Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
As the sun rose on 26 January, thousands gathered in the rain and cold to pay tribute to elders, past and present, at the annual Invasion Day vigils.
Physically distanced crowds gathered in Barangaroo Reserve in Sydney from dusk until dawn to reflect on the impact of colonisation, and celebrate what life was like for Indigenous communities before the First Fleet arrived.
As our West Australian readers start to log-on, I bring to you news of possible secession. I have not clicked through to see what other images/tweets etc come up under #WAXIT but please feel free to do so:
A group of business leaders in Western Australia want the state to break away from Australia… calling the campaign #WAXIT.
A $7bn funding injection into social housing would address surging homelessness caused by the pandemic, advocates say.
This just in from AAP:
Social housing advocates fear a surge in homelessness stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, and are urging swift action from the federal government to ensure Australians have a roof over their heads.
A national campaign to end homelessness, Everybody’s Home, estimates a $7bn injection into social housing would make a serious dent in homelessness, while creating 18,000 jobs a year over the next four years.
Victoria premier Daniel Andrews says people in most of Sydney can apply for a permit to travel to the state while 10 LGAs still remain in red zones. Follow latest updates live
The ABC has spoken to one of the tennis players who is isolating as part of strict restrictions applied to those who travelled for the Australian Open.
#AusOpen player Artem Sitak happy to be in Melbourne for the tournament. A lot of the players have now realised it's an unfortunate situation. News of the long Victorian lockdown & of Australians unable to return home is making them feel very lucky to be in Melbourne. #Springstpic.twitter.com/EgQ9CEix9P
Of course I’m happy. As I said, I was prepared for the worst and unfortunately it happened to me, but I’m – I’m definitely happy. I’m here, I love Australian Open. I think it’s going to be any sixth or seventh Australian Open and I love playing here. There’s always a really – a really vocal huge crowd. Hopefully this time it will be – I don’t know the percentage of spectators that are allowed but there will still be a lot of people. We haven’t played in front of spectators since back in August. And this is going to be a lot of fun.
The Victorian police union is less welcoming of news that Covid-19 fines in Victoria will be waived. Here’s what Victorian Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said on radio station 3AW earlier today, according to AAP:
It’s a wee bit frustrating.
None of this was fun for our members. It was bit of a thankless job.
Reaction has been coming today from Russian sources after Brazil’s health regulator said it was seeking further data on Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine before considering its approval for emergency use.
Documents supporting drugmaker Uniao Quimica’s application for emergency use of the vaccine have been returned to the company because they did not meet its minimum criteria, the watchdog said on Saturday.
While people over 75 living at home will be able to get vaccinated from Monday in France, there are concerns in the field that there are not enough doctors, Le Monde reports today.
Jacques Battistoni, president of MG France, a trade union for general practitioners, said: “We expect tensions and a difficult start to the week.”
Victoria police say the woman’s husband – the father of the children – is assisting detectives but it would be unfair to presume culpability
A woman and her three young children have been found dead at a home in Melbourne’s north.
Victoria police said the woman’s husband, and the father of the three children, was assisting with the investigation but people should not presume culpability on that basis because “that would be grossly unfair”.
The American says he first tested positive in November and tournament organisers argue he is therefore not infectious
The US tennis player Tennys Sandgren is bound for Melbourne after Tennis Australia reportedly intervened so he could board a charter flight despite testing positive for coronavirus.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Australian time, Sandgren initially suggested he would not be able to board the flight for the Australian Open, writing “Covid positive over thanksgiving” and “Covid positive on Monday”.
High priority groups will begin receiving the vaccine earlier than anticipated; NSW south coast holiday locations on high alert; cricket crowd flocks to Sydney Test. Follow all the latest news and updates
Murphy says that over the second quarter of 2021, Australia will have vaccinated “a significant portion” of the population. That’s still mainly focusing on those first two priority groups.
He says:
The very last group that we might consider [vaccinating] is children. We know that children are at very low risk of getting Covid and transmitting Covid and the vaccine has not yet been thoroughly tested against children.
