This week, Katharine Murphy sits down with economics writers Shane Wright and Greg Jericho to discuss the Australian economy. With house prices soaring, stimulus payments being reduced and a budget on the way, what can people expect financially over the coming months?
Continue reading...Category Archives: Melbourne
Australia news live: Scott Morrison says Brittany Higgins meeting ‘in process’; Victoria to make mRNA Covid vaccine
State commits $50m to domestic manufacturing of cutting-edge vaccines; former Liberal staffer to ask Scott Morrison to fix ‘systemic coercive control’ in Parliament House. Follow live
- Victoria plans to domestically manufacture mRNA vaccines
- Aged care workers relying on spare vaccines and confusing advice
- Australia should consider giving more AstraZeneca vaccine to PNG
- Delayed vaccine rollout a life and death matter for some stranded overseas
- Fewer than 7% of disability care residents have received Covid jab
That is where we will leave the blog for Wednesday. Thanks for following along. Here’s what made the news today:
The government has closed a loophole that would have allowed Australians to use New Zealand as a stepping stone to travelling to another country following the opening of the Trans Tasman travel bubble.
On Monday, health minister Greg Hunt amended the biosecurity legislation to specify that Australians could not go to any country other than New Zealand. Unlike Australia, New Zealand does not have an outbound travel ban.
Travellers should be aware that international travel to any other country, except New Zealand, continues to pose a significant risk to public health, and for that reason outgoing travel to other countries remains restricted.
“Australians considering travel outside of Australia or New Zealand are still required to apply for an exemption from the outgoing travel restrictions through ABF, and ensure they review the information available on Smartraveller relevant to their destination.”
Continue reading...Daniel Andrews walking 18 minutes a day as he recovers from serious back injury
Victorian premier says he’s making ‘steady progress’ after a ‘pretty painful’ few weeks
Daniel Andrews says he’s making steady progress in his recovery from a serious back injury and is now walking about 18 minutes a day.
Victoria’s premier suffered broken ribs and a fractured T7 vertebra after slipping on wet stairs at a holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula on 9 March.
Continue reading...‘We want to deliver’: Covid vaccine delays hit vulnerable Melbourne tower residents
Community health groups have nurses, GPs and locals ‘ready to go’, but a lack of deliveries has forced them to cancel vaccination clinics
- Australian government meets just half of aged care target
- Australian vaccine tracker: how is the rollout progressing?
For the past four months, in the towering Richmond housing estate of Melbourne, community health workers have been hard at work, preparing locals for the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine.
It’s a difficult but vital task. Many of the roughly 2,000 residents are vulnerable or elderly, use shared services and are densely packed into the estate’s five towers, creating a high-risk Covid-19 environment.
Continue reading...Brittany Higgins addresses March 4 Justice rally as women demand action across Australia
Former Liberal staffer and Grace Tame among those to address tens of thousands of protesters calling for an end to gender-based violence
Brittany Higgins’ voice shook as she addressed the crowd outside Parliament House in Canberra.
She had decided at the last minute to speak to more than a thousand people, mainly women, holding signs calling for justice for women, for sexual assault survivors and for Higgins herself, who has alleged she was raped by a colleague inside Parliament House.
Continue reading...‘It’s a funeral march’: French artist JR’s powerful eulogy for Australia’s Murray-Darling
Exclusive: The street artist’s latest work saw 60 people parade through Lake Cawndilla in NSW, holding aloft enormous portraits of local farmers and leaders as they fight to save Australia’s vital river system
The mood around Lake Cawndilla in western New South Wales on Saturday is funereal but defiant, as a procession of around 60 locals parade through scrub and sand around its banks.
They carry between them a series of 30m-long cloth figures: three local citrus farmers and prominent Baakandji artist William Badger Bates.
Continue reading...Australia’s travel bubble with New Zealand to resume as Victoria records no new Covid cases
Quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders entering Australia will restart from Sunday
- Australia’s first Covid vaccinations of elderly and disabled unlikely to be from own GP
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Australia’s coronavirus travel bubble with New Zealand will recommence on Sunday, the Department of Health has announced.
In a statement issued on Saturday afternoon, the department said “green zone” flights from New Zealand could resume at 12.01am on Sunday, subject to some conditions.
Continue reading...Australia’s international travel ban and arrivals cap investigated by audit office
Australian National Audit Office launches inquiry into pandemic border policies, including biosecurity and the adequacy of assistance to those stranded overseas
Australia’s international border policies including the outbound travel ban and inbound arrival caps will be examined by the Australian National Audit Office.
