Man in his 30s dies at Lake Macquarie, having ‘heroically’ held young boy above water
A man has died while “heroically” saving the life of a young boy after a kayak capsize on the New South Wales Central Coast, emergency services say.
Paramedics were called to Gwandalan on Lake Macquarie at about 5.30pm on Friday where the man, believed to be in his 30s, had been pulled from the water by bystanders.
Continue reading...Trade negotiations with Europe postponed; Scott Morrison expected to discuss international travel rules; outbreak in Newcastle maternity ward grows. Follow all the latest news
Victoria’s case numbers are delayed:
No clue if this is a good sign or not. Here’s hoping.
Continue reading...NSW extends stay-at-home orders for 17 regional LGAs as state records 941 cases; South Australia records one local case; five Queensland areas including Brisbane and Gold Coast return to stage two restrictions. This blog is now closed
We are going to leave the blog there for the night.
Here’s what made news today:
Stay-at-home orders have been announced for the Kyogle and Narromine local government areas in New South Wales from midnight tonight until 11 October due to Covid cases in the area.
These restrictions will also apply to anyone who has been in the Kyogle LGA since 21 September and the Narromine LGA since 28 September.
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Worksafe has just issued a statement about charges against the Victorian health department over its hotel quarantine system.
WorkSafe alleges that the Department of Health breached OHS laws by failing to appoint people with infection prevention and control (IPC) expertise to be stationed at hotels it was utilising for the program.
It alleges the department failed to provide security guards with face-to-face infection prevention control training by a person with expertise in IPC prior to them commencing work, and either failed, or initially failed, to provide written instruction for the use of PPE.
Thanks Nino Bucci. Continuing on at the National Press Club, when asked about the implications of Australia’s withdrawal from its deal with France, Turnbull has some strong words:
What seems to have been overlooked is that one of our national security assets is trust, trustworthiness… This is an appalling episode in Australia’s international affairs and the consequences of it will endure to our disadvantage for a very long time.
ACT eases some restrictions after recording 19 cases, one death; Gladys Berejiklian announces 11 October as day NSW restrictions ease after state records 787 cases and 12 deaths; Victoria records one death and 705 cases; no new cases in Qld; NT continues with reopening plans; 12 new cases in NZ. Follow all the day’s news
A...scamdemic? AAP reports that a record amount has been scammed from Australians this year.
Australians have lost a record $211m to scams so far this year, with people bombarded by bogus calls and texts purportedly from well-known businesses or the government.
The losses between 1 January and 19 September this year have surpassed the $175.6m reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch throughout 2020.
The prestigious Melbourne University joins several other tertiary institutions in announcing mandatory vaccination policies.
The University of Melbourne will make having a COVID-19 vaccine a compulsory requirement for attending any of its campuses. Exemptions to apply on medical or eligibility grounds. #springst @UniMelb
Continue reading...All the day’s news, as it happened. This blog has now closed
Enjoy your evening, all, and thanks for having me! Here’s just a taste of what we learned today:
In case you missed this earlier (I did) please enjoy this piece by Arwa Mahdawi on cancel culture, critical race theory and ... sexy seahorses.
It’s very easy to laugh at a bunch of rightwing moms clutching their pearls over sexy seahorses – but there’s nothing funny about the systemic, organised way in which conservatives are trying to rewrite history and restrict freedom of speech.
Continue reading...NSW Health and hospital codes of conduct restrict staff from speaking to media, leading to scarce insight into their experiences
As New South Wales hospitals brace for the peak in admissions and overwhelmed intensive care units next month, the voices of those on the frontline are strangely muted.
Often it is family members, union representatives, professional bodies and patients who are providing a window into what life is like for frontline staff in NSW hospitals.
Continue reading...A neurology professor wants MND to be listed as a notifiable disease to help investigate suspected environmental links
A top neurologist has called on the New South Wales government to list motor neurone disease (MND) as a notifiable disease amid suspicions a cluster of diagnoses in the state could be linked to something in the environment.
Prof Dominic Rowe, a neurologist at Macquarie University, has treated 889 MND patients – many from the NSW irrigation town of Griffith – in the past decade.
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The Associated Press is reporting an Australian economist who was arrested when Myanmar’s military seized power in February made an appearance Thursday in a court in the capital Naypyitaw, where he will be tried for violation of the official secrets law, his lawyer said.
Sean Turnell had been serving as an advisor to the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was also arrested when her elected government was ousted by the army. Suu Kyi and three of her former Cabinet ministers have also been charged under the law.
Shadow energy minister Chris Bowen gave a blistering doorstop press conference earlier, blasting the Coalition’s climate and energy policy shift.
It comes as federal treasurer, Josh Frydenbrg is due to tell business leaders later today that the government needs to shift towards adopting a net zero commitment.
Josh Frydenberg personally intervened to try and get the chief executive of AGL sacked because he dared to invest in renewable energy. When he was energy minister, he wouldn’t commit to net zero by 2050. He was the architect of the failed National Energy Guarantee.
Yet, now in some sort of bizarre positioning, internally in the Liberal party, he thinks he can be the champion of net zero. Well, he’s got net zero credibility. Josh Frydenberg has net zero credibility when it comes to climate change. He has too often had the chance to act and too often failed.
