due to the wind sheer.”
Finally, Commissioner Chris Dawson reassured community members that there were no reports of looting or burglary overnight. He said police were alert for any such activity.
Updated
Question time ends.
Joel Fitzgibbon does not appear to have reached his attention quota for the week (don’t laugh, relevance deprivation syndrome is very real and very serious and can only be managed with repeated trolling) so he’s wandered into parliament with a copy of the John Howard biography, Lazarus Rising.
Here you go Joel. This should get you through to your next Sky appearance.
We’re going to assume this means he thinks the book is ‘OK’.
Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Updated
Kristy McBain to Christian Porter:
Labor has used the government’s own fair pay calculator to show how the prime minister’s industrial relations changes will hurt cooks, pharmacy assistants, shelf stackers, aged-care workers, disability carers, car park attendants, hairdressers and butchers.
Why won’t the prime minister tell the truth and admit he is changing the law to allow wages to be cut?
Porter:
Because the government is not doing that. The thing about calculators is they don’t measure the honesty of the user.
A user can sit there and [contend] that certain things exist or assert a change in a bill that isn’t there or pretend that something is going happen that clearly isn’t going to happen, and they can pump that into the calculator and get a result that they want and bring it into parliament.
Updated
Tony Burke to Christian Porter:
I refer to his earlier answer when referring to the bill in the parliament. He said: “It ensures that wages will increase.” Which clause is that?
The short version of Porter’s answer is ‘like, all of it’
Porter:
Let’s go through. So if you are stamping out wage theft people get more money because they get their wages back.
If they have a small claims trial to get their money back they have more money because they get their money back.
If we encourage enterprise agreements where people on average get paid much more than they do in awards and move people from awards to enterprise agreements, then they get paid more money.
If you are a part-time worker at the moment who is not being given extra shifts because the employer can’t do that under the current prescriptive arrangements in your award and you get extra shifts, guess what? Your wages go up.
So you can go through a whole range of provisions in this bill and what you will see is they are designed to increase job growth, increase wage growth, ensure that people actually get remunerated according to the terms of their agreements and have a proper recourse if that doesn’t happen.
All of these things ensure that people have better conditions and wages.
You now oppose provisions [that] for the first-ever time ensure a consistent strong pathway from casual employment to permanent employment.
How many times have members of this house and outside heard about members opposite bemoaning casualisation and they are finally presented with the firm consistent pathway for a casual employee to become a permanently employee* and what is their answer to that?
*The ‘firm pathway’ is, after a year, you can ask you employer to go full time. Just ask. And they can say no. And there is nothing to protect you, if they decide they don’t have enough hours for you anymore, after you have asked to go full time.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Christian Porter
My question is also to the minister for industrial relations and ... it follows the previous question from this side and refers to a letter from Hello World Travel ... to an employee ... calling for them to grow to a five-figure wages cut, which says:
“To accept the proposed adjustment to your remuneration please sign below and return.”
Is this consistent with your former finance minister’s view that low wages growth was a deliberate feature of your economic architecture?
Porter:
Like the prime minister, I have not seen that correspondence, but what I can say definitively is there is nothing in the government’s industrial relations reform bill, which would allow for a process such as that, which has been described.
Updated
No new cases of covid in WA
Western Australia has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 after three full days of lockdown, something premier, Mark McGowan, has called a “remarkable result”.
“At this stage of the lockdown, this is the news we were hoping for,” he told reporters on Thursday.
McGowan said if these results continue “the end to lockdown is in sight”. The lockdown is due to lift at 6pm on Friday. McGowan said he was meeting with health experts tonight to flesh out what the post-lockdown provisions would be.
The number of tests performed yesterday has fallen again though, to 7,767.
“Naturally the number has trended down. So please keep getting tested,” McGowan said. Even if you have had a negative result, if you develop symptoms, go get tested again.”
There are now 191 people identified as close contacts of the hotel quarantine worker, of which 156 have returned a negative test result, and 258 casual contacts, of which 200 have returned a negative result. Other tests are pending.
“The four high-risk close contacts of case 903 [the hotel quarantine worker] have been re-tested and returned their second negative test result late yesterday,” McGowan said. “This is good news.”
McGowan said WA has “paused” a planned easing of border restrictions against Victoria in response to a new case in a hotel quarantine worker in Melbourne, announced late on Wednesday.
Victoria was due to transition to the very low risk category from midnight tonight, which would have meant Victorians could travel to WA without having to quarantine.
That has been put on hold. Victorian travellers to WA will still have to self-quarantine for 14 days, and return a negative test on day 11.
McGowan said it was possible that Victoria may go back from its current status of low risk to medium risk, which means no conditions on travel but 14-days quarantine in a quarantine hotel.
Updated
The White House readout of the call between Joe Biden and Scott Morrison doesn’t add much to what the prime minister already said publicly, but explicitly says “dealing with China” was one of the issues on which the pair would work. “Combating climate change” and “beating the Covid-19 pandemic” are other topics highlighted in the readout (but the specifics are not provided).
The White House has also revealed that the pair discussed how to respond to the military coup in Myanmar:
“They also agreed to work together, alongside other allies and partners, to hold to account those responsible for the coup in Burma.”
Human rights groups, Labor and the Greens have been calling for Australiato consider suspending defence cooperation with Myanmar and imposing additional sanctions on the military leaders.
But the Australian government had appeared reluctant to rush into such action – apparently because of concerns that if Myanmar is totally isolated it might be pushed further into the arms of China.
An Australian defence department spokesperson told us on Tuesday:
“This is a rapidly evolving situation and it is important that we take time to consider the circumstances before any decisions are taken.”
A new readout of Biden’s call with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, says they also agreed “on the need for the immediate restoration of democracy in Burma”.
Updated
Alan Tudge, the education minister who was surprised to learn Universities Australia estimated the sector’s job losses at 17,000 yesterday, just spoke about how great it was that the university changes made some degrees cheaper, without mentioning that it made arts and humanities degrees prohibitively expensive.
Always look on the bright side of life.
Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:
I have here an email from Andrew Burns, CEO of Hello World Travel, asking employees to suspect pay cuts from the end of March when JobKeeper ends. Is this just the first round of Morrison pay cuts?
Morrison:
I haven’t seen the correspondence to which the member refers and I would be happy for him to provide it to me. Mr Speaker, the JobKeeper program, as people in this place know, but more importantly as those around this country know, has been the game-changing program that has kept hundreds of thousands of Australians in work, in fact it has saved 700,000 jobs.
On top of that, as we have said from the outset that the JobKeeper program was proportionate. It was temporary. It was targeted, Mr Speaker, to ensure that Australia came through the worst period of the pandemic.
Now, we always have recognised as we have been transitioning the JobKeeper program from it very significant levels of uptake early in the pandemic that we have moved towards other forms of support, in particular in terms of the travel agent sector with the support of some $127 million, I think it is, $128 million, the minister reminds me, of direct support to travel agents because we understood the very specific challenges that travel agents faced.
I thank all of my colleagues who on behalf of those jobs and in those small business people in their electorates who raised those issues with me and with the minister for tourism at the time, now the Minister for Finance and with crafted a package to provide very direct support and that has been our approach throughout this pandemic.
To understand where the need was, to target support to that but in a way that respected taxpayers’ money and understood that these transitions would have to occur because you cannot run the Australian economy on taxpayers money forever*. Mr Speaker, those opposite the Labor during this pandemic have had an each-way bet on the pandemic response throughout the last year.
With one side of their mouth they say they are with us and with the other side of their mouth, thaw seek to undermine the effort.
Our government has been consistent and honest with people and delivered a support that this country has never seen, that has saved jobs, that has got Australians back into work.
Some 90% of the jobs that have been lost throughout the Covid-19 recession have returned into the Australian economy. Mr President, our plans are getting people back into work. They are going to keep getting people back into work. It is a difficult time for Australians all around this country and they know they have had our support.
*The entire economy is run on taxpayer money and always has been. Taxpayers spend money in the economy. Tax contributes to the government budget. It’s all around us and always has been.
Updated
We’ll have an update for you soon, but it appears that the number of homes lost in the WA bushfires has risen from 71 to 81.