After first proposing the audit in September, the ANAO quietly activated the inquiry in mid-January and has called for submissions on the management of the Australian border to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Continue reading...Victoria Covid hotspots: list of Melbourne and regional Vic coronavirus case locations
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots in Victoria and what to do if you’ve visited them
- Follow the latest Australia news live blog
- Victoria’s stage 4 lockdown rules and restrictions
- Australia’s Covid restrictions and lockdown rules – state by state
- Download the free Guardian app
Victorian authorities have released a list of public exposure sites visited by a confirmed case of Covid-19.
This comes after a hotel quarantine at one of the hotels used to isolate international tennis players and officials in Melbourne for the Australia Open tested positive to the virus.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: New Zealand puts Auckland in level 3 lockdown; Australia to receive first Pfizer vaccine delivery this week
Victoria’s Holiday Inn outbreak rises to 16 cases on second day of state lockdown; Boris Johnson urges G7 leader to unite against virus. Follow the latest updates live
- Johnson ‘optimistic’ about easing some England lockdown measures
- Children as young as six to be tested for Oxford vaccine efficacy
- ‘A very dangerous epoch’: historians try to make sense of Covid
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The press conference in Wellington, held in response to the discovery of three community cases in Auckland, has now finished. As of 11.59PM tonight Auckland will be placed under tougher restrictions, at level three, while the rest of the country will be moved to level two restrictions. (Details of the alert levels can be found online here).
Ardern said she was asking the public “to be strong and to be kind”:
I know we all feel the same way when this happens, we all get that sense of - not again. But remember we have been here before and that means we know how to get out of this again, and that is together. If you know someone in Auckland reach out, please check on them. If you are in Auckland please check on your neighburs and ensure they are looked after and supported.
Related: New Zealand Covid outbreak: Ardern puts Auckland into three-day lockdown
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s director-general of health, said officials were working under the assumption that the new Auckland cases were one of the new variants of Covid-19. “Regardless of where people have come from, these are the common variants and we do know they are more transmissible,” he said.
Ardern said that the decision to introduce tougher restrictions was “not taken lightly”. However, the cost to the economy would be far greater, she said, if the country was slow to react.
Continue reading...France hospitals in ‘crisis organisation’ – as it happened
This blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:
We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
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Daniel Andrews announces five-day ‘circuit breaker’ as Victoria goes into Covid lockdown – video
Victoria will enter a snap five-day coronavirus lockdown from Saturday in an attempt to halt the spread of a UK variant outbreak in response to its hyper-infectivity. Premier Dan Andrews made the announcement that will see the entire state return to stage 4 restrictions where Victorians are only able to leave their homes for four permitted reasons: shopping for essential items, essential work, exercise for two hours a day, or caregiving for compassionate reasons. Masks will be compulsory in all settings outside the home, all private gatherings are barred and a 5km ban on movement has been reintroduced
- Snap five-day Covid lockdown for Victoria announced in bid to contain UK variant
- Coronavirus Victoria: Covid stage 4 lockdown rules and Vic restrictions explained
- Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria premier Dan Andrews announces snap Covid lockdown as WA and Tasmania close borders
Snap five-day Covid lockdown for Victoria announced in bid to contain UK variant
Daniel Andrews says stage four lockdown is to prevent a third wave in response to ‘hyper-infectivity’ of variant
- Follow our live blog for all Friday’s developments
- Victoria’s stage 4 lockdown rules and restrictions; Melbourne hotspots list
Victoria will enter a “circuit-breaker” five-day lockdown from Saturday in an attempt to “prevent a third wave”, Daniel Andrews has announced.
The premier said on Friday afternoon the government would impose a snap lockdown from midnight because the “hyper-infectivity” and speed of a UK variant outbreak had created a “very real challenge”.
Continue reading...Coronavirus Australia live update: Dan Andrews to hold press conference about Melbourne Covid cases amid lockdown speculation
NSW asks 7,000 people to isolate after visiting Melbourne airport Terminal 4. Andrew Demetriou resigns from Crown after scathing report. Follow live
Things aren’t looking amazing for Melburnians hoping to see their Queensland lovers for Valentine’s Day. But until we hear the Queensland health minister’s announcement at 12.15pm Brisbane time, I guess there is still hope!
Queensland acting health minister @StevenJMiles will be speaking about the unfolding virus situation in Melbourne at 12:15pm (Brisbane time).
People who have visited virus exposure sites in Melbourne are already barred from entering after 1am on Saturday.#qldpol #auspol
All of Melbourne Airport Terminal 4 is now considered a hotspot, not just Brunetti Cafe anymore.
Anyone who visited this location on Tuesday 9 February between 4.45am and 2.00pm must isolate, test and remain isolated for 14 days.
Following further investigation by our public health team Terminal 4, Melbourne Airport has been added to our list of Tier 1 exposure sites.
Anyone who visited this location on Tuesday 9th February between 04:45am – 2:00pm must isolate, test and remain isolated for 14 days.
