Eleven species are now eligible to be listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species
The devastating 2019–20 bushfires had a significant impact on native Australian bees, threatening 11 species, according to new research.
Australian scientists have analysed the effect of the fires on 553 Australian native bee species – one-third of all bee species discovered in the country to date.
Continue reading...Letter, sent to Naval Group on 15 September, is at the heart of diplomatic rift between France and Australia
Australia cautioned the French contractor – hours before the $90bn submarine deal was cancelled – that its achievement of a key contractual milestone did “not provide any authorisation to continue work”.
The letter, sent to Naval Group on 15 September, is at the heart of an extraordinary diplomatic rift between France and Australia, with the French foreign minister telling a parliamentary hearing this week that “someone lied”.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...NSW reports 813 cases and 10 deaths while Victoria records 1,488 infections, ACT 52 and Queensland two. This blog is now closed
Queensland has recorded two new local cases of Covid.
They are linked to the aviation cluster, and have both been in home quarantine. Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said they are children of a positive case who was announced yesterday – a man who had been infectious while on the Gold Coast.
Continue reading...Man in his 30s dies at Lake Macquarie, having ‘heroically’ held young boy above water
A man has died while “heroically” saving the life of a young boy after a kayak capsize on the New South Wales Central Coast, emergency services say.
Paramedics were called to Gwandalan on Lake Macquarie at about 5.30pm on Friday where the man, believed to be in his 30s, had been pulled from the water by bystanders.
Continue reading...Australia’s second-largest city’s strategy has left it economically and psychologically depressed after initially succeeding in reducing case numbers to zero
It has been a long 19 months in Melbourne. As of Tuesday 5 October, Australia’s second-largest city will have been in lockdown for 246 days – overtaking Buenos Aires as the city that has spent the most cumulative days under stay-at-home orders.
By the time Melbourne’s current lockdown lifts at the end of the month, it will have spent 267 days in lockdown – 45% of the time since the coronavirus pandemic was declared on 12 March 2020.
Continue reading...After positive clinical trials for antiviral drug Molnupiravir, it joins other medicines that have shown promise
The first clinical trial results showing a positive effect for a pill that can be taken at home has been hailed as a potential gamechanger that could provide a new way to protect the most vulnerable people from the worst effects of Covid-19. Molnupiravir joins a growing list of medicines that have shown promise. Here are some of the main developments in treatments so far.
Continue reading...Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews has announced a further easing of restrictions as the state reaches its 80% first-dose vaccination target. Here’s what you need to know about schools, travel, childcare and work
Melbourne restrictions eased slightly from Wednesday 29 September when Victoria hit its 80% first dose vaccination target.
The Moorabool shire and Shepparton were to enter seven-day lockdowns from 11.59pm on Friday 1 October.
Shopping for essentials;
Authorised work, if you cannot work from home, or education;
Exercise for up to four hours;
Caregiving, compassionate and medical reasons;
To get vaccinated.
Limited outdoor social interaction will be allowed.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Trade negotiations with Europe postponed; Scott Morrison expected to discuss international travel rules; outbreak in Newcastle maternity ward grows. Follow all the latest news
Victoria’s case numbers are delayed:
No clue if this is a good sign or not. Here’s hoping.
Continue reading...I spend all day at home in lockdown in a state of revulsion. When I’m not cleaning, I’m sneezing
Is it Covid or is it dust? Since I moved into this apartment, I frequently wake up with a runny nose, an inflamed throat and watery eyes.
I’ve never lived in a place that’s so dusty. The amount of dust I must deal with each day is confounding. I am constantly dusting, only for it to return an hour later. Where does it come from? Why is it here? Can we cohabitate or will I inhale so much of it that I’ll eventually choke?
Continue reading...There was also a rise in prescriptions for ivermectin being filled, despite no evidence either drug is effective against the virus
The amount of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin dispensed from Australian pharmacies increased significantly in 2020 as the Covid pandemic took hold, according to new research.
Analysis of six publicly subsidised drugs – including hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, corticosteroids and the common antibiotic azithromycin – found Covid-related changes in prescription patterns in Australia.
Continue reading...Age, disadvantage and reduced access are mixing together in lower socio-economic areas to create a perfect Covid cocktail
Some of Victoria’s lowest socio-economic areas are still lagging behind on Covid-19 vaccination rates as the wealthiest local government areas surge ahead, creating a stark divide across the state.
The disparity has community leaders and epidemiologists worried the virus will sweep through some suburbs when the state opens up, if the vaccination rate does not pick up in vulnerable areas.