It’s very short but the White House readout of the call shows the military coup in Myanmar was spoken about. That was not mentioned by Scott Morrison in his press conference.
Updated
Steve Georganas to Scott Morrison:
According to the government’s own fair pay calculator, under the industrial relations changes a butcher working part-time Thursday to Sunday could lose nearly $7,000 a year from their take-home pay. Why is the prime minister abandoning these workers?
Christian Porter gets this one too:
That calculator simply does not produce that result. It simply does not produce that result. That is absolutely nonsensical. What this bill does is it does a range of things with respect to underpayments to make sure that people get paid. It makes enterprising agreement quicker – enterprising making quicker and faster.
It works on ensuring that part-time, permanent employees can get shifts and get paid more in circumstances where they are not presently getting shifts and paid more. This bill provides the first consistent strong pathway to permanent employment from being a casual and these are all things that Labor now oppose.
Updated
Liberal Western Australian MP, Vince Connelly, appears to have spent the summer learning how to present a question in the style of a human being.
Unfortunately, it does not appear his work has been successful.
Updated
Australian Open draw postponed
The Australian Open will be postponing the announcement of its draw in light of a quarantine worker testing positive.
Tennis Australia CEO, Craig Tiley, also announced that all scheduled matches today have been postponed until tomorrow, and that all 507 players were tested this morning. All are considered casual contacts. They will have to isolate for 14 days or until their tests come back negative.
However, 50 of the staff are considered close contacts. They’ve been tested and will be isolating for 14 days.
Tiley said he was confident the schedule could continue as normal tomorrow, with the Australian Open still expected to begin on Monday.
“We’re absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead. We know that we have a period now where we have to work with those 507 players and their staff. The probability is very low that there’ll be an issue though.
“We expect them all to test negative. The plan is to continue to play tomorrow as planned. If we have to go through this again, we’ll go through this again. We have 3.5 weeks of tennis to play and we’ll go an as scheduled.”
Updated
The White House readout of the call between Joe Biden and Scott Morrison appears to have been released:
The White House readout of the call between Joe Biden and Scott Morrison pic.twitter.com/HaNvEIFO5f
— Charles Croucher (@ccroucher9) February 4, 2021
Updated
As part of that, Peter Dutton also loves America.
We haven’t had one of these for a while – it is time for Just How Safe Are We, with Peter Dutton!
So just how safe are we?
As safe as we can be. THAT EYE IS NEVER TAKEN OFF THE BALL.
Updated
Christian Porter continues to say that Labor is not correct when it comes to its criticism of the IR legislation.
He says it means all workers get “more”.
“Everything in this bill is designed to ensure that people have more money, more wages and better conditions,” Porter says.
But as Paul Karp has repeatedly pointed out, there is a change – it goes from “exceptional circumstances” to where the Fair Work Commission deems it “appropriate”.
That’s a pretty big change – “exceptional circumstances” includes things like the pandemic. Fair enough.
“Appropriate” is more arbitrary. That’s the issue.
Updated
Christian Porter has now clarified that he meant that under the amendment and the existing Fair Work Act, agreements will not be registered that leave workers worse off if it would be “contrary to the public interest”.
That much is true. Under both the existing section and the amendment, agreements must not be against the public interest.
This does not mean the test for registration is the same. Again:
- Under the existing exception - workers can be worse off only in “exceptional circumstances”.
- Under the Coalition amendment - workers can be worse off where the Fair Work Commission thinks it is “appropriate” in all the circumstances.
It’s not the same protection, it’s weaker.
Updated
Michael McCormack is very excited that Cathrine King sent a tweet welcoming an upgrade to a regional Victorian rail station.
So what I am hearing is that McCormack is very excited that someone noticed ‘government does job’ and sees that as a personal win.
I heard scientists have taught spinach to email. Seems a strange flex when apparently, it can also get elected to parliament.
Anthony Albanese and Christian Porter are having a stoush about changes to the better-off-overall test (Boot) in the industrial relations omnibus bill.
Porter said:
“I can reiterate, Mr Speaker, that what the leader of the opposition contends could occur in that clause cannot occur, will not occur, and does not occur now, with precisely the same drafted protections that Labor put into the Act.
Fact check: are the protections “precisely the same” as Labor’s version of the Fair Work Act? No.
The Act in section 189(2) currently says the Fair Work Commission can allow an enterprise agreement that doesn’t pass the Boot test where there are “exceptional circumstances”:https://twitter.com/Paul_Karp/status/1357165166014603264
The bill creates a new pathway, where the commission would only have to think it is “appropriate ... [in] all the circumstances” to approve an agreement that leaves workers worse off:https://twitter.com/Paul_Karp/status/1357164598189649923
So, no, the bill doesn’t eliminate the existing exception, it just creates a new exception that is more generous for employers that have been affected by Covid-19.
Updated
Ugh. It is more Michael McCormack, this time with a dixer.
He preempts some sort of sledge he wants to make, because he is once again mistaking homilies for personality.
Updated
Andrew Wilkie has the independents’ question and he asks about a promotion where people were encouraged to travel on the Spirit of Tasmania, a ship that travels from the mainland to Tasmania, and is run by TT Line, which said ‘bring the car for free’. But Wilkie said passenger charges were increased, meaning the trip became more expensive.
Michael McCormack says he is happy to hear about any particular examples Wilkie is worried about, as he has not heard of that as yet.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison: If the prime minister suspends the better-off-overall test, doesn’t that mean not all workers have to be better off overall?
Christian Porter gets the nod for this one, and starts by reading the clause which he claims ends at [and insert]
Anthony Albanese: He can’t just stand there and make things up.
Tony Smith says it his job to make sure MPs are relevant to the question.
Albanese reads out the clause he was referring to and Porter says he needs to be relevant to that clause.
Porter returns:
I see what what the member is getting at there and there two clauses that work in tandem.
He says Labor put the original words in the legislation when it was in government, and that has been replicated here.
Porter:
The provisions would amend section 189 of the Fair Work Act which was put into that act by members opposite, which has a protection around the Boot test, which says that any decision of the Fair Work Commission could not be contrary to the public interest, and those words that you put into the act, are precisely replicated – indeed were just read out by the leader of the opposition – the same protections precisely replicated by the words that would be inserted by this legislation in this bill.
Updated
Anthony Albanese asks Scott Morrison about the specific clause in the IR bill that enables awards to be cut.
Christian Porter says it’s not true and starts talking about something else. Albanese gets up very quickly and says he’s talking about a very specific part of the legislation, and Tony Smith agrees with him, telling Porter to get back to the point.
Porter again says what the opposition contends isn’t true and won’t happen.
But the thing is, as Paul Karp will explain to you in just one moment, that clause does allow for awards to be changed, which can lead to cuts in penalties and entitlements.
Updated
Anthony Albanese also welcomes Joe Biden’s election, and we all love America.
Question time begins
The first question was on industrial relations – I missed it, as I was watching a press conference – but it seems to be along the same lines as the rest we have seen on this: why is the government making things worse for workers.
Scott Morrison answers the same way the government has all week – it’s not.
We move to a dixer on the Joe Biden phone call.
Australia is the anchor, and America the ship, or something. Anyways, we love America.
Updated
Mark Butler also mentioned this report in his press conference – Mortality associated with COVID-19 in care homes: international evidence.
It ranked Australia as the worst performing nation (population based) when it came to deaths in aged care, during the pandemic.
Butler:
Recognising again the commonwealth failed Australians and aged care, especially in Victoria last year and must do better.
Labor is trying to provide every possible support to the government in this Covid-19 response, that is what the Australian community expects of Labor it is important the prime minister faced up to his responsibilities like quarantine, residential aged care rather than continuing to shove them to the states.
Updated
Kristina Keneally on hotel quarantine:
Scott Morrison has responsibility for quarantine, not the states. Understand this, quarantine and international borders are a federal responsibility. It was only a year ago we had a commonwealth government that understood that the international borders and quarantine was their responsibilit. They used to boast about their superiority in managing borders, but along comes Covid-19 and Scott Morrison goes missing.
He has gone missing because he doesn’t want to assume any of the risk. Understand, when the going gets tough, Scott Morrison goes to ground.
He would rather hide behind the state premiers and let them take all the risk of managing our international borders.