Australia news live: chief medical officer backs AstraZeneca vaccine after South Africa blow
NSW and Victoria report no new local Covid cases as hotel quarantine worker in Melbourne diagnosed with UK variant. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
- WHO says it is ‘too early’ to dismiss AstraZeneca vaccine
- Victoria Covid hotspots; NSW Covid hotspots
- Victoria reported no new cases in past 24 hours
- South Africa suspends AstraZeneca vaccinations
On the vaccine distribution in Australia, Paul Kelly says it is still on track for the first injections to be happening before the end of February, but will not put an exact timeline on it.
The aim will be to get 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine before the end of this year, in weekly deliveries. Kelly said the AstraZeneca and Novovax vaccines will also be used if and when they are approved by the TGA:
We don’t want a lot of vaccines sitting out in warehouses, so we will be looking to roll out particularly for those priority populations that people will know about now, as soon as we can. But then will be going back to the same population, those people, to give them a second dose. That is really important.
We will await the TGA advice in relation to AstraZeneca but some of the information that has been coming up in the last few weeks is that it may actually be a longer interval for that second dose.”
Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is also moving to reassure people about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
He said it was still in the process of being approved by the Therapeutics Goods Administration, and talked down claims it was less effective in treating the South African variant of the virus.
I just want to make a very clear statement about people taking small amounts of information quickly, without looking at it carefully. And making conclusions. At the moment, I can absolutely say, and this may change in future, and we will be nimble in the way we look at that information, and putting that into our planning, but at the moment, there’s no evidence anywhere in the world AstraZeneca effectiveness against severe infection is affected by any of these variants of concern.
And that is the fact. What we have at the moment is a small group of people in a study not yet peer-reviewed or published in South Africa where there was an effect on the mild or moderate disease in relation to that variant of concern in that country. But there were no severe infections in any of the people that received the vaccine in regards to any of those types of the virus.”
Continue reading...Capital cities on alert over positive cases as tennis begins – as it happened
Melbourne quarantine hotel worker tests positive to virus; NSW issues alert over returned traveller case. This blog is now closed.
That’s where we will leave the live blog for Monday. Here’s what you might have missed today:
AAP has the latest on Covid restrictions in Western Australia:
Face masks are mandatory for teachers and secondary students, a precaution that’s part of transition arrangements for Perth and Peel, after the five-day lockdown sparked by a hotel quarantine security guard’s infection.
Australia news live: Victoria reports no new Covid cases as national cabinet to consider raising international flight caps
Quarantine worker who yesterday tested positive confirmed to have UK variant; federal government in talks on regional quarantine facility
- Get guards out of corridors at quarantine hotels and get fresh air and CCTV in – experts
- Australia’s state by state Covid restrictions and coronavirus lockdown rules explained
- Nick Scali CEO to get $4.4m dividend after company received jobkeeper payments
Melbourne is forecast for an afternoon downpour today and parents are being urged to be careful while picking up kids from school.
Melbourne is tipped to receive between 15 and 35mm of rain this afternoon, AAP report.
Here’s the full story on the Burgess verdict.
Related: Sam Burgess, former NRL and England rugby player, found guilty of intimidation
Continue reading...Australia news live: Covid restrictions in Sydney ease as plans for vaccine rollout detailed
Limits on gatherings lift and masks no longer required while shopping in Sydney as Victoria set to ease travel restrictions with NSW. Follow updates live
Zali Steggall has been speaking this morning ahead of parliamentary hearings into a private members’ bill she has put forward, which includes a net zero emissions target by 2050.
The bill has widespread support from industry groups, the Business Council of Australia, and the Australian Medical Association. It does not, unsurprisingly, have the support of the federal government.
The government – especially the minister – is with respect at the moment playing politics with our future. They are not interested in listening to the business community, industry, science, our medical professionals, on what needs to be done with urgency. They are instead focusing on political gains and delaying what needs to be done.
We have more jobs in renewable and future-proof industries than in the industries that are transitioning. We know a jobs disruption is coming. Proper government means we prepare communities. We don’t put our head in the sand and hope it will go away.
Seventy per cent of our two-way trade with countries is now under net zero by2050 goals. Australia is being left behind. We need the government to step up and do this. As to prices, it’s simply incorrect. The lowest prices are from renewables. It’s not from delaying our transition.
I think the world will eventually sign up to a target of net zero by 2050 and the Morrison government needs to do that and will do that. The question is how long are they going to drag it out, and how much will the delay cost us? On our current trajectory of where we’re going, we’re on target for $100bn per year of climate impact costs. That’s an incredibly steep price to pay for inaction.
There’s so much upside for us to take action, we’re the continent with the most resources that can absolutely be at the front of this boom. We can be a renewable energy superpower, we just need the government to look to where the economic opportunities are.
I had constructive discussions with the previous Labor shadow minister, and Mark Butler, and now I look forward to having discussions with Chris Bowen.
