Category Archives: Victoria

Victoria’s coronavirus spike: is this a second wave, and what’s causing the clusters?

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The state took swift action to contain Covid-19 but it is the site of 83% of Australia’s new cases. We examine why

While Victoria took swift action to contain the spread of Covid-19, the state is experiencing a concerning increase in virus cases. This is despite restrictions such as school closures and limits on the numbers of people in venues continuing longer than most other jurisdictions.

In the past week, 116 of Australia’s new cases – 83% of them – were reported in Victoria. It has also placed pressure on testing in some of the most affected council areas including Hume, Brimbank, Moreland, Darebin, Cardinia and Casey. Almost one in five Victorians live across these areas. For almost one week, new cases in double digits have been reported in the state, with the department of health on Monday announcing 16 new cases overnight.

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Australia coronavirus news: Victorians warned to avoid Melbourne hotspots amid fears of second wave – live updates

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Authorities ‘strongly discourage’ travel to and from six council areas that are home to most of the country’s new coronavirus cases. Follow live

Victoria has officially announced its new ministry.

Queensland has reported zero coronavirus cases overnight.

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Victoria to extend state of emergency for four more weeks after spike in Covid-19 cases

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Queensland declares southern state a ‘hotspot’ while South Australia reconsiders decision to reopen its border

The Victorian government has announced it will extend its state of emergency for at least four more weeks and ramp up its police enforcement of lockdown rules after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

The surge has also prompted neighbouring South Australia to reconsider its decision to reopen its border, while Queensland has declared all of greater Melbourne a Covid-19 hotspot.

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Australia’s Covid-19 restrictions and coronavirus lockdown rules explained: how far can I travel, and can I have people over?

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How far can you drive and what are the travel restrictions in NSW, Queensland and Victoria? How many people can you have over at your house in Tasmania, ACT, SA, WA or NT? Untangle Australia’s Covid-19 laws and guidelines with our guide

Australians have been slowly emerging from Covid-19 lockdowns since the federal government announced a three-stage plan in May to ease restrictions across the country.

It is up to each state and territory to decide when and how far they will relax restrictions.

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Australia coronavirus update: major cyber attack under way as Victoria records 12 new Covid-19 cases – live news

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A sophisticated state-based actor is targeting all levels of government and companies in a range of sectors, PM reveals. Follow live

Also, the Five Eyes finance ministers met. Given what their operatives do, a meeting seems superfluous, but ok.

Today Australia hosted a call with the Finance Ministers of the “Five Eyes” nations – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.

It was the first of what will be regular calls among the countries to discuss the economic issues associated with COVID-19.

I guess when you don’t have the Global Times, you have to be a little more overt in your silent diplomacy.

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Coronavirus Australia update: Northern Territory to reopen borders in July as Victoria records 18 new Covid-19 cases – question time live

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Michael Gunner declared the NT Covid-free and will prepare to allow domestic travel; person who attended Melbourne Black Lives Matter protest among new Vic cases. Follow live

That leads to this exchange:

Tony Smith: The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Prime Minister needs to withdraw that imputation.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

My question is to the Prime Minister. Under this Prime Minister, Australia has entered its first recession in three decades. Australia now has an effective unemployment rate of 11.3%. How many unemployed Australians don’t have a job because the Prime Minister deliberately excluded them from JobKeeper?

No-one in this country is unemployed because of the Government’s responses.

People are unemployed in this country, people have been reduced to zero hours which is the same thing, people have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic!

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Coronavirus Australia update: PM apologises for ‘no slavery’ comments as Queensland sticks with 10 July border open date – politics live

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Qld deputy premier and health minister says situation will be reviewed at the end of June ‘as we’ve said consistently’. Follow live

Speaking of awkward, Angus Taylor just took a dixer.

So that is a bit awkward, then.

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Coronavirus Australia update: NSW reports zero community transmission as Queensland border challenge hits snag – politics live

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Three new cases of Covid-19 reported were all from overseas travellers and are in quarantine; Queensland high court calls requests from lawyers to access border closure documents ‘a fishing expedition’. Follow live updates

Pat Dodson has spoken in the Senate on the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody:

Thirty years ago, the royal commission that I was part of made recommendations to the parliament - 339 recommendations.