It was only recently Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, expressed frustration because she was having to negotiate with individual state premiers when it came to the so-called travel corridor between New Zealand and Australia.
Our commonwealth government has gone missing.
Updated
Mark Butler on hotel quarantine:
The system has been very important in terms of allowing Australian citizens to return from overseas ... but Australians need greater confidence that these quarantine arrangements are going to work more effectively, to bring people home, to do so in a way that doesn’t pose a risk to the broader community and the disruptions this involves.
Outbreaks from hotel quarantine are the most serious failing in our Covid response, a failing for which Scott Morrison is constitutionally and legally responsible.
Although the states stepped up when the commonwealth wasn’t acting last year, it is the commonwealth, the prime minister, who has responsibility for making sure these arrangements work.
Updated
Mark Butler and Kristina Keneally are holding a press conference on hotel quarantine. They say it is time the federal government sets up a national quarantine facility.
Paul Karp is there and we’ll bring you his report soon.
Updated
Mike Bowers was at the press conference:
Updated
Dipping back into what’s happening in the chamber – Linda Burney tried to move Labor’s amendments to the redress scheme and the government gagged the debate.
All the amendments were voted down but the government didn’t speak on WHY it was voting the amendments down.
Sensing an opportunity, Tony Burke moved a motion to allow Stuart Robert to explain the government’s position.
Which the government also shot down.
So the government just voted to gag its own minister.
Things are going GREAT.
#BREAKING The Government has just gagged its own Minister Stuart Robert from being required to explain to parliament why the Government opposes Labor's #Redress amendments. It was Stuart Robert who voted to stop himself! This Gov is unbelievable. @Tony_Burke pic.twitter.com/g5WQFDtp2K
— Linda Burney MP (@LindaBurneyMP) February 4, 2021
Updated
The Bob Brown Foundation says it will apply to the high court for special leave to appeal after losing its federal court attempt to stop native forest logging in Tasmania.
The environment group, created by the former Greens leader after he left parliament, had argued an effective exemption from environment laws granted to logging meant a regional forestry agreement between the federal and Tasmanian governments was not legally valid.
Lawyers for the foundation said the agreement lacked an enforceable requirement that the state must protect threatened species, particularly the critically endangered swift parrot.
The case was rejected by the full bench of the federal court on Wednesday. Its judgment found the forestry agreement was legally binding.
Federal and state forestry ministers said it showed the industry acted legally and sustainably, and called on Brown to drop the group’s campaign against old-growth logging in the state, but Brown vowed to fight on. He said the judgment in part reflected failures in the law, which he described as “loggers’ legislation”.
The foundation has now tweeted that it has instructed its lawyers to start work on an application to the high court seeking special leave to appeal the federal court judgment.
It would need to be granted leave by the court before an appeal could go ahead.
Breaking news: Bob Brown Foundation have today instructed our lawyers to prepare a special leave application to the High Court in the Great Forest Case. #politas #auspol
— Bob Brown Foundation (@BobBrownFndn) February 4, 2021
The exemption granted to forestry agreements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is highly contentious.
A review of national environment laws by the competition watchdog, Graeme Samuel, found the government should abolish it as part of a major overhaul of the failing act.
The government has not accepted the recommendation.
Updated
That’s pretty much where the press conference ends.
How did the Google chat go?
Scott Morrison:
It was a constructive meeting. I have been able to send them the best possible signals that should give them a great encouragement to engage with the process and see them conclude with the various news organisations.
That is the best way to enable that matter to be settled. We discussed some of the specifics of elements of the code.
They raised those matters, I think, very respectfully.
But I think we have been able to get that into a much more positive space about the ability to continue to provide services here in Australia.
But at the end of the day, they understand that Australia sets the rules for how these things operate. And I was very clear about how I saw this playing out.
Updated
Scott Morrison is asked whether the new, more contagious strains, were part of the hotel quarantine risk assessment:
I’ve asked Professor Kelly to work with the AHPPC to give me an update on the risk assessment from what was advised a month ago, when we had the Brisbane case.
Now, when that occurred, both his advice – and, indeed, Professor Murphy’s advice on that occasion – was fairly stern about the risk that presented at that time. But since then we’ve come through Brisbane – extremely well. Thank you, Brisbane. We’ve come through Victoria. Thank you, Victoria.
We’re there with a case there today. We’ve come through the Northern Beaches. We’ve come through all of these situations.
New Zealand has come through their’s. Without those risks being manifest, and the systems have held up extremely well.
And so I’ve asked for that, sort of, updated assessment of a risk that looked very unknown and very concerning a month ago.
But I think the experience of the past month, if anything, has shown that the systems have been able to mitigate that risk.
Updated
Greg Hunt follows that answer on hotel quarantine with what becomes the saddest re-tooling of John Lennon’s Imagine I have heard yet:
And so long as there’s a pandemic, and unless Australia were hermetically sealed, no Australians returning for funerals, for families, for work, no Australians returning for weddings or births, no Australians being able to go overseas with the expectation that they’d come back after meeting up with their own families, no trade, no wool, no wheat, no iron ore going abroad, no critical medicines or fundamental foods that weren’t available in Australia coming in – that’s the only way to hermetically seal Australia.
I’m not sure anybody is actually proposing that.
Hunt also posed this question, from the rest of the world:
We just went through a period of 12 days with no community cases. The world looks at Australia and says, “How have you done this?” .
We’re an island, Greg.
Updated
It doesn’t look like there will be many changes to the hotel quarantine program, at least from a federal government point of view.
Scott Morrison:
Now, the commonwealth has put in place, at some significant cost – some $243.7 million – for the provision of Covid quarantine arrangements at the Howard Springs quarantine facility for organised national repatriations of Australians.
We did that last October, working on a capacity of having 850.
And the commonwealth is open, where there are good proposals, very comprehensive proposals, where that supplementary capacity to deal with emergency situations, or indeed the repatriation flights that we ourselves have organised for those other facilities to be used rather than drawing on the hotel quarantine arrangement.
But we discussed this as a federal government, and took the advice also from agencies, whether it was Home Affairs or Health or others, it remains the case that the most effective way to deliver, at the scale, that Australia needs to deliver these arrangements, that hotel quarantine remains the most effective way to do that. And that remains the advice I have from my experts.
And the alternative is not that clear to me.
I mean, we could go and try and rebuild the Labor party’s immigration detention network that they put in place during the border protection crisis under their administration. And we all remember what a debacle that was.
And so if that’s the option, then - then I don’t find that as persuasive.
But when there are specific proposals – and we’re working through one in Toowoomba at the moment ... We’re not working through the Gladstone option, we’ve looked at the Gladstone option and we don’t believe that is a sensible thing to do.
There wasn’t a lot of detail on that, but the broader risks were not ones that we thought were ones economically, or particularly from a health point of view, could be appropriately covered off.
But the Toowoomba option we’re looking at, as a supplementary capacity, and writing back to the Queensland premier about that.
But this idea that you can replace the hotel quarantine system, bring Australians back home, manage your health agenda effectively through some other mechanism, I think we have to keep a sense of realism about this and a sense of proportion. 211,500 people have come back, we’ve had a handful of cases that haven’t been completely contained within that.
But I can tell you what, if Europe achieved that, if the UK achieved that, if the United States had achieved that, they wouldn’t be looking at the situation they’re looking at now, they’d be looking potentially at the sort of situation that we as a nation have achieved.
Updated
Question: In your conversation with President Biden, two things ... did our relationship with China come up and did he invite you to his climate summit in April?
Scott Morrison:
Well, as you would expect, we discussed regional issues in the Indo-Pacific fully. And in relation to the other matter, their invitation is coming, and we’ll be addressing those once they’re received. We spoke positively about these initiatives. And so we look forward to being able to participate.
Question: Just further on that, did President Biden ask you or discuss any further, I guess, more ambitious climate targets, and Australia committing to net zero as a target?
Morrison:
No. No. We had a very positive discussion about the path we’re on, and the commitments that we’ve made.
And, more importantly, how we have been able to exceed those commitments. The strong level, particularly of solar in households take-up in Australia, which is the strongest in the world.
