Australia Covid live update: NSW reports 24 local cases and Qld two; second Sydney hospital worker tests positive

Gladys Berejiklian says half of new cases were active in the community while infectious; Simon Birmingham admits Australia is ‘back of the queue’ for Pfizer vaccines; Atagi co-chair says AstraZeneca should only be used by under-40s in ‘pressing’ circumstances; Follow latest updates

Ahead of the daily health press conference in Victoria, premier Daniel Andrews has said he is “determined” to avoid another lockdown in the state, and part of that will be arguing in national cabinet on Friday for a reduction in the number of people able to return through hotel quarantine.

He repeated that it was better to lock out a small number of people than lock down whole cities or states, particularly while Victoria will not have a dedicated quarantine facility up and running in Mickleham until January.

Talk to your doctor, talk to your pharmacist. They’re the people to talk to, because whether it’s Atagi or others, there can be very broad statements made. Safety is always a concern – they are risk averse, they need to be. But everyone’s individual circumstances are different, and many people come to this question of ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ when, what vaccine with pre-existing conditions, with all sorts of other issues. So the best thing to do is not to be getting your epidemiological or your vaccination advice from politicians.

Talk to your GP, that’s what I would ask Victorians to do.

NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller is up now:

In the last 24 hours, 65 personnel infringement notices were issued. One of those of concern was a hairdresser in Auburn in the shopping area of Auburn.

In the last 24 hours, 65 personnel infringement notices were issued. One of those of concern was a hairdresser in Auburn in the shopping area of Auburn.

What police will be doing is matching our taskings to those areas and places of concern on the health website, but in particular today I want to send a very clear message that we will double our efforts in terms of visibility and compliance in south-western Sydney, in particular, around that Auburn, Bankstown area, in those shopping areas, the central business areas, and also back to the eastern suburbs as well. The message is quite clear – police continue to be visible in the community, on public transport. We are stopping and proposing many people and, again, it is just disappointing that infringements continue to be issued.

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Covid Australia live update: Perth joins Sydney and Darwin in lockdown as AstraZeneca offered to under-60s

NSW is bracing for an escalation in local Covid cases as the state government prepares a support package for businesses. Follow latest updates

Okay, so originally we were going to hear from the Queensland leaders at 9am, but this has been pushed back to 11am.

It’s unclear if this is because any big announcements are expected, but it’s worth noting the daily numbers for the state haven’t been published yet, which is a little unsual.

I brought you some quotes earlier from chief medical officer Paul Kelly’s interview with ABC.

Here is a clip if you are keen to hear the words straight from the source!

"AstraZeneca was always available for anyone, in terms of the regulation, from TGA, for anyone over the age of 18. There's a preference for Pfizer until the age of 60."

Chief Medical Officer @PKelly_CBR speaking to @lisamillar after another change to the vaccine rollout. pic.twitter.com/j3YZ3CAVPb

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Australia Covid live update: national cabinet mandates vaccinations for aged care and quarantine staff; AstraZeneca to be available for under-60s

An $11m grant announced to pay for leave for aged care staff to be vaccinated; Darwin in lockdown after four cases; restrictions for WA and SA; Queensland makes masks mandatory in hotspots. Follow live

Well that was a press conference and a half.

Here’s a brief summary of the key things Scott Morrison announced:

Another decision out of national cabinet is an agreement to make it mandatory for all quarantine workers, including those working in transport, to be vaccinated. However, this will be the responsibility of the states and territories, not the commonwealth.

This announcement follows the case of a Sydney limousine driver transporting international air crews contracting Covid-19 while being unvaccinated, NSW police admitting this breached no public health orders.

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Coalition says community detention not a pathway to resettlement for Biloela family

Campaigners say minister’s decision must be ‘first step’ in returning Murugappans to Queensland

The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, says the government’s decision to allow the Murugappan family to live in community detention in Perth will not provide a pathway to permanent resettlement in Australia.