That Commission had been set up by the government. And at that time, there were 99 deaths that we were concerned about in this nation to effect a national Royal Commission never got over 400 deaths since that Royal Commission, and we have 30 years that have passed that have not addressed the underlying issues that give rise to people being taken into custody and consequently die in custody.

Tony Burke’s answer to that same question:

Her politics feeds on outrage. It effectively – for all the talk of proud nationalism, that party has imported an American style of politics here.

I don’t want that style of politics here. I don’t particularly want to join the outrage, because that in fact elevates what she said. I would simply refer to it in the way that I guess One Nation wouldn’t want it referred to – that is importing foreign politics into Australia. We should be better than that. And most of us are.

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William Callaghan, autistic teenager missing for two nights in Victoria, found alive

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14-year-old, who has non-verbal autism, found near summit of Mount Disappointment on third day of searching

A teenager with non-verbal autism who was missing in the Victorian bush for two freezing nights has been found alive.

Related: William Callaghan: 300 people search Mount Disappointment for boy missing on coldest night of year

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Coronavirus Australia live updates: NSW, Victoria, Qld and WA provide update on Covid-19 cases – latest news

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Mathias Cormann to appear before Senate committee seeking answers on the government’s botched wage subsidy projections. Follow the latest live

Mutual obligations for welfare recipients return today.

There are now about 1.6m people receiving the unemployment benefit jobseeker.

Mutual obligations return today & will be gradually phased in.

We are in Phase 1 meaning there are no financial penalties for not meeting activity requirements.

We don't have a timeline of each "phase" but I will keep following up with the Minister for more clarity.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian was giving a press conference just now. She was pressed on comments from her police minister, David Elliott, who said yesterday that police would not approve future permit protests that did not comply for the health guidelines.

Does she agree with Elliott?

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Black Lives Matter protests: Sydney rally given green light as court ruling overturned

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Thousands gather in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane to protest against Indigenous deaths in custody

The Sydney “Stop All Black Deaths in Custody” rally has been declared an authorised public assembly after a late decision by the court of appeal as thousands of protesters rallied in cities and towns across Australia to march against Indigenous deaths in custody and the killing of unarmed US man George Floyd.

The decision came minutes before the rally’s scheduled start at 3pm outside Town Hall on Saturday.

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Coronavirus Australia: judge refuses authorisation for Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney tomorrow – as it happened

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Planned protests at a time of social distancing draw criticism, including from Scott Morrison, as Melbourne school student tests positive. This blog is now closed

Thanks for staying with us. We’re going to leave for the today.

Before that, here are today’s main developments.

Speaking outside court, assistant commissioner Michael Willing has warned there will be a “significant” police presence at Saturday’s rally.

“Police will be out in numbers to enforce that decision,” Willing said.

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Coronavirus live update: Josh Frydenberg says Australia’s economy in recession as GDP falls 0.3% in March quarter – latest news

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ABS reports growth slowed to 1.4% through the year as industrial relations roundtables prepare an agenda to regrow the jobs lost during Covid-19. Follow live

Linda Burney and Mark Dreyfus has put out a statement, calling for clear targets to address the over-representation of First Nations people in Australian’s prison systems, and child removal.

Here is part of it:

I doubt we’ll be seeing ‘back solidly in the red’ mugs for sale anytime soon though.

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Water-bombing pilots ‘consistently tasked too late’ when fighting bushfires, royal commission hears

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Aircraft chief describes frustration at losing vital time while inquiry also told firefighter radios in different areas ‘largely incompatible’

Pilots flying water-bombing aircraft are “consistently tasked too late for fires” and sit idle on the tarmac until conditions worsen, the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements has been told.

The inquiry also heard that the radio networks used by firefighting agencies in each jurisdiction are “largely incompatible” with each other and the lack of national coordination meant that resources were not always used effectively.