And also what we’ve achieved in terms of our emissions reductions since 2005, which indeed is higher than what has been achieved in the United States and almost double that of the OECD.
We’re very focused on the technological challenge, and joining together not just Australia and the United States – I mean, they are going to be investing significantly in those technologies. And I was pleased to be able to say we were doing exactly the same thing, some $18bn over the next decade, and that we would achieve even more through partnerships between the United States and Australia.
And I was able to talk about the way we are pursuing those same partnerships with the United Kingdom, and with Germany, most recently in the discussions we’ve had, where we already have those relationships with places like Japan.
So, you know, they’re very focused on the big challenge here, which is the technologies which transform our economies, so you maintain and build on jobs, support your industries, so people have that future to look forward to, and address the broader global climate challenge.
Updated
Professor Brendan Murphy says Australia is now in the “wonderful position” of rolling out three vaccines:
Two of them early, the Pfizer and AstraZeneca, depending on the TGA registration, of course, of AstraZeneca.
And then Novavax later on.
All of these three vaccines have now been shown to be highly effective at preventing clinical Covid disease, and particularly severe Covid disease. That is a position that we wouldn’t have dreamt of a year ago, six months ago. It is a very, very nice position to be in.
Updated
Australia secures an additional 10 million Pfizer vaccine doses
Scott Morrison then moves to the vaccine:
That brings to now 150 million doses, what Australia has been able to secure, to not only vaccinate Australia but to ensure that we’re doing our bit in this part of the world.
Yesterday I joined the Pacific Island Leaders’ Forum, and we were able to give the good report of how we’re working with them, together with the United States and France across the Pacific, and this as much potentially assists that task as it certainly assists our task in the rollout of our vaccine.
These additional vaccines have been secured consistent with our requirements under the strategy.
You know, I commend again Minister Hunt and Professor Murphy for the great job they and their teams have done in continuing to fulfil our commitments when it comes to delivering this vaccine in Australia.
It is the big agenda item for us, obviously, because it provides the pathway to so many of the other things we wish to achieve this year. They can speak more to the details of that.
We are still, though, on track to commence later this month.
That puts us in a very good position, particularly with our sovereign vaccine production capability, ahead of many countries, like New Zealand, for example, we understand, won’t commence until April, I think it is. We’re working with them as well.
And I had a good discussion with Prime Minister Ardern on that just the other day.
Also, Joe Biden is “very keen” on coming to visit Australia.
What was discussed in the call?
The usual. And also climate
Scott Morrison:
We affirmed our commitment to the things that absolutely always matter – those relationships, particularly the alliance relationships, but also the Five Eyes relationships and the broadening of that agenda on the Five Eyes.
A high priority for the Biden administration as it works with partners within the region.
And what we refer to now as the G7-plus dialogue. Australia is not a member of the G7 but that’s not the point.
We have been invited on three occasions while I have been prime minister, and there have been other occasions in the past.
And that G7-plus dialogue enables a broader discussion of issues amongst like-minded liberal democracies, market-based economies, and this is a very positive move, and deals with everything from technology, partnerships, supply chains, the security of those, the economic recovery, Covid issues, and cooperation.
So, we will continue to work together on the key global and regional challenges in the Indo-Pacific, and there is an absolute affirmation and understanding that we are in this together, we are absolutely in this together.
Whether it’s on Covid and whether it’s on the economic recovery, global and regional security issues, the multilateral initiatives and reforms that we are partnering in.
But also, as we discussed today, achieving a net-zero pathway through technology, and the cooperation that is needed to do that, and the work that has already begun from the discussion between special envoy Secretary Kerry and Minister Taylor, we picked that up today and we’re very keen on pursuing that relationship and the technology partnership. And I had the opportunity to discuss how the United States, and as Secretary Kerry said the other day, and I said it in the parliament, that it is a game-changing statement to understand that our goal is global emissions, not just emissions in some country. Global emissions reduction. And that is how you solve the problem.
And so appreciated their leadership there.
So, a very warm and engaging conversation.
We’re looking forward to further engagements over the course of this year.
Updated
Joe Biden made it down his call list to Australia, Scott Morrison says:
On a more positive note, today I had a very warm and engaging call with President Biden.
And we appreciated the opportunity to have that conversation in an early phase, amongst the many nations that have been engaged with, early on in that process.
As he said to me again today, he sees the Australia-US relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region. And that is true.
We share that view.
In terms of our relations between Australia and the United States, there’s nothing to fix there, only things to build on. And we intend to do just that. [We] talked about the stewardship we share, a stewardship that has been held by prime ministers and presidents over a very long time, and particularly this year.
Some 70 years of the ANZUS Alliance that we will celebrate in September of this year. I spoke to former prime minister, John Howard. We were at Doug Anthony’s funeral the other day, and he reminded me that it was 20 years ago in September, when he was in the United States to address the Congress on the 50th anniversary of ANZUS.
And, of course, while he was there, it was September 11. And so we spoke about that today, remembering that [this year] it is 20 years since September 11. And we stood with the United States then, as we always have and always will. We spoke of the fact that Australia looks to the United States, but we never leave it to the United States. We do our share of the heavy lifting in this relationship, and that is absolutely respected by the president and appreciated. And so a very warm call.
Updated
Scott Morrison press conference
The prime minister starts with an update on the WA fire situation:
The situation is going to continue to be very dangerous.
The bushfire has impacted northern and north-east suburbs of Perth. There still remains the potential for gusts of up to 60-70km/h, which may cause embers to carry ahead of the main fire, which we have been seeing – several kilometres ahead, those embers were blowing forward previously, and those weather conditions not to be assisting.
As said yesterday, confirmed reports of at least 71 properties, and two firefighting vehicles, have been destroyed. The burn is now 10,000 hectares.
Over 1,300 homes and businesses are without power and there is significant damage to the electricity network, including 800 poles and 100 transformers.
And there are disruptions to telecommunications due to the loss of power. Residents have been evacuated in some WA communities, but fortunately there are so far no reports of serious injuries.
Our concerns remain, of course, for those who are fighting the fires, noting that a number of firefighters have received injuries, minor injuries, which does occur in the course of their dangerous work.
And they understand that. But we nonetheless are concerned for their safety.
There are two large air tankers [that] will be assisting with fighting the fire in Western Australia, under the National Aerial Firefighting Arrangements. There were meetings yesterday that further addressed those issues, and taking the advice on what was necessary.
Updated
The Western Australian press conference will be held at 2.30 AEDT
Updated
Over in the House, Labor’s amendments on the redress scheme were also defeated
The Government has voted down Labor's #Redress amendments to require the Minister to name and shame institutions that refuse to join the scheme within 6 months. pic.twitter.com/lG49wnsvx5
— Linda Burney MP (@LindaBurneyMP) February 4, 2021
Larissa Waters’s motion on donations did not pass – Labor did not vote for it.
Senate divided: Ayes 11; Noes 35
One Nation abstained.
Updated
Larissa Waters is about to move this motion in the Senate:
That the Senate—
- notes that the total amount of money donated to political parties, as disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission, tripled between the 2016 election and the 2019 election; and
- supports:
- lowering the disclosure threshold for donations to political parties,
- requiring more timely disclosure of donations to political parties, and
- imposing caps on the amount that donors can donate to political parties.
That’s after the latest donation disclosures led to these stories:
There we go – the prime minister will hold his press conference at 12.35 AEDT.
It’s in the courtyard.
Updated
We are soon expecting confirmation of the Greg Hunt and Scott Morrison press conference, where we will hear the latest on the vaccine as well as the phone call with the Google boss, as reported by Nine.
Mark Butler and Kristina Keneally will be holding a press conference just ahead of question time, to talk hotel quarantine.
You now have as much information as I do.
Updated
Labor supported the amended motion, but made it clear they were cranky at the government for amending the motion as it did.
The Greens supported the original motion, but did not support the amended one, as it blurred the point. (Plus, changing notes there has been a significant rise in far right extremism terrorism in Australia to ‘Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world’ is completely besides the point)
Why is Scott Morrison's government running interference for fascists and hate-mongers by playing "both sides" nonsense with the threat of far-right extremism? pic.twitter.com/GEzV7OeQXk
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 4, 2021
Updated
The government struck out the criticism of George Christensen and Craig Kelly, and added in a nice dose of people on ‘both sides’ by including far-left extremism – which is not what security agencies are telling us the issue is.
