Victoria posts record $23.3bn deficit; Queensland to open border on 1 December – follow live

Victoria records zero active cases for the first time since outbreak as SA plans to drop restrictions on 1 December – follow latest updates

Further to Andrew Hastie’s comments on the Brereton report, which we reported earlier, the WA Liberal MP has been on the ABC expanding on his call for greater parliamentary oversight of the military.

He tells Andrew Probyn:

Defence is a huge organisation. In order for parliament to exercise proper civilian oversight of the military you have to have a baseline understanding of the capabilities, the methods, and the operations of the ADF. If we can’t talk about those things in public, we can’t talk about them at all.

So we need to talk about them in a classified space and right now there is no such mechanism in the parliament to increase parliamentarians’ understanding of defence and therefore enable parliament to hold it to account.

Scott Morrison and the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, swapped notes on Covid-19 situations in their two countries during a phone call this afternoon.

A readout issued by Morrison’s office says the pair also discussed progress on vaccine trials and they “were encouraged by the more positive trajectory of their economies in the third quarter”.

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Coronavirus detected in Victorian sewage as state records 22 days with no new cases

NSW records 10 cases in hotel quarantine, while Queensland announces two and Western Australia one

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.

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South Australia enters ‘circuit-breaker’ Covid-19 lockdown – live news

Strict six-day lockdown begins today to allow for a ‘contract-tracing blitz’ to contain a coronavirus cluster that has so far infected 22 people. Follow live

A Queensland man will face court after allegedly killing a man with one punch outside a pub north of Brisbane.

Police say the 29-year-old and a 49-year-old got into a fight outside a pub on Aerodrome Rd, Caboolture, about 10pm on Wednesday.

Here are some photos from South Australia as the state prepped for lockdown yesterday afternoon.

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South Australia to shut down to contain Covid cluster as new national hotel quarantine worker testing rules announced – live news

SA introduces ‘wide-ranging restrictions’ from midnight on Wednesday; $200 vouchers for Victorians to spend in regional areas. Follow the latest news

Insurance companies have lost a crucial test case on whether they have to pay businesses who shut their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic under business interruption policies.

The NSW Court of Appeal says they do, and has thrown out arguments from insurers that coronavirus is excluded from policies.

Meanwhile, a huge chunk of Darwin and surrounds is experiencing a blackout, with the temperature expected to climb to 35C.

Wide spread power outages affecting Darwin and surrounding areas. #DarwinNT Crew responding.

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Gun pointed at woman before her boyfriend killed assailant with samurai sword, court hears

Prosecutor alleges pair chased intruder down Sydney street before one pulled him to the ground and the other struck his head with a sword

A home invader who had been “armed to the teeth and full as a goog” with the drug ice was holding a gun at a woman before her boyfriend sliced his head open with a samurai sword, a Sydney jury has been told.

A picture “more bristling with menace” could hardly be imagined for a young woman of 23, the barrister Tom Hughes said in his opening address on behalf of Hannah Quinn on Tuesday.

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South Australia Covid cluster grows to 20; NSW residents to get $100 dining vouchers – live news

SA will reintroduce coronavirus restrictions after the number of confirmed and probable cases rises to 20; NSW announces that residents will receive four $25 vouchers to spend on eating out and entertainment. Follow the latest updates

Returned travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a coronavirus cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel, regardless of how many days they have already served.

It means some returned travellers may be forced to quarantine for up to 28 days.

Travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a Covid-19 cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel. Those due to finish today may be forced to quarantine for 28 days. These documents were given to guests @GuardianAus https://t.co/guSOkfaEWn pic.twitter.com/GrBY9211J6

It’s stressful, because they literally shove a letter under the door, but there was no knock or assistance to explain it to us ... People are due to leave this morning. Imagine being told you had to do it all again, imagine if you missed your flight.

Our room door has been closed since we moved in, nothing has been breached here. Moving us through and putting us on a bus, surely that brings more risk of spreading the virus?

The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands (located in the remote north west of South Australia) will close their borders to for three weeks as the Covid-19 threat rises in South Australia.

The APY Board of Management closed the borders at midnight and says it will manage its borders via the legislated system of permits.

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‘I fell asleep at the wheel’: my life changed the day my partner died | Rhonda Davis

Mat was killed when the car rolled on our way home from a party. I was jailed for five years

My name is Rhonda Davis. I’m a 38-year-old Kamillaroi woman with four children.

In September 2013, I found myself for the first time involved in the criminal justice system.

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Packed crowds and euphoric leaders: Australia revels in Covid-free days

After a grinding lockdown in Victoria and punishing border closures between states, Australia has arrived at something like normality

When the premier of Queensland held her regular Covid-19 update on Friday she couldn’t help letting a smile creep across her face.

“Now, here’s a good one,” Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters. “I think all Queenslanders are going to be happy about it.”

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Western Australia opens hard border as Victoria records 15th day of zero coronavirus cases

NSW, South Australia and Queensland all report Covid-19 cases of people in quarantine

Hundreds of people had started arriving in Perth and more were crossing into Western Australia by road after the scrapping of the state’s Covid-19 hard border closure on Saturday.

The move came as Victoria recorded its 15th day straight with no coronavirus cases or deaths.

