Christmas weather forecast: warm and calm conditions for most Australians and a scorcher in Perth

Bureau of Meteorology’s official prediction for 25 December includes good beach weather for Melbourne and Sydney

Christmas Day will bring warm weather and calm conditions for most Australians, but those in the north should brace for a potential storm, while temperatures are set to soar in the west.

The La Niña downpours of recent weeks are not expected to make an appearance on Christmas Day, with warm and potentially cloudy weather opening the door to outside festivities across most state capitals. The south-eastern cities will enjoy temperatures just shy of 30C, while Queenslanders should prepare for showers. Perth is set for a 40C scorcher and Darwin may be in for a storm.

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NSW cases jump; Qld passengers to be released from quarantine; Victoria lifts vaccine mandate for non-essential retail

Victorian vaccine mandate lifted for non-essential retail; Omicron will inevitably spread through Queensland, CHO says; Qld hotspot passengers to be released from quarantine; Victoria records 1,405 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths; NSW cases jump to 1,360 infections, with one death; potential Omicron superspreader event in Melbourne – follow all the day’s news live

The New South Wales government has picked Kerry Schott to chair its net zero emissions and clean economy board, hoping for a happier outcome than its first attempt.

Earlier this year, the energy and environment minister Matt Kean chose former prime minister and mentor of sorts Malcolm Turnbull to lead that role.

Dr Schott is one of the most outstanding public servants in the country and brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience which will be invaluable as NSW drives towards halving our emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.

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Australia live news update: Victoria records 1,189 Covid cases, six deaths; NSW 804 cases, one death; Joyce opposes Assange extradition;

Victoria records 1,189 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths; NSW records 804 cases and one death; Barnaby Joyce says Julian Assange should not be extradited to the US; passengers on NSW rail network face another day of disruption as train union strikes – follow all the day’s news

Here is the full statement for the Victorian government on the Moderna manufacturing facility that’s set to be operational by 2024.

Prime minister Scott Morrison has called on states and territories to ease their last remaining Covid-19 restrictions, as Western Australia announced plans to reopen its hard border to the rest of the nation, reports AAP’s Andrew Brown.

Australians kept their side of the deal, it is time for governments to now keep theirs; to step back and let Australians step forward...

To put Australians back in charge of their own lives, relying on the connecting points and relationships that exist between the state and the individual.

Australia is going to be connected and together again...

This will be welcome news for thousands of Western Australians looking forward to reuniting with family and friends after so long apart.

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Omicron patient hospitalised in NSW as Queensland prepares for thousands of cars to cross border

Covid vaccine booster shots also fast-tracked on day of large protests in capital cities to oppose mandates

A person in New South Wales has been admitted to hospital infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the first Omicron patient to be hospitalised since it arrived in Australia last month.

It comes as thousands of protesters marched through capital cities on Sunday to oppose vaccine mandates, and Western Australia and Queensland prepared to reopen their borders.

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Australia news live updates: Gladys Berejiklian rules out federal tilt; second woman killed in Queensland floods

Former NSW premier confirms she won’t run in federal election; second Queensland woman found dead in floodwaters. Follow all the day’s developments

By the way, we are expecting to hear from Scott Morrison pretty soon about the recently Atagi approvals for children’s vaccinations.

Berejiklian:

Well, I promised when the PM and others contacted me and urged me to give it consideration. I promised them and I did for a very short period of time and then obviously let them know that it’s not something I want to pursue and it is just a different direction.

I want my life to change.

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Australia live news update: NSW teachers’ strike closes nearly 400 public schools; Victoria pandemic bill becomes law

David Littleproud says ‘conversations are happening’ about Olympics boycott; NSW teachers’ strike closes nearly 400 public schools; three new Omicron cases detected in ACT, six Covid-19 infections overall; Victoria pandemic bill becomes law; ; Victoria records 1,185 cases and seven deaths; NSW records 260 cases and two deaths – follow all the day’s news

A suspected shark attack on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula has left two teens in hospital and shut a beach, reports Callum Godde from AAP.

Emergency services were called to Ocean Grove, south east of Geelong, just after 7pm on Monday.

