Category Archives: Western Australia

Australia live news updates: Victoria records 20 Covid deaths and NSW 12; Mark McGowan defends timing of WA border reopening

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Western Australia premier says he will spend week in hotel quarantine to avoid perceptions he will benefit from timing of border reopening; SA election campaign officially begins

In Victoria over the past week, this is how Covid hospitalisation and ICU numbers have tracked, starting with today’s figures and working backwards: 365 (55 in ICU); 451 (64), 401 (78), 397 (68), 441 (67), 465 (66), 465 (62).

So in NSW over the past seven days, this is how hospitalisation and ICU numbers have tracked, starting with today’s figures and working backwards: 1297 (81 in ICU); 1381 (92); 1447 (92); 1478 (92); 1583 (96); 1649 (100) and 1614 (93).

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Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron as nation records at least 47 virus deaths – as it happened

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Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron; Mark McGowan says WA border reopening still to be decided; Daniel Andrews announces LGBTQ+ support package; Victoria’s Covid rules under review as nation records least 47 Covid-related deaths; Scott Morrison condemns ‘bullying’ on Ukraine border. This blog is now closed

Things get trickier when Speers asked Keneally whether Labor believes schools should be allowed to hire and fire teachers based on whether they are gay or transgender under the law.

Keneally started by saying that “Labor also supports the right of religious schools, faith-based schools to be able to hire staff, whether it is teachers or other staff, that support the mission and the values of the school.”

And so it’s straightforward with children, we think there are some slight complexities with teachers and staff that should be looked at by the Australian Law Reform Commission.”

David, let’s look at what Labor did in the parliament this week. We do believe that people of faith deserve protection from discrimination and extending the law to do that and we think that should not come at the expense of increasing discrimination to other groups of people. We also believe that students at school should be protected and that reflected in the amendments we moved and supported.

So we would like to see the government now accept that amendment that has been supported by the House of Representatives with those five Liberals crossing the floor, and they should just get this bill done. The prime minister promised some years ago to people of faith he would provide this legislative protection. He promised in writing that he would protect children. He is – if he is going to break that promise, he needs to explain it to the Australian people.

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Scott Morrison says he ‘understands’ Canberra antivax protesters amid skirmishes with police

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Prime minister says Australia ‘a free country’ and blames states for Covid vaccine mandates

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says he understands the concerns of anti-vaccination mandate protesters, with thousands of people again marching in Canberra.

The protesters marched on Parliament House on Saturday, chanting and waving flags, and shutting down streets around the capital. About 100 people leapt barricades and faced off against police, who were also monitoring the crowd with drones and helicopters.

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Victoria reports 41 Covid deaths, Qld 21 and NSW 18; anti-vaxxers protest in Canberra – as it happened

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Firefighters in Western Australia battle two emergency-level bushfires. This blog is now closed

NSW case numbers are in, and there have been 8,389 new Covid-19 cases detected over night from PCR and rapid antigen tests.

Sadly, 18 more lives have been lost overnight.

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Qantas boss Alan Joyce compares Western Australia border restrictions to North Korea

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Chief executive takes a swipe at state premier Mark McGowan saying: ‘I think we should all be a bit outraged by it’

Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, has compared Western Australia’s ongoing border closure to the totalitarian state of North Korea.

Speaking on 3AW on Friday, Joyce lamented there wasn’t a plan in WA for when the state would re-welcome domestic travellers after the initial reopening date of 5 February was scrapped indefinitely last month.

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Australia news live updates: protests as prime minister grilled at National Press Club; 77 Covid deaths nationally; RBA ends bond buying

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Scott Morrison announces packages for aged care and NDIS as anti-vaccine protesters mass outside the National Press Club; 77 Covid deaths recorded across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Follow updates live

O’Neil:

A pay rise that lasts up until the next election is a cynical political ploy, because we know this plan ... will not do anything more than hold this thing together by a thread.

The truth is that the aged-care sector – the average experience of a person in aged care today is one of neglect.

The truth is that we have a crisis in aged care that has been eight years in the making.

Scott Morrison has cut aged-care funding personally as treasurer twice. One of the first actions of the incoming government was to cut the wages of aged-care staff and now we are expected to believe that this is going to make a difference?

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‘Beginnings got lost’: fabled Aboriginal art on show 40 years after disappearance

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Important paintings lay forgotten in storage since the early 80s until their discovery, muddy and mouldy, but intact

Balgo is Country for all of us now. We were all born here, these generations here today. We are Wirrimanu kids. We belong to Balgo. That’s what we paint. That’s why we paint. This is our story.”
– Warlayirti artist Eva Nagomarra

John Carty opened his email and downloaded the images. They were photos of paintings, found in a shipping container somewhere in the Kimberley. They were muddy and water damaged, but recognisable.

