Category Archives: Australian politics

Australia to open Covid vaccinations to 12- to 15-year-olds from 13 September

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Expert advice released ahead of national cabinet meeting which discussed what freedoms Australians will enjoy once 70% of adults are vaccinated

Greg Hunt has promised that all children aged 12 to 15 will be able to be vaccinated by the end of 2021, after technical advice confirmed they are eligible for Pfizer.

But the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has warned that, given supply constraints, Pfizer doses should be prioritised for young adults. And the government should also consider offering older Australians choice of vaccine before vaccinating teenagers.

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Australian engineer Robert Pether sentenced to five years in Iraqi prison after dispute with central bank

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Desree Pether had hoped her husband was going to be freed. Instead, she had to tell their three children their dad was not coming home

The family of Australian engineer Robert Pether say they are “living in hell” after he was sentenced to five years in an Iraqi jail and fined $USD12m over a protracted business dispute between his employer and the country’s central bank.

Pether was detained without charge in Baghdad in April, after flying to Iraq at the invitation of the Central Bank of Iraq to resolve a dispute it was having with his engineering firm, CME Consulting, over the construction of its new headquarters.

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Australia Covid live news update: NSW confirms 919 cases, two deaths; ACT reports nine new cases, Victoria 45; Qld pauses hotel quarantine

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New record for NSW with 919 new Covid cases, two deaths; Queensland to pause hotel quarantine from noon; ACT reports nine new cases; Victoria reports 17 of new cases in quarantine for entire infectious period. Follow all today’s news

It’s another dixer on sticking to the national plan – this time for Josh Frydenberg.

Bob Katter, from his electorate, has the independent’s question, but the videolink seems to be having trouble with his question.

So it’s not that different from having him in the chamber.

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South Australian MP Sam Duluk a ‘drunken pest’ but not guilty of assault – magistrate

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Magistrate finds allegation he slapped fellow MP Connie Bonaros on the bottom not proven beyond a reasonable doubt

The South Australian MP Sam Duluk “behaved like a drunken pest” but has been acquitted of assault after allegedly slapping a fellow MP on the bottom at a parliament house Christmas party.

The accusation stemmed from Duluk’s conduct towards the SA-BEST upper house MP Connie Bonaros at the celebrations in December 2019.

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Voters in Sydney’s Liberal ‘heartland’ more worried about climate than Covid, polling suggests

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Delta may be gripping the city and dominating headlines but global warming is still the number one issue for many

Voters in three Liberal-held federal seats in metropolitan Sydney remain worried about climate change despite the pressing frustrations and uncertainties associated with the Delta outbreak, according to new electorate-level polling commissioned by an activist group.

New seat polls commissioned by Climate 200, an organisation supporting independent political candidates committed to achieving a science-based response to climate change, suggest global heating is the number one issue of concern for voters in the electorates of Wentworth and North Sydney.

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The Covid crisis suits rightwing media personalities as they monetise fear | Jeff Sparrow

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Their success depends not on providing solutions but on ginning up, by any means necessary, the conservative base

The pandemic has upended all our lives, leaving many of us frightened and confused. But if the weekend’s angry anti-lockdown protests reflected genuine pain in the community, they also showed how, in a complicated international emergency, rightwing grifters have seized an opportunity.

If you look for Covid truth on Telegram and Gab, you’ll uncover the online equivalent of a crowded outdoor market, dominated by shouting stall holders.

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Australia records highest number of new cases in a day – as it happened

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Gladys Berejiklian reports record high case numbers and Victoria extends lockdown statewide. This blog is now closed

We’re going to close off this blog for today, thanks very much for your company.

Here’s a helpful summary from Graham Readfearn – who did most of the hard slog today – and myself:

“Freedom” appears not to be free.

That's more than $1.2 million in fines pic.twitter.com/lfQJmbIPrb

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Covid Australia live news update: greater Sydney lockdown extended until end of September; NSW announces 642 cases, four deaths; Victoria records 55 cases

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ACT chief minister Andrew Barr calls on colleagues to stop presenting 70% or 80% vaccination targets as ‘freedom day’ ahead of meeting. Follow latest updates

Berejiklian:

I also want to stress that from Monday midnight, unless you’re exercising masks should be worn outdoors everywhere across New South Wales.

Our concern is that when people are walking past a group of people or accidentally bumping into people that, that can cause that fleeting contact can cause transmission, and even when you’re exercising, you need to have the mask unless you’re doing some strenuous exercise.