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Qld border to reopen 13 December, Palaszczuk says; SA premier advised to close border with NSW over Omicron – As it happened

Annastacia Palaszczuk brings forward Qld border reopening; Steven Marshall ‘very concerned’ by Omicron as SA records four Covid cases; Perth stripped of Ashes series finale; Victoria records 1,073 new cases and six deaths, NSW records 208 cases, ACT six; Katherine lockdown extended as NT records one case; Australia could be renewables ‘superpower’ but has wasted time, Chris Bowen says.

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A New South Wales government plan to control feral horses in Kosciuszko national park will allow horses to remain in the only known habitat of one of Australia’s most imperilled freshwater fishes and risks pushing the species closer to extinction.

Conservationists say allowing horses to continue to roam around some sections of the park will put vulnerable wildlife and ecosystems at risk.

There are lot of reasons even though they don’t get as sick as adults, they have a pretty strong role in spreading it back to family members and of course that can include parents and also, of greater concern, the grandparents. The older you are, the impacts of getting seriously ill or worse with Covid is greater.

The other reason is just so kids can do what kids are meant to do – go to school, play with their friends, do sport, do exercise, do social things.

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Scott Morrison repeats that Australians have ‘had a gutful of governments in their lives’; Peter Cundall dies at 94 – As it happened

Gardening legend Peter Cundall dies aged 94 as PM repeats that Australians have had a ‘gutful of governments in their lives’. This blog is now closed

Hunt is asked whether states, like Queensland, will hold off opening state borders until at least 80% of kids aged five to 11 are vaccinated given today’s announcement.

Hunt:

There is no reason for that. The Doherty modelling was set out very clearly on the 80% rates for double dosed across the country for 16 plus, and what we have seen now is that in terms of the 12 to 15-year-olds, we have now had an extra 1.8 million vaccinations over and above the Doherty modelling. The Doherty modelling was based on an 80% national rate for double dosed and didn’t include 12 to 15-year-olds.

A bit over a fifth of all cases of Covid are actually in the under 12s. Indeed, some of the early data with Omicron suggests it may actually be higher for the Omicron variant ... While most kids to get fairly mild infection and only a limited number end up in ICU, is great, there are bigger impacts.

Unfortunately about one in 3,000 of the kids who get Covid actually end up with this funny immunological condition called multi-system inflammatory condition. Those kids can end up being very sick for months. It is not the same as long Covid but it has some things in common, and it has a whole range of symptoms where the kid is just not well. That is one of the things we are protecting against by vaccinating children...

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In Australia’s wet weather ‘tis the season for spiders, mozzies, mice and mould

La Niña brings more than just rain to eastern states, as some unwanted visitors begin venturing into people’s homes

A surge in mosquitoes, spiders, termites, rodents – and mould – has hit eastern Australia, in what appears to be a fitting end to 2021.

The wet weather caused by the latest La Niña event has helped flush out creatures that may typically burrow or live underground into the open and inside people’s homes.

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Australia politics live news: Coalition and Labor test new Speaker’s limits in question time; NT records 11 new Covid cases

Lorraine Finlay also says she doesn’t believe her past political aspirations with the Liberal party will impact her job.

Certainly my past political involvement doesn’t qualify me for the role, but it also isn’t a disqualification from the role.

Now the human rights commission is an independent, apolitical statutory agency. And as the human rights commissioner, let me be very clear, I am not a politician. It is not a political role. And I fully intend to operate within the established framework of the commission.

What I can say is my personal views, haven’t changed, but my role has, and I’m very aware that as human rights commissioner I do need to take a broader perspective and there are a variety of views and opinions that need to be taken into account.

So again, I don’t see this role as my personal soapbox. I’m not a politician by default, I am here to do a very specific job. And I intend to operate very squarely within the framework of the commission to perform these duties.