There will be vaccine hubs set up around Australia which only deliver one type of vaccine. That is to prevent confusion about which type of vaccine a person has been given, Murphy says, to ensure that people get two doses of the same vaccine.
A dose each of different vaccines will not cover you.
Cricket Australia to refund all tickets to Test and require re-purchase, as John Barilaro says Sydney testing numbers are ‘far too low’. Follow the latest updates
Here’s some bits and pieces from the Cricket Australia press conference:
It is fairly predictable, but the Victorian opposition is calling for premier Dan Andrews to come back from leave because of the new Covid-19 cases in the state. Haven’t seen similar yet re NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, who is also taking a break this week.
Western Australia has recorded three new cases, but all of them are in hotel quarantine.
Acting premier and health minister, Roger Cook, said he was pleased with testing numbers, which increased from 827 yesterday to 2,179, and pointed out the state had now gone 266 days without community transmission.
266 days is an extraordinary fact, but it is a fact we cannot take for granted. It is a testament to the professionalism and hard work of so many people on the frontline, day in, day out, keeping us all safe from Covid-19. They deserve our respect and support for what they do.
An emergency bushfire warning has been issued to part of Red Gully in the shire of Gingin, north of Perth.
The warning is for people north of Marri Heights Road, south of Dandaragan-West Road and east of Cowalla Road.
People urged to stay home as investigation continues into source of Croydon cluster in Sydney and cases in Melbourne. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Let’s return to those comments from NSW police regarding Tony Abbott’s exercise in the northern zone of the northern beaches.
Abbott’s most recent declaration to parliament (before his defeat in 2019) showed he lived in Forestville, which is classed as being in the southern zone of the northern beaches.
The New South Wales Labor leader, Jodi McKay, has called on Gladys Berejiklian to stop crowds from attending the cricket Test at the SCG, and urged her to make masks mandatory in certain settings:
Why are we now progressing with a crowd at the cricket? ... It just doesn’t make sense to me.
I’m urging the premier to make sure the cricket goes ahead ... but there is a general feeling there should not be people at the cricket.
I think it’s important that if masks can reduce the risk of transmission, that we’re doing everything we can.
Drug baron remains in jail while he appeals other guilty verdicts citing involvement of lawyer-turned-police informant Nicola Gobbo
Little time was wasted on pleasantries during the first meeting between the gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo and the police officers who were handling her as an informant in 2005.
“Tell us everything you know about Tony Mokbel,” was how the police handler known as Mr White started the meeting.
Prime minister calls on China to apologise and seeks removal of tweet; Victoria revamps hotel quarantine program under single agency with private security banned. Follow all the latest
Twitter hasn’t taken the Tweet down, as demanded by Scott Morrison, but it has censored it.
The image defaults to hidden with the message:
Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, &call for holding them accountable. pic.twitter.com/GYOaucoL5D
And yet, no one is responsible. Governance in Australia is so, so broken
I don’t support wording of Labor’s motion but someone needs to resign over the #robotdebt fiasco. How is it that only female Ministers like Ley and McKenzie resign? Where is the Westminster Ministerial responsibly? #qt#auspolpic.twitter.com/lfAClWfphp
Flinders University campus and three other locations considered ‘high risk’ after Covid-19-positive man breaks home quarantine • Follow the global coronavirus live blog
South Australian health authorities are urging anyone who visited a Flinders University campus and three other “high-risk” locations to get tested for coronavirus immediately after a Covid-19-positive man broke his required home quarantine and wandered “out and about” in Adelaide.
While there were no new coronavirus cases to announce on Sunday, SA’s chief health officer, Prof Nicola Spurrier, revealed the “concerning turn of events” at a press conference.
After months that passed in a haze of isolation, Melburnians are reconnecting with the places and people they love
In the depths of Melbourne’s lockdown, time began to pass differently. The days and weeks dragged as the year slipped by, as all the usual markers – celebrations, family dinners, holidays – were stripped away. Suddenly, it was spring and there was welcome news: the lockdown had worked. The borders between city and country, and between Victoria and New South Wales, were lifted soon after.