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National cabinet endorses national vaccination policy – as it happened

PM and premiers meet as Covid-19 cases plummet. This blog is now closed

The day is winding down so we are going to wrap up the blog. Here are the main events:

The rise of rightwing extremism has coincided with the emergence of social media “echo chambers” and easily formed online communities of interest, the head of home affairs has said.

Michael Pezzullo, the secretary of the department, appeared before a parliamentary hearing into social cohesion and nationhood this afternoon.

He was asked about recent testimony from the head of Asio that rightwing extremism now made up 30% to 40% of its priority counter-terrorism investigations. Labor committee chair Kim Carr wanted to know whether Pezzullo thought the trend coincided with the rise or rightwing populist groups in the US and Europe.

Domestically it would seem to me that the groups that are of most concern are those that would either promote or seek others to adhere to a philosophy or an ideology of extra-constitutional action, and worse of course extremist action, and worst of all violent action rather than moderating legitimately held differences of political, ideological, economic views through our democratic process.

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Sydney university meeting in ‘chaos’ after student makes personal donation of $50,000

Arts/law student Abbey Shi made the announcement after she had been censured by the Sydney University SRC

A meeting at the University of Sydney descended into “chaos” on Tuesday night after one student made an unprecedented personal donation of $50,000 to the student council, after being criticised for not doing enough in her elected job.

Arts/law student Abbey Shi made the surprising announcement after she had been censured for not doing any work for three months in her student-funded position.

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Gladys Berejiklian says she can’t recall if she was at dinner where Labor claims illegal donations were made

Labor claims dinner at Club Taree raised $18,000 from four donors and gave them access to premier

Gladys Berejiklian has said she cannot remember whether she attended an “intimate fundraising dinner” at Club Taree in May 2018, where Labor claims illegal property donations were made.

Labor used question time in New South Wales parliament on Wednesday to ask about the event and donations made to the campaign of the mid-north coast MP Stephen Bromhead, the member for Myall Lakes, in 2018.

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Foreign spies could target Australian politicians using ‘unwitting relatives or friends’, Asio warns – politics live

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 Senate has just voted up a motion rebuking the government over the weakness of its preferred model of National Integrity Commission.

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.

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Victoria’s hotel quarantine program revealed to cost $195m – as it happened

Four new coronavirus cases recorded in NSW southern highlands as Victoria quarantine inquiry delivers interim report. This blog is now closed

That’s it for tonight, thanks for reading. To recap today’s developments:

The chief of the defence force, Angus Campbell, has released a statement about the inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

Campbell said he received the Afghanistan inquiry report today, which examined the conduct of elite Australian forces in more than 55 incidents of alleged unlawful killings between 2005 and 2016.

Today I have received the Afghanistan Inquiry report from the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF).

The independent inquiry was commissioned by Defence in 2016 after rumours and allegations emerged relating to possible breaches of the Law of Armed Conflict by members of the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan over the period 2005 to 2016.

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Australia news live: Victoria and NSW report no new Covid cases as Queensland pushed to open border

Border restrictions continue to be eased as Australian politicians respond to US election result. Follow latest updates

The best doughnut, is a jam doughnut, followed closely by cinnamon.

Both fresh, of course.

Related: How doughnuts became Australia's symbol of Covid hope

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.

From News Hub’s report:

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NSW-Victoria border to open on 23 November; Australia awaits American election outcome – politics live

‘We need to keep moving forward as we live with Covid-19,’ Gladys Berejiklian says. We’ll also be bringing you Australian reaction to that election, as it happens

The Queensland election may be over, but that doesn’t mean the border wars have ended.

As AAP reports:

It’s like the whole of Australia – in terms of politics – has stopped right now.

It’s all about the US.

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‘I was numb inside’: Jack de Belin rape trial hears from alleged victim of NRL star

The St George Illawarra NRL player has pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault at his Wollongong trial

NRL star Jack de Belin raped a teenager after ignoring her protests to stop undressing her and later asked why she was being “so emotional”, a jury has been told.

The St George Illawarra player, 29, and his friend Callan Sinclair, 23, have pleaded not guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of the woman, then 19, after meeting her in a Wollongong bar in December 2018.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Daniel Andrews says ‘now is the time to open up’ after Victoria records no Covid cases

From midnight tomorrow night Melbourne businesses will be able to start reopening as restrictions ease. Follow all the latest updates

If I could shout you all one, I would.

Unfortunately, I don’t get paid that much.

the culture pic.twitter.com/mfUM4aFIFc

Daniel Andrews is asked if he would have done anything different in hindsight:

I don’t have hindsight. None of us do.

All we have his hard work and an absolute determination do not listen to the loudest voices, not be pushed to ignore the science, not listen to those who would appeal for us to act out of absolute frustration and nothing more than that.

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Daniel Andrews says Victorian easing of coronavirus restrictions in doubt as cluster worsens

Victoria records seven new Covid-19 cases, four in Preston, with five in NSW and four in WA

Hope for further significant easing of coronavirus restrictions in Victoria on Sunday are in doubt as an outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs grows.

Victoria recorded seven new cases on Saturday, six linked to known outbreaks, prompting the government to order all staff and students from two schools in north-east Melbourne to immediately get tested for Covid-19.

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