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

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 What we have at the moment is a small group of people in a study not yet peer-reviewed or published in South Africa where there was an effect on the mild or moderate disease in relation to that variant of concern in that country.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.”

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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.

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Plans for the plains: the fight over harvesting floodwater in NSW is about to get real

The state is on the cusp of granting $2bn or more in licences, but has no way of measuring how much water will be returned to parched river systems

In the next week or two, the NSW government will reveal how many floodplain harvesting licences it intends to grant in the Gwydir valley, home to some of the biggest cotton producers in the country.

It’s the next chapter in a process that will grant between $2bn and $4bn in water entitlements to farmers as part of a plan to control and regularise a practice that captures billions of litres of water for irrigation during high-rainfall events.

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Woman rescued from car boot after waving for help had been detained for 13 hours, NSW court told

Kayley Ketley and Latia Henderson allegedly detained the 24-year-old victim in Sydney before driving south on the Hume Highway

An alleged kidnapping victim who was rescued after waving through a hole in her own car’s boot had been detained for 13 hours, a NSW court has been told.

The 24-year-old woman was found with multiple stab wounds in the boot of her Holden sedan after it was pulled over on the Hume Highway at Berrima, south of Sydney, on Wednesday.

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Why a beachside Australian village turned down the World Surf League

When the opportunity to host a world championship tour event came knocking, Lennox Head said no

Hosting a world championship tour event is an opportunity most cities, let alone towns, would jump at – even bid large amounts of money for.

But the village of Lennox Head in the northern rivers region of New South Wales is quite happy to skip the glitz and glamour in the time of Covid.

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Australia politics live: RBA holds cash rate at 0.1% as government shuts down attempt to censure Craig Kelly

Doctors’ group lashes out at Liberal MP, saying ‘all public figures’ should ‘act responsibly’; Morrison government to face pressure on jobkeeper and jobseeker. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

Perth and WA’s Covid restrictions explained
Perth and regional WA Covid hotspot locations; NSW hotspots
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Ed Husic is also asked about the CFMEU ad that depicts Scott Morrison driving a literal bus (called the omnibus) towards workers, which is meant to illustrate workers being hit by IR changes, and whether it goes too far:

Husic:

Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.

When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.

Ed Husic is on the ABC this afternoon, where he is asked about the topic of the day – government backbencher Craig Kelly and the government’s leadership refusal to censure him.

Husic:

The prime minister occupies an important place in the country, the words of the prime minister matter, the actions mean even more, and in this case allowing Craig Kelly to just keep rolling on the way he is, to undermine the investment of taxpayer dollars, in information campaigns to embrace the inoculation process, to help us deal with a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the economy for the best part of 2020, resulted in 2 million Australians being unemployed or underemployed and the vaccine bringing one way to bring us closer to normal, as it were, this is just wrong, that you could have a government MP being allowed by virtue of inaction by the prime minister for that to continue.

It shouldn’t, and if he did take this matter seriously it would be reined in and it wouldn’t be an issue and you and me wouldn’t be talking about it.

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Australia politics live: Perth and WA’s south-west enter Covid lockdown as MPs quarantined in Canberra

Much of Western Australia shut down, with politicians returning to the ACT for parliament forced to isolate. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

And you may be surprised to learn that Gladys Berejiklian has no advice for Mark McGowan over what he should do.

Surprised, because the NSW premier had a LOT of advice for her Queensland counterpart ahead of Queensland’s election. Which Annastacia Palaszczuk won, with an increased majority.

I would not presume to have any advice for any of our colleagues apart from saying that please judge New South Wales on our record of how we manage things here, it is not for me to suggest what other premiers should do, that is a matter for them. All of us have to be considerate of what is happening inWA at the moment. Our thoughts are with everyone in WA at the moment.

NSW premier Gladys Bereiklian says there will be extra screening for WA travellers - but the states borders will remain open:

I have confidence that they would do all the due diligence as we have done in the past, when New Zealand or Brisbane went through this, we make sure we had those procedures in place, the key is to make sure we act quickly and to provide as much information as possible, but also to make a proportional response. We don’t know of any community transmission within WA apart from the security guard, so we are acting according to that risk.

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Much of Western Australia goes into five-day lockdown after hotel guard tests positive to UK Covid variant

Restrictions imposed in Perth, Peel and south-west, with schools suspended and residents only allowed to leave home for essential reasons

Follow the global coronavirus liveblog
• Western Australia hotspots
• NSW hotspots

Western Australia has imposed a five-day lockdown in metropolitan Perth, the Peel region and the state’s south-west region amid fears a hotel quarantine worker who has tested positive to Covid-19 has contracted the highly contagious UK variant.

South Australia and Victoria shut its borders to the affected areas late on Sunday evening, and in other states and territories, WA residents were told to immediately go into self-isolation, potentially creating chaos in Canberra where MPs had flown in for the resumption of parliament this week.

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Australian Open gets green light for 30,000 a day as WA loosens border restrictions

WA premier Mark McGowan says travellers from Queensland and Victoria will no longer have to quarantine upon arrival

Crowds at this year’s Australian Open will be capped at half the pre-Covid average, after Victoria’s top health official signed off on allowing up to 30,000 spectators to attend the start of the tournament next month.