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Australia news live update: at least 98 Covid deaths on nation’s deadliest day; PM responds to Grace Tame photo; Russia’s ambassador hits back at Dutton

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At least 98 Covid deaths recorded across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA and ACT; Scott Morrison comments on viral photos of Grace Tame meeting; Russia’s ambassador to Australian condemns ‘propaganda’ reporting; additional Covid deaths in Sydney aged care homes confirmed. Follow all the day’s news

Hazzard said NSW is supporting the Victorian government push to change the definition of fully vaccinated in Australia from two doses to three.

But he says there are some issues to be ironed out before that change can be made. He doesn’t know what issues, he says, because he is not a part of national cabinet.

I understand that most of these things require a range of medical expert input. In fact, they all require a range of medical expert input, and I think when you’ve got a committee of a large number of people, all giving their input, sometimes it takes a while to get there. Sometimes it is easier being a minister, I’ve got to say, than being on a committee.

So for everybody who is eligible, please go and get the booster as quickly as possible.

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No decision on ‘fully vaccinated’ definition as at least 72 Covid deaths recorded – as it happened

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Atagi still considering whether to change vaccination advice; nation records at least 72 Covid deaths with 13 in SA including reconciled data of death notifications from past fortnight; Central Land Council calls for central NT lockdown. This blog is now closed

Back to the EU ambassador, and he has confirmed the European Union would respond if Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border.

Nurses and midwives at Sydney’s Liverpool hospital are striking today, demanding the government take action to address the staffing crisis impacting health care across the state.

Some of them are in tears here this morning, just come off a night shift. They are caring for, sometimes, one nurse for eight to 10 people and Covid has made their situation so harrowing.

Our hospital system really is at a breaking point and they are asking for ... fair, safe staffing levels here in our hospitals. Here in south-western Sydney, these nurses saw the brunt of the Delta outbreak, a failure of national quarantine, a failure of the vaccine rollout, and now they are seeing with Omicron the failure of the rapid antigen testing.

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Australia news live update: nation records 76 Covid deaths; Anthony Albanese announces Labor election priorities

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Labor leader outlines election priorities; nation records 76 Covid deaths; Peter Dutton warns against Russia invasion of Ukraine; giant ram survives 4.7 magnitude earthquake in WA. Follow all the latest news

The benchmark ASX200 is set to fall 1.7% this morning, according to futures data, following further losses on overseas markets overnight.

In the US, the S&P500 fell 0.72% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped 0.43%, while London’s FTSE100 shed a whopping 2.63%.

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Cleo Smith: Terence Darrell Kelly pleads guilty to abducting four-year-old from WA campsite

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Kelly, 36, admits in court to taking child from a tent last year. Other charges have been adjourned to a later date

A man has pleaded guilty in court to abducting Cleo Smith from her family’s West Australian campsite, sparking a widespread search and attracting global attention.

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, on Monday admitted taking the four-year-old from a tent at the remote Blowholes campsite last year.

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Australia live news update: nearly identical return-to-school plans for NSW and Victoria; no rapid tests for Qld students; 58 Covid deaths recorded

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Students and teachers in NSW will be required to take rapid Covid tests twice a week when school resumes; Victoria mandates third vaccine dose for teachers and staff, masks for year three and above; NSW records 34 Covid deaths, Victoria 14 and Queensland 10; ACT reports 694 cases and no deaths, SA 2,062 cases. Follow live

A search and rescue operation will resume for a fisherman missing since the early hours of Saturday after he was thrown from a boat along with another man and a dog on Sydney’s North Harbour, AAP reports.

The men, aged 25 and 49, launched their 3.5-metre runabout from Northbridge about 9pm on Friday before running into rough seas and capsizing about 3am on Saturday.

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I’m not complaining that WA is staying shut. Like many, I’m just grieving for lost time | Calla Wahlquist

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West Australians are torn between wanting to see loved ones and wanting to stay safe behind the barricade. Most of us in the eastern states feel that conflict too

It has been a hard few years to have family in Western Australia. On Thursday, at a late-night press conference after national cabinet, the premier, Mark McGowan, announced that his safe transition plan, which would have allowed quarantine-free travel into the state from 5 February, had been put on indefinite pause.

I exchanged muted text messages with my sister, who lives in Perth, from my home in central Victoria. We were not really surprised – relying on McGowan to open the border on schedule is a mug’s game this far into the pandemic.

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Australia news live update: nation records at least 80 Covid deaths in deadliest day yet; WA delays border reopening

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Australia records its deadliest day of the pandemic with 80 deaths; AFP begins investigations into RAT price gouging; ‘If not now, when?’ asks Frydenberg on WA border. Follow all the day’s news

The West Australian paper certainly isn’t mincing words with their views on the indefinite border closure this morning.

The Australian federal police have launched an investigation into price gouging rapid antigen tests, warning people that re-selling them for “more than 20 per cent of the original retail purchase price” is a crime punishable with up to five years in prison.