Lawyers for the family welcomed the government’s announcement on Tuesday that they will be removed from Christmas Island, but insisted it must be a “first step” to returning them to the Queensland town of Biloela.

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Onlookers extinguish flames after man set alight outside Perth church

The 68-year-old was taken to hospital where he was treated for burns to his face, upper body and hands

Perth detectives are investigating reports a man was set alight outside an inner city church.

Police say the 68-year-old suffered significant burns after he was approached by another man on Beaufort Street in Highgate around 5pm on Saturday.

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Australia urged to take control of Cocos .cc internet domain to foil scammers and child abuse sites

Cocos (Keeling) Islands suffix is one of the most commonly used top-level domains for hosting child abuse material, researchers say

The .cc internet domain for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands should be claimed by the Australian government to stop it being abused by scammers and people hosting child abuse websites, Australian National University researchers have said.

Under the system that governs domain names on the internet, the .cc suffix was set up in the 1990s for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands territory, far off the coast of Western Australia.

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A journey down WA’s mighty Martuwarra, raging river and sacred ancestor

Traditional owners are standing together to protect the Fitzroy – a ‘beautiful, living water system’. Just watch out for the bird-sized spiders …

A Nyikina man, Mark Coles Smith, and his fellow travellers began their 400km journey down the mighty Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) on a flood plain covered in giant spiders.

“Bird-sized” spiders were clinging to the canopy, jostling for space on branches protruding above flood water that stretched for kilometres in every direction.

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A year on from the Juukan Gorge destruction, Aboriginal sacred sites remain unprotected

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.

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Minister apologises after death of young girl who waited two hours in Perth emergency department

Health minister would not be drawn on whether Aishwarya Aswath’s death could have been avoided over Easter weekend

The Western Australian government has apologised for a “failure” at a Perth hospital where a seven-year-old girl died after her parents’ desperate pleas for help were ignored.

Aishwarya Aswath spent two hours waiting in the emergency department at Perth Children’s hospital during the Easter weekend after presenting with a fever and being triaged in the second-least urgent category.

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Australia news live: Greg Hunt has ‘absolute belief’ that banning returns from India is legal

Health minister joins Scott Morrison in defending ban; over-50s eligible for Covid vaccine. Follow latest updates

Liberal senator Jane Hume is asked about her government’s controversial move to make it a criminal offence to enter Australia for citizens who have been in India in the last 14 days.

Hume told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas the punishments are “a function of the Biosecurity Act” that was introduced with Labor’s support.

“The most important thing here is we’re keeping Australians safe”

No-one is saying this is an easy decision stop in fact, it is a very, very difficult decision to make but I think Australians realise how fortunate we are to be able to live in a country that is largely Covid free and our economy is back on track.

When we see the heartbreaking images of people in India, 300,000 cases a day, 90 million people infected and 200,000 deaths, I think we all fear that third wave.”

It is not a decision made lightly and we are trying to help India in any way we can.”

We don’t want to see anybody charged, we want to see the borders open and for Australians to be able to come home again and we will do that as soon as we possibly can safely.”

Jane Hume, the minister for superannuation and financial services, has been speaking about the government’s proposed $1.7bn increase to the childcare subsidy, which will see the subsidy for families with two children lifted to a maximum of 95% and remove the cap on subsidies for higher-income earners.

Hume said it’s better than more generous proposals from Labor because the Coalition’s plan “is aimed at lower-middle-income workers and people going back to work, study or doing charity work”.

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Australia live news: Australia live news: Covid breach at Brisbane airport after traveller tests positive; Brittany Higgins and PM to meet

Former Liberal staffer will speak to Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese in Sydney, and Brisbane and Melbourne on Covid alert. Follow latest updates

Here's Justice Katzmann on the jingle being a benefit to Palmer pic.twitter.com/6fjHIDyBFX

Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay Universal Music $1.5m in damages over the “unauthorised” use of a version of the hit 1980s song We’re Not Gonna Take It by glam metal band Twisted Sister in a political ad during the 2019 election campaign.