Updated
In case you couldn’t see it, here was Kristina Keneally’s motion:
That the Senate—
- notes that:
- there has been a significant increase in far-right extremism in Australia,
- far-right extremism is often cultivated through its overlap with various conspiracy theories, which have become a common tool to radicalise individuals through misinformation on social media, and
- far-right extremism tears apart the social fabric of Australia’s multicultural community;
- condemns:
- the Members for Hughes and Dawson for promoting a range of conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns relating to COVID-19, climate change, voter fraud and ‘false flag’ operations in the United States,
- the National Socialist Network, an Australian neo-Nazi organisation which caused fear amongst communities in the Grampians on both Australia Day and International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and
- other far-right extremist groups which seek to promote fascism and bigotry in our community;
- expresses its support for the many multicultural and First Nations Australians who are vilified by far-right extremists; and
- calls on the Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs to take action to combat the spread of far-right extremism within their party and in the broader community.
So Labor put a motion up in the Senate. Which the government changed.
Paul has tweeted it below:
The Senate has dramatically re-written this Labor motion on far-right extremism, to condemn far right AND LEFT extremism (both sides); and strikes out criticism of Craig Kelly and George Christensen #auspol pic.twitter.com/EXdNR4CibY
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 4, 2021
This morning on Sky News, Labor senator Kristina Keneally said this:
We are, in Australia, the only Five Eyes country that has not listed any rightwing extremist groups as terrorist organisations. Yet there are terrorist organisations proscribed in Canada and the United Kingdom that have direct links to rightwing extremist groups here.
They are sharing information online. They are. In fact we’ve got Australians who have travelled overseas to do military training with rightwing extremist groups.
And yet our government has not listed any of these groups; has not charged anyone under foreign fighters legislation; has not declared any prohibited areas; and it is very murky or opaque to understand how much of any of our countering violent extremism funding is directed at rightwing extremism.
These are all the reasons that Labor has pushed so hard for an inquiry into rightwing extremism.
We need to ensure that our counterterrorism tools and the tools that we have to keep the community safe – which have understandably been focused on Islamic jihadism – we need to determine whether or not they are fit for purpose when it comes to rightwing extremism.
Because, while there are some similarities between these types of extremism, the motivating ideology matters and it matters in terms of how you prevent, how you de-radicalise and how you investigate this terrorist threat.
That isn’t actually under question – the security agencies have been telling us, publicly, that there has been an increase in far-right extremism.
The government’s Alex Hawke, though, disagreed.
He later went on Sky News and said:
I’d say this, the government rejects Senator Keneally’s thesis, that there is rising extremism in Australia.
It is extreme elements, fringe elements, in Australia that need tackling, they are being tackled. What we have here is increased social cohesion, not increasing extremism.
Updated
Mike Bowers has been around the parliament all morning.
From his lens to your eyeballs:
Updated
There is hope the Australian Open schedule will not be affected by the positive case detected in a hotel quarantine support worker yesterday, and that play can get underway as planned on Monday morning, after Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Professor Allen Cheng, said the risk to players and their support staff of contracting the virus was low.
Play in build-up tournaments to the Open at Melbourne Park was called off for today with up to 600 people in the sizeable tennis cohort in Melbourne forced into isolation. Testing of those people is well under way this morning and once a negative result is received, they will be allowed out of isolation.
“I think it’s unlikely but we have asked for testing of all of the players and other people who have been in that hotel,” Cheng said earlier. “We think the risk to other guests at the hotel, so tennis players and their accompanying staff, is relatively low because they were in the rooms at the time as opposed to staff who were outside the rooms.
“That said, the last case to leave the hotel for the health hotel left on the 22nd so we’re now getting on to close to 14 days since that time. So we think that risk is relatively low so we’re testing them to be sure, and it’s precautionary.”
✔ Covid test done, now isolate until negative test result 🤐🙌 @SevenFriday @SEVENFRIDAYaus#melbourne #australia #atptour #ausopen #AO21 #tennis #covid #covid19 #watch #watches #sevenfriday pic.twitter.com/t9DVXktcyj
— Matt Ebden (@mattebden) February 3, 2021
An update on Friday’s schedule of play at the six tournaments currently running at Melbourne Park is expected from Tennis Australia later today.
New community-acquired case of Covid found in New Zealand
A new community case of Covid-19 has been identified in New Zealand: a close contact of two recent cases, who has been self-isolating.
The new case is the mother of the toddler (known as Person C) who tested positive for Covid-19 after quarantining at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland. Person B, her partner, also tested positive.
Director-general of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said he had a “high degree of confidence” that the woman had been isolating as a result of confirmed cases in her family and would not have transmitted the virus. “This was a very close household contact for Person B and C. … we are not expecting any other positive results.”
Routine testing of the woman was done on two consecutive days by mobile testing unit going to her house. One carried out on 2 February returned positive.
Bloomfield said the contradictory results were “a good example of the variable nature” of testing and praised the health services for persevering.
The woman will be moved to a quarantine facility to see out the remainder of her illness.
“This is just a good example of our response – our isolation and testing follow-up system – working,” Bloomfield said.
Testing of other close contacts of those cases has come back negative.
Six more cases of coronavirus have been identified in managed isolation and quarantine since Wednesday’s briefing: three caught on day 0, two on day 3, and one on day 8.
An investigation into how transmission occurred at the Pullman Hotel investigation is yet to report back.
Updated
A little earlier this hour, Labor’s Jim Chalmers attempted to suspend standing orders to debate recommendations from the banking royal commission which are yet to be implemented.
That follows on from this which Chalmers has been running all day:
MEDIA RELEASE: Banking victims ignored as reforms abandoned and delayed #auspol pic.twitter.com/Ca46f1UXUu
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) February 3, 2021
You will not be surprised to learn that the government gagged the debate.
We are told it is “likely” the prime minister will hold a press conference at 12.30
Sky News is reporting Scott Morrison and Greg Hunt will be announcing additional doses of the Pfzier vaccine have been secured, and will be making an announcement at 12.30pm.
Updated
If you are in Queensland with plans to travel to Victoria in the near future, the chief health officer advises you rethink your travel, if you are able.
The borders are remaining open but it’s a “watching brief”, which means if there are more cases, or Covid looks to have spread, the border will slam shut.
Updated
Queensland investigating 'likely false-positive' Covid case
Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, says there are three cases Queensland is keeping an eye on, including one person they think might be a false positive, but need to triple check:
Two people who returned from Western Australia after being positive in a hotel over there and going through their quarantine and their isolation period. One returned to Townsville, one returned to the Sunshine Coast.
They’ve then come forward and got tested because of that request I made, that anyone who had been in that hotel to get tested, and they’ve tested positive.
But I think it’s most likely just their infection that they brought from overseas that they had cleared and now they’ve had some more shedding.
And we know that happens.
So that’s the most likely situation for those two. We’re just doing more testing to confirm it. That’s why we’ve not declared them as new cases overnight.
The third one is a woman who I absolutely commend, who developed some symptoms and came forward and got tested.
And she has tested positive on one gene that we look at when we test, plus it’s a very high CT value.
So, very late in terms of testing on the machine. So it’s most likely to be a false-positive but it is really important we work that through.
So, of course, we’re working with her and any close contacts to see if there’s anything there that needs to be done.
So we’ll be able to confirm that in the next 12 hours. So she lives in the northern part of Brisbane. She doesn’t have any travel history, and she hasn’t had any contact with any known cases. So it’s very, very, very unlikely she’ll be a true positive but we just need to work that through. And I want to thank her for coming forward and getting tested.
Updated
There have been no new locally acquired cases of Covid in NSW.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) February 4, 2021
There were three cases acquired overseas, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,928. pic.twitter.com/HTu1cJuS71
Updated
Queensland’s health minister Yvette D’Ath says the will NOT be declaring Victoria a hotspot at this stage.
Updated
Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt says he believes Collingwood president Eddie McGuire should stay on at the club, so he can learn how to be better.
That wasn’t Wyatt’s words, but it was the vibe of the whole thing.
