Category Archives: Coalition

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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NT chief minister says Omicron ‘too infectious’ for lockdowns to work as nation records at least 88 Covid deaths – As it happened

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Michael Gunner says lockdowns and lockouts no longer effective; At least 88 Covid deaths recorded around the country as Kerry Chant says Omicron sub-variant is circulating in NSW; Queensland reveals back-to-school plan. This blog is now closed

Albanese says Labor will boost aged-care funding, but cannot specify by how much.

There has been a boost.

Two things they haven’t done: One is to tie that funding of actual delivery of better healthcare for aged-care residents in terms of some of the regulatory measures required that were recommended by the royal commission, but the big missing piece in this workforce, we still don’t have a commitment to have a nurse in a nursing home.

We still don’t have a commitment to increase in the number of other care workers in aged care, and we still don’t have a commitment to increases in wages and conditions so that aged-care facilities are able to attract the staff.

Quite clearly there will be a need for increased health funding, but there is a need also to look at the particular areas of funding.

GPs, for example. One of the reasons there is so much pressure on the hospitals is we have GP shortages in terms of training, we have GP shortages in terms of some of the changes that they’ve made to the Medicare schedule that have had an impact in our regions.

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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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‘No evidence of hacking’: WeChat hits back at interference claims about Scott Morrison’s account

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Chinese tech giant Tencent says ownership dispute behind rebranding of prime minister’s account to ‘Australian Chinese new life’

The owner of the Chinese social media platform WeChat insists there is “no evidence of any hacking or third-party intrusion” of Scott Morrison’s account.

Coalition members have vowed to boycott WeChat in retaliation for the prime minister’s account being taken over and rebranded as “Australian Chinese new life” earlier this month.

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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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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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‘Disrespectful’: Brittany Higgins criticises ditched two-week consultation for women’s safety plan

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Australian government defends handling of women’s safety plan after initially opening up consultation for a fortnight in summer

The federal government has defended its approach to a decade-long women’s safety plan after initially opening the consultation period for only two weeks.

There was a backlash from women’s safety advocates to the timeframe, with many criticising it as being far too short during a pandemic and holiday period.

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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 live news update: Novak Djokovic federal court decision expected today; ‘difficult three weeks’ ahead for NSW amid Covid surge

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Government argues Serbian tennis star has become ‘icon’ for anti-vax groups as federal court adjourns; Victoria records 13 Covid-19 deaths and 28,128 new cases; Perrottet warns of ‘difficult three weeks’ as NSW records 20 deaths and 34,660 new cases; Queensland records three deaths and 17,445 new cases; ACT records two deaths and 1,316 cases. Follow all the day’s news here

In further Australian Covid news, the Morrison government has announced $24m in new funding to widen the use of telehealth for GPs and other specialists. The funding is a direct reaction to the infection rate from the Omicron outbreak. AAP reports:

The $24m will also cover the continued supply of personal protective equipment, such as masks, respirators, face shields and gowns for face-to-face consultations including patients that have tested positive through a rapid antigen test.

The latter aligns with national cabinet’s January 5 decision that RAT tests no longer need to be confirmed by a PCR test.

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Australia news live update: NSW and Victoria each record 21 Covid deaths; cases in hospital top 3,700; $1,000 fines in NSW for not reporting positive RATs

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NSW records 34,759 Covid cases and 2,242 hospitalisations on state’s deadliest day; Victoria reports 40,127 cases with 946 in hospital as more than 6,600 health workers furloughed, Queensland 22,069 cases and 525 in hospital, Tasmania 1,583 cases and 22 in hospital; $1,000 fines for not reporting positive rapid antigen tests in NSW. Follow all the day’s news

In New South Wales, four people have been rescued after a ute was swept into a flooded creek in the Hunter Valley last night.

Emergency services were called to Wells Gully Road at McCulleys Gap late last night, after the ute was swept off the spillway into Sandy Creek. A 49-year-old man, a 16-year-old boy, and two girls aged 14 were forced to climb on to the roof of the car after it began to sink in strongly flowing flood waters.

He has his own philosophy if he thinks like that ... he’s the most healthiest guy, he takes care of his life ... he’s playing tennis and he wants to stay. And I know that he’s doing everything to stay healthy to take care of his body, so ... if he’s not, he doesn’t want to, that’s his choice.

So, what’s the problem? You know, the vaccination – the vaccination, it’s not that I’m against it of course I’m not ... it’s not the point. If he’s healthy, his PCR is negative, why he cannot play?

I cannot say the ... all issues I don’t know exactly I’m reading in the newspapers. I didn’t talk to Novak about that. So I really cannot say anything. What I can say, that Judge Kelly [has] decided that Novak is free. So for me, this is closed book.

He didn’t know. Probably he didn’t know it, because when he realised [about] isolation, then he go to isolate ... because he didn’t know anything about that, He ... I really cannot say but it’s maybe the best is to ask him.