Palmer used a cover version of the song during his multimillion-dollar advertising blitz during last year’s federal election campaign. The Palmer version of the song changed the lyrics to:

Australia ain’t gonna cop it, no Australia’s not gonna cop it, Aussies not gonna cop it any more.

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Australia news live: health officials say hotel quarantine ‘fit for purpose’; Port Arthur massacre commemorated

Brendan Murphy says there are no plans to invest in purpose-built isolation facilities. Follow latest updates

A fatal truck crash has occurred this morning in Sydney.

A truck driver has died in a crash on Sydney's M7 which has caused massive delays. #9Today pic.twitter.com/CjCtFRgq91

Just for everyone who thought the mouse plague was over, here is a rather concerning pic from Dubbo.

Dubbo’s Amy Payten says her cat’s given up too and just watched the mice run by - the pic says it all! https://t.co/a3NviYp1xV pic.twitter.com/DERCpTwOWP

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Australia news live: AMA says WA hotel quarantine not ‘fit for purpose’ for containing Covid

Top doctor says leaks continue to happen because federal experts ‘deny’ virus is airborne; WA premier Mark McGowan to decide today whether Perth and Peel can reopen after three days of lockdown. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

WA Covid hotspots: list of exposure sites
Perth and WA Covid lockdown rules explained
WA premier furious that Australian residents are travelling to ‘Covid-infected countries’

The social media giant Facebook has released a short statement confirming it has removed the page of independent federal MP Craig Kelly for repeated breaches of misinformation policy.

A Facebook company spokesperson said:

We don’t allow anyone, including elected officials, to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts.

We have clear policies against this type of content and have removed Mr Kelly’s Facebook Page for repeated violations of this policy.

Thanks to Matilda Boseley for another electric display of web logging.

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Western Australia Covid lockdown: new case confirmed as hotel quarantine failures condemned

Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid says state governments are not doing enough to protect those in quarantine from coronavirus

Continued leaks from hotel quarantine are “a frustration to all Australians” and state governments are not doing enough to prevent it, the president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid, has said, while the Western Australian premier called on the federal government to “step up and help”.

Authorities revealed one new community case was detected on Saturday – a man in his 40s – as WA’s Perth and Peel region began a snap three-day lockdown after the latest hotel quarantine outbreak. The virus spread in the corridors of the Mercure quarantine hotel in Perth, infecting a man who was staying adjacent to a couple with the virus who had returned from India.

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Perth to enter snap three-day lockdown after Covid spreads from hotel quarantine into community

WA premier Mark McGowan announces restrictions after Victorian man, who contracted coronavirus at the Mercure in Perth, infected a friend

Perth and Peel will enter a snap three-day lockdown from midnight Friday after a Victorian man, who tested positive to Covid-19, spent five days in the community while infectious after leaving hotel quarantine.

The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, announced the lockdown – which will remain in place until midnight Monday – after a close contact of the Victorian man also tested positive.

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Australia news live: Greg Hunt has ‘full confidence’ in NZ Covid controls after border worker contracts coronavirus

Queensland premier says people need confidence in vaccine before mass rollout; US secretary of state says countries investing in new coal ‘will hear from US’. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Secretary of state says countries investing in new coal ‘will hear from US’
Australia increasingly isolated as US and others ramp up climate ambition
Melbourne GP clinic with capacity to vaccinate 2,100 a week supplied with just 50 doses

The health department secretary, Brendan Murphy, has made opening remarks at the Covid-19 Senate inquiry. Murphy said Australia is “still in a very good place” even as comparable countries are battling fresh outbreaks and a fourth wave of the novel coronavirus.

He said:

“We are in a very fortunate place, even though we have border measures in place we are basically living a normal life – we have full football stadiums, restaurants, things are back to normal.”