Western Australia is expanding its mandatory contact tracing registers, about two months after first introducing the QR code system for higher risk venues.
From 12 February, retail venues, commercial buses (including tour buses and party buses – side note I can’t believe WA currently has party buses), visitors at public and private hospitals, takeaway food and beverage services, and events of more than 500 people with a Covid-safe plan will have to use the WA government’s official SafeWA QR code system.
While WA remains free of community transmission, we continue to learn from what’s occurring over east and overseas. With variant strains becoming more prevalent, we need to bolster our processes in case contact tracing is required by our WA health and response teams.
Continue reading...Australia news live: Anthony Albanese pins hopes on reshuffle; NZ travel suspension to remain as Virgin Australia sheds more jobs
Albanese pins election hopes on major reshuffle; Australia extends travel bubble suspension with NZ; Another 350 jobs to go at Virgin Australia. Follow the latest updates live
• NSW hotspots; State-by-state restrictions and rules explained
• Qld to reopen border to all of NSW on 1 February
• Follow the global coronavirus liveblog
Guardian Australia contacted CSL to ask for more information about why the manufacturing company did not send a representative to appear before the Senate Covid-19 Committee.
While CSL told the Committee it was too busy to appear, other major companies, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have appeared. Pfizer appeared despite currently trying to meet a tight deadline of delivering its vaccine for roll-out in Australia by the end of the month.
It is totally disrespectful for CSL, the recipient of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funded vaccine related contracts, to refuse to appear before today’s Senate COVID Committee. If they won’t respect the Senate’s request, they should expect a ‘subpoena’. #auspol https://t.co/ZS3gMO8VoE
CSL appreciates invitation to attend the Senate Select Committee Hearing on COVID-19. Due to our commitment to urgently deliver 50 million doses of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine we are unable to resource our participation at this time.
In response to the global pandemic, CSL employees allocated to the COVID-19 vaccine program are fully focussed and working around the clock to ensure vaccines are available for use in Australia as soon as possible. We will be in a better position to consider a similar invitation later in the year.
Virgin Australia has cut another 350 jobs, this time at its head office in Brisbane, the Australian Services Union says.
It comes on top of more than 3000 sackings at the airline since it was bought by US investment group Bain Capital last year after going into administration due to the coronavirus crisis.
Continue reading...Australia news live: NSW considers easing Covid restrictions as vaccine information campaign launches
Limits on gatherings could be lifted in Sydney after more than a week of zero locally-acquired cases
• NSW hotspots; State-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explained
• Follow the global coronavirus liveblog
Berejiklian was asked to comment on the new Covide-19 vaccine advertising campaign, and said the Therapeutic Goods Administration “would not have approved it if it wasn’t safe”.
We’re able to rely on research, the experience that other nations have had, and I for one will be getting it absolutely the day it’s available to me...I know some people feel strongly about not having a vaccine. I’m not one of them. I think it’s really important for us, for as many of us to get the vaccine as possible in a timely way, to safeguard all of us moving forward. And potentially to give us greater freedoms.
Oh, look, I just focus on what I need to focus on.
My view is all of us should always follow the health advice. We have experts appointed and serving in positions which have kept all of us and Australia safe to this point in time. All of us owe it to the health experts to follow the advice and what we present is based on science and fact.
He’s not in my team. You have to ask...
I’m not going to add any further to what I said. Please ask me other questions.
I think I have answered the question twice already. To say you should always base, base the advice, the actions you take based on health advice. And I think I’ve been saying that straight for about a year everyday. And I don’t think any of us should waste our time on people who express opinions not based on evidence.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said she is “hoping” to receive medical advice that will allow her ease to coronavirus restrictions this week, but wouldn’t be drawn on exactly when or what that might look like.
She told ABC News Breakfast:
Well, look, we’ll behaving those discussions and getting the advice today. I’m hoping to make a announcement by the end of the week. We’re doing more. There’s more contagious strains of the virus coming into Australia. In New South Wales our policy always is don’t keep restrictions or burden our citizens a day longer than you need to. I hoping to have confirmation of advice that allows us to announce that later this week.
I think perhaps people will be looking forward to welcoming more people into their homes, and mask policy moving forward. There’s a number of areas looking forward. The hospitality sector also wants certainty moving forward. We’re looking forward to making the announcements later. I get advice on a daily basis from the health experts and today and tomorrow we’ll be having longer conversations about what it means.
They’re the conversations we’ll have. There could be some settings where we do think it should be an ongoing way of doing things, a way of living. In other settings we may ease off and say we remembered you do this, but you don’t have to.
The important message on public transport and we’re encouraging people to go back to work in a Covvid-safe way. We do want people to catch public transport, where they’re going to work from and how they’re going to work. Because jobs and focusing on the economy is critical for us this year. I think people will feel safer if there’s masks on public transport. Those are the conversations we’ll be having.
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