When Melbourne’s ring of steel came down on 9 November, Emma Jacques packed her 10-month-old son in the car and headed for the coast. After five months of being confined to the city, and two months where she was unable to go more than 5km from her home in Warrandyte on Melbourne’s north-eastern fringe, she was desperate to introduce her son, named Ben Ocean, to the water. “I literally craved the water,” she says.
South Australian premier Steven Marshall has reiterated his state is “not out of the woods yet”, a day after one new case of coronavirus was recorded in the community.
The comments follow a decision to lift the state’s Covid-19 lockdown early after authorities learned a key case linked to its emerging cluster out of a quarantine hotel had lied to investigators about working a second job at a pizza restaurant.
You don’t get a second chance to stop a second wave. The advice that we received from health was unequivocal. We had to go hard and go early. We didn’t want a second wave.
We didn’t want to have this seeded in South Australia so that we were managing multiple clusters on an ongoing basis until this particular infection actually, if you like, died out.
We think the people of South Australia deserve some answers on this and we will look at every opportunity for there to be some consequences for this person because it is really important that when a public health official asks you questions you provide them with accurate information otherwise lives can be at stake.
Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon has backed the sentiment behind a speech to be delivered today by party colleague, Queensland senator Murray Watt, which indicates plans to “reset the party’s approach to coal and gas”.
No doubt he wants to put labour back into the Labor party. And today he speaks to our traditional base, all those people in the hi-vis and blue collar outfits, working hard every day in Queensland.
All they want for us is to give credit to them for what they do, the contribution they make to our economy and community. And we want to encourage them to be proud of what they do as they should be.
We need to be ... very loud and clear in our expressions of support for those industries, and those who work within them.
The Labor party always supported the coal mining industry, it always supported the gas sector, the oil sector, etc our manufacturers, but for some reason we haven’t been that keen to say that loudly and proudly. And if that’s what we’re about to start doing well, I’ll be very very pleased.
Victoria has only one active Covid-19 case but authorities are concerned about traces of the virus unexpectedly found at a Melbourne wastewater facility.
Victoria has gone 22 days with no new coronavirus cases while on Saturday New South Wales recorded 10 new cases in hotel quarantine. Queensland announced two new coronavirus cases and Western Australia one – all of which were in hotel quarantine.
Three food delivery riders recently died on the job, and their families are left with uncertain futures, and many questions
Chow Khai Shien died three days before the Melbourne lockdown lifted, holding someone else’s food.
He had been in Australia for five years, having arrived from Malaysia at the age of 31. First he was a student, then a chef, working part-time in a restaurant inside a casino. When the pandemic descended, like many other people around the world, he turned to food delivery – ferrying burgers and chips, burritos, and pizzas, across the city on a small motorised scooter. The car hit him on the corner of King and La Trobe streets at 7pm on a Saturday night.
Federal parliament returns; Asio chief warns of ‘real threat’ from foreign spies; incoming Biden administration vows to sign back up to Paris agreement. Follow all the updates
The motion was voted up 28 to 25 with Labor, Centre Alliance, Rex Patrick, Jacqui Lambie and One Nation combining to warn the Coalition over the draft bill’s inadequacies.
Greens senator Larissa Waters motion stated:
Senate just passed a motion 28:25 for a strong corruption watchdog, listing all of the features the Gov’s weak model leaves out. A defacto vote on the Gov’s bill - the Senate can see through the fig leaf of the Gov’s belated and pathetic model that wouldn’t stop a thing! #auspol
Richard Marles says Labor is not pursing a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire and will “let Kevin speak for himself”.
Andrew Leigh officially tabled the Kevin Rudd-led petition, which had more than 500,000 signatures, in the parliament today.
We have talked about our position in relation to the media over a long period of time. Now, this is not something we have been considering. This is something Kevin Rudd has been pursuing in his capacity as a private citizen. I mean, I obviously note it is a significant petition in terms of those who have signed up to it and it has been presented to the parliament appropriately. That is where the matter is that in terms of the opposition.
News Hub reports New Zealand’s US ambassador has commented on the election. As government employees, ambassadors are prevented from indicating political views (despite being political appointments) but it looks like Scott Brown, for one, is feeling confident enough in the result to be a little honest.