Two state education ministers, Labor and Liberal, had criticised the milkshake video earlier today, via AAP.

Victoria’s Education Minister James Merlino called for the federal government to pull all content featured on The Good Society website, which launched as part of the Department of Education’s Respect Matters program last week.

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Australia news live: Christine Holgate says she was ‘bullied’ and Australia Post chairman fabricated evidence

Holgate says she was ‘humiliated’ by prime minister Scott Morrison; man dies of coronavirus in Queensland. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Australia won’t purchase Johnson & Johnson jab
AstraZeneca blood clotting: what is this rare syndrome?
• Andrew Laming blocked from recontesting next election
More than half of Australians think vaccine rollout is too slow

Wow, it’s been a busy few hours! With that, I’m going to hand you over to Michael McGowan to take you through the rest of the afternoon.

Christine Holgate gave some evidence about executive bonuses. It is a little confusing and we’ll come back to it, because even the senators seem a little confused about what is being said. And it’s important we get it right, so I’ll head back over the transcript to see what she was saying there.

Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has the question call now. She says she has been very moved by Holgate, and what she went through. She asks whether she thinks the questioning on the 22 October estimates hearing was fair.

Holgate:

In all honesty, I didn’t consider whether it was fair or not fair. I absolutely respect and Senator Carr, forgive me but you’ve asked me many tough questions over my time with you (“that’s my job,” Carr says)...and I was about to say ‘that’s your job’.

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Australia politics live: organisers of March4Justice rally reject PM’s offer of closed door meeting

More than 100,000 women are expected to march in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to demand action in response to allegations of workplace abuse. Follow latest updates

Michael McCormack Michael McCormacked his way through an interaction with Janine Hendry this morning, when she asked him for action - and for change.

He ‘can’t give that assurance’.

#March4Justiceau organiser @janine_hendry bumped into Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in the Parliament corridors ... here's how it ended. @10NewsFirst #auspol pic.twitter.com/fnkr3nam0h

Janine Hendry, a founder and organiser of the March4Justice, explained to the ABC this morning about why organisers turned down Scott Morrison’s offer of a private meeting with a small number of march delegates:

I think it is really quite disrespectful to the women whose voices need to be heard to have a meeting with our prime minister behind closed doors.

I have invited the prime minister, as I have all other sitting members of parliament, to come and march with us, to come and listen to our voices. I don’t think it is really a big ask – we have come to Canberra.

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Australia news live: Morrison defends tourism package; WA election campaign enters final day

The PM has rejected claims of favouring Coalition and marginal seats through subsidised flights; and WA opposition leader Zak Kirkup insists he has no regrets as he prepares for landslide defeat. Follow all the latest updates, live

Good news for NSW residents in Auckland, they will once again be allowed to return to Australia without quarantine, as the New Zeland cluster dies out with no more new cases reported in the recent Auckland cluster since 28 February.

NSW health released a statement last night confirming the (one-way) travel bubble will reopen:

People who have been in Auckland in the past 14 days will be exempt from hotel quarantine provided that they seek testing for Covid-19 after arriving in NSW. They must self-isolate in their accommodation until they receive a negative result.

NSW Health will follow up arrivals from Auckland if a negative test is not recorded for them, to inform them of their obligations.

The OECD has so far been unable to find a clear winner in the contest between former Australian finance minister Mathias Cormann and former European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström – so the decision may not be finalised until later this month.

Cormann and Malmström, the Swedish candidate, are the final two nominees for the role of secretary general of the Paris based OECD. The selection process is based on seeking to find consensus among OECD member states.

Following discussion with the Selection Committee, the Chair’s conclusions were finalised and these were communicated first to the nominating ambassadors, and then to the Heads of Delegations in plenary. Following these consultations, the Chair has been unable to identify which candidate has the most support. Further steps will be taken in March, with the aim of concluding the process.

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