Residents wake up to first day of week-long shutdown to contain growing number of cases. This blog is now closed
And we’re going to wrap the blog up for the evening. Here is what happened today:
Via AAP:
The Northern Territory’s chief health officer is in COVID-19 quarantine at the Howard Springs facility.
Medical experts explain how much quarantine breaches, cold weather and pure chance contribute to the spread of coronavirus cases in Melbourne
Victoria has started its seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown – its fourth lockdown since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Other states have also imposed snap lockdowns or restrictions as a result of Covid cases in the community, most recently New South Wales, after a mystery case. But, with the exception of Sydney’s northern beaches cluster, most leaks from hotel quarantine have not resulted in sizeable outbreaks.
Continue reading...Officials say a week-long lockdown is needed because the coronavirus variant is spreading faster than contact tracers can keep up with
Victoria is entering a seven-day lockdown as authorities work to contain a rapidly spreading Covid outbreak that the acting premier has warned is “running faster than we have ever recorded”.
The government hopes the restrictions – which start at midnight and include compulsory masks, school closures and a 5km travel limit for shopping and exercise – will act as a circuit-breaker after the state reported 11 new cases of the B1617.1 variant on Thursday taking the cluster to 26.
Continue reading...Department concedes fault found in Taipan chopper could have led to ‘catastrophic consequences’
Australia’s defence department has revealed it is spending $37m to hire private helicopters as it grapples with low availability of the trouble-plagued Taipan choppers.
The move comes as defence officials concede a fault found in one of the helicopters in 2019 – when it was on its way to pick up the Australian defence force chief, Angus Campbell – could have led to “catastrophic consequences” if left unfixed.
Continue reading...Hundreds urged to get tested after positive cases went to a Collingwood game at the MCG, a salon in Bendigo and more cafes in Melbourne inner-city suburbs
Meanwhile
Water minister Keith Pitt has introduced legislation to establish the office of the Inspector-General of water compliance.
(Its the job he gave to Troy Grant, and a lot like the job David Littleproud gave to Mick Keelty sans powers).
This is well worth a read
Related: Snowy Hydro chief executive tells inquiry he’s known owner of NSW gas plant site for 40 years
Continue reading...After working with camels for five years, 32-year-old Sophie Matterson decided to embark on an epic trek across Australia, with nothing but the animals she had come to love for company. She trained five of them to carry her provisions before beginning a 5,000km coast-to-coast walk from Australia’s western-most point in Shark Bay, Western Australia, to the eastern-most point in Byron Bay, New South Wales
Former celebrity chef unlawfully advertised his ‘BioCharger’ device, static magnet products and oral medicines, drugs regulator alleges
The celebrity chef turned conspiracy theorist Pete Evans has again been fined for promoting an array of devices and drugs as miracle cures for ailments including the coronavirus.
The former Seven Network star was on Tuesday hit with $79,920 in fines for breaching advertising requirements.
Continue reading...A majority of voters think a sprint to an early election would be opportunistic, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. Follow live updates
From today, anyone over the age of 16 who lives in regional South Australia is eligible for a Covid vaccination – you will have to prove you are a local.
Apologies - an earlier version of this post left of ‘South’ which is a very important qualifier.
Someone please just fire me into the sun. Get it over and done with.
The current deputy prime minister apparently thinks “rapping” is awkwardly moving your shoulders while holding your arms up like a zombified pterodactyl and ugh.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia tries rap moves... then suggests the PM could do it... to boost vaccine confidence @TheTodayShow #auspol pic.twitter.com/2kRoakuBb6
Continue reading...Mike Pezzullo announces digital permit system to verify vaccination status; NSW Upper Hunter byelection results heap pressure on Labor as federal politicians return to Canberra. Follow all the updates live
• Two people in Melbourne’s north ‘likely’ test positive to Covid
• PM’s claim Australia’s carbon emissions are falling does ‘not stack up’
• ‘Punitive’ ParentsNext program should not be expanded, experts warn
Tanya Plibersek gets straight into it - asking about Grace Tame’s comment on the Betoota Advocate podcast (we reported that a few posts below)
Can the Prime Minister confirm that was his response to this brave woman’s extraordinary speech?
I would agree it was, indeed, a very brave speech, Mr Speaker. I can’t recall the exact words I used, Mr Speaker, but I wouldn’t question that in any way shape or form, what Grace Tame has said. That is roughly my recollection. That was a very brave statement.
That is exactly what I meant when I said that to her on that occasion. It was a very proud moment for her and her great struggle and challenge over a long period of time and what she did on that occasion was speak with a very strong voice about what had occurred to her, Mr Speaker.