Berejiklian:

So from Monday at midnight, the greater Sydney lockdown will extend until the end of September... but I also want to state that the Central Coast and Shell Harbour will be defined as regional.

So Greater Sydney includes all those areas that are currently in lockdown in Greater Sydney but for the Central Coast and Shellharbour which will be defined as rural and regional as we announced yesterday.

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‘Favouring industry’: protesters demand stronger Aboriginal heritage bill to protect sacred WA sites

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Proposed law comes after 46,000-year-old rock shelters destroyed but traditional owners say it doesn’t do enough

Traditional owners and their supporters have marched on Western Australian parliament to demand the government halt its controversial new Aboriginal heritage bill, saying it favours mining and isn’t strong enough to stop another disaster like the destruction of Juukan Gorge.

More than a hundred people, many of whom traveled to Perth from the Kimberley and the Pilbara, protested on Thursday about “fundamental flaws” in the draft law, which they say still leaves control of Aboriginal heritage in the hands of mining companies.

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Covid Australia live news update: NSW confirms 633 cases and three deaths; ACT records 22 and Victoria 24; New Zealand cluster rises to seven

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NSW confirms 633 cases and three deaths; Victoria records 24 new local cases as CHO says outbreak disproportionately affecting children; New Zealand cluster rises to seven cases. Follow all the day’s news

A second South Australian MP has been referred to an official investigator over allegations of bullying, AAP reports.

Treasurer Rob Lucas says he has referred allegations against Labor MP Tony Piccolo to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said just a moment ago that expanding access to the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds was something being worked through.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is pushing for a plan.

Parents worried about the effect that lockdowns are having on their kids are now more concerned than ever that their children might catch Covid.

And right now, Mr Morrison doesn’t have a plan for our kids to access a vaccine when it’s safe to do so.

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Australia Covid live news: NSW to give update; Victoria records 24 cases; nation on edge as more than 13 million under lockdown

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Victoria records 24 local cases as state wakes to tougher restrictions; NSW warned cases could hit 1,000 a day; ACT and parts of NT under lockdown. Follow all the day’s news

We are now just waiting for NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to step up for the daily Covid-19 press conference where we learn the state’s daily numbers.

We are expecting that in about 10 minutes, so stay tuned.

Sydney radio station 2GB is reporting a staff member from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Syndey has tested positive to Covid-19 and may have been infectious while working.

A staff member at RPA Hospital in Sydney has tested positive to COVID-19. The worker was fully vaccinated but potentially infectious while working on August 10, 11, 12 + 13 in the nuclear medicine department. There has been no transmission to other staff or patients to date.

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Australia secures 1m Pfizer vaccine doses from Poland, with half earmarked for Sydney Covid hotspots

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530,000 of the new doses to go to 20-to-39-year-olds living in the 12 hotspot LGAs as NSW struggles to contain outbreak

One million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine are on the way to Australia, after the Polish government answered the Morrison government’s international pleas for help and as New South Wales authorities struggle to contain the state’s Covid outbreak.

A total of 530,000 of the new doses, due to arrive in Australia late on Sunday, have been quarantined for use in NSW for 20-to-39-year-olds living in the 12 hotspot Sydney local government areas.

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Australia secures Pfizer doses from Poland as Victoria chases mystery cases – as it happened

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12 Sydney LGAs to get half of the one million extra Pfizer doses secured from Poland; rapid antigen testing to be trialled in some Sydney aged care homes. This blog is now closed

We’ll leave it there for now. Here are today’s main developments:

Police are cracking down on large gatherings in breach of Victoria’s lockdown restrictions, reports AAP.

In the inner city, dozens congregated for a takeaway drink pub crawl event on the streets of Richmond on Saturday, while in Northcote about 200 people gathered for a street party.

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Australia Covid live news update: NSW confirms record 390 cases and two deaths; ACT reports two new cases, Victoria 15, Qld seven

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Two new Covid cases in ACT; NSW records 390 cases, two deaths; Queensland records seven cases, Victoria records 15 new cases; son of Sydney man who travelled to Byron Bay also charged. Follow all the day’s news

Barr has acknowledged the long waiting times at testing sites throughout the state, and has asked people who have been contacted by ACT Health as close or casual contacts to come forward as priority for testing:

We will be expanding testing capacity, hours of operations and the number of people at each existing testing centre can manage in a day but yesterday was our all-time record number of tests. We expect today will be even busier and we have stood additional testing capacity.