Continue reading...Australian Retirement Holdings launched legal action in a bid to stop a woman taking possession of her deceased grandparents’ land
The operator of a private retirement village attempted to stop a woman taking possession of her deceased grandparents’ land on the fringes of Sydney, claiming it as their own using squatters’ rights.
Australian Retirement Holdings were using the block of land, owned by Monica Pritchard and her husband, Arthur Pritchard, until their deaths in 1990, as part of construction of a multimillion-dollar development past Campbelltown in south-western Sydney.
Continue reading...A koala joey who fell from a tree while his mother was being harassed during the breeding season has recovered, and is back in the wild with her
A koala joey injured after falling from a tree as an amorous male koala aggressively pursued its mother has made a full recovery and is back in the wild.
The seven-month-old joey was found on the ground at a property in northern New South Wales.
Continue reading...Premier Dan Andrews is to release Victoria’s roadmap out of lockdown a day after protests in Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay and Brisbane. Follow updates live
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is holding a press conference in Brisbane. The state has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 in the community or in hotel quarantine.
Palaszczuk is urging people to get vaccinated after the state controversially made the Pfizer vaccine available to over 60s. She’s urging people to attend walk-in Pfizer clinics.
This is an interesting piece on the people for whom the end of Covid restrictions sparks fear rather than joy.
Racquel Sherry, 49 and based in Sydney, is immunocompromised and afraid.
In the roadmap to freedom, I hear nothing about people like me, other than as a qualifying postscript to the Covid deaths: ‘But they had an underlying health condition’.
Freedom day doesn’t include me.
Related: ‘Freedom day doesn’t include me’: for some, the end of lockdown will be a time of fear
Continue reading...Those most at risk from Covid say the easing of restrictions when vaccination targets are met will bring anxiety and danger
“In the roadmap to freedom, I hear nothing about people like me, other than as a qualifying postscript to the Covid deaths: ‘But they had an underlying health condition’,” says Racquel Sherry.
“Freedom day doesn’t include me.”
Continue reading...After asking for public help with their investigations, scientists have received thousands of reports and specimens of dead, shrivelled frogs
In the middle of Sydney’s lockdown, scientist Jodi Rowley has been retrieving frozen dead frogs from her doorstep.
Occasionally one will arrive dried and shrivelled up in the post.
Continue reading...Police deploy pepper spray and dodge projectiles as protests held in Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay and Brisbane
Victoria police arrested 235 protesters and three officers remained in hospital on Saturday evening following violent anti-lockdown demonstrations in Melbourne’s inner city.
As the state recorded 535 new cases and one death, around 1,000 protesters gathered in the north-eastern suburbs of Richmond and Hawthorn, forced to make a last-minute change of location after 2,000 police officers formed a “ring of steel” around the Melbourne CBD.
Continue reading...Tourism minister announces pilot scheme as NSW records 1,284 new Covid cases and 12 deaths
New South Wales will introduce a home quarantine “pilot” for international arrivals as part of a plan to begin opening international borders even as parts of the state returned to lockdown.
The pilot, which will be run as a partnership between the NSW government and the commonwealth, will trial a seven-day home quarantine program for about 175 fully vaccinated people.
Continue reading...NSW police say people were in breach of public health orders as four men arrested at Rookwood cemetery
In Islam, it is essential that the dead are buried as soon as possible. The body is washed, prayed over, taken to the cemetery and buried, with some small prayer or invocation said by the grave.
It is usually a quick process, sometimes drawn out by lingering family, but one that can be shortened in times of difficulty, such as in a pandemic.
Continue reading...NSW has marked its most deadly day so far during the Delta outbreak with 12 Covid-19 deaths however the case numbers have continued to stabilise with 1,259 cases, 'We’ve seen a stabilisation in the last few days and we don’t want to see that trend go the wrong way', said premier Gladys Berejiklian. The state also hit its 80% target of over 16-years-olds receiving their first dose of Covid vaccine which has meant NSW Health has lifted the curfew in the Sydney LGAs of concern. Berejiklian also reinforced her message that any further easing of restrictions in the future will only be available to those fully vaccinated saying 'there is no grey area. It's very black and white'
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Wednesday: NSW is on track to hit its 80% single dose vaccinations today, while Victoria is heading towards 70% by the end of the week – follow updates live
Hmmmmm it’s 8.56am and no Victorian Covid-19 numbers yet. Not happy Jan.
Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg says businesses should be free to deny entry to people based on vaccination status.
He spoke with Nine Network a short time ago:
They control their premises. If they want to stop someone coming in based on the fact they’re not vaccinated then that is their right to do so.
Not only are they protecting their customers but they’re also making for a safer workplace for their staff. We’ve been very consistent on that.
Continue reading...Gladys Berejiklian has revealed a roadmap out of lockdown for the state, and an easing of restrictions for some parts of regional NSW. Here’s the full list of what you can and can’t do in NSW and the ACT
The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has revealed a roadmap out of lockdown for the state, and an easing of restrictions for some parts of regional NSW.
From Saturday 11 September, parts of regional NSW that had seen zero Covid cases for at least 14 days emerged from lockdown. One of those areas, Yass Valley Council, was plunged back into a two-week lockdown from Tuesday 14 September after a new Covid case was detected.
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