As AAP reports:
There are growing calls for McGuire to resign after describing the release of a damning review into toxic racism as a proud day for the Magpies.
But Mr Wyatt believes he is still the best person to drive change at the club.
“My personal view would be not to remove Eddie because Eddie is a still man of influence in a broader arena,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.
Mr Wyatt, who has read the independent report, says it points to systemic practices McGuire could learn from.
“To undo systemic practices you need to take people through a learning process,” he said.
“I would rather see, on a personal basis, Eddie go through that systemic practice learning process so that wherever he ends up in his lifetime, then he’s in a position to say ‘look, when I was at Collingwood, this was not appropriate’.”
Mr Wyatt said only once McGuire had gone through the process would his behaviour change.
“We’ve seen Eddie do some foot in the mouth stuff that has been highly offensive, particularly around the couple of incidents with Adam Goodes.”
Updated
You can find the additional Melbourne testing sites here:
Additional testing sites will open today and a number of other sites will also be extended from 8am to 8pm to support Victorians getting tested.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 4, 2021
Some sites are currently in high demand. For testing site locations & real-time waiting info: https://t.co/lO0mxa4CS6 #COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/m7qfZX6bC4
Updated
You may have missed it yesterday: the government is pushing ahead with some plans to limit what people with disabilities can spend their NDIS funds on.
As Luke Henriques-Gomes reports:
Advocates have hit back at the NDIS minister, Stuart Robert, over a “cynical” and “offensive” plan to change the NDIS Act to deny people with disability access to sex worker services through the scheme.
The Guardian reported in May a landmark federal court ruling that found it was possible for scheme participants to use NDIS funds to access specialised sex worker services if it was deemed “reasonable and necessary”.
But the government has always said it opposed the court’s decision and on Wednesday Robert said the Coalition would introduce legislation to parliament to impose a ban.
He used an interview with 2GB’s Ray Hadley on Wednesday to outline his concerns about the federal court’s decision, telling the shock jock: “I never thought you and I would be talking about prostitutes.”
The Greens are also advocating against the changes:
If a disabled person who is a participant of the NDIS can show that a support or a service they wish to include in their plan is reasonable or necessary, then the scheme is working as it should. That includes sex-based services.
— Senator Jordon Steele-John 🌏🔥 (@Jordonsteele) February 4, 2021
Updated
The acting Queensland premier is also raising the issue of hotel quarantine and the role of the federal government.
Steven Miles:
This is the third instance recently where we have seen a case of Covid escape from quarantine hotels.
They are not contained to one state, we had that incident here in Queensland, the one in Perth as well as now one in Melbourne and what it appears is that this new infectious strains, this new more infectious strand requires greater vigilance and greater protection and greater infection control, and I think it just underlines how important it is that the conversation the premier has been having with the prime minister about the federal government taking a greater role in quarantine for returning for repatriated Australians from overseas who are likely to have these new, more infectious strains.
I understand there will be a conversation at national cabinet tomorrow and I think it is incredibly important, underlined by these three instances in three separate states of these new, more infectious strains making their way out of hotel quarantine.
Updated
Anyone who has been in greater Melbourne since 29 January and is now in Queensland is being told to get tested then isolate until they receive their results.
Steven Miles:
We are also urging them to check the health advice, that Victoria Health have issued and that will be repeated by Queensland Health which outlines the locations that he is known to have been during that period in which he could have been infectious from the 29th.
Any Queenslander who has been in greater Melbourne is urged to check that list. If they have been to any of those locations at the time is of concern, they will be required to quarantine for 14 days, get tested and quarantine for 14 days.
Updated
The South Australian border will remain open with Victoria at this stage but increased testing will be implemented.
That seems to be happening across the board:
Breaking: Planes from Melbourne have been delayed temporarily on the tarmac at Syndey airport as authorities set up a health screening process for travellers disembarking. I understand passengers have since been allowed to leave the plane. @GuardianAus
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) February 3, 2021
Updated
The Canadian government has declared the far-right group the Proud Boys to be a terrorist organisation.
Australia’s security agencies are increasingly looking at far-right groups – Asio reported last year that up to 40% of its terrorist investigations are centred on far-right groups.
Peter Dutton announced a parliamentary inquiry into *all* extremism, after calls to look at far-right situation in Australia. It is yet to be singled out by the government as an individual concern and is usually lumped in with *all* extremism threats.
proud boys huh? https://t.co/ZtbG0yVMQ2 pic.twitter.com/iK2AhFyUVV
— CAMERONWILSON (@cameronwilson) February 3, 2021
Updated
So at this stage Victoria is in a watch-and-wait situation, with hundreds of people being isolated as a precaution and contact tracing engaged.
It’s excellent news that the people the hotel quarantine worker who has tested positive lives with, have so far tested negative – that means there is less chance of virus spread.
The Australian Open is *unlikely* to be cancelled, but as always this is a moving feast and, if things rapidly change before Monday, different decisions will be made.
National cabinet will again talk about the hotel quarantine program and whether it should be moved.
Previously Scott Morrison hasn’t been a fan of that idea – not all regions are equipped for a public health emergency (not all regional hospitals have ICUs, for example).
Updated
Why has Michael McCormack taken so long to bring his MPs into order in terms of Covid advice?
AAP has the answer:
“Matt and George, well they’re Nationals, and whilst I appreciate that they’ve reached out to offer that advice, the fact remains we’re following the best possible medical advice,” Mr McCormack said on Thursday.
What I will say is Craig Kelly, George Christensen and Matthew Canavan have all adopted and agreed with the strategy of the vaccine rollout.”
Updated
Just in case you were wondering, Labor doesn’t plan on letting up on Craig Kelly today.
Way too little. Way too late. After being MIA for months, the PM thinks a tweet will undo the damage he allowed Craig Kelly to wreak? https://t.co/mFBHLXLH4P
— Mark Butler MP (@Mark_Butler_MP) February 3, 2021
Updated
Does Daniel Andrews believe the quarantine program should be moved to rural or regional areas? (This will be part of the discussion at national cabinet tomorrow.)
Andrews:
I am always happy to sit down with the prime minister and see if there are some bespoke facilities that can be built.
That might give you some greater capacity and might be useful not just for this pandemic but events that could occur in the future. Bushfires, all sorts of different things.
Emergency housing that is fit for purpose and built for that purpose and can be open and get bigger and smaller as the needs call for, that wouldn’t be a bad thing to have a network of that all the way across the country. We don’t have that now – I would be happy to talk to the commonwealth government about that.
On the issue of risk, though, any facility will have to be staffed. Staff have lives.
They have a family is that you can put 50km/h from where we are standing now or 500km, but there will be people there, too, and the virus spreads.
I think geographic location alone is not necessarily the biggest issue here. But we are always prepared to listen to the experts, and if there are things that can be done and decisions that can be made at a national level that would get the risk lower, never zero, but lower than it otherwise would be, we have always got an open mind to.
Updated
So is it time to rethink the hotel quarantine program?
Daniel Andrews:
This is a wildly infectious virus. Every person who travels here poses a risk, any hotel quarantine program has risk.
The only way to eliminate that risk is to prevent anybody coming to Australia, and those people could be experts providing advice to industry, or people coming to study.
It wasn’t about a matter of if, it was a matter of when, and that is why you need to have his robust processes in place so you can be on the heels of the virus or in front of its be I can say now no other staff member across the program has tested positive, and I can say that because we test them every day.
We are always looking to do more and you better, and I dare say tomorrow national cabinet there will be a high degree of interest both from first ministers as well as the AHPPC, other chief health officers as will be interested to hear from Brett and Allen and others, and as we do that more detailed detective work will narrow it down.
There may be some open questions not just for the hotel quarantine program here in Victoria but the program that is run here across the nation.
Updated
The risk to other people in the hotel, and the Australian Open players is considered low, Victoria’s chief health officer Prof Allen Cheng says:
We think the risk to other people in the hotel, sorry, other guests in the hotel, tennis players and their accompanying staff, is relatively low because they were in at the time as opposed to staff outside the room the last person to leave, the last case to leave the hotel for the health hotels left on the 22nd, so that is now getting on close to 14 days since that time.