Security guards who work for the Australian embassy in Kabul have staged a peaceful protest on the streets of the Afghan capital, campaigning for access to visas and resettlement in Australia, fearing for their lives and the safety of their families.
In September, Australia, following the US and other coalition forces, will withdraw their military from Afghanistan, after 20 years of war.
Continue reading...Rio Tinto’s reputation is in pieces, but the laws, policies and power imbalances that allowed the blast to happen remain largely unchanged
The Western Australian government has refused to commit to a moratorium on approving the destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites, despite the recommendation of a federal inquiry which found that the laws are “unfit for purpose”.
The recommendation was made by an inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites at Juukan Gorge on 24 May 2020.
Continue reading...More Labor voters prefer the premier than Jodi McKay, while One Nation’s spirited campaign in the NSW seat doomed Shooters, Fishers and Farmers to electoral failure
New South Wales Nationals leader John Barilaro has proclaimed “the Nationals are back” and all but declared victory for Dave Layzell in the coalmining and rural seat of Upper Hunter – but he should probably be thanking One Nation.
For Labor too there will be some soul-searching and pressure on opposition leader, Jodi McKay, to consider her future. Speaking on Sunday afternoon, McKay said she was “devastated” that people did not vote for Labor and that the party was shocked that it had “failed to connect” with the voters of the Upper Hunter.
Continue reading...Widespread compliance with rules contradicts notion that we are anti-authoritarian, expert on national identity says
• Australia’s Covid vaccine rollout: how is your state doing?
If Ned Kelly was still around he’d probably be an anti-vaxxer, yet no doubt find himself in the minority.
That’s the view of Monash University’s Professor Graeme Davison, one of Australia’s leading experts on the elusive notion of national identity.
Continue reading...Historians are aghast that the National Archives have had to resort to crowdfunding to protect irreplaceable historical records
Historians are calling it an international embarrassment for Australia and saying it is “inconceivable that it has come to this”, as they preemptively mourn the loss of “irreplaceable national history”.
The National Archives of Australia doesn’t often make headlines, but when it does, it’s rarely good news.
Continue reading...While the death to dixers movement certainly has a strong following, the theatrics are probably here to stay
A Westminster tradition, used in most commonwealth countries, question time is meant to be one of the linchpins of democracy, a chance where constituents, through their representatives, can ask the government of the day “what’s going on?”
In reality, it’s where questions go to die, suffocated in the sludge of government lines, opposition grandstanding and backbenchers grasping for their moment in the sun.
Continue reading...Australian and international scientists publish open letter defending Dr Elisabeth Bik and calling for science whistleblowers to be protected
A world-renowned Dutch expert in identifying scientific misconduct and error, Dr Elisabeth Bik, has been threatened with legal action for questioning the integrity of a study promoting the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19.
The case, filed with the French state prosecutor by controversial infectious diseases physician Dr Didier Raoult, has prompted hundreds of scientists from across the world to publish an open letter calling for science whistleblowers to be protected.
Continue reading...Australia’s prime minister has been posing in hard hat and behind the wheel of everything from trucks to tanks
Continue reading...Two months after rains fell in the north, billions of litres of water are finally coursing down the Baaka-Darling system, rejuvenating the Menindee Lakes and farming communities
In late March parts of Queensland were deluged by rain. Cars were swept from roads and flash floods inundated towns as rivers broke their banks.
Billions of litres of water flowed across flood plains into creeks and from creeks into the rivers that stretch like fingers across the region.
Continue reading...Gradual tariff-free deal will be victory for free-trade Brexiters but will likely alarm UK farmers
UK ministers are expected to offer Australia a trade deal which will gradually eliminate all tariffs and quotas, one seen as a victory for free-trade Brexiters in the cabinet but likely to prompt alarm among UK farmers.
Downing Street did not deny reports on Friday that the likely offer to Australia would be a transition to zero quotas and tariffs over 15 years, although insisted discussions were still taking place.
Continue reading...Foreign minister Marise Payne says China has provided no evidence against Yang Hengjun, who has been held for more than two years
The detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun will be tried on charges of espionage in a closed Chinese court next week after being held in Beijing for more than two years.
The foreign minister Marise Payne’s office said the government had been notified by Chinese authorities that Yang would face trial next Thursday, 27 May.
Continue reading...Instead of just bringing in Pacific Islanders to pick fruit, the government should focus on tertiary education
In a budget filled with winners, there were a few notable losers.
There was our university sector. Already languishing, the government dealt our unis the twin blows of a sustained “fortress Australia” – prohibiting a revival of the international student market – and a reduction in funding.
Continue reading...