Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Covid-19 public exposure sites in Sydney, regional New South Wales and Canberra, and what to do if you’ve visited them. Our analysis and map shows where Covid cases are increasing, and a live data update tracks the daily case numbers in NSW
Authorities have released a list of public exposure sites in Sydney, regional NSW, and Canberra ACT visited by a confirmed case of Covid-19.
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots, Covid exposure sites, venues and case location alerts and what to do if you’ve visited them. See the full list and map below.
Before I go, here are the main developments of the day:
Three people have been arrested at a karaoke bar in Coober Pedy after they allegedly flew into South Australia from New South Wales on a private plane.
Drivers in New South Wales transporting international passengers and aircrew will now be required to be vaccinated against Covid and wear a mask.
The new rules were introduced after there was confusion over whether the driver at the centre of the Bondi outbreak, who was not vaccinated and did not wear a mask, had breached the law.
Four local government areas in Sydney have been put into lockdown for at least a week, as the state recorded another 22 cases on Friday.
Residents who live or work in Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney have been issued stay-at-home orders from 11.59pm on Friday, and can leave only if work or education is impossible at home, for exercise outside and to provide care for a relative.
NSW urgently investigating four mystery cases overnight as premier Gladys Berejiklian announces Sydney restrictions. Follow all the latest updates, live
There is one more of those before the winter break.
‘I’m sure there are blokes that dislike me’ - Barnaby Joyce’s response to the concerns of Nationals women.
The serious concerns these women have about Joyce’s return to a leadership position are worthy of a serious response - not one that deliberately minimises them.
New Zealand has paused quarantine-free travel with New South Wales after the state recorded 10 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.
NSW Health subsequently said a confirmed case had flown from Sydney to Wellington on the night of Friday 18 June and from Wellington to Sydney on Monday morning.
Sydney residents are now required to wear masks indoors across large swathes of the city after the eastern suburbs cluster grew to nine cases on Sunday.
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced on Sunday the state recorded two cases to 8pm, including a 30-year-old man revealed on Saturday, and a further two cases since 8pm that will be officially recorded in Monday’s figures.
After more than 20 years watching from the cliffs of Botany Bay, Wayne Reynolds’ passion is having tangible results
He may have seen it tens of thousands of times before but when Wayne Reynolds spots a whale emerging from the water, he reacts with the excitement of a child pointing out a rollercoaster at an amusement park.
“Oh wow, there’s a minke and her calf,” he yells out with boyish enthusiasm from the rocky cliff at Potter Point in Kurnell, in Sydney’s south. “I just go into auto-mode, I can’t help it.”
AstraZeneca vaccine now recommended for over-60s;Sydney’s eastern suburbs cluster grows; Victoria records no new local cases. Follow the latest updates live
Does the acting Prime Minister agree that no adult worker should be paid less than the minimum wage?
Well, Mr Speaker, as I said in my previous answer, we’re operating under the same conditions for wages, for industrial relations, and was established by the then Labor government. And the government’s record and I appreciate that whilst he didn’t mention this in his question, but it’s talking about worker exploitation and wage underpayment, and we have zero tolerance for any exploitation of workers.
And that includes the underpayment of wages and entitlements by any employer. We have zero tolerance. And the government has taken unprecedented action to protect vulnerable workers. Since 2016...
We have committed more funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman, strengthened their investigative powers to compel witnesses to provide evidence, and increased penalties up to 10 fold for worker exploitation.
People who work should be paid a fair and decent wage.
Tony Burke asks Michael McCormack about a woman named Kate, who took a job picking fruit, on ‘piece rates’ (a common way fruit pickers are paid) and was forced to find food in supermarket garbage bins, as she couldn’t afford food, despite working seven days a week.
McCormack starts talking about the minimum wage. Which this woman doesn’t receive (something Burke points out)
I take the member for Watson’s point. But we are operating under the same system of wages and industrial relations that we did when Labor were in government. And indeed, and indeed - there was a wage decision case made this week, this week.
As he said, we have had - we’ve got an industrial relations framework which reflects what was introduced by the previous government.
And Mr Speaker, I make it very clear our government has zero tolerance for any exploitation of workers. And is committed to ensuring that workers have the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the Australian economy, without the fear of exploitation. We have the highest minimum wage in the world, and we have extensive safeguards in place.
Health authorities say contact tracing under way after man in his 60s, who drives international flight crews, tests positive along with household contact
A man who lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and works as a driver for international flight crews has tested positive to Covid, as has a household contact, with the New South Wales health department listing a string of hotspot venues they visited while potnetially infectious.
NSW Health revealed on Wednesday afternoon the man in his 60 had tested positive before announcing later that night his household contact had also tested positive with “further venues of concern identified”.
International lawyer Geoffrey Robertson to argue Australia failed to protect Dungay’s right to life and denied family justice for his 2015 death in Long Bay jail
International human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson will take the case of the death in custody of David Dungay to the United Nations, arguing that Australia violated his human rights and those of his family by denying them justice and accountability for his 2015 death in prison custody.