So please, if you do not have symptoms and you are not an identified close contact, you do not need to be tested today. Please, stay-at-home. There will be an opportunity to be tested in the days ahead but the priority right now is to test those people who ACT health have contacted.

The ACT has recorded two new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to six. It has identified 1,862 close contacts and that number will grow.

There are more casual contacts. There were more than 2,000 tests yesterday and results have been received on about 1,330 of them.

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Australia Covid live news updates: ACT enters lockdown as three more cases confirmed; NSW records 345 cases and two deaths

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ACT begins seven-day lockdown; more restrictions for NSW as state confirms 345 new local cases and two deaths; high court declines to hear Murugappan family case; Queensland reports 10 new cases; Victoria records 21 new cases. Follow all the day’s news

Chief Executive of Western NSW Local Health District, Scott McLachlan, tells @PatsKarvelas that the majority of COVID cases in regional NSW outbreaks at the moment - including Dubbo and Walgett - are Aboriginal people.

Staying with the Walgett outbreak, my colleague Nino Bucci has been digging into this story.

Related: NSW inmate released on bail before prison received positive Covid test result

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Australian conspiracy theorists and anti-lockdown groups share fake Covid check-in apps

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Exclusive: Spoof software likely to cause difficulties for contact tracers in the event of outbreaks

A fake check-in app is being used by Covid-19 conspiracy theorists and anti-lockdown groups to dupe business owners and keep location data out of the hands of contact tracers in at least three states.

Guardian Australia can reveal that conspiratorial websites and Telegram groups with at least 15,000 followers are sharing links that allow users to generate fake check-in confirmations on their phones.

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Australia urged to help Afghan allies under threat from Taliban – video

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After 20 years on the ground, Australian and allied forces have rapidly exited Afghanistan – ending Australia’s longest war. The Taliban has launched a nationwide offensive and violently acquired territory from the Afghan government, leaving local workers who once assisted the Australian defence force fearing for their lives. In this  extract from Guardian Australia's Full Story podcast, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to Afghan interpreter Naser Ahmadi about how aiding Australian forces put him and his family in danger, and reporter Ben Doherty explores the situation in Afghanistan and why some Afghan workers have been left behind

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Australia Covid live update: NSW on edge as cases spread in regions; Melbourne waits for news on lockdown

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Melbourne faces the possibility of a lockdown extension as shopping centre workers ordered into quarantine; new cases emerge across regional NSW. Follow all the day’s news

Queensland LNP MP George Christensen has spoken to Sydney radio 2GB about being censured through a parliamentary motion yesterday.

The whole House, including the government, voted to support Labor’s motion disassociating the parliament with Christensen’s anti-lockdown and anti-public health measure comments yesterday (although Scott Morrison couldn’t bring himself to name or reference Christensen in his speech and just a hour or so later, cabinet minister Paul Fletcher declined five times on national TV to say he disagreed with Christensen’s views)

Happy Wednesday!

It’s not just hump day; we’re also halfway through the parliamentary sitting. At this stage, there’s a week break and then it’s back into it, but you have to wonder whether any of the east coast MPs will risk going home, given how quickly Covid is changing the landscape. Although, it doesn’t seem like anyone is missing the deputy prime minister, who has been in lockdown in Armidale, and apparently, unable to zoom in for the sitting (he has answered no questions in QT and offered no contributions to debate).

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Josh Frydenberg’s office intervened in superannuation consultation paper, FOI documents reveal

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Treasury department emails show discussion was had about linking proxy advisers with compulsory super

Josh Frydenberg’s office intervened in the drafting of a consultation paper to make sure it linked proxy advisers to the issue of compulsory superannuation, a key battleground in the political war over retirement savings, internal Treasury documents show.

The documents, released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, also reveal the paper was developed in just one week.

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Australia Covid live update: Victoria records 11 cases; business urges states to mandate vaccines with Moderna due to arrive next month

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Victoria reports 11 new Covid cases as state expands access to AstraZeneca; Business Council of Australia says vaccinations should be highly targeted. Follow all the day’s news

All things going as normal, we should hear from the NSW authorities around 11am

A women’s and children’s hospital in St Albans has been listed as a tier one exposure site in Melbourne.

The maternity assessment centre at Joan Kirner women’s and children’s hospital on Furlong Road was listed on the Victorian exposure site list late last night. Anyone who attended the centre between 8.15am and 2.45pm on Friday 6 August has been ordered to isolate immediately for 14 days, get tested, and notify the Department of Health. The pathology lab – Dorevitch Pathology – on the ground floor of the same hospital has also been listed as a tier one site.

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