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Australia’s Covid pandemic in 60 seconds: Victoria and Melbourne map – video

The coronavirus pandemic in Australia has caused almost 2,000 deaths and resulted in close to 200,000 cases. In the worst-hit states of New South Wales and Victoria, high vaccination rates have now reduced the rate of hospital admissions. Here we have used an experimental mapping method to show how the outbreak spread across the two states from the start of the pandemic until now. Each dot represents a person who tested positive to Covid-19, and has been placed randomly within their postcode or local government area to visualise the number of cases in a region. It’s important to remember that this is not necessarily where they caught the virus and instead is where they live. Blue dots represent those who probably caught the coronavirus overseas, and red dots are those who caught the coronavirus locally. All dots fade to grey and are removed after two weeks

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The pandemic in 60 seconds: animated maps show how Covid-19 spread across NSW and Victoria

Using an experimental mapping method, the outbreak of Covid-19 across the two states can be plotted from the start of the pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic in Australia has caused almost 2,000 deaths and resulted in close to 200,000 cases.

In the worst-hit states of New South Wales and Victoria, high vaccination rates have now reduced the rate of hospital admissions.

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Australia politics live update: Morrison confirms special visa holders can enter; hundreds leave NT public service over vaccine mandate

International border changes announced; hundreds leave NT public service over vaccine mandate; Katherine lockdown extended; question time begins in Canberra; Labor and Coalition scrap over PM’s response to protesters’ threats; Victoria records 1,029 Covid cases, three deaths; 180 new cases, one death in NSW. Follow all the day’s news live

Simon Birmingham may be trying to walk back the “both sides” of the so-called freedom protests, which included threats of violence and death against sitting state MPs, but Barnaby Joyce is holding the line. There is a lot of work being done by a small group of people to make sure those protesting aren’t all labelled as “mad”. This is despite that same group of people usually condemning peaceful protests from the left.

Here is Joyce on the Seven network this morning:

There’s not there’s not a person in this building, not any one, I hope exists that says that threatening a person’s life, building gallows, doing all that kind of total garbage is something that is just … we don’t want it.

OK. So, no one is suggesting for one second, we do that. And it’s outrageous.

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Australia news live updates: NSW and Victoria close in on vaccination milestones; NT communities in lockdown after nine new Covid cases

Almost 90% of Victoria has had first dose of Covid vaccine as state records 1,275 new cases and four deaths; NSW records 176 cases and two deaths as state nears 95% first vaccination dose milestone; two more NT communities in lockdown after nine new cases on Saturday; 16 Covid cases in ACT; thunderstorm warning for south-west WA and severe weather warnings in place across NSW – follow all the day’s news

Speers has asked Chalmers about the anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protestors that took place in Victoria yesterday.

Do you accept that there are some people concerned about vaccine mandates who aren’t necessarily extremists?

You can express a view in this country without dragging around gallows and noose and calling for premiers to be hanged. I condemn without reservation, without qualification, the violent threats being made here, even if the prime minister won’t.

We live in a society, and that means we have obligations to each other to try to tame this virus, to look out for each other, to protect each other, to try to keep each other safe and what the prime minister is trying to do is trying to divide us, trying to diminish that collective effort and undermine all of the good and all of the progress that Australians have made together. He does that with this dangerous dog whistling double-speak that we see from him. He does it by claiming credit for high vaccination rates without taking responsibility for the measures that are necessary to get those rates up.

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‘Dangerous game’: Labor accuses Scott Morrison of wanting to ‘embrace’ views of anti-vaccine protests

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says prime minister is ‘trying to divide us’ for political gain

Labor’s shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has blasted prime minister Scott Morrison for wanting to “embrace” the violent politics of anti-vaccine protests, accusing him of trying to divide the country for political gain.

After mass “freedom” rallies held across the country on Saturday, Chalmers said Morrison’s failure to strongly condemn the violent threats seen in Victoria last week was a “dangerous game with dangerous consequences”.

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Victoria protests escalate as child under 10 among new deaths – as it happened

NSW reports 182 cases and ACT 14; anti-fascist activists vow to counter ‘freedom rallies’ they claim have been infiltrated by far-right groups. This blog is now closed

Asked about whether we can expect to see the introduction of a legislation for a federal anti-corruption commission in parliament in the next couple of weeks, Tim Wilson says it’s important that they “get the legislation right”:

Because what we’ve had too often is proposals which are designed to establish, kind of, kangaroo courts, and actually would do more to breed distrust in the political conversation. We’ve seen that particularly in the consequence of what’s happening in Icac in New South Wales.