Continue reading...NSW extends stay-at-home orders for 17 regional LGAs as state records 941 cases; South Australia records one local case; five Queensland areas including Brisbane and Gold Coast return to stage two restrictions. This blog is now closed
We are going to leave the blog there for the night.
Here’s what made news today:
Stay-at-home orders have been announced for the Kyogle and Narromine local government areas in New South Wales from midnight tonight until 11 October due to Covid cases in the area.
These restrictions will also apply to anyone who has been in the Kyogle LGA since 21 September and the Narromine LGA since 28 September.
Continue reading...Jean-Yves Le Drian says Australia reassured France everything was fine right up to the day the Aukus pact was announced
France has accused Australia of lying shortly before Canberra cancelled a major submarine contract, with the French foreign minister declaring “someone lied”.
With no sign of any imminent easing of tensions between the two countries, Jean-Yves Le Drian told a parliamentary hearing that Australia had never expressed doubts about the €56bn (A$90bn) submarine contract or the strategic Indo-Pacific pact before breaking the contract.
Continue reading...The former PM calls on the Australian government to urge the US to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership and backs the UK to join
The former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott says the government should not allow a fear of inflaming tensions with China get in the way of accepting Taiwan’s bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
Abbott also called on the Australian government to urge the US to “reconsider their aloofness from the TPP, which was originally their own idea”.
Continue reading...Vaccination rates are rising in much of south-east Asia and the Pacific after recent outbreaks, but some of the largest countries are falling behind
While Australians have focused on the Covid waves in Sydney and Melbourne, many of Australia’s neighbours have recently experienced their largest outbreaks so far. This includes Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu and even Singapore.
Singapore surpassed Australia’s vaccination target weeks ago, but was now seeing more than a thousand cases a day. Fiji recently had one of the highest rates of Covid cases per capita – peaking at 1,850 cases in the middle of July. But the nation of 889,000 was now regularly administering more than 10,000 new vaccinations a day.
Continue reading...Élysée says future talks must have substance after Canberra’s decision to cancel submarine contract
France has said any future talks between Emmanuel Macron and the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, over the fallout from Canberra’s decision to tear up a €56bn (£48bn) submarine deal will have to be “seriously prepared” and have “substance”.
The Élysée Palace has denied it is refusing to take Morrison’s calls, saying the president is “always available to talk on the phone”, but has admitted it is not in any hurry to resume contact with Canberra.
Continue reading...
Worksafe has just issued a statement about charges against the Victorian health department over its hotel quarantine system.
WorkSafe alleges that the Department of Health breached OHS laws by failing to appoint people with infection prevention and control (IPC) expertise to be stationed at hotels it was utilising for the program.
It alleges the department failed to provide security guards with face-to-face infection prevention control training by a person with expertise in IPC prior to them commencing work, and either failed, or initially failed, to provide written instruction for the use of PPE.
Thanks Nino Bucci. Continuing on at the National Press Club, when asked about the implications of Australia’s withdrawal from its deal with France, Turnbull has some strong words:
What seems to have been overlooked is that one of our national security assets is trust, trustworthiness… This is an appalling episode in Australia’s international affairs and the consequences of it will endure to our disadvantage for a very long time.
Foreign minister Marise Payne discussed WikiLeaks founder with US counterpart in Washington DC, a spokesperson says
Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, raised the case of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange with the US secretary of state during her visit to Washington DC this month, the government has revealed.
But Australian parliamentarians who support Assange say the government should demand his immediate release, after a US news report this week claimed CIA officials during the Trump administration had discussed abducting and even assassinating the Australian citizen.
Continue reading...Pacific Islands face greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report from the Lowy Institute
Countries in the Pacific risk a “lost decade” following the Covid pandemic, with the region facing its greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report into foreign aid.
The latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map, which sets out aid spending and donations to the Pacific Islands region, shows US$2.44bn in foreign aid reached the Pacific in 2019, which is about 8% of the region’s GDP.
Continue reading...The world’s oldest rainforest will join landmarks like Uluru and Kakadu, where First Nations people are custodians of world heritage sites
Eastern Kuku Yalanji people will take formal ownership of the world heritage-listed Daintree tropical rainforest in northern Australia, after the Indigenous traditional owners reached a historic deal with the Queensland government.
The Daintree national park is part of 160,108 hectares (395,467 acres) of land that will be handed back to the traditional owners at a ceremony on Wednesday at Bloomfield, north of Wujal Wujal.
Continue reading...