Two investigations have begun in Queensland and NSW after referrals from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

More referrals are expected and will be coordinated under the AFP’s Taskforce LOTUS, which was established in 2021 as a targeted and scalable response to potential criminal threats to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

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Western Australia suspends border reopening indefinitely amid Omicron spread

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State had been due to open up to double-jabbed international and interstate travellers on 5 February

The reopening of Australia’s most isolated state has been suspended indefinitely to allow West Australians to get booster shots, as the more transmissible Omicron variant rips through the nation.

Just one month after promising that from 5 February double-vaccinated interstate and international travellers would be allowed to enter Western Australia without quarantine, the WA premier, Mark McGowan, has said that all entrants will need to self-isolate for 14 days, be triple-dose vaccinated and take tests.

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‘No vax, no play’: surfer Kelly Slater won’t be let into Australia if he’s not vaccinated against Covid

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World Surf League events are due in Victoria and WA but federal health minister says position on coronavirus vaccine is ‘pretty clear’ following Novak Djokovic visa saga

Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying the 11-time champion will not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against Covid.

Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on the Covid vaccine, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.

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Australia news live update: PM asked about double standard on Djokovic anti-vax concerns; 23 Covid deaths in Victoria, NSW as hospital cases rise

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Victoria reports 22,429 new Covid cases, six deaths and 1,229 people in hospital; NSW records 29,504 cases and 17 deaths, with 2,776 people in hospital; Scott Morrison discusses Novak Djokovic deportation; Australian surveillance flight to assess Tonga tsunami damage delayed; unions meet over workforce and supply chain shortages. Follow all the day’s news

Prime minister Scott Morrison has appeared on 2GB this morning, confirming Djokovic didn’t comply with entry requirements ... but that is not why his visa was cancelled.

Australia has very clear rules and Australians have been following those rules ... we apply our rules equally in this country and there was a very clear message sent – he wanted to come, he wasn’t vaccinated, well you’ve got to have a valid medical exemption and neither of those were in place. People make their own choices, and those choices meant you couldn’t come here and play tennis.

The idea someone could come and not follow those rules just was not on ... he was wrong, simple as that ... we didn’t give him an exemption, the federal government gave him no such exemption.

And that is that Mr Djokovic would be asked to leave, it is in the remit of the minister to do that, the judges reviewed the process and found the process the minister followed was legal. But to be quite frank, I am on the same page as Mr Djokovic. We’ll move on. And the things I will move on to are making sure to keep food on the shelves of supermarkets as ... people have been interested in the story, it’s been a ... soap opera. But now people are going to focus on the tennis, watch the tennis and also focus on looking after them and one of the big issues right now is making sure we keep food on the shelves at the grocery store.

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Australia Covid news live: new close contact and isolation rules come into effect ahead of NYE celebrations

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Thousands now free to leave isolation after changes to close contact definition comes into force; New Year’s Eve plans appear to be going ahead in major cities despite surging coronavirus numbers. Follow all today’s news

So, it appears South Australia will resist the changes to the definition of close contact the National Cabinet agreed to yesterday.

In a Facebook post earlier this morning, premier Steven Marshall lays out his government’s definition of close contacts, resisting the changes introduced by the PM yesterday.

It doesn’t matter to us whether they’re free, subsidised or other some other thing.

What we as an industry have been more concerned about is having a clear role for rapid testing in managing infections, in keeping the economy going and in keeping people safe.

So our representation to them [the federal government] has always been that there needs to be a hybrid system, because it may only be $10 or $15 a test and yes, that may be a lot cheaper than a PCR test.

But $10 or $15 per person per household twice in a seven-day period is still not affordable for some low-income earners.

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Australia Covid news live update: NSW records 11,201 cases, Victoria 3,767; states consider shorter isolation time; Qld to change border testing requirements

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NSW records three Covid-19 deaths as cases spiral; Queensland to allow rapid antigen test to cross border; chief health officers are reportedly considering cutting isolation periods to match the US and UK. Follow all the latest updates

NSW cases have jumped again, significantly this time, recording 11,201 cases today. Its the highest ever tally recorded by a state in a single day, and the first time a state has recorded over 10,000 cases in a day.

Sadly, three people have lost their lives overnight.

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Federal government to pay out $2m to settle class action over ‘racist’ work for the dole program

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Indigenous leaders argued participants faced tougher welfare penalties than those in other parts of Australia

The federal government will pay a traditional owners corporation representing some of the poorest communities in Australia more than $2m after settling a class action that argued the remote “work for the dole” program was racist.

The Community Development Program (CDP) has required about 30,000 jobseekers in remote communities to work up to 25 hours a week to receive the dole. Participants, 80% of whom were Aboriginal, were said to have faced tougher welfare penalties than those in other parts of Australia.

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