Victoria records 1,268 cases, NSW 270, ACT 18 and Qld one as Katharine in Northern Territory in lockdown

• Aboriginal people in NSW and ACT affected by Covid at twice the rate of other Australians, data shows
• Western Australia to stay closed for Christmas with border not reopening until at least late January
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Nationals MP Darren Chester and Labor MP Amanda Rishworth were on ABC 24 earlier, being asked whether Scott Morrison had “shamed Australia on the global stage” at the Cop26 summit and worsened tensions with French president Emmanuel Macron. The following exchange took place.

Chester:

I know it’s a spring racing carnival and Labor wants an each-way bet on everything, but the Labor party has supported the Aukus deal. The Labor party has spoken in positive terms ...

The Labor party has been very bipartisan on the Aukus deal but to say the prime minister has handled this anything but appallingly would be an understatement. There’s no doubt the French were upset, but even President Biden admitted that perhaps this whole thing was handled clumsily. Rather than the [Australian] prime minister work on his diplomatic relationships there, what he’s done is he’s doubled down and allegedly his office has leaked private text messages. And then we’ve had government ministers criticising the press for asking questions. This really goes to the character of our prime minister.

Morrison government to announce more funding for global climate finance as Bridget McKenzie says Coalition adopting net zero without the Nationals ‘will be ugly’; Christian Porter will not be referred to privileges committee; Victoria records 1,841 local cases overnight, NSW 283 – 19 people have died with Covid across both states; Australia hits 70% vaccination target. Follow updates live

• Victoria Covid update: you have to hold tight until Friday for the right to party, authorities say
• Western Australia to mandate Covid vaccines for most workers
• Vaccine rollout and rates tracker; Cases and data tracker
• Victoria vaccination rate map; NSW vaccination rates map
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AAP has an update on the resumption of the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial:

The resumption of Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial has been put off until at least the middle of January but no date has been set due to COVID-19 disruption.

Australia’s tax commissioner, Chris Jordan, faces an inquiry into whether he “disobeyed a lawful order of the Senate” by declining to release information about jobkeeper payments.

The Senate voted on Tuesday to refer the issue to the powerful privileges committee, the latest development in a long-running battle between non-government senators and the Coalition over the key pandemic economic stimulus measure.