We want a process that’s based around integrity, that’s been consulted with the Australian community, and is actually going to do the job we need it to do, which is actually to breed trust and strength in the political system, not simply to create show trials, as I’ve seen it many times.

I think this is pretty simple. You’ve got a group of people marching down the street with a life-sized execution device. You’ve got people threatening to kill the premier of Victoria. If you’re any sort of leader, you just condemn that, full stop. You don’t go on and then say, ‘But I understand why people are frustrated.’

I think it is legitimate to point out that Scott Morrison has pulled the sheet out of the Trump handbook here. Lie, deny, blame other people, never take responsibility for anything, try and divide the community, pander to the extreme right – this is Trump without the toupee. And, seriously, I think the Australian people deserve better than that.

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Political leaders condemn alleged attack on MP’s daughter – as it happened

PM comments after Animal Justice MP Andy Meddick says daughter attacked; Indian PM repeals controversial agricultural laws; rapid antigen Covid testing for NSW primary schools; Victoria records 1,273 new cases and eight deaths; NSW records 216 new cases and three deaths; rain set to hamper search for remains of William Tyrrell. This blog is now closed

OK, jumping back to South Australia where opposition leader Peter Malinauskas has condemned the premier’s decision not to dismiss his deputy premier and attorney general Vicky Chapman after the parliament passed a vote of no confidence against her.

Malinauskas told ABC News Breakfast that this was “a truly extraordinary state of affairs, if not a constitutional crisis”.

It’s an incredibly unfortunate state of affairs in South Australia where premier Steven Marshall has decided to almost literally tear up the rulebook of convention that’s been established over hundreds of years of the Westminster system of government and ignore the parliament’s will [for him to] ask Vickie Chapman to resign her position at deputy premier.

There’s been a motion of no confidence passed in the deputy premier. This is unprecedented. Everybody seems to be putting their fingers in their ears and pretending nothing has happened, particularly the premier himself.

What I accept and what I’ve always defended and been a very strong supporter of is people’s right to protest. But if it’s not peaceful, it’s not protest and it’s something very different.

We have seen extremists, rabid anti-vaxxer and others making all sorts of threats, threats against me, my wife and my kids. That is not my focus, this is about every family’s safety and that’s why we have to work together and that’s what Victorians have done.

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‘Enormous alarm’: debate and protest continue over controversial Victorian pandemic powers bill

Bill set to pass parliament later this week but Labor’s Harriet Shing says heated protests have led MPs and staff to ‘second guess their security’

Opponents of the Victorian government’s controversial pandemic powers legislation have called for the bill to be delayed in the upper house, warning ongoing protests outside parliament will grow.

Debate in the Legislative Council ran into Tuesday night and was expected to continue late into the week with opponents vowing to scrutinise the bill line by line.

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Australia news live blog: Barnaby Joyce dismisses Cop26 ‘talkfest’; snap lockdown for Katherine in NT; Qld eases Covid border rules

Barnaby Joyce says Coalition has done a ‘great job’ on climate policy; Changes to South Australia quarantine and border restrictions; fully vaccinated travellers can apply for Qld border passes from 5pm; Victoria records 860 new local Covid cases and five deaths; NSW records 165 cases and one death. Follow live updates

Cop26 failed in a bid to phase out coal, news that had its president Alok Sharma close to tears. But not everyone’s disappointed – nationals senator Matt Canavan has declared it a great win for Australia’s mining industry.

He told the Nine Network:

Given the fact that the agreement did not say that coal needs to be phased down or taken out, it is a big green light for us to build more coalmines.

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St Basil’s Covid tragedy: ‘We are still finding out things that we weren’t aware of and it makes us angry’

Spiros Vasilakis’s mother, Maria, died in the Melbourne aged care home outbreak. He is among 64 witnesses to give evidence at a coronial inquest starting Monday

“One thing I will never forget is the line of ambulances coming in and coming out,” Spiros Vasilakis says as he recalls standing outside St Basil’s Home for the Aged in July last year, where his mother contracted Covid-19.

“My mum had died at that point,” he recalls. “And to stand outside a place that was not giving family any answers, seeing residents taken away one after another in ambulances, about to die or already dead … I just remember feeling overwhelmed by sadness.”

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