Robertson’s London-based Doughty Street Chambers will lodge the complaint on behalf of the Dungay family at the UN human rights committee in Geneva. In it they will say that Australia has failed to protect his right to life and failed to undertake investigations into anyone or any organisation responsible for his death.
The long-serving staffer faces 18 charges, including seven counts of aggravated indecent assault, related to allegations made by four women
Frank Zumbo, the long-serving staffer of federal MP Craig Kelly, has been charged with 18 offences including seven counts of aggravated indecent assault relating to allegations made by four women.
Police in New South Wales said Zumbo, 53, was arrested at the Sutherland police station on Friday afternoon, following an investigation into historical sexual assault offences.
The New South Wales health minister has said a newspaper’s decision to name the man who visited numerous barbecue shops in Sydney while infected with Covid-19 was “appalling” and would undermine public health.
Brad Hazzard said the Australian Financial Review’s story identifying a patient “stinks” because it may discourage the public from cooperating fully with the contact tracers in the future and the man had not consented to have his identity revealed.
From chips on a stick to camel burgers and kanafeh, crowds come to Lakemba’s annual street bazaar for the food and the energy
When the Canterbury Bankstown council announced it had cancelled the annual and extremely popular Ramadan night markets in Lakemba, there was disappointment all round.
The markets have grown to become a staple during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
Mark Dreyfus says corruption watchdog needed to investigate government buying $30m in offsets related to new airport
Labor has strengthened its call for a national integrity commission, saying it is needed to investigate the Morrison government’s purchase of more than $30m in environmental offsets related to the development of the western Sydney airport.
Mask-wearing mandatory for all indoor public venues, including public transport, as health authorities brace for more coronavirus cases due to the level of activity of a man in his 50s while infectious. Follow latest updates
Fairly wild photo of former Australian cricketer Brett Lee and broadcaster Neroli Meadows on a flight out of India (not sure where they’re going, surely we won’t lock up Bing, it’s been a big enough week for former Australian test cricketers as it is).
☣️ As COVID-safe as it gets …
Brett Lee and Neroli Meadows are prepared for the task to start their journey from India.
This is quite a wonky but important national security story: there’s concern that the independent monitor of intelligence and security agencies could become too close to them.
A government member of parliament’s security committee has questioned whether the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is too close to the agencies it is supposed to be monitoring, AAP reports. The committee is scrutinising proposed laws intended to keep Australia’s close-knit network of intelligence agencies in check. Liberal committee member Celia Hammond gathered evidence at Thursday’s hearing about the practice of intelligence agencies getting pre-operational advice from IGIS. “Overall I think the danger, even with the best will in the world, is huge,” said Bret Walker SC, chair of the Law Council of Australia’s constitutional law committee and member of its criminal law committee. “I think it is depriving oversight agencies of a critical degree of detachment.” Just like judges don’t have lunch with litigants, consulting the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission about a transaction that might be insider trading was a very bad idea, Mr Walker said. “There is a real risk, a constant one, of all oversight supervisory bodies engaged in this sector of government activity, of those of us doing that work, being duchessed by the people we are meaning to be supervised.” The new bill will expand the remit of the inspector-general to include ACIC and AUSTRAC, which gathers financial intelligence on money laundering, organised crime, welfare fraud, tax evasion and terrorism financing. The committee also heard that the oversight bill is not dependent on the passage of the identify and disrupt bill that will add to surveillance powers and warrants for the Australian Federal Police and ACIC. Inspector-General Christopher Jessup QC said it was critical in a democracy that intelligence agencies were subject to strong oversight and accountability mechanisms. “Indeed, independent and credible oversight of intelligence activities is a core element of the public’s trust in intelligence agencies and their operations,” Dr Jessup said. But the bill doesn’t include any intelligence functions of the federal police and Home Affairs. Commonwealth Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe said there were already overlaps engineered into the system and the bill would add to them, but they could refer complaints or matters to IGIS. “I have very specific oversight powers with respect to the various covert and intrusive regimes that exist for law enforcement,” Mr Manthorpe said “But I also have a broad jurisdiction as the ombudsman under the Ombudsman Act to look at and inquire into complaints of a very wide array about administration in the Australian public sector.” For the Morrison government, the bill introduced last December is in line with last year’s review of intelligence laws by former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson who also served as Defence secretary and foreign affairs chief. Critics say the latest Richardson review is a watered down version of the Independent Intelligence Review of 2017, which found a “compelling case” to also include the federal police and Home Affairs. George Williams, head of the Gilbert and Tobin Centre of Public Law, said the bill would leave significant gaps and wanted it extended to include all intelligence functions across government. “It requires a specialised kind of oversight - the gold standard that IGIS provides,” Professor Williams said. He also called for a broader body of work on Australia lacking the parliamentary oversight enjoyed by other members of Five Eyes, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom where parliamentary committees exercise more influence on powerful agencies.
A NSW man has tested positive for Covid-19 in a new case of community transmission that has health authorities concerned due to his level of activity while potentially infectious.
The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said the man, aged in his 50s, had been “very active in the inner east” areas of Sydney prior to being tested on Tuesday. She said he had been “very good” at registering his details at locations he visited, including a cinema at Bondi Junction and several barbecue stores.