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Coronavirus Australia live updates: Queensland government apologises to Nathan Turner’s family – live news

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Blackwater man who was wrongly believed to have died of Covid-19 at age 30 has been shown to have not had the disease. Follow live

Also worth paying attention to:

Related: Q+A: Matt Canavan grilled on climate change and family links to coal industry

The pandemic amplified many of the issues facing remote First Nations communitites. Today, Labor will question officials from the National Indigenous Australians Agency on its pandemic response & plans going forward. Watch at: https://t.co/Ngg6QzZtFn...
See more pic.twitter.com/vZorAaEDom

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria and NSW further ease restrictions, as Rugby Australia cuts one third of staff – latest news

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NSW pubs and museums reopen while Victoria restaurants and cafes can now serve meals for up to 20 people, as NSW says rail project linking Sydney’s second airport will create 14,000 jobs. Follow the latest news

The NSW government’s proposal to give public servants a one-off $1,000 stimulus payment if they agree to a 12-month pay freeze has been slammed by unions as insulting, AAP reports.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has been talking with union bosses about the proposal which would see non-executive frontline staff such as nurses, police officers, paramedics and teachers receive a one-off payment in return for accepting a pay pause.

Rugby Australia stood down 47 of its 142 fulltime staff on Monday morning, as it implements a restructure that will save the code $5.5m per year.

The cuts, which will also see 30 contractors and casual workers axed, comes after Rugby Australia reported a $9.4m loss in 2019.

We have delivered the news to staff this morning and told them that Rugby Australia values the contribution of each and every one of them, some of whom have given significant service to Rugby Australia and to the game over many years.

This is a difficult time for a lot of very passionate, hard-working Rugby people and we are committed to helping those people find their next opportunity, whether it be within the game or elsewhere.

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Ruby Princess passengers warned after crew member tests positive to tuberculosis

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Scientists prepare to examine sewage in attempt to try to find the source of a Covid-19 infection that killed Nathan Turner

Passengers on the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship have been sent another warning from the New South Wales health department, that they could have been exposed to tuberculosis.

The Ruby Princess voyage that arrived in Sydney on 19 March is responsible for about 10% of all coronavirus infections in Australia, and the bungled management of the outbreak has sparked two separate inquiries.

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WA premier admits state was told of sick ship crew but criticises federal government email

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Mark McGowan says initial email from the agriculture department did not raise red flags about coronavirus

The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has been forced to acknowledge that his state’s health department was notified of sick crew members on board a live export vessel before it docked in Fremantle, but remains critical of the federal Department of Agriculture for not “backing up” such a significant message with “at least a phone call”.

The admission came after the federal agriculture minister, David Littleproud, defended the actions of his department in response to McGowan’s claim on Tuesday that he discovered sick crew were on the ship Al-Kuwait that day only by word of mouth from dock workers. Littleproud released an email showing a department worker had notified WA Health on Friday about three sick crew members.

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Australia coronavirus news: pressure mounts on Queensland to open borders – latest updates

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Tourism operators and politicians are calling for Annastacia Palaszczuk to open the state’s border to domestic travellers. Follow live

Angus Taylor also spoke on the border closure issue while on the ABC:

Well, I think ultimately it’s a decision for Queensland but the advice coming in is very clear from the Chief Medical Officer and it’s clear what the New South Wales Premier has put her view as well.

What I want to see is opening up, getting things going again, jobs, investment and of course we have got to make sure all our policies are aligned with that at the federal level and we’d like to see states do the same and that includes our emissions policy which is all about strengthening the economy.

Speaking to the ABC a little earlier, Gladys Berejiklian says she did not think it was “logical at this stage to maintain those border closures for a prolonged period of time”.

She prefaced the comment with “that’s a matter for the Queensland premier and the Queensland government” before giving her opinion, so that might tell you how relations within national cabinet are starting to go.

New South Wales is in a position now where we’re really focused on jobs and the economy, and we’ll be able to get our industries up and running.

But for Australia to really move forward as a nation during this very difficult economic time as well as difficult health time, we do need our borders down, we do need to allow people to move between states, to live, to work, to see family.

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‘It’s done its job’: Dan Tehan flags end of free childcare under weight of increasing demand

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Education minister claims scheme a success but says old system was effective as more parents set to return to work

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    • Dan Tehan has suggested the days of free childcare are numbered, as a return to the old subsidy model will be needed to keep centres viable as Australians return to work.

    The education minister told Radio National on Tuesday a new report on the free model showed it had “done its job” during the Covid-19 pandemic but will need to change.

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