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GPs warn over children’s vaccine rollout ‘failings’; 3,500 cases in hospital nationwide – as it happened

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‘Serious failings’ in children’s vaccine rollout, GPs warn; 2,186 Covid cases in NSW hospitals, 816 in Victoria, 502 in Qld and 211 in SA; NSW reports 25,870 new Covid cases and 11 deaths, Victoria 37,944 cases and 13 deaths, Qld 20,566 cases after testing glitch fixed, SA 2,921 cases, ACT 1,508 cases and one death, Tasmania 1,379 cases, NT 594. This blog is now closed

The Health Services Union has warned the aged care sector is experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” with “chronic understaffing, excessive workloads and extended shifts” hitting the sector amid the Omicron wave of Covid-19.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 HSU members:

The Morrison government comprehensively failed to plan before allowing Omicron to rip through the community and modestly paid workers, and residents in aged care facilities who built this country, are paying the price. Only just over a third of members surveyed have received their booster shot, despite working overtime in high risk settings.

There are active outbreaks in almost 500 aged care facilities across the country. Yet workers can’t access RATs, they can’t access PPE. They are on the front line with very little protection. Not only are staff at risk but vulnerable residents are at a heightened risk of severe disease or death.

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Novak Djokovic wins interim injunction against deportation; more than 72,000 new cases nationwide – As it happened

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Karen Andrews, home affairs minister, did give a hint of how things might play out.

AAP reports that, before Novak Djokovic’s arrival, she said that while the Victorian government and Tennis Australia may allow a non-vaccinated player to compete in the Australian Open, it was the federal government that dealt with border entry requirements.

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

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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 to manufacture mRNA vaccines under deal with Moderna

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New facility could produce 100m vaccines a year under deal between pharmaceutical company and federal and Victorian governments

Australia may be manufacturing mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 and other diseases by 2024 under an in-principle agreement struck with pharmaceutical giant Moderna.

Scott Morrison will announce on Tuesday that under the deal a new sovereign vaccine manufacturing facility will be built in Victoria to produce pandemic and non-pandemic respiratory vaccines, including potential flu vaccines.

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Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s deputy PM, tests positive for Covid while visiting US

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Nationals leader is experiencing mild symptoms and will remain in isolation until further advice

Australia’s deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has tested positive to Covid-19 while on a visit to the United States.

The government says Joyce – who was in London earlier this week and met with the British justice secretary, Dominic Raab, and the Australian high commissioner to the UK, George Brandis – will isolate in the US until it is safe for him to return to Australia.

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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

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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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Australia politics live update: parliament sitting for final day of the year; Coles accused by FWO of underpaying staff

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Fair Work Ombudsman accuses Coles of underpaying 7,800 staff; Victoria records 10 Covid deaths and 1,419 new cases, NSW 271 cases and zero deaths – follow all the day’s news

If you want to really wrap your noggin around those mitochondrial donation laws and why they’re so important, here’s Full Story for you. Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to reporter Rafqa Touma about her family’s experience:

Two incredible women who have had an enormous influence on 2021 – Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins – have joined Fran Kelly on ABC radio.

It remains to be seen if there’s any actual change. That’s my opinion.

We know there are structural needs that need to be addressed. None of this is new information.”

It wasn’t about me, it was about maintaining power … I don’t think fundamentally anything has changed internally within the building policy-wise that would stop this happening to another woman.

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Coalition’s proposed parliamentary calendar has just 10 sitting days in first half of 2022

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Labor dubs schedule – which suggests a May election – ‘more of a slouch than a sitting calendar’ as government runs out of time to establish federal integrity commission

Labor has criticised the Coalition for proposing a parliamentary sitting calendar for next year that includes just 10 sitting days before August if an election is called immediately after the budget.

The release of the sparse sitting calendar comes as the government runs out of time to fulfil an election promise to establish a federal integrity commission, amid ongoing divisions within the party about the best model for a new anti-corruption body.

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Australia politics live update: national cabinet to discuss Omicron response as Covid variant detected in NSW; ABC announces new RN Breakfast host

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National cabinet meeting brought forward to discuss Omicron response; Patricia Karvelas announced as Fran Kelly’s replacement for RN Breakfast; radical plan to rehome racehorses; last sitting week of 2021. Follow all the news live

Over on Sydney radio 2GB NSW police minister David Elliott said he met with with premier Dominic Perrottet and health minister Brad Hazzard on Sunday about what NSW would do:

I’m not panicking at the moment because it appears that this is going to be the new normal.

We need to prepare and ... make sure that we’re flexible and agile when it comes to variations and we need to be defensive and that defensive mechanism of course, is the vaccination.

So, we’re taking a risk-balanced approach at the moment and concentrating on those nine southern African countries.

We have increased our surveillance at the border, and after the border, we’re working very closely with our colleagues in New South Wales and Victoria, particularly, because they’re the ones that have had quarantine-free travel, as well as in the ACT, as to what is the best approach.

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