So, if there was any exposure, they would be coming up to that period, so we think that risk is relatively low, which is why we are testing them to be sure, but again, it is precautionary.
Updated
We can't rule out airborne transmission, Daniel Andrews says
Daniel Andrews says the public health team are still tracing how the infection happened:
One thing is we can’t rule out is airborne transmission of this.
That is challenging – very, very challenging. AHPPC has been dealing with some of these issues.
No doubt this will be a feature of the report that I will give to national cabinet tomorrow. All of us work together and learn from each other.
There will be different experiences in different states.
With a virus – it’s not static, like, it’s changing. Whether it is South Africa, Japan, the UK strain – whatever’s next to come and, you know, pose a challenge to us, we all have to work together. So we don’t have a definitive answer on that. It is just that step-by-step painstaking detective work.
Updated
A further 520 Australian Open players and staff who completed their quarantine at the hotel are being told to isolate today and get tested.
Updated
The 600 close work contacts who worked in the hotel quarantine site with the man are also being told to stand down and isolate and get tested.
Updated
Victorian authorities have done additional waste water Covid testing in the area where the man lives, and so far, that too has come back negative – meaning there doesn’t seem to be cases they don’t know about yet in the community.
Updated
Victorian authorities have tested the two family members the man lives with and they have so far returned negative tests.
That’s good news.
A further 20 close contacts are being traced and put into isolation – all but one has been spoken to by Victorian authorities and Daniel Andrews says the 20th person is expected to be spoken to today.
Updated
Daniel Andrews press conference begins
The Victorian premier says additional test sites are being established to deal with the increased testing load, after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive for Covid:
People have been working throughout the night in a big team and they will continue working until we have absolute control of this.
There are many, many hundreds of people who have been contacted, a number of exposure sites has grown.
It is important people get the best information and make their decisions to go and get tested, that is the most important thing.
That is why I am asking all Victorians who have any symptoms, however mild, getting tested and not delay, not waiting an hour, not waiting until tomorrow, but getting tested today is critically important. And to that end we are pleased to see a strong response in the south and south-east.
Updated
We are waiting to hear confirmation from the PMO over the Scott Morrison Google chat. We will let you know when we do.
Updated
PM reportedly speaking with Google boss over media code
Jim Chalmers spoke about the media bargaining code kerfuffle (Google is threatening to pull its search out of Australia, and has launched a public “why we don’t need to pay media outlets” campaign) at his doorstop this morning:
Clearly the negotiations are going really badly because these threats are being made.
It’s up to the government to clean this up. They’ve made a mess of it.
Conversations have been ongoing between the government and Google but looks as though things are getting serious.
#BREAKING: Nine News can reveal Scott Morrison is meeting with the global boss of Google around 9.30am, after the tech giant threatened to switch off its search engine in Australia over proposed media bargaining code#auspol #google @9NewsAUS
— Fiona Willan (@Fi_Willan) February 3, 2021
Updated
Omitted from this tweet – we’re still talking about this because of a member of the government’s own backbench …
This is a well worth a watch. Professor Brendan Murphy, who heads the Government's expert advisory group on #COVID19 vaccines, clears up some of the misinformation about #COVID19 vaccines and treatments. https://t.co/7gsA7JYsHi
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) February 3, 2021
Updated
Just in case anyone was in danger of thinking the Coalition had it together when it comes to climate, along come the Nationals:
Updated
On the Covid front, we are waiting to hear from Daniel Andrews – it should be very soon.
Queensland’s acting premier, Steven Miles, is also due to hold a press conference, where he’ll talk about what Queensland’s border plans are, given Victoria’s new case.
Updated
Jim Chalmers dropped by the press gallery to talk about the jobseeker (previously newstart) rate.
Labor has said it should be increased for sometime now (although not as long as the Greens) but hasn’t put a figure on it.
Chalmers:
It’s actually both a fairness issue – it’s about making sure people can support themselves while they look for work – but it is also an economic issue.
There’s a lot of shops and small businesses which have done well from the fact people have had more spending power, and so I think it ticks many boxes at once.
Updated
In case it wasn’t apparent, none of the scheduled tennis warm-up matches will be played today.
We will work with everyone involved to facilitate testing as quickly as possible.
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 3, 2021
There will be no matches at Melbourne Park on Thursday. An update on the schedule for Friday will be announced later today. #AusOpen
Updated
Victoria records one new local Covid case and two in hotel quarantine
Here is the official count from Victorian Health – that one case in the locally acquired box is the one we know about: the hotel quarantine resident support worker reported late yesterday.
Yesterday there were 3 new cases reported – 1 local, 2 in hotel quarantine. 13,675 test results were received. Got symptoms? Get tested, #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 3, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/2JnR3ZjUze
Updated
If you are in Victoria, make sure you bookmark this article:
It will be updated as we learn more about the public exposure sites in Victoria.
We all know what it feels like to have to trudge from store to store looking for that one item: looks like that’s how the 26-year-old support worker who tested positive for Covid had to spend their weekend:
List of public exposure sites in Victoria
If you have visited any of the locations listed below during the date and time indicated you must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure.
Noble Park: Club Noble on Saturday 30 January, from 2.36pm to 3.30pm.
Keysborough: Aces Sporting Club (driving range) on 30 January, from 10pm to 11.15pm.
Brighton: Northpoint Cafe on 31 January, from 8.10am to 9.30am.
Keysborough: Parkmore Keysborough Shopping Centre, Kmart, on 31 January, from 4pm to 5pm.
Brandon Park: Brandon Park Shopping Centre, Kmart, on 31 January, from 4.35pm to 5.10pm.
Springvale: Coles Springvale on 31 January, from 5pm to 6pm.
Springvale: Bunnings Springvale on 1 February, from 11.28am to 12.15pm.
Heatherton: Melbourne Golf Academy on 1 February, from 5.19pm to 6.36pm.
More detailed information is available at the Department of Health and Human Services website.
Updated
Paul Fletcher was pretty excited about this yesterday: with Google threatening to pull its search out of Australia over the media bargaining code, Microsoft’s Bing has indicated it’s happy to go along with the code and invest in beefing up its search engine for the Australian market.
It now holds about 3% of the search market in Australia but is hoping there is an opportunity now to grab a bigger slice of that (very lucrative advertising) pie.
Here was Microsoft global president Brad Smith (Fletcher made particular mention about how it was the global leaders having these conversations, not just the Australian regional crew) speaking to the ABC this morning:
We would need to invest and we would do so.
If you look at the United States or Canada or the United Kingdom, yeah, these are countries where Bing has a 20 or 30% market share and, you know, we do tests, others do tests and most people would say it’s really hard to tell the difference qualitatively in terms of the results that come back between Bing and Google.
We readily recognise that that is not the case today in Australia.
We would need to invest, we would.
We would need to work with small businesses – we would do that as well.
But, you know, I think this is an opportunity whether people use Bing or not to put a stake in the ground to support the importance of news and publishing and rectify what is and has become a real imbalance, say, between search and technology and traditional news.
And we applaud the government for taking this kind of step. I think it’s needed not just in Australia, but in other places too.
Updated
Firefighter injured in Perth bushfire as gusty winds forecast
Western Australia fire and emergency services superintendent Peter Sutton has given an update on the Perth hills bushfire.
So far the number of properties lost remains at 71, which means last night’s fire break lines held. That is good news.
There have been no reports of loss of life at this stage, although animals have been caught up in the blaze.
Sutton said a firefighter had been injured (but not on active duty) and was being treated at the Royal Perth hospital with a hip injury, after a fall.
He said the 27 crews put in place around properties near Shady Hills were able to hold off the blaze:
The fire came up the hill in three fingers and basically it ran up to the retardant line and then stopped and burnt along the retardant line, which was about 350m from the rear of properties.
So, the retardant line was successful in doing what it needed to do.
And we’re not seeing a lot of active fire in there at the moment.
So, the situation has eased slightly. But it will still be of concern today with the strong easterly winds.
Updated
Single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine may reduce transmissions of Covid – study
The Lancet has published a paper which suggests a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed by the University of Oxford (it is a multi-dose vaccine and Australia will begin rolling out its first (Pfizer) vaccinations towards the end of the month) may be able to reduce transmissions of the virus.