On Saturday, Victoria’s sports minister, Martin Pakula, confirmed the government had agreed to a plan that would allow daily crowd capacity of 30,000 for the first eight days of the tournament, reducing to 25,000 per day from the start of the tournament quarter-finals.

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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.

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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
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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.

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Former NAB executive Rosemary Rogers jailed for defrauding bank of millions of dollars

The former chief of staff to the CEO was motivated by greed, personal gain and self-gratification, prosecutors argued

A former NAB executive who fraudulently enjoyed $5.4m worth of benefits unwittingly paid for by the bank has been jailed for at least four years and nine months.

Rosemary Rogers, 45, became so used to “enjoying the benefits of her fraud” she was unable to stop over a four-year period, acting judge Paul Conlon told the New South Wales district court on Wednesday.

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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
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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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Australia news live: no new local Covid cases in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, while southern states hit by heatwave

Late February Pfizer vaccine rollout planned. Meanwhile, South Australian authorities warn residents as bushfires erupt in Adelaide Hills. Follow all the latest updates, live

NSW hotspots; Queensland hotspots
State-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explained
Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for Australian rollout
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A truck carrying toilet paper has burst into flames, causing traffic chaos on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway.

It is still unclear what caused the fire, but firefighters are on the scene, attempting to bring the fire under control.

The truck exploding into flames on the Eastern Freeway, Melbourne near the Elgar Rd exit. I saw this while passing by and hope no one is hurt. The fire is now out but traffic is banked up on the city-bound lane. A terrible incident on a 40c day. #truckOnFireMelbourneFreeway pic.twitter.com/tj5MANXAQh

The Bureau of Meteorology has said the heatwave is over in Melbourne and is easing in South Australia, with rain and thunderstorms expected later this evening.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the BoM, warned that the focus will shift to New South Wales tomorrow, with temperatures forecast to get near 40C in Western Sydney, with the city expecting to reach 35C.

But by tomorrow night the cool change will have moved across all of south-eastern Australia and temperatures will return to near seasonal averages for the rest of the week.

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Australia news live: Emirates to resume flights; tennis player tests positive to Covid-19

Airline will fly to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from Monday; Spanish star Paula Badosa has coronavirus. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

  • NSW hotspots; Queensland hotspots
  • State-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explained
  • Follow the global coronavirus liveblog
  • Daniel Andrews frustrated by the decision to award an Australia Day honour to Margaret Court:

    Do we really have to do this every single summer? But apparently we do. I thought we might not have had to have this debate this summer.

    But anyway, others have saw fit to honour her in that way. They’re not decisions that I make; you’ve asked me if I support it, I’ve indicated no, and I’ve also given a sense of why.

    More from Andrews on Margaret Court receiving an Australia Day honour. He invokes the recent debate in Victorian parliament about outlawing gay conversion therapy in the state:

    I think calling out bigotry is always important. We have just had a debate in the parliament of Victoria to outlaw the bigoted quackery that costs lives.

    My position on this has been consistent. I don’t seek to quarrel with people but I’ve been asked a question and I’ve answered it.

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    Coronavirus Australia live: Victoria, NSW and Queensland record no local Covid cases as three new cases linked to Australian Open

    Two tennis players have tested positive, but hard lockdown of those who shared flights remains. Follow latest updates

  • NSW hotspots; Queensland hotspots
  • State-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explained
  • Follow the global coronavirus liveblog
  • 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.

    Should WA be allowed to break away and form an independent nation? #9News pic.twitter.com/mtStO3Ayzh

    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.

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    Morrison will decide ‘over the course of the year’ whether to allow international travel – as it happened

    Meanwhile, three of four Covid cases found in Victoria hotel quarantine linked to Australian Open. This blog is now closed

    That’s where I’m going to leave you for today. Thanks as always for reading along.

    Here’s what we learned today:

    Fragments of Covid-19 have been detected in sewage at three sites in Queensland, the state’s health department has said.

    Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said in a statement released just now that viral fragments of the virus had been detected at wastewater treatment plants after samples were collected last week. The positive results were detected at three locations:

    While this does not mean we have new cases of Covid-19 in these communities, we are treating these detections seriously.

    A positive sewage result means that someone who has been infected was shedding the virus. Infected people can shed viral fragments and that shedding can happen for several weeks after the person is no longer infectious.

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    Coronavirus Australia live: Australian Open tennis quarantine disarray; Victoria opens border to most of Sydney as NSW records no local cases

    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. #Springst pic.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.

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    Coronavirus live: UK ‘considering all measures’ including quarantine hotels; Sydney struggles to quash cluster

    Dominic Raab says UK needs to respond to variants from Brazil and South Africa; New South Wales records six new cases

    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.”

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    NSW reports no new local Covid cases, as Queensland denies hotel quarantine breach – as it happened

    Madison Keys drops out of Australian Open and Andy Murray in doubt after testing positive for Covid

    With that, we’ll be closing the blog for today. Here’s a recap of the day’s headlines:

    Emergency warnings have been issued for separate bushfires threatening lives in Perth’s eastern foothills and the Wheatbelt region, AAP reports.

    Firefighters are battling to contain an out-of-control blaze in High Wycombe, near the Perth Hills.

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