The paper is based on preliminary research and has not been peer-reviewed, and does not detail how much protection a single dose can provide.
Plus, reducing the transmission of a virus is not the same as slowing it.
Still, it is, on the face of it, positive, preliminary news about the vaccine.
Updated
Looks like we are going to see this argument whir up again …
Mark McGowan made a similar point after Peter Dutton criticised the decision to put a large section of Western Australia into lockdown for five days, following a hotel quarantine security guard’s positive Covid diagnosis.
When is @ScottMorrisonMP going to accept his role in the quarantining of international arrivals given it’s clearly a Commonwealth responsibility pursuant to the Constitution. #COVID19
— Brendan O'Connor (@BOConnorMP) February 3, 2021
Updated
Looking at Twitter, where #IstandwithCraigKelly is trending.
In case you were worried, most of the people using the hashtag, do not, in fact, stand with the member for Hughes.
Updated
In line with the increased restrictions in Victoria, the health minister has just released this on his social media: students in secondary schools have to wear masks while indoors.
Teachers do not need to wear masks while teaching, however they can if they choose to. Teachers should wear masks at all other times while indoors.
— James Merlino (@JamesMerlinoMP) February 3, 2021
Changes like this can be challenging but this is all about keeping every one of us safe.
Updated
The government is yet to announce the future of the unemployment payment rate. After no raise from $40 a day in real terms for two decades, the government effectively doubled it at the beginning of the pandemic, through a Covid supplement.
That is because the government knows that people with low incomes tend to spend money when they receive it, on all the things they haven’t been able to afford – more food, clothes and shoes, basic car repairs – all of the things people on higher incomes take for granted. It’s people on higher incomes who funnel extra money into savings.
Since then, the Covid supplement has been dropped to $150 a fortnight. On 31 March it runs out (as does the wage subsidy, jobkeeper).
The government won’t say how much the daily rate will be once the supplement is removed, but Josh Frydenberg said on Sunday that it wouldn’t be a substantial raise (if there was one at all).
Yesterday RBA governor Philip Lowe said lowering the unemployment payment back to $40 a day would create a “fairness issue” and the rate should be raised permanently.
That upset Liberal MP Tim Wilson, who told the ABC on Wednesday afternoon that Lowe had “exceeded his mandate” in making the comments.
So let’s look at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s mandate, shall we?
Its duty is to contribute to the stability of the currency, full employment, and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people.
I’d say advocating for Australians living below the poverty line fits in with the RBA’s mandate to contribute to the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people, but you know.
(This isn’t taking into account how happy the government is to use the RBA’s board and governor’s words as validation of its policies when it suits – or indeed, how happy government MPs are to coax out the RBA governor’s favourable opinion on government policies during appearances at parliamentary committees.)
Updated
Richard Marles was asked if Labor would support the bill if the better-off-overall test was left alone:
The government have brought forward a proposition about removing the better-off test. We don’t support that.
And so, you know, we are going to oppose that in the parliament, each and every day, because if it is allowed to go through, it will cut wages.
It will start the firing gun on a process of wage bargaining which, will see a decline in wage rates.
And from our point of view, you can’t think of anything which is worse for the economy. And for those workers who have done so much during the pandemic – distribution workers, retail workers, those in health, who have really got us through the pandemic to this point in time – to repay them with the prospect of a wage cut, we think is profoundly unfair, and we’re gonna make that point.
Updated
Labor also announced this week it would not be supporting the government’s proposed industrial relations law changes.
That’s been the main focus of question time – Labor MPs asking why [insert worker example here] will be losing [insert $x example here] under the proposed changes, and Christian Porter stands up and says it’s not true.
The truth, as always, is in the middle – there are no (more) penalty cuts explicitly laid out, but there is the removal of the better-off-overall test, which means agreements can be changed which would result in less in penalties/entitlements for workers.
Labor has been using examples of submissions being made to the Fair Work Commission (retailers in particular) of cuts which could be made. Porter says it isn’t happening – but he has asked the FWC to sort it out, which means it potentially could.
All in all, at the moment it is an argument about hypotheticals, but the FWC is looking at agreements, and the government does have legislation in the House which could, if passed as it is right now, lead to enterprise agreements being changed in ways which would mean some workers would lose entitlements.
Updated
Labor’s deputy leader and Victorian MP Richard Marles was on ABC Breakfast this morning, where he was asked about the Victorian hotel quarantine worker who has tested positive for Covid, and whether the Australian Open should continue as planned on Monday:
I think at every step the Victorian government has taken the best medical advice, and it’s been guiding those decisions.
You know, we had the Boxing Day Test, and I think the way in which the Australian Open has been set up has obviously been done with a great deal of care.
I mean, I can understand, as a Victorian, the anxiety that people are feeling, but I do take comfort from the fact that, you know, the premier has stood up straightaway, he is taking responsibility.
The response has been swift. And when you look at the way in which the state premiers have been acting in relation to this – in Queensland, in WA, in New South Wales – I think what we are seeing is that to act quickly and to act hard as soon as there is the hint of an issue is what the medical advice is saying. But at the end of the day, that’s what we need to follow.
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Good morning
It wasn’t even 24 hours ago that federal health minister Greg Hunt was celebrating another zero day across Australia – but in case you missed the news late last night, a hotel quarantine worker in Melbourne has tested positive.
Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews held a press conference just before 11pm to announce the positive case. So far, there is no lockdown, but restrictions have increased:
The new state-wide restrictions mean that from Thursday the number of visitors allowed in a private home decreased from 30 to 15 and face masks were once again mandatory indoors. Those are the same rules that were in place at the start of January in response to the Black Rock cluster.
A plan to allow more public and private-sector workers to return to the office from Monday – increasing office capacity to 75% – was also put on hold.
Andrews said the restrictions were introduced “through an abundance of caution” and he said there was “no need to panic”.
After people in the room across from a family who had been diagnosed with the more contagious UK strain came down with the same Covid virus, authorities thought the “viral load” had been so high that it had crossed the corridor through the air.
Now a 26-year-old resident support worker has tested positive, everyone is operating under the assumption they too have the more contagious strain.
Victoria tests its workers every day now, and has proven it has a contact-and-trace system that works, which is why there has been no jump to lockdown. But still, it is a watch-and-wait situation and everyone is hoping it doesn’t go much further. Health workers and those in the hotel quarantine system should begin getting vaccinations within a few weeks, which will hopefully minimise these scares even further.
Victoria will be one of the main focuses of today, along with the fire situation in Western Australia (which is also facing a cyclone developing in the north, as well as the fourth day of a Covid lockdown), but parliament sits for the final day of this first sitting, and of course, the spotlight remains on Craig Kelly.
As Katharine Murphy reports, Labor wants Facebook to watch Kelly’s page:
“Labor has written to Facebook to urge the social media platform to continue to monitor Craig Kelly’s page for harmful content, demanding “appropriate action to protect public health”.
On the day Scott Morrison finally distanced himself from the outspoken MP after Kelly signalled he might not get the Covid vaccine, and confronted the Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek in front of television cameras, the shadow health minister, Mark Butler, wrote to Facebook’s Australian managing director asking the platform to exercise editorial responsibility.
Butler says in the letter that Facebook will be aware the government is conducting public information campaigns about the vaccine rollout – “a crucial public health campaign and one that will be vital in our battle against Covid-19 and the ongoing recovery efforts”.
Labor is also pursuing Kelly over his comments after the US Capitol insurrection, given his position as chair of the joint parliamentary committee on law enforcement.
We’ll be covering all of that and more as 2020 continues to bleed into 2021 because it is just that sort of decade. Who would have thought living through historical events could be so tiring! (I’m being sarcastic, in case you can’t tell.)
It being a sitting day, you have Amy Remeikis with you, with Mike Bowers and his cameras walking the parliament corridors. Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst are all ready to report on the policy and politics and the rest of the Guardian crew have their eyes on what is happening outside of Canberra, so you’re all covered. As always, you can get me here and here if you have a question – I don’t always have time to make it through all the comments, but I try to reply to as many messages as I can, to get your questions answered.
(To answer the first one I have received this morning – I am on my third coffee. It is, after all, parliament Friday.)
Ready?
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